Question 5: Deeper Dive

5. What are OUR 2 Different Responses based on?
[What are the 2 underlying attitudes/positions?
Which Response makes the best sense?]

• • 1.  Acceptance

    2.  Rejection

What is True for this Wedding/Guest Relationship is also true for all relationships.

Interestingly enough, both responses are two sided, and affect the relationship on both sides  (Giver to Receiver, vs. Receiver to Giver, and visa-versa).

Each response reproduces its own fruit and will become attached to one's own identity, that will undeniably affect the relationship: either positively or negatively.

• Acceptance reproduces its very own, very practical & long term valuable fruits, that will continue to reproduce and bear more, and more of the same kind of fruit. That's the nature of Fruit. It reproduces its own kind: 

  • • Galatians 5:22-26 (KJV) 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering [patient when suffering], gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness [humility], temperance [self-control]: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections [addictions] and lusts. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
      
      Please Note: the above behaviors are predicted for those who are seeking to fill their life with God's Deeply Satisfying Nature, that is a foundation for what being accepted in the kingdom of God is all about. If I do not have that drive as a primary motivation in my heart, chances are good, I am not yet "Born Again." Which simply means to be born by the Spirit of God. Born into a New Life. Born by the Will of God, and not of man. Which also means I am being raised up and trained to walk in the calling of my Father in Heaven. Like one of His Sheep: I hear his voice, and I follow him. For the voice of another, I desire not to follow, nor do the will thereof. (For more on this, See: The SHEEP  
      
      Personal check list items: If you or I can see we are lacking any one of the above character traits, of if others can point out we are missing them: What should we do? That Question creates a challenge for us:  

1) Go to God. Ask him about your problem (Seek His Word & Prayer).
2) Let him expose the wounds and roots of the problem.
3) Bring the bad roots & the bad fruits to Him, Come into the Light.
4) Confess them, ask forgiveness for the specifics, and for not representing Him and His Kingdom Well to Others.
5) Renounce & Repent from doing those things that harm your relationship with God, and your witness to others, that bring darkness into this world, rather than the Light. Do just as he told the woman who was about to be stoned for committing adultery: He said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and Sin No More." Replace Bad with Good Fruit.
6) Seek wisdom. Oftentimes you have dark and negative influences, and influencers that will try to keep you on the broad road, and they want you to build a compromised house--see below. "Be not partakers with them.")
7) Keep Growing in God's Word, and in fellowship with Christ. Jesus said, if you continue in my word, then you are my disciple, then you will know the Truth, then the Truth will set you free. In this case, THE TRUTH, is a person, his name is Jesus. And he is not an idea. He is not an intellectual concept. Jesus is: the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the father, but through him.

• Rejection reproduces its very own, very negative & caustic fruits:

  • • Galatians 5:19-21 (KJV) 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;  Adultery,  fornication,  uncleanness,  lasciviousness, 20  Idolatry,  witchcraft,  hatred,  variance,  emulations,  wrath, strife,  seditions,  heresies,  21  Envyings,  murders,  drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 

(Please Note: the above behaviors are predicted for those who are trying to replace God's Deeply Satisfying Nature, with the carnal minded fleshly desires (and all of its damaging: reasons, motives, thoughts, deeds, and needs {habits & addictions})  things that leave a person feeling empty, rejected, hurt, outcast, and defiled. Such people keep repeating their "own karma," otherwise known as: You will reap what you sow. )

Personal check list items: You can Do the same 7 steps above, only identifying the negative things you keep holding onto (and need to get rid of). Only in this case, you need to really understand that, each and everyone of us is "a slave to the one whom we obey."

    We may think we are free and are making our own choices to have an addiction, etc. But that is far from the truth. It may feel like freedom in the beginning, but the whole purpose is to produce bondage, dependence, and allegiance, to a dark leadership. Which is bent on destruction. 

The problem is we won't see that perspective, until we have taken some very specific steps.

For those interested in exploring these steps, they are provided, under the HOME menu (drop down menu). Steps 1-7. Please note: these are separate steps from the one's mentioned above. They are there for your assistance, and some times your deliverance. More on that later. 

Two sided relationships cannot help but generate their own predictable rewards, both good and bad. (Giver to Receiver, vs. Receiver to Giver). 

These two different rewards will generate two different Roads, upon which we have been directed to walk: 

• The Road of Acceptance, which sadly is the Narrow Road. It is the less traveled road (possibly because it is  more demanding of high virtues based on trust, that others simply don't have, when they have rejected the source of faith, hope, love, and trust).
  
  This is the Servanthood Road. Here, we serve God, and we serve each other. This is the faith game.  When we understand our loyalty and our identity, we gain confidence and becoming servants to others, and to God, and even to ourselves. We place ourselves under God's authority. This creates an absolute connection with heaven. The greater the submission, the greater he can work through our lives. The more healing. The more goodness. The more forgiveness. The more heavenly treasures will attract our soul. The less the things of the world will be attractive. Idles of men will be less attractive. The positions of men, greed to man, the love of the things of the world, will lose their hold on us-- as we travel the servant road.
  
