Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Philippians 4:8.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
The sanctified life is a life of worship. True worship can only rise up in a sanctified heart, that is, a heart connected with Mine.
When I opened to John My Kingdom in his spirit as he sanctified his days of exile on Patmos as My days do you recall what was the nature of that glorious place? An atmosphere of worship.
What is worship? Worship is a continual flow of honor and love between you and Me where each values the other as precious.
“Since you are precious in My sight, you are honored and I love you.” Isaiah 43:4.
Worship is not a place of testing but of resting. To arrive in a place of continual worship you must walk in constant, unshakable knowing of who I AM and what I have freely given you in Christ.
But just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. 1 Corinthians 2:9-13.
Worship is living above and not beneath. It is living free in a world trapped in the slavery of fear and darkness.
A fearful heart, an anxious heart, a distracted heart, cannot rest in worship. If you do not KNOW Me as your healer, provider, righteousness, peace, good Shepherd, sanctifier, protector, and defender, you cannot rest in worship.
Worry and worship do not go together, for if you are worried you do not know Me. If you did know Me, you would never be worried. Why? You have the answer to everything that rises up against you. If I am for you, and I am, who can be against you? And the correct answer is nothing and no one. You have a joy no one can take from you. But if you never took that joy as your own, others can take it away. Those who have not lose the little they think they have.
Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. John 16:22.
To live a lifestyle of worship you must keep a watch on your thoughts. You must keep a guard on your heart. Your heart is a sanctuary where we meet.
And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. 1 Peter 3:14-16.
That is the secret place and that is the Holy of Holies. All is peace therein.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7.
You start here. You rejoice in Me. What about? That you have life. That you are healed. That you are provided for. Delight in these gifts from Me, and I will give you more and more, I will give you the desires of your heart.
My Son told you I am seeking those who worship in spirit and truth. What does that look like? It is seeking that which is above, it is living at a higher level of My thoughts. And you can. For I have given you My thoughts and My Words, which are higher than yours, but My written Word is easily accessible and My spoken Word by My Spirit in you and on you poured forth by My Son.
Worship is the higher road of love, everlasting love, and it shines into every dark place of your mind and heart, making your pathway an ascent into light and peace. The light of love is the light of life, and it has shone into your heart in My Son. And once you have found that pathway of light your life becomes a song in your heart. The song of Moses, which is the song of freedom, and the song of the Lamb, which is the song of the redeemed.
When you are in the valley of trouble, sing there as you did in the days of your youth when I took you by the hand and led you out of slavery, and that valley of trouble will become a door of hope into a valley of blessing.
Now, I want you to listen very carefully to what I am about to tell you. But first read this passage that immediately follows the passage I set forth above about casting all your cares on Me with thanksgiving so you can be at peace, even walking among those who have no peace and are trying to pull you back into their darkness, for Satan has blinded the minds of the unbelievers and thus takes them captive to do his will, but you must not fall back into that trap.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9.
This now tells you how to keep that peace once you have handed the care of the matter over to Me as you wait for the perfect solution so that the anxiety does not return when things seem not to be going just as you have requested immediately. I taught this to My servant Paul who was surrounded by those being led by the evil one trying to stop him from his destiny.
If you have let yourself fall into the trap of concentrating on the faults of those who are in your life either as family or co-workers, I mean the people you cannot just walk away from in the responsibilities of your life, but live and work with, you are on a slippery slope. You may say you cannot help but get irritated and offended because they are around you day in and day out, but this is not in your best interest to give into this kind of spirit of judgment, negativity, offense, and self-pity (which is actually a form of SELF righteousness which is NOT My righteousness). The anger of a man does not achieve My righteousness.
And anger can develop into offense and hatred if you permit your mind to dwell on these things whenever you are around this person, and if it is a spouse or family member that may be twenty four hours a day seven days a week.
YOU BECOME LIKE WHAT YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT.
You become like where your attention is focused and where your heart is. If you concentrate and breed anger in your mind over the bad behavior of another, continually look at them with disgust, watch them, think on their words and ways, even if you do not say it to them openly but only behind their back, or maybe only to yourself, then you become like them.
You may be saying this cannot be true, that you will never be like them, but if you focus on them enough, you will be.
You will pick up their failings, their words, their addictions, and their ways. Even once you have separated from them and divorced your life from them, if you keep thinking about what they did to you and what they are like, it will slowly change you to be like them. If you give in to concentrating on the evil, you will become evil, hateful, and trapped in darkness. It will age you and take the light out of your life. You will no longer be free. Just like the first two in the garden. Adam sinned, blamed it on his wife and Me, and he became evil, and his children picked it up and began killing each other until every thought of man was evil and hence the flood.
But one man of good thoughts and obedience to the Word of light saved all mankind. Noah, the only blameless one in his age. He did not focus on the conduct of others. I tell you that Noah walked with Me.
These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. Genesis 6:9.
And therein lies your answer. Surrounded by evil and wicked men, Noah walked with Me and it sanctified him and it will do the same for you.
The sanctified life lives free, above evil, not beneath it. It seats you with Christ at My right hand. But to stay there you must keep your mind above and not below. Higher thoughts make higher ways. Lower thoughts make lower ways.
Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:13-18.
Walk through it with Me, like Jesus walked right through the midst of those trying to stone Him and bring Him down from His calling in Nazaraeth. He did not concentrate on them, He just walked right through them and carried on. Did He hate them? No. He had love for them that they rejected, but it did not stop Him from walking with Me and thinking on beautiful things with Me. He just told Me to forgive them because they did not know what they were doing. And they really did not, or they never would have crucified the Lord of Glory.
