On This Wise

Nov03
by Michael King on November 3, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Posted In: revelation
Wise

On This Wise

God says on this wise,

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.”

Matthew 1:18

We all know this story and have heard how the Holy Spirit over shadowed Mary and she became pregnant with Jesus. What is fascinating to me is that we seldom stop to really meditate upon what actually happened and grasp the true significance of it.

Mary was betrothed to Joseph, which in those days was a binding agreement, and she was not considered a single girl any longer. Moreover, virginity was still a very sacred thing. Yet, God impregnated a woman promised to another man and then said the following,

“But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 1:20,21

God does not do ungodly things

Stopping to think about these events, one could make the case that God’s actions were…uh…ungodly. Of course, being God, His actions could not be un-biblical or even sinful. If that is the case, I believe that we must consider why these things could and did take place.

Normally, in ancient Israel, a woman found with child in a similar situation would be stoned. This is why Joseph considered breaking off the marriage quietly so that she would not be punished. However, God said to that Joseph should not fear to take her to wife even though she was with child. Fact of the matter was that, in this situation, the normal rules did not apply simply because God said so.

Do you really believe God is sovereign?

In Christianity today we say that God is sovereign, but our doctrine declares He is not. We are taught that there are actually things God cannot do. People say that, because if He took such actions, He would violate His own word. Since, logically, God cannot break His own law, even though we don’t say it, we limit God to what we understand. However, in the example of the birth of Jesus Christ God steps in, does the unthinkable, and calls it holy. This indicates that there must be something we do not understand or grasp about God.

God will not be limited

This is a very central truth that we must try to grasp:

“God cannot and will not be limited to our understanding of His word.”

 
Every time we say God cannot do something and then He does, it is our understanding which was flawed.  The Holy Spirit is supreme, and we must modify our beliefs to accept Him on His own terms.  All too often our doctrine limits what we will accept. If the Holy Spirit does something outside our doctrinal box we reject Him, sometimes calling what He does of Satan.

Stop to consider what it took to be holy men of God

We talk glibly about the deeds that God did through the great men of the Bible, but rarely stop to consider what it must have been like to actually live such events. Furthermore, what was it like for the people who saw them perform these God led missions? Many of these heroes of faith, were they to come in our generation, would be called heretics. In an effort to systematize and analyze the scriptures, we have not left enough room for God to be God.

The Bible is a record of firsts

The Bible is a record of firsts. There was a first time God breathed the breath of life into Adam. A first time God destroyed all that held the breath of life through a flood. A first time God confused the languages of the world. Moreover, a first time God’s people spake with other tongues as the Spirit gave the utterance. The first time God told Abraham, the father of our faith, to sacrifice his only son. A first time God commanded His only son to die in our place on the cross of Calvary.  In fact, one of the most common characteristics of God is that whatever He does is unique.

God does it His way

So it was with the virgin birth. The way in which God choose to bring forth His only begotten Son had all the ear marks of His former miracles. A child was born from a woman who had never known a man, another first. A man was told to marry and women with child, another first. The king of kings was born in a manger among barnyard animals; you guessed it, another first!

Is God still the same today? Do not the scriptures state this very fact in the book of Malachi,

“For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”

Malachi 3:6

Get ready for another first

What if our Father chooses to do another first in our day? Does our belief system allow enough room for God to be and do as He pleases? Or do we only pay lip service the concept of a sovereign God? Does God still get to be God in our lives? Will we accept what He does just because of who He is? This central question becomes more and more important to us as we approach the coming events.

I desire to know God for who He truly is. Recognizing that my concepts about my Father are still childlike, I look forward to knowing Him more as I mature. I embrace the fact that my understanding will change as I experience Him.

Here is a truth if you can receive it:

“Even those intimately acquainted with God barely see the fringes of who He truly is.

God’s people are not being prepared to navigate the deep waters that we are entering. We are not being taught to allow God to be God. Mostly, our doctrine is derived from what God did hundreds and not what He is saying today. Thus His people are unaware and ill prepared to receive Him. Many will stumble and fall if He comes in a manor they have not been conditioned to receive.

A new and wonderful revelation

Brethren, the Holy Spirit is moving, and with Him is coming a new and wonderful revelation of who God is. We are on the cusp of a third reformation. Those who will embrace His Spirit will soar on eagle’s wings; while those who refuse His visitation will persecute it and do their best to destroy this holy thing. It is up to us, as watchmen on the wall, to obey God and declare what is surely coming. If we neglect to do so we fail our brethren as the seers of this generation.

Holy War by Alicia Keys

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No Other Path

Nov03
by Michael King on November 3, 2012 at 8:42 am
Posted In: faith

 
English: The narrow path through Ebbor GorgeJesus states in the book of Matthew,

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

Matthew 7:13,14

It is commonly thought that when Jesus speaks of the way being “narrow” that He means you must keep the commandments of the law in order to enter into eternal life.  But today I would like to offer another interpretation that may shed some additional light on these verses.

The term “straight and narrow” carries with it the idea of confinement.  If a street is straight it is because the walls on either side of the road provide limited room for movement.  Thus, you are forced to go a “narrow way” because there is no other way you can go but straight ahead.

