Thursday – July 14, 2016
We are back to Thursday and time for all of us to be reminded to pray for the seven pillars of society established by Wisdom. We are however for now taking a little time to focus on and think about faith, love, and hope.
1 Corinthians 13:13 (KJV)
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
First Corinthians is the seventh book of the New Testament and as you know seven is the number of spiritual completeness, however the number thirteen is the number of rebellion and depravity. What will we choose, spiritual completion or spiritual rebellion (revolt, uprising, insurgence, upheaval, mutiny, agitation and the antonym is compliance) and depravity (immorality, corruption, wickedness, evil, decadence, or wantonness, the antonym of which is righteousness)? Keep in mind that sin tramples the Blood of Jesus and is an abhorrence to the Father. We do not need to be a member of ISIS and be cutting people’s heads off to be in rebellion and depravity. Whatever and whenever we knowingly do anything contrary to what we know the will of God to be we are in rebellion and depravity. God knows my heart (what I know and what I don’t) and he knows your heart, let us not try to fool God.
Our sin opens the door for the devil to steal, kill, and destroy in our lives. When we are in sin, knowingly or unknowingly, the devil is able to get a judgment against us and we find his work in our lives. When we knowingly sin God has to give the devil a much freer hand in our lives which may even result in death. When we sin unknowingly the judgment can be mitigated and God may raise up intercessors and on the wings of other people’s prayers bring mercy and teaching into our lives. Repentance then removes the judgment. Stealing, killing, and destroying in our lives is not just some unfortunate happenstance or our cross to bear in life, it is sin.
Now, I will resume our discussion of the peace of God.
Colossians 3:15-17 (KJV)
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
When I left off yesterday with our topic I had made the point that our knowledge of the peace of God brings us into the very same peace, the very same position as our Heavenly Father. The knowledge I am talking about is not just information we have stored and can recite but this is knowledge that is at the very core of Truth, it is knowledge that is clear and exact, engaging, and causes us to change. Changing is always our choice. The whole purpose of this knowledge bringing change is that we are a better and better representation of Him, a better and better representative for Him. We change more and more into His image and likeness to bring a revelation of the Godhead to those around about us. We are to be an expression of Him. Not some kind of faint shadow, but just like Him.
We develop this peace by faith, in love, focused on the hope before us, focused upon the mission, in the will of God, led by the Holy Spirit. We develop this peace with His guidance as we mature from being children of God to being sons of God. That knowledge, that reality, which rules our heart (mind) causes us to be steady and undistracted by circumstances. A troubled mind is a mind (heart) of unbelief.
John 14:1 (KJV)
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
The key to an untroubled heart is too not only believe in God but to believe in Jesus. The Father did not come and pay the price of redemption, Jesus (The Word) did. We must believe all that He taught and all that He made available in abundance to each one of us. When we have developed our peace to be just like the Father’s peace which is what Jesus did in the earth then we will operate just like Jesus and do the greater things we are commanded to do. That peace believed (faith) and acted upon (love) as led of the Holy Spirit (hope) will accomplish the will of the Father in the Kingdom of God and is pleasing to Him.
By Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
