Today is Memorial Day and we as a nation are honoring those who have served our country in the military and have given the ultimate sacrifice. As we take a day to relax from work and spend time with family and friends, let’s also take some time today to pray for the families of those who have had family members killed while serving in the armed services. Let’s also take some time to pray for our President and national and local leaders. Their decisions largely determine our continued freedom as a nation.
Many Christians do not understand how to balance what the Ten Commandments say about murder with serving in the military and facing the need to kill an enemy endangering national security. As a result, many are pacifists and believe that national peace can be secured by diplomacy alone.
Let’s first of all look at some fundamental facts. Thou shalt not kill should actually be translated Thou shalt do no murder. The prohibition is against premeditated murder. Understand that the same God that said Thou shalt not murder also told the Israelites to go to battle and kill their enemy during the conquests of Canaan their promised land. And God told them that He would empower them in battle and help them defeat their enemy. This is the killing of an enemy to spare a nation from annihilation by an enemy set on their destruction and this kind of killing for the defense of a nation is allowed by God.
A strong national defense is a deterrent to an enemy that is set on a nation’s downfall. A strong national defense actually encourages peace because it sends a strong message to those seeking to undermine a nation’s security. Because of the wicked fallen human condition, a nation must defend itself against attack. As Paul said in Romans 12, we should seek, as much as lies within us, to live peaceably with all men. That’s not always the easiest thing to do in the light of the depravity and wickedness of man.
As you enjoy your peaceful holiday today, please pray for our nation. Our international enemies would love for our nation to fall into ruin. Many are seeking to steal the liberties that we as a people enjoy. We are hated by extremist that are actively seeking ways to destroy America. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray that our nation would continue to be a friend of Israel. Our national survival hinges on how we as a nation deal with Israel.
And remember the sacrifices made for your freedom. Peace through military strength will be necessary until the millennial reign of Christ when the nations will beat their swords into plowshares!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Christians and the Military
Posted on Monday, May 31, 2010 at 7:38 AM by Pastor Mitch
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Praying without Presumption
Posted on Sunday, May 30, 2010 at 4:42 AM by Pastor Mitch
Some people have the idea that we can just ask for anything we want, and, because God promises to answer prayer, we can get whatever we desire. While that could be true in a technical sense, it is very unwise. And this kind of attitude reeks with spiritual immaturity.
God has promised to answer our requests. I could cite here numerous scriptures to the affirmative. But we are called, not to do as we please, and just selfishly spout out requests to the Lord off the cuff, but to be branches of the vine. We are called to allow Him to live His life in us. We are extensions of Jesus and His ministry. Jesus came not to do His own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him.
Here’s a case in point. God wanted Israel to be a nation of kings and priests. But Israel wanted a king like other nations. God told Israel that a king would make life very hard for them and that He had a better way for them. But Israel persisted in their request, and God granted them a king even though it wasn’t His highest and best for them.
I’ve learned to be very careful as to what I ask for in prayer. It takes me longer to wait on God in prayer and find out how He wants me to pray and exercise my faith about a matter than it does to actually pray. The prayer of faith doesn’t take a lot of time to pray.
Don’t just run into personal prayer and ask for something off the top of your head. The major key to effective personal prayer is to spend the time necessary to feel the Father’s heart before you pray. Jesus said it best: If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done for you (John 15:7). Abiding, living, fellowshipping, and being intimate with Jesus is the key to prayer without being presumptuous.
David said it this way: Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). When you put God first place in your life, He will place in you a desire to do what He wants you to do. You see, we’re not calling the shots, He is! And He knows what’s best for us.
I’m discussing here the “gray” areas of life that the Bible doesn’t have a specific answer to give. I know how to pray for healing or finances, or for some thing that is clearly revealed in scripture. But it’s the in between areas, like where you should work, or who you should marry, or whether or not to buy that house, or some other thing that is really up to you to make a decision. These things must be prayerfully pondered or you could end up with a result you weren’t looking for! That’s what happened to Israel.
Pray before you exercise your faith, and make sure that what you’re asking for in these gray areas of life are God’s highest and best for you!
