Love, Not Commands

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The first is … ‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’   from Mark 12

When Jesus was asked which of the commandments was most important, his answer, According to Mark 12, seemed to suggest that he is a person whose ministry is based on love, not commands.

Sure, the two statements in the scriptures above are written like commandments – they say “you shall”—but what follows those words is much more about teaching people how to have a good life than telling them what God requires of them.

So what does Jesus say God commands?  That’s simple enough:  Love God and love everybody.  How hard is that?  In reality, of course, both of those simple teachings are difficult to live up to and sometimes even intentionally ignored.

Loving God should be easy.  God is responsible for our very existence, so we should have an innate, overwhelming joy for the one set our lives into motion. Too often, however, I’ve noticed people exhibiting contempt for God because they really aren’t satisfied with their lives.  They’re not perfect, so God gets the blame. Perhaps their energy would be better directed toward improving themselves rather than attacking God.

And what about loving other people? That should be easy, too, since we’re all siblings. We’re all joined together by God, our common creator. But if that isn’t enough reason to love the people around you, think of it this way: You can’t fully love God unless you love what God has created. And you can’t love the things God has created without a loving respect for the creator.

Try to see the people around you from what you imagine is God’s perspective.

To do that, you’ll have to love everyone just as they are. You’ll have to accept them, even if they’re flawed. You’ll have to affirm the worth of each person. You’ll have to help them grow to be better and encourage them to call up the very best they have inside themselves.

To love people radically and unquestioningly, you’ll have to use all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. God does. And showing that kind of love to other people is the best way to show it to God.

If you call that a commandment, then that’s what I think Jesus commands.

Stay in Your Seat

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“Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places” Ephesians 1:20

Jesus is seated by the right hand of the Father and He doesn’t get up out of His seat.  But we get up, just as a little kid has a hard time sitting still in church.  They squirm, wiggle and always need to get a drink of water or go to the bathroom.  Maturity is all about learning how to sit down, and stay seated in our seat, our place of authority, not distracted and pulled by our fleshly needs and the world around us.

Once you finally find your seat, your position or God’s purpose for your life, you need to stay seated in your seat.  God’s power that worked in Christ and raised Him from the dead also raised Him into His final seat of authority.  The power of God placed Jesus at His right hand in heavenly places.  That same power is working in me to lift me up out of sin and to break behavior patterns that have been learned and embraced due to generational iniquities.  As I overcome these sins and the pull of iniquity, I can feel myself getting lighter and lighter, until I am seated in heavenly places, high above my circumstances, high above principalities and powers of darkness.

“And He has raised us up together and made us sit together in Christ Jesus”.  Ephesians 2:6

Staying on Track

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 “You will show me the path of life.”    Ps. 16:11

I have learned over the past 50 years that staying on track takes self-control and discipline.  Self-control is actually planted in you by the Holy Spirit and is growing inside of you as a fruit of the Spirit.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22

Self- control and self -discipline develop, as you are obedient to the “Still Small Voice of the Lord” on a daily basis.   Set the boundaries that He says to set.  The little things count!  Obedience to the little things is how we learn to be led by God’s Holy Spirit.  What He says no to, do not touch!   He will guide us and give us His counsel.

I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; my heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me. Psalm 16:7

You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures For with You is the fountain of life.   Psalm    36:9

We drink from the fountain when we are in the presence of God, and this fountain will sustain you in seasons of trouble and drought.  You see now why you must stay close to Him as you are traveling along the Path of Life.  It is not an easy road or a scenic road!  It is narrow and can be very steep and dangerous, so we must not go too close to the edge. That is why we need hind’s feet for the climb.  We need to be living in truth, speaking truth, walking in the way of truth to be safe.

Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Mathew 7:14

Since the way is narrow, we must look to God’s Word and gain wisdom on how to set boundaries in our life and safe guards to keep us on the path. We need to listen because sometimes we need guidance, but other times we need warnings, and correction. We actually gain wisdom from mistakes so we will not repeat them. I know where I can’t go.  I have learned where my boundaries are for my safety.

He who keeps instruction is in the way of life.  But he who refuses correction goes astray.  Proverbs 10:17

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.  Proverbs 11:30

In the way of righteousness is life.  Proverbs 12:28

Burdens Will Roll Away

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“Commit your ways to the Lord (roll and repose each care of your load on Him); trust (lean on, rely on and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.”  Psalm 37:5 Amp.

You have probably found, as I have, that every problem has a weight to it, and some are heavier than others.  If you have committed your ways unto the Lord and are trusting in Him to work things out, then you must release the heavy weight and not take it back again.  As you trust the Lord, you can have peace in knowing your burdens will roll away.

Do not worry about it.   Trust Him.  This does not mean you are not involved or concerned about the situation.   It simply means you are not anxious or worried about it anymore.  And most of all, it is not up to you to fix it.

