Faith-bearing Seed for the Soul
"While the earth remaineth,
Seedtime and harvest
....shall not cease"

Genesis 8:22

Do You Know Him?

You can Know that You KNOW Him!

The following verse had always been rather frightening to me, until I realized something...I really KNOW Him...He's my best friend!

MATTHEW 7:21-23

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

Can you just imagine, prophesying in the name of Jesus, casting out devils, and doing many wonderful works in His name, and having Him say to you on Judgment Day..."Depart from Me, ye worker of iniquity... I have NEVER known you!" I've even wondered how that could POSSIBLY happen. Yet, we see one that walked with Him, doing good works, fellowshipping with the other disciples, that fell into this category.

Wasn't Judas one of those sent out by Jesus to preach and prophesy, then when they came back and said that even the demons obeyed them... wasn't he one of the twelve? Yes! Wasn't he the treasurer of the group, doing good works for the Lord? Yes! Before saying all that called Him Lord, Lord would not enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus had been talking about bearing good fruit...He said that, "By their fruits you will know them."

What WERE Judas' fruits? The most notable thing was his greed and love of money. He resented the Alabaster box of ointment being lavished on Jesus by Mary Magdaline...he would have rather sold it. It is easy to say the words, "I love you." However, genuine love can easily be measured by how much of ourselves we are willing to give. We don't see a lot of Judas' character being exposed other than this... When Jesus told the disciples that one of them would betray Him, they didn't all look at Judas and say, "It's him!" They asked if it could be themselves. Outwardly, Judas must have looked okay. He even fooled those closest to Jesus. I know that you are probably thinking that Judas NEVER DID belong to Jesus. The point here is, there those who walk along side of Him, do good works, even to the point of manifesting spiritual gifts, they are very "religious" but they will never see the kingdom of heaven.

There is something we need to take heed of in these verses... The word "KNEW" is the same word that is used when Adam knew Eve and a child was born. To "know" the Lord, is to be intimate with Him...very close, extremely personal! And the result of that intimacy is that we will bear fruit. We can put on a "show" for others, but I believe that each of us are aware of the kind of personal relationship we really have with Him. Just as we are able to discern when things are not completely right in our earthly marriages and relationships, I think Judas, (as it is with us) knew that he didn't have an intimate and loving relationship with Jesus, yet he did nothing to change it. He must have known because when Jesus told him to go do what he was going to do (betray Him) and to do it quickly, he didn't stop to question what Jesus was talking about; instead, he quickly did it.

Christ is coming back for a bride...a bride that He is intimate with, a bride that is producing Godly fruit, not one that has drifted away from Himself  into worldly adultery. Stay as close and personal with Him as possible, do not allow ANYTHING to come between you and Him: each day become exceedingly close to Him through obedience, and you will never have to worry that He will say to you on Judgment Day, "Depart from me, I never knew you."

I John 2:3-6 LB

And how can we be sure that we belong to Him? By looking within ourselves: are we really trying to do what He wants us to? Someone may say, "I am a Christian; I am on my way to heaven: I belong to Christ." But if he doesn't do what Christ tells him to, he is a liar. But those who do what Christ tells them to will learn to love God more and more. That is the way to know whether or not you are a Christian. Anyone who says he is a Christian should live as Christ did."

Selah...pause and think about that!

Rooted and grounded in His love,

Marlene,

Texas Seed Sower

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Eccl. 11:6

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