Rom 6:11

“LIKEWISE RECKON YE ALSO YOURSELVES TO B DEAD INDEED UNTO SIN, BUT ALIVE UNTO GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.”

“likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.”

2 things the Believer MUST DO to live an overcoming Christian Life:
A. The Believer MUST reckon himself to be dead unto sin.
B. The Believer MUST also reckon himself alive unto God.

“reckon”: to reckon, count, compute, to take into account”

the keys here are Knowledge & Faith. This “knowledge” comes about through the teachings here in the 6th Chapter of Romans.

The Believer is to have Faith in this Knowledge.

The Believer is also to take into account the fact that he is alive unto God, that is that the Divine Nature has been imparted with the result that this nature gives him both the desire and the power to regulate his life in accordance with the Word of God.

**Now, reckoning oneself dead to sin and alive unto God does not make one so. In other words, the mere fact of saying this, or even repeating it over and over again, effects no positive results within itself.

One must have a working knowledge of what Jesus has done for us, understanding that part of that great work was to give us dominion over sin in our everyday lives, having Faith in that, and CONTINUING everyday working at that.

Example:

Imagine there being some people playing a trick on someone, In the floor is a sheet plywood, propped up by some books. The young man steps onto the board, and his bystanders blindfold him. They move the board with him standing on it, place him back in the same spot and tell him to watch his head and not to bump it on the ceiling. The man, thinking he is higher than he really is, loses his balance and falls off of the board.

The second man comes in, and already knows the game. The do the same thing with him. But, he knows that they have not placed him higher up, so since he knows where he is at, he maintains his balance and does not fall off of the board.

The same things happens in the life of the Believer. Many Christians, not having the proper understanding of what actually happened, and what position that being “In Christ” has them at, they falter and find themselves giving into sin, not realizing that they are free from the Sin Nature and the acts that it causes them to commit acts of sin.

But the Believer who counts upon the fact that he is a possessor of the Divine Nature, ceases from his own struggles at living a Christian Life, and is availed to the Life of God supplied by the Divine Nature.

**sometimes I struggle with this, but I look back to before I knew the Lord and received Him into my heart and life. And I recall that back then, I didn’t even have a DESIRE to do the will of God, much less care that there was a God out there. That’s how I know that I am saved! I know that now in my heart and life, there is the desire to do good and to please God…by that and that alone, I know I am saved. If I didn’t love Christ, I wouldn’t even have a desire to please God, that is a manifestation, in and of itself, of being a true child of God.

There are more points I want to bring, but it seems that this could get pretty long, so I will stop it short and begin a new one, for the sake of the reader’s eyes. ☺

Rom 6:10

“FOR IN THAT HE DIED, HE DIED UNTO SIN ONCE. BUT IN THAT HE LIVETH, HE LIVETH UNTO GOD.”

“sin” here, as Paul regards it, is NOT particular acts of sin, but rather, the Sin Nature. Christ’s death was used to break the power of indwelling sin in the Believer’s life. Christ’s Death in effect has a “double-cure,” if one could say it that way.

1. It paid the terrible sin debt. (of which the only participation that the Beleiver can have in THIS aspect, is simple faith in that payment for his sins).
2. To break the dominion of sin in the life of the Believer.

As we have stated before, but the issue begs repeating, is there MUST be a CONTINUED FAITH in Christ and what He did in the life of the Believer. Faith in anything else will result in failure.

“But in that He liveth, He liveth unto God.”

Means Jesus died unto sin once, and now speaks of Him living, which is Life derived from God.

“unto God,” one is not living according to one’s own strength or ability or power, but rather that of God.

The word, “liveth” has 3 meanings:

1. speaks of our daily walk, consequently, daily victory over sin.
2. Speaks of more abundant life (Jn 10:10)
3. Speaks of life sustained by God, and consequently, infallible.

