What Is Love?
Love is God’s government.
Not a government of rules and task lists,
But a government that flows from God’s heart in us received by faith in Jesus Christ,
Government that produces the approach, resources, services, security, and harmony that makes its subjects whole.
Love is God’s government that makes its subjects whole.
#love #heartwords
What Is Grace?
Image Copyright CG817 | CG817 on FlickrMy understanding of grace had previously been mostly academic, but it took on new meaning for me yesterday in a moment of failure and weakness where I desperately needed it.
I now find a particular aspect of grace to be like, in engineering terms, fault tolerance or perhaps better said—fault accounting.
When an engineer designs a thing, say your phone for example, they account for imperfections.
Despite being milled by machines, all the pieces are imperfect; they all deviate from the engineer’s design within a certain margin of error.
But the engineer anticipates and accounts for these imperfections in the design so that the pieces still fit and work together to achieve the desired outcome.
God is the Ultimate Engineer.
He is the Supreme Creator.
His design not only accounts for our imperfection but His assembly of these imperfect pieces and their interaction in operation subject the pieces to a Force that transform them, making them more and more perfect as they function until, both individually and collectively, His perfect product is produced: Christ.
“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;”
— Ephesians 4:11-13
“The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.”
— Psalm 138:8
God is both committed to perfection and to involving us, imperfect creatures, in the final product. And in God’s unsearchable wisdom, He achieves a straight path with crooked lines.
And part of His genius is grace.
Grace meets me where I am and loves me to where I am supposed to be.
Grace accounts for the fact that I’m messed up, that sin has done a number on me, that I’m haunted by hurt, that I’m deceived by lies and it doesn’t throw me away when I naturally mess up.
Grace allows me to be fully human while holding me accountable to the high calling.
Could this be what is meant when John writes of Jesus that He was full of grace and truth?
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
— John 1:14
His grace accounts for sin but never makes sin ok.
God deals with me in that grace.
I don’t have to worry about being abandoned. He has accounted for my shortcomings.
I stumble but He lifts me up and keeps me in The Way.
God is utterly committed to seeing His glory shine through me through His finished work of Christ in me.
“being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”
— Philippians 1:6
God’s grace accounts for sin but never makes sin ok.
God’s grace allows me to be fully human while holding me accountable to the high calling.
Consider Hebrews 4:15-16,
“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
— Hebrews 4:15-16
The first aspect of grace I find is that it compassionately accounts for my shortcomings. It doesn’t give up on me when I mess up but it finds ways to keep working with me towards perfection.
This Hebrews passage reveals a second aspect of grace: the generous allocation of resources to achieve that perfection.
And, “if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” — 1 John 4:11
Hopefully my own desperate need for grace has afforded me a slightly better understanding of it and perhaps now I can do a better job of extending it to others.
I do not claim to have apprehended, but I press.
Two Approaches To Jesus: Which Is Mine?
There are two types of people who come to Jesus:
– Those who come to get something and when they don’t get it they fall away,
and
– Those who are willing to give everything for Him.
Only one group is saved.
“So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”
— Luke 14:33
God often tests us by taking things.
Consider Job.
These tests are not because God needs any information, but to reveal our heart: whether we’re of the world or whether we’re God glorifying salt—whether we have the wandering heart of the first group so that we can confess it, humble ourselves in repentance, and cry out to God to give us the steadfast heart of the second.
Why? These two things go hand in hand: His glory and our good.
I definitely struggle with the first nature that is still with me. I’m striving to kill it and to yield to His bringing forth in me the second.
Realignment
Am I experiencing anything less than love, joy and peace?
The ultimate realignment question is:
WHERE ARE YOU?
“Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?'”
— Genesis 3:9
WHAT IS THE LIE BLOCKING GOD’S LOVE?
“So he said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.'”
— Genesis 3:10
WHO AM I BELIEVING?
“And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?'”
— Genesis 3:11
HAVE I BELIEVED ANOTHER VOICE? GOD IS THE ONLY SOURCE OF GOODNESS AND TRUTH. EVERYTHING ELSE IS HARMFUL LIES AND BELIEVING IT RESULTS IN CORRUPTION WHICH CAUSES ME TO RELATE TO EVERYTHING IN A HARMFUL WAY (EVIL), INCLUDING LIGHT—THE RESPONSE BEING TO HIDE.
“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
— John 3:19-21
GOD LOVES US. BELIEVING GOD IS THE WAY TO LIFE.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
— John 3:16
BELIEVING GOD IS THE WAY TO ENJOY GOD’S LOVE.
