Universalism According to the Apostle Peter

PETER

Did the first Christians suggest to their audiences that salvation is inclusive?

The restoration of all things.

Acts 2:39-40. The apostle Peter preached a message of repentance and offered the promise of God to his generation. He said that that promise was for Jews and Gentiles, "all who are afar off." But immediately he qualified his statement with the words, "as many as the Lord our God will call."

The Gospel is for all men of all ages. But there are the called who will receive this message. I speak not here of Calvinism, but of a definite narrowing of the response, that speaks against the Universalist dogma.

Peter makes it even more plain in the next verse when he admonishes his hearers to save themselves from this perverse generation. In this dividing of humanity into saved and perverse, he follows in His Master's steps. It is crucial to comprehend here that there is a separation forever taking place, that has its roots in time and its fruit in eternity.

Acts 3:21. The restoration of all things is coming, says Peter. One can only imagine how delighted a Universalist is when he reads this passage. I hate to be the bearer of such bad news, but this verse is not talking about personal salvation for every man, woman, and child on the planet. It's talking about something that was, is not (in Peter's day) but will be.

Restoration, or restitution, speaks of bringing back a former state of existence. Something existed before that does not exist in its previous form, at this time. Whatever that is, will be fully brought back, says Peter, when heaven releases Jesus once more to this planet.

Peter says that all the prophets spoke of this restoration. Isaiah saw it: (2:2) "Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains... " The old Jerusalem-based kingdom returns, is restored, is renewed.

Jeremiah saw it: (33:15) "In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness;... Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell safely." Not exactly happening in our day. It did in David's day and Solomon's day. And it will in Jesus' day. A true restoration, plus!

And Ezekiel saw it: (20:40) "For on My holy mountain... there all the house of Israel... shall serve Me; and I will accept them." A few have trickled into the Kingdom in our day. On that day, a mighty Israel ruled by the Mighty One of Israel, King Jesus.

That's only the first three of the Old Testament prophecy books. I think you get the point. It is the Kingdom that is to be restored, in its physical, visible, glorified form. What an absolutely wonderful day that will be!

I Peter. The apostle's first letter is filled with clues about the nature of the saved and unsaved.

God's people have been born again. That is, they are of a different order all together than the people of the world. God would not send His children to eternal flames. But only the born again are His children. The saved are holy unto God, separated from the people of this world, and therefore they will not share in their judgment. The disobedient will stumble, and to this they were appointed. He quotes the Psalmist who says that the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

Peter seems to have picked up from his Teacher, the fact that Hell is real and God is holy and life is very serious.

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The Hunger for the Real God

We all need God; but not the commercialised God; not the TV evangelist God; not the false prophets of God; and, not so much the 'tweeted' God. The truth is:

"We don't like the feeling of being left alone." ~Ravi Zacharias

Where God makes himself known within each and every person, when they are boiled down to their indivisible parts, when all their anger against God is subdued, and they may speak plainly without need of self-protection, is in the existential basis of life.

When all distractions have decayed away, then the need of God is known.

When we are allowed to focus on our humanity, beneath the veneer and common intrigues of human life deeper than politics and established religion, there is a hunger throbbing in the heart. This is the need of God. And no other way is there but faith to live this road.

When we run without God, denying our innate hunger for direction, meaning, purpose and hope, we inevitably begin to swing like a pendulum between two sardonic and sadistic poles: pride and sensuality.

CHOOSE YOUR FLAVOUR OF SIN - 'UP' OR 'DOWN'

We all waver in sin between both pride and sensuality.

Pride, or more aptly spiritual pride in this class, is a predilection of the ascender; the person who is legalistic and judgmental by nature, and there is a little of that bubbling beneath every Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist. Then there is sensuality; the tendency of the descender. This person cannot stand religion and does not know God because they are blinded to their living need. The ascender has put them off. And into the gods of sensuality they go, denying the substance or identity of their existence.

Self-deification and pantheism are the great problems of this age - of all ages. In all ages we have struggles with either pride or sensuality or both.

THE SUPREME CALLING - FOLLOW JESUS OF THE GOSPELS

People can only be assigned positions over us if we allow that to take place, or if God does it (John 19:11). Likewise, why would we seek to gain an advantage over another in any way, unless by pride or sensuality?

True humanity, though, is not an up-or-down affair; it is truly egalitarian.

There is no emphasis on the ascender or descender. Pride and sensuality, as the foci captivating people, become more irrelevant before the transcendent light of God cast into people's lives. Where God lives, falsity dies.

What takes the place of pride and sensuality? It is freedom that takes its place; the freedom to worship in Spirit and truth. Then, we may know ourselves as we truly are.

