Chapter 4 Obey

Beloved Believer Chapter 4 Church Obey

God Sings: Zeph. 3:17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Is there anyone who can hear the loud singing of the Lord as He exults over those He is saving? Unstop our ears mighty God! The hum of our religious activity has made it hard to hear you. You sing with loudness for your glory. Make us able to hear and so take courage and strength in your unstoppable love. God sends His angels as ministers for His people but he Himself sings over us. No one can do this singing and rejoicing and exulting and quieting but Our Great and Merciful God. Oh! That we would know more of this tender love and provision for us. Oh! That we would revel in our smallness and enjoy the bigness of our God. Oh! That we would stop trying to be so “responsible” with our salvation and just leave it to Our Jesus. God sent His Son. God sent a Savior. God came himself in Jesus and makes His home in every heart that relies on Jesus Christ for forgiveness and salvation. How sad that this reality has ceased to amaze us. I am speaking generally, of course. There are moments of amazement and humbling for us all but I think far too few considering the staggering reality of God’s love and devotion toward us. I am not suggesting that we “owe” Him a greater gratitude. It simply is heartbreaking that God has made Himself completely available to us in Jesus and for the most part, we act like He is on a heavenly vacation and we are in charge until He returns. In Jesus is access to all that we could ever want or need of God. Let us apply all the promises of God to our every- day lives, humbly asking for the Holy Spirit to impart to us true understanding that comes from God. God’s Character: Exodus 33:19 And He said, (to Moses), “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord’. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”

Exodus 34:6-8 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation,.” And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped. Exodus: 3:14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM” God hates to be portrayed as someone He is not. Resting in the power of the Holy Spirit to reveal God to us is crucial to our benefiting from God’s promises and participating in the divine life that He has saved us to. God describes himself by his attributes. Who He is and what he is are the same. You may say that what you are is a born again Christian. If someone asks you who you are you would probably reply based on what you do, where you live, what you like or are involved in. God is pure. HE IS who HE IS. God is very serious about who He is and What He is and about it being represented accurately. We should take much more thought and care in how we represent Our Lord to the world and to each other. 2 Cor. 5:20a Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God has given us all we need to know about Him and to know Him personally. When we strive only to know about Him but do not strive for personal knowledge of Him, the importance of our representation seems unimportant. When we are close to Him it is important to us that people see His greatness and the truth of all His word. Representing God is a meek and humble privilege. We prove our hearts are cold when we do not take care to represent Him as He is. We are frail and weak and often ignorant. God is patient. We need to ask God to work in our hearts a holy fear of misrepresenting Him in word and deed. Too quickly we spout off about what we do not know. We may be quick to engage an unbeliever and in our eagerness to get them to talk about the Lord we can go down some slippery slopes. We need to be cautious about what we tell people God is like. Ignorance is one thing, but unconcern is quite another. We cannot hope to speak and act from what we know unless we make it a point to know it. Hosea 6:3a Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; You wouldn’t walk in to an operating room and start telling people all you thought you knew about surgery. If you did, hopefully, they would ignore you. But what if they actually listened to what you said? I think there is a pretty good chance that the people we talk to and live around do actually pay attention to what we say and do. Or are we really hoping they aren’t? God is firm about His concern for his great name. Let us be equally firm with ourselves in our seeking and revealing of Him.

Obedience at the core is the upholding and the reflection of God’s marvelous character. Satan is continually at work to blaspheme God’s character. Our flesh is his great ally. I believe that this defaming of God’s character is alive and well within our churches today. We are given holy desires but fail to turn to God’s Spirit of wisdom given to us to pursue those desires and immediately fall into unbelieving patterns in trying to “manage” our own faith. I think the breakdown is in that we quickly turn to our natural ability. We think we can relate to God on instinct. Our affection may begin from the right place but if not born out in God’s way it will end in corruption. Our affections lead us to desire to relate. In our effort to relate we attempt to pull toward us, the object of our affection through characteristics we share. People often attribute human characteristics to animals and even things in an attempt to relate to them. Parents will often attribute their own characteristics onto their child in an effort to better understand and empathize with them. Married couples will seek to relate to their spouse based on shared personality traits. We are imperfect (to say the least) and chronically self absorbed so our idea of affection naturally tries to pull the object of our affection into our circle of understanding of ourselves. The main problem is that in this attempt to “pull” our loved one close into us, we distort who they really are. Our dogs do not think or feel as we do (sorry). A thirteen year old girl does not think like her mother. And we all know that our spouse has an entirely different set of thought patterns and emotions than we do. Thus our natural pattern of “pulling” others to ourselves in an attempt to love them requires a distortion of their character. What began with an honorable desire ends with a disconnection with the one we hoped to get close to. It is only when we cease in this “pulling in” and discover the facts about the character of the one we love, that we are able to truly value and know our loved one. When we listen with an open mind and watch their behaviors and patterns, we see them as they are and can honor them as such. Once we have turned our minds off to ourselves and seek to find out who they are on their own we are able to relate more effectively, albeit imperfectly. In our relationship with God there is much more at play and at stake. Our flesh is even more eager to take control and Satan is more eager to distort His character. It follows that with God as the object of our affection, our first and natural inclination is to attribute to Him characteristics that are like our own. We attribute to him a love that denies justice, and a justice that punishes those justified. We try to understand Him by assuming He is like us. We think He is mean because we are mean. We think He will grow impatient with us because we grow impatient. We are afraid to count on His love because our love is small and frail so we think His must be also. In our attempt to understand and relate to God we try to make Him out to be like ourselves. This fails us utterly because it distorts God’s character. While it may have begun in honest affection, it will end in denial of God’s greatness. Firstly: We cannot attempt to “pull in” God. It is God who is drawing us to Himself, not the other way around. Secondly: we are the object of His affection. It is true that God is and ought to be the main and highest object of the affections of every believer but we were His objects first. Our affection is a by- product of His so His is the main affection. Thirdly: Since God is perfect and perfectly unique we have no one to compare Him to. The human nature is created and not creator so it must have a grid of comparison to put people and things up against. Which is why Satan is

