Seeking Jesus First - Aug. 1, 2023
There is only one thing necessary to be adopted as children of God. That one thing is faith in God’s only begotten son, Jesus the Christ. His name and title mean “anointed to save”. Faith in Jesus means that you accept what He did for everyone. It is a free gift from The Father of All, who loves us so much that the natural mind can’t believe it or understand it…
But our hearts were created for this love. When we begin to experience it, we start to believe it. We hear someone say that God loves us enough to send His son to earth as a baby, grow up as a boy and man, experience everything that we experience, perfectly obey The Heavenly Father, pay the penalty for sin by accepting the sin of the world on Himself, and our hearts are moved by love and we start to believe in this Almighty God who is the source and embodiment of love in it’s purest form.
Don’t let The Old Testament paint you a picture of the true loving God. You only see types and shadows (Col. 2:17) in The Old Testament. There is no living color in those shadows. The God of The Old Testament is the same as The God of The New Testament, but the understanding of humanity was very imperfect. Why is that? Because God is spirit. God’s disappointment and grief concerning the violence of men toward each other had not outlet, so it manifested in a global flood. God “showed up” as fire on a mountain that would kill fleshly people who got to close. God signed onto the people’s request for a law covenant that was punishable by death which He, as a God who never lies, had to execute.
Christ Jesus is the true picture and representation of The Father in flesh and blood. “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.” (John 14:6–11, NKJV)
“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” (Colossians 2:8–10, NKJV)
Therefore, follow Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ is the full expression of the nature of God. God is love. Jesus is love. The only thing you can do to be the recipient of this kind of love is believe it. Just say, “YES!”.
We are spiritual beings that live forever with God or are separated forever from God. We either live forever in His love or we live forever knowing we could have had it but rejected it. We are spiritual beings with a soul. Our spiritual being possesses a mind, a will and emotions - just like God, Our Father. We were made in His image and likeness. Our spiritual being keeps the flesh body it lives in alive. As soon as our spiritual being leaves our body for ever, our body begins to turn back into dust. Our body is a temporary mobile home for our spiritual being. We must have a physical body to interact with a physical world.
We (our spiritual being) get to choose (in our soul) whether or not we will partner with the fleshly desires or the spiritual desires. There are pure desires and there are impure ones. The flesh desires to be selfish. The born again spirit desires to overflow with the love of God. The flesh has to be trained to enjoy and crave the love of God more than the impure desires of the flesh. This training is completed in God’s presence - the presence of Love Himself. Our flesh becomes not only a mobile home for our spiritual being but it becomes a mobile temple for the Spirit of God.
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16, NKJV)
“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:15–20, NKJV)
Only faith in Jesus Christ is necessary to receive the adoption as children of God and to be given the authority, right and privilege of becoming sons of God.
That being said, we grow up into the LORD JESUS CHRIST by speaking the truth in love. We receive His divine nature and start loving each other the way Christ loves. We live in a physical world so love shows up in a physical world through the works that we do with our bodies. Our spiritual being is one spirit with The LORD and what we do with our words and deeds releases the love of God into the earth. A person’s works are important for that reason. Apostle John, The Beloved, said, “He who does not love, does not know God.” So, dive into the love of God. Get a fresh revelation of Our Father’s love for you. Let Holy Spirit lead you in the loving works of God.