John 15:5-7 – “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.  6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”  NASB

If Christ is ‘inside’ then the life that we live in the flesh is His life.  I’ve heard people sing or preach and someone come up to them and tell them how much they were ministered to as a result only to hear the person say, “Oh it was not me it was the Lord.”  While that is true, wasn’t that you on the platform singing or speaking?  I ask that you consider the reality that while it is truly the Lord, you are the vessel that He is using so do not draw back from celebrating your uniqueness.  He made you like He made you and gifted you like He gifted you so it is “I live, yet not I….”  It is Christ in Me!  You do not trust yourself but you are totally reliant on Him.  He is the Vine and we are the branches or a vine branch!

Have you ever considered the reality that a vine branch is utterly useless in and of itself?  If a vine branch is not producing grapes it has no use whatsoever.  I believe that God chose this deliberately to teach us a vital truth.  What is the Vine?  Think about it for a moment. If you dig deep enough you will realize that the vine is invisible.  It is an invisible life that comes up through the trunk and inevitably produces a leaf that produces a flower that produces a grape!  I have never seen a Vine but I have seen expressions of it.  Therefore, the Branch does nothing but receive the Life that is in the Vine!

Just imagine a Vine in the springtime and the branches saying, “Man I’ve got to get this leaf out so we can produce grapes.”  No it just hangs there effortless waiting on the life that is in the vine to flow through it and do the work.  Jesus is trying to convey to us that it is the same principle in the Christian Life.  We are simply flow through vessels of the Life that is in the Vine!    He is trying to convey to us that if we will just be ‘in’ Him, He will do the work and produce the fruit!

Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 11:28 when He said “Come unto me all you that labor and are heaven laden and I will give you a rest.”  The word rest could be accurately translated vacation.  What is a vacation?  It is when you stop working and rest!  Jesus was not speaking to sinners, He was speaking to believers.  He was talking to people who were trying to work enough, do enough, and please God.  So, if you ever grow sick and tired of trying to do enough to please God He is calling ‘Come unto Me, and I will…’  

Imagine that!  A Christianity that wants to deserve and earn its salvation has a difficult time with that.  If we have to struggle to please God you have a number of choices.  You can be a Buddhist, Hindu, or any other religion in the word because they are all struggling.  But, if I am a Christian, according to the Bible, I am to Stop Struggling and allow the Life of the Vine to produce its Life and Flow through me.  “I live, but it is not I, it is Christ.”  All the Branch does is remain In the Vine!  The Life that is in the Vine flows into the branch and produces the visible fruit!

So Stop Struggling and allow Christ in you to produce the Hope of Glory!  Let God live His life through you!   Christianity is a Rest not a Struggle!

May God bless you as you go through your day!

Numbers  6:24-27 – “The LORD  bless you, and keep you; 25 The LORD  make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; 26 The LORD  lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’ 27 “So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.” NASB

I cannot do justice to this passage in a short devotional this morning. I will attempt to hit the high points and hope they will bring encouragement and blessing to your hearts as you face another day.  This was something that was said by the priests multiple times each day. They would stand and bless the people this way and the people would receive it and bless the priest back.  It was more than words to them it was a releasing of the power of God, God’s Shalom that had the energy and power to bring it to pass in their lives.

Who is it that is blessing?  Ultimately it is The LORD! It is not just words of a man or men it is The Lord God doing the blessing.  It is an action of God Himself in the lives of the people.  It is a prayer and a promise that God would ‘bless and keep them’.  It is a prayer and a promise that God’s ‘face would shine upon them’. 

When I watch my children or grandchildren as they perform something special or well my ‘face shines toward them’, and I beam with pride and love.  It is a prayer and a promise that God would ‘lift up His countenance toward them.’  He would look upon them favorably and in so doing would ‘give them peace.’  His Shalom would go before them, work in them and lead them in the right paths.  This was something that the Israelites longed to hear and it meant something to them. 

Sadly, we’ve heard it or said it in benedictions in church and people say ‘Ho Hum’ another quotation from the Bible.  It is virtually meaningless to many that hear it and even some that say it.  It sounds good but if we examine it, believe it, and receive it into our lives it releases power from God to go before us and work in us to bring about His Blessing!  It is a release of the Covenant into our lives.  It, as are the words of the Bible, is more than just words.  It is The Word of God and the Word of God is filled with the Love and Power of God.  God’s word does not return to Him void but accomplishes that which He sent it to do.

Instead of just hearing this and allowing it to slide off like water from a ducks back take it to heart, examine it, understand it, believe it, and receive it into your life.  When I say it I expect the Power of God to be released to bring it to pass in the lives of those to whom I speak.  So in closing let me pray this prayer:

“The LORD, bless you, and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace.”

God with God and go in peace!  Blessings!

