Isaiah 30:21. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,
“This is the way, walk in it,”
Whenever you turn to the right hand
Or whenever you turn to the left.
Over the millennia, man has professed to knowing The Way.
We see this in the thousands of religions, religious denominations, cults and sects.
Proverbs 14:12 & 16:25. There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death.
Jesus warned us about these deceptions.
Mathew 24:23-26 . Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.
Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it.
In this message there will be some very simple but confronting scripture, they certainly spoke to me many times.
At different times Holy Spirit has really impacted me with awe and revelation, through these simple truths.
They radically changed the ways that seemed to be right to me, for most of my time, experienced in this world.
God has directed this message to me, as He gently guides me deeper into closer union with Him.
However, He has put on my heart to share with my brothers and sisters in Christ, to edify and lift them up.
This is usually the case and I absolutely love to do this for Him and You, my beloved family.
The word of God expresses that we are on a spiritual pilgrimage, to the promise land.
Hebrews 11:8-10. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Jeremiah 6:16. Stand in the ways and see,
And ask for the old paths, where the good way is,
And walk in it;
Then you will find rest for your souls.
But they said ‘we will not walk in it.’
God reveals the path, but because of our rebellious nature, we chose not to walk His Way.
This is why we need to be reborn. To die to this rebellious nature we have adopted through the generations.
God’s Way is the opposite to what we have learned and experienced in this corrupt and evil world.
We have adopted Satan’s way.
Jeremiah 17:9. The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
To follow God’s Way, we look to Jesus.
John 14:6. Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
He came in the flesh to not only save us, but to show us the Way.
Jesus spoke about the Way as being difficult.
Mathew 7:13-14 Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Jesus also said, we must carry our cross, dying to ourselves daily.
Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
Luke 14:33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
John 3:5. Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Hebrews 12:14. Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord
Mathew 7:21. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
All these scriptures point to one truth, we struggle to accept, our way is not God’s Way.
This is why we must be born again, but for something to be born again, something has to die first.
We were created through perfection, God made a Way for us to return to perfection, through His perfect and beautiful, Son Jesus.
John 12:23-26. But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.
Like many followers of Christ, for a long time, I did not fully comprehend, what dying to thy self really meant.
But through much time meditating in the word, my understanding grew.
Day by day, more and more of those carnal ways, of the flesh and old mindsets, became less and less.
Only by grace through Jesus and the Holy Spirit revealing truth, could this have happened.
But God sees the heart, If we diligently seek His Way, we will find it.
Jesus showed us the Way, He gave up His life for us, then He was resurrected.
We follow His example, we die to ourselves, then are resurrected through Him and His Way.
Fear of God is mentioned over 300 times in the bible.
This is an important virtue that develops a hatred of the things that our Father in Heaven hates, turning us from sin and drawing us closer to Him.
Isaiah 33:6. Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, And the strength of salvation; The fear of the LORD is His treasure.
Proverbs 8:13. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverse mouth I hate.
When we understand the devastating impact the carnal mind has upon our relationship with God, salvation and our lives, we realise how important it is to completely strip it all away.
This is our spiritual pilgrimage, and the only reasonable thing to do.
Romans 12:1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 8:3-11. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
This scripture clearly states, the carnal earthly mind has been replaced with the mind of Christ.
Apostle Paul said our minds are to be renewed by bringing every thought to the obedience of Christ.
Romans 12:2. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
2 Corinthians 10.5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
To die completely, we must hate and punish every single thought contrary to God’s Way.
We can not entertain any of these old corruptible mindsets. When we do, we shift out of alignment with God.
Here lies the difficulty Jesus spoke about when He said difficult is the Way.
The way of the world around us is the opposite to God’s Way.
We need to be a doer of the word and actively seek God in every moment.
Acknowledging Him in all we do, everywhere we go.
This requires an extreme level of discipline, only possible through Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
This discipline becomes our Way of life, through Jesus, and is not a burden.
On the contrary, the more we become like Him, the more we are filled with the goodness of God our Father, just as Jesus is.
Jesus said He only spoke what the Father commanded.
John 12:49-50. For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.
Jesus declared and demonstrated His full surrender and perfect union with Father God.
Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus obediently follows, every command of God, with every word spoken.
The same is for us, when in perfect union with God our Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Three persons in one.
Jesus said to abide in Him and He and the Father, will abide in us.
John 14:23. Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
This is the perfect union. The key, obedience through sacrifice.
Sacrificing ourselves to obediently serve Love Himself, Jesus Christ.
That by following Him and His Ways, we may be fill to the fullness of Him.
To glorify Him and the Father, in all the worlds, for ever and ever, Amen, Hallelujah!
Thank you for joining us here, you are welcome to leave a comment if you like.
Bless you and your families with love from your brother in Christ,
Paul
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