Godliness Prt 7

#24 March 5, 2022


Laboring In Oneness With God	



Our discussion on godliness has brought to us many stark realizations. The most obvious is the difference between God and the world we live in. Man by his nature lives in a world bounded by all that his fives senses can interpret. Many would say that a life in God gives us a sixth sense that allows us to experience what man is incapable of knowing. I beg to differ with that assumption. I think it is something much more basic within us. We may have the knowledge, but we are unable to utilize it. Without the Holy Spirit the words of God remain just that, words. Until we open our lives to the wisdom the Spirit offers, the ways of God will remain just words. The godliness we seek will be beyond our abilities, and we will be unable to share the joy of God with those who so desperately need it.  


Ecclesiastes 8:17 Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun; because though a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.


Through God's Spirit we are redeemed. Through His Spirit we are taught to recognize the true nature of God and how we as a people can utilize all that is in us to open the doors of our heart that we might be more like Him. This is the oneness we seek. This is the unity that Christ sought for His disciples and prayed to the Father they might receive. 


John 17:20-23
17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one;
17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.


Through the Spirit we draw closer to the Father in a way we call godliness. We do not gain a sixth sense. Instead, we become able to fully to utilize the five we were created with. 


Matthew 13:14-16
13:14 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their hearts, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
13:15 But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. And blessed are you because these things are come unto you, that you might understand them.
13:16 And verily, I say unto you, many righteous prophets have desired to see these days which you see, and have not seen them; and to hear that which you hear, and have not heard.


By humbling ourselves to the justice that is the truth of God and utilizing His mercy that reaches out to lift us up, we perceive all that in ignorance, we refused to know. We can now stand and challenge the ignorance that keeps the world in bondage confident that we labor at God's side seeking a purpose we both share. 


Proverbs 29:26 Many seek the ruler's favor; but every man's judgment cometh from the Lord.


Until the world understands the absolute nature of God's justice they will be slaves to the lesser laws of this world's wise men. We must open our hearts to the fullness of God's laws. Gravity is a natural law that many fail to recognize as a law of God. We accept it as absolute and look with sorrow to those who try to challenge it. Sir Isaac Newton did not create the laws of motion. He merely described what God created. We have come to depend on friction as a way to go as well as a way to stop. Consider the icy days we spend on the roads denied of this God given grace. Picking up something glowing red with heat will cause us injury. Brethren these laws are absolute and we accept them as such. Why would we think that the spiritual laws of God would be any less absolute than His physicals laws, which we accept without question? 


DC 104:37b Thus, none shall be exempted from the justice and laws of God; that all things may be done in order and in solemnity, before him, according to truth and righteousness.


Brethren, understand that the judgments of man change with the winds of time. According to man, today's devil can be tomorrow's savior. This is not the way of God. Our Heavenly Father deals in truth, which is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 


Grasp fully the nature of God's justice and His judgment base on His absolute justice. Imagine that the Kingdom of Heaven was at the bottom of the Missouri river and we try to go live there. How long could we stay there without the ability to breathe water? Brethren in their current spiritual state none who are of this world can hope to live in God's Kingdom. They just can't. No matter how much God wants us there; we just can't. The laws of God are just that absolute. We must change and it is God's mercy in the form of His Holy Spirit that is the agent of that change. All must accept the justice of God and accept the mercy He offers if they will ever be able to enter His Kingdom. 


Psalms 1:6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish.


Psalms 37:4-5
37:4 Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
37:5 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.


All of a sudden our labor for godliness takes on a whole new level of importance.


Proverbs 29:27 An unjust man is an abomination to the just; and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.


The wisdom of man shows us a world of many different people, each a threat to the other. Godliness opens our hearts to the fact that no matter how different we seem, all are the same in the eyes of God and all are deserving of the chance to choose Him. The challenge we face can only be overcome by the unity of fellowship and our oneness as a people with God. It is the wisdom of godliness that will free the ungodly from their bondage to doubt and fear. Only in the measure of godliness afforded us by the Spirit of God will we be able to persist in the ministry of God through Jesus Christ that is our covenant labor.


