Love Your Neighbor As Yourself

Text:  Matthew 22: 37-40 (verse 39)

Jesus said to him,"  'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,  with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.   And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

Apostle Paul expounds on this in Romans 13 : 9-10 by stating: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. " Love does no harm to a neighbor;  therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.

As we read on in the chapter,  he shows how to do this thing called loving my neighbor.  I have to put on Christ.   The natural man is selfish and self involved,  and self serving.  Mothers love their children so passionately because those children are extensions of themselves not because they love their neighbors as themselves.

It takes the Spirit of Christ,  the compassion of Christ to do this as God requires, as it takes the Spirit of Christ to do right anything God requires.

How do I love my neighbor as myself?   Well,  how do I love myself?  Loving myself involves securing my wellbeing,  sometimes by any means necessary.  As a matter of fact,  most crimes and sins in our lives are committed in the pursuit of personal wellbeing and/or advancement.

When we are in this mode, we are primal,  and focused,  and think not much of the ripple effects of our actions.   We just want what we want.  That is the natural way of loving self.  That is not God's way of loving self.

If I am to love my neighbor as myself,  I must do for my neighbor what I will do for myself.  Conversely,  I must not do for myself what I cannot do for my neighbor.

Illustration:
I needed my friend's help.  She had been praying with and for me concerning the matter but when I asked her to reach out to her contacts on my behalf,  she balked.  She wasn't willing to go that far for me.  I asked her if she wouldn't do it were she in my shoes.  Praying for me and mouthing platitudes don't count for anything if you will not put action to your show of concern.  But yet, this is what we do. We claim to care but will not stretch ourselves for another.

You must be willing to put yourself in my shoes to really love me as yourself.   You have to take my situation as yours otherwise you will be unable to go all the way for me.   My problem has to become yours, my need has to become yours for you to effectively and practically love me.  This is our duty as Christians, but this we are not willing to do.

Yet our Saviour did exactly that for us.  That was the only way He could effectively and judiciously save us.  He took our sins as His sins. He stood in our stead and bore upon Himself our penalty.  In the eyes of justice,  he committed the crimes or sins and He paid the full price.   He became me, that I might become Him.

And He continues to make my problem His, my pain and shame, His.  He loved and continues to love us as Himself,  and we enjoy it!   But we won't emulate Him, no sir.

How then can we claim to be a part of Him?

Prayer
Lord please forgive my selfishness and help me by your Spirit to begin to truly love my neighbor as myself.  Help me to become like you,  to die to self so you might live in and through me. In Jesus' Almighty name.  Amen.

#momomily2014

Consider This Also!

Our Text: 2 Corinthians 10:4

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

 Our enemy is not visible neither is he tangible. Yet we are so natural that we insist on fighting a seen enemy. That is why we need a person to focus our anger or venom upon. From the text for today, we see that the main battles are fought in our thought lives. That is how Lucifer fell, when he thought within himself that it was time to become as God, same way he beguiled Eve, and Adam fell because they wanted to be as God. Same way he approached our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the wilderness but found nothing in Him.

In Philippians 4:8, Apostle Paul encourages the brethren at Philippi to rejoice in the Lord always (v. 4), to be gentle with all men (v. 5), and to be anxious for nothing but present all things to God in prayer (v. 6). He stated that as they do these things, or take on these characteristics, the peace of God will then guard their hearts and minds (v. 7).

V. 8: Finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.

So in 2 Corinthians we see that we have to bring every thought under the government of Christ Jesus our Lord. Any thought not the mind or will of God is found to be exalting itself against the knowledge of God and no one knows God except as we know Jesus our Lord.

And in Philippians, we find that the way to captivate every thought for Christ is to think on those things listed. Only as and when we do this can God by His peace, guard our hearts and minds. The converse is when we entertain wicked, unkind thoughts, we pull out from under the government and protection of the Holy Spirit, the peace of God is not to be found our guard and the devil has free reign in our lives.