limited to attempts at counterfeiting what God has already done; he is created and so has no ability to create out of nothing. God is His own grid. We cannot relate to God apart from his Holy Spirit. We are constantly trying to do this. We take something the Holy Spirit reveals to us and try to run with it on our own. We always will find ourselves high and dry, flailing in our faith, full of worries. We will distort God’s character on our own. Now, if we will cease in our natural tendency to “pull in” and be still before God, enjoying and embracing His “pulling in” of us, we will be in a position of fellowship with Him. When we listen to what God has said in His word, making that our grid, and put that together with what we have seen of His patterns and behaviors we can better see Him as He is. Absolute perfection! God is not mean! Think about it. How did God bring you to himself to begin with? Was he harsh and cruel to you? Did he say your sin didn’t really matter? Of course not, he was true to His every word. Look across your life whether you have known Jesus for one day or one hundred years. How has he treated you? Has He been unfair, unfaithful or unfriendly in any way? No! Has He pretended like your sin was not worth dealing with, giving you a false sense of His seriousness toward it? No! But how often do we act and speak as if being in God’s will may be the most unpleasant thing in the world. We speak and act as if God’s will is at odds with ours. This should not be! We are a new creation! I have heard so many times people talking fearfully about what they THINK God is doing as if he is going to “force” them to become what he wants them to be. This is untrue, unbiblical and plain unkind. It is also damaging to us and others. God did not slay His one and only Son, and brutally, I might add, to be cruel to the children that sacrifice would bear. In Gen. 3 Moses seemed pretty unsure of the “go get my people” call. God talked him all through it, reassured him many times that He would go with him and even when God became angry at Moses asking God to send someone else, He was kind and gave Moses his brother to speak for him. See the kindness of God! In Ezekiel 4 God tells Ezekiel to bake his food using human dung for fuel as part of a prophesy against Jerusalem. Ezekiel is dismayed at the idea of defiling himself. God tells him “see, I assign to you cow’s dung…” God did not compromise His plan or “give in” to these men. He knew them personally and all that they thought and He gave them what they needed. He was kind in helping them to do as He instructed. God will have his way in our lives, no mistake about that. But he IS compassionate, slow to anger, kind, Our Father. He has made the way for us to come to Him. All ways of pain lead to more of Jesus. We need to think more about Jesus and less about the pain; especially when we are only speculating as to what MIGHT happen. God is a not a permissive parent! God’s fatherly love to you is not unconditional. He makes the sun shine on the righteous and the wicked. But He is not heavenly father to all. God is Father to those in whom he has placed His Spirit. This was very costly. In order for you to know His love, someone had to make that known to you. In order for you to know Him intimately and forever and personally, someone had to die for your sins. I know this is not new, but as way of reminder: Jesus was crucified and resurrected so that

you could have a relationship with God the Father. So is God’s love unconditional as far as what YOU must do? Yes. But is there a condition to be met? Yes. Jesus has met that condition. So the next time you think God is “understanding” of your sin, think of the condition that had to be met in order for you to know Him. Jesus didn’t come to relieve us of guilt for our sins and “understand” our evil, character defaming ways. He did not come to secure material goods or perfect health for us. God shows us his love by sending His Son. Jesus shows us his love by coming and by dying. God loves us forever in raising His Son so that we can follow Him to heaven. Oh, what love God has for us! But please, stop whittling that down to your own understanding of what love is according to man. Let us know a more perfect love, according to God. An understanding we can gain in the instruction of His word and His Spirit. God is not interested in fulfilling our agendas. That is not real love. God is interested in His agenda. That is love. Promises/Commands: Romans 14:23 For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. Believing in God’s character as revealed to us in His word and by His Spirit is of utmost importance if we are to be obedient. God reveals Himself to us in many ways. In God’s word we have a wonderful revelation of God’s character, desires and power in his promises to us. Hebrews 11 defines faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” God makes great promises to us all through His word. Not all of these promises are only for after death. Most of God’s promises are for his children here and now. We cannot live in the benefit of God’s promises if we don’t believe them. I realize this is most obvious but feel it is important to point out. Frankly, there does not seem to be much believing. There does seem to be an abundance of careful calculating and ignorant ignoring. Living in the reality of God’s promises is HUGE and we would do well to examine our lack of belief. We must have “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”. We must use the faith God has given us to see his promises come to be in our lives. God reveals Himself to be completely trustworthy and able to deliver all we do not yet possess but are promised. Certainly we were made able by the power of the Holy Spirit, to believe Him for our eternal salvation which we wait to experience fully at some time in the future. If we were to say we didn’t think God were able or willing to come through with this promise we would be bringing great disrepute to His character and we would be in disobedience. We call those who don’t trust in this amazing and most necessary promise “unbelievers” or “children of disobedience.” So what shall we call ourselves when we don’t believe His promises for our everyday living? Unbelief is a sin because it makes God out to be a liar, it defames His character. God takes this very seriously. We are to live a life of faith. We are to fight the fight of faith with God’s promises. “Faith” isn’t just something you take out when you are struggling through tough times. Faith is to fill our lives and direct our thoughts and dictate our actions. 1 Peter 1:1-2

