Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11
The word edify has been coming up a lot lately, so it is obviously something the Lord is trying to show me. So in meditating and listening for his message, he made it plain and simple. First if we look at the dictionaries definition, it is basically correct which is to improve someone mind. But what the Lord has shown me it is more than that, it is to build a person up in righteousness at least according to what he shows me.
The whole purpose of the gathering of the church is to build each other up in the Messiah. According to his way and his will for your life. It is to teach each other how God is and what he expects not through reading bible verses and then telling others what you learned about it. But by each person telling each other what the Lord or Spirit was showing them, and then those more mature or the elders of the church, telling the new members if they are on the right track, in other words is it satan they are hearing or God?
Because the problem is satan clothes himself in light, or in other words what he puts on your mind with his lies seems like the way and truth when it is not. So it takes maturity in the Spirit to overcome.
Which is the next thing Yashua spoke of, failure. We will fail and fall short of perfection in our walk with Yashua when we begin. We must learn righteousness. Righteousness is not something given to us the second receive the Spirit because of a prayer, it is learned through discipline and obedience to the Lord. Coming to understand and know his voice and that of satan and know which to follow and which to not follow.
Real failure, the one satan wants you to practice is not trying. I was reminded this morning about my life and business. And how I started over like 7 times for various reasons, and was successful in most of those times. Only a few did I not make it, but then I still made it because I still ate and am here. Although I failed at that venture.
Real failure with God is not trying but remaining lazy and in a simple form, taking the easy road or path. The more difficult path is the one which leads to righteousness or the good life. In your financial life failure leads to success if you learn your lessons and figure out what it is your supposed to be doing. And how to do it right.
For example, in all my careers I was successful with income in most. But never saved much to anything, and when I moved to Mexico in debt, owing much more than I had in money. It was finally here that I was able to accumulate assets. What took me 30 years to accumulate nothing, in 10 years I accumulated it all and enough to live off the income from it by far. Plus paying off the debt I came with.
What was the difference? Listening to the wisdom of God and doing things much different, which id detailed in other posts so not needed to re explain it. And also hearing God when it came to my wife who is extremely cheap or tight with money. The short is that is why we have, not because I made so much more money in income here than in the US, but that we took better care of what was given to us than spending it foolishly in the US. In the end it is not about how much you make it is about how much you spend of what you make. And on what, real assets which grow or on assets which depreciate and wear out like cars. We kind of need cars, but we do not need brand new every year wasting a lot of money.
So using this thought, and trying to edify you in the Lord way. It is the same. We cannot do it like the world following religion and men teachers the same as we cannot follow men teachers in school to get a good job in some factory or corporation making a lot of money for the company, paying way to much in taxes.
satan has his systems, political, religious (which never argue either, nor should you because I am not arguing for a religion, I am arguing for knowing and obeying the Lord). Your job working for others is a system, the tax withholding is a system. Health care is a system. Everything is a system to keep you poor, frustrated, unhealthy and in their system, they being the ones who took satan up on his offer to rule the world, the same offer he made to Yashua.
The problem with the religious system these days is it keeps us in the system, pushing education and jobs over being the owner of such. It does NOT edify us and grow us in the Lord. It is a system which pushes safety over taking risk of failure and punishes us when we fail. Most are not willing to fail so they take that easy path which keeps them in bondage and sin.
But here is the thing again about failure. God expects you to fail on your path to perfection, that is where the true grace comes in. But if you stay on the easy path and do not fight the good fight, you bring judgment on yourself, there is no grace. And this is what the religious system teaches today, it brings failure.
Failure is to not even try, clamming some form of success and trying to believe God is good with your theology and supports it. But he does not, he expects you to fight the good fight against satan and seek him for the wisdom and strength in his truth to be set free. If you do this, truly seeking the Lord and then doing what he says, eventually you will overcome and be set free. Expect to fall short along the narrow path, even Yashua expects it. But do not stay there, get back up and fight the good fight, eventually you learn how satan works and the way to defeat him and his sinful ways so you do not practice them anymore.
But this can only be done in knowing and obeying Yashua. You cannot overcome and learn this truth without him. Even if you listen to the most righteousness man who ever lived, and obeyed them as best you can, you will NEVER overcome as God expects. It is only in him that you can.
This is the truth, He is the way and light. Know him and obey him.
And as a true follower, this is what it means to disciple the people or nations. It does not mean to get them to come to your religious view point, it means to get them to come to the Lord.