You are now trusting in the Lord and waiting on Him to work everything out for good.  Waiting is hard, but you can trust God to be faithful to His Word.  Grab hold of His promise and then wait.  It is hard to wait at first, but the more you resist taking things back into your own hands and working them out yourself, the easier waiting becomes.

So today, if your problem feels heavy, just pray and release it to the Lord.  Roll it over and reposition the weight on Him, and He will carry it for you.  All you need to do now is stand back and watch as He works everything out according to His plan and purpose.

Be aware that if you have never lived life without a weight on your back, it may feel funny at first.  If so, resist taking the weight back again.  Psalm 37:3 says, “Trust in (lean on, rely on and be confident) in the Lord and do good, so shall you dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness, and surely be fed.”   This tells me we are not to worry, because He will provide for all our needs.  We are to feed on His faithfulness, and He has a banquet table prepared for us.

Another important teaching on burden bearing.

 

Receiving God’s Love

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“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.” 1 John 4:16-17 

Those who have not experienced unconditional love may have a hard time believing that God loves them.  Conditional love is not God’s kind of love. Conditional love is based on performance and expectations.  You may have experienced conditional love when someone had an expectation of how they thought you should perform.   If you performed to meet their expectations, then you were accepted and affirmed.  If love is measured by how well you meet someone’s expectations, then you will never feel loved.  You can never measure up.  Conditional love is based on measuring.

Unconditional love flows and cannot be contained.  It is like a flowing river that never stops.  It would be silly to go to the Mississippi River and try to measure the amount of water in it at a given moment.

Many people today struggle with feeling unloved, and they do not know why. The reason is because they have not fully experienced unconditional love before, which is God’s kind of love.   When you receive God’s love, perfect love, you do not have to fear measuring up again.

1 John 4:18 says,

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out all fear.”

Why do so many people struggle with feeling like God doesn’t love them?  The heart must be soft, much like the soil of a garden, in order to receive love.  It is easier for a child to believe that God loves them than an adult.  Their heart is soft because they have not had years of heartache.  A garden must be tilled to make the soil soft so a seed can be planted.  The heart that has only experienced conditional love will grow harder as the years go by.  Some people eventually give up and say, “Why do I even try?”

If your heart has grown hard, then like a garden, it will need to be tilled so you can receive love again.  As the heart is tilled, the rocks and roots are removed and the heart gets softer.  The tilling brings about healing.  A healed heart will not be afraid when love comes close. A healed heart begins to open up and receive God’s love, and then give love to others.

Something Needs to Change?

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“Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts and see if there is any wicked way within me…” Psalms 139:23-24

When we pray this prayer it is usually when we know something needs to change at the heart level.  No real change occurs outside of trust and relationship, for these are two of the most important functions of the heart.  In a relationship with another, you must be willing to change and trust that God will work in the other person by showing them what needs to change.

The rules that govern the heart are established early in life. Like hinges and locks on a door need to be changed because they get rusty and affect how the door opens and closes, the rules that open and close the doors of the heart need to be looked at and changed so the door of the heart can open freely again.

Is there someone who you have shut out by closing the door of your heart?  Is the Lord pressing upon you to change your attitude by opening the door and fellowshipping with them again?  Or, is there someone in your life who you will crack the door open just enough to say, “What do you want?” It may be the time to open the door and say, “I am sorry I was wrong for locking you out of my life, please come over and let’s talk things out.” Change is possible when your turn to God and ask Him to create within you a pure and clean heart, removing all the rust of resentment so the door of your heart will open to those you love.

“Search me Lord, and know my heart,”

You Can Begin Again

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I’ve been thinking a lot recently about a dear pastor of a Church I visited several times.  He made an impression on me.

His story is filled with up, downs, crashes and triumphs.  He built a small church of a few dozen members into one of the nation’s mega-churches.  He’s always found himself at odds with his Baptist denomination.  He left Austin’s most liberal Baptist church and formed a church that mostly stays out of politics and social issues and focuses on serving singles, divorced people and other people who have often been bruised and battered by churches.

But it’s not really the Pastor that I want to talk about.  I’ve never even met him, although I’ve heard him preach and speak in person and on tape many times.  It’s his core message that’s at the core of today’s devotion: “No matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, with God’s help, you can begin again.”

You can begin again.  It’s a really simple statement.  You can’t come through the womb again (at least not physically – although those who teach some brands of psychology and spirituality believe you can come close!), and you can’t quickly undo the financial and legal issues you’ve created or been caught in, but with God’s help, your life—your essence—can begin again.

My Pastor friend spent much of the last few decades explaining the Biblical basis for his message and trying to convince thousands of congregants that it’s really possible to start over.

