Romans 5:3-5

Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. Romans 5:3

The Bible asks us: how will the people hear without a preacher, Romans 10:14? Far too many of us believe that troubles and sufferings come on us because we have done something wrong. That is flat out wrong and we need to preach this Truth! Troubles and sufferings come into our lives so that our Father can become stronger in us. Think about Jesus’ life, what did He do wrong? Jesus was perfect, yet He was constantly afflicted. He healed thousands of people and then they tried to kill Him. They were constantly trying to arrest Him. Look at Paul, Peter, John, and James. They were constantly being beaten, imprisoned, and killed and all they were doing was healing people and telling them that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand and that Jesus came so that they could have life and have it more abundantly. 

Paul was sick all of the time, Galatians 4:14. So was Timothy, 1 Timothy 5:23. What did these two do wrong to suffer this? According to Paul what He did was get caught up to the third Heaven and hear powerful things, so our Father sent a messenger of satan to constantly harass him so that he would stay humble, 2 Corinthians 12:7. Paul actually began to rejoice when he was sick and afflicted because he realized that it was making our Father stronger in him, 2 Corinthians 12:10.

  

And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation.

Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us. Romans 3:4-5

We are plainly told in Romans 8:1 that there is now absolutely no condemnation for us who are in Christ. We are never left alone by our Father to do anything on our own. Our Father never leaves us or forsakes us, Hebrews 13:5. Jesus is always our Shepherd, we are never left alone to make a choice, because Jesus is always our Head. The glorious Truth is that we are persecuted and afflicted to cause us to be strong in our Father’s might. 

Here is the Truth: if we are doing things right, it is only because our Father has empowered us to do them right. This is why we cannot boast. So for this to be true, it also has to be true that if we are doing things wrong, it is only because our Father has not yet empowered us to do them right. This is why there is now no condemnation for us. Don’t ever let anyone, including yourself, tell you anything different. So rejoice in all things, even when you are suffering!

We Are Guaranteed Eternal Greatness

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed you were marked with Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, Who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:13-14 

If you don’t believe these verses that teach us that we are guaranteed eternal salvation, that we can never lose it, I want you to ask yourself this? When exactly were you filled with the Holy Ghost? If you cannot answer this question with a specific time and place, a time when you knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that you were, then you need to get with our Father and ask Him why? I can tell you that for me it was at the Brentonel Church of Christ, when I was eleven years old, with my Aunt Linda, in a cold metal chair beside the baptismal, where I had just been dunked! My mom reached over, pointed towards my lips, and I was filled! 

I had believed in Jesus before that night, but that was the time in my life that I was filled with the Holy Spirit. That is the exact moment that I was empowered to realize that I was guaranteed eternity with our Father. If you have not had such an experience, if you struggle with what we have discussed in these devotionals, there is no condemnation here, just an honest question to ask yourself, have you been filled with the Holy Spirit? Our Father will reveal to you the answer! I have never met anyone who can tell me of an exact moment when they were baptized with the Holy Spirit, who ever questions their eternity. They don't question because the confidence of Jesus has been born into them. They have a guarantee that is directly of God! No wavering, no questioning, it’s just in them! And if it’s not in you, it can be, and it’s God’s will that it is. 

Our Father loves us so very much! He wants us to have no questions about who we are in Him and who He is within us. We should not be tossed to and fro and to insure that we aren't, our Father has given us Himself to bear witness with our spirits, so that we can be confident and bold in our eternal salvation! Don’t just take my word for it, go and read in the Book of Acts, every time the Holy Spirit came to men, there were no doubts! The baptism of the Holy Spirit brings confidence and boldness, because He brings assurance as He cries out from our hearts that God is our Father. If you desire this experience it is only because our Father is causing you to want it and that means that He will absolutely give it!

No one is able to come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me attracts and draws him and gives him the desire to come to Me, and [then] I will raise him up [from the dead] at the last day. John 6:44

Father I ask You in Jesus’ Name, that all who read this study will know beyond any shadow of a doubt that they are eternally with You! That they know that they are preserved by You until the Day of Jesus’ return, the Day of Redemption! I thank You Father that they know that they are included in the exact same anointing that You gave to Jesus: which is Christ! I thank You Father that we all come into fellowship, with one heart, one accord, and one mind, as we are used by You to be doers of the Word! You are greater in us than anything that is in the World Father and Your will be done as You use us to do all things through Christ Who strengthens us!

Worldly Expectations

But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides. Matthew 6:33

The question here is: should we expect anything worldly in return for being used by our Father to serve His Kingdom? The answer is yes. Jesus tells us in several places that we should fully expect to have our Father provide earthly things for us. Our Father knows that we need food, shelter, clothes, and money to live in this world. Jesus tells us not to worry about these things though. He tells us this because all of these things will be added to us as the Holy Spirit causes us to seek first our Father’s Kingdom. Another question is will our Father only give us just enough to get by or will He provide us with more than we need?

