March 16, 2025

Free To Choose: My Father Will Not Let Me Fall

Very often I just want God to tell me what to do, step by step so that I don’t make a mistake.

But what God wants me to do is grow in His image.

And my choices are an opportunity to exercise His life in me—to love Him with my whole being: my heart, my soul and including my mind.

My Father wants me to skip, flip, run and jump—looking to Jesus as what’s possible, and to see where I can grow.

So, I will spread my wings for Him, and decisively take risks while looking to Him, trusting that He is ultimately guiding me.

We are free to choose in faith. Our Father will not let us fall.

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.”
— Jude 1:24-25

March 16, 2025

A Window To Our Heart

God sees our hearts (1 Samuel 16:7).

We can’t (Jeremiah 17:9).

Our circumstances are often a means God uses to show us [our hearts] (Deuteronomy 8:2).

If we humble ourselves, admit our blindness, and ask God for sight (wisdom), our responses to life will show us our heart—who we really are.

But that’s not the end of the story. Seeing who we really are in the mirror reveals where we’re not clean and what’s out of place so that it may be corrected (James 1:25).

No one looks in a mirror if there is no hope for improvement.

But God.

His purposes are to make us into His image (Genesis 1:26), conformed to the image of His dear Son (Romans 8:29)—glorious.

He will make us to shine like the sun (Matthew 13:43).

To be clear, it’s a work God does with a life submitted to Him—when in humility we see our sin in the mirror and confess it (1 John 1:9).

So I strive to be sensitive to when God holds up a mirror, including through my circumstances and my response to them. Though I often don’t like what I see, I should not hide, but in humility, confront, confess and let God do what only He can do.

He will not fail to make me beautiful (Philippians 1:6).

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
— 2 Corinthians 3:18

March 14, 2025

Heartstrings

What am I supposed to be doing right now?

As a member of the body?

Where is the Head?

Jesus.

He is about the Father’s business, making God known through love.

He is being obedient to God’s government and presenting a space where God’s kingdom is experienced that they may know God.

“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

In that greenhouse the Word is both communicated and experienced, and is where faith is born when it is received by the cultivation of the Holy Spirit.

Making God known through love that the whole world may be reconciled to Communion with God through Christ is the Father’s business.

It is something that has to be obeyed because I love. Which comes first, obedience or love, I do not know. Maybe they come together, they’re part of the same thing, integral to one another.

What I do know, is sometimes I will not want to, especially initially but the more I obey, the more I love.

“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
— John 6:38

The battle is one of desire—following my heart or obeying the heart He gave me—it’s about making God the only thing that I want.

“I don’t want to” means my desire is misplaced. I am mindful of the things of men and not the things of God (Matthew 16:23). I overcome through obedience.

Loving obedience is THE weapon for an adulterous heart (James 4:4-7)—love and obedience that is only possible through His nature and His power granted by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

So in obedience, I take a cue from the Proverbs 31 Woman. I purpose to do all in my power at all times to provide for my Lord’s house, and to perform, promote and support His enterprise—the Father’s business.

This is what I’m doing right now.

#love #perfectourlove

March 12, 2025

Making A Divided Heart Whole

My heart’s divided.

My head is all over the place.

This problem. That problem. I’m pulled in a thousand different directions.

It’s hard to concentrate. I constantly jump from one thing to the other.

It’s difficult to stay on task because attacks are coming in from every side and each one feels like an existential threat, all the while I’m looking for THE problem to solve that will solve many, if not all, of the rest.

What’s the thing, if achieved, that will secure me, that will remove the terror of death and give me peace?

Sudden ruin is the anxiety of my heart.

To defeat a demon, you must make it take shape by uncovering its name.

What, exactly, am I afraid of?

I’m afraid of:

Someone dear to me languishing and dying in poverty and my having done nothing to improve their situation.

Losing my job.

Losing my clients.

Not having enough money to pay for our house, our cars, our bills, our streaming services, our debt, to keep the lights on and to have enough left over to enjoy any semblance of life such as eating out and taking an occasional trip for a change of scenery.

The discontent of others.

The disapproval of others.

Being unworthy of respect because I failed to achieve financial success.

Being alone.

I cast the demon out by bringing it into captivity of Christ.

