Peace and grace in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Luke 9:28-36 is about Jesus Transfigured on the Mount.
Luke 9:28
9:28. Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and Jamesand went up on the mountain to pray.
Jesus takes three disciples, namely Peter, John, and James who write the books in the bible and they go up to the mountain.
The prayer is like going up to the mountain. It means spiritual increase happens.
It is hard to go up to the mount of prayer, so we need God to lead us.
Psalms 43:3-4
43:3. Oh, send out Your lightand Your truth! Let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your tabernacle.
43:4. Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God.
The prayer is the process of spiritual increasing through the guidance of the true teaching word and Holy Spirit. They are like God's hands, so we become mature in spirituality or perfect like Jesus.
The spiritual increasing is signified with three things as follows:
If we worship God, we will experience spiritual increase in faith, hope, and love.
The results are as follows:
God blesses us.
Luke 9:28-36 is about Jesus Transfigured on the Mount.
Luke 9:28
9:28. Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and Jamesand went up on the mountain to pray.
Jesus takes three disciples, namely Peter, John, and James who write the books in the bible and they go up to the mountain.
- Jameswrites the book of James whose essence is faith and work of faith.
- Peterwrites the book of 1 and 2 Peter whose essence is hope and purity.
- John writes the book of 1, 2, and 3 John whose essence is love and work of love.
The prayer is like going up to the mountain. It means spiritual increase happens.
It is hard to go up to the mount of prayer, so we need God to lead us.
Psalms 43:3-4
43:3. Oh, send out Your lightand Your truth! Let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your tabernacle.
43:4. Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God.
The prayer is the process of spiritual increasing through the guidance of the true teaching word and Holy Spirit. They are like God's hands, so we become mature in spirituality or perfect like Jesus.
The spiritual increasing is signified with three things as follows:
- Faith and the work of faith.
James 2:14, 17, 26
2:14. What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?
2:17. Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
2:26. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Faith must be followed with its work, so it is not dead.
Faith without works is unable to save us.
So, the teaching that tells we are saved forever after once we are saved is the false one.
Romans 10:17
10:17. So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Faith comes by hearing the word of God in the anointing of Holy Spirit, so we hear it earnestly. We hear the word of God as the basic need for our body, soul and spirit. It is like a dog which licks the crumbs.
Holy Spirit helps us, so we can believe the Word. The word becomes faith in our heart. If the heart believes, the mouth will confess. After having the faith, we can confess that Jesus is our savior, so we can confess our sins.
Moreover, Holy Spirit helps us practice our faith. It is the same as the work of faith.
James 2:21
2:21. Was not Abraham our father justified by workswhen he offered Isaac his son on the altar?
Abraham was told to offer Isaac, his only son. Abraham obeyed the word of God and did not reject what He asked to him. It is Abraham's work of faith.
Isaac refers to something which one is proud of and loves.
Let us give what God asks from us, starting from time, power, mind, finance and sins until our whole life.
What God asks from us will not be lost. Even we will get bonus, namely we meet Jehovah Jireh. God provides something that does not exist yet to give certainty for our life now, beautiful future until eternal life.
Until we are prepared to become the bride of Heaven to greet His second coming.
Revelation 19:7
19:7. "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." - Hope and purity.
1 Peter 1:14-15
1:14. as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;
1:15. but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
We must experience purification in all our conduct, namely body, soul, and spirit.
Purification in all our conduct means purification of our past, present and future:- Purification of our past.
It is the purification of the burden of sin. We are purified from sin that we have already thought, imagined, spoken, and done in the past.
We experience purification of our past by confessing our sin to God and others, namely through the power of the blood of Jesus. If we are forgiven, do not sin anymore.
The purification of our past is also through water baptism.
Romans 6:4
6:4. Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
One who has died to sin or repented must be buried in the water with Jesus and come out or rise from water with Him to receive new life or heavenly life, namely life in righteousness. - Purification of our present.
It is the purification by the word that is sharper than any two-edged sword. We are purified from snares of sin that ensnare us.
The snares of sin are as follows:- evil desire.
1 Timothy 6:9-10
6:9. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
6:10. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
The snare of wickedness is the love of money that makes us stingy and greedy.
Being stingy means one cannot give.
Being greedy means one robes others' right, especially God's, namely the tithes and special offerings. - Unclean desire.
Jeremiah 50:24
50:24. I have laid a snare for you; You have indeed been trapped, O Babylon, And you were not aware; You have been found and also caught, Because you have contended against the LORD.
The sin of Babylon is sin of eating-drinking and marrying-giving in marriage.
Luke 21:34
21:34. "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. - The vain word.
Proverbs 18:7
18:7. A fool's mouth is his destruction, And his lips are the snare of his soul.
The vain word is lie, evil speaking, gossip, et cetera.
If we produce the vain word, our way will become full of snares.
On the contrary, if we use our mouth correctly or worship God only, our way will become smooth. - False teaching.
Deuteronomy 12:29-30
12:29. "When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land,
12:30. "take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.'
Do not learn other religions or other teachings that are not the same as what we hear.
When we are confronted with two choices, true and false, we surely tend to choose the false one.
12:1. Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sinwhich so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
If we are purified from the sin of the past (the burden of sin) and the sin of the present (the snare of sin), we will be used by God in the revival of the building of the perfect body of Christ. We can minister God faithfully and fervently. - evil desire.
- Purification of the future.
It is a hope of Jesus' second coming.
1 John 3:2-3
3:2. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
3:3. And everyone who has this hopein Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
If we experience the purification of the future, we will keep hoping Jesus' second coming, so we will not sin, but we can keep our holiness and live in it.
- Purification of our past.
- Love and work of love.
1 John 4:17-18
4:17. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
4:18. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
The practices of the work of love are as follows:- There are no fear and worry about the future, so we can totally surrender to God.
- Fearing God.
Proverbs 8:13
8:13. The fear of the LORDis to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.
We hate sin until lie.
If we worship God, we will experience spiritual increase in faith, hope, and love.
The results are as follows:
- We experience the stretching of the hand of God with the power of resurrection.
Mark 5:35, 37, 39, 41-43
5:35. While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue's house who said, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?"
5:37. And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and Johnthe brother of James.
5:39. When He came in, He said to them, "Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping."
5:41. Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, "Talitha, cumi," which is translated, "Little girl, I say to you, arise."
5:42. Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement.
5:43. But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.
'The daughter is dead' refers to spiritual death and dryness, so one cannot eat true teaching word (being sleepy, bored, and joking when hearing the word), worship and being fervent in spiritual things.
There are sinful words and deeds up to the peak of sin, namely sin of eating-drinking and marrying-giving in marriage.
His life fails. He has dark future and faces impossibility.
God wants to touch us with the power of resurrection.
God is able to raise the dead girl. It is easy for God. It is like to wake a sleeping man. It starts from the spiritual life is raised, so we can be fervent in ministry, eat the word, and worship God.
So, the physical thing will be raised too by God from failure to success and we have beautiful future. - We can see Jesus' face clearly.
1 Corinthians 13:12-13
13:12. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13:13. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Numbers 6:26, 25
6:26. The LORD lift up His countenanceupon you, And give you peace." '
6:25. The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be graciousto you;
We experience peace and have no fear and worry. We experience serenity and we can love God.
God's mercy performs spiritual miracle, namely renewal of life from carnal men to spiritual ones like Jesus. It is started from being honest, we confess whoever we are. Physical miracle will happen too. Impossible things become possible.
Until when Jesus comes a second time, we are changed to become perfect, as glorious as God. We can see Him face to face on the glorious clouds until we enter the throne of heaven forever.
God blesses us.