Spiritual Enlightenment

Spiritual Enlightenment

• Isaiah 2:1-5
• Hebrews 4:12

     The Light of God is monumentally life-changing.  It is attractive to some and makes others shield their eyes.

• Ex 34:33-35

    To a people who were presumably "God's People" Isaiah gives this message "All nations will come to God's Temple and learn of His ways".  I do not believe that "God's People" in the Old Testament Understood what it meant to be a true child of Abraham (the father of the faithful).
    The Jewish people thought that because they were born in Abraham's family, they were God's Chosen people.  In reality, God only chooses those who want to follow him.
    The children of promise are indeed tose who choose to follow God with their whole heart and are not necessarily of a faithful family.
    The same thing applies today, even though many people come from godly homes, this does not negate the fact they need to choose to open the temple of God in their hearts.

• John 12:46
• Matthew 5:14

    When God created the world (Genesis 1), He said, Let there be light".  This was before the creation of the sun, moon, and stars.  The light that began to shine was none other than the Glory of God shining through the darkness that existed until that moment.
    The absence of God always leaves darkness and the presence of God always brings light to the soul
    There is a big push for spiritual enlightenment that comes from within yourself, but light can never come from a sin darkened soul and  any light that does show up in anyone is the Glory of God shining through.
    Following God's laws are never designed to be burdensome to us, but were designed so our hearts become aligned with God to allow His Glory to permeate our being and then work itself out as a witness of His majestic Glory to those around us. 
    In Matthew it talks about whether your eye is single and states that if your eye truly is single (if you have one focus) for God's will, then our whole body will be full of light.  Most of the time we have to battle our humanity in order to have a single focus.  If we allow our humanity to get the best of us it is evident that we have a double focus and darkness will exude from our soul.
    We have been called (invited) out of darkness and into God's marvelous light.  Let us therefore walk in it.

• 1 Peter 2:9-12

The Invitation

God has given each one of us an invitation. “Come Ye Let us reason together”

What does it mean?
In our fallen state, God desires fellowship with each one of us and invites us to fellowship while determining that we are indeed fallen and that we need Him to escape the last death (hell). No other religion has a god that seeks out people for worship of itself. No other god offers himself as a means of connecting with mankind, but rather requires that mankind comes crawling to him. All other religions are about pummeling its subjects into submission while the True God gives mankind the power to meet His demands.
Sin that is as scarlet is very visible yet God promises that He would provide a way to cleans it as white as snow. In other places in the Bible, God promises to remove it as far as the east is from the west. God is Merciful and wants us to have complete victory over our sin and willingly removes any power the sin had over us.
Who receives it?
John 3:16
The entire world is to receive this invitation and God speaks this invitation through His people and His creation. The entire universe including the stars speak of this invitation. “God is not willing that any should perish, but have everlasting life.”(2 Peter 3:9) God knocks at the door of our heart waiting for us to heed His invitation. (Revelation 3:20)
Who resists it?
Romans Chapter 1
The people who are lifted up in pride, think they are self sufficient and are constantly looking for a way to put God down or out of the picture.
Who accepts the invitation?
John 1:12
Those who are willing to put their trust in Jesus Christ are the ones who accept the invitation.
What is in it for those who accept it?
John 1:12
John 3:16
God gives them power to be His children and eternal life in a home in Heaven.
What is in store for those who refuse it?
Revelation 20:14,15 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Hell or the second death is in store for those who refuse the gift of the invitation.

"Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give your rest"  Matthew 11:28 KJV

Humanity At Its Worst- Isaiah 1

issue 5 volume 5  5/31/2013

                                         

Surrounded By Wickedness

Isaiah 1:8
The human experience is one where mankind wants to do good, tries to do good; but within themselves is the nature of sin lying at the door of their hearts.  Genesis 4:7  As the children of Adam and Eve, the first humans and the first sinners; we have inherited this nature of sin, therefore in various times, places and ways we see this nature expressed.  Mankind cannot do anything of themselves to get rid of this nature of sin, but God has provided for those who recognize their problem.  Once we get to the point that we are driven by this nature of sin, God has decreed that destruction would reign over us.
As part of sinful humanity we recognize that sin is all around us, possibly even boxing us in.  We become enveloped in the wrong crowds, causing our sins to deepen its grip in our own heart.
If we continue in unforgiven sin, we are setting our children up to be cursed with the very same sins we struggle with.  This does not mean they will pay for our sins, we will do that, but that their hearts will become a stronghold for the devil to stand and shoot darts at them.  Our children learn well from their parents, and our weaknesses will soon be theirs,  thus they too become surrounded by sin.

The Devastation Of Sin

The things we see happening in the world today are a stark reminder that sin is devastating.  We see the carnage of the shootings, bombings, wars, America’s homes are a wreck, Truth is trampled on, babies are being killed before they are born, to name a  few.  This is all happening because of our sin; our pride, greed and selfishness.
God has decreed the end of all sin is destruction and death, both physical and spiritual.  Romans 6:23
The devastation we are seeing though it is not caused by God is allowed by Him to draw our minds toward Him.  It seems as though the various atheistic organizations
are quiet when people publicly recognize God during these times of trouble.  God’s name will be Known even if it is only through trauma.
God wants us to recognize Him in good times as well as traumatic times, but since mankind refuses to recognize Him when things are going good, He chooses to speak to us through tragedy.
When mankind begins to see their problems are bigger than themselves, they can begin to rest in the hope of Jesus Christ.  This will give God the Glory He deserves.  God has said “My Glory Will I Not Give To Another“.

The Anger Of God At Sin

Isaiah 1:4
Hebrews 10:31
1 Samuel 15:23
Why would God be angry at sin?  To understand this let’s look at what sin is.
God has established a law for mankind to obey, and to go against that is sin.  The Bible rebellion (or to go against our authority whether God or earthly leaders, Anti-disestablishment) is as the sin of witchcraft.  This would put rebellion on the same level as worship of devils.
Sin is sin, because it doesn’t show up in the character of God, and since sin is in direct rebellion to the authority of God, He has the right to be angry at it.  The origin of sin comes from the devil himself who rebelled against the authority of God.  God’s anger at Satan’s sin resulted in Satan being thrown out of heaven or being cut off from fellowship with God.

-God Is Angry At The Wicked-

Can a child of God continue in sin?  No!  Even though grace is sufficient when we do fall into sin, to continue to live in sin as a child of God not only sends mixed signals to those around us but also is taking major advantage of the goodness and grace of God.  God has not given us to a spirit of failure but one of victory (the spirit of failure comes from Satan).  God’s power is enough for us to live above sin.
When a man or a woman continually live to make God angry at them by their persistent selfish motives indicates their God is Themselves and not the Lord of the Universe.