For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.

Mark 8:35

If this life is about giving it all away, then the pathway many of us must first take is to take ownership of that which is ours.

It may seem counter-intuitive at first, to have to take possession of something, only with the intent to then lose it, but unless you take ownership of something, unless you decide that something is your right to do whatever you please with it, you will never have the authority to release that authority to whomever you choose.

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Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

John 17:11

The greatest journey of this life is the journey home to the Father.  It isn’t a long way from the hand to the foot, and it’s even less from the head to the heart, but the distance of a breath has separated much of mankind for an Eternity.

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The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

Luke 11:34-36

The eye is the lamp of the body.  Not an eye, but the eye.  Not the hand, not the tongue, but the eye.  Specifically, it is the eye that is the organ that illuminates the man.

Specifically, when the eye is set correctly, the entire body is filled with light.  This means the solution to being fully illuminated is not in the performance of a thing, nor in the individual execution of any deed, but solely based upon the focus, or gaze of an individual.

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For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

1 Corinthians 15:3 NASB

Now, we have seen, Christ came to satisfy the righteous requirement of the law for us, and, in completely fulfilling it in His own flesh, we, in our belief in His work, are baptized into His work, His death, burial, and resurrection.

There is, however, a working out of the process of our faith.  As Paul called those who were new to the faith “babes”, and “carnal”  (1 Corinthians 3:1), he also wrote to the Galatians, who were yet learning, of how he was in great labor of prayer until Christ was formed within them.

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Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Something fundamentally changes when you accept Christ.  Something profound and New takes place, that cannot have any part with the old (2 Corinthians 6:14).

Now for many, this is unrealized in this life, unless they are taught.  A Christian might live their whole life, and never realize what all Christ has bought for them.  But, as Jesus said, when a man believes, he is born again of a spiritual seed (John 3:3-5), and the old things are “passed away”.

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In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the LORD is our righteousness.

Jeremiah 33:16

The message of holiness must flow out of the place of the Holy Spirit, or not at all.  The message may be preached from other places, but there is no life of righteousness outside of the flow of the Holy Spirit.  Only in the depths of Him is the message complete, is is whole, and is it pure.

There is a ditch, you see, on either side of the road.  There is a an error in not going far enough as well as going too far.  The difference between being “religious” in a controlling and hypocritical sense and that of being right is the Holy Spirit.

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For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Matthew 7:14

I think one of the hardest walks is the walk of Faith and Life in the Gospel, and yet, light and easy at the same time.

The walk is one by the Spirit, and not by the flesh, and requires faith to walk it.  It requires a hatred and a crucifixion of everything of this life, but when done as a response to a revelation, it is always with joy.

But, he calls us to learn this way of His, and to call others to it.

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We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:

1 Corinthians 2:12-15

We must be clear.  We are not to judge those outside of the church, but we are called to judge those inside it (1 Corinthians 5:12).  Those outside are sinners, and we expect them to act like sinners.  If they sin, it is their nature to sin, and we do not do well if we point fingers at the unregenerate, just as we do well not to fit into them, for there is no fellowship between light and dark.  Likewise, when we enter into soulish, or carnal, judgement against a brother, failing to discern the Lord’s body, we do sin.  Jesus said, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” (John 5:30).  He did not use His own mind or understanding to judge, but He judged according to the Spirit, and was right when He prophesied judgement on the Pharisees, on Jerusalem, and on the cities that would not hear His Gospel.

Yet, Paul made it clear that the man of the flesh cannot receive the things of God, for they are spiritually discerned.  Not will not, cannot.  Jesus said it this way, that those who are not born again cannot see nor enter the Kingdom of Heaven (John 3:3-5).

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While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Genesis 8:22

The concept of the seed offering has widely been promoted by many, including the late Oral Roberts).  In fact, it is said that he has considered it as one of the greatest revelations of his life and ministry.  As with a natural harvest, what is sown in finances, time, or any other resource will always produce a harvest, a yield, some thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold, so long as it is sown in “good ground”.

For sure, this revelation has run through the church, and helped to encourage the body of Christ to give, knowing that they are more blessed in the giving, and that, quite plainly, we will surely reap whatever we sow, for good or ill (Galatians 6:7).

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But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5

The Hebrew word picture for “iniquity” is “bent”.  Iniquity is the being “bent” from straight, twisted from the upright, and made crooked from the pure.  While transgression are our comissions of sin, our iniquity is the propensity, or proneness to continue to sin.

Jesus, when He died, paid for our entire nature.  He covered our individual sins, and our sinfulness.  He, through His righteous act and sacrificial offering, made peace with God for us, by taking upon Himself the punishment we deserved.

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