And why should you be anxious about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field and learn thoroughly how they grow; they neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his magnificence (excellence, dignity, and grace) was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and green and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe you, O you of little faith? Matthew 6:28-30

Jesus plainly tells us that our Father will provide us with magnificent things. He also tells us that our Father will give us so much that we will be able to be charitable for every good work.

And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation]. 2 Corinthians 9:8

In Matthew 24:44-46 Jesus tells us that we will actually be used to give food and provisions away during the Great Tribulation. When the world will have nothing, we will have worldly things and we will be giving them away to the needy. Just look at Jesus’ life and you can see how our Father will take care of us. Jesus had Wise Men show up at His birth and give His family great wealth, Matthew 2:11. Our Father gave Jesus so much money that He had a thief in charge of it and no one knew that Judas was stealing from it, John 12:6. If Jesus was poor everyone would know if money was being stolen from the treasury. Also look at Jesus clothes, they were so fine that after He had sweated blood and then been beaten, the Roman soldiers gambled to see who would get them, John 19:23. So the answer is yes we should fully expect that our Father abundantly take care of us.

But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out]. Hebrews 11:6

Our peace is that we don’t openly seek the worldly things. The Holy Spirit causes us to seek our Kingdom, which means He causes us to seek the well being of others. Our Father causes us to give without everyone knowing it and what He uses us to do in secret, He rewards us for openly.

So that your deeds of charity may be in secret; and your Father Who sees in secret will reward you openly. Matthew 6:4

You And I Are Now Blameless

According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: Ephesians 1:4

And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are One. John 17:22 

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

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 

Our Father chose us and now through Christ we are holy and without blame before Him. God’s Truths are awesome! The Blood of Christ is working so strongly for us that we are now blameless. No work can justify what the Blood of Christ, shed on the cross, has so freely given us. The Holy Spirit gives us the strength and confidence in the Truth that through Christ we are living a life without any blame! 

We tend to talk about this lifestyle of perfection and blamelessness in the future tense, when Jesus returns. But the Truth that will set us free is that our Father is more than willing and able to cause us to live this way right now! We can never earn this perfection on our own, through our own efforts, yet through Christ we freely have it. It’s an easy yoke to be borne, because we have been empowered to simply look unto Jesus to Author and Finish our faith! Through Christ we stand before our Father blameless, apart from any work that we have done, with free and complete redemption through the power of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! Our Father chose to have us because He is able and willing to do these glorious things through us! Our Father knew the way to make us glorious and holy, and our Father gave us the way, the Light, and the Truth, and Jesus is the only way!

Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22

No Laws Means Never Being Disaapointed

For Christ is the end of the Law [the limit at which it ceases to be, for the Law leads up to Him Who is the fulfillment of its types, and in Him the purpose which it was designed to accomplish is fulfilled. That is, the purpose of the Law is fulfilled in Him] as the means of righteousness (right relationship to God) for everyone who trusts in and adheres to and relies on Him. Romans 10:4

Christ, which means the anointing of our Father, is the end of the Law. This is such a powerful Truth for us, because where there is no Law, there is no sin.

[To be sure] sin was in the world before ever the Law was given, but sin is not charged to men’s account where there is no law [to transgress]. Romans 5:13

For the Law results in [divine] wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression [of it either]. Romans 4:15

For sin shall not [any longer] exert dominion over you, since now you are not under Law [as slaves], but under grace [as subjects of God’s favor and mercy]. Romans 6:14

Likewise, my brethren, you have undergone death as to the Law through the [crucified] body of Christ, so that now you may belong to Another, to Him Who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. Romans 7:4

But now we are discharged from the Law and have terminated all intercourse with it, having died to what once restrained and held us captive. So now we serve not under [obedience to] the old code of written regulations, but [under obedience to the promptings] of the Spirit in newness [of life]. Romans 7:6

We now live and are controlled by the anointing of our Father. There are no longer any laws on the books that can convict us of sin. Amen, the world would say that this freedom leads to anarchy and chaos. But the Truth doesn’t lead to chaos; it leads to power and joy. We now live under the power and control of Christ and Christ is all about serving the needs of others. Christ doesn’t lead to fruitless acts, the anointing of our Father leads only to abundant fruit. The anointing of our Father now controls, motivates, strengthens, directs, leads, and guides us. We do not need laws any longer that tell us how to act, because we now the anointing of our Father directing all of our actions. So through Christ we now only have and enjoy victory.   

