Veiled Truth
Today, he’s still smiling. As long as he can keep the truth hidden, he can still hold captivity over the souls in this world: men and women feel lost, cut off from God’s presence, angry at His perceived distance, darkened in their emotions, feeling dead on the inside - people who self-medicate every pain through any and all means, or spend endless hours trying to make themselves good instead of trusting the only One who is truly good and Whose love can change them from the inside out, and bring their soul to peace.
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But how does one trust this God, know this God, be loved by this God? You know Him through a relationship with His Son. In Matthew 16:15-17, Jesus asked His disciples this question: “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven!" Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son; that whosoever believes on Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." Jesus said in John 3:3, "No one can see the Kingdom of God unless they are born again." The apostle Paul spoke of this being "born again" experience in Romans 10:9 saying, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved [born again]".
If you have been born again, you know that you are a child of God (1 John 5:19, Romans 8:15): one who is able to enter into His presence (Ephesians 3:1-12, Hebrews 10:21-22). Although once you were cut off from God’s heart and the voice of He and His Son, you have been redeemed, saved, born again (Ezekiel 36:26, John 3:3-18, Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9) by a belief in Jesus as the Son of God, and by trusting in His sacrificial death as payment for the SIN that stained your darkened soul, spirit, and body. You have been brought back into fellowship with God the Father, Christ the Son, and now have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit living inside of your human spirit, where there is now a light turned on (John 14:16-17). You have been crucified with Christ at the moment of salvation (Galatians 2:20, 5:24), so all of your sins are nailed to the cross with Him. You have been buried with Christ at the moment of your obedience to follow His command through water baptism (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12), signifying a death to your old self. Finally, you are raised up and seated with Christ in heavenly places, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion of darkness, as you continuously come to understand who you are and the authority you have in Christ (Eph. 1:18-21; Eph. 2:6; Mark 16:17). You are in a bubble with Christ because the Holy Spirit lives inside of you, giving you 24/7 access to the heart of God, the presence of Christ, and all the treasures of the Kingdom of God. God’s presence inside of you causes you to hunger and thirst for Him and so you seek Him by acknowledging His constant presence, by talking to Him through prayer and by renewing your mind through His written Word as well as His spoken words. Does this sound familiar to you? Does this describe your life? If this does not sound like you, there are a couple possible reasons why it may not.
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First, you may not be born again. I knew a man who went to church with his wife and became a deacon for fifteen years before he realized he had never accepted Jesus as His Lord and Savior. He loved the community. It helped his marriage to be with his wife in church. The importance of his position gave him validation. But he had no one-on-one relationship with Jesus. The gospels tell us of four reasons why people hear the truth but do not receive it. First, you may have heard the message of salvation, but did not understand it and the demonic realm assaulted your thinking to the point that you denied its truth. Or, you did not pursue the knowledge of God through His Word enough to remove the stones of the pain of rejection, unforgiveness, impurity, and the like from the soil of your heart. When persecution or trials came, you quickly blamed Him and fell away from the truth. OR, you heard the truth but you did not want to give up a lifestyle you still enjoyed to embrace loving boundaries that appeared to you as rules. Or, you’ve been too busy with the pursuit of success or wealth to allow the truth to bear fruit in your heart (Matthew 13, Mark 4, Luke 8). These examples are from the parable of the sower, and they illustrate an important point. We can grow up in church, hear the gospel, respond through baptism, attend and serve to this day - but if we find that we are doing it to be acceptable to others or to God, there is a chance that we have yet to experience the life-changing, transforming love of God. The day we experience suffering through tragedy, trauma, or loss; we are thrown into a sea of doubt, and we question whether we can really trust this God. No longer content with our limited knowledge and experience of Him, we are suddenly gripped by fear and insecurity - sometimes to the point of entirely re-framing our beliefs in order to find peace again. It is called SURVIVAL. It happens every day. Yet, Jesus is still saying, "Come to Me."
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Take a moment to watch this interesting 5 minute video.
