Strive for PERFECTION

We have to strive for perfection in our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ, our relationship with Him. We must do everything in our power to make sure that nothing comes between us and Jesus. Jesus warned, He said:”Narrow is the Door and straight is the Gate that leads to life and FEW there be that find it. Many will try hard and not be able.” Jesus also said:”Be perfect as your father in heaven is PERFECT.”

In a marathon even some of the best athletes might stumble, fall and get disqualified. Therefor we must make sure that we run the race in such a way that we do not get disqualified and lose the prize. We cannot make it on our own. We cannot make it on our own interpretation of the Bible or our own zeal, or our own mind. We need Jesus, we need the Holy Spirit to help us, to guide us, every step of the way. Without Jesus we can do nothing.

We need to strive for perfection in our relationship with our Lord and Master. We need to ASK Him, SEEK Him, WAIT ON Him and He will guide us every step of the way. He is faithful, He will never leave us, nor forsake us but we have to be faithful in our walk with Him. We must strive for perfection.

May Jesus bless you.

The Perfect Man

The first man Adam was a failure. He was supernaturally created by God and put into perfect conditions, perfect surroundings, Paradise. Yet he disobeyed God and because of that he perished. He was removed from the presence of God and after that all men were descendants of Adam.

Jesus Christ was naturally born into a corrupt and imperfect world but He perfectly obeyed God His Father. He was rejected, persecuted and killed. He did not fit into this world. He was the PERFECT MAN and He became the Savior of this world.

Jesus Christ was God Himself manifested in imperfect flesh to demonstrate that it is possible to be perfect in imperfect surroundings. Jesus Christ was perfected through suffering and ALL those who wish to follow Him will also be perfected through suffering, through following Him and OBEYING God the Father PERFECTLY in imperfect surroundings.

Are you willing to follow Jesus Christ and be perfected through suffering or are you looking for excuses like Adam who was born into perfect surroundings and circumstances but he disobeyed God? Those who follow Jesus will be perfected through suffering.

May Jesus bless you.

Make Every Effort

We read in the gospel of Luke 13:24 that somebody asked Jesus whether those who are being saved are few. Jesus replied and said:”MAKE EVERY EFFORT to enter the narrow door because many will try hard and not be able.” Many believers say that they cannot stop sinning, they cannot obey the words of Jesus, they say they cannot be perfect as Jesus commanded. Jesus said:”Be perfect like your Father in heaven is perfect.”

How much EFFORT are we putting into following and obeying Jesus Christ? How hard are we trying? If we do not put every effort into seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness we will enter! We will not find the narrow door. How much EFFORT are we putting into following and obeying Jesus Christ? Are we putting every bit of energy, EVERY EFFORT into DOING THE WILL OF GOD? Or do we just believe that we will be saved because we believe in Jesus? Then we are living in a fool's paradise.

We have to put EVERY EFFORT into doing the will of God because many will try hard and not be able. How hard are we trying? How much effort are you putting into your relationship with Jesus Christ?

May Jesus bless you.

Polished to PERFECTION

Jesus Christ is working perfection in every one of THOSE WHO ARE FOLLOWING HIM, who have the hope of eternal life. He wants to present us as a perfect bride before His Father who is in heaven. I want to share with you some reading from the book of Hebrews.
We read in Hebrews 11 about the heroes of faith who endured until the end, and then we read in Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us,” (He is talking about those heroes of faith that have gone before) “let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.4You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;”
Sin is the problem. If we sin we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven and therefor Jesus PERFECTS us through discipline and chastisement so that we can share in His holiness.
We read verse 5 “and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,
  “MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD,
   NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM;
   6FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES,
    AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.”
7It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
God disciplines all His children. He disciplines us through misfortune, sickness, pain and suffering. Things happen in our lives and we cannot understand why these things are happening. It is the hand of God that is disciplining and correcting us. There is no coincidence in the life of a child of God. Whatever happens in your life is the hand of God on your life. HE IS LEADING US TO HOLINESS, PERFECTION.
We read in verse12 “Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,13and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.”
What does he mean by that? Do not go and look for trouble. Stay on the straight and narrow road. Do not go to those places where you know that you are weak. DO NOT EXPOSE YOURSELF TO TEMPTATION BUT STAY AWAY FROM TEMPTATION. Keep your eyes on Jesus, stay focused on Him and on the prize of eternal life or else you will not make it into the Kingdom of Heaven.
He says in verse14:”Pursue peace with all men, and the SANCTIFICATION WITHOUT WHICH NO ONE WILL SEE THE LORD.” Without sanctification, without holiness no man shall see the Lord. If we sin WE WILL PERISH! And that is why God is working perfection in us, through discipline and reproof because we have to be a PERFECT bride for Jesus Christ.
Verse 5 “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; 16that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 17For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.”
It was for ONE SIN, ONE DISOBEDIENCE that Adam died. It was only one mishap that Esau made that caused him to lose his birth right. ONE SIN can cost you eternity. Jesus requires of us ABSOLUTE HOLINESS. Adam did not find any room for repentance, he disobeyed God and he perished. The very same God expects of us, PERFECT OBEDIENCE, IF we want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus Christ is preparing a perfect bride to receive a perfect Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven and therefor we have to be perfect. We must allow Him to have His way in our lives. We have to yield to Him, we have to be UTTERLY HOLY and OBEDIENT to Him.
We read in verse 28:”Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may OFFER TO GOD AN ACCEPTABLE SERVICE WITH REVERENCE AND AWE; 29for OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE.”
We must YIELD to Jesus, we must YIELD to the Holy Spirit and live in UTTER HOLINESS, He does not tolerate disobedience because OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE, who is working PERFECTION in every one of those who ENDURES UNTIL TH EVERY END. Only those who ENDURE will in the PRIZE OF ETERNAL LIFE. Only those who DO THE WILL OF GOD will receive the prize.
We read in Hebrews 10:36 “For you have NEED OF ENDURANCE, so that when you HAVE DONE THE WILL OF GOD, you may receive what was promised.” Only those who ENDURE and DO the will of God will receive what was promised, the PRIZE of ETERNAL LIFE.
May Jesus bless you.