The Scripture says, No man who believes in Him [who adheres to, relies on, and trusts in Him] will [ever] be put to shame or be disappointed. Romans 10:11

We Are Perfectly Blessed To Be Perfectly Holy

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: Ephesians 1:3-4

Our Father has held absolutely nothing back from us. We have been blessed with every blessing that He has. Everything that makes our Father God, has been given to us and is working through us. Our Father gave everything to Jesus and then He made us one with Him, so that we too could have it all. 

Our Father chose for us to have all of His faith, all of His peace, all of His joy, all love, all glory, all wisdom, all knowledge, all forgiveness, all power, all hope, and all of His compassion. We are one with all of these things and everything else that our Father has right now. The Truth is that there is no waiting on all of these spiritual things. We have been blessed with all of them right now. Faith come from hearing this Truth and this Truth is what sets us free!

So many times a person will say, "yeah but that was Jesus, that is why He could do that" This belief is flat out wrong. The Truth is that we have everything and are one with everything that Jesus has and is. There is nothing that made Jesus Lord, that our Father has not imparted to us. Our Father has held nothing back form us. He has made us one with all that He has right now, Galatians 2:20. And He has done this so that we can be just as perfect as Jesus is, Matthew 5:48. We have been born again into perfection through the Grace of our Father. It's all a gift. It's all unearned and it's all operating in us right now. 

We are right now just as Holy and Blameless as Jesus. This is why our Father can use us right now just as powerfully as He uses Jesus, John 14:12. Christians are perfect because we have been chosen by God to be perfect. He has forgiven us all of our trespasses and in the process of His Grace He has made us perfect as well. Now in the power of our Father's might we go and serve the world, just as gloriously and victoriously as our Head, Jesus, serves the world! 

We Are Recession Proof

Stop toiling and doing and producing for the food that perishes and decomposes [in the using], but strive and work and produce rather for the [lasting] food which endures [continually] unto life eternal; the Son of Man will give (furnish) you that, for God the Father has authorized and certified Him and put His seal of endorsement upon Him. John 6:27

I then heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out from her, my people, so that you may not share in her sins, neither participate in her plagues. Revelation 18:4

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Matthew 6:25

Our Father plainly tells us that we are to not labor for earthly things. Jesus tell’s us to take no thought for food and clothing and that we are to come out of Babylon, which is the world’s economic and political system. How can we do these things? How is it that we can actually take no thought for food when we need food to live? How is it that we can live on this earth and not have any thing to do with its corrupt system? The answer is that we reap what we sow. Our Father is greater in us then anything that is in this world and He is causing us to sow things that are not of the world’s corruption. He is doing this through us  so that we can live apart from this world, even while we are still in this world. The sower sows the Word. Mark 4:14

Jesus answered him, If you would be perfect [that is, have that spiritual maturity which accompanies self-sacrificing character], go and sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; and come, be My disciple [side with My party and follow Me]. Matthew 19:21

External religious worship [ religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world. James 1:27

Judge not [neither pronouncing judgment nor subjecting to censure], and you will not be judged; do not condemn and pronounce guilty, and you will not be condemned and pronounced guilty; acquit and forgive and release (give up resentment, let it drop), and you will be acquitted and forgiven and released. Luke 6:37

The Holy Spirit causes us to share the Truth that sets people free. He causes us to give to those who we can receive nothing back from. Our Father drives us to the needy to be there for them as friends and He empowers us to forgive everyone everything! Because our Father does all of these things through us, we actually live in the perfect peace of taking no thought for the cares of this world. The seed that our Father sows through us, just produces all that we need, all of the time.  

Can We Stop Bearing Fruit?

Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit. John 15:2

This verse has been used by preachers my whole life to threaten us with. But let’s dissect the Truth and see if this verse should frighten us or encourage the daylights out of us. The first Truth to be considered here is that to be one with Christ is a gift. Salvation is a free gift from God, Ephesians 2:8. 

The second Truth that our Father tells us is that He never takes His gifts back once He gives them. 

For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable. [He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call.] Romans 11:29

The third Truth to consider, if someone wants to threaten you that you may stop bearing fruit can be found in Ezekiel 36:27: And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinances and do them.

Now taking all of these verses together we can see that if we are saved, we are only saved because our Father gave it to us. And our Father will never take it back, because He never withdraws a gift once He gives it. We also can see that because we have been given the gift of salvation, or in other words the gift of being one with Jesus, that our Father will place His Spirit within us and cause us to bear fruit. So there is absolutely no chance that if we are saved that we can ever stop bearing fruit and be cast out of our perfect union with Christ.

So why did Jesus say this? Jesus often spoke in parables and in ways that seemed to confound. He did this because the Truth is not for everyone to know, Mark 4:10-12. It is not a lie that if a born again person would stop bearing fruit, that they would be cast out of Jesus. But the greater Truth, the whole Truth, is that it is impossible for a true child of God to not be used by our Father to bear fruit. The wolves in sheep’s clothing will use this verse to try to keep the focus on man and not on Jesus. They will use it for fear instead of sharing the glorious Truth that it is impossible for us to not continually be used by our Father to bear luscious and everlasting fruit. 

