Believe and Love.

Believe on the name of Jesus Christ, God's Son.

Love one another.

Believe and love.

Sounds simple because it really is simple. We complicate it so much. I'm not saying we won't have a bunch of problems thrown at us, we will. But it is simple to know the truth- believe and love. I know it and now through the Spirit I am able to believe and to love.

Believe and love.

Can we keep these two things fore front in our minds? When they are no longer fore front it's because SELF has emerged in the fore front and pushed them aside.

Jn 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. 

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.

Greater Than Our Heart.

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. 

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. 

God is greater than our hearts.

We think we are everything, we do. Even a lot of people who think they are nothing, nobodies, no good, worthless they are judging themselves to be that way because they are under the misconception that they should be something special to themselves and the world. We have standards the world has set and when we don't meet those standards we consider ourselves substandard. The idyllic life, we see it all the time as we look at other's lives and hear their amazing stories about how wonderful they are. Giving, kind, wonderful, lovely, charitable, ….  the list goes on. We see these people all the time and we hold ourselves up against their achievements and in their light we feel so dark.

Our hearts do condemn us and God is greater than our heart! God knows all things.

What light are we to measure ourselves against? The light of our Savior and in that light we KNOW we are revealed as wretched, spiritually poor, blind, naked sinners. And when our eyes are opened to the truth of ourselves- every single one of us -from those we consider the greatest to the least, we know there is only one true standard and that is Christ! He will stand in OUR PLACE for us! We aren't supposed to shine on our own. We are supposed to live in the light of Christ!

More on this tomorrow by the GRACE and MERCY, the WILL of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST!!!

NOW and FOREVER!

Of God.

The truth is hard to hear. How often is this true in our lives? Someone wants to tell you the truth about something and it's prefaced with a pit of fear in our bellies. Why? Because we live in a world filled with so many facades people put on that it's unbelievable. We say what we think people want to hear. We act how we believe others expect us to act. We do all this and we think we're doing a good job of it and then someone says- Can I tell you the truth?  We want the truth, we do, but at the same time we want whatever that truth is to be something good to hear. We don't want truth that will cut us to the quick. We don't want truth that will hurt our feelings. We don't want truth that reveals our flaws.  If you're sitting there reading this and saying that, yes, you do want to hear all that then maybe it's just me, I don't know. We spend so much time putting on the different faces we want people to see, somehow saying we want truth seems at odds with that very real truth.  We wear different faces in different public settings. The faces we wear depends on the people we are exposed to. You go to the grocery store and the interaction you have there is different than when you go to a restaurant setting. You go to a party for a corporate event and then a private party, two different faces. You get home and hang up all the faces you wore through the day and then you put on your family face- and even then you may have a face you wear for spouse and children, and then another when you're just with your spouse and so on. Of course, again this could be just me.  I'm not saying I turn into a whole different person, I'm saying we have interactions with different people and situations and we adapt to them appropriately. 

Getting back to the truth and hearing the truth, we shy away from a lot of truth because it interferes with the lies we have accepted as our own personal truth. We have our own truth and it's a good truth, a truth that a lot of people believe in so it must be a good truth, a real truth, yet isn't that this same situation….

Joh 8:45  And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. 

Jesus said that. Jesus was telling THE TRUTH, but not everyone wanted to hear the truth- they refused to believe the truth He had to tell. Why?

Joh 8:46  Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? 

Joh 8:47  He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. 

They didn't want to hear the truth because they were NOT of God and yet they claimed to be God's chosen, they claimed they had all the truth, the REAL truth, the ONLY truth and yet there was God's only begotten Son telling them they weren't of God at all!

Those who do NOT want to hear truth truly are NOT OF GOD.

How many millions of people out there believe they are of God only they aren't?  We can't judge another's eternal life we just can't! We can know truth though. I'm not going to tell ANYONE they are not of God. Jesus can tell people they are not of God, but I cannot, I wouldn't dare. I can only pray and hope I am following all the truth that Jesus has for me and that others are too. 

The Biblical truth is that so many will not be of God, and many will believe they are- just like those in the days Jesus walked the earth.

May we be OF GOD.

All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior now and forever!

Money and Sorrow.

