Seeing another sin

1Jn 5:16  If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

Not a sin unto death.

When we sin, we transgress the laws of God. We stop loving God and stop loving others and the actions we commit, the sin we do proves that we are NOT loving God and not loving others.

When we ask for forgiveness we are admitting our wrong in a humble, truthful way- because if it is anything but humble and honest our God knows!  When we admit our wrong doing, our ceasing to love God and/or others, and truly desire to be forgiven so that we might not be guilty of that sin, when we desire to have a chance to go and LOVE God and LOVE others as we are supposed to, then we are forgiven!

The sin that is unto death is the sin of us NOT asking forgiveness, it's the sin of denying God, denying salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, of rejecting the Holy Spirit as He strives to enlighten us to truth, it is shunning truth.  The sin that is unto death is the sin of unbelief, there is no hope if there is no believing. 

Being able to ask for another person to be forgiven is to ask for them to be forgiven of the sins- all the sins they might commit- but that one sin of unbelief. How can we ask God to forgive one who doesn't believe in Him and ask Him to allow that person to have eternal life with Him- One He doesn't even believe?  We must ask our God to soften the hearts of the unbelievers to bring them to His love, to believe in Him. But God will NOT force ANYONE to believe in HIM, not ever! We cannot ask God to force anyone to believe in Him, He cannot do that it would go against all He stands for- love.

By the grace of our God may we choose to believe always! May we choose to desire to love in truth with the love of God, the love of our Savior, the love of the Holy Spirit.

And all by His love may we find it in our hearts to pray for others. When we see another sin, we CAN ask our God to forgive them.  We SHOULD ask God to forgive them because only then can we really forgive them ourselves. When we ask God to forgive them we are praying for their eternal life, desiring eternal life for them.  Some might argue that it's presumptuous of us to assume someone is sinning, but the truth is we can often see others sin, can't we?  Right in this verse we are studying it says--

1Jn 5:16  If any man see his brother sin…

We CAN see others sin.  And it doesn't mean we are condemning them.  If we point out their sin to them or maybe to others, then often it seems to come across as judging to the point of condemnation, but it's NOT.  Oh, I'm not saying some people don't condemn when they judge, but that is NOT our place. We have NO right to EVER judge someone's eternal life, not ever- that is reserved for God and Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, they alone have that right.  We do however have to judge actions and judge but NOT condemn.

So when we witness someone sinning we SHOULD ask our God to forgive them, shouldn't we? Our love for others should extend to them to that point, yes? It reveal our love for them. We need to ask for forgiveness for others when we SEE them sin. Will that save them to the point of eternal life? It's possible, it really is.

1Jn 5:16  If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and HE SHALL GIVE HIM LIFE for them that sin not unto death.

He shall give him life.

We cannot ask forgiveness for the sins we do not see, we haven't a clue when others sin privately out of our sight. We cannot presume they are sinning behind closed doors, sinning when they leave our view. If they are that's between them and God, but if we SEE someone sin we really, really should ask God to forgive them.  And if someone is in the process of sinning against us, we need to forgive them and it helps to forgive them when we recognize they are sinning against us and God needs to forgive them too. If we ask God to forgive them it really does make it easier for us to forgive them- because if GOD can forgive them, what right have we NOT to forgive them?

My mother told me and my sisters on more than one occasion that she heard God speak to her once and that was after my father passed away and she felt heavy with guilt, that maybe he would have lived if she'd driven him to the doctor's rather than his driving himself. She distinctly remember as she was feeling the weight of that grief heavy upon her as she walked up the cellar stairs, hearing a voice speaking to her saying- 'If I can forgive you, why can't you forgive yourself?'  How true! When we recognize the truth of God forgiving others, we have NO right not to forgive them, none.  When a person sins against us they are sinning against God as well, because God commands that we do NOT sin against others. God forgives and we need to forgive and we need to ask God to forgive others too- it's not presumptuous, it's not arrogance, it's truth! Satan would have us believe we sin when we do that, because Satan loves to pervert the truth in any way He can.

May God bless us, may God keep us in HIM forgiving and being forgiven.

According to His will

1Jn 5:14  And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
1Jn 5:15  And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

According to His will.

His will.

We want OUR will to be His will, don't we?

He doesn't bend to our will, and by that I mean, God will NEVER compromise any principle whatsoever in order to allow us to have our will. God will NEVER condone wrong doing, anything sinful for us is INSTANTLY against His will.

What is God's will?

Mat 6:10  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Thy kingdom come- Thy will be done.

For us, God's will is His kingdom.

Anything, and everything for His kingdom.

We've all heard, read, seen things - books, movies, shows about earthly kingdoms, fictional perfect kingdoms and how the quest for the kingdom and the things of that kingdom becomes all important. Slay the dragon, get the girl, live happily ever after in the kingdom, that perfect kingdom. This is a fantasy- and by that we mean it's a total fabrication- a mere dream- a wish- it doesn't exist on earth, not yet.  But we HAVE these longings for fantasy to become reality, these little pinpricks of hope for something better to replace the world we live in. Why do we have that? Because there REALLY, there TRULY is a KINGDOM, a better KINGDOM! It EXISTS! It's NOT FANTASY! It's REAL! And it is God's will that HIS KINGDOM COME- a kingdom for US to inhabit, for US to live in with HIM, a PERFECT KINGDOM.

The mistake people make is putting that fantasy kingdom on an earthly level, filling it with things that are of the world and sin,  and not things of God.  They bring their greed- their lust for riches, their lust for flesh pleasure, their lust for power- they bring all this to the kingdom they want to inhabit and that is NOT God's kingdom and will NEVER be God's kingdom.

If we ask any thing according to God's will He WILL hear us- there is NO DOUBT that He will HEAR us because we are asking in harmony with His will, in harmony with His kingdom, the kingdom our Savior left His place in heaven for and took on flesh so He could offer us a chance to live in God's kingdom one day.

His will must be our will, our desire, our longing- to be one with Him again some day free from all that separates us. Towards this end we must ask God our petitions.

1Jn 5:14  And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
1Jn 5:15  And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

All by HIS LOVE and GRACE forever!

May His kingdom come, His WILL be done.

All we are should be HIS

1Jn 5:12  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
1Jn 5:13  These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

Those who believe and those who don't believe- two categories exist. The believers and unbelievers.
Among the unbelievers are those who are not TRUE believers.  I make that distinction because a lot of people will make the claim that they believe and yet our Savior will tell them He never knew them.

Remember these verses-

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

They are saying to our Savior- didn't they do many things in HIS name?  And the 'they' are MANY. How does our Lord respond? By saying-

I NEVER knew you.
Depart from me- you who work iniquity.

Yet these people BELIEVE that they are believing. Obviously they believe their actions of belief, their show of being God's is what should be recognized as their belief.

We have NO right to EVER say to our LORD, look what we've done, NO RIGHT! All we can do is fall at HIS feet and beg for forgiveness for all we've neglected to do.

We have to be TRUE believers, not DECEIVED believers.

If we have the SON we have LIFE.