“for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.”
— John 16:27
BE AMAZED: GOD LOVES US AS HE LOVES HIS SON JESUS! ENTER INTO THE COMMUNION AND WONDER OF GOD’S LOVE.
“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
— John 17:23
HOW WE LOVE—THE DEFINITION: OBEY GOD.
“This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.”
— 2 John 1:6
WHAT IS GOD’S COMMANDMENT? LOVE GOD. LOVE FOR EACH OTHER IS IN THAT LOVE.
“‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’
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.'”
— Matthew 22:36-40
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
— John 13:34-35
“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”
— 1 John 4:20
WHERE AM I? AM I IN CHRIST—GOD’S LOVE?
“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
As the Father loved Me, I also have 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, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.”
— John 15:6-14
REST IN THE PLACE OF PERFECTED LOVE THAT COMES WITH BELIEVING GOD.
“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.
God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”
— 1 John 4:16-18
So, am I experiencing anything less than love, joy and peace?
Where am I?
I’m believing You, God.
I am resting in Your love through obedience.
#perfectourlove
52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #38 – The Leading Of A Child
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.”
Isaiah 11:6
In Week 38 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for the leading of a child.
July marked the completion of my first year working in public education. As I reflected on that year, there were many great and memorable moments, but one was really special.
Upon visiting an elementary school classroom for the very first time, two children sprang toward me and led me by the hand to a tiny seat at their table. I was subsequently surrounded by students eager to tell me who they were, where they were from, and what all they could do (one young man was eager to show me how he could flip off the wall).
As they huddled around for each of them to tell me their stories, I caught a student out of the corner of my eye staring intensely at me. After some time, she snuck up as I was talking to other students, hugged me from behind, and then promptly returned to her seat.
I thought my heart would explode.
At that moment, I felt Matthew 18:3: “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
What I found most remarkable was that none of these children knew me or had ever met me, but they were readily willing to bring me into every part of their world without hesitation or reservation.
It was like, of course, we accept you. What else is there?
Not one of them had any money, they didn’t own a car or a house, no fancy titles, and however they were “educated,” they were willing to share. They were not encumbered by many of the things we commonly use to stratify and separate ourselves.
There was just us.
We are foolishly dismissive of children and regard them as almost people, waiting for them to become something else—like us, not realizing that they, more than we, have a firm grasp of the goal.
“Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.
Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.'”
— Mark 10:13-15
One of the most beautiful gifts I enjoy as a born-again child of God is knowing that wherever I go, when I encounter another child of God, they will love me.
“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.”
— 1 John 5:1
In my experience, however, it takes some effort to get to a place where we can even begin to enjoy that love, we let things get in the way, but children do not.
A wonderful hope I have in Christ is our being “converted” and made like them.
I am so thankful to have their example, and I am learning so much from them as they lead me by the hand into the Kingdom.
I’m grateful.
#52WoG
The Ultimate Test
Who we truly are is revealed not by what we do but by what we want.
That is the ultimate test. What we want is the measure by which we will be ultimately judged.
Truth and facts don’t matter when they conflict with what we want.
Reason is not pure. It is merely a device to justify our desires. We have a breathtaking capacity for rationalization.
Not what we do, but the condition of our heart is the principle thing, which is exposed by what we truly want.
What we want indicates who we’re with which in turn is indicated by what we’re willing to lose.
If we’re with Jesus we have a new heart that wants the kingdom of God, first—that is, above all.
The test of whether we have that heart and whether it truly wants the kingdom of God is what we’re willing to lose to get it.
“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.”
— Mark 8:35
“So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, ‘You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’ But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.”
— Luke 18:22-23
“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ”
— Philippians 3:8
“But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.”
— Hebrews 10:32-34
So, test yourselves, whether you’re in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5).
And we can do that with one question:
What do I want most?
For me, I want to be in God with you,
I think.
God will test that. Am I willing to lose comfort and convenience for that? Am I willing to lose “being right” to be reconciled?
The demonic industrial church with her false teachers and prophets teach that the indication of your relationship and favor from God is what you gain.
But the whole counsel of God revealed in the person of Christ says His heart is indicated by what you’re willing to lose for Him.
What do you want most?
How To Hear God
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
— Hebrews 11:6
We look for God to fall like rain when He is like deep waters that have always been there.
Were it not for the layers of rock deposited by sin, the ground of our hearts would be watered by a gentle mist springing from the deep.
We are given the Word to break our hearts so that the well, which is Christ, may be revealed, connecting us to those deep waters. When we drink from Him, rivers of living water spring forth, giving life to us and everything around us.
