Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
Psalm 104:4
In all the world, there remains one thing better.
In the history of man, one thing has escaped them all.
Despite the rule of tyrants, despite the schemes of men, despite the ways of wickedness, freedom always wins.
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.
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
Isaiah 60:1-3
Revival and judgment often go hand in hand. Jesus Himself said that the city of Jerusalem was judged and set for destruction, although the actual destruction took another 40 years from His pronouncement, simply because they missed the day of their visitation (Luke 19:44). He, at the beginning, and notably in the midst of the greatest revival ever, announced judgement.
Judgment will come to America, and to the world. It must. There will be great revival, there will be great turning, but not all will turn. Many, many will choose the darkness, and many, many will persecute, and turn others from the truth.
He told them still another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.
Matthew 13:33
It is no large observation to note that people do not usually fully understand all aspects of the Kingdom immediately at the time of salvation. That which is planted grows, flourishes and multiplies, until greater and greater light is revealed within. For, surely, the path of the righteous is like the growing dawn, it grows brighter and brighter until the full light of day (Proverbs 4:18). So, the Spirit comes to reveal to us all truth, to be our counselor, and to help us.
Salvation is not an agreement with a doctrinal statement, but it is an introduction to a person, Jesus Christ. It is meeting Him, and realizing that there is no other name under heaven whereby men might be saved, and that living with faith in this man, belief in who He is, is the doorway to Eternal Life.
The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
John 1:9
Man, the carnal man, lives in darkness. All mankind has turned aside from the truth, the true light, and has gone to corruption. There is nothing wholesome about man, and nothing good in what he can do. Ever.
The Spiritual Man, however, as Paul described, has died to it. He has died to himself, to the world with all its desires, and has died to himself. The case is so edged that Paul states that he is crucified to the world and the world is crucified to himself (Galatians 6:14).
And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.
Exodus 33:2-3
When Moses carried up the people of Israel from Egypt, and they came to the Jordan river, the company of men all chose to disobey God and not enter, rather than to continue on into their promise. God was angry, and would no longer go forward with them, and told Moses that He Himself would not go with them, but that He would send his angel instead to defeat the enemies.
To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
Titus 1:15-16
The pure light of the Gospel is of the same nature as the Kingdom of which the Gospel preaches. It is founded on righteousness and justice, and its ways are holiness and faithfulness.
For the light of the Gospel shines as a searchlight in the darkness, finding the hidden things, discovering the secret things in darkness. As the prophet Jeremiah said,
Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
Jeremiah 33:3
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
Ephesians 4:17-19
The light of the Lord permeates everything we touch and do as a believer. The light of the glory of the Lord so permeated Moses that, when the man of God died, the angel Michael contested with the devil over what they would do with the bones (Jude 1:9). The glory so filled Elisha, that even when his bones were long dead and dry, a dead man falling against them returned to life (2 Kings 13:21).
When we approach God’s Word, we must realize that it is Spiritual. The world we understand and see is physical, and while it has a bearing on the spiritual, it in itself is not spiritual. What we see and what man thinks of as being spiritual is plainly not (John 3:3-5).
That you may show yourselves to be blameless and guiltless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of God without blemish (faultless, unrebukable) in the midst of a crooked and wicked generation [spiritually perverted and perverse], among whom you are seen as bright lights (stars or beacons shining out clearly) in the [dark] world,
Philippians 2:15 AMP
Those who teach righteousness will show as stars in the heavens for all of time. Surely, even as Jesus said that the one who breaks the least command and teaches others to as well shall be the least in the kingdom, righteousness and justice truly are the foundation of His throne.
He is the Father of lights, and His children are children of light. As we walk in the light as He Is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John 1:17
Grace is God’s gift to men. It is His unmerited favor, it is His divine enablement, it is never deserved.
Grace and holiness always go hand in hand. His Grace teaches us to say no to sin, and by it we put to death the misdeeds of the flesh in the finished works. Any “grace” that is not intrinsically tied to real, practical holiness is not Grace. And by humbling ourselves and repenting and mourning, more Grace is given, submitting to God, resisting the devil, Christ within conquers all our foes.
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