Having the Son as we've learned means believing, it means having faith, it means living with God in us as we KNOW God. And we know Him by loving Him and others and keeping His words of pure LOVE- His commandments.  By this we KNOW we have the Son.  We fool ourselves if we do NOT love others, if we do NOT love the words, the commandments of God, if we do not LIVE our LOVE for God. We are honestly deceiving ourselves, allowing ourselves to be deceived when we claim to love and yet live as if we don't even know God or what He desires of us. We must trust fully in our God, fully. We have to believe in the UNDESERVED righteousness that our Savior IS for us!

1Jn 5:12  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
1Jn 5:13  These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

These things are written unto us who believe on the name of the Son of God- and we may KNOW that we have eternal life, and that we might believe on the name of the Son of God.

Know-believe- all in the Son of God, all in our Savior Jesus Christ our Lord!

Believe solely in HIM, not in ourselves at all.  Seriously. If we place our belief of salvation in ourselves we'll join the ranks of those who are not true believers in our ONE and ONLY SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. We MUST believe fully in our God, our Savior. We must know that we have to surrender to HIM all we are!

Some might believe that to surrender all of themselves is to give up who they are, but in truth we have NOTHING to offer towards our salvation and the mistake we make so foolishly is to believe we do. And what do we live for if not for salvation in our Savior? If we are living for any other reason again we are living to self. In all we are and all that is ours, all that we possess, all that we make our lives our Savior MUST be first in ALL of that, not just part of it, not just the bits and pieces we choose to believe that  should be Christ's. All we are should be HIS.

BY HIS GRACE!
BY HIS LOVE!

Eternal life in the Son

1Jn 5:9  If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.
1Jn 5:10  He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
1Jn 5:11  And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.


God has given to us ETERNAL LIFE…and this life is in His SON.

Eternal life.

Read this--

Rev 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Rev 21:4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Rev 21:5  And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

Rev 21:6  And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
Rev 21:7  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
Rev 21:8  But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Rev 21:9  And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
Rev 21:10  And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

Rev 21:11  Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
Rev 21:12  And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
Rev 21:13  On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
Rev 21:14  And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Rev 21:15  And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
Rev 21:16  And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
Rev 21:17  And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.

Rev 21:18  And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
Rev 21:19  And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
Rev 21:20  The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
Rev 21:21  And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

Rev 21:22  And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
Rev 21:23  And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
Rev 21:24  And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
Rev 21:25  And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
Rev 21:26  And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
Rev 21:27  And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Rev 22:1  And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Rev 22:2  In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Rev 22:3  And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
Rev 22:4  And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
Rev 22:5  And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 22:6  And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.

ETERNAL LIFE!

Amazing!

No curse.
No tears.
No pain.
No death.

All things that have made our lives miserable.

No one has lived (except those very, very few translated to heaven) - without experiencing pain, tears, death. NO one has live without living under the curse of sin.

Life without pain, tears, death, is just barely imaginable and only imaginable  through our Savior.

We must think of Eternal Life, it's something we can't stop thinking of and look for.

Our Savior came to earth to BRING the message of the gospel of the KINGDOM.

That's HOW important it is… SALVATION… a life with CHRIST forever! A real life! A life that is so hard for us to imagine, truly imagine.

This life offered to us is in the Son of God!

Only through the Son do we live and NO other way, none!

All by HIS GRACE!

His LOVE!

Jesus - Son of God

1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
1Jn 5:6  This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
1Jn 5:7  For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
1Jn 5:8  And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.


Three bear record in heaven-

The Father
The Word
The Holy Ghost

And they AGREE in one.

Three that bear witness in earth-

The Spirit
The Water
And the Blood

And they AGREE in one.

The same exact word saying - 'are one' and 'agree in one'  is used- 'are and agree'.

They AGREE in ONE- which is what makes the most sense, yes?

The Father, the Son (Word), and the Holy Ghost- agree in one they are NOT one entity. 
The Spirit, the Water, and the Blood- agree in one- they are NOT one entity.

Our Savior was baptized by WATER- a baptism that was pointless to some because the reason for baptism was to repent of your sins and He had NO sins. He did it in signifying HIS new life- His new ministry He was beginning. He did it and revealed the acceptance of the Father- that His life up to that point was deemed acceptable- uncorrupted- He was pleasing to God.

Mar 1:9  And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
Mar 1:10  And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
Mar 1:11  And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

The Spirit descended upon Him.

The Blood He shed for us represented the life He gave, the death He suffered- all to redeem us to Him.

Agreeing in one- the agreement that is between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.  The agreement the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood - all testifying to worthiness of the sacrifice offered, living, and dying.

1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

Jesus is the Son of God- this is TRUTH.

Overcoming this corrupted world only by the TRUTH, by JESUS - the Son of God.

If we hope only for eternal life so that we may continue to live the life we now have without end, we are not living for the Son, for the Father, but ourselves.

So many hope to live long and happy lives, so many hope that some miracle scientific cure will appear that will give life everlasting to people. People have had their heads frozen in hopes of one day science will figure out how to bring them back to life again so they can continue to live on in this corrupted world.  People live in hopes of making this world a better place- rather than believing in God's word which tells us that won't happen. People set their sights on the things of this world and if not making it better for themselves for their descendents. Yet right now the world we live in is so incredibly full of sin it's unbelievable, and this after thousands of years of people trying to make it better. Oh, sure you could name hundreds, possibly thousands of improvements- but you could also number hundreds and thousands of things that haven't been improved and how a lot of improvements bring with them new corruptions.  Rather than comprehending that our lives are to be lived towards eternal life- with the hope of a NEW life- a BRAND new life of the likes we can't fully comprehend- a SIN-FREE life, a life of PURE LOVE- we tend of focus on this life and how we can make it better, hoping beyond hope that maybe things will turn around and the world and it's occupants will miraculously begin to love one another. To have that hope is a fallacy, a lie, a false hope, the truth is FOUND in God's word and our only hope is the gospel of the kingdom, found in our Savior who died and returned to heaven to prepare us a place there.

Take a few moments to think, really think about your expectations for eternity.  Are you imagining life as we live today only without pain and corruption, without sin? Think about a lot of things you find enjoyment in right now- are they in anyway sinful? If they are, do you imagine being happy without them in your life at all? Take them - those things you think might have an element of sin in the- and imagine living totally without them.  Imagine it.   Eternity isn't going to be spent indulging our selfish, sinful desires.  Some imagine heaven as a place where you are suddenly allowed to do everything you've ever desired - the problem with that is a lot of what we desire is born of sinful elements because we live to the flesh.

We need to pray that God allows His Spirit to live within us - changing us, creating a CLEAN heart within us. His love is everything.  Living in HIS LOVE is everything. Imagining what it must be to live in His love fully for all eternity- this is truth, this is life eternal, this is hope, this is faith, this is the desire.  The horrors of this world are so vile, so overwhelmingly detestable and even the tiniest of sins is repulsive in the grand scheme of God's pure love. To live where there is NOTHING contrary to God's amazing love- this is life eternal in a Savior who lived that life among the atrocities of our world today, truly all powerful, all worthy of being Savior, of holding the power to redeem.

1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

Overcoming the world- something we have NO hope of doing without believing whole heartedly in Jesus the Son of God, and believing in ALL He represents.

