The Good Of The Father (Boots on The Ground) # 1993

 

For I am reckoning that the sufferings of the current era do not deserve the glory about to be revealed for us 

Paul to the Romans 8: 18, Concordant New Testament 

While preparing for his role as gunnery sergeant Hartman in Stanley Kubricks film Full Metal Jacket, former Marine Corps drill sergeant R. Lee. Ermey was advised to use his experiences in the Marines in order to provide realism for the role in which he had been cast.  However, one of the difficulties which Ermy ran into was when the producers insisted that the Marine recruits in the film wear running shoes during scenes which involved physical training.  Over the objections of the staff, Ermy insisted that he had never allowed his recruits to train in athletic shoes.  His reasoning was simple, when these men hit the battlefield, they would be wearing standard issue combat boots and gear.  As a drill instructor, it was his job to prepare his men for that battlefield.  This got me thinking this week.  What is it which God has provided in order that we would be prepared for that which we face in this life?  Yes, we have the scriptures to fall back on, but is there something more?  The apostle Paul has spoken the sufferings of this life cannot compare to the glory to be revealed for us {Paul to the Romans 8:18}.  Indeed, how much easier will our life be when we have knowledge of the truth of the evangel of Christ?  One of the scriptures that many people have trouble with is that Jesus Himself has promised that our lives will have trials {Johns Account 16:33}.  Yet Jesus gives this warning not as a harbinger of bad times, but that "You may have peace."  For as Christ has proclaimed, in this world we will have affliction, but Jesus has overcome this world!  When we trust in our life in the Father, through Christ Jesus we have conquered this world as well.  Of course, it's easy to look at all of the chaos going on around the world and assume that we have no hope.  I have a fellow gym rat friend who is a self described "Empath" who feels greatly for the sufferings of others.  He is constantly bombarding me with the question of why God would allow His children to suffer.  Believe me, I have struggled with this question as well.  This is where the scriptures come in.  I believe that the scriptures to be our "Boots on the ground" which help us to navigate the trials of life.  Just as R. Lee. Ermy prepared his Marine recruits for the rigors of combat, so has the Father prepared us for the trials we will have in life.  

Yet not only so, but we may be glorying also in afflictions, having perceived that affliction is producing endurance, yet endurance testedness, yet testedness expectation.  Now expectation is not mortifying, seeing that the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the holy spirit which is being given to us 

Paul to the Romans 5: 3-5, Concordant New Testament 

Despite being a strong voice for the evangel of the truth of Christ, Paul also faced his own share of afflictions in his life.  From the temptations of the accuser {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 12:7-10} to his time spent in Roman prisons for speaking the word of Christ.  One could say that if anyone had cause to complain about the unfairness of his life, it would have been Paul.  But what does Paul proclaim of the afflictions of his life?  When speaking of the afflictions of his life, Paul proclaims that we may "Be glorifying in afflictions" {Paul to the Romans 5:3}.  Glorying in our difficulties?  Is that even possible?  It is when we see the forest through the trees.  When we know and realize that despite our own afflictions, that God has brought us into our union life in Him {Johns Account 14:20}.  That despite the troubles of our own lives, that this life we live is not outside of God, but in Him.  Therefore, it is the Father Who brings us through our various tribulations through His love for us.  Just as R. Lee. Ermy prepared his recruits for the rigors of combat, the Father has also prepared the way for us to endure the trials of life.  Paul speaks to these afflictions as producing endurance within us {Paul to the Romans 5:4}.  As he trained his recruits, Ermy knew that they would have the endurance which they would need to handle any situation they faced.  The difference between a Marine drill instructor and God is that when the rubber meets the road, we endure our tribulations in Him.  This is why Paul could be confident in glorying in his afflictions. 

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (The Great Physician) # 1992

 

"Therefore I am saying to you,  not worry about your soul, what you may be eating, or what you may be drinking, nor yet about your body, what you should be putting on.  Is not the soul more than nourishment, and the body more than apparel?  Look at the flying creatures of heaven, that they are not sewing, neither are they reaping, nor are they gathering into barns, and your heavenly Father is nourishing them.  Are not you of more consequence than they?  Now who of you by worrying is able to add on to his stature one cubit?" 

