Myself and Others

“Nor for me, but for God, and not just for God but for God all”

We in the Messiah have the liberty to do all things in the will of God. We are not restricted in that way, that we cannot eat this or that, or cannot do this or that. We have full and complete freedom to live righteously and in living righteously, to eat all things except food offered to idols and blood.

Let us examine: 1Corinthians 10:23-33 KJV

But we are heavily restricted. What is lawful, what we can do, is not always the best thing to do. We aren’t free to live our lives without the consideration of others. We aren’t free to live a hedonistic life of pleasure. What restricts us is others. It’s funny, because that’s a real important restriction. In sin and in himself, man naturally only cares for himself. The Messiah has set us free from serving only ourselves.

He Himself came to serve other, not to be served. His entire existence on this earth had nothing in it for him, no glory, no enjoyment. He did it entirely for the glory of the Father and for us. He considered us. Let us not be selfish then, and only consider ourselves, but follow in His example of giving our rights, our existence, our time, our choices, over to God and consequently limiting ourselves by others.

Rule #1: “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.” You may be free to do all things but you are not required to live hedonistically. You may be free to do all things, but you must consider whether they are beneficial, edifying, useful, encouraging, etc. to others. In other words, “Consider others better than yourself”.

 Rule #2: “Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.” We must come to a point that our first consideration is not me, but others. It natural, for example, standing at a table of food, to take plenty of what I like, and perhaps unconsciously leaving nothing for others of what they like. We cannot seek our own. That is not God’s way. If that was God’s way the Messiah would never have come.

Rule #3: “Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.  If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.”

“But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof: Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks?”

For the sake of your conscience, don’t ask questions but simply “eat what is set before you”(Luke 10:8) However it is not only your own conscience you must consider, but others’ also. Yes, even the “ridiculous” scruples of others must be allowed to control us, after all, to us it no longer matters. We are limited by others. You must consider the peace of mind and conscience of other people. You may not exercise your full rights to liberty. Here we come to the final rule:

Rule #4: “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.”

We can be exceedingly obnoxious, proud, boastful, and self-serving. That is not the way. We must take care to offend no one. It is better than for you not to preach the gospel or profess to be a follower of the Messiah if you turn people away from the gospel and from Jesus through your selfishness.

Do you know that a lot of times we established Christians become obnoxious and judgmental? We immediately see how others are wrong, others are in bondage, other are ignorant, and we turn people away from the gospel. We see idol-worshippers and mock them for worshipping Satan. We see Jews and mock them for being Pharisees. We scoff, we offend others by being culturally insensitive, we preach the gospel with such arrogance and such little actual care for others. We just want to be right, to prove others are wrong, to intimidate, to flaunt our liberty. Paul was just the opposite. 

Is God glorified if I choose to eat this and not that? Is God glorified because I choose to wear blue instead of yellow? Is God glorified because I observe such and such? Nothing inherent in these activities glorifies God. God doesn’t need your "glory".  You cannot understand the first statement without the second, namely, that you are to glorify God before others, namely Jews, Gentiles, and fellow disciples.The name of God is to glorified among the nations when they see your righteousness.

We must take exceeding care indeed to offend no one, because we are supposed to preach only one offense and that is the cross. To marr the offense and work of the cross through our own prejudice, insentivities, or selfish pride is to present a mutilated gospel. In fact, when we interact with others, we must be nothing short of the cross and nothing more than the cross. We must be to others the exact representation of the gospel. In that way we must glorify God before others.  

What did God give you freedom for? So you can be selfish? So you can live for yourself? So you can kill yourself through hedonistic living? No! So you can save others too! The right attitude is that because God has given deliverance to you, you should long that others be delivered from death too.

Please all men in all things if you must to bring to Christ. What else matters? My right to this, my right to that? Lay you your individual subjectivities, your rights, your preferences, lay them all down. Seek not for your own comfort but the comfort of those not saved. Seek not for your own “reward in heaven” but leave it to the Father. Let yourself be limited by others. Show complete deference, humility, meekness, and longsuffering towards and especially towards those who least deserve it or even those who have the selfish boldness to demand it. Let others be selfish as long as you are not, so that they may be saved and God may be glorified in their eyes and through their salvation. Be a quiet lamb, led to the slaughter, put to death by wolves because it is for the salvation of the ravenous beasts that you are slaughtered.

