John 14:15 – “Loving Me empowers you to obey My commands.”

Sometimes, you read something in Scripture that rocks your world and changes your perspective on everything!  Today, as I read the Word, my heart overflowed with awe for God.   I was convicted and, at the same time, encouraged as the veil was lifted regarding several truths.

John 13 is an event in which Jesus demonstrated an often misunderstood act of humility by washing the feet of the twelve. Some have made a doctrine and meaningless ritual out of physical foot washing.  Love and service were the focus, not just the physical act. It was prophetic of the fullness of the New Covenant. It was a revelation that life in the New Covenant would demonstrate love through service and humility.

John 13:1b – “And now He (Jesus) longed to show them (the 12) the full measure of His love.”

His declaration in John 14:15 gives incredible insight.  Do we grasp the full weight of that declaration?  

• Love is the power to be who God says we are!  
• Love is the power to live!  Love is the power to serve!  
• Love is the energy and driving force in the New Covenant and what releases God’s Glory and Power!

Jesus repeated and expanded that statement in John 14:23. As a result, the Father’s demonstrated and revealed love accompanies our loving obedience. Perfect union with Jesus and the Father flows from loving obedience.

How can we live a life of loving obedience? We cannot through human willpower. It is only by the help of the Comforter Jesus who was sent to guide, teach, empower, and cover us.   The Holy Spirit gives us the knowledge, strength, faith, and anointing to reject fear and confusion and live courageously. It’s not us, it’s Him!

If we make John 14:27 our anchor, we will prevail. “I leave the gift of peace with you – MY PEACE. Not the kind of fragile peace given by the world, but My PERFECT PEACE.”  Because of that indwelling Peace, we have courage; in that courage, we discover the power of love to overcome!

The Holy Spirit has come to reveal Jesus to us fully.  It is as we see Him that we are able to love Him. In that state, we are enabled to obey Him and reveal Him to the world.   Love is the power to be! Receive that love and be that love.

I pray that God’s overflowing Love fills your heart and your day.  

Joshua 5:9 – “This day, I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.”

I am thankful that God’s love is unconditional and long-suffering.  He would have smashed us like bugs if either of those were not true.  Because of God’s love, we can love and have incredible peace!

Joshua 4-5 contains powerful revelation.   God told Joshua to send men into the Jordan and take twelve stones from the middle of the river.   The stones were at the feet of those carrying the Ark.   They were to be taken to the place they would lodge for the night—Gilgal.

The twelve stones were memorials for the whole family of God, including all the tribes.   They were taken from the Jordan, the doorway or portal from the past to the future.  They were to be reminders of where they had been, pointing to where they were to go.  Gilgal is important for two reasons.   It means a circle of stones or a rolling away.    Joshua 5:9 – “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.”

In Joshua 3, he instructed them to keep their eyes on the Ark because they were going where they had never been, and by following the Ark, they would have a roadmap to victory.   The Ark contained the Word, which expressed or detailed the Promise.   It is a guide!   Follow the Ark because it is a guide.

Unfortunately, as Jesus revealed in Matthew 5:20, we can lose sight of the Ark and act out of our carnality.  He made a disturbing declaration in Matthew 5:20 – “For I tell you, UNLESS your lives are more pure and full of integrity than the religious scholars and the Pharisees, you will NEVER enter heaven’s kingdom.”

Then, He addresses some moral, social, and spiritual issues.  

• Murder is equated to hatred for others, especially other believers.
• If you curse another believer, you place yourself on a pathway to hell.

(He didn’t provide loopholes or caveats.)

• He addressed adultery (sins of the flesh).   Just looking (with lust) is viewed by God as equivalent.  That is not a justification to commit the act, but Jesus illustrates the contrast between the accepted norms and God’s reality.  It is righteousness that exceeds!
• Making oaths, vows, and binding promises demands fulfillment.

