2022: The Church in the Wilderness

          We can learn simple lessons from the Bible stories we have all heard growing up. Understanding how Old Testament stories apply to our New Testament experience gives us insight into our current condition as the people of God.

          The story of Israel’s 40-year journey from the bondage of Egypt and into the Promised Land is an Old Testament instruction to the body of Christ today and can be interpreted allegorically.

          Israel’s wilderness journey shows us that salvation is not an event, but a process, and a process that requires humility, and the fear of the Lord. (Phil 2:12-15)

          The length of that process does not have to take 40 years, which represents an entire adult life span, yet for generations that seems to have been the case with the Church. Most Christians in our generation are dying in the wilderness without ever obtaining their rightful earthly inheritance. The never fully enter into the fullness of the kingdom of God even though the blood of Christ has made the way.

          Israel’s salvation was from the bondage of Egypt to the Promised Land and their inheritance. Our salvation is from death and Hell to the Kingdom of God and our full inheritance.

Wilderness is the journey between what we are saved from, to what we are saved into, and it doesn’t have to take long. It just requires humility.

The wilderness is our journey, but it is the Father’s work of transformation. The sooner we submit to His work, the sooner we get to enjoy full kingdom inheritance.

He is our inheritance. Relationship with Him is what we are saved into.

          Wilderness is a place of grace and transformation. A place of dying to self so He can live in us. It is the process of moving from believer to disciple, from servant to son, from initial belief to becoming everything He paid for us to be.

How do we expedite this process?

          We must lay down our God given sovereignty and relinquish our right to say no to Him. Until we do, we will live out our lives and die in the wilderness, never obtaining our full earthly inheritance, and sacrificing our heavenly rewards at the judgement seat of Christ.

          Yes, we will see God move, yes, we will experience God on a surface level. Yes, He will provide for us and protect us. He won’t leave us or forsake us. He just won’t abide in us. He won’t move through us like He wants to, just upon us and among us. That seems to satisfy most Christians.

Are you satisfied with that? I am not!

Matthew 16:24-25 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Thank you for visiting truthpressure.com. I hope this has been a blessing to you.

JC

IF… a really big word.

IF you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (John 15:7)

…Are we abiding in Him?

IF you love me, keep my commands. (John 14:15)

…Are we keeping His commands?

For IF you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (Matthew 6:14)

…Are we walking in forgiveness?

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples IF you love one another. (John 13:35)

…Are we loving everyone? Even our enemies?

IF you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. (Matthew 21:22)

…Are we really believing, or are we just hoping and making confessions?

IF you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

…Are we declaring Jesus lordship by keeping His commands?

But IF we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)

…Are we walking in the light we have? Are we walking out the word we know?

Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, IF you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.” (Mathew 21:21)

…Are we in faith, or are we doubting? Are we speaking to our mountains, or just letting them talk to to us?

IF anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. IF anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. (John 12:26)

…Are we following Jesus, or trying to serve Him without actually following Him?

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “IF you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

…Are we a disciple of Jesus and holding to His teachings. or a disciple of men’s teachings and holding to them?

Dear friends, IF our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. (1 John 3:21)

…Are we confident before God. Or are we living with a seared conscience?

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, IF there is any excellence, IF there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8)

…Are we thinking and believing the best about everyone and every situation?

IF my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

…Are we walking in humility and seeking God when no one else is looking, or just attending church and praying for blessing, protection, and provision?

And he said to all, “IF anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23)

…Are we truly denying our self, or catering to self and selfishness?

Pay attention to the IFs.

Thank you for visiting truthpressure.com. I hope this has been a blessing to you.

JC

The Gift of Righteousness

          How do we become righteous, holy and blameless in His sight? The simple answer is “by faith,” but what does that look like? How do I exercise faith to become what God says about me?

        Salvation, grace, righteousness. These are all gifts. Not something we deserve, not something we work towards. These are gifts, they cannot be earned, they must be received.

Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

        We don’t seem to have a problem believing that Christ has made us all these thing positionally, we have a hard time believing that we ARE these things ACTUALLY.

        God said He made us righteous. This is not just a declaration of our position in the Kingdom of God and our right standing with the King, but a promise to become righteous in thought and deed. We tend to try and help God out by trying to do good, behave better, sin less, etc. All in our own strength. In doing so, we become so aware of sin and conscious of our own shortcomings and our ability fail, that we walk around with a sin consciousness and actually war against the grace of God that is meant to change us.

We must believe that God has made us righteous, not just in theory, not just positionally, but actually righteous in behavior and thought, even in the face recent, or even ongoing sin.

        By believing this, we are actually laying ourselves down on the great Potter’s wheel so that grace can mold us and shape us into His image. This is not a denial of sin, nor does it accommodate sin.

 Romans 5:17  For if by the one man’s  offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

        God’s word contains the creative power within itself to become a reality in our life if we will set ourselves in agreement with it. This takes the stewardship of our thoughts and words, speaking only faith and refusing to speak words of doubt and unbelief.

        Any concept of grace that makes us feel more comfortable sinning is not biblical grace. God’s grace never encourages us to live in sin; nor does it make room for us to stay the same, on the contrary, it empowers us to change so we can say no to sin and yes to truth.

Thank you for visiting truthpressure.com. I hope this has been a blessing to you.

JC