GospelNotes.life

Author: Adam

  • How to look out for others

    1. Listen to them: it brings them joy that someone cares about them.
    2. Be kind to them: it’s refreshing and brings joy to them.
    3. Encourage and build them up: it brings joy to them.
    4. Speak only positive and good things: it brings them joy.
    5. Ultimately help them – whether it be godly wisdom so they know what to do, or physical or financial help: it eases their burdens and brings them peace and joy.

  • Why we don’t argue to make a point

    “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel (be argumentative) but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient” — 2 Timothy 2:24

    First, why do we argue? We do it thinking we’re going to make a point and get the opposing party to “see it our way”.

    But we all know that never works. Rather, arguing breeds all sorts of hostility, anger, resentment and bitterness, and does the opposite of what your end goal is – it persuades the other person to not listen rather than listen.

    Instead, we must be kind, patient and self-controlled with the opposing party, even if they’re hostile, gently teaching them your point.

    However, when trying to teach someone a point, if they remain hostile and just won’t listen to what you have to say and don’t want to learn, after the second attempt, move on — Titus 3:10.

  • Bearing others burdens

    What does it mean to bear another’s burdens?

    First off, if you have major burdens of your own and are so stressed and depressed, it’s difficult to take on others burdens. You can’t do it.

    Bearing someone’s burden means fully putting yourself in their shoes, truly understanding their suffering, having compassion on them and ultimately helping them out of it – whether it be financially or emotionally. Giving them an ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on, giving them biblical wisdom to aid their situation, and building them up and encouraging them. Never giving up on them.

    However, if you are heavily burdened yourself with stress and depression, you can’t take on the burdens of others. This is for those with a godly peaceful and joyful life, who have the mental stability and room to take on other’s pain.

  • Why does God test us?

    God first places us upon and builds us up on the foundation of Christ, which are all His ways/truths/teachings. Once we’re built up on that foundation, He tests us with lies to see if we’ll stand firm in the ways He’s taught us, and won’t succumb to and be persuaded by the lies.

    It helps us to:

    1. Grow more confident in His ways.
    2. Grow a stronger conscience, knowing what we do and say in Christ (in the ways of God) are the correct things.
    3. Gives us greater discernment to be able to detect and approve the things that are good (the ways of God) and to be able to detect and reject the lies.

    God even tested Jesus Himself by sending Him into the wilderness for 40 days to be tested by Satan with the lies of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life before He could be approved for His ministry, to see if He was ready.

  • Having a good conscience

    • Pray for godly wisdom and do not doubt. You will receive it in due time. – James 1:5-7
    • You must “exercise” yourself in these things constantly if you want to grow. – 1 Timothy 4:7-8

    Our soul is a spiritual being and is made up of different facets:

    1. The heart: our emotion.
    2. The mind: our logic, thought process and wisdom bank.
    3. The conscience: the part of us that tells us whether something is right or wrong.

    Having a good conscience toward God in the context of salvation is knowing that faith alone in the gospel is the right way to be saved.

    Having a good conscience toward God (and others) in the context of godliness (the conduct and character of God) is knowing you’re doing the right thing in thought, word and action – whatever it may be – in accordance with the ways of God. “I know it’s the right thing to teach my brethren this certain way of God.” “I know it’s the right thing to help my neighbor move.” “I know it’s the wrong thing to lie to my brethren.”

    The sun (the center of the solar system) teaches us about having a good conscience towards others. In this context of the sun teaching us a good conscience towards others:

    • Light = goodness, love, knowledge and wisdom, encouragement, joy and peace, comforting warmth, life.
    • Darkness = evil, lies, negativity, misery, frigid cold, death.

    All the sun does is sit at the center and just radiate light (goodness, etc.) to those celestial beings around it. It doesn’t take anything in, in a sense. All it does is push goodness outwards constantly, not caring about what the other celestial beings “think”.

    Such as we are to be – our own little centers in the sense that we mind our own business, but we just constantly radiate godly goodness towards all others, never expecting anything in return (selflessness). And we have a good conscience, knowing that we’ve pushed out godly goodness to others. What others decide to do with what we radiate to them – whether they accept it or reject it and become offended by it – that’s on them – we have a good conscience, knowing we did the right thing in God’s sight by radiating godly goodness towards them.

  • Worldly vs Godly Success

    God won’t allow me to have worldly success, that is, what success looks like in the eyes of the world: wealth, fame, power, pride, ego, beauty, women, a loud and busy life.

