I Will Not Let Fear Stop Me

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - I Will Not Let Fear Stop Me

You know what?

I’m going to stop trying to anticipate when someone might hurt me.

I’m not going to let fear of what someone might do stop me from doing what is in me to do, and what I am eager to do, which is to love fully without holding back. (2 Timothy 1:7)

If and when you hurt me, I’ll deal with it then.

I can take the hurt.

And I know I CAN because of the power of Christ that is within me—power that allowed Him to take the hurt, power that can even raise the dead. (Hebrews 12:2, Philippians 4:13)

There’s nothing you can do to me that Jesus can’t heal. In fact, all you can do is make me stronger. (Romans 8:37-39)

Here’s how “[His] perfect love casts out [my] fear.” (1 John 4:18)

I will not let fear stop me from enjoying His wonderful love.

#perfectourlove

What Is Love?

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - 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

Realignment

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - 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

Who Told You That?

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - 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

Good Suffering

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Good Suffering

“Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” from Hebrews 5:8 speaking of Jesus is a breathtakingly astounding statement.

What did Jesus, being God, have to learn?!

The scripture says, “obedience”. But, what does that mean?

I believe it means love in a new way

because,

“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments…” — 1 John 5:3

I believe that from before the beginning the love between the members of God is perfect —lacking nothing. Put bluntly, man does not exist because God needs us in any way.

I believe everything exists as a means for the members of God to express, explore and expand their love for one another. Man exists as a result of that love and we get to be a part of it.

It is remotely similar to how parenting, especially the challenges that come along with it, allow me to know my wife (and myself) in beautiful new and novel ways.

The love of God is a perfect, beautiful, boundless, growing love, eternally demonstrating itself with every circumstance and under the most extreme conditions.

For those who don’t know the Answer the question is

“Is love true?”

Or, said another way,

“Will love continue to be love, even in this?”

The answer is what God declares; The Father giving the Son as revealed by the Holy Spirit.

It is what the life of Christ demonstrates.

Always, Yes.

I AM ⟺ I AM

It’s a proof that proves itself.

So, what did Jesus have to learn?

Obedience. Love in a new way.

Love under the violent assault of an adversary and that must endure the ravages of sin without becoming any way diminished by it.

These are the means by which He learned.

Jesus did this perfectly, and by it became the first fruit, the model, and qualified to be the Redeemer for all born under such conditions, having been tempted (tested) in every way that we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

“And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him”
— Hebrews 5:9

Now, as He was sent, I am sent.

So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
— John 20:21

So, the question my life strives to answer is

“Is love true?”

Or, said another way,

“Will love continue to be love, even in this?”

Everything is for this purpose. For love to be declared and for me to experience, express, explore and expand on the love I have with God —to participate in the beautiful communion of God’s love.

Oh, thank you Jesus!

All things do indeed work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28) because whatever I face, good or bad, is an opportunity to experience, express, explore and expand on the love I have with God.

Could this be why the Apostle Paul writes that he WELCOMES the fellowship of His sufferings THAT. HE. MAY. KNOW. HIM. (Philippians 3:8-14)

So, whatever I’m struggling with, the question in the midst of my suffering is:

“Will He love me, will I love Him, even in this?”

God’s side of the equation has already been answered through Christ. Always, Yes. (Romans 8:35-39)

So, I strive to respond,

“Yes, Lord, I will love you even in this.”

Which means obedience to Christ’s example

That the truth of Your love may be declared and that I may experience, express, explore and expand on the love I have with You.

NOTE: The artwork is something I created as a fan of anime with some help from AI. (It’s not all AI. I did a lot of work in Photoshop to create it. This is the kind of stuff I want to help students to learn as a means of expression, personal investment in their education, and meaningfully engaging with the technology). It’s for an original series called Shizukana Kishi or Still Knights that I was inspired to create by my son Chris Luckett (hopefully I can get him to help with the score).

Because manga is a Japanese art form, it is traditionally read from top right to bottom left. For those who prefer to read it the way we typically do in the United States, I’ve included a version of the panels in a western format below.

Shizukana Kishi - Still Knights anime by Paul Luckett  - Western Format

#perfectourlove #shizuka #shizukanakishi #stillknights

52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #30 – Church

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com -

In Week 30 of 52 Weeks Of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for safe places with authentic believers in Christ where the more sin I share the more I am loved.

They make 1 Peter 4:8 real to me, “love will cover a multitude of sins”

I don’t have to pretend.

I don’t have to be perfect to be loved, I am perfected by being loved.

This is not love that excuses wrongdoing but love that both warms my heart (affirms me) and burns away sin (holds me accountable).

I’m eternally grateful. #52WoG

Tough Love

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Tough Love

One dollar and twenty-five cents in quarters is all that I have. I take a deep, quivering breath, pick up the handset and feed the coins into the payphone at the corner of the gas station that would later become Strange Brew coffee house.

I push dial the number to call home to Jackson, Mississippi. The first ring lasts for an eternity. Mom answers. We exchange pleasantries and I nervously ask, “May I to speak to Dad?”

I’m starving. My head hurts, I’m so hungry. Then I hear the rustle of the phone exchanging hands.

“Hey Dad. I’m out of food. Can you send me some money for groceries?” The question hangs in the air a bit before my father calmly replies, “Welcome to the real world, son.” Click.

When I was younger, I shared that story to make my father out to be a villain. The hearer would often respond, “How awful. That’s cruel.” But, what they didn’t know was, at that time, I was living lasciviously, wastefully and in rebellion. Nobody could tell me anything. I did as I pleased and my situation was the consequence.

What is clear now that I didn’t see then, was that my dad’s objective for me was to choose a good and productive path. And before I could do that, I had to see for myself what a worthless and destructive path I was on. I had to come to a place where I recognized that my lifestyle, which seemed good (fun and pleasurable) at the time, was not good. I had to see that my choices were producing outcomes I really did not want. In the words of scripture, “I had to come to the end of myself,” (Luke 15:16-17). I had to realize there was a better way. I’ve been seeking it ever since.

There was no greater kindness than for my father to allow me to be confronted with my error rather than help me continue in something that would hurt me. Love “does no harm” and does not always look like hugs and kisses.

Originally posted by Paul Luckett to Facebook here.

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Leading With The Need: How We Get More From Church

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Leading With The Need: How We Get More From Church

Why can church seem plastic and empty?

Because I come to the King’s treasury laden with debt but I pretend like I’m rich.

I only leave empty because my pride prevents me from taking advantage of the King’s debt forgiveness program.

In order to do that I have to openly declare bankruptcy.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
— Matthew 5:3

In James 5:16, the author writes,

“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

Notice that confession of our sin PRECEDES healing —the establishment of healthy function.

Very often I get nothing from church because I pretend that I have it all together.

A pastor and mentor of mine, Pearson Liddell, advised me regarding ministry, “get real as quickly as possible, otherwise you’re wasting people’s time”.

When we don’t confess our sin, we leave money (healing) on the table.

So, for me, moving forward, every church service, fellowship, Bible study will begin with this question, “Where is the sin in my life?”

And what is sin?

Missing the mark.

It’s being outside the circle of love, outside the Kingdom of God. (sin state)

The result is always that we don’t love properly. (sin action)

Leading with the confession of our sin requires humility, looking into the mirror of the perfect law of liberty, turning the sword of the Word (which is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart -Hebrews 4:12) on myself (rather than against others as we so often like to do) and praying, “Lord, show me where I’m apart from You. Show me the areas where Satan sits on the throne in my life. Show me where I’m failing to love properly.”

There will always be something to confess, always an area where we can be healed, always a place where God can make us more glorious.

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
— 1 John 1:8

There’s no sense in being sick, coming to the hospital and pretending that I’m OK.

I come to Christ through fellowship because I’m in need.

We should lead with our need.

I’ll start:

One of the greatest hindrances to my loving properly and to God’s glory being expressed in my life is that my regard for many things in this world have not yet descended to the level of trash.

“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

I am preoccupied with my appearance and have burdened myself with debt and unnecessary things to bolster it which keeps me from fellowship and hinders me from following Jesus completely and fearlessly.

Please pray for me.

My Growing Confidence In Love

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - My Growing Confidence In Love

No one could ever convince me that Love does not exist.

Or, that it is just language for a mutually agreed upon construct,

or merely an electro-chemical reaction in our brains.

Because I’ve known Love to exist apart from these things,

transcendent,

powerful,

sovereign,

alive

—an agent that causes, not an effect.

Love is law that’s obvious to everyone when it is not obeyed.

God is Love.

In fact, that’s what brought me to belief: love undeserved,

love that existed

despite the fact that I had not acknowledged or participated in any semblance of a construct of mutual value or regard,

love that was experienced

despite the electro-chemical reactions in my brain: feelings of sadness and depression.

It was not my imagination.

It was not an emotion.

It was an encounter.

It is a Person I reliably meet every time I’m loved or every time I seek to express love.

And it matches Jesus to the letter as He is described in Scripture and even as I learn more about Him.

It’s a person that is not whatever we want it to be but a person with an identity just as distinct as a fingerprint.

It’s an ID everyone is wired to make. Everyone can tell what is more or less love, which is what makes John 13:35 true:

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
— John 13:35

“All will know” not by just anything we call love, but by something very specific as indicated in the immediately preceding verse:

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

We can’t make Love whatever we want it to be.

“All will know” by love that Jesus is,

love that Jesus demonstrates,

love that Jesus commands.

“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

Love is law.

“Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
— Romans 13:10

Love is a Person to be obeyed.

“But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.”
— 1 John 2:5

God is love.

“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
— 1 John 4:8

Want to know God?

Love

by obeying Jesus and express Love personified.

#perfectourlove

Not Until I Grow Up

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Not Until I Grow Up

Not Until I Grow Up

Frankly, Christians shouldn’t be saying anything (or doing anything) until we’ve first learned how to love, because

“Let all that you do be done with love.”
— 1 Corinthians 16:14

Because “love” is how the children of God talk.

“but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ”
— Ephesians 4:15

“Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.”
— Ephesians 4:29

Until we learn how to love each other within the family of God, we should not be doing or saying anything because that means Christ is not yet formed in us.

What is your position on “x”?
What is your position on “y”?

We should just shut up. We should not do anything besides imitating the pattern of Christ until we learn to walk as He walked.

Love should be our preoccupation.

Jesus came to make the Father known so that we can be with Him for the purpose of the greater glory of God.

His goal should be ours and He said,

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
— John 13:35

We fulfill our ministry, we make God known, not by our position on the issues but

HOW. WE. LOVE. ONE. ANOTHER.

How did it get more complicated than that? Who bewitched you?

Repent! And return to the simplicity of Christ.

Love.

Love is the beginning and end of maturity.

#perfectourlove