The
Devotional
Comment: Every
human analogy to identify a spiritual truth has limits. In other words we may
be familiar with certain activities that connect the cosmos (world) we live in to
the Kingdom of Heaven, but the connection may be faulty. This is the third
heaven we know about through the revelation of God as described by the apostle
Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:1-6. The apostle had many such encounters through
visions and dreams, see Acts 16:9; 18:9; 22:17-18; 23:11, even his encounter
and conversion in Acts 9:1-9. Now I used the apostle as this example, yet there
are many recorded visions and dreams of encounters with the LORD Jesus, both in
the Old and New Testaments. Jehovah in the O.T. and Jesus in the N.T. One might
ask; do we have visions and dreams these days? With me personally I cannot make
an oath that stands in absolute confidence; in other words I cannot let my “yes
be yes and my no be no” thus I do not make an oath to confirm this either way –
Matthew 5:33-37 and James 5:12. I believe the “signs and wonders movement of
religion” in the 1960’s attempted to destroy this marvelous work of God in
Christendom. Yet I believe that God is the same yesterday, today and forever
and we are not to be carried away by various and strange teachings that seek to
lead us from the truth as the truth is in Jesus – see Ephesians 4:17-24.
Challenge: How then do we walk in Christendom
today? This brings us face to face with our daily walk with Christ. I like what
the apostle has to say in Colossians 1:13 – He has delivered us from the power
of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. Experientially
we are alive and well on earth and spiritually we are alive and well in the
kingdom of the Son of His love. Therefore we have a dual citizenship that while
in this body of flesh we are at home, yet in Matthew 6:10 the LORD Jesus
explains that His disciples should pray that God’s will should be done on earth
as it is being done in heaven.
In Ephesians the apostle Paul
explains the practical application to this, starting in Ephesians chapter 4 and
ending in chapter 6, he states clearly that we saints of God ought to walk in
unity, Ephesians 4:1-16, we are to walk knowing that as the body of Christ
which we are, we are to be in agreement. One LORD, one faith, one baptism, one
God and Father of all (believers). God is above, through and in us all. We are
a temple with the Holy Spirit of God in us. The Spirit and the gifts are God’s
gift to us in Christ and we should be no longer children who are tossed here
and there with every wind of teaching. Man has no claim to God’s gifts even
though he can use these to Glorify God.
We are the workmanship of Christ
created in His likeness for good works, see Ephesians 2:10 and 1 Corinthians
15:45-49, knowing this we ought to walk circumspectly (carefully or wisely)
because the days in which we live are increasingly evil. We are to walk in love
and in the light, that is God’s love and God’s Light, Ephesians 5:1-14.
Practical application/obedience to the Living Word of God is never an option.
Those who forfeit the responsibility
of redeeming the time are unwise and do not understand what the will of the
LORD is. As a result our marriages and our churches in this nation are missing some
very important labors (love, light, wisdom, prayer and power). The armor of God
is worn in sloppy array and we are not shod properly with the gospel of peace –
Ephesians 6:10-20. Yet God remains faithful to His church, behold I stand and
the door and knock, a message to the church at Laodicea – Revelation 3:20-22. His
Name is above all names, His Name is Jesus and soon and very soon we will
confess to the Glory of God this Truth. Romans 14:11 and Philippians 2:11. This
is not a dream or a vision it is however – the TRUTH.
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