Matthews Account 6: 25-27, Concordant New Testament 

As someone who has dealt with stress on many levels, I can honestly say that stress and worry do absolutely nothing as far as our individual health goes.  In fact, quite the opposite is true.  It is well known that worry and stress often lead to adverse effects in our bodies.  From lack of sleep and changes in weight to a much higher propensity of getting sick, stress very often leads to a negative reaction within us.  And what is usually the main cause of our stress?  Worry, that's what.  We worry and we fret over situations which have not come to pass.  We worry over that which we feel we need in order to survive.  We also often worry too much about how others see us?  For much of my life, I often spent a lot of time worrying over how it was that people saw me.  Did they like me?  If not, why?  That got me to thinking, is worry and stress a normal part of our life?  Some might think so.  But how is it that Jesus sees the subject of our worries?  I truly believe that the same worries that we have today were often shared by those of Jesus' day in one way or another.  Worries over food, acceptance and what tomorrow might bring.  What does Jesus have to say about this?  Simple, DO NOT worry.  In His sermon on the mount we find in the book of Matthew, Jesus lays out just how we should look upon our own worries.  That we should not be worrying about our soul, what we eat or drink or our body {Matthews Account 6:25}.  How much better will our lives be if we were not constantly worrying over such things?  Even though I have come to know the truth of my life in Jesus, I still have my moments where I worry over that which I cannot yet see.  Jesus provides for us the example of the birds of the air, how they do not sew nor reap, yet the Father provides for them {Matthews Account 6:26}.  Then, He pops the question we should all be asking ourselves, "Who of you by worrying is able to add on to his stature on cubit" {Matthews Account 6:27}?  In other words, what benefit is worry and stress to you personally?  If we trust in the words of Jesus, we already know that answer.  

Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, that is superior to every frame of mind, shall be garrisoning your hearts and apprehensions in Christ Jesus 

Paul to the Philippians 4: 6-7, Concordant New Testament 

I believe that the apostle Paul speaks well to our worry in Philippians.  For Paul proclaims that we do not worry, but that we make our requests made known to God, who will guard our hearts and apprehensions in Christ {Paul to the Philippians 4:6-7}.  Amen!  For I believe that there is no anxiety medication nor expensive therapy session which can be more beneficial to us than placing our trust in God.  Part of the false belief in the lie of the accuser is that we have been separated from God.  This is simply not true.  It is the Father Who has always been with us.  We have been created in His very image {Genesis 1:27}.  Jesus has spoken to the truth that we live our lives in Him {Johns Account 14:20}.  If we trust in the truth that our life is in Him, then we will also trust in Him to accept whatever worries we might have.  After all, our life is not lived alone, but in Him.  I believe that this is why Paul calls upon us to make our requests known to God, because by doing so removes that burden of stress from us.  And once that burden of stress is removed, our physical bodies will no longer suffer the adverse effects which stress puts upon us.  Yet to do this is to trust in God completely.  To know that whatever happens, that our life is lived securely in Him.  Whatever trials and stresses we might encounter, we can rest assured that God has encouraged us to leave it all with Him.  He is the great physician.  

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (A False Illusion) # 1991

 But the serpent said to the woman: Not to die shall you be dying; For Elohim knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be unclosed, and you will become like Elohim, knowing good and evil.  Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it brought a yearning to the eyes and that the tree was desirable for gaining insight.  So she took of its fruit and ate.  She also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.  Then the eyes of both of them were unclosed, and they realized that they were naked, So they sewed fig leaves together and made girdle skirts for themselves. 