God has promised to answer our requests. I could cite here numerous scriptures to the affirmative. But we are called, not to do as we please, and just selfishly spout out requests to the Lord off the cuff, but to be branches of the vine. We are called to allow Him to live His life in us. We are extensions of Jesus and His ministry. Jesus came not to do His own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him.
Here’s a case in point. God wanted Israel to be a nation of kings and priests. But Israel wanted a king like other nations. God told Israel that a king would make life very hard for them and that He had a better way for them. But Israel persisted in their request, and God granted them a king even though it wasn’t His highest and best for them.
I’ve learned to be very careful as to what I ask for in prayer. It takes me longer to wait on God in prayer and find out how He wants me to pray and exercise my faith about a matter than it does to actually pray. The prayer of faith doesn’t take a lot of time to pray.
Don’t just run into personal prayer and ask for something off the top of your head. The major key to effective personal prayer is to spend the time necessary to feel the Father’s heart before you pray. Jesus said it best: If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done for you (John 15:7). Abiding, living, fellowshipping, and being intimate with Jesus is the key to prayer without being presumptuous.
David said it this way: Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). When you put God first place in your life, He will place in you a desire to do what He wants you to do. You see, we’re not calling the shots, He is! And He knows what’s best for us.
I’m discussing here the “gray” areas of life that the Bible doesn’t have a specific answer to give. I know how to pray for healing or finances, or for some thing that is clearly revealed in scripture. But it’s the in between areas, like where you should work, or who you should marry, or whether or not to buy that house, or some other thing that is really up to you to make a decision. These things must be prayerfully pondered or you could end up with a result you weren’t looking for! That’s what happened to Israel.
Pray before you exercise your faith, and make sure that what you’re asking for in these gray areas of life are God’s highest and best for you!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Physical and Spiritual Fitness
Posted on Saturday, May 29, 2010 at 8:23 AM by Pastor Mitch
I’ve been jogging and exercising regularly since 1983 and I can personally attest to its benefits. The enormous physical benefits affect the cardio-vascular system, the digestive system, the skeletal system, the immune system, as well as the psychological and emotional dimensions of life. The benefits so far exceed the personal discipline that has been necessary to keep this habit going all these years.
As wonderful as exercise is, it is not nearly as beneficial as spiritual exercise. Notice 1Timothy 4:8 (Amplified): For physical training is of some value (useful for a little), but godliness (spiritual training) is useful and of value in everything and in every way, for it holds promise for the present life and also for the life which is to come.
Years ago I began a journey of discipling myself to spend time daily in the word and in prayer. As much as I've benefited from the physical exercise, it doesn't hold a candle to the benefits I've gained from tithing my time to the Father each day in time spent with Him alone. It's affected every area of my life, and has made me what I am today.
Spending daily time in the word and in prayer keeps the flesh under, magnified spiritual values, helps you keep the proper perspective in tests, elevates the fruit of the spirit to the forefront of personality, keeps you attuned to the heartbeat of God for your life, warns you of impending danger and prepares for storms that may be ahead, minimizes stress, keeps faith and hope burning brightly, enables the love of God, manifests the peace of God, and keeps the world, the flesh, and the devil at bay.
And the godliness produced by spending time in the word and prayer has benefits not only in this life, but will bring eternal rewards. The spiritual exercise of godliness makes deposits for you in the eternal realm where you are going to spend the majority of your time. As much as I benefit physically from jogging, it doesn’t hold water to what happens when I daily spend time with the Father.
I’d encourage you to practice both physical exercise and godliness. That way, you gain the maximum benefit in this life and the next!
As wonderful as exercise is, it is not nearly as beneficial as spiritual exercise. Notice 1Timothy 4:8 (Amplified): For physical training is of some value (useful for a little), but godliness (spiritual training) is useful and of value in everything and in every way, for it holds promise for the present life and also for the life which is to come.
Years ago I began a journey of discipling myself to spend time daily in the word and in prayer. As much as I've benefited from the physical exercise, it doesn't hold a candle to the benefits I've gained from tithing my time to the Father each day in time spent with Him alone. It's affected every area of my life, and has made me what I am today.
