A Life that Is a Blessing to Others

The Lord wants us to be a blessing to others. This is one aspect of what it means to be a witness of who the Lord is. He is good and He wants to show to others who He is through Christians. NonChristians do not have the correct view of God due to our fallen natures from the sin of Adam and Eve. The devil has distorted our view of God and often it is twisted. We do not really believe the Lord loves us because if we did then we would run to Him. It is easy to believe that God is mad at us or that if we trusted Him with everything then He would do with us what we do not want and would deprive us of things that we think would make us happy. The list is endless of the lies that Satan has put into the heart of man of who God really is. None of the lies are true but we will never know that until we come to Him.

Acts 14:17 and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

The Lord is good and He gives to us even when we do not deserve it. He loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son. All who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior are blessed.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

When we receive Jesus Christ then we receive every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

He blessed us that we might be a blessing to others. He wants us to be a witness of who He is. John the Baptist was the first witness of who Jesus Christ is.

John 1:7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.

The Lord wants us to be a witness of who He is that others may believe in Him. He is not desiring that any should perish but that all might believe in Him.

John 15:26,27 When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

The purpose of a witness is to testify about something or someone. We are to testify to the world that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. He is the only One who can do this because He is God and took the penalty for our sin. We are to testify that God is good by the works that we do, which are to be good works because God is good.

Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

The Lord Jesus Christ has saved us by His grace through faith in Him. Not as a result of any works that we have done but that we may do good works and testify to the world who He is, that He is good.

Titus 3:3-5a For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy,

We all were foolish at one time, being disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in doing wrong and having evil in our hearts– but He saved us. He showed us mercy and forgave us and He wants us to go out into the world and do the same. Is there anyone you need to forgive and show mercy to? That person may be the one whom Jesus Christ wants to save next. The greatest blessing that we can give to others is to show them who God is through our lives and remove any obstacles that prevent them from coming to know Him as their Savior and Lord.

 

 

 

A Life that is Seen, Known and Loved

It is an awful feeling to think that no one notices you or cares about you. Children from a very young age will do whatever they need to do to be seen and loved. From cradle to grave we want to feel that someone sees us, knows us, understands us and loves us. There is only One who sees us all of the time, who knows us fully and understands us completely and loves us perfectly.

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, You know it all. Psalm 139:1-4

The Lord is the One who loves us totally for He made us to be in a love relationship with Him. We are the ones who have run from God, denied Him, hidden from Him and turned our back on Him. He loves us still and is still calling to each one of us to come back to Him. He knows our failures, He knows the very thoughts of our heart, He knows when we do not want to come to Him and yet He still pursues us with His love. He also knows how we will fail in the future. He knows the very words we will speak before they are spoken and yet He still wants us to know His great love. There is none to compare with Him.

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You. Psalm 139:17,18

Even though He thinks continually of us and we rarely think of God and do not pursue Him, He still loves us. It is to our own loss that we do not turn to Him. However, when the pain in life is so great then we will think about God. God understands our pain and our suffering. God so loved us that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die for us, that we might know His great love for us.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16

Jesus Christ suffered more than any man and He suffered for us. He knows what it feels like to be despised and hated. He knows the feelings of rejection and pain. He knows what it is like to be hurt for no reason. People would hide from Him because He was so unliked and disrespected.

For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Isaiah 53:2,3

Jesus Christ took our sorrows. He bore our griefs. Those who knew Him thought that He had issues, when, in fact, He came to take our issues and afflictions away through His death. He was pierced through for our sins and He was crushed for our “turning our backs” on God and wanting to go our “own way” and “do our own thing”. All of our sins, shame and guilt were laid on Him on the cross, although He had done no wrong nor was any guilt found in Him.

Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him. Isaiah 53:4-6

He never defended Himself nor did He blame us. It was for our sins that He suffered and experienced the wrath of God so that the wrath of God could be turned away from us. Jesus Christ wanted us to see God, to know God, to understand God and to experience the love of God. Jesus Christ went to the cross because He saw us and our great need for a Savior and He knew we needed a Lord to be in control of our life. He also knew that we needed to understand that He was a loving God who loves us with a sacrificial love and that He knows our every need and desire before we even ask Him. Jesus Christ went to the cross because He wanted us to be in a love relationship with Him. He took our place and our punishment for our sins so that we would be blameless and righteous before God and could live in His love forever.

