Seeking the Kingdom of Truth First
We are in part 4 of a series entitled “Why Do I Emphasize The Peace Pillar So Much?”
In the first 3 parts (which are available on our blog page here: https://veritasmedical.com/blog/) we’ve established that:
- Chronic stress is not compatible with health, because stress induces cortisol production, and cortisol shreds the immune system, metabolism, neurons, the gastrointestinal tract and other hormones like thyroid, progesterone, and testosterone.
- Although stewardship of the 3 pillars is important, this stewardship will not be able to overcome the effects of chronic cortisol elevation.
- There are always “non-responders” to every diet, exercise plan, IV and supplement regimen, or natural protocol for every symptom or disease. The non-responders are typically under the influence of chronic stress, inducing chronic cortisol production.
- “Stress management” is not the answer, because it only provides temporary relief.
- Trying to control or eliminate all the stress-provoking circumstances in your life is impossible, especially in these last days in which we are living . Therefore, the focus should be on what is influencing your “seer”? What filters or goggles are you looking through to interpret your circumstances? Remember, your autonomic nervous system that is running on autopilot in the background, not under your voluntary control, is what turns on the cortisol button. Your autopilot nervous system responds to your “seer”.
So, today I’m going to get right to the point…..this may be the shortest article I’ve ever written! I’m going to pose a question to you:
Did Jesus come just to get you to heaven, or did he come to give you new, clean, crystal clear filters to look through?
If you answered yes, He did come to give me a new “seer”, the ability to see from a heavenly viewpoint (Colossians 3:2), then I’m here to encourage you to choose to receive what Jesus bought and paid for! Exchange your old filters for a new one. The new filter will allow you to walk in true peace, and joy will attend you….EVEN WHEN the world appears to be falling into complete insanity and chaos. Remember, if you are a believer, we are in but not of this world, which means we can keep a heavenly point of view every day, in every circumstance.
“Having one’s mind controlled by the old nature is death, but having one’s mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8: 6 Complete Jewish Bible translation.
“For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Romans 8:6 King James Version translation.
Ben Edwards translation: “looking at your spouse, your boss, your kids, your friends, your co-workers, your neighbors, your doctor’s report, your bank account, your political leaders, your social media news feed, and every other relationship or piece of information coming into your mind through dirty lenses or filters will keep you at risk of being stressed out, flipping into fight or flight mode, elevating cortisol, shredding your immune system, your metabolism, your hormones, your gut flora and digestive enzymes, your sleep hormones and your muscles, leading to all kinds of symptoms that will be labeled a “disease”, and then you’ll be tempted to search for an answer, putting all your hope, trust, faith, time, energy, emotion, money and effort into a modern day priest in a white coat, and possibly, accidentally, unintentionally put him or her up as a false idol or savior, by putting all your hope, trust and faith in them or a system of the world, bringing you a false sense of security or a type of counterfeit “peace” that does not surpass all understanding but is easily destroyed by the next stressful circumstance. But, to see your circumstances through crystal clear, clean filters, Jesus’s point of view on things, will lead to life and true peace that does indeed surpass all understanding.”
The devil wants to keep you “carnally minded” (living by what your 5 senses tell you, what you can see, touch, taste, hear and smell). The defeated father of all lies, the great deceiver, the accuser of the brethren who comes to steal, kill and destroy wants to take advantage of your natural tendency to be carnally minded. He doesn’t want you looking at your circumstances through Jesus’s crystal clear goggles. He wants to trick you into putting on his dirty filters, which do not produce life, peace, and joy.
So, how do you deal with this tricky, cunning, crafty, counterfeiter and liar? Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
The Gospel of the Kingdom
I mentioned in Part 3 that the gospel of salvation (Jesus came just to get us to heaven) was not the gospel that Jesus and Paul preached. Scripture is clear that the gospel of the kingdom is what Jesus and Paul were declaring and must be declared all over the world, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14). The gospel of salvation leaves believers very, very vulnerable to unknowingly listening to a qeustion about God or about themselves, just like Eve did, and be tricked into keeping old, dirty filters on and not even knowing it!
Since Jesus bought and paid for new filters for us, we don’t have to walk around under the influence of the liar who is defeated, tricking us into keeping old, dirty filters on. But, we must understand the gospel, or good news, of the kingdom of God. To understand this good news you must understand what the kingdom is and how authority works in God’s kingdom.
The one time in the Bible that I can find where Jesus was amazed was a passage about authority (the Roman centurion in Matthew 8:5-9). So, an understanding of authority is a really, really big deal in the Kingdom of God.
