Jesus said the same thing.
Jesus said the same thing.
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:23)
If we are willing to take heed to the Scriptures, faithfully keeping the Word of Christ, something will take place in our personality.
And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:27)
As we patiently study the Scriptures, asking Christ to help us understand and correctly apply what we are reading, Christ will be formed in us. The poison in our personality will die and Christ will take its place. Christ shall be formed in us, as Paul mentioned.
My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. (Galatians 4:19)
When the resting place for God has been prepared sufficiently in us, the Father and the Son will come and make us Their eternal dwelling place.
Thus we see that religion is not the end; the Bible is not the end; Heaven is not the end. Rather, fellowship with the Father and Christ is the goal.
Our religious practices and doctrines are not our goal; fellowship with the Father and the Son is our goal.
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. (I John 1:3)
It is so very easy to get our mind on other things, even the things of our religion, that we may find ourselves worshiping our religion, and then trying to get what we want from God.
As I stated previously, God would like to have some more friends. He has Abraham and Moses. How about you and me?
Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? (II Chronicles 20:7)
And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. (Exodus 33:11)
Chaos, moral and physical, is ahead for the United States. It is not enough for us to just go to church on Sunday. We absolutely must learn to live by the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We must think and plan as He is thinking and planning. We must speak as He is speaking. We must act as He is acting. This is how Christ lives by the Father, and the way we must learn to live.
To the young Christian such a life must seem an impossibility. It assuredly is not. It is the way the Apostle Paul lives, and he encourages you and me to press toward the fullness of Christ just as he is doing.
As I mentioned previously, start off with some small area of your life that you give to Christ. When you are able to seek Christ in that area, add one more. Then one more. Don't quit. If you fall back, confess your weakness to the Lord and press forward in the Lord.
Before you know it, you will be able to say with Paul, "I am crucified with Christ. It is not I who am living but Christ who is living in me."
This is the rest of God. Do not permit yourself to come short of it. This is the place the Spirit of God wants to bring you.
If you are obedient and follow the Spirit, you will stand and help others to stand in the dark days on the horizon.
Christ is in control of everybody and everything. He will help you, if you ask. You will save yourself and your loved ones by doing this.
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. (Ephesians 3:19-21)
Next Part A Time of Rejoicing, from The Coming Day of Redemption