Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. Jude 1:24-25.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
If you are ready to walk it out with Me, that is, the life of good deeds I prepared for you in advance in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:10, you will find that your entrance into the eternal kingdom will be abundantly supplied to you. But there is MUCH more for you even now in this life, for your life will become one of victory. You will say with My apostle Paul in the midst of trials, “Nothing moves me for I know Him in whom I have believed and He is able to deliver me out of them ALL!”
Would you like to be perfect? When I made the first man, he was perfect. Just as was the devil. But both left the perfect for the imperfect, the incorruptible for the corruptible, light for darkness, and life for death. So the way back is to go in reverse of the way they went. It is a path of spiritual development and growth that leads you upward. For you must be trained again in the ways of the spirit, which are life and peace, and not in the ways of the flesh, which are sin and death.
First, I will describe to you what caused the perfect to become the imperfect with respect to the devil but you will see he brought Adam through the same steps he walked and Adam also lost it all. But not quite, for I had a plan and a smoldering wick, I do not extinguish, and a broken reed I shall not crush. I can walk you forward to go the upward path to perfection. Adam went down, he fell, so to return you go up, you rise. Reach out for help and grab hold of My hand like Peter did when he was sinking in the lake, do not run and hide from Me, seeking no help, rejecting My willingness to bring you back to Me, as Adam did.
The path of life leads upward for the wise, that he may turn away from going down to hell below. Proverbs 15:24.
For the devil, there is no turning back. But for you, who I made in My image and according to My likeness, there is. Return to Me for I have redeemed you and I can restore you and the earth much better than before. You can be made perfect.
For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him (Adam) who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Romans 8:19-21.
I know people comfort themselves when they sin by saying, “No one is perfect.” But that is not true. Jesus was a man like you, He emptied Himself of His divinity when He took on flesh and became one like you, I call Him the second Adam, but He never sinned. And as He is, so are you in this world. He was flesh and so are you and He has empowered you, who are His body on earth now that He is with Me at My right hand ever interceding for you, to do the works He did and greater. In Him you are complete. You can live your life through Him who strengthens you. If you want it, I can lead you in paths of righteousness for My Name’s sake, for I have given you My Name in Jesus, Covenant, but you must be willing and obey. Adam was unwilling and disobeyed and it enslaved him to the devil and trapped all My creation in corruption for I had given man rule over the earth and the works of My hands therein. But for you who choose to take My Word as truth then My Words are life to you who find them and health to all your flesh.
People say I created an imperfect world, but I did not. Each day, if you read Genesis 1, I did not complete the work I was doing until I saw it was good. And the last day when all was complete and I formed the man I saw it was all very good. It was complete and perfect with everything in the earth you would need for life and godliness forever. I set up things to reproduce, to recycle, such as the water cycle, to renew, and to all function together as a whole, each creature, plant, the sun, the moon, the stars all working together to provide a place for you to live and grow that was perfectly attuned to you and one another in the continuum of life. For all life is from Me and sustained by Me. I am your reason to be and your eternity.
Now let us look at the fall of Satan from perfection to imperfection:
“You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your tambourines and flutes, was in you. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were the anointed cherub who guards, and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. By the abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence, and you sinned; therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground.” Ezekiel 28:12-17.
And there is more about his fall through My prophet Isaiah:
“How you have fallen from heaven, O shining one (Helel, Lucifer), son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations! But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit.” Isaiah 14:12-15.
You see here, his fall came through pride and rebellion. Pride will cause you to rebel for it is a form of worship of self alone, placing yourself above authority, in fact, as the authority. This was caused Adam to fall as well. Proud people are not grateful people and do not see the goodness that they have in what I have given them, so they scorn it as cheap and throw it aside for something they think will promote them more. Proud people ruin themselves for you are not capable of living outside of your source, which is not yourself. You did not make yourself, I made you. And without Me you can do nothing. But that is not negative because I fully equip you with everything you need for life and godliness, to do amazing, creative, valiant deeds, inventions, technological advances, engineering, and the list never stops.
You are to be good stewards of My manifold grace for each of you has special gifts to be used for your own enjoyment and for the benefit of all. The first thing I did when I created man was to bless him and empower him to prosper as he ruled over the works of My hands.
Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. James 1:12-17.
I will never tempt you and I do not allow you who are committed to Me to be tempted beyond what you are able to endure. Now let us go forward instead of backward.
