There are not many men anywhere who live with a total disregard of Holy God; and there are many men all over the world who in their deep and abiding love for Him would never consider ‘walking away’ from Him. But, at the same time, there are those “journeyers” with Jesus who have chosen, not simply to willfully walk away, but at times are “drawn away”, or often “swept away” by powerful tides of false influences thrusting them onto the rocks of “doubt, fears, twisted unbeliefs, or careless, fleshly indulgences”! And, for them, ‘surprisingly’ (?) they “fall into” those temptations and give way to the devil’s strong deceptions, the devil even telling some, “you cannot do anything but sin until you get to heaven; so, at least, have a little ‘fun’ on the way!”

“Faith journeys”? There are missed or messed-up directions that some believers take that become “detours” away from the true and living Way, and become “dead-end streets” that cause a “scattering” and not “gathered unto Jesus”! In fact, in John 16:32, Jesus SPOKE TO HIS DISCIPLES! “Do you now believe? Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, EACH TO HIS OWN, and will leave Me alone.”

Don’t you pray that that never happens to you, to yours, to your fellow believers, to your pastoral leadership, even ‘up-until-now’ faithful political leaders who for the most part have sought to honor the Lord Jesus Christ? But are you aware of, yes, some “wandering from the Faith”?

Are you aware of how easy it is to be ‘side-tracked’ to personal interests rather than the cause of Christ in a careless world of, often, a “straying from the faith”? Are there “mental” strayings from pure devotion and surrender to Christ’s Lordship? Are there “willful” choices to disobey and stray away? Are there “inner desolations” or “private sins” that no one sees but God Himself that has captured one’s heart and mind “spoiling” the redemptive blessing of a “new life” in Christ?

course, when you read Luke 19:41-44 about Christ Jesus “weeping over Jerusalem”, you clearly understand how the ‘religious pretenders’ claimed allegiance to Jesus but then participated in His crucifixion, but since “All Scripture is inspired by God, and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God (anywhere, anytime, anywho!) may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work,” (2 Timothy 3:16-17), hear the Master, Lord, and Savior in the Luke passage!!

“If YOU had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you, and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave one stone upon another, BECAUSE you did not know the time of your visitation.” WOW! [Happened to Jerusalem – can happen to you!]

In our “faith journeys” does the Lord Jesus tell us that there are “times of visitation” that become His “times of examination” of ALL disciples? Don’t you find it so interesting and challenging to read King David in Psalm 26:2-8? “Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my mind and my heart. For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth.

I have not sat with idolatrous mortals, nor will I go in with hypocrites. I have hated the assembly of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked. I will wash my hands in innocence; So I will go about Your altar, O Lord, that I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all Your wondrous works. Lord, I have loved the habitation of Your house, and the place where Your glory dwells.”

In the “faith journey”, with an awareness of examinations and testings by Father-God, some live out the faith carelessly unaware of God’s plan and desire to ‘conform us all into the very image and likeness of Christ’, but darkening opportunities, avoiding divine ability, and limiting the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ! I really don’t know how it is that many ‘believers’ consider “self-effort-best” in the walk of faith when “Christ in us IS the hope of glory!”

How many do you know or become aware of in your pilgrimage who know nothing about “the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us In Christ Jesus”, not in one’s best effort? But, in the “journey” of “being conformed to the image of Christ”, is it possible that some ‘fall way from the faith’?

In Jeremiah 6:10 the “Lord of hosts” spoke to a “falling-away-people”: “To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot give heed. [Why?], Behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it.”

Oh, but Holy God didn’t stop there! Jeremiah 6:13-15 is a strong, holy, convicting, awakening Word! He said: “Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; nor did they know how to blush. Therefore THEY SHALL FALL among those who fall; At the time I punish them, they shall be cast down,” says the Lord.

Do you remember Joseph preparing his brothers for their ‘journey’ back to Israel and their father? He said, in Genesis 45:24 So he sent his brothers away, and they departed; and he said to them, “See that you do not become troubled along the way.” Did YOU have a spiritual father of the faith who told you that as you began your “pilgrimage of faith and devotion to Christ Jesus”? And yet many failed to warn sons and daughters of the faith that “troubles” leading to a “falling away” can be numerous and horrific!