I believe that it is not the law which makes our path narrow, but the Holy Spirit which constrains us to go a specific and well defined path.  God has a path, marked out before the foundations of this world that He intends for us to take.  If you allow the Holy Spirit to lead, you too will be constrained on either side with little movement possible except to follow the path that lies ahead.  The path that the Holy Spirit gives you is non-negotiable and God does not provide another route.

Take, for example, the children of Israel who crossed the desert of Sinai to stand before the river Jordan.  They were about to enter into the Promised Land, but failed to do so because of unbelief.  Forty years later the nation of Israel stood at the exact same spot because straight was the path and narrow was the way that God had ordained for them to enter into the Promised Land.  God had chosen the way that they should go and did not provide an alternate route even if they refused.

So it is in our Christian lives.  When God sets us upon a path by His Holy Spirit it is straight and it is narrow.  It is a predefined path and He desires for us to follow it exactly.  We are not at liberty to wander about because we feel that His path is not to our liking. We may not choose another path because our current path costs us too much in the natural realm.  Just as no other path has been given by which men must be saved, likewise we must submit to God’s will and follow the path He marks out for us as individuals too.

Often times we play with the will of God in our lives believing that we can take alternate routes and still fulfill His will.  We think that deviations are acceptable and that God will still use us even if we choose to walk a path not according to His making.  However, all that happens is that God lets us wander a spiritual wilderness until we either become willing to obey or die in our deception. Here is a truth,

 

“If, through His grace, we come to our senses and decide to take up God’s path once more we will begin again at the exact place where we left off in unbelief.”

 

Broad is the way that leads to destruction because there are so many different paths that people take in their own self will.  Instead of listening to the Holy Spirit and obeying His voice people sometimes think that they can make their own way and God will still accept them.  They think that the confines of the Holy Spirit are “too straight” and that they should be able to have more room to maneuver.  God is not mocked, though, and people, who trifle with the voice of God in their lives, jumping the walls of His spiritual path, find that consequences follow.

Freedom to make our own choice is highly overrated and sometimes even dangerous to our spiritual well being.  We were never meant to be our own small gods and determine the path of good and evil for ourselves.  I believe that when we enter into heaven we will see and eat of the tree of life.  Likewise, I believe that those who enter into hell will see the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and partake of its bitter fruit also.  The bible states twice in the book of Proverbs that,

“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

Proverbs 14:12, 15:25

This verse is stated two times because it is established and utterly true.

We get caught in our own cleverness when we believe we can cheat God and make things work out anyway.  We believe that God understands if we cannot obey His will and have to take another path.  However, it is written,

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

 Galatians 6:7

If we repent, God does forgive our mistakes and wanderings, but still we suffer loss through our disobedience.  When we finally wake up to obey God’s voice in our lives we find that so much of what we could have done is now lost forever.  Even more heart wrenching is finding that the call we were given is now being fulfilled by another.

Interestingly enough, though, the very nature of deception dictates that those who are deceived don’t know it.  Their understanding becomes darkened and they do not realize the price they will have to pay for ignoring the path that God has set before them.  When the 10 spies brought an evil report they did not know that they would pay for their unbelief with their very lives. They thought they were playing it safe. A generation later the promise of God was still fulfilled, it is just that the ten unbelieving spies did not partake of it.  Israel, when they believed the evil report, did not know they would bleach their very bones in the wilderness.  God still had His way it is just that the unbelievers did not receive it.

Simply put, if God sets a path before us we must take it and allow ourselves to be constrained into the straight and narrow way He has provided.  We must allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us into His way that leads to eternal life.  We must set our eyes upon the trail ahead and not become distracted with what lies to the right hand or to the left.

What are the distractions that so easily draw us off the path of God?  Family is one of them.  We fear what our family will say and what they might do if we dare to follow God.  Likewise, we fear that our standing in the community might suffer and our reputation might be destroyed if we allow God to take us down the path of His choosing.  We fear the loss of financial security and our possessions if we sell all that we have and follow Him.  We look at all that we have built in the natural world and despise His path as being unacceptable.  However, Jesus still thinks the following,

“And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”

Luke 14:25-27

Also, God states,

” I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;”

 Isaiah 65:2

And,

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Isaiah 53:6

Today, ponder in your heart if you have chosen the way of God or your own way.  Allow the Holy Spirit to honestly speak to your mind and heart and tell you His truth.  Many times our ability to hear God is not based upon our ability to understand Him, but rather upon our hearts willingness to accept His truth. If God tells you honestly that you have strayed from His narrow path do not let that information fall upon hard ground, but act today to change the situation.  We must become willing in our hearts and then our actions will follow. As it is written of Jesus in the book of Matthew,

“And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

 Matthew 26:39

Even the Son of God found there was no other path except the way of the cross.  For Jesus to accomplish the will of His Father straight was the gate and narrow was the way to Golgotha.  If we will be His disciples we will find that as we follow on along God’s path our way will also be narrow, not from keeping the law, but through walking in the Spirit.

 

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