“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
God is not out there.
“Now when [Jesus] was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, ‘The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, “See here!” or “See there!” For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.'”
— Luke 17:20-21
God is near, within you.
“so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us”
— Acts 17:27
So, we do not look out.
We dig in, guided by the Holy Spirit, identifying hard areas of our heart that are not submitted to God, confessing sin, plowing through rock.
The Word is the implement.
“For 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.”
— Hebrews 4:12
Tearing down obstructions, resisting lies, casting off the pride of life and its busyness, and seeking the Lord in sacred silence, laying our hearts bare, until Christ is revealed—the Well that was dug before the foundation of the world, is how we are watered from the inside.
First, His voice comes to us as dew—sweet, personally satisfying expressions of God that are characteristic of the Word. Then, it comes as a flood, flowing into rivers, producing action and carrying life into others wherever it flows.
This is how we hear God, like the sound of many waters.
My most earnest desire is that we not only know about God, but that we would know God personally, hear His voice, and share Him together.
Father, please let it be so according to the will and authority of Jesus, Your Son and my Savior, all for Your glory. Amen.
Beware The Gospel Of The Demonic Church
Any preaching or teaching about God as a way of getting anything is demonic,
a car, a job, success, “leveling up”,
or even things that are considered good or godly such as a better marriage, or peace.
“[Those] who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourselves.”
— 1 Titus 6:5
But, the purpose and offer of an introduction is to know the person.
How utterly selfish and evil is it to look past a person in pursuit of what they can do for you?
And that is exactly what so-called churches all over the world, America especially, are doing this morning. They’re busy with many things but forfeiting the good part.
“Jesus answered them and said, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.
Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.'”
— John 6:26-27
The sole offer of Christ, therefore the sole aim of any pure and undefiled ministry is God, it is encountering, knowing, and having Him.
“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
— John 10:10
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
— John 17:3
The benefits we enjoy are not the true treasure but are merely its effects.
I see this beautiful day simply by virtue of being in the presence of light. The benefit of seeing the beauty of this day cannot be had apart from the light.
“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
— James 1:16-17
The benefits we enjoy come by virtue of being with a person in whom there are so many wonderful things.
So, the principal thing is the person, not the benefit.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
— Matthew 6:33
The common misunderstanding of this verse is “put God first” and then go after “all these things”.
And, we low-key look over God, seeing Him merely as a means to get “all these things”.
But if you read the entire passage, Jesus says don’t seek “all these things” at all:
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”
— Matthew 6:31-32
Jesus says, therefore I say,
“Seek God”
Full stop.
Pray for a heart that does not seek anything else because it sees that God is everything and then walk with God through YOUR life rather than wishing, stressing, scratching and clawing for a different one.
Beware The American Leaven
When we raise hell for something that’s not in heaven, we’re guilty of loving the world and reveal ourselves as sons of hell and that we are not sons of God. (1 John 2:15)
There is no America in heaven.
Sons of God preach and seek above all the kingdom that is not of this world.
But instead we speak as the hypocrites Jesus rebuked,
“If something is not done, we will lose our place and nation!” (John 11:48)
Rightly did Jesus say of us,
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”
— Matthew 23:15
REPENT!
Come out from among the blasphemous religion of American idolatry in the name of Christ. They are hellbound.
Come out from this kingdom of darkness that is counterfeiting light and into the true light of His Kingdom that is not of this world and be saved.
Who Told You That?
“For Love to be experienced, I have to be exposed.”
That’s the word that came to me.
It’s an answer to an almost two-year-long prayer where I asked, “Father, show me You. Please let me see You the way Jesus sees You so I am likewise driven by a love, an awe, a reverence, an adoration, and an unwavering commitment to You.”
Two years ago, the Holy Spirit gave me, “Seek Me in the face of My people.”
I obeyed, and it was transformative.
A new fire has been kindled in my heart by the Holy Spirit.
I am experiencing God.
Now, I believe that the Lord is calling me to a new level of intimacy with Him through people, to move from “meeting at”: meeting at church, meeting at Bible study, meeting at marriage ministry, meeting at this event, meeting at that function, meeting at lunch, to “living with.”
Honestly, I don’t know what that means yet. All I get is the sense that it involves uncomfortable risk, letting down my guard, and leaving the places of safety that I’ve constructed. He is my shield.
To do that, I have to go, I have to show up, I have to be present, and I have to expose myself—all things that are horrendous to a self-proclaimed introvert.