These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Matthew 25:26

Jesus Christ did everything for us except He can not choose for us. Love is a choice and we must choose to receive what He did for us. When we cry out to Him then we will experience His salvation and we will be set free from the things that we are in bondage to. Often, it is not until we are in pain and suffering will we turn our face towards Him. When we cry out to Him and turn towards Him then He hears our cries, He sees our pain, He knows our suffering and He understands our needs. However, not does He just hear, see, know and understand but He acts on our behalf. He saves us and sets us free. He saves us from ourselves and our own destructive thoughts and actions and He sets us free from our bondage when we can not set ourselves free. He restores us and heals us. He refreshes us and gives us life. He also gives us a future which is far better than we could ever imagine. He becomes our Lord and our Savior and comes to live within us.

…and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw the sons of Israel, and God knew them. Exodus 2:24b, 25

When we cry out to God then God hears. The Lord remembers what Jesus Christ did for us. The Lord sees us and He knows and understands us. We must be seen to be known and understood and loved. The amazing thing about God’s love is that not only does He hear, see, know and understand us but He allows us in His great mercy and grace to hear Him, to see Him, to know Him and to understand Him. All of this happens when we come into that love relationship with God. It all begins when we cry out to Him.

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. I john 3:1a

When this great love of God is bestowed on us then He gives us a pure heart that allows us to see Him.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8

When we come to Him and receive His gift of forgiveness then He also becomes our Great Shepherd and we can hear Him.

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; John 10:27

When we come to know Jesus Christ in a personal way then we discover that there is nothing that compares with knowing Him and we will even count everything to be loss rather than lose the joy and privilege of knowing God.

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, Philippians 3:8

When we become born again into God’s family through Jesus Christ, not only do we hear Him, see Him, know Him but we can also understand Him. Knowledge of God is understanding and the Holy Spirit opens our heart to understand God.

And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. I John 5:20

Finally, it is only when we come to know and understand who Jesus Christ is that we see that there is salvation in no one else.

And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12

Christianity is not a religion but a relationship with Jesus Christ. Religion is man trying to reach God and religion or any other religious leaders can never save anyone. Jesus Christ is God reaching down to all of mankind and offering salvation and forgiveness to any who will receive Jesus Christ. For this reason, no one but a true Christian can have the assurance of the salvation of their soul and eternal life. God gives that peace only to those who know God through Jesus Christ.

And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. I John 5:11-13

A Life with Love Is Pleasing

After Adam and Eve came Seth and then Seth had a son named Enosh and then men began to call on the Lord.

To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord. Genesis 4:26

It was not until the seventh generation after Adam that Enoch was born. Enoch obtained the witness that he was pleasing to God.

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. Hebrews 11:5

The Lord says that Enoch prophesied and that he also lived by faith. There is not much more we know about Enoch other than that he obtained the witness before his being taken up that he was pleasing to God and that God took him up so that he would not see death.

It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. Jude 14-16

Who were these men that Enoch prophesied about so many hundreds of years earlier. These were ungodly men who did ungodly deeds in an ungodly way. They also spoke ungodly things about our Lord Jesus Christ.

For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Jude 4

These ungodly people whom Enoch prophesied about were people who turn the grace of God in licentiousness. Licentiousness is basically saying that because we are “under grace” we can do whatever we want to do. We have a license to sin. We are not under the law but under grace therefore, we are free to do whatever we think is right. This also characterized the children of God in the Old Testament when they were at one of their lowest points.

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Judges 21:25

The people also were warned about this earlier.

You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes; Deuteronomy 12:8

What also characterizes these ungodly people who will experience condemnation?

These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. Jude 16

The ungodly are grumblers, who find fault in others. They also follow after their own lusts and speak like they “know it all”. They are also manipulators through their flattery, which is the characteristic also of the immoral woman.