Nevertheless it doesn’t mean we must partake of, condone, or allow others to hurt others or to sin. Of course not! The meek lamb is also the righteous lamb.

Let us rewind a bit and read chapter 9 of 1^st Corinthians:

1. We have much freedom and much opportunity, but we can choose not to use this power, just in case it should hinder the gospel. Paul is not even talking about abusing rights. He is talking about what is  rightful and lawful, but which he has chosen not to demand just in case it is unedifying. He used none of these opportunities.
2.   Make the gospel of Christ without charge. “Freely receive, freely give”. Give without expecting anything in return.
3.   Paul preaches the gospel out of necessity. He’s not in it to gain any glory or earthly recognition or earthly retribution for himself. His reward and contentment alone is found in the preaching of the gospel itself.
4.  We are free from all men let am completely willing to be servant of all so that as many can be saved as possible.
5. Be temperate in all things; be self-controlled; bring your body under subjection.
6. Reach out absolutely for the unsaved. You may have to throw aside everything “Christian” and “traditional” and familiar to you to reach the Jews. In fact, to reach the Jews, you have to throw everything out of your comfort box and take only one offense, that is the cross, and that is the gospel. To reach those in Asia in Africa you have to throw away everything “English” and “Western” and “Civilized” and “European” and learn to speak only one language (love) and teach only one message (the cross).  Ultimate love is the cross and the cross is where all selfishness ends. Love is where all selfishness ends. There is no religion, no rhetoric, no rules, to the cross, only love. Love, and a  life laid down for the lost. And we call others to this cross. Christ did not go on the cross to be the giver of love to everyone, and everyone the receivers. No! He calls His disciples to go the cross, to be transformed also into a giver of love and a vessel of love and a body of love and not only dispense love and grace but to call many more to this life-transforming cross that yields all yet demands us to yield all.

And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. (1Co 9:1-27 KJV)

The Church in the World

The Church as a visible community in this world must be the arm of mercy in the face of injustice, love in the face of hate, humility in the face of pride.

We in Christ have liberty, a liberty obtained not by revolution, rebellion, or reformation, but through the cross. The only way to freedom is the cross.

 The world has been confronted by the cross of Jesus Christ - it has already been frontally assaulted. Liberation has been won for slave or free. For us to fight in a physical rebellion or revolution undermines the victory we have in Christ. He has overcome the world! He said that His kingdom is not of this world. If His kingdom were of this world, His servants would fight. If His kingdom were of this world, the cross would have never been necessary. He was not a revolutionary fighting against the injustice, oppression, suppression, or taxation of Rome. 

When we truly understand liberty, then we understand the Cross. Our hope, our LIFE, our desire, our existence, is not of this world nor in this world but solely in Christ - in Him are all things. 

It is not REFORM this world needs. This world is ripe for destruction. To stay in this world for Christians is to be part of it's rough and tumble, yet abide fully in the Body of Christ, Christ manifested in the visible community of the church. Neither revolution nor false submission is the answer. We must bear testimony to the finished defeat of this world through the life of discipleship. Our duty is submit under present authorities, not to harbor resentment against them. 

It does NOT matter what others do, but what WE do. Do what is good without fear of man. We do not act righteously to receive the praises of men, but only to please God. We must refrain from all evil, all rebellion, all malice, etc. We are to live quietly, gently, meekly, peaceably with all men. We are like lambs led to the slaughter. We are free and have nothing to fear. 

Though we preach with meekness and love, the gospel, the Word of God, has the nature to provoke fury in the enemies of the cross. The GOSPEL, the living Word, is what this world NEEDs. We are willing to suffer whatever consequences if we know that we are doing the Will of God and our hearts are not only pleasing to Him, but our actions are exactly as demonstrated and dictated by Him. As Christ is, so we must be in this world. 

(Ideas taken from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship, the chapter The Visible Community)

Contending for the Faith

The epistle of Jude (or Yehudah) is a serious epistle with a serious warning. It is addressed to Disciples of Christ – those who have been called, sanctified, and preserved.

Jude writes an exhortation and a warning. “Contend earnestly for your faith!” Faith must be earnestly preserved. Faith was given once for all and does not change.

The message of Jude (Yehudah) is simple. Deny the FLESH and walk by the SPIRIT of God. Don't give in to lust and immorality - we have been sanctified! Contend earnestly to preserve the truth of God's grace. Trust completely in God, obeying Him - don't give place to unbelief.

