Our Spiritual Richness

You know when all is said and done in its own completion all things be they great or small are an mirror image of GOD. For all of His creation is made en the image of His great likeness of selfless Love in Light, for all know Him by this means. Today I will look at our walking in Truth. But before that takes place I will turn once again to Pastor Hoekstra's pen and his teaching on our accessing Grace by Faith. And then with the use of the ESV translation I shall uncover our walking in Truth, a walking out of the LORD Christ.


"Unusual" Consequences of Accessing Grace through Faith"


"Still others had trials of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented." (Hebrews 11:36-37)


"Very often, when people are trusting the LORD to work by His Grace, they are anticipating many of the delightful workings of GOD that are in the testimonies we have been considering. These saints "subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens" (Hebrews 11:33-34). Yet, others experienced what might be called "unusual" consequences of accessing grace through faith. They had to trust in the LORD when the aforementioned blessings did not occur. They had to trust GOD to sustain them in and through great difficulties of life.


Some had to endure by faith "trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment." Jeremiah exemplifies these. "O LORD . . . I am in derision daily; everyone mocks me . . . Therefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and they struck him and put him in prison" (Jeremiah 20:7; 37:15). Some "were stoned." Zechariah was killed in this fashion for giving warnings from the LORD. "So they conspired against him, and . . . stoned him with stones" (2Chronicles 24:21). Some "were sawn in two." Tradition tells us that Isaiah died in this vicious manner. Some "were tempted." In the midst of their sufferings, they were further pained by enticements to ungodly responses. Job endured this from the bad counsel of his own wife. "Do you still hold to your integrity? Curse GOD and die!" (Job 2:9). Some "were slain with the sword." King Saul had godly priests, who were loyal to David, executed this way. " 'Kill the priests!' So Doeg the Edomite . . . killed on that day eighty-five men' " (1Samuel 22:18). Others "wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented." By faith, these saints had to endure homelessness, poverty, distress, and harassment.


These servants of the LORD (who are all examples of living by faith!) are a reminder to us that our trials, sufferings, and anguishing impossibilities do not necessarily mean we are failing to trust GOD. Often, these challenges mean that we are being given an opportunity to humbly, dependently, draw upon the Grace of GOD in ways that we need to experience or others need to observe."


Walking in Truth,


Psalm 26:1-7 "Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind. For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in Your faithfulness (truth). I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites. I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked. I wash my hands in innocence and go around Your altar, O LORD, proclaiming thanksgiving aloud, and telling all Your wondrous deeds."

Psalm 86:11-13 "Teach me Your way, O LORD, that I may walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name. I give thanks to You, O LORD my GOD, with my whole heart, and I will glorify Your name forever. For great is Your steadfast Love toward me; You have delivered my soul from the depths of hell."

2John 4-6 "I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it."


2John 1-4 "The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever: Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from GOD the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, is Truth and Love. I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father."