…To those who are elect……according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, FOR OBEDIENCE to Jesus Christ with his blood: We were saved FOR obedience. We were saved FROM the corruption and death of disobedience. We were saved for obedience to Jesus Christ. To be one of God’s elect is a gift; the foreknowledge of God, we don’t do that; sanctification is OF the Spirit, it is given; and so obedience is given. God does not wind us up and let us go. He has saved us for obedience. He is not trusting the outcome of this “for obedience” to us. Do we not have a responsibility to obey God and should we not be fearful when we don’t? Yes we do and yes we should. Our place of obedience to God tends to get twisted to the point that it puts God in the position of our severe judge and boss and we as struggling to be what we know we can’t. With the perspective that we must bring obedience, the power of God’s happiness with us is in our hands. God’s character becomes distorted. We quickly find ourselves hopeless with this perspective. We are not simply expected to obey; we have been given the gift of the freedom to obey. Obedience is a gift of God. Every stinging command shines God’s light and beauty on our flesh. It is good to be grieved when we see how our flesh has deceived us to follow its ways. But with the sting of the command comes the promise of what God is working in us with the assurance of what He has already given us in our new nature; the faith to believe. When we see God’s commands as promises to us to reveal more clearly who He is we will be more eager and grateful to take the yoke of Christ. His yoke is easy and His burden is light because He is carrying the weight of it. If we allow our flesh to attempt to carry the burden it is very heavy. Our chief responsibility in obedience is to trust God and act in accordance. Trust the command is good and that His power is available to obey it. He will not fail to show up. It is never the case that we cannot obey. Jeremiah 32:40 I will not turn away from doing good to them. Here is one example of many of God’s amazing promises. In our flesh, there are a couple ways we tend to take this: 1) He must not really mean it; as if He were yawning when He inspired that writer. Or 2) There must be a loophole somewhere else in the Bible that excludes me by place, time, sins or race. Satan loves for us to distort and doubt what God has plainly said. Wasn’t that his game in the Garden of Eden? He got Eve to question God’s intention and meaning of what He had said. If we are walking in the Holy Spirit as we have been granted and instructed to do, we will hold to this promise and the many others dearly. We will remember them at different times and circumstances, especially in times of hardship and we will know more of God for having believed Him. The Holy Spirit graciously bears all God’s promises to us and reveals His true character always. We have been given God’s Spirit to enable us to discern God’s ways and empower us to walk in them. His Spirit brings us comfort and courage, peace and rest. All that we desire of God is ours in abiding in the power of His Spirit. It is necessary for us to discover who God really is so we can counter the distorted view the enemy brings to our thinking. Only the Holy Spirit can do this for us. Our new nature is of this same Spirit and responds to God and can hear the promises of God the way they were intended to be heard. In every area of our lives,

we must lay down our natural tendencies. God has given us the grid of His word; let us ask the Holy Spirit to teach us and lead us. We must resist the temptation to overcome in every area we lack understanding. It is hard for us to be in a position of not being able to figure a thing out. If there is any area of God’s word we do not understand; (and there are probably many for most of us) we may need be content to leave it that way and wait on the Holy Spirit to teach it to us when He determines is the best time. We often try to force understanding by inadvertently making up our own version or we simply ignore it altogether. This distorts God’s Word. If we ask, God will show us when He wants us to know. John 15:10,11 “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.” Here is another example of God’s word that has amazing promises in it. He promises us fellowship, the ability to abide and joy and full joy. Every command can be taken as a promise since God himself enables us to obey Him. His commands reveal his character and his plans for us – the life of His Son. A life filled with joy. We can see his commands and be encouraged that His love is so great and powerful that He will make us able to love them and obey them. Not to puff up our esteem but to build up our Christ esteem. God is not dangling rewards before us that we can never have. In abiding, we are made clean and able to use our faith to obey and our joy increases and becomes full. It is an ongoing cycle of love beginning and ending in Jesus alone. John 15:4 “Abide in me and I in you”. Jesus is gracious to us beyond words to grant us fellowship but for some this fellowship seems impossible. Some become discouraged in feeling that they are not abiding and wondering exactly how it is that one abides. How can Jesus command that He abide in us (“and I in you”)? Is He saying that He will abide in us only if we abide in Him? That is a dangerous conclusion and puts the power of abiding in our hands. If you belong to Jesus, Jesus promises to keep you. Thus you do abide. And He abides in you. Praise God! He means for us to abide in Him. If He means it He will do it. He has accomplished all for us. It isn’t a reality that changes with your mood. It has been commanded. It has been promised. Live it! All of God’s “scary and impossible” commands are revelations of His intentions for us. If we had any ability He would not have had to go to such agony to reconcile us to Himself. All the ability for obedience is in Christ. So when the Holy Spirit brings conviction that we have not kept God’s ways. Let us join God in convicting our flesh to a death sentence and rejoice over the promise that He is doing a work in us to make us desire to and able to keep his commands. Love One Another:

