Divine Nature

Divine nature is not shaped by man.1Acts 17:27-31 BSB  God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.  ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’  As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’  Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.  Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all men everywhere to repent.  For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

The divine nature is whole; it’s not a smorgasbord that I can take what I like and leave what I don’t.  I must accept all or none of it!

As I grow in Christ I grow in the divine nature.2Pr 4:18 NIV The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.  When the Holy Spirit reveals truth to me if I don’t embrace it am I rejecting all truth?  Am I also rejecting Christ because He is the Truth?3Joh 14:6 NIV  Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.

Without Christ, I have no authority and no power.  Have I not unplugged myself from the source when I reject truth?  Is it possible to partially filter truth?  Isn’t that what satan did to tempt Jesus?4Lu 4:1-13 AV  And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.  And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.  And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.  If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.  And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.  And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.  And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

If I have truth and a lie what do I have?  Is it not all a lie, like water mixed with poison is it not all poisonous?

Certainly this is a call to holiness!5Le 11:45 AV  For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.  Holiness isn’t about being good enough its about being one with Christ Jesus.  How can I be one with Him if I don’t embrace 100% truth; is He not 100% truth?6Joh 14:6 NIV  Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.How can I embrace Jesus 100% if I don’t know Him?

Have I embraced all that has been revealed to me?  How can I expect to receive more, having rejected what has already been given me?

 

How can I receive something I have rejected?  Have I not built a wall and said, “No more of this”?  When I receive a guest in my home can I welcome part of him and tell him to leave the rest outside?

If I say to my guest, “You’re welcome in my home but leave your eyes outside”, have I not rejected the whole person?

When I stop accepting truth am I not left with a lie?  Cut off from the truth, like a branch that has been cut from a tree, will I not wither and die?  When I reject the truth I have embraced a lie; can there be any middle ground?

Like poison there is no life in a lie.

 

Jesus is the life there is no death in Him.  Have I invited all of Him in?  If not, who do I hold in my heart if it is not Jesus the Christ?

There is no deception in Christ; the amount of deception within me is an indication how far from Christ I am.

Deception is hard to see in myself.  My hard heart has blinded my eyes and stopped up my ears.

My Prayer:  God please soften my heart; give me a heart of flesh.7Eze 36:26 AV  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.  Please remove the scales from my eyes8Ac 9:18 AV  And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. and open my ears that I may hear Your voice, see Your mighty works and humble myself in Your presence.  Let me know the depths of Your love and experience the magnitude of Your forgiveness.9Lu 7:47 NIV  Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven— for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”  Burn hot within me and remove the fear of being consumed.  Burn away all that is not You.

Remember who You created me to be and, in Your mercy, close the gap between who I am through conviction and the gift of repentance.  Please have mercy on me that I may walk in agreement with You.  Amen.

03.06.12