Luke 3:4-7
3:4 As it is written in the book of the prophet Esaias; and these are the words, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight.
3:5 For behold, and lo, he shall come, as it is written in the book of the prophets, to take away the sins of the world, and to bring salvation unto the heathen nations, to gather together those who are lost, who are of the sheepfold of Israel;
3:6 Yea, even the dispersed and afflicted; and also to prepare the way, and make possible the preaching of the gospel unto the Gentiles;
3:7 And to be a light unto all who sit in darkness, unto the uttermost parts of the earth; to bring to pass the resurrection from the dead, and to ascend up on high, to dwell on the right hand of the Father.


Am I claiming that we are to be Christ? No, Christ and His holy Priesthood were given the ministry of repentance, grace, and redemption through love. We cannot be Christ, but we can be one with Christ and help bear-up His burden by reaching out to the world in His name. When the word of God becomes the life of a people, we offer the world undeniable testimony of God's ability to create unity and sustain righteousness in the world of man. We live and grow according to the truth we are given through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.



DC 34:1b I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was crucified for the sins of the world, even as many as will believe on my name, that they may become the sons of God, even one in me as I am in the Father, as the Father is one in me, that we may be one.



Our labor for godliness is at the same time a worthy effort and a trial. Growing in the ways of godliness opens our eyes to see the plight of mankind in bondage to both fear and doubt. This much wanted attribute of God opens our ears that we will hear the word of God misused by the natural man telling us of a judgmental deity that we need to ignore. Our minds reel as we recognize mankind's willingness to live outside of God's justice because the are convinced that God's ways will do nothing more than judge them worthy of death. Witnessing the depth of ignorant pride that is the human condition brings us a sorrow we could never have known before our labor to gain godliness. Brethren, I have lived this moment of stark realization and in that moment I was filled with doubt. At a certain point I looked in the mirror and ask myself, "Fred, Are you nuts?" 


Then I remembered His words-
Psalms 1:1-3
1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
1:2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

-and I considered again why it is I started on this epic labor to bring the will of God so deeply into myself. 

I wanted to be more like God. I looked to the wording of Psalms 1:2 and realized with great humility that yes, the law of the Lord, the ways of the Kingdom, the very voice of God in my heart were becoming more than just a way to live. They were becoming my delight, my joy, and my chosen way to grow. 



I want to give the people around me a chance to see God working in the life of a man. I want to understand the true nature of God, and the relationship between His justice and His mercy. I need to be a part of establishing a Church, built to His design that will help this world grasp and accept their relationship with God through Jesus Christ. My heart yearns to express a compassion that produces charity. My life needs His truth and a faith that makes me patience enough bring His ways to the world. We as a people need to gather together in a unity of oneness that is free of condemnation. Only then will we be able to labor with the God through all the harsh realities of the human condition and fulfill a purpose that is as old as creation, as new as the thought I just had, and can be as much our purpose as it is God's.  



The life we live in God through His Spirit, and the testimony of Christ we bring to the world will create within us the godliness we seek. As we humble ourselves to the mind of God, He will show us the desperate need that lives within the heart of the natural man. Godliness will be born of the sorrow we feel for those afflicted with the lust of the world. It will guide our words, our deeds, our actions, and the way we react to the challenges we face. As the Father established godliness in our lives, so we will labor to establish it in the world. This is both Zion and the cause of Zion.



DC 11:3a-4b
11:3a Now, as you have asked, behold, I say unto you,
11:3b Keep my commandments, and seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion.
11:4a Behold, I speak unto you, and also to all those who have desires to bring forth and establish this work;
11:4b and no one can assist in this work, except he shall be humble and full of love, having faith, hope, and charity, being temperate in all things whatsoever shall be entrusted to his care.



Such is the need for godliness in our life. I want to thank you for allowing me to share with you all God has given me to know of a labor seeking godliness. My hope is that we will walk this path together in oneness with the Father. 


FRED