How He lives unto God, is because He is risen. The way that WE live, is to be risen WITH HIM, and live IN HIM. All life derives from God, through Christ Jesus. Because of what He did, and our faith IN Him and what He did for us, we are able to live a life NOW, that will be pleasing unto God. Before we were born again, we had not Christ, therefore, we were being ruled by the Sin Nature, and in fact, we had NO CONTROL or ability to turn away from the sin that had us captivated.

I feel the need to explain something about the Sin Nature: When we refer to the Sin Nature, we are talking about the man that was born after the image of Adam, not Christ. Meaning, since all of creation is now fallen, (because of what took place in Eden), we unfortunately suffer the consequences of the original sin, of which we did not actually commit against God. But…when God created Adam, Adam had in his loins the entire human race. We stated this in the last blog, but feel the need to reinterate, because Adam fell in the garden before he and Eve procreated, he brought forth fruit after the image of fallen Adam, not after the image of God. Therefore, when we were born, we are a product of nothing other than, well, sin. Everything that we think, do, desire, and want is driven by the Sin Nature. In this manner, there is nothing that man can do, not even his BEST efforts that can be pleasing to God. Even man’s so called, “good deeds,” are for selfish and sinful reasons, although we don’t want to admit that, it’s true. That’s why the bible says “there is none good but God, no not one.” The reason I mention all of this, is because I want to refer back something mentioned back in the study of Rom 6:2-3, is that through Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, and putting our total faith in that work and in IT ALONE, we can now have victory over this Sin Nature.

What God does when we are born again, is He imparts unto us or “imputes,” the Righteousness and Life of Christ, and takes our old nature (the Sin Nature) out of us…well, let’s say it better this way, it is severed from us. It’s like a light unplugged from the wall. As long as the light is not plugged in, there is no power to run the light…therefore, it lays there dormant and unused. The same occurs with the Sin Nature. But, when the Sin Nature is plugged back into it’s source, that is when the Christian is at risk for failure, and of course…sin. Usually what happens, is we take our eyes off of Christ and what He has done, and that is when we begin to have problems. But we DO however now HAVE the power to OVERCOME the temptations that are thrown our way, the sins we used to commit, and we do so by, once again, (I repeat it over and over again, but we have to repeat things until we get it in our minds, and at some point it will sprout forth truth), our faith has to be in Him and what He did for us at Calvary.

One may be asking, “do you really live by this? Is that really what YOU do in your life?” I will say this, Yes, and I have not perfected it, but I am learning that THIS is the WAY to walk. Every time, through the Lord’s infinite Grace, that I have kept my faith exclusively in the correct object of faith, I have overcome in one area of another. But the second I take my eyes off of it, the second that I think that in my own power I can accomplish, move, or do ANYTHING, that is when I face failures untold and unlimited amounts of pain, sorrow and frustration. It’s a process. Through trials & tribulations are how we learn, and thankfully the Lord remains patient with me, knowing that I am learning. ☺

Rom 6:9

“KNOWING THAT CHRIST BEING RAISED FROM THE DEAD DIETH NO MORE; DEATH HATH NO MORE DOMINION OVER HIM?”


“death no more” tells us several things:

1. All of this, His Death at Calvary & His Resurrection, was done exclusively, totally, and absolutely for the human family, in other words, sinners…us.

2. He doesn’t have to die anymore. He died once and for all, which tells us that His Work is a Finished Work, and in every capacity. That’s why it’s so wrong for anyone to take away or add to the finished work of Christ.

3. “Deith No more” has 2 meanings:

A. He doesn’t die again because He paid it all the first time.

B. All the powers of sin were broken, so that also means it’s broken in the heart & life of a Believer. We are the ones for whom He died & rose again from the dead.