If the things listed in verse 8 of Philippians 4 would come naturally, we wouldn’t be encouraged to think on them. Every individual has a duty, a personal responsibility to decide to think on these things, and when negative thoughts are suggested to us, we immediately banish them by using our spiritual sword which is the Word of God. Hence we are told in Hebrews 4:12 that the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The Word of God will show us, if we allow Him, the origination of our thoughts and agenda.  Only then can we properly deal with them so that we carry out only the thoughts and agenda of God. So we can see that our enemy is not that cantankerous person or that other insecure man/woman making us miserable at work or even at Church! The originator of that irritant in our lives is the devil and the one who allows him is our Heavenly Father. How about that!

God allows it all to show us our real selves and to cause us to run into His ever loving arms because only there will we find peace and safety. King David knew this very well and verified it through his several wilderness excursions. He realized that the city walls, fortified as they were could not keep him safe. But out in the open fields or in dangerous venom infested caves, he found safety because he ran into the everlasting love of God. See Psalm 18.

The battle is in our minds in another wise. Whenever you find yourself feeling frustrated, especially if another person Is involved and it is because of them you feel thus, you need to step back immediately and let God be God. Anytime we try to do His work, we get frustrated. As David said in Psalm 18, you can only succeed where He strengthens you for a task.

In verses 29, 32-34, he said “For by you I can run against a troop, By my God I can leap over a wall. It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer, and sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.”

Going back to our text, the last portion says, “and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.” We have this natural propensity to call out the faults and transgressions of others very quickly and we ourselves are not in the clear. This is not a good thing, but does it mean we should be quiet about wrongdoing when we come up against it? When we see a reproach being brought against the name of our Lord, should we be quiet? Absolutely not! David exclaimed that the zeal for God was consuming him and Paul lived the life of one completely sold out to the cause of Christ, giving no thought for his personal safety or even comfort.

What we are saying is that you begin with yourself. Remove the log from your eye and then you can remove the splinter from your brother’s. We need to understand wherefrom the Lord has bought and brought us, to appreciate the magnitude of the work of grace He has done and continues to do in our lives. Then we need to extend the same mercy and longsuffering to our fellow men.

There comes a time when this stops as was with Paul in Acts 18:6. There will come such a time when Jesus Himself will separate the goats from the sheep. You need to work on yourself with the help of the Holy Spirit to make sure you’re sheep and not a goat! That is the process of fulfilling your obedience. As we are told, to obey is better than sacrifice.

In summary, let us win the war in our minds and the Kingdom of God and of His Christ would be further advanced.

Prayer

           

Help me Heavenly Father, I cannot help myself. Show me your way and teach me your path, that I might indeed be accepted in the beloved, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

#momomily2013

Consider This!

Our Texts:

Hebrews 5:1-14, 6:1-8

Jesus Christ in Matthew 5:44-45 said “but I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you, and persecute you,

That you may be sons of your Father in Heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. ” (NKJV)

Tying the words of Jesus to the texts in Hebrews, we realize, sadly enough, that our church leaders are actually teaching a gospel different from that of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are taught to pray against our enemies, that if we don’t get them first, they will get us!

Jesus Christ said if you hate your brother, you are a murderer, but church teaches me to pray that the one who stands against me should die! And yet, while we were yet sinners and enemies of the Godhead, Jesus Christ came and laid down His life for us, in our stead, that we may be reconciled to the Father and saved from eternal damnation.

If you hate your brother, you are a murderer and in Galatians 5:19-21, we have a list of some of the works of the flesh (one of which is murder) which anyone found with any combination of these should not expect to inherit the Kingdom of God.   Please note that even if these are found in you, hope is not lost because there is a way of escape made in true repentance from evil works. If in sincerity, we turn from our wickedness, confessing our sins and seeking forgiveness of the Lord, we are assured that He is faithful to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from unrighteousness.

Jesus Christ died for sinners, we are asked only to pray for them, and we curse them instead. How can any claim to have the love of Christ shed abroad in their hearts if they cannot even pray for one who hurts them, whether in reality or merely in perception?

Now let us look at Hebrews 5:12-14.

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 

For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for He is a babe. 

