Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. – Matthew 5:8  (click here)

I debated naming this post “Faith – not Fear or Feelings?” or “Are you building a Kingdom in Heaven or on Earth?” or “Purity or  Prosperity?” or “Revival or Revenge?” or “Devotion or Dominion”.   These titles ask the question about “what” you are seeking and “how” you are seeking it but more importantly they ask the motive for “why” you are seeking it.  Each person is accountable to God for the “choices” they make in their life but only a heart that is “pure” will give a pleasing answer to God, see God and be eternally united with Him while an answer that is not pure will be eternally separated from God!

Life is not a comedy like the “I Love Lucy Show” even though we sometimes display comedy in our weakness and misunderstanding.  We can’t just laugh off our existence as a joke … man is without excuse for failure to recognize his creator God and for failure to confess of his sin which destroys God’s creation.  Don’t you realize your life is a gift from God?  What have you done with this gift of your life? Do you know why God created you?  How can you know this creator of everything and the purpose for your life?  Is your heart pure toward God in that you do not have selfish motives for what you do and desire?  Have you ever wanted something and thought your life would be satisfied if you had that something?  … well this is called “coveting” … it’s a sin of human reasoning, not a pure motive directed toward God.  In other words, you naturally think of what is best according to your reasoning because you are a sinner separated from God.

And as Ricky would tell Lucy … “You’ve got some splaining to do”. 

And God wants to hear your explanation but do not think God is fooled by how sincere your motives and desires are or how bad your feel in this world and don’t think He is impressed by how well you are able to rationalize your behavior.  Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent but they both knew better and were responsible for the first sin.  The first sin brought the fall of mankind, their nature was changed from one that trusted and enjoyed fellowship with God to a nature that distrusted God, questioned His goodness, rebelled against His commandments, feared His judgement …and proudly proclaims “I did it my way”.   Yes, this song was a number one hit for Frank Sanantra but it’s a number one failure with God. 

God is not impressed by what we know or what we do but by “who” we know and who we worship.

 

Jesus is the truth, the life and the way, no one comes to the Father except through Jesus (John 14:6)

Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved from your sin, reconciled to God, sealed by the Holy Spirit which will begin a good work in you to conform you into the image of Jesus (Romans 10:13)!  This is what it means to be “born again” by the Holy Spirit and join the family of God.  After you are reconciled to God by salvation in Jesus Christ the next order of business is to be made into the image of Christ by the sanctification process of the Holy Spirit … and this is really the focus of this article.

You see, even after you have been saved by Jesus Christ you must continue to “work out” your salvation in Jesus Christ with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).  These are NOT works of human reasoning to impress God or done in fear as though you could loose your salvation (you cannot loose your salvation – you have been born again – you cannot be unborn Spiritually any more than you can be unborn physically)!  But these are works of faith that God has prepared for you.  These are works that are done in Spirit and Truth with an attitude of gratitude.   We work our our salvation with a “reverential fear of God” … which means by faith that God is leading you to do the works and He is supplying you the means to do the works … for His glory. These are works to build a Kingdom of God in Heaven, not a Kingdom of man on earth.  These are works that bring people to the saving knowledge of Christ or build up the body of Christ, the Church, in Spirit and Truth … not works which build a dominion on earth for you to rule over!

Matthew 6: 19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Where are your treasures at?  Your heart “follows” where after your treasures.  Where are you investing your time, talent and money? … this is where you are storing up treasures.  Are you spending your time reading God’s word trying to know Him? Do you have a passion to see people come to Christ and honor Him with their life?  A W Tozer recognized that most Christians are investing their time in building a kingdom in this world and that is why they are weak in their faith and ineffective for the Kingdom of Heaven.  They don’t think about leaving this world and being with Jesus (rapture) because they spend their time building a home of comfort in this world!  And this is why Jesus was standing at outside the door of the rich Laodicean church (Revelation 3:20).  He was knocking on the door trying to get back into the His Church.  He wanted the people in there to come out of the world and come to Him!  Maranatha! 

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. – James 4:4

So do you want to be with Jesus now … in His presence through the Holy Spirit … and with Him in Heaven or do you want to be a friend with this world?  The promise of being with Jesus in the New Jerusalem and casting crowns of works of faith done at the feet of Jesus is what motivates a true believer in Jesus Christ to do the works of faith prepared for him.  Jesus is the only One who can bring peace to this earth and when we pray “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done” this means we are in agreement with God … we want Jesus to come into the lives of people and do His will and we want Jesus to return and set up His Kingdom on earth but we don’t expect to reign and rule over earth now.  In His Kingdom, believers will rule and reign with Jesus but His Kingdom will not be set up until “after” 7 years of Tribulation and Wrath … NOT NOW.

Yes, we should pray and vote for Godly men to lead us and we should serve in public office if that is where God is leading you but do not think that the political battle ground is the only place or the most important place that God is working.  God is seeking to save souls and for His children to plant the seeds of the gospel.  It is good to expose the deeds of evil but it is more important to pray for your enemy and allowing God’s vengeance to work the deeds of righteousness for His glory!

My web site is names “Die 2 Live”.   I  am called by God to “die” to selfish motives of controlling things on this earth for my comfort and glory and seeking to “live” and share in the suffering of Christ for His glory

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