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The big cities in this state are envy, strife,

Phil. 2:3, “[Let] nothing [be done] through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”

James 3;16, “For where envying and strife [is], there [is] confusion and every evil work.”

Envy: ζῆλος zēlos – “(zelos from zeo = to be hot or fervent) describes an eagerness and ardent interest in pursuit of something and can have a good sense but in context (and as used most often in NT) here zelos has an evil sense, meaning envy, jealousy, anger.”

Strife: ἐριθεία eritheia – “denotes “ambition, self-seeking, rivalry,” self-will being an underlying idea in the word; hence it denotes “party-making.” It is derived, not from eris, “strife,” but from erithos, “a hireling;” hence the meaning of “seeking to win followers,” “factions,”

Confusion: ἀκαταστασία akatastasia – “”instability,” (a, negative, kata, “down,” stasis, “a standing”), denotes “a state of disorder, disturbance, confusion, tumult,”

I was reading in Philippians 2 this morning and Blue Letter Bible took me to James 3:16 where I discovered the Greek word for confusion. Apart from Christ, in our fallen nature, we are unstable and in a state of disarray. Our souls are unregenerate and dead. They have no life, Eph. 2:1. We are separated from God’s love & life energy through His Son because of the hardening of our hearts and ignorance of the truth, Eph. 4:18. Before Christ, we are willfully ignorantly suppressing righteousness, Rom. 1:18 (NIV), “Wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness..” We suppressed righteousness in fear, but His perfect, beautiful, fulfilling love thrusts it out. There is no room for it.

1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”

Perfect love, by its nature, habitually thrusts and throws out the imperfect. It builds up and edifies 1 Cor. 8:1. See The beauty of nullification. The imperfect could be the fragments of the old nature and lack that creates fear and separation from His love & life. These fragments of the old man are nullified, obsolesced, absorbed and absolved by the revelation of Christ and we grow from pattern to pattern, image to image unto the fullness of the Godhead bodily in us, Col. 1:19.

The previous blog, Radical self-blame, was about intrinsic self-condemnation and self-blame prior to knowing and being IN Christ.

Now, IN Christ, there is NO condemnation EVER. Thank you King Jesus for your blood Lord.

Once again, to reiterate what John said,

1 John 3:21, “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.”

Now, the writer of Hebrews says:

Hebrews 13:9, “For it is good that the heart be established by grace..”

Paul says to the Thessalonians:

1 Thess. 3:13, “To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.”

1 Thess. 3:13 (Aramaic), “And may He stand your hearts with no accusation in holiness before God the Father…“

Established (950) (bebaioo from  bébaios = sure, fixed, standing firm on the feet, steadfast, maintaining firmness or solidity. In classical Greek from the 5th cent. B.C. bebaios acquires the meaning of firm, durable, unshakeable, sure, reliable, certain; and in the legal sphere, valid, legal <> bebaios is derived from baino = fit to tread on = having a firm foundation) is a verb which means to make sure or certain, to prove valid or reliable or to verify and (in legal language) to guarantee.

So, what does this mean, “Establish your hearts?”

I recall a few months ago waking up in the morning. I saw something like a shadow over my heart. I think of 1 John 3:21, 2 Cor. 3:15 and Eph. 4:18. I believe this was the faint shadow (at best) of self-imposed law and the Lord was revealing this.

This is the amazing thing. Once our hearts are established in Him by His grace through revelation of Him in us, watch out. He entered the Holy of Holies by His own blood to be our High Priest in the order of Melchizedek in order that no more sacrifice would Ever be needed again. He sat down ONCE. When He died on the cross He said, “Shelem.” “It is finished and complete in every way.” Now, this High Priest offers His grace to our hearts.

This grace, Eph. 1:19, established, unshakeable, reliable and certain in our hearts doesn’t go away once established. It is an eternal establishment. Imagine that. Eternal establishment. This established heart will also be beneficial in the life to come, 1 Tim. 4:8. This establishing occurs by the revelation of Christ in us and by growing in grace and the knowledge of Him by hearing and hearing the word of truth.

In Him, our hearts can be irreprehensible, unblameable and without accusation even if there is reason. He is that big. The word big is a limited English word that cannot contain His goodness. We don’t even know what that means that He is good? Our definition of good is not His definition. Would you die for the people who blew up the Sears Towers because you love them? He did. He is good. He is worthy to be praised.