God has through history spoken His love and His will through men. Are we not of those men also? God is certainly capable of upholding each one of us without the other just as He is capable of saving the lost without us. But He has chosen in His wisdom and righteousness and mercy, to give us the place of communicating and displaying His greatness to each other and all people. Whether the elect are those who are lost and waiting to be found or those who have already entered into salvation, the need is the same: Jesus and more of Jesus. If we are deliberate in our prayers for the lost to come to salvation and we are watchful of opportunities to share the gospel, shouldn’t we be all the more deliberate with those who have already come into the house of God? The gospel doesn’t end with our initial giving over ourselves to Jesus, it just gets better. We need to continually share our wonderful Jesus with each other. How quickly we fall to impatience with each other. Let us remember always the intensity of the Fathers love for our brothers and sisters. Let us remember that their strength will be our own strength. John 15:12-15 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have make known to you.” What was Jesus way of loving His own? His main objective was their relationship to the Father through him. So our main objective with each other should be their relationship to the Father through Jesus. We seem to expect that the children of God should “know better” because they have the Holy Spirit. We do have God’s Spirit to guide and teach us but it is not as though we each have our own little holy spirit within us. No, the Holy Spirit that your brother and sister need to help them be strong in their walk with the Lord is the Holy Spirit that lives in you. We all share the same Spirit. So by shedding light into the lives of our siblings in Christ, we help them remain strong. We should not wait to offer help to the point that one is falling apart. But just as we seek opportunity to speak God’s truth and gospel to those who are lost, so we should seek to speak it and show it to those in our Godly family. Our flesh is just as resistant to the light of Christ now as it was before we met Jesus. We need to always be on guard against the flesh and we can aide each other with this by being deliberate with loving each other with God’s truth. The Holy Spirit moves through each of us for each of us. The reality that God’s Spirit is shared and moves through us all for the sake of the elect, those found and lost, should give us a healthy fear of how we use our time and our tongues. We would do well to seek Jesus help and understanding to love one another. He has commanded it for our needs and we are very needy with regard to it. It seems that we may be effective at times in tolerating each other and actually getting along. There are church bodies where people are really fond of one another. But I don’t think any of this comes close to the loving of one another that Jesus had in mind. Our ministry to the dying world suffers because we do not truly support each other as Jesus would have us to. A competitive attitude is admirable in the market place but it has no place in our churches. We are warned against comparing

one to another and encouraged to look to Jesus as our Master and example in love. We tend to look at others as someone to be “over” and get puffed up or as someone we can never be and get discouraged. They are the same; arrogance and discouragement; children of pride. The proper view is in Jesus character. We are each nothing and worse than that when we are put together but Jesus is all and will bring us to fullness only in Him. The church is not a country club and life is not the lazy river. The church is to be a strong tower, a beacon of bright light in a world of darkness. Life is war and we are far too busy looking in the mirror to be fighting effectively if at all. If you don’t think war is a reality, spend some time in the poorest neighborhood you can find or at a shelter for the homeless or with those who have been badly abused or are just dying of sickness. Acquaint yourself with grief as did Our Savior and ask yourself what your position is and what we should be busy with. Satan is trampling people everywhere for his pleasure and although it is not our job to fix them, it is our privilege to show them the way to freedom that has been made for them. There is one truth for rich, poor, slave, free, man, woman and child. Jesus has given us the commandment, authority and power to testify to the way of truth, which is Him. The power to carry this out is in oneness with each other and so with Jesus. We all know we need each other for many reasons but we don’t seem to take it seriously. How can we continue to disobey in the most important command given by Jesus? Jesus talks and prays more in scripture over this command and desire of His than anything else. So it must be very important. There may not be a willful disobedience but our ineffectiveness should be reason enough to examine this crucial and desperate need. Power for victory and joy is in the body; not in the individual. The only individual who has importance is the person of Jesus. Everyone else is simply and providentially a part of the body. Jesus says that the greatest love is that someone lays his life down for his friend. Clearly Jesus literally laid His life down for the Glory of God Almighty whose great pleasure it was to save us. Jesus calls us to that same great love for one another. At the very least that should include a concern for our brother’s or our sister’s spiritual welfare even if it will cost us their acceptance of us. I don’t think it means inviting them over to play cards with no thought as to their spiritual needs or to help them get a good job or fix their car so they can also obtain the good life. I am not speaking against fun fellowship or lovingly helping each other along in the everyday of life. Rather I am speaking to a lack of concern over the spiritual welfare of each other. We are so private. We are so afraid of being found lacking in some area that we close ourselves off from each other. Your sister or brother beside you may be in great need but you will not know your place in helping them unless you ask. Our pride must be laid down in order for us to learn to lift others up. Whether we tend to want to rule others or to do nothing – our egos must be laid down. The health of your spiritual life depends on others. It is a hard concept for us but we must seek God’s grace to help us to understand this great truth. We can only obey this command by God’s grace, as with any other command. Yet we seem to boil it down to courteous behavior and minding our own business. When your brother goes to work on Monday morning, he is in the battle. When your sister stays home and teaches her children, she is in the battle. When your pastor preaches, the enemy is quick to tell him how ineffective and useless it is. We are in battle every moment and we cannot afford to leave each other alone. If the battle is on when we are at work and at home then we can be assured it is on when we step into the darkness to deliberately share the good news. The light of one may grow dim

