The Genuineness of Your Faith!
The prosperity ministers proclaim that we do not need to suffer and that the lord has promised us prosperity and success in this present life and then glory and exaltation in the life to come.
And I stand ashamed in front of this current philosophy of debauchery, of this doctrine of glitter and spotlight, ashamed to be seen as an equal with such a reprobate bunch.
For The Lord Jesus Christ teaches us clearly that if we truly and wholeheartedly want to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus our Lord we will be persecuted.
(2 Timothy 3:12) Now, this note is not about false teachers or corrupt ministers; that is a subject we have discussed abundantly in the past.
This note is about you, about the genuineness of your faith, about the truthfulness of your relationship with Jesus, about your commitment to walk in the word and to live a life of submission and obedience to God.
For the Bible also teaches that no wrongdoer will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9).
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person -such a person is an idolater- has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
(Ephesians 5:5) (Also in Galatians 5:19-21) The abundance of reasons why a person can be distracted after professing his or her faith in Christ makes it compelling that we speak of the subject today, because it is much too common to find a person who has truly professed a passionate love for Christ, walking a worldly walk and dismissing it as 'normal life' without realizing that a worldly walk is infested with hidden spots of idolatry, covetous desires, jealousy, envy, pride, greed, selfishness, and all sort of malicious thoughts.
And you will argue that a true Christian would not fall into such trap, that the Holy Spirit would not allow it; and I say yes, you are right.
True faith is about following sound doctrine, and sound doctrine is about the purity of your heart, about doing good, being self controlled, submitting to God and to authority, loving your neighbor whether he does you good or evil, being temperate, sincere, and diligent.
In essence, true faith is about walking in righteousness in all circumstances.
(See Titus 2) For God tells us "be holy because I am Holy" (Leviticus 19:2).
The Bible teaches us that our faith is a gift from God, an unmerited favor which frees us from the consequence of sin, and in so doing, it also frees us form the desire to sin and leads us into a driven passion for Christ and the revelation of his will, which leads us to want to grow and learn and know all we can about Him.
Now, falling in love, and loving are two totally different things, the first could be just an infatuation, a crush, a temporary attraction caused by a combination of our inherent need for survival and our need to extend our boundaries, the second comes out of knowledge, and an identification of the significance of the other's life to our life.
When God touches us, however, all doubts are removed; it has to do neither with falling in love, nor loving, although both are involved in the actual action of becoming passionate about Jesus.
It is a supernatural event which brings instant inner transformation; a literal act of death and resurrection, a supernatural spiritual birth unlike anything we would have ever experienced before.
Not to say that we will see fireworks or feel any sort of weirdness in our bodies.
In some cases all of this does happen yet in others just the clear understanding of a transformed attitude becomes present.
On the other hand, there may be a moment attraction for Christ which does not involve a calling from God, an actual baptism of rebirth.
Many Church goers live in this state; they fell in love with Christ and spent a honeymoon with him, and then slowly went back to their previous life.
In many cases, having learned sufficient about the bible and its commandments, they live an erratic Christian life, sinning today and repenting tomorrow, they live a guilt ridden life of torment, trying to remain faithful, but not being able to, eventually those will give up their effort and abandon the faith altogether.
They simply were never true Christians.
We ought to clarify that often many of those erratic Christians transfer their falling in love to true loving, and the lord does eventually touch them and redeem them.
It is important as well, to state that going through the sin confess routine, does not necessarily make a person a candidate for back sliding.
Many brethren which have been touched by God and had a true supernatural experience of rebirth in the spirit, allow their past life to retain a yoke in their walk, causing them to continue failing in some areas of their lives, while being victorious in many others, these individuals and all brethren who are struggling with sin in this manner should seek the counsel of their leaders or a Christian counselor, who can help them become truly free, truly committed to Jesus.
Most importantly, being follower of Jesus does not make us immune to the consequences of sin in the world, and we will all be exposed one time or another to pain and suffering.
These are the moments which will prove our resilience, and our commitment to our faith in Christ Jesus, and which will lead us to growth and maturity.
And this temporal life in the flesh will lead us to a glorious freedom if we persevere.
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
(1 Peter 1:6-7) May He always be a part of your life, of this present life, and the one to come! Rev.