Establishing our hearts in Him by grace gives no room anymore for self-blame. It can no longer be in our nature. In Him, we partake of His divine nature and ARE righteousness. Our triune being IS being sanctified by revelation of Him through the Spirit of God unto righteousness unto holiness and being who we are in Him since before the foundations of the earth. Love cannot hold records of wrong against itself. It cannot be malicious towards itself. That is not its nature.

Eph. 1:4-5, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will…”

Romans 7:24, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

Ephesians 2:15, “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, [even] the law of commandments [contained] in ordinances; for to make in himself of two one new man, [so] making peace;”

John says in his first epistle, 1 John 3:21, “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.”

The Greek word for “does not condemn us” is καταγινώσκω kataginōskō. It means “”to know something against”. It uses the prefix “kata-“. This means “to diffuse”. In our old nature, prior to Christ, I was unable to forgive myself. I did not know what true forgiveness was. True forgiveness does not think about itself, but the other (Gal. 5:14) and would even lay down its life regardless of the circumstances on the basis of supernatural, unconditional love, Rom. 5:8. I am continually amazed at the Lord’s goodness and love, Eph. 3:18.

What I have noticed over the years is that the old nature strives and attempts to attach to old thoughts that are waxing old and decaying away, Heb. 8:13, 2 Cor. 5:17, Col. 2:14. It attempts to do so through thoughts. It is like a zombie that has no power. Death had and has no power whatsoever over Christ in me. I believe even if the old nature thinks it has something by attaching to a thought that in reality and Truth does it really matter? No, it doesn’t. Wow. God is omniscient. He knows. Christ’s work is a complete work in every way. Now, in Him, we have rest from our works, Heb. 4:9. The truth is in Jesus, Eph. 4:21. Truth stands alone. It does not prove itself and is not compelled to do so. It does not strive to attach itself to something else because it is complete and perfect. It is not in lack. Christ, the inner man, in me, is Truth and is not moved by “every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, [and] cunning craftiness”, Eph. 4:14.

Paul prayed in 1 Cor. 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

Building on Set your affection..

Short quote from the above blog,

Phroneo includes a person’s affections and will as well as one’s reasoning.  In other words phroneo refers not simply to intellectual activity but also to direction and purpose of heart.

I could easily see the phroneo affection¹ (Col. 3:2) as a catalyst to people who have high highs and low lows. The psychiatric term is bi-polar. I believe the biblical term is carnal minded, Rom. 8:6,7. It is an emotional and mental roller coaster, but really is spiritual. The person would be habitually letting themselves down or fulfilling themselves creating these highs and lows. We cannot fix ourselves. A whole pattern of a man is necessary in order to know what wholeness is. This pattern is the revelation of Christ in us. The new person in us.

Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick (dysfunctional), but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”

Jesus is the longing fulfilled in us. He is life, John 14:6. He is the passive, ever-eager, perpetual, joyful expectation in us. He is the Hope of Glory! Col. 1:27, Rom. 5:2, Eph. 1:18. This hope predicates on His faith in us because “His faith is the substance of things hoped for.” I have hope because of faith. In this, a righteousness is revealed from faith to faith. Christ is our righteousness.

A good tangent. So, hope deferred is when I could see the “the manifestations of the flesh” occur. And they don’t have to. We have grace. I believe these manifestations of the old nature are fear-based and rooted in self-imposed law of the old nature.

Gal. 5:19-21. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Depending on the focus of the  phroneo affection¹, soulish-disappointment can physically manifest through fear. Fear occurred possibly because a lie was thought to be true, Rom. 7:11, Gal. 5:1. The just shall live by His faith in them. We have not been given a Spirit of fear again unto bondage and a yoke of slavery.

In this soulish-disappointment, peptides are created. See blog Peptides are miniscule pieces of protein. Dopamine and serotonin levels in the body are effected. “Dopamine is also associated with a person’s mood and cognitive qualities such as attention.²” “When serotonin levels become unbalanced, a person may experience depression.³” “A psychological reward is a process that reinforces behavior⁴.” So, through fear and self-imposed law which creates the fear and empowers the old man the manifestations of the flesh occur. There is a potential for strongholds or yokes. In Christ, the strongholds and yokes are demolished. He nailed the power of self-imposed law to the cross. Our old man died with Him to the power of the law. Thank you Lord.

