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Blog 9 – August 2, 2017

Salvation Is a Big Deal

In an earlier writing, I mentioned that at a certain period of time in my life I realized that I needed something new, and that something new turned out to be spiritual light. When I was younger, from time to time, I would see someone with a placard or something similar, in public, urging people to repent for the ‘end is near’.   That always made a negative impression on my mind, because usually the people doing it looked homeless and unstable. And here they are telling me that I should repent!

As time went on, and I learned some things about the Scriptures, I realized that things like that were usually just trick presentations by the adversary to try and degrade God.

1 Peter 5:8 says, ‘Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:’ This tells us that the devil will constantly be seeking ways to trick the Christian into thinking less of the important things of God: and salvation is important!

1 Timothy 2:4 says, ‘Who [referring to God] will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.’ God’s ultimate will is for all men to come to salvation, but we know that all men will not. For those of us who are concerned about the realities of salvation, we know it is extremely important for a person to make Jesus Christ lord in his life and to believe that God raised him from the dead.

This is a spiritual matter and Christians are still wrestling with trying to understand and believe spiritual matters. Why? Because they flock to organized religion which often promotes politics and distracts the seeking Christian from honestly working the truths regarding salvation and redemption.

Yes, salvation is a big deal; and it’s not man’s idea, it’s God’s idea.   The earth was altered from its perfect state back in Genesis 1:31a ‘And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good…’ But that didn’t last, because as Genesis 3:7 tells us, ‘And the eyes of them [Adam and Eve] were both opened, and they knew that they were naked…’ Their eyes were opened because they had both just been tricked into disobedience to God, and at that moment, they knew that things had changed. This is called sin and at that moment, they changed from a perfect spiritual state to fleshly sin nature. In Verse 10 of that same chapter, Adam admitted ‘… and I afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.’ Prior to that there was no mention of fear.

So now, as of Genesis 3:7 we have everything altered on the earth: in the vegetation, the infrastructure – with the seeds of disease and death being introduced.

Romans 5:12 says, ‘Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.’ This means that, like it or not, we inherit that disaster that Adam initiated and sent our way.

This was not God’s original plan for mankind, but since it happened, God had designed a way out, which is introduced in Genesis 3:15, ‘ And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed;’ The enmity is the promise of the Savior, the lord Jesus Christ.

Now we see that man has a major problem and one doesn’t need to read the scriptures to see that; as around us throughout the world, man cannot cease from sin, from strife and wars. Disease can hardly be contained. We find our minds easily fertile to thoughts that are not God’s thoughts.

Yes, we certainly need salvation – a better way! And as we just mentioned that better way is Jesus Christ, who God ordained to redeem man.

Romans 5:17 tells us, ‘For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; muchmore they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.’

Ephesians 2:8 tells us, ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.’

What do these two verses tell us? That man is in a bad state: however,God’s grace and power is greater than that bad state. God has given salvation to us by grace: it is impossible for man to earn it on his own. Jesus Christ is the key to salvation. It is impossible to be born again without making him lord in your life and believing that God raised him from the dead.

This is a spiritual matter and it takes a spiritual person to understand and believe these truths: That is referring to a person desiring spiritual matters. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:1 ‘Now concerning spiritual gifts [matters] brethren, I would not have you ignorant.’   God put this all together and with God it is a big deal!

Salvation needs to be a big deal to us as well. As Christians, we have the spiritual abilities to move God’s Word along and to tell others how to get born again. What a great privilege it is to be born again, to stand out in our world and to be able to know what we know because someone else loved enough to tell us once upon a time.  I’m inspired so let’s continue to have funglimpses!   Thanks for reading. Will Grove

Blog 8 – July 3, 2017

 

 

The Importance of the Resurrection

 

When I first started writing these blogs, I wanted to write them in the essence of being seen by people surfing the web for Biblical teachings but with little Biblical knowledge. In other words, they could be a witnessing format. The number of Biblical topics is limitless.

I’ve just come from a Bible Camp in New York State this past week and there was much that inspired me. The theme of the Camp was ‘The Walk of Believing,’ and somehow through all the wonderful teachings that I heard, my mind is coming to the resurrection.

