Good morning reader… it might not be morning by the time I finish this writing but that’s alright. I pray all is well. I’m feeling much better today, a little sore throat and some coughing, but my strength is coming back! That’s good news! I’m thankful to rest even though it’s not in my nature to rest like this, I don’t like being isolated. I’m a dagum peacock and I need to fly!
Alright, I’m thinking we continue on the “breakthrough” journey.
In the previous post you’ll get an idea of the functions for our body, soul, and spirit, that make up our entire Person (Being) – and I want to go deeper starting with what I’ll probably refer to a lot as mine and your “machine”, the body.
This is where I hope to bring back full circle my experience as an engineer (salvational engineering) to provide the reader with a unique perspective when applying diagnostics to a person’s spiritual well-being and eternal salvation. I also believe this framework will be an excellent resource; having the knowledge of the truth is very important, but what good is an engineer with knowledge of the truth yet without the skill of love to apply that knowledge to a machine broken by lies? The engineer is useless without the skill of love and tools to apply his or her knowledge of the truth!
18 But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their own lives.
We’ve seen this verse before, hadn’t we? No. And actually. The script is flipped now.
It was back at verse 11 we read—if they say, “Come with us, Let us lie in wait for blood, Let us ambush the innocent without cause—that the child of Wisdom is warned not to consent to the enticement of sinners.
THEIR OWN BLOOD
Their goal of gain in this life is at the cost of innocence. Their choice is made, they’ve chosen to love their own soul above their God who gave it to them, and ultimately, entices the innocent by that behavior, influencing a lie—a pleasure—about the way of their demise—justifying and blaming the world around them—rather than repenting of their selfish endeavors for the sake of God. But they won’t, they don’t repent; the sinner will seek to devour the innocent without a thought of losing their own soul for the sake of preserving the innocent—for the sake of Christ. The sinner says, “You need sex with multiple partners. You need pornography. You need to make more money. You need a vacation, cut loose, and just enjoy life.” But their gain is the ambush of their own lives, and once the innocent is converted… will he or she repent?
Proverbs 1 (NASB)—blueletterbible.org 1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: 2 To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, 3 To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; 4 To give prudence to the naïve, To the youth knowledge and discretion, 5 A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, 6 To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles. 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction. 8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction And do not forsake your mother’s teaching; 9 Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head And ornaments about your neck. 10 My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent. 11 If they say, “Come with us, Let us lie in wait for blood, Let us ambush the innocent without cause; 12 Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, as those who go down to the pit; 13 We will find all kinds of precious wealth, We will fill our houses with spoil; 14 Throw in your lot with us, We shall all have one purse,” 15 My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path, 16 For their feet run to evil And they hasten to shed blood. 17 Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net In the sight of any bird; 18 But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their own lives. 19 So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; It takes away the life of its possessors. Wisdom Warns 20 Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts her voice in the square; 21 At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings: 22 “How long, O naïve ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge? 23 “Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. 24 “Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; 25 And you neglected all my counsel And did not want my reproof; 26 I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, 27 When your dread comes like a storm And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. 28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD. 30 “They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof. 31 “So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way And be satiated with their own devices. 32 “For the waywardness of the naïve will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them. 33 “But he who listens to me shall live securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”
(1.) They are like the silly bird, that sees the net spread to take her, and yet it is in vain; she is decoyed into it by the bait, and will not take the warning which her own eyes gave her, v. 17. But we think ourselves of more value than many sparrows, and therefore should have more wit, and act with more caution. God has made us wiser than the fowls of heaven (Job 35:11), and shall we then be as stupid as they?
(2.) They are worse than the birds, and have not the sense which we sometimes perceive them to have; for the fowler knows it is in vain to lay his snare in the sight of the bird, and therefore he has arts to conceal it. But the sinner sees ruin at the end of his way; the murderer, the thief, see the jail and the gallows before them, nay, they may see hell before them; their watchmen tell them they shall surely die, but it is to no purpose; they rush into sin, and rush on in it, like the horse into the battle. For really the stone they roll will turn upon themselves, v. 18, 19. They lay wait, and lurk privily, for the blood and lives of others, but it will prove, contrary to their intention, to be for their own blood, their own lives; they will come, at length, to a shameful end; and, if they escape the sword of the magistrate, yet there is a divine Nemesis that pursues them. Vengeance suffers them not to live. Their greediness of gain hurries them upon those practices which will not suffer them to live out half their days, but will cut off the number of their months in the midst. They have little reason to be proud of their property in that which takes away the life of the owners and then passes to other masters; and what is a man profited, though he gain the world, if he lose his life? For then he can enjoy the world no longer; much less if he lose his soul, and that be drowned in destruction and perdition, as multitudes are by the love of money.
