Skilled In Righteousness

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Hebrews 2:1 says, “Therefore…” When we go to the verses before this to see what the therefore is there for: it is that Jesus loved righteousness. The rest of the verse says, “…we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we DRIFT away.”
If we drift a little, we will get off course, or miss the mark. Hebrews 4:1 says come short of it. 2 Peter 1:8-9 says that if we do not add to our faith we will be barren, shortsighted, and forget that we were cleansed of our old sins.
If we don’t grow spiritually, we will drift back into old thought patterns. Hebrews 4:2 says, “…but the word that they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.”
The Holy Spirit showed me something yesterday that I did not know before. Think about Hebrews 4:12 and how God’s word is a sword that pierces between our soul and our spirit.
Hebrews 5:13 says, “For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.” The Greek word for unskilled is un-pierced!
Amplified says, “For everyone who continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced and unskilled in the doctrine of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action)…”
When our negative dialogues are pierced by His word, it will reveal to us its unrighteousness that has been suppressing the truth that will set us free!
All unrighteous thoughts stunt spiritual growth. They keep us unskilled in the word of righteousness–not pierced.

Possessing Gladness

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Joshua had to rebuke the children of Israel because they failed to possess what God had given them to inherit. Joshua 18:3 says, “…How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you?”
This begs the question: what have I neglected to possess that the Lord has given me? Possess is to take ownership. In verse 4 he said he would send 36 men to go through the land, survey it according to their inheritance.
Jesus possessed gladness because He loved righteousness. He loved the Father and chose to follow His will. John 5:19-20 says, “…the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does…”
Here are David’s words. Psalm 40:8 says, “I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart.” It echos the words of Psalm 100:1-2. “Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing.”
Isaiah 35:10 is a verse about Israel coming into Zion. We can apply it for ourselves. It is present and future. It says, “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
Suppressing the truth through unrighteous thoughts will cause inward sorrow and sighing. Do you ever sigh? However, possessing righteousness will empower us–making it our own through our thoughts, purpose, and actions. The oil of gladness on us will affect those around us. Joy and gladness is the language of His Kingdom.

Choosing Righteousness Part Two

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Yesterday I started to read the book of Hebrews. Look at these two verses. 1:8-9 says, “…a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”
 
Amplified says, “…(You have delighted in integrity, virtue, and uprightness in purpose, thought, and action)…”
 
I thought about gladness. Jesus loved righteousness and because of that was anointed with the oil of gladness. Gladness shown on His countenance. We are to walk as Jesus walked. 1 John 2:6 says, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk as He walked.”
 
Thoughts of gloom, darkness, and woe is me means that we have suppressed the truth of righteousness. We have allowed our flesh to rule our thoughts.
 
Here is a great question: do I love righteousness? Jesus did. Here is another: do I love sin? Jesus hated sin. Paul said in Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” Nothing can stimulate dead things.
 
In walking as Jesus walked, He did not sin with His thoughts nor was deceit in His mouth. Consider your thoughts. When we love righteousness, we will speak truth in our heart, and walk in truth.
 
When tempted to be gloomy, we have a choice. We can dialogue with it and spiral down into darkness, or we can align (conform) our thoughts by bringing His word into our next thought, rising up to center on Him.
 
Psalm 104:34 says, “May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the Lord.”
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Choosing Righteousness

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Our hidden thought patterns manifest openly through our words and actions. Our heart is designed to be a reservoir of God’s word, hidden to keep us from sin. Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”
 
No one ‘makes’ us put anything in our heart. It is always our choice. We can choose to obey God’s word or reject it. We are not robots but living hearts, created for communion with the Lord of Lords.
 
He gives His righteousness to those who believe. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Amazing grace! Isaiah 61:10 says, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness…”
 
This is who we are. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. We are covered with the robe of His righteousness. We are a living testimony of the One who died for us.
 
As my friend, Tom Griner, just said: we need to speak out of who we are, because that is where the anointing is. Not some canned speech, but a walk of righteousness that sets us apart as His.
 
Here is one of my favorite verses that helps me monitor my steps. Psalm 85:13 says, “Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway.”
 
David had a great prayer that I have made my own. Psalm 25:4-5 says, “Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.”
 
Unrighteousness, according to Romans 1:18, says that it suppresses the truth. Who are we? Truth seekers. David had a faith-statement. Psalm 27:8 says, “When You said, Seek My face, my heart said to You, Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
 
One who walks in righteousness (conforming their thoughts, purpose, and actions to God’s will) has a seeking heart–a heart that follows hard after the Lord. Their heart thirsts to spend time in intimate communion. There is a burning desire to emulate the Lord by walking in truth.

Practicing Righteousness Part Two

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Here is a great illustration to better understand the word to conform. Watch in your mind. See a potter sitting at the potter’s wheel. The clay had been softened and kneaded with water.
The potter takes the lump and centers it by consistent pressure until the clay is yielded under his hands. Not until then. It is the centering that allows the vessel to be formed perfectly as the potter deems.
The Lord centers us through our everyday situations, through our hard trials, and through adversity. He uses every aspect of our lives to conform us to His will in thought, purpose, and action.
We practice righteousness through our thoughts. The moment we are tempted to sin is the alert-signal we need to re-center our thoughts on the Lord.
Let’s take anger. The moment I am tempted to be angry, I have two options. One is to dialogue in my mind about what is making me angry until I react. Another is to act out one of my truth verses. Proverbs 29:11 Amplified says, “A (self-confident) fool utters all his anger, but a wise man holds it back and stills it.”
When the temptation to be angry seeks to pull me away from walking in His righteousness, I bring that thought captive by holding it back and stilling it through the NEXT thought. The next thought centers me on the Lord. Ephesians 4:26 says to be angry and sin not.
We practice righteousness by applying the truth of God’s word. To entertain the temptation increases the enticement. Speaking truth in our heart and walking in it during the moment of the temptation, captures, arrests, annihilates, destroys, and obliterates the temptation. Exclamation point!

Practicing Righteousness

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We practice something so that we can become proficient. What does it mean to practice righteousness? First we must consider what it is. I love the Amplified. It says: conforming our thoughts, purpose, and actions to His will.
 
Here is a verse that brings us to real time. 1 John 5:17 says, “All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.” All means without exception.
 
Therefore our thoughts, purpose, and actions that are not conformed to God’s will are sin. Did you hear that? Then how do we practically apply this to our every day life?
 
Here is an example. You are feeling impatient. To carry that out into sin would be to react in your flesh: hurt others with your words, behavior that would not honor the Lord, like burst out in anger.
 
At that moment of temptation to be impatient, you recall a verse. I like to think of Luke 21:19 which says, “By your patience possess your souls.” Here is another in James 1:3, “Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”
 
Each time we are tempted to sin our faith is on the line. Are we going to believe God? That is faith. When Abraham and Sarah were too old to have children, he continued to believe in the face of that impossibility. He aligned his will to God’s will. Maybe he remembered what happened when they were impatient and Ishmael was born.
 
We practice righteousness when we wrestle down the temptation to sin with truth from God’s word. We proclaim that truth and walk in it rather than turn into and embrace the temptation.

Holy Spirit Our Leader Part Two

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John 15:15 says, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father, I have made known to you.”
 
Friends! Think about your closest friends. I love quality time with my friends. That is exactly what our quiet is like with the Lord. His love language is love. He leads, corrects,  nurtures, nourishes, encourages, sustains, and supports all through love.
 
Think about this verse in connection with our Friend sharing from His heart with us. It is one of my favorites. 1 Corinthians 2:10 Amplified says, “Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the (Holy) Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God (the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny).”
 