To go upward, you must stop looking backward. You cannot put your hand to the plow and keep looking back. So begin by repenting. Acknowledge your sins and confess them to Me. Then thank Me for Jesus’ blood that redeemed you and know your sins are gone now that you have received Jesus. He accepted your sins as if He had done them, and I mean every sin from the first to the last, and the wages of sin being death, He died the death of the sinner for you, as your substitute, and made you righteous with His own righteousness, which is My righteousness.
AND THAT IS WHERE THE PATH TO PERFECTION BEGINS: WITH REPENTANCE.
Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:14-15.
I leave you room for repentance. Adam never repented. He blamed Eve and he blamed Me for his sin but he never took responsibility and he never confessed it. He was angry. The anger of a man does not achieve My righteousness, and so his path continued down and not back up.
Never abuse another or make them your reason for your sin. Repent without blame of others.
To come to begin your path of good deeds that I prepared for you in advance in Christ Jesus, you must first turn from evil ways by repenting, returning to Me and My Word.
Repentance is not remorse. Remorse is what Adam had for he was sorry he got caught but he was not resolved to give up his allegiance with the devil. He abdicated his throne of dominion authority to the devil willingly thinking it would make him great and above all authority other than his own. But he was misled by a lie. And he became perishable. The wages of sin is death.
“Repent and believe the good news, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand—near you, even at your door!” these were some of the first words of My Son, when He started preaching as one among you on His earthly mission, and these were in perfect alignment with His Words to John on the island of Patmos after I raised Him from the dead and He was with Me in His Heavenly Glory, “Behold, I stand at the door, if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me—and he who overcomes will sit down with Me on My throne.” Revelation 3:20-21.
Your door, your gate, your heart. You must repent for Me to enter. Repentance comes before acceptance, before you can receive the Lordship of Jesus in your life. Repentance opens you to Me and My Kingdom.
Repentance comes first—you have to have a change of mind. In the original Greek that it was written in the word is “metanoia” which means a change of mind—a totally new way of thinking, believing and seeing. You have to stop blaming and pushing Me away. You have to stop justifying yourself like Adm and Eve, like Job, until you open your eyes and see that you have done wrong, thought wrong, been wrong, and acknowledge that, confess it, ask forgiveness, take responsibility before Me and then to believe you have received forgiveness based on the death and resurrection of Christ, but to do this you must have a change of mind. Only then can you open your door to let Me come in to dine with you and lead you into a whole new way of thinking, speaking, walking, and living.
Before you can be saved you have to admit you need saving. Before I can cleanse you of all your inequities, you must acknowledge you need cleansing. If you continue justifying yourself and blaming others you cannot. That is what Adam did and its consequences were worse than the sin itself for it kept him from returning to Me and being reinstated in the BLESSING. He shut Me out by fencing himself in.
“A humble, contrite heart you will not spurn,” sang David, and he was right. He did not justify himself for his sin, he acknowledged the wrong he had done in a totally open way. He did not blame Me or Bathsheba or her husband. He repented and came humbly to Me relying on My love and mercy. And I forgave him and continued to bless, promote, protect and prosper him.
A repentant heart can receive correction, forgiveness, and direction, but an unrepentant heart cannot. It goes nowhere but stays a dry and barren bush in the desert land. It does not see good when it comes. It is too busy being bitter and blaming everyone else for its sins, whatever they be, whether gluttony, hatred, grudges, offensive language, addictions of all sorts allowed to run wild, immorality, idolatry, sloth, a perverted mouth—all in total disobedience to My Word. And yet the person will not acknowledge that they have done wrong and caused the condition they are in that they are blaming Me for (like Adam, Job, and Gideon, but you will note both Job and Gideon repented and had very successful, prosperous, and victorious lives to the end of their time on earth) or justifying themselves for by blaming others. They will not change their mind and bring their thoughts to line up with My Word, which is faith, hope and love.
If you are unreachable, you are unteachable and if you are unteachable you are unreachable. That was the problem with the Pharisees and leaders at the time of Jesus.
Repentance comes before entrance of and into the Kingdom of Heaven. An unrepentant heart is a hard heart.
