For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:20

The flesh profits nothing, it is the Spirit that gives life.  For there is no work, no deed, nor anything else that God would regard as righteous, but only such as those that come from Himself.  For, there is none that is righteous, that is, in their flesh in themselves, that could ever perform any good thing, for all have turned aside and gone after their own way.

What righteousness could we do?  We can hear, we can obey, and we can follow.  Those good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do, we do, and because it is by faith, God counts it as righteousness.

They are pure works, so long as they are in, by, and only of Him.  Though they are performed by our hands, they are His deeds, and therefore, so long as they are fully surrendered to Him, those parts of the deeds are flawless.
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We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

1 John 4:16 NAS

The place of the anointing is love.  Without love, even the greatest faith counts for nothing.

This is the dominating motivating factor above all else in a minister.  It was for love that God sent His servants the prophets and His own son to die.  It was for love that Jesus obeyed, and suffered.  It was for love that man was restored.

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Hidden in the flow of the Spirit, one voice remains. Beneath the flow of time and life, only One Thing matters.

One Thing I asked of the Lord, this one thing I seek, that I might dwell, gaze, and inquire, hidden by thy wing.

Within the realm of the Spirit, all else ceases to matter.

Consumed within His fiery love His Gaze rises above the rest.

One Thing I asked of the Lord, and this I shall receive.

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Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

Matthew 10:34-36

That sword, that gleaming, shining sword, comes to divide.  Sharper, faster, more active.  When His sword comes, we cannot remain the same.

Until faith comes, a man’s thoughts are only opinion.  Until faith comes, we only have theories, speculations, and hypotheses.  But, when faith comes, it is the proof, it is the substance of the thing hoped for (Hebrews 11:1).

Do not suppose that you can remain neutral, for you must, eventually, love one and hate the other.  Surely, the flesh wars against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, so that you do not do what you want, but those that are led by the Spirit are not under the law!
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Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.

Mark 1:14-15

From the beginning of His ministry, Jesus came preaching the Gospel of God, that the Kingdom of God is at hand.

This was His message, that the good news, the long awaited Kingdom from heaven was now within arm’s reach, and that it was to be believed in.  The command for every call to the Kingdom has always been ‘Repent and believe!”.

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If Jesus, in three and a half years of being anointed with the Spirit, produced such fruit, shouldn’t we, in a generation or two in the Lord, be able, as a body, to produce similar results, that is, if we are truly living after His Spirit?

The Spiritual Man, Christ, must live with us individually, as well as corporately.  We must be the feet upon the Earth, whose head is in the highest heavens, namely Christ, where also we are seated.  It is His call, the same as it was in the beginning, for His Word has not returned void.

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Genesis 1:28

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Through the blood, we enter in through the torn body of Christ into perfection.  Not merely living in the faith of the outward works, nor even abiding in the flow of the Spirit, but pressing on to complete consummation and indwelling of Him.

Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

Hosea 6:3

It is here that no one need to teach us, saying, Know the Lord.  It may come at other places, but here, there is a knowing in the cloud, and a revelation in the glory.

Above the ark, between the cherubim, the only light of the Holiest of all was God Himself.  No source and no supply, no beginning nor end.

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Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Romans 8:12-25

There were three feasts in the Old Covenant during which every adult male was required to make the trip to Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 16:16). In all, there were seven feasts, each pointing to different aspects of Jesus’ life and ministry, but three were particularly required.  No matter where any man lived in that day, they were required to travel to the city God had chosen, Jerusalem.

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Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

1 Timothy 1:5

And, if all of our commandments is not love, charity, out of a pure heart and of a good conscience, what is it for?  If we do not end up with a real, un-manipulated and un-faked faith, have we more than just begun?  In all of our getting, get wisdom, for it is the principle thing!

It was out of love that God killed Ananias and Sapphira.  It was out of love that He set an example for the church, just as He did with Sodom and the world.  It was out of love that He killed His only Son so that we would live, living His life.  It was out of love that He sent forth preachers, and prophets, and evangelists, teachers, and apostles, that the Earth might know the only name by which is Salvation, Jesus Christ.

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Acts 4:12

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The fullness of the Spiritual life is a heart inspired by love that walks in responsibility.

Jesus, our Pattern and Teacher, was a man under authority.  Much was given to Him, and much was required of Him from the Father.

When the Life of the Spirit and the love of our Savior grows to such a point, it encompasses and takes the place of every other thing.  It is our all in all.  While for some, this may come quickly, for others, it has grown over time.

But, the place of the Spiritual man is life in Christ.

There is no life in another.  He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

For Paul said that when our obedience is made perfect, our every disobedience would be punished.

Is this at odds with the Cross and the Grace of God?  No more than continuing to sin that Grace would abound.

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