This attempt by me is to truly put on display not only myself but hopefully others. That we all may examine ourselves with truth and transparency. For without such we are blind and deceiving ourselves in thinking we are of Christ. So read below and examine oneself as I did and you may be shocked to find what you really believe or what you truly wish not to.
Yeshua-The Christ(which means light)
Said this: “I can do of myself nothing “but” what I hear from the Father I do.”
So you see the fleshly man honors the Father by doing as he says and speaking as he hears from him.
Who do we honor when we speak? Is it ourselves? Family ,friends, enemies?
Maybe we dont know. Maybe we claim things and have no real understanding of what we say we stand by. To say one is a Christian is a great thing. As it says I follow Yeshua (Jesus) the Christ. Follow, but what are we saying when we say follow. What are we really following? Or do we simply say that because we have been trained to from our upbringing. Many of us if we are honest follow our offenses. Our offenses are our Lord. Some of us our desires and lust are. Many our entertainment is. Regardless many of those were mine and I find myself seeing that those things creep up very subtly. I present this with hopes that the truth is most important. For we all follow something or someone.
Here is another verse from Christ that I wonder if many understand its depth.
Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the poor in spirit? For theirs is the kingdom of heaven? Wow you would think those rich in their spirit would be blessed and their would be the kingdom of heaven. Yet the one we follow or say we do is saying the opposite.
This is my take from it and from my life I can testify that until one can even merely admit that they are poor spiritually they can never truly find the kingdom of heaven. As this challenges pride and challenges what we think we know. Many pride themselves on lengthy church attendance or steady tithing or maybe even volunteer work done. All these things to represent their knowing of the Father. Yet none of this represents following Christ. Yes none of it. Yet none of it is wrong either its just there is no way to say these things are done with the right heart.
So maybe the heart being examined is more important. Christ said in Matthew 23:23 it is not wrong to tithe but the very next line he says do not neglect the other things which are justice, mercy, and faith which he says are more heavy i.e. more important to do. Why isn’t this verse examined more when teaching to tithe? Examine yourselves preachers! Do you neglect the importance of teaching that the heart must be right first before these things are to be presented to the Lord? Or do you simply focus on what gain you and your establishment get from the financial giving?
When you teach that the Lord says test me on this you are failing your test by not teaching people that their heart is to be examined first before doing this. Simply doing it is not passing a test of honoring God with your first. For if you do not honor him with you character first, your gifts ,your tithes are all polluted! Guard yourself against offense here!
All that to say this. This is what I believe now. As I was a great speaker as a Christian. I could talk about God and Christ til I was blue in the face with debates, and strong denouncements against other religions and powerful alignment with Christ being the truth and yet I was lost. I lived a life that was not living but rather death! For I had no love in my heart.
So with that said understand this. The decision to not invest in scripture all scriptures ,yes even the ones that were burned and told they dont qualify to be added to the bible is what ruins a man. For without it we go towards a thinking for now. As if our thoughts are higher than those before us. The heart is required to be pure! You can speak words that glorify God but with no love your words are not accepted! Do not be deceived. The scriptures say clearly if you have anything against your brother to leave your offering and reconcile it first. Consider that a mandate for all things done. Before you volunteer make sure those close to you are loved. Before you accept a role at church make sure your enemies are prayed for with a true and genuine heart but also are treated with respect and care. Before you speak of your faith in Christ remember his faith was in God the Father. For in vain they do worship me he said.
So when the Father says I do not need your gifts or offerings if they be with a bad heart …we should caution ourselves to not give them until that is fixed.
What do you believe? Who do you follow? Learn yourself and find out what it is that you display in your private time, how do you react when something wrong is done to you? How do you speak to people? How do you act when frustration begins to boil inside? Are you with offense and feel justified? I’ve lived with them all. So I hope as I reveal the cross I carry I give someone a second to ponder what do they believe and who do they truly follow. For scripture is clear my people perish for a lack of knowledge.
Learn yourself.
Let the peace of Yeshua be with you all.
Selah
lifeoflivingchrist.com 