“I Found Myself” sounds funny to me because “how can you be lost from yourself?” The thought makes me laugh, but the truth is we all ask the question “Who am I“. I did go through the years of asking the questions “Who am I“, “Why am I here“, and “What is my purpose“. Finding the core of who you are is one of the toughest things to truly find with clear understanding, but it is absolutely crucial to living this life.
The journey of finding yourself involves listening to what you think, say, and do as though you are another person listening and watching. When you turn towards self examining yourself you have to have a template to compare yourself with, otherwise you will not know if you are below, average, or above what a person should be.
The judging scales that you place yourself in or the template you base your self examining is also crucial because you don’t want to be deceived from knowing who you truly are. My advice is not to trust another person to tell you, but silently watch yourself interacting with others along with the Spirit of God and His word being your scales and template.
CHOOSE THE SCALES or TEMPLATE
The reason I said, “…along with the Spirit of God and His Word…” is because I have found all of us have the “human mistake or error” in us. I encourage the “look for yourself” attitude. Don’t believe people including me. I believe if you find yourself you will own it more and your foundation will be solid. Find out things for yourself and if I am wrong help me to be right. The examining and closer look at God’s Word and His Spirit has confirmed to me He will not lead you astray from seeing your true self. In fact, I believe you will see more of yourself than you possibly want to see.
Walking with God and His word is an automatic discovery of yourself because God wants us all, his children, to see the raw truth about all things. This is why Jesus said about us receiving his Spirit that “…he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth…” (Jn. 16:13). I, at first took this “…guide you into all truth…” to mean all truth about the Bible, but I quickly discovered when He said, “…all…” He means ALL as in yourself, Himself, others, and the world. The cool thing about it is He is a Spirit that is everywhere and any time you want to know something He is right there to search all you want. Cool, right?
I FOUND MYSELF – One Location
When you start reading, like I did, in the Bible you find yourself identifying to peoples reactions and attitudes. You will see parts of yourself all over the Bible. The light bulb of seeing yourself turns on revealing the shadows of things under your own nose. You have heard the saying, “right under your own nose“? It is embarrassing when everyone else sees an issue with yourself and you don’t.
I was reading along in First Corinthians chapter two and from the very beginning “I Found Myself“. This is how I really feel inside. This chapter almost covered my entire feelings. It is shocking when you find yourself in the Bible truly looking from the outside yourself seeing how you behave. This is how I feel towards other people.
VERSE :1 “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.“
I feel humble to have this blog website. Your eyes reading the words that I have typed carries a value to me I cannot describe. I do not come to you with excellency of speech or of wisdom declaring to the things God has shared with me. All the blogs I have posted I give God all the credit and any mistakes are completely my fault, not His.
VERSE :2 “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”
All of the experiences and all of the knowledge I have willingly and unwillingly received from mankind has lead me to wanting nothing, but to know Jesus Christ, God in the flesh and the redemption of him crucified. You may have lived a very blessed and uneventful life with very few scars on your body or your spirit, but I have not. Finding on a daily basis the love of God has caused me to want to know as much as I can of Him and less of the ways of mankind.
VERSE :3 “And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.“
I do not live a life as though I am perfect, and have no fears, and no moments of worry. I don’t want you to think I know it all and that I am arrogant, somebody I am not, or superhuman. I want to be real before you and God. We are who we are. I believe we lift people up to a place they are like deity and when they sin like the rest of us we fall from the faith judging God by that person. My weakness, fear, and trembling is that I am a nobody just a somebody saved by God’s grace.
VERSE :4 “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:“
The times that I have been privileged beyond my deserving of God’s Spirit and power I have desired with every fiber of my being for it to be purely from Him and not the persuasive, alluring, motivational speeches made from man’s wisdom. Let all of my words be from Him and not myself or the flesh of mankind is always my hope and desire.
VERSE :5 “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.“
This to me is THE MOST CRUCIAL part for anyone’s walk with God. Your faith and my faith should not be totally based on the pastor, our mommas, daddies, grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, this is the way it has always been, traditions, philosophies, or anything else outside the Bible. Everybody before us is made of flesh and receptive to interpreting the Bible their own way. We should let the Bible stand in the power of God and not man because man picks and chooses what power in the Bible they want to believe.
Almost all religious groups have turned the book of Acts into a dead history book. All of us need to be very careful about our walk with God in the sense of accepting some things from God and denying others. These are the people who are in danger of 2 Tim. 3:5 “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” because they are :7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Do you want this to be your spiritual leader?
I want my faith, understanding, and perception to be standing on the foundation of the power of God with as little as possible of man’s personal ideas. It is not spitting in the eye of mine or your religious upbringing. It is simply having a willing heart and open the mind to hearing the way of God more perfectly like Apollos. A highly educated man, Apollos, in the scriptures knowing ONLY John the Baptist doctrine listen to Paul the way of God more perfectly meaning his understanding was not fulfilled completely (Acts 18:25, 26).
VERSE :6 “ Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:“
I want with all my heart to give to you what lines up with God and His word with no controversy anywhere from the beginning to the end of the Bible and has nothing to do with the way I think or man’s opinions. You and I should have no fear of any questions about mine or your beliefs, doctrines, or churches doctrine. You should not get angry, ignore, or write off when someone asks you about your beliefs in the Bible. If you do it is possible the things you have believed are based on your family or churches ideas. I want to be based on God’s Word completely even if it hurts man’s ideas.
VERSE :7 “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:” :8 “Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.“
“I Found Myself” when I asked questions about the Bible others could not answer or they would write it off as “something we are not suppose to know” or “that is the way they did it back then” they were giving up to their traditional ways like the rulers of old not seeking to know anything else. I did not want to stop in understanding until God tells me to stop understanding Him.