Why is that? Jesus Christ did many wonderful things during the course of his ministry. He always did the Father’s Will and He had to believe to the uttermost to do the Father’s Will which was ultimately to give up His life on a tree for mankind’s salvation. This took incredible believing; I use the word ‘incredible’ as a figure of speech because it was far beyond what anybody else has been able to do. Mankind was in dire need of a savior: that was why it was necessary for him to be the complete savior. We will look into this further.

Colossians 2:9,10 tells us ‘For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality and power.’ (KJV) This could not be so if Jesus Christ was not a complete savior! And what makes Colossians 2:9,10 available is the resurrection, complemented by the Ascension and the Day of Pentecost.

If God had not raised Jesus Christ from the dead, God’s plan of salvation and redemption for all of mankind would not have been complete. The modern Church often loses the significance of the Resurrection by emphasizing Jesus’ death on the cross.. They know he got up, but lose the importance of that in trying to make Him God!

One might say, ‘what’s the big deal with the Resurrection?’ In Matthew 17:22,23 ‘…Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again…’ Jesus was speaking of himself. He knew he would be raised from the dead and he understood that the importance of the resurrection lay in the necessity of his believing to lay his life down.

In Romans 6:4 ‘Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.’ (KJV) The Resurrection brought newness of life to Jesus Christ and, because of that, we are encouraged to walk in the newness of that spiritual life that we received when we made him lord in our life and believed that God raised him from the dead.

Understanding this is so important that even the path to being born again is partly determined by the resurrection. In Romans 10:9 ‘That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.’ (KJV) The word, ‘saved,’ means to be made completely whole: mentally, spiritually and physically. Certain people throughout history have been temporarily raised from the dead: however, Jesus Christ is the only one in the history of mankind to be raised from the dead permanently! And he is now seated at the right hand of God. Ephesians 1:20

These spiritual realities could not be available without obedience, which is active believing in God’s rightly-divided Word. The walk of believing is the walk of obedience to God’s Word. We would not be able to do what we do today if Jesus Christ had not obeyed and fulfilled the law and the things His Father told him to do.

It’s very easy to bypass the importance of obedience to God. People try to casually please God in their imaginations in all forms and ways. However, Hebrews 11:6 tells us, ‘But without faith ( believing) it is impossible to please him (God): for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.’ So there you have it, in case you were wondering how to please God.

So these are some thoughts I took away from that wonderful Family Camp in Huguenot, NY last week. Out of all that, it came back to the resurrection for me; and that was inspired by the importance of obedience to God; inspired by ‘The Walk of Believing.’ …And all of this still continues to inspire me to have funglimpses. Thanks for reading! Will Grove

 

So often during the course of life. we may find ourselves at a crossroads of sorts.  You may meet someone who talks to you and changes your life radically in such a way that you never dreamed possible.

It was shortly after New Year’s Eve of 1974 that I found myself needing something new.  I had passed out from smoking hashish that night and missed the festivities that I had looked forward to for some time.  “OK – something’s gotta happen”, I remember telling myself.  What I didn’t realize I lacked in my life was spiritual light.  I had plenty of adventure but no spiritual light.

Then not to long after that I was talked to – witnessed to, if you like – by a person I knew who told me about a group of people meeting each week and talking about the Bible.  I didn’t care one way or the other  what they were talking about, but it just sounded different.

So I found myself going to my first Bible study fellowship in Berkeley, CA.  Life has never been the same since: and here we are, 42.2 years later.  Yes, it is God’s Word that made the actual change, but that change has got to happen in people.  At that time I was introduced to the Body of Christ.  I found this to be a very major, positive change over being with the ‘stoner’ crowd.  An understatement now – but that’s how I felt at the time.

In Acts 2:23, the Apostle Peter preached that wonderful teaching after having received holy spirit.  In Verse 37, the people responded, “…what shall we do?’  What a wonderful, honest question!  Until you hear God’s Word, what are you going to do?  Well, you can blow in the wind for a lifetime – or you can do what Peter told them to do: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

This is a spiritual thing made available for people who want to know spiritual matters.