“But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.”
— Matthew 12:28-29

I accept Christ as King who is stronger than my enemy.

“[…] on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
— Matthew 16:18

I then die to this world to be released from being acted upon as its subject and am raised up to sit with Christ who reigns in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6) and acts upon it—the government of Hell shall not prevail against the government of Heaven.

I accept the loss of all the things of this world and no longer work for them.

You can’t scare a dead man with death.

“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

And I focus on the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

I focus exclusively on gaining His character to be a vessel of His work—the blessed Oneness of all things in the Communion of God through Christ. And I trust Him for the rest.

“And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.”
— Luke 12:29-31

The irony is, while I’ve been anxious, He’s been doing this all along. Imagine the joy and peace I could have enjoyed if I had trusted Him all this time instead of worrying and fretting?

I confess this sin and repent. Additionally, I die to the world and accept whatever loss comes with that. If in the course of following Christ it dies, it dies. I will not allow it to make me turn back.

“Remember Lot’s wife.”
— Luke 17:32

I will work with a heart committed to fostering Communion and bringing everything in my sphere onto the mat—into the order of God’s government so that they may experience His wonderful kingdom.

So, however small my sphere starts, the question is how does my love for God and what have I learned of Christ about how to govern inform how I use what’s in my hand at this moment to provide for my sphere and bring it into His kingdom order for the purposes of glorifying His wonderful name and drawing all men unto Him in Communion?

“He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?

No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
— Luke 16:10-13

I want the true riches.

Practically, the way I provide for my sphere may look the same as any one else earning a living, but the reason and my reaction to the results will be drastically different, leading to drastically different outcomes—even materially, but especially spiritually.

The reason.

This is how I focus—remembering the Treasure I seek: God alone.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.”
— Matthew 5:8

This is how a divided heart is made whole.

#anxiety #love #perfectourlove #GoodWorks

February 3, 2025

Never Forget We Are At War

Never forget we are at war. Hearts are a strategic objective—for us and the evil one. One of his primary aims is to make us bitter.

“Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.”
— Hebrews 12:15

Bitterness cannot be contained. You cannot hate people or desire their harm without poisoning the well that waters every other area of your life—including those you love most dearly.

Guard your heart. Fight to love everyone.
#spiritualwarfare #perfectourlove

December 19, 2024

I Don’t Have To Be Happy About It

Sometimes I feel bad for being beat to hell, for being sad, and not being happy about it.

It feels like if I were just better—if I were more holy, if I were more thankful, if I were less selfish—the pain shouldn’t affect me, that I should be happy and able to carry on as though I’m not in pain.

But, I am so thankful for the moments of humanity in the Bible, especially that of Jesus,

“Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.

Father, glorify your name.”
— John 12:27-28

“My soul is troubled…” This is so deeply helpful to me. It, and passages like it, show me that I can register the full range of human emotions and still honor God.

The key, Jesus demonstrates, is loving God, desiring His Kingdom and concentrating on God’s glory—not allowing the feeling to make me put down my cross or cause me to deviate from the path of Calvary—dying and living again for the reconciliation of everything in my sphere.

I don’t have to be happy, but I can be honest and honor. I can carry on doing the things that are profitable for the purpose I am sent.

In that, there’s help, there’s rest, and there’s always joy.

“Father, glorify Your name.”

#sometimesithurts #buttheresalwaysjoy

December 13, 2024

Sometimes It Hurts

Sometimes it hurts.

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
— John 16:33

Christianity is not some magic protection against misfortune, being mistreated or things going wrong. And, I can’t do enough good things to prevent bad things from happening to me.

Jesus called John the Baptist “the greatest one born of woman” (Matthew 11:11).

Not a good one, the greatest.

He’s walking in his calling. He’s innocent, having done nothing wrong.

Yet he’s sitting in prison, about to be murdered by having his head cut off.

In this account in Matthew 11, John the Baptist sends two of his disciples to Jesus.

Does Jesus respond to John the Baptist’s wrongful imprisonment by some heavenly miracle to release him?

No.

Not in this case, at least. (Acts 12:5-16, 16:25-34)

How does Jesus respond?

“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.'”
– Matthew 11:4-5

What is Jesus doing?