    Instead, God wants me to be successful according to His ways: to lead a lowly, quiet and peaceful life with all humility and meekness. A life of walking in the Spirit and exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, self control, humility, forgiveness, not angry, not rude, goodness and faithfulness. A life of keeping my mind focused on the things of God throughout all my days (how I’m saved, my identity as a child of God, my spiritual blessings and gifts, walking in the Spirit, the ages to come), rather than the things of the world (money, possessions, politics, status, relationships). Being content with and thankful for all that Father has given me in this life – not so much that I become conceited and plugged into the world (losing focus on the Godly way of life [the fruits of the Spirit] vs the worldly way of life [popularity, wealth, power, beauty, possessions – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life]), and not too little as to struggle – knowing that what’s laid up for me in heaven far outweighs and exceeds that of which the world can offer me:

    • Eternal life
    • A new immortal, sinless and glorified body that:
      • Never gets sick
      • Never feels pain
      • Never ages or dies
      • Never has to relieve itself
      • Never gets tired
      • Never sins
    • A most beautiful, glorified heavenly country where the rule of the land is only true righteousness, joy, peace and love.
    • Eternal rest from the curse of hard work.
    • A city (New Jerusalem) whose foundations are built by God Himself.
    • A mansion within New Jerusalem designed, architected and built just for me by Christ Himself.
    • A place where I’m with all my friends and family in a truly righteous environment for all eternity.
    • A place where I get to be with all my pets, in which we can even speak the same language, for all eternity.
    • A place where I can be with my guardian angel for all eternity.
    • And last, but definitely first, a place where I can hang out and be with my Father and my Abba Jesus face to face, for all eternity.

  • Don’t Doubt Your Salvation

    Do you ever have times of doubt about your salvation? This is normal, as the enemy is relentless. Know how the Holy Spirit vs the enemy and the flesh works:

    First, reassure yourself of your belief in the simple gospel truth. Take all emotion and feelings out of it and think upon these salvation scriptures with pure logic:

    IF: you believe the gospel found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (that Christ died to pay for all our sins, was buried and rose again the third day) and don’t trust in any of your own works (Ephesians 2:8-9)

    THEN: the nanosecond you first believed that gospel you were indwelt by and sealed with the Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of your eternal life and salvation (your inheritance) — Ephesians 1:13-14.

    Now, understand how the Holy Spirit and the enemy work to convict believers (the saved) and unbelievers (the unsaved):

    For unbelievers:

    God wants all people saved, and uses the Holy Spirit to convict unbelievers of their sin and their need for the Savior Jesus. The enemy wants to drag people to hell with them, and deceives the unbeliever into thinking that they are either “a good person” or are in “the proper religion (other than pure gospel faith Christianity)” or have “turned from all their sins” and are going to heaven for it, or straight up tries to deceive them into thinking that there is no God or afterlife at all, so that they’ll never seek the truth of how to become saved.

    For believers:

    God wants them to have assurance of their salvation and convicts them of their righteousness (being perfectly acceptable to God) through faith in the gospel. The enemy hates the believer and knows they can’t have their soul anymore, so they try their hardest to steal the joy of your salvation by deceiving you into thinking that you are unsaved, perhaps telling you that you’ve committed too many bad sins lately or that you don’t truly believe the gospel. They can also sometimes try to bring you under works for salvation and tell you that you’re not turning from all your sins in order to be acceptable to God, and that you’ve lost your salvation (which is impossible. See note on: Eternal Security). Your flesh and the enemy can also custom tailor deceptions created just for your specific situation, so be aware of their schemings.

    Also understand that we as our reborn, renewed inner man is sinless (born of incorruptible seed and kept from sinning), yet we still live in our unregenerate sinful flesh (the outward man), and “the flesh (circumcised from the heart – our inner man) is deceitful above all else.” So your flesh can deceive you, and the enemy loves to stir up the flesh. See this note for more details on: The Inner Man vs the Outward Man

    The enemy can oftentimes easily overpower the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit, so if you’re saved by faith alone in the gospel (no works added) and you’re feeling condemned, it’s the enemy 100%. Just reboot:

    1. Take all feelings and emotions out of it.
    2. Logically progress over the gospel and the indwelling and guarantee of the Holy Spirit which you have believed in.
    3. Remember how the enemy works to deceive you and understand how they’re attacking you at that moment.
    4. Relax and find peace and comfort and joy in your salvation.

  • How to become strong in the ways of God

    We’re to become strong in the ways of God (example: in gentleness; in quietness; in obedience). The bible pictures it like this in a couple different ways:

    1. Like a grand, rock-solid tree: Deeply rooted in whatever concept and firmly built up in it – strong – so when the winds blow it is not shaken and thrown to the ground.
    2. Like a well-built house: Structurally and soundly built up on top of a rock solid foundation, so when the rains come and the winds blow, it does not fall over.

    How to become strong in the ways of God: form the concept in your mind, then “become” it.

    1. Learning the concept: Quiet listening to learn what the concept (or way) is.
    2. Forming the concept: Thinking deeply and meditating upon the concept for a long time until you can hear the word (say the concept is patience) and immediately comprehend what patience is.
    3. “Becoming” the concept: Finally, exercise yourself in the concept – stop “overthinking” it now, and just “do” it. Become it. As James puts it: be a “doer” of it, not merely a listener/thinker, quickly forgetting what was said to you. As Paul puts it: “exercise” your spirit in these things, making it strong, just as exercise naturally does.

