An issue of heart and reins

 

The problem of most faithful is that they want God of their preference rather than being faithful of God’s preferences. We want God who affirms us rather than God who affirms himself. Our identity is the problem, as we are just blood and flesh doing things of blood and flesh, rather than the will of our born-again spirit, which is being reprogrammed to affirm nobody but Jesus Christ. Besides, since we are too blood and flesh, we think like blood and flesh not as born again faithful who sit on the right side of Jesus Christ, now. We are in the kingdom of heaven now, as the kingdom of God is within us. Yet, most of us do not live as we know that we are in the kingdom of heaven, at this very moment, though God is within us.

 

When we plan evil against brothers and sisters and pretend to be honest and righteous people, for example, we forget God is inside us watching us. God is surprised by the fact that how can a bird go to the bird trap set by God while the trap is very visible to the naked eye. When scary waves and dark clouds are around us to swallow us alive, too, we never live like a person shielded by God but as any blood and flesh of this earth trembling in fear. We live as commoners of this planet without truthful faith and knowledge of God.

 

We are not only above all powers and authorities of this earth, we are also above all powers and authorities of the dark spirits.  There are governments and their laws that we must respect and follow like any foreign ambassador of a foreign sovereign, but we are not under their feet to shake in their sight. They are under the feet of our king of kings and lord of lords in heaven. God can replace them in a week if God wills it. What they have to do is insult God, our shield, and they will see how their children kill them in their temple. Yes, they are earthly door guards, who keep the burglar out of our house, which we obey when they do their job and we do that with respect, because we have to honor our king in heaven by honoring his earthly servants who keep law and order, but we are children of the king, the house owner, to be under their feet. There are spiritual forces of the dark world working for our destruction in one spirit, but we belong to the power and authority above all authority, and who is going to win against our God?  

 

We are not commoners of this earth, as we are children of God. Nothing happens to us unless the heavenly father wills it and we know the will of the heavenly father is good toward his children. Whatever happens (or does not happen) will be finally worked out for our good. God allowed his only child to be crucified on the cross and that is good parenting because finally, it was to glorify him above all names and authorities. Life of faithful is not all about wealth and health, fortunately however, everything, good or evil that we face, will work for our good at last. What should scare us is not the army of Babylon insulting our God because we believe God is our shield and warier against him. What should scare us is losing the favor of our shield and warrior, the almighty God, because of our sinful nature. The most powerful being, God, is within us, and the scariest thing, our sinful nature, is also us. That is why we need to let God kill us, so we can be reborn in the image of the lord. Our identity has to get right before anything else can go right in us.   

 

Our identity is an issue of heart and reins. What we believe, think, and contemplate, and how we live is dependent on our heart or spirit. Good and evil originate in the heart, and that is why God tests the hearts of people. Yet who has a perfect heart except God, and who is always justified except God? Either in small or large, all of us, which includes human beings and even angels of God, do err.

 

That is why to do his will in heaven and also in earth, the heavenly father uses the Holy Spirit to synchronize everything with his perfection. Heaven is perfectly synchronized with God and God’s will, as a result, is done in heaven. Since children of light, angels of God in heaven, grow up with light, they are perfectly directed and managed by God to always do God’s will. When angels of God watch over the faithful, it is God who is really watching while giving his angels an apprentice training for life. When Angel Michael develops a strategy to fight devils, in the war of hearts, it is God himself making strategy through Angel Michael. That is why all glory in heaven is directed toward God because all in heaven do know God is the hand behind everything good. That is why children of light in heaven do not speak absurdity like saying that I am going to save a million people for God or I am planning to increase spiritual growth by 100% next year, like fools of this earth who do not know God and the spiritual world. They say God will use me to save millions and as a tool in the spiritual growth of his children. God is the hand and you are just a tool, dear. What happens in heaven is God’s will, as God uses his children to do his will through them. Fortunately, God plans to do his will on earth too, as it is in heaven.    

 

On earth, unfortunately, we are children of flesh and darkness. And this is why we have to die and fade away, as nothing is perfect in us, to be reborn with the heart of Jesus. Since our death and our rebirth in the image of Jesus is not complete and since we are not completely guided by the will of the Holy Spirit, however, we do make serious mistakes, here and there, in our entire life. That is why, besides our heart, how we correct mistakes also matters or the nature of our reins also matters. God tests not only our heart, to see if our heart is heavenly but also our reins to know if our reins are correcting and enlightening us in the evening when we reflect on our daily lives.

