Mystery of Heaven

He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. (Matthew 13:11 KJV)

Strange to me that non-believers look upon Christians as being exclusive, keeping people out. Yet Christ holds open invitations to all, to whosoever will come to Him.


Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 10:32 KJV)


For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother. (Mark 3:35 KJV)


Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: (Luke 12:8 KJV)


For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV)


Heaven is the promise to those following God’s Messiah. We look forward to it and there is quite a bit of information regarding heaven in the Bible. Too much to look into within the limits of this short blog. Besides, why should I be concerned about heaven? I know I’m going to be there because Jesus, God’s Messiah, His son, is my savior who prepared a place for me. God knows how to give good gifts.


But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10 KJV)


I firmly believe there are many things yet to be revealed. We know that both Daniel and John were requested to seal up and not reveal things they witnessed. We know that God’s thoughts are so far different from ours that we have yet to understand. We also have the faith that there is much more yet to come.


If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:11 KJV)


Still, Matthew’s words ring so very true today, as they did then.


And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: (Matthew 7:28 KJV)


Why the others are not understanding is explained a few verses later.


Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. (Matthew 13:13-15 KJV)

Mystery of His Will

Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: (Ephesians 1:9 KJV)

The Bible provides many instances of God displaying His will. For just a moment, think of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3-17.) Got ‘em? The first four deal with our relationship with God, the next six with our relationship with our fellow man. Are you sure you thought of them all?

Frankly, when I depend on my memory, I don’t get them in order and I do a lot better when I’m with another person remembering that list. These are simple rules, no reason to wonder what they mean. We know what they tell us to do to remain in His will.

We will have no other gods before the Lord our God.
We will not bow down to any graven images in place of Him.
We will not take His name in vain.
We will keep the Sabbath holy in remembrance of Him.
We will honor our parents.
We will not take the life of another.
We will not commit adultery.
We will not steal.
We will not lie.
We will not want what is not ours.

When questioned as to the order of their importance, Jesus boiled these down to two.

Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:36-40 KJV)

Why is it important for us to live by these?

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. (1 John 5:2-3 KJV)

Christ, in His example given for our lives, lived for His Father’s will. It is part of the example prayer.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10 KJV)

Even if we don’t understand. Even when it hurts. Even when we think something better could be done, we are to follow His will.

He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. (Matthew 26:42 KJV)

Again, this is but a small portion of Mrs. Tina’s lesson. There are many more notes, many additional verses she gave as we searched through the Bible for what God told us about His will. We are to pray, we are to share, we are to teach, we are to exhort. We are to love one another, and here’s why:

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13:34-35 KJV)

The Mystery of Godliness

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. (1 Timothy 3:16 KJV)

Oh, would that the first three words held true today as they did when Paul was among the men who witnessed God manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit.

Today, there is controversy. Not among the believers – and there are billions of those – though they have not seen. Christ knew of them.

Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. (John 20:29 KJV)

Among those believers, some appear not to be working to attain godliness, though that was set out for us to do. And, we were to pray to achieve it with peace.

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; (1 Timothy 2:1-3 KJV)

We women can actually show the godliness we profess.

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. (1 Timothy 2:9-10 KJV)

Our work in God’s service is better than eye catching apparel or the costliest jewelry. When we have those good works to be seen.

But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. (1 Timothy 4:7-9 KJV)

This is not to discount taking care of our bodies, for they are God’s temple.

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 KJV)

Of course, this isn’t Mrs. Tina’s lesson on the Mystery of Godliness – hers was much more in depth and had so very many applicable verses. It never was my intention to attempt to match hers, but to interest my readers – as she did her audience – to seek what God has given us about godliness in His word. Not only godliness, there are many other good things to seek!

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:5-8 KJV)

Mysteries!

A group of ladies from our church spent three days exploring mysteries – Bible mysteries, a who-done-it clue search, along with games that proved how mysterious it can be to accomplish what appear to be simple tasks. Who would have thought that picking up six penne pastas on a stick of spaghetti would be difficult? Or getting three M&Ms off two pencils? Just ask us – we’ve learned.

We went to The Heart of Texas campground ready to spend time with God’s word. Just as we believe He is interested in and directs our lives, we believe He provided this opportunity to learn more of Him through each other as well as His word.