But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” Jude 17,18

How can we keep from being deceived by these ungodly people who come into the church? The best way is to remember the words of Scripture that the Lord gave to us through His apostles.

These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. Jude 19

Not everyone who is in the church is part of the church, which is, the body of Christ.

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. Jude 20.21

The Lord tells us through Jude to build ourselves up in the faith. We need to pray in the Spirit and keep ourselves in the love of God. We keep ourselves in the love of God by keeping His commandments while waiting anxiously for His mercy when we comes again or when we go home to be with Him.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. Jude 24,25

Our faith is in Him, who is able to keep us from stumbling and to make us stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy. To Him alone belongs all glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever.

But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man. Luke 21:36

Jesus, Himself, said that we need to pray that we may have the strength to escape what is coming and to stand before Him when He returns.

If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out, Then how can you compete with horses? If you fall down in a land of peace, How will you do in the thicket of the Jordan? Jeremiah 12:5

If you find yourself falling and struggling now in a relatively time of peace, what will you do when the persecution for being a Christian gets even greater? Strengthen your heart in the Lord Jesus Christ through time with Him in His Word and prayer while you can so that you may stand before Him when He comes again. Seek to be pleasing to the Lord just as Enoch was. There is a good possibility that the people that Enoch talked about also lived in his day. Enoch lived by faith and obtained the witness that he was pleasing to God. The Lord did not allow him to see death. The wages of sin is death. This is what it means to be kept from falling and stumbling in the Christian life. The Lord is able to keep you also from seeing death. When you love someone you want to please them.

A Life that Is Blessed in This Life

When Jesus Christ taught His followers one  of the things that He taught them was how to be blessed in this life. The Lord wants to bless you. This is who He is. He delights in unchanging love and He wants you to be blessed.

Micah 7:18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity
And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?
He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in unchanging love.

The Lord loves us. He forgives our sins when we repent and ask Him for forgiveness. He holds no grudges and does not reward us according to our sins but blesses us according to His lovingkindness.

Psalm 103:8-10 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

It was God’s love that sent Jesus Christ to earth to show us the way to God. He not only came to die for our sins but to make disciples who would make disciples who would make more disciples and that each disciple would pass on to the next disciple what the Lord had taught while on earth.

John 16:29-31 His disciples said, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech. Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.”Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?

When finally His disciples understood and believed that Jesus Christ was sent from God then Jesus knew that He had accomplished the work that the Father had given Him to do.

John 17:3,4 This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.

Once His disciples believed then they could receive the Holy Spirit (after his death and resurrection) and go out and do the work the Lord Jesus Christ had given them to do, and that was to do with others what Jesus Christ had done for them…teaching them all things to live a blessed life in His kingdom in earth.

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

God’s Word fits together like a puzzle and reveals to us who God is and His will and purposes for us. At the beginning of the ministry of Jesus when he taught His disciples how to pray He mentioned God’s will being done on earth. The Great Commission is teaching His disciples to do His will on earth as it is done in heaven.

Matthew 6:9,10 Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.

 

 

 

A Life with Love Is Not Prideful

After Adam sinned he hid himself because he was afraid. He was afraid of how the Lord would respond. No longer was Adam responding to the Lord in obedience but Adam initiated sin and now he was anticipating God’s response. He speculated and presumed that the Lord would not be pleased and may even be angry so he hid himself. The relationship now had gotten turned around because Adam had sinned and it was no longer according to God’s blueprint. God is the initiator and man is the responder. The One who is the leader and begins the relationship is the initiator.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:26-28

God began the love relationship with man and God had a plan for Adam and Eve. He gave them a purpose in life and a calling. He gave the man and woman glory when He made them in the image of God. He crowned them with honor.

What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
Yet You have made him a little lower than God,
And You crown him with glory and majesty!
You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
All sheep and oxen,
And also the beasts of the field,
The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,
Whatever passes through the paths of the seas. Psalm 8:4-8

Adam and Eve in their pride and foolishness disobeyed God and were no longer responding to His love for them. They thought they knew better than God. They became in a sense like God but since they were not God, they failed miserably and lost everything. They lost their fellowship with God and they lost their glory and honor. They lost the trust that God had in them. They lost their home. They lost the joy of being in God’s presence. They lost experiencing His love. They lost it all because of their pride.