John 15:2 is a glorious verse and there is no fear in it at all. The Truth is that our Father will constantly do whatever is needed so that He can always cause us to grow and be used in more and more powerful ways!  

You Hoping For Some Trouble Today?

Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us. Romans 5:3-4

Let’s be honest, for us to rejoice in our troubles and sufferings the Holy Spirit has to be the power in our lives causing us to rejoice. It is easy for us to tell ourselves that we have to be the ones, who on our own look past the world and our situations to Jesus. But it is impossible for us to do that through mere human abilities. Our Father will not permit us to. This Truth can be seen when Jesus took on a servants towel and said that He was going to wash Peter’s feet. Peter got all religious on Jesus and said that he would never allow Him wash his feet. Well, Jesus told Peter, that if he did not let Him wash his feet, then he could have none of Him. Jesus said this because the Truth is that He has to do it for us, without Jesus we can do nothing.

Peter said to Him, You shall never wash my feet! Jesus answered him, Unless I wash you, you have no part with (in) Me [you have no share in companionship with Me]. John 13:8

We are going to have troubles in this world and our Father will bring us out of all of them and then He will lead us right into another problem. This cycle of life will cause us to rejoice and be full of joy. Because as the process repeats itself, over and over again, we grow up in the power of Christ. As our Father causes us to triumph in everything, we become unswerving in our confidence that He is in control of us and that He never looses.

Too many condemn themselves, believing that they have done something wrong and that is why the trouble has come upon them. Others are out there binding the daylights out of satan, blaming him for the problem, when it is actually our Father causing the situation to happen. We are told plainly to rejoice when troubles come, because greater is He that is in us, then he that is in this world. Our Father, through His power, will actually cause us to begin to rejoice and hope for problems. The Truth sets us free and the Truth is that if you want to grow up in Christ, you need problems that our Father conquers through us.

As our Father repeatedly does this for us, what use to seem so major will no longer is even be thought of by us. As our Father brings us through these events, He causes us to look past our own lives and to the lives of others. Our Father will cause us to think and intercede for others and the mind of Christ that He has given us will actually begin to take no thought for our own lives. So if you are having what seems like one persecution and trial after another, rejoice, your saved and our Father is growing you up. The worry would be if you actually weren’t having any troubles.

How Will You Judge On Judgment Day?

Then I saw thrones, and sitting on them were those to whom authority to act as judges and to pass sentence was entrusted. Also I saw the souls of those who had been slain with axes [beheaded] for their witnessing to Jesus and [for preaching and testifying] for the Word of God, and who had refused to pay homage to the beast or his statue and had not accepted his mark or permitted it to be stamped on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived again and ruled with Christ (the Messiah) a thousand years. Revelation 20:4 

Even the Father judges no one, for He has given all judgment (the last judgment and the whole business of judging) entirely into the hands of the Son, John 5:22 (Remember that we are now one with Jesus. We are His Body)

Do you not know that the saints (the believers) will [one day] judge and govern the world? And if the world [itself] is to be judged and ruled by you, are you unworthy and incompetent to try [such petty matters] of the smallest courts of justice? 1 Corinthians 6:2

I just want you to think for a moment on how you will judge on the day that the dead are raised at the end of the Millennial Reign of Christ? When there are people standing before you and there is either eternal life as a guest in our Kingdom or there is destruction in the Lake of Fire? Do you really believe that you will condemn people to the Lake of Fire after they have just been raised up from being punished in Hades? Do you really believe that you will condemn a person to be destroyed in the Lake of Fire when you are sitting there solely based on Grace and not on any works that you did? Forgiveness will abound on that day and we will be empowered by our Father to be the ones who are giving it!

I know that most of us never hear that we are the judges on Judgment Day, but look at what the Word tells us. We are shown that there are thrones of Judges, not just a Throne. We are also plainly told that we will be the judges of the world. So think about how you will judge? And why not start the forgiveness now to get in some good practice? 

The Anti-Christ Has His Appointed Time

And now you know what is restraining him [from being revealed at this time]; it is so that he may be manifested (revealed) in his own [appointed] time. 2 Thessalonians 2:6

We are plainly shown that the anti-christ has his own appointed time. Our Father has a plan and a purpose for the end of this age of the earth. Mankind or satan are not in charge of bringing an end to the world. We also cannot stop it from happening. The date has been set for our Wedding Feast and it will come to pass on time and exactly as our Father has destined it to come. Our Father is in complete control of His creation. He owns the earth and He controls it.

