There
is one exception to this rule and that is the generous man, such as
Abraham was when he returned from the battle with the kings and
encountered his old friend Melchizedek king of Salem and priest of
the Most High God (Genesis 14 and Hebrews 7). Being a philanthropist
who is generous with finances may cause blessings but the root of the
word of philanthropist means; the effort to advance human will and
this goes against God. However Abraham was already righteous in God's
eyes and so he was indeed blessed of God, and we are his seed. Seed
here being not necessarily the natural seed but rather his spiritual
seed, those of similar trusting faith, those who God declares
righteous, which is what Hebrews 7 and James 2:23 reveal. Why or by
what means? Both men where gentiles at the time of this action which
honored God.
Ephesians
5:17
"Wherefore
be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is."
This
is all the same process of living under the Light, living according
to the wise steps of a man of faith. How many know and understand the
Will of the Lord in our day and time? This question has posed a
problem for me for years, more than 40 to be exact. Back in 1985 when
my family and I were filled by God with His Holy Spirit I was plagued
by a question which was never answered by any pastor we encountered.
And that was what happens to those who have the Holy Spirit in the
world and church setting. There is NO one to assist them in their
spiritual Life other than the Holy Spirit Himself. Like myself none
of those men or women know God in the same fashion that we were
learning Him, and this troubled me greatly. We had become peculiar to
say the least and we did not understand what was happening to us. We
tried to fit in and we searched church after church and even tired to
work with church pastors in their organizations from one state to another but to know avail. As I have shared elsewhere the Lord told us
to come out from among them on at least three occasions, that I
recall, and it was the last time that we understand Him and so we
did. It was for this reason that I share these things on my blogs as
the Lord gives understanding.
Ephesians
5:18
"And
be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but (instead of
using wine as the spirit) be filled with the (Holy)
Spirit:"
We
do not know how many people stop to think of this; how many times
have you driven through the city and you will see a sign over the
liquor store that says, "spirits". Where do they get that?
Alcohol is a spirit, it is a mind bender. You know in the fire
apparatus manufacturing business when they where at the end of a long
day, they use to have about 5-7 o’clock in the afternoon, a
cocktail hour. This happened at the plant as well as in the field
when we would entertain customers. Do you know what they call it now?
It’s an attitude adjustment time. That is pretty coy isn’t it. They want to adjust the guy’s mind so he
is willing to spend a lot more than what he had planned on spending.
The concept is the same here in the Scripture. We are not to depend
on the spirit of alcohol to effect our thinking, but the flip side is
the Holy Spirit in Whom we are to depend on. The Holy Spirit
becomes our mind adjuster, if you want to call Him that, and He is the
One who will lead us and direct us into all the things that God would
have us to do, understand and know. In verse 19, we mean this is
all in this same concept of the Christian walk. Is it not to be a
life of humdrum, or a life where you have your chin on your chest?
No, it is to be a Life life of joy.
Ephesians
5:19
"Speaking
to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and
making melody in your heart to the Lord;"
When
we were looking at verse 19 preparing for this, we could not help to
think about the Haitian people. We want to remember, those people are
in abject poverty, they have absolutely nothing of this world’s
goods. But boy, when they start singing you would never know they
were lacking anything. And that is to be the Christians behavior.
Ours is to be a life of joy and happiness, and singing and making
melody in your heart to the Lord. You know how King David
responded more than once. My he just got exuberant, and there is
nothing wrong with that.
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