We are to defend the faith against those who turn God’s grace into lewdness and are deniers of Christ. It is necessary that we be reminded of destruction that will come upon those who do not believe, God’s punishment of those who rebel, God’s unceasing vengeance upon those who give themselves over to abominable immorality, and God’s curse upon those who speak of things they do not know and reject authority.

God’s wrath has come fully upon:

1)      The Israelites whom God saved out of Egypt but refused to trust Him

2)      The angels who rebelled against God and left their domain

3)      The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah who gave themselves over to sexual immorality and sought strange flesh

4)      Dreamers who defiled the flesh, rejected authority, and speak evil of dignitaries, speaking evil of things they do not know.

The Perversion of Grace follows in the way of:

1)      Cain, who slew his brother and did not hold himself responsible, who was a wanderer and stranger on the earth

2)      Balaam, who disregarded God’s commandment in order to gain wealth and honor

3)      Korah, who rebelled against God’s order

Jude is warning against those inside the church who work such evil. They

1)      Feast and are merry, are without fear of God

2)      Serve only themselves, walking according to their beastial desires

3)      Are working for themselves eternal damnation

4)      Are Ungodly sinners

5)      Are grumblers and complainers

6)      Speak swelling and flattering words to gain an advantage with people

7)      Are sensual

8)      Don’t have the Spirit

9)      Cause divisions in the church

What ought we to do?

1)      Contend earnestly for the faith

2)      Trust God and obey Him

3)      Be aware of and vigilant against the perversion of grace

4)      Confess the Lord boldly

5)      Walk in the will of God and the role He gives us and the work He gives us in the place He sets us

6)      Don’t walk after fleshly lusts and satisfy carnality with immorality

7)      Be humble and don’t speak of things you do not know

8)      Don’t revile or accuse anyone, instead say, “YHWH rebuke you” – therefore countering evil by not exalting our own self and reviling authorities

9)      Don’t be greedy for money

10)   Don’t be rebellious

11)   Serve and Love others

12)   Don’t speak against YHWH

13)   Don’t grumble or complain, but be thankful in all things

14)   Don’t flatter people to manipulate them, but use godly edification

15)   Don’t be a mocker, but speak to edify

16)   Don’t be sensual, but walk by the Spirit

17)   Be a peacemaker, and don’t cause divisions

18)   Build ourselves (the church) up in faith

19)   Pray in the Holy Spirit

20)   Keep ourselves in the Love of God

21)   Look unto Christ’s mercy unto eternal life

22)   Have compassion on sinners. Realize the severity of God’s judgment on sin and seek to save them from the fires of eternal judgment.

23)   Praise the Lord.

Discipleship - the Answer

The foulest, most loathsome gospel, is that which denies the living-ness of the Messiah. It denies and mutilates the grace of God. It is a perversion and an Antichristian doctrine that is not based on the Word of God but the carnal desires of men. 

Cheap grace – the denial of the living work of God, that salvation and faith cannot be lived out, that trust in God merely a lip-service. 

Perhaps for so long a church-goer has been embittered by the lack of God’s transformative power in the preaching, so much so that the preaching of righteousness becomes a heavy burden and devoid of liberty, grace, and truth. When we lose the grace of God in our preaching, and yet preach righteousness, it is the letter and the letter kills. People are turned away from the truth because of legalism, the clinging to outwards forms to disguise inner emptiness. We fail to drink from the fountain of living waters and in consequence can only preach legalism: the law of sin and death. 

We can cling to church buildings, styles of worship, modes of preaching, gospel presentations, and such, not evil, but empty - devoid of grace, devoid of truth, devoid of God, just a religion and a form.

Man’s solution to the preaching of works without the faith to produce it is to cut off works. There is no power, so why should people live righteous lives? Therefore, we should just live like the world. After all, anything more than complacency and any attempt to live unlike the world is only fruitless striving. Somewhere, deep inside, we are made righteous we God. We don’t need to do anything. To do anything is wrong- striving you see, fruitless pursuit of righteousness which we can never attain to and should not attain to. That is cheap grace and lawlessness – the law of sin and death. 