***

There is a great need of God - the one and only, true and living God - amongst all people. Though religion can be more distractive than attractive in our day, there is, and always will be, a great need of direction, meaning, purpose, and hope in people's lives. Only God can fill that otherwise eternal void.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

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Politics and Anti-Christian Behavior

When a man says that he is a follower of Christ and acts contrary to the law of liberty, that man becomes a liar and in danger of the judgment. As it is written, God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

"So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty."

The law of liberty, is law that the Lord has set down for all men that they may be saved from sin and its bondage. The law of liberty is different from the Mosaic law of judgment and punishment by the very facts that:

1. The Mosaic Law was written for the house of Israel and not the gentile race of people, even though many gentiles did what was included within the law by nature. This same thing continues to this day, just as many of the Ten Commandments are followed by non-believers by nature. Many of our laws are based upon these commandments even though many reject that fact. This is where many non-believers try to justify sin in this day and time, they try to use the Law of Moses to downgrade the law of liberty not knowing why each was written and for whom it was meant for. For a Jew, who follows the Law, he must follow all the Law, for by transgressing one part of the Law He is guilty of all the Law and will be judged by the Law.

2. The Law of liberty is all inclusive, meaning that Jews and gentiles are all included within its commandments to repent and be saved. For the Bible tells us that since the Law of Liberty was enacted that there is no longer Jew nor gentile(Greek.) but all have been included in sin and are in need of repentance. The Law of liberty gives all men the ability to be saved and their sin totally forgiven, not as the Mosaic Law which never forgave sin but delayed payment for sin for another year. Within this law, when a man repents of his sins, accepts Jesus as his Saviour, the Lord no longer remembers those sins but they are cast away never to be brought up again at the time of judgment, and yes, even the Christian shall be judged.

We have seen in today's world those that profess Christ and have not the spirit of Christ within them. They boast of their salvation while they contradict each and every word of God. This is not strange to those who know the prophecies of the end days, when Christ tells us of a falling away from the truth of God and the multitudes that seek out teachers with itchy ears, seeking to hear untruths and desiring to justify unrighteous behavior so they may continue in their sin.

So speak ye, and so do. If a man speaks of the truth of God then he also must do the works associated with them, not try to justify another doctrine but standing on what the Lord has deemed to be righteous. Can we condemn adultery and then commit adultery, can we preach against sexual sins and then live in, support and promote them, and can we praise openness and then lie?

That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings. A man will be justified in what he says or he will be condemned, for by our own words we shall be judged, by our words are we justified and by our words are we condemned. A half-truth is still a deception and a lie, deceiving themselves and others. Politicians have the art of half-truths down to a science. Many say that being open and honest is their way but then they hide everything that they do not want people to know, secret meetings, secret memos and letters, backroom deals and bribery. Many have claimed Jesus as Saviour but in works and deeds they have denied Him, accepting sin, false religions and false doctrine all in the name of political correctness and viewing votes and the chance at reelection to be of most important.

If we are to be ambassadors of Christ, if we are to seek out those that are lost how then can we deny Christ and His words, for how else can those that are in need of salvation hear the truth if we don't speak the truth? There is no such thing as separation of church and state, this is a myth and a misunderstanding, for without God, there would be no government, no laws and no society.

"That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings."

Justified; In theology, to pardon and clear form guilt; to absolve or acquit from guilt and merited punishment, and to accept as righteous on account of the merits of the Savior, or by the application of Christ's atonement to the offender.

Each and every word that we speak will be judged by God, He and He alone will justify whether what we have said is justified by His word. If a man states that murder is a sin, and then condones murder because of its outcome, he is not justified by what he has said, if a man states that homosexuality is an abomination and then supports it in any way then he has called God a liar.

Being a follower of Christ means that we believe what He has said and also what the Father has said, for Christ and the Father speak as one, for Christ and the Father are one. There are many in this world today that say they are followers of Christ and others say that Jesus was a prophet from God and do not do, or believe, what He has stated as fact, no sin shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

"Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools."

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Our New Spiritual Bodies

I believe that God wants us to know some of the things He has waiting for us. He wants you to be excited like a little boy in a candy factory. I know that we as human beings will never be able to fully comprehend all the exciting things that God has in store for us. I do believe that God wants us to study the scriptures to find out as much as we can and to draw as close to God as humanly possible.

It's our Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom! Just what does that mean? I've heard a lot of Bible commentaries on that verse but I have never heard the commentator really do an in depth study of just what "give us the kingdom" entails. That is exactly the subject we are going to be looking at in this book.