Perfection through PAIN and SUFFERING

Those who follow Jesus Christ are perfected in holiness and obedience through suffering. If you follow Jesus Christ you will follow His example of suffering. Jesus, even though He was a son learned through what He suffered and if we follow Him we will also learn through suffering.

We read in 1 Peter 4:1 “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;” God disciplines every son that He accepts, so if you are accepted as a child of God then you will be disciplined and you will learn through what you suffer.

I have suffered much in my life because that is the way that God teaches His own children. If we do not suffer then we are illegitimate children, He will teach us through MUCH SUFFERING. God has taught me through, trials, pain, suffering. Right now I am going through some suffering. For the past three months I have had a little toe that has chilblains, or winters toe. I cannot wear a shoe. So I asked the Lord. I said:”Lord, what must I learn from this?” because there is no medication that helps for chilblains, you just need to move to a warmer place. So I said:”Lord, what must I learn from this small toe that is so painful?” it keeps me awake at night. The Holy Spirit teaches me that if the little toe suffers then the whole body suffers, because it keeps me awake at night, causes me to pray and spend more time with the Lord. You see, if the smallest member of the Body of Christ suffers then the whole Body suffers, and we have to care for each other, care for those whom we regard least because they are important. If they suffer then the Body of Christ suffers.

We learn through what we suffer. I have suffered much in my life since I have started following Jesus Christ but through suffering He has taught me to OBEY Him, not to love the things of the world. We learn through suffering and if you follow Jesus Christ you will suffer. There is no coincidence in the life of a child of God because God directs our footsteps. Whatever happens to us is in the plan of God because we are children of God. Whenever anything happens to me, pain, sickness, misfortune, whatever, I turn to Jesus and I say:”Lord, what are You teaching me?” because that is the way He teaches us.

Maybe He is speaking to you. He chastises those whom He loves. Maybe there is sin in your life. Ask the Lord why you are sick. Ask Him why you are running into misfortune. Ask Him why somebody drove into the back of your car. Is your car not maybe your idol? Ask the Lord why things are going wrong in your life. Because we LEARN THROUGH WHAT WE SUFFER.

Nothing is easy when you follow Jesus but if we YIELD to Him, we TRUST Him and we SUBMIT, He teaches us HOLINESS, RIGHTEOUSNESS, LONGSUFFERING and OBEDIENCE. We are changed into His likeness through suffering but WE MUST SUBMIT TO HIM. We must YIELD and let Him have His way in us and He will mold us into perfection.

If you yield to the discipline of the Holy Spirit and ACCEPT the SUFFERING and learn from it then you will be changed into His likeness and be suitable to enter into the kingdom of heaven. If you refuse correction you will not be suitable for His kingdom and He will turn you away. We learn through what we suffer IF we want to follow Jesus Christ.

May Jesus bless you.

Be Perfect

Jesus commanded us to be perfect. We read in Matthew 5:48 "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

This is not a new commandment. We read in Deuteronomy 18:13 “You must be blameless before the LORD your God.”

We must not compare ourselves to others. We must compare ourselves to the standard of God, the standard that was demonstrated

by Jesus Christ, because He came and He proved that it is possible for flesh and blood to be perfect, to do the will of God.

If we are not blameless before God we will not enter the kingdom of Heaven. We must repent, obey Jesus and be perfect if we want to enter into the kingdom of God.

May Jesus bless you.