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By:
M. E. Arbaugh
Overcoming
the
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Better than the Blood of
Bulls
and Goats
OUR PART IN THE NEW COVENANT (cont.)
REVIEW
LESSON FIFTEEN
Lest we loose sight of what we are discussing here, lets review.
THE LOVE OF GOD is unconditional, it is God's nature to love. Before we are saved, He loves us because He is love. While we were yet in darkness, God gave His most precious possession in order that we might become His. That is Hased love, that is agape love. A love poured out for the benefit of the object that is loved.
After we are born again, God loves us because we have believed in His Son. John 16:27. Not because we have done so many terrific things, but because we have believed in Jesus. God's love is unconditional.
If we have not understood the difference between God's unconditional love and His blessing that is dependent upon obedience, that doesn't mean we starve to death. God is faithful. He gave the children of Israel manna, while they wandered in the desert. They were eating, but it got tiresome having "it" over and over. Manna means, "what is it," so what is it, is what they had twice a day for forty years. During this same time, their shoes did not wear out.
They had good, forty year old shoes. The Israelites didn't realize they could have had milk, honey and huge grapes. Fear got in their way and clouded their understanding, so they weren't obedient. The result was sand in their forty year old shoes and "what is it" twice a day. They experienced the unconditional love of God in the provision of shoes that did not wear out and manna; But they did not register when God said, "Obey My words and you will have abundance." Many of God's children today are at the same place. If we like new shoes and a variety of foods, then we will want to know what brings these things into our lives.
We need to understand that because God has loved us so much, we should say thank you. We do this by doing things that are pleasing to Him. By obeying His established rules. When we do, then He is able to bless us. The blessings of God are conditional upon obedience to His word. If we would be blessed, we must obey the Lord.
Obeying the Lord means doing what He wants, when He wants, the way He wants. If we try to do what He wants on our time table and in our way, that is not obedience, it is a form of rebellion. Obedience requires three things, what, when and way.
How do we know what, when and way? His word is the book of instruction that tells us what He wants done.
When we buy an appliance or a car a operating manual comes with it. When we follow the manual, all will go well. If we don't, we may very well strip a gear and cause major damage.
Many of us say, "I want to follow God's plan, I want to measure up. I want to do what God wants me to do, but I'm always blowing it. I just don't understand what God wants me to do. I can really relate to the apostle Paul, who said, 'That which I would do, I do not.'" How do we get to the place of obedience? How can we know? How do we reach the place of blessing? WE NEED TO READ THE MANUAL. The manual is given to us so we may know.
Psalm 119:88 AMP. "According to Your steadfast love give life to me; THEN I will keep the testimony of Your mouth (hearing, receiving, loving and obeying it)."
When we are born again, we are given the life of God, then we must learn how to let it flow through us. How do we do THAT? How do we walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh?
Many of us have been taught to daily put on the garment of praise and the full armor of God. We know this, right? Do we do it? We have to apply what we already know. Medicine that sits on the chest will not help us, it must be ingested or applied. After we are dressed in God's armor, we walk after the Spirit, by walking in love.
Insert your name in the following blanks and you will see how to do things that are pleasing to God.
"__________ endures long and is patient and kind; __________ never is envious nor boils over with jealousy; is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display his (her) self haughtily. __________ is not conceited, arrogant and inflated with pride; __________ is not rude (unmannerly), and does not act unbecomingly. __________does not insist on his (her) own rights or his (her) own way, for __________ is not self seeking; __________is not touchy or fretful or resentful; __________ takes no account of the evil done to him (her), pays no attention to a suffered wrong. __________ does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.
__________ bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, __________ has hopes that are fadeless under all circumstances and __________ endures everything without weakening."
Letting the life of God flow through us is simply, doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. Remember, He did not say men would know us by the gifts, but He did say they would know us by our love. When we are born again, we don't add Jesus to our lives, HE IS OUR LIFE. To present our bodies as a living sacrifice is to let that life flow through us.
It is an established rule of God that we praise Him. We praise Him not only with our mouths, but also with our lives. When we start walking with God, He says, one of us must change. Then He says, "I am the Lord, and I change not." To receive the blessings of God we must be obedient to the word.
We must hold loosely in our hands, the abundance of God. Giving as freely as we have received.
