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Straight Talk, Born Again… Rodna Epley

Posted in Rodna Epley with tags 2 Corinthians 3, body of Christ, born again, church, glory, God the Father, God's glory, Heaven, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, John, Titus 2 on November 28, 2018 by paulthepoke

Hello Saints!

I had someone ask me this morning as she was reading in John 3:1-21.

“Rodna, Jesus speaks of some things in the Bible that I don’t understand. 1. He says unless we become like a child we can’t enter heaven. 2. Unless we are born-again we can’t enter heaven. Which one is it?”

I thought I would share my revised 😉 answer here in case anyone else needs to know!

We don’t have to understand everything we read. God will give us understanding for the things we need this day. That’s why Jesus prayed “Father give us this day our daily bread”. He didn’t say give us every days’ bread all in the same day. However, when we begin to receive knowledge on the glory, understanding of the Word comes in much higher and easier. The whole Bible begins to make sense as if a veil has lifted from off its pages. So, seek knowledge on His Glory above all things, which can only come through Jesus Christ.

“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44)

Both statements that my friend asked me today are true.

1) We have to become like a little child to enter heaven where we believe all things are possible, we look to God (our Father) with wonder expecting from Him. As we grow, we learn how to release to others what we receive from Him, which brings glory back to the Father full circle. As a child in spirit we look to Him to meet all of our needs. We believe everything He tells us and that everything is possible. We have hope always and look forward to a day when He will make all things new. But that day begins here today, not after we die. Because hope deferred makes the heart sick, but glory revealed through answered prayers, and through our declarations that the Father backs up, makes our joy full.

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)

“…you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:24)

In this intimate relationship with our Father who always hears us and responds, as we hear and respond to Him, we know our Father has our backs. And He loves us in the same way He loves Jesus. We don’t have to worry if we don’t look like a child in all areas yet. His glory is making us one by restoring our innocence and childlike wonder to totally trust God and trust His glory in everything… without fear. We know only His love.

2) We must be born-again by His Spirit to enter the kingdom of heaven. Both ideas happen together. When one is born-again, He begins the process of becoming a little child again haha! We go backwards in innocence and forward in the knowledge of God! It’s like a backwards birth LOL. Inside out! Right-side up! God is flipping everything around! Imagine taking a long-sleeved sweater off the floor and flipping it inside out. Born again! Who we are in Christ is working its way to the outside where we are transparent and His glory is revealed completely in every aspect of our lives!

It isn’t stoic religion. It’s a living reality of Christ revealed through us. Christ in us coming out with our personalities where we become the light of the world like He is.

Our relationship with our Father in heaven becomes dynamic and authentic. This is where His power to transform all things into light comes out through us (in the flip) as His sons and daughters of glory are revealed! We then have the “Midas Touch” where everything we touch turns to gold! Haha! We work with Him by saying “no” to wickedness and “yes” to His promises and His Word.

“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope–the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,” (Titus 2:11-13)

“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” (2 Corinthians 1:20)

We become a child in innocence and mature in the knowledge of His glory. This is knowledge of the Father and the power and light from His throne, which Jesus Christ occupies. It transforms our entire lives as we learn that we are seated with Christ as joint-heirs, and sons and daughters of glory. Remade in His image! Transformed by the power of His glory! And not by our own efforts.

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Blessings to everyone! Love and grace and glory to y’all!

Rodna

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Straight Talk… Glory to Glory to Glory, Rodna Epley

Posted in Gospel, Rodna Epley with tags 2 Corinthians 3, 2 Corinthians 4, God's glory, Gospel, Holy Spirit, Luke 10, Matthew 11, predestination, Romans, salvation on July 19, 2018 by paulthepoke

Romans 8:29-30 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Notice here that the word “glorified” is past tense, just like “foreknew”, “predestined”, “called”, and “justified”.

What the Bible doesn’t say is, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined…whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He will glorify once we have all died and been buried and resurrected in the sweet by and by, someday way in the future when we meet on that beautiful shore.”

While glorification is for now, it is true that it isn’t automatic. It’s fully received at salvation because the Father (who is glory – Exodus 33) comes in when Jesus does. But the glory is only released when Jesus has chosen to reveal the Father to us.

Matthew 11:27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Releasing the glory of the Father which transforms everything quickly also takes a willful decision on our part to enroll in the school on His glory. The process of our transformation goes from glory level to glory level.

2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

With His glory doing all the work, it gets released through suffering, putting to death the old nature, bringing to life the new nature in Christ.

Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

We learn to work with the Holy Spirit, flipping darkness into light. He personally trains each one of us how to operate in the glory, transforming each one of us into the “glory of the Lord”. But, it’s a willful decision on our part to engage in this one-on-one private tutoring with the Holy Spirit. We are learning to hear Him and respond. Just knowing you can do this and that the purpose of the Gospel is for “obtaining the glory” will begin to transform our thinking immediately. It’s not taught in the churches although it’s all throughout scripture. Those who know there is something more than what they’ve been hearing will have the ears to hear.

Luke 10:22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Avoiding Bible translations that don’t adhere closely to the original languages unblinds minds on the knowledge of the glory.

