“Now we know that God hears not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of God AND DOETH HIS WILL, him HE heareth.”
John 9:31
“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure; having this seal: The Lord knoweth them that are His..
And let everyone that nameth the name of Christ, depart from iniquity.”
2 Tim 2:19
“But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.”
1 Cor 8:3
“But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world?”
Gal 4:9
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
John 10:27
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
1 Corinthians 13:12
“But you, O Lord, know me; you see me, and test my heart toward you”
Jeremiah 12:3.
“The Lord knoweth the ways of the righteous, but the ways of the unGodly shall perish.”
Psalms 1:6
“Purged unto honor.”
“Meet for the Master’s House”
“Prepared unto every good work.” 2Tim2:21
This is how we become known by God.
While there is no privilege without duty there is likewise no thanks, according to the Word, for simply doing our obedient duty.
Privilege of favor that comes with naming the name of Jesus is bestowed upon those who have fulfilled the first duty of departing from iniquity. That is our reasonable service that gets the attention of Heaven.
Jesus likewise confirms the truth in Luke 17:9 when he spoke these words in a parable concerning servanthood and duty- “doth he thank that servant cause he did those things that were commanded him?
We are commanded to depart from iniquity, if we are to put our hand to the plow— and there is no thanks for this reasonable service of enlistment into the army of God.
We are likewise in the natural not awarded any medals for marching in rank, (though we have the privilege and favor of being a soldier) or for any other jobs which we have enlisted into military service to do. Being Honored with service medals comes from actions above and beyond the call of duty, of heroism that is many times not commanded to be done, but rather inspired acts of bravery that took place outside the common duties of the soldier.
For some elite soldiers every command they are given has a Medal of Honor attached to it (though often never awarded) as they risk all to fight in battles that no common soldier may dare. These elite soldiers have the privilege of being called so, because of this, and likewise those Special Teams in Christianity venture into battles that supersede the common calling, (though by definition it should not) and have reserved unto themselves as well the honor that is bestowed upon them who fight bravely. These are God’s ‘vessels of Honor,’ these are they who are sanctioned, ‘sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use and prepared unto every good work.’
It is warfare to resist the enemy. The struggle is real as we rage against the dying of the light, and forsake the sensual, sex driven, casual, apathetically and comfortably numb mindset that has enveloped society, and it’s agenda that is designed to distract, with purposes that manipulate and twist information so that there is a tolerance of those things which oppose the conscience. This tolerance that once was but a drip, has burst through the dam of morality and is flooding society with the filth and dregs of base carnality, streaming in 5G a torrent of the corruption of everything pure and wholesome, perverting generation after generation with spiritual wickedness that the world has not seen since the times of Noah.
This Word of God declares that “perverseness is a breach in the Spirit.” (Proverbs 15:4) How many have ‘pierced themselves through with the many sorrows’ from the perverseness that has breached the television and computer and tablet screens? It is warfare to say I will not allow this into my home, that “I will set no evil thing before my eyes” or the eyes of my children. It is warfare uncommon to the ages that has come against every Christian Home today. Our common duty has transformed into the special operations category, as it does require the faith and courage of an elite warrior to step out and say “as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
Our service begins simply with Righteousness. “For the Lord KNOWETH the ways of the righteous.” Our first command, or marching order as a soldier of the LORD is to flee, and then to follow. Observe what Paul wrote to Timothy in his heartfelt charge, just before he himself was offered up as a martyr for Truth, that it was his duty to “endure hardness as a good soldier for Jesus Christ,” stating that “no man that fights for God will entangle himself again with the affairs of this world (this life): that he may please Him who has chosen us to be a soldier.” Paul goes on to write that the first order of business, that the first step of a soldier of the Lord is to ‘flee youthful lusts.’ This is the only example where we are commanded to flee, and it is the first command of the Army of God. In this realm of 24/7/365 imposed sexuality this is perhaps the most difficult command of all. It’s not enough to simply not seek it out, but rather we have to fight against it as it is forced upon us in every and all facets of life. So we must respond in kind, by forcefully protecting and safeguarding our lives and our children’s lives and minds from the filth that would steal them and steal everything from them. Diligence is necessary in this first step of becoming known by God. Paul wrote it this way to the Church at Thessalonica, as the Spirit led his pen that “this is the will of God for your life, even your sanctification: to abstain from sexual sin.” Step number one for ‘vessels unto honor’ is to Flee lusts and the sensuality of the world, and the sexual immorality that has demoralized our nation and the world, and even the church. ‘Resist the devil and he will flee from you.’
Step two among the ranks of the Almighty God, is after fleeing is that we must then follow. “Follow after righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call upon the LORD out of a pure heart.”
To follow righteousness is to follow truth. It is to seek out that which is beyond the pleasing of self. It is rising above the base plane of gross darkness that covers the people and it is the understanding of Light and the knowledge of Truth which then allows us to partake of the Divine Nature we were made for. If life is only spent in self satisfaction, what have we gained? There is no purpose in the lifestyle that operates under the notion that we must ‘eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.’ If this were the case then why do laws exist and from what morality do they proceed from? Paul said ‘if in this life only we have hope’—then yes pleasure would be the epitome of pursuits.
However for those who have hope, who have experienced the light of salvation, and tasted and seen that the LORD IS good, their mission is no longer the pursuit of pleasure but the pursuit of truth, the pursuit of righteousness, the pursuit of charity, of benevolence and kindness, the pursuit of faith and peace— it is the ‘Pursuit of God.’