Do you know what costly, true, grace? It is the grace of God from the Messiah and in the Messiah poured out to the sinner. It fills him with forgiveness and repentance. God is revealed to the sinner, and God will never let him go. God has given the sinner undeserved riches – and filled him with the power of the Holy Spirit, the power to change. God washes him clean, and brings him into eternal life. The sinner is now righteous, and the Spirit of God in him transforms him into the image of God. This grace that was bestowed upon him now prevails upon him to leave all that he has, take up His cross, and follow the Messiah. Grace is God loves us, and God giving us the love in which we are consumed by Him and enabled to love the lost. 

Sometimes we just need to get down on our knees before God and cry out Him, asking Him to restore to us the true gospel, not in word only but in power. We badly need to the true, powerful, costly, precious grace of God. We need to be empowered to preach the true gospel of the Messiah, that says, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” and “Take up your cross and follow me”. 

That’s right. The gospel we preach is the cross. If there is no cross, there is no forgiveness, no redemption, no atonement, no resurrection. There must be the suffering before there is the glory. Those who come to the Messiah’s cross will, with Him and through Him, experience the power of His resurrection. 

Discipleship needs to be restored – not the commandments of men but yoke of the Messiah. Yeshua calls to all those who are wearied and burdened, come and take His yoke, for it is easy and light. He calls all who thirst to drink of the living waters of life, and He will make living waters to flow out from you. He calls those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. He calls the blind, the death, the oppressed, the overburdened. He calls them to take up their cross and follow Him. In Him is life everlasting. In Him is peace. In Him are joy, and eternal rewards. 

What is the normal Christian life? To live the life of Christ. To be His disciple, following Him, and longing to be like Him, fixing our eyes on Him, hearing His voice, obeying Him in perfect trust.

What is legalism then? It is non-existent. You will follow Him because you trust him. You will obey Him because you love Him. He is your everything. Your life is bound in Him.

Not in but out…

It’s interesting the influence New Age has had on modern society. Why, look at how vegetarianism has spread! I have to say, nothing in Scripture supports vegetarianism as it is today. Vegetarianism belongs to a Hindu/Buddhist/New Age worldview and not to a Biblical worldview.

Look at Hitler. He was a vegetarian, but of course vegetarians try to deny that. I think he probably was, and, in fact, was very, very kind and humane to animals. The Nazi Government was exemplary in its treatment of animals.

Compare Hitler with Yeshua/Jesus. Jesus ate fish, cooked fish too. Jesus ate the Passover lamb, and also drank wine.

Vegetarianism advocates being “pure” and “clean” in diet. Meat = immoral, cruel, killing animals.

Because of the fall, our bodies simply need meat. God gave us meat to eat. And He commanded the children of Israel to eat the Pesach lamb, among the many bloody and gory sacrifices to be performed.

Lets look at the Nazi example again. Look at how they treated humans by dehumanizing them. They were atrocious. Then let’s take a look at modern society. Wow… look how cool and popular being vegan is. Look at how abortion is so widespread. People don’t even flinch at it. In fact, they rally and fight and scream their approval of it, and react violently when it is revealed for what it is, murder. They refuse to see the truth. Look at how fetuses are used in making medicines! Atrocious!

The Nazis made babies into lampshades. Modern society makes aborted babies into medicine… Modern society fights and crusades for animal rights, yet treat unborn babies as trash. Somewhere, somehow, our priorities have all gone wrong, totally wrong.  

Romans 14 says that the weak eat only vegetables.                  

The nutrient –rich, dairy-rich, meat-rich, whole-grain rich, beautiful diet of Ancient Israelites was fantastic, and I believe, the way to go. Natural, raw milk is soooo good. When God created the heavens and the earth, He said it was good. I don’t dare say otherwise… I don’t think it’s right to replace God-given vitamins with man-made tablets.

Concerning healing, I believe in the costliness of Yeshua’s healing power. It cost Him to heal us. It cost Him pain. What cost God cannot be cheap for me. I cannot take healing like “cheap grace”. “ I believe I must sow not to the flesh, to live irresponsibly, but by the Spirit, to live by the wisdom of God, with the whole big perspective of eternity. No matter what I do and what I eat, I cannot heal myself. No matter what I do and what I try, I cannot deliver myself from sin. Yeshua alone is my salvation, wisdom, righteousness, healing. But He calls us to the set-apart life of discipleship. My body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. I should eat wisely, and responsibly.