That group of people in that apartment in Berkeley in 1974 wanted to honestly know spiritual matters and I found out that I did too.  To really get to know spiritual matters, you’ve got to fellowship – ‘hang out’ – with the Body of Christ.

Acts 17:11 tells us, “These were noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”  The point is not the lack of nobleness of the Thessalonians, but the love and discipline of the believers who searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were do.

As part of the Body of Christ, our greatest responsibility is to God.  Work His Word daily and speak in tongues as much as you can think to do.  You just can’t do this on your own; God didn’t design us to do this on our own.  We need each other, to be with each other, to love, to pray together; to search the scriptures daily together.

Ephesians 6:11 tells us, “Put on the whole armour of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”  Don’t think for one minute that you’re going to be able to do this by yourself.  The adversary will have you for breakfast before you can put your shoes on.

You need to have fellowship with other believers, as much as is possible.  Even if you’re in the middle of nowhere, do what you can to be with other believers and talk to God about fixing it.  God will always make a way where there doesn’t seem to be a way.

1 John 1:3: “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.”  (KJV)   Great fellowship wouldn’t you say?

Acts 2:44: “And all that believed were together, and had all things common.”  That should be us!  Verse 46 says: “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house (in the home) did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.”   Verse 47: “Praising God and having favor with all the people…”

I can’t speak for you, but this is the way I want to go, because I like to praise God and have favor with other believers.  And as corny as it might sound, when I try to do this, it helps me to have funglimpses.  Thanks for reading!  Will Grove

 

Of late I’ve found myself watching certain TV news, journalistic programs, which are designed to keep people, like me, informed on world events.  In watching, it really is amazing to me how many problems man makes for himself: whether in foreign countries or here at home.  God designed man to live a simple, peaceful life and to worship Him.  If we look to God’s Word, we will not be overwhelmed with the distractions that are presented by the world.

It says in 1 Timothy 1:1,2 (KJV) ‘I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men: for kings and for all that are in authority; that we may live a quiet and peaceable  life in all godliness and honesty.’  That’s a ‘quiet and peaceable life’!  That’s from God’s point of view.  And yet, while watching certain Sunday morning, journalistic programs: watching our new President try to handle what’s handed him, and then watching all the ‘circus acts’ going on in various countries around the world, it’s a wonder.

Of course, the ‘quiet and peaceable life’ is primarily for believers’ and even then we really have to work to enjoy it: meaning we’re still going to have to deal with tribulations at times.  So, let’s look past the distractions of the world, and look at things from God’s perspective.  In Galatians 5:19-21 (KJV) we see listed the works of the flesh.  God knows everything that’s going on in the world, line by line by line.  None of the dictators and ungodly rulers in this world hide anything from Him:  neither do they give Him a second thought!

However, Verses 22,23 of that same chapter list the fruit of God’s spirit: ‘love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.’  What that means to a fellow believer, is that there is nothing going on in the world or in our lives, that the fruit of the spirit cannot deal with.  And the fruit of the spirit can only be gotten by knowing God’s Word and operating the manifestations of the spirit.

11 Timothy 3:12 (KJV) tells us, ‘Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecutions’  ‘Shall’…not ‘might’ – – That doesn’t necessarily mean a gun to the head, but the distractions of the world can bring a negative heaviness into our lives.  That heaviness can and will slow down our productivity for God!  When that happens, you’ve got to be able to stand on your own spiritually, as no one can live your life for you.  And in this, the household of believers’ is very important.  Ephesians 6:12 (KJV) tells us ‘For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.’

Ephesians 6:11 (KJV) tells us to ‘Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  That ‘whole armour’ covers everything that you’re ever going to have to deal with in the course of your lifetime or until the return of Christ!

That ‘whole armour’ consists of operating the manifestations of the spirit and keeping your head in God’s Word.  When you see that God’s Word tells you that you are a son of God with all power, that’s what it means.  If you don’t want to put  the effort into working on believing it, then you’ve made a problem for yourself.