Didn’t Paul warn the Thessalonians about “the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish (along the way), because they did not receive (or see as necessary for themselves because they were so “spiritual” in their own understanding!) the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10). Oh, and then God made a sovereign judgment! Verses 11-12 says, “AND FOR THIS REASON GOD will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie ( like ‘you can sin and not die’?), that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Isn’t it true, haven’t you heard them, read them, witnessed them, teaching and preaching the “white-washing” of “dark truths”, promoting “one can sin, and sin, and sin, and not die, because God overlooks a believer’s sin but condemns sinners”?, when it hasn’t changed: “The wages of sin is death!”

Thank God FOR “the Pauls” who serve Him faithfully and warn of the dangers of “falling away”! In Galatians 5:1 and Verses 4-6, Paul wrote: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage….Verses 4-6, You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law ( you who compromise and want to blend fallen flesh with “new birth spirit”); you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.”

And isn’t “the liberty of Christ” the liberty of freedom from, not the liberty to be or do as redeemed ‘flesh’ dictates, but the liberty of Lordship, committed to and dominated by His Holy Will, which IS “Go and sin no more”? (John 8:11!). What ‘yoke’ have you submitted to? The yoke of indulgent flesh or the yoke OF “Christ-Liberation”?

There’s an awesome word from the Lord in Revelation 3:10-12 which says: “Because you have kept My command to PERSEVERE, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly! (Have YOU heard His “door-knocking” at your heart?). Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He WHO OVERCOMES, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.” There doesn’t have to be a “wandering away from the true, redemptive Faith in Christ alone”, but, sadly, there are those who do!

WANDERING FROM THE FAITH? IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THERE ARE THOSE WHO BEGIN THE JOURNEY WITHOUT COUNTING THE COST? I assume that the words of the Lord Jesus apply as we seek to determine why the ‘wandering away’ occurs – Right? In Luke 14:25-33 we see several ‘types of followers’, temporary-eternal, adapters-adopted, reckless-reliant, divided allegiances- undivided devotion, cost ignoramuses-cost evaluators! Receive Christ Jesus’ “demands of true discipleship”!

Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it – lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish? Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegate and asks conditions of peace. SO LIKEWISE, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”

A ‘king’ considering the cost? Jesus evaluated the ‘human condition’ of sin and separation from Holy God, willingly giving Himself in death to bring opportunity for Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope to every man who lives in repentance toward God and faith in the Savior’s finished work at the Cross, then three days later rising from the dead, then offering every repentant soul forgiveness, a “new Life”, ushering in the eternal kingdom of God, and assigning all “followers” to endure ‘world rejection’ but rejoice daily in God’s eternal affirmation of a true child of faith that rejects what a fallen world offers and ‘rests’ in what Christ Jesus assures!

It was Paul who said in Acts 17:26-28, “And He (God) has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being…”. And then in Acts 17:30-31 we find out about the eternal governance of God! “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now Commands all men everywhere to repent, BECAUSE He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Glory!

Were you informed of “the cost” when you “joined” a church? In Luke 24:46-49 Jesus said, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, AND THAT REPENTANCE AND REMISSION OF SINS SHOULD BE PREACHED IN HIS NAME TO ALL NATIONS, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

Repentance? Brokenness over one’s sin and sin nature, brokenness over alienation and separation from Holy God who made you, brokenness that you ignored Christ’s historic death for you too long, brokenness over the alienation and separation from God’s desire to extend His love, express His grace, and exalt His Son through you – but for too long you ignored divine intent, lived with a closed mind to His love, His will, His sacrifice, brokenness realizing that if YOU were the only sinful man who ever lived, and Christ died just for you, how do you relate to that? Will YOU just wander away from redemptive faith or halt the mis-direction of your life and “lean on Christ Jesus only”? “Count the cost”? Death to the old man and full surrender to the “new man” in Christ!