    Examples:

    • Gentleness:
    1. Listen to what gentleness is: Being soft and slow in thought, word and action. The opposite of harsh, rushed and forceful.
    2. Form the concept in your spirit: Go slow and overthink and meditate on being gentle in every action you take until you can hear the word “gentle” and immediately understand what gentleness is.
    3. “Become it”: Stop “thinking” about being gentle and just “be” gentle. Over time you will become strong in it.
    • Patience:
    1. Listen to what patience is: Infinitely waiting for others to finish what they’re doing, giving them all the time they need, without freaking out.
    2. Form the concept in your spirit: Go slow and overthink and meditate on being patient in every interaction you experience – even with your technology – until you can hear the word “patient” and immediately understand what patience is.
    3. “Become it”: Stop “thinking” about being patient and just “be” patient. Over time you will become strong in it.
    • Obedience:
    1. Listen to what obedience is: Knowing how to be led and taken care of. Being a good follower. Doing what all others command you to do. Being passive, yielding and submissive to all others. (Obviously obeying children and ungodliness excepted.)
    2. Form the concept in your spirit: Go slow and overthink and meditate on being submissive and obedient in every interaction you have – even with your technology – until you can hear the word “obedient” and immediately understand what obedience is.
    3. “Become it”: Stop “thinking” about being submissive and obedient and just “be” submissive and obedient. Over time you will become strong in it.

    Forming the concept to where you understand it like the back of your hand, on-the-fly, off the top of your head, without thinking about it, is the longest and hardest part.

  • Uptime vs Downtime in a Day

    How should our day be divided between fellowship or work, and rest?

    1 = Proton = Uptime = Stimulation = Fellowship or Work = Holiness = Goodness = Joy

    0 = Neutron = Downtime = Rest = Quietness = Peace

    -1 = Electron = Sin = Chaos = Misery = Destruction

    The overall proton-to-neutron ratio of a human (mankind) is approximately 1.21 to 1 (or roughly 55% protons to 45% neutrons).

    Strong’s Hebrew 121 means “Adam” (the first human), “Man”, “Mankind” (human).

    There are 6 days of work and 1 day of complete rest outlined in the bible. This is the model God put forth for creation. But today we give ourselves two days of rest.

    The one day of rest consists mostly of peace/downtime, except for the hour or four of uptime preparing meals and fellowshipping.

    For the workday, in a 24 hour day, 55% uptime/stimulation/proton is what we’re programmed for, vs 45% downtime/rest/peace/neutron.

    55% of a 24 hour workday is 13 hours and 12 minutes of uptime/stimulation/work/fellowship.

    45% of a 24 hour workday is 10 hours and 48 minutes of downtime/quietness/rest.

    If the average workday is 8 hours, and the average sleep is 9 hours, if you wake at 7 am, that gives you:

    Uptime (13 hours):

    1. 2 hours in the morning for uptime getting ready.
    2. Then at 9 am that’s 8 hours of work.
    3. Then at 5 pm that’s 3 hours of uptime home duties after work (cooking/cleaning/shopping/kids/fellowshipping with family/etc.)

    Downtime (11 hours):

    1. Then at 8 pm that’s 2 hours of rest/peace.
    2. Then at 10 pm that’s 9 hours of downtime/sleep.

    Protons (uptime) push each other away because of electrostatic repulsion. We go crazy with too much uptime/stimulation.

    Neutrons (downtime) act like a nuclear “glue,” providing mass and holding the positively charged protons together so they do not repel each other. Downtime/rest/peace is required to keep us stable and “together”, keeping us from going crazy.

    Electrons (misery) are responsible for all chemical bonding and reactions (chaos). They are constantly moving. They are never at rest – never at peace – always miserable.

    There is what the physicists know to be what they call a “nuclear force” that holds all protons and neutrons together, in which all matter would tear apart and fly away if this “force” didn’t exist. What this nuclear force truly is, is the Holy Spirit of God holding everything together – He has designed it to where nothing can exist without Him. Colossians 1:17 — “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (He holds all matter together).”

    The Higgs Boson subatomic particle, nicknamed “the God particle”, proves the existence of what the physicists call the “Higgs field”, an “invisible energy grid” spanning the entire universe that is what helps particles gain mass. Without it, particles would fly apart at the speed of light, making physical matter impossible. What this “invisible energy Higgs field” truly is, is the Holy Spirit of God that brings all things into existence. Colossians 1:15-16 — He (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens (the universe) and on earth, visible things and invisible things (invisible things such as thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities)—all things have been created through Him (Christ) and for Him.

    So yes, the physicists proved God is real. But truly rather: God proved Himself real. The physicists and scientists and such in their pride take credit for “discovering” or “coming up with” certain knowledge. The truth of how it works is that God is the creator of all knowledge, and no true knowledge exists outside of Him that can be “come up with” (only lies can be made up) and contributed to His already existing knowledge. And no one “discovers” and takes credit for knowledge, as all knowledge is simply revealed to certain people at the proper times according to God’s overarching master plan for the 6,000 years of this current human age. So it’s God’s knowledge and He’s the one who revealed it – no one gets credit/glory/pride.

    An interesting note about the naming of the “God particle”: Physicist Leon Lederman used the term in his 1993 book, The God Particle. Satan tried to get Lederman to call it the “goddamn particle” because “it was so hard to find”, but God through his publisher changed it to the “God particle”.

