Wednesday – June 15, 2016
Hump Day is here already, praise the Lord. God is so good, better than good. His goodness cannot be measured. As we prepare ourselves to receive the Word of God today let me remind you of a couple of things that are crucial to our walk in the Kingdom of God.
Romans 10:17 (KJV)
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The more we hear something the more we come to believe the thing heard. The more we hear about any given topic the better we understand what is being said. In the arena which is the only arena that will count when all is said and done, the arena of the Word of God, the more we hear the Word of God the more we will understand, the more we will believe and our faith in God will grow.
1 John 5:3-4 (KJV)
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
To knowingly be disobedient to a command of God is to hate God. To fail to study the Word of God so as to know what the commands are is sin and hatred toward God. The Word of God produces faith. We could say our faith our believing God is born of God. Faith brings victory in this wicked fallen world system and over the demonic rulers of this world. No faith, no victory. Love for God is not touchy feely, it is doing His commandments. Love of God is an unwavering commitment to be selfless towards Him, to do our part of the Blood Covenant, and to do the Word without hesitation, all for the glory of God, to build the Kingdom and please Him and Him alone.
Romans 1:17 (KJV)
17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Faith in God is life to us, there is no other pathway to life, and all other paths lead to death. Now back to Colossians.
Colossians 3:4-7 (KJV)
4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. 5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
We have this wonderful hope of eternal life absent all corruption spirit, soul, and body, in His presence, in fellowship with Him, and doing the work of God without limit or resistance. Because of all that God has done for us, He did not need any of this. We must do whatever is necessary to purify and maintain purity in our lives. Let’s take a look at Colossians 3:5 in the Message Bible.
Colossians 3:5 (MSG)
5 And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God.
Who is responsible for killing off everything in our lives connected with the way of death? We are!! He will help, but it is our responsibility to get it done. We must honestly judge ourselves and carry out the judgment. Let us look at the sins listed in Colossians 3:5 and we have some more coming up in verse eight.
- Fornication – sex with someone to whom you are not married of the opposite sex.
- Uncleanness – this is not physical although we should be clean physically, this is spiritual and it is a mixing of good and evil, a corruption of the Word of God that works to our advantage, satisfies a natural lust.
- Inordinate Affection – a passion for something that exceeds our passion for God and the things of God. Let’s say football taking precedence over the Word of God.
- Evil Concupiscence – worthless (for the Kingdom) longings and pursuits, much like the idle words Jesus spoke of. This is a time stealer like inordinate affection and when you are doing these things you are not accomplishing the things of the Kingdom. That is not to say we can’t have a hobby or go fishing, but they cannot be the driving force in our life.
- Covetousness/Idolatry – this is wanting something that we are willing to do wrong things to obtain. This is putting the thing above God, it becomes our god and not Jehovah God.
The words for these five sins are feminine in gender, singular in number meaning that in any given individual the harvest will be stealing, killing, and destroying. Let me remind each of us this letter from the Apostle Paul is written to the Church, in fact it is written to people he calls saints and faithful brethren. We must think of this before we jump to the conclusion that we are not doing any of these things. There are people in the Church having sex with persons they should not but items two through five are the biggies for most of us. Let’s choose to judge ourselves and no longer be disobedient children incurring judgment.
1 Corinthians 11:31 (KJV)
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
Colossians 3:6 (KJV)
6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
I want nothing at all to do with the wrath of God, and I do not want to be known as a child of disobedience.
By Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