Read Psalm 51. This shows repentance with joyful hope, knowing that I am merciful and that I am love. Here David repents relying on My forgiveness, lovingkindness, and relationship with him. He told Me that his sacrifice to Me was a broken, humbled, and contrite heart. He was telling Me that the hardness that had led him to sin and be broken into pieces by his renewed and repentant heart. He judged himself harshly and then asked Me to take him back into fellowship with Me by cleansing away his sin. He was looking forward to the Christ he had foretold in Psalm 22 who would bear his sins and lawless deeds and would be raised from the dust of death as his good Shepherd in Psalm 23. His mind had been changed.
Another example of one quick to repent is My apostle Peter. The call and his opening his door to My Son all began on his knees, “Leave me Lord, I am a sinful man.” But My Son called him to follow Him to be a fisher of men. And Peter left all to follow Him and never turned back. When he denied Jesus, he wept in agony of spirit, but his faith never failed. He loved the Master—My dear Son. He made mistakes, but he always was quick to repent, and change his mind, like when Jesus went to wash his feet.
Later you will see him filled with My Spirit and saving souls. And the first thing he will tell them to do is repent, change their minds. “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” Acts 2:38-39. And three thousand people were saved that day listening the man who knew what he was talking about for he had lived it and found it changed his life into that life which is life indeed, abundant life. But without being open to it, you will push it away from you and you will die in your sins. For the wages of sin is death, but My gift to you is everlasting life in Jesus.
And being with Jesus, opening your door when He knocks so that He comes in to abide with you, makes a difference in who you are. Later the leaders, elders, and scribes (the educated and honored men of the day), “observing the boldness (they spoke with authority) of Peter and John, and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men” were amazed, and “they recognized them as companions of Jesus.” Acts 4:13-21. Consider this, many of those leaders, elders and scribes who were so admired for their degrees and high positions had unrepentant hearts and had rejected Jesus and are now in hell while those repentant “uneducated, ordinary men” have their names inscribed on the precious foundation stones of the Heavenly city and sit on thrones with the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel!
Repentance is loving much. Like the woman, known to be a sinner, who came and wept at Jesus’ feet, dried His tear-soaked feet with her hair, and then anointed them with the most precious treasure she—a jar of costly perfume in an alabaster jar. She was forgiven much because she loved much.
Repentance, true repentance, that leads you to trust in My forgiveness and ability to make things good that you have made bad, to make you perfect despite what the past holds, does not come until your heart is moved by My love and care. Psalm 51 is filled with that. David knew My heart and he went after it.
And now what does Jesus tell you who have repented (changed your minds to a whole new way of thinking) and have been saved, blessed, forgiven and made whole? You are to proclaim repentance and the forgiveness of sins to all nations, having begun from Jerusalem (the death and resurrection took place there but does not stay there) to wherever you are at the moment. Luke 24:46-47. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, He sent you My promise of the Holy Spirit so you are clothed with power from on High to do this. And as He left His born-again disciples on Mt. Olivet to return to His glory in Heaven, He BLESSED them as He was lifted up and carried into Heaven. Just as the last work of creation for Me was imparting the BLESSING to man, and then entering My rest, so was His last work of His time on earth when He had made you a new creation in Him and then sat down at My right hand. Now He has entrusted all His authority to you. Just as I did with Adam. Do not do as Adam did. Be quick to repent and I am faithful and just to forgive your sin and cleanse you of all unrighteousness, just as if it had never been. 1 John 1:9; Hebrews 10:17. And there is so MUCH MORE.
I love you. Repentance has to do with three things: humility, gratitude, and renewing your mind. Remember, repentance is of the heart, it is a change of heart—a change in the way you think about yourself, Me and others. It is a determination of your will that you are resolved to change your conduct and way of thinking so that it matches Mine. It means to resolve that you will act in love, for love and with love. It means that you determine to be a blessing to all. My Son told you that unless you repent, you shall perish. Luke 13:3, 5. Why is that? Acting without love is sin and the wages of sin is death. It leads only to the curse. It is what brought death into your lives in the first place because acting without love is acting apart from Me and apart from Me there is no eternal life, and I do not just mean existing forever, I mean living that abundant life with Me in the Kingdom which is life indeed.
Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, even at your door. Is your door open or shut? Please do not shut Me out, I am able to save you, deliver you, BLESS you, protect you, and make you perfect. Jesus will shield you from all wrath. Fellowship and partner with Me. You are wise to win souls.
“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. If you are willing and obey, you will eat the best of the land.” Isaiah 1:18-19