Prayer is a place to go to empty the soul. Where darkness is not judged by the light; condemned, to Hell. But is a place to become invisible with God; completely vulnerable, as a child, broken before their parent, trusting it’s going to be okay when reasoning the pain away. Sometimes the process to mend what was broken…is more painful than when the break itself occurred. The experience is… Difficult to bear. But out of that pain produces character. Now what of the pain of the Parent/s? …Having to operate on their broken child screaming and lashing out “IT HURTS” because of the unexpected consequence. That pain, brings a unique revelation. God is mending to fix my spiritual brokenness…as my parent. When I close my eyes to enter the closet of my soul and the darkness of my life closes in around me… There comes a LIGHT! That LIGHT reflects the glory of a transformed nature. A new creation! The light is operating on me through conviction. The experience feels like Hell (whatever that place feels like) but just like a child would trust their parent to fix what is broken. I trust this spiritual process for the sake of my salvation. Emotions flood the system that produce questions compacted with surrender. Exclaiming in anguish:
I DON’T GET IT!!! I DON’T!! I DON’T UNDERSTAND!!! I’M ANGRY! IM SO ANGRY!!! IS THIS WHAT LIFE IS!? WHY WAS I ABUSED!? WHY WAS I ABANDONED!? WHY WASN’T I TAUGHT!? WHY WASN’T THIS EXPLAINED!? WHERE WAS MY CHOICE!? MY PROTECTION!? WHAT IS THE POINT!? I DON’T UNDERSTAND!? YOU PROMISED!!! YOU PROMISED!!! YOU ARE AN ETERNAL GOD AND MY FATHER! YOU KNEW MY LIFE BEFORE I KNEW MYSELF! WHAT IS THE REASON FOR THIS PAIN!? WHAT HAVE I DONE!? WHAT DID I DO!? AM I THE DEVIL!? FORGIVE ME? PLEASE! WILL YOU FORGIVE ME? HELP ME!
Ben’s photo so beautifully depicts a difference between the darkness that compliments the light and the darkness on the cabin by the light. The darkness on the cabin reflect my broken soul. The light within the cabin is the work of God that has transformed my soul into a spirit that cries out “DAD”! A evidential condition to every soul claiming Jesus for salvation. So the experience of our broken lives are not without meaning. In fact, the meaning for me is this… Every decision I’ve made right or wrong is consequential. Coming to the end of myself is the beginning of my existence. Everything about who I am was nailed to the Only Son of God on His cross. God is the Heavenly Father of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Son of God that bore my sinful flesh to the point of His cross. Jesus obediently accepted to receive the consequence of my sin that should have killed me to Hell. But not just killed me… all the world! Because none is capable of enduring a consequence of that magnitude other than God Himself in Christ Jesus!
Death is the result of sin but not everyone will die because of their Life received by acknowledging Jesus as their reason of and for salvation. Because no one will be saved by any other name than His. And, the only way of truly knowing that, is by conviction through the Holy Spirit that seals our fate. Faith is the evidence of an invisible God at work in the life of a believer. The evidence is judged by the fruit of our lives The Holy Spirit of God is our Eternal Law Informant; letting us know we are dying for a reason; and with that understanding, teaching us how to conduct ourselves as a people saved by grace through faith. God related to us by sending His only Son for our example to follow what pleases Him as our Father. He was killed by sin at the beginning. My God and Father knew it would cost the life of His only innocent Son to redeem a guilty one.
I hope that is making sense. If not I pray you reason with me by going into a secluded place to pray. And, before you move the tongue of your mind; address God in the Name of Jesus; then communicate about who you are; what’ been done to you and what you’ve done. Listen with anticipation for His voice… I promise, He does answer.
Sooo… There is a man I know who reasoned with God for an example. He reasoned with God for sake of a city much like the world is today. I pray the reader will reason with God for the sake of their soul for salvation. In Jesus Name… Amen.
“And the LORD said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the LORD. Abraham came near and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” So the LORD said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account.” And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” He spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” And he said, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.” Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham the LORD departed, and Abraham returned to his place.” ~ Genesis 18:20-33
"NOT WITH INK" 