    So if nothing can exist without God through His Holy Spirit holding us together, and Satan wants to kill God both at His second coming after the Tribulation and again at the end of His 1,000 year Millennial Kingdom, what would happen to all life and matter? It would tear apart and fly away, ceasing to exist…

    Now if you were to draw our uptime and downtime on a piece of paper, they are stitched together like a red light wave shifting to a blue light wave, and back into a red light wave. Red light waves are farther apart and have less energy, such as the long lull of downtime of rest after work, going into the sleep of the night, and starting to slowly move upward into the morning when uptime begins. The uptime and downtime wave shifts from a long red light wave to a blue wave, which have shorter wavelengths and higher energy, which is uptime, requiring high energy to work and frequent breaks to not burn out.

  • A good personality

    The world’s version of a good personality:

    One who talks constantly, without ceasing. Otherwise, you’re boring with no personality. If the conversation ever hits a lull and things get quiet, they are in mental agony, feeling painfully uncomfortable.

    God’s version of a good personality:

    A gentle and quiet spirit who is quick to listen and slow to speak. And when speaking, only speaks godly wisdom, encouragement and builds others up. Who finds comfort and peace simply in the quiet companionship and presence of others.

    The truth about talking: 

    If you’re not evil speaking, reviling (insulting, criticizing and accusing), gossiping, talking nonsense or complaining, there’s just not that much to talk about.

    People who drone on and on incessantly are what the people of God call: “annoying”.

  • Working in the world vs working in our Father’s kingdom

    Work and “chores” in the world are utterly miserable. You are slaves to the harsh slave-drivers of time and money, whipping you to work faster, harder and longer. They stress you out, exhaust you, burn you out, and work is mentally and sometimes physically painful. They work you on a long, drawn out red light wave where you only have but a couple hours in the morning between waking up and rushing off to slave away at work the entire day, where you’re only given a small break in the middle of the day, and are only given a couple hours of rest between getting off of work and winding down for the day before having to go to bed. Then it starts all over again the next day, day in and day out, day after day, for decades. It’s utter misery.

    Work in our Father’s Kingdom is enjoyable – rewarding, pleasurable and peaceful:

    1. We know how to play by the rules of the game. Example: summer lawn mowing – if you want to play this game, you know that the rules are: heat, physical labor, sweating and bugs, so you are mentally prepared.
    2. We are free from the slave-drivers of time and money, free to go as slow as we want.
    3. We know each job always consists of: setup, the job and cleanup.
    4. We use the proper tools.
    5. We know how to work in a manner that is relaxing, rewarding, therapeutic, soothing and peaceful – slowly, quietly, gently, methodically, patiently, peacefully, one step at a time, a little bit at a time.
    6. We know how to work the blue light wave – a little bit of uptime stimulating work, then a little bit of downtime rest. Then a little bit more of uptime stimulating work, the a little bit more of downtime rest. Over and over.
    7. We don’t work ourselves to death – we shift from red light waves to blue light waves, back to red light waves. We start at the high of the evening red light wave in rest, winding down for the evening into the long night ahead, and then wake up the next morning and slowly ride the red light wave up to making ourselves breakfast, and then slowly ride the red light wave back down in rest, continuing to wake up, taking our time, before slowly riding the red light wave back up, gearing up for a little bit of peaceful, soothing, rewarding work, where we shift from red light waves to a blue light wave of work over the course of a few hours – doing a little work, taking a little rest, doing a little work, taking a little rest, over and over until our work is done. Then we shift back into a red light wave where we rest the rest of the day, slowly riding it down into the evening, into the night.

    All work, every job, every task in our Father’s house and kingdom are enjoyable – there is not a single, unpleasurable “chore”. All tasks are a chance to get up and experience soothing, therapeutic and joyful feelings of peace from slow, gentle, quiet, peaceful work.

  • Healing from busybodiness

    The whole world is a busybody today.

    What is being a busybody? It’s all about controlling others: you have to know at all times:

    1. What they’re doing.
    2. Why they’re doing it.
    3. How they’re doing it.
    4. And why it’s taking so long.

    (A busybody in the workplace context is known as a micromanager to the world)

    Why is it bad? It brings all sorts of stress, anxiety, nervousness, fear, worry and anger trying to monitor and control others, and makes the other person feel uncomfortable, bringing feelings of anxiety and stress.

    The antidote:

    1. Trust. “Love trusts all things”.
    2. Taking the leash off: letting them operate freely in their domain – letting them take the lead and do their own thing in their domain.
    3. Patience in waiting for them to finish, which is peace for you. And letting them work slowly, which is peace for them.
    4. Keep focused on yourself and your own peace and joy – minding your own business.

    What to do with someone untrustworthy?

    • In business: fire them with gentleness and kindness. However, if they ask for another chance, trust that they’ve repented, grant them mercy and extend grace, giving them their second chance. However, if they still prove untrustworthy, that’s it – we must move on – politely, kindly, gently.
    • In relationships: don’t keep company with them.