But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

One reason for this retardation is found in Matthew 5 quoted above. When we are in direct rebellion against the wishes, the heart, the mind and will of our Lord, how can we hope to grow in Him?

In Hebrews 6, we are enjoined to move forward, and come out of the rut of always repenting from dead works! Let us move forward!  Instead of crowding out the Christ element in us, instead of suppressing the influence of the Holy Spirit on our spirit, let us crowd out the self-life and allow the Christ life to prevail.

F B Meyer said of the spiritual man, that he is “the man whose spirit is quick with the Spirit of God, who speaks and wills and lives beneath the impulse of the Holy Ghost Himself.”

He went on to say “But what is tender and beautiful in a babe for a few months is terrible at the end of twelve months, or ten years. And what is lovely in a young convert is terrible in a man of ten or twenty years of Christian life.”

When we come into Christ, we bind our soul powers and allow the Holy Spirit to work with our spirits. Only then can we mature in Christ. You see, a mature Christian is the one who has come to understand the following, among other things:

1.       In his heart dwells no good thought

2.       His heart is deceitful and desperately wicked

3.       His heart is continually wicked

4.       His own goodness or righteousness is as filthy decaying rags

5.       Were there any goodness in him, he could have secured his salvation outside of the passion and death of Jesus Christ. Therefore, to operate spiritually in Christ,

6.       He must be totally and humbly dependent on the Holy Spirit to serve God effectively and please Him.

A carnal or fleshly man has no concerns whatsoever about the advancement of the Kingdom of God. He has no understanding that God has chosen to work His Kingdom out with our cooperation.  A carnal man is like a child who doesn’t know or care about how Mom and Dad make things happen at home. All he cares to know is that his personal needs are met and desires granted.

The mature man is concerned about the wellbeing of his parent (s) estate/affairs. He wants to know what hurts and what pleases them so he can play a part in making their desires happen. We as children of God need to be that way. How can I join God in making His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven? This should be our heart’s cry and speedily He will hear and grant our requests by giving us a part to play.

We are told in Romans 14:17-19, “for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved of men.  Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.”

Prayer

Heavenly Father, please help me to pursue the things of your Kingdom and serve you as you will, not as I will, in Jesus’ Almighty name, Amen.

#momomily2013 

Bless the Lord, O My Soul! (Part 2)

Our text:
Hebrews 1:3 "Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,"
The key phrase out of this text is "upholding all things by the word of His power."

Jesus Christ upholds all things by the word of His power. The Greek here is "the Universe" (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary on the Whole Bible, Kindle Ed)

"When, on the fall of man, the world was breaking to pieces under the wrath and curse of God, the Son of God, undertaking the work of redemption, sustained it by His almighty power and goodness." (Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary, Kindle Ed)

So we are upheld by Jesus Christ Himself, and to stay up, we need to stay in cooperation with His Spirit. We say here that the universe is upheld by Jesus Christ but bound up in there is the warning to us as individuals, that should we cooperate with Him, we will escape the judgement that is to come and should we refuse to cooperate with Him, we will be swept away in the judgement that is to come.

The prophet, Ezekiel, was sent to the children of Israel to warn them in such manner. See Ezekiel 33. So, while He is upholding the entire universe, individuals within said universe still have responsibilities which will determine the outcome of their lives. This upholding being done by Jesus Christ is not a "blanket policy" as people like to think.

What am I saying? As long as we strive with God, we will have struggles that may be insurmountable. In this life, everybody will have troubles but those who cooperate with the Lord will, in the midst of the troubles, operate with the peace of God. He said "my peace I give unto you." His peace, that's what we get to ride on. The same peace that causes God, in the face of all the mayhem, to be calm and collected, to be able to continue to advance His Kingdom and build His Church, that's the peace we get!

Why am I saying all this? Anything built outside of Christ cannot be sustained. Anything obtained or achieved using our "bound up" soul powers will not remain for any length of time. Only that which is built by the cooperation of our spirits with the Holy Spirit, will abide. only the fruit from the vine will remain.

We do all kinds of things and pray all kinds of prayers releasing and exercising our soul powers and when we get results, in defiance to the Word of God, we boast that our prayers "worked!"

We are taught by the Lord Himself to pray to the Father in His name for whatever we have need of. We pray to whoever else we want to, get results, and boast about the results! All prayer should go to God, for man, and against the enemy of God and man, which is the devil.

Nowhere in the Word of God are we told to engage the devil in direct warfare, but we like to do that, not understanding that at such times, we are rebelling against God and playing into the devils hands. And why do we do this? I think it's pride in us that makes us do this. We're not satisfied with the work Jesus has done, we want to know that we have something to do in our salvation and so we begin to delve into realms we are not allowed or equipped to go into.

Let us repent of this action and return to God so we can hide under the finished work of Christ, our Savior.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, please forgive me for discounting the work Jesus did for me at Calvary. Forgive me also for my rebellion against, and disobedience to you. Please cleanse me of all ill effects which I brought upon myself and restore to me, the joy of your salvation, in Jesus name, Amen.

#momomily2013 

Bless the Lord, O My Soul! (Part 1)

We’re still on the subject matter of the troubles we face and the reason(s) for them. Today, I have a few scriptures quoted back to back and I encourage us to read the entire chapters of same.

We have somewhat looked at the 'God' part of the issues of life especially the unpleasant ones and found that He uses them to work out things of eternal value in us. Now we will look at the ‘man’ part of these issues, hence the scriptures quoted below.

1 Pt 1:22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart (NKJV)

1 Thess 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (NKJV)

Gen 1: 26-27 Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion (or dominate which means to have a commanding or preeminent place or position, or, to have control ), over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them (NKJV)

Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into His nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (KJV)

Psalm 135:6 Whatever the Lord pleases He does, In heaven and in earth, In the seas and in all deep places (NKJV)

Please read the entire chapter 135. We find that both the natural and ‘normal’ events of nature, as well as the un-natural events which we like, in law, to term ‘the acts of God,’ He controls and makes them happen. Catastrophic events are also attributed to Him in this chapter.

Quite a few other verses through the Holy Scriptures tell of all power belonging to God, the earth and its fullness, the world and those who dwell in it, all belong to Him. Even the hearts of kings and princes we find to be under His control. We must remember to balance all this with the fact of our freewill, because I sense the question “why are leaders so wicked, did God make them so?”

Thus far we have established the following:

1. God made man like Himself
2. God is Spirit, therefore God made man spirit
3. God formed (shaped and structured)man whom He had earlier created as spirit of the dust of the earth (body)
4. God joined the spirit and the body together by breathing into man and making him a living soul. By so doing, the spirit and body of man are connected through the soul. The soul is the middleman so to speak, the bridge between two who otherwise could never meet.
5. And so, man is spirit, soul, and body.
6. God gave man dominion (preeminence) over all other living creatures, but never relinquished ultimate control.
7. There is nothing made that was not made by God as only He has creative powers, and there is nothing made that is not held up and sustained by God Himself who made them. This we find in  Hebrews 1:1-4 that

“God who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,

Has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, please open the eyes of my heart that I may grasp what you are teaching me concerning the hierarchy of my spirit, soul, and body as relates to the government of the Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

#momomily2013 

The Well That Never Runs Dry!

Our Text: On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37-38, NKJV)

The Samaritan woman at the well, to whom this same world-wide proclamation was affirmed as a simple fact, in a sense immediately grasped the import of His offer because she knew that once she got that water which He offered, she’d never have to come and fetch from that well again.

But whichever way He made this offer, He was making the Almighty Father’s proclamation in Isaiah 55:1 that everyone who thirsts should come get water and he who has no money should come and buy and eat, buy wine and milk without money or price.

And still we run around hungry and thirsty. We run away from the one who calls to buy without money, to drink from a well that cannot deplete and we run to the one who can make rich in this world, but with an eternity of sorrow added to it. We are so caught up in “right now” that we don’t care about the consequences of the momentary respite we get. We think nothing of the eternal or at least, long term effect of the break we’re seeking from the one who has a matchless hatred for us. We need to understand that whatever is not received from the Almighty Father, through Jesus Christ, no matter how innocuous it may appear, has sorrow attached to it, as well as eternal consequences.

Now, to be filled from this well, we have to be emptied of the corruption that’s been in us. This emptying process is gradual, and the pace is partly, if not wholly determined by how much we cooperate with the Holy Spirit in this work. Some things we easily part with, others, not so. Some items we bring with us from Egypt, we don’t want to part with. Then there are those we seem to be unaware that they are in our possession and when the Holy Spirit points them out, we argue! We either insist that we don’t have them (which is tantamount to lying for the Bible says “Let God be true but every man a liar” in Romans 3:4), or we try to justify them! Yet we know that He is justified when He speaks and clear when He judges. See Psalm 51:4. Also we know that by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight.

How about we join the Samaritan woman and ask for this water which gives life and never runs dry. He has provided it for us and made sure that all can afford it by charging no money or usury for it. All we have to do is come to the well and fetch the water to quench our thirst, heal and give us eternal life, rest and peace.

It is always wise to fall into the hands of the Living God because therein lies boundless mercy and unfailing compassion.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, please help me to draw from the well of living water, in Jesus’s name, Amen.

#momomily2013 

Commander of the Army of the Lord (3)

Our text:

Joshua 5:14 “…No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”*(NKJV)

I haven’t written in a couple of days. It’s not easy pouring oneself out so I had to take a break to catch my breath. If indeed I believe the Lord to be who He claims to be, and to have all He claims to have including the ability to do all He claims to do, why the fears?

Maybe I don’t really believe Him, maybe I can’t really take Him at His word!  If that be the case, I must have some other means by which I can take care of myself.  If I can’t trust Him, I must place my trust in another.  There must be another who can be and do all He claims, and once I find that other, I can deposit my trust in same.

I search and test and everybody fails me, because as He said, “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord.” (Jeremiah 17:5, NLT)  They don’t fail me necessarily because they’re evil, they fail because they’re human! I fail because I’m human. I don’t know about you, but there are times I want to get away from me, but there’s nowhere to go.

Trusting in humans is dangerous because the judgment of man calls good evil and evil good, because the heart of man is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” (Jeremiah 17:9) This is why leaning on the wisdom, kindness and righteousness of man is cursed, and only evil can result from it.

Why the fears? Think about the basic necessities of life, food, clothing and shelter. Most of us run our entire lives in pursuit of these or the means to attain them. And we believe that once we secure these, we’ll be happy.  And so we do things, we form alliances and ultimately place our whole worship on the perceived source or provider of these things, some human or organization set up by humans, we totally disregard God and His set rules, and follow the one we believe can do us good.

Even when we are independent, we have at the back of our minds that should something incapacitating or debilitating happen to us, these are the people who will see us through and sustain us, so it behooves us to maintain them.  These same people then are the idols or objects of worship and honor in our lives.  Should these objects of worship know this, they automatically have a strong weapon in their hands with which they can control our lives. So you see, I cannot stay under such government and at the same time be under the government of the Holy Spirit. It’s got to be one or the other. I trust the ones I can see more than the One who created them.

But still, because my conscience always maintains the side of God and His truth, I know within me that my hopes are seated on very unstable platforms and so I am fearful, and like Job, eventually I say, “What I always feared has happened to me.” (Job 3:25) This however turns out to be good because, after that which I feared so much befalls me, and the Lord picks me up, I come out a new person, with an invaluable discovery, to wit, I will make it only under the government of the Holy Spirit of the Almighty God.  Safety, sustenance and eternal peace are with, and controlled by Him alone.  Everything else is a house of cards that’s bound to crash at some point or other.

So, I have made my decision, I have released myself to His governance and set my face like a flint. “With the cross before me and the world behind, by the grace of God, I will serve the Lord.”

Prayer

Heavenly Father, teach me to trust you. Help me to be the son/daughter whom you love with an unending love, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

#momomily2013 

Commander of the Army of the Lord (2)

Joshua 5:14 “…No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”*(NKJV)

The question which Joshua asked the man who appeared before him required choosing one of the options presented by Joshua. But the man said “No” Wow! You have to choose a side, you cannot straddle the fence. You’re either my friend or you’re my enemy, you must pick a side. But the man refused to pick a side.

We understand the man with whom Joshua spoke was the Lord Himself. We know this because when Joshua fell at His feet in worship, He did not reject the worship, He accepted it and proceeded to give Joshua instructions. When John fell at the feet of his tour guide in Revelation 22:8-9, the angel rejected the worship.

The Lord wouldn’t pick sides because He loves us all, we are told in Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” and in Jeremiah 31:3, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you.”

When He formed man, He breathed the breath of lives into man and man became a living soul.  We are told that He made man in His image and after His likeness, so how can He take sides with one man against the other?

All I’m leading up to is this: we fall in or out of alignment with God. He is constant and He is Love so when we cry to Him, He immediately hears us. This is not to say that He has taken sides when He hears and answers us. Does it mean He takes sides against us when our prayers are not answered as we expect or desire?

God had heard me and delivered me out of the situation in which I found myself. Did He stop hearing and loving me when I later found myself in dire straits? Or was He punishing me? Where then do we put the scriptures that talk about God chastising the ones He loves or about Him being the potter and we being the clay for Him to mold as He pleases? When we ask for purification, what do we really think the process entails? In Malachi 3:3, we are told that God “will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.”

When calamitous situations befall us, before we fall out, let us fall to the mercy of God and He will strengthen us through the ordeal. In Psalm 66:10-13, we find that when He is through purifying us, He will bring us to a large and wealthy place.  By this time however, He will be able to see His reflection in us, because He would have taken all that is flesh and self out of us and we are totally reliant on His grace. He would have brought that which is of value to Himself and the Church out of us.  Then we can be useful to Him.

While going through my wilderness experience, even after I realized that God’s hand was in it, and had yielded myself to His will, my situation did not change physically, but the internal panics had stopped, the bad dreams had stopped, the bitterness and anger were all gone. I was no longer blaming anyone for my lot in life but realized that God was cleaning me up from the choices I had made before. No flesh can glory in His presence.

Now I could quietly wait for Him to finish His work. Now the work is never finished while we’re here because He still has to continue to prune us so we can bear more fruit.

Tomorrow, we will discuss the fears and the reason for them, should our Lord tarry.

Prayer

Have your way, Heavenly Father. Break me, and mold me to your pleasure in Jesus’ name, Amen.

#momomily2013 

Commander of the army of the Lord

Joshua 5:14 “…No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” *(NKJV)

This was in response to Joshua’s question in verse 13. He wanted to know if the man before him was “for us or for our adversaries.”

All I have shared in the previous blogs have been borne out of painful, devastating experiences. Had it not been for the mercy of the Lord, I would have been totally consumed.  Like the children of Israel, God had taken me out of Egypt pretty summarily. It was no protracted event, then came the taking of Egypt out of me part. I believe that process is still ongoing.

When we make requests of the Lord, let us remember that His ways are not ours, neither are His thoughts. You see, I asked the Lord to deliver me from a situation I had entered into very willfully and deliberately.  He got me out very smoothly and I was getting ready to breathe a sigh of relief when the pains began. Pain like I had not known was possible. I found myself in such straitened circumstances that I began to have anxiety attacks! Many a day, I was certain that I was having a nightmare and waited to wake up, but then night time came and I would realize that I wasn’t dreaming.

Please take a ride with me for a moment and imagine my confusion. I had cried to God for forgiveness and deliverance from an untenable situation and He swiftly came to my aid! He had brought me out of Egypt and even taken me over the Red Sea, I remember thinking, “this is cool! No sooner than I call for help He comes and delivers me.” I immediately started my own business and was making money. I was sure of the love and mercy of God and didn’t understand why people found this thing called Christianity difficult.

Clearly, God was on my side! I had won in that I made it and everything was going to be fine. I was independent and life looked like it was going to be good after all.  How hasty I was.  As quickly as the business bloomed, it dried up and within 6 months, I was completely penniless with no respite in sight.  Talk about being flummoxed!  Why would God deliver me from a deadly situation only to isolate and starve me.  And the questions, doubts, panic attacks, uncertainties began.

