The Holy One calls me this morning. A storm is brewing outside. Winds are starting to rev up and the gentle balmy breeze is about to morph into something so much more.....well......threatening.
The weather forecaster has called for a storm front that may bring a fast end to fall and a brutal introduction to winter this year. The Holy One has some words of warning just like the weatherman.
"My Word is Truth....all of it. You cannot pick and choose what to accept and what to reject out of My Word. All the promises are yes and amen for you, but all the consequences are yours should you choose to reject, deny, defy or ignore my warnings." The Holy One gently reminds me that "love warns".
His peace flows to me and I think it strange in that His Words are so sobering. My heart is anchored to His love. What is He saying to me that represents warning?
I do embrace the fullness of His Word. I do believe everything His Word speaks and represents. I have lived the majority of my life in trials that only serve to prove His Word is true.
Lately, He has been taking me into the deeper issues of His Grace. The depth of it who can fathom? We live and breathe in the "Age of Grace". Unlike any other time in the history of man, this "Age of Grace" brings the potential to be in the inexpressible unity with the Trinity, the Triune Godhead who created everything. Not just everything we see and know, but everything...period!
He says it again, "Love warns". II Peter 3:3-7 says, "By the same Word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgement and destruction of ungodly men".
Just as in the days of Noah, who, upon the command of Sovereign Holiness, built an ark to escape the judgement by water upon wicked men, we have been given a greater "Ark" in which to survive the ultimate judgement by fire that will come upon the whole earth. That greater "Ark" is Jesus.
In Christ Jesus, is the only place of escape for what lies beyond the "Age of Grace". Grace has allowed every person to find Him, because "God is not wanting any to perish but everyone to come to repentance" II Peter 3:9.
Love warned Noah and he listened. Genesis 6-9 and Hebrews 11:7. And through the story of Noah we can see Divine rescue. Love even warned the Great Pharaoh of Egypt, but he ignored the warnings.
How many times did God send Moses into the Pharaoh's presence? How many times did God provide the evidence the He is the Sovereign God of all creation? How many time did God through Moses warn?
The Pharaoh was so arrogant in his own power and self-rule, he chose to rebel rather than submit to the One who held his next breath. Even if we don't talk about Grace before the Cross, Grace was extended even back then to the Pharaoh who refused it. He drowned in the very sea that provided great and Divine deliverance for God's people, Israel.
Love warns and consequences follow disobedience.
So what is the deeper point for me today? I go back in my mind to the Garden of Eden where it all began. Love warned, but the arch enemy of Heaven floated a lie that Eve believed, "You won't really have to pay a consequence if you take and eat from the forbidden tree". What Satan really did was call God a liar. Love warned and rebellion rejected the warning: Consequences follow disobedience.
Many believers today refuse to call out sin. We refuse to change our own ways and so we refuse to warn others about pending consequences. We are so misguided about the Grace message that we fail to point out the reasons for it.
Somehow, we, like the Pharaoh and Eve, believe we can escape the consequences of our self-exhaled defiance of Sovereignty. That fatal mistake is being played out over and over, from generation to generation. Our depraved thinking spurred on by the enemy of our souls rejects the Truth of God's Word. Sin brings the consequence of pain, sorrow and ultimately death.
Grace is found only in God's Chosen Savior, Jesus Christ. It's not about pleasant circumstances that we may experience or long for, but rather the brutal torturous death to the sin within, that Jesus paid for on the Cross. By the subsequent release of the Holy Spirit we can partake of His Divine nature and escape the ultimate judgement coming upon the earth.
Love warns and Grace has been given. However, there is a day on the calendar of our lives when, if rejected, individual judgement will come. It might be today, it might be tomorrow. The question is "Are you ready?"
The "Ark" is available. Jesus stands before you with open arms as an open door. But will you believe and come in?
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
The weather forecaster has called for a storm front that may bring a fast end to fall and a brutal introduction to winter this year. The Holy One has some words of warning just like the weatherman.
"My Word is Truth....all of it. You cannot pick and choose what to accept and what to reject out of My Word. All the promises are yes and amen for you, but all the consequences are yours should you choose to reject, deny, defy or ignore my warnings." The Holy One gently reminds me that "love warns".
His peace flows to me and I think it strange in that His Words are so sobering. My heart is anchored to His love. What is He saying to me that represents warning?
I do embrace the fullness of His Word. I do believe everything His Word speaks and represents. I have lived the majority of my life in trials that only serve to prove His Word is true.
Lately, He has been taking me into the deeper issues of His Grace. The depth of it who can fathom? We live and breathe in the "Age of Grace". Unlike any other time in the history of man, this "Age of Grace" brings the potential to be in the inexpressible unity with the Trinity, the Triune Godhead who created everything. Not just everything we see and know, but everything...period!
He says it again, "Love warns". II Peter 3:3-7 says, "By the same Word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgement and destruction of ungodly men".
Just as in the days of Noah, who, upon the command of Sovereign Holiness, built an ark to escape the judgement by water upon wicked men, we have been given a greater "Ark" in which to survive the ultimate judgement by fire that will come upon the whole earth. That greater "Ark" is Jesus.
In Christ Jesus, is the only place of escape for what lies beyond the "Age of Grace". Grace has allowed every person to find Him, because "God is not wanting any to perish but everyone to come to repentance" II Peter 3:9.
Love warned Noah and he listened. Genesis 6-9 and Hebrews 11:7. And through the story of Noah we can see Divine rescue. Love even warned the Great Pharaoh of Egypt, but he ignored the warnings.
How many times did God send Moses into the Pharaoh's presence? How many times did God provide the evidence the He is the Sovereign God of all creation? How many time did God through Moses warn?
The Pharaoh was so arrogant in his own power and self-rule, he chose to rebel rather than submit to the One who held his next breath. Even if we don't talk about Grace before the Cross, Grace was extended even back then to the Pharaoh who refused it. He drowned in the very sea that provided great and Divine deliverance for God's people, Israel.
Love warns and consequences follow disobedience.
So what is the deeper point for me today? I go back in my mind to the Garden of Eden where it all began. Love warned, but the arch enemy of Heaven floated a lie that Eve believed, "You won't really have to pay a consequence if you take and eat from the forbidden tree". What Satan really did was call God a liar. Love warned and rebellion rejected the warning: Consequences follow disobedience.
Many believers today refuse to call out sin. We refuse to change our own ways and so we refuse to warn others about pending consequences. We are so misguided about the Grace message that we fail to point out the reasons for it.
Somehow, we, like the Pharaoh and Eve, believe we can escape the consequences of our self-exhaled defiance of Sovereignty. That fatal mistake is being played out over and over, from generation to generation. Our depraved thinking spurred on by the enemy of our souls rejects the Truth of God's Word. Sin brings the consequence of pain, sorrow and ultimately death.
Grace is found only in God's Chosen Savior, Jesus Christ. It's not about pleasant circumstances that we may experience or long for, but rather the brutal torturous death to the sin within, that Jesus paid for on the Cross. By the subsequent release of the Holy Spirit we can partake of His Divine nature and escape the ultimate judgement coming upon the earth.
Love warns and Grace has been given. However, there is a day on the calendar of our lives when, if rejected, individual judgement will come. It might be today, it might be tomorrow. The question is "Are you ready?"
The "Ark" is available. Jesus stands before you with open arms as an open door. But will you believe and come in?
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
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