The Bible has a lot to say about our new spiritual bodies yet so very few Christians and nonbelievers have any idea what our new bodies will be able to do. This is due to the fact that the Bible doesn't come right out and say "these are the functions of your new spiritual bodies". We have to know where to look.

I have heard that we're going to be a spirit much like a puff of smoke or I've heard that we will have a body that isn't going to look like us at all and will no longer eat or drink. I know we have an idea what a body is and we have a general idea what a spirit is but when it comes down to knowing what a spiritual body consists of we find that there isn't a whole lot of information on that subject unless you know what clues to look for.

So let's take a look at God's word and let us take apart the verses and let's see exactly what these new bodies will be capable of. The apostle Paul compares our current body as a tent and compares our eternal bodies as a mansion.

2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, (our bodies) is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

John 14:2 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

This is one of the most misinterpreted verses in the Bible. I hear many people who say that God has a mansion waiting for them in Hawaii or some other location. The place that Jesus' is preparing for us is our new spiritual bodies and I believe that the above verses are saying that when we die we are going to move out of this tent that we currently reside in and move into our new spiritual body referred to as a mansion. The next verses are the key verses that tell us exactly where to find the evidence of the functions of our new spiritual bodies. 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He (Jesus) is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

Romans 6:5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,

1 Corinthians 15:48-49 As was the man of dust (Adam), so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man (Jesus), so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear[a] the image of the heavenly Man.

So if we want to know what our new bodies are capable of we need to look at what occurred in Jesus' life after his resurrection. The next verses I would like to explain a little about what was happening at that time so you will be able to understand the mood more completely.

Jesus had been crucified three days ago. Judas had already committed suicide and the disciples were hiding from the Roman soldiers in a locked room fearing that they would be arrested next. Meanwhile Jesus had his new glorified spiritual body and I believe that Jesus could hardly wait to show his friends exactly what His new spiritual body was capable of doing. I believe that is exactly what Jesus is doing in this next verse.

Luke 24:36-43 36 Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, "Peace to you." 37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. 38 And He said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.[a] 41 But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, "Have you any food here?" 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb.[b] 43 And He took it and ate in their presence.

These verses gave us several clues as to some of the things our new bodies will be capable of. I have highlighted all the attributes so we can clearly see some of the functions of our new spiritual bodies. • We will be able to manifest ourselves anywhere we choose. • People will be able to touch us. • Jesus' spiritual body still appears to have flesh and bones but we know that flesh and bones can't travel through buildings so obviously our new spiritual bodies will have flesh and bones with different properties than we have currently. • We will still eat and drink.

I don't know where all the talk about us not eating or drinking in heaven started. I know we are still going to be eating and drinking but I believe it will possibly be for different reasons. The reason I believe it will be for different reasons is because the Bible says that we neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. It appears our plumbing will be different to what extent I am not sure. If we still need food to survive that would mean that we wouldn't be eternal beings and would still be dependent on food for survival. I did find several verses saying that we will still be eating and drinking in heaven.

Luke 22:16 New King James Version (NKJV) for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God

Matthew 26:29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."

Revelation 19:9 Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'"

Luke 12:37 Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.

I have had a few Mormon friends over the years and as a matter of fact that's where I learned "by the word of two or three witnesses let every word be established." That's why I believe in finding at least two verses to support each statement. I know that Mormons believe that they can get married in the Mormon temple for eternity. The verses I found in the Bible all say that there is no marriage in Heaven.

Matthew 22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.

Mark 12:25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

Luke 20:35 But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage;

I know a lot of my Mormon friends will be disappointed to hear this and I know of one Mormon friend who will be greatly relieved. So by the above three verses I believe we can safely add no marriage to our list of functions. • No marriage in Heaven.

Next we are going to see Jesus appearing and disappearing in front of eye witnesses.

Mark 16:14 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.

Luke 24:31 New King James Version (NKJV) Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

Mark 16:9 Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons

Luke 24:34 saying, "The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!"

Jesus is showing that with his new resurrected body he has the ability to appear and disappear at will. We can then add those functions to our list.

• The ability to appear and disappear at will

At this point I was saying to myself, Jesus is doing all this. What makes me think that my new spiritual body will be able to do the same things? Then I came across the next verses.

Matthew 17:2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.

Daniel 12:3 Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.

By reading the above verses it is clear that our new spiritual bodies will shine like the sun. I did find more verses that say we won't all have the same brilliance.

1 Corinthians 15:41 New King James Version (NKJV) There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

2 Timothy 2:20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor.

Revelation 22:5 New King James Version (NKJV) There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

By reading the above verses we can clearly see that our new spiritual bodies will indeed shine. It also appears that we will all not shine with the same brilliance and that the brightness of the brilliance will be determined by how many people we lead to the kingdom of heaven. It also appears that the earth will have no sun and no moon and that Jesus and our new spiritual bodies will be the light of the world. The scriptures refer to us as sons of light.

