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This blog builds on another, The substance of His will.

Rom. 5:3, “And not only [so], but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;”  Patience in the Aramaic New Testament means ‘thought without any anxiety.’

In Christ and under grace, when pressure comes it can enable the deposit of  ‘spiritual substance.’ The the King James bible calls this spiritual substance ‘patience’, but the Aramaic calls it ‘thoughts without any anxiety’ or ‘thoughts without fear.’ Perfect or godly love casts out fear and any thoughts of fear by revelation of Christ in us, 1 John 4:18, Gal. 1:16. When the knowledge of perfection comes by hearing and hearing the word of God the particles of non-regenerative thinking are nullified in Christ. The nature of truth gives liberty to the recipient of Him, John 14:6, 2 Cor. 3:17.

Perhaps Isa. 40:31 could be a foreshadowing of Romans 5? Just a thought. Isa. 40:31 says, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.” The word renew in Hebrew can mean: to pass on or away, pass through, pass by, go through, grow up, change, to go on from, change, sprout. This reminds me of the Epiphany blog.

Something incorruptible, substantial and real is deposited, diffused and imparted into us when pressure comes. The High Priest, Christ Jesus, is imparting His essence and nature substance into us to be us or be what and who we really are. If Adam was a real being and Jesus is the last pattern after Adam or Last Adamic pattern then this affirms Col. 3:10 of being changed according to the original pattern of the Creator who created us in His image, Gen. 1:27. We are spiritual beings who reside in fleshly earth suits on this planet. God is the Father our spirits, Heb. 12:9. We are predestined to be His children or offspring by faith, Eph. 1:5, Gal. 3:7. Children are like their parents, John 3:6. God the Father is spirit, John 4:23-24. In Christ, our flesh will eventually become like His. In Him, we have the potential to become living logos, John 1:1, like Him (Jesus), Enoch, Elijah and possibly Moses. Christ is in the flesh now before the Father.

I’m still chewing on it myself, but a brother asked me a while back what I thought and apostle does. I said one of the main things is minister sound doctrine. This is true, but I thought I’d build on it a little more.

So, What can an apostle offer for the church?

This is not an absolute list, but the following is a start.

• Sound doctrine: What is sound doctrine? Exactly. Rom. 6:17, Phil. 1:7, Eph. 2:20
  • Is sound doctrine important? Is it even significant?
  • What is sound doctrine?
  • So, what is sound doctrine again?
  • Sound Doctrine Part 3
  • Sound doctrine remains
• Through them the power of God is manifested. 1 Cor. 4:19-21, 2 Cor. 12:12.
  • This should be commonplace and normalcy in the modern day church if Jesus hasn’t changed.
• They reveal the glory of Christ. 2 Cor. 8:23
• They diffuse grace unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, Eph. 4:13.
• They reveal a supernatural divine pattern to the church, 1 Cor. 11:1, Heb. 8:5.
• They establish churches and church government, order based on sound doctrine and revelation.
• They can operate in all gifts and offices of the five-fold ministry, Thumb blog.

An evangelist, pastor or teacher cannot necessarily fully operate in 6 out of the 7 things above. Why? They have not been given the grace of an apostle or prophet. So, do modern-day apostles and prophets exist? Should they?

Has anyone ever sneezed within your proximity? “Achoo¹“, and you respond “God bless you.”

Today, I was driving with my sons to the grocery store in Thursday afternoon traffic. We finished getting groceries and I was leaving the parking lot. I was trying to enter the street to get home, but I noticed that someone was actually stopping in the middle of traffic to let someone in from the parking lot. This could be viewed from three perspectives: who cares, a nice gesture or they are impeding traffic for others. Since I needed to enter traffic I saw them as impeding the flow of traffic. And yes, it is nice when someone lets you in, but an interesting thought came to mind.

I asked the Lord or myself, “Why do people impeded traffic for the sake of being ‘nice’?”

I think sometimes the gesture is genuine or necessary in situations like wrecks or traffic jams, but sometimes drivers are just holding up the flow of traffic. Why? That is what bugged me a little. This was the thought that came to mind, “It makes them feel good inside. They get a warm fuzzy feeling.” This may not be the case all the time, but at the time this was a sufficient answer to me. In nutshell, if you stand back and look at it, think of your spiritual walk in the same manner. What if I tithe, pray, fast, read the word, give, minister, etc. because “it makes me feel good?”

In this culture, the response may be, “And what’s the matter with that?” If my motive of impeding traffic is to let someone in because it makes me feel good then I am not really thinking about the person I am letting in, but really supporting self-righteousness. Whoa. Strong words just for driving. The apostle Paul talks about eating things offered to idols in 1 Corinthians 8, but was he really talking about what we eat? It seems the more I think about it the more I see much of everything we do centers on motive. This motive is derived from our heart, conscience and the Spirit which we adhere to. This is what Paul constantly talks about in his epistles. A new creature in Christ is also someone with a new motive.

Paul speaks in Philippians about being of one mind. The mind of Christ. This mind wills and thinks as One. We are His body and He is the Head of the body. Philippians 2:2-5.

Romans 5:5 (NLT), “And this expectation will not disappoint us.”

Hope is ever-eager passive expectation. Hope comes by faith through grace. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. The law will only bring judgment. That is one of the primary purposes of the law. The law cannot bring a genuine expectation of true righteousness.

