Thursday, December 20, 2007
WHO IS THE KING OF GLORY?
WHO IS THIS KING OF GLORY?
by Harold Smith
"Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the LORD, And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
"This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face. Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah" Psalm 24
Today, there is a mixture of the pure with the impure within the Body of Christ. The only way we can know the difference is to not settle for anything less in our lives than the excellence of spirit He has offered to us from His life - to know Him in His Purity. To be pure we must become pure as HE IS PURE - as He exhibited that Purity.
Pure, Pureness, Purity comes from the Greek: hagnos meaning "pure from defilement - not contaminated" (from the same root as hagios, "holy"), signifies "unalloyed, pure;"
used of unmixed substances. Much of what is considered the "normal life" in what is called Christianity today - including the pentecostal, charismatic experience - does not line up with scripture. But, because "everybody does it that way", it is accepted. Jesus said that "…you make the word of God (and the power thereof) of none effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do." (Mark 7:13, Matthew 15:6). This is why we see so many professing a form of godliness today, but devoid and empty of the power thereof (2 Tim. 3:5).
"Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that comes according to the multitude of his idols; That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols." (Ezekiel 14:3-5) When you place your hand closely in front of your face, there is a point where you can't see your fingers immediately before your eyes, but you can focus on an object across the room with clarity. What is interesting about this passage in Ezekiel is how the Lord says He will deal with those who refuse to remove those idols from before their face. He says He will continue to speak to them THROUGH those idols. The idols become filters through which what He is saying becomes skewered. Because His Voice can still be heard, however, it is assumed that our position is all right with Him, not realizing that by the time His Words reach the ears they are filtered - different than when they left His Mouth. While this phenomenon can occur with anyone, this particular Word was addressed to the elders, the spiritual leaders of the day.
There is a snake slithering through the Body of Christ today that subtly whispers to us that "if we are of God," then God will cause us to prosper financially. While it is true that He wants us to "prosper as our soul prospers," and, if it is of God, He will fund it; these words have been so skewered passing through the filters (idols) of greed and self-aggrandizement that their true meanings have been lost to all but those who refuse to settle for anything less than the purity of His Spirit. It is the most prominent spiritual leaders of our day that have embraced and propagated this heresy. It is because we have not taken the time to know God in Truth and in the Purity of who He is that we have been enticed by leadership with filters over their faces to become blinded by these idols.
"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." Matthew 5:8
The only place we can know Him is by what is chronicled in the scripture in the life he led as an example for us to follow. To find the truth of what that life is, we need to strip away everything that we think we know about Him, everything we have been taught, everything anyone has ever said about Him and just look at what is recorded in The Book. Consider a few of these examples:
Yeshua never tried to gather a following, in fact, most of the time He went and hid Himself until the multitude found Him out. He deliberately made Himself of "no reputation" (Phil. 2:7) - but yet, in the Garden when they came for Him, He said He had been in the temple daily, teaching and preaching. He went where the people were but never built an organization, never embraced an institution, never tried to structure what He was teaching or how it was taught.
It is written that Y'shua and the disciples carried a money pouch so there must have been donations - but yet, it is not recorded that He ever took up an offering - not once. In fact, He appointed Judas, someone the scripture says He knew from the beginning was a thief, to oversee what money there was. He sacrificed His personal welfare in favor of His brother because He knew that Judas needed to be put in a position to make some daily choices to refine his spirit.
Yeshua said with food and clothing be content (shelter isn't even in the mix - the Son of Man had nowhere to lay His head) - but yet, instead of living a life of poverty, He lacked for nothing. If He needed money, He reached into the mouth of a fish. If He needed transportation, He went down a road and was given a burro. If He was hungry, He fed not only Himself and the disciples, but time and again thousands and thousands of others with leftovers more than what they started with. And when He sent the disciples out (US - you and me), He instructed them to go in the same manner as He had lived before them (Luke 9:1-6). How have we gotten from this living example of what it means to walk in a place of supernatural prosperity to settle for multi-million dollar cathedrals and preachers and the leanness of spirit that results (Psalm 106:15), while members of the Body go hungry and are in need?
Words mean things. The word "prosper" comes from the Hebrew, "shalav", meaning "to be at rest". It has nothing to do with finances. To take the Lord's Name in vain has nothing to do with swearing - "vanity" means to use for selfish purposes. When we appropriate "things" in the Name of God for our own purposes, we are taking the Name of the Lord in vain.
Soon, there will come a shaking and now is, that will start with the household of God the likes of which have not been seen before that will cause everyone to face the compromises they have made with their lives, forcing them to either make new choices or to remain captured in blindness for all of eternity. Eloheim does not consider this a game - it is serious business with Him.
God will hold us all accountable for our sins (Eze.18:30); We should hold each other accountable (Luke.17:3,4);We are Accountable in what we believe(John. 3:17,18,19,God will examine our actions (2Cor.5:10); Armor for physical battles (1Sam. 17:38); Weapons cannot stop God's power ( Eze. 38:4); Spiritual armor prepares us for life (Ro.13:12);Righteousness is a spiritual weapon (2Cor.6:7);God's weapons conquerors Satan's strongholds (2Cor.10:4); Put on the Armor (Eph.6:11-18) Jesus Is the Highest Authority (Matt.28:18) ;Choose a postive attitude (Hab.3:17-19) Bad attitudes hurts our relationship with God (Gen.4:6,7); Bad attitudes leads to poor decisions (Num.14:1-4) ;God gives christian a new attitude (Hab.3:17-19) More Than Conquerors (Ro.8:37)Christians should always rejoice (Phil.4:4) i_amgodschild@yahoo.com.
Jesus Christ Sees All !!!
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14 Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus.
15 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. 16 But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. 17 All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.
1 Timothy 1:14-17 (New Living Translation)
My Prayer for You in each one of you as an individual person and family and friends as well as aquaintances this journey we call life is for All of You!
10 Love each other with genuine affection,[a] and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.[b] 12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. 13 When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.
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