God’s Fervent Love

Good morning, this is the last day of 2012; Lord willing tomorrow will be the first day of the New Year 2013.  Every day we get closer to the Lord’s return to gather His chosen people and take them to be with Him.  To some believers the closer we get to the Lord’s return brings fear, anxiety and stress.

The Word says this in 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”  Does this mean all fear?  Of course not, this has to do with fear of judgment and eternity and where we will spend it.  If any believer fears these things maybe they need to go back to the throne of grace and spend time in repentance and seeking the grace of God not walking away until they have prayed through, in other words until they experience God’s peace and settled the matter in their hearts.  Others may just need to be reminded of God’s unfailing, unconditional love.

It says this about God’s love in Romans 8:37-39, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”   

Because of persecution, tribulation, sickness or other circumstances beyond their control, believers may think that the Lord has abandoned them and that He doesn’t love them which may make them fearful of the coming judgment.  If the Word is true, which it is, God cannot stop loving us because God is love and that is His desire.  God loves even His enemies; how much more will He love those who love Him?  

John 6:37-40, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

God’s love compelled Him to suffer a great deal of pain and agony by leaving paradise, or heaven as most of us call it, and coming to earth, the land of darkness.  It says this in Matthew 4:15-16, “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”  God left heaven so not only the Israelites could be saved but we Gentiles also, praise His holy name, because He loved us also.

So if you fall into one of these categories, take time out of your busy schedule and start the New Year out with the assurance of your salvation with no fear of the judgment.  Tarry with the Lord until you have prayed through and God’s wonderful peace and joy floods your heart and soul.  Wrestle with the Lord like Jacob did, he wouldn’t let go until the Lord blessed him.  Something to think about!  God bless you and yours and have a super day.  PS have a happy, happy New Year!!

Love More

When people realize how sinful, nasty and dirty they are when compared to Jesus’ righteousness many will break down and weep over their sins knowing that their sins were responsible for His death.  The Word says in Hebrews 9:22-28, “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”

Jesus fulfilled sins requirement which could not be accomplished without the shedding of His blood.  He was the spotless Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice.  This is why I say that any true believer, when faced with the Lord’s holiness compared to their filthy rags and the un-holiness of their former life, will weep over their sins at one point or another.  I think the only exclusion to this would be a believer that thinks they lived a pretty good life before they were converted.  I think it comes down to your attitude and how you perceive sin.

Remember the story of the sinful woman in Luke 7:28-50.  She knew the condition of her soul and how sinful she was.  It says this in verses 36-39, “Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.’”

The self-righteous Pharisee seemed to be indignant to Jesus’ response to this woman and responded with a story that went like this; you find it in verses 40-42, “And Jesus answered him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ And he replied, ‘Say it, Teacher.’ ‘A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?’”  

The Pharisee told Jesus the right answer then Jesus said this in verse 47, “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

Like I said, this lady knew her condition and wept over her sin because she knew that she was forgiven much.  What about you?  Something to think about; have a super day may God bless you and yours!!

Waiting

We live in a hurried existence; we seem to always be on the move.  If we aren’t doing things that have to be done we think of things to do just to keep from being board.  Most of us, if we were honest, would say that we are very impatient.  I have heard that patience is a virtue, something that most of us need help with. The flesh will always think of things to keep us busy if we yield to it.  We seem to live in, what you may call a microwave world or, you might say, a world of instant gratification.

We must remember in this fast pace world we need to give the Lord His time also.  The Lord wants to spend time with us in fellowship.  Establishing an intimate relationship takes spending time with someone and getting to know them.  If you claim that you love the Lord more than anything or anyone else and hardly spend any time with Him, then what you are saying is not the truth and you are deceiving yourself.  

One of the reasons marriages break up is because there is very little communication with each other.  When you see a good marriage it is because the couple spent time together, sacrificing at times to be together.  They learned how to communicate together and to unselfishly love one another.  When people go through life together manipulating and trying to control each other it very seldom, if ever, works out.  

Some people try to manipulate the Lord, only spending time with Him when they desperately need Him, trying even then to control the conversation.  People who hardly ever communicate with the Lord can hardly expect to have an intimate relationship with Him.  Having a relationship with the Lord takes two people, it takes more than one person doing all the talking, sometimes you have to stop and listen allowing the Lord to speak to you.  Relationships can never be one sided.  

We are so blessed that the Lord wants to have a relationship with us and that He has done everything, even to the point of giving His life for us and shedding His blood for us that our sins could be blotted out and remembered no more against us, praise His Holy Name, this is the true meaning of Christmas.  God came to earth as a babe for the very purpose of laying his life down for our sins so that we could be reconciled to Him.

This is what it says in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, and let us reason together says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson they shall be as wool.’”

Psalm 103:12 says this, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”  Think of this, we have been stained with sin which is impossible for man to remove, but all things are possible with the Lord and, praise the Lord, He was willing to give His life a ransom for all of us who were separated for Him because of our sin.

The Word says this in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 

Romans 3:9-11 says this, “What then are we better than they? Not at all, for we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.’”

So there you have it; we can either go through life with a permanent stain of sin or allow the Lord to cleanse us with his precious blood and blot our sins away, the choice is ours, I hope you make the right choice.  If you want a relationship with the Lord and you feel that you are being convicted by God’s Holy Spirit then repent and tell the Lord you are sorry asking Him to forgive you and to be the Lord of your life.  If you are serious, I think it will happen but even in this I would encourage you to take your time while you are praying and pray through, don’t just go through the motions because you may just be emotionally stirred at the moment.  Don’t forget to wait on the Lord and spend some quality time with Him and you will truly be blessed.  Something to think about; God bless you and yours and have a super day!!

Fight

Are you fighting for the truth or are you compromising?  One of the things that is evident today is that many people do not want to hear the truth.  This is what makes it easier for preachers to compromise and water down sermons, and also for shysters to sell you something you don’t want or need.  It seems like giving the people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear is far more popular than truth.  If your purpose is to build a mega church you may accomplish it easier that way.

I have heard it said if you tell a lie long enough people will end up believing it especially if they didn’t know the truth in the first place.  Deception is running rampant everywhere and many have fallen into it.  The temptation to lie, steal, cheat and take advantage of others, as well as many other temptations, is always with us and we need to overcome it.  I think that one of the hardest things to overcome is deception because when people are deceived most of them do not even realize that it has happened.  Some people are such smooth talkers that it is hard to know when you have been taken in.

Pilate seemed to have a problem with truth also.  In God’s Word it says this in John 18:37-38, “Pilate therefore said to Him, ‘Are You a king then?’  Jesus answered, ‘You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’  Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’ And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, ‘I find no fault in Him at all.’”

Pilate believed what Jesus said to be the truth but chose to deny the truth like many do today.  It is a terrible thing when people don’t recognize the truth, but it is even worse when they recognize the truth but reject it and not heed it like Pilate did.  Today, like Pilate did, many people think the truth is relative.  When there is no basis for truth there is no basis for moral, right or wrong.  People not wanting to accept the truth shouldn’t surprise anyone, people have been changing the truth for a lie for many years.  It says this in Romans 1:25, “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.”

People will believe lies if it will further their agenda or their personal beliefs.  In the world we live in today, we are bombarded with falsehoods, half-truths and downright lies from T.V., movies, magazines, radio, computers and even our government so we need to be careful who we listen to.  It is so important that we speak truth to each other no matter who we are, or who we are talking to.  We will all be held responsible if we purposely try to deceive others with half-truths or plain outright lies.  We need to stand our ground and fight for truth whenever lies are being used to distort it.  If we do, truth will always prevail in the end.  So let’s do our part, the Lord will bless us for it.  Food for thought; may the Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!  

Living As Children Of Light

Paul told the Ephesians to be followers of God as dear children.  We need to apply these principles to our lives as well.  Paul may not have been thinking about us at the time he wrote this letter but I think God was.  I wonder what Paul would think of what goes on in many of our churches today?  Paul told the Ephesians in Ephesians 5:2, “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”

Have you ever compared your love to Christ’s love?  The Word says this in John 15:12-13, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

This doesn’t give us the option to pick and choose who we love.  Question: who did God love?  Let me refresh your memory, it says this in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  When God, the Son, died for sins, He died for everyone’s sins, even all of His enemies because He loved them.  

The problem we find here is that some people will never find forgiveness for their sins because they will not put their trust in Jesus; they refuse to repent and ask for forgiveness for their sins.  This takes humbling yourself before the Lord, but many people are so proud and arrogant they refuse to do that.  God does not make people submit to Him, even though He may make them miserable, they still have a choice.

This is another problem, if God commands us to love one another, why do people pick and choose who they love?  Why is there so much self-centered love?  Love should reach out and draw others in, not be consumed with itself.  Jesus said this in John 12:32, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”  Jesus’ love compelled people to come to Him and multitudes have come to Him over the years and have never departed because His love is a genuine, unconditional love.  If the church could just get a hold of this truth and apply it to their lives, what a difference it would make, then the church would be living as children of light.

If the church took the following two verses to heart and lived by them, instead of just talking about or quoting them, what a difference it would make in our society as well as the church, because the church could keep all the other commandments.  These are the two verses: Matthew 22:37, “Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’”  And Matthew 22:39, “And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”  If the body of Christ kept these two commandments they would be living as children of light.  

The Word says this in Matthew 24:11-13 about the end times, “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”  We are living in the last days and people need to see love, more than ever.  

So what kind of people should we be?  The kind of people that love genuinely, the way the Lord does.  Something to think about, God bless and have a great day!!  PS don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy!!