By THE SPIRIT Paul wrote in Colossians chapter 2:
13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
The Love of Our Heavenly Father through the manifestation of HIS Son cannot be made of none effect. Our full and complete restoration is assured IN HIM. The only question is at what point do we choose to fully accept HIS superior Love which is above all thoughts and actions of rulers and authorities. HIS Love is not overcome by these lesser entities in any manner.
The world is hostile toward anyone who chooses The Way, the Truth, and the Life which is through Jesus Christ. We must accept this reality and understand that FATHER’S Love will overcome the world and its rulers. HE will do so by HIS Wisdom which is far above their understanding. Their own blindness will ensnare them thus requiring deliverance from their wrong decisions and motivations. Just as the malicious intent of the rulers to remove Jesus by sending Him to the cross and thus fulfilling FATHER’S Plan, once again the rulers of this day will play into the Plan of FATHER.
16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—
17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,
19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.
Men would have you in bondage to their opinion of the Word of GOD. Instead, we are to hear FATHER for ourselves and receive revelation from HIM first hand. Each of us is responsible for becoming mature to the point where we no longer rely on tutors who are not infallible. Let us each rise up into full maturity so that we don’t allow ourselves to become enslaved by the error of men. Rather than take on the customs of men who would appear to be superior in their knowledge of Scripture, seek FATHER and have HIM instruct you this day. As my friend Kemper told me, “It’s better to do nothing if I don’t know what to do rather than keep doing the wrong thing.”
FATHER’S Word is backed by power and authority. It will produce good fruit. When it is clear that the world is producing bad fruit or no fruit, their path is not one we should follow. Let us grab ahold of the reality of Jesus Christ and the need to nail our old man to His cross. We too must die to the flesh so that we live IN HIM for He is the Head and we are the body. The Head directs the body, not visa versa.
We must quit expecting our outward observing of The Law to be the deciding factor of FATHER acting on our behalf. In Matthew 23 Jesus spoke:
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,
30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’”
The inward work of Christ is what will change us. The outward is the resulting expression of the inward change. The world’s hostility reflects their inward state and as long as their hearts remain unchanged, they will continue on the path to death and destruction. We must guard ourselves from accepting the world’s influence of behavior based on legalism and let our walk be led by THE SPIRIT within.