Introduction
The Purpose and Significance of Confessing Sins to God
If we confess our sins, Abba Yahuah is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness, according to 1Jhn1:9.
If we confess our sins, Abba Yahuah is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness, according to 1Jhn1:9.
This post about the pure heart shares a video by Zac Poen on the same topic and is closely related to the previous posts, “The Life not in Want and The Life not in Want – King David’s Life.” A life not in want would necessarily have a pure heart at its core.
The Psa23:1 – “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
The “shall not want” is the Godly contentment of wanting nothing, clarified in Jam1:4.
Jam1:3-4 –
“Kneeowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
This patient Godly contentment that wants nothing is of great gain, according to 1Tim6:6, and is a reality for the believer because of 2 reasons.
1. Man brings nothing into this world and will bring nothing away when they die (1Tim6:7) is an immutable fact.
The first reason is the realization of the futility of being earthbound by material and relational reasons.
2. The second reason is Psa23:1’s relationship of the Shepherd fulfills all the soul’s and body’s (wanting) desires.
1. His grace is sufficient to endure the challenges and human weakness (2Co12:9) and the temporal earthly suffering (Mat5:3-11, 2Co4:16-18).
b. To bear each other burdens to fulfill the Law of Christ (Gal6:2),
c. To avoid evil and do good works of faith (Jam1:22, 1The5:22), and
d. To discipline the body’s desires (1Co9:27)
These motivations compensate for the undesirable earthly life and to fulfill the transformed soul’s and body’s wants are –
a. The 1st resurrection of Rev20:6 as a reward (Phil3:10) to rule with Christ in His 1000-year rule and share in His divine nature (2Pet1:4).
b. The eternal rewards of good works of 1Co3.
c. Avoid the 2nd death of Rev20:5, avoid the outer darkness mentioned in the Gospels, and avoid the eternal fate of outside heaven’s gates of Rev22:15.
Without this shepherd relationship, 1Pet2:25 describes the believer as –
“sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop (overseer) of your souls.”
The realization of the futility of being earthbound and an intimate relationship with the Lord as the Shepherd are the foundations to live the life of wanting nothing in Godly contentment.
The motivations support this realization and Shepherd’s intimate relationship with the Lord.
Eph6:12 – “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
The unseen realm is where the war over our soul-mind (Rom12:2, 2Co10:3-5, Phil4:7) takes place.
God wants the believer to be strong in the power of His might to fight this spiritual war, according to Eph6:10.
What is this might of Eph6:10? It is found in the armor but are there practical truths about Eph6’s armour of God and the Word of God as a sword in Eph6:17 to support, clarify, access, or empower this might?
Eph6:13-17 presents the whole armor of God. The actions of “stand” and “take” of the armor of God are employed to fight this spiritual battle.
Apart from Eph6’s strategy, one can flee (2Tim2:22) and watch and pray to be aware of the weakness of the flesh although the spirit is willing (Mat26:41).
This post is my noob reflections, taking baby steps in spiritual warfare, where the focus is on the battle and leaving the outcome to God.
When I say focus on the battle, I do not mean that we are directly waging the battle in the unseen realm, not directly anyway.
This focus invites and empowers the divine beings to come to our aid. They are the one’s doing the battle while we offer them the weapons of our faith in the Word.
This post explores what about the Word this faith needs to focus on for the spiritual battle.
The Focus
The Bible is overflowing with the consistent theme of God’s love (grace, mercies, and forgiveness) and God’s justice (righteousness, dominion, power, restoration) in His word and life circumstances
Rom10:9-10 Is the core salvation verse. To confess Jesus is Lord is about remission of sins thru His blood, Christ crucified. It is about God’s love.
And to believe in the heart, He was raised on the 3rd day, is about God’s justice, for He was raised for man’s justification (Rom4:15-Rom5:1).
God’s love is manifested in Christ crucified and His shed blood for the remission of sins and foundation for justification (Rom5:9).
God’s justice is manifested by the power that raised Jesus from the dead and the promise of His return, the coming of His dominion (His Kingdom come and His Will is done).
The above are the tools or weapons for the spiritual warfare that speaks of the double-edged sword of the Spirit of His Word in Eph6:17.
Drawing from Eph3:20 -” Now unto him, that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,”
The “think” is to perceive; visualize, and imagine. I imagine the love of God (faith in the love of Christ crucified and faith in His sanctifying blood) represents the shield (of faith) and is the defensive spiritual weapon for the divine beings (angles and NOT me) to reclaim and make holy the battleground.
This defensive shield, a spiritual weapon, creates a safe space, a clam in the storm offering respite for the weary and troubled soul from the spiritual attacks.
I imagine the justice of God (faith in the power that raised Jesus and faith-hope in His coming dominion) is the offensive spiritual weapon for the divine beings to overcome the forces of darkness (naming the spirits takes place).
Closing Statements
I am a lay Christian. The above are personal thoughts with some scriptural basis.
I embarked on the above after listening to Pt1 and Pt2 of Derek Prince’s video on this subject of spiritual warfare. There are 4 parts to this series.