Now what is exciting to me about these Truths is how many people are reading and studying the Book of Revelation right now. I am used primarily by our Father to go and teach at nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities. These facilities are filled with elderly, sick, and extremely handicapped people. Most of them are destitute as well. These people are not looked upon by the world as desirable prophets and teachers. Yet our Father is training them up and they are demanding that I keep studying Revelation with them. I truly believe that some of the greatest prophets of the end of this world will be those who have suffered the most and who the world will have a troubled time listening to.

These people do not ask me to study on healing or getting wealth. The Holy Spirit is driving them to study the Book Revelation. Our Father is moving! I do not believe that we are in the end times quite yet, but I do believe that God is training up His end time prophets and they are not who the world believes that they will be!

Jesus Led A Train Of Vanquished Foes

Therefore it is said, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive [He led a train of vanquished foes] and He bestowed gifts on men. Ephesians 4:8

When exactly did Jesus ascend back to Heaven? Was it when He gave up the Ghost on the Cross or was it when He was risen from Hades after three days? John 20:17 tells us that Jesus had not yet risen to Heaven when He appeared to Marry on the third day at His grave site. For three days Jesus was in Hades preaching to the souls who were there.

In which He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 1Peter 3:19.

When Jesus ascended back to Heaven, we are told that He led a train of vanquished foes. The question is where did He lead these vanquished foes? Did He lead them back to Hades or to Heaven with Him? The Truth is that Jesus went down to Hades and saved those people from the penalty of death. They were held captive by what they had done on this earth and Jesus went and set them free by what He did. Jesus did not go down to Hades just to show the lost what they could have had. He went down there and He set the captives free and led them right up to Heaven to be with Him. Jesus gave them a gift and the gift was freedom from Hades. They did not earn it, it was free gift, just as it is a free gift to us, it’s called Grace. And our Father’s Grace is not limited to us just when we have flesh. Our Father’s Grace is for us wether we have flesh or we don’t have flesh. Our Father is not a respecter of persons, so if He did it for these souls, He has to do it for all souls.

Now the cool thing is that there are people in Hades right now. They will be raised again at the end of the Millennial Reign of our Lord, Revelation 20:13. So they will be given the same opportunity to be forgiven by our Lord. They may not be the Bride of Christ as we are, but that does not mean that they are going to be thrown into the Lake of Fire either. They are going to be our guests, just as Matthew 22:11 teaches us. All who have not committed Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit will be forgiven and they will be forgiven and saved from the Lake of Fire.

We Can Only Be As Strong As Our Father Makes Us

John answered, A man can receive nothing [he can claim nothing, he can take unto himself nothing] except as it has been granted to him from heaven. [A man must be content to receive the gift which is given him from heaven; there is no other source.] John 3:27

The Truth is glorious and the Truth is that we can we receive nothing and we can claim nothing, except if it has been first given to us by our Father. There is no other source for our strength except from God. Jesus tells us this Truth repeatedly through the Word. He showed us that some of us are given 1 talent, some of us 3, and some of us 5 in Matthew 25. Jesus showed us that some of us are called to work our whole lives for the Kingdom and some of us only for the end of it, Matthew 20. Jesus tells us that we can do nothing without Him, John 15:5. We are also shown by the Holy Spirit in Romans 12:3 that each of us has been given a varying degree of faith.

The point that is so glorious concerning this is: our Father has already decided how to use each of us. This means that there is no condemnation for us, Romans 8:1. Before we ever were, before the world ever was, our Father had a purpose and a plan of how He would use us to serve our Kingdom. Each of us is growing and all of us will grow stronger in Christ, but we do not have to take thought and always be fretting about how we are being used. The level of our service is not dependent on us, on our own strength, on our own determination, it is dependent upon our Father to cause us to be strong. If it were dependent on our abilities, then we could boast about what we have achieved. There is no boasting for us, and there is no condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus.

Faith comes from hearing the Truth and the Truth is what sets us free.

Predestined To Be Disobedient

And, A Stone that will cause stumbling and a Rock that will give [men] offense; they stumble because they disobey and disbelieve [God's] Word, as those [who reject Him] were destined (appointed) to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, [God's] own purchased, special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:8-9

So many times we marvel at those who do not believe the glorious message that our Father empowers and leads us to share. Don’t marvel, these people were destined to do so. The powerful Truth about this is that even in their disobedience they are still serving the will of our Father. This is such a great Truth, our Father controls everything, even those who disobey and don’t believe, Colossians 1:16.

Most of these people are not committing the only unforgivable sin, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, Matthew 12:31, so they will be forgiven. Just as Peter was forgiven for denying Jesus 3 times. These people are being used to strengthen us to love and serve. Their disobedience causes our Father to be stronger in us, 2 Corinthians 12:10. These people will be forgiven when they are raised from the dead and they will be allowed to be our guests for all of eternity. This Truth removes all fear and dread from us that they will be thrown into the Lake of Fire. It gives us peace that passes all understanding, our Father will not destroy them or cause them to suffer in Hell eternally. They are being used every bit as much as us by God, even though they don’t believe that they are.

