Seated in the Heavenlies

I once believed many years ago, that a Christian could be lost after being saved. After asking the Lord to reveal the truth to me, I am more than confident now that He made it clear in His Word, exactly where I am in eternity.

The Lord has made us a new creation, we were dead and now are alive. We are no longer the old man who can be lost ever again. According to Ephesians 2 we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, right now, positionally. This is permanent state of being that we could never "change our mind and walk away from Him." He saved us and keeps us. No work of ours at all. We can not work to be saved, we can not work to be kept and we can not work to be lost. The new creation we have become can not go back and become the old again. We have been permanently changed. The Lord did that changing, we did not change ourselves and we can not undo what He did. AND, as a dear friend once said to me, "we would have to fall out of heaven" to be lost again after being seated with Christ in the heavenlies. What a blessed truth that leaves us with assurance and unspeakable joy that we are saved and can never be lost again. God promises that He has "sealed us with the Holy Spirit of Promise" God never breaks a promise.

Ephesians 2: 1-10

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.........Vs 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been made near by the blood of Christ.

Is is possible that we fear that we could be lost again because we think that we did a good deed and saved ourselves? We were wooed by the Lord, and when we responded to His love, He began His work in us. All the work of saving us, was done by Him. Do we think that we are as powerful as the Lord that we could undo what He did. Never!!! He did it and it is done!!!

Perhaps we are confused by those who claim to be saved, and appeared to live the Christian life and then one day seemingly walked away from all of His blessings and commands. We do not have to be confused if we prayerfully look at His Word and not at those who seemed to walk away. The Lord said that many will call him Lord, Lord, but He will say to them, "get away, I never knew you." The Lord never saved them, they tried to live the Christian life as unsaved people. The walking away was evidence that they were trying in their flesh and not in the power of the Holy Spirit, they were never saved and changed after all.

Thankfully, the Lord will answer the prayer of repentance and save anyone who will trust what Jesus Christ did on that cross for them. What a wonderful Lord we serve.

Gwendolyn

The Animals: God's Blessing To Mankind!

I would like you to meet my kissing deer. He came to visit me on several occasions. He has been God's gift to me. I will never forget the morning that I saw him coming out of the woods in our back yard. It was early in the morning and I had not yet gotten dressed for the day. I didn't want to miss an opportunity to get close to the sweet little deer, so I wandered out into the back in my bathrobe and bare feet. As I crept slowly toward the deer, to my surprise, he walked toward me. His little hooves were just a couple of inches from my feet at one point, as he lifted his head to sniff my face, I lowered to greet him. Our noses touched. This picture was a record of the second time this deer came to visit. On this occasion Rodger was home and ran for the camera. The deer tried to come on our porch one day while we were having coffee there. I am sure he would have entered the house if we would have let him. Later we learned that the deer had been raised by neighbors and was used to going into the house through a patio door. This little guy loved our dogs and would put his nose through the fence to kiss them too. The neighbors that raised this deer were also the ones who encountered the bear that killed our dog. The neighbor lady was sitting on her patio when a bear came down from the hills onto the patio as she sat at their table. She slowly got up from the chair and moved backwards through the patio doors to be safe. A year or so later that bear was shot. He had been killing livestock in the area and our dog was one of it's victims. So far we have seen on our property several wild animals, a cougar, coyotes, wild turkeys, big horned owls, raccoons and deer. I felt sorry for a lonely coyote that came through in the middle of the day. He was old and sickly looking. He walked up our driveway and into our woods foraging in old stumps for bugs and mice to eat. I am sure that he was cut out of the pack because he was old and sickly. I watched him for awhile before getting him a bowl of dog food. Something ate that dog food, I had hoped that it was that coyote. I look forward to the day that the Lord will rescue us from this horrid world of death. Someday there will be no starving coyotes or vicious bears and cougars. Everything and everyone will be friendly and loving toward one another, even the animals. The lions will lye down with the bears and children will play with the snakes and not be in danger. What a wonderful world the Lord has in store for those who have placed their trust in His Son Jesus Christ. He created these wonderful animals, what a blessing to be able to watch them and even interact at times in spite of their wild state. What a wonderful God we serve.
Gwendolyn

God Really Did Say "No Man Can Put Assunder What God Has Joined Together"

It is interesting how one thought can lead to another while lying in bed at 3 am. I pondered the idea of painting some kind of mural on the side of our shop building. As I lay in bed thinking about what colors could be used and how two colors mixed together make another color completely different from the original first two, the thought of marriage rushed into my head.

