Under bondage or promise?

John 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

4  Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?

5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

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Genesis 17:15  ¶And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

16  And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

17  Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

18  And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

19  And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

Galatians 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.

23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.

Abraham’s children; one born of a bond-woman  (Hagar – Ishmael) and one born of a free-woman (Sarah – Isaac) and of a promise from God

Jeremiah 1:5  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

We are born physically into this world coming from where we know not, but we are born as a subject to this world and are under bondage to this, or of this, world. I the Lord knew us before we were born and he will know us after our death then this life we have here is but a passing of time, and we know that time is nothing to the Lord.

Joel 2:28  ¶And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

Acts 2:17  And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

We are prophets today through the receiving of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ by the Father? God knew us before we came into this world.

We are, upon birth, under bondage to this world, physically, socially, under the control of Man and society. We are born under bondage.

When we receive the Holy Spirit we are “born again”; we receive that which is[was] ours [before we were born]. Coming once again into union with the God, the Father of us all. We are no longer under bondage of this existence for we are come to understand that we are not of this existence, but only reside here for a short time.

Galatians 5:1  ¶Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Our purpose here has nothing to do with this world and its demands and needs but only with the others of us who are yet to understand what we understand.

Luke 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

John 10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

Psalms 95:7  ¶For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To-day if ye will hear his voice,

We are God’s Word in this world;
We are His voice speaking to the hearts of Man.

Romans 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

17  ¶And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

We who are born again are born of the promise of God.

Therefore, we are no longer born of the bondage as in our physical birth, we are born (again) of the promise of God.

So that answers the question; but brings forth other questions.

Being no longer born of bondage (to this world) we are longer subject to the bondage of this world neither spiritually, socially, nor physically. But to do God’s work we do need to reside in this world and therefore we do subject ourselves to the physical aspects of this world and societies that we live in.; but we do it not on not on the world’s terms/standards but on our terms, through the application of the Holy Spirit, using what we are taught from and by God’s Word.

And to enable us to do God’s work we need to know God’s Word.

2 Timothy 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

17  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

If we don’t read God’s Word
we don’t learn God’s Word.

How are we heirs of GOD

(I have condensed verses from Galatians 4 for brevity but I encourage you to read the whole chapter about four times so that you get the fuller meaning of what it is saying)

Gal 4:1
... Child differs not from a servant though he be lord of all.
:4
... when the fullness of time was come...
:5
To redeem them...that we might receive the adoption of sons.
:6
... crying Abba, Father... in our hearts
:7
... no more a servant, but a son...
... an heir of God through Christ

We are heirs of God throught Christ!
Without Christ we are not heirs/sons/daughters of God.

Christ is an active, mandatory part of the transaction/agreement/contract between us and God that enabales us to be heirs of God and as such to access His power to enable us to do what He asks of us.

Therefore, we need His Holy Spirit before any of this can work. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of adoption.

Romans 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Does God need belief?

God does not need our belief in Him for Him to exist; He exists anyway. But, we do need to believe in Him before we can access His power.

Quick thought on 2 Corinthians 6

2 Corinthians 6 is one of those chapters that tells us who and what we are. I suggest that you read the 18 verses from 1-18 that tells us who/what we are and why. Then read the verses 18-1 (reverse order). Sometimes knowing the why before the who and what is helpful to our understanding. I know it helps me.

Reality ?

The film The Matrix is closer to reality than most might think. Although the "reality" as depicted in the film is as far from the true reality as east is from west.

We live in a pretense that was created by God. It is called Creation. In this pretense God created all things in it to follow rules and laws. From the extremely small to the extremely large, all objects in creation are doing as God set down that they would do. That is except for Mankind, because God gave Mankind free will. With free will Mankind has the ability to go against the rules and laws of God.

In Genisis 3:5 the serpent says to Eve "... ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil". But we are not "as gods" and were never intended to be, nor can ever in anyway be, as gods.

"In Isaiah 55:8-9 we are told by the Word of God that, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways" and "My ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts". Mankind does not have the design capacity to think like God nor comprehend His thoughts. It is beyond our capabilities.

We can only endevour, and strive, to be Christ-like, which is what we are called to be by His Word, as it says in Ephesians 4:13, "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge fo the Son of God unto a perfect man, utot the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

What's the big thing about money?

What's the big thing with money?

Isa 55:1
"... he that has no money, come you, and buy, and eat, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price"

What is one of our most precious resources; one that we tend to take for granted, but always seem to run out of, and never seem to have enought of? Time.

We say, "Time is money".

What is being said here in Isaiah is that money need not be spent with the LORD (I'm not talking about tithing), but time; your time.

Your time spent with the Lord is time well spent. That time spent returns to you more than money can buy.

In the world today a general "rule of thumb" is that the more you spend on a product or service, the higher the quality that you recieve. It therefore stands to reason that with the time you "spend" with the Lord(reading His Word, praying in the Spirit for yourself and others, wittnessing in its various forms, etc.), the more time you spend the higher quality of life you can expect.

Remembering that we are asked to become Christ-like (for we cannot become God-like) and to put the Lord first in all things and that His will becomes our will, and that He will grant you the desires of your heart which is to be like Jesus.

As we become more and more Christ-like the quality of our lives becomes better and better; the Lord providing for, and meeting, *all* our needs.

The key point here is spending time with the Lord. It is a mandatory thing for us so that we can develop in the things of the Lord and work towards our goal of being Christ-like.

A Jar of Mayonnaise and two cups of coffee

I have seen this concept before but his is the best so far...


When things in your life seem, almost too much to handle, when 24 Hours in a day is not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students, if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.
He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided,
'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things - family,
children, health, Friends, and Favorite passions –
Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, Your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else --The small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' He continued,
there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are important to you.

So...

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play With your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

'Take care of the golf balls first -- the things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled.
'I'm glad you asked'.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'