WANDERING FROM THE FAITH? IS IT POSSIBLE A BELIEVER, HAVING REPENTED, SERVED FAITHFULLY HIS MASTER FOR SOME TIME, CAN BELIEVE THE MASTER ‘MAY DELAY HIS COMING’, THEREFORE “I” CHOOSE TO PLAY AROUND FOR AWHILE! Come to Luke 12: 42-46 where Jesus speaks so clearly about this danger that comes over some ‘believers’ lives: “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has. But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint his portion with the unbelievers.”

It’s really, really interesting that early in the church’s existence the Apostle Paul had to intervene, at least in Thessalonica, but you’ll find his concern elsewhere in his writings if you so desire, but in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 he stirs up a strong warning to the “play-around” folks who engaged in sexual immorality. Paul wrote:

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles, who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.

For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.”

I wonder how many “flesh indulgers” of the past, having come to Christ, consult their Master and Lord before plunging into a sea of sexual immorality? Of course, sadly, some were never discipled as to the ‘holy life’ as “ambassadors of Christ”! When Jesus said in John 18:36, “My kingdom is not of this world,” which, I believe, is certainly a call in one’s life of faith that ‘kingdom living’ under His Lordship is opposite of submission to, entertainment of the world’s fleshly ways, especially sexual immorality!

Have you been taught that coming to Christ through repentance toward God and faith in Christ’s finished work at the Cross opens the door of your heart and life to “Kingdom Allegiance”? Jesus told the religious Pharisees in Luke 17:20-21, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

In Romans 14:16-19 we find interesting, convicting, challenging words: “Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil; [but at the same time, I add: “but do not let your evil be spoken of as good”, or “Sexual immorality is OK! Don’t let the ‘Bible-thumpers’ scare you! We all do it.” Really?]. for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.”

In 1 Thessalonians 4:1-3 I repeat what I read earlier: “Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us HOW YOU OUGHT TO WALK AND PLEASE GOD; for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is THE WILL OF GOD, your sanctification: THAT YOU SHOULD ABSTAIN FROM SEXUAL IMMORALITY…!”

WANDERING FROM THE FAITH? IS IT POSSIBLE THAT SOME BELIEVERS, SO ENAMORED WITH “PEACE AND SAFETY” TEACHINGS, RATHER THEN “PURSUE, PRESS IN, OR PERPETUALLY” HOLD ONTO CHRIST JESUS, THEY BECOME SO IN LOVE WITH PLEASING ‘FLESH’ THEY ALLOW “SPIRIT-HUNGER” TO DIE? It’s really amazing to me and heart-breaking to read in Isaiah 56:9-12 about Israel’s careless, compromising, irresponsible leaders that influenced a ton of Israel’s people, with only the true remnant remaining steadfast! It says: “All you beasts of the field, come to devour, all you beasts in the forest. (And Jerusalem was ultimately destroyed in 70AD!) His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down loving to slumber.

Yes, they are greedy dogs which never have enough. And they are shepherds who cannot understand; THEY ALL LOOK TO THEIR OWN WAY, every one for his own gain, from his own territory. “Come,” one says, “I will bring wine, and we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink; Tomorrow will be as today, and much more abundant.” But they ended bankrupt!

That’s “flesh-loving, flesh-desiring, flesh domination”, even as one sings “Peace and Safety”! Oh, but then! SUDDEN DESTRUCTION COMES! In 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Paul challenges every believer then and now: But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us NOT SLEEP, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who ARE OF THE DAY be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.”

Of course, the question of the moment is, “Are you walking, now, this very moment, in the ‘darkness’ of fleshly indulgence or in the “Light” of glorious grace and mercy?” Walking in the “peace and safety” frame of reference is often held by ‘believers’ walking both sides of the street – a devotion to flesh observance during the week and a spirit observance on Sundays! In Matthew 6:24 Jesus said: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Are YOU a ‘compromising disciple’ walking both sides of the street, or His disciple willing to walk in His “way of the Cross” that leads home victoriously?

