How many and how many times have we awakened to realize within ourselves that we have changed from within? And to how many of you has this happened? For me and my wife this has been happening since we have been Redeemed and even more so it seems since we came out from among them (2Corinthians 6:11-7:4). Because for along time now during the wee hours of each days morning we each have given ourselves a new to the LORD as a living offering wholly unto Him (Romans 12:3-7). As for me and my household we will serve the LORD and this requires that to do so and accomplish this, we must serve humanity in all of its forms as serving the LORD. That said I will turn my attention towards Pastor Hoekstra and his writing on Grace and then look into Spiritual Perception. Making use of the ESV translation and when the LORD gives insight I will add it there and then.
"How the Characteristics of Grace Appear"
"And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant." (2Corinthians 3:4-6)
"We have been considering some characteristics that the great High and Sovereign GOD wants to develop in our lives by His Grace: namely, triumphant living, a fragrance of Christ, godly sincerity, and becoming living letters of Christ. How do these appear in our lives in an ever-increasing manner? As Paul wrote on these wonderful descriptions of godly living, his heart was stirred to ask, "And who is sufficient for these things? " (2Corinthians 2:16). Paul fully realized that man cannot produce these realities. Mere Human resources are inadequate.
These heavenly traits grow in those who are living by the terms and conditions of the New Covenant (humbly trusting GOD, not in ourselves). "And we have such trust through Christ toward GOD." Paul's confidence in exhibiting these spiritual qualities of life was directed toward GOD, based upon the relationship that is available only in and through Christ Jesus our great High and Sovereign LORD of all lord. This is not self-confidence; it is GOD-confidence. GOD must produce these characteristics. This HE does when HE is seated as GOD in our receptive heart.
There is no room for believers to trust in themselves. "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves," We are not the source of any of these wonderful traits of godly Christ-likeness living. They must all come from GOD at work in us. "Our sufficiency is from GOD." When we live in humble dependency, the LORD's supply becomes our needed sufficiency. "Our sufficiency is from GOD, Who also made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant."
Yes, the New Covenant servants live by the Grace of GOD. Consequently, their sufficiency is what the LORD Himself supplies! This is precisely what GOD has Promised of old through His prophets. "I Will make a New Covenant . . . I Will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts" (Jeremiah 31:31, 33). GOD inscribes these spiritual traits upon the inner man (the heart and the mind) through His Grace and Truth. The results are these characteristics, godliness develops in our lives.
Again, we are looking at every day Living by humility and faith. "GOD . . . gives Grace to the humble" (James 4:6). Also, faith accesses Grace: "through Whom [that is, the LORD Christ Jesus] also we have access by faith into Grace in which we stand" (Romans 5:2).
Spiritual Perception here are a few examples of this Perception,
David,
2Samuel 5:11-12 "Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, also carpenters and masons who built David a house. And David knew that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that He had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel."
The Shunammite Woman,
2Kings 4:8-10 "One day Elisha went on to Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food. And she said to her husband, "Behold now, I know that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way. Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there."
Nehemiah,
Nehemiah 6:10-14 "Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, "Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night." But I said, "Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in." And I understood and saw that GOD had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me. Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my GOD, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid."
The Wise Man,
Ecclesiastes 2:12-17 "So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. The wise person has his eyes in his head (has clear perception for the eyes only see what the brain is programmed to see), but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. Then I said in my heart, "What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?" And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind."
Jesus,
Luke 5:17-26 "On one of those days, as Jesus was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the LORD was in Him to heal. And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. And when He saw their faith, He said, "Man, your sins are forgiven you." And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but GOD alone?" When Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered them, "Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—He said to the man who was paralyzed—"I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home." And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying GOD. And amazement seized them all, and they glorified GOD and were filled with awe, saying, "We have seen extraordinary things today."
The Samaritan Woman,
John 4:15-26 "The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water." Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." The woman answered Him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true." The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but You say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. GOD is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and Truth." The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He Who is called Christ). When He comes, He Will tell us all things." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
Peter,
Acts 10:34-43 "Peter opened his mouth and said: "Truly I understand that GOD shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears (reverences and reveres) Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him. As for the word that HE sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (HE is LORD of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how GOD anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for GOD was with Him. And we are witnesses of all that He did both in the country of the Hebrews and in Jerusalem (the center of the religious, economic, politically correct Jews hierarchy). They put Him to death by hanging Him on a tree, but GOD raised HIM on the third day and made Him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by GOD as witnesses, who ate and drank with Him (for these people knew Him personally and therefore could accurately bear HIM witness as having) after He rose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the one appointed by GOD to be judge of the living and the dead (those who remain separated and estranged from GOD). To Him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name."
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