This pursuit is the weathervane of our core beliefs. It does not mean that we are deprived or derived of pleasure or enjoyment, rather it means that our pleasures are found in moderation and secondary to the call of God which states we are to ‘seek the wellbeing of others first, that we are to ‘stand up for them who are weak,’ that we are to ‘bear one another’s burdens,’ that we should ‘prefer one another.’ The Word says ‘let every one of us please his neighbor for their good to their edification. For even Christ pleased not himself.’ But then after, when it comes to our own comforts, true satisfaction follows. Not in the pleasure itself, but in the knowing we were pleasing to God first— thus known by God. Then are we fulfilled, not carnally but spiritually and this transcends into the natural realm as we enjoy the gifts of God as they are ‘without repentance.’ For to ‘love God is to be known by God.’
“And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves.”
This is how we fight. With love. With meekness. With gentleness. With patience we awaken them that through ignorance, deceit, and the pursuit of pleasure “oppose themselves.” Why? Because ‘he that winneth souls is wise.’ Because this is what it means to war. We ‘Fight with Love’ and for Love. We fight for those who are covered in the darkness of ignorance in the hope that ‘if God peradventure will give them repentance, to the acknowledging of The Truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.’
We fight with Truth and Love. “Speaking truth in love,” Paul writes. This is how we are known by God. I would venture to say that unless we are known by hell, we are unknown by God. This brings to mind a scene from the movie the Matrix, and if I may add, a healthy Imagination is a fundamental part in the mind of a Christian. To imagine God is the most noble thing one can do according to Aristotle. As we continue along this analogy of the soldier that Paul directed to Timothy, allow me to imagine perhaps, how Paul would say this to Timothy today. I believe it could be likened to the conversation between Morpheus and Neo in this scene from the Matrix as Morpheus intends to wake up Neo from life of the blindness of trivial and selfish pursuits into a service of the cause of another dimension, another home, another city, whereby self sacrifice is the only way to attain. Observe:
Morpheus is fighting against the power of the Matrix, for a free people who live and operate outside of the Matrix yet, whose fight can only be fought from inside the Matrix. Paul is simply saying to Timothy not to be consumed by the glitter of the world and the deceitfulness of riches, to fight in the world and be not of the world, but to wake up to the Truth, and to wake up others to the Truth, that they ‘may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil/matrix, who are taken captive by him at his will.’ He is fighting to expose the Truth that this world around you, with all its distractions, and pleasures, and evils, all of its persistent feel of that which seems real, is not what is real.
Likewise our world in which we live and move and have our being is but a shadow of the world to come, whose ‘builder and maker is God.’ We attain to that world by the hope of the knowledge of Truth, that begins in the understanding that we are ‘in the world but not of the world,’ that ‘we are the salt and light of the world,’ that we truly are ‘strangers and pilgrims on Earth.’
Einstein said it this way: "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." This witness is true, and this reality has fallen completely under control of the ‘prince of the power of the air.’
Now, today in this technological day and age we find that truth and facts are an illusion. Information is malleable and changeable as the internet and the media with its unquestionable influence, and the powers that be that rule those airwaves, participate in the distribution of new truths that are as fluid and evolving as the changing of wind. This is how the masters of manipulation and language can oppose a vaccine when a Republican is in office and condemn those who oppose it when they control the power. They are able to spin these lies and manipulate truths to empower themselves and utilize the power of repetition as the illusion of truth. Goebbels knew this to be true as the father of propaganda. He reminds us that the truth is the greatest enemy of the state. So then the Truth is how we fight and it is a weapon of our warfare. It is how we become known by God, and it is how we know God.
Jesus said I am the Truth. Truth is the Way to Life. We either possess it or we do not. If we have Truth, then we have life, if we have life then we have to give it away, we have to share it, we have to wake people up from the ugly bliss of ignorance, and introduce them to the light of the knowledge of God.
To be known of God should be the hearts cry of every Christian who possesses the Truth. Likewise the greatest hope should be to never hear the words of the Lord spoken to them who claimed to know Him, in the day of their judgment: “Depart from Me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you.”
Professing Christians are bound by the purpose of ‘departing from iniquity’ that we may be known by and to truly know, God. We have this power through Jesus Christ who “gave Himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity.” It is through the supernatural power of Christ in us that we can overcome this world. ‘Who is he that overcomes the world? He that believes that Jesus is the Son of God.’ They that believe that the anointing of the Messiah supernaturally rests on their lives, by faith, and walks therefore in the power and divine nature of the Christ, having ‘put on Christ.’ Otherwise it is simply a form of Godliness and a denial of the real power that is made manifest in true believers of the gospel, namely the power to overcome and the power to deliver others as well.
Just be Jesus, to everyone we meet, everywhere we go. Walk in overcoming victory. Live and love and give love away till it hurts. Give and spare not. Expect the supernatural. Expect a miracle. Believe for the best in others. Hope for the salvation of our nation. Reject the vanity of entertainment and seek the treasure of wisdom. Speak the truth in love, and love in deed and in truth.
God help us to seek you first. Help Thou our unbelief. Visit us with your virtue. Father we know that ‘honor is the reward of virtue,’ likewise Father supernatural ‘power is the reward of holiness.’ Baptize us in holiness, perfect us in holiness and the fear of the Lord, ‘make us of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord.’ Purge us Father God of iniquity, create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us, repair the breaches that this perverse world may have imposed on our spirits, teach us of your divine nature that we may hunger and thirst for your righteousness, for your living waters.
Father God may we be vessels unto honor, meet for the Master’s use and furnished unto every good work, help us to endure hardness with a soft heart. Father God I pray you see my desire to know you and to please you, that I have searched out the matter of what it means to know you and be known of you, let my soul’s desire to be to know Jesus, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, and to yearn for the words ‘well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thank you for hearing my prayer, by Jesus Christ in whose name I pray,
Amen.