Men like to believe that sickness is just a thing. Yet Scripture teaches us that bitterness, unforgiveness, disobedience, and sin cause sicknesses. Look at how stress causes sickness! Yeshua told us not to worry about our life. But of people would get angry at if you  even suggest that. The devil wants to deceive people and hold in them in bondage to sin *shrug*. What’s new?

The devil’s system, the world’s system, destroys our bodies, because the Adversary hates us. He hates us and wants only to steal, kill, and destroy. He feeds our temporary pleasures but is so cynical. Like Hitler was so cynical. He seemed to be pro-Germany, pro-church, a good man who wanted to better the nation after its Versailles humiliation. The temporal victory of Germany was nothing. He came to steal, kill, and destroy Germany. He reduced it to ruins and poverty and destruction. That’s the same way the devil works, seemingly for us, but deeply cynical and evil, nothing good at all, having only evil and destruction intended for us. Do not be deceived!

The Adversary’s system is described Mark 5. The painfully ill woman was abused by physicians. They extorted her money, and left her just as sick as before. That’s man’s way. The world’s way takes your money, your joy, your life, your hope, etc. The thief comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. The medical system with its roots in demonic serpent-worship and exaltation of mammon cannot heal us. It will take our money, make us suffer, and leave us worse than before.

Yeshua is our merciful salvation, our healer, our deliverance. He alone can set us free from all curses.

Back to vegetarianism. It’s not of God. Hitler was a vegetarian, Jesus was not. However, remember most importantly that what a person eats is not the most important thing. Jesus said that what comes out of a man what defiles him. So, after, judging a man by his diet is not the fairest comparison. Look at the words, what came out of Hitler’s mouth! The hate, the evil, the blasphemy, the lies, the propaganda, the pure demonic stream of rubbish!

Look what Jesus is: life, truth, freedom. He came to set us free. He came to deliver us. Instead for being a man for himself, He was a man for others. Hitler only cared about his own idealogy, his own plans, and used the German people to that end. He was a totally self-orientated, self-autonomous man, who took his own . Jesus laid down His life. The cross was a supreme act of love and mercy.

Hitler was a prototype of the AntiChrist/Anti-Messiah/Pseudo-Messiah. Men in the flesh looked to him to solve their problems.

Look only to Yeshua, who said,

Blessed are the peacemakers, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.   

Shalom!

Discipleship

I could not have imagined, 2 years ago when I started this blog, that discipleship would become such an increasingly important and central issue in my life.

Discipleship first meant to me learning. Learning, studying, discussing, cross-referencing, searching out the original Greek and Hebrew, writing, memorizing, etc.

My favorite book that I absolutely love next to the Bible, is the Cost of Discipleship. 4 years or so ago, I picked up the Cost of Discipleship and immediately the words hit me, and I thought, "it's so beautiful'. It was poetic, it was clear, I could understand it immediately, though at that time I knew nothing experiential about discipleship. The first chapter, with its exposition on cheap grace was so vivid, so illustrative. I never knew words could be put together in such a way.

So when I started this blog I picked up a quote, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."

Inseparable is Discipleship and Obedience, obedience unto death. Discipleship means obedience, obedience that costs, and I have come to learn that the only kind of obedience God calls us to is the kind that costs. Discipleship is antithetical to enjoyment and convenience.

Art Katz's writings showed me clearly that the convenient, easy, natural kind of Christian faith is nothing but dead religion. Discipleship, consisting of trust and obedience, was the kind of thing Abraham had with God.

Leave all. Follow me.

Wow. God hasn't changed at all.


Intrinsic to our walk with God as disciples must be humility. Constant humility. There's not a day we don't sin. There's not a day we put ourselves first. There's not a day where there's something I should not have said or done. Ugh... this life is hopeless. Nevertheless, my life must be hidden with Christ in God. My perfection is not something deep within that I have to search out. It's something that is found in Christ, in the Spirit, where all things of the flesh cease, where there is no condemnation.


Like i always say, "In the Spirit I am perfect. In the soul I am being perfected. In the body I will be perfected, and all by Christ and the cross". In the Spirit I am dead to all flesh. In the Soul I am dying, daily. In the body, well, physical death will come.


Ever present before me in my walk with God is the desire for that, for apostolicity. What a word. To bear on my life that apostolic bearing. That's what I must want. Through Him alone I can receive grace and apostleship to the obedience of faith to all nations. In other words, Christ has empowered me with the holy Spirit and put His sending upon me to make disciples of all nations.