Genesis 3: 4-7, Concordant Old Testament 

For some time, far too many so called Christians have been living a false illusion.  This illusion is born of the lie which the deceiver spoke to Adam and Eve in the garden.  For it is Satan who convinced the Lords creation that were they to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that they would not perish as God had promised them when He commanded them not to partake of the tree.  Instead, Satan claimed that once they took of that which had been forbidden them, that they would "Become like Elohim, knowing good and evil" {Genesis 3:5}.  Of course, immediately after taking of the fruit of the tree, both Adam and Eve suddenly realized that they were naked and made coverings for themselves {Genesis 3:7}.  What changed in that moment?  Was it sin that changed us, or is sin simply the result of the false illusion spoken by the deceiver?  The illusion that we could somehow be separated from God.  Ask any believer and they will insist that there is but one God in the universe.  They do well for proclaiming that truth.  For the Lord Himself has declared His sole existence {Isaiah 45:5}.  Yet few believers will realize that they are indeed living the illusion that they are independent of God.  That our lives are our own and that God is simply there to listen and to assist us when needed.  We falsely claim that it is our own sin which has separated us from God, never considering that our own belief in the false illusion of our independence is at the heart of the issue.  For its part, the mainstream church has established an entire theology through that false illusion.  Those in the church system will preach that our sin has indeed prevented us from a relationship with God.  But nothing could be further from the truth.  Jesus Himself has spoken not to our separation, but to our union life in He and the Father {Johns Account 14:20}.  The apostle Paul speaks to our "Mirroring the Lords glory" {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 3:18}.  Even Paul, one of the greatest voices for the evangel of Christ Jesus, never mentions our independence apart from God.  For him to do so would be to speak of the false illusion spoken by the deceiver. 

For you died, and your life is hid together with Christ in God 

Paul to the Colossians 3: 3, Concordant New Testament 

Paul has spoken to the truth that our lives are now "Hid together with Christ in God" {Paul to the Colossians 3:3}.  His words echo the truth spoken by Jesus that "I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you" {Johns Account 14:20}.  As Jesus is in the Father, so it is that our life is in Him.  If this were not so, Jesus would have spoken to that.  Therefore, I consider the separation theology of the mainstream church to be one of the biggest lies ever spoken.  Now, before you brand me a heretic, consider the very words of Jesus and Paul the apostle.  Paul has spoken to Timothy that it is the Lords desire that all be saved {Paul to Timothy (1) 2:4}.  This idea of universal salvation has never been accepted by those in the church.  They preach from the pulpits that the good will be rewarded and the wicked punished.  The way I see it, they've already judged many as being unworthy of the Lords love and grace.  The false illusion spoken by the deceiver is a tough nut to crack for any believer.  It has been for me.  Think about it, in our minds we're surrounded by that which is in this world.  God is in heaven watching over us while we live separately here on earth.  Yet as Paul has spoken, we have died, and our life is hidden together with Christ in God.  Paul also speaks to this death of our old nature in Galatians {Paul to the Galatians 2:20}.  To live in the false illusion is to believe that sin continues to have a place in our lives.  That because of sin, we cannot have a relationship with the Father.  For those who hold firm to this belief I have one suggestion, what about Jesus?  For it is Jesus who shed innocent blood as the sacrifice for our disobedience {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:21}.  Make no mistake, we deserved to die, not Him.  Paul has spoken to the truth that Christ has died to sin "Once for all time" {Paul to the Romans 6:10}.  As being created in the likeness of God, we have never been separated from Him {Genesis 1:27}.  The false illusion is simply that, a lie meant hide the truth which we have in Christ. 

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (The Hand Of God) #1990

 Behold, the hand of Yahweh is not too short to save, and His ear is not too heavy to hear 