1Ti 6:10  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 

1Ti 6:11  But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 

1Ti 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 

Money and sorrow. How often does money bring sorrow to us? Seriously. Of course you'll get those who like to tease saying as long as they have money they have no sorrow, but that's not true either.  There are many who do have money and along with that money they have a lot of heartache as well. Money brings sorrow it just does. Just this past week I saw someone cry because they wouldn't have money to do something they promised someone they'd do. Money, brings tears so often whether it's a lack of it or problems with having it in excess.

When we covet money we can err from the faith. 

It's not easy not to covet money when we lack it. Yet coveting money even to meet our most basic needs takes our faith from us. We need to trust that God will provide for the things He desires we have. It's NOT our desires that matter, truly, and this is something we really need to comprehend and in comprehending make a real part of our lives.

Loving money- putting money before God, before our fellowman, this is evil.

Knowing we are told that loving money is the ROOT of all evil…. Shouldn't we be very, very careful where money is concerned?

We need to examine ourselves- we are told to, and surely we need to examine ourselves in connection with our relationship to the money we deal with in our lives.

Please, LORD, please help us to NOT love money! Please! Teach us to love YOU first above all things, and our fellowman next- NOT MONEY!

Please, LORD, please…. Help me.

All through Jesus Christ our LORD our SAVIOR now and forever!!!!!!!

Filled With the Fruits of the Spirit.

Php 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; 

Php 1:10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; 

Php 1:11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

The fruits of righteousness.

Eph 5:9  (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 

The fruits of righteousness, the fruit of the Spirit.

We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and in turn the fruits of the Holy Spirit will be in us.

Here the apostle is telling us that he PRAYS that our love may abound more and more in KNOWLEDGE and in ALL judgment. That we may APPROVE things that are excellent! That we may be sincere without offence till the DAY of CHRIST. That we may be FILLED with the FRUITS of RIGHTEOUSNESS- which are BY JESUS CHRIST- unto GLORY and PRAISE of GOD.

Are we filled with the fruits of the Spirit? The Apostle prays but, are we? It is His prayer, but is it effective in us? Has our knowledge abounded more and more through love. Are we sincere without offense?

The fruits of the Spirit-

Love

Joy

Peace

Longsuffering

Gentleness

Goodness

Faith

Meekness

Temperance

If our life is not filled with these fruits we need to ask ourselves why.

We need to learn so much more. Our lives should be filled with constant learning, constant growth in the Holy Spirit.

May we learn and be filled with the fruits of the Spirit- by the grace and will of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Now and forever!

Receive the Gift.

Act 2:36  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. 

Act 2:37  Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? 

Act 2:38  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost

What shall we do?  Their conscience was awakened to truth and the first thing they asked was- what shall we do?

Peter answered-

Repent and be baptized in the NAME of JESUS CHRIST-  why? For the REMISSION of sins.

If we repent and if we are baptized all in the name of our Savior so our sins are forgiven then we will receive a gift!  The gift we will receive is the HOLY SPIRIT.

All who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, accept His dying in their place for their sins. All receive the Holy Spirit, but what does that mean exactly?

What is the gift of the Holy Spirit?

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 

Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 

Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 

Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Love

Joy

Peace

Longsuffering

Gentleness

Goodness

Faith

Meekness

Temperance

We believe we have these things of our own accord but the truth is, we are given them as a gift.  Our natural person is not prone to these things. We may come across as being naturally nice- but often that is a façade we put on because inwardly we don't feel loving, joyful, peaceful, longsuffering, gentle, good, faithful, meek or temperate. 

I remember reading from a C.S. Lewis book- Mere Christianity where he mentions pretending, because when we pretend it often works out that the pretense becomes reality.  It can happen, a person can get into a situation where they have to pretend to be something- happy etc, and then end up being happy after all. Each of us has probably experienced this sort of thing in our life. So should we pretend, do we put on charity - making ourselves do acts of love in order to become loving?  Maybe we need to. What can it hurt to pretend loving others, to pretend love, as long as it isn't to hurt anyone at all in any way. To feign loving acts, not loving someone you don't love, but loving acts, a loving way of life, where is the wrong.

To seek all the fruits of the Spirit as if they are ours naturally this is a good thing.

Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance.

Where is the wrong in any of these things? Where?

We have had our conscience awakened against sin, we have accepted Christ Jesus as our Savior the only one who can save us from our sins, and we repent of that which would keep us from the love of our Savior. We have been baptized and we would now receive the Holy Spirit, allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us constantly, endlessly, always.