That longing for authenticity, for perfection, for the cross. I want that apostolic faith, that faith which alone can save, that faithfulness unto death. I want to be a vessel of His making, from His pattern, according to God's will and not according to my own.

before doing something, before succumbing to that fleshly itch to do, I must always ask myself, is that apostolic? Is that purely of God? Is that something that sprang from my poetic, vissionary, idealistic, carnal, and sinful, soul, ie. mind will and emotions. Did this birth out of the Spirit or spring into my mind? Is this going to be something that counts for eternity.

I often fall into loving and living for the "well and good ". But it's a totally different thing to be running, living, looking for, and that is which of God, of eternity, of truth, of Christ 100% and of me 0%.

Discipleship means simple-minded obedience. Where's the rationalization, the comtemplation, the mental preparation..? Just obey? The Spirit of God moves within you and gives that bitter, horrid cup. The Spirit, power of God, drives to you obey. Fear of God overcomes you. It's the last thing you want to do, but you must. And it's now or never - not tomorrow, not anytime, not never. It's now. My mind conjures of pictures of hell fire and screamings of the disobedient. Shivering in fear, I obey, but only because I must and not because I want to.

Obedience is the opposite of self-autonomy. I want to be in control of my life. I want to make my own decisions. I want to think for myself. I will decide whether I will do it, when I will do it, and how I will do it. You can only give suggestions.
That's the individualistic, self-autonomic mindset. That's the opposite of unity, of love.


I told God many times: "No. Never. That's no and that's it." Thank God He didn't listen to me, that God He is stronger than me and makes me do His will, because He is merciful and kind and good and loving and won't let me remain as I am, because if I remain as I am, I will suffer His wrath. "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts."

That's all for now.

Shalom, Beka.

Why I’m Not Just a Natural Girl

I’m thinking a lot about natural things lately: the sun, the sky, herbs, making sprouted grain bread, drinking natural goat’s milk. But this morning as I worked the soaked grain bread with the plastic spatula I was reminded of what Scripture says.

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

(Romans 8:13 KJV)

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

(Romans 8:5-6 KJV)

If I live naturally, eat naturally, breathe naturally, and wear 100% all-natural cotton, it doesn’t make one bit of difference. I’m going to die. If we live according to the natural, and sin according to the natural, we die according to the natural.

It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

(1 Corinthians 15:44 KJV)

To be natural to be limited to our senses, to this realm, and to this earth. We don’t have spiritual understanding or spiritual awareness. According to what we see and think, we act. The flesh of a man consists of his physical flesh and his soul: his mind, will, and emotions.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

(1 Corinthians 2:14 KJV)

No matter how natural we are, we cannot avoid death, and we cannot avoid sin. Sin is natural to us, because we were born into it. Is there something pure and undefiled about creation, something tranquil and florescent? No. Creation was created in glory. Now Creation is subject to futility.

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

(Romans 8:22 KJV)

If we have ears to hear and eyes to see, we would see that everything of the flesh has a death sentence of it. If we have ears to hear, we would hear the groans and wailings of creation, its restlessness, its longing, to be restored and to see the sons of God in glory.

The value of worldly and earthly things is hyper-inflated. Like a giant bubble, it is colorful, attractive, sailing happily and smoothly.  One prick is all it takes for the world’s values, systems, programs, concepts, accomplishments, to drop as a little soapy splat on the infinite pavements of eternity. It will be no more.

I don’t just want to be a natural girl, or grow into a natural living woman, eco, green, organic and all-natural. I want to be a spiritual being. I want to have eternal life. I want a spiritual, eternal body. I want to have the eyes of the Spirit, to have discernment and not divination. I want to be a work of God’s hands, built according to His pattern, not according to self. I want to hear the voice of God that thunders, and deep within me stirs me to rise up, take up my cross, and follow Him, He being the sole object and focus of all my being.  

We can be as natural as we like, but unless we grasp, lay hold up, and root ourselves into that which is of God and of the Spirit, when we die, it will be as the natural grass of the field that naturally fades away. Here today and gone tomorrow.  

We won’t make a dent on destiny. We won’t affect eternity. We will just live happy, and die happy, that’s the end. How sad, if all we live for is this life. Futile. Vanity. Worthless. Passing.