 

Take King David, for example, the fact that his heart was wrong on the issue of sexual immorality is shown to be true when he took the wife of his humble solder for his comfort. After committing this sin and knowing she is pregnant, he does not rebuke himself but ends up killing the innocent husband to hide his crimes and to own what does not belong to him. His heart and his reins were perfectly evil in this issue, and the punishment of God, as a result, was very serious. Can you imagine how David can see the trap, of breaking God’s law to this level, in front of him and still end up being entrapped by it?  

 

That is why to err is human, as we all are made of flesh and blood with underdeveloped spirits, as the image of Jesus is not fully printed in us. Yet to go the next mile to hide our failures and to sustain what is unsustainable is nothing but trying to deceive God and ourselves. When the people of Israel and Jeddah believed all is good and nothing evil will come on them, against the word of God, they were self-deceiving and probably hoping to deceive God. After all, they had false prophets, who serve as their tail. Whatever foolishness that they choose to self-deceive with, their tails will wag with the voice of approval proclaiming the people’s will is the will of God.

 

The bible is written for our education, if we have the heart and reins which can learn. Jesus said you know what is good from what is evil and what is God’s own from what is devil’s own, not by the size of the congregation, the miracles observed there, or the history of the assembly, but by their fruit. Is our fruit right? That is the question! If our fruit is wrong, we are wrong. It does not matter what type of wiggle the dogs and pigs are performing, evil fruit is from the evil one or the flesh. If I am fighting with my wife, I am sure it is neither from God nor holy, but the evil fruit of the evil one. Something is wrong with us and it needs correction. The fruit is wrong and if you dig deep you will see that we are not following the commandment of the lord and that is why our house is unstable and almost falling. Nothing that is not built on Jesus can stand firm. If we do not fall out, it is because of the grace of God, therefore.

 

Now look at the state of the faith, of the born-again faithful, in this region of Africa, in the rest of Africa, and in the world. Our fruit is not only disappointment by the standard of Jesus and his disciples but also by the fruit of the giants of the faith in this region of Africa. Our history of faith is a mirror image that will easily condemn us as fruits of the evil one. Those giants rose generations who died and suffered for Jesus. We raised spoiled brats, who never stop to cry about coke and cookies, and who are alien to love and holiness. Some also claim there was also many problems back then. Dear, the problem was there when Jesus was on the earth too as his disciples kept fighting with each other. But look at the fruit and see what is wrong with your argument. Few black dots on white cloth is not the same as a few white dots on black cloth, as one is white and the other one is black. 

 

Since our heart is wrong, we failed to follow the commandment of the lord, we, as a result, failed to build Assembly of God, while building assemblies of our flesh and sometimes of the devil. Since God does not approve of the management of the old assemblies, who are taken over by a man of flesh, God took the Holy Spirit from them. Side by side, since God does not approve of the manner and biblical ignorance of the new assemblies, God did not allow them to have the right fruit either.

 

When we see the old assemblies, the Holy Spirit is kicked out by human flesh. That is why, you do not see the old beautiful fruits of the spirit, you see people of flesh pointing fingers while being too earthly themselves. They condom the sinful for his sins, and they worship their ignorance, rather than having the manner, character, lifestyle, and identity of the giants in the past. Those giants were just human like us, why it is hard to be like them rather than speaking about them, therefore? They are in the seat of Moses but they are not Moses and that is the problem. What we need is Moses, the old good thing, not the Pharisees on the seat of Moses crucifying Jesus by the Law of Moses. Moses was a human being just like you, be like him more than pointing fingers at the tax collectors out there. Even from the outside, we used to have the right perception of the faithful, when we see inside it, however, Moses is the illusion of the past as he is gone and now it is the age of Pharisees strategizing to crucify Jesus. The fruit is wrong and the fruit is witness to our failures.

