Mansion in the sky

John 14 begins: [1] Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

[2] In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
[3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

"When Christ says He goes to prepare a place for you, He’s not saying, ‘I’m going to heaven to build a bunch of houses for you.’

“We sing that old hillbilly song, ‘Just give me a cabin in the corner of glory land,’ and somebody will argue, ‘No, I want a mansion over the hilltop!’ which is from another old hillbilly song.

"One of my favorite old gospel songs was, ‘And I shall go to dwell on Zion’s hill': Some day beyond the reach of mortal ken,

Some day God only knows just where and when
The wheels of mortal life shall all stand still
And I shall go to dwell on Zion's hill.

“But there’s a lot of stuff in the hymn book that isn’t good doctrine. When Christ says, ‘I go to prepare a place for you,’ He’s not talking about going to heaven and working for 2,000 years on building you a house to live in, like another old song goes. I know, that’s sentimentalism, but it’s unscriptural sentimentalism that turns into superstition.

“Think about how foolish that. The second person of the godhead could step out on the platform of nothing, speak a word and a universe is created. Why would He need two thousand years to create a home for you?! The sentimentalism is just kind of foolish. People argue, ‘Yeah but, He’s designing an intricate . . . ’

“How could He design anything more intricate than the creation you live in? Study the atom; study the science of our creation. The deeper scientists are able to dig into creation, or biologists into biology creation, the more complicated it becomes. It doesn’t get simpler. And there’s that creative complexity that’s designed in creation.

“When He says ‘in my Father’s house are many mansions,’ He’s talking to His apostles about the temple He’s going to build in the kingdom and the fact there’s a group of people who are going to dwell with Him in that temple—those who come out of the Great Tribulation and go to this temple and serve there.

*****

"If you go back to John 11 you see the word ‘place’ is not always used in a geographic sense. It can be used in a moral sense or, in this case, a spiritual sense.

John 11:47-48: [47] Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.
[48] If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

“They’re not talking about how they’re going to come down and kick us out of ‘our house.’ They’re talking about their position of rulership in the nation Israel. So when Christ is talking in John 14, He’s using that word place in that kind of an idea: ‘I’m going to go create a position for you.' The fact He’s not talking about a physical location is demonstrated in the verses that follow.

*****

"The temple the apostles are seeing is called 'my house' in Ezekiel 43-45. When it says ‘in my Father’s house,’ there are many mansions in that house. The reason he says that, if you look at Ezekiel 40, is because that’s exactly what’s in the house.

“Ezekiel 40: 2-3: [2] In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south.

[3] And he brought me thither, and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate.

“The frame of the city is that thing Psalm 104 talks about; the beams of His chamber being laid. But at this point, after the Second Advent, those beams are now exposed. The city hasn’t come down yet, but the foundation is laid out for them to get there.

“Ezekiel begins to measure the environs there and lay out the measuring line and the measurements. Verse 9: ‘Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and the posts thereof, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was inward. And the little chambers of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; they three were of one measure: and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side.’

“Notice that concept about the little chamber? You go down through this passage and you find there’s all kind of little chambers being built in this house and these chambers are little cubicles built into the wall.

“You can see it in the tabernacle of Solomon in I Kings 6. The people who ministered in the temple had their living quarters there.

"I Kings 6:5: [5] And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about:

“You remember how John the Baptist’s daddy lived off in another town and had to go up to Jerusalem (when his course came) to serve in the temple for that week? David divided the priesthood up so every tribe of the two sons of Levi went twice a year to Jerusalem to work for a week in the temple. They’d come in on a Sabbath and leave the next Sabbath in the order of their course.

“Well, they didn’t have to go rent rooms at the downtown Hilton while they were there. They had rooms provided for them in the temple—those little chambers. But they weren't chambers like a Motel 6. These things were decorated with cherubim and gold. They were mansions, gorgeous places befitting the temple of the God of all the earth; the God of Israel.

“When they rebuild that temple in the Millennium they’re going to have those chambers in there. They’re going to have all these dwelling places. . . A mansion is where a ruler lives."

All of creation waiting on this:

Romans 8:19: [19] For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

“In your Bible, the word creature, in this passage as in II Corinthians 5:17, is a reference to creation around us, not just critters running around.

