I will conclude this area of study with the GOD Who is Faithful or the Divine Faithfulness of GOD. But before doing so I will turn again to Pastor Hoekstra's writings on Grace and the Knowledge of Christ that we are all required to obtain spiritual. And as has become my habit of late I will use the ESV translation and when the LORD gives me utterance I will edit what ever I am doing without hesitation.
"Pressing on to Know the Lord"
"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14)
"We have noted that Humility is one of the relational realities that GOD wants or more pointedly demands, to develop in our lives so we can live daily by the Grace of GOD. "God resists the proud, but gives Grace to the Humble" (James 4:6). Here we see evidence of the godly humility that had developed in the Apostle Paul through the years. "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended." When these words were written, Paul had been walking with the LORD for 25 to 30 years. And I whether I knew it or not have been walking with the LORD Christ now for well over 50 years myself. I can say that because of what the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of GOD in Christ has revealed to over the years I am farther along than Paul writes here. Yet, he admits that he has not "fully arrived." He confesses that he did not know the LORD so completely that his entire life was a demonstration of Resurrection Living. Consequently, he had one great goal that directed his life and service: "one thing I do." His all-consuming passion was to get to know the Ascend LORD more and more: "that I may know Him" (Philippians 3:10). Today we should all be more advanced than Paul with the power of the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Grace and Truth working in the Authority of GOD within us. And not being held back as youngster in school is held back a grade or even two. But that is exactly what mans religion does as Satan an angle of light has successfully infiltrated the camp of the church and fostered all kinds of division among and within its member's. Which has the effect of retarding their growth and learning.
One of the significant issues that keeps believers in Christ from knowing the LORD better is their past. Many Christians focus their attention on their past. Failures of the past plague them with condemnation. Wrongs done to them or even by them in the past tempt them to self-pity or bitterness. Past successes give false assurance that things must go well today. Past blessings distract them from seeking the LORD's fresh work in their lives now. Paul gives us all a wonderful example of how to deal with the past: "forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead." Things of the past need not dominate our present. GOD's Grace can cover past failures and pains. Today, we need to look forward to the next work of Grace that He wants to bring forth as we walk on with Him. We must seek ask and knock for the understanding of the different crisis' of life that we are to past through for our learning and gaining a working Love relationship with the GOD of Love.
GOD wants us to move forward, looking upward. "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of GOD in Christ Jesus." The goal is to get to Know the ascended LORD better. As we are seated within Him at the Father right hand the place of power and Glory as One being in the heavenliest Holiest place, even while our lives and His are lived out here on earth. This is and remains a secret of GOD. We are to press toward that goal, exerting all of the spiritual strength and energy that GOD's Grace supplies. This is our reply to GOD's heavenly call to seek Him, to know Him. Along the way, we will partake of the prize that comes with that goal. The prize is every blessing that results from getting to know Him better. Let's press on to know the risen LORD!"
GOD of Divine Faithfulness:
Deuteronomy 7:7-11 and 9:5 "It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set His Love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD Loves you and is keeping the Oath that HE swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and Redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (a type of the worlds worldly flesh ruled religions and churches) Know therefore that the LORD your God is GOD, the faithful GOD Who keeps covenant and steadfast Love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face those who hate Him, by destroying them. He Will not be slack with one who hates Him. He Will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today."
Deuteronomy 9:4-5 "Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, 'It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that He may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob (keep in mind always that Jacob is the second son not the first on whom the blessing is usually and customarily laid upon. This is of the greatest importance to us all who have come to trusting faith as Abram awaken to, before he became Abraham, one who walked with the LORD GOD in righteousness)."
1Kings 8:56-61 "Blessed be the LORD Who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that HE promised. Not one word has failed of all His good promises, which HE spoke by Moses His servant. The LORD our God be with us, as HE was with our fathers. May HE not leave us or forsake us, that HE may incline our hearts to Him, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His rules, which HE commanded our fathers. Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, and may HE maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires, that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is GOD; there is no other. Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in His statutes and keeping His commandments, as at this day."
Psalm 36:5-9 "Your steadfast Love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, Your Faithfulness to the clouds. Your Righteousness is like the mountains of GOD; Your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast You save, O LORD. How precious is Your steadfast Love, O GOD! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of Life; in Your Light do we see light."
Psalm 89:1-4 and Psalm 105:8 "I will sing of the Steadfast Love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known Your Faithfulness to all generations. For I said, "Steadfast Love will be built up forever; in the heavens You will establish Your Faithfulness." You have said, "I have made a covenant with My chosen one; I have sworn to David My servant: 'I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.'"
Psalm 105:8-15 "He remembers His covenant forever, the word that HE commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant that HE made with Abraham, His sworn promise to Isaac, which HE confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, "To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance." When they were few in number, of little account, and sojourners in it, wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people, HE allowed no one to oppress them; HE rebuked kings on their account, saying, "Touch not My anointed ones, do M prophets no harm!"
1Corinthians 1:4-9 "I give thanks to my GOD always for you because of the Grace of GOD that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in Him in all speech and all knowledge—even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. GOD is faithful, by Whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our LORD."
Hebrews 6:13-7:3 "For when GOD made a promise to Abraham, since HE had no one greater by whom to swear, HE swore by Himself, saying, "Surely I Will bless you and multiply you." And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when GOD desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, HE guaranteed it with an Oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for GOD to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High GOD, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of GOD HE continues a priest forever."
1Peter 4:12-19 "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His Glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of Glory and of GOD rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify GOD in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the Household of GOD; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the Gospel of GOD? And "If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" Therefore let those who suffer according to GOD's Will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good."
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