Matt 7:21-23 "I never knew you"

[Cardinal]

Yes, they did a lot of works . .but they had no intimacy.  And "that's" what "I never knew you" was all about . . .intimacy.  We have it in our heads that if we can cast out a demon or get someone to speak in tongues we, ourselves are now approved and accepted . . .when one has nothing to do with the other.  The truth be told, the gifts of the spirit are much like a loaded gun . . .just because you can shoot it, doesn't mean your a marksman. 

So many people have used the gifts of the spirit and have been more destructive with them then they have edifying.  For me, that's all that this is saying.  Your identity should never be in the gifts manifesting in you.  Your identity should be in the one your most intimate with.

:cloud9:  :thumbsup:  The gifts of the Spirit are as the fruit that Eve desired, if the motive of the heart is wrong. Eve desired the fruit because it looked "pleasant".

They don't realize that the anointing that they are experiencing in this realm is the anointing for burial (of the old man) and so think they have "arrived" and don't continue to press in to decrease so that HE can increase.

That's the thing about anything God gives through His Spirit; because the wheat and the tares are raised up together, the motive of the heart is readily discerned (ours is NEVER pure, LOL), and unless put on the altar immediately to be burned with fire to purify the motive of the heart, it produces the fruit that DOESN'T last, ie. I never knew you. Blessings.....

[Nathan]

Well said Cardinal. 
I still have things in me that were instilled way back in my early years of churchhood.  If someone were to ask me to point out what they are . .I wouldn't be able to.  They don't come up until I come across Scripture or a personal revelation that clashes with them.  If one thinks that just because one changed direction in one area of doctrine that "that" is all that was out of alignment, one is in for a surprise.

If the foundation is off, the entire structure is off.  It's only a matter of time before we learn there are more things within us that need a reforming as well.  What it's done is, it's caused me to stop being so closed-minded about spiritual matters.  Spiritual truth is not going to change just because I choose not to beleive it.  I'm only stunting my own growth when I reject a new thing.

Of course there is also a balance to everything as well.  The enemy is always on the move, looking for any crack to pry it's slimy presence into.  And if we become "to" open to every "thing", that can be just as detrimental as rejecting everything.  Always need the balance.

[Cardinal]

  If one thinks that just because one changed direction in one area of doctrine that "that" is all that was out of alignment, one is in for a surprise.

If the foundation is off, the entire structure is off.  It's only a matter of time before we learn there are more things within us that need a reforming as well.  What it's done is, it's caused me to stop being so closed-minded about spiritual matters.  Spiritual truth is not going to change just because I choose not to believe it.  I'm only stunting my own growth when I reject a new thing.

:cloud9: Amen to that. God told a friend of mine that everything she had ever learned about Him through her carnal mind (as opposed to Spirit revealed) was a lie. That does tend to narrow it down, doesn't it?   :laughing7:

I asked Him one time why He couldn't just "flip a switch" and us have have all truth at once through His Spirit, instead of dragging it out on and on and on, LOL.......

He said if He did, we would die instantly from the shock.  :mshock: Just some things to ponder with your morning coffee, LOL......Blessings.....

[Cardinal]

 :cloud9: All kidding around aside, I had a dream when I was around 8-10 that was so vivid, it stayed with me into adulthood. I never knew why until I started walking with the Lord 20 years later. In the dream I was in the middle of a massive earthquake, and the carnage was swaying all around me, huge fissures in the earth gaping open, ect.

Where was I? Hanging on for dear life, to the only inexplicably stationary, unmoving object in the scene...... a LIGHT pole. Every time He comes with revelation, it causes another earthquake in our "earth", and EVERYTHING that can be shaken in heaven and in earth, is going to be shaken. Blessings....

[ScarletWren]

Claypot,

here is the link to the whole article that Adams wrote on natural, carnal and spiritual:

http://home.att.net/~spiritword/Adams/spirit_3.htm

If you would be interested in reading other papers he's written, this is the link to those:

http://home.att.net/~spiritword/Adams/adam_1.htm

In some of his articles he references papers that aren't available at this time.  Too bad.  He had some great insights which I'm sure made him very unpopular with the orthodox church of his time.

[claypot]

Claypot,

here is the link to the whole article that Adams wrote on natural, carnal and spiritual:

http://home.att.net/~spiritword/Adams/spirit_3.htm

If you would be interested in reading other papers he's written, this is the link to those:

http://home.att.net/~spiritword/Adams/adam_1.htm

In some of his articles he references papers that aren't available at this time.  Too bad.  He had some great insights which I'm sure made him very unpopular with the orthodox church of his time.

SW, Now that's the spirit moving. I have been reading all you all are writing and feel just like I am sitting next to the Maker with Him having His arm around me and explaining things to me. Then I'm thinking that I should say something as it seems kind of rude of me to take only and not at least try to give a bit and then I see the last post is a very thoughtful gift from you to me.Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

My ears especially perk up when I hear talk about seeing things more and more from the spiritual side verses the physical or natural. I can't say enough how I believe that Jesus' huge purpose and goal is to get us from the natural to the spiritual. Where I go you cannot come yet He said. That is true of so many of us in so many ways if viewed as Jesus trying to take us from the carnal to the spiritual way of thinking, which is seeing. Jesus was always focusing on making the blind see.

God's home turf is the spiritual. It's where He really lives and moves and has His being. The physical is God's run down house that He is fixing up, adding a spirtual touch here and there to make it 'comfortable' for Him to at least reside in a bit until the whole enchilada is spiritual.

Jesus' words are spiritual He said. Can it be any clearer?

The presence Jesus said would come after Him to guide us is spiritual.

cp

[ScarletWren]

CP,

No thanks necessary.  I just hope you enjoy Adams' writing as much as I do.  I rarely hear anyone mention him so it would be great to hear someone else's opinion of what he has to say.

[Cardinal]

 :cloud9: I like A.P. Adams, but I confess I haven't read any of it, except the odd post on the board over the years. Blessings...