II Corinthians 5:17: [17] Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

“The idea there in verse 19 is it’s like a kid with his head stuck out the window looking for his daddy to come home. He’s eagerly anticipating. The earnest expectation, the eager anticipation of the creature, waits for the manifestation for the Sons of God," explains Richard Jordan.

“In other words, creation out here is waiting for the time when we’re put in the heavenly positions up there and the Lord Jesus Christ comes back to earth, sets up the kingdom and the whole shooting match is brought under the headship of Jesus Christ and is liberated.

“The globe out here, the whole universe, is waiting for the time when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back and takes up His inheritance.

*****

“God’s got something He’s doing and you know He’s not worried whether it’s going to come out okay or not. He knows it is. He just relaxes and says, ‘I know the end of the story, bud.’ He’s got confidence in His plan, in His Word, in Himself. He can take that confidence He has in His own self and put it in you.

“The peace of God is that attitude from God that is absolutely confident that what He's doing will work. He said, 'I'll put that in your heart and that will be what will tranquilize your anxieties.’

“ ‘Why? Because you talked to me about the details of your life in light of my Word, and took my Word and focused it on the problems and made your supplications, your petitions to me about what's going on, and what my Word said about how to apply it. Then you took it and made the application, and by faith stood on my Word in your life, and my Word became the issue right down to the details and that meant you have my attitude about it.' "

Taking the position now

Romans 8:21: [21] Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

“Paul’s saying, ‘Listen, you need to realize something; you live in a creation that’s decaying and dying and waiting for that time over there.

“One day we’re going to be manifested before the universe as joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s our privilege and position.

“We can now enjoy this prospect of future manifestation and adoption out there. We can live now as those that are alive from the dead. We can take that position now that we’ll have in the ages to come and live it right this minute as though it were a present-day reality because it is a reality positionally.

“We can experientially, day by day, live our lives in line with the position that God has given us in Christ. We have a hope just like creation does and we’re saved by that hope. That’s not talking about being saved from hell but being saved from despair over the infirmities of this present time. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us out there.

“As you pray there’s that active ministry of God the Holy Spirit both to will and to do in your life; to be operative in your life. And to adjust your prayer life to make it match what God the Father is doing in your life.

Philippians 4:6-7: [6] Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
[7] And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

“People ask what is legitimate subject for prayer today? Folks, there’s not anything that’s on your heart that God doesn’t want you to come to Him with it. Because if it’s on your heart He already knows about it, and if it’s a problem to you and it’s bothering you, if you’re thinking about it, He wants you to talk to Him about it.

“What He’s after is the communion between you and Him; the openness, the intercourse back and forth. Because then when you, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God, that’s how you pray, folks.”

Gap idea is destruction of evolution

Isaiah 45:18: [18] For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

“That verse says He didn’t create it like Genesis 1:2 says it was. That’s one of the verses that tells you something happened between verse 1 and verse 2 in Genesis 1," explains Richard Jordan.

“In the last 30 years, evangelical Christendom, which is absolutely no place to get your bonafides from if you’re a Bible believer, has been on a terror about what they call Creation Science and the fight against evolution.

“Especially in the Christian school and home school movement, believing in a gap is considered heresy. In fact, there are major Christian universities who have adopted in their doctrinal statement that you cannot believe there’s a gap between verse 1 and verse 2 and be a fundamentalist. It’s become that politically charged.

“The reason they do all that is they want to defend against evolution. But think about that a minute: if God created the heaven and the earth and then something happened to what was there, and He had to redo it, how does that promote evolution? It doesn’t.

“A gap does the one thing to evolution that destroys it; it means what’s here now ain’t what was back there. If someone comes along and says measure the earth and it appears to be X number of million or billion years old, you can look at them and say, ‘So?’

“I mean, even if your scientific calculations are correct, so what? God created it, He judged it and what was there before He destroyed, and then He recreates it with Adam. Now that is the answer to evolution in the Bible. The so-called gap idea is the destruction of evolution.

“What they say is you’re putting the gap there so you can account for the earth being millions of years old. Well, okay, how does that help? If the earth is millions of years old (Genesis 1:1) and then there’s a gap between 1 and 2, what was there before isn’t continuing on until today. So you didn’t help yourself. You shot yourself in the foot as far as evolution is concerned.