We can't imagine the things that await those who are His- we can only know that the glory of being with HIM is everything!

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

In HIS amazing love!
By His amazing grace!

Overcoming the world

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

Overcoming the world.

We have to OVERCOME the world.

So many are caught up in being accepted by the world, being able to fit into the world, finding their place in the world, making a life for themselves in this world. By being caught up I mean that they believe their life in this world is what matters more than anything else. That life eternal is more of an after thought to their 'real' life here and now. Thinking about eternity is something they do upon occasion, something they really would rather think about when they are much older and perhaps closer to death. Making eternal life - the seeking of eternal life- their life here in the world isn't something practical to them, it's something only the weak do when they can't handle living in the 'real' world.

Overcoming the world. How many people do you know are intent upon overcoming the world?

So many people put eternal life into the trunk of life's car and take it out upon occasion, they don't let it ride up front with them every single day as part of their daily existence.

I've said it before and I'll most likely say it again- this life here and now is TEMPORARY to ETERNITY. But most people have it backwards, they believe this life here and now is not temporary but perhaps all there really is- because hey, you never know, right?

Every single problem- large and small, devastating and merely annoying- they are ALL temporary to eternity.

Every single joy- large and small, life altering, wonderful and merely amusing- they are ALL temporary to eternity.

When we try to hold fast to our problems dwelling on them and letting our life focus be wholly on them, when we try to hold fast to our joys dwelling on them and letting our life focus be wholly on them, we are missing the HUGE picture of what life really is- temporary to eternity. 

Overcoming the world- this is our goal- not being assimilated into the world.
Being apart from the world- in that the everlasting gospel of the kingdom of eternal life is your main focus. 

When our main focus is the gospel of the kingdom, when we our main focus is overcoming the world towards the end goal of being Christ's, then our main focus is love- perfecting LOVE. 

As we've learned perfecting the love in us is knowing God, and realizing in knowing God we are loved and must love in return- love God and love others.

We need to focus on overcoming the world and doing that through the love of our Savior.

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

If we are BORN of God- we OVERCOME the world.
This is the VICTORY that OVERCOMETH the world- EVEN OUR FAITH.
Who overcomes the world?
He that believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

Our faith in God, and God is love!
Our faith in Jesus, God's son, sent to die in our place, and living resurrected to bring us life eternal.

Our faith in God enables us to OVERCOME the world.

All by HIS grace!!! His LOVE!

If we believe that Jesus is the Christ- we are born of God.

1Jn 5:1  Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

If we believe that Jesus is the Christ-  we are born of God.

If we believe that we love Him that begat- if we believe that we Love the FATHER who begat Jesus Christ- then we love Jesus Christ.

If we LOVE God the Father and we LOVE the Begotten - Jesus Christ- we LOVE all the children of God- we LOVE others.

We keep God's commandments.

This is the love of God- that we KEEP His commandments.

Commandments given to us out of His love!

And any commandments given out of LOVE are NOT grievous, they can't be.

Commandments that are made from love cannot be grievous, it's impossible.

So many people look at the commandments as restrictions and not as love. We have to look at them as love, if we don't then we can't really know God's love, can we? If we refuse to recognize God's love given to us in such detail, then we refuse to truly know Him at all.

If I say I love someone and refuse to know them, to read something they've given me that reveals that love, how can I truly believe I love them, how?

We must believe.

Without believing we are lost.

We must believe and in believing we must love with HIS love, and we keep His commandments out of love- always.

If we hate we cannot LOVE God.

1Jn 4:20  If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
1Jn 4:21  And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

If we hate others we cannot LOVE God, it's impossible.

The scriptures are telling us the truth here, telling us that we cannot lay claim to loving God if we hate someone, anyone, any other.

Hate runs rampant through our world.

When I was growing up I was taught by my parents that I shouldn't hate anyone, that hate was the most awful thing you could say to someone, the most awful thing you could feel towards another person. And I also remember using the word and I vividly remember one time when I wrote it in chalk on the ground after I'd been humiliated in front of my friends. I felt such an awful feeling as most people do when they are humiliated. Humiliation has led to many horrors in retaliation of that experience. Being humiliated, embarrassed, teased, bullied- we know that the results of that are destructive for either those being humiliated or those doing the humiliating.  It's never fun taking mental, emotional abuse, never and hating those that torture others that way seems like a natural response. Yet, we are NOT to hate others, not for any reason.  Jesus spent precious time preaching about how we should treat others.

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you

Do GOOD to them that hate you.
LOVE your enemies.
BLESS them that curse you.
Pray for them which DESPITEFULLY use you and persecute you.

Being humiliated is being persecuted despitefully, yes?

When I was a child and felt that humiliation I know now that it wasn't an intentional act on the part of my parent to make me feel that way, but as a child I was feeling hatred, and it wasn't a good thing at all. God forgive me that hatred and all the subsequent hatred I've felt towards others at various times throughout my life.

Hatred is the complete opposite of God's love towards us.  If we hate others we do NOT know God, we cannot LOVE God- why? Because He cannot hate us, He is love. Some will argue that God has allowed, arranged, or otherwise facilitated the horrors that could only come from hate, but what God hates is sin, all that is not love. When sin fills people they either choose to allow it to thrive within them or they fall on their knees and ask God to forgive them, they repent, they despise the sin inside themselves. 

There isn't a SINGLE person who will not be saved that has the love of God in them, NOT ONE.

Everyone who LOVES GOD- truly loves God from time beginning until time ending- will be saved, they will be HIS.  Because out of that LOVE for God they will love as He would have them love, with His love.  They will love others, they will love His commandments, they will love in His love.

1Jn 4:20  If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
1Jn 4:21  And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

If we say we love God and we hate others - we DO NOT LOVE GOD! We can pretend all we want, we can fool even ourselves if we allow it, but ANY hatred for others destroys the love we have for God.

Is it any wonder our Savior came and spent three years preaching the love of God? He did it because the LOVE of God truly is the all in all.  He LIVED the love of God, teaching US to live as He lived, the love of God through HIM. Hating was NOT something He encouraged. HE never encouraged us to hate others, never and He never ever would.

We love him, because he first loved us.

1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us.

He first loved us.

People don't always feel loved by God, in fact they'll blame Him for their troubles, their misfortunes, their heartaches, their pain. They'll cry, heart wrenching cries of emotional agony and if you ask them if they feel the love of God they are hard pressed to answer yes. And yet, God loved us FIRST.

In all things God has loved us first- allowing us to love Him, giving us the opportunity to LOVE Him. 

As our Creator we were fashioned from His love.  We were not created with indifference. We were not created as an afterthought. We were created out of love, meant to love God and each other.  He loved us first before all things. He loved us enough to allow flesh to enfold His Spirit and He tasted DEATH for us. He tasted separation from God-the FATHER after the two had been together since time everlasting- without beginning and without end.  Why did He endure the agony of that separation? Because He loved us. He didn't want us to endure the separation we'd created for ourselves by sinning, by breaking the bond between us that was forged at creation.  TO repair the break He gave HIMSELF for us and that is something we can hardly begin to comprehend- that is LOVE- the LOVE He first had for us. The love that enables us to LOVE HIM.