quickly, but with many united in spirit it cannot be denied for this is God’s will. God will honor what He commands and He commands that we be one. 1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Luke 22:31-32 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” Even our temptations are not ours alone. When you gave yourself to Jesus, you became public property. Just as he gave himself to all He gives us to all also. If you are tempted, assume others are tempted with the same things. Satan would have us feel alone in our shame and so keep us to ourselves but when we recognize our great provision to overcome the temptation by God’s grace, we are in a position to strengthen others. Obviously we must be overcoming temptation to be of any use to others. Whatever we suffer from spiritually, we can know we are not alone. Let us not only be a comfort for others but let us be diligent to equip and arm each other with God’s truth. We must do more than simply identify with the one tempted. Certainly it will make them feel better to know they are not alone in facing the trial but it won’t do them any good without the truth of God’s word coming into their hearts. Don’t assume that because they are a Christian they don’t need to hear the word of God. Because they are Christ’s they need to hear more and more. The darkness of deception from the enemy can only be fought with God’s truth born by the Spirit in God’s word. We have to continually remind each other of who God is and His mighty deeds and intentions toward us. We share His Spirit and are appointed to speak his truth into one another’s souls. Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your heats to God. When tempted and tried we may be slow to go to the Lord and spend time in His word and urgent prayer. It is wonderful if we are not slow to do this but many times it is a creeping in kind of temptation that attempts to slowly drag us away from believing Jesus; and we don’t always recognize it. Knowing this as an experience many believers will have, let us be eager to speak God’s word and praises. We should be diligent and armed with God’s truth at all times; available for brothers and sisters in need. We should earnestly pray that God will give us spiritual eyes to see those who may be lagging behind and come to their aide with God’s truth. Speak God’s truth, not your advice. Sometimes God’s truth and advice can be the same but often it is not. We are to be concerned about our brother’s or sister’s relationship to Jesus first and foremost. If we take any satisfaction in their weakness because we think it makes us appear strong, we are in worse trouble than

they are. If we are disinterested in their battle or denying there is a battle, we are in no position to help. Matthew 7:5 “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. There is an assumption in this verse that a person is interested in taking a speck out of his brother’s eye. We tend to focus mainly on first taking the log out. Some people spend their whole lives trying to get that big log out. Get on with it already! Your brothers and sisters need you. We have a great motivation for holiness here; to be of help to others. Pray, pray, pray for your family in Christ. May I be bold here? Stop praying they will have more money and pray they will have more Jesus. We seem to be convinced that a person just needs to fix their circumstances. If they are depressed because their child is in rebellion, they need God’s wisdom and protection. If they are going broke because they lost their job, they need God’s wisdom and protection. We would not be living in love if we did not help others with their earthly needs as we are able. But we tend to focus on this help over their spiritual need. The battle is spiritual always and first and lastly. It is great to be able to help someone in both ways but shouldn’t we first look to their eternal needs? It is possible that there is little concern for one another’s spiritual needs because we are unconcerned with our own. For the most part we have become so accustomed to the coldness of our love toward Jesus that we look around, see others like ourselves and think it’s normal. If this is the case then one needs to repent of a cold heart and seek God’s grace to restore him. When we find ourselves in need and/or low in our desire for God and His people, let us remember that this too is temptation common to man and that He will provide us the help we need. God loves, preaches, keeps His people through people. Each of us have a wonderful place of personal fellowship with Jesus that is all our own, yet we are meant to spill out His love on one another and the world. In our desire to love one another, should we not begin at home? How easy it is to admire others yet not affirm those in our household. For those of us in families, our oneness begins in our homes. We can gather with other believers armed with confidence in Jesus if we have spent prayer and love on our family. We are a united front with our family members first and then we can spread the unity to the body of Christ. If Satan is regularly barging in your home and messing things up, tell him to get out and give over your entire family to Christ. Even if all are not believers, you as a believer have a responsibility to take the authority given you by Jesus. Satan always seeks to destroy our families. Sometimes life can be such a tedious business, we hardly notice the little unloving ways we might foster. We must be careful to minister to and pray for our spouses and children. It is not only painful when families are out of sync; it is ungodly and dangerous. None of us is strong alone; if your spouse and/ or children are battling you must battle with them. Be aware of their spiritual needs. If your spouse or child seems to be walking away from Jesus, it might be more effective to run to Jesus before running after them. It may seem contrary to your instinct but you can do them no good. Only Jesus can truly meet their need and only He can equip you to minister to them.

