Faith

Faith is a powerful and somewhat mysterious spiritual force that God used to create everything by speaking it into existence. Father God made us in his image and expects us also to be able to use faith. He built into everyone a "measure" of faith. Faith is a force that supercedes the natural realm. Father God gave us his written word which is a blueprint of what we can create on the earth. Faith comes, or increases, by our understanding father God's word, or what father God said. The more we understand father God's word, the more we can have faith in it. Using our faith can create more faith and stronger faith. We are invited to actually have God's faith. Faith works by love. We can not use faith for evil. If God is love and father God can use his faith to create everything by his speaking (word), then the more we love and the more we understand father God's word, the more we can use our faith in father God's word.

As a child of father God we need to learn to use faith to eliminate need, lack and want, for example. When we can create what we need, lack and want, we don't need to lust for something that is not here. This keeps us at peace, because we don't need to stress over not having it. We can just create it by speaking it into existence. Father God made it so that speaking something in faith according to the word he gave us works creatively for us on this planet the same as it did for him when he created everything. This is a resource that father God gives us, his children, so we aren't lacking in anything at all. Father God gives us authority to use his faith and power. Whatever faith God authors in us is what we can use. If God does not author faith for a thing, we cannot believe for it nor have power to use on it.

Trust is an aspect of faith that acknowledges that there is a senior partner that we rely on rather than use our own power. Trust-faith, or obedience-faith, is predominantly what the "Old Testament" or Tanakh invoked in people because Jesus had not paid for the raised from the dead human spirit and relationship with father God to have his true faith. Trust-faith does not have the authority that creative faith does. In the new covenant we have with father God through Jesus, or the "New Testament", we now have more access to the kingdom than was available under the old testament. We are able to create with the faith that is now available. We have to use our spirit to speak something into existence. We have to believe that we are creating what we are saying as if our spirit charges the air in our lungs with spiritual energy that could become anything and then we shape the spiritual energy with our words to create something. We have to have confidence that we are creating something that isn't there in front of us but we have spoken to come into existence according to the blueprint, or word that father God gave us. We need to have a joyful expectancy that what we have spoken and are speaking into existence is on its way and will manifest the whole time we are invoking it to exist until it does exist. This is very different from hoping for something that would be "nice to have" but with no confidence in its substance nor our access to it nor concrete connection with the mechanism of how it will ever come into existence. Our love for father God and our confidence in his love for us gives us the confidence that what we have spoken according to his word is on its way.

We have several Greek words used in the New Testament for hope, hoping, faith, faithful, faithless, unfaithful, unbelief, disbelief, disobey and disobedient.

el-pece' ἐλπίς, elpis, el-pece' - From ἔλπω elpō which is a primary word (to anticipate, usually with pleasure); expectation (abstract or concrete) or confidence: - faith, hope.
This is the noun word hope.

el-pid'-zo ἐλπίζω, elpizō, el-pid'-zo - From ἐλπίς; to expect or confide: - (have, thing) hope (-d) (for), trust.
This is the word used for the act of hoping.

peithō πείθω, peithō, pi'-tho - A primary verb; to convince (by argument, true or false); by analogy to pacify or conciliate (by other fair means); reflexively or passively to assent (to evidence or authority), to rely (by inward certainty): - agree, assure, believe, have confidence, be (wax) content, make friend, obey, persuade, trust, yield.
This is the root word which is used as a foundation of the words faith, faithful, unfaithful, unbelieving.

pistis πίστις, pistis, pis'-tis - From peithō; persuasion, that is, credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly constancy in such profession; by extension the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself: - assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.
This is the word usually used for "faith".

pistos πιστός, pistos, pis-tos' - From peithō; objectively trustworthy; subjectively trustful: - believe (-ing, -r), faithful (-ly), sure, true.
This word is used for faithful.

pisteuō πιστεύω, pisteuō, pist-yoo'-o - From pistis; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), that is, credit; by implication to entrust (especially one’s spiritual well being to Christ): - believe (-r), commit (to trust), put in trust with.
This word is used for "have faith" or believe.

apistos ἄπιστος, apistos, ap'-is-tos - From "a" (as a negative particle) and pistos; (actively) disbelieving, that is, without Christian faith (specifically a heathen); (passively) untrustworthy (person), or incredible (thing): - that believeth not, faithless, incredible thing, infidel, unbeliever (-ing).
Here the letter "a" precedes the main word like English uses the prefix "un-", like in undo, untie, unwrap.

apisteō ἀπιστέω, apisteō, ap-is-teh'-o - From apistos; to be unbelieving, that is, (transitively) disbelieve, or (by implication) disobey: - believe not.
Again we have the prefix "a".

apistia ἀπιστία, apistia, ap-is-tee'-ah - From apistos; faithlessness, that is, (negatively) disbelief (want of Christian faith), or (positively) unfaithfulness (disobedience): - unbelief.
Faithless and disbelief indicate faith is missing. Unfaithful, disobedient and unbelief more indicate refusal to use faith. If we don't believe father God we are unfaithful and disobedient.

Also from the root word peithō:

apeithēs ἀπειθής, apeithēs, ap-i-thace' - From "a" (as a negative particle) and peithō; unpersuadable, that is, contumacious: - disobedient.

apeitheia ἀπείθεια, apeitheia, ap-i'-thi-ah - From apeithēs (unpersuadable, that is, contumacious: - disobedient); disbelief (obstinate and rebellious): - disobedience, unbelief.
This word sounds like the English words "apathy" and "apathetic", like we don't care.

apeitheō ἀπειθέω, apeitheō, ap-i-theh'-o - From apeithēs; to disbelieve (wilfully and perversely): - not believe, disobedient, obey not, unbelieving.
This word also sounds like "apathy" and "apathetic".

We want to distinguish between the term "earth" and the term "world". "Earth" is the planet and "world" tends to describe the people on the earth.

Earth γῆ, gē, ghay - Contracted from a primary word; soil; by extension a region, or the solid part or the whole of the terrene globe (including the occupants in each application): - country, earth (-ly), ground, land, world.

World κόσμος, kosmos, kos'-mos - Probably from the base of komizo; orderly arrangement, that is, decoration; by implication the world (in a wide or narrow sense, including its inhabitants, literally or figuratively [morally]): - adorning, world.

The term "Worlds" is a bit different yet.

Worlds αἰών, aiōn, ahee-ohn' - From the same as aei (ever); properly an age; by extension perpetuity (also past); by implication the world; specifically (Jewish) a Messianic period (present or future): - age, course, eternal, (for) ever (-more), [n-]ever, (beginning of the, while the) world (began, without end).

Let's get started.

Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of the present season are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed toward us. ¹⁹For the earnest expectation of the creation awaiteth (looks for, expects fully) the revelation of the sons of :God. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to :vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, ²¹in hope that the creation itself also shall be freed from the bondage of :corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of :God. ²²For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until :now. ²³And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, WE ourselves also groan within ourselves, awaiting our adoption, the redemption of our :body. ²⁴For in hope (elpis - joyful expectation) were we saved : but hope (elpis - joyful expectation) seen is not hope (elpis - joyful expectation) : for who hopeth for (elpizō - joyfully expects) what he seeth? ²⁵But if we hope for (elpizō - joyfully expects) what we see not, we await it (look for, expect fully) with patience (hupomone - endurance).

Father God subjected the creation to vanity in the hope of being able to create children out of it. This is a rather large commitment on the part of father God. The creation is expecting to see us become fully adopted and manifested as the children of God. We are steadfastly anticipating this adoption. We are saved by this kind of hope. This hope comes from our willfully taking the offer of Jesus becoming to us a raised from the dead spirit and holding onto it until the "last day" when we are finally resurrected. Father God has the hope, the joyful expectation, of our becoming his children and we have the hope, the joyful expectation, of becoming father God's children.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith (pistis) is assurance of things hoped for, conviction of things not seen. ²For therein the elders had witness borne them. ³By faith we understand that the ages have been framed by God's word, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear.

Our hope, or desire, can have a physical/spiritual manifestation, not as the actual object or event, but "as faith" if faith is combined with the hope or desire of what is expected to exist. God made the worlds "by faith", using faith to create the physical out of spiritual. God spoke his "word" or "words" to cause the spiritual to create the physical. "As Faith" is faith and "By Faith" is the item we have created. Faith uses the spiritual to manifest something into the natural. Father God hoped for the creation and then spoke and created it with his word, Jesus. The thought that Jesus is the word that father God spoke to create everything can be a bit heady, but it works just fine in 10 dimensional space. When father God spoke, he created a child image of himself in the form of Jesus. This word carries father God's personality and spiritual nature but is a subset of father God and therefore a child of father God. Again, it works just fine in 10 dimensional space. By faith we accept that father God exists and is the creator of everything. Faith, then, is a higher level of hope with more spiritual power. Hope anticipates something and faith creates it.

Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. ⁵By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. ⁶But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Abel gave God his best as a sacrifice. Cain gave generic. Abels belief in his offering. The importance of who God was was stronger than Cains. Abel was more "right" about God and therefore more righteous with God. Enoch "pleased God". We can please father God. God is not visible. He is the invisible God. We must believe he exists. He does exist, but we don't make a connection with the spiritual realm he exists in until we "believe" or have faith that he exists. Then we are "right" about God and his existence and we can "come to God".

Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear (reverence), prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith (pistis).

Because Noah believed in God and believed God enough to make his ark, he condemned all the people around him that didn't believe God exists and would not make that spiritual connection with God. No one else "came to God", therefore no one else was "right" about God. Noah took about 120 years to build an ark that he used for about one year. He was moved by reverential fear and believed God for the whole 120 years.

Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive (lambano - take) for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. ⁹By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: ¹⁰For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. ¹¹Through faith also Sara herself received (lambano - take) strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. ¹²Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.

Abrahams "faith" was to "believe God" that God was calling him and directing him to a place that his offspring will inherit, enabling them to become a great nation. Notice the pattern: Revealed to you, Revealed in you, Revealed through you. God revealed himself to Abraham when he called him. God revealed himself in Abraham, by directing him on where to go. Abraham "took" the offer of an inheritance from father God and went to parts unknown to him. God revealed himself through Abraham when Abraham went out and sojourned in the land of promise with his offspring. Sarah also heard the messenger make the promise of offspring when she was past her age (revealed to her). She had confidence in father God enough to believe him. She judged him faithful. We could also say; faith works by love. She "received strength to conceive seed" (revealed in her). She "took" the offer of the strength to conceive seed. She bore the child of promise (revealed through her). Like with Abraham, the promise was revealed to her, revealed in her and then revealed through her. This is like our coming to know about father God's word, coming to understand father God's word in our heart/spirit and then invoking father God's word to manifest through us.

Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received (lambano - taken) the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. ¹⁴For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. ¹⁵And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. ¹⁶But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

These people died believing the promise "will manifest" but it hadn't fully manifested yet where they were at. However, they did "receive", or take, accept, trust and embrace, the "promise" of the manifestation. The full manifestation took generations for Abraham long after he was dead, and in fact is still ongoing. Each of them took a one way ticket out of where they were and did not consider going back to where they came from. They desired the heavenly country. God was not ashamed to invite them in to their heavenly city God made for them.

Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried (tested), offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, ¹⁸Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: ¹⁹Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure. ²⁰By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. ²¹By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. ²²By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.

Abraham was tested by God to sacrifice his son Isaac requiring Isaacs death. Abraham believed enough in the promise God made that Abraham expected God would have to raise Isaac from the dead. God intervened just before Abraham killed Isaac and provided a literal physical ram nearby to replace Isaac. The parallel theme to what Abraham experienced that God had planned for us is to believe that God also sacrificed his only begotten son and raised him (Jesus) from the dead. Abraham was "put in father God's shoes". The "blessings" Isaac and Jacob spoke were "by faith" because they were forward looking but neither Isaac nor Jacob had the ability to do anything to manifest them. They each believed the blessings would manifest because God would mediate to cause them to manifest. Likewise with Joseph. These are good examples of trust-faith, where they each relied on what father God would do more than what they could invoke out of father God's kingdom themselves.

Hebrews 11:23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. ²⁴By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; ²⁵Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; ²⁶Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. ²⁷By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. ²⁸Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

So far, we can see that nobody really created anything except God. Everybody is by faith/trusting God to do everything. The human element was to walk, talk, follow, hide, not fear, choose, forsake, esteem.

Hebrews 11:29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. ³⁰By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. ³¹By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that [believed not] (apeitheia - disbelief, disobedience, unbelief), when she had received the spies with peace. ³²And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: ³³Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, ³⁴Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

A lot of these examples are trust-faith. Father God supplied the power. Sampson had an anointing that made him strong when he "shook himself". He then used this miraculous power that manifested as superhuman strength. However, the driving force for all of them was a spiritual belief in God and a promise. This is different than a mental impression or thought. The spiritual belief sourced deeper in these people and the spiritual belief overrode the mental part. The spirit inspired the mind to accept and imagine the spiritual intent of the heart. The spiritual thing they believed manifested itself and changed the natural. Today the power aspect comes closer to us than it did for most before Jesus. Father God has an interest in working in and through his children more like he did with Jesus. The power still comes from father God but manifests more through us than before Jesus was made unto us a raised from the dead spirit.

Hebrews 11:35 Women received (lambano - take) their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: ³⁶And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: ³⁷They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tested, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; ³⁸(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. ³⁹And these all, having obtained a good testimony through faith (pistis), received not the promise: ⁴⁰God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect (complete).

Women believed father God enough to take hold of the manifestation of their dead being physically raised from the dead. They were willing to change the natural course of events with a miracle. For others, receiving a good testimony is not the same as receiving the actual promise. Believing for a better resurrection absolutely requires that someone have faith. They could only receive their "resurrection" after they died. We can receive/take our spiritual resurrection now because Jesus has already paid for it.

Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, ²Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. ⁴Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

Jesus becomes the author and finisher of our faith. In this age, we can have a more miraculous manifestation now than they did because of the power available to us by the finished work of Jesus through his walk, death and resurrection. We are still believing for a manifestation in the next age of a resurrected spiritual body and being in heaven with father God and our new family. Our stress that fights against us is sin.

Exodus 19:9 And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD. ¹⁰And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, ¹¹And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.

In the beginning of the corporate walk with the Lord, he established himself in front of the Hebrew children. Notice the warning of the appearance and the actual visitation on the third day.

Numbers 14:7 And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. ⁸If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. ⁹Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. ¹⁰But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. ¹¹And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? ¹²I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.

Provoking the Lord instead of trusting him to bring us into our promise land could make the Lord think about disowning us. This almost happened to the Hebrew children. The Lord had it in his heart to cut them loose. If Moses had agreed to the offer we would never read about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It would be of Moses and his offspring.

Deuteronomy 1:31 And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place. ³²Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God, ³³Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day. ³⁴And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, ³⁵Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, ³⁶Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD.

The Lord thinks of us as his children when he makes us a promise. He gets mad at us when we don't trust him. He is looking ahead of us both in time and place and deciding where to lead us to and how to lead us. If we are evil because of unbelief or disbelief, he will not lead us into his good land.

Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; ¹⁰And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.

God calls himself the faithful God. We have to love father God and keep his commandments to invoke his covenants. Faith works by love. To him it is all about the relationship. If we love him and keep his commandments he will endlessly keep his covenants. Given that we are on his planet, if we don't love him he presumes we hate him.

Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. ¹⁶They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. ¹⁷They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. ¹⁸Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee. ¹⁹And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters. ²⁰And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. ²¹They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. ²²For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

Jeshurun is a symbolic name for Israel. It means "upright". Israel kicked at their creator. After they became prosperous and well established they forsook their father. God formed us. He says "Of the Rock that begat thee" and "God that formed thee". We are formed and born by father God. He was viewing the kicking and forgetting as coming from his sons and daughters. He called them "children in whom is no faith". The faith they lacked was to believe in father God as the most high God, the rock of their salvation and their father. When we align with devils and man made fake gods, the real God is moved to jealousy and becomes angry. Father God says he will provoke us back like we provoke him.

2 Samuel 22:2 And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; ³The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. ⁴I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. ⁵When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; ⁶The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me; ⁷In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears. ⁸Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth. ⁹There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

We can call on the Lord to come to our defense and support and deliver us. This makes him worthy to us to be praised by us, which he likes. He wants to be our God, so he takes care of us. We don't have to deal with violence or be violent back to others. The Lord promotes peace on his planet by being the mediator. We just have to make sure we are on his right side. It takes our trust to rely on him to defend us where we might be overcome if we didn't defend ourself or if he didn't help us.

2 Samuel 22:29 For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness. ³⁰For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall. ³¹As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a shield to all them that trust in him. ³²For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God? ³³God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect (complete).

We can learn from the Lord through his word what the right way to go is and we can count on him to help us along that way. If we are pursuing his way we can have enough relationship with him to trust him to protect us.

2 Kings 17:11 And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger: ¹²For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. ¹³Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. ¹⁴Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.
2 Kings 17:17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. ¹⁸Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

"High Places" are where altars were built towards other gods. The Hebrew people were doing the same thing that father God used as an excuse to get rid of the other people before them. We should believe the Lord when he gives us commandments to do. By us not doing them the Lord will be provoked to anger. Idolatry is never allowed. If we put our heart into a fake god, that is a guaranteed way to provoke father God. We are saying that he is not our father. This hits at the core foundation of our relationship with father God. Having a "relationship" with dead idols makes no sense.

1 Chronicles 5:20 And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them: for they cried to God in the battle, and he was intreated of (listened to) them; because they put their trust in him.
1 Chronicles 5:22 For there fell down many slain, because the war was of God. And they dwelt in their steads until the captivity.

The Lord will help us win the battle he gives us if we are fighting it on his behalf and putting our trust in him. Notice they were fighting the battle on the Lords behalf but they might have lost if they didn't cry out to him. Because they relied on his help he helped them. Not having sin in our lives is important. Other people have relied on him in the same way and died because of sin in their lives. The captivity occurred when these people began worshiping idols.

2 Chronicles 20:10 And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not; ¹¹Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. ¹²O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee. ¹³And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. ¹⁴Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation; ¹⁵And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's. ¹⁶To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you. ¹⁸And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD. ¹⁹And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high. ²⁰And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. ²¹And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever. ²²And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.

We will be established and prosper based on how much we believe in the Lord. These people had nothing in their favor to hold onto to indicate they would survive. To win the battle what do we do? Build an army? Make weapons? Train lots of people? If we are in the Lords will and praising him he will deliver us and give us his "rest".

2 Kings 18:5 He (Hezekiah) trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. ⁶For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses. ⁷And the LORD was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.

2 Chronicles 32:10 Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, Whereon do ye trust, that ye abide in the siege in Jerusalem? ¹¹Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst, saying, The LORD our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹²Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and burn incense upon it? ¹³Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the people of other lands? were the gods of the nations of those lands any ways able to deliver their lands out of mine hand? ¹⁴Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of mine hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of mine hand? ¹⁵Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you on this manner, neither yet believe him: for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of mine hand? ¹⁶And his servants spake yet more against the LORD God, and against his servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷He wrote also letters to rail on the LORD God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of mine hand. ¹⁸Then they cried with a loud voice in the Jews' speech unto the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to affright them, and to trouble them; that they might take the city. ¹⁹And they spake against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the hands of man. ²⁰And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven. ²¹And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword. ²²Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side.

Even when the bad guys talk up a good game, if we are in the Lords will, we can expect the Lord to help us prevail. "You will die of hunger. You will die of thirst. No other gods saved anyone from us." Hezekiah was protected from the king of Assyria because he was following the Lord closely. He was tearing down idolatry. He was worshiping the most high God. The bad guys didn't count on fighting with the most high God who is real and not a fake god like the others. The reason Assyria won against the fake gods is because they're fake. That's a no brainer. The Lord killed 185,000 Assyrians and Hezekiah never lifted a finger. The Lord distracted the king of Assyria with other conflicts until he was killed by his own family.

Ezra 9:1 Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. ²For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.

Ezra 10:2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. ³Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

Ezra 10:10 And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel. ¹¹Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives. ¹²Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.

Ezra 10:14 Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.

If the people of Israel are to be able to have hope in the Lord, we have to get rid of anything that angers the Lord. We may have to divorce ourselves spiritually from things that detract from our relationship with the Lord.

The New Testament recommends we don't become unequally yoked by marrying outside of the spiritual body of Christ. If we are already married we can stay as we are but we can't compromise our relationship with the Lord. Our priority must still be our Christian walk. We can't use the excuse of "Well, my husband wanted..." or "Well, my wife wanted..." or "My parents said...". If our partner or other relation wants us to do something wrong or outside of the Lords will, the Lord will stand behind us in refusing. It may not seem like it because of the friction but he will be right there watching us pass our spiritual test as we shape our nature and character. If our partner wishes to leave, we should let them. If the people of Israel had done what they were told they wouldn't have had to go through the hardship of the correction. Which is worse? Not doing wrong or correcting a wrong?

Nehemiah 9:6 Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee. ⁷Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham; ⁸And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous:

The same Lord that made heaven and earth looks for and rewards a person with a faithful heart. The Lord honors the covenant he speaks to us. We can look for the covenants that can apply to us today and invoke them.

Psalm 4:3 But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him. ⁴Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. ⁵Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.

The Lord will hear the godly. We must not sin against father God. We must be able to connect with and live out of our heart. We should sacrifice our lives to behave righteously so we can trust the Lord.

Psalm 5:8 Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face. ⁹For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue. ¹⁰Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee. ¹¹But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. ¹²For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.

The Lord decides what is right and what isn't. Righteousness, as far as the Lord is concerned, is what is right by him. The Lord will prefer the righteous faithful to the unfaithful. If we let him, he will lead us into the understanding of what makes us right with him.

Psalm 9:7 But the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment. ⁸And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. ⁹The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. ¹⁰And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

The Lord made us to have relationship with us. If we seek the Lord in righteousness, which is right standing with him, he will be a refuge for us and not forsake us. He regards people who seek him and trust him. We can see it is "about relationship" with him. We have to believe he exists and is looking for a relationship with us.

Psalm 13:2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? ³Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death; ⁴Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. ⁵But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. ⁶I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

We can trust in the Lords mercy. He likes when we rejoice in him and praise him. How well he takes care of people who are trusting in him reflects on his nature and character in front of the rest of the world. Since he wants to look good, he is inclined to deal bountifully with us if we are really right standing with him.

Psalm 17:7 Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.

The Lord shows us loving kindness and save us when we put our trust in him. We can "win" by being humble rather than bigger and stronger because we are staying under the Lords protection.

Psalm 20:6 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. ⁷Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

The Lord saves his anointed, or consecrated, people that never stop trusting in him. His resources are greater than armies. His name is on the line when we call on him in terms of his covenants.

Psalm 28:6 Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. ⁷The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. ⁸The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.

If we are consecrated to the Lord, when our heart trusts him we are helped.

Psalm 21:7 For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved.

Even kings should trust in the Lord and his mercy. The Lord sets up and knocks down kings to manipulate and control the affairs on the earth.

Psalm 31:5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. ⁶I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD.

We can trust in the Lord of truth if we hate lies..

Psalm 31:19 Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!

The Lord has made lots of good things for us when we fear and trust him in front of others.

Psalm 31:23 O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.

The Lord preserves the faithful.

Psalm 32:10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.

The Lord will surround us with mercy if we trust him.

Psalm 33:21 For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. ²²Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.

If we trust the Lords holy name we will rejoice in our heart. The Lord will have mercy on us as much as we hope in him.

Psalm 34:7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. ⁸O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. ⁹O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.

The angel of the Lord will encamp around us and deliver us and we won't have any needs if we fear the Lord. If we trust the Lord in this he will bless us.

Psalm 34:22 The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.

If we trust in the Lord he will redeem our soul and not let it perish.

Psalm 36:7 How valuable is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

The Lords loving kindness prompts us to trust him.

Psalm 37:3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

The Lord will let us dwell in our spiritual promise land and feed us if we "do good" and trust in him.

Psalm 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. ⁵Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

We can delight ourself in the Lord. We can enjoy ourself in the Lord. We can sport ourself in the Lord. The relationship aspect is not restricted to a slave mentality. Consider a brother or parent taking us to an amusement park. Our life can me the amusement park. Not childish, but childlike. We must commit our ways unto the Lord and also trust him and he will give us the desires of our heart.

Psalm 37:39 But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble. ⁴⁰And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.

If we are righteous and trust the Lord, he will help us and deliver us and save us.

Psalm 40:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. ³And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. ⁴Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

If we trust in the Lord and not proud men or liars, the Lord will establish us and bless us.

Psalm 56:11 In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.

We either trust fear of man or we trust God.

Psalm 78:19 Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? ²⁰Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people? ²¹Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel; ²²Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation: ²³Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, ²⁴And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. ²⁵Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full.

Jacob is the person whose name was changed to Israel. The country Israel is named after him because they are his great, great, ... grandchildren. Jacob means "heel grabber". Israel means "he will rule as God". The reference to Jacob is referring to the country Israel. We should not speak against God when he has promised to take care of us. The Lord seems to get angry any time someone does this. The Hebrew children were out in the middle of a desert, but they were still not allowed to doubt God or his salvation. God is promising to take care of us today.

Psalm 89:28 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. ²⁹His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. ³⁰If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; ³¹If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; ³²Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. ³³Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. ³⁴My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

The Lord may need to chastise us but he promises his faithfulness will never fail.

Psalm 101:4 A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person. ⁵Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. ⁶Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. ⁷He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. ⁸I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.

The Lord will dwell with the faithful that walk undefiled and serve him. The Lord wants all the wicked off his planet.

Psalm 118:8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. ⁹It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.

Princes and men don't have the Lords resources. We can do better by trusting in the Lord.

Psalm 119:75 I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

The Lords affliction against us in good judgment is part of his faithfulness towards us.

Psalm 119:90 Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. ⁹¹They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all are thy servants. ⁹²Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.

The Lord is faithful through generations. We should delight, enjoy and have pleasure in the Lords law so we defeat things that depress us.

Proverb 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. ⁶In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. ⁷Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. ⁸It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

We should trust the Lord with our heart/spirit and not our own head/mind. We can trust the Lord to direct our paths if we focus on him with our heart and integrate him into our lives.

Proverb 30:5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. ⁶Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

We can trust the word of God. If we add to his word, we believe in a lie.

Isaiah 42:17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

If we trust in man made images we will be ashamed when they do nothing for us.

Matthew 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? ³¹Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ³²(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. ³³But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

We can have faith that if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, God will take care of our needs.

Matthew 9:20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: ²¹For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. ²²But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.

Her faith with his anointing made her issue of blood stop.

Matthew 9:27 And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. ²⁸And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. ²⁹Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. ³⁰And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.

They said they believed that Jesus could heal them. Their faith and his anointing healed their eyes.

Matthew 14:25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. ²⁶And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. ²⁷But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. ²⁸And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. ²⁹And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. ³⁰But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. ³¹And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

If we focus on the Lord during the storms, we won't sink. Jesus appreciated that Peter tried. Notice Jesus said "Come" and not "are you kidding?". We are invited and encouraged to use our spirit of faith. The question "why did you doubt?" more literally means "why did you take two stands?". This is a lesson on doublemindedness.

Matthew 18:1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? ²And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, ³And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. ⁶But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

We must have childlike faith and humility and believe in the Lord.

Matthew 21:19 And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. ²⁰And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! ²¹Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. ²²And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask (aiteo - require) in prayer, believing, ye shall receive (lambano - take).

Imagine the possibilities if the whole earth would respond to what we say like that! We can ask father God for whatsoever and he will give it to us. If we expect things from father God we can take them. We can create our own instance of something father God has the power to make. Imagine using your spirit to "take" something and making it manifest for you. Father God has spiritual access to anything and he empowers us to create it into the natural realm.

Matthew 21:32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.

We have to believe in righteousness. We may need to repent of, or change our mind about, something to believe rightly or correctly in righteousness.

Matthew 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

The most important things to learn from the Mosaic law are judgment, mercy and faith.

Mark 1:14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, ¹⁵And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Repent, believe the gospel, or "good news", and enter the kingdom of God.

Mark 4:37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. ³⁸And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? ³⁹And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful (timid)? how is it that ye have no faith? ⁴¹And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

If we had childlike faith in God and a clean heart, we could do that. Faith and fear are opposites. Faith in father God works by love. Love casts out fear. If we understand faith we don't need to be timid about the things around us. We can control them with God's miraculous power. We wouldn't have to steal this power from father God. He is well aware that Jesus used it there. That was father God's goal all along. He made us like himself here on this planet.

Mark 5:35 While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further? ³⁶As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid (alarmed), only believe. ³⁷And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James. ³⁸And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. ³⁹And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. ⁴⁰And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying. ⁴¹And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. ⁴²And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.

If our conscience is clean we don't need to be timid or afraid or alarmed. Faith in father God works by love. The girl being dead still wasn't trouble even at that level of a problem. We can use God's power on the planet he made for us to control even death.

Mark 6:4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. ⁵And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. ⁶And he marvelled because of their unbelief (apistia - faithlessness/disbelief , unfaithfulness/unbelief/disobedience). And he went round about the villages, teaching. ⁷And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;

If we learn God's word we won't be disobedient regarding God's principles. We can agree with God as to what he is offering. When he is working in us we can then offer the same to others. Different from the Old Testament, in Jesus part of our deliverance is authority over the unclean spirits that are around us. When we are disobedient we let these unclean spirits share our person because we are sharing their disobedient and sinful nature. Our faith in and obedience to father God's ways is necessary to shield us from their nature and them.

Mark 9:17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; ¹⁸And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. ¹⁹He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. ²⁰And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. ²¹And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. ²²And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. ²³Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth (trusts). ²⁴And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief (apistia - faithlessness/disbelief, unfaithfulness/unbelief/disobedience). ²⁵When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. ²⁶And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. ²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. ²⁸And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? ²⁹And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

We have competition in the spirit realm. A faithless and perverse generation does not have access to God's miracles, including getting our spirit raised from the dead. If the Lord tells us to trust him and we are disobedient in that instruction, we don't have his faith, we don't have faith in him and we are faithless. Jesus recognized in the spirit realm the type of demon that was possessing the child since infancy. Part of operating in the spirit realm will include learning about these other competing and conflicting entities. These entities have a will of their own and don't like us. They want to use us as a host.

