As NOW keeps shooting by . . .

In our women’s Bible study yesterday, we covered this passage in Romans 8: [15] For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
[16] The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
[17] And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
[18] For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

One of the takeaway messages was that in our adult status as Believers, the Father engages us personally in instructing us and we have access to His estate with all its privileges. As members of the estate, we carry out the Father’s will and purpose.

*****

Paul writes in Ephesians 2: 6-7, “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
[7] That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”

"For some members of the Body of Christ, there’s going to be a different level of admiration than for others, and there’s this privileged status that’s going to be rewarded to us for Christ’s sake; not for us but for Him, for how much of the activity of our life is filled up with Him," says Jordan.

“Here’s the purpose for the Body of Christ: How much time you and I focus in our life on being who we are in Christ.

“When you get to the judgment seat of Christ, all the time that you were walking after the flesh, walking in your own way, or in denominational or religious tyranny, performing something other than it being Christ in you living through you . . .

“In essence, when you get up there what’s going to come out on the other side is just a blank in those areas. Empty places. What you lose, I Corinthians 3 tells us, is the reward you could have had by having your life filled up with Him. Well, if you fill your life up now, do you get a reward from that? Woah, listen, you have the privilege . . .

“Philippians 1:29 says, [29] For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

“You learn an intimacy with the Lord and an appreciation of His grace, and there are some rewards right now in your personal fellowship with the Lord, and your personal maturity and you’re growing, and you’re able to be comforted with the comfort of God and be able to comfort others.

*****

“Paul, talking to Timothy, says in I Timothy 4, [7] But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
[8] For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

“Something that’s profane is just something that’s worldly. Then there’s ‘old wives’ fables.’ I love that. I’d love for Paul to tell us some of what those old wives’ fables were. They are stories people tell that have some kind of supernatural element to them; a supernatural experience that isn’t explainable but also, it just proves nothing.

“I have people who will give me an account of something and ask me, ‘What do you think that means?’ I just say, ‘Nothing.’ But it gets passed down.

*****

“Paul is saying, ‘Don’t get out here in all this religious mumbo-jumbo. All this bodily exercise of religious activity profits little, but godliness is profitable.’

“Having that godlike thinking process, that’s what is profitable. Godliness is profitable now. It pays now but it also pays in the future. Because if now is all there is, now’s just over with and now is past. Now just keeps shooting right by you. So, you do have some maturity, but the big thing is that maturity is profitable in the ages to come.

“II Thessalonians 1: 11-12 says, ‘Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:
[12] That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Where it’s profitable is right here in that He is glorified and admired in the saints. So the ‘counting worthy’ here has to do with the reigning we’ll have, the functioning we’ll have. If we suffer with Him NOW, we reign with Him THEN.”

*****

Bible expositor Cora MacIlravey, circa 1916, writes, “It is amazing to see how God is drawing those who are willing to pay the price and go through with the Lord. His hand is upon them, and He is drawing them to Himself in a deeper way. There is no self-satisfaction with those whom God is drawing and making hungry for Himself.

"Though we are always satisfied with Jesus, it seems the more we feed upon Him, the hungrier we are for Him. The more we drink of the living waters, the more satisfied we become, and yet the thirstier we are.

"The closer we draw to God, the more Jesus is revealed to us, the more satisfied we are, and yet the more fervently our hearts pant for Him. The reason many of God’s children are not hungry, is because they are not feeding at all, or are eating impure food, and drinking muddy water . . .

“Do you know, if you are walking in obedience and humility, that the banner of your Beloved is floating over you all the time? When you are going through the hardest trials, if your eyes are anointed and you looked up, you would discern His banner, ‘Love,’ floating, shining, gleaming through the darkness.

"We do not always see it and we do not always remember that it is there, but it is ever over us. In the night seasons, in the day seasons; in the dark places, in the light places; in the hard places, in the easy places, the banner of our God is still floating above us.”

(new article tomorrow)