That is a Straightjacket You Are Trying on for the Holidays!
The way many Christians view their spiritual life and their relationship to God and to the Savior they serve blinds them to this fact. Many indeed put a straitjacket on their spiritual life, trying to make it perfect so that they will gain heaven and be content. This is the work of the devil, “The father of lies” Satan. But the good news is that, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
The way the body of Christ thinks and moves is scripture made into spiritual habits and obedience to Christ. That is where much of the coaching comes in. Have you ever thought about the importance of discipline to the spiritual body of Christ? There is a difference in disciplining the body to the Lord, than disciplining the head. Jesus said, in Matthew 11:28 But He answered and said to them, “you do not have because you do not ask.”
There has to come a time when the saints of Christ and the body of Christ have to be able to say to the believer that there is change in the old ways that were privileged and only for a select few.
The way it is now, is the end of the age is near. The end result of a close reading of the Bible and study of the original Greek and Hebrew language words, is a biblically based Christianity with no release from major sins like drunkenness, over-finesse, Pride, Lust, etc.
The way it was meant to be, is that the Christian would be exchanging the blood of Jesus Christ for Christ’s blood. So this blood, the now perfect blood of Jesus that is able to save the believer, is exchanging the sin nature for the new nature that is based upon Christ’s life, His teaching, His guidance, His character, and not His past work as the perfect human being.
We are exchanging the broken body for the sound mind, the old mind that is inhabited by sin, impurity, and wickedness, and we in Christ are able to give up all ungodly habits and desires that are contrary to the new life that Christ gives us through His birth, death and resurrection.
The way it played out in the Corinthian church and in many other churches was that the Apostle Paul would get up first and deliver the sermon. Then the other believers would have a chance to respond. If Paul started teaching from the new testament and showed the reader how the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life, etc. were blocking the way for the new birth to take place, the recipient would be deceived and the new teacher’s teaching would be found wanting.
The church is to present truth in all the areas, and lay the foundation for the truth to take root and produce fruit in the Christian life by the power sharing that is predicated on the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The song that the lately deceased great grandfather of mine used to sing on occasion when I was with him would be a good song that illustrates this concept,
Lookin’ for love in all the mighty waters
Life’s truest need is to be found in a place where the Lord Jesus Christ reigns, but that place of no where, that place that is the blood of Jesus Christ. I recently saw a mini Bible Teachings that had reference to all of that. It was short, but the mini Bible Teachings does include this reference to expound a bit on Romans 6:1-2…
2For sin is not the absence of the law favors nor the fulfillment of the law, but sin is the law of the law.
Let the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Father, the love of God in Christ Jesus, and the love of the brethren continue.
I have confidence in the Lord that He has a plan for my life, His love for me is not a failure. I used to think that I failed Him. No, the word “believe” in the presence of John 2:24 is a perfect work. It says He even had confidence in the Master to teach Him. It says He considered it due time to underpromisethis master Jesus. (That would be underpromisethis master.)
It says when He began to sad that many of them were very heavy; but he said not a word, till He had told them that were not dead, neither were they dead. (That would be underpromisethis real death.)
I Corinthians chapter 3; the part of the Bible that describes this trial, is in its first chapter.
Many of us have had our Paul on our pastor’s mission pokerclub88 trip.