Confession is the Way to Cleansing through Christ

Did you know it is blasphemy against God to claim to be a Christian but not be interested in His Word, the Bible? Using God's name and His word as a manipulation to impress others is a sin and evidence that there has never been a born-again experience.

The idea that "I'm not so bad because I am like everyone else is a backslidden and lukewarm mentality. We do not compare ourselves with others, we compare ourselves with Christ leaving us feeling like nothing to be proud of.

Revelation 3:15-16

15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."

God wants us to be either hot, on fire for Him, or cool, a refreshing drink of cold water. Both of these things are for God in a very good way, refreshing the saints and paying close attention to God's Word so that we would live as Christ lived.

2 Corinthians 10:12

"12 For we do not presume to rank or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they have no understanding."

When we compare ourselves to Jesus Christ we have reason to feel humble and ashamed. At no time in our Christian walk can we claim to have arrived at the perfection of Jesus Christ. We are growing in holiness only in proportion to how often we confess to be cleansed. Those who never confess their sins will not grow until they do.

Many people are busy impressing others with a fake persona to appear spiritual who remain weak and beggarly because they are more invested in "appearing" holy than in actually becoming holy.

Deuteronomy 23:14

"Since the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you.:

Our holiness comes from God not from what we do with ourselves. We must confess sin, and obey the Holy Spirit, and then we will grow in holiness.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” 1 John 1:9

Notice the "IF", it is only if we confess that God will forgive and cleanse us from that sin we confess. Those who will not confess will not be cleansed or forgiven.

Adrian Rogers: 5 Ways to Draw Closer to Jesus (#2089)

Biblical Tongues, a Real Language not Babbling

1 Corinthians 14:1-5 "14 Pursue love, yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

2 For the one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people, but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries.

3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for edification, exhortation, and consolation.
4 The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but the one who prophesies edifies the church.
5 Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but rather that you would prophesy; and greater is the one who prophesies than the one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edification."

I find it interesting that in these last days more emphasis is placed on tongues than on speaking the prophetic words of the Bible. I would rather speak clearly to those who can understand the language so that they would grow in holiness after knowing the truths of the Bible. God calls "tongues" the least of the gifts, and I believe in our day they tend to glorify self more than God. Notice those who do it regularly have to speak of it all the time. Also tongues are not the gibberish that we hear not, nonsensical babbling pretending to be tongues.

If someone is led by the Holy Spirit to speak in a tongue in their closet then perhaps they ought not to be talking about it to others. And, we know for sure God demands an interpreter in the gathering so that others can say amen. Notice too that no one has a new revelation from God because all we need is what is already in the Bible.

It is best to speak the language of the people while expounding on the prophetic words of the Bible. There are no new revelations from God, the Bible has it all already.

I once heard a man say he had a word from the Lord for the people in a gathering. He told the people "God loves you", it was downright silly, he held a Bible in his hands there was no need to speak in another language the people didn't understand and have an interpreter for what God already told us in His Word the Bible.

Perhaps people want to appear more spiritual through a tongue experience, a sort of "look at me, no one else can do what I did" mentality. Just speak the words of the Bible, because we know no one will have a word from God that is not covered in the Bible. Also, remember the Holy Spirit speaks in all believers, no one needs another person to be a mediator between them and God, Jesus Christ is that for all of us and He will tell each one the specifics of his walk, which house to buy, who to go visit and other things that the Bible is not specific about.

1 Timothy 2:5
"5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;"

All of Christ's principles in the Bible cover things that help us discern the specifics of everything.

Growing Rather Than Regressing

Amen, through my contact with many people I see this problem of family angst growing rapidly in our day of apostasy. Even people who say they are Christians there is continual rebellion against God's Word.

Sister Trudi shared the problem of family hatred and what to do about it. Basically, the answer was to remain close to Christ and leave those who do not want to follow Him in the distance while praying for them.

All of us are seeing the rejection and misery unbelievers are causing. The comfort comes from knowing we are not obligated to remain friends with family merely because they are family. We can walk away and pray for them as we are led by the Holy Spirit, leaving all results with Him.

We are not responsible to nag or convince others, we are responsible to speak the truth and walk away if they do not listen.

Matthew 10:14 "And whoever does not receive you nor listen to your words, as you leave that house or city, shake the dust off your feet."