Isaiah 59: 1, Concordant Old Testament 

Every now and then there comes the news of the passing of someone who many would be so certain that they would be deemed to hell for the life that they lived here on earth.  In my own time in the Christian religion and faith, I've been faced with those threats as well.  People who have deemed the life which I live to be so sinful that God Himself would never safe me.  So it was recently with the passing of legendary pro wrestler Terry "Hulk" Hogan.  Growing up watching the antics of the World Wrestling Federation, I came to believe that Hulk Hogan had to live a life apart from God.  I was wrong.  For it was in his later years that Hogan became more vocal about his own religious and conservative political views.  Who knew?  Perhaps the millions of Hulka maniacs all over the world rejoiced in the knowing that Terry Hogan had chosen God over fame.  I know for a fact that there has indeed been rejoicing in heaven over his choice to follow the Lord {Lukes Account 15:7}.  Indeed, Gods hands are not so short that He cannot save {Isaiah 59:1}.  I found encouragement over these words this week as I thought of a brother who, being native American, has never learned of the love and grace of the Father.  All too often, we ourselves get into the business of condemning someone to hell based on what we see them think and do.  I've seen far too many pastors condemn others to hell for what they perceive as unpardonable behavior in the sight of God.  To that I would caution, we ARE NOT God.  The apostle Paul has spoken to the truth that our own salvation is not based on our own merits, but on the love and grace of the Father {Paul to the Ephesians 2:8-9}.  There is nothing that we will ever do, save from knowing and accepting the truth of the evangel of Christ, that will guarantee or own salvation.  In His own time, God will reveal to those He chooses the truth of His Son and our life in Him {Johns Account 14:20}.  This is indeed what occurred in my own life.  Despite having been raised in the separation theology of the mainstream church, it wasn't until later in life that my life in the Father was revealed unto me.  How many others had written me off as going to hell without Gods forgiveness?  That I'll never know.  What this has taught me is that not only is God able to save, but that He WILL save in His own time.  

For this is ideal and welcome in the sight of our Saviour, God, Who wills that all mankind be saved and come into a realization of the truth

Paul to Timothy (1) 2: 3-4, Concordant New Testament 

It's called universal salvation, and it fly's in the face of the spoken separation theology coming out of the mainstream church.  Separation Theology is the belief that is our own sin which has separated us from a relationship with God.  This is indeed one of the lies spoken by those in the church.  It is Paul who has written to young Timothy that it is the will of God that all be saved {Paul to Timothy (1) 2:3-4}.  Yet whenever I speak to others of this truth of the forgiveness found in the Father, I usually meet my share of resistance.  Even those who proclaim that they follow Jesus have had difficulty understanding a God who desires to save all of His children.  What about the murderers?  What about the punishment of the wicked?  Folks, that is not our bone to chew.  When it comes to decisions regarding who will be saved and who will not, it is God who takes center stage, not us.  What right has God given unto us that we should sit in judgement of others?  In fact, it is Jesus Himself who has spoken to the truth that we should not judge others {Matthews Account 7:1-2}.  It is Jesus Who has been dispatched into this world not to judge, but that all may be saved through Him {Johns Account 3:16-17}.  Too many people, Christians included, fall into the belief spoken by the church that the good will be rewarded and the wicked punished.  That our salvation is based upon our own merits.  But as Paul has spoken, it is the grace of the Father that decides these things.  I wonder just how many people have looked at my friend and instantly decided that he will definitely be headed for hell based upon how they perceive his life.  When given that chance, I will remind him that the hands of the Lord are never so short that He cannot save one of His own.  

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (The Choice) #1989

 

Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it brought a yearning to the eyes and that the tree was desirable for gaining insight.  So she took of its fruit and ate.  She also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.  Then the eyes of both of them were unclosed, and they realized that they were naked.  So they sewed fig leaves together and made girdle skirts for themselves. 

Genesis 3: 6-7, Concordant Old Testament 

Have you ever made a dumb decision and then, in that moment, realized that it probably wasn't the smartest thing you'd ever done?  Believe me, I've been in that situation more times than I care to count.  A fellow gym rat posed the question this week, why does God allow so much suffering in this world?  Well, why is it that God allowed His first creation to take of the tree which He had commanded them not to?  We must realize that there is nothing that will ever happen that God is not keenly aware of beforehand.  He knew me before I was even born {Jeremiah 1:5}.  I believe that at the root of this question is our own identity in the Father.  We were all created in His likeness {Genesis 1:27}.  Being created in His likeness means that we share in certain communicable attributes of the Father.  Our innate ability to reason and to make choices of our own are a direct reflection of the nature of God.  While we do not share in the Fathers unique qualities of omnipotence and omniscience, we do share in certain qualities of who He is.  Nowhere is this exhibited more than in the garden when Adam and Eve are confronted by Satan the accuser.  The serpent delivers his best sales pitch to the Lords creation, telling them that if they were to eat of the fruit which God had forbidden them to take that they would then "Become like Elohim, knowing good and evil" {Genesis 3:5}.  Did Adam and Eve really know at this point just what good and evil even were?  Probably not.  But they heard the words of the accuser telling them that they could "Be like God."  Of course, they had no idea that, having been created in His likeness, that they were ALREADY like God.  What they heard were the words of the accuser, and perhaps they mistook these words as coming from God, the only other voice they had ever known up until that point.  And so, the choice was made.  For those who don't believe in the consequences for our actions, I present to you Adam and Eve.  For immediately after taking of the forbidden fruit they were presented with the realization that they were naked, and they immediately began to make coverings for themselves to hide their nakedness.  Satan had been right about one thing, the eyes of Gods creation had become unclosed as a result of their choice.  