When pride comes, then comes dishonor,
But with the humble is wisdom. Proverbs 11:2

In a similar way, the man is the leader in his relationship with a woman. He is to be the initiator and she is to be the responder. The man is the one who initiates and begins the marriage. God has made the husband to be primarily responsible for the marriage.

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18

The woman is called to respond to and follow her husband. It is a woman’s pride that makes her want to control the relationship. It is not God’s blueprint for marriage. God made the man first and brought the woman to him. If you want your marriage to be successful then you must follow God’s plan and have your marriage be built after God’s blueprint.

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.” Genesis 2:21-23

The marriage relationship is to be a picture of God’s relationship with man. If you are a wife then your relationship with your husband is a picture of your relationship with the Lord. If you are a husband then your relationship with your wife is a picture of how well you understand and know the Lord and His love and how obedient you are to Him.

This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. Ephesians 5:32,33

If a wife is and does as God has called her to be and do, then she will be the crown of her husband. She will receive glory and be crowned with honor.

An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, Proverbs 12:4a

If the husband does and is as God would have him then he will have that excellent wife whose worth far exceeds jewels. His heart will trust her and he will not lack gain. She will do him good all the days of her life.

An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
And he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good and not evil
All the days of her life. Proverbs 31:10-12

A Life of Blessed Faith

There are two kinds of faith. There is a faith that is an intellectual faith where we believe with our minds. The other kind of faith is a heart faith. We can believe with our minds but not with our hearts. Many people believe with their minds but few believe with their hearts. When Jesus walked on earth there were the two kinds of faith evidenced. When we have heart faith God changes and saves us but intellectual faith only pacifies the one with it and there are no changes.

Matthew 21:32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.

Many of the religious leaders believed that John the Baptist came in the way of righteousness but they did not believe with their hearts but only with their minds. Heart faith will act on the words which are heard. The words will go into their hearts and effect a change within the heart that will be seen in the actions of the person. Many of the tax collectors and prostitutes had heart faith and their lives were changed.

Luke 8:5-8a “The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled under foot and the birds of the air ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great.”

Jesus knew the hearts of men and so He told this parable to the people about the different kinds of hearts. This is a parable about the hearts of men. Three of these people believed the Word of God but only one had an honest and good heart faith.

Luke 8:11-15 Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God. Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved. Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away.The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.

In the first soil the Word of God is kept from entering the mind or the heart of the hearer. In the second soil the Word of God only enters the mind but never goes into the heart of the hearer. In time the recipient falls away because the Word of God never took root in their heart. The third soil heard the Word of God but because their hearts were already so cluttered and filled with other things the Word of God never took deep roots in those hearts either. Their lives did not bear mature fruit. The last person heard the Word of God with an honest and good heart. They held the Word of God fast to their hearts and bore fruit with perseverance.

Mark 4:20 And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.

The same parable is repeated in the Gospel of Mark and the word “hear” means “keeps on hearing” in the original language of the Bible. It is a continuation of hearing and not just hearing once but “keeping on hearing”. This is how we hold fast the Word of God in our hearts. Since no one was born with an “honest and good heart” we need to hear the Word continually so that the Word of God will do its work of cleansing in our hearts so that we can receive the Word with an “honest and good heart”.

John 15:3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

Once we receive the Word of God with an “honest and good heart” then we need to persevere in applying it to our lives so that we might bear fruit. All of us have need of perseverance. The Lord takes us to new levels of obedience and faith and stretches us toward maturity that is reached through perseverance and endurance.

Hebrews 10:36-39 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while,
He who is coming will come, and will not delay.
But My righteous one shall live by faith;
And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

If you find that you are weak in faith and need encouragement then read God’s Word for He will speak to your heart. Go and talk to a more mature Christian whose faith has been tested and who has endured and persevered when there did not seem much hope. The Lord is faithful but sometimes we need to reminded and encouraged. Don’t lose heart. Pray to the Lord and He will help you. This is His instruction to us when our faith is weak and our heart is faint.