Spending daily time in the word and in prayer keeps the flesh under, magnified spiritual values, helps you keep the proper perspective in tests, elevates the fruit of the spirit to the forefront of personality, keeps you attuned to the heartbeat of God for your life, warns you of impending danger and prepares for storms that may be ahead, minimizes stress, keeps faith and hope burning brightly, enables the love of God, manifests the peace of God, and keeps the world, the flesh, and the devil at bay.
And the godliness produced by spending time in the word and prayer has benefits not only in this life, but will bring eternal rewards. The spiritual exercise of godliness makes deposits for you in the eternal realm where you are going to spend the majority of your time. As much as I benefit physically from jogging, it doesn’t hold water to what happens when I daily spend time with the Father.
I’d encourage you to practice both physical exercise and godliness. That way, you gain the maximum benefit in this life and the next!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Facing Impossible Circumstances
Posted on Friday, May 28, 2010 at 4:37 AM by Pastor Mitch
But the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with Himself and took possession of him, and he blew a trumpet, and [the clan of] Abiezer was gathered to him (Judg 6:34 - Amplified).
When you first see Gideon in Judges, he is hiding behind a piece of farm equipment as he threshed wheat to hide it from the Midianite army. The Midianites would attack Israel during their harvest season and steal their food. It was a great oppression to Israel. And an angel appeared to Gideon and called him a mighty man of valor while he was in hiding!
Gideon’s response was to remind the angel that he born on the “wrong side of the tracks” and that he was the smallest in his father’s household. The bottom line was that God saw Gideon differently than he saw himself. Gideon focused on his weakness while the Father focused on his strengths. God saw in Gideon the leader that he was, even though the circumstances showed his personal cowardice! Your opinion of yourself may not agree with God’s! He knows you better than you know yourself and he sees the latent abilities that you can’t see in you!
Then to top it off, God told Gideon that he would defeat the Midianites. So Gideon amassed an army of 32,000 men for the task. When God was finished telling Gideon the criteria the men must fulfill to fight this battle, the army dwindled to 300 men! What looked impossible from natural human thinking was so easy from God’s perspective. The Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with Himself, and took possession of him. You see, God and one man make a majority! God has the ability and wisdom. All He needs is yielded flesh and blood. Not Charisma! Not Wit! Not raw human power! God only needs a human emptied of self-ability who is willing to be clothed with power from on High!
You may face impossible circumstances today. Failure may seem inevitable. On your own, it may be. Take the time to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. He sees what you can’t see. What seems impossible to you is so easy to Him! Take His word into your mouth today and begin to say what the Father says about you, your circumstances, your life, and your future. Call those things that be not as though they were. Confess that you have God’s strength, power, wisdom, and ability, and that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. The Father working in you makes the impossible possible. What He did for Gideon He will do for you.
When you first see Gideon in Judges, he is hiding behind a piece of farm equipment as he threshed wheat to hide it from the Midianite army. The Midianites would attack Israel during their harvest season and steal their food. It was a great oppression to Israel. And an angel appeared to Gideon and called him a mighty man of valor while he was in hiding!
Gideon’s response was to remind the angel that he born on the “wrong side of the tracks” and that he was the smallest in his father’s household. The bottom line was that God saw Gideon differently than he saw himself. Gideon focused on his weakness while the Father focused on his strengths. God saw in Gideon the leader that he was, even though the circumstances showed his personal cowardice! Your opinion of yourself may not agree with God’s! He knows you better than you know yourself and he sees the latent abilities that you can’t see in you!
Then to top it off, God told Gideon that he would defeat the Midianites. So Gideon amassed an army of 32,000 men for the task. When God was finished telling Gideon the criteria the men must fulfill to fight this battle, the army dwindled to 300 men! What looked impossible from natural human thinking was so easy from God’s perspective. The Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with Himself, and took possession of him. You see, God and one man make a majority! God has the ability and wisdom. All He needs is yielded flesh and blood. Not Charisma! Not Wit! Not raw human power! God only needs a human emptied of self-ability who is willing to be clothed with power from on High!