Gal. 5:5 (NIV), “But by faith we eagerly await (abide) through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope (ever-eagerly passively expect.)” The Aramaic-to-English translation says we “abide” in the hope of righteousness. Christ is the hope of glory. In its nature, hope is incapable of disappointing. It always imparts expectation. The expectation is not unto judgment, but righteousness all the time! Real hope remains. It is an anchor to our souls from behind the veil in the heavenlies.

Romans 7:11, “For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].”

Sin uses the law as a basis of attack to put a blindfold of judgment on one’s head and then decieves. It distracts and beguiles. Apart from Christ, the judgment of the law brings the carnal flesh to life. The carnal flesh strives to fight against the law or for it propelled by fear, but perfect love casts out fear. When perfection comes the unregenerate particles are nullifed. We are changed from glory to glory continually, daily, weekly, etc. Carnal strength is fear-based strength. The power of fear-based strength is the law, 1 Cor. 15:55-56.

1 Cor. 8:7-8, “⁷ However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. ⁸ But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.”

The above verse says, “their conscience being weak, is defiled.” I believe the reason the conscience is defiled of the one who eats the food offered to an idol is because they are still under self-imposed law in their hearts. They are empowering and giving higher priority to the idol offered food because they do not have ‘knowledge’ yet. So, when they eat the idol-offered food to be like brother so-in-so they put themselves under the law again. The motivation in their hearts is probably Uzza or self-strength. How can I say that? Self-strength is not walking in the Spirit. Self-strength will put you back under the law. Self-strength is not revelatory, but presumptuous. Presumption is not understanding received by faith, Heb. 11:3. It is a guess. God is not the God of guessing, but omniscient.

The next verse says, “⁸ But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.” I believe brother Paul is not just talking about food. Phil. 3:8 supports this. The only thing that truly commends us before the Father is the complete work of His only Son. The faith of His Son commends us by grace. So, keeping my ducks in a row does not even justify me. I live by His faith in me, Gal. 2:20.

Today, 07/07/09, a sister in the Lord told me she went to a church and the minister was preaching on tithing. She said she enjoyed the first thirty minutes and then the sermon started and her spiritual inspiration seemed to dissipate. What caught my attention was what she said. She said, “When you share things they stick.” This reminds me of Romans 6:17, “But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.” Sound doctrine remains.

My paraphrase from the Greek of Rom. 6:17, “But God be thanked, that you were under the law which is the power of sin prior to Christ being unveiled, but now have been effected by sound doctrine in the revelation of Christ  insomuch that it has a passive effect on you. The passive effect is willingness from the heart. The willingness is Him in you by His enabling ability called grace.”

On 05/27/09, Saturday morning, I was brushing my teeth and I perceived the Lord speaking these words to me in my spirit, “You ARE holy.” Emphasizing “are”. It’s amazing when the Lord says something to you and then afterwards you believe Him because you know it’s true. He uses so little words, but these words have eternal depth and all life. He is the Eternal Life-giver. When He speaks it gels all the understanding and knowledge I thought I had into something else new again! There is no end to His wisdom and knowledge. Otherwise, fullness would not be full. Amen.

When this happened, I was going to downplay the experience and not write about. It has been over a month. Recently, I was going to the gym and looked in my glove box and noticed my little notebook. It is kind like my journal. I wrote the 05/27/09 experience in there. I saw what I wrote, “You are holy.” And it rang in me again, but even more so.

At one point in my walk, I had faith I was saved. Then I came to a point that there was no longer hesitation of that. Now, I know. I used to think holiness was an achievement or accomplishment and it is, but it is not mine to achieve or accomplish. Jesus said, “Shelem” on the cross for me and everyone else under the power of sin.

I am growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 3:18. In this maturation, His will is that “I know” and this “knowing” come by revelation and His grace in and towards me. I am growing in this knowingness. I am persuaded faith is unto knowingness. 1 Pet. 1:5 says, “…super-add in your faith the worthiness (intrinsic eminence, goodness), and in the worthiness the knowledge…”

Romans 8:3-4, “³ For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

The Father judged sin on the basis of His nature and love by sending His only Son in the similarity of these human fleshly bodies. While on earth, His Son was without sin.

The Father imparts His nature, essence and willingness by His Son to us now.

Romans 5:1-5 says, “¹ Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³ And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations (pressure), knowing that tribulation produces perseverance (patience); ⁴ and perseverance, character (experience or proof); and character, hope (passive, perpetual, eager expectation.) ⁵ Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

In the Aramaic New Testament, it says patience means, “the thought of not being anxious.” You can read this and it could be just plain ol’ head knowledge, but I’ve been chewing and meditating on this in my spirit. Today, I heard it again inside at the stop light. This thought came to mind, “I cannot be anxious or have anxious thoughts if I have fullness.” What does that mean?

In His presence, there is ALL FULLNESS. I am still digesting this, but saw a little more today. Now, when I read Rom. 5:1-5, which I have probably read at least a few hundred times by now, I am seeing that patience, or fullness even, is being deposited in or growing in and out or through me by revelation of God’s only Son in me. Pressure comes and squeezes. This pressure creates patience by grace supernaturally, or thoughts of not being anxious because He is not moved in me. He is the same always. If He is not moved off of His throne of grace then why would He be moved, swayed or tossed inside of me? Paul says in Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly [places] in Christ:”

The thought of not being anxious is towards the mind of Christ. Perfect love casts out fear. Fear cannot dwell in perfect love. Thank you Lord again for your Son.