God called each of us for a purpose. He has a plan for each of us. The pity is that most of us have never asked what it is. Some say, "well I asked, but He hasn't said. It's really nice that He speaks to some people, but He just doesn't speak to me." If we are not hearing from God after we ask, then we need to return to the last instruction we received and clear that up. If we haven't done what He has already given then we will not receive the next step.
We must be born again, spirit filled, in fellowship with Him, in fellowship with each other, walking in love, and we must be channels of His abundance.
Doing something because we are afraid to do otherwise is not real obedience. Example...millions of people have been taught they should go to church. They don't understand why church is important to God, but they have heard it pleases God, so they go. They think they are being obedient. That is not obedience, it is works. When we really hear the words of God and discover the church is a living breathing body that represents Jesus and the Father on the earth, then it's different. Church attendance is no longer a chore, its a pleasure. Now when we go to church and forsake not the assembling of ourselves together, it is obedience. Real Bible obedience is to hear and to do. To really hear means you understand. The word speaks of those who hearing do not hear.
When we really hear the words of God, we hear them down in our spirits. Words enter in the mental realm, we understand in the spirit realm, then we do in the physical realm.
Lets talk about the opposite of obedience, disobedience. The words used
to signify disobedience in both the Old and the New Testaments, actually
mean, to bitterly oppose or to openly rebel. Ever notice when other people
do the things that we do, we label them differently. If some one else takes
a long time to do something, he's slow. But when we take a long time to do
something, it's because we are thorough and meticulous. When the other
fellow doesn't do something, he's lazy. If we don't do something, it is
because we are just to busy. When our children don't obey us, we say they
are rebellious and sinful. However, when we disobey God, we think of other
things to call it, but it's the same thing. Calling an onion a rose, will
not make it smell or look like one.
Overcoming
the
Enemies
of
Health
QUESTIONS?
COMMENTS!
Email M.E.A.
1 Samuel 15:17-26 LBV And Samuel told Saul, When you didn't think much of yourself, God made you king of Israel. And He sent you on an errand and told you, 'Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, until they are all dead.' Then why didn't you obey the Lord? Why did you rush for the loot and do exactly what God said not to? I have obeyed the Lord Saul insisted. "I did what He told me to and I brought King Agag but killed everyone else. It was only when my troops demanded it that I let them keep the best of the sheep and oxen and loot to sacrifice to the Lord." Samuel replied, "Has the Lord as much pleasure in your burnt offering and sacrifices as in your obedience? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. He is much more interested in your listening to him than in your offering the fat of rams to him. Rebellion is as bad as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as bad as worshiping idols. And now because you have rejected the word of Jehovah, he has rejected you from being king." "I have sinned," Saul finally admitted. "Yes, I have disobeyed your instructions and the command of the Lord, I was afraid of the people and did what they demanded. Please pardon my sin and go with me to worship the Lord." But Samuel replied, "it's no use! Since you have rejected the commandment of the Lord, he has rejected you from being the king of Israel."
Samuel was sent by the Lord to anoint Saul king over Israel. Sometime later, Saul was given instructions concerning the Amalekites.
God said, Saul was to utterly destroy them and all of their animals. The battle was a clear victory for the Israelites, but Saul spared King Agag and all the best of the flocks. When Samuel confronted Saul, he said, "Praise the Lord, Samuel, I have completed all the Lord said to do. " While Saul was yet speaking, the bleating of the sheep, and the lowing of the oxen could be heard. Saul blamed the keeping of the animals on his troops, he said they kept the best to offer them as sacrifice before the Lord. Because Saul desired the praise of the people more than the praise of God, he lost the blessing of God. He sought pardon, but was never given back his kingship, remember Esau, who sold his birthright to his brother Jacob (Genesis chapter 27). When he later wanted it back, the Bible says he found no place of repentance, even though he sought it carefully with tears. Hebrews 12 AMP There was no chance to recall the choice that he made. Obedience is better than sacrifice.
When Saul was small in his own sight, when he had a sense of deflated pride in his own abilities and efforts, it was then that God exalted him. When we start thinking we have the power to do it our way, instead of God's way, we are in deep trouble.
That's rebellion. Rebellion is as bad as witchcraft. No matter what we call it, if we do it, we lose the blessing of God.
We need to listen, understand and obey, so we won't lose our authority as kings on the earth.
Psalms 68:6 God gives families to the lonely, and releases those who are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry and parched land.
Next: Lesson Sixteen
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Peace4U
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Teaching And Research By: M. E. Arbaugh
Last Update:
October 1, 2001
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