In Revelation 1:17-18 John was blessed in the divine unveiling of Christ’s Presence! He said: And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I AM He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.” Amen means “So be it,” and our Lord intends His “AMEN” to be YOUR “AMEN”, not in “falling away” but resting in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

If there has been a tendency in YOU to “walk away”, never resist His Holy Presence within you or around you, or even His Presence through caring, compassionate ambassadors of Christ who have no desire seeing you fall away! HE WILL COME! THEY WILL COME! And caring, loving brothers and sisters ‘in Christ’ will seek to turn you back to Him, not rest as they see you turning to satisfy your ‘flesh’ and fall away!

In Deuteronomy 33:26-27 there is a word of ‘hope’ for Israel as a nation, but also a word of ‘hope’ for people committed to Christ Jesus today, for God is the Same ‘yesterday’, ‘today’, and ‘forever’! “There is no one like the God of Jeshuran, who rides the heavens to help you, and in His and in His excellency on the clouds. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and will say, “Destroy!”

You didn’t let Revelation 1:17 just fly over your head without understanding, did you? Again, “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last..”, saying then and now: “I’m Lord over everything you face – you don’t have to “fall away” – let Me finish your earthly walk of faith as you choose to be dead to yourself but fully alive and overcoming in Me!”

I love Oswald Chambers’ words in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest”. (P.104-105): “He laid His right hand upon me.” In the midst of the awfulness (and JFF says, ‘the awfulness of falling away”!), a touch comes, and you know it is the right hand of Jesus Christ. The right hand not of restraint nor of correction nor of chastisement, but the right hand of the Everlasting Father. Whenever His hand is laid upon you, it is ineffable peace and comfort, the sense that “underneath are the everlasting arms,” full of sustaining and comfort and strength.”

The question is: When the temptation comes to “fall away”, will I yield to the ‘old man’ OR surrender to the “new man” in Christ; will I give Jesus His rightful place, in me, as Savior, Lord, Master, Conqueror over temptation Himself, conqueror over sin itself, and Conqueror over the spiritual death within you, and the Author of everlasting Life through your available vessel? “CHOOSE CHRIST, THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and ,THE EVERLASTING LIFE”, finishing strong, not in flesh-effort that fails!

By: J. Farrell Fisher, July 23-25, 2017

Would you describe a created world as an unexplainable, freak event of nature OR the handiwork of God who is able to create as He pleases? Would you also describe human beings with free wills to choose whether they want to rule over their own minds and hearts or be surrendered willfully to the God who ordained their human existence for His heart-plans of rescuing the perishing as their Heaven-ordained ministries?

There’s a huge difference between men who speak of the positive awareness of and availability of the God who made them, birthed them, and calls them to join Him in world redemption or join the crowd of negative spiritual intents, always leaning strongly on their ‘mindfulness’ of self-ability to rule over self even if, at times, they, yes, do question if their rebellion against God is justified!

And, certainly, there are strong-willed dads and arrogant, self-centered moms who unitedly or dividedly teach, promote, insist on “our children, our sons and daughters” walking their paths or ‘my path as a dad or mom’ of ‘wondering if God really exists’! Sadly, those parental premonitions, for some sons and daughters, births within them even ‘half-truths’ about unbelief, but for many sons and daughters under stiff-necked moms and dads, it’s full-bore because they were ‘cut’ from the ‘same cloth’ of demonic, worldly, and self-centered overseers!

Wondering? Is it really true? Does God exist? Is it inevitable that fallen mankind, or some of them, may open the wrong door and choose ‘godlessness’ why some never bend, bow, or give in to unbelief about God’s reality! In fact, in Psalm 14:1, out of a ‘song’ of David, we read: “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” But ‘the fool’ who denies God’s existence often is only standing up for his right to do wrong, sure, “if there is a God, He isn’t concerned about what I choose to do”! It’s more likely than not that the ‘foolish unbeliever’ is “sure” if there is a God, “that God isn’t concerned about what I choose to do – I’m a free man,” which is true that he/she is free to destroy their lives rather than choose to live by the Life of Another – “even your God, Messiah, or Savior and Lord”!