When the Lord said "Let no man put asunder what God has joined together", He really was not commanding man not to put asunder a marriage, but rather making a definitive statement that man could not do so, not matter what he did or how hard he tried to deny a marriage, it was impossible to separate what God had joined.

It occurred to me that if there were two paint colors on a pallet, one of them red and one of them yellow, they were two very distinct and separate colors. But when those two colors were mixed thoroughly, they now become orange, a completely different color. After the new color sits very boldly in its crater, could it be possible for someone to separate the red from the yellow and eliminate the orange, to become two separate colors again? The answer to the question would have to be no, there would be no way to make the yellow, yellow again or the red, red again. The orange remains as a testimony to the permanency of the new color.

God performs a miracle in the bodies and minds of two human beings when they confess their vows before witnesses at a wedding. A spiritual oneness occurs that creates a new and distinct union that can not be separated just like the new color orange on the pallet.

If we could grasp this concept as a Christian culture, we would be very careful about attempting to defy the laws of God in the area of marriage. The permanency of marriage is completely and utterly indissoluble, no matter what we do, we can not undo what the Lord has done in creating a new union when we vow before Him in a marriage ceremony.

This weekend a very special couple will be taking their vows before the Lord and a couple hundred witnesses. The witnesses are there to uphold what God will do in this ceremony. Their responsibility it to share in the joy of a union of two people who will commit to make a brand new family who will promise to honor God and each other for the rest of their lives. This is a serious pledge never to be forgotten by the Lord. Keeping this vow will bring honor to the Lord and love and stability to each other and any children that come from this union.

Stan and Jaqueline, we have great hope in the Lord's work in your life as a married couple. As long as you keep your eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ, you will have a blessed marriage and family. Let no man deter you from your appointed mission, to bring glory to the Lord through this union.

Gwendolyn

The King James Bible, Where Does It Stand

The controversy over translations of the Holy Bible continues. While I agree that the King James Bible is probably the best we can do these days, I have to say that there are elements of the "King James Bible" movement that need to be addressed.
A statement that was made to me recently was that, since we don't have the original languages of Bible days, such as the Greek and Hebrew, we should not be trying to go back to those languages to find answers to our questions about God's Word.
I differ with this on several fronts. The first one would be that the King James had to have been translated from the Greek and Hebrew in the beginning, else where would it have come from. Secondly, archaeologists have determined that the scrolls that have been found with the Bible on them, are very close if not identical to the modern Greek and Hebrew.
Lastly, the Holy Spirit has been speaking, almost shouting, to me that we have our misunderstandings about the meanings of the Word of God in modern times because we are not seeking the Lord with all our heart and mind. We are reading His Word and not understanding it because we are relying on our own modern human insight rather than on the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Our culture is steeped in Psychology; particularly self esteem, self worth, self, self and more self. Because of this we are inclined to read the words of the King James bible in light of our brainwashed condition,cultural bents and personal desires.
The only cure to these misunderstandings is constant prayer and vigilance in our walk with the Lord. Everything that we believe must be confronted with the question, "Lord please, you show me the truth, I want only truth from the Holy Spirit."
At this point in time I am inclined to believe that the King James bible is the best we have, but even it is not perfect. That the only perfect inspired Word of God is in the original languages.
By the way, we don't have the original clay tablets that came to the Jews from Moses with the Ten Commandments on them, but copies of God's laws have been preserved by God all this time and they can be relied on to be His Law.
The moral of the story is this...Seek God with all our hearts, lean not on our own understanding, and He will reveal all that we ask for. God also says that we do not receive because we do not ask. Let's not just read the Word to gain knowledge according to our culture, let's read it to seek the mind of Christ and to obey Him, with a passion to honor God.
Gwendolyn

