Everlasting Life: In Progress

We are often confused, and even deceived, concerning the things we read in The Bible.
Don’t get me wrong. The scriptures themselves are in no way deceiving. They are always true. Certainly, we must properly understand and apply them in order to get the desired results. We must also make a conscious effort to keep things in proper order and perspective.
Let me give you an example of what I mean. In numerous situations, I have been in conversations with other Christians who say they believe in the power of God, yet when I encourage them to pray, expecting God to bless and heal them, their body language tells me that they have no faith along these lines.
Somehow, they have a multitude of reasons why God’s word doesn’t work for them. Either they don’t deserve God’s blessings, or perhaps they feel they should bear the “judgment” which others deserve. Some tell me that the kind of miracles and healings I describe are either “not for today”, or they simply place more faith in the facts than the truth of scripture.
After all, we have to face reality, right? If God wanted us to be healed, we would be! He has his reasons why he decides to bless some and not others. I challenge you to show me a single scripture, when rightly applied, will support that theology. If God never changes, how can we believe that he is so volatile and inconsistent?
Unless we push ourselves to do otherwise, we tend to believe the things we see and disregard those things yet unseen. That sounds like the opposite of faith, doesn’t it? Bingo! While we’re in the midst of our daily lives, it is all too easy to fall into this deception. That brings us back to my original premise.
We should not ignore the facts we see all around us, but we also must pay attention to the truths which are clearly taught in scripture concerning us. For example, I hear many Christians teaching, in great detail, the things they understand about The Shemitah. Although there are many applicable principles to be learned on this subject, such as allowing the land to rest every seventh year, in order to keep it healthy and thereby able to produce abundantly for the long haul, we must also remember the completed work of Jesus Christ.
Sadly, most Christians do not truly believe in the completeness of their salvation, nor do they believe that they are living in God’s favor. When we confessed Jesus as Lord, believing that God raised him from the dead, we received holy spirit. This event marked the beginning of our everlasting life! Eternity does not start when we die. For a Christian, it is already in progress.

In The Bible, there are different administrations (times and seasons). Because God is consistent, there are things which are carried throughout the ages, however, there are also those things which are superseded as we move forward in biblical history.
Lately, I have heard many discussions by Jonathan Cahn and others, regarding the Shemitah and God’s judgment. If you listen carefully to these presentations, you will usually find that they do state that for a Christian, these things have already been covered by the completed work of Christ. I must say, however, that they do a poor job of communicating. That is, they place so much emphasis on the gloom and doom, that the truth of our redemption becomes a mere afterthought.

We must be mindful of the fact that our thoughts and words have a profound effect on our results. God is not in control of everything. We have an enemy, who works tirelessly and skillfully to deceive us into behaving in a manner which is not conducive to receiving the blessings of God. I spend a great deal of time on this topic throughout the pages of my book. I truly believe this is one of the key factors affecting the quality of our lives as Christians.