There is an interesting thing I want to share here. I have been in the church for a small amount of time, but there are a lot of different false doctrines out there in which teach things to unknowing Christians that cause confusion and are in fact wrong about the Word of God. I probably should be saving this for another scripture which pertains to the resurrection, but nevertheless, here goes:

I’ve been in churches where the teaching of the Cross has been skewed. The emphasis has been on the fact that Christ was resurrected on the third day, which is in fact “skimmed over, as thought it is the most unimportant portion of the gospel, of which it IS NOT. What the resurrection symbolizes is the fact that the Believer will have a New Life IN CHRIST, as they receive Christ into their hearts, they will die with Him, thus, severing the power of the Sin Nature over the individual’s life…giving the Believer the power to serve Christ and not the devil, due to the Divine Nature of Christ that they are placed into at the time of their being baptized into CHRIST. Realize that I didn’t say, Water. Water will not cleanse us on the inside, it is merely an outward symbol for what we have allowed to happen in our hearts when we received Christ into our lives and hearts.

Picture this if you will: When Man was created, God created him to live in His image. God gave Adam the ability to procreate, which means that since he was made in the image of God, Adam and Eve would bring forth seed that would bare the image of God. But when man fell in the garden, he was no longer able to bring forth children after the image of God, but rather…if you notice when Cain was born, he was made in the image of Adam, not God. Which is why he proved to be a murderer (Cain). God was trying to show us just how DEEP the fall really was! So, back to you, when you were born, you were actually born after the image of your father, Adam. Adam was a sinful fallen creature after the fall, so thus, so are we!

But what happens when you are born AGAIN, is you receive Christ into your heart, you become Born in the image of Christ, of which He is the “expressed image of God,” so you are in fact taken out of the body of Adam, and immersed into the image of God (INTO CHRIST). Jesus is referred to as the “Last Adam,” (1 Cor 15).

**Do you see how important the “death of Christ” actually is? The problem is, so many people get “born again” and are attending churches that don’t know, understand or teach this stuff, that the Believer can’t actually gain knowledge of what has really happened upon their salvation experience. And because they don’t understand what really happened at when they were baptized into Christ, they go on, not knowing that Christ has done everything FOR US in that act, and there is nothing left for the Believer to have to do, other than to place their faith in Christ and what He has done for them upon the Cross.

His death and burial are beautiful things, (contrary to what the “word of faither’s teach, such as Kenneth Hagan, Kenneth Copeland and others that don’t want to mention the Death or the Cross, because they say that the mentioning of such negative things will only bring you negativity in your life), and the only reason that they say such things is truly because they are ignorant themselves about what Christ has done for all of humanity.

So, “death hath no more dominion over Him.”

The word, “dominion” is to “be lord of, to rule, to exercise lordship over.”

“And when sin has conceived, it brings forth death,” So what Christ has done, through His perfect life and then perfect sacrifice for us on the Cross, is to do away with the dominion of sin in our lives. Only a perfect life lived by Christ, followed by the vicarious death on the Cross, paid the horrendous debt that we owed God for our sins. But now, we have the power to overcome sin, through FAITH IN WHAT CHRIST DID ON THE CROSS FOR US, and through nothing else.

The idea is, that Jesus’ death, relative to His Blood poured out, which satisfied in Heaven, Justice done, sin is abolished and is to reign no more---at least, in the lives of those who accept what Christ did for them.

Rom 6:8 (Dead With Christ)

It seems as though the closer that i grow to the Lord, the more He begins to correct me...not encourage me. You would think it would be the other way around, but...it's not. (*sigh). so...i've been seeking Him on how to overcome. I understand the scriptures on Rom 6:2 about The Sin Nature, and what part that plays in my walk with the Lord daily. I've studied further into baptism to give me a greater understanding of what happened when i received Christ into my heart and life. I understand that just because i have the baptism of the Holy Ghost, it does't mean that THAT alone is going to keep me from falling into sin, but rather, it is the method by which God uses to speak to me and correct me, in effort for the Holy Spirit to conform me into His image from my own. Moving on to being freed from sin, (or better known as the Sin Nature), i am still trying to understand that one more....i am lead to the scripture that speaks of being dead WITH HIM....