A psychologist cannot save me, but the High Priest in the order of Melchizedek does. Jesus means “salvation.” Salvation is triune: spirit, soul & body.

Colossians 3:2, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”

Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”

Col. 3:2 paraphrase: “Through the enabling ability of God by His faith in you, habitually (present tense active voice) set and commit (imperative mood), your thought patterns 2 Cor. 10:5, orientation, heart purpose Rom. 1:5, and direction on things that are heaven-based, things that are spiritual in Christ.”

The word affection can mean,

• to feel, to think
  • to have an opinion of one’s self, think of one’s self

Set…mind (5426) (phroneo from phren = literally the diaphragm and thus that which curbs or restrains. Figuratively, phren is the supposed seat of all mental and emotional activity) refers to the basic orientation, bent, and thought patterns of the mind, rather than to the mind or intellect itself (that is the Greek word nous). Phroneo includes a person’s affections and will as well as his reasoning.  In other words phroneo refers not simply to intellectual activity but also to direction and purpose of heart.

The Greek verb tense is present tense, active voice, imperative mood. This means the individual sets his or her opinion of themselves habitually over and over again in a committed fashion.

The next question is why would I set my affection on things below? Possibly because my value is where I place it. Reminds me of Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” I believe the Lord was addressing motive once again.

I have discovered that at times, the “phroneo” of the old man attempts to take responsibility for other people’s feelings and doesn’t want to hurt them. In turn, this puts pre-eminence with that person. This is idolatry. Wow, look at 3 verses down in Col. 3:5, “…which is idolatry.” This also reminds me of the motive behind Another gŏs’pəl. That is to please man and his ego.

My mother died when I was 13. My father was an alcoholic and workaholic at times. I am beginning to see the correlation here.  A little boy would naturally take responsibility for his parent’s feelings because he doesn’t want them to leave or abandon him. During my childhood, I recall saying I felt like the parent. I was a nurse to my handicap mother and a co-worker of support for my father when he would binge drink. As a child, the thought came and went that my mom may die one day. I was not emotionally connected with my father until years later. Overall, I also felt this was unfair and bore resentment towards my parents. Now, the Lord has put His understanding, grace and love in my heart for my mom and dad. I am thankful for them in my life and have no regrets. It is what it is. I’m sure this is a redundant story on the planet. I am not alone. Thank God. Father, thank you for your Son.

The lie is this, “If you take responsibility for others feelings and/or cater to this then they will not leave you.” This is a lie from the pit of Sheol. In naivety, ignorance and fear, the old nature believed this lie and in fear established this fear-based control pattern to avoid hurt and pain, but in reality it causes so much more.

The truth and reality is in Jesus, Eph. 4:21, and the truth is people will leave if they want to leave regardless of what you say or do. In Christ, our emotional welfare is not rooted or founded in man, but the Last Man or Adam, Christ.

The writer of Hebrews talks of a rest provided for God’s people. The word says the truth sets us free. The Truth says, “I will Never leave you or forsake you.” If that is true and it is then He is more than sufficient. Also, trying to be responsible for other’s feelings or emotions is coercive and ultimately selfish. Some might say a form of witchcraft. Hey, watch it. Oh well, I said it.

In Christ, we are dead to these old earthly types and patterns that the world says we should adhere to.

Colossians 2:20-23, “If you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations– “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using–according (intrinsicly) to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”

Christ sets us free from us. Rom. 7:24.

This blog builds a little on When does the law judge?

Guess I am seeing this blog from another angle or depth perhaps. Good stuff though. Thank you Lord. So, the question please.

When does the law or even self-imposed law judge someone?

Hebrews 10:3 says, “But in those [sacrifices there is] a remembrance again [made] of sins every year.”

So, why would I remember Again, and again, and again,..?

Questions:

• Why do I remember?
• When I remember what happens?

So, why do I remember?

If my conscience is not purged by the sacrifice of His blood then I will remember my sins because my conscience is aware of the self-imposed law in my Gentile heart. Only the Spirit of the Living God can purge my conscience. Prior to the Fall, the word says in Gen. 2:25, “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” Their consciences were pure and undefiled in the image of the Creator, Gen. 1:26. Christ is the Redeemer. He has bought us back since the Fall in the Garden. Part of redemption includes making us whole. That is the meaning of salvation which is wholeness triunely, 1 Thess. 5:23. The conscience is purged from dead works and the judgment and guilt of self-imposed law.

