| Life Of God |
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You see we've gone about this whole thing kind of backwards. We thought that if we tell people all about God and who He is then they will grow up. NOT! It is not in the knowledge about God that we grow, it is in the personal knowledge of God that we grow. It has to come through a revelation of Him and by Him, through the spirit to us, to our spirit. It is a revelation of who we are IN CHRIST. A revelation that "flesh and blood" has not revealed to us. True maturity is knowing who you are, realizing it and resting in it. No more struggles to be on top, to be the first, no more development of "my ministry". We all have a "ministry" to each other, a ministry of love, care and concern for one another. A ministry to lift each other up above ourselves, as Christ did for us. That is real MINISTRY. Ministry is service, everyone serving each other and not ourselves! I PETER 4:1-2
(KJV)
Verse 1: That word "suffered" means this: —(Vine's Dictionary) "in identification with Christ in His crucifixion, as the spiritual ideal to be realized" That's what Vine's says, not me. It is the realization of your union with Christ in His work. The grace of God accounted us on the cross with Christ. Accept it, it's the facts! He took on us, so that we could take on Him. Romans 13:14 says: "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ..." what do you think that means? It means to gather your true identity from the facts, as God sees them, in and through Christ. Why? So that He can fulfill the work He has to do through us. Making all His enemies His footstool. Bringing this knowledge of the Christ to all men everywhere that some might be saved. Living in the Spirit, by the Spirit and through the Spirit. Verse 2: (TCNT) and so will live the rest of his earthly life guided not by human passions, but by the will of God
(Wade)
making it your aim to live the remaining interval of your bodily life no longer under the influence of human cravings but of God's will
(Murdock)
that he may no longer be alive to the lusts, of men, while he is in the body, but [only] to do the pleasure of God
(Norlie)
The rest of his live he should no longer spend in satisfying human appetites, but in doing God's will.
No longer satisfying human appetites, no longer being entertained by every passing fad or fancy imaginable. But rather entirely focused on the will of God. Arming yourselves, making it your one and only purpose in life to die, so that Christ Himself can take over through you. As a man possessed of the very life and nature of God, willing to lay down his will for the will of others, ready to sacrifice "his ministry" to serve others, in the strictest obedience to the will and pleasure of God. You see, we have been going in reverse too long. We think that once we know a little about the Word we are "called into the ministry" and it will definitely be an improvement in the Body of Christ if "I" get into the "ministry". Oh, yes I'm sure you will set the Church on fire! |