Work of Holy Spirit

Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Jesus said in John 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Faith itself is not in my works because the Holy Spirit is the generator of my works which is obedience. Faith produces obedience (works). Faith in God is being is expressed in doing which is obedience. God's letters are written in my heart to be known and read by everybody. Written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of my heart (2 Corinthians 3:2-3). My life as a Christian takes work and requires the commitment of my heart, mind and body. Christ is not outside of me but He is inside me. Since Christ is within me, I must listen to His Word and walk in His steps (2 Corinthians 4:10). My works may not be acceptable in God's standards. God looks in my heart and I must express my whole heart otherwise, God is not impressed with my outward works—my acts of worship, my spiritual works and my spiritual giving. Reading the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah was saying to the people of Israel, "God grows weary of your sacrifices and offerings when your hearts and minds are not in tune with Him!". The New Testament language is very plain. Christ through His death and resurrection, every legal hindrance has been met and satisfied. There is nothing that can keep me from assurance except my own faith. Its not about thinking our way into salvation or to reason our way into salvation. The only way to get in is to believe Him with my heart which is sealed by the Holy Spirit. So... let's go FURTHER beyond verse Ephesians 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. One in Christ Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— 12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Romans 2:29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God. God is not impressed by my appearance (1. Samuel 16:7). The Lord said to Samuel, "Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord don't make decisions the way you do. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at a person's thoughts and intentions (heart)." (NLT)

The Promise of God

Paul reminds us in Philippians 2:21 "For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ." God didn't promise healing but rather eternal life which involves more than healing. Titus 1:2 a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time. Hebrews 9:15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. 1 John 2:25 And this is what he promised us—even eternal life.

Literal

In John 3 Nicodemus asked Jesus "How can a man be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" Now.. that's literal !!!! What's not so literal is that our temporary body will remain the same and Jesus explained further: "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." Jesus asked him: "Have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ

Tent and Eternal

When Jesus said in John 14:3 "I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." I am thinking eternal sense rather than temporal. There is only a change of residence at the time of physical death. My tent (body) will turn to dust while my soul will change its location (heaven). Physical death brings a change of residence not an end of my existence but rather the end of my temporay body. Residence is dramatically changed. We have little or nothing in human experience on earth that qualifies greater spiritual experience in heaven. 2 Corinthians 5:1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Hebrews 9:14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! 2 Corinthians 4:18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Atonement, Healing and Death

Appoint: to be laid away, laid by, reserved, reserved for one, awaiting him. In other words, God have already reserved my time of death (which I do not know when) because He is my creator and I have on control over my long living life. Ecclesiastes 3:2 "a time to be born and a time to die". What made God decided that I was born on December 11th? Ecclesiastes 11:5 "As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things." Greek Word: Ajpovkeimai Transliterated Word: apokeimai Book to Display: Hebrews Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. Ecclesiastes 8:12 Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men, who are reverent before God. God have "appointed" their time (day). Hebrews 9:27 (NKJV) And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment. (NIV) Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment. Many Christians die before 70 years. This proves that not ALL Christians will live 70 years or beyond. read Ecclesiastes on their birthday every year simply because Solomon explained to us the reality of life from God's point of view. I arrived naked from the womb of my mother; I will leave in the same condition--with nothing. There's a right time and way for everything. It's true that no one knows what's going to happen, or when. Life leads to death that life, while it lasts, will soon be over. There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth. A right time for birth and another for death. A right time to plant and another to reap. A right time to get sick and another to heal. A right time to cry and another to laugh, A right time to lament and another to cheer. A right time to make love and another to abstain. A right time to embrace and another to part, A right time to search and another to count your losses. A right time to hold on and another to let go. A right time to rip out and another to mend. A right time to shut up and another to speak up. A right time to love and another to hate. The atonement basically means whoever Believe in Christ will not perish and those who do not believe in Christ will NOT get the benefit of Christ's atonement. Many of the verses regarding Christ's atonement are related to eternal life rather than healing. In Mark 10:17, a rich young man ran up to Jesus and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" In verse, 21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." John 12:25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. In Proverbs 20:9, Solomon wrote "Who can say, 'I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin' "? Matthew 25:46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." Nothing about physical healing right away. This talks about eternal life (with your new body of course). Those of us were given the free gift of faith and that we have escaped eternal punishment that we rightly deserved because of the mercy and grace of God, and we should be eternally grateful. Hebrews 9:15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. Hebrews 13:20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep. 1 John 2:25 And this is what he promised us—even eternal life. Jude 1:21 Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Do I love my physical body more than my spiritual being? Reading Ecclesiastes helped me understood what God is expecting from us. We are to focus on spiritual matter since our temporal beings are going back to DUST. Everything in my human life is meaningless, my pleasures are meaningless, there is a time for everything, my advancements are meaningless, my riches are meaningless. I have learned that there is common destiny among us, materialistically, we are born with nothing and we will die with nothing. I understood that I should enjoy myself and the fruits of my labors, that my life is empty when I lived apart from God. God is my life and when I die, I will be with Him. My faith is not the only issue that God is looking for. Spiritual is the key for atonement. Not temporal healing. Romans 3:25-26 "God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus."