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2 Thessalonians 3:16b
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16 Now [de] the Lord [kurios] of peace [eirene] himself [autos] give [didomi] you [humin] peace [eirene] always [dia] [pas] by [en] all [pas] means. [tropos] The Lord [kurios] be with [meta] you [humon] all. [pas] KJV-Interlinear
16 Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all! NASB
‘The Lord be with you all.’ The last few words at the end of this verse, seem plain enough, but there is more here than meets the eye.
God is omnipresent and as such, is everywhere simultaneously. So obviously God is with you in that sense.
Having someone nearby is one thing, but having someone nearby to whom you can look for support is quite another.
But Gods strength comes in various forms.
As humanity, Gods strength sustains the world so that we can all have a place to live. We call this common grace. Included in common grace are the laws of divine establishment, which include principles of, volition, marriage, family, free enterprise, legal due process, nationalism, fundamental economics and so forth.
These are the things that guide, stabilize, and sustain society in the midst of the laws of the jungle, which oppose all divine rules, and attempt to tear down society in all of its aspects.
Even the concepts of the male, female roles in society are attacked by the numerous philosophies that have been invented to create equity but are never equitable, among the genders, and are in fact attacks against divine rules of stability.
God defined the female role as a stabilizing influence through the marriage and family units. While the male assumes the active role, the female assumes the passive role, and together they both serve to stabilize society.
These roles have nothing to do with who you are or what you do in life. Either male or female can change diapers of build rockets. Your occupation is irrelevant in your relationship with God and/or your role in society.
However, it is the world that creates discrimination and prejudice in order to make one group superior to another. And it is that superior minded group that advances evil at the expense of everyone else.
If you can keep the inferior groups suppressed, then the elites believe that they can gain and keep power and control for themselves. And this applies in all cases, whether slavery because of race, whether denial of rights because of gender (women), whether citizens denied freedoms because of abusive government. Keep them in the dark and deny them access to truth. That is the policy and force of evil in the world.
But God, provides a higher level of grace, for those who believe in Christ.
For those who reject Christ, they are at the mercy of the world. And in the world they can survive if the rules of divine establishment function as designed. In a world where these principles are compromised, then trouble makes life difficult for everyone. Marriages fail, alternative lifestyles crop up, principles of family and God are always under attack, socialistic or legislative philosophies try to stamp out free enterprise, internationalism (one world) tries to subdue nationalism, and so forth.
But for believers in Christ, an additional higher law, takes over. The Law of Christ in you (post salvation grace plus greater grace of maturity).
We all live in this world and we are all subject to the activities that occur in the world. But as a believer in Christ, then Christ takes on the additional role of protecting you. This role is not available to the unbelieving crowd.
However, Christ’s role in your life depends on your participation in advancing in your spiritual life.
Again, for believers who are positive, then there is the additional support mechanism from God. But for believers who disregard their spiritual life, then there is the support provided that the rest of the world has – common grace.
It is to this post salvation grace that Paul is referring to as well as the advanced grace of spiritual maturity, which is called greater grace in James. Refer to the detailed studies in James on this subject.
When one attains or is in the process of advancing toward spiritual maturity, then greater grace becomes more and more apparent in your life.
This is ‘Christ in you.’ The achievement of peace through advancement to maturity in the spiritual life.
This is not acquired by singing about it, by hearing devotionals, by making wishes, even though these things exercise the emotions.
However, spiritual advancement is attained by work – work that is defined by God for the spiritual life. And that work is – residence in fellowship, daily bible study, listening to and learning doctrine, applying it to your daily life, developing an understanding which God provides, replacing your understanding which the world would want you to have, developing true wisdom, inner happiness, spiritual productivity by the application of correct doctrine to your daily life, obedience to Gods mandates, and not the least of which is the persistence to stick with your studies, regardless of your situations in life.
These things must be followed with a rigid self discipline, and not occasionally or only as they may be convenient to your life.
Then through this, you will have the greatest access to God, to Christ, and to the ultimate goal of the spiritual life – peace.
And can you even accomplish these things? Yes.
Phil. 4:13
13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. NASB
Yes, you can accomplish that which seems to be the impossible, because the world would have you believe that it is impossible. But Christ is greater than the world, so you only have to replace the worlds views in your soul, with those of Christ. That takes commitment and a resolve to accomplish it.
And so, the world will attack anything and everything that represents truth.
Women represent the foundation and stability of the marriage and family unit, and therefore society. By attacking women restricting their access to truth, by restricting their access to education, by restricting their freedoms and liberties, then society is rendered dysfunctional and unstable.
Thus the real need for womens studies and as we have mentioned before, the women of Islam, who are probably the largest and most repressed group on the planet. But where the women are, then the men have no choice but to follow. Well, at least that is a good plan.
The studies of Bible doctrine are not directed at any one gender, because the whole Bible is for everyone. But often times a whole family is led to the Lord when just one member enters into the Christian faith, and then hopefully others follow.
Your objective in life, your very best objective in life, in order to gain for yourself and for others, the very best life and most complete life possible, is through Bible doctrine.
Life is a very serious matter. Everything is on the line and determined by your thoughts and decisions.
You can pursue the world, and gain those things from the world, which you see and sense everyday, but they are all temporary and an illusion, not the real deal.
Or, you can pursue God, Christ, doctrine, and your spiritual life and gain far more, than anything anyone could ever gain from this world in a thousand lifetimes. And your complete life, your completed life is readily available to you through your positive decision to pursue truth through your daily studies.
Through consistency, and perseverance, with no excuses, you can have the greatest life beyond imagination.
This would be a good time to review our study of your life’s story, http://www.dailybiblestudy.org/biblestudy/basic/your-story.html in order to remind you of just some of the things that your life stands for.
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