It is hard to believe that a true child of God can really read the many references and exhortations to love one another and not see a lack in themselves and those around them. We look on as if it is an unfortunate accident; as if there is nothing to be done about it; we shake our heads and move on. It is by this love for one another that the world will know we are Jesus’ disciples. Without it we have nothing to show the world. We see a flicker here or there, a few good deeds and very tolerant attitudes. There is no love without Jesus as the focus of our hearts and lives. There needs to be a restoration of our relationship with Jesus before we can be brought to each other. If He is not the center of our desire we will not have the love He requires. He himself is this amazing love. If we have Him we have to all we need. That is simple enough, you say. Then what exactly is the problem? Mighty Jesus, you rebuke and discipline those you love. We are in great need of your hand on our hearts and attitudes. Only you can bring us the gift of repentance that will change your people and glorify your name. Please make evident the power of your love toward us; we’ve nowhere to turn but to your mercy. Spiritual Gifts: God creates out of nothing so that he may be plainly seen. He takes nothing (that would be you and I) and builds a life that shows His greatness in it. Who are we to say what He will build on our “nothingness”. It is the same with the new creation as with the old. We did not exist until He called us into existence. The old creation is called into a temporary existence and the new creation into an eternal one. God expects all from Himself and nothing from us; that is our flesh. It is His Spirit that does all the work. Are we willing to let God tell us who he is and who we are? We cannot use our old ways and old thinking to live out the new life given us. We are not left to figure it out on our own. God will make clear to us the gifts He has given us and how to use them if we will submit our whole lives and selves to Him.

In the second chapter of Hebrews we are warned not to drift away from the message of salvation. Heb 2: 3b-4 It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are part of God’s bearing witness to His own message of salvation. Jesus says in John 13:35 that by our love for one another all men will know we are his disciples. Paul says in 1 Corinthians that The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are for the benefit of the body of Christ. I think we can conclude that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are gifts of love to those who give and those who receive. When we seek and know the love of God in Jesus, His love will fill us to overflowing. This overflowing love searches out the gifts of the Holy Spirit as a vehicle to others. The love is God’s love and must be directed by the Holy Spirit. God’s love is mighty

and powerful and His gifts are an expression of that mighty love. His love is supernatural and it cannot be dispensed or managed by the natural person, but only by The Holy Spirit. His gifts are necessary to make possible the flow of his love that we desperately need. We ignore or abuse the gifts of the Holy Spirit to our own damage not to mention His displeasure. We set aside or make a show of the power that God has given us as a body and we render ourselves powerless and futile. We are quick to scoff at the silly Corinthians in their pride and misuse of God’s power but are we really so different? As with many truths, we tend to fall to one extreme or the other. We either seek the Spirit’s gifts for our own agenda’s or we pretend they don’t exist or apply to us. God’s word clearly says God’s children are given gifts for the building up of His church body. They are building tools, not toys. They are given to us to use; not as an optional accessory. Jesus has no intention of leaving the loving of one another in our hands or heads but has provided a way for us to accomplish His purpose in his church. How can we say we love each other without the gifts of the Holy Spirit being used and being used in accordance with God’s love in Jesus Christ by the guidance and teaching of the Holy Spirit? We cannot and I think we do not. All God’s children will have a desire to love their brothers and sisters in the Lord. It is a family trait and none of us are left barren of this love. It cannot be carried out by our flesh. No one has been left out of the gift giving. Often we desire God but get hung up on pursuing or trying to discern who He is making us. We need to stay focused on who God is. He is working the life of His Son in us; that’s who He’s making us. Let us enjoy the fact that we are so different from each other and unique in all of creation. It is his new creation alone that is given the privilege of displaying His vast love, patience and power on earth. Let us restrain from the temptation of getting on the trail of who we are and continually pursue the knowledge of who Jesus is. The former will get our eyes on ourselves and the latter will keep us growing. We spend far too much time trying to build diagrams of what we should be doing and far too little time asking Our Father for the instructions for the Gifts He has given. What if we make mistakes?! I doubt anyone will get turned into a frog. Isn’t learning about God the joy of our existence? Where would we get that childlike joy if we knew it all? If you buy your son a bicycle, you want to be the one to teach him to ride it. When he falls down, you pick him up and help him to learn. Since they are God’s gifts for the Glory of Jesus and the building of His church, they have to be used God’s way. It is not for us to say what our gift is or to whom God would have us minister to with it. The bible gives a list of different gifts but it is possible that we may be missing what He has for us in focusing too much on what area our gifts fall into. If there is any desire to love God’s people, and I’m sure there is; we should step out in that love trusting that God will guide and lead us. Jesus will not put you to shame. He hasn’t gifted you to embarrass you or others. 2 Tim 1:7 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which lives in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

