Month: May 2020

NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER – 2020…


2 Chronicles 7:14 – “and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”  NASB

Today, May 7, 2020, is America’s designated National Day of Prayer.  I love having a National Day of Prayer.  It is a good thing that we, as a people, focus on the only true source of our deliverance and help, God.  Sadly, I am convinced that too frequently this is nothing more than a formal exercise with no genuine change of heart and therefore no real result.  It can become just another thing that we do and that is not productive.

This directive in 2 Chronicles has some implications that my heart is drawn to and I have been convicted by the Holy Spirit over.  It says that if “God’s People”, Christians will do several things including prayer, God will hear us.  It is needful that we do more than offer up token prayers to God and expect some miraculous act on His part.  The directives are clear but are our obedience to those directives acted upon?

He says, that we are to ‘humble ourselves.’  It is one thing to be humbled or brought low but quite another to humble ourselves.  That requires personal introspection and acknowledgment of our condition.  In this case, we are speaking of coming before God and acknowledging our situation, our plight, our need, and our condition.  We have sinned and come short of His Glory and we need His help and deliverance.  We are unable to do it ourselves and we need Him.  That is step one in the fulfillment of this passage, humbling ourselves.

Then He says, we are to ‘pray.’  Prayer is a misunderstood subject but, in this context, He quantifies and clarifies it.  We are to engage in ‘seeking the Face of God’ or as Jesus directed in Matthew 6, we Hallow His Name and ask for His Kingdom to Come and His Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Later in that chapter, we read that we are to ‘seek Him first’ or before and above anything.  Do we do that?  Is He Number One in our lives?  Before we argue, that He is, I suggest that we consider what we pursue and invest our time, money, attention, and cherish.  What occupies your time and thoughts?  Where the treasure is that is where the heart is focused.  Therefore, if we want God to Heal our Land, we must do what is required.

We cannot earn God’s favor, but He places some “if-then” conditions on His blessings and in this case, the directives are personal humility, prayer, and seeking His face.  Then comes the next step in the process, ‘turn from their wicked ways.’  Wicked ways?  Yes, in America we have allowed abortion to take the lives of over 61 million unborn babies.  That is wicked.  We have allowed same-sex marriages and God calls the practices of that lifestyle an abomination.  We have allowed hate to flourish, envy to steal our joy, and developed a mentality that the end justifies the means.  That is wicked.  We are to turn from wickedness and as the Bible warns, ‘shun the very appearance of evil.’

Laws will not fix the problem.  We do not need more laws to regulate and achieve morality or godliness we need a change of heart.  I do not pray for God to change the laws but the hearts.  I do not pray for God to correct others without asking Him to correct me.  I have and will continue to confess my guilt in allowing this wickedness to prevail and have any place in my heart.  My heart is to turn from wickedness and become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.  I want to come out from among them and be separate.  I want to be like Jesus and both manifest and represent Him to the world.

Then, the promise is “Healing of the Land.”  Therefore, today I am praying on National Prayer Day as I do each day.  I am praying for forgiveness and asking God to help me humble myself, turn from wickedness, forgive my sins and the sins of my nation, and heal our land.

I am praying for the President that God will protect him and give him godly wisdom and enable him to hear the right voices with the right counsel.  I am praying for a change of attitude in the nation that we will not just seek new laws but return to moral rightness, biblical holiness, and constitutional observance of rights, privileges, and liberties.  I am praying for America to return to the Lord, seek His face, turn from wickedness, recognize that we cannot do it ourselves we need Him.  I am asking for renewal and forgiveness.  I am asking for a second chance for America.

I cannot tell you what to pray or how to pray, but I ask you to carefully evaluate your life in the view of the directive of 2 Chronicles 7:14 and pray accordingly.  I ask that we all pray for America and the world to be open to the Word and Spirit of God.

God bless you and God bless America!

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WE NEED HOPE – – (Conclusion)


Colossians 1:25-29 – “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, 26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ.”  NASB

The question must be asked, “Why do so many, in the Church, live with the world’s Hope rather than the Bible’s Hope?”  One of the reasons is we cling to our experience in the beginning and never move deeper into a relationship.  It is in our history but not our present.  We take about what happened back then.  Why?  Because that’s all we have. Over time we grow bored with the sameness of what we are saying and lose the genuineness of Hope!

I heard about a man who wrote down what had happened to him. He called it “My Blessed Experience.”  He kept it in a box in the attic.  Anytime a visitor would come he would bring it down and read it to them.  He would say, “This is what happened to me!”  One day a visitor came, and he sent his daughter to retrieve his “Blessed Experience” so he could read it to them.  She came down dejected and gave him the bad news, the rats had eaten his Blessed Experience.

Tragically there are countless professing Christians who go to church every Sunday and experience the ritual but not life.  I would suggest that you could leave many churches for a few years and come back and it would be exactly the same.  There would be the same songs, same testimonies, and the same sermons.  They are always trying to recapture their Blessed Experience.  They are trying to remember what happened. That’s all they have, a memory.

In that state of mind, a person looks at the Blessed Hope and it is a wish or a longing but not a current experience in the heart. The Blessed Hope is the consummation of the whole Kingdom of God, not the Great Escape.  Years ago, I stopped singing some of the age-old songs of the church.  Why?  There are many reasons but two are, some of them were defeatist in their message and because I wanted to live with the current reality of Christ in Me. I did not want to live in a memory of what used or a dream of what it will be sometimes in the future when we have the Grand Finale. I wanted a current reality of Christ in me NOW!

When Jesus returns that will be the Grand Finale of what we are supposed to be enjoying as Christians now!  We are in Christ right now!  The eternal kingdom of God is bursting forth in us and out of us, right now!  We have a past, and we have a future and sadly too many view the present as a vacuum or a parenthesis.  It is Christ in Us, the Hope of Glory NOW!

The Hope of Glory is NOW, in this present world!  It is not in the sweet by and by it is in the now and now.  It is today, this is the Day the Lord has made.  The Pardon that God gave us and the interaction with Him through the Holy Spirit is NOW! 

If you remember the parable of the prodigal son, it brings this into reality powerfully.  As he journeyed home, while he was still a great way off, he rehearsed his speech.  He planned to say, “Father, I have sinned against you.  Make me as one of your hired servants.” 

That is fascinating because a hired servant was not a slave or a servant.  The servants live ‘on’ the property all the time, but the hired servants only came at harvest time.  He was basically an odd-job worker, a temp, hired by the day.  He was a Day Laborer!  He was saying to his father, “Dad, I ask you to forgive me.  I’ll go live in the village, and at harvest time, I ask that you give me a job.”  That is all he expected!

But his father ran to him, fell on his neck, kissed him, and forgave him completely.  The prodigal took out his prepared speech and began but suddenly everything changed.  His father would not let him finish.  Instead, he reinstated him as a full son.  This is my son who was lost, dead but now alive.  A whole new life unfolded before him. 

That is what I’m talking about in Hope!  When I came to Jesus, I would have been satisfied with just being pardoned.  But suddenly I discover there was more to this than meets the eye.  Everything that God has promised is mine!  But when I came to Him, I did not know what He had Promised other than Pardon.  He gives, and gives, and gives, and gives!

Believers we must learn to move beyond from talking about the past, the Blessed Experience, and live every day in excited!  We must learn to live in the fullness of God’s Blessings and Promises.  We dare not pitch our tents around Forgiveness.  That is wonderful but not the whole story.  We cannot be satisfied to settle for what God did, we must move our eyes forward to THE HOPE, that everything that God has said is ours!

God’s desire for us is that we enjoy All of His Promises and live as though He were telling the truth, because He is! If God says that He wants to give it, then our Hope and Expectation is that He will!  That is where we are to live as Christians in Hope!  We are the people of HOPE!  We have the positive, unshakeable confidence that what God said He will do!  We are to live in the Excited Expectancy and Eager Desire for “Thy Kingdom Come and Thy Will be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” 

WE HAVE HOPE!   God bless you as you embark on a new fuller journey in Jesus!

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WE NEED HOPE – – (Part 3)


Colossians 1:25-29 – “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, 26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ.”  NASB

In considering the Hope of the Bible we are drawn to Abraham.  God promised him that one would come through his seed that would Bless all the families of the earth.  Then, we consider David and see the Promises in the Davidic Covenant.  We examine the prophets and hear them all declare that there was coming one who would bear our sins.  There would be one who was Lord of Lords and King of Kings.  There was one in whose kingdom there would be peace and joy beyond description.  They NEVER had that, but they Hoped!

