God

The Ten Commandments God Gave Israel

The Ten Commandments of the Mosaic Law on a mo...

Image via Wikipedia

Deuteronomy 5:1-22 and 32

1 Moses summoned all Israel and said:

Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. 2 The LORD our God  made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3 It was not with our ancestors that the LORD made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today. 4 The LORD spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. 5 (At that time I stood between the LORD and you to declare to you the word of the LORD, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he said:

6 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

7 “You shall have no other gods before me.

8 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

11 “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

16 “Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

17 “You shall not murder.

18 “You shall not commit adultery.

19 “You shall not steal.

20 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

21 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

22 These are the commandments the LORD proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

32 So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 Walk in obedience to all that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that yo

Jesus is the gate-keeper for heaven

I took photo with Canon camera in Shamrock, TX.
Image via Wikipedia

Check your credentials with the gate-keeper

A few days ago I was at work meditating on the Lord, when (John 14:6) came into my spirit: “Jesus saith unto Thomas, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” I have read this scripture many times before, but I have never tried to analyse it until now. I suddenly realize that this scripture was clearly telling me that Jesus is the gate-keeper for heaven, and every believer will have to check their credentials at the gate.

To go beyond the gate, each believer’s credentials is check for status and validity. Lets use the example of a person coming to the USA for the first time. Landed at one of the points of entry, maybe New York. Goes into Custom where an immigration officer check their documents. This person would only be allowed to enter the country, if the immigration officer verify that the documents presented, were in good standing and the person had nothing illegal on their person or in their luggage. The person would then be free to move about in the USA as they see fit.

Jesus is the immigration officer at the gate to heaven. Once he has decided that your credentials are in good standing, you are free to move about in heaven as you please. He said in His Words: “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9).

Not everyone will go beyond the gate. Some of us will not  make it pass the gate-keeper, because our credentials are not in good standing. And Jesus will not negotiate. The time to negotiate is now. The gate-keeper is under strict orders to turn away anyone whose credentials are not in good standing. He foretold His disciples that those who have been denied entry will try to negotiate with Him, but He will have none of it. “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22,23)

What if Jesus returned today? Would He receive you?

The Resurrection from Grünewald's Isenheim Alt...

Image via Wikipedia

Moments before the resurrected Christ was taken up to heaven, He had promised His disciples that “. . . I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:2,3.  KJV).

This promise holds true today. It is the bedrock on which all Christians build their hope in Jesus Christ. We have all,  at one point or another, testified and song about this great promise. Many of us cannot wait to see the day when it is fulfilled.

But what if Christ returned today? 

  • Would He receive you unto Himself?
  • Would He said . . . I never knew you; depart from?

I grapple with those questions regularly–almost daily. Yet, I cannot say with any degree of certainty that Christ would receive me unto Himself– if He returned today. Can you? . . . I still have wrinkles that I need to straighten out and I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way. The Christian life is serious business. It requires surrendering all to Jesus. And to surrender all means learning to conquer self and keep under my body, and bring it into subjection to the Word of God.

Getting to heaven is harder than most people think. The standard is very high but it is attainable. Ephesians 5:27, clearly states the standard by which we will be judged. Christ is returning for a glorious church, [believers] not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Simply put, sin cannot enter heaven.

God is Keeping score of  our deeds. He knows our secrets. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7 KJV).  “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive [recompensed for] the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10 KJV).

“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22,23)

Walk the Walk and Talk The Talk

As I navigate through my Christian journey. I realize that it is not enough for me to only talk about my faith in God, and the goodness of Jesus Christ. But my actions and behaviour  should be  loaded with Christ like characteristics. I should thrive to be a worthy representative of Jesus Christ. And make sure that the life I live as a Christian, is in sync with the words I speak…Therefore, I should walk the walk and talk the talk.

To do otherwise would mean I have become sounding brass and clanging cymbal. I must practice what I preach, so I can be an example to others.

The Kingdom of God, was the central theme of  Jesus’ ministry but Love was the prominent message. Therefore, as a follower of Jesus Christ, I am required to display love. In Mark 12 :31 Jesus commanded His disciples to love their neighbor as themselves.

The apostle Paul, writing to the church in Corinth states: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;  does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;  does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away” (1 Corinthians 13:1-8).

So as I and others continue our journey in faith, we should :”Be . . . followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour” (Ephesians 5:1,2). We should thrive to: ” . . .Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving our own selves” (James 1:22).

Walk in the Spirit and not in the Flesh

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglica...

Image via Wikipedia

As a believer in Jesus Christ, I find it necessary to remind myself daily that it is important that I walk in the Spirit, and not in the flesh. The flesh adopts the old sinful Adamic nature, but the Spirit adopts the nature, and characteristics of Jesus Christ.  2 Corinthians 5:17 states: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.”

Walking in the Spirit may sound like a fairy tale or a fantasy, but it is an important characteristic every believer needs to adopt and practice in his or her daily life. The Christian life cannot be manifested through the workings of the flesh. The old Adamic nature– the flesh, failed in the Garden of Eden— rendering itself unreliable.

But there is hope in Jesus. The God I serve designed the perfect escape route—which was activated the moment I had confessed my sins and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord Savior. “And you hath He quickened, (made alive) who were dead in trespasses and sin” (Ephesians 2:1). “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

So, I am a believer who is made

alive by the Spirit of God. Therefore, I should allow the Spirit to take over my life and direct my footsteps.

Still, walking in the spirit is not an easy task. It does not matter whether I am a Christian for one week or fifty years. The Apostle Paul, himself, a stalwart and role model of the early church struggled with the flesh. In 1 Corinthians 9:27, he said: “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:27).

In a letter to the church in Galatia, Paul admonishes its members to walk in the Spirit: “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). He was responding to disturbing news he had received that the disciples in Galatia had returned to their old Adamic ways. In Galatians 1:6 , he writes: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel.” Paul knew from experience that the Christian life is impossible without  the Holy Spirit‘s guidance.

Like the Apostle Paul, I am aware that the ways of the flesh are sinful.  And I cannot rely on my knowledge of the Word of God to live the Christian life. I need the Spirit of God to indwell me and be with me every day.  Without the Spirit of God I am apt to fall back to my old ways. Hence the reason I remind myself daily that I should walk in the Spirit, and not in the flesh. I protest by your boasting which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily (1 Corinthians 15:31):