Hebrews 13:5
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Isaiah 49:15-16
15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Revelation 7:3
Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Revelation 22:4
And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
Romans 8:29
9 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Hebrews 2:11
For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
Romans 2:4
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
John 6:63
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Galatians 2:16
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Ephesians 1:18-23
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
James 4:7
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Romans 8:
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Genesis 2:17
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Galatians 3:1
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
Zechariah 4:6
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
Are a fellow fugitive or refugee from religion? Maybe you accepted Jesus as your Savior as a child at Vacation Bible School or at your Grandma’s house. The time is short. You sense it. You know it. You’ve been to church and heard 5 points and a poem on how to be a good person. Or, you left empty, or with a set instructions on how to have an awesome relationship with God that started out with something like pray 2 hours a day and read the Bible for an hour or two every day. You need to fast at for three days every two weeks. Regularly. Then God will love you, hear you, fellowship with you. You could never measure up. This sounds like the diet plans I’ve started annually for my entire life. They don’t work. Really. You try and end up feeling like you don’t quite measure up. And you know it. So, back into the world you drifted. And you felt worse. You do not fit in the world and you do not a fit in a church. That was the place I was in. Maybe you’ve headed back to God and are now hanging out at YouTube, like me.
First of all, the good news is He said, "I will never leave you or forsake you". (Hebrews 13:5) Your name is engraved on His hand. (Is 49:15-16) His Name is marked on your forehead. (Rev 7:3, 22:4) You’ve been branded by and for Him if you are born again. He’s your Father and you’re His child. The good, the bad, and the ugly parts of you... You belong to Him. Jesus is the firstborn of many brethren. (Rom 8:29) He is not ashamed of you, His brother. (Heb 2:11) You are in the family of God. You have right standing with the Father based on what He did for you at the cross, not your good conduct. Repent (turn back towards Him in sorrow) (Rom 2:4) and take your do-over.
You can never, ever, add even one good work to what He accomplished on the cross for you. Actually, that “trying to earn His acceptance” is the end result of “religion”. It’s all fleshly works and it stinks to the highest heaven. Nothing of flesh can enter heaven, only that which is received and birthed in us through His Spirit enters heaven. (Jn 6:63, Gal 2:16). It's time to quit letting the accuser of the brethren, the devil, remind about your past junk. Even the junk after you were born again. (1Jn 1:9) Once I was under such demonic condemnation that I was sure I was just this side of being forsaken by Him due to my many shortcomings and sins of the past. Surely, He must be done with me. I spent at least six months telling Him how sorry I was. Jesus is so gentle. I finally heard Him whisper, “Peter denied Me three times”. Hallelujah! I knew I had my do-over! The next time that condemnation hit me I told the accuser that, “ My Lord, Jesus Christ, died for all of my sins, shed His blood for me, rose from the dead for me and took that blood back to heaven and sprinkled it on the Mercy Seat, for me. And I am now seated with Him (He’s seated and I am in Him) in heavenly places far above all principality, powers, might and dominion”. (Eph 1:15-23) After a few of those reminders he fled. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:7) It is written!
I have learned that Jesus did not come to make bad men good, but to give dead men life, from T.L. Osborn. The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus makes us free from the law of sin and death. (Rom 8:2) What does that mean? Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil after they were told not to eat of it or they would die (spiritually). (Gen 2:17) Sin entered in and with sin came the knowledge of good and evil. Religion and law followed. Instead of having abundant life in fellowship with God, the best man could do was attempt to follow rules of good conduct that might appease God. In the New Covenant, we are given a new heart once we accept Jesus. And now He lives in us. Much of Christianity has mixed up the Covenants by attempting to secure fellowship with God by following rules and working hard to please Him. (Gal 3:1-3) This is where some of you who left wandered off. You sat under Christians who tried to put you back under the yoke of bondage from the Old Covenant.