You may face impossible circumstances today. Failure may seem inevitable. On your own, it may be. Take the time to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. He sees what you can’t see. What seems impossible to you is so easy to Him! Take His word into your mouth today and begin to say what the Father says about you, your circumstances, your life, and your future. Call those things that be not as though they were. Confess that you have God’s strength, power, wisdom, and ability, and that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. The Father working in you makes the impossible possible. What He did for Gideon He will do for you.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Dealing with Temptation
Posted on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 5:57 AM by Pastor Mitch
But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions). (James 1:14 – Amplified)
The most dangerous person in my life is me! Self deception hinders more people in God than perhaps any other one thing. We all must ruthlessly deal with ourselves, honestly admitting our areas of weakness to the Lord, to ourselves, and if necessary, to another trusted friend.
The verse above is written to believers. Every believer has a built in Achilles heel. Notice that every believer is tempted when he or she is drawn away by his own evil desire. What is this? This refers to what you allowed in your life before Christ. And it may be different for each person.
The seeds of the sins of the flesh committed before Jesus came into your life are still in the recesses of your soul. They lay there latent, dormant, waiting for you to feed them. They are fed by giving them attention in your thought life. You allowed your mind, emotions, will, and flesh to do certain things before Christ that, if you do them now may break your fellowship with the Father. This is your personal strong desire mentioned in the above verse. And these things must be guarded against for the rest of your life. It may be anger, a tendency towards holding a grudge, fears of any sort, gossip, jealously, envy, self-centeredness, or any of the sins of the flesh like adultery, fornication, or lust. It may over eating, drug or alcohol use.
The key is to know yourself and be aware of what tempts you. Here are three keys to keep you free from your past. The first one is to maintain a close, regular, and daily intimate fellowship with the Father in the Word and in prayer. Our spiritual life should be the energy center of life. And the spiritual resources of sincere prayer and quality time in the Word give us a tune up spiritually and help keep our flesh under. If you don’t keep your spirit fed, your flesh will rise.
Secondly, watch your close friendships carefully. 1 Corinthians 15:33 - Amplified reads: Do not be so deceived and misled! Evil companionships (communion, associations) corrupt and deprave good manners and morals and character. Close association and friendship with those who have no spiritual values will dampen your spiritual life and lessen your spiritual fervor. Their values and ideals will rub off on you. I am friendly with unbelievers and with believers who are carnal and refuse to discipline their flesh. But I refuse to “hang out” with them in a close way. It wouldn’t work anyway, because I would challenge the wrong behavior! At some point, you either make a decision to step away from those who compromise or you may become like them.
Lastly, draw the line of demarcation in your life. That is, refuse to go places or do things that will stir up past sins in your life. Don’t hang around the person that gossips if that was a previous problem. Don’t look at the risqué movie or TV program; it will only entice the problem you had before. Don’t hang out with those who are casual drinkers if that was in your past. Apply this rule to whatever you were involved in pre-Christ!
Daily fellowship with the Father, godly associations, and drawing the line of demarcation in your life will help shield you from falling into previous patterns of living!
The most dangerous person in my life is me! Self deception hinders more people in God than perhaps any other one thing. We all must ruthlessly deal with ourselves, honestly admitting our areas of weakness to the Lord, to ourselves, and if necessary, to another trusted friend.
The verse above is written to believers. Every believer has a built in Achilles heel. Notice that every believer is tempted when he or she is drawn away by his own evil desire. What is this? This refers to what you allowed in your life before Christ. And it may be different for each person.
The seeds of the sins of the flesh committed before Jesus came into your life are still in the recesses of your soul. They lay there latent, dormant, waiting for you to feed them. They are fed by giving them attention in your thought life. You allowed your mind, emotions, will, and flesh to do certain things before Christ that, if you do them now may break your fellowship with the Father. This is your personal strong desire mentioned in the above verse. And these things must be guarded against for the rest of your life. It may be anger, a tendency towards holding a grudge, fears of any sort, gossip, jealously, envy, self-centeredness, or any of the sins of the flesh like adultery, fornication, or lust. It may over eating, drug or alcohol use.
