NOW is the time!!!!!

I love it when God convicts me enough to get my attention. He also does it at the times when I least expect it. Tonight I was listening to the third talk being brought by Richard Wallace Jr. and he was BRINGING it!!! He was preaching an outline using the Nevertheless I Live Workbook and we were continuing a discussion on the 5 Forms for a Firm Foundation. I had read the chapter earlier today in the textbook, and I knew the material and I was listening as you do when you know the material, listening but letting thoughts drift. So drifting and listening and paying attention but not lasered focused was when Richard told us to turn to John 15 and that is when it happened!!! (This is what I really love about God) He snapped me back to the laser focus level as we read John 15:3 "Now Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." Jesus was telling his disciples that he was the true vine and his Father was the husbandman (v. 1) and every branch that does not bear fruit gets taken away and every branch that bears fruit it gets purged(pruned) so it can bear more fruit(v.2)

That was then that the Lord thumped me on the back of the head and said "Pay attention!" As Richard was reading the verse, the word "Now" leaped out at me. NOW it screamed, NOW it was showing me that it meant exactly that.....NOW, not five days from today, or even thirty seconds from the present, but NOW as I was reading the words, NOW in the very present time, the Lord was saying, and as I was pondering that the Lord was talking to me about the present moment in my life, the rest of the verse began pouring into my Soul. NOW Ye ARE CLEAN (how am I clean)... THROUGH THE WORD (what word)... that I HAVE SPOKEN UNTO YOU!!!!

I should have lept out of the chair and starting shouting praises, but I did not, so consider this blog my shouting time. Here is what it is saying to me and I hope that in my words I can get this truth across to everyone reading this. Because even though I was soaking the words up as though the Lord was speaking only to me, Brothers and Sisters this is a truth that is for you as well tonight or early morning on Saturday August 29th!!! NOW IS THE TIME WHEN YOU ARE CLEANSED!!!! You do not have to wait for the next drink, the next hit, the next link on the internet, the next bite of whatever your fleshly indulgence is, the time when you can be freed from the darkest sin is...... wait for it..... NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not another milisecond need be given over to Satan, why because God has cleansed us through his word NOW, all we have to do is Abide in him (Remain, Conform) He says that in verse 4 and makes it very plain in verse 5 the relationship that is in play. "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me YOU CAN DO NOTHING!!!!

No matter what your addiction is, it is not about you. You no longer have to try to handle the dark secret alone. Your God knows and he is simply waiting for you to Abide!!! NOW!!!!

Satan loves to get our minds wrapped up in the fact that Heaven is a place that some day we will get to and until then all we have to do is wait on the Lord. While Heaven is our eternal reward if we have given our lives to Him, We do not have to wait to conquer, we do not have to wait to be cleansed, As we Abide in Jesus Christ, as we Abide in the Word that he gives to us we can be cleansed from that sin (you know yours and I know mine) that is keeping us separated from the Father!!

So as you read these words I just pray that the next time you get the itch to walk away from the light and towards the darker part of the street, just remember John 15:3 "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." Now really is now and yes you really are clean if you simply will abide in Him!!! When you are abiding in Jesus, there is no way you will fall. The promise is right there. So I am perscribing John 15:3 to you. The next time you are tempted Read John 15:3 and LET THE CLEANSING BEGIN!!!!! Praise God for his Goodness!!!!