This takes planning!! Our pastor’s wife does the greater portion of the retreat, the majority of the lessons. She has volunteers – were it not for privacy requests, I would be lifting their names in gratitude – ones who decorate, carry, write skits, act in them, plan games, direct those games. Every moment at the camp had someone caring about meeting the attendees’ needs, physical and spiritual.

And, we heard of mysteries. The Bible has many. Both Daniel and John were told to keep secrets.

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. (Daniel 12:4 KJV)

And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. (Revelation 10:4 KJV)

Jesus spoke of mysteries.

He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. (Matthew 13:11 KJV)

He told the disciples why, too.

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. (Matthew 13:35 KJV)

I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. (Psalms 78:2-3 KJV)

We, too, have heard sayings of old. Most of us have known them from childhood, told by our parents. I like the way Luke put it as he wrote what was believed.

Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, (Luke 1:1 KJV)

Yes, I took notes – lots of them. Yes, there were scriptures – I will be using them throughout the coming days. I pray they will bring you some of the joy the past few days provided. I just wish you could have lifted your voices in song the way we did Friday night. This year we had a keyboard and musician!! We took advantage and sang our favorites.

For our church members – mark your calendars for next October. For my other readers – make plans for your own spiritual growth. It is worth every moment spent.

Good Morning

It's as early here as at home! Especially with Mrs. Bonnie. She did leave the cowbell at home, but nobody checked for whistles!!! 5:10 wouldn't appear to be a good time to use it, but someone hid her coffee.

People who don't attend surely don't understand how much fun can be shared - for most of the night!

I have so many scriptures to tetras, so many notes - on lessons and on surrounding verses. I promise, when we come together in prayer and Bible reading, mysteries are revealed.

That was our theme this year - Mystery. Including the death of Mr. Bones. We did have clues, so that mystery was solved.

This coming week I'll share some of these verses and notes. May you be blessed by them as I have!

Sent from my iPhone

Size

Traveling items are small. Folding toothbrush, tiny toothpaste, smaller brush, and having to use my iPhone instead of my laptop.

No e-Sword to copy/paste! I don't like to type in scriptures - too many chances for error on my part. So pick up a Bible and enjoy a time with our Lord's word.

While you do so, I'll continue fellowshipping with Christian ladies out here in the Heart of Texas campground on Brownwood Lake. Mrs. Tina received her special gift - we do love her!!

We know she loves us too, from the lessons she'd prepared for us. The programs are filled with God's love, too.

May you be filled with it, too.

Sent from my iPhone

He Promised

A friend of mine forwarded a recent devotional that is so timely as we are in the midst of prayer and fasting. It begins with:

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) (Hebrews 10:22-23 KJV)

That “he” in the parenthetical is God, our Father. And, He truly is faithful. The book of Hebrews was written to a people who for generations proved that faithfulness. They had been given promises that had been fulfilled.

Yet we all know of people who have made petitions to God that have not – or at least not yet – been fulfilled. How does that fit into His faithfulness? The devotional provided three questions that may be useful in understanding. In each instance, context is very important.

First question: Is God’s promise limited to specific individuals or a specific set of circumstance, or does it apply to all believers? And “believers” is a key word. Most of God’s promises are for those who make that commitment. Non-believers have made a different choice. What He has promised for them is that when we are lost, He can be found.

But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. (Deuteronomy 4:29 KJV)

Here God is speaking to the Children of Israel. Christ spoke to all mankind, the same message.

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. (Luke 11:9 KJV)

The second question is: Are we asking to meet our needs or our desires. The needs should fit into a portion of the Lord’s example prayer:

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10 KJV)

Wait!! Doesn’t the Bible say He will give us the desires of our hearts? Yes.

Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. (Psalms 37:4 KJV)

Then, we can have anything we want? We get our desires, things we don’t need but just want? Yes. When we have delighted ourselves in the Lord. Context must be considered, for there are verses before and after that one. Go ahead, take a moment and look them up. There are conditions.

Which brings us to the third question: Is something required of us? Does the Bible tell us something is required to receive His promise? Salvation is the biggest example I can think of.

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. (Romans 10:9 KJV)

There is one great condition that must be fulfilled regarding prayer to God. The newly sighted blind man speaking to the Pharisees said it well:

Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. (John 9:31 KJV)