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Luke 8:14-15 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. (15) But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. (KJV)
I compare the verses above to giving a child a grocery list, then waiting to see what they come back with. Instead of paying attention to detail they get sidetracked with other things, and then when it comes time to give an account of their duty, well they don’t deliver. Patience is an interesting word also because it refers to consistency; those that continue to endure despite the obstacles that life may present them with. Those that mature in Christ learn how to be over comers and not underachievers in life; and if they do run into hardships they are quicker to hear the solutions and slower to speak or blame others. Matthew 24:11-13 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. (12) And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. (13) But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (KJV) How about the child that gets sent to the store with a handful of money, then along the way someone realizes that they have an opportunity to take advantage of the situation? So the child decides that something else that they purchased, which ends up to be worthless, was more appealing than what the parent had sent them out for in the first place. Your salvation is not just based on starting out with good intentions Church; it’s what you bring home at the end is what will determine the final outcome. Ephesians 4:11-13 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; (12) For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (13) Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (KJV) Many people compare their lives with other people, trying to live up to their standards or even trying to please them, even to the point of where it becomes more of a priority than the Lord. If you measure yourself with other people then you limit what the Lord can do in and through you. If you compare yourself with Christ, operating with the same measure of faith that He did, then you put yourself in the category of where all things are now possible, because you believe more in the work that He has done than on what many around you are claiming they have done. Philippians 1:4-6 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, (5) For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; (6) Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: (KJV) My prayer today for each and every believer in Christ is that they would build a trust and confidence more in the work that our Lord has begun and desires to continue to do, and less in the guilt trips that they take, thinking that there is something they haven’t done. God bless dearly loved and have a prosperous day in Christ Jesus our Lord. James 3:1-3 My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. (2) For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. (3) Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. (KJV)
I get a bit riled when I hear so called men of God telling me what they think rather than teaching what they know, or should know according to the Word. James is writing and warning the believers not to be like many of those that are teaching things which are not based on fact but rather on self serving fictitious perversions of the truth. Those that know how to speak the truth in love are those that our Lord considers mature, and who are a perfect example of the true believers in Christ. 1 Corinthians 13:8-11 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. (9) For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. (10) But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. (11) When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. (KJV) There are a lot of prophecies that are failing to come to pass because they are not based on truth, but rather on some partial understanding of it. Many of these false teachers say things to appease the people rather than teaching them who they are in Christ and how to grow and mature in Him. I personally have noticed that many enter the ministry work before they really grow up and have a clue of reality and what is really happening around them. Many of these childish preachers live in a sheltered existence and then get knocked on their backside when reality hits them in the face; kind of like a spoiled little child that doesn’t get their way anymore. Ephesians 4:14-15 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; (15) But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: (KJV) When Jesus Christ walked this earth He raised the bar to the heavenly realm of how He expects His people to mature and grow up into Him. However, as I look around I see where many have lowered this bar back to the realm of the flesh, and what should be spiritual mature people is nothing more than a day care center. Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (KJV) Hey quit thinking so much about what you believe works with our Lord and just show up daily letting Him show you what works. Think of yourself as the clay and our Lord the potter, and let Him take you for a spin. God bless dearly loved and have a prosperous day in Christ Jesus our Lord. Psalms 37:37-38 Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. (38) But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off. (KJV)
When you see the term ‘perfect’ used in the Bible it refers to maturity; complete is another way of describing it also. When one thinks of maturity as far as a Christian is concerned you think of someone who is at peace and not fussing and fighting with those of the world, being all wrapped around the axle with the cares and concerns of this petty temporal life that we are now surrounded with. 2 Timothy 2:3-5 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. (4) No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. (5) And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. (KJV) In the military they don’t take a new recruit and immediately promote them to the rank of a general, rather they promote those that have experience and have proven themselves in times of trials and tribulations. Basically what is being spoken of in the above verses is that in order to move forward in your walk with the Lord it is His way or no way. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (17) That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (KJV) Strongs definition for ‘perfect’: 739 artios (ar'-tee-os); from 737; fresh, i.e. (by implication) complete: KJV-- perfect. The Lord expects His people to grow up maturing in the realm of the Spirit. Those that do grow are those that have exercised their Spiritual senses, and know the difference between what is of God and what pertains more to the fleshly carnal desires. A child will react to things because it is what appeals more to their own self rather than learning to respond in a way that our Lord would have them respond, in Spirit and in truth. Is the peace of God ruling in your walk today? Because…in all reality that was God’s perfect solution for you. God bless and have a prosperous day in Christ Jesus our Lord. 2 Peter 1:3-8 For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue). 4. By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature. 5. For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution or determination, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence), 6. And in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control (in knowing the truth there is self-control), and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety, commitment & obedience), 7. And in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection (laying down your life), and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love (Christ formed in you). 8. For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [full, personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed one). AMP
These are all attributes or characteristics of the divine nature which was formed, brought to maturity, within Jesus of Nazareth. He decreased by dying daily to the wants and desires of his fleshly nature (the nature of man) so that Christ (the attributes or characteristics of God) would increase and over take the old corrupt fleshly nature. Jesus Christ left us an example to follow: to put off the old man, and put on of the new man who is renewed in the knowledge of Him who created you, and to do this continually. As you do these things (put off the old, put on the new) the more you see who God is; you begin to understand His nature through experience in your own life in Christ; you begin to understand His love, His grace, and His mercy for us and how lovingly He provided us the way of fellowship with Him, and escape from this corrupt and dying world through Jesus Christ. As you do these things you will not be blind to the truth, the full personal knowledge of God and Jesus Christ who He sent; and you have His promise that you shall never fall. 2 Peter 1:9-12 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. (10) Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: (11) For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (12) Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. (KVJ) My beloved brethren, I pray that you will continue to make these qualities yours and let them increasingly abound in you, so that you are not idle or unfruitful in your walk but that you do come to a full personal knowledge of the truth that is in you. Proverbs 18:20-21 A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. (KJV)
Every day spent in this realm you are in a life and death situation, which doesn’t end until we make it home to our eternal destination. What you find in this new life in Christ is that your tongue is like a steering wheel which can keep you on the road to spiritual recovery, or with one careless or distracted move you could end up in a ditch. Just because you were saved and made a commitment to the Lord doesn’t mean it ends there, unless you decide to revert back to the realm of the flesh, which you will see clearly illustrated through the Word, is a death sentence. James 3:6-8 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. 7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: 8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. (KJV) Keep in mind these fires are spiritual in nature and will have eternal consequences for those that start them. Negative words are like a poison that will shut a person down; and if they don’t get immediate attention it results in death. Your words have the same effect as a wildfire and are enflamed with winds of mans’ doctrine when left unattended. As you see clearly spelled out in verse 7, the tongue is something no man can tame; it is an extension of the heart and without a new heart and a mind renewed in the spirit of Christ, it is highly flammable to say the least. Mark 16:17-20 And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. (KJV) The reason that you were dead in sin before your conversion in Christ is because you had a drinking problem, where you were being intoxicated with false doctrine. Once you sobered up you were able to drink in pure, living water which is what revived you. Are you the one treading on spiritual serpents, or are you a doormat? You may drink in some things that are still spiritual poison, but now you have the ability through the Spirit to rightly divide and discern the truth so that you can spit it out before it causes damage. Dearly loved, have a blessed and prosperous day in Christ Jesus our Lord. |
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