Notice I said the defeated father of all lies a few paragraphs above. This is key. A defeated enemy, the father of all lies, has zero authority or ability to force you to put on these filters. You have to volunteer to put them on.
The prince of this world used to have authority, and he gained it through sneaky, crafty, cunning deception via one little question he asked Eve. Through this one question, he was able to trick God’s son, Adam, into handing over the authority God had given to Adam to subdue and take dominion over the earth. (Genesis 1:26)
The ruler of this world, the prince of the air, then attempted to trick Jesus (through questions as well….so, be on the look out for questions!) into accepting this authority over the kingdoms of the earth from Satan:
“The Adversary took him up, showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world, and said to him, “ I will give you all this power and glory. It has been given to me (by Adam), and I can give it to whomever I choose.” Luke 4:5-8
Of course, Jesus answered all of Satan’s questions and temptations with the word of God, The Truth. Jesus was under the influence of The Truth always. He was looking through the clean, crystal clear filters of truth always. And, although tempted in every way (Hebrews 4:15), he only said what he heard his Father say (John 12: 48-50) and only did what he saw his Father do (John 5:19-20) because he was under the influence of the Spirit of Truth always.
Jesus went about his Father’s business, following through and accomplishing the will of His Father, regaining that authority that Satan had been given by Adam through deception.
“And all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” Matthew 28:17
And it is because of this regaining of power and authority that God’s divine plan could continue to be made known in the earth…
-Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19)
-having defeated every principality and spiritual force of evil (Colossians 2:15)
-He is the head and we are the body (Colossians 1:18)
-we are in Him and He is in us (1 John 4:13)
-we are seated in Him in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6)
-we can put off the old and put on the new (Ephesians 4:22-24)
-and this great mystery that Paul talks about, unknown for ages past, which is Christ in you! (Colossians 1:26-28)
-we are now a NEW CREATURE, never before known in the earth (2 Corinthians 5:17)
-a human being walking around with the spirit of God, the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, living in us! (Romans 8:11)
Jesus accomplished all that he did because his filter was crystal clear. He had a heavenly point of view, not a carnal mind, in every situation even when he was worn out, sleepy, hungry, hurting, beat up, mocked, spit upon, tortured and even unto death he kept a heavenly point of view….“Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
He did all of that so that we could walk with crystal clear goggles too, in EVERY circumstance, so that we never ever, ever have to be under the influence of filters like:
-fear of death
-fear of sickness
-fear of cancer
-fear of hell
-fear of lack of money
-fear of lack of food
-fear of lack of any spiritual blessing
-worry
-anxiety
-guilt
-shame
-condemnation
-performance
-people pleasing
-unlawful responsibility
-heavy burden
-rejection
-control
-the need to be right
-unworthiness
-or ANY OTHER THOUGHT that produces a hard yoke and a heavy burden
IF YOU EVER CATCH YOURSELF UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF FEAR, STOP RIGHT THERE, AND OUT LOUD, START SPEAKING THE TRUTH (which would be an act of submitting to God (the truth in your thinking), resisting the devil, and he will flee. James 4:7).
SPEAK THE TRUTH: “FATHER, THANK YOU THAT I NEVER, EVER HAVE TO BE INFLUENCED BY THE SPIRIT OF FEAR. Thank you that Jesus defeated that spirit and every other spiritual force of evil in the heavenly realms. Thank you for sending Jesus so that I can exchange my old, dirty filters that produce stress and death for a clean new filter that produces peace and life. I repent (change my mind and turn and go the other way) for letting that fear filter influence me today. Jesus bought and paid for the clean filter, so I’m going to receive what he bought and paid for and reject the old, dirty filters! And then, speak to your mountain (Mark 11:23 & Matthew 21:21): “spirit of fear, you are a defeated, powerless, little nothing and have zero authority in my life. In the name of Jesus Christ I rebuke you and command you to flee.”
Except a Man be Born Again He Cannot See the Kingdom of God
We are all born into this natural world, from water, into Adam, the old nature, the carnal mind, sin, the kingdom of darkness with a propensity to be self-focused, concerned with our own wants, needs, desires, lusts, protection, and provision. Looking for and striving to find our identity in what we do, what we can accomplish, what people think of us….all self, self, self! This is our natural tendency, it is the old nature Paul wrote about in Romans that I quoted earlier.
But, we can choose to be born again, of spirit (see John 3 where Jesus explains this to Nicodemus). We can put off the old man and put on the new (Colossians 3:8-10). New what? The new man, the new way of seeing and thinking, setting our mind on things above (Colossians 3:2), with the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), walking by the spirit, not by the flesh (Galatians 5:16).