This is how we keep ourselves from being influenced by those in rebellion. The more we spend time with someone the greater chance we will begin to act the way they act.

Proverbs 13:19-21 "…19 Desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but turning from evil is detestable to fools. 20 He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed. 21 Disaster pursues sinners, but prosperity is the reward of the righteous.…"

Our prosperity is not necessarily worldly wealth, our prosperity is spiritual growth and emotional maturity. Unsaved people lack both of these character qualities but a believer ought to walk in them daily while becoming wiser.

The Language of Others

In Spanish the name Peter is "Pedro" the name Peter is Pierre in French, in German the name Peter is Petrus.

You see every language has its own word for the name Peter, it still remains the same person.

In Spanish, the word "Bible" is Biblia, in French the word for God is Dieu! Do you see where I am going with this, every language has its own words different from English but means the same things.

My name "Gwendolyn" in German is "Guendalina." In Italian the name for Peter is Pietra. I would not be offended if a German-speaking person called me by the name "Guendalina" in their language because it means the same person.

Every language has its own word for our words, an Italian, or German or Spanish person is not going to speak the same words that we speak in English.

Arguing about words is not productive nor is it a sin when we are using translations to say the same thing God said.

We do not speak Hebrew we speak English therefore our word for Jesus Christ is not wrong or sinful. At Pentecost, one person spoke in their language and the people hearing heard in their own language. This was a work of the Holy Spirit.

When tongues were used during the time of Paul's ministry it was for the purpose of getting out the gospel and it was not believers speaking in another language as so many think, it was in their own language and for unbelievers to hear the gospel.

1 Corinthians 14:21-23 "…21 It is written in the Law: “By strange tongues and foreign lips I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to Me, says the Lord.”

22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers.

23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who are uninstructed or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds?"

Let's not be arguing over pronuciation, it is a red herring to divide believers. Those who would fight over translations, names, and other useless things will judge others as either non-believers or as lesser Christians than themselves, it's a matter of pride.

Peter and Paul spoke in tongues because they were traveling to many different places to those who did not speak their own language. God clearly said it is better to speak in a language that men can understand than to speak an unknown tongue.

1 Corinthians 14:1-2 "1 Earnestly pursue love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. 2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries in the Spirit. 3 But he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, encouragement, and comfort."

In our churches, today tongues is gibberish and not real tongues and for the purpose of self-glorification, a matter or pride to feel superior to others. We know this because of the boasting many do. We have no need for tongues when we are in a place where all the people speak the same language and we have the Bible we can share.

In Pauls day the new testament did not yet exist. When the Bible came to the common man and in most of the languages of the world, there was no purpose for tonges. Not that it has been completely done away with but that it is rare because there is no longer a need. We can all speak the truth of God.

If someone comes to you and says they speak in tongues and they interpret themselves their own words that say the same things the Bible already says, we know this is "humble bragging.," I would ask them why they spoke in a tongue when they could speak the language of the people in the room?

There is such a thing as false tongues to glorify self. These false tongues are babbling and not words from any language, they could even be devils blaspheming God and those who speak it wouldn't even know it.

Be wise brothers and sisters, stop attempting to appear spiritual to others around you and begin sharing the gospel openly without fanfare and pride, this will have value to all the believers in the gathering and to those who need to hear the gospel.

1 Corinthians 14:18-20 "…18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 But in the church, I would rather speak five coherent words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue. 20 Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature."

Paul spoke in tongues regularly not for edifying himself but because he was speaking the gospel to unsaved people who did not speak his language. This is clear from the scriptures.

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Rabbi in Israel has been meeting with the Messiah.

The Word Lives in Us!!!! To Know His Word is to Know Him.

I wrote the following comment on a Sister's post about speaking the truth of God in her own words, not always adding scripture. God said "hide my word away in your heart", meaning know it well, this is not memorization but a deep understanding of His meanings.

If we were to memorize the word of God we would have to memorize it in Hebrew. All translations are in other languages and cannot possibly convey the deeper truths adequately.

Here was my comment:

"When I know the principles you speak of are in the Word, I have no need for the exact words, here's why: We do not have the original words anyway, everything we have is a translation. Also, all the translations are somewhat inadequate in that if the meaning of a Hebrew word could mean an entire sentence in English, we do not have nearly as clear an understanding as we need, which is why we need the Holy Spirit to help us when we read in our language."

