“John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair and he wore a leather belt around his waist”
as followers of Christ wear the breastplate of righteousness and the belt of truth around their waist.

“For food he ate locusts and wild honey,"
much like scroll that tasted like honey and became bitter inside of Ezekiel's tummy.

“People from Jerusalem, and from all of Judea, and all over the Jordan Valley went out to hear and see John, and when they confessed their sins he baptized them in the Jordan River.”  
And Jesus sent his disciples into all ends of the earth, teaching them to obey His commandments and be baptized by the Holy Spirit.

“But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them and said, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee the coming wrath?  Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.”  
Can you believe the audacity of John to call them snakes?
I wonder what he meant?
Could he be making an analogy to Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God?
"And the LORD God commanded him,
“You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
Let us remember that Satan is serpent who tempts humanity to disobey God.
Perhaps we are to be afraid of the consequences of our sin.

“Don’t just say to each other, ‘we are safe for we are the descendants of Abraham”
because even Abraham, the Father of Faith, had to endure God’s test of obedience when he was called to sacrifice his son.  

“for I tell you God can create children of Abraham from these very stones”
for everything in creation is made to glorify God.

“Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised and ready to sever the roots of the trees”
just as Daniel foretold, right before the King Nebuchadnezzar lost his mind.
Yes, even a king had to learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world, and gives them to anyone he chooses.

“Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.” And Jesus will curse the fig tree that does not bear fruit.

Matthew 3:4-10

In Matthew 3, verse 11-12, John the Baptist said,
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
‭‭
Do you not see?  The water baptism is just the beginning of spiritual transition.  It’s an outward expression of your inward condition and tells the whole world, and yourself, that you are acknowledging your need for a savior, your lack of obedience and your stubborn heart.

Repentance is nothing more than hitting the floor and acknowledging God as sovereign.  It's dying to self and realizing that without Christ, we are nothing at all.  I mean, we can say positive affirmations that help us feel good, but without Christ we are nothing more than self-righteous and spiritually lost. 

Jesus came to set the sinners free - do you not see the grace in this?  For we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God, and it’s only through Jesus's blood that our sins are blotted out.

Baptized by water is a wonderful beginning, but it is not enough to make us right with God.  John said, "there is One coming who is mightier than I, and He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” 

What do you think he meant by this?  My guess is that the water symbolizes the repentant heart, and the blood of Christ washes our sin away.  The Holy Spirit enters in and leads us into the wilderness.  The trials and tribulations become opportunities to confess and testify to Jesus, and the fire of God burns the impurities away.

Humility is the heart condition that makes us present to Christ, and enables us to walk in the light.  Christ does not see our dress or shoes, our makeup or jewels; Christ sees the heart and the mind of every person who is humble and kind.  The person who is vulnerable, who has humbled and exposed themselves to stand naked before the Lord.

Gods spiritual DNA Is expressed through the human gene of Faith, and repentance is the key the unlocks the code.  The darkness of sin that exists inside of every human is brought into the light when repentance is thought and spoken.

And where there is light, there is God.  For sin is merely the absence of Him.  Holy Spirit pays attention to the thoughts and intentions of the minds of men who God created, and the human heart becomes known again.

John the Baptist said, "His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

So I ask the person reading this to sit and reflect on this - Are you the wheat or the chaff that John speaks of?  Are you part of the God's Kingdom or will you burn?‭‭

​Scripture says there was no greater prophet than John the Baptist!  According to the New Testament, John was sentenced to death and subsequently beheaded by Herod Antipas sometime around 30 AD - all because John rebuked him for divorcing his wife, and then unlawfully wedding Herodias, the wife of his brother, Philip.  

You see, John wasn’t beheaded because he was proclaiming the arrival of Jesus, nor was he beheaded for telling people to repent!  No! John was beheaded for stating the truth - and exposing the corruption inside Herod’s heart.

Herod was a King, who ruled from his throne, and we already saw him kill children to protect what he owned; nothing would get in the way, nothing could jeopardize what the people would think.  This king would do just as he pleased, and he would later die from his gluttony.

As a president, he modeled deceit.  He had people kill babies, and taught children to hate. 

Matthew 14:6-12 says,
“At a birthday party for Herod, Herodias’s daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him, so he promised with a vow to give her anything she wanted. At her mother’s urging, the girl said, “I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray!” Then the king regretted what he had said; but because of the vow he had made in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders. So John was beheaded in the prison, and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. Later, John’s disciples came for his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened.”  

I wonder what Jesus thought of John’s death?  Was he angry that John had spoken the truth?  Was he sad that John was beheaded?  I wonder what was Jesus’s response?

Matthew 14:13-14 says,
“As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

My guess is that Jesus was sad, because everything in him wanted to retreat.  But being alone, did not happen for long, the crowd came and he showed compassion and love. Instead of retaliating or falling into depression, Jesus was slow to anger, and quick to listen.  What a beautiful response that we should all learn from. I can only hope to be as loving and kind.

But wait. There is another question that I have.  Why was John in prison and not with our Lord?  Why wasn’t John one of His 12 disciples?  

My guess is that God gives us all a mission, and this happens right from the womb.  Jeremiah was born to be a prophet of the nations, and John the Baptist was born to be the Spirit of Elijah returned.

I wonder what kind of testimony John would have left, if he just stayed in the wilderness yelling repent.  Was he created to call out the truth - that Jesus is Lord AND the hearts of men are corrupt?

And I wonder why Jesus went straight to the teachers and confronted their traditions and laws?  Was it to show them what sinners they were?  And why didn’t Jesus condemn the women in adultery, but instead loved them and told her to stop?  And why did Jesus heal the sick, and then tell them to pick up their mat and walk?  

Perhaps it’s not just the message of Christ that needs to be received; perhaps it’s also about the heart of the one receiving it.

Jesus told his followers to go, and make disciples by teaching people to obey His commandments.  He warned them not stay too long and press, but to offer hope and then move on.  If a person does not believe what the Word of God says, then shake off the dust and move on along.

The truth is that the Word of God must be sown through a sprinkling and spreading that happens all over the earth. The Word of God is needed not only in the church, but on every mountain that is upon this earth.  

Some will hate us, and some will be persecuted, but whosoever believes will be transformed and convicted.  You see, Hebrews 11 shows us the many great people of God listed in the Hall of Faith, and since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must also understand the different missions of God's children to express their obedient faith.

The gene of Faith is expressed when the Word of God is heard, and this is how God's spiritual DNA preconceived us.   The children of God believe in Jesus.  We are justified by His love, and sanctified through a heart of obedience.

The Lord says,
Why are My people questioning and afraid to speak out?
Why are My people confused about how to best love?
Why are there mixed messages within the Church?
Why are people bowing to a corrupt government?
Isn’t my Word being read aloud?  Isn’t My Word being spread out?  

Father God, I didn’t realize how much you communicated with Joseph while he was asleep until I re-read Matthew Chapter Two.  You sent an angel to appear to him in a dream and encouraged him not to be afraid.  You told him to take Mary as his wife, and explained that the child within her was conceived by your Holy Spirit.  You told him Mary would have a son, and that he was to name him Yeshua - for He would deliver people from their sins.

After Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem, the angel of the Lord appeared again. Once again, in a dream, the angel of the Lord gave Joseph a message.  The angel told Joseph to get up and go, take Mary and Jesus to Egypt, right now! King Herod was angry and ready to kill, because he did not want to be thrown off the throne.

Matthew 2:14 to 2:18 says that Joseph listened and left immediately for Egypt. He took the child and Mary his mother, and they lived in Egypt until the death of Herod, thus fulfilling the words Hosea 11:1.

During their time in Egypt, Herod did awful things, he sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under. And these disgraceful acts fulfilled the Word that God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, in Chapter 31 verse 15:  “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

The angel of the Lord came again, through a dream to the man Joseph, while he was still living in Egypt.  The angel told him to get up and go back to the land of Israel, and assured him that those who were trying to kill the child would no longer pose a threat to them.

And then the Lord’s message came again, when Joseph was redirected from Judah to Nazareth. And this is where baby Jesus would grow up, like a shoot extending from the Branch.

The truth that God speaks to people through their dreams was also seen when God spoke to the wise men from the East.  Matthew 2:12 says when it was time to for the Wise Men to return to their own country, they took another route for they had been warned by God in a dream not to return to King Herod.

After reading Matthew Chapter 2, two things became abundantly clear to me.  God speaks to people through dreams when they are asleep, and angels absolutely do exist!  The Lord finds a way to direct our steps, especially when it comes to protecting the legacy of his beloved son, Jesus.

Today I started reading Matthew 2, and the first thing I noticed was that men who had spiritual sensitivities found baby Jesus before the Jews!  

Scripture says,
“Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the reign of King Herod, about that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose and we have come to worship him.”  Matthew 2:1-2

According to the Greek translation, “wise men” meant Magi which is the singular word for Magus, a name given by the Babylonians (also known as the Chaldeans), Medes, Persians, and others, to wise men who acted as teachers, priests, physicians, astrologers, seers, interpreters of dreams, augers, soothsayers, sorcerers and magicians.

It’s strange to me that “spiritual” men who follow astrology saw the sign of the Coming King before the teachers of the Law and the Prophets did.  I’m taking a guess, but part of me thinks, it’s because the Pharisees were taken over by a spirit of religiosity.

What I mean is that instead of seeking an authentic relationship with God, they sought to earn salvation through the works and traditions of men. Or even worse, their pride kicked in and they believed they could read and make sense of scripture through their own understanding.

I sometimes wonder if the Pharisees paid attention to the prophets as much as they did the Law of Moses? Since the Law was written by the finger of God onto a tablet perhaps they thought that was more important than the Word of God coming out of a man’s mouth?  I suppose I probably would have thought the same way if I hadn’t experienced the Spirit of God myself, or the Words that he dropped into my heart that bubbled up out of my mouth.

You see when a person looks at another man’s face they usually don’t see what God created. They often see with eyes of hate, and their vision is mutated by the log of pride that proudly sits in their own eye.

We wrestle with God. We wrestle with man, and we wrestle with ourselves. We are quick to judge, quick to doubt, and quick to fall into juxtaposition; and yet we wonder why we find it hard to love and to forgive.

Anyway, let me get back to the Law and the prophets before I forget what I wanted to say.

Perhaps the Law was written to act like a mirror - to show humanity why we are in desperate need of a Father. In our own power, we fail.

Our rebellious hearts naturally follow the flesh and go against the purity of who God is.  Without the Law to show us how evil we are, we would have no idea how depraved our natural instincts are. 

So the Law is good and it is true because it reflects how perfect our Creator is; and thus we should take correction from it.  And the only way for us to do this is to submit our flesh and learn to be obedient to it.  When we begin to align our thoughts, feelings and actions to the Will of God, we have finally learned the beginning of Wisdom.  

The truth is we are all sinners and we all fall short of the glory of God, and without his grace we are condemned to eternal death.  And that is where the prophets come in and why the stories of the Old Testament are so important!   All of them point God's grace that is gifted us through his beloved Son, Jesus!

Every prophet in the Old Testament prophesied the coming of Christ.  Isaiah referred to him as the Suffering Servant and "unto us a child would be born."  Micah said the Messiah would come out of Bethlehem and Hosea said he would be called from the land of Egypt.  Zechariah said he would ride a donkey and also said he would be betrayed for silver.  David wrote all about our righteous King through his many psalms, and Solomon referred to him through his precious Song.  Perhaps the most interesting of all is Daniel, the young Judean boy who was led into exile and taken under the wing of the king of Babylon.  Daniel shared the date when the Lord would be born, and described what the signs would be like when the Day of Judgment comes.  Yet, scripture refers to the secret being bound in the hearts of men.

Daniel was a special man. He was gifted by God to have great wisdom, and was given the ability to interpret visions and dreams. But you see, his own brethren did not believe him. Yet, the Babylonian, the Medes and the Persian kings did.

Scripture says Daniel was exiled from Judah and indoctrinated into the Babylonian culture. He was placed into the royal service and he served the kings who reigned, from Nebuchadnezzar to Cyrus. He was promoted to the position of Chief Magician and ruled over all the wise men throughout the region of Babylon.

Daniel was able to tell and interpret many dreams because of the revelation power of the Holy Spirit. He was visited by angels and he was told about the first coming of the Messiah, and the great and terrible Day of the Lord. He saw history take place and unfold into the end of the generation.

And Daniel saw Jesus.  In Chapter 7, Daniel says,
“I watched is thrones were put in place in the ancient one sat down to judge his clothing with as white as snow his hair like purest well he sat on a fiery thrown with wheels of blazing fire and a river of fire was pouring out flowing from his presence millions of angels minister to him and millions done to attend to him then the court began its session in the books were opened.”

During Daniel’s time and position serving worldly kings, he never abandoned his God. He always spoke the truth in love while he followed the customs of their culture. He paid respect to these gentile kings while he prayed and intervened.

There were many wise men among them, many Magi’s. But Daniel had the revelatory power of the Most High God, the God who holds all power and authority.

Deuteronomy 32:8 says,
“When the most high assigned lands to the nations, when he divided up the human race, he establish the boundaries of the peoples according to the number in his heavenly court the sons of God. “

Ephesians 6:12 says,
“We do not fight against flesh and blood but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”

So you see, people who have spiritual senses should be given some credit. It means they know there is an unseen realm upon which the sons of God and the angels and demons live. This means they may have knowledge of things unseen and may have been gifted some wisdom to reveal some of it.  The question is, 'Does it point back to Jesus?"

Spiritual wisdom into the unseen realm can be both dangerous and overwhelming.  There are many evil spirits at work.  And yet, Holy Spirit guides us - how do we know which way to go if we don't listen to Him?

Without intimate connection to the Word of God and a heart that is willing to fully submit yourself to Him, a person who is spiritually sensitive could easily be deceived and misled.  They could follow their intuition when it is wrong, and the truth could easily be overthrown.  They could follow their own worldly beliefs and experiences instead of submitting to the Will of God.

My hope is that teachers who preach the Word of God would start speaking this spiritual truth to the Church.  As a spiritually sensitive person, I spent many years trying to make sense of my world.  I was misled over and over again through things like higher education, human psychology and New Ageism,  With so much false doctrine and so many false teachers and false prophets, it is very easy for a new believer in Christ who is a spiritually sensitive person to fall into the concept of Universalism.

But thank God Holy Spirit chases us down and allows us to become broken! Hebrews 12 is my Life Chapter for it speaks to the Christian who is willing to be corrected.  Fear of the Lord is truly the beginning of wisdom, and that is why I believe the Truth in Love is so important!

Since followers of Christ are all called to go and make disciples of men, then the truth is I am to share the Gospel and remind people to be obedient to it.  Pastors have the responsibility of shepherding people, and New Testament prophets have the responsibility of edifying, extorting and encouraging them.  The Lord has showed me what my calling is.  It is to extend the Sword of the Spirit and pray for God’s creation, as I walk with them - through conviction and NOT condemnation.   

Yesterday, I studied the ancestry of Jesus and found there were three sets of 14 generations between Abraham and Jesus.  I noticed several patterns of faith that come through God’s spiritual DNA -
like having a desire to lean in and listen to God speak. 

Other faith patterns seem to include being obedient and stepping out when God tells you to.  I am reminded of Abram when God told him to leave his home, the Land of Babylon, and go to a land that he would show him.  How many people would trust and believe the Holy Spirit when he is leading them through the wilderness to the Land of Promise?
  
Do you remember Jesus, and how he called his disciples to follow him?  They were faithful servants, willing to leave their home and their families, to follow Jesus in obedience.

Doesn’t God still speak the same way through his Spiritual DNA?  Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we shall fear no evil for our God is with us, and his rod and his staff comfort us.  Psalm 23 says that the Lord is our shepherd, and we shall not want.  He makes us lie down in green pastures, and leads us beside still waters.  He restores our soul and leads us in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.  This is promise that comes through God's spiritual DNA.
   
One foot a time, waiting for God to provide, leaning and listening for the next directive. This seems to be how faith works.  Faith is being obedient, even when it doesn’t seem to make sense. It means trusting God above everything else and doing what he says despite what others may say.  

Another faith pattern is believing that Jesus has placed us into position for a reason, despite the condition or the season.  If we listen and do what he says, then it doesn’t matter if we live in a castle or in prison - we are in exactly the right position to carry out God’s mission.  Health and wealth is not about earthly pursuits, it’s about God’s heavenly riches.  God has many children who are born into sickness who bring joy and happiness to those who are depressed.  And there are many people living in poverty who do a much better job at serving and thanksgiving than those who seem to have everything.  The reward is in Heaven, and prosperity comes to the faithful and obedient.

Another faith pattern is being quick to repent for being out of spiritual alignment.  The desire is not to continue to walk around crooked and bent, it’s to humble thyself and ask for forgiveness.  

And I believe one of the most difficult faith patterns to master is to walk in humility and patient endurance, and this is why my life verse is Hebrews 12 - it's all about God's loving correction. 

"Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?  If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.  Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live!  They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."  Hebrews 12:7-12

It's so important to remember that if we are aiming to please everyone instead of an audience of One, then we will trip over every lie that the enemy throws at us.  Without our eyes totally focused on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith, it is easy to distracted by the shiny little objects that so easily distract us. 

It's crazy to me that Holy Spirit showed me patterns of faith through the ancestry of Jesus. From Noah, a man who had never seen rain, yet built an arc according to God’s plan, to Abraham, who walked out of Babylon believing that God would lead him to the promised land; from Moses, who bravely went to Pharaoh and demanded that he let the Lords people go, to David. who trusted God so much that he was willing to take on a giant, and later, after being convicted by the Holy Spirit for committing adultery and murder, he wiped the tears from his eyes and believed in his heart that he had been totally forgiven by God.  These are some of the faithful witnesses from who we get our spiritual DNA from.

To the men and the women who believe that Jesus is their Lord and Savior, remember - remember that when our time is up in this world, Jesus has prepared a place for us.  When we are done wrestling with God and man, just as Jacob had been, we will receive another name to consecrate our deep faith.  

Revelation 2:17 says, "Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it."

Children of God - Hold on. You are a faithful servant, and this is all that the Lord our God asks for.  Be assured and have confident hope that Jesus is coming back to build his Kingdom, and that you are a Citizen of Heaven.