It Is Finished

God’s seasons

I take an online Hebrew class every Monday afternoon. A couple of weeks ago, I was working on my vocabulary flashcards and I came across the word “season or time” which is “et” or עת in Hebrew. And it got me thinking about it’s meaning.

Most of the prophetic words I hear are about seasons. Season of miracles, season of favor, season of restoration, time of breakthrough, etc. Almost all of these use Old Testament Scriptures to confirm them. And the focus is on “doing.” For example, God will release favor in our lives if we’re faithful to do all He has said.

I love the prophetic. There have been times I’ve received prophetic words in my life that confirmed what the Spirit of God had already spoken to me regarding His direction or things concerning my destiny. And it gave me the boldness to act on it… to walk it out.

I don’t have an issue with “seasons” per se. But the problem with seasons is it keeps us focused on a timeframe. One of the aspects of me and my husband’s business is farming. Farming is seasonal….. even in California where we farm year round. We still have seasonal crops. If we’re not careful, we catch ourselves using “catch phrases” that box us into ways of thinking in particular seasons. For instance, cherry season is financially great, apple season we can finally rest, summer fruit season is BUSY, December – January is our leanest season, etc. While all of that seems to be true in the “natural,” it can keep us boxed into certain expectations or limitations. Keeping us walking in by sight and not by faith.

Prophetic “seasons” can do the same. They keep us future focused on what Jesus is going to do, instead of what Jesus has already done. They keep us looking at just one thing for the “season” such as God’s favor instead of looking at the FULL finished work of Christ in our lives and the truth that He has given us ALL things that pertain to life and godliness NOW.

So while I was studying for Hebrew and noticed the word season is “et” or עת in Hebrew. It is made up of the letters “ayin” and “tav”.

“ע” which is ayin in Hebrew is the idea of seeing and watching as well as knowledge. ayin (Gen 6:8) referring to the eyes of the Lord. a word describing an eye…or insight or seeing or perceiving with God’s perspective.

“ת” which is tav in Hebrew meaning cross or the sign of the covenant.

I love that! God’s seasons in our life are all comprised of seeing things from His perspective, and that perspective is Jesus and His finished work (Heb 1:1-3). In every season of my life, I should expect to the finished work of the cross to be in operation in my life. No matter what a natural season may look like in my life, it is still a season of favor, abundance, health, goodness, grace, wisdom, breakthrough, prosperity, sonship, freedom, deliverance, etc.

Luke 4:19 Jesus declared it a “year of God’s favor or a year of Jubilee.” Year is a cycle of time… a season. The root word for Jubilee in Hebrew is yabal, which means “to flow.” Jesus provided a continual flow for us in every season of our life. We don’t just have a season of favor, a season of peace, or a time of abundance. We have a lifetime of continual fulfillment…. of the ALL things that He provided for us for life and godliness.

I still read prophetic words that come across my path about seasons, but now I read them as a reminder of what Jesus has done and what is already mine. Not dependent upon what I do, but mine by inheritance. I read them as God highlighting certain things that are part of the finished work so that I can grow in my knowledge of them. Gain more understanding of these things so that I can walk in victory.

What did the finished work of the Cross provide? That’s your season! Walk in the revelation of it. Walk in the victory of it.

~ Robin

Led by the Spirit

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. ~ Galatians 5:18

I love this verse!

This verse begins with the conjunction if. If is a conditional word, which seems to imply that if I do something, then something will happen. But not all Greek conditions work like that.

If” in the Greek is the word “ei” and it is a first class conditional conjunction or a simple condition conjunction. It is based on the assumption of reality that invites the reader into the conversation, rather than just lecturing to him.

Because I had always read “conditional conjunctions” as “if and then” statements, my focus was constant introspection. Making sure I was always allowing Holy Spirit to lead me. Not straying from that leading. So that He wouldn’t have to tug and pull to get my cooperation. It was self-works on my part.

But Paul was inviting the reader into a dialogue… encouraging them to come to the conclusion of what was already true about their new life IN CHRIST.

When he said to the Galatians “if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law”, the audience would most likely respond along these lines: “If we’re led by the Spirit of God? He dwells in us! Of course, He leads us! And since that’s true, this means that we are not under Law.” Remarkable!”

So our response should be….. because the Spirit dwells in me, I’m led by Him, and therefore I’m free from the bondage of the law.

The other thing I like about this verse is the word led. The word “led” is the Greek word ago, which described the act of leading about an animal, such as a cow or a goat, at the end of a rope. The owner would wrap a rope around the animal’s neck and then “tug” and “pull” until the animal started to follow him. When the animal decided to cooperate and follow that gentle tug, it could then be gently “led” to where its owner wanted it to go.

Although the New Testament is written in Greek, Paul was Jewish and had a Hebraic way of thinking. Tugging and pulling at my heart until I cooperate so that He can gently lead me where He wants me to go is not a very accurate picture of how Holy Spirit leads us. It’s not the Hebraic mindset of leading.

The Hebrew word for lead is “nachal” meaning to lead or to rest. The more literal meaning of this word is a combination of both of these ideas — leading to a place of rest.

I love that! It is to lead one to a place of rest. Striving and bondage describe the yoke of the law – the yoke of the works of the flesh. Rest describes the yoke of Jesus – the yoke of grace. That is a more accurate description of Holy Spirit’s leading. He leads us to a place of rest.

Verse 18 really is an identity verse… telling us who we are and what our new life in the Spirit looks like

But the Spirit has led you to a place of rest, a refreshing place, free from the law and its fearful bondage.

So in verse 16 and 17, Paul told us that walking by the Spirit you will not fulfill the lusts (the desires of the flesh) and that the flesh opposes the desires of the Spirit. But before you can begin to feel like “oh man, I better make sure I’m ALWAYS walking in the Spirit or my flesh will take over”… or “I better DO this or else.” Before you can camp out in that condemning thought of “if and then,” he reminds us of who we are IN CHRIST and what the benefit of being IN CHRIST means in your new life….

But the Spirit has led you to a place of rest, a refreshing place, free from the law and its fearful bondage. Freedom from carrying out the desires of the flesh. He leads us to rest in the finished work of Jesus.

Oh, what freedom is released in that one simple statement. The more I’m understanding and resting in the finished work of Jesus, the more I’m seeing Scriptures more clearly. I’m no longer seeing them as rules and conditions or things I must do in order to please my Father and receive all He has for me. But rather as freedom. Freedom to live this new life IN HIM and as an expression OF HIM.

~ Robin

Name Change

Starting tomorrow My Beautiful Nest will have a name change to It is Finished.

I am really excited about this change.

It reflects my heart which is to see people grow in the knowledge of who they are IN CHRIST and what belongs to them as a result of the finished work of Jesus.

Name changes in the Bible were a reflection of someone’s destiny being called forth. This blog started as a peek into my life as a wife and a mom with the occasional Bible study teachings. As I’ve grown in grace I’ve also embraced my destiny which is to empower God’s people to embrace their own destinies. This name reflects that.

❤ Robin

Nature of God

I’m taking theology classes to get my Bachelors and I have to submit essays after each course. I thought I’d post…..

NATURE OF GOD

I loved this course Nature of God. At the conclusion of this second course, I feel like my Gospel language has improved as well as my ability to express myself with all that I’m learning about grace and the oneness of us and the Father IN CHRIST.

This course topic coincided perfectly with my life right now. Specifically, with people, I keep bumping up against who are weighed down heavily in religious mindsets regarding the nature of God. It seems like everywhere I go I run into Believers who are begging God for healing, deliverance, freedom, etc. Not realizing that He’s already given us everything we will ever need for life and godliness. These same people will sit in Bible studies that teach an erroneous nature of God and that we are still bound to the law today because it is our standard of holiness. I was surprised and saddened that many people receive such a misrepresentation of God willingly, naively believing that a teacher must be an authority on what they’re teaching. And therefore, everything taught must be truth.

Such a wrong belief regarding God’s nature has been an eye-opener for me because I wasn’t raised spiritually believing those things about God. I was taught from day one about the Christ life on the inside of me and that God is good and the devil is bad, period. This course rooted those early teachings stronger in me and unfolded revelation of the oneness I have, not just with Jesus and Holy Spirit, but with my Father.

Getting the revelation that I was in His thoughts before the beginning of the ages was life-changing. It is a revelation that will forever mark who I am. Changing how I see myself and how I see others. It also transforms how I perceive or understand my Father. I always knew He was a good God. But as for the fatherhood aspect, I only thought He became my Father after I accepted Jesus.

I thought that He was merely gracious enough to adopt me into His family because I now believed in Jesus. That before that He regarded me as an enemy because I was a sinner. And that His love and kindness, His goodness and grace towards me, could only begin after I accepted Christ. The truth is that He makes His sun to shine and His rain to fall on the just and the unjust, on the good and the evil. His grace and mercy have always abounded to ALL men at all times.

Now I realize that He not only always loved me but had a dream for me before time began. I was never an enemy in His eyes. He has always been my Father from before the foundations of the world. My adoption is not adoption the way we here in the West see it but rather it is a position of sonship that He had prepared for me to walk in from before the beginning. He has always had good, kind, beautiful thoughts about me and towards me. There has never been a moment in time or before time began that I was not His.

He doesn’t love me more now that I have been reconciled to Him. His love for me has always been there. Believing in what Jesus did merely awakens me to the realization of His love. To be free to realize how much He loved me all along. To begin experiencing the depths of that covenant love. He is my eternal Father. He wrote my DNA in my mother’s womb. And my DNA is His very DNA. He was always fully persuaded about me.

His faith saw me IN CHRIST before I even knew anything about Christ. He was so confident in my ability to remember where I began! Then He irresistibly drew me to Himself, waking me up from my slumber to a life of union in Him.

Also through this course, I learned that Jesus’ death was not a penal substitution. Realizing that His death was not to satisfy God’s anger with humanity. Nor was it to appease God so that He would finally be willing to consider me or even glance in my direction. No, Jesus was my Father’s passionate pursuit of me! He came to reveal the Father and show us what we look like redeemed and walking in fellowship, in oneness, with Him.

Jesus didn’t go to the Cross alone. The Father was in Him on the Cross reconciling the WHOLE world to Himself. Restoring the relationship that He had designed for all men to have with Him. Jesus was the last Adam.

Adam’s single transgression resulted in the condemnation of all men. Jesus’ obedience equaled righteousness upon ALL men. His death redeemed humanity and forever removed any distance with the Father. What God has always known to be true about us carries more authority than any evidence that could condemn us. ALL judgment was taken away through that ONE sacrifice, ONCE AND FOR ALL.

The secret of the power of the Gospel is that He succeeded in redeeming all of mankind. It was a perfect redemption, not when we believed it, but from the finished work of the cross. We are now once again free to be His sons. We may have lost our way for a while, but we always belonged to Him.

Like the lost coin, we never lost our value and ownership. In Christ God came to celebrate our original value. We were made in the image and likeness of our Daddy. He is the blueprint of our design. To see Jesus is to see the Father. Likewise, to see me is to see the Father. The days of distance are over. We are now free to live as He designed us. No longer distanced from the Father, but alive in Him.

Jesus showed us the Father’s heartbeat in the parable of the Prodigal son. His father was not disapproving and saying “how dare you come back after you wasted the family name.” No, the father was dancing and rejoicing. He was celebrating the son with no hint of shame, rebuke, remorse, regret, or inferiority. So it is with our Father.

He joyfully celebrates over us with praise. Zephaniah 3:17: The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love, he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” Celebration of us and over us is our Father’s heart. He rejoices over us with uncontainable joy, singing, dancing, leaping and spinning around with great delight! Can you see it? Can you hear it? Why is He so joyful? He is celebrating His oneness with us.

We cannot be any closer to God than we already are. There is no pressing in on our part. Honestly, I would’ve been grateful just to be accepted by Him and given a place in heaven someday. It would’ve been more than enough for me just to know that level of security. But that wasn’t enough for my Daddy. His dream for us was BIG. It was much bigger than I would have ever dared dream. He desired that I would be filled up with ALL the fullness of Him (Ephesians 3:19). And then He made that a reality for me IN CHRIST.

His fullness, His completeness is tailor-made for our human design. He is 100% at home in us. He likes who we are, who He designed us to be. He made us in His image and likeness. He finds such beautiful expression through us. Colossians 2:9 says that God finds an accurate and complete expression of Himself, in a human body (Mirror Translation). And verse 10 tells us that Jesus mirrors our completeness and endorses our true identity. He is “I am” in us.

Colossians 1:19 says The full measure of everything God has in mind for mankind indwells him. What a joy to live this life filled with the fullness of the Spirit without measure. What delight to have all the fullness of God in our human body. To live our lives in oneness, in intimate fellowship, in Him. For that fullness, that Living Water to overflow out of us to this world around us.

The more I know Him, the more I begin to know myself. I can’t know myself apart from knowing Him. He defines me, and my nature is rooted in His nature. 2 Peter 1:4 says that we have been given great and precious promises that through these we may be partakers of His divine nature. We were created as a partaker of His divine nature. These great and precious promises were given to us reveal His image, His likeness and His dominion so that in that understanding we could discover our image, our likeness and our dominion. That is what Jesus came to reveal. And Jesus is the revelation of the Father.

A true revelation of the Father enables me to understand Scripture correctly as well as accurately understand the communication of Holy Spirit. My victory in life is proportionate to an accurate image of God.

The only way I can accurately understand God’s nature is to look at Jesus. He revealed the Father to us. He said if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father, We are one. We won’t understand the Old Testament Scriptures if we don’t understand their oneness. John 1:17-18 says For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.

No one rightly understood God or perceived Him correctly until Jesus came and unfolded Him to us. The ministry of Jesus was a rehearsal of the goodness of God. He rehearsed it over and over in everything He did and said so we would get it right. He came so that we would know what the Father looked like and what we looked like walking in oneness with Him. He told Phillip if you’ve been watching everything I’ve done you’ve seen the nature of the Father. In everything He did He was always revealing the goodness, kindness, and love of God. God was not a hard man. That was a disabling perception that was erased by Jesus.

In the Old Covenant they were living in a fallen world, and so they were continually ascribing characteristics and qualities to God that were based on their observations and experiences in a fallen world. They presented Him as hard, angry, distant, disinterested, and wrathful. Although we no longer live in a fallen world, we can still walk in a distorted “fallen” mindset. A way of thinking that defines God based on our experiences and disappointments in life. Seeing Him vastly different then we see Jesus. Seeing Him as disappointed, judgmental, condemning, and punishing.

But Jesus showed us the heartbeat of Abba. He revealed to us that He is not at all hard to please. He is not against us. Rather that He is passionately for us and with us and in us. Everything about Jesus is the expression of the true nature and character of God. To know the Father we need only to observe the life and ministry of Jesus. We aren’t to interpret God by looking backward to the law or through the prophets, the Fall, sin, etc. Instead, Scripture calls upon us to understand the Father ONE WAY ONLY — according to the Biblical revelation of Jesus. He’s given testimony of Himself through Jesus. He’s spoken to us in these last days by His Son.

The Father and the Son are one. There is no division. John 1:18 tells us that Jesus was in the bosom of the Father. The Jerusalem Bible translates it as nearest to the Father’s heart. It is “kolpos” in Greek and is an intimate expression of co-union. The prophets and Moses in the Old Covenant didn’t accurately perceive God at any time. But Jesus was in the bosom of Abba. He was one with the Father, sharing a single heartbeat. This co-union was a picture of our co-union. We have an intimate union with the Father as Jesus did. He was an example of us.

We have the mind of Christ. We have the thoughts, feelings, and purposes of His heart which is also the Father’s heart. Their heart is the same. To see what that single united heart looks like, we need to become intimate with Jesus of the Gospels. We are to observe how He dealt with sinners, the sick, and the oppressed. Regarding how He felt about the hopeless and the shepherd-less masses we get to know not only His heart, but the Father’s. We are to take notice of His thoughts on pharisaical religion, with its legalism, it’s self-pity, and it’s burden of works but all along KNOWING that He loved every Pharisee.

We are to hear His words to the Sadducees, who didn’t believe in the supernatural and understand that again He loved every Sadducee. He spoke to them with all the love and compassion He speaks to you and me. His voice of love and compassion is exactly the Father’s voice towards humanity.

Then after we’ve considered ALL His words, His deeds, and His works, we realize that He was expressing the exact nature of the Father. Seeing Him so clearly through the life of Jesus, we will recognize the Father isn’t at all what religion has taught us. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus is addressing those who are burned out and worn out on religion. I like the Message translation of these verses. He implores them to come to Him and get away with Him to recover our lives. He says “walk with Me and work with Me — watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.”

The Father doesn’t lay heavy burdens on us. He’s a good Daddy. And in Him, there are rhythms of grace. Jesus had an unforced relationship with the Father. An unforced union with Him. Jesus simply walked from this place of union and life. And the life He shared in the Father, naturally flowed out of that. Miracles, signs, wonders, relationships, love, all unforced rhythms of His Father’s grace toward us. It’s really that simple.

James told us be “doers” of the Word. Religion has used that Scripture to keep us bound in our outward performance. Telling us that if we “do” what the Word says we will not be self-deceived. And yet living a life bound to managing my behavior is in itself deceiving. If we read on in verse 23, James tells us that a doer is one who looks in the mirror and sees his true self. Doer is poiétés in Greek. It’s where we get our word poem.

The Father is the Poet. He has a poem that He has written for each of His children. He wants you to look into the face of Christ until you see yourself so clearly that what you see inspires spontaneous expression. As that happens, my life becomes a living expression of the poem that He wrote before time began. The poetry of His unforced rhythms of grace revealed in me. My life becoming a living expression of The Poet.

Sonship

Steve and I ministered at our church this morning on sonship….. click the link below to watch it on livestream

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From an Old Covenant to a New Covenant mindset

For years I never gave the Old Covenant Mosaic Law much thought. In my thinking, it was an old, outdated Judaic system of 613 laws that no one follows anymore. After all, no one could follow 613 rules and regulations daily and some of these laws were just impossible to do, like animal sacrifices. Of course, as believers, we still had the 10 commandments and some of the Old Covenant laws that were “do-able”. Still, I didn’t think I (or anyone I knew was extremely “legalistic” in regards to the Law.

Then I heard a teaching on Old Covenant (law) and New Covenant (grace) thinking. Old Covenant thinking was “do in order to be blessed” and New Covenant thinking was “we are blessed because it was already done.” While I definitely believed that we were already blessed because of what Jesus had done, I had to admit that a lot of my thinking was also “do in order to be blessed.” I believed the blessing was ours through Jesus but in order for those blessings to be mine, I had to “do” something. And if I did things “wrong” it would interfere with my blessing or take me out from under His protective covering…….leaving me open to demonic attacks (like Job). When things would go wrong, I was wracking my brain trying to figure out where I had missed it or which “door” I had left open through something I did or didn’t do. If things were going well, I must be living an obedient life — doing ALL God has said to do and pleasing Him.

I was definitely living a life of mixed grace and law.

So it wasn’t that I had an actual checklist of do’s and don’ts to follow, but rather my thinking was still rooted in an Old Covenant based mindset of reward and punishment instead of a New Covenant mindset of being only grace based on the finished work of the Cross. So I started seeing differently and looking at Old Covenant (including the Gospels – since the law continued to be in effect until the Cross) through the lens of the finished work of Christ. And as I read Scriptures asking Holy Spirit “did the Cross change this particular verse?”

For instance… one of the first Scriptures I got revelation on was Psalm 51:9-11: “Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities (10) Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me, (11) Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.” While David was perfectly fine praying this prayer under the Old Covenant before Christ came, for me to pray it was an absence of faith….rooted in ignorance of the finished work of the Cross While it sounds beautiful and appears “humble,” it’s full of doubt and unbelief.

God doesn’t hide His face from my sins — Jesus totally removed them and the Father doesn’t remember them or hold them against me any longer.
I don’t have to ask Him to blot out (or wipe away; abolish) my sins — He’s already done that.
He has ALREADY given me a clean and pure heart and He most definitely has ALREADY renewed a right spirit within me!
He would NEVER cast me away from His presence because He has promised to never leave me nor forsake me
And ABSOLUTELY He wouldn’t take Holy Spirit from me because we are ONE now.

The next Scripture I got revelation on was Matthew 6:14-15: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. (15) But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.” Jesus was talking to people STILL UNDER the Old Covenant Law. So, how did the Cross change that? Ephesians 4:32: And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, as also in Christ God forgave you. And Colossians 3:13: Bear with each other and forgive any complaint you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. We forgive BECAUSE He first forgave us. Old Covenant was “forgive SO THAT God can forgive you.” New Covenant is “His forgiveness is your empowerment to forgive.” Big difference. Those 2 Scriptures began a new way of thinking and a beautiful journey of freedom for me.

And the next Scripture the Holy Spirit began to change my thinking on was Matthew 22:37-40: Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (38) This is the first and great commandment. (39) And the second is like, unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. (40) On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Verse 36 says that one of the Pharisees had asked Jesus what the greatest commandment IN THE LAW! This commandment was an Old Covenant Law commandment. We don’t love God with all of our strength nor do we love our neighbor like we love ourselves. Rather, 1 John 4:19 says We love because He first loved us and John 15:12 says This is My commandment, that you love one another as I loved you. We don’t have to rely on our strength or self-efforts to love God or others. He poured His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit…. we are able to love God and others because He loved us and that same agape love is in us to release.

Over the last couple of years, I realized that people struggle with this area of their Christian walk. They really love God and desire to “serve” Him better. The way they think they can do that is by making the Old Covenant law their standard for living. They live in a mindset of reward and punishment based on their behavior. Thinking that if they can just line up their behavior with what they believe God wants, that He will be happy and they will be accepted and “good” sons. The thing is, our Father already sees us as “good” sons. We can make Him any happier than He already is with us.

Jesus set us free from an Old Covenant mindset of blessing and cursing… reward and punishment. He never intended it to be our standard of holiness… He made us holy by giving us His holiness. He took our sin and gave us His righteousness, His holiness…. His very own nature became our new nature. We are now IN CHRIST and wholly, completely, wonderfully accepted in the Beloved…. not someday, but now…. just as we are! We are full of His glory, we have His mind, and we are one in union with Him. We have the FULLNESS of the Spirit WITHOUT MEASURE!

Today as you read the Word and you come across Old Covenant or Gospel Scriptures, ask Holy Spirit to show you Jesus in them…. ask Him to show you the finished work of the Cross in Scriptures. He will and your mindset will change causing you to walk in a greater freedom than you have ever known. It will change how you see God, yourself and others….. you will suddenly be free to walk in a love you have never known.

We don’t receive a blessing from God because of what we do…. John 1:16 says For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The amplified version says For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift. We receive from His fullness…. out of His abundance, grace, spiritual blessings, favor and gifts in ABUNDANCE.

~ Robin

Nature of God – part 4

Ok… the last post in a series about the Nature of God. This one really bothered me… maybe a bit more than the others. This one is the attribute of the Jealousy of God. The definition she gives to make her point doesn’t define His Jealousy and more importantly, it doesn’t describe our life under the New Covenant.

Jealous – God does not share His glory with another (Isaiah 48:11; Exodus 34:14; Isaiah 42:8)

Let’s start with looking at the Scriptures she uses to try and prove her point.

Isaiah 48:11: For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

Well, that verse APPEARS to prove her point. But remember we need to ask who is God talking to? What is He talking about in context? And of course how did the finished work of the Cross change this?

In this verse, the children of Israel were making idols and invoking the name of God. They were using God’s name on the idols. Of course, God’s not going to share His glory with idols! But He was talking about idols, not us. What about the next verse…..

Exodus 34:14: For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God

God is replacing the tablets of stone that were broken and He’s giving a list of commandments for the children of Israel. Verse 14 is one of those. He reveals His name as El Qana – a Jealous God. He is not saying He’s jealous about sharing His glory with anyone! He is saying He is a God passionate about not losing His children to false gods because they would then make covenants with the inhabitants of the land and turn away from God.

Last verse…..

Isaiah 42:8: I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

Again this verse is about God not giving His glory or His praise to graven images.

But what does God say about sharing His glory with us……

Jesus said the glory the Father gave Him, He gave to us
- Jn 17:22: And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

We are filled with the FULLNESS of God — that would include His glory!
- Eph 3:19: And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.

God said that He would fill His new temple (US) with glory!
- Haggai 2:7: And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house (new temple) with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.

The mystery of the Gospel was Christ in us… His glory in us
- Col 1:27: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory

He glorified us!
- Romans 8:30 – whom He predestined, He called, whom He called, He justified, whom He justified, He glorified
- NLT: And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory!
We are partakers of His divine nature — that includes His glory
- 2 Peter 1:4: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

How exciting! We were created for His glory. We are carriers of His glory! The fullness of the Deity dwells in us — the fullness of His glory dwells in us!! That’s something to shout about!

~ Robin

Nature of God — part 3

As many of you know by now, if you’ve been reading my blog posts The Nature of God and The Nature of God – part 2, I am in a Bible study that is studying Romans and I’m not enjoying it. We’re in Romans 9 and the lesson is on the nature of God. The list reads like we are still under the Old Testament and Jesus never came! A few of the attributes of God on the list just really bothered me so I have been blogging about them.

This next attribute on the list is:

Wrathful – God hates all that is unrighteous, and He punishes all unrighteousness. Whatever is inconsistent with His holy standard must ultimately be atoned for or consumed. (Romans 1:18; John 3:36; 2 Chron 19:2; Col 3:5-6; Rev 15:7)

This one really bothers me! This is not the God Jesus came to reveal. He is not a wrathful God in the sense that He punishes all unrighteousness…. He did that already on the Cross. I don’t even understand the definition she gives for this “attribute.” Jesus already made atonement and God doesn’t consume whatever is inconsistent with His holy standard. What does that even mean?? He is no longer imputing our sins against us… not just us in the Church, but the WHOLE WORLD! Let’s take a look at the Scriptures she gives to support this “opinion”…..

Romans 1:18: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…

This one seems to be a favorite when you are trying to prove God is wrathful. But here’s another way to look at it:

Mirror Bible: God’s passionate persuasion is uncovered from heavens perspective in sharp contrast to the foolishness of people who suppress and conceal the truth about their redeemed innocence while they continue to embrace an inferior reference of themselves.

Wrath in the Greek is orge meaning desire – as a reaching forth or excitement of the mind, passion.

Romans 4:15 tells us that the Law brings wrath. Let’s look at the next Scripture:

John 3:36: He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Jesus is talking to the Jews in this verse and if they didn’t believe in the Son they would remain under the Law and remember it’s the Law that brings wrath.

2 Chronicles 19:2: And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD.

This is Old Covenant… Jesus hadn’t come yet. Jehoshaphat was under the Law and subject to the wrath that it brought for not obeying. He had aligned himself with Ahab, by showing him friendship and assisting him in his war against the Syrians.

Colossians 3:5-6: Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: (6) For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:

The wrath of God is for those (sons of disobedience) who have disobeyed God and broken his law. Faith in Jesus Christ saves us from the wrath of God. Paul is talking about the old man (the man who walked under the law)… verse 7 says you also used to walk this way. Remember the Law brought wrath against disobedience.

And the final Scripture used is Revelation 15:7 which we won’t even get into because I don’t know enough about the book of Revelation to teach from it on here. But what I do know is this…..

The Law brought the wrath of God upon disobedience to the Law’s commands
- Romans 4:15: because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.
  - before the law wrath was not used of God except in Exod. 4:14, when the anger of the Lord burned against Moses – the lawgiver –
  - and in Ex 15:7, when the blast of God’s nostril (anger) threw the Egyptian army into the sea
  - of the 499 times His wrath is shown (after the Law is given) only 51 of those times is against pagans outside of His covenant – again only after the Law

God has destined us for salvation NOT wrath
- 1 Thess 5:9-10: For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him

Christ died for us… justifying us and saving us from the wrath that the Law brought
- Romans 5:8-11 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (9) Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. (10) For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. (11) And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

God in His kindness declared us righteous and freed us from the penalty of sin
- Romans 3:23-24 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. (24) Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

Jesus left off the term vengeance of our God when He preached in Luke 4
- Luke 4:18-19 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, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
  - acceptable is dektos in Greek meaning accepted; describing what is welcomed because pleasing.

Jesus rebuked His disciples for wanting to call down the wrath of God on “ungodly, unrighteous” people (those who wouldn’t receive Jesus)
- Luke 9:54-55: And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.

God sends His blessings on the just and unjust…. on the evil and the good!
- Matt 5:45: That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

God the Father was in Christ on the Cross reconciling the world to Himself
- 2 Cor 5:18-19: And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
  - reconcile is to change from enmity to friendship

Jesus released forgiveness for the world on the cross
- Luke 23:34: Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment and cast lots

Jesus was the propitiation for our sins and for the WHOLE WORLD
- 1 John 2:2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
  - propitiation in Greek is hilasmos meaning showing mercy by satisfying (literally, propitiating) the wrath of God on sin

God reconciled us from enemies to friends
- Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

God the Father’s love sent Jesus to show mercy for our sins by satisfying wrath
- 1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Jesus made reconcilation for our sins — changing us from enemies to friends of God
- Hebrews 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

While we were yet sinners… instead of releasing wrath on us, God the Father made us alive with Christ.
He forgave ALL our sins
AND He cancelled the Law (that brought wrath) nailing it to the tree.
- Col 2:13-14 When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses, having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decree that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!

Those are more than enough Scriptures to make us rethink the “wrathfullness” of God! He is a good Daddy. The Law brought His wrath under the Old Covenant to those who disobeyed it’s commands. Jesus brought mercy, reconciliation, and forgiveness for ALL.

Let’s stop defining God’s nature by using Old Testament Scriptures…. Jesus is the Revealer. What did He say about our Daddy? That’s what we need to believe.

Ok…. next and last post on this series is God as a Jealous God…..

~Robin

A beautiful love letter

I made the decision to go back to school and enrolled in Global Grace Seminary to get my bachelors in Theology. My life is already so crazy busy, but I decided to make the time and fulfill a dream I’ve had for quite some time. Well, I had an essay that was due that needed to be 2500 words and what I’ve learned in my Foundations course and how I can apply it to my life.

I turned it in yesterday and my professor gave it an A+ (100%) saying I blew him away with this heartfelt essay. That it is FILLED with Christ-centered nuggets of freedom and he would like permission to use it “somewhere” in the future. As awesome as that feedback was, it was my husband’s comment after reading it that filled me with joy. He said it read like a letter, like a beautiful love letter. Well, that was definitely a quote worth putting on my Facebook page. After posting it I had a couple of people ask to read it so I thought I would put it on my blog. Enjoy!

Foundations Course One Essay

I enrolled in Global Grace Seminary a month ago today, and I just finished course one, Foundations. I have enjoyed it so much. Some of it is new to me and other parts of it, especially the IN CHRIST teachings just awakened things I had already been taught but had allowed to slip.

A couple of years ago, God opened my eyes to the revelation of reading the Old Testament through the lens of the New Covenant. So, one of my favorite classes in this course as Don Keathley’s teaching on Uncorking Your Bible. It really helped solidify what I’ve already been teaching in my Bible studies through our church. The cross was completely, perfectly, successful. Jesus finished His part, and He finished my part. When Jesus “said it is finished,” the Old Covenant was done, and the New Covenant was now in place. I learned that because the New Covenant didn’t take start until the cross, I need to read the “words of red” in light of the finished work of the Cross. While Jesus came full of grace and truth, He came as a minister of the circumcision to the Jewish people.

Not everything Jesus said was to me. It still has value for me, but it wasn’t to me. In order to have His heartbeat, His mind, and His mission I have to have an encounter the Author of the words in red. A daily encounter where He shows me more of Himself, and as a result, I see more of who I truly am. No longer striving to become what I already am and always have been. But having an encounter that leads to the grace which takes me to love and then I will love as He loves. 2 Corinthians 3:6 says He has made competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Releasing a love full of mercy (grace) and truth.

Love that reveals that we were always in the heart of God. Love that reveals that He had a plan to redeem me and His covenant love for me was His unwillingness to let go of me. Love that reveals that He pursued me relentlessly because He loves me He designed me to be in union with the Trinity, and He desired for me to find my meaning in Him. Love that reveals that the simple Gospel starts with Him, ends with Him and swept me up in the middle.

My adventure in Christ begins at the finished work of the cross. It is a journey of discovering who I am in Him. Of becoming more aware of the One Who’s fullness I have received. Of knowing that He is constantly present. He is not an outside God, but rather Emmanuel in me and I in him. Life with Him is a co-union that now defines my life. It is no longer just Jesus or me but rather it is a seamless union. It is His life expressed through mine. In Him, I live, and move and have my being. While at the same time He lives, and moves and has His being in me. I am a beautiful expression of Him to the world. I am no longer a woman with myself, for myself or by myself. I now live only as a woman who is with God, for God and in union with God.

My co-union in Christ is what God’s faith knew about me all along when He resurrected Him from the dead (Colossians 2:12). It’s His faith that justified me, not my faith in Him. It’s His faith that is in me and that I live by. Any faith on my part is simply a reflection of Jesus’ faith in me. It’s just an outflow of “the Faith.” Living by His faith is believing what He believes about me and allowing it to transform me. Faith in me awakens to the fact that I am in Christ and in union with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. My oneness has been redeemed, and all distance, delay, and dispute have been canceled forever. There is no longer any separation between God and me. The cross settled all of that.

His mind is made up about me, and He is determined to relentlessly love me. To love me fully, completely and extravagantly. Jesus is evidence of that. Eternity is not some distant future event but rather dwells in me now. I can’t be anymore eternal than I am at this moment. I am right now an eternal being reflecting Him. In Him, there is a co-seatedness where I cease from my labors. Where I rest in Him. The Gospel language is a co-language. I am co crucified, co buried, co resurrected, co ascended, co seated, co-heir, co awakened, co quickened. I have co-union, and I have been co revealed IN HIM. This past month, as I read the Bible I see “co” everywhere I look. It has become my new lens. The truth of this Gospel is the Son revealed IN me. This co-language has become so real to me that I didn’t even realize this was from Francois du Toit’s notes from his class Moment of Awakening. I thought Holy Spirit revealed it to me. I love that! When you no longer remember who said something because you can only hear yourself echoing Him.

In this co-union, I have grace benefits that belong to me as part of my inheritance. I have been forgiven of my sins. All of my sins have been forgiven, past, present, and future. Understanding this keeps me from being sin conscious and allows me to be righteousness conscious or Son conscious. He didn’t just cover my sins; He completely removed them. His forgiveness is perfect and complete in my life. After making purification for my sins, after He successfully cleansed and acquitted humankind, He sat down at the right hand of God. He now occupies the highest seat of dominion to endorse our innocence! His throne is established upon our redeemed righteousness.

Also, He remembers my sins no more. I have been justified. Declared innocent through the righteousness of Jesus. In God’s eyes, it’s as if I’ve never sinned. He doesn’t remember my past or refer to my past.

The third benefit of my grace package is He is never angry with me. He’s a good Father who is always pleased with me. Nothing I do makes Him more or less pleased. He is just happy with me all the time. I think this is one of my favorite benefits. I grew up always saying and doing the right thing so that I wouldn’t displease my dad. His standard was impossibly high. Not so with my Father. He is never disappointed in me. He loves me regardless of my good or bad behavior. I can’t make Him any happier than He already is with me. His mind is already made up about me.

I also love the benefits package that He qualifies me for ALL things. How refreshing to know that IN CHRIST I don’t have to jump through hoops or pass tests to qualify. He qualified me, and I can rest in His obedience. I share in His inheritance through His qualifications, not mine. He takes hold of me and never let’s go. He keeps me from stumbling. He doesn’t ever let go of me, so there is never any separation between us. There is only oneness because He reconciled me to Himself. It is now Father, Son, Holy Spirit and me! That one still makes my head reel, but I keep saying it because He said it and the reality of it is going deeper and deeper on the inside of me. The truth of it is changing my thoughts and aligning them with His thoughts about me.