We love HIM because HE FIRST loved us.

Such love is something we don't deserve, can't deserve, but it's something we must have - our life, our eternal life is only possible through that love and NO other way.

People who believe there is a way to work themselves into heaven by being good enough are so totally lost, so off track it's tragic. There is NO way to work for salvation. Love is the only way to salvation.

We love Him because He FIRST loved us.

His first LOVING us makes our loving Him possible.  Except He first loves us we don't have a clue what love is, not a clue.

God is love.

Without God there is NO such thing as love. It's true.

We were created with the capacity to love, to return love to God, to give love to others, and to receive love from God and receive love from others.

We have the capacity- the ability to do so and yet so many shun God and HE is the love we can love with- the ONLY love we can truly love with.

All other love we try to manufacture outside of God and His love is an empty self-serving love.

We love Him because He first loved us.

Praise God He loved us first! Praise God that we were created out of His love for us, and redeemed out of His love for us!

All glory to God!

No fear in love

1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Fear- dread-terror.

PERFECT LOVE casts our fear.

Remember this from yesterday--

1Jn 4:12 ...If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

ONLY if God is dwelling in us is HIS love PERFECTED in us, and that happens ONLY if we LOVE one another.  THAT perfected love is what will cast out fear, it will cast out torment. If we are filled with fear, with terror, with dread, then we are not loving others as we should, we are not allowing God to live in us. The more fear we have the less our God is in us.

Some people are naturally (or so it seems) more fearful than others. Some are more apprehensive, some are anxious and filled with anxiety, and fear is a way of life to them. Being somewhat such a person- finding myself having an anxiety attack at ten years old- long before our medical/psychological fields truly knew what they were- I was suddenly experiencing this strange, awful, physical reaction to nothing I could understand at the time, later, MUCH later, I would realize the catalyst was my father leaving us for a week to attend a work function in another state, something ten year old me had never had to deal with- dad was ALWAYS the one that was there even when mom went through a lot of medical stuff. Anyway, here I was thrust into this horror of fear caused by something totally alien to me and my life was altered from that point on.  There was a point in my life I hated to leave the house (praise God that was only a short/dark period of my life) that fear was so incredibly intense and even today I cannot honestly say I have no fear in my life- does this mean God is not dwelling in me, that I do not love others enough, that I don't have the perfect love of God in my life?  It's possible, but then again I HAVE to say this… at the point we allow ourselves to believe that we are perfected, aren't we yet again caught up in self-delusion, self-righteousness?  

Paul said this- and I've gone back to it time and again because I have to-

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Oh wretched man that I am.  Those words came from Paul, one of God's apostles. Were there ever any closer to God than the apostles? And yet those words describing Himself as wretched, those words calling his body the body of death came from one close to God!

What is the message being given here?

I believe- and I could be wrong- but I believe that we are in a PERFECTION PROCESS, a GROWTH PROCESS, that we are living towards that perfection but it's NOT something that we pull on like a longed for warm coat, button up and never take off. This perfection is a living, breathing thing because this perfection is the LOVE of GOD dwelling in us as we love others!

Perfected love will automatically dispel fear and the greatest fear we COULD have is the fear of losing life eternal with our Savior! Yes?

This should be our GREATEST ever fear. All other things to fear are not to do with our eternal life. When we fear spiders, strangers, birds, germs, death itself, we are fearing things that do NOT affect our eternal life. The thing that affects our eternal life is whether or not we have accepted the love that our Savior has for us, and in accepting that love it LIVES within us as something ALIVE being perfected and the result--  is our LOVE for others -- which in reality is God's love for us alive, perfect. 

To NOT have the love of God in us should be our greatest fear!
To NOT have the forgiveness of our Savior, this should be our greatest fear!
To NOT have the righteousness of Christ standing in place of our filthiness, this should be our greatest fear!
To NOT KNOW GOD, to NOT BE KNOWN BY GOD this should be our greatest fear!

Perfect love- GOD- casts out any fear we have that we should not have eternal life.

We must have FAITH in God, believing in God fully, trusting in our God more than we could ever trust in ourselves.  We have a lot to fear if we are placing our faith in ourselves and not God. We should be filled with terror, dread, fear, horror  if we are looking INWARD for salvation and not outward to our God to be saved.

1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

We are perfected by GOD in us, and GOD casts out all our fear.

All by the grace of our God, all by HIS love!  Please perfect us!

When love towards God, and love towards others ceases- sin begins.

1Jn 4:12  No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

1Jn 4:13  Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

1Jn 4:14  And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

1Jn 4:15  Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

1Jn 4:16  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

IF

IF

ONLY  IF we LOVE ONE ANOTHER will GOD dwell IN US, and HIS LOVE will be perfected in us.

When we find ourselves not loving one another we can be assured that God's love is not being perfected in us.

Selflessness- something we are totally unfamiliar with, most of us any way. The world revolves around us- our needs, our wants, our desires, our  lack of appreciation, the list is endless. The selfishness that exists in us is horrific, is it any wonder that there will be FEW who actually find that narrow path and go down it? It calls for the sacrifice of us in a VERY real way.

Knowing God means LOVING OTHERS.

Loving others means God will dwell in us and HIS love will be perfected in us.

We know that we dwell in HIM and He in us- because he gives us of his SPIRIT.

And WE have seen

And DO testify that the FATHER sent the SON to be the SAVIOR of the WORLD.

We must CONFESS that JESUS is the SON of GOD- and God will dwell in US, and we will dwell in GOD.

We must believe the LOVE God has towards us.

GOD IS LOVE.

If we dwell in LOVE- we dwell in GOD- and GOD dwells in us.

We can have BOLDNESS in the day of judgment if we LOVE- because if we LOVE we are with God and God is with US.

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.

Ultimately it is LOVE.

When love towards God, and love towards others ceases- sin begins.

Jas 1:14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Jas 1:15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

When we are drawn away by our own lusts and enticed-  when we are drawn away from loving God, from loving others-we are tempted.  When we begin to follow our OWN desires, our OWN lusts, we are NOT loving others or God.  Once we are convinced to please ourselves first and foremost we begin to sin. When we continue to seek self over God and others, and do not veer from that path it is the path that leads to death.

Self seeking is death. Loving others is life.

Please LORD take these selfish desires from us!

Help us to love OTHERS, to love YOU more and more!

Love truly is the answer, the real answer, the truth. LOVE is God.

LOVE.

Love- not some fairy tale of emotion that satan has made it out to be, but real love, the deep abiding love that gives up self fully through CHRIST.

All through CHRIST.

Live through HIM

1Jn 4:9  In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
1Jn 4:10  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1Jn 4:11  Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

That we might LIVE THROUGH HIM.

Our Savior - sinless- undeserving of death- took on death the penalty for sin- all for us who deserve death- us who are filled with sin.  We are filled with UNLOVING acts time and time again.

Whether the unloving is towards God or towards our fellowman- we time and time again stop loving one or the other- or both.

Our God has NEVER stopped loving us and this is why He could die for us sinless.

Our God loves us who are completely UNDESERVING. There isn't a single thing we do that can make us deserving, it's totally UNDESERVED love we are given.