VERSE :9 “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. :10 “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.“
These two scriptures lit the fire in my spirit that I can know. You see, this is me. I want to know. “But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit…” means He will show us His full truth that He has completed through Jesus Christ. The Old Testament and the people in Jesus day had not seen with their eyes, heard with their ears, or conceived in their minds the things God has prepared for us who love him and willing to accept Him for Him with no man’s doctrine between us.
VERSE :11 “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.“
“I Found Myself” in this scripture because it confirmed nobody knows another person’s thoughts that only their spirit inside their flesh truly knows. Behind their eyes speaking as though they were the voice of God in perfect understanding of His scriptures arguing their beliefs and could not be like Apollos accepting a few more scriptures in the way of God perfectly shows this nobody (me) their spirit holds to something they count greater than God’s Word.
No man or any creation knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. This means if anyone of us want to know about God we must ask, seek, and knock for God to give us pure understandings of His ways and truths.
VERSE :12 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.“
Again, “I Found Myself” wanting to know as much as I can hold about the things freely given to us of God. I have tasted of this world and the tragedies it brings and I have tasted things of God bringing me to the conclusion of the goodness of God is the best of the two.
I absolutely love this scripture because it releases me from the limits and captivity of the spirit of this world that only offers false and temporary fixes hiding the eternal destiny that awaits it. What really excites my soul is receiving the Spirit of God which is Omnipresent removing any limits that may have us bound.
VERSE :13 “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.“
Mankind is so full of himself. I can say that because I am not full of myself in the sense I am still willing like Apollos for others to show me the way of God more perfectly, but it MUST match in God’s word from beginning to the end of the Bible. I will not accept man’s wisdom pulling scriptures out of its area piecing together a doctrine or belief. IF God gives it to you it will match your spiritual understanding with His Spiritual Word because it was Spirit-taught words.
VERSE : 14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.“
I have had my battles with my flesh about God. I know I will continue to have battles with my flesh concerning God. Nobody’s flesh will ever be in this world a Christian. Your flesh will always want things in this world. When you want to pray your flesh wants to sleep or think about something else. You get a thought from God the flesh will try to distract you to forget it.
It is my spirit inside me, the true eternal me. “I Found Myself” inside this body to be the one who should be driving the desires and not the flesh because it will refuse God trying to convince me it is stupid, cannot be understood, and foolish nonsense. Have you ever had that feeling before? Guess who the source is? It is your spirit and my spirit that connects with God’s Spirit bypassing the our flesh and man’s to the perception God is sharing with us.
VERSE :15 “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” :16 “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.“
This part tells me I am on the right track of “spiritual judgment” when I put all of the words of mankind who comes to me claiming “this is the way of God” into the scales of the scriptures. Jesus came in the scriptures of God to fulfill them. This is what makes Jesus God in the flesh fulfilling completely the Old Testament that no man could do if he were not from God. Jesus could not kill himself, bury himself, and raise himself if he were not from God.
AN EXAMPLE OF SPIRITUAL JUDGMENT
This is why when a man told me NO ONE was ever baptized in the Bible using this formula “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:” (Mtt. 28:19) they only baptized in the name of Jesus. I, like Apollos, only knew and was taught water baptism in the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.
I took the man’s words and put them into the scripture scales only finding people were baptized in Jesus name. In fellowship in my spirit with God’s Spirit I found the blood of the Lamb of God was only in Jesus, therefore the blood is only applied to the person in water baptism speaking the name of Jesus taking the power of that blood in that name to wash away and forgive all of their sins.
In my spiritual judgment quest to understand it became clear it was not a controversy of Matthew 28:19 and Acts 2:38. The Apostles did obey the two scriptures for they are one “…in the name…” and the Apostle who revealed the keys to the kingdom to be saved.
Matthew 28:19 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:” and Acts 2:38 “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
The “ye” in 28:19 is the apostles including Peter. Of course in 2:38 the Apostle Peter is speaking – the same between the two scriptures. In 28:19 “…in the name…” is a singular in the name, which is the same in 2:38 “…in the name…“, which is singular in the name of Jesus. If it were meant to be of God for the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost pronounced in water baptism it should have been “…in the names…” plural, which would still be incorrect for they are not names, but titles. I am a father, and a son, and a husband, but I cannot sign my checks with those titles. It has to be my name.
The final spiritual judgment on this example is God is a Spirit that formed creation like as a Father of all. God’s Spirit came to us inside the flesh of Jesus fulfilling all Old Testament scriptures. God comes back to us through Jesus Christ filling us with His Spirit. As the Father there is no blood in Him, as the Son there is blood in the man Jesus, and as the Holy Spirit there is no blood. Only Jesus had the blood to wash away the sins of the world – spiritual judgment.
It is possible now that you have seen the words of this man in the scales of the scriptures as I have you will be held accountable when you stand before God as to why you were NOT baptized or re-baptized in the name of Jesus Christ applying the blood of the Lamb of God to your life.
“Nothing can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus…”
VERSE :15 “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” :16 “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.“
Now, you are back to verse 15 that says, “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” This is where “I Found Myself” deciding on what the word of God says or the judgments of man to whom would I serve this day. For in the scriptures no man has known the mind of the Lord, except Jesus Christ who has shared his mind with us reconciling us to God.
“I Found Myself” throughout the Bible, but in this chapter “I Found Myself” for you.
The book of Acts is not a dead history book. All of God’s word is alive fulfilled through Jesus Christ the Word made flesh.
Acts 2:38 “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” :39 “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.“
Man has changed this plan of salvation from the scriptures the apostles preached on the first day of the church being born again of the water and of the Spirit. This scripture is the promise of God to you, to your children, and to ALL that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
This is the beginning of how you will “FIND YOURSELF” by being born again.