But, I gladly, albeit reluctantly, step forward to learn obedience (love in a new way – 1 John 5:3) through the things I will certainly suffer that I may know Him.
So, I will show up. I will let in. I will expose myself.
But why haven’t I been showing up before now?
To understand that, I have to understand what the opposite of showing up is:
Hiding.
This revelation comes out of Genesis 3:9-11, which recounts Adam’s interaction with God after the sin of taking someone else’s word over God’s. As a result, he hid.
“Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’
So he said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.’
And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?'”
— Genesis 3:9-11
Observe that Adam and Eve’s fear and shame were NOT the result of anything God did or said. They were ashamed BEFORE God said anything to them. They became ashamed because of the information they accepted from another source, namely about themselves.
“I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
Eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is like watching porn rather than being taught about sex by a loving father.
Rather than seeing your bodies and the beauty of sex in the context of sacredness, awe, exploration, acceptance, appreciation, safety, promise, and commitment, through porn you receive a distortion framed in selfishness, objectification, subjugation, trivialization, comparison, performance, perversion, and risk…
What was peddled as freedom results in fear, which is often the case when we get our information from those who don’t love us. And fear results in hiding.
“I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
God’s response absolutely leveled my heart:
“Who told you that you were naked?”
This is what God chooses to say among the infinite options of things He could have said in response. So, it begs the question, why?
In a single statement, I believe God wages a war that He’s already won, starting His attack on the source of all sorrows—sin, which separates us from Him. God exposes the root of sin and takes an axe to it:
“Who made you afraid, telling you that you are anything less than loved and accepted so that you needed to hide?”
-And the crux of the matter-
“Why did you believe them over Me?”
THE problem is believing someone other than God, and believing something other than what God said.
The result is fear, which causes us to hide.
I know a lot about hiding. I’ve been doing it for nearly forty years now. All because I’ve believed a series of someones over God and believed something about myself that God didn’t say.
God said, “Who told you that you were naked?”
“Naked” is representative of all the damning things we’ve come to believe according to the distorted value system of this world.
We can take whatever that is, especially things we’ve come to believe about ourselves: ugly, worthless, poor, stupid, unwanted, unlovable, alone… and plug it into that sentence:
“Who told you that you were ______?”
Mine is: a disappointment.
In my heart of hearts, I believe I am a disappointment.
I go into every interaction with people assuming that I’m going to disappoint them in some way and ultimately be abandoned. So, naturally, I avoid interaction, and it causes me to hide.
It has affected every relationship that I have.
It has caused me to put burdens on others to make me feel like I’m not a disappointment, especially in romantic relationships, including my wife.
But that’s an impossible task when at the heart of the problem is I’ve believed someone other than God. If I didn’t believe God, how can they possibly convince me?!!
I repent.
The lie I believed is deep-seated from a very early age. I’ve believed the scowls. I’ve believed the isolation at a time when I should have received nothing but love. I’ve believed that I am only embraced and accepted on the basis of merit rather than for just being. I’ve believed I have to look a certain way and have certain things.
It became a part of me, too intricately interwoven to remove without killing me or making me utterly unrecognizable, which is precisely why I have to die.
I have to die to the person who lives according to the word of demons, what this world says and Satan, the ruler of it, and be born again according to the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, which is Christ, by His Spirit, with a heart that believes Him.
Therewith, I will make war with every thought or emotion that causes me to want to hide, accounting the old me as dead. I will live in newness and counter it with the question,
“Who told you that?”
And, I will believe God.
God says you are accepted in the beloved (Ephesians 1:6). Full stop.
I am not accepted on the basis of performance, appearance, or merit, but simply because of who He is.
When we see God as He is in truth, we see everything else appropriately, and it casts out all fear.
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”
— 1 John 4:18
“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”
— 1 John 4:16
Now, I endeavor to realize this Love and to know Him more fully.
The Spirit tells me that requires others.
“For Love to be experienced, I have to be exposed.”
So, I press.
I can’t be exposed if I’m hiding. So, I will confront every suggestion that causes me to want to hide with what God said, “Who told you that?” And, I will fight to believe Him.
Knowing and believing the love of God for us, accomplished through Jesus Christ, is glorious, but obedience: experiencing, expressing, and expanding on the love with others will be difficult, and I will suffer because that love will be opposed.
As I present myself naked and exposed, standing on what God says, there will surely be others that will mock me, ridicule me, and assert what the adversary says—that I am not loved.
But, I will fight to believe God.
Please pray for me.
And, if you’re so prompted by the Holy Spirit, join me.
#perfectourlove