Jose Antonio Luna A servant of Christ Jesus
And I stand ashamed in front of this current philosophy of debauchery, of this doctrine of glitter and spotlight, ashamed to be seen as an equal with such a reprobate bunch.
For The Lord Jesus Christ teaches us clearly that if we truly and wholeheartedly want to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus our Lord we will be persecuted.
(2 Timothy 3:12) Now, this note is not about false teachers or corrupt ministers; that is a subject we have discussed abundantly in the past.
This note is about you, about the genuineness of your faith, about the truthfulness of your relationship with Jesus, about your commitment to walk in the word and to live a life of submission and obedience to God.
For the Bible also teaches that no wrongdoer will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9).
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person -such a person is an idolater- has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
(Ephesians 5:5) (Also in Galatians 5:19-21) The abundance of reasons why a person can be distracted after professing his or her faith in Christ makes it compelling that we speak of the subject today, because it is much too common to find a person who has truly professed a passionate love for Christ, walking a worldly walk and dismissing it as 'normal life' without realizing that a worldly walk is infested with hidden spots of idolatry, covetous desires, jealousy, envy, pride, greed, selfishness, and all sort of malicious thoughts.
And you will argue that a true Christian would not fall into such trap, that the Holy Spirit would not allow it; and I say yes, you are right.
True faith is about following sound doctrine, and sound doctrine is about the purity of your heart, about doing good, being self controlled, submitting to God and to authority, loving your neighbor whether he does you good or evil, being temperate, sincere, and diligent.
In essence, true faith is about walking in righteousness in all circumstances.
(See Titus 2) For God tells us "be holy because I am Holy" (Leviticus 19:2).
The Bible teaches us that our faith is a gift from God, an unmerited favor which frees us from the consequence of sin, and in so doing, it also frees us form the desire to sin and leads us into a driven passion for Christ and the revelation of his will, which leads us to want to grow and learn and know all we can about Him.
Now, falling in love, and loving are two totally different things, the first could be just an infatuation, a crush, a temporary attraction caused by a combination of our inherent need for survival and our need to extend our boundaries, the second comes out of knowledge, and an identification of the significance of the other's life to our life.
When God touches us, however, all doubts are removed; it has to do neither with falling in love, nor loving, although both are involved in the actual action of becoming passionate about Jesus.
It is a supernatural event which brings instant inner transformation; a literal act of death and resurrection, a supernatural spiritual birth unlike anything we would have ever experienced before.
Not to say that we will see fireworks or feel any sort of weirdness in our bodies.
In some cases all of this does happen yet in others just the clear understanding of a transformed attitude becomes present.
On the other hand, there may be a moment attraction for Christ which does not involve a calling from God, an actual baptism of rebirth.
Many Church goers live in this state; they fell in love with Christ and spent a honeymoon with him, and then slowly went back to their previous life.
In many cases, having learned sufficient about the bible and its commandments, they live an erratic Christian life, sinning today and repenting tomorrow, they live a guilt ridden life of torment, trying to remain faithful, but not being able to, eventually those will give up their effort and abandon the faith altogether.
They simply were never true Christians.
We ought to clarify that often many of those erratic Christians transfer their falling in love to true loving, and the lord does eventually touch them and redeem them.
It is important as well, to state that going through the sin confess routine, does not necessarily make a person a candidate for back sliding.
Many brethren which have been touched by God and had a true supernatural experience of rebirth in the spirit, allow their past life to retain a yoke in their walk, causing them to continue failing in some areas of their lives, while being victorious in many others, these individuals and all brethren who are struggling with sin in this manner should seek the counsel of their leaders or a Christian counselor, who can help them become truly free, truly committed to Jesus.
Most importantly, being follower of Jesus does not make us immune to the consequences of sin in the world, and we will all be exposed one time or another to pain and suffering.
These are the moments which will prove our resilience, and our commitment to our faith in Christ Jesus, and which will lead us to growth and maturity.
And this temporal life in the flesh will lead us to a glorious freedom if we persevere.
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
(1 Peter 1:6-7) May He always be a part of your life, of this present life, and the one to come! Rev.
Jose Antonio Luna A servant of Christ Jesus
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