His life is his example.  When his high-stakes financial deals crashed, he started over.  When his church couldn’t afford to build on the valuable land they’d essentially been given, he sold it for a profit, moved up the hill and built a campus that now includes a sanctuary called the Home for Hope.  When his wife of decades upon decades died, he took a break from church and from life.  Then he found a new love.

Now, Parkinson’s disease has weakened his voice and slowed his body, but his work lives on in his archive of recordings and his books, both new and old.  In a situation where some people would end their ministry, this Pastor has begun again.

Would you like to begin again—again?  Do you need to start over?  You see, when the things of life come tumbling down, you can start over.  And if they crumble and tumble again, you can start over again.

God wants what’s best for you.  If you’re not getting the very best that life has to offer from this day and everyday, begin again.  You can either start from scratch or just scratch today’s plans in favor of something that brings you closer to God. No matter when you start or whether you start over, it’s the destination that matters.

Today, either start over in a new direction or stay on the course you’ve carved out for yourself, but be sure your path is wide enough to include God’s presence, too.

Hope That Has Been Appointed For Us

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“We who have fled to Him for refuge might have mighty indwelling strength and strong encouragement to grasp and hold fast the hope that has been appointed for us” (Hebrew 6:18).

When I read this verse I am reminded of a specific time when I ran faster that ever before to the Lord as my refuge.  I didn’t leave that refuge until I had the strength and hope that had been appointed just for me; it actually had my name on it.

The situation in my life at the time looked hopeless.  In the natural world it looked like our son’s life was over.  There was nothing the doctors could do.  Then God said, “Watch this!”

During that time, I can say the only strength I had came from the Lord.  I did not have natural strength.  During times of prayer, I would fall into the arms of Jesus and I could actually feel Him lift me up, refill me with encouragement, and then set me back down in the hospital room all charged up again.  All my strength, faith, and hope came from Him.  He was my refuge, my fortress, my rock, and the firm foundation I stood upon.  I literally felt the strength of the Lord surging through my spirit, soul, and body.  It was a supernatural strength.  My faith was in God and Him alone.

Sometimes God allows us to go through things so that as we stand back and see with our own eyes His handiwork, we will trust Him.  When He was creating a miracle in our son, all natural hands had to be removed as He worked the miracle.  I learned in that situation, as I watched God work, there are times we must take our hand off and watch Go d work.

Guaranteed to Change Your Life

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Twenty or so years ago I was introduced to a prayer that was guaranteed to change your life and your marriage.

WOW! Did I ever need a guarantee like that. I immediately began to pray this prayer for my husband and me.  Our life was such a mess at that time, like a cluttered closet.  I didn’t know where to start and he wasn’t interested at all in cleaning closets. I had heard the old saying that prayer changes things, so I began to pray and trust God to clean out our cluttered closets.

Today, 20 years later, as I read the Amplified version of this prayer, I am amazed at how this prayer had been answered in our lives.

God’s Word contains God’s plan and it will accomplish His purpose. I have realized I can have a good idea of what I think needs to change in my life or my husband’s life.  It may be a good idea, but if it didn’t originate in the heart of God, it doesn’t have the power of God behind it. God’s Word has His power behind it, and His power changes things.

Pray this prayer and insert your name first and then your spouse and watch God do the work:

“Since the day I heard it, I have not ceased to pray for ____________that (I, he, she) will be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That ____________will walk worthy of the Lord, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of Christ.”

Colossians 1:9-11

Joy Comes in the Morning

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“Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5

awaken my faithIn Psalm 6:6-8 the psalmist says, “I am weary with my groaning.” Some people weep outwardly, but most weep silently, choosing to walk through dark valleys all alone. Silent weeping will cause a night of sorrow to turn into months or even years of sadness, like a dark, sleepless night that you think will never end.  But just as the morning sun comes up to announce that the night is over, and a new day has begun.  When the first feeling of joy returns to your soul, you know the night of sorrow has come to an end.  Joy comes every morning; be careful not to miss it.

A major part of healing is grieving the losses. When we have experienced losses, they must be properly grieved in order to be released.  This is why we don’t have peace; we are trying to cope with buried pain from the losses in our life.

For years of my life, instead of releasing a person, or relationships that ended, I was holding on to the sadness trying to figure out a way to cope with the painful emptiness.  I had so much pain and I was running hard, trying to keep it from catching up with me.

In Jeremiah 6:14, the prophet gives us understanding of why many people are inwardly weeping.  They have been hurt by the actions of others and have not received complete healing.  They are saying “peace, peace” when there is no peace.  Look at every area of your life where you are not experiencing peace.  The amount of peace in your life is directly related to the amount of healing you have received.  The painful events like separation and divorce create many losses that must be grieved.

Ask the Lord to walk with you through the pain and give you the ability to release all you have lost.