For even as, through the disobedience of the one man, the many were constituted sinners, thus also, through the obedience of the One, the many shall be constituted just

Paul to the Romans 5: 19, Concordant New Testament 

So it is that as a result of being created in the likeness of God, the choice of disobedience was made.  Granted, this is not a reflection of God, but of the choices we ourselves make.  One other consequence of the choice to take from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is that man has chosen to accept the lie of the deceiver that he has been separated from God due to his own actions.  How many of you feel that your own sin has separated you from a relationship with God?  I was once in your shoes.  I accepted the lie that my own behaviors could affect the free gift of salvation given unto me by the Father through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus {Johns Account 3:16-17}.  I did this despite knowing in my heart that God cannot lie.  Yet if we accept the lie of the deceiver that our sin separates us from the Father, we believe God to be a liar.  We have been created in His likeness, God has always been an intimate part of who it is that we are.  So, knowing this, how is it that we could ever be separated from the Father Who created us?  Again, mankind has made that choice to accept the lie spoken by the deceiver back in the garden.  Not one of the smartest choices we've ever made for sure.  The apostle Paul speaks to the choice of disobedience of the one man (Adam and Eve) resulting in man being constituted as a sinner.  Adams choice had consequences.  However, Paul also speaks to the obedience of the One, Christ Jesus, through which all would be constituted just {Paul to the Romans 5:19}.  Mans choice led him into sin.  Gods choice gave unto him redemption.  

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (Closer Than A Friend) #1988

 

"No longer am I terming you slaves, for the slave is not aware what his lord is doing.  Yet I have declared you friends, for all that I hear from My Father I make known to you" 

Johns Account 15: 15, Concordant New Testament 

One of our discussions this week centered around the difference between a friendship and a relationship.  A gym rat friend mentioned the possibility that he shared a relationship with a girl he had just met at the gym a few days before.  Of course, I was dumbfounded at his announcement seeing the fifty-year age difference between them.  What followed was a spirited discussion on the difference between a friendship and a relationship.  We're told that Jesus Himself has indeed referred to us as His friends, making known to us what He hears from the Father {Johns Account 15:15}.  But is this the depth of our connection with Christ?  No!  For Jesus has also spoken to our union life relationship within He and the Father {Johns Account 14:20}.  Obviously, Jesus knows the difference between a common friendship and a deeper intimate relationship.  Indeed, that is the difference between the two.  One is more on a level of common familiarity while the other involves a more intimate connection.  There is a reason by which a marriage is referred to in a relationship sense, as a husband and wife share a deeper, more intimate connection than that from when they first met.  That friendship has evolved into a relationship over time.  This got me thinking, do we simply want to be friends with God, or do we desire something more.  Yes, Jesus has referred to us as friends, but I believe that He was attempting to illustrate for those listening His closer connection to them.  A friend shares more about his life with another friend.  A friend involves his friends more into the activities of his life.  But you better believe that there are things I would involve someone I was in an intimate relationship with that I would keep my friends separate from.  I am not involved in all of the aspects of the marriage relationships of my friends.  For that I am grateful.  That being said, I have come to know Christ Jesus in a more intimate way over time.  To me, Jesus is much more than a friend.  

