Tag: identity

Time travel

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In my past a dabbled with being self righteous, unknowingly of course. It was brought to light by one of my friends when I was talking about how we are the righteousness of Christ.

 2 Corinthians 5:21

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

And he was expressing how I wielded that like a weapon and it made him feel isolated.

Not very Christ like I know.

but It got me thinking that we cant present ourselves as untouchable or unrelatable. If we do this, we present Jesus in the same manner, for it is through he that we are made righteous.

1 Corinthians 1:30

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God–that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

So I began to do a little introspection and meditation on the matter, seeking GOD, because I never, ever ,ever want to misrepresent he who saved me from the edge of oblivion, I want everyone to know his love.

John 15:19

If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

 

In seeking him he brought back memories of people speaking things about me because of the things I said, like “Oh well we don’t all see life as rainbows and sunshine Joshua!” or “You should just go be a monk somewhere”

during these instances I didn’t think anything of these statements but through the frame of mind that I may have been sounding like I was chastising them for not thinking my way. I almost got sick. I asked “Lord what would you have me do?” In that moment of unbridled yielding to his Holy Spirit he spoke to me saying “Joshua, show them that you are just as broken, by taking yourself to a previous way of thinking, remember where your mind was, but also remember that it WAS there and is no longer.”

Romans 12:2

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

 

So I began doing thus, and it began bearing fruit almost immediately, I felt like people thought, “Wow if he saved that guy then surely god is for me too.”

John 3:16

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Romans 8:31

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can beagainst us?

 

but I began to grow complacent and not listing to the spirit of the lord when he said remember that WAS how you though and in forgetting I began to back slide and found my words not matching quite up to my lips, meaning my actions even in secret places were not aligning with the word of the Lord. Even though I was in a previous visited place, it didn’t feel the same. I was hungry for more for I had been deeper and the previous place was fleeting. Upon realizing that I had unknowingly did this my knees hit the ground and I cried out in repentance, Father! forgive me! and immediately felt his Love, his mercy and his Grace wash over me.

Hebrews 10:17

17 then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

So maybe you who are reading this struggle with some similar things or maybe the enemy has you feeling condemned or that you are using your righteousness as a weapon, then my prayer is that we all may yield to holy spirit and allow him to love the world through us and in doing so be carriers of his fire that wherever we may roam that we follow the light unto our path. and that we remember there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Task and purpose

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We have all been put here for a reason, a task and a purpose. A higher calling than, work pay bills and die. Weather you wish to accept that is up to you.

One of my favorite story’s describes this in detail.

Matthew 3:13-17

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”

15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.

16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He[a] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

 

I can imagine Johns face when he saw the messiah, the son of GOD strolling on up to him in the Jordan river. saying hey bud wanna baptize me real quick. “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” is what John says but that wasn’t Jesus task, his was something far greater but it still fell on John to baptize Jesus because that was Johns task.

His purpose was to pave the way for Jesus.

Matthew 3:1-6

1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.’”[a]

4 Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

He did this by reminding the people of another mans task, Isaiah, and how he Prophesied Jesus arrival. But Johns purpose still wasn’t only to pave the way, and baptize Jesus. It was to glorify GOD, by accepting these tasks to the fullest degree. He later then became a martyr because of these things but he still fulfilled his duty as a child of GOD.

Jesus, his task was much greater

Matthew 3:11-12

11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.[b] 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

And Just as John was saying he knew Jesus task which was why he was saying, “Those are some shoes I just cannot fill.” John knew only the son of GOD could manage that task.

Acts 1:4-8

4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father,“which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me[a]in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

In that moment Jesus gave us one of our tasks, to spread the good news of salvation to the ends of the earth. This is one of the things we have all been called to do (I will go more into what we have been called to do individually in a later post don’t worry)

Even though we all have these higher callings, some days that is easier to understand the others, we can all get discouraged from time to time. But don’t fret even these guys tried to pass off the mantle that they had been assigned.

Luke 22:42

42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”

But in those moments all we have to do is ask that his will be done in our lives.

So maybe you just had a rough day maybe you are running from your mantle, your task, maybe your task is growing harder I just pray that the will of the father be done in our lives in our homes and in our relationships, that he may cloth us in the fire of his holy spirit, that we become the change our nation needs that everywhere our feet may step we usher forth the good news of revival and that all glory honor and praise go to the father.