The Mystery of Godliness

 

This is from the blog A Word in Season:

“Great is the mystery of godliness;

God was manifest in the flesh…”
1 Timothy 3:16

The carnal mind cannot comprehend the Mystery of God. The things of God are spiritual in nature and as such can only be known by those who walk and live in His Spirit.

“But the natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God…”
1 Corinthians 2:14

Why?

“…for they are foolishness unto him:
neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned”
1 Corinthians 2:14

Many browse the scriptures, even expound on the great doctrines associated with God, but few touch the divine mystery hidden within them. Within His Word there is a call, a voice, and a presence that compels us to seek out its wonder.

From the dawn of time religion has readily accepted the notion of a god as man innately attempts to explain his own existence. Even the atheist will endeavor to offer some seemingly reasonable clarification of man’s existence. That very need to explain is proof of the Mystery.

The natural man has no desire to enter the mystery, it is content with the rationale.

“For they that dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning Him”
Acts 13:27

Though they read the scriptures, and listened to them being expounded by others, they KNEW HIM NOT! Familiarity with the scriptures will not avail us of much concerning the Mystery.

“Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me; and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life”
John 5:39-40

Christ Himself is the Mystery. Only within Him, within His Being and His Nature, will we discover the wonder of a Life beyond all comprehension. Because they “knew Him not” they were unable to hear the voices of the prophets who foretold His coming through His Spirit. How sad to discount the wonders and revelations of Christ throughout the sacred pages of the Old Testament. Jesus testified of the Old Testament scriptures that they “witnessed of ME”. Every page, every word of the Old, bears the testimony of HIM. In our unfamiliarity with Him we do not hear the Voice, we do not feel the drawing or the pressing of His Spirit within to “Come unto Him and learn of Him”. Knowledge about Him is often enough to keep many from the joy of “knowing Him” personally and experientially.

His purpose in coming was to bring us into LIFE abundant; a Life of growing and developing of the Mystery of Christ in YOU. Within this relationship is the eternal call to come and see the unrelenting desire of God for us; to “taste and see”. There is no end to this invitation.

John the Apostle, though intimately familiar with Christ, declared he was in the Spirit on the Isle of Patmos and when he heard the voice behind him and turned to see Him in His glory, he fell as “one dead” at the fuller revelation of Him.

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day,
and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet”
Revelation 1:10

Because John KNEW HIM, he heard the voice. Jesus declares “MY SHEEP hear my voice”! It is via our relationship with Him that our lives become ones of following Him and learning of Him. There is nothing static or uneventful in our life in Him. He is ever calling us unto Himself. In hearing we turn from our ways to walk in His. After His death on the cross Jesus appeared to Mary in a way she did not recognize but when He spoke her name she knew instantly it was Him. There is something in His Voice that causes us to see Him in a deeper and more profound way. Mary would have missed Him had she not known the Voice that called out to her. May we grow increasingly sensitive to the hearing of Him!

“And I turned to see the voice
which spake with me…”
Revelation 1:12

In our hearing and in our turning we SEE the voice and are impacted by a fresh beholding of Him that fills our hearts with a glory that no man can aptly describe. If we fail to hear His voice, if we fail to respond to His voice, we will walk in the monotonous tread of a humdrum religion; satisfied with the words of an awesome covenant but never touching Him who is the heart of it.

The Mystery of Godliness to be continued…

PODCAST – The Mystery of Faith

Brian Troxel

Secrets Revealed

This is from the blog A Word in Season:

“For nothing is secret,
that shall not be made manifest;
neither anything hid,
that shall not be known and come abroad”
Luke 8:17

The Day of Revelation is upon us. The secrets of people’s lives will no longer be hid within the inner sanctum of their hearts. All things will come to light in this day. “For nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest”.

Ezekiel beheld the idols and wickedness of the Elders of Israel of his day…

“And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The Lord seeth us not…”
Ezekiel 8:11-12

It was in a time of great judgment of God’s people that the wickedness and secrets were revealed. The sin was dark and deep within the hearts of these men of prominence. Not only was the sin revealed but named by the Revelation of God. It is not a day to hide our sin but to forsake all things which would contaminate our hearts in the sight of Him. Paul declares…

“In the day when God shall judge
the secrets of men by Jesus Christ
according to my gospel”
Romans 2:16

We live in a time when the illumination of the Holy Spirit is lacking because of the apathy and neglect of the people of God. In the early Church Paul, speaking to the church at Corinth, testified of those in whom the Spirit of Prophecy was active.

