“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” by whom all things were created; nothing being made that was made without him, the Light of God, who is the brightness of the glory of God; the pure language of the Lord in flesh form; through whom we are able to approach unto the LORD, and without whom, none comes to any understanding; the stumblingblock of God having its effect upon such, that it be so, that “every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he (Christ Jesus) is pure, ( 1 John 3:3).” That hope being the strength of faith to believe upon the True Word of God and the Righteous Spirit in all his commandments and promises; that we understand ourselves as God knows us, ‘ to be a separate people, not counted amongst the nations,’ but as it is, a mountain upon the nations, a royal priesthood as God calls it, the people of his inheritance, who bear the light and easy truth, way, and life of the Son of God, whom is lowly of heart, with meekness unto him of whom all things are.
The Lord, calling the end from the beginning, having set the foundations of the earth and the heaven through his Light; this Word, that is with the Holy Spirit, bringing peace unto the marrow of our bones, confidence in him upon our minds, and strength of heart to abide in all that is God, has brought deliverance from the ways and means of this world, showing the fashion of it and the promises of it as nothing but vanity, whereas, the Lord being all in all, showing the strength of his love, being slandered, treated spitefully, his Word being cast aside, and his blessings being counted as nothing, by the dead spirit of this world, which sees with the eyes, and hears with the ears, and tastes with the tongue, but perceives not the grace of God, not the liberty to the soul of each, lest they comprehend, be healed and converted from living in the kingdom of ‘not enoughness,’ that is, a life of scarcity, whereupon each person is as Adam and Eve, after being driven out from the Garden of Eden. Yea, toiling and working to produce continuously from an earth that does not give so easily: bearing and travailing in all things and on all sides, that the body be clothed, the belly fed, the mind set at ease, and shelter be above us, all the while our souls are deprived from closeness to God, and our minds lacking understanding of the divine truth and way of God, ultimately, rendering desolate hearts, desolate families, and desolation of spirit across each nation that refuses to approach God with sacrifices of joy and hearts of thanksgiving, in the pattern of the life of Jesus.
Samuel the Prophet and King Saul, painting by Gustave Dore
Forsaking God’s commandments, hasty and impatient Saul, the first earthly king of the government of Israel, followed not God in Word and Spirit, yea, neither wholeheartedly in Word, nor in Spirit, was vain, feared the people, and also gave sacrifices unto them of the spoils of battle from which the LORD gave deliverance, whereas, the LORD commanded that nothing of the spoil be consumed. Therefore, after may transgressions from Saul, seeing his heart was not ‘aright’ in him, the LORD said unto Samuel, “It repenteth me that I have set Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments,” (1 Samuel 15:11). And so, the kingdom departed from Saul, and a young, dutiful son, shepard and musician, the youngest of seven sons, was anointed to be the next king of Israel by Samuel; David, son of Jesse, great-grandson of Boaz and Ruth.
David, whom spoke of the Christ of God, and through whom that Light that lighteth every person who is ‘called, sanctified, justified, and glorified of God,’ wrote in the psalms what manner of diligence of zealousness we are to have unto God, lest we fall away and return from following God, who has called upon all of us to follow him wholeheartedly, according to his Word and the Spirit of his Word (the first commandment), that we find God in that way and be found of him; peace and gladness upon our countenance, seeing we have attained unto glory; the acceptance of God, we rest from our toiling and travail in this life, finding great strength because of the gift of divine faith in us; having an effectual door of hope, even the Light of God shining forth unto us, how shall we turn back to scarcity, and the uncertainty of this earthly life? Nay, attaining unto the acceptance of God, we find the favor of God, and the ease of intreating him through a new mind of Christ, that our feet and path are set on establishing in the manifesting of good works of thanksgiving. Not a little here and a little there, or upon the scheduled church time, but a transformed life that wholeheartedly has a ‘new song’ of life; our home life and our manner being refreshed each moment, even through longsuffering when all things are not as we would like them to be, (for so Jesus also travailed in the garden of Gethsemane, and was treated in all contradiction to his divinity, being spit upon, buffeted, lashed with whips, dismissed, mocked, and crucified), that in such times, we remain wholehearted unto God, whom has not given us the bread of scarcity, but the bread and meat and drink of the Light of God upon our self. Us then being brothers of Jesus Christ, with God in us also, we should consider all our thoughts and all our ways, and all our speech, and all our work, and all our manner of being unto our children, and how we go about providing first the wholeheartedness the LORD has blessed us with, that our minds and hearts not turn back into ignorance, or triviality, and we go the way of the world, whom worships not God, but has been altogether blinded and made deaf in their minds and hearts, and whose spirit is dead and made numb to the loving and kind, plenteous in mercy and gracious God, the Father of Light, whom we know if we know his Sun, Christ Jesus.
Being able to deliver us unto living a life of joy, and love, and peace, with great faith in him who died and lives forever, having the power of his living Word and Spirit, and who has gloriously and graciously decreed that we also reign with him; shall we not bear with joy any and all misfortune and rudeness, and malcontentness of others? And shall we not bear it with gracefully, yet diligently reading the Word that we abound in all Wisdom and Understanding that we not blindly fall or succumb as those who are without faithless; that we may know ourselves as elders of the Israel of God, and not simply be as babies, and children (Hebrews 5:12–6:2), whom remain on the first doctrines of Christ, never truly forming Christ in them in this life, turning back again and again and using their upright, yet not full formed and matured Christ Spirit, ignorantly as a license to cloak their vanity, a dross upon their heart which they have not purified away through the furnace that is the Word of God. Unto such, divine peace and joy is elusive, as it was for the forgiven malefactor who was crucified next to the Lord. Having foregone a life of peace, they chose through fear, their portion in this life to live in a mingled way with those things that do not profit the soul and Spirit, but cause a schism within them, causing their countenance to fall, and their hearts to experience a measure of desolation, bringing heartache unto their families, and being of partial help to those who are the sons and daughters of God, as it is, they being part iron and part clay, inasmuch as iron does not mix with clay, their life, family, and communities, yea, even entire nations that mingle their upright Spirit with that that does not profit, will be partly strong and partly broken.
Therefore, the sons and daughters of God are as iron, and those whom love not God, but forsake knowing him as he has called us to know him, are as clay; yea, mix these two together and those homes will have strife, and those nations will be divided. I say, also, unless our hearts and minds love God as he has called us to love him and live according to his Word and Spirit, even us, being upright, will be partly strong and partly broken, and how shall we strengthen and minister unto our brethren, and how shall we be the lights of the world in the name of the Lord Christ Jesus, the Sun of Almighty God, if our whole heart and our mind be devoted to bearing the cross of Jesus, whom is the strong man rejoicing to run a race (Psalm 19:5–6)? The reading of the Word, and our search of the understanding of the Spirit of God through his Word will break away the clay from around our hearts and minds, that we have soundness of soul and spirit and mind; our life being prepared to also be strong and rejoicing, and the peace of God in us and dwelling upon us, and we find ourselves, saying, “I know you my Lord, and I praise you through the sacrifice of my life as a life of thanksgiving joy unto you, for I see now with my heart ,and I hear now with this gift of your Holy Spirit, that you have waited graciously for me.”
May the peace, patience, and love of God strengthen you to have faith in him, that you be a useful instrument of God, without dross or clay, but with all wholeheartedness, a loving and kind person, that God may abide in you so that there be no schism in you or your house, but the liberty of God and his life of goodness and graciousness.
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