So let’s decide not to have a problem:  decide to work God’s Word in your life and heart and then you’ll see that you won’t be boggled about with all the distractions.  That’s what I’m trying to do, and when I work on that, I have fun and having fun that way is funglimpses to me.  Thanks for reading!  Will Grove

This past Sunday I was privileged to be a part of the ending of a class on the Bible that was first recorded back in 1967.  I had the opportunity to first take it in 1974.  The purpose of the class is to show a person how to study the Bible, and it you’re a serious student of the Bible, it could be a real ‘eye-opener.’

The foundational Scripture for the class is John 10:10 where Jesus said, ‘The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that  they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.’ (KJV)  And certainly, who would not want to live an abundant life?

The abundant life is a spiritual life as well as a physical life.  We spend a lot of time making money and doing things.  It’s very easy to get involved in the race of life and forget about the things of God.  The subject matter of the class showed me that it is well worth the while making the things of God a priority.

The material taught is not the kind of Bible teaching that one would hear on the TV or in a Denominational Church.  It is work that was done over the course of many years at the time of the taping of the class.  For the several hundred thousand people that have heard it over the years – if you were to ask any of them shortly after taking the class, what they thought; they would likely tell you that they had never heard anything like that before.  Most of them would tell you that they were very thankful for having sat through the teaching.

It is possible for God to work in men and women of God in our day and time who seriously want to know and teach the things of God.  And when we talk about teaching God’s Word, we’re not talking about ‘preaching because preaching pays.’  We are concerned with financial abundance, but not if it requires us to compromise on the integrity of God’s Word!

There have been many men and women through the years who have taken to heart verses such as  1 Peter 1:25 ‘But the Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word, which by the Gospel is preached unto you.’ (KJV).  So what makes this class stand apart from other publicly available teachings on the Bible?  It expounds the Scriptures: verse after verse after verse.

This class taught me that the subject of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is Jesus Christ and that Jesus Christ was and is God’s plan for mankind’s redemption and salvation.  That Bible teaches that Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the adversary and to preach the Gospel so that anyone who wishes can come unto the knowledge of the truth!

11 Timothy 3:16,17 ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly  furnished unto all good works.’ (KJV)  If one were to study this verse in its minutest detail, one would see that the ‘abundant life’ is very well worth the pursuing, and is wrapped up in doctrine, reproof and correction.

You can’t live an abundant life once a wee:  It’s a day by day decision to walk with and for God. And it’s not easy: it’s not for the faint of heart, because there is a Devil and he wants the worst for you and will do his best to see that you do not live an abundant life.  However, the Scriptures tell us in 1 John 4:4 ‘Ye are of God, little children and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.’  (KJV)

Life is an adventure: It can be rough, it can be fun, depending on your background and circumstances.  God can make it smoother for you than it would be otherwise:  all you have to do is talk to Him, love Him and very likely someone will witness to you about the greatness of His Word and share with you about the greatness of how to live an abundant life.

I sure am glad I was there and it helped me to have funglimpses.  Thanks for reading!  Will Grove

March 13, 2017

Shortly ago, I wrote some on the topic, ‘Life Really Is Spiritual’.  And because life is spiritual it is necessary to worship in spirit and in truth, because God is spirit.  John 4:24 (KJV).

There are nine manifestations of the spirit as recorded in 1 Corinthians 12.  Six of those manifestations need revelation to be performed, and two of them need to be operated in the context of a believers’ meeting.  There is one and only one that can be operated anywhere, anytime a believer  thinks to do it and that is speaking in tongues.

Speaking in tongues first became available on the Day of Pentecost; and from that point on there are several sections of scripture in the Book of Acts where believers spoke in tongues upon first receiving holy spirit.

In out day and time the Devil has tried to put the lid on speaking in tongues, by having the organized Church ignore it  for the most part and then having satellite churches and TV preachers dramatize it with choreography and wrong teaching.  Thus what we have is a lot of confusion regarding this wonderful working of the spirit, that has, for the most part, ‘freaked out’ or disturbed the general public, primarily the Christian community, because they don’t understand.