"NOW IF WE BE DEAD WITH CHRIST, WE BELIEVE THAT WE SHALL ALSO LIVE WITH HIM."

this word, "if" should be translated "since." so it would read: "now since we be dead with Christ..."

The purpose behind the Beleiver dying WITH Christ on Calvary and being buried WITH Him, is not only to free one from sin, with the sin debt being justly paid, but the end result of the "New Life IN CHRIST" is to which the Spirit is pointing to. We use the Cross not only as a means for salvation, but also for our daily walk with the Lord.

(We Believe)
those words proclaim the imperativeness that the use of Faith be CONTINUED, in order to have victory over sin. We are not only to believe that our sins were handled on Calvary, but as well, the Resurrection of Christ has guaranteed our vctorious walk over and above the dominion of sin.

This does not mean that we live in "sinless perfection," that won't occur until the First Resurrection of Life. It does mean though, that the Believer is now free from sin's dominion.

***I'll talk about this more later, but the reader should realize that the Cross of Christ is something that we need to put into every part of our lives on a daily basis. One would say, can you justify that statement with scripture. Absolutely I can.

If you will look to the story in Numbers 21, it is where the Children of Israel were being bit by serpents as a result of their complaining. And what was the remedy for that? The Lord told Moses to make a brass serpent and to set it up on a pole. For the cure, the Children of Israel were to look upon that brass serpent on the pole and they were healed by doing so. What the brass represents is the judgment of God upon us for our sins. The serpents are the constant reminder of our sin, as it bites us everyday. (we are either haunted and tormented by past, present or future sin in our lives) on a daily basis. The reason that it was set upon the pole, was to signify the Cross of Christ. How Christ "became" (He was NOT sin, nor had He EVER sinned), but rather, He "was MADE sin for us," (2 Cor 5:21), so the brass serpent on the pole was Christ taking our sin upon Him, who "knew no sin," and all we have to do is look upon what He has done for us...to reckon what He has done and that it abolished sin "once and for all"," on the Cross at Calvary, FOR US!

Once again, another implication of what Christ did for us, go to Exo 15:23-27...This is where the bitter waters were "made sweet," This is also a type of Christ and what He did for us. Moses was instructed upon them finding bitter water, with nothing else to drink, to take a tree and cast it into the waters. Upon doing so, the water became sweet. Sometimes, if not all of the time, life can be bitter...either circumstances, struggles, being wronged or harmed by others or ourselves...and all of this is cause because of, none other than sin, deriving from the "Sin Nature" that man has been since the fall of Adam in Eden. But, if through these things, we can cast the Cross of Christ into each one of these situations, God makes sweet what once was bitter. The sweetest thing that He has done is not to necessarily deliver us from the current trial or situation that we are in, for that would be a matter of "this life," and not the "life to come," which is eternal and forever. But rather, the sweetest thing of all, is the salvation He has given us, and the means by His Cross to allow Him to show us that our old nature is dead (the old man, born in the image of the First Adam, which is a fallen state), and raised in the Newness of Life and in being "made into the image of Christ." So what God does in us through our lives now, is transforms us from the image of "self" and into the image of Christ, through what He has done for us. No method other than this can help us and lead us to God.

Jesus said, "I am the Door." If we look to the old testament in Exodus and see where the Children were instructed to put blood of their sacrificed lamb on the doorposts in order to escape the death angel, that was a fortelling of Christ and what He is saying in John 10 about being "The Door." He clearly states that if man tries to come in by any other way than by Him, they are the same as a thief and a robber. Which means that by the Blood of the Lamb is the only way we can make it to God and into Heaven....I think I have made my point. :)

(LIVE WITH HIM)

"With Him" is a personal pronoun, and means that we live with respect to Him. The Believer's New Life, imparted to Him at the moment of believing, is life derived from Christ. We live by means of Him. Again, Christ gave THIS example by His illustration of being "the Vine," and we are the "Branches." Have you ever seen a branch live, growing leaves and blooming that was unattached to a vine or tree...NO. But have you seen a Tree or Vine that lived without the branches or blooming? Yes. WE are the branches most assuredly, and He is definitely the Life from which we draw our substance, for without Him we ARE nothing!