1 Thessalonians 5:5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

John 12:36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.

We can now add more items to our list of spiritual body functions. • Our new spiritual bodies will shine brightly. • Our clothing will shine "white as light."

The next verses show Jesus ascending to the Father after his resurrection and after the 40 days that he was on the earth preaching.

Acts 1:11 who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.

Luke 24:51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.

1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.

So you say okay what's the big deal, He floated up to heaven. If you stop and think about just what's involved in just floating to heaven it really is a big deal. When you get high enough in the earth's atmosphere you will experience temperatures of -50 below zero. You will also experience the lack of oxygen and then extreme heat. NASA still has problems dealing with these problems when they design the space shuttles. You can't just float to heaven unless you don't need oxygen to breathe, you would also have to be invincible to extreme heat and extreme cold. With these three functions we will now be able to explore the universe without earth's gravity or atmosphere to hinder us. So the three attributes we can add to our list of spiritual body functions are:

• Invincible to extreme cold • Invincible to extreme heat • No longer require oxygen to breathe.

The next functions we are going to discuss are the ones that are presently closest to my heart. When I was young I hardly ever thought about growing old and dying. Now that I am approaching my sixtieth birthday I think about dying more often. Especially when I consider that my mom and dad both died in their mid-sixties. I am sure that is another reason I am writing this book which reminds me of a Bible verse on that same subject.

Hebrews 2:15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

The next attributes of our new spiritual bodies that we are going to talk about are eternal life and never growing old.

Luke 20:36 nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

John 5:29 and come forth-those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44 New King James Version (NKJV) 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

The word incorruption means never growing old. On our list of spiritual body functions we are going to add: • Eternal life. • Never growing old.

The next functions of our new spiritual bodies I would like to talk about is the function of our new minds. I know that everybody knows that we as human beings only use a small portion of our brains and I am sure we all know people who use considerably less. I believe that Jesus gave us a few clues in the Scriptures to give us a general idea of what we can expect from our new minds.

Matthew 17:20 So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

Matthew 21:21 So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.

Luke 17:6 So the Lord said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

I haven't heard of any human beings in our history that has ever had this kind of power. It scares me to think what would happen today if some human being had this kind of power. We are so selfish and immature as a race of people are concerned that I am very thankful to God that we don't have this kind of power. I do believe that this kind of power that Jesus' is referring to is in our future. I believe after we die and are living with the Lord faith will become a thing of the past.

I believe that the growing up process will be instantaneous when we are resurrected into our new spiritual bodies. I believe that our eyes will be opened and for the first time in our history we will use 100 percent of our brains capacity. Since a lot of what I am saying is speculation the only functions that I am willing to add to our spiritual body function list is: • Faith that can move mountains. • Nothing will be impossible for us.

I believe that concludes our partial list of spiritual body functions. I'm sure we missed other functions but I believe that this list is an excellent foundation of functions of our new spiritual bodies. I believe once you see some of the capabilities of our new bodies it will indeed motivate you to draw closer to God. God says "draw close to me and I will draw close to you." Let's now gather all the functions and put it in one list and let's see what the Sons of Light will be capable of doing. I am going to attempt to put these functions in an order that hopefully flows smoothly. • Eternal Life. • Never grow old. • Faith that can move mountains. • Nothing will be impossible for us. • The ability to manifest ourselves anywhere we choose. • The ability to appear and disappear at will. • No longer require oxygen to breathe. • Invincible to extreme cold. • Invincible to extreme heat. • Gravity won't be able to hold us down. • We will have a spiritual body of flesh and bones. • People will be able to touch us. • We will still eat and drink. • No marriage, no procreation. • Our bodies and clothing will shine brightly.

I believe that this list we compiled would make Stan Lee of Marvel Comics envious and this list is just a general idea of what information we can pull out from the Scriptures. I am sure that there is so much more that we don't know. As you read this list I believe you can see what God is offering you are far more valuable than any amount of money or anything this world can currently offer you. As Clarence the Angel said in "It's a wonderful life" "don't you see what a mistake it would be to throw it all away?"

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Why We Need to Pray

The wise pray. We can say this if we believe that wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord enough to not be so bold to assume we know everything; that we do need guidance.

What I'm suggesting is that the wise are characterised by their desire to seek God first (Matthew 6:33); a bit like how this instruction works:

"Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." ~Step 11, 12-Step Recovery Program

So why we pray seems to be a no-brainer; we cannot possibly know how our moments will turn out or always how to handle them unless we continually refer back, in seeking wisdom, to God.