The next bit of good news is, He who has begun the good work in you will also complete it. You see, it’s not by might, or by your own power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord. (Zech 4:6) He brings us from glory to glory. It's not your job to fix yourself. Spend time with Jesus and His Word and you will get so full of Him that there is no more room for the junk.
Never blindly follow anyone but the Holy Spirit in regards to the teaching and preaching of the Word. Line up everything to the Word of God. That is His revelation of Himself to us. You can only judge what you hear by the Word of God. If it doesn’t line up with His Word, it’s not from Him. I know many Christians who do not read or know their Bibles. They may quote someone from the internet as their source of knowledge and wisdom. When I ask them what the Bible says about this, they tell me they do not read their Bibles because they don’t understand it, don’t have time... There are many excuses for this deception. The enemy fears the person who truly knows the Word and becomes the person who hears the Holy Spirit. This is the person who has taken the time to engraft truth into their hearts. This is Light. These things are only learned by the Spirit. The Word and the Spirit. I suggest The Message Bible if you have trouble with your version. Always ask the Holy Spirit to let you know if something niggles at you, or you are not sure in your spirit about it. He is our teacher and will always answer your questions that are sincere.
I’m going to write as this blog pours forth from my heart.
So what is my purpose for this blog? If you’re reading this, it may be that you knew the Lord at one time, wandered away, and you know time is too short to live in the gray area of life anymore. That’s a wandering sheep. Maybe you went to church and did not feel accepted, you weren’t fed, the people there had a form of Godliness- but that was it. You knew they did not have life, only more form and ritual. You went to sit under the anointing to receive from God and found yourself in the desert. Maybe you were deeply hurt there. We call these people burned over fields. Or, maybe you found a group of crazy Christians who were making up their own truth; but it felt “off”. Or you ended up in a bunch of controlling Christians. Another deception. Even God does not control us; He gave us free will. That was not your place, either. Those were not your places. You wandered back into the world and yet you still feel that pull from God. You are a burned over field. Part of a crop that was burned out by the heat before it ripened and bore fruit. You are probably a remnant believer. A scrap of something leftover, a passed over piece, that God wants to use in these last days. You may have been taken out of the fight very early and tried to tell yourself that you made this whole New Birth thing up or you really never heard from God, but deep down you know better. Maybe you are a prodigal son, a fugitive from religion or a wounded one. Maybe the magnetic pull of the world, the flesh and the devil was too much for you. Babies need protection. You are in a great company of people if you could see your troop, your company of believers, from heaven’s perspective. I’m here to call you back to headquarters, give you some encouragement, basic training, show you the battle plans and send you back to the front line better equipped than you were at the last skirmish. The time is too short to waste any of it. It’s time to come back home.
If this is you, and you don’t know where to start, I can help you with this easy prayer. Say it out loud for with the mouth confession is made unto salvation:
“God, I come to You in the Name of Jesus. I believe that Jesus was Your Son. He lived a sinless life and was slaughtered on the cross, as the only perfect and acceptable sacrifice to You, for my sins. He shed His blood for me. My sicknesses were taken by Him in the whipped furrows that he received on his back. You, said “without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins”. Then he went to hell on my behalf. He suffered in my place for my sin. On the third day, He rose again from the dead by the power of Your Holy Spirit. He went up into heaven, into Your most holy place, and poured out His blood on the Mercy Seat. This was the only acceptable sacrifice that will atone for my sin. That was accomplished for me. On the basis of that blood, I repent of my sins, words and deeds committed against You. All of my high crimes and misdemeanors. I ask You now to take me back into Your loving family. Lead me, teach me, and reactivate the gifts and callings that have been dormant within me. And now, I no longer call You God, but I call you Father. You are my Father. And I worship You. And now, I ask You to fill me, baptize me, with your Holy Spirit. You said I would receive Your power when the Holy Spirit comes upon me. I need His power to walk this path. Release my prayer language in me now, I ask in the Name of Jesus! (Now speak out what wells up in your mouth. Don’t stop.) I give You all of the praise and all of the glory for who You are and what You have done, and are doing right now, in me.