The ‘wonderers’ are usually extremely busy people, enthroning their ‘jobs’ or ‘occupations’, highly committed to ‘stay busy’ because “who needs relaxed time to consider whether God is real or not”! And enthroning their work means little time to wrestle with, “What about God”? “Self-reasonable, self-explainable men” understand they don’t have to busy themselves concerned about God because “our sensibleness is our argument God doesn’t exist” but blinded to Satan’s deceit, “Did God really say if you sin you will die? You won’t die!”

Yet the Holy Word declares: “The wages of sin is death!” So ‘wonderers’ live in their doubts, buy the devil’s lies, and darken their minds and hearts to the reality of God’s amazing love and grace and mercy! It was Spurgeon who once said, “It is never worthwhile to make rents in a garment for the sake of mending them, nor to create doubts in order to show how cleverly we can quiet them.” So true! Your doubts never cloud the reality of God’s eternal existence, but open wide-doors to an invitation to live one’s life without God! And doing so, many choose to live with nature’s goods with no desire to live under nature’s God! That’s like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s writing entitled, “Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz”, saying: “Come, wander with me,” she said, “Into regions yet untrod; and read what is still unread in the manuscripts of God.”

That’s why Psalm 19:1 says: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.” Few earthlings, if any, see what ‘space pilots’ see as they fly to realms most of us only get a small glimpse at, but ‘space pilots’ who do come home, upon arrival, are still AWED by Creator-God!! Most of them are not ‘wonderers’ (?), but worshippers of God and adoring what they viewed in His awesome Creation!

Wonderers? “Is there a God? Should I know Him? Am I accountable to Him for what He has entrusted to me? How should I respond to what I see Him do?” In Mark 1:25-28 you’ll find Christ Jesus casting out a demon (or unclean spirit)! The unclean spirit had said to Jesus, “What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who You are – the Holy One of God!”

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.”

Questioners are more often than not ‘wonderers’ who are consumed by ‘fleshly intelligence’ only without little, if any, spiritual discernment! Would it shock you for me to say that I sincerely believe, yes, even fallen men are, at least at times, aware of the reality of Holy God?

And the ‘wonderers’ who are aware of God’s presence will turn more inward to their continuing destruction or upward to their “Rescue”! Paul’s description in Ephesians 2:1-4 is so on target: He spoke in Verse 1 about those “who were dead in their trespasses and sins, Verse 2, 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.”

In Ephesians 2:11-12 He heightens what ought to be greater conviction of living without Christ as Lord, Savior, Healer, and Deliverer! “Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh – who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands – that at that time YOU WERE WITHOUT CHRIST, being ALIENS from the commonwealth of Israel, and STRANGERS from the covenant of promise, HAVING NO HOPE, AND WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD.” Does that description break your heart? Are you stirred at all about how Holy God sees you without Christ in your ever-darkening world??

Oh, but then, beside the chasm ‘wondering’ digs in you, ARE YOU AWARE THAT WONDERING WILL LEAD TO “WANDERING”, SADLY, EVEN FURTHER FROM THE GOD OF THE CROSS AND EMPTY TOMB!

I’m not sure if you’re aware of Biblical history as it related to the Israelites and their journeys from the ‘wilderness’ into the Promised Land, but the Word tells us that there were those Israelites who wandered away, even after “spying out” the Promised Land! In Numbers 14:27-38 we read: (The Lord speaking to Moses and Aaron), “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you:

The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in the wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty-years old and above. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised.

But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in the wilderness. And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection.

I the Lord have spoken this. I will surely do so to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.’” Now the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report of the land, those very men who brought the evil report about the land, died by the plague before the Lord. But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive, of the men who went to spy out the land.”

Would you say that following the directions of the Lord is essential and necessary? Well, of course, you’ll hear verbally from a lot of pulpits or Sunday School classes, “Well, of course, obedience is an option in the age of grace,” when the Lord Jesus said, “Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, but you do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46!).

