Truth rather than Traditions of men! Pt.1 By James Lantz
Jesus came to set men free from sin, sickness, and poverty, but many are putting the ways of men ahead of what God said. Mk. 7:9-13 . . . Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. . . . Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. Instead of loving God with all their hearts, they loved their own ideas more. Instead of helping their parents they decided that they could be exempt from that by dedicating their time and offerings somewhere else. We are to honor our heavenly Father, our spiritual elders, as well as our parents. Many are putting their own interpretation on who the tithe belongs to, but God says it belongs to him. Jesus said that if we would continue with him, we would know the truth, and the truth that we know would make us free. John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. We know from other scriptures that we must do the word (truth) in order to receive the benefits. The tradition of some people says that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is so much more blessed than others that they should pray to her. The truth said, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. Of course Mary is blessed but she is blessed because she believed the word of God and received him with meekness. Luke 1:38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. Jesus corrected a women who was so moved by his teaching, that she burst out saying, blessed is the womb that bear you and the paps which you have sucked. Mary was not blessed because she carried Jesus in her womb and delivered him into this world. Mary carried Jesus in her womb and brought him into this world because she was blessed. She was blessed because she believed God (God’s messenger) and did what God said. Tradition says, “It may not be God’s will to heal me”.
Everyone who hears the word of the Lord and does it will walk in the Blessing!
He already healed us when he laid every sickness and every disease on Jesus who bore it for us. Mt. 8:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias (Isaiah) the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. Everyone who meets the conditions will be healed. One of the conditions is serving him. God has no obligation to heal one who he has purchased by his blood who refuses to summit to his will and serve Him. Ex. 23:25 And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. Some are waiting for God, and God is waiting for us to believe his messengers who wrote, we were healed by Jesus stripes. Faith talks, if you believed that you were healed you would say and act as if you were and you would become. I hope this isn’t to simple for you to accept. You are blessed (healed) because you believe. What so ever things you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them. The law of faith works like this, you desire, you ask God, you believe that you have it, then you will get it. We don’t have to make it come to pass, we just believe that it is ours the moment we pray and believe we receive. It was important to Jesus that we know that the blessing of the Lord will come on every one of us as we obey the Father’s message. Luke 11:28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
Another tradition that stops people from walking in the blessing is their belief that all christians have some sin in their life. We have been redeemed from sin by the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 1 Pet. 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; Conversation as used in this verse is better translated manner of life. We have been redeemed from the vain manner of life that we were living in prior to our being born again. The very moment that we made Jesus the Lord of our life we were made the righteousness of God. The outward man still looks the same except for the joy of the Lord and the bounce in our step but in our heart we are righteous. The problem with this new creature is that the mind has not yet been renewed to think God’s thoughts and the body is not yet being brought under subjection to the Lordship of Jesus. Some have taken 1 John 1:8 out of context and say that the Bible says, if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. This scripture is referring to the person who is walking in darkness as mentioned in verse six. The person who walks in the light as he is in the light will be in fellowship with God and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanest him from all sin. Only the christian who is walking in darkness needs to repent, not the one walking in the light. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This letter is written to the church, believers, as evidenced in 1 John 1:4 and 1
Being cleansed from all unrighteousness makes us righteous!
John 2:1 Even children understand that when we are cleansed from all unrighteousness that makes us righteous. Righteousness qualifies us to receive from God!
Another tradition rampant in these days that feeds off of wrong teaching and ignorance of the word of God is that whatever I do will be blessed. Some even teach their children, honey, you can be whatever you want to be. These folks take a half a scripture like Col. 3:23 and miss apply it to justify a carnal lifestyle. Col. 3:23&24 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. This is referring to slaves who may have a very menial or undesirable job. God was simply letting them know that they should serve their masters heartily and that their low paying job will not stop God from blessing them since He is really the one they are serving. We are warned by God to separate ourselves from those who have a form of godliness but deny the power of God. 2 Tim. 3:1-5 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, . . . Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. They claim they are christians, but they are not interested in serving in the church because they would miss their TV show and have to get up earlier. One way to deny the power of God is by not receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit which is the doorway into the supernatural. Another way that people are denying the power of God is by not acknowledging the plan and purpose of Gods call on their life. God said that he knew Jeremiah before he formed him in the belly and had called him to be a prophet unto the nations. God knew every one of us before we were born and has a good plan and a good purpose for each and every one of us! (see Jer.1:5, Mt. 19:12, Gal. 1:5) Very few people know their place in the body of Christ and are pursuing it with all their heart. Serving in the church is a good step toward finding your place in the body of Christ. 1 Cor. 11:29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. Anyone who partakes of communion and refuses to supply their part of the covenant is bringing judgement on themselves because this is deceitful. 1 Cor. 12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body (church), as it hath pleased him. The Lord does not attach the little toe to the elbow. God knows exactly what our mission is and will connect us to like minded believers and place us in a church where we will hear what we need to hear to fulfill our destiny. We certainly shall experience the fullness of the blessing as we stay where we are stationed and continue to fulfill our assignment. Listen to me, child of God, life is short and Jesus is coming soon, give him your best now!