Would that someone had told me that this was the start of my field trip through the wilderness. That which I asked God to deliver me from was both external and internal. The external had been easily taken care of. The internal is the bedrock of these writings.  God had thrown me in a wilderness such as I could not possibly have imagined. Mind you, I have had pain and near death experiences in my life, but nothing like this. As a matter of fact, I had experienced that which psychologists describe as the most painful experience a person could have, i.e. the loss of a child and in my case, only child.

This journey through the wilderness has nothing with which one can compare it. We judge the children of Israel for building a golden calf to worship but going through less than a hundredth of what they faced, we build several calves to worship and we blaspheme God!  

John the Baptist told the Jews that one was coming after him who would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matthew 3:11). Isn’t it interesting that we somehow conveniently overlook the fire part of that declaration? And we begin to scream like banshees at the first and slightest hint of heat, flailing our arms and crying “woe is me!” We either forget or disregard all the injunctions scattered through the Bible about rejoicing in tribulation or counting it all joy when we fall into divers temptations.

 We confess that we have been buried and therefore resurrected with Jesus to share in His glory. In reality, we only want the glory but no part of the burial, we are ready for nothing in us to die. We aren’t even aware that anything in us needs to die. Yes, this is mostly due to faulty teaching, and only enhances the stretching we experience when God decides to take us up on our offer to be used of Him. We all read about winepresses in the Bible but we need to take a moment and consider what a winepress is and how it functions.

i now understand that the taking me out of the unfavorable situation was like plucking the grape from the tree, pretty easy task, isn't it? But then comes the pressing to get the wine out! it is neither easy for the one pressing, nor for the grapes, and while the smashing is going on, it all looks like a mess and a waste of grapes. I remember an episode of "I Love Lucy" in which she found herself in a large tub stomping on grapes! They had grapes and juice flying everywhere, stompers getting all splattered and stained with juice. it was no pretty sight at all,  but, oh! When the wine is made, how sweet it is to the palate, how beautiful it is in the wineskin/bottle.

The grape had to be smashed because the flesh had to be all broken and removed for the juices to flow out. Likewise we have to be broken and smashed depending on how tough our shell is, to get the juices of the Holy Spirit flowing through, and out of us. Moses had a 40 year pressing experience and when he was ready, he felt he was least ready. Everything self had been beaten out of him. The same man who in Egypt had been royalty, very highly education and eloquent, was now so humble and quiet of spirit. He told the Lord upon being given the assignment that he could not speak! But see, now the graces of God could begin flowing out through him.

We’ll continue with my journey tomorrow should the Lord tarry.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, have your way in me, but please strengthen me to be still while you purify and make me ready for your use, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

#momomily2013 

God, My 7-11? (Part 8)

We must at this point, be reminded that we cannot merit the favor or grace of God. He freely gave His grace in giving His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ as a substitute and in propitiation for our sins.  We cannot merit His love either, because while we were yet sinners, He loved and gave His Son for us, to die in our place, and to satisfy the justified wrath of God. Whatever we do, His love for us cannot and will not diminish. His love for us is not determined by our conduct, it is determined by who He is, Love.

But does this absolve us of any and all responsibility? Not at all. We have to enter into, and take hold of that which He has done for us.  In that we cannot do this naturally, He has given His Holy Spirit to assist us in entering in. So, what exactly is our responsibility?  We have to accept the help of the Holy Spirit by faith and with humility.  Humility because our nature strives for self-sufficiency and independence. We have an “I can do it myself mindset.” To enter into a relationship with Christ however, we have to shed our independence and self-sufficiency and wholly lean on Him. This requires humility. We have to admit to our helplessness and hopelessness. If we don’t see this, we won’t see our need for Him and so we will not lean on, or place our trust in Him.