This is not referring to our fellowship with Christ here or in Eternity. He is speaking of what Christ did for us and our appropriation of that great victory within our hearts and lives. How long does the Believer live? As long as Christ Lives, the Believer Lives! Christ is in fact God come in the flesh, which means that because we died with Him and are also RAISED with Him, we live with Him and In Him FOREVER, ETERNALLY, INDEFINITELY!!!

Necessary Testimony

In my earnest quest to attain answers on what i have been going through lately, i have found the Lord leading me to some writings that have truly been eye opening for me, where the Christian walk is concerned. I actually wish i had the time to write an entire series in detail on this stuff, but the truth is, it would involve an incredible amount of plagerism in order for me to effectively convey the word for word teachings in such a way that could make sense and open others' eyes as it has mine. I've been lead to a writing of Arthur Pink's called, "Justification By Faith," it's kind of lengthy, a little hard to understand because his language is much more eloquent than my own or anyone that i know for the matter, nevertheless, he paints the picture in your mind so vividly that you really get understanding through the Holy Spirit of what Christ has actually done for us through His Atoning Sacrifice.

Something i have been studying for over a year now, and is just now seeming to make more sense is "the imputation of righteousness." The reader may be exclaiming under their breath, "the what of righteousness?" lol that is my point exactly! it's in the bible, we read over it in romans frequently, and yet we have never in fact looked it up to see what it really means and asked the Lord how this pertains to us. I never did, that is until i "needed" to know what it meant! Allow me to explain:

As written in some of my previous blogs, i have been struggling with my temper (among many other things where i fall woefully short of the Glory and Perfection of God), and i wonder how i can STILL fail? I have received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit? I love Jesus with all of my heart, why do i still fail and fall, even when i don't want to? I think it is because i have been taught some things, or moreso, assumed some things about the Word and my walk that are not correct. I first thought that i wouldn't fail God anymore once i received Him...whereas when i wasn't even a Christian, i failed day in and out and had virtually no knowledge of God and the fact that i wasn't meeting His standards for life, i didn't even CARE about pleasing Him back then. I'm not talking about that though. So, as i came to the Lord, i was on cloud nine as people say at first. But then, i began to fail in one area or another. And something in me told me that the Holy Spirit was going to do that work and i didn't need to worry about it, just to pray and ask God to help me in those areas. (which was right, totally correct what i was doing and thinking concerning that.)

But then, i starting going to a different church, in search of more truth and more of God. and at this place, i grew more than i ever had imagined in wisdom and the knowledge of the Lord. I received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost at this church, upon which i thought, "ok, NOW i have the power to overcome the stuff i haven't been, (my temper, among other things), and so, if i can just stay 'built up' in Christ, i'll do what is right and not lose my temper (or whatever the case is)." But the truth is, as i read my Word, Prayed, Worshipped, Fasted, sought God on my every endeavor, i still failed. why? so i thought, "well, it's cause i need to fast two days this week instead of one, my flesh is getting out of control!" And in every attempt to keep my flesh under "subjection," i would do ok for a while, and i felt better about it for that week, but the symptoms would still come back...eventually, it may take a week or months, but then it was still there.

When i got pregnant with my son, i couldn't fast anymore, and i found myself in a place i had never been before. My husband and i had followed the Lord out of our comfort zone and into a dry and barren land (wilderness), and we weren't at our old church, surrounded my our church family, i wasn't able to fast....and to tell the truth, i became worse than i had ever seen myself during my "saved life," and i hated who i was and what i was seeing. i'll admit, i even tried to fast a couple of small meals when i was pregnant with my son, but to no avail, i could not silence the beast that was within me. What i found was that my faith had grown from Jesus and Him keeping me and saving me, to my fasting and the attending the church i had learned so much through, and my church family. God was showing me something here.

i began to give up on every effort, one by one, first fasting, then reading my Word, we even tried to avidly pray...thinking THAT was going to help us. In effort to seek God and try to "feel closer to Him," we even "fasted," my husband and i, he would fast food, and i fasted air conditioning in June and July!!! How crazy is that, huh? a pregnant woman fasting ac?! we were insane, but we truly felt like we could not be pleasing to God if we didn't do something that was "righteous" in His eyes...all in effort to live a life that is pleasing to Him.