Before Jesus, people were completely unable to believe in their deliverance from unclean spirits because the authority was not available to them and therefore the faith was unavailable to them. Now that Jesus has made his authority and God's faith available to us, we can use our God-given faith to invoke Jesus' authority to deliver ourselves from unclean spirits. Being able to believe requires holiness to God and purity in our hearts and childlike trust. We cannot be willfully in sin and rebuke sin. We should not take two stands on a subject. We should just take the stand of the word of God. If anything wants to conflict with that, we should disregard/subdue the conflicting thing and use God's word to create what we want right over the top of the conflict.

Mark 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. ²²And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. ²³And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

Trusting in inanimate objects does not put us in contact with any of God's spiritual power whatsoever. This is the same as idolatry. The kingdom of God is spiritual and is within us. Riches are purely natural and a byproduct of spiritual.

Mark 10:46 And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. ⁴⁷And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. ⁴⁸And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. ⁴⁹And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. ⁵⁰And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. ⁵¹And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. ⁵²And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

Today blind people use a white cane with a red tip to be identified as blind. In the day, people wore a specific garment to identify they were blind. Here, blind Bartimaeus was casting off his "I am blind" garment to get healed. Bartimaeus did not keep wearing his garment and ask to be healed. He did not take two stands. He focused on the one and left the other behind. He called Jesus the son of David, so he already had training on how God was representing himself through the generations. Bartimaeus used his faith in God's involvement with the Hebrews and Jesus' anointing to be healed.

Mark 11:20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. ²¹And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away. ²²And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have God's faith. ²³For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. ²⁴Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive (lambano - take) them, and ye shall have them. ²⁵And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. ²⁶But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

Faith works by love. If our heart is clean, we can use God's faith to receive/take from God. Everything else comes from God. So does childlike faith. God designed us to have it and use it. We just have to learn how. Unforgiveness is a hindrance to faith. Unforgiveness is different from intolerance. Intolerance is defensive, protecting our heart, where unforgiveness is offensive, holding something against someone. We can forgive other peoples outward physical acts that count as a trespass into our space. We don't have to change our values in our own heart to do that. If the other person is apologetic or backing off we can give them that consideration. We don't have to agree with what they did or believe in their motives. If they are actively pursuing us, we have a different story. We may not be able to see them eye to eye as a brother/sister. We may need to understand they don't know what they are doing and continue to protect our heart and forgive them anyway. We may not leave "right" and "eye to eye" with them but at least we have guarded our heart from unforgiveness. Father God won't share our heart with unforgiveness.

Mark 15:29 And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, ³⁰Save thyself, and come down from the cross. ³¹Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save. ³²Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.

If Jesus had come down from the cross, he wouldn't have become a raised from the dead human spirit. Then he couldn't raise our spirits from the dead. We have to know what we can and should believe and what we can't.

Mark 16:11 And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. ¹²After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. ¹³And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them. ¹⁴Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief (apistia - faithlessness, disbelief / unfaithfulness, unbelief, disobedience) and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. ¹⁵And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. ¹⁷And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; ¹⁸They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Hardness of heart kept the disciples from believing that Jesus was raised from the dead, even though they saw him raise the dead and perform other miracles. Hardness of heart can keep us from believing that Jesus is raised from the dead. It was always God's plan to redeem us right from when Adam fell. We have to rely on this plan or we don't have any way of avoiding ending up in the lake of fire as disobedient and unbelieving.

Luke 8:11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. ¹²Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. ¹³They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. ¹⁴And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. ¹⁵But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience (enduring constancy).

Three out of four people in type and not necessarily in number who hear enough about Christianity to make some kind of commitment fall away and don't make the final cut. Only one out of four people in type bear enough fruit. The actual percentage that bear enough fruit may be well below 25%. These numbers don't take into account the vast number of people that have heard the word Christian but never bothered to investigate it and the people who never heard about Christianity at all.

Luke 16:10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. ¹¹If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? ¹²And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? ¹³No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

God can commit to your trust the true riches. God has a lot of filtration of people to clean out anything that he might be offended with. Many people don't want to give up their old life so they aren't trusted with God's true riches. Everything we do is a test of some kind.

Luke 17:5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. ⁶And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. ⁷But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? ⁸And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? ⁹Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. ¹⁰So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

The apostles said "Increase our faith". The Lord answered back "you only need a little, but you have to use it right". Our faith is spiritual and part of father God's raised from the dead spirit that we inherit in Jesus. We have to use our spirit of faith as a servant. We know the servant has the capability but we need to invoke it. We need to tell it what to do. If we rely on it to decide what we can do we aren't using it right. We have to assume it has all the capability that father God built into it. It will do all that Jesus said it would. We decide what it will do for us and we command it to do that. When it has done for us all we commanded of it then it has done its duty. We can understand this from the perspective of being a servant ourself and how we would know we had just done what we were told to do. As thankless as that might be to us is how thankless we can feel towards using our faith. We use it because it is ours.

Luke 18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ¹⁰Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. ¹¹The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. ¹²I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. ¹³And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. ¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his house declared righteous rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Here is a clue as to how to be declared righteous before God. We must be humble and accept God's salvation rather than trust in ourselves. Even when God lays out the road map as to how to get ahead with him, we are just always trying to catch up. We may get ahead of where we were before, but we aren't ahead of our maximum potential. We are not ahead of others because they all come from different places and it is God's place to judge.

Luke 19:12 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. ¹³And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. ¹⁴But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. ¹⁵And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. ¹⁶Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. ¹⁷And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. ¹⁸And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. ¹⁹And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities. ²⁰And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: ²¹For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. ²²And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: ²³Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury? ²⁴And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. ²⁵(And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.) ²⁶For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. ²⁷But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.

People who won't allow the Lord to reign over them will just flat out be slain. They will be thrown away. The ones that serve him will receive a reward based on how well they served him.

Luke 22:31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: ³²But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

The Lord intercedes for us all the time as the high priest in heaven. When the Lord is working in us well enough, we can strengthen others.

Luke 24:17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? ¹⁸And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? ¹⁹And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: ²⁰And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. ²¹But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. ²²Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; ²³And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. ²⁴And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. ²⁵Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ²⁶Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? ²⁷And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

These people thought Jesus should have redeemed Israel. They were looking for a physical manifestation. They didn't understand the spiritual aspect. In fact, Jesus had just finished redeeming Israel and mankind. He was just raised from the dead, having paid with his own self to be a raised from the dead human spirit. Now he can raise others from the dead. Jesus paid for his own kingdom, starting with himself and adding people into it one soul at a time. Everyone that receives a raised from the dead spirit from Jesus becomes spiritually raised from the dead. Through time, he will have collected millions of people into his kingdom.

John 1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. ⁸He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. ⁹That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. ¹¹He came unto his own, and his own received (paralambano - take near) him not. ¹²But as many as received (lambano - take) him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: ¹³Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. ¹⁵John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. ¹⁶And of his fulness have all we received (lambano - take), and grace for grace.

John the baptizer went ahead of Jesus to bear witness of Jesus as the Light of the world. We can truthfully believe that father God has made available through Jesus the promised salvation from death. The salvation is having the raised from the dead human spirit dwelling in us to make us raised from the dead. We can either take this salvation or not take this salvation. If we don't take this salvation it won't apply to us. We have to believe this offer is free and available by grace and we have to take it.

John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: ²The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. ³Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ⁴Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? ⁵Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

We cannot even begin to see the kingdom of God if we don't have the raised from the dead human spirit that Jesus became. We don't enter into a physical womb a second time, but we do get a second spirit from the one we were born with. We can be any age physically and receive/take a raised from the dead spirit.

John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. ⁹Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? ¹⁰Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? ¹¹Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. ¹²If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

We cannot see our raised from the dead spirit even though it exists. The entire Christian theme starts in the spirit and transcends into the physical. Sometimes, we have to come to a mental understanding from parables and illustrations until our mind aligns with what's in our spirit. Then our spirit can flow into our mind and confirm these things. Most Christian wisdom and understanding is more understood by our spirit to where the mind never has a clue no matter what. It just has to follow along and not subtract from, add to or change anything coming out of our raised from the dead Christ spirit.

John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. ¹⁴And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: ¹⁵That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ¹⁷For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. ¹⁸He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. ²¹But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Without Jesus' raised from the dead spirit in us, we are condemned where we stand. We didn't come from heaven so we can't go to heaven. Jesus came from heaven so he can go back to heaven if he died without sin on his soul. If we have his raised from the dead spirit in us we can go to heaven. Actually, if we are in Jesus we are already spiritually in heaven. We must use our faith and believe on Jesus' name/nature/character/authority to become born of his spirit. Jesus is the carnal image of God, so technically what Jesus did, God did through Jesus. God went a long way to make Jesus into a raised from the dead human for us so we could become part of God's family.

John 4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. ²²Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. ²³But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. ²⁴God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

We must worship father God in spirit and in truth. Once we have the raised from the dead human spirit in us, we can worship father God in spirit because we will have his "sent from heaven" spirit in us and we will look like him on the inside. Father God made this possible so we can worship him as his children. Father God gets a certain warm fuzzy feeling that he loves so much when he has children that live upright and do good and worship him as daddy, papa, father.

John 4:46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judæa into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. ⁴⁹The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. ⁵⁰Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. ⁵¹And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth. ⁵²Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. ⁵³So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house.

We should not use signs and wonders to determine what to believe. We should believe God's word even when what we see on the outside is different. The man with the child didn't see his servants until the next day, but he believed immediately that first day and it was done that first day. The confirmation followed. Our believing God's word makes something happen so we can't be seeing it done until we believe and make it happen.

John 5:36 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. ³⁷And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. ³⁸And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. ³⁹Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. ⁴⁰And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. ⁴¹I receive (lambano - take) not honour from men. ⁴²But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. ⁴³I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive (lambano - take) me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive (lambano - take). ⁴⁴How can ye believe, which receive (lambano - take) honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? ⁴⁵Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. ⁴⁶For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. ⁴⁷But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

In the law part of Moses' writings our minds learned law and rules and our lives were judged by our good conduct, or lack thereof. We did not know good conduct from our spirit because our spirit was still dead under Adam. Other parts of Moses' writings predicted how Jesus would pay to become a raised from the dead human spirit. If we knew enough of God's word, the bible, we would both understand the function of the law and the value of the raised from the dead human spirit. Now that Jesus has accomplished being the middleman of the new covenant, we can have our spirit raised from the dead and our conduct can come from our spirit.

John 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? ²⁹Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

John 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

John 6:63 It is the spirit that is giving life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. ⁶⁴But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. ⁶⁵And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. ⁶⁶From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. ⁶⁷Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? ⁶⁸Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

Our raised from the dead spirit will give us everlasting life to live by. Nothing about the law and conduct will make us look alive on the inside. If we are being drawn to God, we should not reject that. We should believe God, agree with God and accept his gift. If we reject him, he will reject us and move on.

John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. ³⁸He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. ³⁹(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

After Jesus was resurrected and glorified, we became able to believe on him and his name and receive/take the Holy Ghost.

John 8:21 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. ²²Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come. ²³And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

If we do not believe in Jesus and accept the raised from the dead spirit into ours to make our spirit alive, we will die in our sins. If we accept father God's gift of a raised from the dead spirit, we can go to heaven in Jesus just like Jesus also went back to heaven.

John 8:28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. ²⁹And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. ³⁰As he spake these words, many believed on him. ³¹Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; ³²And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Father God sent Jesus and came with him to very carefully guard everything that Jesus did so that father God could guarantee that Jesus would not sin and would be able to be legally raised from the dead. It was important to father God that Jesus make it back to heaven and that Jesus be able to recover us also. We must continue in Jesus' words and be his disciples in order to be free from the law of sin and death.

John 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. ⁴³Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. ⁴⁴Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. ⁴⁵And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. ⁴⁶Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? ⁴⁷He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

If God's sons spirit is in us then we are also his children. Since Jesus' spirit came from God, if we have Jesus' raised from the dead spirit in us, we also came from God spiritually. God's words need God's spirit to understand them.

John 10:24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. ²⁵Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. ²⁶But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. ²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: ²⁸And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, which gave themme, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. ³⁰I and my Father are one.

People who don't believe Jesus is the Christ are not of his sheep. They are not of his family. We may encounter people who just don't get the relationship. We may see it as so simple but it will escape them. We may be dumbfounded at them but they just aren't of Jesus' sheep. If we follow Jesus, he gives us eternal life.

John 11:11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. ¹²Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. ¹³Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. ¹⁴Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

Notice Jesus was glad for the sake of his disciples at the opportunity to help them believe. It didn't matter that this was on account of someone who died.

John 11:21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. ²²But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. ²³Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.

Martha was showing some of the childlike faith.

John 11:24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. ²⁵Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: ²⁶And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? ²⁷She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

Jesus is the one that can resurrect our spirit and body from the dead. Martha believed Jesus was the Christ, but she didn't believe he was the resurrection. We have to believe Jesus is the resurrection and the life for us and in us now and not on the "last day" or judgment day. We have to believe in Jesus and not just about or of Jesus. Our confession has to be that Jesus "has raised us from the dead" and not "will".

John 11:33 When Jesus therefore saw her (Mary) weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, ³⁴And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. ³⁵Jesus wept. ³⁶Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! ³⁷And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? ³⁸Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.

After Jesus saw Mary and other Jews weeping, he groaned in his spirit. The word groan here means "to snort with anger, to have indignation on". Jesus went from cheerful at the opportunity to show God's power to his friends to being indignant at their lack of trust. Did Jesus weep, seeing his friends that he loved in such unbelief and distress because of it? Did Jesus weep because of the excitement of showing father God's glory in this situation like he said to his disciples when he said "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep". When Jesus heard some of the people there say "Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?" he "therefore" groaned again in his spirit at what they said.

John 11:39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. ⁴⁰Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? ⁴¹Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. ⁴²And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. ⁴³And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. ⁴⁴And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. ⁴⁵Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.

Jesus still didn't blink at the challenge because Jesus had nothing to do but demonstrate the glory of God. Jesus "reminded" Martha that, if she would believe, she would see the glory of God. When Jesus prayed to father God, he said "I knew that you hear me always". If we are in such a relationship with father God that we have total confidence that he always hears us, we won't be a Martha or a Mary that is hoping for a future resurrection or looking at the circumstances. We will be looking at the promises and at father God, whose glory raised Lazarus from the dead.

A point to note is that Lazarus was physically raised from the dead, but Jesus hadn't yet paid for the spirit to be raised from the dead, so Lazarus was still unregenerate in his spirit.

John 12:35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. ³⁶While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

We want to become children of light while we can. If we do not take advantage of our opportunity to become children of light then darkness can overcome us. While we are aware there is such a thing as light we must believe in the light so we can become a part of it and manifest light out of our spirit. If we see darkness and believe in darkness we will become darkness in our spirit and manifest darkness out of our spirit.

John 12:44 Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. ⁴⁵And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. ⁴⁶I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. ⁴⁷And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸He that rejecteth me, and receiveth (lambano - take) not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. ⁴⁹For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. ⁵⁰And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.

Jesus makes it very clear that he did not come here to represent himself. He is explaining that he is not operating under his own power or authority. He is operating under father God's power and authority. Jesus is instructed to speak father God's eternal life to us. If we believe what Jesus says, we believe in father God and his eternal life.

John 13:20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth (lambano - take) whomsoever I send receiveth (lambano - take) me; and he that receiveth (lambano - take) me receiveth (lambano - take) him that sent me.