For many there is real fear in sharing with others, especially in some way we are unfamiliar with. There are pieces of ourselves that go into the work of loving others. There is vulnerability in it that we tend to resist. In sharing with God’s people there can be a letting go of ourselves in the process. “Good riddance” we say, but the fear is real. Others may criticize, disagree or be totally unaffected. Or there is the fear that we may have misunderstood God and that we may be just plain wrong in what we are sharing with others. These are humbling and frightening thoughts. Let those thoughts and fears bring us back to casting ourselves on God. We know that any genuine desire for the growth of the body of Christ comes from Christ and so we can rest in that knowledge. And we can also rest in the knowledge that however imperfectly we communicate His love, He is able to get it across exactly as He wants it received. When we let go of what we feel God has given us for the body and allow ourselves to be humbled by these fears, not paralyzed by them, it becomes about Jesus once again and not about us. So even though it would be nice for our own sake, to have no fears in sharing the good that God has toward a person or persons, the fact that we have those fears should not keep us from acting on this great love of God’s. Rather in acting counter to them, we cling more closely to God. So His gifts are not only for others but for us also. Let them be a means of humbling us before God. He is gentle and kind with us. He knows that in our battle against the pride of our hearts we can foolishly run ahead or sit paralyzed. He will help us but we must be obedient to the voice of Jesus in the Holy Spirit. Lord Jesus, long have we sat shackled by our disobedience to you and fear of ourselves and our enemy. Lord, strengthen your people in our desire to do your will. Make our love for you so pressing that we will press through to the unknown and fearful places. You are patient, be patient still and help us to believe your ways are beautiful and powerful. Dual purpose in gifts: 1 Cor 8:1b-3 We all know that “we all possess knowledge”. This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. Knowledge of God’s love and character is to be shared. If we have been given any “knowledge” of God’s love and we keep it to ourselves, it acts as a temptation. We may feel we have something others don’t. We may make ourselves superior to others in our minds and begin to tear down the body of Christ. In seeking to actually use God’s gifts in God’s love, not just to know about them, we assume a responsible position and dependence upon the Holy Spirit that will leave no room for puffing up. The gifts are to the individual as providing an outlet for the overflow of God’s love – for it cannot be contained. It is the “burden” that God places on one’s heart. This

burden will become very hard and heavy if it is not shared as intended. Or the Spirit’s desire will simply be quenched and the real burden lost. The point of sharing is not simply to be rid of a burden but it may be a good start for motivating us to share. The gifts are to the body because God’s love is administered to many. LOVE NEVER FAILS. We don’t need a better understanding of what gifts we may or may not have or how they look. We need more love. We do not want to neglect the gift – but without love what is there to be dispensed? If we have love and seek to use the gifts of the Holy Spirit, LOVE WILL NOT FAIL. If we do not have love, we need to get it, from God in Jesus Christ. This needs to be our constant quest; the love of Jesus for ourselves. I am advocating a “selfishness” here. If we don’t seek God for ourselves we will not be able to be filled for others because in denying our first need, we will be filled with our own pride instead. We need to be filled first, we can’t run ahead. As God cleanses us and fills us, and He does and will, we will seek to pour out His love on others. We all know how God’s love is such a joyous burden, it must be shared. When we find ourselves filled with God’s love, then we must abide in His Spirit for direction in sharing it. It is in the denying of our need to be filled first that may be the cause of the gifts being abused and neglected. We want to “prove” our faith by something outward. We so often put the cart before the horse. If God’s love does not fill us we may have a human love for people but it will not be God’ love and it will hold no power. You cannot give what you have not received. Witness of Jesus: Jesus has proclaimed that all His people will be found and brought into Him. John 10:16 “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” We are to be witnesses to Jesus Christ and His ambassadors and representatives. What an awesome place we have been given on this earth! That the lowly and, ex-thieves, murderers, drunkards, business man, housewife and all manner of people are appointed to represent the King of the universe is an astounding thing! We are His witnesses. We are to testify to the truth; to what we know. What have we seen of Jesus to be able to testify about him? What are we prepared to tell people? What have we witnessed? Should we not have much to say about our relationship with the King over all creation!? We all have friends, neighbors, relatives that we desire to tell about Jesus. What exactly do we have to say about Him? We want to tell them the way of salvation, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Is this “good news” good to you? Is there much to say about your relationship with Jesus or have you fallen into the habit of taking Him for