Part 1 – https://youtu.be/r3q3GgIIONs
Part 2 – https://youtu.be/o348jdFeFOI
Faith is not limited to religious persuasions but is universally embraced by man. However, faith’s purpose, meaning, and significance are not universal. This post explores the purpose, meaning, and significance of the Christian faith; The truth about faith.
Imagine the following two private conversations-
“Have faith,” my best friend offers me these consoling words, with a lump forming in her throat while gently brushing my hand at my husband’s funeral.
“Have faith,” the father smiles with encouragement while his eyes convey worry, comforting the family as his wife undergoes a major operation.
These scenes are repeated worldwide, albeit in different ways but centralized on the issue of faith. Regardless of which religion, this kind of faith is directed at something or someone that transcends the earthly realm.
The Bible, especially the New Testament (NT), reveals many nuances concerning the Christian faith. This post will explore the truth about faith to determine if this truth supports the above two imaginary conversations.
Hope, faith, and love are the pillars of Christianity (1Co13:13). Love has greater clarity and a defined focus. 1Co13 is a whole chapter dedicated to what love means to God.
Moreover, the NT’s only Law is to fulfill the commandment of love (Rom13:10), also known as the Law of Christ in Gal6:2.
The Christian faith and hope in the two conversations have an earthly focus. Does the NT truth about faith and hope support an earthly focus?
Spoiler alert – As this post examines the scriptures for the truth about faith, the truth about hope will also be revealed.
Let’s start with two relatively well-known scriptures concerning faith and two lesser-known ones.
Without going into the context (the context will be explored later), the 4 verses above describe faith as a walk (conduct, living the Christian life) that is absolutely essential to please God. Else it amounts to sin. Furthermore, when this faith is tested, its eternal values increase for the Day of the Lord.
To avoid this post becoming an overwhelming Bible study experience, these 4 verses, contextually (meaning when one read the whole chapter), all share one contextual thing in common. They all share the context that this faith is about the belief in the resurrection of Christ and the believer’s resurrection.
The central focus of the resurrection common to all 4 verses is returning to the roots of Christian salvation, which is found in Rom10:9-10 –
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
The belief or faith that saves is meant to have the singular focus on the resurrection of Christ. These 4 verses reinforce the paramount importance of this faith of the resurrection in the Christian walk on the earth that has eternal significance.
As if God is concerned that the importance of the resurrection escapes the Christian awareness, Paul said this in 2Co13:5, where he urged the believer to self-examine whether one is in faith, living by the power of God as displayed in the resurrection of Christ (2Co13:4). Paul by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit then says this in 2Co13:8 –
“For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.”
What truth is Paul alluding to? This truth is the truth of the resurrection mentioned a few verses earlier. In other words, paraphrasing 2Co13:8 – to live by the faith in the power of the resurrection is God’s truth concerning the Christian faith.
For those interested in a deeper dive to support the above claim, below explores the supporting context.
Therefore, Rom14:23’s “whatsoever is not of faith is sin” has contextual support. This faith is the faith in the death and resurrection of Christ that He loved us. Thus when the lesser faith about eating certain foods is disputed, know that FAITH of the Lord’s death and resurrection compels one to respond in love.
It should be more apparent now that Christian hope is the hope of the resurrection and not an earthly hope.
Conclusion
The above narrative offers compelling evidence that the Christian faith in God is not about hoping to be healed, to get a better job, or for a soul mate, any earthly needs-wants.
While these are legitimate earthly need-want, this faith that pleases God of the Christian walk focuses on the heavenward goals, especially the resurrection, and not on earthly need-want.
Self-examination or prove (KJV) is related to the Greek word dokimazo.
It means to test, examine, and scrutinize to recognize as genuine and deemed worthy.
Dokimazo is used in the NT in various contexts.
Inward (self) Proving
1. 2Co13:5, self-examination focuses on examining whether one is in faith, living by the power of God as displayed in the resurrection of Christ (2Co13:4).
This faith of 2Co13:5 is the belief in the hope of this resurrection, our resurrection, especially the 1st resurrection of Rev20:6 that needs to be earned according to Paul in Phil3:10-11.
Paul goes on to frame this faith in the resurrection as the truth in 2Co13:8.
The other inward proving is related to taking the holy communion found in 1Co11:28.
Outward Proving
2. The other forms of examining in the NT are no longer, about an inward examination but an outward examination
2.1 Rom12:2, Rom2:18, andv 1Th5:21- Prove what is good to discover and align with God’s will.
2.2 2Co8:8 and Phil1:10 are about proving love and excellence for sincerity, Gal6:4 proving one’s own work (of bearing burdens to fulfill the Law of Christ), 1Jhn4:1 is about proving every spirit relating to false prophets.
In-Summary
Personally, I practice self-examination using a clear and pure conscience to guide me in areas of sincerity, bearing the burdens of Gal6:2 and testing and validating God’s will.
I talk, think and dream about the resurrection daily, so the encouragement to examine one’s faith in the resurrection is moot for me but needful for the body of Christ.
Other forms of self-examination or examinations would be outside the wise counsel of the NT scriptures.