These disobedient vessels are used so that we are able to show and display the virtues and perfection of Christ. Their attacks on us allow our Father to show His glory through us. Rejoice, because all things work out for our good, Romans 8:28. And our good is that these people aren’t thrown into Hell. They are allowed to be guests and they will enjoy the perfection that comes when everything becomes new. They cannot help but be used in the way that our Father has destined them to be used. Every house needs vessels of honor and dishonor to function perfectly, 2 Timothy 2:20.

Why Raise The Wicked Up From The Dead?

I [also] saw the dead, great and small; they stood before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is [the Book] of Life. And the dead were judged (sentenced) by what they had done [their whole way of feeling and acting, their aims and endeavors] in accordance with what was recorded in the books. And the sea delivered up the dead who were in it, death and Hades (the state of death or disembodied existence) surrendered the dead in them, and all were tried and their cases determined by what they had done [according to their motives, aims, and works]. Revelation 20:12-13

The way that these verses were always preached to me went something like this. Our Father sent these wicked people’s souls to Hades to be tormented and suffer for their disobedience. Hades does nothing to change them, it only is a place of torment and suffering for them. Then when our Father returns to the earth, after the Millennial Reign of Christ, He raises these souls up and reunites them with their physical bodies. They will stand before our Father, they will be judged guilty, and then their bodies and souls will be thrown into the Lake of Fire to suffer for all of eternity.

Let me ask you a couple of questions, is our Father really this mean? Is He that cruel? Is that how He deals with you? Is this how He tells us to deal with the wicked now? The Truth is that our Father is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He never changes, Hebrews 13:8. Do we ever read in the Bible where our Father tortured people for vast periods of time or where He tells us to? We are shown that He does show wrath, but His punishment was always quick, just look at Sodom and Gomorra. Even the plagues on Egypt happened quickly, our Father didn’t torment the people of Egypt for years and years. We are shown that the Great Tribulation will only last for 3 1/2 years, Revelation 12:6. Yet we are so often told to believe that simply because people don’t believe our Father, that He is going to cause them, body and soul, to be tormented and suffer for all of eternity. That goes against everything that the Bible actually shows us about our Father and it sure goes against the way that He has always treated me. Do we ever see Jesus, who is our Father in the flesh, tormenting the wicked? What we do see in the Bible is Jesus healing the wicked, feeding them, teaching them, and loving them. He knew that they were going to kill Him, yet He still served them. Why would He change?

Doesn’t this better fit our Father’s personality? He loves everyone even those who don’t believe Him, John 3:16. Hades is a place of correction, not just a place of suffering. We can see this in Luke 16:27-3, Jesus shows us that Hades actually changes peoples hearts. The ruler in Jesus’ parable began to think of others and actually wanted Lazarus to be raised up from the dead to become a prophet. Doesn’t it make more sense that when these souls are raised up out of Hades and reunited with their bodies, that they are allowed to be forgiven and then allowed to stay as guests for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, because Hades actually accomplished something in changing them? The Wedding Banquet of the Lamb is going to be filled with people, both with good people and with those who were bad, Matthew 22:10. 

Sow The Word And Reap Peace

The sower sows the Word. Mark 4:14

Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside.) [He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap. Galatians 6:7

So many people right now seem to have real fears about governments, famines, wars, and evil. They are also so vocal about their fear. These people are very articulate about what the news and supposed prophets that they are seeing on the internet have to say about things. The problem is that they are not giving anyone any peace by what they have to say. Everyone just sees and hears their fears, when the Truth is that we have not been given a spirit of fear, 2 Timothy 1:7.

I know so many people who act like this right now and the answer is a simple one to take away their fear and dread, sow the Word. Don’t sow what the news has reported, those messages are only temporal, they are not eternal. Don’t repeat what a politician has spoken, repeat what our Father has spoken. What we sow is what we will reap and if we are sowing the fears of the news media and the lies of the politicians, then we will reap fear and actually begin to sow fear. This will in turn cause us to reap fear and that does no one any good. Sow answers. Sow the Truth of the Bible. The sower, sows the Word and then we reap the Truth and the Truth sets us free!

Now if you have a loved one that is fixated on bad news get them to show you scriptures, the Holy Spirit will empower you to do so. Ask them to share or read to you our Father’s Word. When they are talking about worldly events, ask them to show you scriptures that will help you to see our Father’s peace. The Truth is that you are not alone in this task, Jesus will lead you to get them into the Word and out of the world. He will also lead you to share scriptures with them and to show them what you have been shown in the Bible. You will be lead to ask them if they know any verses that will compliment what you have been used to share. The Spirit will assist them in sowing the Truth back to you and then they will begin to reap the Truth and they will be set free from fear. Our Father never looses and there is no condemnation of our loved ones. It is just another glorious opportunity for our Father to glorify us all with His grace and power.