We can have a new filter! We can enter a new kingdom, the one characterized by life, light, love, peace and joy with a focus on loving (trusting and submitting to) God and loving our neighbors more than self….the very opposite of the self-centered kingdom of darkness!
But, we must understand what the “kingdom” is and how it operates. Otherwise, even if we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that God raised Jesus from the dead and we are saved and going to heaven (Romans 10:9), we will be immature babes, easily tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men (Ephesians 4:14)…leading to stress, elevated cortisol, shredded immune systems, shredded hormones, shredded metabolism, shredded muscle, shredded brain cells and shredded gut flora and function, leading to symptoms and “disease”, tempted to look for answers from the world’s white coats and pharmakia….all of this resulting in a life robbed of peace and joy, not able to fully walk in who God made us to be, reflecting His image, His character, His nature, which is love, into the earth by dying with Christ (Romans 6:8) and being raised with Him (Ephesians 2:6), so that Christ in us can be the hope of the Glory of God (Colossians 1:27)!
I hope you are seeing this….CHRIST IN US IS THE HOPE OF THE GLORY OF GOD! This is not about just getting to heaven!
Christ in us, us putting on new filters, the truth, in very situation, recognizing the sneaky, crafty lie of the enemy and turning away (repenting) in our thinking back to the voluntary submission to the Kingdom of God, The Truth! And when this happens, you will not be able to be anxious, scared, offended, worried, nervous, frustrated, jealous, or any other emotion or thought that produces stress!
It is no longer I who live, but Christ (the truth) who lives in me! (Galatians 2:20)
So, I can walk around in this fallen world and still shine love, loving God and loving my neighbor more than myself (the 2 greatest commandments that all others hinge on according to Jesus in Matthew 22:37-39), not being consumed with how things affect me…. “if only he would do x, y, or z; she said, he said; why didn’t he; if she would just; why won’t he; if only they would, etc, etc, etc, won’t even be a part of your vocabulary! You can’t offend a dead man! You can’t scare a dead man! You can’t make a dead man jealous! You can’t “fill in the blank” a dead man!
Satan prowls around the earth with no legal right to anything because Jesus defeated all principalities and spiritual forces of evil, including that long list of filters I listed above. Satan tricks us through questions, just like he questioned Eve and Jesus. So, be on high alert for questions/thoughts in your frontal lobe. Be vigilant, taking EVERY thought captive…
“For the weapons of our warfare and not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds (think: old mindset, old filters, our old nature). Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (ie, The Truth); and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience (ie, submitting to putting on dirty filters or lies), when your obedience is fulfilled.”…..BOOM, DROP THE MIC!!!
What Jesus bought and paid for is THE WAY to life and life more abundantly, peace and joy!
He is going to transform us (if we willfully, voluntarily submit to his kingdom, his authority) by the renewing of our mind! (Romans 12:2)
And then the manifold wisdom of God will be made known, revealing the great mystery to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places (ie, the spirit of fear and all the other liars/filters mentioned above) through the church, me and you! (Ephesians 3:10)….and then we will even judge the angles…the fallen ones, including the spirit of fear! (1 Corinthians 6:3)
Praise be to God almighty! Do you see this! The very thing that is trying to trick us into voluntarily putting it on (spirit of fear filter), is already defeated and powerless, is going to be judged by us, and God is currently in the process of maturing us to the point where WE are the ones He is going to use to make known his manifold wisdom! No wonder Satan, who is defeated and has no authority, is trying so hard to trick us into voluntarily putting on dirty filters!
Seek The Kingdom First
In God’s kingdom, there is life, love, light, peace, and joy. So, if you are not experiencing this, you need to prayerfully seek God’s kingdom first (Matthew 6:33). Ask God to reveal what filters you’ve got on your heart. Ask God to show you where you’ve been deceived, tricked by the adversary of the truth to put on a dirty filter in your thinking.
It’s all about your heart or your thoughts, your filters. God judges the heart (Matthew 5:28). So, don’t get distracted by striving to keep all your behavior perfect. The “sin” isn’t stealing your neighbors purse, the “sin” was when you believed a lie, the thought that God can’t provide for me, so I must steal from my neighbor. When you willfully, voluntarily submit to a lie in your thinking, this will produce fruit in your life that is not peace and joy.
But, thanks be to God, we have the ability to choose, we are not a programmed robots! God created us as a spirit, housed in the body, with a soul. The soul is where the battle is. This is where the question from the enemy will come in. This is where we have the ability to take captive every thought and submit God (the truth) and resist the devil.
Next month, we’ll dive deeper into God’s design of the human being as a spirit, housed in the body, with a soul and how that understanding will help you practically walk out all the truth from God’s word I laid out above.
Until then…. “seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33
