“GOOD IN ‘MY WORLD’” OR “GOD
GRACING MY LIFE WITH OR IN CHRIST?”
BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, SEPTEMBER 9-10, 2018
Though the ‘worlds’ were framed by God’s eternal intent, I really find it hard to believe those who ‘see’ (?), ‘No God in the founding of a world’s ‘culture’, or any awareness of the ‘so-called’, “need of God”, or that ‘divine, eternal purpose’ has any part in “my determination of what’s good for me and mine”, even shunning Joshua’s call to, (Joshua 24:15), “If it seems evil TO YOU ‘to serve the Lord’, CHOOSE YOU this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you now dwell; but as for me and my house, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD,” and that’s the Lord God Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, with His eternal purpose in mind, in freely giving to every birthed individual the option of whether to ‘choose’ the ‘flesh world’ at its limited ‘best’, OR the spiritual world of God’s grace, mercy, and love of a life being birthed by repentance and faith, fully aware that, without God, one chooses ‘self-will’ over “Divine, Eternal, Richly Blessed Life-Choices in and through His Amazing Grace”!
Thank God for amazing men like Moses in the early days of His creation, learning, yes, by the Holy Spirit, the reality of eternal intent for all mankind, though many then and now, refuse to consider Almighty God’s eternal purpose for men in their world, which He clearly gave to all men, the right to choose whether they would live ‘life’ on their terms or a ‘Life’ He determined in His grace, mercy, and love through their surrender to the Lordship of “Christ in me my hope of eternal glory” and, yes “eternal fruitfulness in and through Christ’s abiding Presence in my heart”! And the problem every birthed human has is, to decide for himself/herself by ‘mental evaluations’ or by “Sovereign intervention”: “My world – my way” OR “God’s world allegiance – God’s Way”?
Amazing words found in Numbers 23:19-24:1-19!! God met Balaam saying to him, ‘Go to meet Balak and speak to him what I say,’ and, first, we read Verses 19-24 of Chapter 23, Balaam saying, “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: has He said, and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken, and shall He not make it stand? Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and He has blessed; and I cannot reverse it.
He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither has He seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. God brought them out of Egypt; he has as it were the strength of a unicorn. Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel; according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘What has God Himself wrought (or worked out!)? Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift himself up as a young lion; he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.”
Verses 25-30, And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Did I not tell you, saying clearly, All that the Lord speaks, THAT I must do? And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray you, I will bring you unto another place; peradventure it will please God that you may curse me them from there.
And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looks toward Jeshimon. And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar. ( It’s gracious and good when God sends a man with a message, and the receiver of the Word does what God said!).
Now, Numbers 24:1-19!! And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel (Are YOU called of God to “bless others” or do you live with the frame of mind, “They are not my concern!”), he went not, as at other times, to seek enchantments (against Israel), but he set his face toward the wilderness. And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him. And he took up his parable and said, Balaam the son of Beor has said, and the man whose eyes are open has said: He has said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: (What did he see?):
“How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, and your tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord has planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. He shall pour the water out of His buckets (Water of the Holy Word poured out?), and His seed shall be in many waters (various kingdoms around our world?)
He shall pour the water out of His buckets, and His seed shall be in many waters, and His King shall be higher than Agag, and His kingdom shall be exalted. God brought Him forth out of Egypt; He has as it were the strength of an unicorn: He shall eat up the nations (who are) His enemies, and shall break their bones, and piece them through with His arrows (arrows of the Living Word that DO pierce into minds, heart, and wills!). He couched (humbled Himself), He laid down as a lion, and a great lion: who shall stir Him up? Blessed is He that blesses YOU, and cursed is he that curses Him.
And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together; and Balak said unto Balaam, ‘I called you to curse my enemies, and, behold, you have altogether blessed them these three times.
Therefore now flee you to your place: I thought to promote you to great honor; but, lo, the Lord has kept back that honor (at least, for now). And Balaam said unto Balak, Did I not speak also to your messengers which you sent unto me, saying, “If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own mind; but what the Lord says, that will I speak?