In Acts 2:11, it tells us that when the Apostles spoke in tongues, they spoke ‘the wonderful works of God.’    The Word does not tell us exactly what those wonderful works of God are: but we do know that when we speak in tongues, it is the tongues of either men or of angels – 1 Corinthians 13:1 (KJV).  In Acts 2, when the Apostles spoke in tongues, it just so happened that lots of people present heard them speaking in their own languages, and it was described in Acts 2:11 as ‘the wonderful works of God.’

Sometimes people present do understand the tongues spoken: sometimes not!

Let’s entertain another thought, the new birth of Christ in you, which occurs when you make Jesus lord in your life and believe God raised him from the dead is a spiritual work – Romans 10:9,10 (KJV); and thus, it can’t be felt in the five senses.  However, you can get yourself all worked up emotionally  with the thought of possibly being born again.  But that’s emotional and not spiritual!

And you could very well be born again of God’s spirit; you just don’t know it through the senses.  God, in His goodness and love to us, has given us this wonderful manifestation to show us that we are born again of God’s spirit.

Speaking in tongues is the proof in the senses realm to an individual  that he or she is born again of God’s spirit.  Now, don’t take anybody’s word for it, work the Word and see for yourself.  Or talk to God about bringing someone into your life who can help lead you into the manifestation of speaking in tongues.

I would think it would make all the sense in the world, that God would not leave us to wonder and ramble when it comes to the seriousness of the new birth, which is the ‘miracle of all miracles’.  Being the benevolent and loving God that He is, He has given us the new birth by spirit so that we can live a more abundant life now on earth: plus, we have the hope of the return of His Son from Heaven, in due time, to gather his Church.

In the meantime, we have the ‘earnest of the inheritance’  – Ephesians 2:14:  and that ‘earnest’ is a ‘token’ which is the new birth, shown forth by speaking in tongues.  I am very blessed that we have proof in the senses realm of the new birth, otherwise, many people, such as myself, would wonder a lifetime – ‘Am I or am I not?’  No Christian wants that kind of confusion in their life.

Paul declares in 1 Corinthians 14:5  that ‘…I would ye all spake with tongues’.  He was dealing with problems in the Church at that time, but he knew the importance of speaking in tongues.  Another place in Corinthians, he says, ‘I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all’.

In Acts 10:46, the household of a man named Cornelius heard the Word of God spoken by Peter.  In vs 33 of that chapter, Cornelius told Peter, ‘Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.’  Like so many of us today, they wanted to know God’s Word.  Peter spoke it in the following verses, and in vs 45,  it tells us that those that came with Peter were astonished, ‘because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost, for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.’

How blessed Cornelius’ household must have been to have heard God’s Word and then to have heard themselves speaking in tongues, because they knew.  And God wants us to know!  He wants me to know, and He wants you to know!

Keeping in mind that speaking in tongues is a spiritual matter:  It is worshiping God in spirit and in truth and the Devil doesn’t want that to happen.  Let’s put it to the Devil and strike a chord for the one true God and speak in tongues much!

It’s fun to speak in tongues, which is why I speak in tongues!  And it helps me to have funglimpses!  Thanks for reading.  Will Grove

February 25, 2017

I was inspired to write this because I so often see people around me trying to deal with spiritual matters in a physical sense.  I saw this first hand growing up, because although I came from a wonderful home, there was much distress brought on by devilish influences, which I didn’t learn about until many years later when I took a class on the Bible.

What I didn’t know was that the distress that I saw in my youth needed to be handled spiritually, whereas the people in charge were treating it chemically.  Nobody knew God’s Word and how to deal with devil spirits or how to operate the power of God and, alas, all I could do was watch.

