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"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it."

Matthew 13:45-46 KJV

It is one thing to believe in Christ and be saved, but it is another thing to believe like Him, act like Him, talk like Him. If we are not allowing His life to transform us now here on Earth, we are not allowing our God given inheritance to be manifested fully in our lives.

edmund desoto

Edmund shares his insights on how the Lord has changed him for the days we are in. His wisdom on being in Christ, unity, and how to break racial divides, and his perspective on humility and prayer will take you to the school of the Bible.

About Edmund

I have often asked myself this question:
What will happen if, in our spiritual walk, we turn lukewarm instead of steadfastly searching and seeking for the Lord?

Well the book of Revelation gives an answer to us. Thus says the LORD god Almighty; "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." Revelation 3: 16 KJV

There is the answer. However there is something else that will happen and that is NOTHING. Besides being thrown up by God, nothing will happen to us. One thing I know from watching others turn lukewarm and that is that meteors will not fall from the sky and specifically hit you in the head to wake you up.

Yes, nothing that is not common to man will happen to you. The person walking away from the LORD and turning lukewarm will simply remain the same as they have been before: unchanging. 

That one will not be undergoing a change in their spiritual condition at all only in the flesh and that unchanged life is judgment enough. So if our spiritual relationship with Him deteriorates and becomes stale the end result would be to be thrown up by Him.

Our walk with the LORD must be constant, daily, continuously. If we don't steadfastly walk with God, we simply cannot be transformed and our transformation is is a must in order to reflect His Glory in our lives.

Yes, one's spirit can still be saved even if we have built our lives with "wood, hay and stubble. But we will have accomplished little toward our eternal destiny if we would not allow the Holy Spirit of the Living God to transform us. 

The glory awaiting us will be barely noticeable, a flicker, compared to those who embraced their transformation on earth and now, in eternity, "shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father."

1 Corinthian: 3 KJV
Matthew: 13:45 KJV

The Creator of Heaven and Earth is beyond amazing. The Almighty God doesn't demand we change. He just wants us to change and reflect His Son's Glory, His attributes, on our own because we love Him. He doesn't force us to do so. True, He will convict us of sin and push us away from a slope into hell, but He isn't going to dominate our will and control us. Our obedience has to come from our heart and and our desire to know Him more each day.

The LORD God does not make it impossible to disobey Him. Convictions and warnings from the Spirit will help save us from hell, but they won't equip us for Heaven. Our transformation here on earth is what prepares all of us for what is to come.

It sounds as if I am going around in circle but here is my point from a different perspective: our pursuit of the Lord cannot be motivated simply by fear or relief from a present conflict. 

The treasure of God's Presence is the extreme value in all the universe. He must be sought for the incomparable worth of knowing Him for Himself. For this goal and this goal only we seek Him.

Yet, in the same way that we search and seek fro Him, He also searches and seeks seeks something from us. Does He simply enjoy watching, billions of humans feeding incessantly upon temporal realities year after year, or is the Most High seeking something more profound in His creation of man?

Here's what Jesus taught about His Father's nature of God. He said that the God of creation is a seeking God: He seeks that which was lost; He seeks true worshipers, and He is "like a merchant seeking fine pearls." Matthew 13:45 KJV

We need to understand this about our Lord: He is not seeking the typical, but the valuable. It is in His nature to seek people who, having accepted Christ, now pursue conformity to Him as the central passion of their hearts.

Whether we like to say so or not, I truly feel that the LORD God tests the sincerity of our commitment to Him: Will we offer our precious lives to God as followers of Christ? Though we, His followers rise and often may fail Him, will we withdraw all together? Will we purposed to offer to the Father our hearts that have been made pure in the fire of His love? Is this not what the Father should expect, especially since the actual Spirit of His Son dwells within us?

Though many are called and few are chosen, yet from those who respond does He not anticipate a reward for His sufferings? That reward is this: that He would see replicated within us the same faith, love, and redemptive nature that Christ Jesus Himself manifested and is manifesting even now. This is what the Father seeks. 

We as His disciples should be trained to operate in every difficult situation that this world throws at us. We must be trained to help others, to assist others, to edify others in every area of their lives. We should not just be saved. Salvation is the GIft, but what we do with that Gift is the transformation of our lives into his.

"But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked."

1 John 2:5-6 KJV

It is one thing to believe in Christ and be saved, but it is another thing to believe like Him, act like Him, talk like Him. If we are not allowing His life to transform us now here on Earth, we are not allowing our God given inheritance to be manifested fully in our lives.

Jesus said in Luke 6: 40 that "The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master." His goal with us is not only to save our souls, but then to "fully train" us until we are actually "like [our] Master.

This is the holy quest of God; it is the first and eternal purpose of creation: to make man in the image of God both in the flesh and in His Spirit.

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

Genesis: 1:26 KJV

Many argue with countless excuses and say: well, I tried to follow the LORD and live a Christian life but I was hurt by so many people. Others may say, well I didn't agree with my church's doctrines; yet others claim that they faced a battle greater than what they were expecting.

What is wrong with all these excuses?

Well, for starters, the person that was hurt allowed somebody's insults or actions to affect his relationship with the LORD. Those who did not agree with the church's doctrine allowed their opinion to get in the way of worship God, and those that faced battles greater than what they expected were doing just that, expecting battles that they would conquer instead of allowing the LOrd to win the battles for them.

Yes, but without such challenges how will the nature of Christ develop within us? God allows us to be put in impossible situations specifically to accommodate our transformation where we would learn to draw upon the grace and power of His Son. the word here is DRAW.

The journey toward becoming just like the LORD will, inevitably, compel us beyond the boundaries of our human nature, and so it should be.

The Father found one pearl of great price in His Son. Yet the heart of the LORD searches till this day to see His Son revealed in all of His followers.

Today he continues seeking for true worshipers whose hearts stay soft even when conditions are hard. The transformation is not easy if you do it in the flesh however if you allow His Spirit to do the transformation for you it becomes easy.

The Lord is for ever seeking the precious value of a redeemed people who, when faced with injustice, hurts, false accusations, gossip, lies deceitfulness, find greater satisfaction in serving and trusting the Him. 

In turn greater manifestations of Christ's love is experienced by them by the way they respond to opposition. Their hearts are steadfast on HIM regardless of delays or trials.

There may be just one individual in a neighborhood or just two in a city that are truly seeking hard after Christ, but these worshipers have attracted the attention of God. They are the salt of the earth. They pursue sonship. They are the focal point of the seeking God.

So what will happen if, in our spiritual walk, we turn lukewarm instead of steadfastly searching and seeking for the Lord? again, the answer would be nothing, our lives would be robbed of a beautiful relationship with our creator and we would never would have the honor to be able to reflect His Glorious life in our.

In My own Words,
edmund desoto

  

Pray For The Peace Of Jerusalem
Psalm 122:6 KJV

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