If you are already born again, and pursuing a personal, experiential relationship with Jesus, then skip to the next paragraph. But, if you just realized that you may not be truly born again, you would like to receive Christ, and have an opportunity to get to know God through Him, you absolutely can. If you would like to discover your purpose on this earth and know there is nothing you must do outside of accepting His sacrifice for sins and enjoying a relationship with Him to spend eternal life with Him, you can. If you want to live in the freedom of taking your eyes of off your sin and mistakes to focus on Him, you can. If you want to serve out of sheer gratitude, and the joy of partnering with an all-powerful, benevolent King, you can. If you want to learn to obey Him in all things so that the enemy is blocked from having a tactical advantage over you, you can. If you're still in doubt about whether people have a real experience and relationship with Jesus Christ, click on the button below, otherwise (or after you return to this page) consider praying the following prayer with me.
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“Father, I am a sinner and, whether or not I have ever heard the message of what love compelled You to do for me, I've never felt compelled to turn from my sin before now. I didn't really understand trusting Jesus’ sacrificial death enough to bring me into a relationship with You, to discover who You really are, or how much You care for me. I didn’t read or understand the promises you made to me in Your Word. I did not understand that a life that includes You is better than what this world has to offer. I've never considered giving you that chance. I never allowed this truth to take root in my heart. But, I get it now, and I want to do this for real this time. Thank You for patiently waiting for me. Please forgive me. I know that I am guilty by association, being born as a son or daughter of Adam and Eve, and responsible for the penalty of sin, which is death. I believe that You sent Jesus into the world to die in my place and to pay for my sin problem. I see that He willingly did that for me, because He loved me, and because You loved me before I was even born into this life of Sin. So, I accept His payment for my sin, and I am grateful. I realize now that only someone who IS LOVE could have endured the pain of rejection and the weight of everyone’s sin, in addition to a cruel death on a cross. I realize that Jesus never deserved my punishment, but I now realize He willingly took it to show me how much You love me and want to know me. So, I receive Your love through the sacrificial death of Your Son, Jesus. I receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to empower me to give Jesus the praise He deserves, and to live the life that honors His sacrifice. I want to learn to yield to the Holy Spirit so that I do not continue to walk in the weakness of my flesh. I want to boldly use Jesus’ name and the power of my testimony to overcome the power of evil. I receive salvation right now, and declare that I am now saved, born again, born of the Spirit, and that I am Your child. I always have been, and never knew it! I was lost, but You did not stop calling to me, and today, I am thankful I heard You, and found You. Thank You for saving me. I choose to take the time to know You, to listen for Your voice, to receive Your strength and Your healing love. I want to spend the days I have left on this earth to discover and use the gifts You have given me from the day I was born to glorify Jesus and to advance Your Kingdom. I pray this by faith in the Name of Jesus! Amen.”
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If you are born again, to this day, you may still be quite young in your faith. Would you call yourself a mature Christian? Has your mind been sanctified through the truth of God’s Word? Or, do you still struggle daily with negative thoughts or beliefs. Perhaps you are stuck in the repetition of stubborn behavior. This comes from a battle going on in an unrenewed, undiciplined mind: something the Bible calls "the flesh", and a part of you that always wants its way. If you're living your life in denial of the pain you've carried from the past, even if you've been practicing your faith for a while, then perhaps you have only scratched the surface of what is available to you. Ask yourself, "Do I blame God for not being there, or coming through for me, even though I cannot say that I fully understand His ways or His timing? Do my choices keep the door open to my enemy, blocking God’s blessings in my life? Do my past hurts still cause me to doubt that God is considering me? If you answered yes to any of those statements, then you may be experiencing little more than “fire insurance." 1 Corinthians 3:15 says that you are like one who is saved, but whose good works can become burned up: one who makes it to heaven, “barely escaping the flames.” And not because you're unworthy, but because your wounds are getting in the way of what God is trying to give you, and where He is trying to lead you. Guess what? You do not HAVE to be more than this, you GET to be more than this!
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Even if you read the questions and feel good about God's love and intentions toward you, maybe there is simply a mountain that needs to be conquered or moved in your life at this time. Maybe you've been walking through a dark valley, and you simply need to crawl up into the arms of the Father and surrender the hardships and pain.
In any case, this journey is a great start to deepening your relationship with God, and opening your heart to Him for healing.
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NOTE: If you are still in doubt about Jesus being alive, well, and working in the lives of people around the world, take a moment and watch a few testimonies about people experiencing Him.