Eventually the Lord moved us up to Dallas to this church where we were going to be the assistant pastors there. The church was paying my husband a little, (not enough to pay the bills), but we were trying to trust God in this situation, because we felt like He has led us up there to be at this place. And He DID, although, i'm not so sure God was interested in us preaching up there, but rather learning the Message of the Cross, which we found while we were there. And a lot of things made sense to us to some extent and other things really offended us, but we still sought God about them, and the things that offended us...well, they were the things that repudiated all of our own personal efforts to be pleasing to God in His sight...based on what WE DID. It offended us because it punched us right in the pride, which is NOT what church people want when they think they can attain righteousness on their own.

I tell this testimony because it is imperative that the reader realize when i say these things, (i have not ALL knowledge), but through much trial, tribulation, failures, and heartache, i have found this message to be true and every man a liar. God has shown me first hand that the "works of the flesh" and the efforts to "kill or buffet the flesh" on our own are not pleasing to God, nor do they earn us any merit with Him in Heaven. (again, we don't like hearing this, because we as humans like to think that WE can do something that would be pleasing to God, but the truth is, there is nothing we can do that is pleasing in the sight of God, other than to present Christ to God as our Covering).

I'm still learning this message, but one of the most important things i have had to learn first is how deep the fall really was, (which i think we will NEVER truly understand how DEEP the fall was). I've had to learn that every effort to be righteous in God's sight will fail, because there is absolutely positively NO THING that i can do that will please God or be worthy of His Acknowledgment. As a fallen creation, even my very BEST efforts have been nasty, disgusting, and wretched to Him. And that has been a hard thing to accept. And what i ultimately found, was when i had first come to God and thought that if i just prayed about what i was still failing at, He would just one day take care of that thing, i was right about, and had degressed from that place to stratigems of my own to achieve Divine Approval. I had "fallen from Grace" as Paul states in Galatians.

I'm going to mention some things, and then seem to actually move back on the discussion because i feel it is important for me to mention THIS part, and then go back in future blogs and explain it all in more detail.

So, with my constant failing, realizing that i NEED to be looking to Christ and what He has done for me at the Cross, having faith that what He has done has FULLY paid for my sins, past, present and future....well, i'll be honest, i got to a place where i was like, "this doesn't work!" But i have prayed about it and found that God has been showing me that THIS is what contending for the faith is ABOUT! the faith that is spoken about in 1 Tim 6 is to fight to keep my faith anchored not in my fasting, prayer time, or bible reading, church attendance, (which are all good things to know, and are necessary in the Christian walk), but to CONTINUE keeping my faith in WHAT Christ has done FOR ME, and believing that is ENOUGH. Now.....anyone who has ever tried this, well, that is the hard part. to keep your faith in what He's done already, understanding that there is nothing that i can add or take away from it, but rather to simply TRUST God that it is enough...constantly recalling that my old man died with Him up on that Cross, my sins, buried in the borrowed tomb, and that i am RISEN in the Newness of Life THROUGH Christ Jesus, fully paying the price for sin that i owed. Even the BEST that i know, that have served the Lord for their entire lives and walked in this message for a decade, struggle on a day to day basis to maintain their faith in THIS as the "object of their faith," instead of all of their own pathetic efforts, (no matter how good the effort might be).

well, it seems like this blog is getting pretty long, so...perhaps i will start a new one on the next subject. :)

"Justified"

I have been reading a rather lengthy piece titled, "Justification By Faith," by Arthur Pink and came across something that he wrote that really gave my heart a jolt, i thought it was worth sharing. :)

Pink is discussing how horribly we have failed to keep the commandments of a Holy God and how by that law that we can't keep, we are justly pronounced "unrighteous & unworthy" of His presence. We don't like to think that way, because most, if not all of us are not Jewish and were not taught growing up that we are commanded to keep such. and yet, whether Jew or Gentile alike, all mankind was given this law, and ALL of failed and come short of the Glory of God.