Here Jesus is saying whoever he sends into the world is covered by him. Anyone who will listen to us and accepts us accepts Jesus and accepts father God who send Jesus. We are all part of father God's family. The chain of command is rather short. We are only one step away from father God himself. We have a mediator who is Jesus. Then it is right into the presence of father God.

John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

Jesus doesn't want our hearts to be troubled. Jesus is stepping into the role of the mediator. If we are going to believe in father God we also now have to believe in Jesus.

John 14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. ¹²Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. ¹³And whatsoever ye shall ask (aitao - demand something due) in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴If ye shall ask (aitao - demand something due) any thing in my name, I will do it. ¹⁵If ye love me, keep my commandments.

And what do we have to believe regarding Jesus? We have to believe Jesus is in father God and father God is in Jesus. If we believe in Jesus we can do the same works that Jesus did, or better. The power and glory still comes through Jesus because he is our mediator but it is available. Jesus will do anything that represents his name. Jesus is making this promise. In order for Jesus to make this promise he must have the authority from father God to make it. Father God wants to be glorified over the whole earth through Jesus and in us. We can have father God's glory working in us through Jesus. Remember, faith works by love. When we are clear of sin our love can be pure and our faith can be pure.

John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is better for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. ⁸And when he is come, he will convict the world concerning sin, and concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment: ⁹concerning sin, because they believe not on me; ¹⁰concerning righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; ¹¹concerning judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

The Comforter is the Holy Spirit. The Comforter is not the same as the raised from the dead human spirit. The Comforter works over the whole world now to convict people to repent and take the raised from the dead human spirit into themself to become spiritually raised from the dead. The Comforter can also work in us to guide us to help get people raised from the dead.

John 16:22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. ²³And in that day ye shall ask (erotao - request) me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask (aiteo - demand something due) the Father in my name, he will give it you. ²⁴Hitherto have ye asked (aiteo - demand something due) nothing in my name: ask (aiteo - demand something due), and ye shall receive (lambano - take), that your joy may be full. ²⁵These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. ²⁶At that day ye shall ask (aiteo - demand something due) in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: ²⁷For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. ²⁸I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.

We now don't have to request something of Jesus. Now we can go to father God directly while we are "in" Jesus. We can request as if something was ours to take at our will. Anything in the will of father God is ours to require of father God. If we are "in Jesus" then father God loves us like we are Jesus. We are not the head of Jesus' spiritual body. We are parts of the body. When we take by faith the raised from the dead human spirit that father God is offering us we are immediately placed into the same righteous standing with father God as Jesus as far as spirit goes. We have the incorruptible seed of Jesus in our spirit so we are right standing with father God spiritually. We still have to walk without sin and mature in our soul and body to the fulness of Jesus but we can have access to father God's and Jesus kingdom to help us do that. Being able to go directly to father God gives us the kingdom.

John 17:8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received (lambano - take) them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

We have to believe that father God did send Jesus. We have to believe what Jesus has told us in father God's word.

John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; ²¹That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

If we have taken the gift of the raised from the dead human spirit then we are a part of Jesus' spiritual body. Jesus is the head of that body and is seated at the right hand of father God. While we are acting as the body of Jesus there will be many more people who also become part of Jesus' body through what we tell them about father God and Jesus. They will become part of Jesus' body just as we are, making them one with us as we are one with Jesus as Jesus is one with the father. We become one big happy family.

John 20:6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, ⁷And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. ⁸Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. ⁹For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.

John was the writer of this book and is the "other disciple". They did not understand yet that Jesus had to be raised from the dead. They did not understand how this would lead to them becoming spiritually raised from the dead.

John 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. ²⁰And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. ²¹Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. ²²And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive (lambano - take) ye the Holy Ghost: ²³Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. ²⁴But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. ²⁶And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. ²⁷Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. ²⁸And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. ²⁹Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. ³⁰And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: ³¹But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Jesus offers us the Holy Ghost for us to take and sends us out into the world like Jesus went into the world. We can resist him or we can take him. Our job becomes the same as Jesus' job was when he was here. Our outreach will be greater than his was because we are more people and covering the whole earth. Jesus offered to Thomas to let him put his hand in Jesus' side so Thomas would not be faithless, but believing. Jesus wants us to not be faithless, but believing. If we believe Jesus is the Son of father God we can have eternal life through Jesus. Father God wrote this down for us to give to us so we can become part of his family and live forever. He will be here forever and he wants us to be with him forever.

Acts 2:44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; ⁴⁵And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. ⁴⁶And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, ⁴⁷Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

This is an example of a group of people acting as the body of Jesus. They did not have rules that told them what to do. They were able to coordinate together by operating out of their spirit, not out of their head. They had a singleness of heart. They released all their previous conceptions of who they were. They did not hold onto the physical values and status they had. If we can get around enough people who share the same values we can do the same. It wouldn't take much for one person to come in and abuse this kind of sharing, so we would have to be very careful that we are only dealing with brethren and not sons of perdition or demonized people.

Acts 3:2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; ³Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. ⁴And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. ⁵And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. ⁶Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. ⁷And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. ⁸And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. Acts 3:16 And his (Jesus') name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

The name of Jesus has power in it in that the word that constitutes the name has power in it. Father God created everything by speaking. His word created everything. The name of a person is a word. Anything promised to be in the name of Jesus is available to us. Being the wealthiest person in the world may not be in the name of Jesus. Being a supreme dictator that can kill people at will may not be in the name of Jesus. We have to know what is in the name of Jesus so we know what to apply our spirit of faith to. Then we can apply our spirit whole heartedly on something and the power for it to manifest will come out of Jesus who is in the father. This is not "charging a battery" power. Millions of perfectly functioning and correctly placed human cells made of billions of atoms were put into someone's feet in an instant just so someone could walk. Enough power to level a building had to be applied in a very precise manner. This is the level of involvement father God has in us.

Acts 4:1 And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, ²Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. ³And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide. ⁴Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.

We can teach people about the spiritual resurrection from the dead when we understand it well enough ourselves. Some people for different reasons will be grieved but thousands will be glad to hear it and believe it.

Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. ³²And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. ³³And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. ³⁴Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, ³⁵And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

If we are filled with the Holy Ghost we can speak the word of God with boldness. We can be of one heart and one soul as part of the one body of Jesus. We can demonstrate great power through the resurrection of Jesus. We have to know the nature of Jesus to be able to use the name of Jesus correctly.

Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. ¹³Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. ¹⁴Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: ¹⁵Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: ¹⁶(For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) ¹⁷Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. ¹⁸And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, ¹⁹Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. ²⁰But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. ²¹Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. ²²Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. ²³For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. ²⁴Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.

Philip was performing miracles and signs in the name of Jesus who is in and from the kingdom of God. Father God gives us things out of his kingdom. His kingdom is not for purchase. Our access was purchased by Jesus but the kingdom is not for sale. Money is not important to father God. What would he do with it? His power is very deliberately issued. Father God keeps his power available as a gift so no one has any extra access than anyone else. We can be rich or poor and have exactly the same access to the gift. Think "family" and not "merchant".

Acts 8:34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? ³⁵Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. ³⁶And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? ³⁷And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. ³⁸And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. ³⁹And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.

We have to believe with our whole heart that Jesus is the Son of God.

What kind of power is involved to catch someone away and instantly bring them somewhere else?

Acts 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: ³⁵But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. ³⁶The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) ³⁷That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judæa, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; ³⁸How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. ³⁹And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: ⁴⁰Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; ⁴¹Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴²And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of living and dead. ⁴³To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. ⁴⁴While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. ⁴⁵And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The whole goal of father God is to redeem all of mankind over the whole planet. Up to this point in time the people that were becoming believers were Jewish. At this point in time there was this revelation that father God's outreach to mankind would include the rest of the world. This is not a guaranteed application of the raised from the dead spirit to everyone. It is the offer of the gift of the raised from the dead spirit to everyone. Out of everyone on the planet, whoever believes in the name of Jesus and thus Jesus can take a pardon for and freedom from their sins. Jesus was also anointed with both the Holy Ghost and with power. This was his power to do good and heal all that were oppressed. Father God was right there with him guiding him. Father God can be right here with us guiding us to do good, whether it is simple and mundane or with great power. The more power there is involved the more training and guidance we will need until we mature.

Acts 11:15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. ¹⁶Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. ¹⁷Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? ¹⁸When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

The whole planet has the opportunity to repent and take eternal life. Father God will baptize anyone with the Holy Ghost.

Acts 13:38 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: ³⁹And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

Through Jesus we have the understanding of the forgiveness of sins. We cannot become justified, or regarded as innocent, through the law of Moses. We can be justified, or regarded as innocent, by believing on Jesus. We can believe that father God made available the gift of becoming raised from the dead and having our sins forgiven. We can believe that Jesus paid for this gift and is freely offering it to us. The moment we take this gift we have all access to it. If someone handed us $500 at one time, we don't have the limitation to spend it $20 at a time. We can spend all of it at once or as we choose. All the capabilities of Jesus are immediately available to us. All of the freedom from sin is immediately ours. We do have to know and understand what this means in order to use it.

Acts 14:1 And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed. ²But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren.

Some people will believe father God and agree with him and take his gift and some people won't. What people are "not" believing is that father God made it possible for people to be instantly made innocent for ever and have eternal life without having to "earn" it by fulfilling the law that Moses was given. This offer exists in the form of Jesus' raised from the dead spirit. As an example, this doesn't mean we won' t or don't have to love our neighbor as we love ourself. It means we have the raised from the dead spirit that would incline us to love our neighbor as ourself right out of our hear rather than having a death oriented spirit and needing to be told in our mind to love our neighbor as ourself and how to do that.

Acts 14:7 And there they preached the gospel. ⁸And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked: ⁹The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, ¹⁰Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

This man who had never walked had unused faith inside of himself that once he knew how to direct it he was able to be healed. This man may have had shriveled legs or malformed feet. We don't exactly know. We do know that from wherever he started, he came into the fulness of health in his feet because of his faith in Jesus.

Acts 14:21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, ²²Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

The gospel, or good news, is good to the people that are accepting it. We will have to endure much pressure to enter the kingdom of father God. We can exhort, or encourage each other to continue in the faith. It is our life, not a passing fad. We live out of it. It is our access to the kingdom and family of father God in the first place.

Acts 15:5 But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses. ⁶And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. ⁷And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. ⁸And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; ⁹And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. ¹⁰Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? ¹¹But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

Our heart, or spirit, is purified by faith and not by fulfilling the law of Moses. If we believe the word of the gospel, or good news, we just purified our heart. We have to believe with our heart and not our mind. Thinking something in our head is different from believing something out of our heart. If we believe we take the raised from the dead human spirit into us to where we look like Jesus on the inside we purified our heart with that raised from the dead human spirit. No amount of extra law will change our spiritual nature any more for the better just as no amount of law changed the spiritual nature of the Hebrew children before Jesus came. Father God considers this a yoke and not a beneficial practice. Father God feels tested in that we are not actually believing that what he accomplished in Jesus is enough for us. We are challenging father God by adding something onto the one accomplished righteousness that Jesus became. We are not believing that the finished work is enough to justify us if we try to add law onto what father God is offering us. We have to believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Works through our raised from the dead spirit are different. They are a byproduct of our having the raised from the dead spirit and not how we get the raised from the dead spirit. We do have an expectation of being able to produce fruit out of our raised from the dead spirit. This requires manifesting our spirit through our soul and body.

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. ¹⁷For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

People who want to be just, or innocent and holy, can be that as easily as by faith. We don't have to lift a finger. We can simply believe with our spirit in the good news of Jesus. This is where the power of father God is available to us from. This is what saves us by raising our spirit from the dead. Father God's righteousness is revealed to us in our spirit for us to use in our soul and body. We just use our faith from our spirit on outward.

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; ¹⁹Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

If we do not believe the truth about who father God is then we are unrighteous with father God. We are not right with him. We all have built into us that spot that lets us know who father God is and who he should be to us. Father God considers who he is and who he should be to us to be truth. He showed this to each of us. Father God will be imposing his wrath on all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold that truth wrongly. He will not have people here who don't acknowledge him as father God and creator of everything. This is quite a contrast from the concept of there being "a God out there somewhere", isn't it? Father God is actually looking in each one of our hearts to see how we regard him.

Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. ²⁰Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. ²¹But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; ²²Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: ²³For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; ²⁴Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: ²⁵Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; ²⁶To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. ²⁷Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. ²⁸Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. ²⁹Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: ³⁰Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. ³¹Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

Father God has created a method where people can be justified, or made innocent, without having to fulfill the deeds, or works, of the law. If we accept this method we can see we have no right to boast about anything because the method takes away any rightness that we may attain by works. We cannot do anything good enough to attain rightness in or by this method. This method is strictly by taking a gift that is offered to us. This gift applies to all sins previously committed in our past. This gift is available to anyone that will take it. We take this gift by believing that Jesus paid with his blood the price that father God required to pay for Adams sin as pertains to each of us and make us right standing with him. We believe that by pure grace Jesus applies this payment to us, redeeming us, if we are willing to take this payment on our behalf.

Romans 4:1 What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? ²For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. ³For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Father God doesn't want any human to be able to glory. He provides for us things we cannot attain otherwise. This keeps him on his platform above us so we know who our father and our God is. Abraham believed father God that he would become the father of many nations. Abrahams test was to believe for the child that would carry on his genetics. Abraham had a child when he was about 100 years old that fulfilled this promise. Abraham had to believe father God for about 15 years until he was around 100 years old. Abraham could do nothing but believe father God. There was not any "work" that Abraham could do.

Romans 4:4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. ⁵But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. ⁶Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, ⁷Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. ⁸Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

We can have righteousness, or right standing, with father God as easily as by using our faith. Father God set it up this way. This makes us use our heart and it makes us use our heart to believe in father God. So, we end up living out of our heart and we end up believing in father God with our heart. Our sins from the past are gone and our sin nature we inherited from Adam is replaced with a living spirit. We use our faith to take the grace offered to us by father God and we are immediately justified and righteous.

Romans 4:9 Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. ¹⁰How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. ¹¹And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: ¹²And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.

For the most part the division in biblical times between circumcised and uncircumcised was between the Hebrew children and the rest of the world. This may not be true today but it was very true when this promise was made. This was the start of circumcision. Abraham was uncircumcised when the promise from father God for Abraham to become the father of many nations was made. Circumcision was a mechanical sign that followed the children of Abraham. Circumcision did not make Abraham righteous. Believing in father God made Abraham righteous even when Abraham was uncircumcised. The question of whether a promise from father God can apply to circumcised only or also uncircumcised is answered in that it can apply to both. Abraham started believing father God while uncircumcised and became circumcised with the promise already made. The promise applied to Abraham while both uncircumcised and circumcised. The promise of Jesus being our righteousness and justification applies to both circumcised and uncircumcised. We don't have to become circumcised as a work or sign of our faith because now we only use faith with no work or sign to seal it. We can do works by faith but we don't obtain faith by works.

