You’d Be A Fool to Fool Yourself

The parable of the ten virgins and the oil, do the virgins not depict the virgin Spirit we have from Christ, the seed of incorruptibility, unleavened and pure? We all receive this seed at our new birth. The bridegroom is Christ and He is now being revealed. Who has the sustaining oil of the Spirit that does not run out? There are many that think because they are born again they have the oil that won’t run out, but that isn’t true.

If your current spirituality is one that is always being fed from sources outside yourself, outside the Spirit of Christ within you, outside your personal relationship with Christ, you are fast going to run out of oil. Sources outside yourself would be, not knowing what to do if you didn’t have a church to go to, or feeling condemned if you didn’t tithe because this was a ‘law’ of your spirituality. Or you can’t go without fellowship and social interaction with other ’Christians’. Maybe you feel you must attend church, or must be under the ‘covering’ of a pastor or other people calling themselves Elders. It could be that you couldn’t imagine being without a Bible. Do you pray religiously or so regularly you couldn’t imagine doing otherwise?

Many believers that congregate with other more spiritual believers, think this is all they need. But what if you find yourself without their company? And I mean in a life or death, do or die situation. Like what is coming. Then what? Do you have the oil to sustain you? Or not?

How do you know? By asking yourself honestly some of the questions above and absolutely seeking God yourself, on your face, on your knees, without others, without rote, without agenda or any other pretence, and ask Him. Don’t get up until you know.

The number ‘Ten’ signifies the perfection of Divine order. The ideal, God’s will. ‘Five’ signifies Grace. All ten were given grace, the time required to fill their lamps with oil and get more besides. Only some used that period of Grace to do just that. The others did not use the time of their Grace before His coming/revealing to do that and found the door closed to them.

The time we are in, that is fast coming to a close, is that period of Grace. This isn’t to say God’s grace will end, but this time of grace before judgment will and is ending. If time over the last few years, has seemed to be passing very quickly to you, the ticking of this clock should be so loud it keeps you up at night!

This time of Grace is for repentance. What is repentance? To turn from your sins. Confess to Him your sins and wash yourselves in Him and be clean. How do you know if you’ve actually done this, or are doing this? Humility is the fruit of repentance. But our hearts are utterly deceitful. Don’t trust your own judgment on whether you are humble. Ask others you know would be honest with you, and ask the Lord, of course. And don’t get up until you know, or know what further repentance He requires.

Why is repentance so important? Because without it you are not a new wineskin and He will NOT put His new wine (His Spirit in abundance and grace) into your old wineskin. Both would be ruined. Of course I don’t mean you have to be perfect first. I mean REPENT. Have the heart of repentance. If you are incapable of repentance, regularly, instantly and always, whenever the Spirit convicts you, as a proper steward He could NOT put greater riches within your Spirit, both would be ruined.

Repentance is learned in the beginning and laid in our foundation, but it doesn’t stop there. There is much in the way of milk after that and then meat, but until we are perfected we remain a mixture, always required to walk in a state of repentance. Don’t waste time. Don’t waste His grace. Do not take it for granted!

I’m speaking to CHRISTIAN BELIEVERS, NOT THE UNSAVED!!!

You’ve got oil in your lamp. Great. Now, do you have a supply to keep it going? Do you know His voice when He speaks to you? Do you know immediate obedience when He speaks to you to do something He has not ever required of you before? Or something that the flesh would be afraid looks foolish, or frightening. Do you know calm in the boat when the waves are crashing over the sides?

I’m not there yet myself, but I recognize that I need to be. Let’s pray for one another that we would not shame all He is and has done in and for us. When He comes to seek faith in the earth, will He find it? Will He find it in me? Will He find it in you?

This isn’t church anymore, people. This is showtime.

 

What if ….

What if the gospel (the good news) didn’t depend on our choosing to “accept Jesus as our personal saviour” in order to receive eternal life?

What if everyone will ultimately receive eternal life, but some just don’t know it… yet?