“Now, if you need to fight evolution, all you have to do is read verse 1 or Colossians 1:16 or John 1:3 and that would have settled that for you.

Colossians 1:16: [16] For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

John 1:3: [3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

“What does it mean that the earth became without form and void? In Jeremiah 4, as well as Isaiah 45, are passages that are not specifically written to talk about Genesis 1; they’re written to talk about when Jesus Christ is revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on His enemies.

“Jeremiah 4 and Isaiah 45 describe what’s going on at the end. What they tell you is something happened back there between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 that isn’t resolved until the end. What happens at the Second Advent is the battle Christ wins is a battle that was engaged in Genesis 1.

Jeremiah 4:19: [19] My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

“There’s that trumpet in Joel 2 before the armies of God. Verse 22-23: [22] For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
[23] I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

"That description ‘without form and void’ is exactly what Genesis 1:2 said. How did it get that way? Verse 26: [26] I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
[27] For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.

“There is His day of vengeance as the man of war making war. What did it do to Palestine? It made it without form and void. That expression is a clear reference to the condition of the earth after the judgement of God has been poured out on it.

“It uses exactly the same terminology as Genesis 1:2 because the battle that began between God and Satan back over in Genesis 1 isn’t resolved until Jesus Christ comes back at the Second Advent.

“It's crucial to follow that when you come back to Genesis 1 what you have is not the absolute original creation of the universe; what you have is the re-creation, the restoration, the restructuring of the universe in light of the fact that there is now a war going on and the universe is now the arena of the war. The theater for the battle is the universe we live in, so He constructs it in Genesis 1 in a way so as to set the battlefield.”

Stability, deep inner peace

"One of the more valuable emotions is the emotion of contentment and, surprisingly, it's one that's learned!

"It’s that emotional stability. Rather than being up and down, over here, over there, bouncing off like a golf ball on a tile bathroom, it’s emotional stability that comes from that renewed mind. ‘Dependence on Christ as enough.’ It comes from depending on Him as your life.

“If you want a title for Philippians you put down Philippians 3:14 ([14] I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus) and you’ve got it because the book is about pressing toward the mark. Pressing toward that identity God's given us in Christ for the prize of the high-calling. What’s the prize? ‘Christ in you the hope of glory.’ Having His life be your life.

“When Paul comes to the end of all of the discussion and focuses on this issue of contentment, that’s the goal to which all of the things in Philippians are designed to bring you in the details of your life. It’s that deep inner peace; that sense of the supernatural sufficiency of who you are in Christ.

“It’s not just a bunch of doctrine--we’re talking about the life that I live. The attitudes that I have and the relationships; my marriage, my home, my grandchildren, my job, my recreation life . . . In all of my relationships, in all of my emotions.

“It’s that stability to live in all of that with an understanding of my dependence of Him being my life. Being enough. Being the treasure. Being ,‘For to me to live is Christ,’ and knowing to die is just to bring that into ultimate reality.

“The Philippians developed personal compassion. They put the needs of others above the wants of themselves. They developed a generous spirit, because when you begin to release the very thing that consumes you (money, in this case) . . . when you let it go, you develop the ability to give. That destroys the compulsion to get because it’s the opposite of it. That happens when you do what verses 17-18’s talking about—you develop an eternal perspective.

[17] Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
[18] (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:

“You come to the place where you realize your spiritual and financial decisions are literally joined at the hip. EVERY decision you make about things, relationships and money and emotions—all of those decisions are really spiritual decisions that have an eternal impact and can either bring honor and praise to God or destroy your testimony.

“You see, our treasure—the thing we invest our talents, time and money to—reveals and directs our heart. You remember Jesus said: ‘Where a man’s treasure is there will his heart be also.’ Now that’s a principle anywhere in the Bible.

“We unconsciously tell God what standard of living we’re willing to live at. What standard of relationships we’re willing to have. What standard of emotional life we’re willing to put up with.

“I learned a secret about that years ago--if there was an area in my life I noticed needed attention; maybe it was neglected. I learned that if I would take that area of my life and just begin to focus some of my time and treasure toward it. Whatever it is, you know what, your heart will follow. Because your treasure directs your heart. It’s that powerful a thing!"