NO one has to deserve our love in order for us to give it to them-this is love- the love of God- the love GOD would have us give to one another.

No one need be good enough to get our love.
No one need be Godly enough to get our love.
No one need be nice enough to get our love.
No one need be decent, giving, kind, friendly, sweet, endearing, tolerant, in order to get our love.

It is TRULY the love of God when it is given without it being deserved.

How easy it is for us to give hate for hate, to revile when we are reviled, to despise when we are despised, to be mean when we are being abused. Our natural inclination is to strike out when we are struck.

God's love tells us to love all the more when we are hated, to forgive even more those that despise us, to accept the horrors of abuse heaped upon us without giving into the temptation to return the same hated behavior to those giving it to us.

How incredibly easy it is to be defensive, to stand up for ourselves and tell ourselves that it's good and right to not allow ourselves to be mistreated- verbally, physically, emotionally, mentally.

1Jn 4:11  Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

This is the love we are to give to each other, always. Every person no matter how ungodly seeming is NOT beyond our ability to love with GOD'S love. If we choose NOT to love another because of our perception of them (even if it is a correct assessment and admitted by them personally) then we are possibly being ungodly to one that God is in the process of converting.  Paul is an example. Would Peter, John, James or any of the Apostles have looked at Paul when he was in the throes of actively persecuting those who believed on Christ, and thought for a moment he would be a great instrument in God's hands? Would Stephen who died as Paul stood by holding the coats of those throwing their deadly stones at him, murdering him, have thought there is one God is molding and shaping for His work? Paul was a hater, a terrible, terrible hater of Christ followers. Paul wanted to hunt down these Christ followers and destroy them all.  Would we look at those who seem as far from Christ as you can get and believe they could be God's chosen? We tend to condemn, not love. Christ died for ALL, each person has the opportunity to choose to believe in Christ Jesus their Savior. When we do NOT love even the worst of the worst- we are condemning them as unworthy and yet Christ Jesus died for them too! It is the devil's influence filling even the most vile of people, and we need to pray for those we least want to pray for, those least deserving in our thoughts, in our beliefs.

As God loved us we MUST love each other!

I don't know about you, but I know I'm very, very undeserving of the sacrifice my Savior made for me.

We must love and to love we must know God, we must understand as far as we are able the sacrifice our Savior made for us- this is the love of God.

Please Lord, please, help us to LOVE.

Love is of God

1Jn 4:7  Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
1Jn 4:8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love

LOVE one another.
For LOVE is of GOD.
Everyone that LOVETH- is born of GOD and knows GOD.
He that LOVES not - does not know GOD.
GOD is LOVE.

Love - God.
God - Love.

LOVE-

Mat 5:43  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt LOVE* thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Mat 5:46  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Mat 5:47  And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

G25 LOVE*
- Transliteration: Agapao
- Phonetic: ag-ap-ah'-o
- Definition:
1. of persons
a. to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly

To welcome- not to turn away, not to refuse.
To entertain- to engage pleasantly.
To be fond of- to feel kindness towards.
To love dearly- to care for exceedingly.

People don't love not really love, not anymore.

There is a guardedness, a barrier erected and that barrier is made up of SELF.

To love is to give of self- selflessly- without reservation- without making sure that one you are attempting to love is deserving of that love. If we pause to consider whether or not another is deserving of our love- that isn't love at all.

Mat 24:12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

1Jn 4:7  Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
1Jn 4:8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love


Our love cannot be self-centered, our love must be God's love- unconditional- loving when not loved- not just loving when we feel loved, or feel like loving.

Please LORD please, take our selfishness, our selfish hearts away from us and fill us with YOUR love, YOUR SPIRIT, YOU.

Help us to KNOW YOU GOD, so that we may love, truly love.

Spirit of truth and spirit of error

1Jn 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
1Jn 4:5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

Greater is HE that is in US than he that is in the world.

Always God will be greater than Satan. 

We live in a world that Satan rules. You look around and it doesn't take very long at all for a person to realize that our God of love has allowed man's choice to sin, man's choice to listen to Satan, to rule this world. Only our God's mercy has preserved us, us who will love the LORD with all our hearts, believing in Him over all.  We are preserved by God. Our eternal life is preserved by our Savior. Everything that happens to us does so for a reason. When we read the book of Job and realize the extent of the horrors He endured, we know that all we endure is likewise for reasons beyond our ability to comprehend.

God is greater in us, greater than Satan will ever be.

Hearing God, listening to His truths, this is something we MUST do.

There is a spirit of truth and a spirit of error.

Truth and error.

God and the world possessed by Satan.

There is so much falsehood in the world, so much. We have to cling to the truth. We have to cling to Christ. We have to keep our God alive in us through faith, and not be OF the world. Not seek to be OF the world, but OF GOD. Actively seeking God not encouraging the worldly ways above Him which is so easy to do!

We are of GOD.
We overcome the world because of God in us.
God is GREATER than all.

Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
1Jn 4:2  Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
1Jn 4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.


We must confess that our Savior came in the flesh just like we come in the flesh with the ability to sin.

Our Savior was born of a woman who sinned. No where in the word of God are we told that Mary was sinless. She was blessed but so were others in the Bible.

Gen 17:19  And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
Gen 17:20  And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.

Ishmael was blessed by God.

Gen 24:1  And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.

Abraham was blessed.

This is what was said to Mary-

Luk 1:28  And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

She was HIGHLY FAVORED.
The LORD was with HER.
She was BLESSED among women.

No where are we told she is sinless, no where at all. 

Abraham wasn't without sin and God blessed him.
Ishmael wasn't without sin and he was blessed.

You can be blessed and have sinned.

The reason our Savior was taking on OUR FLESH was to feel our infirmities.

Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

He could FEEL the same struggles of the flesh as we feel!  Yet HE did NOT sin!  He conquered where we fell. He won where we lost. He did what we could not do. He could HAVE SINNED, but He didn't! He had to PROVE that man in flesh could serve God and their fellowman in love, and He did. This is what He came to do. He FOUGHT the spiritual battle, and it was a fight! A real fight! To think otherwise is to belittle our Savior's achievement. To think otherwise would mean that He didn't have to do things that way, He could have just stayed in Heaven, not begotten as God's Son in human flesh- but God with God- and saved us that way by simply saying the words. It couldn't be that way, to do it that way would have stripped our freedom of choice from us. In making us with that freedom of choice the amazing gift made us in God's likeness. The ability to choose.  And our Savior came to earth, God taking on flesh, begotten of the Father as His Son- and He PROVED that the flesh could conquer death, could conquer sin, He did for us what we could NOT do, and HE DID IT FOR US! He proved it to us that it could be done and IN HIM we are now able to do it-through HIS achievement. When we are CONNECTED fully with HIM by faith, trusting in HIM and HIS righteousness, asking for and receiving forgiveness, repenting of our sinful selves, we are then living in the SPIRIT- connected fully.

If we do NOT confess that our Savior came in the flesh that could sin, then we are not God's, and SO incredibly many people do just that, they do NOT confess that our Savior truly came in flesh. They've changed the flesh He came in, they've altered and made it so that it would have been impossible for Him to sin. They've even claimed that His human mother was sinless that's how far some have taken the humanity of Jesus and changed it to suit their ideas and NOT God's.

