I have been looking at Wisdom and today I will look at the other side of the same coin, because these two items go together as one. The other side contains Knowledge. However it is not of this world or the worldly kind, of which there are many forms or kinds, nor it is received in the same way. There is within the scriptures worldly knowledge that we should all know and learn but my emphasis is on the Spiritual kind. As it is acquired through Love by Faith and Grace in all Truth of Spirit. Now for Pastor Hoekstra and his writing on Grace which prepares us to become conquerors through the LORD Christ. And then I will use the ESV translation and with the LORDS help tackle our subject.
"More Than Conquerors Even in Impossibilities"
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter." Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (Romans 8:35-37)
"When considering the triumphant that Christian life is believed to bring as it is taught in mans religious institutions of his churches, we may wrongly think that victory depends upon getting out of impossible situations. Actually, we are already "more than conquerors" even while we are in the midst of the impossibilities. What hinder us is our own mental perception, vision and how we interpret what is actually taking place within and without our new being.
For us to be ultimately defeated, we would have to be separated from Christ's selfless Love for us. We would have to be cut off from the loving care of our victorious Lord Who is now both LORD and Christ restored within us. Can any foe or any situation accomplish that? "Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ? " This question is answered in Romans 8:38-39. "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us (me) from the Love of GOD which is in Christ Jesus our LORD."
No spiritual foe can enforce such a separation. Neither can any circumstance of impossibility separate us from our Loving GOD. Romans 8:35-36 list some of the impossibilities that make us feel as though we are being defeated. "Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: 'For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.'" When troubles and pressures (afflictions) arise, when we are attacked or are lacking resources, we may be tempted to think that victory is no longer available. When our experience is like a lamb being led to the slaughter, we may think that victory could never be ours. Nevertheless, the truth is that "in all these things we are more than conquerors."
Yes, right in the middle of the impossibilities of life, we are already more than a spiritual victor. What many of us lack is the vision of men like Joseph, for he knew within him that he was GODS man of the hour in many such afflictions. Through them he did not waver or loose faith in GOD Who promised him success. Actually, we have already been made participants in a mighty, eternal, abundant victory, the victory that Christ accomplished on the cross and in the resurrection. "We are more than conquerors through Him Who loves us." Our victorious position in any situation is not circumstantial. It is Relational. We are united by faith to the victorious One, through the Lord Jesus Christ! "But thanks be to GOD, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1Coritnians 15:57).
Spiritual Knowledge:
A cause for Exultation,
Jeremiah 9:23-24, 31:34 "Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD Who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD."
Jeremiah 31:31-34 "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I Will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the Covenant that I Will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I Will put My law within them, and I Will write it on their hearts. And I Will be their GOD, and they shall be My people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I Will forgive their iniquity, and I Will remember their sin no more."
Obtained by Acquaintanceship with GOD,
Hosea 6:1-3 "Come, let us return to the LORD; for He has torn us, that He may heal us; He has struck us down, and He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live before Him. Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; His going out is sure as the dawn; He will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth."
Obedience, the Condition of Receiving,
John 7:14-18 "About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marveled, saying, "How is it that this man has learning, when He has never studied?" So Jesus answered them, "My teaching is not Mine, but His Who sent Me. If anyone's will is to do GOD's Will, he will know whether the teaching is from GOD or whether I am speaking on My own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of Him Who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood."
Liberates the Soul from all Error,
John 8:31-33 "So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free." They answered Him, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that You say, 'You will become free'?""
Leads to Eternal Life,
John 17:1-5 and Philippians 3:10, Colossians 1:10 "When Jesus had spoken these words, He lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You, since You have given Him authority over all flesh, to give Eternal Life to all whom You have given Him. This is Eternal Life, that they know You the only true GOD, and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent. I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work that You gave Me to do. And now, Father, glorify Me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed."
Philippians 3:7-11 "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my LORD. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from GOD that depends on faith— that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."
Colossians 1:9-14 "And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the Knowledge of His Will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the LORD, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the Knowledge of GOD. May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He having delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
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