We Possess And Give Unconditional Forgiveness

Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Romans 4:6-7 

Our Father tells us that we are righteous without ever doing anything to be righteous. Our Father forgives us our sins regardless of what we have done. This is why we are so blessed. We have complete freedom and redemption and we never did anything to earn them. We didn’t pray to earn this freedom. We didn’t attend church to receive it. We didn’t even perform the work of asking for it. It was all just Grace, our Father just decided, for whatever reason, to give it to us. The glorious Truth is that we did absolutely nothing on our own, there was no work at all that we ever did, that brought this glorious state of righteousness on us.

Now here is the power of this Truth for us, we now have the mind of Christ, 1 Corinthians 2:16. So if this is how our Father acted towards us, this is how our mind now acts towards others. This is why we are able to live in so much peace, even when all Hell is breaking out around us. We forgive before people ask us to forgive them. We are empowered by the very thoughts of our Father to intercede for others whether they know it or not. People’s sins are covered and forgiven by us regardless of what they have done and apart from any work that they have done.

Our Father causes us to sow this unconditional forgiveness so that we reap His unconditional forgiveness. You and I are now empowered to think and act just like God. We are our Father’s instruments that freely sow His forgiveness. He uses us to forgive all, apart from any works that they have done. This is our gift to them and this is what causes us to see beyond all the evil of the world and see the perfect righteousness of our Kingdom. 

Be gentle and forbearing with one another and, if one has a difference (a grievance or complaint) against another, readily pardoning each other; even as the Lord has [freely] forgiven you, so must you also [forgive]. Colossians 3:13

This is an easy yoke to be born, because greater is He that is in us!

The Wheat & The Chaff

His winnowing fan (shovel, fork) is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear out and clean His threshing floor and gather and store His wheat in His barn, but the chaff He will burn up with fire that cannot be put out. Matthew 3:12

His winnowing shovel (fork) is in His hand to thoroughly clear and cleanse His [threshing] floor and to gather the wheat and store it in His granary, but the chaff He will burn with fire that cannot be extinguished. Luke 3:17

According to Wikipedia: Chaff is what is left of wheat fruit after the removal of the kernels.

Notice that chaff is actually part of the wheat, it is the coating of the wheat. Chaff is not another plant, it is part of the wheat. So our Father had John tell the people that the unusable part of us is going to be removed from us and burnt up. Our sin and all of our shortcomings and weaknesses will be thrown into the Lake of Fire and will be destroyed They will be  eternally separated from us. The chaff of our lives will never be able to return to us. The farmer doesn’t burn the wheat, just the unusable part of the wheat and that is what our Father is going to do for us.

But if any person's work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire. 1 Corinthians 3:15

I was always taught that the chaff was those who never accepted Jesus as Lord. But that is not what our Father is having John tell us at all. Our Father is telling us that everything that does not glorify our Kingdom, our Father’s Kingdom, will be removed from us and only the good will remain. We all have chaff and it will all be removed from us and separated from us, never to return again.

For God has consigned (penned up) all men to disobedience, only that He may have mercy on them all [alike]. Romans 11:32

The Lie Of Free Will

Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and dominion, for You created all things; by Your will they were [brought into being] and were created. Revelation 4:11

For it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [by His service, intervention] and in and for Him. Colossians 1:16

There are a lot of people who want to talk about our free will. They will say that our Father loves us so much, that He gave us a will of our own and that He leaves it up to us to decide the paths that we are to take. There is a problem with this thinking though and it is that the Word contradicts it. The Word actually teaches us that all things exist through our Father. The Word tells us that all things are for our Father’s service. So according to the Bible, the only free will that is causing things to happen is our Father’s free will. Our Father created everything and everything exists through Him.

Jesus also tells us to come to him as little children, Matthew 18:3. He does not tell us to come to Him as adults, or teenagers, He tells us to come to Him as little children. Jesus goes on to say that if we do not come to Him as a little child, then we can in no way enter the Kingdom of God. So with that Truth in mind ask yourself this question, does any responsible parent allow a little child to live by their own free will? I have two children and let me tell you that when they were little, Beth and I in no way allowed them to solely act or live by their own will. It was our will that they lived by. They ate what we gave them to eat. They wore what we bought for them to wear. They went where we allowed them to go and we were always watching over them. Beth and I loved our kids far too much to leave their lives and their safety up to them. Now how much more does our Father love us? How much more is our Father able to keep us? How much greater control does God have then man?