In Genesis 1:31a it says, ‘And God saw everything that He had made and, behold, it was very good.’   Up until that point, the different things that were made were described as being ‘good’.  However, when it got to the section were it described ‘everything’ that God had made, it described it as being ‘very good’.  ‘Very good’ because God had made it; because God is spirit! – John 4:24 (KJV)

Man’s mind is designed to hold God’s Word, which are spiritual words, and yet the man without spirit often has a problem with comprehending spirit, because it cannot be detected in the senses realm.  We live in a very beautiful and wonderful world.   Nature was designed by God to bless us and to sustain us physically and mentally.  However, we still have major problems with sickness and disease.

Genesis 3:17b tells us, ‘cursed is the ground for thy sake’ – and from there it just mushroomed and grew until, as we can see now, man cannot cease from wars and disease can barely be contained.  All of this is because of disobedience to God’s Word starting back in Genesis, and then the continued disobedience of man to God’s Word throughout the years from then.

The answer to all of man’s problems is spiritual.  Man needs to come back to the grace, mercy, peace and love of God.  Jesus Christ said in John 14:6 , ‘I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.’  So Jesus Christ is man’s answer to spiritual problems; to life’s problems.  It’s so simple and yet we make it so difficult on ourselves.

If you can bring yourself to just make Jesus Christ Lord in your life and believe that God raised him from the dead, and work on living as he says you can live: as the Church Epistles tell us to live, lo and behold, the problems will shrink.  They won’t all go away, but they will be a lot easier to handle.

As we live our lives information and the means to move information will always bring us bad news.  This is the result of the Devil’s ebb and flow.  This will always be so until Jesus Christ comes back to gather his Church.  In the meantime, we can maximize our daily energy output with a healthy diet of God’s Word to make our minds and bodies as vigorous as possible.

Proverbs 3:5-8 tells us, ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.  Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord and depart from evil.  It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bone.’   How wonderful to know that all we have to do is trust in the Lord and lean not to our own means.  ‘…in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.’

Yes, life truly is spiritual, and I’m sure glad it’s given me a chance to have funglimpses!  Thanks for reading!  Will Grove

 

February 6, 2017

I wrote this on Friday, January 13th and in the minds of so many people, and many of them are Christians, it’s Friday the 13th.  In our culture, Friday the 13th is expected to be a harmless, superstitious day when anything negative can happen.  Well, isn’t that wonderful?

Psalm 118:24 tell us. ‘This is the day that the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.’  I think that when God had the Psalmist write this, He wasn’t thinking about how our culture would be perverting certain days in our Calendar by the influence of the adversary, and expecting bad things to happen on these days:  Halloween is an example!  I’m being silly, of course, God knew this would happen.

God sent Jesus Christ to do certain things so that we could have a more abundant life, as it tell us in John 10:10.  This was the redemption of mankind:  As believers, we can claim whole, healthy lives and rejoice in each day, as God would have us to do.  We do not have to rely on such superstitious things as luck.  We can claim the promises of God laid out in His Word.

We have been redeemed: which is to be bought back from the power of the adversary.  We have been sanctified, which is to be set apart as sons of God, able to claim the victory that we have in Christ Jesus.  That victory is being born again of God’s spirit:  That doesn’t mean we’ll never get sick again.  That victory means that we can claim in our minds the physical and mental wholeness that can be gotten via the new birth.

111 John, Verse 2 tells us that, ‘Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prosperth.’ (KJV).

This is God’s desire for us:  And when we get to the place where we can claim this, it is greater than any counselor or psychiatrist.  They are wonderful, but the good principles that they share originate in God’s Word.

The world is not going to change until Christ’s return and in the meantime,  the word ‘luck’ and others like it will be an integral part of our culture.  But as Christians, we are not dependent on ‘luck’ or the lottery; we should look to the promises of God to guide our lives.

Remember, we control what we put into our hearts.  Proverbs 23:7a tells us, ‘As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he’.  It’s fun to think God’s Word!  They are the ‘words of life’!

What a life it is to know we don’t have to depend on superstition to balance out our thinking, but rather on God’s wonderful Word, which lives and abides for ever.

In the meantime I will continue to have funglimpses!  Thanks for reading!  Will Grove

 

I became inspired to write this sharing because throughout my lifetime, from a youngster to the present time, I have seen people worshiping God in their own way: in many forms and fashions and with many different Churches.  What I have found troubling is that so many of these people turn right around and blame God for causing negative things to happen to people.  Actually I find anyone blaming bad things on God bothersome.