In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you 

Johns Account 14: 20. Concordant New Testament 

Many believers have claimed that they desire a closer, more intimate relationship with God.  They do not simply want to be His friend.  For His part, God has assured us that we share in an intimate relationship with Him {Johns Account 14:20}.  Our connection with the Father reaches back to our own creation.  I know that I have been lovingly created in the Fathers likeness {Genesis 1:27}.  We're told that He has known us before we were born {Jeremiah 1:5}.  This has never been simply a casual friendship, but a more intimate connection with God.  So much so, that He has called us His own {First Epistle of John 3:1}.  We are so much more than friends, we are his children.  So, what is it that we can learn from our union relationship with the Father?  Well, first and foremost, we can see that a relationship is far more intimate than any friendship.  We can also see the love which the Father has for us in that He would declare us as His children.  The mainstream church might stake the claim that our sin has separated us from God, but this is simply the lie spoken by the separation theology of the church.  For Christ Jesus has died to sin that God would enjoy the intimate relationship with His creation which He once had in the garden{Paul to the Romans 6:10}.  The desire of the Father is not that He would have friendship with His creation, but that we would realize the intimate connection of our life in Him. 

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (A Home Suitable For God) #1987

 

J Preston Eby 

Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone should be loving Me, he will be keeping My word, and My Father will be loving him, and We shall be coming to him and making an abode with him" 

Johns Account 14: 23, Concordant New Testament 

At first I thought that my own realization of Christ in me was a bit hard to handle, and it was.  I grew up surrounded by the mainstream church narrative where I learned from a young age that I was still a sinner, and that the love of God could be conditional.  If I didn't pray enough, behave well enough or think bad thoughts, I was taught that my salvation in the Lord could be question.  That's right, the very same God who had loved me so much that He sent His Son for the forgiveness of my sins could in the blink of an eye disavow His love and dispatch me to hell.  There were many times that I even wondered, what kind of love is this?  That was the environment which I grew up in.  In what I would later recognize as the church separation theology.  That it is our own sin which keeps us from close communion with God.  It is this theology which I now recognize for what it truly is, the lie spoken by the mainstream church.  I'm sure that it is this theology which made it that much more difficult to understand the truth of God's love for me.  Not only that He would dispatch His Son for me, but that He would create me in His likeness {Genesis 1:27}.  When I read the words spoken by the apostle Paul I began to understand the depth of His love for me.  It is Paul who speaks to Christ dying to sin "Once for all time" {Paul to the Romans 6:10}.  Jesus did not give Himself to death on the cross that sin would continue to abound in spite of His sacrifice.  We must begin to accept the truth that Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins past, present and future.  THAT is the truth of the gospel of Christ.  Once we are aware of this, it makes it that much easier to understand that special place where the Father chooses to make His home.  That is in His children, in us {Johns Account 14:23}.  It is Jesus who has spoken to our union life in the Father {Johns Account 14:20}.  But more than that is the truth that His home in within us.  This is where God chooses to call His home.  

In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you 

Johns Account 14: 20, Concordant New Testament 

I think of the damage which the mainstream church has done to the beliefs of others and I cringe.  I've written that many believers often see their own sin as the main stumbling block to an intimate relationship with the Father.  Yet God has done away with that through the willing sacrifice of Christ {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:21}.  Indeed, God took He Who was sinless and made Him to suffer the penalty of our iniquities.  This He has done out of His love for us.  In a perfect world, all would recognize this and rejoice in the truth of Gods love.  But this hasn't been the case.  For there continue to be those who will blindly follow the separation theology spoken by those within the church.  One of the most damning statements which I've heard regarding the church came from author J Preston Eby.  It is Eby who connected the passage we see in Revelation 18:4 as the Lords call for His children to come out of the mainstream church {The Unveiling of Christ Jesus 18:4}.  After all, what is the church but that which has been created and propped up over the centuries by man himself.  We know that God does not make His home in our places of worship {Acts of the Apostles 17:24-25}.  His true home, that place where God chooses to be above all else in within His children.  Within us.  No longer burdened by sin, but living within those whom He created in His very likeness.  This is where He has chosen to call home.  

~Scott~