God's quality of life!

It is now 2013 and we all survived the end-of-the-world that happened in December of last year. I would have liked to cover the end-times in this post but I will not do so right now. Rest assure however, I will be coming back to this subject later on. I already heard rumors of the world ending again in 2015 but more on that later. For now, there are other topics stirring around in my heart that I feel I will post on. I apologize if there are grammar errors as the majority of the following paragraphs are "quotes" I have shared on my Facebook page and am pasting them here (with minor variations).

These past couple months have been something else. At the same time, I have never seen so many miracles and experienced God's quality of life and surpassing peace and clear revelations before in my life! My wife and I have found such an amazing love and satisfaction and joy gripping each other in this past month then I can ever remember before. The gospel is good news. God is a good God! I have seen tears run down people's face as I share this message of God's love. Every time I hear about it, I can barely contain myself. There are some life-changing truths that God has opened our eyes to that I am longing to share with you! It is nothing new really but have never grasped before so it seems new to me. The amazing thing about the gospel is that you find this "fruit" coming forth free from your efforts. If you have to apply effort - it's not lasting cause the change will only last as long as you put in an effort. But the gospel brings change that is free from your efforts (it is a lasting change)! "That seems to good to be true?" That is what the gospel means! Below you will find random topics, but I trust they will truly bless you as they have me!

When you are out chilling with a friend and you go home and act bad, your mom would say you need to stop hanging around so and so cause they are a "bad influence" on you. You find you are acting the same naturally and it comes effortless. It is so easy sometimes you don't even realize you're doing it. Now when it comes to God, how would He "influence" your life? Would His "influence" on you lead you to sin (steal, kill, commit adultery, etc)? Would His "influence" on you lead you into darkness? Would His "influence" on you do anything like that? No way and we all know it. BUT let me throw the cliff-hanger in there...if I were to substitute the word "influence" for the word "grace" somehow things change. We will say don't go too far with "grace." You need to balance it out. "Grace" can lead to sin. "Grace" can be dangerous. Be careful not to spend to much time in "grace." Ready for the shocker? The word "influence" IS the word "GRACE." Grace is "God's divine INFLUENCE upon your heart." Now do you see how WRONG it is to tell people that it *might lead to sin* and *stay away* and *don't go too far* and *don't spend to much time in* and *be careful* of "GOD influencing your life?" Grace is an amazing word!

"The gospel of Grace." The *good news, that causes a person to leap up and down with joy* of *God's divine influence upon your heart, enabling you to do what you naturally cannot do, reflecting in your life with an expression of gratitude!* Isn't that beautiful?!

For God so loved (He lost His breath over) the world (mankind) that He gave His only begotten Son (to the sinner) so that anyone who believes in Him (rests in, trusts in, to grab a hold of with the purpose to make use of Jesus/what He has done) will not perish but have everlasting (the highest form of living/God's quality) of life!!!

The word Bless means to "speak well of." So looking at Ephesians 1:3 this what we'll see, " SPEAK WELL of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath SPOKEN WELL of us with all spiritual WELL SPEAKING in heavenly places (the highest and most eloquent speech that can be found in the heavens) in Christ. The WELL SPEAKING is Jesus himself. Jesus is God's WORD about you.

In the Greek, the word "believe" and the word "for" never go together. You do not believe *for* things (finances/blessings/etc). You believe *IN* Someone! And that Someone is your loving Father who provides all your needs, who finds you innocent, who speaks well of you and is ALWAYS present. You are in good hands! And believing in someone comes effortlessly when you hear news of them like that!

When we watch the Olympics and Michael Phelps is swimming on ahead of everyone else and he comes in first, everyone in the USA says "we won, we won!" But the thing is "we" didn't do a thing. We are on the couch. Michael Phelps is the one who swam the race. He is the one who won. BUT he represents the entire USA, he represents you. So when he won...you won! In the very same way, Jesus represents the human race. When he won, you won! You didn't do a thing. When He lived obedient, you lived obedient. When He overcame temptation, you overcame temptation. When He rose again, you rose again! A conquer is someone who fights and wins. *More* then a conquer is someone who does not do anything and still wins. Someone else did it for him. AND we are "more then conquers!"

The Christian life is soooooo AWESOME, sometimes I literally feel like I am going to explode! To think one man, Jesus, got the victory for me and now I can say "I am victorious!" One man overcame temptation and now I can say "I have overcome temptation!" He died, I died. He rose to newness of life, so did I! He won, I won! Cause that man, Jesus, represents me! Free from my contribution. He's like the football team who wins and everyone routing for them screams "*we* won, *we* won!" when all they were doing was sitting at home a thousand miles away in front of a TV screen eating popcorn and having a drink! But the team represents them. What the team does, they do. What a relief on our part. Jesus is our team! He won, He rocks, He is amazing!!!

Tithing can not make you a giver anymore then works can make you saved. The widows and orphans and poor were NOT supposed to give tithes. The tithe was suppose to be something you EAT. He said He wants MEAT in His house and when the people (even ones who couldn't tithe like orphans and widows and poor) gathered they were commanded to EAT the tithe. Malachi WAS a prophet. Jesus FULFILLED (concluded/did away with/completed/ended) the law AND the prophets. If you look at the Hebrew where is says "bring *thee* the tithe into the storehouse..." it is amazing, it is the letters A-Z. In the Greek who do we find is the A-Z (alpha omega)? JESUS! So "bring *Jesus* the tithe, into the storehouse so there will be MEAT in My house!" Beautiful picture of Jesus! In the New Testament, Jesus gave us His body and and said EAT. He IS our tithe. In the same way righteous deeds does NOT make me righteous, giving tithes does NOT make me a giver either. I am a giver today because God IS a giver. He gave me His Son (He gave 100%)! The tithe is fulfilled. I cannot fulfill something Jesus fulfilled. And it is God's influence upon my heart (God's Grace) that now makes me a giver! When I have a desire upon my heart to give I can give (not out of obligation/not to get blessed/not being pressured) because God influences my life both to will and to do. Jesus is MY tithe that God gave on my behalf and the windows of heaven with showers of blessing (God speaking well of me) are ALWAYS open over my life because I was an orphan/a widow/a poor man and He tithed for me and now I receive the benefits of what He did and feast at His table :) that is GOOD NEWS! Thank God!!!

In the Old Testament, a man went to the priest to offer his sacrifice and would lay his hands on the lambs head. This signified that the sin of the man was transferred to the lamb AND the *innocence* of the lamb was now on the man! In the same way, Jesus Christ (the Lamb of God) has taken away the sin of the whole human race! You stand *innocent* before God cause there was a transfer that was made and the *innocence* of Jesus (the Lamb) is on you now!

Lordship in the Kingdom is NOT like lordship in the world system. The world system says "I lord over you and you do what I tell you." Lordship in God's kingdom is "The greatest shall be the *servant* of all." Who is the greatest? Jesus! If you acknowledge Jesus as your *Lord* then you are acknowledging Him as *the one who SERVES you.* And He has done that through His life, death, and resurrection!

During creation, God breathed into man the breath of life. He breathed Himself into man. Unfortunately, we all know what happened after that with Adam's disobedience etc. Now jump into the New Testament, when Jesus comes again and tells His disciples to recieve the Holy Spirit and He *breathes* on them! God breathed Himself back into mankind! We have now been given God's quality of life again!

In the same way as Abraham was *promised* a son, God has also *promised* you the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control). It is a *promise* to you. NOT a command for you to try and fulfill. If you try it...you'll only birth an Ishmael!

You cannot be bearing the fruit of Jesus if you are sleeping in bed with another man, Moses. Him who has an ear, let him hear.

Paul says in Romans 7:4 that we who are in Christ have DIED to the Law; then in verse 7 he goes into detail about the Law which we died to by using "Thou shall not covet" from the Ten Commandments as an example...now if it is true that we have ONLY died to the ceremonial laws...when did "Thou shalt not covet" become a *ceremonial* law? That makes no sense at all.

John baptized *sinners* into the river. Jesus came and John said "here comes the lamb of God who *takes away* the sin of *the world*." And Jesus was dunked into that river and came up out of it (carrying on Himself the sin of the whole world)! Then He would look at a person and say *your sins are forgiven you* and heal them. He would look at the woman caught *in the very act* of adultery...when the law of Moses finds her guilty and says "you SHALL stone her to death," Jesus (the Word of God) says "I do NOT condemn (do NOT pronounce you guilty/do NOT express disapproval of/do NOT doom/etc) you!" And that woman walked away FREE! "You will call His name, JESUS, *because* He will FREE His people from their sins." That is the Word of God for YOUR life too! A *doer* of the Word is NOT the one taking scriptures and pointing out your faults condemning you to death, it is the one that is doing what Jesus, the Word of God, was busy with (do NOT find you guilty/do NOT disapprove of you/do NOT condemn you)! I am so thankful I have the privilege to carry on that same ministry of Jesus Christ and present to you the gospel (the GOOD NEWS that will make you leap for joy) of what Jesus HAS DONE for you. He finds YOU innocent. "Now go and sin no more." You have been FREED from it!

You have 2 millionaires. One has 5 million dollars but is not happy, wants more and lives with a sense of lack. The 2nd one has 1 million but lives satisfied, is complete, lacks nothing and lives free. That millionaire is more prosperous than the one with 5 million!!! He lives in contentment and that is TRUE prosperity!

I hope this has blessed you. I know it was random but I find myself pondering on these things constantly. Sometimes at night I will tell my wife, I feel like the richest/happiest/blessed/content guy in the whole world! To think that God has given me HIS quality of life! That in the same way as God is patient, kind, long-suffering, that He keeps no record of wrongs, that He serves others, that He believes the best in every person, that His heart jumps and He looses His breath when He looks at a sinner...is the VERY SAME life He has given to me to live as well! What a privilege! That I can read of Jesus as my representative. That just as Jesus overcame temptation in the wilderness - I have also. That He did the work on my behalf and I can now freely *make use* of what He did. I find a love for people rise up inside of me when I ponder on Him. He *influences* my heart onto godliness. It's His seed producing fruit inside of me. He certainly is amazing!