Worship in Spirit

God knows every believers' hearts and God will accept any believers who truly believe His Son, who died for our sins. We worship in Spirit. John 4:23-24 (New International Version) Jesus said: Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. Worship is DAILY rather than once a week. We are to worship God from our hearts because we are the temple of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16), that God will search us and try us, and know our thoughts.(Psalm 139:23). We will never be perfect as long as we live in our body. Like David's experiences, God meets us in our heart rather than our mind therefore we need to focus on the "heart of the matter". Proverbs 4:23, it says "Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do." Spiritual maturity requires great care and a true knowledge of ourselves to distinguish a spiritual burden from irritation around us but at the same time, we cannot close our minds to everything that is happening around us. "Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:15-16). When we worship God in image, we are to "Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy." (Psalm 99:9). I will never fully understand the full concept of Holy God but I do know God is very holy and very powerful that I am a forgiven sinner. We are to worship God from our hearts because we are the temple of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16), that God will search us and try us, and know our thoughts.(Psalm 139:23). God knows who we are by looking in our hearts, minds and souls. Like Paul said in Romans 12:1 "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy, and pleasing to God, this is your spiritual act of worship."

Lacking????

We are to be imitators of Christ that we live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as an offering and sacrifice to God. This is the way we ought to be living. When we say, "Lord, what do I still lack?" the Holy Spirit answers, "This is what you lack." What we may be lacking spiritually? Matthew 5:3-10: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. In Jesus' message of Beatitudes, it was the continuing emphasis for us believers that we must live to gear ourselves into things eternal and to live the life of heaven here upon earth. We must yield our obedience and loyalty with love to Jesus Christ, at any cost (regardless the circumstances). The Spirit-filled and Spirit-led Christians will be joyful believers with useful hands and caring hearts and compassionate for others. First Corinthians teaches that Christians ought to be a helpful influence to the whole community rather than parts to specific spiritual blessings.

Popular "Claim it" Christian Books

A number of popular Christian books have appeared literally filled with twisted words of untruths; and because these were written by people who have a background of Christianity have been accepted and promoted by the Mainstream Christians. We better take a good hard look at these books and start discerning because if those authors will not stand still to let their meanings be examined, there is probably a good reason. They will avoid them and keep on collecting their wealth. Once false teachings begins, people will hold on to such teachings (which began thousands years ago but new ones or resurfacing the old ones). I can only hope that as we grow and mature and delight in our faith that we can gain appreciation of God's great eternal purpose. Eternal blessings truth: Justify means to declare righteous before God, sanctify means to make holy, and glorify means in effect to remake the entire personality after the image of Christ. This will sanctify us into eternal glory and blessings in heaven. NOT temporal blessings

Tolerance...........

There are efforts to popularize the Christian faith have been extremely damaging to the Christian communities because they have mistaken the desire to maintain a spirit of tolerance rather than loving the sinners but hating their practices. If we belong to Jesus Christ, we must hate the practices of sins. The ability of Jesus Christ to hate sin because it was sin that Adam separated us from God. It was sin that Christ died for. Before we came to Christ (repented for our sins), our imperfection in loving the good (light) and hating the evil (dark) were preventing us from receiving the Holy Spirit. Jesus never hated a sinner, but He hated the evil and depravity that controlled the sinner. False teachings are teaching us to believe that to be good Christians, we must be able to practice tolerance and accept dark practices. Lately, there have been lack of teachings mentioning words of conviction, repentance and commitment.

What Rewards?

Back in the days of Pharisees, they thought they were rewarded by God for doing the deeds that were required of them from God. Jesus rebuked them and told them that God looks in the heart, not what they did. We are to love Jesus and serve Him because He is God, not because of the gracious things He does for us or for the rewards He promises us. Of course, God does not expect us to forget or ignore the gracious future promises but He expect us to believe God and honor His Word, if we walk by faith in love and obedience, there will be eternal rewards for each of us in that great coming day. A faithful Christian is willing to wait out God's own good time and let the wisdom of the future judgment reveal his true size and worth. Do you realize that most Christians play at faith as they play at games? As in who is healed and who is not healed. As who is wealthy and who is not wealthy and so on as a contest. There is no sense in competition between believers regarding the temporal promises. As we live the life of faith, we Christians are never to be in competition with other Christians. The Bible makes this very plain and that we are to be unity regardless of who have great spiritual gifts or not. Christians are never told to carry on their proclamation of the Savior in a spirit of competition. For those who are playing games of FAITH, this leads to a Christian playing "Thomas" that he/she demands immediate and visible proof of success because this Christian looks eagerly for evidence to assure him/her that he/she is indeed somebody. This of course leads this Christian hunger for present approval of the human eyes to the temptation to inflate his/her work for the sake of appearances as Pharisees did. If the game conditions describe were confined to the ball park, for Christians without grace has to follow fields and its rules and its equipment for playing the game of faith. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us.* Hebrews 12:1 Only a Christian have the right to hope, for only he/she have the power of God to give. Such Christian have a right to look upward and wait for the fulfillment of every promise. A faithful Christian will see to it that his/her anticipations conform to the revealed Word of God and he/she has nothing to doubt or fear in life or in death. Matthew 5:12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 1 Corinthians 3:14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 1 Corinthians 9:18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it. Colossians 3:24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Hebrews 11:26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

Mystery

The mystery of the God cannot be known by human (spiritually dead) but all that Christians can know of God in this life is revealed in Jesus Christ (spiritually alive). Through the self-revelation of God and His Son, Jesus Christ in the Scriptures, with the help from the Holy Spirit, Christians who is spiritually alive gains everything and loses nothing. The Gospel of John reveals the helplessness of the human mind before the great Mystery which is God and then later, Paul in First Corinthians teaches that God can be known only as the Holy Spirit performs in the seeking heart an act of self-disclosure. Jesus is the mystery of Godliness into time and space for a reason and a purpose which is Spiritual Salvation for Eternal Life. This means that the mystery is less of me and more of God, that my spiritual life deepens and I am strengthened in the knowledge of His grace. Knowledge of the mystery is having the reality of an experience of knowing God personally and consciously. Jesus Christ Himself is the deeper life, and as I plunge on into the knowledge of Christ and His love. Therefore it is not about trying to equate the faith of Christ with reasoning and temporal hope of superior doctrines. Christ is enough and Christ is all we need. He will provide whatever we need. The mystery is this: True faith is not the ability to superiorize unseen things to the satisfaction of our human minds, instead it is the human power to trust Christ completely. To be contented and unafraid when going on a life's journey. Like a journey of a child with his father, a child is unable to imagine events but a child will know and trust his father. Jesus Christ is our all in all. We need but trust Him and He will take care of the rest. A purified and Spirit-controlled Christian is the gift of seeing which is the ability to peer beyond the dead spirit's (unsaved) wonder upon the beauties and mysteries of things holy and eternal. God is self-existent and self-contained and knows what no creature can ever know Himself. "The things of God know no man, but the Spirit of God." We base our hope in God alone and an attribute, is not a part of God but rather an attribute is how God is, and as far as the reasoning mind can go. If what we conceive God to be He is not, how then shall we think of Him? Do we think of Him as a wealthy parent who will give everything we ask for or do we think of Him as our Creator who loves us deeply that He will take care of us no matter what. He is asking us to have Faith in Him, not have Faith in what He can give you.

More thoughts about Atonement

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. Nothing about physical healing right away. This talks about eternal life (with your new body of course). 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." History and the daily newspaper testify to our physical temporal lives. The long parade of doctrines have been teaching that guaranteed physical healing will happen today as long as you have faith that God requires. The requirement is merit rather than grace. Such doctrines are vain and meaningless that got into our Christian communities. The reality is this while our disease, old age and death testify sadly that our physical bodies are decaying every day. Our bodies will go back to dust while our spirits will live on eternally (life or death). Human exteriors cultural, physical, economic are extremely deceptive. It is the heart that counts. Whether or not Christ is enthroned in the heart determines the spiritual value of a person. A.W. Tozer