But if we live for the kingdom, the eternal Kingdom, and the eternal Messiah, what joy, what life and peace!

God, make me a spiritual girl. Not merely an intelligent girl, pretty girl, witty girl, natural girl, talented girl, sweet girl, useful girl, or good girl, but a spiritual girl. Hey, but wait. Now in the Spirit there is no longer male nor female, circumcised nor uncircumcised, Jew nor Greek. Messiah is all and in all.

Are we going to bury our talents in this earth, or multiply them as an investment into eternity?

A Poem by Rebekah Mui, “Oh My Precious Hyper-Inflated World”

Oh My Precious Hyper-Inflated World,

Don’t go away, leave me, in a bit,

Stay around and don’t your surly lips curl,

I will be so ever good and sweet,

Fill your pockets with dainties you will never eat,

Dear me how quickly time goes by.

Hark! All time’s wasted by and by,

Why not invest a little quick pleasure,

Something tangible to treasure,

Something possible to measure,

Enjoy my own little gesture,

Feeding this little twinkie who will take my heart,

Fly away; drop and die, and drown.

What’s the harm.

Just a little fun.

Take a break from this endless sojourn,

To chat with the locals, tales to spurn,

While the hurricane nears the ground,

You don’t want to leave the town,

Your heart and your destiny forever bound,

In Futility.

With Him and In Him.

We think often about the glory of the Church in Christ. In eternity, and even now, we are literally His body, in Him and of Him.

It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

(2 Timothy 2:11-13 KJV)

We are yoked with Him.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

(Matthew 11:28-30 KJV)

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

(1 John 4:17 KJV)

And as He is the Son of God, we are made partakers of the divine nature, and are made sons of God.

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

(1 John 3:1-2 KJV)

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

(2 Peter 1:4 KJV)

What a glory! It is an eternally supreme and wondrous glory, indescribable.

And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

(John 17:22 KJV)

 And we the Body of Christ will be made One, just as One as He, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are One, and we are One in Him!

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

(John 17:23 KJV)

And we will be perfected in this Oneness and glory, so that the majestic glory of Christ will be the glory of His saints!

But what is the nature of this glory?

When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

(2 Thessalonians 1:10 KJV)

We like to think of the glory, but what precedes and catalyzes this glory? Why does the Father exalt the Son in such glory?

Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

(Philippians 2:4-11 KJV)

Namely the cross. The cross of Yeshua the Messiah is the suffering before the glory, the labor before the birth, the pain before the joy, the shame before the exaltation, and the deaf before the life.

We are to take up our cross and follow Him. Yoked with Him, together with Him, we die. He puts to death everything of us – our inherent flesh, our inherent body, our inherent nature, our inherent goodness, and our inherent evil. Remember – we are born into the knowledge of good and evil, lest we think Christ puts to death our evil, we must not forget He put to death every good of ours, which when weighed by the eternal holiness of God is not goodness at all, nor right-doing, but filthy rags of wickedness. No matter how beautiful the fruit, it is bad, because the tree is bad, rotten, and deformed.

This glory comes only by the cross and nothing else. Next time I think of something great I want to do for God, I must put the cross to it – to death with myself! I must judge the effect and potential of such a doing with the power and glory of the cross, and my own works pale and shrink in estimation. What can we do that exceeds the wonder of the cross, what else can please God? Nothing save the cross of Yeshua the Messiah, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

Being yoked to Him, therefore, imagine ourselves chained to Him at the time of His rejection, trial, scorn, and crucifixion. Imagine the jeers of the crowd, the lashes of the whip; whatever fell of Him falls on you, for you are yoked with Him.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

(Isaiah 53:3 KJV)

If they persecuted Him, will they do not persecute you? If they despised Him, they will despise you. If they reject Him, prepare to be rejected. Want to be His disciple? Want to be a Christian (follow of Christ)? Then you must take up your cross, following on behind Him, yoked alongside Him, and bound in Him.

Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

(Luke 6:26 KJV)

No, we will no be spoken well off; people will hide their faces from us, we will be despised by men, and not esteemed. We will be little and worthless both in the sight and men and ourselves. We will be utterly cast down, humiliated, and stripped of everything that makes us hold our head up high.

And that the Son of God, to whom belongs all glory and honor, should submit Himself to such a state, humble Himself under the agony of the cross, to take upon Himself all our suffering and shame! It then becomes only reasonable that we who love Him do the same, to follow in His steps, in Him. It becomes remarkably easier for us, because He is the one bearing the burden of the yoke. His grace poured out on us compels us and leads us on. Even the cross is not a work of ourselves, but the only thing required of us is to yield ourselves under the yoke. Then He will drive us, lead us, and His grace carries us, fills us with a hope beyond understanding, a faith beyond reason, and a love beyond bounds that will make us run towards the final eternal goal – the salvation of our souls, the Kingdom of Our Lord and of His Messiah.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

(Isaiah 53:5 KJV)

Are we willing to lay down our lives to Him in total surrender, knowing that wounds, bruises, chastisements, and stripes will be our lot, and yet in those suffering be filled with utmost joy? This then is the glory of the saints, for we suffer with Him.

Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

(1 Peter 4:19 KJV)

Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

(1 Peter 4:16 KJV)

See Him, carrying the cross, walking the Way of Suffering, mocked, spit upon, kicked, jeered. He looks back at His disciples. There you stand, you who have followed Him thus far. Yet now you can choose to be identified with Him, or hide your face and disappear in the crowd. Will you stand out? Would you walk forward, and stand with Him. Would You follow Him to the cross, pick up one Yourself, and then continue the rest of the way, led by the Son of God who laid down His life?  Yet is any man suffers are a follower of Messiah, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf!

It is easy to declare “O Lord, I will follow you to the death!” But this statement will not validate itself – it is spoken in ignorance, firstly of the implications of the cross and its cost, and secondly of the state of your own heart and your ability.

The disciples learnt a tough lesson at the eve of the Cross, for they had neither counted the cost nor checked their wallet, but out of impulsiveness and immaturity made such a statement.  

The rich young ruler counted the cost of discipleship, for the Lord made him to understand on no uncertain terms its requirement, but did not find in himself the ability. Thus he was heartbroken. That last stronghold in his life, the last barrier between himself and the cross, was not his money or his love but his pride, or self-trust. Finding in himself no such power, he turned away, so near to eternal life that he could almost breathe its everlasting refreshment, but so far away, as to miss it altogether.

We only need fall at His feet in tears and great longing, “Lord, forgive me for I am not able. I have this not in myself. I cannot follow you. But I throw myself onto Thy mercy and avail my soul before Thee.” Then His strength will be made perfect in our weakness.

And thus we shall come to understand the grace of God, for thus it shall be poured out on us.

But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; (1 Peter 3:14 KJV)

For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.

(1 Peter 3:17 KJV)

Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

(Revelation 2:10 KJV)

By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

(Hebrews 11:24-25 KJV)

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

(2 Timothy 3:12 KJV)

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

(Romans 8:17-18 KJV)

Yea, as Christ suffered and died, so if we suffered with Him, we shall be glorified together!

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

(Isaiah 53:7 KJV)

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

(Isaiah 53:4 KJV)

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

(Isaiah 53:5 KJV)

Are we today willing to bear and carry the sorrows of His people? Are we today willing, in this suffering, to be judged by them as being punished by God for our own sins? Are we today willing be wrongfully accused, yet remain silent. To be right, yet treated as wrong?

God, make us willing to be made willing. Make us willing to yield under Your yoke, to lift up our hands in surrender to the nails and thorns that beflicted our Master Yeshua on the cross?

Make us choose the narrow way, to drink the deeply bitter cup of sorrows, griefs, afflictions, and the cross. Let us not only say with our lips that we are willing to drink Your cup, but with our hearts, souls, and minds, bound to the cross. We will not evade the cross, nor run from You in the time of Your affliction, but make us O Master to be willing to be shamed with You.  

There is not in us a desire for the Messiah’s cross, but an inborn distaste and repulsion against it. The Adversary fights against us with might and main, roaring in all the savageness of evil, circling us as wolves, waiting to bite and devour our souls. Yet Messiah ever lives to make intercession for us. The Spirit travails for us with unutterable groaning. Creation moans in restless longing. The Father preserves us to the end.

 Make us O Lord, let us be a vessel of Your making, a sacrifice to Your pleasure! Keep us faithful O Lord, never let our heart grow cold. May we persevere with all the perseverance of hope, through the fires, darkness, turmoil, and wrangling of this present age to be presented a purified, blameless, glorious, comely Bride, the Church and Body of our Messiah.

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

(1 John 3:2 KJV)