Luke 18:1 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart,

 

 

A Life with Love Does Not Judge

Love does not judge others and love does not condemn others. There will be a place for judgment and there will be a time for condemnation but we are not in that place or that time.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. John 3:16,17

Those who believe in Jesus Christ will not be judged. They have passed out of judgment into life.

He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:18

Those who are afraid of being judged have already been judged by their own life.

This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. John 3:19,20

Each person will judged and condemned by their own words.

But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:36,37

Judgment day is coming.

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, Hebrews 9:27

It will be a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a living God.

For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:26-31

The Lord will judge the Christian and the Lord will judge the non-Christian.

But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. I Corinthians 11:31,32

Either we can judge ourselves or we can let the Lord judge us. If we judge ourselves rightly then we will not be judged by the Lord, for we will have judged ourselves according to His truth.

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:8,9

The only way that we can judge ourselves rightly is according to God’s Word. We must look intently into God’s Word and let it be a mirror of our heart. Then when we see the wickedness and evil of our heart then we can confess to the Lord what is true. We have all sinned and our hearts are deceptive.

But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. James 1:22-25

How much of the Word of God are we actually doing? It is only what we are doing that we really believe. Faith is acting on God’s Word. Faith and fear can not live together in the same person. Anything that is not of faith is sin.

and whatever is not from faith is sin.Romans 14:23b

Are you growing strong in faith or are you controlled by your fears?

yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, Romans 4:20

The Lord did not give us a spirit of fear.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. II Timothy 1:7

The only way that a person can live life fully with an absence of fear is if he lives a life of faith and obedience, fearing the only One who has all power and with whom judgment belongs. When you fear God then you see His love and that love empowers you to believe Him and live a life of faith.

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. John 15:13,14

God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world or to condemn the world but that the world might know His great love. Those who love Jesus Christ and keep His commandments know His love. Those who don’t love Jesus Christ have brought judgment and condemnation on themselves because they have not believed in the One who came to love them and give them life. Love is a choice and the Lord gives us the choice of life, forgiveness and love through Jesus Christ or death, judgment and condemnation apart from Jesus Christ.

A Life that Abides in Blessedness

The word “abide” means to live. All of us want to live in a blessed state since one of the definitions of “blessed” is happy. The Lord wants us to abide in Him and His Words to abide in us. The Lord blesses His Word. He has obligated Himself to be faithful to His Words and His Words bring blessing.

John 15:7-11 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

If you will learn to abide in the Lord and allow His Words to abide in you then you can ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. Of course, when you abide in Him and His Words abide in you then the longing of your heart will be to keep His Words, which are His commandments to us. When we keep His commandments then we will abide in His love. Your joy will also be made full.

Deuteronomy 28:1,2 Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God

The Lord says that His blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey His commandments. You might think that Jesus Christ came to take away the Old Testament Law and that if you are a “New Testament” Christian then you do not need to obey the Old Testament Law. Not so, He fulfilled all of the Law and completed the sacrificial Law since He was the sacrifice for all sins promised from the beginning in the garden of Eden. He did not nullify the moral law but fulfilled the sacrificial law.

Matthew 5:17-19 Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

The Lord Jesus Christ gave His followers a new commandment and did not abolish the previous commandments other than the ritualistic cleansing commandments concerning food.

John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

The Lord wants us to remember His commandment and the commandments written beforehand in the Old Testament in how to live.

II Peter 3:2 that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.

If we keep the Lord’s new commandment then we will keep all of the Old Testament commandments because they are all summed up in loving God and loving each other.

Romans 13:8-10 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

The Lord gave us both the New Testament and the Old Testament for our instruction.

Romans 15:4 For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Grace does not free us from doing right but allows us to do what is right and thus fulfill all righteousness. The Law is righteous and good and when we keep all of God’s words and commandments then we are loving those around us. The Lord promises great blessing to those who abide in His Words and keep His commandments.

Isaiah 32:17 And the work of righteousness will be peace,
And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.