 

Let me ask you a simple question. In the last 8-9 years, how far do you change to be like Jesus? When you see the old you from 8-9 years ago, what did you improve spiritually? Are you growing up dear? Is love increasing, is your humility increasing, is your kindness increasing, and are you becoming more like Jesus, slowly? So how can you talk about the wood in the other eye, rather than removing the wood in your eye? You are not the solution, dear, you need a solution for yourself before you can help others. First change you, and look to those who come before you and imitate them as stepping stones to imitate Jesus. Then after, your eye will see better, to guide the new fools of this age toward salvation. This is why the old assemblies are not the solution.

 

Now let us focus on the new kids in the block, speaking about health and wealth. When the children of David became disobedient, it was the will of God to split the kingdom of David into two. Desire of God is to denounce Jerusalem in the open because their wine is mixed with water and their silver is mixed with other metals. The desire of God is not to return Israel to the desert of disobedience where they worship the two calves of wealth and health. We can talk theology of this and that but there are things you do not discuss with children and you are children at best and the devil's own at worst. You are not grown up to learn grown-up things. Just look at the fruit and tell me if that is good fruit. Do you believe what you are producing is good? Do you know Jesus at all?  

 

We used to be known for honesty, kindness, good manners, good behavior, and holiness, now we are jokes of the devil. We used to hunt gates of hell and our presence used to cast them out, but now gates of hell are running us. Yet, in this age, what you think is: how to buy land and a house by collecting money from the sinful Syrian generals you assemble as followers?

 

What is funnier is that you think you have power on earth. You feed your children by selling God. If you go this low for bread and water, where is your power? Dear, real power is when God prepares your daily meal in the center of people who hate you, and anoint you in the middle of brothers who love to hate you. Real power is having God as your shield and warier. Your anointment is honor, but not begging for food from sinners by selling God. That is your shame. Poverty is a evil thing, it can turn the child of God into the trash of materialism. That is why not only our heart is wrong, because we lack a proper foundation, but also our reins are evil as we try to cover sin by sin. 

   

The solution, therefore, is neither in the old Pharisees nor in the new Pharisees of this age, but on Moses. We have to be like Moses. Change starts with us, we have to change first before we can change others. You collect the old Pharisees, they will point fingers 24/7, but Moses has been dead for decades. Dears, Moses was a man like us, be like Moses first. Moses is a stepping stone to Jesus. You collect the young Pharisees; they act like powerful beings, forgetting those old Pharisees used to think as such too. The only one who can stand firm is the one built on the foundation of Jesus. To be built on a foundation of Jesus is to listen to the word of God and to live by it. Only those who are built on this foundation, in the eye of God, will stand firm.

 

After addressing those who belong to yesterday, let me address those who are workers of tomorrow. What is missing in this age is Jesus. What is missing is that people who listen to the commandments of the lord and who live by those commandments. What is needed is people who imitate Jesus by spiritually growing toward identity and image of Jesus. What God needs is people who turn the other cheek, what God needs is people who love their enemy, what God needs is people who love their fellow faithful, what God needs is people who love their neighbors, and most importantly what God needs is people who love God to the limit. What God needs is righteous and holy people who can shine his light and salt toward the world. What God needs is Jesus look like.

 

What we need is not sinful people pretending to be righteous or righteousness being downgraded to our standard of righteousness, this is what the old Pharisees do most of the time. They speak right and act right but it does not take much effort to see the wolf inside them, just like many politicians. What we need is the Moses thing, the pure thing, and the fruit of the Holy Spirit thing. If anyone wants the future, dress for the future. Dress Jesus and imitate him through the spiritual growth process. If people point to your current sins, show them the old you, and ask them what is new in their life. Just keep growing, and be a better person from time to time. In this process, if Jesus picks you for service, do not lose Jesus then after, as the spiritual growth process is an eternal process. If not, you have Jesus built in you and God is smiling in you with a smile of approval. The power to change the world is not outside of us but inside us. That is why Jesus has to grow in us before it can be shared with others.

 

It is not us who can heal the temple of God. We cannot even manage ourselves, our family, and our children right. Only God himself can correct the temple of God, which is us. What we can be is ready to be the temple of God, by God’s standard rather than our standard, so we can participate as trainees to see God’s work firsthand. Being ready means changing ourselves in the image of Jesus, so the wood can be removed from our eyes, and we can see better into the eyes of our brothers and sisters to build them rather than destroy them.