    What about children? Instead of trying to control them and force them to do certain things (which will only make them rebel and be bitter toward you), rather gently and patiently with all longsuffering (don’t grow weary – in due time it will click and like the bible says: your hard work will pay off) teach them the “why’s” of the ways of God (“why” we do these things, instead of just commanding them “what” to do) right out of the womb until the concepts form within them and as the bible says: they will never go astray. And also as the bible says: teach by example – not commands. So you, lead by example.

    Already damaged your children or yourself? Not to worry, bad ways can be unlearned and replaced with the good ways of God fairly easily and quickly. The only requirement for anyone to change is to proactively exercise yourself in the new ways and they will form rather easily and you and your children will become transformed. As the bible says: be a “doer” of the ways of God – not a “hearer” only, quickly forgetting what was said to you.

    So we mind our own business (focus on what you’re doing). Now, it’s good to be aware of your surroundings, and to be mindful of other people’s space, and to look out for opportunities to assist others, but to be a busybody in other peoples matters (needing to know what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, how they’re doing it and why it’s taking so long) is not good. “I’m aware that someone is pressure washing the house behind me, but I’m not focusing on it. I’m aware that someone is cooking something and that the oven is on, but I’m not dwelling on it. I’ve asked them if they needed help, but they don’t, so I am focusing on my own thing.”

  • Why do bad things happen to good people

    The overarching answer: to test your faith and to bring you true joy and peace.

    A few prerequisites to understand:

    1. Everyone is a sinner. There is only one good – Christ.
    2. We live in a temporary, 7,000 year world filled with the knowledge of good and evil, and sometimes getting caught in the crossfire of bad things (where there’s just so much of it) is inevitable.
    3. Not an opportunity is wasted with God. He works all good and bad things together to ultimately produce a good outcome for you.
    4. Our trials/tribulations produce in us the godly characteristics of: patience, self-control, perseverance, and the ultimate end: wisdom, holiness, peace and joy – if you embrace your tribulations and take the opportunity to learn from them in a godly manner, not in a worldly manner. Example: You’re rich and God takes away all your riches and possessions. Learning from the world, it teaches you to start a new business or get an even better job, earn more money and come back 10 times stronger! In the wisdom of God, if you let Him, He’s simply teaching you that your joy and peace isn’t in your wealth and possessions, so you can focus your efforts on the joy of loving and righteous relationships and leading a slow, simple, quiet, peaceful life instead of the chaotic rat race. Another example: God removes a friend from your life. He’s teaching you that bad company corrupts good character – whether the friend was the bad company or you are.
    5. Every action has a reaction. Something unfortunate or bad that happens to a good person (“good” by the standards of God – not the world) may produce a chain reaction of goodness. Example: You’re a good, godly person and your good, godly spouse that is filled with godly love and the fruits of righteousness gets killed in a car accident by a drunk driver that lived. First, your godly spouse is now in heaven with our Heavenly Father and Jesus in the best place imaginable, and you will be reunited with them for eternity shortly (what’s a few years in the light of eternity?). As for the drunk driver, he was awoken and accepted Christ, and lived to make 20 more disciples of Christ in prison. It was also a wake up call to his drinking buddy, who now no longer drinks and drives and endangers others.
    6. Understanding free will: Some “good” people by the world’s standards are just never going to accept Christ and become truly good people according to God’s standards. So whether God takes that person at 8 years old or 80 years old, that’s His prerogative according to what He needs to do to bring His 7,000 year story for humanity to its necessary conclusion (every action at any specific time has a reaction that guides the story to its ultimate conclusion). (And yes, an 8 year old can understand right from wrong at this point. The age of accountability is low, so teach your children the ways of God straight out of the womb) Also see note: How can God predestine/elect/choose/qualify humans for salvation, yet give them free will?
    7. God works very, very slow, and takes years to develop and unfold His plans – most of the time decades, sometimes even centuries.

    Job

    Consider the story of Job. He was a good, holy man with lots of wealth and a good family, and Satan said to God that he only “loves” God because he’s rich and has a “perfect” life. So God, to ultimately teach us today a lesson via the story of Job, allows Satan to take everything from Job (including his health) for a decade, where Job never loses faith in God or curses Him, and where God ultimately restores his fortunes twofold, teaching us that:

    1. Bad things in this evil world can and do happen to “good” people (good according to the standard of God).
    2. To stand by God, not to give up on Him, and blindly trust Him in the midst of all your trials and tribulations, knowing He works the good and the bad together for our ultimate good.
    3. God will bring you out the other end with more peace and joy than you had before, building godly character in the meantime.

    Now the wealth and possessions Job possessed in the beginning and end are merely a symbol of true, godly joy and peace – not false worldly “joy” and “peace” from the thought of possessions and wealth. God isn’t telling us that possessions are the source of true joy and peace, He’s merely making a point using visible, physical, tangible wealth and possessions to show us that a good, godly person with little possessions, who is rich in contentment and true joy and peace, can have something bad happen to them, where God, over the course of many down years, if you let Him teach you and don’t curse Him, will teach You new ways of His and bring you back out on the other end with even more godly wisdom, true joy and peace than you had before, ultimately making you an even better person.

