No Barriers

The presence of the “outlaw” is apparent by the activity of satan, who uses all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs, spurious wonders, and every form of evil deception in order to deceive those who are perishing because they rejected the love of the truth that would lead them to being saved. Because of this, God sends them a powerful delusion that leads them to believe what is false. So then all who found their pleasure in unrighteousness and did not believe the truth will be judged.  2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 TPT

Have you noticed that the world just seems to spiral more and more out of control?  Things that used to be true are no longer true, things that used to be wrong are now considered right, and whatever a person wants to believe is ok and no one can tell them it’s not.  

In 2 Thessalonians, Apostle Paul is warning us about the direction the world is headed in. There will be an uprising of false teachings about God and bad influences will be louder than any other influence. Holy Spirit doesn’t want us to fall into these traps, so He gives us some tips on how to avoid believing these lies. He also warns us to be ready for the return of Jesus! Thank You God for Your truth! Your reassuring promise!

2 Peter 1:2-8 NET May grace and peace be lavished on you as you grow in the rich knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord! I can pray this because His divine power has bestowed on us everything necessary for life and godliness through the rich knowledge of the One who called us by His own glory and excellence. Through these things He has bestowed on us His precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised you may become partakers of with Holy Spirit, after escaping the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith excellence, to excellence, knowledge; to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; to godliness, brotherly affection; to brotherly affection, unselfish love. For if these things are really yours and are continually increasing, they will keep you from becoming ineffective and unproductive in your pursuit of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more intimately.

You see my friends, growth in our faith doesn’t just happen. We need to continually add the teachings in 2 Peter 1:5-8 to our faith building with prayer and worship, in preparation for the lies of the world that will be thrown our way. God has such an incredible plan for us, but if we lack these things, we’ll have an incomplete Christian life. Peter goes on to say, “For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins” (2 Peter 1:9). I for sure do not want that said about me.

And think on it too, all of those characteristics are simply evidence that we aren’t turning to lies and false teachings, instead the fruit of Holy Spirit that comes from us following Jesus is affirmation that we are saved. It makes us confident in our salvation. 

Hallelujah! I want to live a life with that confidence! 

Have you ever experienced being out on your motorcycle or in a car that was low on gas, wondering if you’d make it to a gas station before being on empty? It’s a horrible feeling. We don’t want to enter Heaven low on gas, but cruising past the finish line fully confident in the work Jesus Christ has done in our lives!  We get to read God’s truth in the Bible and know with certainty that Jesus restores the very breath in our lungs! He redeems time, He removes barriers!

Like - No barriers! for Jesus does not recognize barriers and further more demands. Demands. We as His people MUST not become the barriers that block people from salvation! Whoa. Think on that a moment. We as His people MUST not become the barriers that block people from salvation!

Jesus taught and still teaches throughout the Bible that there are to be no barriers between God and God’s people. No barriers because of race, education, sins, income, no barriers based on Christian denomination, nationality or the neighbourhoods we live in. 

The barriers of buildings are torn down by Jesus during this global pandemic - flipping tables Jesus! He is standing here among us redefining gatherings and fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ, reminding us that church culture of the past has defined church as a place, and those places and our friends within we can tell you we are missing deeply, but we God’s children are the body of Christ and Christ is our church no matter where we meet. 

It comes down to this, barriers, labels, assumptions, stereotypes do not fit in the kingdom of God. Don’t limit yourself or others by labels - instead we must see our identities with the eyes of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, because God’s truth is everything.