Choices

Life is all about choices, but we need to investigate this with a microscope to understand better how we make those choices. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. However, we all know what we believe God to be differently. But faith is the driving factor behind it all. We all live with a measure of faith. A new buzzword “manifesting” is circulating; the Cambridge dictionary rates it as the most popular word searched for 2024. It’s all about our foundational understanding of who God is, get that wrong and we will never arrive at the right result. The new generation loves to refer to the universe as their god. A typical technique would be “to manifest” something into your life (believing it will happen) and trust the universe to give it to you. That is faith in the unseen, but misguided. Romans 1 also comes into play here; “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity…” (Romans 1:22-24) 

 

This is a crucial fundamental principle to base our deductions. If we do not believe that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life, forget it, our conclusions will always be flawed. Why? God is a Spirit being and we are carnal beings, without eyes opened to the spiritual realm we are all like blind people groping in the dark hoping that we won’t fall into the ditch. Sadly without God’s intervention, we will all fall into that ditch. A treasure hunt can be exciting, especially if we are the ones who find the treasure chest. However, what use is an impregnable treasure box without the key opening it? Here is the first clue for all to uncover, pay careful attention to it; John 3:3 “Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”” – If anyone has seen the “Book of Eli” with Denzel Washington, it was about a tyrant who looked to find a book with the answers to life, he searched far and wide and eventually it was uncovered, but when he opened the pages it was written in braille. He was missing the key like so many miss the Lord's statement. You can be standing in a church or with a Bible in your hand and unless God intervenes, your eyes will remain wide shut. And yet this is a mystery; why do some receive sight and not others? ”unless” there needs to be an event in a person's life which unlocks their sight into the spiritual world. Without that key blindness remains and deception reigns. Many may believe that God is a high priority in their lives, hence so many religious factions, but sadly most are based on morals and ethics. On the surface, these things keep our conscience at bay and the yearning to unlock the truth in an irredeemable state. How can this be? We all know about good and evil, it’s God's design for the human race. However, some factions operate in the spiritual world and govern both good and evil. Satan who Jesus refers to as the “father of lies” is all about deception and he is the enemy of God who wants at all costs to thwart God's plans for mankind, his objective is to take as many humans down with him as possible. How does he do this? Deception! Those whom he deceives will end up in the Lake of Fire. This is not an opinion but rather a fact confirmed by John the Apostle in the Book of Revelations; Rev 20:10 “and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Unless you find forgiveness for the sins you have committed unless you cry out to God in humility and seek his forgiveness you will be amongst that number. There is no wiggle room here, nor any secret passages, there is only one way to find forgiveness; call upon the name of Jesus. He alone has the key to eternal life, ask of him and find forgiveness, this is how one is “born again”, this is where we are gifted eyes to see into the spiritual world and this is where true faith in God, the only one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is unlocked and where eternal beneficial faith germinates.

 

Signing out

 

Tyrone

Carnally Minded

The brain is a brilliant organ, so intricate that it leaves the world’s greatest cardiothoracic surgeons scratching their heads at times. To be carnally minded is to be in enmity with God. Simplified, to be governed by a set of laws that we use is hostile against God. Why? Well, Satan so drives us that he has blinded us to so many differing realities about life and the way we live it, when stripped down, we are left with the Apostles' statement; Romans_8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Here he introduces another reality. He is not referring to death which is common to man as we know it, old age and terminal illness that eventually take our lives. He is looking deeper, beyond the veil if you like. Something we should all do whilst we have breath, once we breathe our last it’s over and then it’s too late, the next phase of our existence kicks in. What will our eternal existence look like?

Although I only have a basic understanding of the intricacies of the afterlife, I know enough to realise that I will have a glorified body, which will no longer be subject to the laws of nature, a spiritual body. But to arrive I need to learn to put off my carnal mind. I must live by faith; this process will be tested over time. Look at it as a test that lasts as long as we live, a lifetime for most and the longer we live the more there is to be judged for. Whether we agree with the truth that we live eternally or not doesn’t affect certainty, as we have no power within ourselves to change the outcome, period! God the maker of the heavens and the earth has set out his plan and it is up to us to earnestly seek that out, if not hell will be our final destination. The Bible is obvious on that.

I need to stress the importance of telling you the truth, why? Because I value you as a friend, a true friend would never be so certain of truth and know it with all his heart to be true and then withhold it from a friend. All that would prove is a selfish approach to friendship, I'm ok Jack so why should I worry about you? Friendship as I value it must be about the truth even if someone is not ready for it, especially if it will help them in the long run. This is my intent to help you see the light and then grasp what I by the grace of God was able to clench so many years ago and cry out; “I have found the answer to life!”

Stage one of eternity here on earth, life in our natural bodies with an enemy looking to distract and keep us from achieving our utmost potential, the carnal mind, or simplified the natural mind, our natural mind, a conditioning the mind receives from the onset. No matter the direction we take in life so long as we are kept so busy with “stuff” that we do not with intent seek out the truth, God and His Plan. “For to be carnally minded is death.” This is the meaning of this portion of Paul’s warning; if we miss the purpose and plans of God, specifically where or how do I fit into that picture, this is where we will eventually die none the wiser and then judgment and then hell or to be more specific the Lake of Fire will be our eternal abode. But God has made a way, he has placed a key to the treasure map for all to find. Will you make this a priority? Effort is crucial, I can assure you all of this truth if you sincerely seek out the truth, you will find it. If you look to feed the carnal mind and chase after all the false traps of this world, even those that seem admiral and a must for life, I fear you will miss the most important lesson. See yourself as a sinner who needs salvation. There is only one who can save us from eternal damnation, The Lord Jesus Christ, why Him only? He lived a life of sinless perfection, he never broke one of God's laws, died on a cruel Roman cross for our sins and was raised from the dead. Therefore, He can now stand in the gap for our sins, He covers the sins of all who cry and call out to Him for help. This is the love of God personified, not the fuzzy fluffy tolerance of allowing the breech of sin to run riot. God's love is about forgiveness and not an allowance for sin. This is the yardstick we can all use to verify the truth in this area of the love of God.

 

Please pay serious attention to these words from the Apostle Paul; “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” (Romans 10:9-11)

 

As I sit here on Friday morning with the clock reading 3:40, I have flashes of my friends who may still be on the fence with this truth, I am praying for all of you. I was going to list you by name but I believe you know who you all are.

 

Once you find the key to unlock the spiritual realm, regardless of the stresses of life there is always an undertone of life and peace. The harder it gets the stronger the awareness of the dependency of faith. God's plan is so intricately woven into the lives of both the believer and the unbeliever that once we have eyes to see and the more we study the more in awe we are, God is BRILLIANT! His plan is way beyond our deepest imaginations, it’s only when we think we can outsmart God that we find ourselves face down in the dirt. I know this to be true, where you will land is entirely up to you, I am praying for you.

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone