January 25
and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
1 TIMOTHY 2:4
Here we see one will of God with two expressions – a gate and a path. We enter the gate in a moment, but we walk the path over time. We are saved in a moment, but we come to the full-knowledge (Greek: epignosis) of Christ over time. So John 3:3 is not telling us about our ending, but our beginning. Birth is the beginning of Life, not the goal of Life. The goal in view here is not being born-again, but entering the Kingdom.
Jesus does not just say, “You must be born again.” If He did then we might be correct in saying that is all there is to it. But Jesus says, “Unless you are born again, you cannot see or enter into the Kingdom of God.” It is clear that the Kingdom is what we are trying to gain entrance into, and while being born again is the gate, the ultimate destination of the Kingdom of God is at the end of the path.
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Great words. Let me encourage you to keep pounding away at this great truth. I personally believe not hearing and understanding this truth has put Chrisitianity in the state it is today.
This picture and the message reminded me SO strongly of a dream I had some years ago…..
I never have dreams about the people I know, or the places that are really familiar to me. Never. This one woke me up so suddenly I sat bolt-upright in bed, instantly awake as if I was still there…..God is telling me to share this with you.
I was standing on the stage of the church I attended in Beerwah, Australia. Part of the worship team, we were preparing for band practice. As I looked towards the back of the church something strange caught my eye on the floor just behind the small pulpit. It was a horseshoe-shaped pile of seething maggots, some white, some black….about a foot across and piled a couple of inches high! I looked with horror around the floor and as I did, little piles of these maggots started to appear all over the stage! I jumped down and raced to the area at the back of the church to grab the vacuum cleaner from the closet, and as I did, I passed the pastor standing there. He asked, “What are you doing?” I said, “I will show you.” I grabbed the cleaner, and as I passed him he followed me. When we reached the stage I looked with horror and saw that the maggots were now about 18″ to 2feet deep! They were falling like rain off the edge of the stage down a stair-well that had now appeared that led down under the church. the pastor and I went down the stairs and there, beneath the church were all the congregation, standing around. I saw maggots falling through cracks in the floor-boards above my head, and they were piling up on the floor down there. I looked up towards the side of the church, and suddenly there was no wall there, but the floor led out onto the flat top of a very tall high-rise building. The sun was rising over the far side. My car stood on the roof, and I walked forward, leaving the church behind, and I remember the pastor standing watching me, as I drove off the roof, on a ramp that led away, and into the new day.
The dream shook me. I asked the LORD, what does it mean, and He told me that the great “drifts” of maggots were two things……ATTITUDES and MINDSETS. I left that church just a couple of weeks later, but it was just a beginning, because I know that this was just a picture the LORD gave me of most of the institutional church today. Attitudes coming from the condition of the heart. Mindsets coming from the refusal to change things personally and collectively that are not of God, and stem from old traditions and Biblically unfounded beliefs.
A while later I had another dream which I will share with you tomorrow……
Thank you Clare. Each of us must present ourselves to the Lord in light of what the Father has shown you.
“Father, help us see ourselves in reality and truth. Whether we are a part of the institutional expression of Your
Body or not Lord, help us to put aside anything that is not allowing your will and life to manifest through our vessels.”
As believers I think we WANT to move forward into the Kingdom but whether it be the ‘traditions of men’ that
we get from the institutional setting or just our own ignorance and/or disobedience, there are ‘maggots’ on both
sides of fence that must be dealt with. Looking forward to hearing what your other dream showed you.
A HUGE AMEN TO THIS, LOVE IT