And now, behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, and I will advertise (promote) you in what this people shall do to your people in the latter days.” And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor has said, and the man whose eyes are open has said: He has said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes opened (to Eternal Truth!!):
I shall see Him, but not now; I shall behold Him, but not any time near; but there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for His enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly. (Physical Israel or Spiritual Israel?). Out of Jacob shall come He that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remains of the city (of unbelief, of rebellion, of disobedience to the Word of God!).”
Are YOU personally aware of Christ’s dominion over ‘sin and death’, and that those who yield to Him experience the saving, Sovereign, sure reign of divine Life, holy power and purpose, becoming an eternal part of His eternal ministry of Life, divine love, anointed ministries, extended to others around you, and the awesome blessing of His abiding Presence with the Promise to “never leave you nor forsake you”?
And the key understanding of true conversion through repentance and faith in the shed blood of the Lamb of God with the eternal confidence in the ‘heart-home’ of all who, yes, invited Him in as Lord, as Savior, as Master, as Commander-in-chief over your life? Yes, it’s Him who RULES IN THE REPENTANT, TRANSFORMED CHILD OF GOD! Colossians 1:18 says, “And He (Christ Jesus) is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead: that in all things He might have the preeminence.”
Questions YOU as a ‘professing church member’ must answer: When it comes to one’s ‘profession of faith’, what does he/she profess? “I’m a mortal man, I live in the mortal sphere of misguided men, and because I believe in Jesus, I try to do the best I can?” “Religious traditions” or RESTING IN DIVINE, ETERNAL TRUTHS? “Best-Effort Mentalities” or BLESSED BY THE HOLY PRESENCE OF THE RESURRECTED CHRIST IN THE REPENTANT HEART? “Self-Motivated Lives” or LIVES LIVING UNDER THE MASTERING OF THE RESURRECTED, REIGNING CHRIST”? “Religious without a ‘knock on the heart’s door’ to let Him in, in His Resurrection Presence to be Himself in your “new-graced-Temple of praise and worship” where He knows He’s now at home reigning in and through your surrendered, yielded, ‘hands-off-allegiance to self-life’, daily inviting Him to have His way through you to the glory of God?”
Highly interesting, instructing Verses of the Word from the lips of Jesus when He said in Mark 11:24-26, Therefore I say unto you, “What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them. And when you stand praying, forgive, if you have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But IF you do not forgive (others who come against you), neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
Another powerful Word of God is found in Malachi 3:8-11 when the prophet, inspired of God, said: “Will a man ROB GOD? Yet you have robbed Me. But you say, ‘Wherein have we robbed You?” In tithes and offerings. You are CURSED WITH A CURSE: for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. (That’s Israel then, but what about now? Israel only, or most of Israel, most of Africa, most of Europe, most of South America, most of North America – wherever humans breathe, you’ll find “thieves”!).
Verses 10-11, God also saying, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in My house, and PROVE ME NOW HEREWITH, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” PROVE GOD NOW HEREWITH, in your obedience, in your faithfulness, in your willingness, yes, to DO WHATEVER GOD SAYS!!!! Holy God is NOT a ‘promise-breaker’ but a “Promise-Keeper”! Always has been – always WILL BE!! “PROVE ME NOW AND HENCEFORTH”!!
That Is His Faithful Word! That Is His Faithful, Never-Ending Response! That Is For YOUR “HERE AND NOW” because the very heart of God is His desire to be “proven” in any generation, any country, any nationality, anywhere, any time, by “any-who(?)”!! “PROVE ME”! He still calls, He still knocks on every heart’s door, He still asks for permission to enter, never violating one’s free will to accept Him or reject Him, but always, clearly, and in a convicting-manner, explaining: “There ARE Eternal Consequences!” WHAT IS YOUR ETERNAL DESTINY?