The key is to know yourself and be aware of what tempts you. Here are three keys to keep you free from your past. The first one is to maintain a close, regular, and daily intimate fellowship with the Father in the Word and in prayer. Our spiritual life should be the energy center of life. And the spiritual resources of sincere prayer and quality time in the Word give us a tune up spiritually and help keep our flesh under. If you don’t keep your spirit fed, your flesh will rise.
Secondly, watch your close friendships carefully. 1 Corinthians 15:33 - Amplified reads: Do not be so deceived and misled! Evil companionships (communion, associations) corrupt and deprave good manners and morals and character. Close association and friendship with those who have no spiritual values will dampen your spiritual life and lessen your spiritual fervor. Their values and ideals will rub off on you. I am friendly with unbelievers and with believers who are carnal and refuse to discipline their flesh. But I refuse to “hang out” with them in a close way. It wouldn’t work anyway, because I would challenge the wrong behavior! At some point, you either make a decision to step away from those who compromise or you may become like them.
Lastly, draw the line of demarcation in your life. That is, refuse to go places or do things that will stir up past sins in your life. Don’t hang around the person that gossips if that was a previous problem. Don’t look at the risqué movie or TV program; it will only entice the problem you had before. Don’t hang out with those who are casual drinkers if that was in your past. Apply this rule to whatever you were involved in pre-Christ!
Daily fellowship with the Father, godly associations, and drawing the line of demarcation in your life will help shield you from falling into previous patterns of living!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
The Love Gauge
Posted on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 7:54 AM by Pastor Mitch
The love of God is our spiritual barometer, the gauge of progress as we move away from being dominated by the flesh. As we become spiritually attuned to God, we exude His love.
Use love as the benchmark of your spiritual progress. Ask the Father to help you develop this precious gift that He’s placed in your spirit. The following is a compilation of several translations of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. This will help you plot your progress. Use it daily as a guide:
Let me describe love. It is slow to lose patience; love stays in difficult relationships with kindness, and it always looks for ways to be constructive. There is no envy in love. It is not possessive and never boils over with jealousy. Love makes no parade of itself; it never boasts, nor does it puff up with pride. Love is never arrogant and never puts itself on display, because it is neither anxious to impress, nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance. Love never gets irritated and is never resentful.
Love holds no grudges, and it keeps no record of evil done to it. Love refuses to be provoked and never harbors evil thoughts.
Love is not rude or grasping or overly sensitive, nor does love search for imperfections and faults in others. Love does not compile statistics of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails. Love celebrates what is real and not what is perverse or incomplete.
Love never does the graceless thing. Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. Love never insists on its own rights, never irritably loses its temper, and never nurses its wrath to keep it warm. Love is not touchy.
Love can stand any kind of treatment because there are no limits to its endurance, no end to its trust. Love bears up under anything; it perseveres in all circumstances. Love’s first instinct is to believe in people. If you love someone, you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost. You will always believe in him, always expect the best in him, and always stand your ground in defending him. Love never regards anyone or anything as hopeless. Love keeps up hope in everything. Love’s hope never fades.
Love keeps on keeping on! It trusts in God in every situation and expects God to act in all circumstances. Love goes on forever. Nothing can destroy love. Nothing can happen that can break love’s spirit. In fact, it is the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen.
Use love as the benchmark of your spiritual progress. Ask the Father to help you develop this precious gift that He’s placed in your spirit. The following is a compilation of several translations of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. This will help you plot your progress. Use it daily as a guide:
Let me describe love. It is slow to lose patience; love stays in difficult relationships with kindness, and it always looks for ways to be constructive. There is no envy in love. It is not possessive and never boils over with jealousy. Love makes no parade of itself; it never boasts, nor does it puff up with pride. Love is never arrogant and never puts itself on display, because it is neither anxious to impress, nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance. Love never gets irritated and is never resentful.
Love holds no grudges, and it keeps no record of evil done to it. Love refuses to be provoked and never harbors evil thoughts.
Love is not rude or grasping or overly sensitive, nor does love search for imperfections and faults in others. Love does not compile statistics of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails. Love celebrates what is real and not what is perverse or incomplete.
Love never does the graceless thing. Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. Love never insists on its own rights, never irritably loses its temper, and never nurses its wrath to keep it warm. Love is not touchy.