Colossians 1:25-29 – “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so 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 We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. 29 For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”  NASB

We are continually being transformed into the likeness of Jesus!  As we behold Him we become more and more like Him.  Salvation is not just being ‘saved’ from Hell.  In the Greek [sozo] means ‘to make whole or well.’  The word means save, heal, and/or deliver.  The Gospel is the Power of God for SOZO or Wholeness!  It is putting us back together or total healing of our mind, body, and souls!

That raises another question – “What is sin?”  Oh I know that the standard answer is ‘missing the mark’ but can you receive that it is “Unlove!”  It is failing to love as God loves.  What does sin do to us?  What does unlove and selfishness do to us?  It literally blows or rips us apart.  That is why those living in sin are so tragic; they are blown apart on the inside!  They are not whole! 

The Good News is that with the coming of the Love of God which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit we are made Whole!  Deep on the inside at the core of who we are we are made Well by the Love of God!   Life is filled with pitfalls and difficulties but do not despair because we are moving from Glory to Glory in God.  This is a process and it is not finished!  It is “Christ in us, the Hope of Glory!”

I urge you to call to mind that it is not you trying to ‘get glory’ or trying to ‘love like God’ loves.  It is God coming into you and living His life and loving His love through you!  You are the vessel not the producer of that love or life!  He Is!  Some seem to have the idea that if we try hard enough and work long enough, one day we will arrive and make it.  No, No, a thousand times No!  It is Christ in you, the Hope of Glory!  If you can make it by your efforts and struggles then that places Christ outside rather than inside and Christianity is an inside job.

One of the greatest tragedies and obstacles that the Church has inflicted upon herself is that we have traditionally told new converts, “You go out there and love like Jesus loved.  You work out your salvation!” 

We are told to “be like Jesus,” as if we could in and of ourselves.We are told that we are to love and forgive putting aside all resentment and anger while putting on kindness and tenderness.  But I challenge you with the thought that is Life is not an outside job but an inside job.  It is not you doing it it is Him living His life in you.  It is Christ in you, the Hope of Glory!

When the Bible tells us in Philippians 2:12 to “work out our own salvation…”  How does it tell us to do that?  I’m serious!  It says, “with fear and trembling…”   It is a Greek expression that means:  “You work out your own salvation, with no trust whatsoever in your own ability.”  That does not sound like a matter of willpower or an outside job but an inside job to me!  It is simply allowing God to have full control of your life and watching Him live His life through you!  Yes you participate because you could resist and rebel but you willingly choose to flow with what He is doing inside of you and through you.  It is Christ in you, the Hope of Glory!  I feel the urge to should this, It is In You!  In You!  In You!

May God help each of us to realize that this is an ‘inside job’ and walk in the fullness of what Jesus offers through the Cross and the Holy Spirit!

Blessings as you go through your day!

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

As with Love, the word Gospel is also almost a useless word in our modern vocabulary.  The reason I say that is because most do not understand what it really means.  Many think that it means the first four books of the New Testament.  However, if you examine the whole of the Bible you find that Gospel means “the good glad, merry news that makes a man’s heart leap for joy.”  If God is the kind of God that loves messed up people and will come to us who do not deserve and cannot earn His love that coming is characterized by another word that we often misunderstand – GRACE!

Grace in its most simplistic form means that God gives to me that which I do not deserve and cannot earn.  Because God IS love, He must and does deal in Grace!  Everything that God gives is Free and cannot be earned!  That simply means something has happened to us and done in us.  We did not earn it, do not deserve it and cannot become good enough to receive it.  If someone gives you something that you did not earn and do not deserve what is your response?  It should be ‘Thank You!’  The New Testament calls that Faith which in simplicity is ‘to rest in.’ Our response to the Gift of God is Faith!

God gives, through nothing that I have done and nothing in me but just because He is who He is.  The only possible response I can have is to say, “Thank You!”  When we do that we find that He means it so we can rest in that truth and declare – I’ve Got It!  That, my friend, will cause the heart to literally leap for joy!   God is love, He acts in grace, and we respond in faith saying Thank You!   It is not you trying to be better or trying to do good.  It is Faith or simply saying, Thank You!  When you do that a miracle takes place and you are ‘reborn.’

Someone may ask, “Okay, then what happens in the ‘rebirth?”  We are birthed into the family of God!  What is the character of the family of God – Love!  So when God’s love comes into me I am a new person – – That, my friend, is the Gospel!

Just before Jesus went to the Cross to take away our sin, He said, “Except a grain of wheat fall to the ground and die, it abides alone.  But if it drops into the ground and dies, it brings forth much fruit.”  A very simple illustration that is incredibly easy to understand.  If you have ‘one grain of wheat’ and plant it, the Law of Harvest kicks in and you receive many more than the single grain that was planted and the fruit is an exact replication and representation of the original.   

