Meditations on His Word, February 2012
“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God” Matthew 6:33
“How do we seek the Kingdom of God, which is Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit?” Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. We seek by desiring the wisdom from above that James teaches us about in James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. Our Savior instructs us clearly to seek and we will find, Luke 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Seek is a verb. Seeking requires action on one’s part. Taking action shows obedience to our Master to do as He instructs and guides. We must not be lazy and slothful servants by letting someone else do our seeking and then being satisfied with whatever they say or discern. Many of our Master’s parables have to do with servants He admonishes for being lazy/slothful and uninterested in seeking His Truth for sowing and watering. If we truly want to hear, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant!” Matthew 25:21, then we must take action in serving Him by seeking His Truth and representing Him with love. Obviously, we cannot exhibit, teach or glorify Godly righteousness until we have the wisdom and knowledge of what is right. As we read His holy commandments for us in His Holy Word and listen to the pricking of our Master’s Holy Spirit, we will mature in wisdom, knowledge and understanding of His righteousness. His righteousness is what makes up His kingdom that will dwell within us.
So much wisdom is written for us in the book of Proverbs. The definition of proverbs is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. In seeking wisdom and knowledge of Truth we must never overlook that our faith in our Father is not based on just hearsay that has been passed down for generations by pastors and Sunday school teachers, but by the common sense realities that we experience in our daily lives. Our common sense should tell us that when we are teaching or being taught, what we or someone else believes to be wisdom from above, we should feel peaceful, loving towards others and merciful to those who are in error. If we are not at peace with our teachings or are being hypocritical with our teachings, then we are not exhibiting righteousness and therefore; we will not feel the peace and joy in the Holy Spirit that envelopes our spirit in our Father’s Kingdom. Many people today know that something is missing in their wisdom which should bring them peace and joy as they strive to exhibit the Kingdom of God that is within us. They have forsaken seeking for the complete Kingdom of God because they do not want to admit they may be in the wrong place and under the wrong tutelage of pastors and denominations. We must never think that we have achieved complete maturity in the Kingdom of God and stop seeking His wisdom. We must forever be open to hearing and learning the Truth from our one and only Master/Teacher and not settle for the teachings of any man or woman which may be intentionally or unintentionally false.
In the Book of Proverbs we are warned over and over about the seduction of false wisdom that is not from above. This false wisdom is referred to as a harlot/whore (as in the whore of Babylon). Proverbs 23:27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit. This harlot’s lies and deceptions are in stark contrast to the holy, mature, righteous and pure Bride that our Lord desires to embody His Kingdom. The harlot’s false wisdom encourages us in being judgmental, unmerciful, unloving, impatient, un-empathetic and unkind. This false knowledge and wisdom will appeal to our carnal natures of pride, arrogance and self-righteousness. It will cause us to be stubborn in admitting we have been wrong in our teachings of God’s Holy Word. It will keep us from repenting. It will prevent us from shaking the dust of those teachings from our feet and having no more involvement with the sowing or watering of false seeds.
Proverbs 4:5-9 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.
Proverbs 16:16 How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!
Seeking the Kingdom of God first in our lives will bring us the peace and joy in the Holy Spirit that our Lord and Savior gives to us.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
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Meditations on His Word, January 2012
Matthew 1:25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
Many, too many, preachers and teachers of God’s Word seem to have a problem with this verse and especially the phrase, “knew her not”. They teach that Jesus was conceived by a virgin, but was not born of a virgin. This is very troublesome and confusing as to why anyone would want to teach contrary to what it clearly says in God’s Word.
What is it that bothers some about believing that Joseph did exactly as he was instructed by the messenger of God? Is it that they just can’t believe any man (especially themselves) could be married to a woman they love and not consummate their marriage? Are they afraid that Joseph represents a more obedient, trusting and loving servant of God than they perceive themselves to be? If they have to change the Word of God to fit their own image of what they want to have happened, then it appears that their perception of their shortcomings is true.
To teach that Jesus was not born of a virgin, only conceived of one, is to also deny the prophetic teachings of Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Again, what is the carnal motive for denying teachings that are clearly stated and confirmed by messengers of God? We must examine our fleshly selves to answer this question. This is a perfect example of the flesh warring with the spirit. Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. The flesh says, “No man could do what Joseph did, so it must not be true.” Now if the flesh can reject what Joseph did, then how about the faith and obedience shown by Noah, Moses, David, the Old Testament Prophets, the disciples and, of course, Jesus Christ? We can’t take the Word of God and say, “Well, this part I believe, but I find some other parts incredulous to believe.” The Holy Spirit of our Teacher, Jesus Christ, wants us to learn Truth, which brings about all the comfort He promised to send us. John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: If we cannot accept the Truth as it is written, but succumb to others teachings who are being led by their carnal insecurities, pride and ignorance, then we will never know that comfort that our Lord wants us to have as we represent His Kingdom here on earth.
There are some that teach that Paul did not mention the virgin birth; therefore, he didn’t believe in it either. Wow, that’s a major assumption based on an omission of one of the servant’s of God’s teachings! So if Paul didn’t say something about each and every teaching in God’s Word then those teachings are invalidated?! We had better be careful that we don’t think more highly of Paul than we should. (which he also warned about in his teachings I Corinthians 1:12-13) because our God is a jealous God and it is HIS WORD that we are to be searching and studying to draw nearer to HIM and HIS SON, OUR SAVIOR, JESUS OUR CHRIST.
This brings to mind those who teach that Jesus committed the sin of doubting Our Father when he said on the cross, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46 They say this proves he was not without sin and was more like us in the flesh. The Word of God says he was without sin and was a lamb without blemish. Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin., I Peter 2:22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: I Peter 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Christ was simply quoting Psalm 22:1 from the cross to let all know that He was the ONE and that this was HIS sacrifice for all mankind. Again, we can only suppose they are letting their carnal motives lead them in their teachings. They fear that they are sinful (which we are) so therefore; let’s bring Jesus down to our likeness. One can excuse a lot of personal sins and disobedience with this way of thinking and, therefore; not be willing to submit to correction, discipline and repentance before our Father. Instead, we must realize that Christ is purifying and transforming us into His likeness.
We must prayerfully ask our Father to be able to discern when someone is being led by his/her carnal being in their teachings and not exhibiting wisdom from above, by simply being comforted by the Truth, as it is written.