As a student of the scriptures, I know that a person can’t go any further than what they’ve been taught: and what they’ve been taught is often a result of wrong teaching of the Bible and, or, making things up.  And making things up is  not an honest approach to studying the Scriptures.  One thing that I’ve learned as I’ve studied God’s Word through the years is that, ‘God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.’ 1 John 1:5 (KJV)  This is a wonderful truth to take through life as one works the Scriptures, because the Bible clearly declares that God is love and in Him is no darkness at all.’

Why would Proverbs 3:5,6, tell us to ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths’, if there actually was darkness in God?  It is very tiring to hear people in general blame things on God that the Devil has been doing since Genesis.  The Scriptures teach us that one of the tricks of the adversary  is to inspire people to blame God for doing evil as well as good.  If the Bible is correct, this simply cannot be true.

Before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, it was possible, that if a person failed to believe God’s Word, they could receive the consequences of their unbelief.  This could come in the form of God’s allowing the adversary to have his way with them because they did not believe Him (God).  This is shown in the Hebrew idiom of -‘permission’ -: and it has confused many people through the years because they have not learned how to rightly-divide God’s Word!

John 3:16 tells us that, ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.’  God so loved!  We’re talking about spiritual matters and those who blame evil things and the misfortunes of people on God, don’t understand that life is spiritual; neither do they usually care.

God wishes all men to ‘be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth’ – 1 Tim 2:4 (KJV) – even knowing that all men do not care to be saved; this takes tremendous love on God’s part.  Our Heavenly Father is a loving and wonderful God, who cares for His people and wants them to look to Him in all things.

How wonderful it is to know that the love of God and the goodness of God are so richly available to anyone who wishes to make Jesus Christ lord in their life and believe that God has raised Him from the dead.  The goodness of God really is available to us today.

I sure am having a good time with these funglimpses.  Thanks for reading!

Recently, many of us around the county and probably in certain parts of the world, were brought to remembrance of the 100^th birthday of a man named Victor Paul Wierwille. Dr. Wierwille, as we knew him, became interested in the Scriptures at an early age, and by the time he got into young adulthood, had dedicated his life to learning a working knowledge of God and His wonderful Word, and then teaching it to others.

As time went on, his Biblical study took on the theme of, ‘Power For Abundant Living,’ inspired by John 10:9,10. Over the years, primarily, from 1969 – 1983, many thousands of people of all ages, came to be inspired and blessed by the refreshing and loving approach to the Scriptures that Dr. Wierwille presented.

We were and still are encouraged to work the Bible ourselves and to make it our own, as directed in 11 Timothy 2:15 ‘ Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.’ (KJV).

I learned that God loves me and wants the best for me: 1 John 4:7,8 (KJV). That was very new to me as I hadn’t been raised in a Church that taught that. I found that for the first time in my life, I enjoyed being around people who loved God and who wanted to learn to work the Scriptures for themselves.

As time has gone on, over the past forty- two years, I have developed a great appreciation for the things of God and what my lord and saviour, Jesus Christ, went through to help us (me) get to this point.

Ephesians 6:10 tells us ‘to… be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.’ Without someone to show this to me and to open it up to me, I never would have learned that I could be strong in the Lord. What a great comfort that is!

God has given us His Word, and not to be a prop:, but to be taken seriously so that we can learn to love Him and to give Him our attention and to learn to receive His love. 1 John 4:7,8

I understand the principle of teaching one’s self: but we all need our teachers and instructors, expecially so when it comes to spiritual matters.   I am very thankful for the life of Victor Paul Wierwille, who rose up a long time ago and made the commitment to learn God’s Word so that he could teach it to others.

I am also very thankful for the men and women who have risen up over the years and in our day and time to teach God’s Word and to stay faithful to the Family of God and to the Household of God. Maybe today! So, until then, I will continue to have FunGlimpses! Thanks for reading!