Lawless? Am I in the World, or OF the World?

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For the lawless, zeal is misplaced. For the lawful, zeal is rightly placed.

Misplaced zeal only takes you to the wrong thing faster.  Good intentions are what make lawlessness go undetected in my heart.

Rightly placed zeal conforms me to the right thing more thoroughly.

2 Thessalonians 2:7-17 NKJV — For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.

Waiting for God to establish me is very different than trying to establish myself as being for God.  This is the difference between lawful and lawless.

The lawless will do the same activities as the lawful.  

Matthew 7:21-23 NKJV — “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

The lawless will do these acts with good intentions, but mostly in the fear of man, which includes the fear of themselves... The fear of not being good and the guilt that comes to those uncertain of who God is.

The lawful learn to only move forward in faith.  They learn to only do what they know Jesus is doing right now.  They never overwork, they always overflow. Jesus didn't do everything He could do. He didn't work as hard as possible to save the world. The lawful follow Him.

Every truly good thing comes from heaven to earth, never from earth up to heaven.  We cannot truly give God anything He doesn't give us first.

Genesis 11:4-5 NKJV — And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

To come into the kingdom of Yeshua, I have to come out of the world.  The world is where God found me.  If I work like the world, think like the world, see like the world, and try to move the world

... I'm still in the world.  

If I work like heaven, think like heaven, and let heaven alone move me, then I live with Yeshua, and God has taken me out of the world and given me to Yeshua. God will only take me out of the world if I am willing to live differently than the world does. He waits for me to want it, then He prays for me to want it more.  If I am truly coming out of the world, I pray to want heaven's life, too.

John 17:9-11 NKJV — “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. “And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. “Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.

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