He assures him.

In other words, Jesus tells John, “Your hope in Me is not in vain.”

Jesus is fortifying John’s soul.

A vicious lie, a half-truth at best, often peddled by the industrial church and Cultural Christianity is “Everything will be alright,” as to say, “Things will eventually work out the way I want them to in this life.”

We’ve been deceived to believe that our heavenly conversion exempts us from the earthly consequences of sin being in the world. (John 16:33)

But, disaster, hardship, violence, injustice and suffering can and does befall believers as it does people throughout the whole world. (Romans 8:22)

At this very moment there are believers who are:

losing their jobs,
not able to keep the lights on,
losing their homes,
terminally ill,
disabled,
suffering abuse,
persecuted,
hungry,
in prison,
grieving,
dying
…

And, it may not be resolved on this side of heaven.

Suggesting otherwise is a complete denial of people’s suffering or implies that they are somehow doing Christianity wrong!

But Christianity is not about denying pain, escaping reality, or pretending everything is fine.

It’s not a coping mechanism or an exercise in cognitive dissonance. It’s real power. (2 Timothy 1:7, 3:5)

Sometimes there’s simply seasons of suffering.

God is completely able to change any circumstance.

But, He may choose not to. (Daniel 3:16-18)

What we can always be assured of is His purposes will be achieved.

And, His purposes are good. (Romans 8:28)

And, you, your suffering and everything concerning you are accounted for in His good purposes. (Matthew 10:30)

Regarding seasons of suffering, a part of God’s good purposes is making your soul able to weather them all. (Matthew 7:24-26)

A part of His good purpose is to make you like His Son-steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. (Philippians 1:6, 1 Corinthians 15:58)

That’s all well and good, but back to John, what good is a steadfast spirit or assurances when I’m about to get my head chopped off?!

If there’s not anything beyond the here and now, it means nothing.

But, if what we believe of Jesus is true, it means everything.

And, it is on this point where the sheep and goats are divided. (John 10:26-27)

Goats may follow up to a point as long as they’re getting what they want.

But, sheep follow to the end. (Revelation 2:10)

Here is where true faith is revealed, or the lack thereof which is not for condemnation but is an opportunity for reevaluation and repentance. (2 Corinthians 13:5)

In the darkness of the eleventh hour is where we’re confronted with what we truly believe and who we will ultimately serve. (Luke 22:61, John 21:15-19)

Here is what Jesus says in His eleventh hour,

“Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’?
But for this purpose I came to this hour.
Father, glorify Your name.
Then a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.'”
– John 12:27-28

Suffering is not only allowed sometimes to test and to steel us, but it is in the darkness of the eleventh hour where we can shine the brightest, giving glory to God.

When we are asked for “a reason for the hope that is in you,” (1 Peter 3:15), it is usually in dark, difficult places.

If you can bear it, John is being glorified. Just as we are being glorified when we choose, as disciples of Christ, to commit our lives, including our suffering to God’s purposes. (John 17:22)

“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
– Romans 8:16-17

When we commit it to Him, God achieves His glory through us. (Romans, 12:1, 2 Corinthians 4:7-11)

This is how our glory mainly appears in this life. (Matthew 5:16, 2 Corinthians 4:17, Revelation 3:8-11)

So, horrible things can happen to me, and sometimes I can and should seek deliverance from them, but whether I am delivered or not, I have to decide whether I will commit it to Him, whether I will follow Jesus to the end.

And this is the end: the whole world delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God where we will enjoy Him together without hindrance forever in complete safety because Jesus is King. (Isaiah 11, Romans 8:21, Revelation 22:3-5)

My hope is to see a glimpse of the Kingdom now, but my ultimate hope is not here. My ultimate hope is to be a part of its full consummation with you in the world to come. (Psalm 27:13, 1 Corinthians 15:24-28, Hebrews 11:16, Revelation 21)

When we confront hardships, including death, Jesus assures us as He did John the Baptist.

“Though you may not see it, the Word is true. I’m liberating the world.”

“Your work in My name is reconciling people from darkness to light.”

“Your hope in Me is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Therefore, I must strive to follow Jesus to the end, and embrace the path even when it is marked by hardship and suffering.

#sometimesithurts

December 7, 2024

Obedience Makes It Real

Church service after church service.
Bible study after Bible study.
Book after book.

We read.
We read.
We read.

We hear.
We hear.
We hear.

How many times have we heard a Word from God and said, “Ooh that’s good!”, only to revert five minutes later back to the way we were before?

So, how do we make it stick?

How do we lodge what we’ve read or heard of God’s Word in our souls, so our hearts stay lifted and the heaven it brings remains on earth?

We eat.

Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.”
— John 6:53

And what does it look like to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ?

Jesus gives us an example:

My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”
— John 4:34

Jesus is soul-food.

“For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.”
— John 6:55-57

To “eat” is to make what you’ve consumed a part of you by walking it out—application is mastication.

Because, faith without works is dead.

The problem is we don’t eat it, we lick it.

We get a quick taste, say, “Ooh, that’s good!”, and immediately abandon it for the next thing that commands our attention.

“Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”
— Mark 4:18-19

We don’t drink the Word deep by dedicating time and space to it, sitting with it, exploring it and attempting to live it out. As a result, it never becomes real to us and nothing comes of it.

It’s just an idea that someone has to get us excited about over and over again.

“These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.”
— Mark 4:16-17

But, those who received the Seed and bear good fruit, the ones in whom the Word took root, they operate after their own kind, Jesus—the true vine.

What does that look like?

It looks like people taking up their cross and following, Jesus.

It looks like people concerning themselves with what Jesus concerned Himself with, preaching the gospel, seeking above all the Kingdom of God and its righteousness.

It looks like the ministry of reconciliation, making straight the path for the lost to be reconciled to communion with God through Jesus Christ.

Listen!

Luke 9:49 gives an account of the disciples who came across a man who heard Jesus and immediately got to the business of waging war against demonic occupation, and confronting them in the name of Jesus.

The problem was, he didn’t go to seminary, he wasn’t ordained, he wasn’t known among the establishment and the disciples forbade him.

But how did Jesus respond?

“But Jesus said to him, ‘Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side.’”
— Luke 9:50

Why?

Because he was showing us how to make the Word stick.

He took up his cross and followed Jesus.

He got after the Father’s business.

He walked it out.

He ate.

We should do likewise.

November 3, 2024

Broken With Purpose

Before Christ, I was just broken.

In many ways, I’m still broken.

But now, I’m broken this way with purpose.

Jesus uses my brokenness to heal others of the same brokenness as He heals me.

Hallelujah!

Jesus healed a man born blind so that others could see.

“And His disciples asked Him, saying, ’Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’

Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.’”
— John 9:2-3

The key is not hiding my brokenness.

“Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, ’Are we blind also?’

Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, “We see.” Therefore your sin remains.’”
— John 9:40-41

But we must confess our sins to one another before God that we may be healed.

“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.”
— James 5:16

Lord, if you show me, Imma tell it. Like the woman at the well, I will run and tell of the One who told me everything that I ever did, so they, too, can drink of this living water that You gave me and be healed.

Everything I am, Lord, including my brokenness, is for Your use.

I love You.

Amen.

October 25, 2024

What Is Sanctification?

Sanctification is learning to love God and to hate everything else.

Does this offend you?

Consider Deuteronomy 6:5,

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

And, Luke 14:26,

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”

My prayer has been to be set free even from a desire for my wife, who is most dear and precious to me.

I want my only desire to be for my wife who is in Christ.

See the difference?

Loving who is begotten by God, including those not yet made manifest, is one and the same as loving God.

“And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”
— 1 John 4:21

When the affection and desire of my heart is singular, I become “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58)

I can then be like Jesus, who hated Simon, but loved Peter, who in one breath calls Him blessed and in the next call Him Satan, because one was in God and the other was without.

Matthew 16:17, after Peter’s confession of faith,

“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.’”

Matthew 16:23, six verses later,

”But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.’”

When the affection and desire of my heart is singular, I become pure (oneness) in heart—a prerequisite to see God.

Learning to love God and to hate everything else is the process of being made holy, set apart and fit for service, which is sanctification.

#sanctification #heartwords

Paul Luckett

Proceed with caution. Visibility is limited.

Tag Archives: spiritual development