So, I could remember because of motive.

When I remember I bring the sacrifice asking, “Is this good enough?” The answer is “NO.” It is never good enough. If so, what was the purpose of the Son of God giving His life for the world and His Church? When I remember I am rebuilding what has already been destroyed. “That which was destroyed” was any reason God could have had to hold a grudge or record against me.

But His Love keeps no record of wrongs, has no fear or torment.

Col. 3:10, “And have put on the new [man] who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him..”

Renewed, renovated. When perfection (Hebrews 6) comes, the imperfect or little is nullified or made obsolete. Perfection is to get to a destination and then to go to another unto fullness. Perfection comes by revelation of Him in me and you! The impartation of God osmotically occurs by grace, faith and revelatory word. He diffuses Himself in you making you into His image over and over and over on a daily basis unto godliness which continues in the lifetime to come. Glory!

I see little old residual pieces of the old me being absorbed, absolved and consumed by Him in me through each revelation that compounds on another in Him in me.

Romans 12:2, “but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

This total, absolute, triune transformation renovates all the old constantly and replaces it with eternal substance namely Christ (The Word become flesh) unto perfection, 1 Cor. 13:10. Revelation of His love edifies and builds up the inner-most person in us by grace and not dead works in His righteousness unto holiness. We are not the ones conjuring the renovation. It is Him in us. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word. It is His faith. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the faith-“er” in us.

So, if perfection, or godly substance, or Him, is being imparted what does that mean? Life is being imparted. His Life! He is our life. He cannot die. We partake of His resurrection and death. We are no longer under the curse. Even of death. Ask Enoch, Elijah, Paul, Moses?..Christ.

On my way this morning, 06/11/10, to drop off my sons at the Georgetown Boy’s Girl’s Club. I see this man on the side of the road. I drive past him.

I hear this thought, “Want to give him a ride?”

“Joseph and ‘Shorty’ are from Ventura, California next Oxford. He is on his way to Arizona. Prior to me picking him up he said he was almost arrested. I liked his dog Shorty. Cool little dude. Joseph shared with me that he is a believer. That blessed me that much more. I will attempt to paraphrase what he shared with me, ‘God has provided for him and he (Joseph) is doing his part.’ I added that it doesn’t fall out of the sky, but He will provide. He agreed.

Joseph, I hope you read this blog. You really blessed me today. Thank you so much. Hope to see you again. Who knows? You got the PushingPeanuts.com card. We’ll see. Lord, bless Him.

1 John 3:14 – “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loves not his brother dwells, resides and lives in death.”

If I am not loving my brother with God’s grace-empowered love then my love is conditional, soulish, limited and leads to idolatry. This phileo-soulish love puts me under its unfilled expectations. You could even say I put myself under a curse. Whoa. This love is self-seeking. It is Jezebel-like and cuts off from godly life energy. See the referenced blogs below. I also am not loving myself if I am not loving my brother. I can only love if I know God and His only Son. Otherwise, my love is presumption-based and it will betray me¹. If I love someone based on the self-imposed law in my heart I am setting myself up for disappointment, pain and loss. God’s love is 1 Corinthians 13. It is very different from carnal, soulish love. I believe John is also saying if we are not in Christ then we are under self-imposed law which brings death.

• Solo
• Usurp
• What does usurping look like?

Romans 6:17, “But God be thanked that [though] you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.”

Paraphrase: “But God be thanked for His His Son, power and grace that you were and no longer are under self-imposed law in your hearts. You were and are unable to free yourselves from its power being ignorant of truth and love, and blind of light. All have fallen short of His glory based on this self-imposed law in their hearts. And now, in Him, your hearts being effected by revelation, grace and truth of the Only Begotten of the Father, have willfully by grace hearkened unto the quickened foundational word that was delivered to you. This truth of this word, Col. 1:6, changes you from pattern to pattern unto perfection enabling you to supernaturally bear fruit. The imperfect particles of the old nature are nullified and made obsolete by the unveiling of Him and of His love that casts our fear and torment.”

Hebrews 3:15, “As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

I can have all the revelation in the world, see the dead rise, own billions, have prestige, fame, gain the whole world, but it is of no real value or worth if I don’t know love.

1 John 4:8, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

1 John 4:16, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”

1 John 5:2, “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.”