Love can stand any kind of treatment because there are no limits to its endurance, no end to its trust. Love bears up under anything; it perseveres in all circumstances. Love’s first instinct is to believe in people. If you love someone, you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost. You will always believe in him, always expect the best in him, and always stand your ground in defending him. Love never regards anyone or anything as hopeless. Love keeps up hope in everything. Love’s hope never fades.
Love keeps on keeping on! It trusts in God in every situation and expects God to act in all circumstances. Love goes on forever. Nothing can destroy love. Nothing can happen that can break love’s spirit. In fact, it is the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
The Love Solution
Posted on Tuesday, May 25, 2010 at 5:19 AM by Pastor Mitch
Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:5).
Love is the solution to every relationship problem known to man. We’re to love God with our entire being. We’re to love others the way we love ourselves. Then Jesus added that we are to love others the way He loves us!
Romans 13:10 reads Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. So for every relational challenge I encounter I must see love as the cure.
Here’s the best part. The Father has already placed inside of us as believers the answers to our issues with others. This love that He has placed in our hearts must be nurtured until it is absorbed into all of our mental processes. The Father’s plan is that this love worm its way into every nook and cranny of our thought life; into our every response in each relationship. He wants it to totally replace our ingrained selfish patterns of thinking and response.
Our mind fights love’s control. The mind of the flesh is the enemy of God (Romans 8:7). Our natural mind automatically repels thoughts that come from our spirit to act and react in love. That’s the reason we must take much time to meditate in love until it is absorbed into our mental processes. Without this meditation, our mind will pull us away from love and force us to live a self-centered life.
We must see that this love is so powerful, so potentially life altering, that we give it room to change us. Every thought and action within us that has become an ingrained habit can be changed by yielding to love’s sway. There are no exceptions. Love is the most powerful force known to man.
Our goal must be to yield ourselves to this love moment by moment. Compare every thought, every word, and every action to this love. Change anything in you that disagrees with the love of God. This is our high calling, to be love men and love women. To be so totally absorbed in this love that it’s the first thing people notice about us!
John was known as the apostle of love. I’ll leave you with his words on the subject from the Message Paraphrase:
My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love — so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about — not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God. My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us — perfect love! This is how we know we're living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He's given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we've seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God's Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we've embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God. God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day — our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life — fear of death, fear of judgment — is one not yet fully formed in love. We, though, are going to love — love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first. If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both.
(I John 4: 7-21 - from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
Love is the solution to every relationship problem known to man. We’re to love God with our entire being. We’re to love others the way we love ourselves. Then Jesus added that we are to love others the way He loves us!
Romans 13:10 reads Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. So for every relational challenge I encounter I must see love as the cure.
Here’s the best part. The Father has already placed inside of us as believers the answers to our issues with others. This love that He has placed in our hearts must be nurtured until it is absorbed into all of our mental processes. The Father’s plan is that this love worm its way into every nook and cranny of our thought life; into our every response in each relationship. He wants it to totally replace our ingrained selfish patterns of thinking and response.
Our mind fights love’s control. The mind of the flesh is the enemy of God (Romans 8:7). Our natural mind automatically repels thoughts that come from our spirit to act and react in love. That’s the reason we must take much time to meditate in love until it is absorbed into our mental processes. Without this meditation, our mind will pull us away from love and force us to live a self-centered life.
We must see that this love is so powerful, so potentially life altering, that we give it room to change us. Every thought and action within us that has become an ingrained habit can be changed by yielding to love’s sway. There are no exceptions. Love is the most powerful force known to man.
Our goal must be to yield ourselves to this love moment by moment. Compare every thought, every word, and every action to this love. Change anything in you that disagrees with the love of God. This is our high calling, to be love men and love women. To be so totally absorbed in this love that it’s the first thing people notice about us!
John was known as the apostle of love. I’ll leave you with his words on the subject from the Message Paraphrase:
My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love — so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about — not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God. My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us — perfect love! This is how we know we're living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He's given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we've seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God's Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we've embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God. God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day — our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life — fear of death, fear of judgment — is one not yet fully formed in love. We, though, are going to love — love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first. If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both.
(I John 4: 7-21 - from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
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