The spirit of the antichrist - those who would put their own beliefs in place of God's, taking away the fact our Savior truly came in human flesh and all that means.

Please LORD, please help us NEVER to have the spirit of antichrist in  us! Please, save us from ourselves!

Bless us Lord, keep us Lord, forgive us Lord, save us Lord, help us Lord, heal us Lord!

All through YOU! All in YOUR LOVE!

The Flesh of our Savior

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
1Jn 4:2  Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
1Jn 4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

Let's take a look at the verses containing the word 'flesh' for a bit--

Mat 16:17  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for FLESH and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

Mat 24:22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no FLESH be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

Mat 26:41  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the FLESH is weak.

Luk 3:6  And all FLESH shall see the salvation of God.

Luk 24:39  Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not FLESH and bones, as ye see me have.

Joh 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Joh 1:13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the FLESH, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Joh 1:14  And the Word was made  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.

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:6  That which is born of the FLESH is FLESH; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Joh 3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Rom 1:3  Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the FLESH

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the FLESH, but after the Spirit.

Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the FLESH, God sending his own Son IN THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH, and for sin, condemned sin in the FLESH:
Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the FLESH, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:5  For they that are after the FLESH do mind the things of the FLESH; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the FLESH cannot please God.
Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the FLESH, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Rom 8:10  And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Rom 8:11  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Rom 8:12  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the FLESH, to live after the FLESH.
Rom 8:13  For if ye live after the FLESH, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

*******

 Flesh.

Our Savior was FLESH and BLOOD. He gave us the example of His FLESH and BLOOD so we could NOT doubt the reality of what He was composed of. Not that He wanted us to really physically eat His skin and drink His real blood- it is symbolic and the symbol is the REALITY of what our SAVIOR came to earth as- FLESH, like our flesh.

Flesh such as the seed of David inherited, flesh that felt the FULL pull of temptation.

Our Savior inherited that same FLESH. He COULD have sinned! Think about it, make it REAL to you.

Our Savior COULD HAVE SINNED!

It sounds almost wrong to say it, to think it, to believe that it could have happened.

If we believe that it wasn't possible we take away the FLESH of our Savior and give Him only the status of God. We take away the fact that He COULD be tempted. Why would Satan try to tempt Him if it were IMPOSSIBLE for our Savior to sin? He wouldn't have, there would have been NO point at all whatsoever. To conquer you have to have had the ability to fail, not succeed or it is not conquering. And our Savior conquered death- the ultimate result of sin eternal non-existence, the second death.


More on this tomorrow, all by the grace of God, all through HIS LOVE!

Try the spirits

1Jn 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
1Jn 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
1Jn 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

We've discussed this a little bit before- the word- 'antichrist'.

The modern word for anti- is against, but the word used to mean- in place of.

The word antichrist means 'in place of Christ'.

The spirit of antichrist- the spirit of that which tries to take the place of our true Savior.

When we think of our Savior coming in the flesh- people generally don't have too much objection to this fact. However people start to differ and become uncomfortable when they begin to discuss the flesh of our Savior.

Some believe that our Savior came in flesh but such flesh that it was essentially impossible for Him to sin. They believe His nature was different from ours. And in believing that- it's all but impossible for them to believe this--

Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

For our Savior to be tempted in ALL points like WE are would mean that He had to have the same propensity, the same flesh as we have or else He could NEVER be tempted like WE are in our sinful flesh.

This is the flesh issue that will divide so many.

The flesh our Savior came in.

Some just think about skin, and yes, Jesus came in skin like we have. To those who are just thinking of flesh as skin there is no issue- and of course those who don't believe our Savior really existed are 'against' Christ. Do you see where semantics can play a HUGE part in things? There is TRUTH in words and there are lies. People fill the words with lies and misdirection and then expect truth to be found, but how can people find it when it's shrouded in darkness?

We cannot believe EVERY spirit.
We have to TRY the spirits.
Some will be of God, others of Satan.
Those spirits, those prophets that are of God must confess that Jesus is come in the flesh.

The flesh of our humanity.

More on this tomorrow by the grace of God!

God's will first, our will last, the very last.

1Jn 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
1Jn 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
1Jn 3:24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

In keeping our Lord's commandments- dwelling in our Savior- and our Savior dwelling in us- loving one another-believing in Jesus Christ the Son of the Father- we KNOW HE abides in us- and we will receive whatever we ask.

People say that's crazy talk, God won't give us whatever we want no matter what. The TRUTH is, God WILL give us whatsoever we ask IF we are abiding in Him because whatever we ask for will be ONLY that which is good and right in HIS eyes. Abiding in Him truly, we will NOT ask for anything that God will not grant us. If we are asking for things and God is not giving them to us- we have to look at our lives, look at our abiding in Christ. Are we keeping His commandments? Are we doing the things that are pleasing in His sight? Are we believing on the name of God's Son- Jesus Christ? Are we LOVING one another?

Seriously, we NEED To examine our lives. We expect so much from God. We expect Him to do for us and us do nothing. Why? Because we cannot do ANYTHING to give us salvation, but that doesn't mean we have NOTHING to give, that nothing is expected of us in our lives. We are expected to have FAITH. We are expected to let that FAITH be REAL in our lives. That REAL faith will alter our life. We STOP living solely for self and desire to live for God. We desire to want to PLEASE God even knowing that nothing we do will give us salvation- that salvation is an unwarranted, amazing gift bestowed upon us by our loving FATHER and loving SON, through the HOLY SPIRIT.

Faith will have us love, love will give us faith, and through it all we will find out, we will discover the love of our God's commandments, the love of LOVING others, the LOVE of believing. We will ONLY- by the grace of God- desire and live for the things of God and God WILL give us whatsoever we ask of Him.

This isn't a get rich quick scheme, or an instantaneous healing act that we must have even if we desperately need money, or healing, or even both. There can be NO schemes, just truth, just love, just belief. You see we will first ask that God's will be done and it will. The will of God may include that we face some very, very difficult trials for reasons God alone will know. God's will first, our will last, the very last.

All in His love, all by His Spirit!

Our heart- condemns or condemns not

1Jn 3:20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
1Jn 3:21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.

God is greater than our heart.
Our heart will either condemn us or not condemn us.

Remember this--

1Jn 3:17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
1Jn 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
1Jn 3:19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him

IF we love we are not condemned.

We know if we love. We know if we don't love.

When our heart condemns us- it is condemning us because we don't love- we are not loving in action as God would have us love one another, and we cannot assure our hearts before God.

And GOD knows our heart better than we do. We cannot hide our hearts from God. That is why this is my prayer-

Psa 51:9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
Psa 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Psa 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Psa 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

Create in me a CLEAN heart.

I need God to create in me a CLEAN heart, a heart that doesn't condemn me.

I long to have confidence towards God.

Putting my confidence anywhere else will only offer a false security if it offers any.

1Jn 3:20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
1Jn 3:21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.

We have to comprehend the reality that nothing we are is hid from God. He knows the good, the bad, and the ugly, as well as the beautiful that is in us. He knows whether we long to be His. He knows our hearts and HE can CREATE in us a CLEAN heart. The heart of filth we possess can be cleaned. It's not irreparably stained, not if we believe in our Savior who died to be able to cleanse our hearts.