A Possible Reason To Build An Ark

Today we have been experiencing another of the Lord's wake up calls. All the little villages and larger towns up and down I-5 are under flood warnings. Several places along that corridore have been evacuated. Over on Westside highway people were being rescued by boats. The Cowlitz river there is right near that larger bridge near Rodger's office. His office is right in the flood plane and the worst rain is suppose to hit tonight along with 40 mile an hour winds. If that happens then many trees will fall due to saturated ground that can no longer hold them up. I have never seen anything like this. I felt compelled to call him and tell him to get his boomboom home right away. The entire state of Washington has been declared a disaster. Buildings are collapsing in Spokane because there is 17 feet of snow and the roofs can not handle it all. The land right on the other side of our backyard fense is flooded and growing. Rodger calls that lake Dan, the man that owns it is named Dan. Every year a puddle grows there, but now it is a lake. WOW!!!! The dogs know something is wrong, they wouldn't go out today at all until about 1 pm and then they wanted right back inside. Animals have a way of knowing when there is danger. Our warehouse now has a half an inch of water in it. The contents of the building are up on pallets and the freezers are on dollies, so there doesn't seem to be danger of damage to the things, that is, if the water doesn't rise higher during the night. Our daughter,Kathy called to update me on all that is going on in the news pertaining to this adventure. I told her if she sees a large boat passing by, with lots of animals on it, she should jump on board it might be another ark. We know it wouldn't be the whole world, but it is our world right now. I know that rain is good for the crops but to my feeble mind this seems like overkill. I told our neighbor that we can look on the bright side... we won't have to water our lawns today. Well, it has been too much snow, now too much water and what will be next might be our question? The answer is simple, whatever the Lord brings will be just right, even if we don't understand it. Now we can begin to pray for all those people who have been inconvienenced by this weather. We can pray that there is no loss of life, and that the community pull together in a spirit of selflessness. If we can all look to the Lord then our perspective will be eternal and whatever we go through will have meaning and purpose in spite of our inability to figure it all out. He is the Almighty and is in complete control.
Gwendolyn

Today as I drove by the house I spent the first 18 years of my life in. I saw that it was in much disrepair. The paint was peeling, the yard was overgrown and there were dead appliances in the driveway. I barely recognized the place I grew up in or even the neighborhood. The miles of empty farm land had turned into a sea of houses, developments every which way one turned. The berries and cows and horses and sheep were all gone. What farm land was left was unkept. The small town that was near by, was now a booming metropolis. The realization hit me that the farm country I was raised in was gone, the place I had known as my home for 18 years no longer existed. Most of it had been swallowed up in city, the land that was left was sadly neglected. With the passing of my parents, I realized was also the passing of a lifetime of memories. All Gone, but not forgotten. I am thankful that my life is not based on those memories but on the Lord. It saddens me to know that everything familiar to me is gone, but it does not overtake me. When the Lord saved me, I began a new life with a new home that awaits me, sometime in the future. That home will bring all the joy and safety that we wish for on this earth but can never attain. Everlasting peace, joy comfort and most of all, foreverness with my Savior who died for me and is always loving and faithful. Hallelujah!
Gwendolyn

Who Do We Trust In

Has anyone noticed lately that the new money our government is printing has an important omission. I have not had the newest money, but have been told that the words "In God We Trust", have been conspicuously excluded from the face of our coins. When did this decision occur? I didn't hear anything in the news alerting us of this fact, if it is a fact. It does not surprise me that this kind of decision would insidiously creep in. It would be noticed mostly by those who care whether or not God is pre-eminent in our culture.

It is a logical step to expunge from our money any reference to our God, since it has already been taken from our institutions of learning and our court houses. Should we really be surprised when it disappears from the face of our money? An attempt to ignore the existence of God has been little by little stealthily overtaking our land.

Some of the Christians who were angry about the ten commandments leaving the courthouses, were not obeying the Word of God themselves, at least not in a way that anyone would notice. I believe God removed them, because we don't really care about them anyway, the stones they were written on were as idols, the words were not principles to follow.

It is frightening to be "in the hands of an angry God." When New Orleans was hit and when the twin towers were demolished, we as a nation, took note of God for a couple of weeks or so, then went right back to our old ways. The only change that could be seen were lots of words. Words, words and more words.

There is a terrible misunderstanding in our land, that is, that we think if we only say something that is good enough, there doesn't actually have to be a change, it's just enough to say so. There are some musings that I have learned over the years from some of the elderly folks I know. They go like this, "Your actions speak so loud, I can't hear a word your saying." Another is "I would rather you do what you say than for you to just say it." (unknown authors) AND still another for the believer is this one, "the non-believer will not read the Bible, but he will read the Christian." (author unknown to me)

If we as a nation think that all we have to do is speak of God, when trouble comes, He will come to our rescue. But He will come to the rescue of those who love Him, and those with a broken and contrite heart. If we don't love or follow Him we have no reason to expect Him to be there when we are in dire need of help.

This nation is in terrible danger, not only by terrorists, but ultimately by the angry hand of a Living God. The only solution is brokenness over our sin and repentance toward Him.

This should be our prayer, not for more blessing but for repentance of a worldly, selfish and out of control people who, most of the time, think they don't need God.

Gwendolyn