Offences! Woe... Or Not?

So how to know whether or not the ruler of the world has a claim on us that he could not find in Jesus? How to know if we are as the Lord was, ready to enter into that eternal life that He is preparing for us while we wait for Him? "I am going to prepare a place for you and I will come back to receive you so that where I am there you will be also"(5). Remember Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him (6). 

So of course He leaves us this Way, this Truth and this Life, where? In His Word, by His testimony He left of His time here on earth and by the testimonies of all those who witnessed and were recorded through out time the plan of Salvation to prepare us, so that, the PROMISE that started right there in the BEGINNING (7)where it seemed to be the end but was the start of something NEW(8), the PROMISE of the Son remember from our first post "Musing about Eden". Check it out!

Another way to know what the ruler of this world may or may not have in us is through our OFFENCES, mistakes and errors. They are like that "winnowing fan"(2) that the Lord Jesus uses to clean out His house as we are His temple and the place where His Spirit abides. We are also still in this body of flesh and full of MISTAKES and errors even after we have encountered Him and know Him face to face, we are still subject to our flaws that put our journey to eternal life at risk everyday. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. '(9). Yes people only Jesus is so PERFECT, whether we are the CHAFFS being made into wheat or the wheat already in the barn waiting for the Lord being renewed and perfected in our time here, we will all be SUBJECTED to that winnowing fan of the Lord cleaning out the house of our hearts and inclinations. "But who can endure the Day of His coming?..."(10)

Yes friends God is cleaning up His house like a loving Father, He is preparing us through the manifestation of those things that the ruler of the world STILL has in us. How? OFFENCES... "Offences will come but WOE from who they come from". 

If you would believe it... we do evil, we offend, we do what we are not supposed to do sometimes aware and sometimes not aware of the evil inclinations we have in us, by nature being descendants of Adam from the GARDEN when they accepted that fruit(11)... that now binds us not only to know and desire good but also a nature that is inclined to EVIL...

So when this nature becomes manifested whether purposeful or UNINTENDED, this is the winnowing fan (2) of God cleaning out the house of our hearts, opening up the GRAVE() so we may see those dead bones buried there unaware. These things are only manifested when we are confronted with our own OFFENCES.

Yes our OFFENCES do us good to search ourselves and see whether there is any wicked ways in us (12). Yes sure we would like to be like the fortune teller and know beforehand without going through the EMBARASSMENT and shame of confronting those things in us manifested through own OFFENCE... But sorry guys it sometimes is just the only way...It's the PROCESS.

But don't worry because when we do evil... (NOT encouraging it... wait for it! The CONSEQUENCES are not worth it!!). Have Faith in God because when we do commit evil, whether purposefully or naturally inclined, God can make that evil that the evil one intended, using our inclinations to harm us, into GOOD(13).

Our favourite and classical example of this is our much LOVED King David. You know for a man after Gods heart and the responsibility of a whole kingdom, the mistakes, errors and OFFENCES he committed were INCONCEIVABLE.... for someone so close and GREATLY used by God. But his two greatest MISTAKES recorded in the testimony of the Word of God turned out for GOOD (you can read a little bit about the first one in our previous blog The Problem). The first error (14), God REVERSED to good to bring about the Great King Solomon the Wisest King... The psalms of King David a reflection of reconciliation with God and the last TURNAROUND (15) was the the location of the inauguration of the Temple of Solomon where the eyes and ears of God are promised to be perpetually there where prayers are made to Him (16). This last great victory over the EVIL that turned to GOOD came from an INCLINATION that David had that caused him to sin against God resulting in the DEATH of many in Isreal(17). An evil that turned into good but WOE  was to David if he had not acknowledged his offence, repented and sought the mercy of God (18)

You see because the EVIL that TURNS to GOOD is only possible when we have that close COMMUNION with God. It is CONDITIONAL to REPENTANCE. That evil is God OPENING up the GRAVE (19)to show us those dead men bones inside of us and calls us to come out which is REPENTANCE when we accept and ACKNOWLEDGE our mistakes and the NEW land that He takes us to, that land of Isreal, the PROMISED land is that EVIL that He turns to GOOD. Remember He knows the plans He has for us,(20) when we seek Him and call upon Him then we find Him, then He makes all things NEW(8).

But don't forget about the  CONSEQUENCES... remember there is still a WOE for OFFENCES... even though that evil will turn out for GOOD the boomerang effect will always come back to bite us and the sting can be SEVERE, so its better to AVOID but unfortunately sometimes it can be inevitable as we must pass through this PROCESS like  King David to PURIFY us like the REFINERS fire and the LAUNDERERS soap, for that GREAT day of the Lord(21). For God knows and sees those things that are inside of us that we do not know and even we may think that we are so HOLY and RIGHTEOUS at times because our OUTWARD works are almost perfect but God He looks and knows the HEART and the INTENTIONS of men. So He allows us to encounter CHALLENGES and dilemmas perfectly TAILORED to our INCLINATIONS that are in us that will make us STUMBLE which is where the OFFENCE gives birth, so we may know what He already knew and may have an OPPORTUNITY to be CLEANSED through acknowledgment and REPENTANCE.

So our OFFENCES will come and will come to bring the DARKNESS to LIGHT and be for GOOD in the end but WOE to the one who brings the OFFENCES as the CONSEQUENCES will be reaped (22) and if no REPENTANCE even the loss of salvation could be the end. David knew this PAINFUL sting all too well, leaving the scars of a divided kingdom, the assault of his daughter and the death of his 3 sons. Even the brothers of Joseph, they sold their brother into slavery and it turned out for GOOD(13), that it was the plan of God to save that generation from a great famine that may have wiped out humanity... So the OFFENCE was necessary for a greater good by the PERSEVERANCE and faith Joseph had in God that he TRUSTED God and waited on His faithfulness. But the WOE was inevitable for the brothers of Joseph, though their OFFENCE turned out for GOOD in the end, the repercussions of their OFFENCE was inherited by their descendants who reaped the fruit of their OFFENCE as they were sold into slavery for 400 years in Egypt (23).

So our own OFFENCES will come, it is somehow apart of the will or plan of God to CLEANSE us through the REFINERS fire of confrontations and DIFFICULT situations we have not YET been made WISE to comprehend how to deal with it, so that we MANIFEST what is in us that the ruler of this world(3) still has in us, so we may be PERFECTED like our Lord and Saviour ready for our DEPARTURE. So God allows our OFFENCES, like a father leaving their child to make their OWN mistakes, in order to manifest through our MISTAKES, so that we may see that which is not possible to know about ourselves and who we really are, that is made known when we come face to face with these OFFENCES, provoked and made manifest by our OWN errors so we may be able to CUT it off, like the CHAFF (2) it is in us.

Judas, he was destined to commit that OFFENCE(24), his actions fulfilled the prophecy but like King Saul because there was no REPENTANCE in the end, he was not RECONCILED to God to make that EVIL to turnaround to become something GOOD for a TESTIMONY through God. In this way, they both lost their souls, taking their own life(25)(26).