THE FRAGRANCE OF CHRIST
Get into a small confined space such as an elevator ant ther be someone in there that smells as if they bathed in a tub of perfume you would know it immediately. Likewise, should there be someone who has not bathed for a long time and wearing the same clothing, they probably will have an odor called body odor. These type fragrances are quickly identified by one of our five senses. However, God’s word to us states as we become knowledgeable of our Lord, we will emulate Jesus wherever we go. In 2 Corinthians 2:14 and 15 we learn that we should always be thankful unto God for leading us triumphantly through the maze of this mortal life because we abide in Christ Jesus, and through us we defuse the fragrance of His knowledge to all we meet. The word also states that we are to God, the fragrance of His son, our Lord, Christ Jesus.
How important is this for you and me? I cannot over emphasize the importance of apprehending what God is revealing through these passages. As early as Hosea the profit wrote sometime between 722 and 721 years before the birth of Jesus a message from God: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: and because you have rejected knowledge I will also reject you, that you shall be no priest to me: seeing you have forgotten the law of God, I will also forget your children.” Therefore, give diligence to his word, and ask yourself, what kind of aroma do I present to God?
As we are getting to know the Lord more and more, our God is not the only one who is impacted. This spiritual aroma of Christ impacts every person we meet. "God, through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place." This includes both the saved and the unsaved. "For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing." This fragrance affects those who know the Lord: "the fragrance of Christ...among those who are being saved." For those who are enjoying life in Christ, that heavenly scent in our lives is "the aroma of life to life." Christ's fragrance in us draws them to seek abundant measures of that life which they have already entered. This spiritual scent also influences those who do not yet know our Lord: "the fragrance of Christ among those who are perishing." To them it is "the aroma of death to death." They are dead in their sins, and this aroma makes them more aware of their deadness, more aware of their need for Christ. A personal warning: be not complacent, believing all that is required is belief in God, and go to church for an hour once a week, and give something as tithe, then go about your business seeking, or enjoying the amenities of this world only. When this fragrance is emanating from our lives, we are not the cause. God is the active agent, working in and through us to bring forth this heavenly scent. "Now all thanks be unto God who...through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge." This work of God's grace is available to us every day we live and everywhere we go: "the fragrance of His knowledge is available in every place." The apostle Paul evaluating himself penned in Philippians chapter 3: verses 7 and 8 that all he had gained in this world before he was miraculously converted by his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, (Acts chapter 9) he considered it all as lose for gaining the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord.
I have often asked in prayer and meditation why God, has it taken so long for me to first apprehend and then comprehend this message with understanding? But it has, and I am humbled while giving all thanks and praises to my Lord Jesus.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
DON'T GIVE UP OR IN
TO MY DEAR FRIEND SUSAN
You say that everything about you is so forcibly wrong, and that you are tired of living, or trying to live in this world. You tell me of two incidences have impacted your life. They are two women living in the same facility where you are staying took their own lives by committing suicide on two different days within the past week. You give me the impression that you also feel like escaping from the evil of this world in the same manner. It’s exactly what the evil powers in these last days are frantically trying to accomplish, that is to snare as many souls as they can, for they realize their time is now up. You see what I am speaking about when you meditate for a moment; I want you to concentrate about the two special trees in God’s Garden of Eden. The two trees were the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Man was warned not to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge, for if he should, he would certainly die.
My dear friend know you not that in each of our lives’ we all have the same two trees, and we all have to choose the fruit of which tree will we take. We witness every day by the events experienced, those that are eating the fruit of the wrong tree, even ourselves whenever we stumble, and then attempt to take control of the reins of our life, we will partake of life in ignorance not having the true knowledge of life, and not relinquishing our selfness, and trusting our Lord God to guide and provide. However, because of the great goodness of God toward man by His Grace made with us a new covenant signed in the blood of Jesus with forgiveness. Before you or anyone can find the peace and rest in God, it is necessary they first comprehend with understanding the true knowledge of God and Jesus. God has made it so clear to the entire world, that all that desire acceptance unto Him, first we must gain that true knowledge. In Hosea 4:6, He informs us that all those that don’t will be destroyed. Yet for you, my dear friend, I deplore you not to give up, or give in to temptations this world offers, or be distracted from Jesus as was Peter when walking on water, for the reward is we become overcomers in Christ Jesus, and the joy we experience each day is so great I can’t find words to describe it.
Remember, eat the forbidden fruit and die, or seek the fruit from the tree of life which is gaining true knowledge of our Lord God and live.
You say that everything about you is so forcibly wrong, and that you are tired of living, or trying to live in this world. You tell me of two incidences have impacted your life. They are two women living in the same facility where you are staying took their own lives by committing suicide on two different days within the past week. You give me the impression that you also feel like escaping from the evil of this world in the same manner. It’s exactly what the evil powers in these last days are frantically trying to accomplish, that is to snare as many souls as they can, for they realize their time is now up. You see what I am speaking about when you meditate for a moment; I want you to concentrate about the two special trees in God’s Garden of Eden. The two trees were the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Man was warned not to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge, for if he should, he would certainly die.
My dear friend know you not that in each of our lives’ we all have the same two trees, and we all have to choose the fruit of which tree will we take. We witness every day by the events experienced, those that are eating the fruit of the wrong tree, even ourselves whenever we stumble, and then attempt to take control of the reins of our life, we will partake of life in ignorance not having the true knowledge of life, and not relinquishing our selfness, and trusting our Lord God to guide and provide. However, because of the great goodness of God toward man by His Grace made with us a new covenant signed in the blood of Jesus with forgiveness. Before you or anyone can find the peace and rest in God, it is necessary they first comprehend with understanding the true knowledge of God and Jesus. God has made it so clear to the entire world, that all that desire acceptance unto Him, first we must gain that true knowledge. In Hosea 4:6, He informs us that all those that don’t will be destroyed. Yet for you, my dear friend, I deplore you not to give up, or give in to temptations this world offers, or be distracted from Jesus as was Peter when walking on water, for the reward is we become overcomers in Christ Jesus, and the joy we experience each day is so great I can’t find words to describe it.
Remember, eat the forbidden fruit and die, or seek the fruit from the tree of life which is gaining true knowledge of our Lord God and live.
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