Saturday, October 19, 2013

Ephesians Lesson 33 of 39 part 6

Philippians 4:6a
"Be careful * for nothing;..."
*worry, fret, also to be full of care, troubled, anxious.
We all have seen those little wall plaques that say, "why worry when you can pray." There is more to it than what appears at first sight. We are not supposed to worry, fret or be anxious over anything. We can be concerned. We think everyone of us have concerns, and we have that right to have those concerns, but we are not to fret, worry and be anxious to the point of wring our hands or have cold sweets over a matter. Neither are we to promote our own interests because they are the promoting the Religion of self. What I mean is this, for years and years my family and I believed the twisted wrested gospel of name it and claim it, health wealth and prosperity, tithing until you dropped all for nothing and the two kingdoms gospel. I also fell prey to the proper name usage thinking and the Israel only mentality thing of past, present and future. We took scriptures out of context and forced them into what we thought their meaning and purpose was. Little did we know or understand the words of Christ, when He stated that the kingdom suffers violence and that people force their way into the kingdom by violent actions, which is just what we were doing in ignorance. We were unwittingly promoting self-righteous in this kind of behavior, even though it seemed that scriptures said we were to be doing these things. We were removing God and making ourselves gods in our habit and practices, this is the WARNING, our behavior, which was unbefitting of those who call themselves by His name. This we learn when He, the Holy Spirit, begins to open our understanding, knowledge of, and reveals Christ within us.

The Holy Spirit's battle for supremacy over our self-will waged on for more years than I care to count. Not a battle of arms but for spiritual territory within our being and our rightful place in the heavenlies. This battle is between what ever Religion we are hooked to and our freedom from it and its hold on us, a form of binding and loosing. I would liken it to the battle for one of the beaches of Normandy, which the Americans fought the Germans for at the start of WWII. This battle wages hourly over and for the souls of mankind in the heavenlies without end. Between the forces of evil Religion and Christ's arm until the lost souls of humanity are won. This is what the book of Revelation reveals is Christ's warfare for our souls, waged in the heavenlies. Because He defeated Satan and bruised his head and we do likewise when we have learned Christ, the whole reason and purpose for the first estate of redemption. To bring us to our willingness (the removal of the speck of sand in our eye, which appears as a log in our brothers eye) to suffer the lose of all self-righteous and self-rule, the stronghold or strongman of religion. How is it we recover what was lost?

Philippians 4:6b
"... but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving..."
It does not do us any good to petition God if we forget to thank Him, for it in advance, as we pray. Thanking God is the criteria, that is to be our modus operandi for prayer. Make it with thanksgiving. But we must search out our motivation for we may be wanting (our desire, is self exultation) that which is not good. We must at all times have this mind in us, God will do what God will do in His time and in His way. If we are wanting or lusting for Him to do, then we are trying to force our own will (self) on the situation. We have no right of privilege to demand or decree anything of God. If we think in this way we are of most men deceived.

Keep in mind that God is a just judge and at the same-time an unjust judge because He weighs out our silent motivations of the heart. He will not stand for a decree and declare mentality, a bless me bless me of a self-righteous state of mind, even when it may be according to our (external, material, literal) understanding of His Word. Why? Because we may not be rightly dividing His Will, Word and Law. Study the disciples prayer as it is relevant to all such prayers of need and our behavior as found in Luke 11:1-4 (Psalm 10:17, 19:14, Romans 8:26-27, Jude 20 and then we have James 4:2-3). This prayer contains the functionality of the secret things of the kingdom of heaven/God which is His rule restored within man as known in Genesis 2:7 and Redemption of 3:15 and the Salvation of Genesis 1:27, when understood and seen and heard in the spirit of man through the Spirit of Life.


Philippians 4:6b
"...let your requests be made known unto God...."
He is not limiting our request. It can be anything as long as it is in Godly reason of course, but let our requests be made known to God. Here we can come, and ask with thanksgiving, but God may say, No! He may say, no not right now, maybe later. He may say, Yes. But regardless how He answers, in verse 6, we have already the answer in verse 7. We have the answer to our prayer here in verse 7, and what is it?    

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