Many ‘believers’ in churches today across America will ‘profess faith in Christ’ and willfully then choose to do as they please, without a word of, “Lord, what would You have me to do?” Pretending is not lending any credibility to one’s “profession of faith”! I’m sure the angels of Heaven are shocked by “deaf-eared professors” in a lot of churches professing faith while they willfully and consistently disobey divine revelation! Often in New Testament Scriptures the “wanderers” are referred to as the “anti-christs”!!

In 1 John 2:15-19 the “beloved John” wrote: “Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him. For all that is in the world – THE LUST OF THE FLESH, THE LUST OF THE EYES, AND THE (BOASTFUL) PRIDE OF LIFE – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, EVEN NOW MANY ANTICHRISTS HAVE COME, by which we know that it is the last hour. (Immediately, just a few years later it was the destruction of Jerusalem by invading armies!). John continued:

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with is; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”

And John went on to say, “But you, true disciple, you have an anointing from the Holy Spirit, and you know all things.” The Spirit of God guides you into all truth, and you know it’s Truth by the very witness of the Holy Spirit!

In the spiritual world, as well as the natural world, it’s affirmed: One knows the difference between wild wolves and peaceful sheep, except for some in the church who have no discernment biblically but only personal opinions; and there are those in the church who’ll call sheep wolves or wolves sheep – doesn’t matter to them as long as they are not bitten by ‘wild animals’, though at times because of poverty of spirit, they’ll affirm wolves who attack innocent sheep! Our “last days” of modern-day ‘Christianity’ is being invaded by “the wild side”!

BUT, LAST OF ALL, THERE ARE THOSE WHO LIVE A LIFE OF REDEMPTIVE FAITH WILLFULLY WORSHIPPING! In Colossians 3:1-12 Paul builds a strong foundation defining the “true worshippers”! He said: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, (which, sadly, rules out a lot of ‘church folk’!),not on things on the earth. For you died (Did YOU?), and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. THEREFORE put to death your members which are on (and of) the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

BUT NOW you yourselves (professing faith in Christ!) are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another (all liars go to Hell!), since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering…”, eternal evidences of a reigning Savior and Lord! A “dill pickle” ‘believer’ is so opposite of a “sweet pickle” unveiling the Christ he/she knows they trusted in! Oh, I know our ‘salvation walk’ is a process, but from infancy, through childhood and teen years, to young adults, maturing adults, and mature “seniors of faith”, every person is not to lean upon himself/herself but learn to let Christ “reign” in and through your journey of maturing in your faith-walk to honor Christ by the daily sentence of death to ‘self’ that He might reign supremely and superbly through you!

Redemptive reality is not a ‘reflection’ of Jesus but a release from within of His abiding Presence since through “new birth” He established His “Holy Temple” IN YOU! What did Paul say in Galatians 6:14-15? “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.”

Tell me about your personal awareness of your life “crucified with Christ” and how His Resurrection Presence is easily identifying for you ‘death without Him’ OR “eternal Life and Holy Presence in you”! What did Joshua say? “Choose for yourselves whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we choose to be His earthly temple or tabernacle” through which He extends His LIFE, expresses His love, and proves His power!

Have YOU died? Is your life hidden with Christ in God? Are YOU His “new creation”? Do YOU live for the glory and honor of Christ ONLY, or are you determined to “make a name for myself”? In Christ we do not live to elicit fleshly obedience to human inclinations – but day by day taking the sentence of death to ourselves that His presence will be manifested in us and through us for the glory of God alone! Can YOU say with Paul, 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, OR whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”?

Fanny J. Crosby wrote an old hymn entitled “I Am Thine, O Lord” that says: “I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Your voice, And it told Your love to me; But I long to rise in the arms of faith, And be closer drawn to Thee.

Consecrate me now to Your service, Lord, By the power of grace divine; Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope, And my will be lost in Thine.

O the pure delight of a single hour That before Your throne I spend, When I kneel in prayer, and with You, my God, I commune as friend with friend!

There are depths of love that I cannot know Till I cross the narrow sea; There are heights of joy that I may not reach Till I rest in peace with Thee.

SO…Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, To the cross where You died; Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, To Your precious, bleeding side.” Amen?