granted and don’t really know what’s on His mind today? If that is the case, how can you tell others they need Jesus when you barely speak with Him yourself? 2 Cor 3:3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. If your life is a letter, what does it read like? Does it read like an IRS manual; cold dry and periodically updated? Does it read like a religious tract; just the facts? Perhaps it reads like a love letter; the paper is crisp and clean with a fresh scent of the perfume of the love of your Lord Jesus. Now, that’s a letter people will want to read. Is our message to others about what Jesus has done or about who He is? What He has done to make possible a relationship with the Father is crucial information and must be conveyed. The good news of what He has done is who He is today. We testify not only to an action of Jesus in the far away past but also of His action and heart today. The words of the message may be perfectly accurate and true but what is the heart behind the telling of them? You may share your personal testimony of how Jesus came and found you, and you should. But what can you share of what he’s done for you lately? Is the touch of the Fathers’ love known by you today or is it a distant memory? The point of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that in Him, we can have a relationship with the Father. This is more than good; it’s amazing! It is not simply an escape plan. If our relationship with the Father is not real and active today for us, how can we offer hope to anyone? We can’t offer the lost a plan for their future and their eternity based on what happened to us in the past. They need to know the love of God today. Why should they believe what we say is true if it seems to have so little effect on our everyday lives? They will not throw down all they know and have and run to Jesus who is portrayed as someone 2000 years in the past or far ahead in eternity. People want to know what God is doing for you, today. If our love for Our Lord is distant and cold we cannot expect others to care about Him who haven’t even met Him. Enemy Lines: If we only share the information of the gospel with no real connection as to the benefits it brings to us now, what power do we really have in our sharing? There may be the thinking that it is only about getting across the message and if it just so happens that your spiritual disciplines meaningless to you; those you share with won’t know, so what difference does it make? Well, if you are not in touch with the Jesus you profess then YOU know it and Jesus knows it. You can be sure also that Satan knows it. He may not know your inner heart but he can make a pretty good guess based on your actions. He will not hesitate to whisper in his captive’s ear that you don’t know what or whom you speak of. He’s going to do that whether it’s true or not. But if your relationship with Jesus is meaningful and effective, God may illuminate their hearts to your truthful witness. The seven sons of Sceva in Acts 19 got thrashed by the evil spirits in their mishandling of Jesus name. We don’t have an indication that they were Jesus’ own children and I am not making a direct correlation with them but if we are not continuously cleansed by being in the

presence of Jesus do we have any reason to think we too might not get thrashed by the enemy? God WILL have mercy on whom He will have mercy. Praise God, his every word holds true. We do not depend of man for our salvation. But you, soldier of Jesus Christ, one purchased by His blood to participate in His mighty works for his people’ you are meant to do His bidding. You are appointed to take His path of light into darkness and testify to what and who you know. Do we really think we can just walk in to the dark places, barely clothed, dragging our big swords, apologizing all the way and expect to be taken seriously? Do we think we can saunter into enemy territory and simply hand off information and somehow Satan will release his hold? Faith in Jesus Christ is the only thing that will accomplish anything worthwhile. If we don’t go in faith, we may as well not go. Without faith we will not only be ineffective but a danger to ourselves and others. Without faith we simply contribute to the darkness. I am not taking about faith in the accomplishment of any deed; but in the person of Jesus Christ. Do you believe the one you profess? We all must continually ask ourselves this big question. Believing Jesus for our initial transition into the kingdom of heaven does not secure that we are believing Jesus actively today. If communion with the Father in Jesus is a fading memory of the past, what hope do we have for tomorrow? Do we believe the message we proclaiming? Jesus is not a method or simply a way out; He is a person. Obedience is a life of faith; believing Jesus is who He says He is and that He does what He says He will. What has he done for you lately? If our everyday lives are faithless, we have no power or right to hop into someone else’s life and tell them they need Jesus. Emphasis is rightly put on earning the right to be heard by others. It is important for those who are lost to know we care for them and knowing that we care they may be better able to hear the gospel. We also need to have the right to speak of Jesus. We don’t earn it, we receive it by faith. If we have no interest in listening to Him through his Spirit today for all our lives affairs, what right do we have to tell others about Him? Dare I say, we sin when we toss the name of Jesus around like a magic potion? The gospel is not a package we deliver. It is the personal knowledge of the person of Jesus Christ. If the person of Jesus is of little or no interest to us in our daily lives, what right do we have to the privilege of testifying to who he is and what he has done? Our God is exceedingly patient and kind. He paid a great price that we might know Him. If you have not seen your relationship with Him as anything worth your time and energy, stop trying to prove it is otherwise and confess your heart to Jesus who saves you. Jesus is your place in the Father’s heart and if you belong to Him that will always be true. 2 Tim 2:13 If we are faithless, he remains faithful Jesus has promised He will never leave you or forsake you. Lay down yesterday, close out tomorrow and seek Him this moment. He will not fail you. If you have not basked in the love of Jesus lately or even for a long time, see the loss in your heart. Do you ever just miss Him? Do you miss His companionship, His friendship, his listening ear, the smell and feel of Him? He has not left you. Lay down all the favors you think you should be doing for Him and allow yourself to just miss His presence. Miss Him until you realize you can’t live without Him and that you don’t want to live without Him. He is but a prayer away.

Matthew 12:20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench,