My first thought, when I read this post was, “What does church safety have to do with the ‘Deeper Life’”?
As I prayed and meditated, I was reminded of the promises of God's Word for blessing and safety to those that obey, as well as the curses and punishment on those who do not follow God’s way of righteousness and obedience.
May I attempt to shed some light, from my thoughts, that might bring this subject under the absolute necessity of having a ‘Deeper Life’ in Jesus Christ, from the heart of God, His Word?
Leviticus 25:18 says, “You must obey my statutes and my regulations; you must be sure to keep them so that you may live securely in the land. In Leviticus 26 God shares both the blessings, that come with obedience, and the curses, that come by following other gods, the gods of this world and disobedience.
Does this apply to the New Testament believers? For me it does, as well as all the verses that tell me that God is a strong tower to those who trust Him and run to him as their one and only God (source of safety and protection).
Hebrews 5:7 tells us about Jesus and His relationship with the Father; how it kept Him safe until it was time for Him to be our sacrifice according to the will of the Father. There is power in a true relationship with the Father.
Very sadly most ‘believers’ today are missing the relationship; they only have a confession without repentance and Holiness.
Paul spoke to Timothy about the people of the last days.
“But understand this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear].
For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane.
[They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good.
[They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.
For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].
For among them are those who worm their way into homes and captivate silly and weak-natured and spiritually dwarfed women, loaded down with [the burden of their] sins [and easily] swayed and led away by various evil desires and seductive impulses.
[These weak women will listen to anybody who will teach them]; they are forever inquiring and getting information, but are never able to arrive at a recognition and knowledge of the Truth.”
2 Timothy 3:1-7 Amplified
Jesus did tell a disciple to bring a sword, but he did not tell him to use it. When he did use it, Jesus healed the man that was injured.
Proverbs 21:31 “The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but deliverance and victory are of the Lord.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back in its place! For all who take hold of the sword will die by the sword.
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Isaiah Chapter 50
“Thus says the Lord: Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce with which I put her away, O Israel? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away.
2 Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink because there is no water, and they die of thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with [the] blackness [of murky storm clouds], and I make sackcloth [of mourning] their covering.
4 [The Servant of God says] The Lord God has given Me the tongue of a disciple and of one who is taught, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He wakens Me morning by morning, He wakens My ear to hear as a disciple [as one who is taught].
5 The Lord God has opened My ear, and I have not been rebellious or turned backward.
6 I gave My back to the smiters and My cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I hid not My face from shame and spitting. [Matt. 26:67; 27:30; John 19:1.]
7 For the Lord God helps Me; therefore have I not been ashamed or confounded. Therefore have I set My face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. [Luke 9:51; Isa. 52:13; 53:10-12.]
8 He is near Who declares Me in the right. Who will contend with Me? Let us stand forth together! Who is My adversary? Let him come near to Me. [Rom. 8:33-35; I Tim. 3:16.]
9 Behold, the Lord God will help Me; who is he who will condemn Me? Behold, they all will wax old and be worn out as a garment; the moth will eat them up. [Heb. 1:11, 12.]
10 Who is among you who [reverently] fears the Lord, who obeys the voice of His Servant, yet who walks in darkness and deep trouble and has no shining splendor [in his heart]? Let him rely on, trust in, and be confident in the name of the Lord, and let him lean upon and be supported by his God.
11 Behold, all you [enemies of your own selves] who attempt to kindle your own fires [and work out your own plans of salvation], who surround and gird yourselves with momentary sparks, darts, and firebrands that you set aflame!—walk by the light of your self-made fire and of the sparks that you have kindled [for yourself, if you will]! But this shall you have from My hand: you shall lie down in grief and in torment. [Isa. 66:24.]”
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“Your conduct must be free from the love of money and you must be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you and I will never abandon you." So we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" Remember your leaders, who spoke God's message to you; reflect on the outcome of their lives and imitate their faith.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!”
Hebrews 13:5-8
Acts 5:1-15 gives us a picture of what the power of God and the fear of God looked like in the Early Church.
Act 5:11 And great fear and awe gripped the whole church, and all who heard about these things.
Act 5:13 But none of the rest [of the people, the non-believers] dared to associate with them; however, the people were holding them in high esteem and were speaking highly of them.