Jesus corrected people but never joined with them or let Himself became obsessed with evil thoughts about them. His eyes were only on Me and saving them for Me. And that was the same mind that My servant Paul had. And he learned in the midst of attacks from those trying to stop him from preaching My Word how to think only on what was true, lovely, and of excellence.
And I told the same to My prophet Jeremiah, who lived among an evil and perverse people claiming to be holy.
Therefore, thus says the LORD, if you return, then I will restore you, before Me you will stand; and if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman (mouthpiece). They for their part may turn to you, BUT AS FOR YOU, YOU MUST NOT TURN TO THEM. Then I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; and though they fight against you, they will not prevail over you; for I am with you to save you and deliver you,” declares the LORD. “So I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent.” Jeremiah 15:19-21.
I did not remove Jeremiah from the people, but Jeremiah, in their midst, lived above them, and what took them down in the conquest of Jerusalem, that he warned them about and which they could have been delivered from if they had followed his words to them, which were Mine to them, did not affect him. He lived above and not beneath. In captured people, he lived and moved about free. You are in the world, but not of the world. I do not take you out of the world, but if you walk with Me, no evil will come on you.
Do not stay in close proximity to evil. Even if it is in your work place or home in someone that is not under your control. Never permit it in those you have authority over such as your children but do not get familiar with evil people that are not within your authority to control. Lead them out to lead them into Me. But if you fellowship with them in a sense of familiarity on their level you will start to look like them, talk like them, walk like them, and be like them. Do not get pulled into their godless, idle chatter just because they are around you. You should be influencing them to a higher lifestyle and not them bringing you down to their level by pulling you into arguments and controversies unless you give in to them. Even if you are in the same place, separate yourself.
Your Words were found and I devoured them, and Your Words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your Name, O LORD God of hosts. I did not sit in the circle of merrymakers, nor did I exult with them. Because of Your hand upon me I sat alone. Jeremiah 15:16-17.
Sanctify Me in your hearts by this rule, be civil and answer simply to questions that just require a working answer of “yes” or “no” or a specific answer to something that is being worked upon but, once you have tried and tried to bring them to the truth of My Word and they will not, then do the following: (1) DO NOT THINK ABOUT THEM, INSTEAD THINK ON WHAT I TELL YOU TO THINK ON, i.e., whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things; (2) DO NOT TALK ABOUT THEM to yourself or others, this will only fuel the fire and make others not want to be around you; (3) DO NOT LOOK AT THEM, in the sense of watching their looks or conduct with loathing, look away at what is lovely, many people trapped by evil are very obese, dirty, dressing scantily, or guilty of other unholy or perverted conduct or behavior, do not gaze on this or listen to their swear words and fowl language; and (4) DO NOT FELLOWSHIP IN A FAMILIAR WAY WITH THEM just because they are around you, they will start telling you their thoughts and philosophies, which will only get you arguing with them, and, even worse, they will make you doubt yourself and Me when they seem not to get healed or changed no matter how long you have been praying and sacrificing for them.
Stop poisoning your mind by concentrating on the evil in others. And I will tell you something further, they may not be as bad as you think for you have so exaggerated it in your mind over the years that it has become something far worse than it really is. Give it all to Me and live free. You can. Like Noah in the midst of a perverse and evil generation. He lived in it but was not of it. And I had My ways of delivering him so he was not tainted or jaded by it. Selah. I cleaned things out. Same for Enoch.
Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. Genesis 5:21-24.
Live a lifestyle of worship with your eyes on Me and all beauty and glory will fill your heart and every day of your life, whether you be in a prison cell, a dark cave, a palace, or walking right into My Kingdom in the spirit, will be filled with a joy no one can take from you. And your joy will not be disappointed. And I am not making those things up. Paul sat writing the letter to the Philippians in a prison cell as the wrote truthfully that he was overflowing with joy as he gazed beyond the prison right into My heart, and it got him out of prison more than once, even to shaking off the chains and opening all the gates. And the same was true for Peter.
David sang My praises in dark caves as he hid from Saul and the army of Israel under the shadow of My wings with joy and soon he was singing in a beautiful palace with My ark of the covenant in a tent next door to him and all his enemies gone.
And the same was true for Joseph as a slave and then a prisoner, he lived above all that in My presence and found favor wherever he went, until he had his own lovely palace given to him at no charge by Pharaoh. And John in exile on a barren island in a cave raised his mind above it all and walked through an open door right into the throne room of My Kingdom to see and hear things none had hear before.
And all these had one thing in common, they never let their minds dwell on evil thoughts, or any thoughts at all, about the ones who had put them in those dark places. It was not Me who put them there, but walking with Me got them out. With Me you will always walk above and not beneath. Stop the blame, the shame, and the anger and I can lead you to freedom in the midst of a den of hungry lions. It all has to do with where you put your attention.
I love you. Where is your attention? On My love in worship or on the hatred you have for those who have trapped you? You are never trapped. I provide the Way out. And it is worship. Walk with Me and you will always come out on top and not beneath. You are free. Let no one trick you out of your freedom. Satan did that to Adam and Eve and it led to all this evil. I can hardly wait to return and clean it all out for those of you who love Me, who worship Me in spirit and truth. Think about that, and you will share My joy so your joy can be complete. Do not let anyone steal your joy. And they have if you just keep thinking about the evil in them.
See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. Hebrews 12:15.