(new article tomorrow)

Self-talk of the Savior

John 17, the longest recorded prayer of Jesus Christ in His earthly ministry, takes the reader into the very heart and mind—the inner thinking and intimacy the Son shared with His Father.

Verse 5: "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was."

Verse 24: "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."

"What’s so notable is Christ doesn’t claim anything of His own. Instead, He says, 'The Father gave me. It’s the Father’s will. I’m doing the Father’s will.'

“So what you’re going to find in this prayer is the Lord Jesus Christ in communion with His Father about the plan the godhead had in eternity past and how they’ve worked it out through history and now they’re at that crucial moment; that lynchpin moment in which everything is going to hang," explains Richard Jordan. "He’s being obedient unto death; even the death of the Cross.

*****

“If you ever wanted to see the internal self-talk of the Savior . . . if you ever wanted to see someone go through the very depths of life, struggles, difficulties, injustice, betrayal, criticism, hatred—not deserving any of it. . . ‘They hated me without a cause,’ He said. He’s conscious of it, and yet able to do it with steadfastness, joy of heart and complete victory.

“When Paul says, ‘Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus,' here’s the mind that was in Christ, and this is one of these rare occasions where you literally listen to Him express . . .

"One of the things you do when you pray is you open your heart up. One of the really valuable things about verbal prayer (audible) is that when you pray with one another (as husband and wife, or with other members of the ministry, etc.), you get to hear what’s on the heart of the other person.

“Sometime we are real conscious of that so we try to pray, not to God, but to one another. Grace allows you to be real and honest with people.

"The thing that makes you put up a mask and try to hide your failures is not grace. That’s the law. That’s a performance.

"When someone’s accepting you based on your performance, then you have to be sure your performance is acceptable. But when you have a relationship with someone, and this is a rare thing--when the Scripture talks about loving one another, and walking in love, this is the goal!

"It’s to be able to value and esteem a person the way God does and not based upon your evaluation or expectation, but based upon God’s statement about who they are and what the relationship is.

*****

“Theology just tramples this passage in John and it’s a crying shame. But this one writer, he titled a commentary book on John 17, ‘Take Off Your Shoes Because You’re On Holy Ground.’

"There’s really that kind of sense of sacredness about what’s going on here because the Lord literally opens Himself up to allow you to look into His heart and His innermost, intimate conversation with His Father.

“The Lord constantly was in a mode of prayer. It’s not strange that He would end His ministry with His apostles in that way. When you go back to, for example, Luke 3, in His baptism, it’s in the midst of praying that He goes and is baptized of John.

“When He selects the apostles in Luke 6, He’s up praying all night beforehand. When He’s on the Mount of Transfiguration, it’s an evening of prayer and then that. The very last words that came out of His mouth while He’s on the earth on the Cross was a prayer.

“Look at Psalm 31. The Lord constantly lived in communion with His Father but His prayers were intelligent. They were based, not upon emotion or just circumstantially, but they were communing with His Father about His Father’s will.”

(new article tomorrow)

Talk with them the way they talk with one another

“They teach you not to believe your Bible. It says, [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

“But you’re Israel?! You say, ‘Wait a minute. How can I be spiritual Israel and be in a body of Believers in which there is no Israeli status?’ Why do they tell you that? Because they don’t listen to what the godhead says; they got their own stuff to say, do it their own way," says Richard Jordan.

“When Christ says ‘the uttermost parts of the earth,’ that’s the promise the Father gave to the Son in Psalm 2:8: [8] Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

“Why is He going to do that? Psalm 2:9: [9] Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

“He’s going to come back at His Second Advent and take over the planet He’s inherited by virtue of His resurrection.

“Here’s the Holy Spirit going to talk through David: [10] Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
[11] Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
[12] Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

“You got to love that ‘kiss the Son.’ Make peace with Him, trust Him, He’s going to be the King of Kings.

“If you want to talk to the Father, if you listen to how He talks to the Son, and the Son talks to Him, and the Spirit talks about what they have to do, wouldn’t you want to talk with them they way they talk to one another instead of talking with Him like a lunatic? Like you don’t know anything about what they think or say?