He addressed the reality that vengeance is a ticket to hell.   Love must prevail, and going beyond is an example of righteousness that exceeds.  We are to look for ways to bless those who hate and try to harm you.  This reveals whether the heart is linked to God or ruled by self.

The reproach is rolled away as we follow the Ark!   We need to build memorials or memory triggers that remind us of what we have been delivered from and delivered to!   The Ark contains the Word that details the Promise and is a roadmap to victory!   We either follow the Ark or the impulses of the flesh. 

Remember the two pathways – One is life, the other is death, and there are no loopholes!  Victory is ours if we will follow the precepts of God!   

Make this a day of victory; that is what He has promised!

Matthew 6:14-15 – “And when you pray, make sure you forgive the faults of others SO THAT your Father in heaven WILL ALSO forgive you. 15 BUT IF YOU WITHHOLD forgiveness from others, your Father withholds forgiveness from you.”

During a recent rain shower, I was reminded of the refreshing of the Holy Spirit. Nothing is more nutritious for plant life than rainfall, and nothing is more nutritious for Spirit life than the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. He makes God’s Word come alive and brings the transforming nourishment we need.

Recently, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart about hate.   He caused me to focus on hate in the church and in the hearts of people who identify as His.   In Matthew 6, we find what we call The Lord’s Prayer.   When embraced and implemented, it is revelatory and powerful, simple but succulent and transformative.

Jesus followed that up with a revelation that enables us to understand how His Kingdom operates and gives the key to answered prayer and peace of heart. Matthew 6:14-15 speaks directly to that!  There is no justification for hate!  I was reminded in verse 21 – “For your heart will ALWAYS pursue what you esteem as your treasure.” He reminded us of the pervasiveness and problem of a heart that blocks out God’s light. Hate blocks it.

In Matthew 7, we discover God’s pathway to peace, life, and interpersonal relationships. We are and always will be judged by the same standard we use to judge others. We see their flaws and ignore ours, which allows us to justify our hate. God offers no loopholes. He hates hate!

Hate has no place in the heart.  It is a spiritual cancer that is terminal and metastasizes from the heart to the whole person.   If we allow hate, we negate Grace to us and through us.  Hate separates.  There are no loopholes.  There is no justification.  God will never accept it.  If we compare our hurts to the sacrifice of Jesus, we realize that truth.  Hate is easy, although hard, whereas love is hard, although easy.

Remember Matthew 10:26 – “… God will bring everything out in the open, and every secret will be told.” Our seemingly justified hate will be exposed, and our victim status will be demolished. Only through the Blood of Jesus as we FORGIVE can we escape the eventual humiliation of judgment.

Therefore, “Show Hate the Gate.”  Don’t hesitate, don’t debate, give no place to hate of anything but sin.  God is love! Forgiveness is healthy and makes us whole. Hate is a gate to destruction. It is the wide gate where too many enter.

There is peace, power, provision, and presence in love, but chains await those who hate.  Your victory is ready. Receive it, believe it, and enter into it!

Have a fantastic day, and keep looking up; Jesus is coming soon!   Fill your heart with love, not hate!

Judges 2:1-5 – “Then the angel of Yahweh came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, ² and as for you, you shall cut no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not listened to My voice; what is this you have done? ³ Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they will become as thorns in your sides, and their gods will become a snare to you.’” ⁴ So it happened that when the angel of Yahweh spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. ⁵ So they named that place Bochim; and there they sacrificed to Yahweh.”

Like nature’s weather, life has stormy seasons, but God is greater than any storm.   He loves us so much that He allows the storms to test and even seemingly defeat us as He draws us back to Himself. He wants us to trust Him.  No matter the storm, I am praying for a hedge of protection over each of you.

As I read, prayed, and mused on the Word, the Spirit of God gripped, convicted, and challenged me.  God gave specific instructions when Israel went into Canaan, the Promised Land. Drive them ALL out!   They didn’t, as we were reminded of in Judges 1.