We must believe that our God will clean our hearts, we must have this faith in God, it's only with this faith in God that our heart won't condemn us. As long as we place our hope within ourselves we will never have a clean heart. We can try to wash our own heart over and over again, we can scrub at it, throw all the mental, emotion bleach we want onto our own filthy heart and it will forever remain stained. There isn't a SINGLE thing we can do to clean our own heart. We cannot do it, just as there are some things only a dry cleaner can get out, ONLY God can cleanse our heart. Our heart cleaner- God. We must go to Him and only Him and stop trying to scrub the filth from our own heart.

We must live our lives as we have been told in God's word to live it and trust in our God to save us.

We do have an Advocate with the Father and when we feel the weight of transgressions heavy upon us we have to go to our Advocate and seek forgiveness, seeking to be cleansed by the only One who can clean us.

Psa 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Our confidence must be in GOD, only then our heart will not condemn us.

The verse reads- if our hearts condemns us not THEN we have confidence towards God- and that is a FACT. Our hearts will condemn us if we have no confidence towards God. And God knows whether we submit to Him or not, He knows.

God knows- He is greater than our own conscience, greater than our heart- and He knows.

All by HIS grace! May we be cleansed by Him and our hearts have confidence towards Him.

All by HIS LOVE!

Assure our hearts before Him

1Jn 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
1Jn 3:19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.

Hereby we KNOW that we are of the truth.
Hereby we KNOW that we are of our Savior.

If we love actively.

It's easy to say- I love you.

I know some people might say it's not easy at all and that's true for some people but others find it easy to say. I know about three, four, maybe five years ago suddenly it became important for me to tell the people I love that I love them. Maybe it was one of those thing I read- who knows- but I never wanted to regret NOT telling those I love that I love them. So it began, and at first it wasn't as easy to do but now- now it's easy to do and yet now it almost seems as if it's become more habit when in truth it's not, at least not for me. Believe it or not before I say those words I have that momentary thought about saying it and why- wanting the person I'm saying it to, to know that I love them and if that's the last time I see them then they'll remember, or I'll remember that it wasn't something that went unsaid.

So when I say it is easy to say I love you it is, and many might say it without truly meaning it, without any action behind it.

Every single person I've told I love you- at least over the last few years or so- I really hope that if the action of love has been needed that I've acted out of love and not just spoke those words to them.

I'm not a very demonstrative person, not at all. And I fight satan all the time as He encourages my selfishness, being selfless doesn't come easy to me and I hate that about myself. So these verses really hit home with me. I want to, I need to love in deed and in truth, in action and in Christ and I pray to God that He make this possible in me. What seems impossible to me, isn't impossible to God.

Luk 18:27 And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

I want to know I'm of the truth. I want to assure my heart before my Savior all by loving not in my words- not by just saying the words- but in action, in my interaction with those I love, and to all as we are to love our fellowman. Please Lord, help me to truly LOVE all by YOUR grace and mercy.

All through You Lord, all through YOU.

In Action and In Christ

1Jn 3:17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
1Jn 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

Loving others.

If we love others we will care for them. If we see another in need we and turn our backs on them we are NOT loving others. If we consider our OWN needs first- we are not loving others.

It's so incredibly hard to put others first to the point of us having nothing.

There was a popular television show episode that depicted a man who was giving away his money and lots of it. He was giving and giving and giving until his family left him because he was no longer seemingly concerned with providing them with all the things they wanted etc. Well he fell ill and the physician in charge of his case decided his giving was due to a medical problem not because he was actually caring and giving. This show went on and made it just that- they found a tumor in his brain that pressed on a certain part that made him this overly caring man, willing to lay down his life to save another- literally. What the show wanted to get across is that people are NOT like that, they aren't selfless, they have to be sick to be so. And you know what- with the way people are today- it's sadly true.

Even in my own life I have this huge war going on- the battle between what I KNOW is right and what I would rather do. The battle between wanting to help others, but not wanting to destitute myself looms large in me. Is this selfishness? I fear it is. EVEN with little things- things that are asked of me- I find myself resenting them and this is the FLESH battle within. As soon as I start resenting I recognize that it's wrong and by the grace of God sometimes I can take the chastising and that feeling goes away, others times it's not such a quick release from the battle.

This flesh battle is REAL, so incredibly real. Saying 'flesh' battle almost makes it sound physical but more often than not the flesh battle isn't a battle of tangible flesh but of spirit- emotional, mental- and the flesh war is a battle of flesh DESIRES against spiritual TRUTHS.

Flesh desires warring against spiritual truths- this is our battle.

So when the conflict rages within us we have to expect it and NOT give into the despair satan wants to make us feel. If he can get us to live in despair then he has won us, taken us from our Savior. We have to FIGHT! And oh what a fight it is! Such a fight! A fight we will have until our Savior returns or until our life is over and we are sleeping in the grave.

We will NOT get to a place we are outside of the battle and if we do we have to worry, really worry.

Please Lord, help us to endure, help us fight the battle by choosing to be with YOU, choosing to abide in YOU. We have to seek forgiveness always. It is YOUR righteousness we have to live in, not our own. Help us LORD. Help us to give LORD. Help us to love others MORE than ourselves. Help us LORD because we are immersed in selfishness, drowning in self, choosing ourselves over others, please…help us.

1Jn 3:17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
1Jn 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

In DEED and in TRUTH.

In DEED- in actions.

In TRUTH- in CHRIST!

Because HE laid down HIS life for us

1Jn 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

WE ought to LAY down our lives for others.

If we are commanded to lay down our lives for others- something so HUGE- does it stand to reason that we are to lay down our lives for others as we live? Seriously. Are we to allow others to dictate to us how we should live- for them? Is it WRONG for them to ask us to do for them? Should we feel put upon and deny them what they ask of us?

Our Savior went about doing good. Our Savior helped so many people in any way He could, even to the point of wearing Himself out time and time again. Our Savior did NOT contribute to ANY sin! Our Savior did NOT help anyone sin! Our Savior helped, He healed and told those He healed to go and SIN NO MORE.

When others are asking for our help- asking for us to do good UNTO them, if we refuse then we are NOT living in Christ, we are NOT abiding in our Savior!

We really do have to lay down our SELF all the way up to the point of death- to do good unto others. Our Savior taught us this and yet we live in a world where there is so much selfishness, so much pain, so much heartache all caused by others hurting others.

I read something today that broke my heart- men/boys sexually attacking a mentally challenged young girl only 17, and her mother saying they've been doing so since she was 12. My heart broke, it broke. This world is so sick, so filled with people who have no love for each other, no love at all whatsoever. The thing they try to call love is nothing like the love of our SAVIOR which is ALL about loving others and loving the One who CREATED us. The words of our Savior--

Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

-- is so TRUE! Never more true, never. We've never had this many people living in this world at one time- not ever and it's growing more populated daily. With more people there is so much more hatred, more sin, more ungodliness, so much more SELF LOVE, and a lot less love for others.

We are to LAY DOWN OUR LIVES FOR OTHERS if the need arises, as CHRIST laid down HIS life for all of US.