    A test of faith:

    God loves to test our faith to make sure it’s genuine. Like the story of Job, will we curse and abandon God in the midst of a trial? Or will we patiently endure and blindly trust His leading?

    If you’re built up firmly on top of the foundation of the ways of God and thoroughly understand them, you realize that there’s not much “bad” that can happen to you and negatively affect you:

    1. Losing riches and becoming homeless: You’ve mastered contentment and truly realize that there is just no true peace and joy in the lusts of the flesh and eyes (only misery), therefore you’re not a slave to money and possessions, and simply don’t care about not having any, and you know that God will never leave us without clothing or food.
    2. Losing 5 star meals and having to live off food stamps: You’ve mastered contentment, knowing that the end of the lusts of the flesh (the love of food and drink for joy and peace) are nothing but misery, and you know that we merely eat for physical survival that ultimately teaches us the need to “eat” of the “bread of Christ” and to “drink” of the “water of the Holy Spirit” to survive spiritually. Therefore you are content with simply getting your 1,500 – 2,000 calories per day for bodily survival and aren’t concerned with eating for pleasure.
    3. Losing a loved one: Were they saved? You have the joy of them being with God and know that soon you will be reunited with them forever. Were they unsaved? It’s unfortunate but you possess the knowledge that there is no such thing as “dying before your time” – before getting a chance to believe – and that God knew from the beginning that they would never accept Christ. You also are firmly rooted in the knowledge that bad company corrupts good character and that it’s not good to be “unequally yoked” with an unbeliever because it robs you of your joy and peace, and if they were worldly and you are truly godly, their lack of worldly presence can be peace for you.
    4. Physical and mental ailments such as cancer and diabetes: This is most unfortunate and probably the hardest to answer. The first thing, you’re confident in your salvation and know you have eternal life, so you don’t fear death, and the thought of possibly not having to grind through decades more of this painful life and go to paradise where all is well is comforting. Second, having to suffer through excruciating pain is extremely unfortunate, and all I have on this is that this is just part of the nature of the cursed human flesh/body that experiences aging, decay and death. As for why God chose to put your soul/spirit in a suffering body/flesh and not another, I don’t have an answer from God for you other than only God knows and that He does have a reason. And going back to Job who was cursed with health problems as well, He still continued to trust in God blindly and not curse Him for it. But again, you know that this temporal life of suffering is but a blip compared to eternity, and you know that all will be well in the next life for all eternity – never to remember your suffering ever again – and that gives you some comfort.

  • Manners

    Manners isn’t someone rushing to get out of your way. Manners is you slowly and patiently waiting on the other person to finish.

    Manners isn’t your technology rushing to instantly load and meet your needs. Manners is you slowly and patiently waiting for your technology to load.

    Manners is you slowly and patiently waiting for someone to go.

    Manners is you slowly and patiently waiting for someone to finish what they’re doing.

    Manners is you slowly and patiently waiting for someone to respond.

    Manners is recognizing what others do for you and giving proper thanks – a simple “thank you” will suffice.

  • Control problems

    Control problems stem from trying to forge your own path, being headstrong and self-willed, trying to control others.

    And when things don’t go your way, you’re panicked, nervous, stressed, angry.

    The remedy is being a follower of all others and technology, instead of a leader: being passive (reactive), submissive, yielding, obedient. Being a gentle, quiet, good listener, coming when called, obedient to commands. All of which is great peace.

    It goes without saying that children obey adults – not the other way around.

    And it goes without saying that obedience is only obedience within the confines of the ways of God. If someone commands you to do something ungodly, we don’t listen to them. As Jesus says: “My sheep know my voice (My ways) and follow me. They will not listen to a stranger (follow evil ways).”

  • Commands formed as questions

    In this day and age, many people give soft commands formed as questions in an effort to be “polite”.

    A concise, decisive command:

    “Please take the trash out.”

    A roundabout command formed as a question:

    “Do you want to take the trash out after dinner?”

    Commands formed as questions are confusing to the obedient follower, and encourage disobedience because they may think on the question and decide they don’t want to do that.

    What a follower has to do in order to be obedient to a command-question:

    1. A command is given in the form of a question.
    2. The follower needs to realize it’s not a question
    3. Then the follower needs to unpack the question to decipher the command.
    4. Then the follower can obey the command.

    Giving commands as questions stems from the follower having a headstrong and self-willed mindset: “Don’t order me around! Politely ask me and maybe, just maybe if I feel like it, I’ll get to it at a time convenient for me.”

    So disobedience leads to the breakdown of commands, leading to more disobedience.

  • The Rich Young Ruler

    The story of the rich young ruler that asked Jesus what he must do to have eternal life is found in Matthew 19:16-21 and Mark 10:17-27.