Grace benefit number 6 is that God credited me with perfect righteousness. He made me who knew no righteousness to be His righteousness because He who knew no sin became my sin. I am as righteous as Jesus. A couple of years ago I started confessing that on a daily basis. I am righteous! It began to change me from the inside out. It changed how I saw my self and began to change how I walk this new life out. Making me more aware of all that He had done for me and in me. It began producing in me a freedom and a boldness that I hadn’t previously known.

He also gave me the Holy Spirit to teach me. He is the One who unlocks all of this inheritance for me. He is teaching me, empowering me and revealing the Son in me. I realize now that it wasn’t I who accepted Jesus. He accepted me! Holy Spirit simply opened my heart to believe. He was leading me, drawing me and pulling me the whole time. It wasn’t my decision but rather the decision that God had put in me all along awakening to the truth. Another benefit is that God is for me! He’s on my side, He’s accepted me, and I’m in partnership with Him. This is where true freedom is experienced. I am His delight, His masterpiece. He not only loves me but He likes me. He created me to uniquely express Him.

Not only is He for me but He is with me. I am the house of the Lord. I don’t have to ask Him for His presence because He is always with me. We are joined together. We are united in His death and united in His resurrection. Two parts joined together to make one individual that is indivisible in wholeness! I am absorbed into Him! Whatever became of Him became of me. Whatever happens to Him now happens to me. We have become ONE! I love that!

I have been empowered to overcome the enemy. Religion can no longer pull me into bondage again. He has given me strength to overcome enabling me to stand in His liberty. He has given me eternal life. I will never die. I just walk from one dimension to the next. All of these grace benefits are mine to enjoy. He is a benefit giving Daddy that knows no limits in my life. He is extravagant in His love for me.

I have been fortunate to not grow up with much religion. I didn’t grow up in church, and I had my moment of awakening 25 years ago at the age of 25. I was taught by a Pastor who’s ministry message centered around Colossians 1:27 Christ in you, the hope of glory. Receiving that foundational teaching of being IN CHRIST was priceless. I did get involved in a ministry for a short time that was a bit controlling and legalistic. The foundation that I had of Christ in me held me and helped me find my way out of it.

A few years ago, Holy Spirit began teaching me how to look at the Old Testament through the lens of Christ’s finished work on the cross. These classes have helped strengthen that. However, the teaching in these GGS classes on inclusion is a new revelation for me and one that I am continuing to see clearer.

I always knew Jesus did it for the world, but somewhere along the years, I had picked up an “us and them” mentality. Before I started taking these classes, Holy Spirit had begun revealing to me this message of inclusion through a couple of Scriptures. The first was 2 Corinthians 5:19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. And the second one was Ephesians 2:4-6 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, (5) even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (6) and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

These two scriptures were now face to face with me, and a change in my thinking was needed but I wasn’t sure how to do it. The problem was that I still held on to the “us and them” mentality believing that we were only reconciled, made alive with Christ, raised up and seated with Him when we believe. But the phrase even when we were dead in our transgressions kept jumping off the page and conflicting with what I believed. I would have to let go of the old in order to carry the new, but I wasn’t sure how to do that. No one I knew was teaching this.

God has really opened my eyes through these classes that the cross included ALL mankind. And that His resurrection included ALL mankind. They just have to awaken to it, but it’s already done. I also learned that God didn’t turn His face from Jesus on the cross because He couldn’t look upon sin. Jesus came to reveal the Father. He was known as the friend of sinners which means that was what the Father was like as well. God was in Christ on the cross! He was reconciling the world to Himself through Christ! Humanity changed on the cross. Jesus was the last Adam, not the second Adam. He was the LAST Adam to be part of that Adamic race.

To stand guilty before God was no longer an option. The LAST Adam came and went In His resurrection He brought about a whole new humanity. A humanity that stands guiltless and blameless before their Maker. A humanity that is now a new creation in Christ.

This truth has changed how I now see the world. And because the One died for ALL, I can say like Paul, “so from now on I no longer see anyone after the flesh.” Because in Christ, humanity has been made new. This new revelation is changing how I share the gospel. It is no longer me requiring that someone say a “salvation prayer” or come to the altar. Jesus went to the altar for ALL and placed His blood on the mercy seat. The gospel doesn’t require faith but rather supplies the faith that is needed. It communicates the faith of God, His persuasion about us. Our faith is that wow moment when we see what God sees, and it takes our breath away. We “accept” Him because we realize we have always been accepted.

One of the most beautiful things I’ve heard was in Don Keathley’s class (Uncorking Your Bible). He said that the Godhead’s mission to humanity is to unveil the love that is flowing from Them to us. My thinking has now changed from an “us and them” exclusion mentality to a “Them and us” inclusion mentality.

~ Robin

We are His house

One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple. ~ Psalm 27:4

That’s a beautiful psalm but that was an Old Covenant cry of the heart — to dwell in the house of the Lord forever

The New Covenant reality is that we ARE the house of the Lord!! He dwells in us forever and we dwell in Him forever!

Learn to think and walk in the New Covenant realities. The language of the Gospel of Christ is CO…. we are in co-union with Him.