Generation after generation lived reading the Seed Catalog and rehearsing the Promises.  Hebrews 11 tells us that they all died in faith.  They keep looking ahead.  It was the Hope of Israel.  They uniformly said, “We KNOW He is coming!  We are absolutely certain of that truth.”  Then as they died, they reached out to their children and said, “Don’t Forget, He is Coming!”  It has been passed on from generation to generation.  That is Hope!

In the Book of Acts, we hear the declaration – He Has Come!  The Hope of Israel was finally realized.  He Came!  Paul said, “That’s what I’m doing.  I am standing in judgment because I am declaring that Jesus is the Hope of Israel.  The Messiah has come!”

Please never lose sight of the reality that Jesus’ coming is not to be viewed as only some moment in history.  No, No, No!  He actually came to live inside of us.  He is coming again but now, because He came, we have HOPE!  Israel had a Hope, but they had to wait for generations before it was fulfilled.  But Hope has come!  He lives in us!  Now, because He lives inside of us, We Live in Hope!  Hallelujah, I live in the Hope that everything that I’ve ever hoped for will be realized before I die or before Jesus returns.  I hope you see this because this is Hope! 

You and I, as believers, are among the persons where The Hope has happened.  He is here!  What we have Hoped for is Here!  The Seed of the Woman, Jesus, is here.  The descendant of Abraham, Jesus is here.  The one that Isaiah said would Die for our sins, Jesus, is here!  He is Here and He Is In Us!    That is HOPE! 

Jesus is our Hope that everything that God has promised will come to pass in our lives.  He is our Hope!  He is the guarantee, the certainty, the absolute assurance, and He has come!  Therefore, everything that God has Promised WILL come to Pass.  That is Hope!

Unfortunately, too many Christians live without Hope.  Too many live in a state that could be identified as despair.  Why?  I believe it is because we sometimes live in a vacuum.  What do I mean by that? 

Let me offer this illustration and hopefully, it will resonate and liberate. The way that many Christians look this is, “We are pardoned.”  Most believe that we have been forgiven.  Some have moved a step beyond that position and entered into a living relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit.  But, what then?  Too often, we ‘freeze that experience’ and say, “That’s it, I’ve got it!”  We live more in the hope of the world than the hope of the Bible.

I must deal with this yet one more time, but until then we will say, go with God and He will go with you. Have a great day in Him today!

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WE NEED HOPE – – (Part 2)


Colossians 1:25-29 – “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, 26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ.”  NASB

In considering the Hope of the Bible I realize that the Christian is or should be a person of Hope!  We are the persons who can say, “I am looking forward, with great excitement and anticipation, that I will receive what God has promised and I am hoping for.”  Each day we can and should experience a little more of God’s Promises and Blessings.  We are those who can and should refuse to feed depression and despair.

The Person of Hope looks into all their tomorrows, all their unlived future and have the calm assurance that “this is the day the Lord has made.”  That person knows in their heart of hearts that, in God’s perfect timing, He is going to bring to us all His Promises!  That is Bible Hope!  That would make Bible Hope, Faith in a roundabout way.  It is Faith that is shielding its eyes against the sunlight of adversity and shouts, “I can see it!  I can see it!”

Let me illustrate it using farmers or gardeners.  They have to live and operate in Hope.  Not the hope that is of the world but the hope that is of the Bible.  Each August or September the gardener will take down their gardening Bible, their seed catalog.  It has in it some of the most amazing pictures of what the promise is.  But when you order it and it arrives it is a blub not the beautiful plant.  Then, that gardener will, with sure and certain HOPE, put that blub in the ground.  Why?  Because they believe the promise of the book.  What do they have as evidence?  The Picture or in our case the Promise. 

That gardener will Hope through the winter months.  They know that under the surface of the soil there is life where they planted that ugly blub.  That is the Hope that we have in Christ.  When I look at my life when I first came to Jesus for salvation.  I can say, “You mean that I am destined to be conformed to the Image of God’s Son?”  I take my seed catalog, the Bible, and read what God has prepared for me.  I do not look at what I see in me, but what the Bible says about the Christ that lives in me and I HOPE!

That Life in me is the Hope of Glory!  When I do that, I discover what Christianity is really all about.  It is Hope!  We live in a continual and perpetual state of excited anticipation.  No matter what adversity comes, that Life in us cannot be destroyed by external circumstances.  It is Christ in us, the Hope of Glory!  Everything He has said “IS” going to burst forth and we will be what He said we are.  That’s Hope!