    The rich young ruler came to Jesus asking what he needed to do to get eternal life. He assumed that it was by keeping the law perfectly, and he thought he had kept the law perfectly. But Jesus knew his heart and sought to teach him that he hasn’t been following the law perfectly and that by the young man’s standard he wasn’t saved. So Jesus told him all the things to do in the law which he thought he was doing, except for one thing that Jesus brought up that he wasn’t doing, showing the young man that he hadn’t been keeping the law perfectly. This was to get the young man to say to himself, “Uh oh. How can I be saved then if I’ve failed at keeping the law?” And then Jesus told him to do the right thing by using his rich abundance to supply the lack of others by selling his stuff and giving to the poor (not for salvation, but because he wouldn’t need those worthless possessions anymore and the poor always need help and that’s the right thing to do), and then to follow Him so that he could learn that salvation is through believing in Him and not by following the law.

    Mark 10:17-27:
    As He (Jesus) was setting out on a journey, a man (the rich young ruler) ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do so that I may inherit eternal life?” But Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone (Yes, Jesus is good as He is God, but what He’s doing is setting up to show the man who wants to be justified by the law that only God is good and not humans per the law’s standard). You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not give false testimony, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth.” Looking at him, Jesus showed love to him and said to him, “One thing you lack (here Jesus shows the young man that he failed to keep the law perfectly): go and sell all you possess and give to the poor (because it’s the right thing to do by using his rich abundance to supply the lack of others by selling his stuff and giving to the poor [not for salvation, but because he wouldn’t need those worthless possessions anymore and the poor always need help and that’s the right thing to do]), and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me (to learn that eternal life is gained by believing in Him rather than by following the law).” But he was deeply dismayed by these words, and he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” (Because rich people think that they have everything, not realizing they are actually “poor, blind and naked”, and need the righteousness required for eternal life that can only be acquired from faith in Christ) And the disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus responded again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were even more astonished, and said to Him, “Then who can be saved?” Looking at them, Jesus said, “(Jesus coming full circle here:) With people it is impossible (following the law), but not with God; for all things are possible with God (His salvation through faith in the gospel).”

  • Christ’s Love in Perspective

    The Bible tells us that Jesus loved us so much that He gave His life to save us, and that there is no greater love than to lay down your life for another. Let’s put that love into perspective:

    Imagine you were a saved believer in Christ, and that your favorite parent/sibling/spouse/child/friend (choose one) was an unbeliever. Now imagine that God told you, “I’ll get that person saved by getting them to realize how fragile life is and that their next breath isn’t promised, but in order for them to realize that, you yourself must be put into a most brutal and painful car accident that will nearly take your life.” Would you willingly jump at the opportunity? Deeply, deeply consider and meditate on this. (If I’m being honest, I had to think many more times than “twice” about this, and still haven’t made a decision, questioning if there could possibly be an easier way)

    Next, imagine that it wasn’t your favorite person in the world that you are going to go through that for, but rather it is for someone that has been the most awful to you.

    Jesus gladly jumped at the opportunity to die a most painful death to save us horrible, rotten, sinful humans who for the most part have despised, made fun of and rejected Him. Why? Because that’s how much He loves us. Yet even He, the night before His death, asked the Father if our salvation could be secured a different and easier way. And when He was told “No”, He went to the cross anyway.

  • Why You Won’t Find James 2 on This Website

    God loves to test the genuineness of our faith. In the very second and third verses of James 1 it says: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”

    And in 1 Peter 1:6-7 it says: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ

    James has a lot of good nuggets of godly knowledge and wisdom that he’s learned from Christ that are found throughout his book, but at the end of the day, the book of James (especially James 2) is as good as the rest of the apocrypha – uninspired by God, and cannot be because it plainly contradicts the entirety of the rest of scripture.

    Hundreds of years ago when those who were discussing what books should be in the Bible, the book of James was a heavily debated book. And the Lord told me that the reason He allowed Satan to sneak it in there was for it to be a test of faith for us (as I said earlier in this note, He loves to test the genuineness of our faith). If you can take the entirety of scripture (100’s of verses) that says that salvation is by faith in Christ alone, no works, and negate all of that for 2 simple James 2 verses that plainly say that salvation is by works, then you have failed the test of faith and are not worthy of God. The Lord tests our faith with James 2: are you going to keep your pride and say that Christ’s sacrifice wasn’t enough and that you need to have works to prove your salvation, or are you going to humble yourself completely and say, “Man, I know James 2 says my faith without works is dead, even though the rest of scripture says it’s not by works, but I’m deciding to throw out James 2 and go all in on Christ and put all my eggs in His basket and not trust in any of my own works.” Proverbs 16:18 — Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.

    I’ve heard every way under the sun from people trying to reconcile James 2 to the rest of scripture and what it “really means”, twisting it to try and make sense of it, but James makes it very clear what he means in verses 24-25: “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?” He says we’re justified by works. Plain and simple.

    But we know that the entirety of the rest of scripture attests to salvation being by faith alone, and not by works: Ephesians 2:8-9 — “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.” Also consider the parable Jesus Himself told concerning the Pharisee (religious leader) and the tax collector, where the Pharisee supposed that he was acceptable before God for his works, vs the sinful tax collector who realized he was a sinner simply in need of mercy:
    Luke 18:9-14 — Also He (Jesus) spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

    See faith alone scriptures in the note: The Knowledge and Wisdom of God

  • Freed From the Law and Sin (Romans, chapters 3-8)

    This note explains the somewhat confusing and complicated chapters of Romans 3-8.