The word "difficult" in 2 Timothy 3 means "ragingly insane", difficult doesn't really convey the real meaning God had for us. The intensity of "ragingly insane" is a much stronger and more intense meaning than merely "difficult." There are other words like this, that need clarification.

We can come to an understanding of the truth but only through the Holy Spirit and the study of His Word. We have some access to the original language and teachers who read Hebrew, so we have no excuse, all we have to do is ask the Holy Spirit to open the understanding.

James 1:4-6 "…4 Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.…"

Keep in mind too that unsaved people will not be able to interpret the scriptures correctly, they see the words with their worldly and unregenerate, unstable, deceitful minds.

1 Corinthians 2:13-15 "…13 And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment."

A good example of this is a story I will tell you about a person who interprets something the way they think and not the way someone else may think. Also, keep in mind that Americans are interpreting much of scripture based on a western mindset and the culture around them and not at all on what God actually said or meant.

A man received a letter from a woman about a particular date that she had incorrectly placed in the letter. The man corrected the woman in a matter-a-fact fashion in the letter, giving her the proper date of the function. There was nothing wrong, just a simple friendly correction to help clarify things.

The man received a letter back from the woman chiding him for his manner of delivery, not thanking him for his input to clarify matters.

The reason the woman saw a problem in "his delivery" was that if she were correcting someone it would have been in a rude and snarky fashion for the purpose of control over the emotions of others, so she could feel superior. Because this is the way she operates and her mind thinks when corrected she interpreted the man's correction as if he were acting the way she would normally act.

When we see irrational reactions to innocent responses we are watching a person who is revealing their own angst rather than anything wrong with the person who did the correcting.

Correction in our culture is the new "hate speech", any correction at all is seen as a personal attack no matter how kindly it is delivered.

We saw this in the time of Christ when He walked on the earth. The "religious leaders" saw Christ as a threat not because He was threatening them in any real way, but that He was a threat to the way they thought and the loss of control they would have over others if the people followed Christ.

Controlling people fear the loss of control of others as a threat. Even a bigger threat is the fear of others controlling them. They perceive every correction and every disagreement as a loss of control. This is the same mentality that the "religious leaders" had in the time of Christ and also the religious leaders of our time.

Those who wish to control others will always be irrational in their responses to simple and benign things. If there is any perceived loss of control they will rage, exact revenge, and demean those they fear the most, those who are confident and bold yet kind.

Boldness is seen as threatening and kindness is seen as weakness among those who are insecure. No one who is kind, rational and reasonable will feel a need to control anyone other than themselves. Those who love Christ will want to be controlled by Him, they want to walk as Christ walked.

This is why we see so much anguish in personal relationships today, most people are living according to their feelings and their own mindset rather than attempting to understand how others think and what they meant.

People interpret the Bible and people according to their own mindset and not according to God's meaning or the meanings of others with whom they are communicating.

In this modern world, people are so selfish and full of anger that they do not want to be bothered with understanding God or their friends and family. The only way the world has learned to get along with others is to "say nothing, do nothing and be nothing."

This is why Christians are perceived as troublemakers, they tell the truth in a kind way and the battle is on. They live according to God's Word and the jealousy of the unregenerate heart rages against us.

John 15:17-19 "17 This is My command to you: Love one another. 18 If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. 19 If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.…"

The world will hate us when they do harm to us because we do not respond in a way that makes them feel justified in their anger toward us. They will hate us because we don't retaliate but rather return love and kindness for their hatred. This angers them, they want us to be just like them so they can feel validated in hating us.

We know this is true because Christ did only good and showed only love to everyone and yet He was murdered by the very people He died to save.

Don't expect your kindness to change hearts in these end times, remain kind anyway. Don't expect people to appreciate your desire to walk with Christ, but walk with Christ anyway.

We are not called to change the minds of others, we are called to tell the truth, treat everyone with respect and reflect the love of Christ even when no one is loving us.

This is how we defeat the devil, we do not allow him and his minions to goad us into becoming like them.

Hallelujah, this is where the victory is, in our loving hearts where Christ dwells.

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