I contend that Hope is seen from the first pages of the Bible.  In the Book of Acts, Paul was arrested because he said that Jesus was the Messiah.  He contended that the Promises of God in the Old Testament were fulfilled in Jesus.  He stood before the tribunals of man and three separate times, he referred to why he was there.  In Acts 24:15, he referred to the Hope that he had from God.  In acts 26:6, he referred to the Hope of the Promises made by God to the fathers.  Then, he said, that he was there for the Hope of Israel. 

What is he talking about?  If you go back to Genesis 3:15 you find that God made the Promise that one day, there would be the seed of the woman.  That seed would crush the head of the serpent, the devil.  That looked incredibly remote and far-fetched at that time.  Adam and Eve had just come out of the Garden of Eden, having rebelled against God.  They were sensing the pressure of sin, the darkness of separation, and the rottenness of their condition.  The reign of the devil was hovering over them.  God says, in that situation, “One day, the seed of the woman…” 

That is all they had to hold on to.  It was their gospel.  It was their Bible.  That had that one single promise and they passed it on from generation to generation.  In their horrible condition imposed upon them because of sin, they had a Ray of Hope! 

We cannot stop here but must for this devotional and pick up again next time.  May the LORD bless and keep you and be with you as you enjoy this wonderful day in Him!

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WE NEED HOPE…


Colossians 1:25-29 – “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, 26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ.”  NASB

Hope is a commodity vitally essential in seeing the Big Picture of what God has for us and for navigating the difficult waters of life.  In considering the subject of Hope we must ultimately arrive at what the Bible calls “The Hope of Glory.”  A much better way to say that would be, “Christ in us, the Hope of Glory.”

In our text passage, the apostle Paul identifies the essence of his ministry.  He was saying, “This is what I do.”  Paul was traveling around the world teaching people about Jesus.  His goal, aim, and vision was to prepare every person to reach a state of completeness, perfection, and wholeness.  The essence and content of what he was teaching was the mystery of “Christ in you, the Hope of Glory.” 

What does, “Christ in you, the Hope of Glory” mean?  To discover that we must define “Hope.”  In today’s world, “hope” has a bad reputation.  In some circles, if you say, “hope,” you are deemed to be expressing a lack of faith.  But the word fills the New Testament.  That leads me to believe that we have frequently misused the word.  The world’s use of the word has absolutely nothing to do with the Bible word – Hope!

What is Hope?  One little boy defined saying, “Hope is believing that you are going to get that, which anyone in their right mind knows you are not going to get.”  That, for many people, is Hope.  That is how the world views the word.  When many say that they are hoping they are saying they believe it highly unlikely that they will ever realize what they are hoping for.  For many, it borders on impossible and to the far too many it means they are clinging to a thin thread when all rational expectancy is gone.

I’ve gone into hospital rooms and heard people say, “We can only Hope.”  What they meant was they did not believe there was any rational expectancy left.  That means that Hope has in it a sense of desperation and disappointment. 

Let me illustrate it by asking you to go back to your high school days.  How many of the dizzy dreams and visions you developed have already been shattered and shelved?  How many are completely gone?  What about marriage?  Many enter marriage with the little bluebirds of love and happiness circling in their minds.  Then just a few years down the road they scrap the whole thing and their perfect marriage ends in divorce. What they hoped for is gone.

Hope, as understood by the world and much of the church has a built-in disappointment, because people do not believe it is going to happen.  They are like the little boy and are “believing that they’ll get something that anyone in their right mind knows they’ll never get.”  That’s human hope and it is terrible.

However, that is not what the Bible means by Hope.  The Bible Hope is not only not hopeless it is completely other than that view.  Hope in the Bible means – “That positive unshakable confidence that a specific blessing from God will come to pass.”  That is totally other than the world’s view of Hope.  The Bible view says, “I know with unshakable confidence and certainty that the specific thing that God has said will come to pass.”  Therefore, Hope in the Bible view has a built-in Certainty Factor in it.  The world’s hope has inherent in it, disappointment, and the Bible’s view of hope has a built-in certainty.

Philippians 1:20 in the Amplified says, “My own eager desire, persistent expectation, and hope.”  That’s it!  It is the Eager Desire!  It is declaring, “What God says, I want it!  I expect it, no matter the bleakness of the situation!  I Expect and am determined to Persist!  I know it is going to Happen because God says it and I HOPE!”

I want to continue this but will pause here and say – HOPE is not a lack of Faith but in the Bible, it is a brother of Faith. 

God bless you as you enjoy this wonderful day in Jesus!

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BATTLE TESTED CHRISTIANS…


Psalms 144:1 – “Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;” NASB

I have contended for a long time that Christians in America are not ‘battle-tested’ and prepared for persecution or the impending troubled waters we are and will be faced with in these Last Days.  It is tragic that we seemingly have become dependent on medicine, science, government, employers, ability, etc. to help us get through life.  We have lived a life of relative ease compared to some others in this world and have not endured the religious persecution known in the Bible.  That is good and it is bad. 

It is good in the sense that in our time of peace and safety we have had the opportunity to provide for ourselves and our families as well as enjoy an unimpeded ability to spread the Gospel.  It is bad in the sense that we have lost some of our ‘war faith’ and have not been ‘battle-tested.’  One of the things the Bible says about how God led Israel through the wilderness was that he took certain paths to prevent them from seeing war lest they become disheartened.  They were not ‘battle-tested’ and he had to prepare their hearts to face the upcoming wars they would fight.

Our God is the same God as the God of Abraham, Joseph, Isaac, Jeremiah, Daniel, David, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Peter, Paul, and John.  He has not changed as is confirmed in Hebrews 13:8. He is the same eternally, yesterday, today, and forever.  In that confidence we have hope.  But that knowledge does not remove the reality that we are not ‘battle-tested.’ 

I have a friend, a minister, who says, “I don’t want anyone with me in a battle that does not have a limp.”  He was referring to Jacob’s wrestling with God all night and God touching his hip.  I have been in natural war and spiritual war and know the value of those who have been ‘tested’ in the heat of battle.  It is comforting and encouraging to know that those with you in the fight will not desert you.  It is comforting to know that thorough their ‘battle testing’ and ‘battle hardening’ they are not overwhelmed by the moment but know how to fight through to the victorious objective.

I encounter people who believe they are ‘okay’ because they are ‘good people.’  One said, “I don’t hurt anybody, so I am okay.”  It takes more than just being considered a ‘good person’ to be in the Family of God, it takes ‘forgiveness’ through repentance.  It requires the ‘new birth’ which can only come through the Finished Work of Jesus and the application of His atoning blood to our sins.  It takes believing that He is and surrendering our entire beings to Him.  

I have whined when a problem came and lingered. Each time after a time of whining, the Holy Spirit convicts me.  It usually comes through an encounter with someone who is facing a more severe trial or a reminder of the plight of Christians in incredible evil areas of this world.  In America, too often, we have lived a life of “soft, unchallenging, and uninspired Christianity.”  We do not have to sneak around to share the Gospel of Jesus.  We don’t have to have church in the shadows and hide from the prying eyes of the authorities.  We have learned to live without being forced to ‘trust God’ for our existence.  We are not ‘battle-tested.’

When Israel was delivered from Egyptian bondage and came to the Red Sea, they saw the pursuing armies of Egypt.  They were terrified.  They had witnessed the miracles of God in their deliverance.  To their credit, when they saw the looming death and destruction coming. they cried to the LORD in their terror.  Thankfully, they had a man leading them that had spent 40 years learning to trust God and empty himself of the ways of man.  Moses said, “Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will show you today…”  That would be enough, but he then prophesied, “The Egyptians you see today, you will see them no more.”  

If Jesus’ victory on the Cross was complete and He totally defeated the devil opening the door to salvation and restoration, then we need to trust Him.  If Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth and He has given that authority to us, then we need to live as though He is telling the truth.  We need to trust Him.  If Jesus is the same eternally, yesterday, today, and forever, we have no reason to fear. 

In the exploits of the heroes of the Bible, the result was the people developed a fear of God, that inspired faith, confidence, obedience, and courage.  It is my prayer that the LORD will ‘train our hands for war’ and help us to be those who ‘having done all to stand, keep standing.’  Our weapons are not natural and cannot be utilized using natural talents and abilities.  They are spiritual and the power and ability to employ them is by the Holy Spirit.

Christians, there is coming a time of darkness but we do not have to fear.  We are not yet ‘battle-tested’ but we can be filled with God’s Love and Spirit and live in complete confidence that He is, He does, and He will. 

God bless you and have a Great Day!

