Tag: Christ

Saturated

God speaks to me in words. Sometimes it is just one word and I know I am to study what the word means and how it is spiritually significant. My word for today is ‘saturated.’ When I think of saturated, I think of a sponge which cannot contain any more liquid. I decided to see if there were other meanings. Even though the thought of being so full (my cup runneth over) that my heart spills the love of God is exciting, I know there is more. I am thrilled with the definitions from the online dictionary:

  • soaked, impregnated; charged thoroughly or completely; brought to a state of saturation.
  • (of colors) of maximum chroma or purity; free from admixture of white. 
  • Saturated as related to Chemistry: (inorganic compound) having no free valence electrons. 

Now, let’s take a look at these definitions. Impregnated: to be with child (to have the Word Living inside of us so that we can draw on it at any time.) To cause to be infused or permeated throughout, Ex: a piece of cloth can be ‘impregnated’ with perfume. Our lives saturated with him and his love is a sweet perfume to God and our worship is as fragrant as the costly perfume Mary used to pour on our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ! 

Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. 2 Corinthians 2:15

Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance. John 12:3

Charged thoroughly or completely – charged with the Words of our Lord! Brought to a state of saturation – so there is hope to be in the process of being saturated. When we become saturated by the Word, it is life to us.

My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body. Proverbs 4:20-22

Of maximum purity and free from admixture mean to be free from any alien element. What is alien to a believer? Anything that is not from God or pleasing to God. If you look up the word pure in the Bible, you will see that all the fragrances in the temple were pure, as well as the silver and gold. We are called to pureness and we are his temple.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:8

And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight. 2 Peter 3:14

But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. John 2:21

In chemistry, it relates saturated to having no free valence electrons. This means if a substance is saturated, it cannot bind to foreign matter – it is pure. There is nothing free to allow a bonding with a saturated substance, nothing can penetrate it. If we are saturated with the word of God, the truth, then nothing else can bind to us or penetrate our hearts. When we are saturated, none of the evil gets in, nothing can pull us away, because He has filled our hearts and minds. Furthermore, we are in unity with Jesus and those who follow God with their whole heart.

Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all. Ephesians 4:3-6

“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began! John 17:22-24

Prayer: Father, help me to be saturated with your word. Bring it to my remembrance in every situation. I want to be so saturated that your Word flows out of me and rids me of anything that is not pleasing to you. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

The Knowledge of Good and Evil

Jesus kept the good out of ‘good & evil’ and nailed the evil to the cross! Then why do we try to pull it back off? We are to walk in the New Covenant in our new nature. Hebrews 8 and 2 Corinthians 5:15

Every time we walk away from God and his plan for us, we walk away from the new covenant and our true redemption. We walk away from the truth. What is that truth? Look at: Ephesians 4:21-24

God created man for communication with Him. Our omniscient (all-knowing) Father knew both good and evil and tried to protect us from the responsibility of that knowledge. Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:16-17  It was okay to eat any fruit from any tree, but not of that certain tree. Why do we usually want to do what is forbidden instead of what God’s plan is for us? Because we walk in our sinful nature and not the nature of the new man. 2 Corinthians 5:16 God’s original purpose was not for us to obtain knowledge of good and evil. We were not to partake! But don’t blame Adam and Eve, because many are still resisting what God wants in our lives today. Hebrews 3:12-14 When we follow evil, we are taking it off the cross where it was defeated. We are pulling back down the evil that Jesus died to rid the world of. Evil is the force that governs and gives rise to wickedness and sin. Sin is going beyond the limits that were set. Therefore, evil is Anything that opposes God. We are not in the new covenant which reaffirms our relationship with God when we don’t fully Trust God and follow Jesus. Galatians 2:20

Through the new covenant God has put his laws in our minds and written them on our hearts! The old covenant is obsolete. We are not to live for ourselves but for Christ who died for us. Our new nature is to be put on and renewed by reading the word and allowing the Holy Spirit to renew our thoughts and attitudes. We use God’s vision which he has given us and we evaluate the world with new eyes when we follow Him. We are to be faithfully trusting God to the end. We are to carry the zeal that we were given when we first believed.  Our old self was crucified on the cross with Jesus Christ. He lives In us! God has brought us Back into relationship with Him. Now let us bring others Back to God. 2 Corinthians 5:17-25

Prayer: Father, Thank you for sending your son to give me a new covenant with you. Keep me from pulling my old nature off the cross and wearing it again. Help me to trust in your perfect plan for my life and help me bring others back to you! I love you! Amen.

Banished for Our Good…

God banished Eve from the garden of Eden so that she would learn to Trust Him again and be obedient. She tried to learn things in her own time and in her own way when she followed the serpent. She decided God did not know what was best for her when she listened to the serpent. She Allowed the serpent to convince her that God was withholding something from her. How often do we think we know better than God? How often do we seek out the advice of others before we seek out God’s advice? God instructs us through His Word to ask him for wisdom in James 1:5-8.

Anything we put before God, we risk losing. For some it is their career, their family, or something they value more than their time with God. Whatever we devote more time to and give our heart to is our treasure. Matthew 6:21

All He asks for is our Trust in Him and our obedience, it still comes down to that after All these years: Obedience to His word and Trust in God.

If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: Isaiah 1:19 (KJV)

This verse in Isaiah is simple. In the Hebrew, the word willing means to rest content, the word obedient means to hear attentively. We (as Christians) make it so difficult. When we rest in His will for our lives, when we Trust Him and are obedient to His Word, we are blessed (eat the good of the land)! When we Trust with our Whole Heart (spirit, soul, and body) He provides for us Anything we Need.

Even when we fall away, He promises to be there for us, when we seek him with All our heart and soul:

“But from there you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.” Deuteronomy 4:29 (NLT)

But that is no excuse to fall away, it is not a safety net to fall back on. We are called to live by His Spirit which makes us holy and not return to our former ways.

God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace… So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:2, 14-16 

But let’s not think that solely through our obedience we will be blessed by God. Following God is not through rote. (definitions of rote: routine; a fixed, habitual, or mechanical procedure; without thought of the meaning, done in a mechanical way.) We must have Faith (which is Trust) in God!

“Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless.” Romans 4:13-14 

Prayer: Father, help me to Trust in your ways and be obedient to your will for my life. Thank you for loving me. Help me to know when I don’t hear your answer that I have not asked correctly or I’ve allowed my own thoughts to take precedence. I know you have my best interest in mind, help me to walk in your timing and not my own. In Jesus’ Precious name, Amen.