But, then he states something that really showed me the amazingness of His Grace & Unfailing Love toward us! Pink says (because we are unagreeable & disobedient, which we are by nature), "We are ungrateful, unruly, ungodly creatures. Who would keep a horse that refused to work? Who would retain a dog which barked and flew at us?" ...and as i identified myself with the horse and the dog, (through my personal trials, my unwillingness to give up the dominant position of "self,") i realize that Sacrifice He made for me! Him, laying down the expression of His Diety, (for a moment), and in that gratuitous action; trading a Perfect, Holy, Unspotted & Eternal Garment, for the filthy menstruel, tattered, used up and torn rags...worthy of nothing but being trashed and forgotten, (which is what MY righteousness is when exposed, in an uncomparable comparison to HIS,) as His light shines abroad in my heart, i see what i really am.

In utter awe of Him i stand! i'm unworthy to even TOUCH the garments He is loaning to me! And it is interesting to me what i am finding through my current trials and daily lessons of Living for Christ and not self,...I am realizing that the garment He has afforded me cannot be seen by others around me (necessarily), because what i wear is not as much exposed to the world, (i'm talking about living life to please God and not man...not saying that we are not to shine as a light unto the world, but without realizing this, we can't even do THAT!) but to be worn so that i am pleasing in HIS SIGHT, not others. So the clothes that i so unworthily wear (knowing that without Christ i am naked, poor, wretched and homeless), they are for Him and Him only! To me, they seem blood-stained, but in the eyes of My Maker & Saviour, they are White as snow. The tarnish of my sins, wiped away forever.

Alas! Can others still see my many shortcomings? Except the Light of the Glorious Gospel shine abroad in THEIR hearts, and they realize their OWN wretchedness (for ALL FLESH is grass & cannot bear the constant rays of sunlight beating down on it both day and night, for it would wither away and die without refreshment and rest), they will continue to observe, persecute, ever always able to put their finger right on YOUR sin, forgetting their OWN filth that they sport from day to day in the presence of the King of Kings. The Holy Spirit is the searcher of the thoughts and intents of the heart, so to magnify His Perfectness in comparison to the inadequecies of mere man...well such is silly, but yet needful for us to see ourselves this way!. We are not to compare ourselves to each other, but rather to the image of the One in whom we are attempting to mirror.

In Translation: there will always be those like Joseph's brothers, waiting for their hour to throw you into the pit, strip you of your coat, (the one that they desire to possess themselves, and can!), ready to slay or sell into slavery (bondage instead of God's Grace), making us slaves again to sin and it's corrupt nature, which is satan's main ploy. He and his imps work day and night, going about seeking whom they may devour and sift as wheat, in efforts to get us to take our eyes off of the mark, which is Christ and what He has so Graciously done for us. Convincing us that our church attendance, prayer time, bible reading and witnessing efforts are the means in which we should attain such righteousness. therefore, distracting us from our Real Help & Solution, which is Christ and what He did for us at the Cross.

My blurb about others' pouncing is to explain this truth: the only One who is our Justifier, is Christ. Satan likes to be the accuser of the brethren, erasing our memory of the simple message that Christ did it all and all we need to do is receive it, keep our focus on it, and use it to live our life as the means of pleasing Him.