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WHAT DOES GOD WANT FOR MY LIFE? – (Conclusion)…


1 John 4:7-11 – “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”  NASB

It is vital that we understand what Jesus did and Who He was and is. He was the first true man to walk this planet living God’s kind of love.  That is the reason that Religion became so angry with Him.  Watching how Religion reacts to Love is always fascinating if not infuriating and frustrating.

The political powers of that day could care less about Jesus. He was nothing to them.  He did not threaten them, but the ones who were threatened by Jesus was the Religious people.  The best that religion in that day could produce was the Pharisees.  Truthfully, they would fit in well in too many churches today.  They were the best of that day and were scandalized by Jesus.  They hated Him because of His Living God’s Love.

The Love of God is scandalous to religion because it loves the worst of people.  It loves bad people.  It loves people that religion and other humans have given up on.  I can say that because of the life and conduct of Jesus.  He sat, talked, and even had meals with prostitutes, tax collectors, and other sinners!  The religious crowd’s reaction was, “What is the world going to think?”  His first miracle, turning the water into wine was at a wedding feast.  What could He be thinking?  If He is the Messiah, He should be at a prayer meeting, not a wedding celebration.

Does that sound familiar?  We tend to draw circles around our group and say, “We are other than them.  They are less than we.  We are holy and they are sinners!”  The Pharisees would not even talk to Samaritans, because a Samaritan could never be saved.  Likewise, with tax collectors, prostitutes, etc. 

I find it fascinating that Jesus made His best friends among tax collectors.  He went into Samaria and talked in public with a Samaritan woman.  What could He be thinking?  He is not keeping up the image, how dare Him?  Religion is frequently disgusted with God’s Love.  It does not fit or follow their rules.  Religion is horrified by God’s Love.  It only knows how to love like a good human being.  It wants the best people in membership but Love, God’s Love destroys that.

Jesus was a horror to religion.  It was religion that crucified Him.  But little did they know that when they crucified Him, He was dying for them too.  They didn’t know it and could not say, “Thank You!”  That’s God’s Kind of Love.

Something I hope you see is that before Jesus died on the Cross, in order to take away sin, He said certain things.  In the weeks before He went to the Cross He said, “except a grain of wheat falls to the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it drops into the ground and dies, it brings forth much fruit.”  That’s what He did.

Let me offer this simple illustration for clarity and understanding.  We know what Jesus’ statement meant.  In farming, if you have only one grain of wheat and plant it, the Law of Harvest comes into play and it springs forth and produces many more than that single seed.  The fruit is exactly like the original, just multiplied.  Thus, Jesus was saying, “There is only one of Me.  No one has ever lived God’s Love before.  I’m going to fall into the ground and die.  If I don’t there will never be but one of Me.  But, if I do, then I will bring forth much fruit.”  There would be millions or billions like Him.  That is the Desire of God and what God wants for our lives to be manifestations of Jesus.

Jesus did not come just to forgive our sins and take us to heaven.  That is simply the handle on the door to the Kingdom.  He came to produce persons who Love like He Loved and Loves.  The Law of Harvest is that it brings forth after its kind and there are multitudes just like Him in the earth today.  He brought forth a Race of Lovers.  That’s why Jesus came and that is the Desire of God for us!

It is amazing that the disciples heard things like that from Jesus but did not comprehend what He meant.  At the Last Supper, they were still arguing about who would be the greatest in the kingdom.  They could heal the sick and work miracles, but they did not know how to Love each other.  Doesn’t that sound familiar in today’s world?

They were fascinated with Power.  But the Bible tells us that Love is the Greater Work.  Love, not Power is how all men know that we are the disciples of Jesus.  The devil can perform miracles, but He cannot love – We can! 

If we can Love as Jesus love, then we won’t have to worry about keeping the Law we will keep it naturally.  If the same Love that we see in Jesus is inside us we do not need a law that says, “Thou shalt not kill, we won’t kill.”  This Love not only does not kill, it lays down its life for its enemies.  We do not need a law that says, “Thou shalt not steal, we won’t steal.”  Because Love not only does not steal it does not want to steal.  Therefore, we will no longer need the Ten Commandments because we are people of Love.

I am convinced that when we manifest Jesus through God’s Love, the world will respond mightily.  But I am equally convinced that if we Love as God Loves religion will seek to kill us.  My prayer is, “Lord shed your love abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit and help me Love as Jesus loves.”

What is God’s Purpose for Your Life – LOVE LIKE JESUS LOVES and the rest will take care of itself.  Have a great day!

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