  

• The Road of Rejection, which is understandably the Wide Road. It is the road more travelled (predictably because many without God's Help and Favor backing them will fall into countless negative situations, that seek to destroy their trust, their love, their goodness, kindness, and virtures, for which they are trained to blame God, and others for their bad breaks.)
  
  This is the Victimhood Road. Here, we use God, and we use and abuse each other. This is the blame game. This is an ugly road. It starts out bad, and it just continues to get worse, and worse, and worse, the further down the road we travel. When people realize how awful this road is, the day of their salvation is not far away. All sickness. All perversion. All division, strife, darkness, confusion, deception, lies, betrayals, and dysfunction, along with manipulation, and the need to be in control, continue to make this road, more and more ugly. Which many see it, and then reject it, that's when they start seeking the kingdom of God.
  
  

This paradox is laid out in Jesus' prophetic parable of the Two Roads:

• Matthew 7:13-14 (KJV) 13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

These two roads will build two totally different houses, with far reaching effects being predicted from Heaven's Eternal Perspective:

• Matthew 7:24-27 (KJV) 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
  
  

My theology is simple (use it as you seem fit):

The Road I follow is Predicted, Prescripted, and Predestined : If I choose the narrow road, and stay on that road until the end. I will complete my journey at the final destination of that road, as long as I stay on it. (We have two choices, or rather two final destinations to choose. May we be wise enough to choose the best road for us, and our family. ("As for me in my house, we will serve the Lord.)

The House  I build is also already Predicted, Prescripted, and Predestined. 

• If I choose to build upon the Solid Rock Foundation, my home will endure the Storm (that also is predicted to come against my home).
  
  See the Rock
  
  

• If I choose to build my house on shifting sand, my home is predicted and predestined to fall, when the storm comes agains the home that I have built for myself, my family, and my community.
  
  

Penny upon which foundation I build my house upon, weather it is based on Pride, or Humility. The result will have its final end. Heaven and Hell hang in the balance.

Can I build a cheap house? One with a compromised weak foundation? Yes. Sir. That is by far the easier way to build. Ask any builder. BUT--You get what you pay for. A quality building that will last for generations costs more to build up front. But in this case you will never have to replace it. It is going to last forever.

Can I walk the wide Road? You Bet I can. That's easy to do. That's probably why the majority are already walking on it. God gives me that freedom of choice. In fact, I was born on that Road, and I will die on that road, unless I see the value, unless I hear the call, unless, I accept the invite, unless I choose the hard, narrow, and more difficult road (that will involve definite hardships, sacrifices, and the crucifixion of demonic desires). 

And, Yes. I will feel like I am swimming upstream. And yes, that is harder than swimming down stream. But--when I know for certain downstream is ending at the Niagara Falls. Is it not worth that little extra effort to swim upstream? Especially, knowing that soon the current will become too strong to swim against at all?

The deeper we get into this subject, the deeper the rabbit hole goes. With just a little investigation: We can begin to see the physical & the spiritual, roots & fruits working alongside, of every single person throughout history, and throughout creation.

God's Word not only predicts the future, it predicts the patterns that shape the future. And these same patterns shape our present, and our the past, and identifies them clearly. These patterns reveal our loyalty, and our identity, which create our priority. They expose the direction of our lives. We can use them to benefit ourselves and others, to point out that which is good, to that which is bad. And therefore we can help others see the patterns for themselves. As God gives us the ability.

So we can keep doing the same things over and over. Or we can now choose a new path, and put down new roots, that will bear new Fruits, that will keep reproducing both now, and will continue to bear fruit into eternity. That's the Servanthood model. That's the road Jesus chose. That's the house Jesus is building. That's the Way Jesus has called us to follow, and be an example for others to also follow.

Personally, I feel responsible to get this understanding into the hands of everyone I love, know, serve, and care for. Even my enemies need to know this information. For without it, many more will be lost, than need to be lost.

A  Note about enemies:

"Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?"

This version is widely attributed to Abraham Lincoln. The quote is typically recounted as Lincoln's reply to an old woman who rebuked him for his conciliatory attitude toward the South after the Civil War, which she felt should be "destroyed". Lincoln reportedly responded, "Madam, do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?".

(Cain Vs. Abel)

Many are simply worldly, walking blindly, because they have not received the light.

Many are religious, but they also can be blind guides leading the blind, if they don't get their foundations right; if they try to walk two roads at the same time. These are some of the hardest to reach.  "They may have an appearance of Godliness, but they deny the power thereof." 

 
Acceptance comes with its own virtues: Faith, Hope, Love (which include: Goodness, Kindness, Grace, Truth, Joy, Long-Suffering, Self-control, which create and establish the gift of Faith & Trust & Obedience).

Rejection comes with its own virtues.  None of which are good, and worthy of repeating.

Which would you prefer to have in your spiritual to bank account?

Whatever is stored up inside of you, is that which is going to probably come out of you at some point.  The important thing is that which is inside of you,  will determine your permanent, infinite, and eternal destination.

So let us use our heavenly wisdom, to make our choices wisely.

Shalom,

TDP