There is a fight for the faith... for the battle is the Lord's and He won it on Calvary FOR US, because we could NOT. :) We may struggle to keep our eyes in the right place, but when we see ourselves failing, over and over and over again, and our sin is ever before us...we need to realize what WE are, compare that to what HE is, and account what He did to be ENOUGH to cover it all. He paid an aweful high price for our freedom, and the devil wasn't the one the price was owed to...it was God. We owe God perfection, not our own efforts, not our so called "godly acheivments," but Him and what He did for us. rather the Word bears out that what God accepts is the blood of a Spotless, Blameless Lamb. (looking to the covering that God gave man in replacement of his leaves, and the sacrifice that God accepted from Abel as opposed to Cain's not received).

Our sin: what we've done in the past, our present sins (the ones He is currently burning out in purifying fiery trials of faith, and the future ones (which unwillingly will commit, but mournfully repent of in submission to Him and His plan)....His blood is sufficient for all of them.

***i have struggled with this, desiring in every day of my life to please the Lord, while upsetting and failing men every time, especially myself. but what i find is i am and always will be woefully inadequate for that job. So, with others surrounding me, pointing to my every flaw (which i know are many upon many), i search mournfully for the solution. and in my quest to find the truth in this matter, God has shown me something important, "IT IS FINISHED." He said it on the cross, to show us that He provided for HIMSELF the Lamb to take away the sin of the world, and to help us walk in an upright position all the way to heaven. it's helped me, i hope it helps others as well.

My garments that i wear (which is Christ), is for Him, in His Sight, and no other! He is my Audience of One!!!

On the Brink...

i have been severely struggling with this issue of my temper for a while now. i think it has actually ALWAYS been there, i just never was under enough pressure for it to be manifest. we like to all think we are generally "good people," when the truth is, the Holy Spirit moves in the midst of our hearts and begins to (at times) reveal to us hidden sin that is in our hearts that we are not even aware of them being there. anyhow, i basically have cried, mourned and repeatedly wept bitterly over this issue, virtually for months now.

JSM is teaching on the book of romans chapter 6 right now and they are discussing how the power of the sin nature has been broken on calvary. but i am finding that it is simply upon the Holy Spirit revealing truth to the Believer's heart...we desperately NEED understanding and knowledge on things like this in our lives in order to overcome these things.

I think i am standing on the brink of healing waters though! i am getting to a place where i am realizing that this issue is starting to go away, but it hasn't completely just LEFT. the symptoms have diminished, but have not evaporated. and the thing that i am finding is that i am just simply going to have to put my faith in Jesus Christ and what He did for me on Calvary as being ENOUGH to cover this sin and trusting that as i grow in the Knowledge of this Sacrifice that was made for me, and as i continue to hang onto this Message, He will take that away from me. I think what i am realizing is that my losing my temper is just a "symptom" of the sin nature ruling in my life. simply because i still don't have a working knowledge of the fact that this is really truly NOT the way i have to behave.

i think this is the hardest thing for me to have to grasp actually! it's not easy to trust that what Jesus has done is enough when i am still able to see my failures ever before my face on a daily basis. because what i am seeing is that i will NEVER be fully without SOMETHING that God is revealing to me. There will always be something that i am having to overlook and apply the Blood of Christ to, in order to maintain my faith in Him, His sacrifice and KNOWING that it is FINISHED! His Blood is enough. Even when my sin is ever before me, His Blood is enough to save my soul. It is enough to cover my sin, and it is the place that i end and He begins. Sin is finished, abolished and dead. No longer allowed to haunt and taunt me. I am risen in the newness of life, risen unto Christ. He has brought darkness into Light, therefore i am ever ALIVE IN CHRIST. I'm on the Brink of this reality!

I praise you Lord. For through YOU and what you have done for me....i have the victory!!!!

***in lue of this subject and my quest to understand more about how the sin nature has been overcome in the lives of Believers, i am going to be going BACK over Romans 6 and not only discussing my findings as i study, but also discussing what i might be experiencing and going through trial-wise, in hopes that it may help someone else down the road. i am finding that it sure is helpful to have the testimonies of others when learning the Word of God...it helps us apply it to our daily lives...at least it does so for me.***