Romans 4:13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: ¹⁵Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. ¹⁶Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, ¹⁷(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who makes alive the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they are. ¹⁸Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. ¹⁹And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: ²⁰He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief (apistia - faithlessness, disbelief / unfaithfulness, unbelief, disobedience); but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; ²¹And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. ²²And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

Father God wants to be able to have grace on everybody. Father God originally built into mankind the ability to have and use faith. Father God knows that if he comes up with something that needs faith that it could apply to anyone on the whole planet. Then if anyone can use it by faith, father God can make it available by his graciousness. So father God's graciousness provides a promise that anyone can access with their faith. No works are required. No price has to be paid. No one has to be rich or physically strong or intelligent. No one has to be young or old. No one has to look handsome or pretty. The only requirement is that we are human and need the promise.

Romans 4:23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; ²⁴But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; ²⁵Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

We just have to believe father God that he raised Jesus from the dead and that what Jesus did pays for our sins and justification.

Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: ²By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

By faith we have father God's graciousness to access our justification from sin so we can have peace with father God. By faith we can live out of our resurrected spirit and renew our mind.

Romans 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? ⁴Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. ⁵For if we have become like-natured in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: ⁶Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. ⁷For he that is dead is freed from sin. ⁸Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: ⁹Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. ¹⁰For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. ¹¹Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. ¹²Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. ¹³Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. ¹⁴For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. ¹⁵What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. ¹⁶Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? ¹⁷But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. ¹⁸Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

The "old man" that we were born with through no fault of our own that we inherited from Adam has to go. The spiritual sin nature that we were born with must be destroyed out of us so we can take the life oriented spiritual nature into us. We have to believe all of our old man is as dead as someone being crucified. We have to believe we have a new man that will fill the place of the old one we killed and threw out.

Romans 9:30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. ³¹But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. ³²Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; ³³As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

The approach that Israel took regarding the law given to them determined if they were justified and righteous or not. If they did the law mechanically out of their mind, relying on their works to justify them, then they may not have been doing the law strictly by faith out of their spirit.

Romans 10:1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. ²For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. ³For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. ⁴For Christ is the end goal of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. ⁵For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. ⁶But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) ⁷Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) ⁸But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; ⁹That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. ¹⁰For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. ¹¹For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. ¹²For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. ¹³For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Jesus is the end goal of the law that brings us to righteousness if we believe in him. The word of faith invokes our heart and our mouth. We believe with our heart unto righteousness and we confess unto salvation. This is far better than having to fulfill all of the Mosaic law. Even though the law directed us towards life, just taking life is much easier and more thorough. We only have to believe and confess to invoke this spiritual word. If we call upon Jesus to be our Lord and confess with our mouth that Jesus is our Lord, then we have used our mouth. If we believe with our heart that Jesus is the Son of God and we believe he paid for our redemption with his blood and we believe father God is giving us the value of this redemption for us to take at our own will and we believe we take it, then we have used our faith.

Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! ¹⁶But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? ¹⁷So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. ¹⁸But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. ¹⁹But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. ²⁰But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. ²¹But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient (unbelieving) and gainsaying (backtalking) people.

When we hear and believe father God's word of faith, then we have faith. We have to obey the good news of how we have peace with father God. The word "disobedient" is also used for "unbelieving". They are the same thing in father God's eyes. If we don't believe him we are disobedient. If we are disobedient we will not believe father God's good news of peace and glad tidings and redemption and justification. Father God is very sensitive about what he is doing for us. If we don't take his offer then father God will become jealous.

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. ²And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect (complete), will of God. ³For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. ⁴For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: ⁵So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. ⁶Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;

Once our spirit is resurrected, we need to use it to renew our mind. This transforms the soul part of us. Once our spirit is in charge and our mind is renewed, then the body will follow along. Not without a fight though. The soul has the imprint of the old man on it and it will take some serious self beatings to renew our mind to be subject to our spirit. Under the law the mind was in control and used to quench the death oriented spirit. The mind was far from perfect for the job but it was all we had. When the spirit felt like killing someone the mind would quench that with "thou shalt not kill", and so on, as it was trained to do. Now that the spirit wants to manifest life and love, we have to deal with the quirks of the mind. The mind becomes the weakest link. It is robotic and doesn't "get" the feelings thing like the spirit does. Now we can flow out from our spirit and renew our mind to not interfere with what is coming out of our spirit. We then need to bring our sin oriented body into complete control until it is a living sacrifice. Then we can be part of the larger body of Jesus as a particular but useful member. Gifts on top of the basic "person", with the regenerate (reborn) spirit and the renewed mind and the living sacrifice body, add to what we can contribute to the collective body of Jesus.

Romans 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. ²For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. ³Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. ⁴Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. ⁵One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. ⁶He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. ⁷For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. ⁸For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. ⁹For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. ¹⁰But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. ¹¹For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. ¹²So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. ¹³Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. ¹⁴I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. ¹⁵But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. ¹⁶Let not then your good be evil spoken of: ¹⁷For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. ¹⁸For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. ¹⁹Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. ²⁰For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. ²¹It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. ²²Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. ²³And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

The spiritual body of Jesus increases constantly with new people taking the gift of eternal life that father God offers. As new brethren come in, they come from different backgrounds and doctrines. We have to give everyone the time to come to the unity of the faith. We may know that every atom on planet earth is made by father God and that no matter what is done with those atoms, they still belong to father God. We may know that we could take a carrot out of the hand of the devil himself and eat it no matter what the devil says about it and we would know we have no connection with the devil because we know the earth is the Lords and the fulness therein. Someone else weaker in the faith may not understand and might be confused or misled by what we did. We want to support those weaker in the faith that might believe in only eating herbs/vegetables. We don't want to judge those weaker in the faith with the intent of pushing them out of the body (set at nought) when they haven't even fully made it into the body yet. The Lord has taken these people into his body so we have to embrace them with love and not destroy them with our liberty that we know we have in the faith of Jesus. We need to balance when we are being led about by people who would put us under the Mosaic law and know when to stand against that while embracing everyone we can who wants to come into the body of Jesus. There were dietary guidelines given in the Mosaic law that were good for the people to follow from a health perspective. They defined what was a "clean" animal or fish versus what was an "unclean" animal or fish. For example, pork is a trash eater. Beef is not a trash eater. Beef, deer, elk, sheep, etc. have multiple stomachs and refine their food better. Pork, bear, lion, etc. are trash eaters and don't refine their food as much. They are scavengers. Pelicans are unclean in that they are a trash eater. Skin fish are usually trash eaters. Catfish and shark are scavengers. Scale fish usually eat fresh meat and are not scavengers. Shell fish like clam, oyster, crab and lobster are trash eaters. They eat things that are dead. The trash eaters are very useful in nature's society in that they remove all the trash, but by eating them we absorb the uncleanness they convey. During the great plague the Jewish communities that followed torah survived better than the average population to the point where people questioned if the plague was coming from them. It paid for them to eat clean food. We have to remember it is by our faith that we are justified. We walk by faith and not by sight. This means we are using our faith to change the natural instead of being governed by the natural. If we want a diet of ice cream we can do that according to our faith. If the mirror says we are not actually manifesting our faith then we can examine ourselves as to whether we are in the faith. Faith without works following is dead faith.

Romans 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Father God wants us to have joy and peace from believing in our relationship with him made available through Jesus.

Romans 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, ²⁶But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: ²⁷To the only wise God, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.

Father God has the power to establish us. Father God has a mystery that he worked on for thousands of years that came to fruition and has been in effect for about the last 2000 years. Father God wants all nations to be approaching him in faith. Father God wants to use his power to establish us inside of Jesus Christ by faith and be able to come to him through Jesus Christ by faith.

1 Corinthians 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. ¹⁸For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. ²⁰Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? ²¹For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. ²²For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: ²³But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; ²⁴But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

The cross of Christ is not an intellectual concept. The cross of Christ is not a flashy sign like parting the Red Sea. The cross of Christ is very simple. It took Jesus coming to earth as the last Adam to die without sin on his soul so he can be raised from the dead. This raised from the dead spirit can dwell in us and make us spiritually raised from the dead. Father God makes this available to us if we so much as take it. If we take it by faith we are in Jesus' spiritual body and become father God's child, like Jesus is. We don't have to be wise or intelligent to make this work. The work is already done. Father God won't even let it be difficult to explain such that a person has to be wise, or it might put a limitation on who can access it. This would make the work Jesus did of no effect to those that had a hard time understanding it. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves any more spiritually raised from the dead than what Jesus did for us. We can learn to apply this raised from the dead spirit to ourselves better, but we can't improve on the incorruptible seed of the raised from the dead spirit. This is why the silliness of preaching is all that is needed to explain the gospel, the good news, the power of father God and the wisdom of father God, both of which are in Jesus and made available to us through Jesus.

1 Corinthians 2:1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. ²For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. ³And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. ⁴And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: ⁵That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

People want to believe in something real. They have to be able to believe in the power of father God. We don't have to be dressed well or rich to explain father God. We don't have to be able to tell a good story or sound wise to explain father God. Father God explains himself by demonstrating his spirit and power in us.

1 Corinthians 2:6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect (complete): yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: ⁷But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: ⁸Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. ¹⁰But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. ¹¹For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. ¹²Now we have received (lambano - take), not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. ¹³Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. ¹⁴But the natural man receiveth (dekomai - accept) not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. ¹⁶For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

There is a completely different kind of wisdom that pertains to father God that we can learn about. This only applies to us after we are in father God's spirit and a part of father God's family. If we don't have father God's spirit in us we won't even understand some of the wisdom of father God. If they are spiritually discerned, we need to have father God's spirit to discern them. This wisdom was hidden from man until we had the raised from the dead human spirit to where we could understand it.

1 Corinthians 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. ²I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. ³For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? ⁴For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? ⁵Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? ⁶I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. ⁷So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

Being carnal is a great hindrance to being spiritual. If we are still living off the imprint of the mental, or mind person we used to be when we did not have a raised from the dead spirit then we will be more carnal. Our carnal nature will successfully suppress our spirit from being able to express itself. Characteristics of being carnal are envies, strife and division. We won't manifest these properties if we understand that in father God's family everything comes from him. He provides for us everything we need. We cannot attribute anything to another person except in that father God might be working through them. They will acknowledge that their source is father God.

1 Corinthians 7:12 But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. ¹³And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. ¹⁴For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. ¹⁵But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace. ¹⁶For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?

Peace supercedes strife in a bad relationship. We are called to peace. We are not necessarily called to being married and definitely not out of yoke and out of peace. Our relationship with father God is more important to him and to us than our relationship with another human. If the relationship we have with another human is interfering with our relationship with father God then we are making a mistake in our authority structure.

1 Corinthians 10:23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. ²⁴Let no man seek his own, but every man another's. ²⁵Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: ²⁶For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof. ²⁷If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake. ²⁸But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof: ²⁹Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? ³⁰For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? ³¹Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. ³²Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: ³³Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.

We don't have to let our liberty be judged by another person. We won't be adversely affected if we ate something someone else dedicated to an idol as long as we don't regard the idol. Our relationship with father God will be just fine since we are using our faith to believe that he owns everything no matter what fake idol someone wants to dedicate something to. However, and it's a big however, we don't want to mislead our brethren or others into thinking father God condones idols. Idols mislead people into false relationship with an inanimate object. Other people might be adversely affected if we ate something someone else dedicated to an idol. We have to consider the other person and whether it will make a difference to them. Our conscience can be perfectly clear eating something the Lord owns.

1 Corinthians 12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵And there are differences of ministrations (services), but the same Lord. ⁶And there are diversities of workings, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. ⁷But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. ⁸For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; ⁹To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; ¹⁰To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: ¹¹But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. ¹²For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. ¹³For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. ¹⁴For the body is not one member, but many.

When we take the offer of the raised from the dead human spirit we become born again. This aspect of spirit is directly applied to us through Jesus' redemptive work on the cross. Even though father God was with Jesus during his ministry here, father God separated himself from Jesus right at the time of his death so Jesus would be dieing by himself. The Holy Spirit did not accomplish becoming raised from the dead for us. No one else did. Only Jesus became a human and accomplished this. This also means that Jesus gets full reward for what he accomplished. This raised from the dead human spirit is the standard core of our spiritual nature. It just makes us a regenerate human, which is still a very big thing. On top of being a regular regenerate human we can add "gifts" and "services" and "workings". These are not part of our raised from the dead human spirit. They are added onto us separately. We should always remember that if we see a gift, working or service operating in someone, it does not represent that person. They represent the Holy Spirit, Jesus and father God. All these "addons" are to give different members of the same body unique contributions to the body. Those of us that have such a gift, office or working can use it to share with others to profit everyone and the body as a whole.

1 Corinthians 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; ²By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

It is possible for us to let go of our conviction regarding the gospel. If we do not hold near to us the gospel then that we once believed is in vain. We have to keep our faith active. We cannot let our mind take over and compel us to live in its fake world of doctrine. We cannot let outside influences become more important to us than the gospel, the good news as to how we can become children of father God.

1 Corinthians 16:13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, behave like men, be strong. ¹⁴Let all your things be done with love.

Faith works by love. In father God's love we can stand fast in the faith like the men and women he has born us to be.

2 Corinthians 1:19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. ²⁰For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. ²¹Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; ²²Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest (down payment) of the Spirit in our hearts. ²³Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth. ²⁴Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.

Father God is glad to honor his promises to us, his children, that are made available through Jesus, his son. He can establish us in Jesus. He can anoint us and give us a sample deposit of his spirit. We stand in all of these things by faith. We have to believe father God is making all these things available to us in Jesus. We have to know what the promises are so we can believe for them. We cannot just believe anything we want. We can believe for anything we want that is available in Jesus. Life oriented things are available in Jesus. Sin oriented things are not available in Jesus.

2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; ²But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending (introducing favorably) ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. ³But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: ⁴In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. ⁵For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. ⁶For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency (exceeding greatness) of the power may be of God, and not of us.

The good news of the glory of father God being made available to us in Jesus is light in our hearts to us if we are willing to believe the truth that father God exists and is making his glory available to us. The good news of Jesus being made unto us this doorway to father God is not believed by everyone. Some people are blinded from believing in the simple offer made to us by father God through Jesus. We are capable as humans of believing truth or not believing truth. The god of this world is actively working on blinding us so we don't believe truth. Malice aforethought. Many people die an eternal spiritual death because they don't believe the truth that father God tells us. Just because we are in a flesh body doesn't mean we don't have a spirit and can't come to know father God as our spiritual father.

2 Corinthians 4:11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. ¹²So then death worketh in us, but life in you. ¹³We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; ¹⁴Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.

By using our spirit of faith that is our servant for us to use according to our will, we can take the life of Jesus into our spirit. We have to "make room" for this life by killing off our "old man" person that we used to be. We have to believe we can be a whole different spiritual person inside. We can manifest this person from the spirit on outward through our flesh. We are faced with a decision all day long as to whether we choose to manifest the life of Jesus out of our spirit or not. We can either fall back to the death oriented nature we inherited from Adam or choose to take life available to us through faith.

2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ²For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house (dwelling) which is from heaven: ³If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. ⁴For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. ⁵Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. ⁶Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: ⁷(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

We will have a spiritual body when we are out of this physical body. Father God wants us to be with him so he has given us a sample of his spirit with a promise of more later and a new body. Our current walk is not yet in this new body. We have to believe father God that this will come to pass. Once we are in our new body we don't need to believe for it any more. It is delivered. For now we have to walk by faith.