What if we didn’t have to “do” anything in our own strength and ability to keep our eternal life?

What if we didn’t feel obligated to go to church to prove we know and love God or gain His approval?

What if we could exchange our sinfulness, for a life that doesn’t sin, right now?

What if we could totally rely on the power of God to make us perfect, during our life on earth?

What if God, who is all knowing, could teach us all He knows… on a need-to-know basis?

What if His Spirit was with us, and in us, 100% of the time no matter what we did, even if we sinned?

What if God never sent anyone to eternal damnation in hellfire?

What if God loved everyone and made sure no one would be eternally lost?

What if we could overcome the world, the flesh and the devil, just like Jesus did?

What if, as the Holy Spirit transformed us to be more like Christ, we could forgive everyone and everything?

What if we didn’t feel obligated to read and memorize the scriptures in order to know God?

What if we didn’t feel guilty because we weren’t on our knees everyday for an hour or more in prayer?

What if we could actually trust God to keep us and love us unconditionally?

What if the Good News was Good News for EVERYONE, sinner and saint?

Wouldn’t it be ideal if this were possible? Practically heaven, (short of the golden harps, wedding cake and the smell of our friends and family burning in hell while we rejoice now that we are Christ-like and have unconditional, agape love)!

Seriously though, each and every one of these statements is possible. Not just possible, but in fact true. God is great. REALLY, REALLY GREAT! He really does have it all in His hands. He really is in us to will and to do of His good pleasure, He really will draw all men to Himself, He really can be trusted, He really does keep us, the Holy Spirit really does lead us into all truth, He really has overcome the enemy.

Some people believe the good news, some don’t. It would be all the more wonderful if more Christians did though, don’t you think?

 

The Great Exchange

To grow IN CHRIST is to give my life that He may live. That it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me.

When a person is struck with the revelation of Christ and salvation through Him (becoming ‘born again’), whether they realize it or not, they have just exchanged something of themselves for the seed of Christ within. That seed must now grow. We are the soil for the seed. The dirt. The burial ground. The Holy Spirit is needed to bring us into the Light and the water of the Word. The seed of Christ grows in us, and this is US growing IN CHRIST. We are shedding our identity as mortal humans and growing up into our identity in Christ. A new creation. As John the Baptist, put it ‘He must increase, but I must decrease.’ Without our decrease, there is no increase.

As I was trying to explain to my daughter recently, you can not have both, exactly. You do have both at the same time, your life and His, but not to the same measure. This is why Paul says we must grow unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We want to grow in the increase of Christ, and decrease of ourselves.

This isn’t just learning to walk a straighter moral line, give more often, clean up your speech and be a respectable member of society. That is NOT growing unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That is NOT what being a Christian is.

We are to renew our minds and think with the mind of Christ, but our mind is not THE MIND OF CHRIST just because our ‘mind’ is now in a ‘Christian’ body. The true mind of Christ thinks VERY differently than our regular human, carnal mind. (Maybe that’s another post).

Back to my point. The great exchange. Increase and decrease. To decrease is also not something we can do ourselves. We can not crucify ourselves (though it seems like we can, but that’s just a grotesque mutilation, not real crucifixion. Very ugly).

True worship is when we lay down or let go of our wants, needs, hopes, desires and accept His INSTEAD. I don’t just mean letting go of that promotion, bigger home, vacation or puppy dog you had your heart set on. Accept the annoying neighbor as His will for you. Accept the fact that you may not be the smartest, or coolest, or look different than you’d like to, or wish you had a different family, or…this, or…that.

It is here that you learn to renew your mind, learn to think with the mind of Christ, learn the process of decrease and how He increases IN YOU and how you grow unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (how you increase IN HIM). You learn what God actually does want for you in your life and what he wants to remove. Inside of you and out.

This is worship. This is worshipping Him in spirit and in truth. This is laying down your life for Him. This is also where you really learn your new identity and who you really are in Christ, and in the Body.