“But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you”
1 Corinthians 14:24-25

How far we have fallen even from the standard of the Church at Corinth which Paul called carnal.

“For while one saith, I am of Paul;
and another, I am of Apollos;
are ye not carnal?”
1 Corinthians 3:4

The power and the light of God’s Glory is returning to His Church and in His penetrating gaze the secrets of all will be revealed. This is the time to find grace to come to His light for His coming is nearer now than when we first believed. It is upon the slothful, the unfaithful and those lacking the fear of the Lord that this day will come and all will be revealed. The Light is growing within the hearts of a new prophetic people who have allowed the “spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning” (Isaiah 4:4) to purge away the filth of their own hearts. It is to such that there will be given insight and wisdom to confront the sin in His house.

Ananias and Sapphira

“And Peter answered unto her, tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, how is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things”
Acts 5:8-11

It is a false Gospel that preaches any other truth than that of a God who Judges in truth and righteousness. We must prepare our hearts for His Presence in our midst. Let us seek righteousness and holiness to be found pure in the Day of His visitation.

“Gather together, yes, gather,
O shameless nation,
before the decree takes effect
before the day passes away like chaff
before there comes upon you
the burning anger of the Lord,
before there comes upon you
the day of the anger of the Lord.
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,
who do his just commands;
seek righteousness; seek humility;
perhaps you may be hidden
on the day of the anger of the Lord”
Zephaniah 2:1-3

Brian Troxel
http://www.aword.info

The Consecrated Life

This is from the blog A Word in Season:

“For he whom God hath sent
speaketh the words of God”
John 3:34

The things which are true in Jesus are to become true in us. Jesus being the LIFE of the New Testament has come to live in us. His Words are to become ours via the rule and reign of His Spirit within our hearts. The power and the authority that resides in Him are to be ours, in a corresponding measure, to the degree of our submission unto Him. The verity of our submission is revealed in the words we speak.

Many years ago the Lord showed me that words are mere containers; the real value of a word is not in itself but in the power contained in the Word. The religious world is filled with many words that carry within them agendas, purposes, and voices to woo and call people to one thing or another. Those who hear words only and do not “feel” the weight, the power and the voice within the word will always be perplexed and mislead. Two individuals may share the same scripture; yet one is empty and void of life or power while the other is pulsating with the Life and Call of Jesus. Without a sanctified ear one will not know the difference. There is an inability to distinguish between that which is Holy and that which is lifeless and dead.

“For the ear trieth words,
as the mouth tasteth meat”
Job 34:3

The sanctified ear hears and discerns the voice of God in the words which men speak. It is attuned to the Voice of the Almighty. This is a day of great confusion within the religious world as many voices are calling out to His people. While these voices may speak great things, they seek the heart, the affection and the very souls of men to join their cause or organization and to come under the “covering” of some apostle. We must seek Him and prove His voice within our hearts. It is a day to taste and see that the Lord is good whereby we can know whether something spoken is of Him or the voice of another.

Jesus said “…the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63) It is to this end we must develop within our own hearts a deep and experiential knowing of His Spirit and the character and manner of His Life. In so doing we are exercised in the ability of discerning Him in all things. It is to those who have been so exercised that God opens the “strong meat” of His Word.

“But strong meat belongeth to them
that are of full age,
even those who by reason of use
have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil”
Hebrews 5:14

God will not entrust His word to those who use it casually. He will not open understanding to one who will use the precious things of God for their own purposes. Many may quote and teach things that other people have seen and heard but the actual power and authority will be lacking. The words may have the form of something right but they are the empty, plagiarized words of others. Real truth must proceed from those who have first seen and heard within their own lives. These are truths begotten in God by relationship; personal relationship with the author Himself. The sanctified ear hears the voice of Him who is the sanctifier. It cannot waste time in the meaningless debates of the religious world, the speculations of the learned and the surmising of those who would rather know a thing intellectually than Him who is the Truth.

“Blessed is the man that heareth me”
Proverbs 8:34