And if we are to DIE for others, give up our very life to save another, then how can we NOT give all we can to others as long as we live? How do we STOP when it comes to giving while living, and yet try to convince ourselves that we would lay down our lives for others if need be? What kind of self deception is that? We choose to hold back while we live- not giving- not loving others fully as our Savior would have us if we really abide in Him and love HIM, and if we hold back we are NOT HIS! We will NOT be found in HIM.

It doesn't matter if you feel inclined to help- what matters is helping. Seriously. Satan would have us so caught up in our feelings that we *FEEL* that we should *FEEL* like giving, only then are we truly giving. That if we hold the LEAST bit of feeling of resentment then it ruins everything. We HAVE to realize, we really, really have to realize that we are made of FLESH and we are fighting that FLESH, we fight daily, hourly, minutely against our own flesh being that isn't inclined towards the spiritual life we must live. As we fight we'll have SATAN whispering in our ear that we are NOT God's, and we are not HIS because we don't *FEEL* inclined to be loving towards others.

We have to set our FEELINGS aside and CHOOSE to LOVE regardless of those feelings.

We choose to love and we choose to give, to lay down our lives, and to live for loving others as our Savior did. This is a CHOICE we make.

So while Satan might be whispering his evilness to us trying to get us to despair because we don't fit the mold that we imagine we should as loving Christians, we have ignore him and CHOOSE to not living by feelings, but through FAITH. Faith tells us that we can have HOPE, not in ourselves but in our GOD, in HIS ability to LOVE.

Please LORD, help us choose to love and in choosing to love- live to love others all the way up to the point of laying down our lives if we need to. Please LORD, through YOU! Through YOUR LOVE ALWAYS!

We can KNOW that we have passed from death to life...

1Jn 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

Because we LOVE our fellowman- we have the hope of eternal life.
If we DO NOT love our fellowman we only have the hope of death.

This is TRUTH beyond what so many want to ever imagine.
People want to believe that to gain eternal life means so much more, but the truth is, eternal life is found in our SAVIOR, through HIS GRACE. And when we live under the grace of our SAVIOR He will enable us to LOVE Him and love others.

We have to make the CHOICE regardless of any circumstance we find ourselves in. The choice to have FAITH in GOD, FAITH in our SAVIOR'S GRACE, our SAVIOR'S RIGHTEOUSNESS!

It is a choice and again, people want to cloud it up with so much other stuff. Do this, do that, to the other thing and you'll be saved. The truth if we must BELIEVE in our SAVIOR fully, wholly and LIVE in HIM, ABIDE in HIM, then we are HIS and we MUST BE HIS!

We MUST be CHRIST'S! We must belong to our SAVIOR and not even ourselves. We must belong to HIM, NOT OURSELVES.

We can KNOW if we belong to HIM if we LOVE OTHERS more than we love ourselves! Because those who long to be HIS, to abide in HIM will LOVE OTHERS. If we find ourselves NOT loving others we must repent of that, we must ask forgiveness, and we MUST fall at the feet of GRACE so that HE lives through us! Only through HIM can we LOVE at all! If we try to love outside of that abiding in HIM then we are trying to produce a self-love that can't be allowed to exist. Our love for others must come from HIS LOVE and ONLY HIS LOVE in us.

1Jn 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

If we choose to HATE our fellowman then we are choosing death, eternal death. We are choosing to purposely hate, to purposely disobey our God!

Please LORD, please keep us from hating anyone! So many seem to live to encourage hate- hate of themselves or hate of others. Whole organizations are filled with hate and spewing that hate through others, encouraging that hate. ANY person who claims to love our Savior and to abide in Him and they encourage the hating of ANYONE, regardless of their actions, is not of Christ.

Our Savior forgave those who brutalized Him, those who murdered HIM, those who HATED HIM!

Our SAVIOR hated NO ONE!
And we THROUGH HIM can hate NO ONE.

Please Lord, help us to LOVE, to truly LOVE with YOUR LOVE.

Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

1Jn 3:13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

Marvel not.

Don't be surprised.

We cannot be shocked by the hate we receive when we truly love God and out of that love- love our fellow man.

Have you felt the hate? I don't think I have, not like I know others around the world have been and are being hated by others.

Being a Christian in an Islamic dominated country like Iran and others in the Middle East, and even in Africa- is often something that takes amazing courage. When those Christians read these words- 'Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.' When they read these words they understand in a very real way. They live seeing the hatred in their fellow man's eyes. They live hearing the hate-filled words spewed at them in anger. They feel the sting of stones, bullets, fire, fists as they are beaten senselessly all because they love God, all because they love their SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!

And they are told not to be surprised, not to marvel when they are hated.

I sit here and I marvel at it, even after I'm told not to because I don't live in that existence, it's foreign to me.

Marvel not if the world hates me!

Oh, how much time we spend wanting NOT to be hated! Not that we all want everyone in the entire world to like us, we know better than that, but the majority of people aren't living a life where they actively want others to despise them. As we grow up, go to school - preschool, kindergarten, elementary levels, middle school, high school, college- we do NOT want to make enemies as a rule. We tend to try and find a few good people to become friends with and the rest we want to co-exist without any trouble. We do NOT want to be hated.

Yet we are to MARVEL NOT if the WORLD HATES US!

And the world will hate us why? Because we LOVE!

Because we LOVE we are hated.

And it's not a hidden love, it's a known love. A love others know we have in us, a REAL love, a POWERFUL love, CHRIST'S LOVE! How will then know of this love we have, they'll know because we love THEM, we truly LOVE them, with Christ's LOVE.

Be of God - NOT of that wicked one

1Jn 3:11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
1Jn 3:12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

NOT as CAIN who was of that wicked one.

Cain belonged to Satan. He belonged to Satan and his works were evil.
Abel belonged to God and his works were righteous.

We have to choose a side too. We are either on Satan's or God's, Cain's or Abel's, Wicked or Righteous.

When we LOVE one another we are on God's side, on the side Abel was on, on the side of righteousness.

We have to LOVE not hate.

And we can't LOVE the love of self.

Cain loved HIMSELF. Cain was MORE concerned with HIMSELF.

We get so caught up in OURSELVES that we can scarcely think of another without first thinking about how our interaction with them will affect us. We put ourselves first and that is what Satan did- put HIMSELF first. Is it any wonder that sort of self love is so incredibly wrong? Is it any wonder that when we love self first we are NOT loving others?

If we LOVE our selves MORE than others we are not following the will of our God.

We CANNOT LOVE OURSELVES before we love God or others - that is NOT in the dictates of God.

The EXTREME importance of loving others cannot be overemphasized.

Realizing that LOVING others before SELF is a very real, true love, makes us pause for a moment because we so horribly have love confused with our selves- with receiving more so than giving.

Only by the grace of God will we learn to love truly- in HIS LOVE.

And this IS something we have to LEARN- because if we think it will come naturally to us then we are caught up in Satan's trap. If we expect it to be NATURAL to us then we are setting ourselves up to fail miserably!

Choose to love, make a choice to love, make a decision to love, actively love, decide to love and in all that LOVING others!

All through our Savior's GRACE and MERCY, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS - ALWAYS!