“The Spirit searches your heart and He knows what the will of God is; He knows what the Father says to the Son, the Son says to the Father. When you talk to God, God searches you.

“That passage in Hebrews 4 says: [12] For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
[13] Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

“God knows every thought, every intent of your heart, and when you think it, He knows it. He knows your intent, even when you don’t.

“When you talk to Him, the idea is to be intelligent; be a son, be someone who knows what the Father says to the Son, and the Son to the Father, and what’s their will.

“Colossian 1:18 says, [18] And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

“The Father loved His son before the foundation of the world; loves Him supremely, finds all of His joy in Him. It’s to our advantage to be able to understand how the Father feels about His Son and to talk to the Father about His Son the way He does and appreciate Him the way He appreciates Him.

“To me it’s a joyful thing to be able to be an adult in the family and talk to the Creator of all things intelligently, understanding how He thinks, and fellowship with Him around the joy He has in His Son and the purpose and plan He has in His Son.

“And when the Father and the Son talk about these things, they talk about what they’re going to do and to me that’s fascinating. I can talk to Him intelligently about it too.”

No mystery--it's simply THINKING

Paul advises in Galatians 5:16, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

“The word ‘lust’ at its root means to long for something. When you begin to possess that desire and this sort of strong passion, how do you not fulfill that longing? Walk in the spirit. But how do you do that?

“Verse 17: ‘For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.’

“This verse has nothing to do with YOU fighting your flesh; you’re going to lose!  Let the Spirit fight for you!" says Alex Kurz.

"When it says ‘the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,’ this has nothing to do with the flesh being in hand-to-hand mortal combat with the Spirit.

“Some people live in kind of this dual, split personality kind of a thing where they tell you, ‘Wow, what a battle; every day I’m fighting the flesh.’

“The battle isn’t you suppressing, controlling, restraining your flesh. The Spirit has the answer. When it says ‘the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,’ it’s talking about the two operating systems that are completely diametrically opposed to each other.

“So here’s the key. The Spirit will never ever utilize the avenue the flesh is going to utilize. The way the flesh works is completely contradictory to how the Spirit works, and if you’re just walking over here, don’t worry, you’re not going to fulfill the flesh over there.

“Let’s just demonstrate this. Romans 6:11-12 says, 11] Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[12] Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

“Do you see the contrast being made? You know what the Spirit says? ‘Reckon.’ Count what those verses say about you to be true and by doing so you will not obey the lust--the affection, the desire, that innate longing that your flesh has.

“The answer is to reckon; it’s in the realm of the THINKING, in contrast to the realm of the lust.

“Romans 13:14 says, ‘But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.’

“You know what it means to put on the Lord Jesus Christ? Renew the way you’re thinking. If you renew the way you’re thinking, as the verse says, you’re not going to fulfill—it doesn’t say you will never have inordinate lust. It says you’re not going to what?

“You know, that actually is a help because when you begin to long for something that is quite contrary to what you already possess in Jesus Christ, you need to say, ‘Wait a minute, am I thinking properly?’

“When you have a lust, don’t fall to the ground, condemn yourself and be overcome by shame, guilt, fear and this sense of unworthiness. Let it lead you to recognize, ‘I got to change the way I’m thinking.’ Nothing mysterious there; not some strange working. You see that? It’s not some metaphysical operation; it’s simply thinking.

"When Paul says in Romans 13, ‘Put on the Lord Jesus Christ,’ he’s saying, ‘Put on the specific doctrines that are being taught,’ and it’s in this category called 'the grace of Almighty God' that we renew our thinking. By doing so, you’re putting Him on and you’re putting this guy off.

“The flesh argues, ‘NOOO, you’ve got to operate in the realm of how you feel about things!’ The flesh is going to convince you that your feelings are a legitimate authority but the Bible says, ‘No, what you feel is NOT authoritative; the words that God the Holy Spirit is teaching—that’s the authority!’

"As Jeremiah 17:9 says, 'The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?'

“Another passage in this regard, and these are just some of the more obvious passages, is Colossians 3:5: ‘Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.’

“Verse 10: ‘And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.’

“To mortify means you just put it to death. How do you do that? Verse 9 says, ‘Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.’

“The Spirit by the way, He’s chilled. He’s relaxed. He’s not fighting anybody! Don’t envision having this struggle every day. No, it’s just two competing systems and which one are you choosing to operate under. That’s all it is.

