March 5th 2023
God Will See The Family Resemblance, When You Come Before Him In Heaven!
1 John 5:3-4 (NIV)
This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.
Are you an overcomer? Do you live in this cursed world, but remain true to your calling? Yes, you are called, even if you cannot recognize the calling! We are all called by some spiritual being, at least that seems like what the Bible seems to indicate. You are either called by Jesus or you are called by Satan. Wow! That is scary, isn’t it! Members of mankind help direct you toward one or the other of these spiritual beings, but you decide who you will follow. Such decisions are made constantly every day of our lives. Maybe that is why Paul has told us to pray continually, as we are constantly tempted to follow the wrong life leader. All members of mankind have an immortal soul, which is the target, so to speak, of the directions of these spiritual beings. You likely all recognize the old idea of having an angel on one shoulder and a devil, once an angel, on the other shoulder. Do you feel the pull toward one or the other of these guiding spirits?
In this world it seems difficult to stay on that narrow path that leads to Jesus, who is awaiting us to join Him in heaven. John wrote about the need to obey the commands of God, and it seems he writes as though it is easy, if you really are a follower of Jesus Christ! In the selected verses John wrote if we love God, “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.” Do you find following God’s commands to be easy or burdensome? John continued with this thought by writing, “for everyone born of God overcomes the world.” In fact, we are all born of God as the miracle of birth is obviously God ordained, and we all came into this cursed world through a reproductive act ending in your birth. See the selected verse in context and note that the only way anyone can ever follow Jesus’ direction for their life, is through faith! This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:3-5).
Having faith in Jesus does not cause the devil to abandon his post sitting on your left shoulder, but it will cause you to at least verify what Satan says to your left brain, and what your guardian angel tells your right brain! John writes about followers of Jesus Christ becoming called the children of God. This is describing the new birth, which just like your mortal birth is also a miracle and this birth also called being born again happens when your faith in Jesus dictates your need to repent of your sinful life and to change your thought processes to behold Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. This change is immediate and permeates your immortal soul to get you on that narrow path that leads to heaven. It allows you to recognize Jesus as the Spirit you have chosen to follow. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:10-13). Jesus death and resurrection paved the Way for you to become a child of God, and your faith in Jesus allows you to become a child of God!
When you become a child of God you are immediately changed, and other members of mankind that have not yet been changed by being born again will detect a difference in you, and they will be suspicious of you intentions in this world. They may respect the change they notice in you, but if they are not followers of Jesus too, they will be wary of your different world view, and they will not trust you or understand your changed views of things they accept as being okay, but you try to caution them about what they are planning to do. John wrote about this situation where your new views about what is acceptable to do may cause a conflict with them! How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:1-2). When you were born again you were changed, and old friends may not now have views that coincide with yours. “The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” You are now more like Him, and those not having been born again will, or may, reject the new you!
Remember that Jesus died and rose again to change you in a Way that causes you to look like Him. And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. (1 John 2:28). Can you grasp it, you have been born again into the family of God? You have been changed forever, although you have a sinful nature inherited from the sin of Adam, you have been born again into Jesus’ family, and you are headed to heaven when you leave this cursed world. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. (1 John 2:29). We can be confident that when we see God the Father in heaven we will be escorted by Jesus and will appear to God as looking like Jesus. As John wrote, “But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” You were born again into the family of Jesus/God, when you accepted the grace purchased by Jesus. God will see the family resemblance, when you come before Him in heaven!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
1 John 5:3-4 (NIV)
This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.
Are you an overcomer? Do you live in this cursed world, but remain true to your calling? Yes, you are called, even if you cannot recognize the calling! We are all called by some spiritual being, at least that seems like what the Bible seems to indicate. You are either called by Jesus or you are called by Satan. Wow! That is scary, isn’t it! Members of mankind help direct you toward one or the other of these spiritual beings, but you decide who you will follow. Such decisions are made constantly every day of our lives. Maybe that is why Paul has told us to pray continually, as we are constantly tempted to follow the wrong life leader. All members of mankind have an immortal soul, which is the target, so to speak, of the directions of these spiritual beings. You likely all recognize the old idea of having an angel on one shoulder and a devil, once an angel, on the other shoulder. Do you feel the pull toward one or the other of these guiding spirits?
In this world it seems difficult to stay on that narrow path that leads to Jesus, who is awaiting us to join Him in heaven. John wrote about the need to obey the commands of God, and it seems he writes as though it is easy, if you really are a follower of Jesus Christ! In the selected verses John wrote if we love God, “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.” Do you find following God’s commands to be easy or burdensome? John continued with this thought by writing, “for everyone born of God overcomes the world.” In fact, we are all born of God as the miracle of birth is obviously God ordained, and we all came into this cursed world through a reproductive act ending in your birth. See the selected verse in context and note that the only way anyone can ever follow Jesus’ direction for their life, is through faith! This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:3-5).
Having faith in Jesus does not cause the devil to abandon his post sitting on your left shoulder, but it will cause you to at least verify what Satan says to your left brain, and what your guardian angel tells your right brain! John writes about followers of Jesus Christ becoming called the children of God. This is describing the new birth, which just like your mortal birth is also a miracle and this birth also called being born again happens when your faith in Jesus dictates your need to repent of your sinful life and to change your thought processes to behold Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. This change is immediate and permeates your immortal soul to get you on that narrow path that leads to heaven. It allows you to recognize Jesus as the Spirit you have chosen to follow. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:10-13). Jesus death and resurrection paved the Way for you to become a child of God, and your faith in Jesus allows you to become a child of God!
When you become a child of God you are immediately changed, and other members of mankind that have not yet been changed by being born again will detect a difference in you, and they will be suspicious of you intentions in this world. They may respect the change they notice in you, but if they are not followers of Jesus too, they will be wary of your different world view, and they will not trust you or understand your changed views of things they accept as being okay, but you try to caution them about what they are planning to do. John wrote about this situation where your new views about what is acceptable to do may cause a conflict with them! How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:1-2). When you were born again you were changed, and old friends may not now have views that coincide with yours. “The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” You are now more like Him, and those not having been born again will, or may, reject the new you!
Remember that Jesus died and rose again to change you in a Way that causes you to look like Him. And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. (1 John 2:28). Can you grasp it, you have been born again into the family of God? You have been changed forever, although you have a sinful nature inherited from the sin of Adam, you have been born again into Jesus’ family, and you are headed to heaven when you leave this cursed world. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. (1 John 2:29). We can be confident that when we see God the Father in heaven we will be escorted by Jesus and will appear to God as looking like Jesus. As John wrote, “But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” You were born again into the family of Jesus/God, when you accepted the grace purchased by Jesus. God will see the family resemblance, when you come before Him in heaven!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
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