Plain and simple free will is a lie. It is a lie that is intended to keep the focus on man and not on our Father. The lie of free will allows us to boast about what we have chosen and it allows us to condemn when we fail and in Christ there is neither. Jesus is our Shepherd and we are His sheep. Jesus is our Head and we are His body. Our Father is the Potter and we are the clay. These are the examples that Jesus gave to us that describe our relationship with Him and none of them describe us as having a free will. It is our Father’s will that is in action and it is His will that will allow us to have an abundant life.

Just for fun go and try to find the scriptures that say that we have a free will. Here is a clue for you in finding them, it will be a very challenging task.

We Now Have No Law

[To be sure] sin was in the world before ever the Law was given, but sin is not charged to men's account where there is no law [to transgress]. Romans 5:13

But now we are discharged from the Law and have terminated all intercourse with it, having died to what once restrained and held us captive. So now we serve not under [obedience to] the old code of written regulations, but [under obedience to the promptings] of the Spirit in newness [of life]. Romans 7:6

I was driving back from vacation and I saw a sign on a church that said: the Ten Commandments aren’t multiple choice! I wanted to stop and rearrange the sign to read the Truth, which is: We Have Been Discharged From All Relationship To The Ten Commandments! But there were not enough letters and I would probably be arrested because I was in the back country of North Carolina and they probably frown on doing things like that. The funny thing is that they have made them multiple choice, because they fail to keep Saturday Holy, they have moved the Sabbath to Sunday.

But seriously this is a real problem with a lot of Christians; they want to stay with works. They want to keep people bound by the Law: do this, don’t do that. We couldn’t keep any of these things and our Father knew it. So He did away with the Law that convicted us. Through Christ our Father has terminated all of our relationship to the Ten Commandments. Now we serve our Father through faith that is Authored and Finished for us by Jesus Himself.

The wage of keeping Sunday Holy instead of Saturday Holy no longer means death for us. We now serve under the Law of Freedom and Liberty in Christ. We can now actually not sin, because there is now no law that convicts us of sin. Because Jesus removed any law that would hinder our relationship to our Father. Jesus can now cause us to walk in the perfection that He walks in. If the Law of the Ten Commandments were still in effect, then there would be sin and that would mean that we could not have unbroken fellowship with our Father. And that would mean that our Father could not be the power within us causing us to walk uprightly, which would mean sin and death for us.

So if you want the Ten Commandments, then that means that you want failure and you want death. As for me I want life and that only comes through totally being terminated from all relationship to the Law of the Ten Commandments. Here is the really powerful kicker, now being totally free from the Law, Jesus can truly cause us to live the way that He intended for us, Sin Free!

When Is The Time Of Our Full Power

And it shall come to pass in the last days, God declares, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy [telling forth the divine counsels] and your young men shall see visions (divinely granted appearances), and your old men shall dream [divinely suggested] dreams. Acts 2:17

Be honest, don't you want to be used by our Father miraculously just like He used Jesus? I know that I sure do. There is absolutely noting wrong with wanting such glorious power. I really want our Father to use all with His full power. I want us to be used by our Father to prophesy specifically. I want us to be used to raise the dead and be able to experience the joy of a family who receives back a loved one. I want us to be used to heal the sick and to take no thought for our lives as the world is trying to kill us. 

The problem with most of us is that we believe that all of this is not happening because we are not doing something that we need to be doing. That is not the reason that we do not see the power that we desire. The reason is that there is a time for such power and that time is for the last days. I use to beat myself up all of the time fretting about what I was not doing. But then our Father revealed this Truth to me.

I know your [record of] works and what you are doing. See! I have set before you a door wide open which no one is able to shut; I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept My Word and guarded My message and have not renounced or denied My name. Revelation 3:8

The peace that this verse brings to me is so awesome. Jesus knows that we have but a little power, but He will not let us abandon His Word. Revelation 3 describes my life to a tee. I desire to see the fullness of the scriptures revealed through us all, but I don’t, I only see a little power. But that is alright, because there is now no condemnation for us, Romans 8:1. The power that we desire to be used in will come for us, but it will not come until the last days. 

We are told plainly that the full power of our Father flowing through us will come during the last days. The Truth that gives us peace with waiting for it is that we still have complete victory now. We still have complete salvation now. We are perfect in Christ right now. Just as Jesus was perfect before our Father began to use Him miraculously. All of this just means that the full power that we all desire has a time and a place and we are told that it is for the end times. So don’t beat yourself up if you desire to be used in a far more powerful way to serve, because you are being used just as our Father wants to use you right now. When God wants to turn up His power through us He will. When He does begin to flow His full  power through us, then we will know that it is the last days. Then we will see the Gospel of our Kingdom will be preached to every nation, tongue, and tribe.