All through Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior! Forever!

The Inner Voice.

1Ti 1:19  Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck

Conscience-

1. an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior.

*******

Rightness or wrongness.

Choosing between the two- right and wrong- we do this as our conscience dictates. How often do we have to hush our conscience, not wanting what we are doing to be a part of the whole right or wrong thing. But it doesn’t work that way. As soon as we try to silence our conscience we are making a choice.

Right or wrong.  When we know right from wrong we are accountable for the wrong we choose to do.

Of course things can happen fast and we may make a wrong choice in the heat of the moment, but if we do then we are accountable to correct the wrong choice if at all possible.

Have you ever had your conscience seared so fiercely you lamented your choice to no end?  Having our conscience seared is awful, but at the same time it's wonderful that our conscience is so alive, so true, so ready to reveal God's truth to us.

When people repent, they are aware in a heartfelt, conscience searing way that they have need to repent. Repent and be forgiven, be forgiven and sin no more.

The inner guide to know right from wrong- our conscience.

We are convicted in our conscience.

We can have a good conscience.   (A conscience that is heeded not ignored)

Our conscience can be void of offence toward God- and men.

Our conscience can bear witness in the Holy Spirit.

Our conscience can be weak. (A conscience that is not heeded, and therefore dulled, weak.)

Our conscience has a testimony.

Everyone has a conscience, and our behavior is seen by that conscience.

The end of the commandment …a good conscience.

Our conscience can be pure.

Our conscience can be seared.

Our conscience can be defiled.

Our conscience can be purged.

Our conscience can be sprinkled (cleaned) from an evil conscience. (Praise GOD!)

We must have a conscience towards God.

Having a good conscience in the face of evil and those who accuse us falsely.

The answer of a good conscience toward God.

Joh_8:9, Act_23:1. Act_24:16, Rom_9:1,  1Co_8:12, 2Co_1:12,  2Co_4:2, 1Ti_1:5,  1Ti_3:9, 1Ti_4:2,  Tit_1:15, Heb_9:14,  Heb_10:22, 1Pe_2:19,  1Pe_3:16, 1Pe_3:21 

The inner voice of our conscience can be defiled, and a defiled conscience is one that no longer works according to God's purpose.  If we are not pricked in our conscience we need to ask ourselves why. We don't want to be among those who are caught up in deception- not knowing right from wrong, and even considering wrong to be right.

Right and wrong.  The lines have become incredibly blurred in our day and age. We call ourselves enlightened when we take wrongs and right them, but what if we are really taking rights and making them wrong? Satan would have us call ourselves enlightened because in doing so we believe we are finding truth and following it. Satan's truth is a far cry from God's truth. We love to imagine we are no longer repressed- calling anything that keeps us from our desired behavior a repression. We say we should be free to do as we please, no matter how corrupt that thing was considered at one time.  In truth, forcing people to repress their true desires is never a good thing. God wants a heart desire towards Him and His truths, not a forced desire. Consider the Victorian Era where so much was introduced to force people to repress their ways. Did that forcing actually make the people true to God, or did it simply send their true desire into the shadows with their hearts still far from God?  You can have the best outward behavior ever and be the bitterest person within- very far from God's love.  Or you can have the worst outward behavior keeping your estrangement from God no secret at all.  Society cannot force God's love on anyone! Society can try to force moral behavior upon people but it won't bring those people to God, not really. Yet now as we live in a world quickly becoming void of morality in so many ways, we cannot give in to any temptation to call evil good. If our stand on a moral high ground is one we make alone, it still must be made.

Moral high ground- the place where a person can live in good conscience with God while society cries out their disapproval. People want to say the moral high ground is a loveless place, that love accepts everything, every sin. Love cannot accept sin, love can forgive sin, but never, ever call sin good. If those seeking moral high ground- a good conscience towards God- are branded as hateful they must realize that those on Satan's side will stop at nothing to hurt God's people.  Love truly can forgive the sin- and sinners- and it's better to seek forgiveness for those persecuting others than to allow them to be goaded into evil in any way. While the majority may call you a hater, you must know they persecuted Jesus in the same way, and His apostles as well.

God help us live in good conscience towards Him, always!

All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!

Now and forever!