Do you have peace in your life? What about do you live with quietness and confidence? If you are frustrated then go back to the Bible and ask the Lord to help you learn His ways of doing life, work, relationships, ministry or whatever it is He has you doing. He will teach you His ways and lead you in paths of righteousness.

A Life with Love Can Be Forsaken

True love does not forsake but love can be forsaken. Love is always a choice. If there was no choice then it would not be love. God gave man the freedom to choose. Man can love God or man can leave God. You can choose to love your spouse or you can choose to leave your spouse. There is the freedom of choice in love. Love is an act of the will and is not based on an emotion. Emotions come and go but we can always choose to love and when we choose to love our emotions will follow. God chose to love man even when man chose to not love God.

They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” Genesis 3:8-10

Adam and Eve were afraid because they had forsaken the Lord and they hid themselves from God. If we feel guilty then we don’t want to see the one who we have sinned against. Adam and Eve had sinned against God by desiring something other than what God had for them. Even in their sin the Lord had not forsaken them and He still sought to love them and provided for their needs and gave them hope through a promise.

He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.” Genesis 3:15b

The Lord promised a Savior who would crush Satan on the head.

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. Genesis 3:21

The Lord provided clothes for Adam and Eve.

Then you are to say to them, ‘It is because your forefathers have forsaken Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and have followed other gods and served them and bowed down to them; but Me they have forsaken and have not kept My law. Jeremiah 16:11

Just as Adam and Eve forsook the Lord when they did not obey Him, so we also, when we do not obey the Lord we too are forsaking Him for another god. It may be the “god of fleshly pleasure or fleshly desire” or we may be forsaking Him by pursuing the “god of the boastful pride of life” and neglecting spending time with Him in His Word or in prayer.

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. I John 2:15-17

Anything that we love more than God or in place of God has become an idol in our heart. We can not love God and love idols. Anything that keeps us from doing the will of God, by obeying His Word, has caused us to forsake God and His love for us.

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. Matthew 6:24a

We can not serve two masters. We will love one and hate the other. We can not serve God and serve something else. The love of God is what must be our one and only choice.

He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 10:37-39

We must love God more than any other human relationship. We must love God more than life itself. When we love God more than all else then we will find love and life.

O Lord, the hope of Israel, All who forsake You will be put to shame. Those who turn away on earth will be written down, Because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, even the Lord. Jeremiah 17:13

Those who forsake the Lord and His love will be put to shame.

And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You. Psalm 9:10

The Lord will not forsake those who trust in Him and seek Him.

Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:7

The Lord gives us a choice. We can love Him and forsake all others or we can go our own way and forsake Him. Just as in a marriage, we must choose to love our spouse and forsake all others or we can forsake our spouse and “love” another. Love is a choice. Christianity is a love relationship with God that is based on God’s love for us and our response to His love. Will we forsake “our” way and turn to Him or will we continue to go “our” way and indulge in “our” unrighteous thoughts? If we will turn to Him with all of our heart then He will have compassion on us and He will forgive.

The Lord is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. Psalm 145:8

A Life that is Much Blessed

A life that is blessed has the same characteristics of a home that is blessed and a nation that is blessed. When you are blessed then you are happy and you will be a blessing to others. The Lord blesses us so that we will be a blessing to others.

Exodus 20:24 …in every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.

When His name is remembered then He will come to you and bless you. You must do all that you can do to remember his name. Bring the name of Jesus into your conversation. Bless His holy name. He also says that He has exalted His Word together with His name.

Psalm 138:2 …For You have magnified Your word together with Your name.

Share His Word in conversation with others. Put it on your walls and wherever else you can to remember it. Most important of all, put it in your heart so that it will be on your mind all day long. Then you will talk to Him about His Word. He “delights in the prayer of the righteous”. Not only will He bless you but you will bring Him delight.

Psalm 145:18 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.

The Lord will come to you when you call upon Him through His Word. In the same way, when a family calls on Him through His Word and when a nation calls upon Him through His Word He will come to them also. His Word is truth.

John 17:17 …Your word is truth.