2 Corinthians 6:11 O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. ¹²Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. ¹³Now for a recompence (reward) in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged. ¹⁴Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? ¹⁵And what concord (harmony) hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? ¹⁶And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ¹⁷Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, ¹⁸And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Belial is a name and a description. It means worthlessness and it is a name attributed to Satan. We are the temple of father God. He dwells in us. We don't need to go to a temple or make a temple. We are that temple. Currently there is talk in Israel of making another temple for worship. A point that is not being considered is that spiritually we are the temple. Father God stopped using that temple in Israel when Jesus was resurrected because we became the next temple. The whole goal of Jesus was to recover Adam and all the individual spirits made in his likeness so we could become children of father God like Jesus is a child of father God. Adam had father God's spirit in him when he was made. Adams nature changed to a death nature when he sinned. From then until Jesus, father God could no longer dwell in us like we were his children. Jesus became a raised from the dead human spirit so he could raise us from the dead so we could become father God's sons and daughters.

2 Corinthians 13:2 I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare: ³Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you. ⁴For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. ⁵Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove (test) your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

We have to be able to rely on the power of father God for our life. We have access to this power of father God through faith in the gift of this power. This gift of power to raise us from the dead is made available to us through Jesus and can be applied to us as much as it applied to Jesus first. We have to be believing in what father God made to work for us. We have to believe exactly that. We have to have faith in exactly that. We have to be in exactly that faith, or belief. We can examine if we are in that faith that Jesus is in us raising us from the dead or whether we are reprobate, or worthless as a castaway or a reject.

Galatians 2:15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, ¹⁶Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. ¹⁷But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. ¹⁸For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. ¹⁹For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. ²⁰I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. ²¹I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Our justification does not come from two places. We are not partially justified before father God by works towards justification and by faith in the gift of Jesus that father God gave us. We can only rely on the gift of Jesus that father God gave us by his grace. Father God wanted us to become his children so he gave us the raised from the dead spirit of a child of his so we could also be raised from the dead children of father God.

Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? ²This only would I learn of you, Received (lambano - take) ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? ³Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect (made complete) by the flesh? ⁴Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. ⁵He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

We cannot do physical works to obtain the raised from the dead human spirit that father God is offering us. We can only obtain this spirit by faith in the promise that father God made to us. We can't see spiritual miracles empowered by someone because they fulfill the law. We can only see spiritual miracles empowered by father God through someone who believes in father God.

Galatians 3:6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. ⁷Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. ⁸And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. ⁹So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Abraham became righteous, or right standing, with father God by believing him and not by doing some work or law. The children of Abraham are not genetically associated with him. His "children" are others that also believe in father God and his promise. The promise that was made to Abraham was that his "faith" descendants will be blessed. This is true for both his genetic descendants and non-genetic descendants as long as they are his "spirit of faith" descendants. His genetic descendants have no automatic standing with father God. They must believe in father God just like Abraham did. Father God intended all along that the only access to him would be by faith. Any of the gentile, or heathen, nations have just as much access to be blessed as the Hebrew children if they are willing to believe for it.

Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. ¹¹But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. ¹²And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. ¹³Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: ¹⁴That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive (lambano - take) the promise of the Spirit through faith.

We are justified by faith in the first place so we continue in that justification by faith by living by faith. We can never rely on the law for our justification. Jesus made the law unavailable to everyone by fulfilling it and becoming the representative of what its value was.

Galatians 3:15 Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. ¹⁶Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. ¹⁷And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. ¹⁸For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. ¹⁹Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. ²⁰Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

The promise from father God to Abraham that in Abraham all nations will be blessed came 430 years before the Mosaic law was given. The law that was given was not the fulfillment of that promise. The law is mechanical in nature and not a promise that can be obtained by faith. Our spiritual inheritance is not by the law.

Galatians 3:21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. ²²But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. ²³But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. ²⁴Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. ²⁶For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Nothing about any law contradicts that a promise is made available by faith. With or without a law, righteousness is only available by faith. Everyone was born under sin and everyone can be made righteous by faith in father God's promise. The law had in it what the nature of the promise would be. If we tried to fulfill the law we would be taking physical actions similar to what physical actions we would be taking if we had the raised from the dead spirit. This doesn't give us the raised from the dead spirit, but it points us towards its nature. We couldn't even have the faith that we are spiritually raised from the dead until Jesus had come and paid for that. Now that Jesus has come and paid for that, we can believe that we can take it and use it. It doesn't matter who we are. We can believe that we inherit father God as his children.

Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. ²Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. ³For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. ⁴Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. ⁵For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. ⁶For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. ⁷Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? ⁸This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. ⁹A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. ¹⁰I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.

The liberty that we have in Jesus by grace from father God guarantees that no part of fulfilling the law will make us righteous with him. All righteousness comes as a gift by grace from father God. That is our liberty. We now have the liberty to do good and act righteously for real right out of our spirit. If we ever believe we are justified by our own works of the law we are walking away from grace. In order to die with no sin on our soul we would have to have lived a sinless life from birth. While we might think father God would appreciate the effort, he would not. Father God's program is that no one can come to him except through Jesus and only by taking the gift that he is offering. Father God wants everyone to be able to access him equally. This is only by faith which works by love. Love is a requirement to access and fluently use this faith. Father God loves us and wants us to use love and live by love and access him by love. Father God wants us to believe this. If we won't believe this we are not obeying the truth.

Galatians 5:11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased. ¹²I would they were even cut off which trouble you. ¹³For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. ¹⁴For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. ¹⁵But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. ¹⁶This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. ¹⁸But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Our liberty to not have to observe the law is not permission to sin. Our flesh wants to kill us. We have to walk in our raised from the dead spirit to dominate the flesh. We can, out of our spirit, love our neighbor as ourself.

Galatians 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, ²⁰Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, ²¹Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ²³Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. ²⁴And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. ²⁵If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

We must be living in our raised from the dead spirit and walk after our raised from the dead spirit if we want to inherit father God's kingdom. Our spirit is well able to dominate our flesh if we want it to. We can, with our spirit, crucify our own flesh as much as Jesus was crucified. He tolerated being crucified by having the love in his spirit dominate his need to preserve his flesh. We can consider any part of our flesh and use our spirit to dominate it. If we have a weak area in our life we can stir up our spirit by faith and take it over. We may need to ask father God how we should use our spirit to bring that part of our flesh into subjection. He is trying to make us into his children. He will help us.

Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. ⁸For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. ⁹And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. ¹⁰As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Our well doing is not what justifies us. Our well doing is a byproduct of our spirit that we inherit from father God. We will reap everlasting life if we do good to others out of our spirit. When we do good to our spiritual brethren we do good to our own corporate spiritual body that we are a part of.

Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: ²Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. ³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: ⁴According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: ⁵Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted (objects of grace) in the beloved.

Father God calls Jesus the beloved. It is father God's good will to adopt us as his children. We can be accepted into adoption by being in Jesus. In Jesus we can be in peace, holy and faultless, or unblemished, and be blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. We can do all of this in love as though we have nothing better to be than a loving child of father God. All our spiritual needs are met in these heavenly blessings. He is making us objects of his grace as an act of grace, or a favor or gift. Father God is doing this for us in part for the praise of the glory, honor and dignity of his grace. He loves when we praise him. If he chose wisely as to who he called, we don't mind being his loving children that enjoy praising him for being loving and gracious to us.

Ephesians 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; ⁸Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence (intelligence); ⁹Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: ¹⁰That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: ¹¹In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: ¹²That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

Father God has paid for our sins by Jesus and applied all his wisdom and intelligence on our behalf. He has made known to us his secret that he is making Jesus the head of everything in heaven and earth and pulling together everything under Jesus. In Jesus we inherit father God and his spiritual nature, and heaven, and the earth. Because of this we are examples of, or reasons why we and other heavenly hosts would praise father God.

Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. ¹⁵Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, ¹⁶Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; ¹⁷That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: ¹⁸The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, ²⁰Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: ²²And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, ²³Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Jesus had to pay for us. He had to literally buy us. He had to pay for our access to salvation. When we believe as true what we are told is the good news of our salvation we are given Jesus' resurrected spirit as we were promised. This is the deposit of what we will inherit once we are fully redeemed into our spiritual body that is paid for but not yet delivered. Right now we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies because Jesus is sitting at the right hand of father God in the heavenlies. If we are in Jesus, we are spiritually seated right next to father God. This is part of the glory of our inheritance coming from father God. Father God has nothing to hold back from us. If he has it to give away, this is when, and we are to whom. The same power that father God manifested in Jesus by raising him from the dead, father God is willing to manifest in us. Father God can give us wisdom and revelation as to what is available to us through his calling to us to become his children. Revelation knowledge cannot be deduced by logic. It has to be revealed. It has to be told to us because we do not have any way to see it or derive or deduce it. Jesus and his body are the big winners in all of this. The church, or assembly of saints, is Jesus' body. We are what Jesus fills. Jesus isn't skimping on his body. He is seated next to father God and we are his body.

Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened (made alive), who were dead in trespasses and sins; ²Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince (ruler) of the power (authority, jurisdiction) of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience (apeitheia - disbelief, disobedience, unbelief): ³Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. ⁴But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, ⁵Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us (made us alive) together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) ⁶And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: ⁷That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches (richness) of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast. ¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

We used to have the spirit of the prince, or ruler, that is working in the children of unbelief. While we were dead in our sins father God showed us his mercy and invited us to become raised from the dead. We became obedient to father God by believing father God and coming to him to become raised from the dead. Now that we are in Jesus we are seated in the heavenlies in Jesus. We have the ages to come to look forward to where we will be experiencing the richness of father God's grace displayed to us as kindness. Everything in father God's kingdom is only available by the grace of father God. Since he makes everything of spiritual importance, we can only take something as a gift. We might be able to do something with our spirit, but the spirit comes from father God that enables us to do that something. Father God created us and our ability to have and use faith. That "something" that we can do with our spirit we can do by faith. We cannot hand back to father God something we made that wasn't made out of the capability that he first gave us. At least not something that he would regard. He wants to see us use what he gave us, but we have to always remember where that capability came from.

Ephesians 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; ⁹And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: ¹⁰To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by (through) the church (assembly) the manifold wisdom of God, ¹¹According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: ¹²In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. ¹³Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. ¹⁴For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, ¹⁶That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; ¹⁷That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; ¹⁹And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Father god created everything by Jesus. Father God had not previously been showing why he made everything. The reason father God made everything in the first place is now being shown. Now father God is manifesting his many faceted wisdom in the church to show it off to all men so they can see how they can share the mystery that he had hid from the beginning of the world. We have boldness and access to this mystery by faith in Jesus. The mystery is how we become filled with everything that is father God. We can join the family of father God. Father God grants to us that his spirit will empower our faith in our inner person, our spirit man, to believe in Jesus so that Jesus can dwell in our hearts as love. When Jesus exists in the foundation of our heart as love, we can learn the depth and breadth of his love and be filled with the fulness of father God. The Tanach, or Old Testament did not speak very much at all about faith. There were some examples of it here and there but as a whole it was not a top priority subject. In the Brit Hadashah, or New Testament, faith is a constant theme. Love was common in the Old Testament through the law but was not sourced from the spirit of Jesus in everyone. The law had the "love or else" approach that drove home the consequence of not loving your neighbor as yourself when the consequence you caused to your neighbor was returned back onto you. Now with the spirit of Jesus in us we can truly love out of our heart, our spirit, right from our core. We access this love and father God with our faith that father God has made this gift available to us by his generosity.

Ephesians 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; ⁵One Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Father God is sovereign and the only source of his spirit that he will allow in his kingdom. Father God provided one of everything we need to be part of his one family. There is only one Jesus and he has only one body. There are not multiple spirits that will give us access to father God. We can only believe one thing to have access to father God. We have to believe that Jesus paid for us to be able to have the raised from the dead human spirit. We cannot create our own way to father God. We could say that father God did it right the first time so he doesn't need to do it a second time. Everything works to get us to father God and he is the source of it all. This is good in that we don't have to sort through multiple other people to have access to something from father God. We are dealing through Jesus with the top person in the universe. Our only mediator is sitting at the right hand of father God and we are spiritually in him so we are not very far down in the authority chain. We are sitting right next to father God, which is where he wants us. We can step right out of our old life and take on the life of Jesus as easily as willing to and believing that father God really made it available to us. We just take it.

Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; ¹²For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: ¹³Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: ¹⁴That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; ¹⁵But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: ¹⁶From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Our individual goal is to completely grow into the full spiritual nature and character of Jesus. In becoming a spiritual "adult" we will no longer be a spiritual "child". We are to mature into spiritual adulthood. In the corporate body of Jesus are people who help us to mature to spiritual adulthood. When we become more perfected, or complete, we can do the ministration, or work of the service, to build up the spiritual body of Jesus, which is our body and which we are individual members of. If we want this for our lives we have to take it. It is offered but not required. If we want it, we have to step up and take it and live it. It has to become our life that we will be a part of this body and a good, productive part in it by our own individual acts of maturing into the fulness of Jesus. Otherwise any physical church may be filled with lots of spiritual babies that are disjointed and don't have a clue about working on something spiritual together.

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. ¹¹Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ¹²For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. ¹³Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. ¹⁴Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; ¹⁵And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. ¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: ¹⁸Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

The Lord can make us literally spiritually strong. These are the tools that are available to us to mature and minister to the body to build it up, and to live our life with as a conqueror of our individual and corporate promise land. We have to rely on these spiritual tools of father God's that are available in Jesus. We need these spiritual tools because we have spiritual adversaries. We might see manifestations in the natural but they are controlled by the spiritual. If we can deal with the spiritual source the natural will change. Our faith in our relationship with father God and Jesus empowers us to not just deflect but quench attacks by our spiritual adversaries. We can envision ourself using our faith to take on and take out these attacks as they occur and we can expect to see a change in the natural after we do.

Philippians 1:19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, ²⁰According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. ²¹For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²²But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. ²³For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: ²⁴Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. ²⁵And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith; ²⁶That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. ²⁷Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; ²⁸And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. ²⁹For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; ³⁰Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

While we are in the flesh we can labor to bear fruit. Once we are out of this mortal body we will be able to enjoy the fruit that we produced while here on earth. Normal natural things may not be producing spiritual fruit that contributes to father God's kingdom. We can do kingdom oriented fruit bearing after we get off work or in our free time. We can make Christianity and father God's ministration to the body and the lost our hobby that we spend our free time on. We won't get credit for lots of TV watching of soap operas but we might be able to use watching a good lecture on something biblical that matures us so when we need just the right thing to say it will flow out of our spirit. We can do things that contribute to our faith of the good news of our relationship with father God and Jesus. If we don't put in our hours of learning we won't be able to stand fast in the one spirit that father God is providing us and we won't be all in the same mind set working together for our common faith.

Philippians 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out (accomplish - finish) your own salvation with fear and trembling. ¹³For it is God which worketh (be active) in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. ¹⁴Do all things without murmurings and disputings: ¹⁵That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; ¹⁶Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. ¹⁷Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. ¹⁸For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.

We have to dynamically work on our salvation to enter into it. Father God is right there to work in us, so we can both feel that we won't be left alone and that we will have company and the input of his opinion all the time as we go through our walk. Part of the family aspect of knowing father God is knowing that he is always right there. If we want to mature to become a son of father God and be with him forever we will use his help. Father God needs us to be spiritual lights to the world. He doesn't need us involved with causing harm to others. He doesn't need us to be crooked or perverse such that we are blamable for wrong doing.

