I’m abundantly certain you will disagree with this because you write with such confidence in your own understanding. Not everything you say is wrong because much of it is scripture and that’s why you give your borrowed words so much value. That’s why you aren’t blind but you don’t see clearly either. You are guilty of cognitive bias. You condemning others for something you are doing also, just from a different direction. Context is everything. Name it and claim it is not only a Christian doctrine. That is how God made us. It is a reality doctrine. Self help gurus like Tony Robins are well aware that belief, precedes fruition and that you need to change your mind before you can change your life. Prosperity preaching is an effective tool because it helps us put our faith in an all powerful God to bless us, rather than faith in a repeated failure like ourselves. It’s the confidence (faith) in a abundance that ushers in abundance. However, this is the snare. When we believe to receive material wealth, we increase our kingdom. When we believe to receive spiritual wealth and gifts to be a better servant, we increase His Kingdom.
The whole message of the Bible is that He is Lord. In order to serve Him, we need restoration. Sin, and more importantly the guilt of our sin separates us spiritually. In order to remove the obstacle (guilt) we need forgiveness. This was achieved through sacrifice in the OT. It wasn’t a dead animal that absolves sin. It is the repentant heart (desire for God), and faith that this action sanctified them, released their guilt. Since Christ is the perfect Sacrifice, it is this belief that allows us to believe we CAN be forgiven. This lack of guilt is what opens our ears to hear His voice and our eyes to see. The restoration is necessary for the process to be grafted into the Vine. We become a digit on Hand of Christ, to do His will, not ours. To use blessings from the Lord to expand your kingdom would be like going to work for an employer and using his office supplies and contacts to run your side jobs while on the clock.
Regardless, I know the next thing I say will sound heretical but the Bible contains the words of God, but is not the Word (Logos) of God. A word is a logos but not all “logos” are words. Some may understand, but those who use scripture verses often out of context, to validate their positions won’t. Its like taking random lines out of a script and rewriting the movie as you think it should be instead of understanding the film as a complete work.
I hope my words find fertile soil in your heart. Be blessed.
The whole message of the Bible is that He is Lord. In order to serve Him, we need restoration. Sin, and more importantly the guilt of our sin separates us spiritually. In order to remove the obstacle (guilt) we need forgiveness. This was achieved through sacrifice in the OT. It wasn’t a dead animal that absolves sin. It is the repentant heart (desire for God), and faith that this action sanctified them, released their guilt. Since Christ is the perfect Sacrifice, it is this belief that allows us to believe we CAN be forgiven. This lack of guilt is what opens our ears to hear His voice and our eyes to see. The restoration is necessary for the process to be grafted into the Vine. We become a digit on Hand of Christ, to do His will, not ours. To use blessings from the Lord to expand your kingdom would be like going to work for an employer and using his office supplies and contacts to run your side jobs while on the clock.
Regardless, I know the next thing I say will sound heretical but the Bible contains the words of God, but is not the Word (Logos) of God. A word is a logos but not all “logos” are words. Some may understand, but those who use scripture verses often out of context, to validate their positions won’t. Its like taking random lines out of a script and rewriting the movie as you think it should be instead of understanding the film as a complete work.
I hope my words find fertile soil in your heart. Be blessed.
I understand more than you perceive concerning this subject.
I am simply elucidating the verses of discussion, only.
But more to the point, my bias is based on, what is reality, and what shall be.
Everything in this natural world is subject to change, because they are temporal, and the kingdom of God rules the kingdom of men.
Just because we see, feel, hear, or experience something in the natural world, doesn't mean it's real, nor does what you perceive, make it real.
Just because you have the symptoms of a cold, doesn't mean you have to accept it, as though it is.
Or if you see a sore coming out on your skin, doesn't mean it is something or that you have to accept it as being such.
For example, I have applied a negative law of faith to many real circumstances I didn't want, only to watch the "reality" change before my eyes.
It is written, "To him that has not, shall be taken, even that which he thinks he has or seems to have."
Do you know what that is talking about?
How can you not have something you already have, that will soon be taken from you?
When you understand that, then you will begin to understand my bias.
My bias, is well founded in the word of God.
It has to do with what world you live in more.
If you live more in this natural world, then all your experiences with your natural senses, will dictate what is real and what is not, according to your natural view or understanding.
But if you live in the world of faith more than you do this natural world, then your perception of what is real changes drastically.
Now, what I envision is more real than what I am experiencing with my natural senses.
Can you tell me how one lives in the world of faith or kingdom of heaven when they are here on earth?
Or how we can be seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, when we are here in this world?
Those who live in the natural world are subject to what is before them and or the circumstance they are in, because that is their reality, and that is what their faith is in.
Those who live in the world of faith are not subject to what is in the natural.
We are at first, but the natural world is subject to the word of God, and it is the sent word of God itself that changes the situation.
It is the word of God that manifests or brings, what we have or don't have, into reality, or what we received or rejected, to be.