"The Spirit’s already provided the resources. We already have the provisions. All we have to do is put it on.

“How do you put it on? That’s why Bible study has to be a very personal thing between you and God. No one else can do this for you. I hope when you study the Bible it’s so that you truly are minding what the Spirit is minding.

*****

"So when that lust starts rearing its ugly head, what do you have to do? I got to think about what the Spirit’s thinking about and He just thinks about Jesus Christ.

“In Galatians 5:17, what Paul’s saying is, ‘If you’re operating and abiding in the realm of the flesh, the realm of the emotions, you know what’s going to happen? You can’t do it.

“Paul says in Romans 7:19, ‘For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.’ He’s talking about living under the law! Verse 20 says, ‘Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.’

“Sin is going to deceive you. The weakness of our flesh; it deceives us into thinking you have the energy and the capacity to control your life and to live for God and to restrain evil and to produce good and to live.

“Paul says, ‘I’m over here. I can’t do what I want to do!’ Why? There’s something inherently wrong and flawed in the realm of your inner person.’ That’s why the law will always fail. It can’t change you. Oh, it can be a yoke and it can control you, but it can’t change something inside.

“Galatians 5:18 says, ‘But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.’ That’s the language of Romans 8. In this particular context, when Paul says, ‘If you be led of the Spirit,’ what does it mean to be led of the Spirit? It’s to mind the things of the Spirit. What is the Spirit mindful of?  Who you are, your life; the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

*****

“Galatians 4 says, [1] Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
[2] But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
[3] Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

“The Galatians were gravitating back to that child system of the law but the Spirit will never violate your position as an adult. You know what’s expected of an adult? You better start thinking. No more of the yoke and the chains of some system that operates in the realm of external constraint.

“The Holy Spirit will never do that. He treats you like a grown-up and the only motivation that honors and pleases our heavenly Father is the internal compulsion; the internal change of character. That’s what it means to be an adult!

“Being an adult means no one’s going to grab you by the hand. God’s not going to make you do anything. That’s high ground.

"You have Christians who seek comfort in the law like a little child, and God the Holy Spirit says, ‘I’m not going to violate who you are; you’re an adult. You can choose to mind the things of the Spirit.' We can choose to walk that way.”

The more comfort to be had

Psalm 94: [17] Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.

[18] When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
[19] In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.

“The Psalms are a beautiful haven when life is tough because they remind us of the power found in praise and worship regardless of our distresses," writes a Christian blogger. "They point us to the comfort found in His presence, even in the midst of pain, when we remember how wonderfully faithful and kind He is.

Paul writes in II Corinthians 1, [3] Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
[4] Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
[5] For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
[6] And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
[7] And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

“The word ‘comfort’ is an interesting word," explains Richard Jordan. "We usually think about comfort like patting somebody on the back, making them feel better. But the word 'comfort' in the Bible really means to fortify somebody in their inner man. ‘Fort’ is for fortitude. The prefix ‘com’ is ‘to bring it into your life’ with fortitude. ‘To be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.’

"That’s what comfort is and that’s what sound doctrine does in your inner man. The more doctrine--the more explanation, the more details you have--the more comfort there is.

“I’m often struck by I Thessalonians 4:18: ‘Wherefore comfort one another with these words.’ This is what Paul writes after describing the details of the Rapture.

*****

“Peace in trouble, you learn at higher and higher levels, comes from standing and resting in the truth of God’s Word. More and more, putting to the death the 'old man' and the habits of the flesh is part of those rivers of living water that are torrents in the inner being flooding out everything that is not God.

“There’s never any growth without pressure or obstacles. Agape love is a mental-attitude love. By knowing ‘tribulation worketh,’ we learn how much God loves us; how highly He values and esteems us. We’re told ‘the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.’

“That ‘shed abroad’ is like a great river coursing and flowing over our soul. It just comes and courses in and flows in over us and refreshes us. It’s like the old Nestea Plunge commercial. This sweaty, hot guy falls off into that pool and you just almost want to go ‘Ahhh’ yourself when you see him go under.

"As David says in Psalm 36: [7] How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

[8] They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
[9] For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

(new article tomorrow)