Tag: restoration

God’s Perfect Love: The Creation of Humanity: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…'” (Genesis 1:26).

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7).

God’s Perfect Love: The Plan of Redemption: “He [Jesus] said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.” (John 19:30).

“We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19). In John 3:16, God reminds us that it was love that prompted Him to give us Yeshua, His only Son, to save us from experiencing the second and final death [Malachi 4].

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind [self control]. ” (2 Timothy 1:7).

God’s Perfect Love: Not only were we created in God’s likeness, but every human being has also received spiritual gifts. The development of our gifts requires faith in God. 1 Corinthians 13 differentiates the characteristics of Agape Love from the conditional, wavering love that unbelievers practice.

Jesus reminds us, “Without Me, you can do nothing.” Even believers must have converted hearts and be empowered by the Holy Spirit for us to love unconditionally, or disunity occurs.

Our Identity in Christ: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9).

When Jesus, God, the Son, created us, we received spiritual gifts: Love, Faith, Power, Self-control, Cognitive Reasoning, Recognition of Danger, and a Free Will to Choose. And this list is incomplete.

From Redemption Flows God’s Love, Grace, and Mercies

If we never received anything else, our love and appreciation for God, the Father, God, Jesus, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit, should result in the commitment to follow Christ and obey His perfect will and plans for our lives.

Each New Day, We Stand at The Spiritual Crossroads: Either we use our faith to follow Christ, or we will follow our thoughts and desires.

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16, ESV). God gifted us with a Free Will to choose to live holy or not.

Unfortunately, Satan has deceived the majority of today’s believers with his false teachings of Compromised Christianity, based on the idea that we can do as we please because we are covered by God’s Grace.

“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!” (Romans 6:15). Our habits and lifestyle reveal if we are living as we desire. Yet to think that God disregards our intentional sins because of His Grace opposes God’s requirements of total obedience to His command of living righteously. 

“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16, NIV).

“And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve.” (Joshua 24:15). Righteousness has no Middle Road. Either we have pledged our allegiance and love to God, or to Satan. We can sing, pray, and study the Bible, but Faithful Obedience is the worship that honors and reveres God.

God also gifted us with Five Senses: Sight, Smell, Hearing, Taste, and Touch. Without the commitment to consecrate ourselves to God daily, our Senses lead us to commit heinous sins against God, the Sustainer of Life.

Sin is always the easy choice. Only with the Holy Spirit’s Divine Power and Strength can we fight against the internal conflict in our hearts and the external opposition of Satan’s temptations.

Although we are tempted, Satan’s power is limited; The devil can never force us to rebel against God. If we do not pray for the strength to overcome, then the only possible outcome is to dishonor God.

The Gradual Process of Rebellion

Desire Leads to a Fall: Satan deceived Eve because she desired more than “everything” God had given them. Eve desired to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, or else Satan’s Temptation would have failed.

“But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:14-15).

The transition from being a faithful, obedient follower of Christ to becoming an unbelieving believer is gradual; separation from God begins with thinking about that one compromising sin. We ask ourselves, “Where in the Bible does it say that we can’t?”

The Christian believer does not awaken one morning and say, Today, I will sin against God. No, following one’s sinful desires begins with constantly thinking about the pleasure of the particular sin.

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

The Warning: When our thoughts are unholy, the Holy Spirit makes us aware that we are sinning against God by troubling our conscience. We can never say, I didn’t know.

“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41, ESV).

Either we will come to our senses, asking God for forgiveness, ceasing our thoughts, or we will not care and decide to move forward in fulfilling our desires.

“An uncontrolled imagination is the catalyst for our thoughts becoming actions.” Sadly, it is the lack of self-control that detours us from the Path of Righteousness, resulting in the once faithful believer transitioning to an Unbelieving Believer.

The Definition of Unbelieving Believers: “…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.” (2 Timothy 3:4-5).

Ironically, many Believers who no longer follow Christ on the Path of Righteousness still attend Church [demonstrating their misunderstanding that works do not save us]; God does not practice the human-made theory of “Absolution.”

Sin is deadly because sin separates us from God, who reveals that He will not listen to the unrepentant believer’s prayers: “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2).

Sin strips us of our spiritual senses and leaves us in darkness. We cannot think wrong and do right! Not only does God know our hearts, but He also knows every thought and action of our entire lives before we think about or do them.

“Would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.” (Psalm 44:21, ESV). We may hide our secret lifestyles from others, but God sees our lifestyles, which reveal the inclusion of worldly activities and bad company.

“Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.'” (1 Corinthians 15:33, ESV). Bad company extends beyond worldly unbelievers: Bad company also includes family members and uncommitted believers who follow their thoughts instead of obeying God’s plans for their lives.

“A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.” (Matthew 7:18). A Common Trait of Fallen Believers: Those who are in a state of rebellion against God are offended by the Sword of God’s Truth—The Holy Scriptures.

The Path of Repentance and Restoration: Jesus Christ is the Truth, the Life, and the Only Way, Who commands us to: “Be holy, for I am Holy.” (1 Peter 1:16).

“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

• Although we like to think of our hearts as being good, we must believe what God says about the condition of the human heart.
• Only Christ through His Righteousness can cleanse our hearts; using our faith to surrender and obey God, day by day, the Holy Spirit transforms our hearts and characters [the lifelong spiritual process of Sanctification, John 17:17].
• Repentance is a covenant vow in which one promises God to never commit sins of willful disobedience against Him again. Repentance is always required to be restored righteously [1 John 1:9].
• We surrender ourselves every day to Christ. Sin appears pleasurable when our God-given gifts of Love and Faith have been redirected from God to ourselves [Matthew 22:37].
• We need to reconnect with God, the Source of Life, through daily personal worship by praying and studying the Bible. [Hosea 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:17].
• Pray for wisdom and understanding before studying the Bible. We study with the intention of understanding and following God’s commands.
• The Holy Scriptures are God’s instructions, giving us the spiritual knowledge and wisdom to remain faithful and obedient. [Psalm 119:105, 111]
• To overcome self-gratification, our focus must remain on Christ. Let go of all secular habits that fail to honor God, including music and streaming.
• Friendships with unbelievers are one of Satan’s most effective strategies. The unbeliever has no intention of changing. It is always the believer who changes. “What does light have to do with the Darkness of Sin?

Heaven is not cheap! And God says that He never changes. Jesus promises us that sin, sinners, and this present Earth will be destroyed!

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,’ says the LORD of Hosts. ‘Not a root or branch will be left to them.'” (Malachi 4:1).

We are temporary travelers living in a temporary earthly home. We must come to our spiritual senses; there is no logical reason for us to lose our reward of Eternal Life for this temporary Earth overflowing with Satan’s treasures and pleasures designed to make us rebel against God.

Following Jesus will be rewarded: “Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2). Yes and Amen!

Bible Study: Romans 12; Revelation 19-22

Lord God, instead of following You with faithful obedience, our lives reflect compromised spiritual morals and values. We come to the Throne of Grace asking for the forgiveness of following our sinful desires. We ask You to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and to give us a new heart, a heart filled with love. Lord, we love You! Thank You for Your great sacrifice on Calvary’s Cross. Today, we choose Jesus, and we ask for the Power, Strength, and Presence of the Holy Spirit to guide and keep us on the Narrow Path leading to Eternal Life. Yes, in faith, we ask this prayer in Jesus’ Holy Name, Amen.

“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” (Revelation 3:21).

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