Philippians 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. ⁸Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, ⁹And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: ¹⁰That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; ¹¹If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. ¹²Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after (pursue), if that I may apprehend (katalambano - seize, take eagerly) that for which also I am apprehended (katalambano - seize, take eagerly) of Christ Jesus. ¹³Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended (katalambano - seize, take eagerly): but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, ¹⁴I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵Let us therefore, as many as be perfect (complete), be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

When our life is over here in the natural realm we want to be found in Jesus. We may win or attain Christ but we don't have to win or attain Christ. We may not win or attain Christ. We will want to put away anything that contradicts what Jesus is about and what occupies space in us that Jesus could be occupying. Father God is very excited about those that want to become his children. He will be very happy to reveal to us what we need to do along the way to become one of his children. If we aren't serious or willing to pursue father God with our whole heart, he will know it immediately. We can know the power of Jesus' resurrection by faith. We can actually be in the tangible righteousness of Jesus. We have access to experiencing this righteousness because father God is making it available to us by our faith. We can know that because we are taking Jesus this resurrection power will work in us if we stir up our spirit of faith and attempt to use it. We can look into our solar plexus and bring out what is in there and let it flood our body and mind and walk in the spirit.

Colossians 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him (Jesus) should all fulness dwell; ²⁰And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. ²¹And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled ²²In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable (unblemished, faultless) and unreproveable (unaccused, blameless) in his sight: ²³If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; ²⁴Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up (supplement) that which is behind (lacking) of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: ²⁵Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; ²⁶Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: ²⁷To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: ²⁸Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect (complete) in Christ Jesus: ²⁹Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily (in power).

We can now have the manifestation of the richness of the glory of father God in us. This glory of father God in us manifests as Jesus in us and through Jesus in us. To the extent that father God glorified Jesus, when the spiritual person of Jesus is in us father God has put his glory in us. We have this manifestation freely granted to us according to our faith. We now have peace with father God through Jesus' shedding of his blood and his death. Because of what Jesus did for us, we can be presentable to father God as faultless and blameless. We don't have to do any works to become faultless and blameless. As though we put on a "faultless and blameless" robe we become faultless and blameless in Jesus. We have free access to what Jesus paid for by our faith because father God is trying to get us to be faultless and blameless. Father God loves us and wants us to become faultless and blameless so we can be a part of his family. All we have to do is believe father God and take this offer and put on our "faultless and blameless" robe.

Colossians 2:6 As ye have therefore received (taken unto us) Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: ⁷Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. ⁸Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. ⁹For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. ¹⁰And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: ¹¹In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: ¹²Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. ¹³And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; ¹⁴Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; ¹⁵And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. ¹⁶Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: ¹⁷Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

Father God created a bodily form of himself. This bodily form is Jesus. When we are in the body of Jesus we are crammed full of Godliness. We can believe that father God raised Jesus from the dead. We can take Jesus into ourself because we believe father God is offering Jesus to us. Father God and Jesus did as much as they could to enable us to become resurrected and father God's children. We can believe that taking Jesus into ourself raises us spiritually from the dead also. As much as we take Jesus into ourself we should be able to walk in him. We have to walk in him as much as we can.

1 Thessalonians 2:11 As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, ¹²That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. ¹³For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received (took unto ourself) the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received (accepted) it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

What father God said will work in us. We have to do what father God said will work in us. Father God expects his children to walk in what he gives us. We cannot act like we are orphans that don't have what father God is offering. We are being called into father God's kingdom and glory. We have to act like it. We have to reach into our raised from the dead spirit and make it glow enough to push out any old thoughts and thought patterns and renew our minds with our spirit. Our thoughts might change mid sentence when we do that. It is part of our ability to be inspired by Jesus. All of our old habits can be immediately erased. We can act like we were just born into a new spiritual family. When we are walking in an old habit or mind schema, we can take a 90° turn and walk away from it. Our mind can get new thoughts in an instant and develop new thought patterns based on the nature of our raised from the dead spirit. We just have to believe for it and look for it and take it. It is easier to change a lot all at once than to change little things a little at a time slowly over a longer time. We can remove a lot of death oriented programming out of our mind quickly if we want to.

2 Thessalonians 1:1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: ²Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ³We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; ⁴So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: ⁵Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: ⁶Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; ⁷And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, ⁸In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: ⁹Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; ¹⁰When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. ¹¹Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: ¹²That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

By father God's grace we are called to become part of his kingdom. We use our faith in father God's promise of who Jesus is to us and take this promise. We have to endure whatever it takes to become part of that kingdom. We will see conflict from those around us that haven't taken advantage of father God's offer. They still have the orphan nature and not the child of father God nature. They choose to not obey the good news of who Jesus is available to be to us. We still value where we are going more than where we have been so we hold on to our calling into father God's kingdom. Some people will never believe father God while others will first be set back but may come around to believe. We have to be that friction point as nicely as we can to at least show others as an example the offer father God made to us and is making to them. Father God is watching closely to see who will take him and who will reject him. He will deal with the sources of friction as he wants to. We don't have to worry about that. We never know what will prompt a person to turn towards father God. Sometimes it is trauma and sometimes pain and sometimes loss and sometimes love. Even now, as we are entering this kingdom, our love for others who are also entering this kingdom will grow. Sometimes, the more beat up we are over trying to attain a goal the more we will sympathize with others who are going through the same thing. Even though we have committed to turning to father God we might still be learning the exact right direction to turn to ourselves. One difference in the kingdom of father God is that we don't want to crush the competition. We want to encourage the brethren who are also a part of our spiritual body. There is plenty of room in father God's kingdom. We aren't competing for a fixed space. Each person that comes into the kingdom is their own space and adds to the size of the body. Father God is using this whole planet for this project of raising children. We aren't in any position to thwart that program.

2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: ¹⁴Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We can give thanks to father God for increasing the size of the spiritual body of Jesus that we are a part of. We can be glad for each person that chose life over death. Each person that believes what father God says and takes it to purify themselves with Jesus' raised from the dead spirit becomes part of our family.

2 Thessalonians 3:1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: ²And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. ³But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.

As much as we are faithful in taking Jesus into us, Jesus is faithful to establish us and protect us from those that aren't using faith to take Jesus.

1 Timothy 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope; ²Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. ³As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, ⁴Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do. ⁵Now the end goal of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: ⁶From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; ⁷Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. ⁸But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; ⁹Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, ¹⁰For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; ¹¹According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

Jesus is our hope to enter into father God's kingdom. While we encounter people who don't have any faith and don't care, and others who are coming into the faith, we also have some people who try to redefine what to believe. We have to understand what the gospel, or good news is. We cannot mix the Mosaic law with what father God wanted for us all along. He did not want us to be robots without a raised from the dead spirit. He wanted us to be humans with his spirit. This is how he made Adam. Now, father God is recovering the fallen Adam in each of us by giving us a raised from the dead spirit.

1 Timothy 1:12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; ¹³Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief (apistia - faithlessness, disbelief / unfaithfulness, unbelief, disobedience). ¹⁴And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. ¹⁶Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. ¹⁷Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. ¹⁸This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; ¹⁹Holding faith, and a good conscience; which conscience some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: ²⁰Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

We all start on the outside and have to come into the same belief that gets us to having a raised from the dead spirit. Jesus wants to show us exceeding abundant grace with faith and love. We can see the mercy that father God shows in us and others. We can show to others the mercy and longsuffering that is shown to us by Jesus so they can learn what father God is offering. We can use our conscience to guide us in what to believe, but if we don't listen to our conscience we can become shipwreck in our faith. We have to realize we are at war with sin and death and war a good warfare.

1 Timothy 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; ²For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. ³For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; ⁴Who wills all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. ⁵For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; ⁶Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. ⁷Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Father God wills all people to be saved from every race over the whole planet. What father God made available applies to everyone with the fallen spirit of Adam. Father God wants everyone to know exactly what the truth is. The truth is there is only one father God and one mediator between mankind and father God. The mediator is Jesus. Jesus is sitting at the right hand of father God, in a timeless environment, so the offer is not restricted to a specific human lifespan. The offer lasts from when it was first made at Jesus' resurrection and approval by father God until the end of this age. We should take this offer and put our whole life in it because the consequence of not doing so is eternal death. If we reject this offer at any time now, father God may take us at face value and not bring it up again. If we think we can change our mind at the last second, we might be reminded we rejected the offer. Father God is very serious about his family and his children and who loves him.

1 Timothy 3:8 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; ⁹Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. ¹⁰And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. ¹¹Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. ¹²Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. ¹³For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: ¹⁵But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. ¹⁶And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Father God is revealing what the mystery of godliness, or holiness, is. This is how far father God went to be able to redeem us. He came here in the flesh of Jesus. He fulfilled the law and was shown innocent in his human spirit. His gift of the raised from the dead spirit can be explained to the world. Just as he was taken up into glory in Jesus, so can we be take up into glory in Jesus. We can use our conscience to guide us to being able to believe in father God's mystery with our whole heart. If our conscience convicts us of something, we probably can't believe with our whole heart. If our conscience doesn't convict us, either it is seared or we don't have sin. We may not be a deacon, but we can be eligible in that we have matured enough to be of that standing.

1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; ²Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

Some of us will give up on believing father God and his offer to us. Seducing spirits are real and want to kill us. They will lie to us, giving us false doctrines. If we choose to believe lies we are outside of father God's faith. We won't be able to tell this because our conscience will be seared. We will not be able to use our conscience to tell truth from lies. This is very dangerous to us. We can't tell when we are wrong.

1 Timothy 6:9 But they that will to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. ¹⁰For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. ¹¹But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. ¹²Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. ¹³I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth (makes alive) all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; ¹⁴That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: ¹⁵Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate (ruler), the King of kings, and Lord of lords; ¹⁶Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen. ¹⁷Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; ¹⁸That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; ¹⁹Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. ²⁰O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called: ²¹Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.

We cannot trust in inanimate objects. If we put our trust in inanimate objects we are departing from believing in father God and Jesus. Father God can give us whatever we need. We don't need to strive for money. We can come to father God for money. We can come to father God for the exact item we need and father God can provide his own way of delivering it. Not everything has to be acquired with money. Father God can deliver things in many ways. We don't need to be rich just to be rich or for a status symbol. He may give us something to give to someone else. We have to be very careful as to what we believe. We can believe false knowledge. We want to be right standing with father God by believing what he tells us to believe.

2 Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. ²For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, ⁴Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; ⁵Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. ⁶For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ⁷Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁸Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. ⁹But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. ¹⁰But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, patience, ¹¹Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. ¹²Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. ¹³But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. ¹⁴But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; ¹⁵And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: ¹⁷That the man of God may be perfect (complete), fully equipped unto all good works.

If we want to attain salvation we want to keep our faith in Jesus. Father God's words which we can get in an accurate Judeo-Christian bible will guide us accurately. We will have to know what's in it to become a complete person in father God. Whatever we leave out will be missing from our character. Many people die spiritually from not knowing and following the truth that father God has put in his word. They do not actually love father God. If they ever did, they have become reprobates. Their love, and therefore their faith, has become misguided. Our knowing is not just head knowledge. It is spiritual awareness. If we make the mistake of operating out of our heads more than our heart we will never have the spiritual revelation of father God's word. In our minds we can believe, or imagine, anything. In our spirits we need to believe father God and then put what is in our spirit into our mind.

2 Timothy 4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick (living) and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; ²Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. ³For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; ⁴And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. ⁵But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. ⁶For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. ⁷I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: ⁸Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Doctrines are directed towards the mind. They do not require faith. They help align our mind with our spirit. When we have unsound doctrine, our mind is following a different trail than our spirit is. We won't be using our mind to embrace truth. We can quench our spirit when we put too much authority onto our mind. If we follow lusts through doctrines that complement our mind but not our spirit when father God provides spiritual resources to keep us from lusting, then we will be turning away from both doctrinal and spiritual truth.

Hebrews 2:16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. ¹⁷Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. ¹⁸For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour (aid or relieve) them that are tempted.

Jesus came as a human so that what he accomplished applied to humans. He didn't come as an angel, or a cow or a bird. What he accomplished spiritually applies to humans. By becoming a human, then a dead human, then a raised from the dead human, Jesus made the raised from the dead human spirit available to us. Just like father God put his spirit into spiritually empty flesh when he created Adam, Jesus can put his raised from the dead spirit into people who already have a spirit but that needs to be raised from the dead. Jesus experienced the difficulties we face here so he can be a faithful high priest before father God on our behalf. He can help us bridge that gap between where we come from and where we need to be. He understands our testings because he successfully endured the same kinds of testings.

Hebrews 3:1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession (confession), Christ Jesus; ²Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. ³For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. ⁴For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. ⁵And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; ⁶But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. ⁷Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, ⁸Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: ⁹When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. ¹⁰Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. ¹¹So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) ¹²Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief (apistia - faithlessness, disbelief / unfaithfulness, unbelief, disobedience), in departing from the living God. ¹³But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; ¹⁵While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. ¹⁶For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. ¹⁷But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that [believed not] (apeitheia - disbelief, disobedience, unbelief)? ¹⁹So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief (apistia - faithlessness, disbelief / unfaithfulness, unbelief, disobedience).

Jesus and father God are building a spiritual house made of people. This is a big consideration to father God. Each person who comes into Jesus' house is expected to be there forever. We must know father God's ways in order to not be unbelieving/disobedient and depart from father God. Part of father God's ways is that we rely on his promises which let us remain in his "rest". We don't have to earn our way into his family. We are given free access through Jesus. This is our use of our faith. We cannot have a hard heart if we are going to use our faith to believe and agree with father God and enter his "rest". We are capable of hardening our heart, but if we want to live, we cannot do that. Unbelief equals sin. Jesus had to earn the right to be the authority over his house. Jesus was faithful to father God's calling and appointment. Likewise, we have to be faithful in our calling. We cannot enter into father God's rest with unbelief/disobedience.

Hebrews 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. ²For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. ³For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. ⁴For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. ⁵And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. ⁶Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief (apeitheia - disbelief, disobedience, unbelief): ⁷Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. ⁸For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. ⁹There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. ¹⁰For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. ¹¹Let us labour (give diligence) therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief (apeitheia - disbelief, disobedience, unbelief).

Let's look at the word "labor" in verse 11.

labour - spoudazō, σπουδάζω, spoudazō, spoo-dad'-zo - From spoudē; to use speed, that is, to make effort, be prompt or earnest: - do (give) diligence, be diligent (forward), endeavour, labour, study.

spoudē σπουδή, spoudē, spoo-day' - From speudō; “speed”, that is, (by implication) despatch, eagerness, earnestness: - business, (earnest) care (-fulness), diligence forwardness, haste.

speudō σπεύδω, speudō, spyoo'-do - Probably strengthened from pous; to “speed” (“study”), that is, urge on (diligently or earnestly); by implication to await eagerly: - (make, with) haste unto.

pous πούς, pous, pooce - A primary word; a “foot” (figuratively or literally): - foot (-stool).

Not only should we be pursuing entering into father God's rest, we should be afraid if we are not entering into his rest. We should realize something is wrong if we are not entering into father God's rest. The other people who did not enter into father God's rest did not enter in because of not believing father God, thus making him angry. They fell from father God's grace because of the hardness of their heart. Inside of father God's grace we can give up our own works and enter into the provision father God is offering us. Our works cannot make us righteous. We can rest from trying to attain righteousness by works. Taking father God's gift will make us righteous. He wants to be dad to us. He is looking for children that will regard him as their father and God. To him the "believing in God" part should be the easiest thing to do. He considers it willful disobedience to not believe him. The gap between disobedience in not believing father God and obedience in believing father God is covered by our faith. Father God gave every person a measure of faith. We either believe from our heart in what father God is promising or we don't. We are either in father God's rest or we are fallen.

Hebrews 6:10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour (toil) of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. ¹¹And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence (spoudē - speed, eagerness, earnestness, diligence, haste) to the full assurance of hope unto the end: ¹²That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith (pistis - persuasion, conviction, assurance, belief) and patience (makrothumia - longsuffering) inherit the promises.

Our faith is what we use to bridge the gap from not inheriting father God's promises to inheriting father God's promises. We can toil and work to help each other but we cannot do anything by works to enter into father God's promises. They can only be obtained by faith. We can do works by the manifestation of father God's promises in our life.

Hebrews 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith (pistis - persuasion, conviction, assurance, belief): but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. ³⁹But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe (pistis - persuasion, conviction, assurance, belief) to the saving of the soul.

As children of father God we are expected to live by faith in father God's promises. If we do not continue to believe father God we are drawing back across that gap from living in father God's rest and provision. Just as the Hebrew children did not enter into their promise land the first time around and died in the wilderness, we would be drawing back to our own destruction. The Hebrew children did not get a second chance to enter into the promise land. We won't get a second life to live to enter into faith in the promises of father God that save our soul from death. We have to use our measure of faith and speedily take the promises offered to us now.

Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith (pistis - persuasion, conviction, assurance, belief); who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus has already made it to the right hand of father God through his work of coming to earth and dieing and being resurrected. He is now the raised from the dead human spirit. He had faith in father God to get him through his itinerary here on earth and back to heaven. He is the author and completer of faith. He has and is what faith we need to be able to inherit father God's promises just like he did. Inside of Jesus we can have Jesus' faith. Jesus said "have God's faith". Inside of Jesus we can have God's faith. In Jesus we can use father God's faith, not just to inherit eternal life, but to do things here on earth now.

Hebrews 13:7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith (pistis - persuasion, conviction, assurance, belief) follow, considering the end of their conversation.

We can follow others who are setting an example for us of how to use faith.

James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers (various) temptations (testings); ³Knowing this, that the trying (testing) of your faith (pistis - persuasion, conviction, assurance, belief) worketh (accomplishes) patience (hupomone - endurance). ⁴But let patience (hupomone - endurance) have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. ⁵If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. ⁶But let him ask in faith (pistis - persuasion, conviction, assurance, belief), nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. ⁷For let not that man think that he shall receive (lambano - take) any thing of the Lord. ⁸A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Our faith will be tested. We have to believe in father God's word above what we see in the natural with the expectation that father God's word will change the natural to comply with the promises father God gives us. While we have enough faith for a situation, knowing how to use our faith may be all we need at times. This is much of what maturing consists of. We can go to father God for wisdom because it is his goal that we mature into his wise children and are not double minded. We can see we have to cross over that gap from our natural world to the spiritual world to obtain something from father God and we have to use our faith to do it.

James 2:1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. ²For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; ³And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: ⁴Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? ⁵Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? ⁶But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? ⁷Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? ⁸If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: ⁹But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. ¹¹For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. ¹²So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. ¹⁴What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? ¹⁵If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? ¹⁷Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. ¹⁸Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. ¹⁹Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. ²⁰But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? ²¹Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? ²²Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect (complete)? ²³And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. ²⁴Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. ²⁵Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? ²⁶For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Our works don't give us right standing with father God to begin with. Our faith does. Our works prove we have faith. Our faith will result in works that are showing that we have faith in the first place. Abrahams faith resulted in Isaac being born. Abraham had already borne Isaac but was tested by father God regarding Isaac. Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham complied up to the last second when he was stopped. When Abraham was tested regarding Isaac, Abraham had works that continued to show his faith in father God regarding Isaac in that he was willing to sacrifice Isaac and expect father God to raise him from the dead. We "show" our faith by our works. We may have to do something that in the natural would not make sense, but according to father God's word would make sense. We have the outward manifestation of works that are based on faith. Our faith prompts a work that is based on our faith. That work is evidence of our faith and leads to the next use of our faith to do the next "by faith" work. And so on. If we don't have the next work we don't get to the next use of faith. Eventually all of our works are based on faith.

James 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: ¹⁵And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

As saints we have resources in the body of Jesus to take care of its members. We access these resources by faith. We can simply speak a prayer to father God invoking a promise made by father God while we are in the body of Jesus to create a manifestation of that promise.

1 Peter 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ²Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. ³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten (borne) us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, ⁵Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: ⁷That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: ⁸Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: ⁹Receiving the end goal of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. ¹⁰Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: ¹¹Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. ¹²Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. ¹³Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; ¹⁴As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: ¹⁵But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation (behavior); ¹⁶Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. ¹⁷And if ye call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: ¹⁸Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation handed down by tradition from your fathers; ¹⁹But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: ²⁰Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, ²¹Who by him do believe (pisteuō - have faith) in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope (expectation) might be in God. ²²Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: ²³Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. ²⁴For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: ²⁵But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Father God desires that we have faith and expectation in him. He wants us to come into his family and know him as "father". He is "father" whether we are part of his family or not. Father God planned for a long time to send his son Jesus to recover anyone born under spiritual Adam. Father God desires to give us this grace of salvation from eternal spiritual death. Once Jesus came to earth as a human and suffered a bloody death and was gloriously resurrected, his shed blood paid for our ability to also be spiritually resurrected. Jesus became a raised from the dead human spirit, which is exactly what we need. When we take this raised from the dead spirit of Jesus into ourself to raise our spirit from the dead we are considered "born again" because our spirit is now born into a different family. We become "born" or "begotten" into the family of father God. All of our transition from one spiritual family to another is done by faith. We use our faith to take the spirit of Jesus into ourself. Likewise, we have to use our faith to apply it to ourself. We have to use our faith to be sober and watchful and expectant for the rest of our life. We have to fashion ourselves to be holy like father God is holy in a "like father, like child" sort of way. We will come to operate, or be motivated, out of our spirit more than our mind. Our spirit that we inherit from father God through Jesus will want to love the rest of father God's family as much as father God does. We have to take it upon ourself to do all of this with our faith when nobody is looking. Our use of our faith to do this is extremely important. Not only this, but as we are using our faith we will be getting feedback and resistance from both our old nature and the things that we are applying our new nature onto. We will feel tested and attacked as we continue to focus on using our faith to express our raised from the dead spirit from as deep in our heart as we can. We will feel our spirit being tested by our mind as we express spiritual intent through our mind. Our mind will want to have an opinion about what is coming out of our spirit. We can't let our mind subtract, add or change any part of our "intent of the heart" or the "intent of the heart" will be altered and damaged. Then it will not work both now and in the future as father God intended it to. We have to purify our souls, or minds. Passing our spiritual tests against our faith is very important. We are working on our salvation, our deliverance, with each test that comes up. Passing each test delivers us that much more from who we were under Adam to who Jesus is to father God and who we are to father God in Jesus.

1 Peter 2:1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, ²As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: ³If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. ⁴To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ⁵Ye also, as lively stones, are built up as a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. ⁶Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth (pisteuō - have faith) on him shall not be confounded (disgraced, shamed, dishonored). ⁷Unto you therefore which believe (pisteuō - have faith) he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient (apeitheō - willfully disbelieve, won't believe, disobedient), the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, ⁸And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient (apeitheō - willfully disbelieve, won't believe, disobedient): whereunto also they were appointed. ⁹But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: ¹⁰Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

We start our spiritual walk just like a newborn baby. We have to grow into the fulness of the spiritual person of Jesus. The fastest way to do that is to start at the beginning and take it like a baby. If we desire the unadulterated milk of father God's word we can grow the fastest. We may have a long way to go to maturation and eventually we will pass the milk stage, but it's the best place to start. We should take all the mercy we can get so we can make ourselves into a mature spiritual person. We want to be alive. We want to be precious to father God like Jesus is precious to father God. We have to make Jesus precious to us. We want to mature into a holy and royal priesthood. We want to be the people of father God.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: ⁹Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

Father God promises that in Jesus we have enough of his faith to resist the devil himself. He tells us that our brethren over the whole world are learning the same lesson. Father God wants everyone to know how to resist the devil using the faith that father God gave them.

2 Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: ²Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, ³According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: ⁴Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. ⁵And beside this, giving all diligence (spoudē - speed, eagerness, earnestness, diligence, haste), add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; ⁶And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; ⁷And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness love. ⁸For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. ¹⁰Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: ¹¹For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Spiritual laws are able to affect and influence and change both natural and spiritual things. Father God offers us spiritual promises that he says supercede natural and spiritual laws if we use them. These promises are only accessible by faith. Father God gives everyone a measure of faith to start with. Our faith takes us out of the natural world into the spiritual world. We are no longer a machine that is governed by natural and spiritual laws. We can freely use these spiritual promises to the extent we know them. By knowing father God and Jesus we have knowledge of father God and Jesus and their spiritual promises to us. We are called by father God to leave our worldly spiritual family that we inherit from Adam to become a child in father God's spiritual family. Because this is a spiritual change, we cannot physically make this transition. We must use our faith to make this change. Jesus is the spiritual middleman that manifests as our access to these spiritual promises by our faith. Jesus is the child of father God that we want to become. If we become inside of Jesus we are that child as much as Jesus is. In the spirit realm we become a part of a corporate spiritual body of Jesus that Jesus is the head of. In Jesus we inherit Jesus' faith which is father God's faith. Through Jesus and our faith in Jesus father God's divine power gives us everything we need that pertains to life and godliness. When we develop life and godliness in ourselves we can share the divine nature that father God built into Jesus. The more we mature life and godliness in us the more we enter into Jesus' everlasting kingdom. If we do not use our faith to develop a spiritually divine nature using father God's and Jesus' exceeding and precious promises we will be falling from the grace of being allowed to develop that nature in ourself. We are rejecting the offer to enter into the kingdom of Jesus and we will not inherit eternal life.

1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. ¹⁹And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure (peitho - convince, assure) our hearts before him. ²⁰For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. ²¹Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. ²²And whatsoever we ask (aiteo - demand something due), we receive (lambano - take) of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. ²³And this is his commandment, That we should believe (pisteuō - have faith) on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. ²⁴And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

Today father God's first commandments for us are to have faith in Jesus and love one another. Having faith in Jesus is believing that he is made unto us a raised from the dead spirit. With his raised from the dead spirit abiding in us we can test if our heart is clean and clear by whether we have any condemnation in it before father God. When our heart is clear with father God we can love others with works that come from what we can take from father God.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe (pisteuō - have faith) not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. ²Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: ³And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. ⁴Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. ⁵They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. ⁶We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

We believe that Jesus is in our flesh. We have to do more than believe that Jesus has come in the flesh. We have to believe that Jesus is come in our flesh. Jesus in our flesh is greater than the spirit of antichrist that is in the world.

1 John 5:1 Whosoever believeth (pisteuō - has faith) that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. ²By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. ³For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. ⁴For whatsoever is born of God overcometh (subdue, conquer, prevail) the world: and this is the victory that overcometh (subdue, conquer, prevail) the world, even our faith. ⁵Who is he that overcometh (subdue, conquer, prevail) the world, but he that believeth (pisteuō - has faith) that Jesus is the Son of God? ⁶This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. ⁷For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. ⁸And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. ⁹If we receive (lambano - take) the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. ¹⁰He that believeth (pisteuō - has faith) on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth (pisteuō - has faith) not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth (pisteuō - has faith) not the record (testimony, witness) that God gave of his Son. ¹¹And this is the record (testimony, witness), that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹²He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. ¹³These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. ¹⁴And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: ¹⁵And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

Victory νίκη, nikē, nee'-kay - Apparently a primary word; conquest (abstractly), that is, (figuratively) the means of success: - victory.

If we don't believe father God we are calling him a liar. This is very fundamental in our relationship with father God. The world does not have a personal relationship with father God. While the world does not believe father God and his offer of eternal life with him, we can overcome the world by believing father God. We overcome this lack of connection and relationship with father God with our faith. The thing that father God wants us to believe is that he has made available to us spiritual eternal life in Jesus. If we don't believe this we don't take eternal life and we are left with eternal death. When we take eternal life in Jesus we become part of the body of Jesus and part of father God's family. We become a child of father God. We love the other children of father God like we love father God.

Jude 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence (spoudē - speed, eagerness, earnestness, diligence, haste) to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. ⁴For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed (pisteuō - have faith) not.

While from father God's end the faith in the gift of a raised from the dead spirit is freely given, there is the outside influence that would like to pollute our faith. We may have to seriously fight within ourself to keep the purity and accuracy of the faith that father God is offering to us. If we come to believe in something false, or come to not have faith, we are subject to being destroyed.

Revelation 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; ⁵And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness (martyr), and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, ⁶And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Jesus was a faithful martyr for us and became the first to be spiritually raised from the dead. He died with no sin on his soul so he earned the right to require that he be raised from the dead. If he had sin on his soul when he died he would not have earned that right. Now he is a raised from the dead human spirit and can put himself into us just like father God breathed into a pile of clay and made Adam, the first human. The difference between what father God did with Adam and what father God can do through Jesus for us is that with Adam there was no spirit in Adam before father God breathed his spirit into Adam, whereas for us father God has to be able to raise from the dead the spirit that is already in us. Once we are spiritually raised from the dead we are a son to father God as much as Jesus is and we are made kings and priests to father God.

Revelation 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful (pistos - trustworthy, trustful, faithful) unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. ¹¹He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

The Lord is well aware that some of us will be tested to death. Millions of people have been tested to death. He is on the other side of death and is able to resurrect us and give us a crown of life. We will avoid the second death, which is the lake of fire. If we fail our test we get the second death. Since we understand we are to die to self and become a new creation, we shouldn't worry about losing this life if we are in father God's will. We wouldn't want to waste our life on a dare or something, but if we needed to lose our life for a "Godly" cause we won't be shorted by father God in the next age.

Revelation 13:10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience (hupomone - endurance) and the faith of the saints.

As representatives of the most high God we are not allowed to be for killing and captivity. Whether we feel it is right for others or not we will receive the same judgment as what we wish on others. We have to let father God do all the judging. We have to have faith in whatever father God is doing. Father God wants to bring people in to his family by grace. He went a long way to make grace available to people so he could have children. There isn't anyone whose spirit he cannot resurrect. Everyone is equally potentially spiritually resurrectable.

Revelation 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive (lambano - take) his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, ¹⁰The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: ¹¹And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth (lambano - take) the mark of his name. ¹²Here is the patience (hupomone - endurance) of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. ¹³And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours (toils); and their works do follow them.

We must continue to worship father God and not a creature or creation. We cannot take the nature and character of anyone or anything else into our minds or our actions. We must keep father God's commandments, which are to believe on the name of Jesus and to love one another.

Revelation 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. ¹³These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. ¹⁴These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Many people are called. Few are chosen. Most people don't respond to their calling from father God to become his child. Being called and being chosen are both done by father God. We, the called and chosen, must be faithful.