    The first thing to understand is the dichotomy of the inner man vs the outward man. A brief overview: we are actually a soul, that has a spirit, and lives inside our fleshly body. For more details, see the note: The Inner Man vs the Outward Man (opens in a new window)

    The next thing to understand is that “sin” is not just some abstract concept or idea. It’s a literal living thing that lives in our fleshly bodies:

    • Sin “entered” the world when Adam ate of the forbidden fruit. (Romans 5:12)
    • Sin “lives” in our fleshly bodies. (Romans 7:17-18; Romans 7:20; Romans 7:21-23)

    What is a law?
    When you’re under a law, you must obey it. If the law says, “You shall not steal”, then you cannot steal. And with laws, there’s consequences for going against it. For the law (the 10 commandments), it’s condemnation and death with eternal hellfire.

    What is a master-slave relationship?
    Likewise, if we were under bondage as a slave to a master, the slave must obey their master. If the master says, “Steal”, then you must steal.

    What is the rule about being under laws?
    The rule that God instantiated about laws is that when you die, you are released from the law you were under.

    The same goes for master-slave relationships. When you die, you are no longer the slave of the master you were owned by.

    We are all born under the law, and sin quickly becomes our master. As slaves of our master (sin) we obey its commands to break the law. And when we break the law, we are condemned to death and eternal hellfire as just punishment.

    So the question is: “If we get freed from laws and masters by death, how do we get freed from the law (the commandments) and our master (sin)?” The answer: we must die, and then we will be released from our master (sin), and from the law that condemns us. Here’s how we “die”:

    For this next part, you must understand the gospel: 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 — that Christ (1) died to pay for all our sins (2) was buried and (3) rose again the third day.

    The next logical question is: “How do we die?” The answer: when we believe the gospel, we are spiritually crucified with Christ. It is like our body/flesh was literally put to death on the cross (the gospel: step 1). So there, we just died (and the sin within us along with us). The moment we believed the gospel, our flesh died and we were released from our former master (sin), and from the law that condemned us when we sinned. Our dead outward bodies and the sin within were then buried (the gospel: step 2), and we as our inner man was spiritually reborn of incorruptible Seed and raised back to life (the final gospel step 3), and now our new selves are now slaves to God and are under His law of grace. All this is what’s meant by being baptized (following Christ) into Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.

    So, Christ redeemed us (freed us) from our master (sin), as well as the law that condemned us when we sinned, when we believed in His death on the cross (for the payment for our sins), His burial and His resurrection. And that believing He did that for us, we are then baptized (following Him) into His death, being set free from sin and the law, and are raised to new life under our new master (God) and His law of grace.

    We are now a slave of our new Master, God, who redeemed (freed) us from our old master, sin. What does God command us to do? He commands us to believe the gospel for salvation, and to “be holy”: “Be holy, for I am holy”. (If I’m saved by faith, why be holy? See note on: The Ways of God vs the Ways of the World [The best note on this site. Opens in a new window])

    And not only are we God’s slave now, we are now also under the law of grace, being set free (redeemed) from the former law that condemned us. What does the law of grace say? It says: “If you do sin and break the other law, you are forgiven instead of condemned.”

    And just because we’re now under the law of grace (forgiveness) instead of the law of condemnation, it doesn’t mean that we should use that as an excuse to let our flesh sin and break the old law. We absolutely could, but we are told not to. Instead of totally disregarding the old law, we uphold it because we agree that its statutes are good (it’s good not to steal, it’s good not to murder, it’s good not to lie, etc.). We’re just not condemned by it when our flesh does break it, because we’re no longer under it, as we’re now under the law of grace.

    Now, there’s the spiritual reality of our flesh being dead, but then there’s also the physical reality: that our flesh is not dead yet and is very much alive and sin still lives in it. But we’re to reckon/consider/pretend our flesh to be dead, which means that we are free from our former master (sin), and since we’re no longer sin’s slave, we no longer obey it when it tells us to sin. We are to act/behave as if our sinful flesh is actually dead and deprive our flesh of its desire to sin. Instead, we obey our new Master (God), who commands us to be holy. And when our flesh overtakes us and we fail to be holy in the flesh, remember, we are no longer under the old law that condemned us for it, we are now under the law of grace that forgives us.

    Does “being dead to sin” mean that we won’t sin anymore? No. Remember, spiritually we’re dead to sin, but the physical reality is that our sinful flesh is still alive and desires to sin. We’re simply to pretend it’s dead and deprive it of its desire to sin to the best of our ability. See this note on how to do this: The Ways of God vs the Ways of the World (The best note on this site. Opens in a new window)

    Even Jesus (God) took on human nature and had a fleshly body with sin in it. But since He was also God within that flesh, He was able to deprive that sin of its desires, thus fulfilling the law (something us humans couldn’t do). (Romans 8:3)

    On the cross, God the Father put all our sin in Christ’s fleshly body. Jesus bore our sin in His flesh on the cross, and God put His body/flesh to death, along with all our sins in it: 1 Peter 2:24 — “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree (the cross), that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes (wounds) you were healed.”