Also, let’s not forget that we are discussing why it seems that God is not answering our prayers and His children are seemingly in endless dire straits. It seems we pray and He doesn’t answer. Well, God is not a 7-11 we can run into at a moment’s notice to pick up a grocery item we overlooked when we went grocery shopping at Walmart! Yes, He said we should come with boldness to the throne of grace that we might obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. But we don’t run in there to pick up items for temporal or material comfort. We go there to pick up graces for a life more conformed to His requirements and which will bring us closer to His image and likeness as was His original plan. 

God is not to be a plan B, but our only plan. In His mercy, because He is love, He caters to us when we run or cry to Him after all else has failed. We’d be saving ourselves a great deal of heart ache if we would go to Him first, with no plans of going elsewhere.  He is not our 7-11. He is our all sufficiency, our all in all.  He is the provider, Jehovah Jirah.  He has more than we could ever need and wants to give it to us. Because He is God Omniscient, and Love, He will not give us what will hurt us or when it could hurt us.  And herein lies the problem we have with Him.

When I say what will hurt us, we have to remember that our understanding of hurt and God’s understanding of same differ greatly.  When something is inconvenient to our flesh or nature, we call it bad, but God may call it good, because it usually is that which He uses to draw us closer to Him.  The early Church Fathers counted it a great honor to be martyred for the cause of Christ, because they understood that the hurt of the flesh worked a grace into the soul that could not be attained otherwise.  This is what caused Apostle James to encourage us in James 1:2-4 when he said “consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations…so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking nothing.” (AMP)

King David learned to walk with God through his many afflictions and trials and he acknowledged in Psalm 119:67 that “Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept Thy Word.” (KJV)

Prayer

Help me Heavenly Father, as you did with King David, to understand that my afflictions are as purification and help me to now keep your Word, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

#momomily2013 

God, My 7-11? (Part 7)

Our Text: Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

We have turned around, changed directions and now are headed in the direction of the Lord.  But how do we proceed?  In Matthew 11:29, our Lord said, “ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

He wants us to learn from Him, and notice that He says that He is gentle and lowly in heart. God the Father required Christ to empty Himself completely, to divest Himself completely of His Heavenly glory and He did!  He followed God’s requirement to the uttermost, and so must we, if we are to victoriously follow Him. We must be gentle in that we must not be hardened to the things and requirements of our Lord. We must be lowly in heart in that we must be humble, we must completely deny ourselves and take up His interests and His alone.

Following Jesus means losing ourselves in Him. People like to “find themselves,” or “preserve their self -esteem,” or “maintain their personal identity.” All these must die, must be totally shed from us, then as we follow Him, we take on His identity and become more and more like Him. This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. This is the process whereby we are transformed by the renewing of our minds until we are conformed to His image.  Only as we progress along this path do we progress along the path of separation and/or holiness.

Now, our sense of self- preservation will kick and fight and the enemy will bring to bear upon us all manner of argument as to why it is dangerous to do this. If however, we have faith in Christ as we profess and we have turned from the way which seems right to us, (which way leads only to destruction), we will willingly divest ourselves and put Him on.

Let us remember that although this sounds complex, difficult and painful, it shouldn’t be so. We should abandon ourselves to Him.  The reason we don’t is because we don’t understand some of His requirements, we cannot reason them out and so we resist. We will not, on this side of Jordan understand our Lord fully, but our spirit in agreement with His Holy Spirit, will testify that that is the way we should go.  We need to humble ourselves and follow Him.

How can we follow His lead except we know what it is He is saying to us?  Much of our problems with the will and Word of God today stems from lack of study.  We are told in 2 Timothy 2:15 to “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  But we don’t want to study, we want someone else to study for us and come and feed it to us. We don’t even want to chew! How can Jesus Christ pay such a price for us and we can’t even study about Him? 

We claim to love Him and I know that when we love someone we want to know all we can about them. So if we love Jesus, should we then not try to know Him?  Let us examine ourselves and see if we truly love Him. Are we pursuing His interests, do we seek to please Him, do we care to know His will? Let us think on these things soberly and make necessary adjustments.

How about we find a Bible with the words of Christ in red? Let us study His Words and we’ll be well on our way to knowing Him.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, strengthen me to pursue my Lord, to seek to apprehend Him as He has apprehended me, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

#momomily2013