2 Corinthians 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

After all, obtaining the glory is the purpose of the Gospel (Good News). Salvation is the way in which we obtain the glory, but glory is the goal. Being remade in our Father’s image, doing the things our Father does, and being crowned with glory is what He purposed for us from the beginning.

2 Thessalonians 2:14 He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

John 5:44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

Blessings to all! ❤

Rodna

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Straight Talk… God’s Glory & Dividing Truth, Rodna Epley

Posted in Rodna Epley with tags 2 Corinthians 3, 2 Corinthians 4, God the Father, God's glory, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, truth on June 26, 2018 by paulthepoke

Knowledge of the glory is the only way we can “rightly divide” and accurately handle His Word of truth. The devil is doing everything he can to make sure minds stay blinded to this knowledge of the glory

2 Corinthians 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Even Christians like Thomas can be “unbelieving”. Anything outside of knowledge of the glory (knowledge of the Father) whom Jesus chooses to reveal (Matthew 11:27) is just us trying to use human reasoning to figure the Word out instead of the wisdom that comes from above (James 3:17).

James 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

Just as the “Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world…” so was everything before His crucifixion and after already completed before the world was. The fact that we are still being perfected and “pressing on toward the goal” on earth doesn’t mean God didn’t already glorify us. It means where glorification is concerned, we received glorification when we were born-again in Christ, but releasing the glory from within us, which transforms our minds, happens “from glory to glory” on earth. It happens much more quickly to those who have made the willful decision to enroll in the school on the glory (so to speak) and walk so closely with the Holy Spirit as to learn how to operate in the glory. The church’s understanding of who the Glory is (the Father, see Exodus 33) and how He operates in man has been the problem all along.

Look closely at 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The glory of the Father is transforming our minds now on earth for those who are in Christ. And the veil has been removed. It’s not someday. The process is now on earth.

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Freedom & Apostasy…Thoughts from an American Soldier

Posted in American soldier with tags 2 Corinthians 3, 2 Peter 3, apostasy, free will, Freedom, Galatians 5, infidels, Islam, John 8, Joshua 24, Muslim, Religion of Peace, Shia, Sunni on April 26, 2018 by paulthepoke

Joshua 24:15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

The Bible states that humanity has free will to choose the object of their worship.

Apostasy? I’ve been asked, does Islam allow freedom of religion or does it threaten the death penalty for apostasy? Well the truth is… they believe and practice this everyday…

From what I’ve seen in the Middle East and speaking with the locals over here, they believe that “Anyone” and mainly “Westerners” are INFIDELS in their belief. Those who turn their back on Islam are to be executed. This is confirmed by the words and deeds of Muhammad. The only freedom of belief in Islam is the freedom to become Muslim.

Islamic Law: There is also a consensus by all four schools of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence (Maliki, Hanbali, Hanafi, and Shafii), as well as classical Shiite jurists, that apostates from Islam must be put to death. The process of declaring a person to be an apostate is known as takfir and the disbeliever is called a murtad.

The “Religion of Peace” expanded across the globe by conquering people of other religions and then making life miserable for those who did not embrace Islam. Once spoken, a person was locked into the faith. Any sign of false witness, such as raising their children in another faith, was punished with death. Thus, Islam gradually supplanted other religions.

Some apologists bend the truth in order to distance Islam from one of its most draconian rules. The world’s most popular Muslim apologist recently affirmed that the death penalty should be applied to those who leave Islam and share their faith with others.

Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

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Straight Talk…God’s Glory & Satan, Rodna Epley

Posted in Gospel, Rodna Epley with tags 2 Corinthians 3, devil, doer of the word, glory, James 1, Jesus Christ, satan, serpent on February 16, 2018 by paulthepoke

2 Corinthians 4:4 In their case the god (Satan) of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

The enemy’s primary function on this earth is to blind the minds of everyone so we can’t see the “Gospel of the Glory” of Christ. The devil wants us powerless and not operating like Jesus or the first church. He wants us to look just like the world. So that no one gets saved, including the church. So that no one thinks God is real or has any power. And so that God never receives any glory. This has been Satan’s plan from the beginning. He’s always been after the throne.

But the devil is handicapped when it comes to God’s glory! He can’t understand God’s glory! It’s a language much higher than him. God’s glory is the highest form of light there is, where anything becomes possible. That’s why Jesus came, to restore His glory in man (that was lost in Eden). Jesus came for the sake of love. This gives the Father glory! He seats us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, far above all principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness. Of course, the devil doesn’t want anyone knowing they are supposed to operate in the glory of God! Because we destroy his works in our lives. We overcome in Christ when we have knowledge of the glory! We overcome all sin and flip every dark situation into light!

But God UNBLINDS the minds of those of us who step into Christ! We put on the Mind of Christ! Watch this…

Compare this with James 1:22-25 which is also referring to another type of “believer”…

James 1:22-25 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

So in one example we have those true believers who not only have Christ in them but they step into Christ. They are doers of the Word. They hear and follow the voice of the Holy Spirit. AND we are being transformed into the SAME image of THE GLORY OF THE LORD. This the Face we see looking back at us in the mirror according to 2 Corinthians 3:18!

It’s all clear in Scripture when the veil is removed in Christ.