It is in our secret time with our Friend that He will share such profound truths from His word that it can stagger us. I’m often speechless. Wow! I never thought of that, I’ve never read it, I’ve never heard it spoken!
 
If you love to hear secrets, then your quiet time is the place. He loves to share His heart with those that are close to Him. There is nothing He doesn’t know, or can’t do, or can’t reveal. He is Everything. John 15:16 says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you…” As you read this, think about what it really means to you to be chosen by the Creator and loved unconditionally. It will buoy your heart and put a spring in your step 💜

The Holy Spirit Our Leader

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John 16:13 says, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth…” Verse 14 says, “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”
 
1 John 2:27 says, “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”
 
The key to following the Holy Spirit is to be led. To be led speaks of attentive, sensitive, watching, alert, and focused. Galatians 5:16 says, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
 
We saw in the journey of the children of Israel lots of flesh. They looked back and complained. They compared what they had in the past to what they didn’t have at the present. They totally forgot the bondage and only focused on their fleshly wants.
 
Yesterday I read 1 John. I noticed the word practice. 1:6 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” 2:29 says, “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.” 3:7 says, “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.”
 
The Amplified describes righteousness as conforming our thoughts, purpose, and actions to His will. All flesh is our will. Therein lies the root that tugs constantly. Our flesh wants its own way. Here is the question to ask yourself: who is leading me?

Joshua The Leader Part Two

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Joshua was part of the children of Israel from the time they left Egypt until Moses died. Then he became the leader. He heard all the complaints. He was there through all the scenes.
 
All their complaining was for naught (as is ours). The Lord took care of every need (as He does for us). Joshua 21:44-45 says, “…not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.”
 
Joshua 23 was his farewell address. It was a reminder of what would happen if they forgot the Lord. Verse 11 says, “Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God.”
 
He told them that if they clung to the remnant of the nations, that the Lord would no longer drive them out. They would become snares and traps, scourges in their sides, and thorns in their eyes until they perished from the land.
 
Chapter 24 he reviewed their history and how the Lord had delivered them. Verse 15 Joshua declared, “…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Verse 16 says, “So the people answered and said: Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods.”
 
We find out in Judges 1 that they did not drive out all the inhabitants. Joshua, the leaders, and all that came out of Egypt died. Judges 2:11 says, “Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals.”
 
1 Corinthians 10:1-11 is a recap as an example for us, written for our admonition. Verse 12 says, “Therefore let hm who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”
 

Joshua The Leader

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In Exodus 33 Joshua was called a young man. Only he and Caleb lived out of the 12 men Moses sent to spy out the land. We know Joshua was at least 20 years old. There were in the wilderness 40 years.
 
Joshua was with Moses when the Lord explained how the children of Israel would become corrupted. No wonder the Lord assured him, as the new leader that He would be with him.
 
In Joshua 1:5 He told Joshua that no man would be able to stand before him. Verses 6, 7, and 9 He told him to be strong and very courageous.
 
The Lord affirmed his leadership again in Joshua 3:7. It says, “And the Lord said to Joshua, This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.”
 
Do you remember in the Song of Moses? They sang prophetically that their enemies would hear and be afraid, and that fear and dread would fall upon them. That is fulfilled in Joshua. I don’t know how the word spread but even the kings from far away heard and came out against the Israelites. Time and time again Joshua and the men of war destroyed them.
 
It was Joshua’s role to assign the various land for each of the 9 1/2 tribes. 2 1/2 already gained their land on the other side of the Jordan.
 
Here is a note on Caleb. It gives us a time line. Joshua 14:10 Caleb said that he was 85 years old. Verse 11 says, “I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war…”
 
Joshua 18:3 says, “Then Joshua said to the children of Israel: How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you?”
 
Great question for us. What areas of our flesh have not been brought under the control of the Holy Spirit? What stubborn habits exist? What behavior is just plain pride and self-seeking? It is time to go in and destroy the enemy’s strongholds and possess that land for the glory of the Lord.