In Judges 2:1-5, the Angel of the Lord came to them after they had neglected to follow God’s orders explicitly and reminded them of God’s orders and covenant. He said, “But you did not listen (obey) to My voice. What is this you have done?”   Then he informed them that those people allowed to remain would be thorns in their sides AND (this is big) their gods would be a snare to them.

They and we suffer when we fail to follow God’s instructions explicitly. God will do in our lives what He did in theirs, in Judges 3:1-2.  “Now these are the nations that Adonai left to test all Israel who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan. 2 It was only in order that the generations of Bnei-Yisrael might learn from war, which they had not experienced before.”

War forces one to learn strategy, unity, and dependence.   Judges 2:6-11 reveals that Israel worshipped and served God as long as Joshua and those with first-hand experience lived.   Second-hand revelation never produces life or victory, only theory and religiosity.   God allows storms not to harm us but to help us so we can learn the devil’s schemes, develop strategy, unify, and become dependent.

Therefore, rather than cursing your difficulties, look beyond them to God and extract the strength to overcome them from them!   Remember, you don’t have any problems; you only have opportunities to trust God and see Him in His fullness! How we view life defines how we live life!

Rejoice and seize the day; it is the Day the Lord has made, and remember, Sunday is coming!

Matthew 18:21-22 – “Later Peter approached Jesus and said, “How many times do I have to forgive my fellow believer who keeps offending me? Seven times?”  ²² Jesus answered, “Not seven times, Peter, but seventy times seven times!”  TPT 

In Matthew’s Gospel, there is the revelation of an old but compelling truth.  It has captured my consciousness.   Knowing Jesus as Savior and Lord is life’s most important revelation and experience.   This is not knowing about Him but knowing Him!   In Matthew 16, Jesus asked the disciples what others and they thought about Him.

Everything Jesus taught was always a progression.  He shifted the question from what was speculated to what was known.  Peter’s supernatural revelation is the foundational truth that opens the door to life—you are the Messiah!  Then, the contrasting life views are exposed out of that revelation, Carnal vs. Kingdom.

If we view life through the grid of self, we live as paupers in the palace.  Matthew 18 is built on the foundational truths of Matthew 16-17.   If we do not truly know Jesus and have not truly surrendered our lives and wills to Him, we cannot or will not truly, completely, and properly forgive.  If we do not forgive, we do not truly live.

Jesus and bitterness, anger, and hate are incompatible.  We have the power to change entire cultures and control the demonic powers “IF” we know Him, fully submit to Him, and follow His precepts.  Forgiveness, which flows out of God’s love, is displayed and practiced; we can bind and loose!

We are transformed when we see forgiveness in the light of His act toward us on the Cross!  The story of the debts being forgiven (Matthew 18), the failure to reciprocate, and the ensuing torment is an arresting revelation or visual.  

The once forgiven but unforgiving debtor was handed over to the tortures until the debt was fully paid.  When will it be paid? NEVER!  That is the message!  Failure to forgive is a rejection of God’s mercy for us.  It elevates the self to the pinnacle and places our feelings and desires above God.

We may claim to be Christians, but if we allow unforgiveness to live in us, we deny Christ.  Christ cannot be “IN” us and hate, bitterness, and unforgiveness live there, too.  Knowing Him enables us to endure wounds and still love and forgive because we Trust Him.

Life is not about us.  It’s about Him, and in Him, there is fullness of joy and All Spiritual Blessings.  He fills us with all we need when He is our all.  It is the self of Jesus, not both. The debt owed to us by others is minor compared to the debt He paid for us. Embrace His freedom and release forgiveness to others. It releases forgiveness to us.

Don’t live as a pauper in the place through unforgiveness.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven, and that condition of forgiveness opens the windows of heaven, giving us eagle’s wings and enabling us to live in His fullness!

Have a fantastic day. He loves you unconditionally and totally forgives you!  We need to do the same!   God bless!