God the Father calls Christ "God"

Hebrews 1:8-12
"8 But to the Son He says:

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”
10 And:

“You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
11 They will perish, but You remain;
And they will all grow old like a garment;
12 Like a cloak You will fold them up,
And they will be changed.
But You are the same,
And Your years will not fail.”

The Commandments Did Not Save Me

I hate all sin because of Christ Who lives in me. Because I do, when I am tempted I run from sin.

However, sometimes I ponder a wrong attitude a little too long, which shows me that there is still something in me the Lord needs to work on.

Notice I said, "it shows me", God already knows my heart better than I do, but He wants to give me the choice to become more holy, so He reveals to me my own heart.

Christ is the very essence of His commandments, He lives in me.

He said "I am the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE."

When I veer to the right or to the left, I don't have to consciously ponder whether or not to follow the commandments Right from wrong immediately comes to mind.

If I obey I am blessed, if I disobey I feel the impact of the pressure of guilt that the Holy Spirit brings upon me until I confess and forsake. Yet I am still a child of God.

Hebrews 12:6

"FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES."

1 John 3:6-10 "No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. "

"Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil."

"No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother."

Are You Born Again?

Had I not done a study on manipulation and intimidation, I might have been tempted to doubt what the Lord has been telling me on many subjects.

God showed me, that much of what rebellious people do, is more based on intimidation and manipulation than it is truth. One of their favorite tactics is to call us names while calling into question our heart.

The very people who love their sin will accuse us of things we are not doing, but they are doing. The devil is very cleaver in this, if a person is not strong in the Lord, they can become impotent at the barrage of attacks leveled against them almost daily.

Mark 13:9
"But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them."

While we are not delivered up to the authorities at this point, as the apostles were, we do undergo continual attacks for speaking what God has commanded us to speak.

The very people who walk among us in the gatherings, will argue with us or even avoid us to cover up the guilt they sense in their hearts over the sin that they love and refuse to reject.

Proverbs 28:13
King James Version (KJV)
"13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy."

Some of us have been accused of being unloving for coming against sin. That could not be farther from the truth. Those who will not attempt to rescue their brother and sisters from the jaws of sin, or even defend the evil deeds of friends and family are not loving. It is also not loving to speak only continually flowery words in a time of great apostasy in the gatherings.

Isaiah 30:1-5
"“Woe to the rebellious children,” says the Lord,
“Who take counsel, but not of Me,
And who devise plans, but not of My Spirit,
That they may add sin to sin;
2 Who walk to go down to Egypt,
And have not asked My advice,
To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh,
And to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
3 Therefore the strength of Pharaoh
Shall be your shame,
And trust in the shadow of Egypt
Shall be your humiliation.
4 For his princes were at Zoan,
And his ambassadors came to Hanes.
5 They were all ashamed of a people who could not benefit them,
Or be help or benefit,
But a shame and also a reproach."

Proverbs 29:25
"25 The fear of man brings a snare,
But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe."

Proverbs 29:5
"A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet."

Proverbs 1:24-28
New King James Version (NKJV)
24 Because I have called and you refused,
I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,
25 Because you disdained all my counsel,
And would have none of my rebuke,
26 I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your terror comes,
27 When your terror comes like a storm,
And your destruction comes like a whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come upon you.
28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.

We are in the last days, this is what those days look like, even in the gatherings.

2 Timothy 3:1-9
"1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,
7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith;
9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was."

If you love your brethren, then you will be warning and admonishing those in the fellowship, even challenging them to ask God if they have ever been born again, because the days are evil and many will not know Christ but think they are saved.

Matthew 7:21-23
"21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’"

What a frightening thing to realize that someone can get before God on judgement day, thinking they are going to walk into heaven and being declared wicked, only to have our Lord say to them, "I NEVER KNEW YOU."

What a frightening day that will be for many who have loved their sin, refused to submit to Christ and all the while thought they were going to heaven.

Marriage is not Made by a Piece of Paper and a Vow

Accepting no disagreements on this subject, it is for contemplation only or confirmation. This is not up for debate here.

The same people who say that a remarried couple is a genuine marriage because of the government requires a piece of paper to acknowledge it and to dissolve it, would say that homosexual marriage was not a valid marriage.

This is a double standard, God spoke as much against the sins of divorce and remarriage as He did against homosexuality.

It won't be long before those who defend remarriages after divorce, will also be claiming that homosexual marriage is legitimate, because if the vow and the piece of paper make a marriage, then why would we exclude same sex marriage.

John 6:60
"Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?"

Even the disciples had a hard time wrapping their mind around the idea that a man was sinning when they divorce and remarriage.

There need be no confusion on this subject, God is clear, but those who do not want to accept God's will, are refusing to go to prayer and ask God what the truth is.

Know the God of the Word

One can read the Word, study and repeat what it says, without knowing one lick what it means.

When we pay more attention to the writings of others than depending on the Holy Spirit, then we placing our trust in people we can see, rather than Christ who is unseen.

John 4:24

""God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Protect Your Marriage

Extended family members can be parasites who continually fight against your values, mocking what you believe and pressuring you to live like they do.

The weaker partner in a marriage often will follow those who pressure them to accept their ways, bringing frustration on the one who desires to obey God. You may be married to a believer like yourself, but if that believer is a baby in the Lord or weak when it comes to family, then it is best to spend little time with extended family, unless the extended family is strong in the Lord.

Those who are believers need to spend little time with extended family who are not born again, to avoid the constant pressure from ungodly attitudes and ways.

It is one thing to visit one on one, with an unsaved family member for the purpose of bringing them the gospel, it is quite another to make them close friends with whom you spend all the holidays, birthdays and picnics on a continual basis.

Extended family who feel they have an ally with the weaker spouse, continually working to undermine the relationship by flattering the baby believer while negating and ridiculing the stronger believer. This seriously weakens the marriage relationship and places pressure to bear on the one who is sold out to Christ.

2 Corinthians 6:17

"17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you."

1 Corinthians 15:33

"Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."

It is clear that the more time we spend with unbelievers the more likely we are to become weaker in the Lord.  Those who do not love the Lord, have the ability to undermine all that we desire, making us feeble minded. 

Vacillating in our determination to walk with Christ, often is our response to extended family who hate our God. We become worried more about offending the family member than what God thinks of our behavior.

Proverbs 29:25

"The fear of man brings a snare: but whoso places his trust in the LORD shall be safe."

Matthew 10:37-39

"37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it."

If we purpose to live for Christ, then extended family will shrink from us, if they do not, then it is probable that we are not living out our Christian life as boldly as we should. 

Luke 12:51-53

"51 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. 52 For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. 53 Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

Do we live to please men or do we live to please God?

If we want our marriages to be strong, make only Godly believers our best friends.

Where Is Our Fatih? In Our Own Efforts or in Christ?

Those who think one can lose their salvation are often also those who believe in divorce and remarriage.

When we operate as though we have to endure through our own strength to keep our salvation, then it would follow that we do not have faith to believe we can endure in a difficult situation, through the Holy Spirits help and direction, or that God makes us one in marriage.

Belief in the loss of ones' salvation and bailing out of marriage go hand in hand. Those who think you can lose your salvation do not believe Christ changed them, saved them and keeps them. Just as they do not believe Christ made two people one in marriage.

They think they are keeping their own salvation by their own efforts and they think they are making their own marriage by their own vows.

These same people do not believe that God made two people into one by His power outside the realm of human effort. They see everything from the perspective of human endeavor, rather than spiritual works of God.

Which men have made two people one in marriage or makes a believer into a new creation? Christ did that, man had no part in it.

Ephesians 2:10

"10 FOR WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

Mark 1:8-10

"8 I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” 9 It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And immediately, coming up from[a] the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove."

It is interesting to me that many, if not most people who believe one can lose their salvation and endorse divorce and remarriage also love outer miracles that everyone can see. They do not walk by faith in marriage, in salvation or miracles.

2 Corinthians 5:1-5: Assurance of the Resurrection

"1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,

3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.

4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.

5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has GIVEN US THE SPIRIT AS A GUARANTEE.

6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

So, in summary, those who are not confident in the works of God are feverishly working to keep their own salvation, depending on human effort for their marriage and requiring miracles everyone can see to maintain their faith, which is really lack of faith.

I have faith that God made my husband and I into new creations when Christ answered our call of repentance to become born again.

I have faith that when we went before God to become married, He made us into one flesh, no outer signs of that union were necessary for me to know what God did.

I have faith that God is working even when I don't witness a miracle with my eyes. I know that God is working all the time on our behalf, whether I can see the results or not.

Romans 10:17

"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

2 Corinthians 5:7

"7 For we walk by faith, not by sight."

Which one of these verses tell us to make sure we can see with our eyes to have faith?