Developing His Righteousness

• Printable Version - Share on Facebook - Posted by Jim Jarrell November 30, 2017 - Filed in Teachings - #Christian  #teachings  - 2,415 views

  Developing His Righteousness from Jim Jarrell on Vimeo.

  Through the last series of videos, I have tried to explain how God has changed my life. I talked about how I hear and respond to the Holy Spirit. Just this past week, a friend asked me just how I would define the kingdom of God that Jesus taught? I responded with, I think the kingdom Jesus was talking about is God’s own plan to remove the darkness from our lives and replace it with His righteousness. I believe this kingdom message is so misunderstood and that is why there are so many needs going unmet in the church.

  Matthew 6:25-32 seems to indicate that God has provided a plan that will totally meet our needs. In Matthew 6:33 the Bible says; “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall shall be added to you.” As I look back over my life, I can tell you that I see all of this growing in my life. I have said before, in my opinion, God did not have much to work to begin with. The truth is, God can see much more clearly than we can. If He can make these changes in my life, He can do it in anyone’s life. Because I can see these changes in my own life, I have vowed to see the fullness of what is possible. I would like to be so full of light that it can be seen by others.

  There is a prophecy in Isaiah 60 that says; “Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.”

  One does not have to look very far to see this is happening in our day, as far as the darkness coming on the earth and the people. Not long ago, some man drove a rental truck along a bicycle lane in downtown New York City just killing random people. He did not know if they were Christen or not, he just meant to kill as many as he could. Only a month or so back, some man started shooting a crowd of people from a 32nd floor Hotel Room. He had no idea of who he was shooting, he just meant to kill as many as he could before taking his own life. Just this past Sunday, a man walked into a church shooting everyone in his path, killing children as well as adults. I see the darkness growing on this earth.

  I believe that sense we see this darkness growing and this prophecy says the Lord will arise over us, we need to learn how this will be done. I have learned that most of the promises God made in the Bible are true, He just has provisions that we have to meet first. Six different times in the Bible, righteousness and light are used in the same passage. Psalms 37:6 says; “He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.” It only makes sense to me that as His righteousness grows in us, our light should become more and more noticeable. If we are truly seeking His kingdom and His righteousness and we see these things are developing in our lives, light should be the fruit of it.

  There is another line of prophecy in Isaiah 58:8 that says; “Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.” I see so many people in the churches who would like to see their healing come forth quickly. Is it possible that your healing might be tied to His righteousness developing in your life?

  If you look back over the preceding verses, the Bible explains why we do not see more things happening in our lives. Isaiah 58:2 says; “Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching our God.

  We can see clearly from these verses that these are believing people, they just did not understand that God wants us to develop His righteousness in our lives. Jesus said to the Jewish people in Matthew 5:20; “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus also said in Matthew 23:13; “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from the people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” The leaders of the Jewish people where teaching their form of righteousness, but God was looking for something different.

  The word righteousness is used in the New King James translation of the Bible 315 times. There are not many words that are used more often. God it seems wants to develop what He considers righteousness in each of our lives. I do encourage each of you to look at your lives through Gods eyes. He put us here for a purpose, times are changing and we need His light to shine trough us. The Bible says in 2nd Peter 2:4&5; “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly.” I for one, would like to fully understand how I can walk with Him daily in my life!

  Is it time to seek God fully? Is it time to allow the Holy Spirit to show us what changes He wants to make in our lives and then allow Him to do so. Our healing can come so quickly. As we confess the things the Holy Spirit shows us and let Him make the changes He wants to make in our lives, we should be able to make a real difference in our surroundings. As our healing will become evident to others, we will be able to shine our light towards them.