LINKING WISDOM WITH HUMILITY

We pray - to seek God - when/because we are humble enough to admit we do not know:

- What the next step of action/life is; - How to take that next step; - How to handle a particular situation or relationship; - When to actually put into place an action we've previously decided.

The list goes on.

The reality is that life is so uncertain and so unpredictable, but we have the agency for wisdom through prayer. So not only do we express wisdom by waiting on God in prayer, we also receive wisdom from God by being open in response.

The difference between the godly and those who are blissfully (intentionally) ignorant is the obedient willingness to submit our plans, hopes, uncertainties, and even our doubts to God in prayer. This process of the conscious submission of our desires and compulsions is shrouded in the wisdom of humility. We are conscious of delaying just enough to check with God - to be open to what the Spirit might say through our spirits - and then to obey.

PRAYING FOR THE RIGHT PATH

We pray for the precise reason that we wish to get more of our lives right. We pray for success - not simply ours, but for all our ventures, because inevitably other people are involved. The more our lives work out, the better the ripples into other lives are.

Why we pray is about the right path - discerning it and remaining on it.

This is both our test and our task; staying on the right path is the challenge achieved through continuous prayer, and it's also prayer that restores us to the right path when we have gone astray.

***

We pray because we don't know how to best handle many of life's uncertainties. Prayer helps us stop long enough to consider the consequences of our actions. With prayer we get more of our lives right.

Prayer helps us express humility and grow in wisdom.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

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God's Damage Control

Why does God even need damage control? God needs it because He loves you so much. He wants to be in a love-filled relationship with you for all of eternity. However, when you turn away from Him and practice ways contrary to His will, (sin) you have severed your relationship with Him.

... your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face so that He does not hear. Is. 59:2 NASB

Yes, sin separates you from God. He doesn't stop loving you, but He cannot be in your presence because He is pure righteousness. God cannot be in a sinful relationship.

Thus, when you miss the mark that God set for your behaviors and thoughts, you separate yourself from God, from your prayer connection, and from His love.

Like I said, God does not stop loving you, but He cannot get that love to you because you have erected a wall of transgression that He cannot cross.

Sin also hurts. It hurts to be separated from your Creator. After all, God is your first and primary source of love. You may also beat yourself up with guilt and shame and isolate yourself from God. More pain. If you do that, it's because you don't know about God's damage control.

Instead, you might believe that God would not take you back. (Never true.) So you give up and fall back into more destructive behavior, followed by more guilt and shame. You are fortifying the wall that you built between you and God. And then your life begins to crumble because you won't let God pick you back up.

This cycle is well articulated by the apostle Paul:

Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience, resulting in righteousness? Rom. 6:16 NASB

Obedience to God's word means life. Sin leads to death - both physically and spiritually.

There are three essential actions that God needs for you to perform when you miss the mark, so that He can exercise damage control.

1. Don't fraternize with people who sin intentionally.

2. Don't listen to that whisper in your hear that tells you that it's okay to act contrary to God's word.

3. Confess to God with a repentant heart when you have sinned.

You've got to separate yourself from the rotten apples. Remember that any voice (real or imagined) that tells you to transgress the word of God, does not have your best interests in mind. And finally, confess and repent.

God knows what you've done. (Duh!) He just wants you to acknowledge it, to take responsibility for it. He does not want you to judge yourself over it. And the repentance means that you are coming before God with genuine sorrow for all the injured parties, (that includes you and God) and with your best intent to turn away from that old behavior.

Ask God for the strength to make that change, because if you had the strength, you wouldn't have committed those actions in the first place.

Ask God to reveal to you that wound that you have inside that you have been trying to soothe, cover up, and or forget with your sin behavior so that you can focus your change around that. Ask God to heal that wound. He will because He wants you back...

That's when God begins His damage control:

"The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and glorious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love an faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin... Ex. 34:6, 7. ESV

When you come to Him, He will wipe away any stain that you have perpetrated upon yourself. Yes, He might chastise you a bit, and He might place things and events in your life that are uncomfortable - in order to bring you back to Him. But in the end, returning to God is a choice that you have to make.

God is faithful. Your slate is wiped clean. Your love-line to Him is reconnected - all because God practiced a damage control called forgiveness.

It doesn't matter what you've done. Come back Home. Be forgiven. Be healed. Be completely loved...

Other supporting scripture: Num. 16:26; 1 Tim. 4:1; 1 John 4:1; Pr. 28:13; 2 Chr. 7:14; Rev. 3:19; Is. 1:18; Mic. 7:18.

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