Therefore, Jesus said, “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, and if I do not there will never be but one of Me.  But, if I do then I will bring forth much fruit.”  He was telling us that there would be millions like Him.  That has been the desire of God over the centuries.  You see, Jesus did not come just to forgive our sins.  That is only the handle on the door of the Kingdom.  He came to produce persons who Love like He Loves!  The Law of Harvest is that through His sacrificial death and resurrection there will be Millions Like Him. Millions who love like He loves!

If you can receive this, if we love like Jesus loves, then we won’t have to worry about keeping the Law.  You do not need a Law that says, ‘you shall not kill’ if you have Love inside of you!  You will not need a Law that says, “You shall not steal”’ if you have Love inside of you!  If this love comes into our hearts then we do not need the Ten Commandments!  That’s what Hebrews 8:13 is talking about.  As long as the Love of God is alive in your heart then you will not only do everything that The Law was mandating you will Do More!

When we truly Manifest Jesus through Love, the world will respond in a mighty fashion.  I’m not talking about a formula, fad, or gimmick I’m talking about the Gospel!  I am not trying to condemn or criticize but simply say He Who Is Love lives in our hearts and Lives His Love through us!  When that happens ‘people are drawn to God like moths to a flame!’

God be with you as you go through your day!

1 John 4:7-12 – “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

A few years ago I heard an illustration that speaks volumes regarding the attitudes and understanding of many regarding God and Love.  A missionary went to a tribal witch doctor and said, “You preach to me if you will.  If I come to you with a problem and ask you how I can reach the most high God what do you tell me?  I know you have many gods but I want to find the Big One, the Most High God.”  The witch doctor replied, “First of all you have a problem.  Because the Most High God is not interested in you, because you are not good enough for him.”  Sadly, that is where the religion of many begins. 

Truthfully, you have heard the same thing in America in more sophisticated language but the same message.  Many people simply believe that God is not interested and it is incumbent upon us to just deal with life trying to make ourselves ‘good enough’ for God to care about us.  I had a family member tell me once, that God should not be bothered by some things, that we should just deal with them and only the really big things should be a matter of prayer.  That is not my concept of God!

Once we realize the biblical definition of the Love of God we immediately realize that our human love is totally useless in describing or defining God’s Love!  God’s love is utterly different from ours.  His love is not even in the same hemisphere as ours!  When the Bible declares that GOD IS LOVE it does not mean that God reaches out to those who are ‘in his class’ – NO! NO! NO! 

It means that God reaches out to all persons and more importantly He reaches down to us!  Human love reaches up to those we consider the most beautiful or the best.  It is toward those we almost half bend the knee and develop somewhat of an attitude of worship toward.  But, God reaches down to us.  He reaches down to people that are clearly and utterly unworthy of ever being loved by Him.  That, to the human mind, makes no sense. 

If I were to say to you, “God loves good people and makes them His friends” that would be no revelation for every religion in the world does that. But If I tell you that Christianity stands on the truth and revelation that “God loves bad, messed up people and makes them His friends,” that is utterly amazing!   Imagine that truth that the Holy God of Heaven who is love makes His best friends out of unholy, bad, messed up, rotten, selfish people!  That is Good News!  That is the Gospel!

So instead of trying to become ‘good enough’ for God to love you realize that God Loves You Now!  His coming into your life is what transforms you not something you do to earn His love!

It is my prayer that as you go through this day you will fully realize that God loves you!  You don’t deserve it, can’t earn it and will never be good enough to receive it.  He Loves You In Spite of You!

Blessings as you go through your day!

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

The “Big Picture” that is true for every person, even though the details might be vastly different as to how that is walked out in life is – “That we become and be the manifestation and demonstration of Who He Is.”  None of us are perfect and there is only one who is perfect and that is God! Therefore, the highest possible call would be for us to demonstrate Him before the world.  Therefore, the Big Picture which is His Will and Design for our lives is – That we Manifest Who He Is.  That we become the Demonstrations of Him to the Whole World!

Who is God?  John informed us that “God is Love!”  That is the ultimate. Everything that we Know about God or will Know about God is controlled and directed by this truth.  We think about God Almighty who is and has All Power! Remember God said, “Let there be light and there was light.”  That is Power!  Can you imagine a God of such Power who isn’t Love?  He would be an unbelievable monster of epic proportions.  Love controls everything else that we know about God.

We think of God as Omniscient. He knows everything past, present, and future!  Can you imagine a God who Knows us to that degree and doesn’t even like us?  We are afraid to tell some of our closest friends some of the thoughts that make their way through our minds.  Can you imagine a God who Knows those thoughts even before you think them and does not love us?  That would cause terror to the point of suicide!  To have the God, we know from Scripture who isn’t love – – He would be an infinite monster!

I find it interesting in studying Scripture and when it comes to definitions in the Bible we do not find the clear definition that “God is Power” but we see it in studying.  However when it comes to Love the Bible clearly says – “God is Love!”  Sadly, in our human experience the word “love” is almost a useless word because we have to define the word by how we understand it. 

What do we mean when we say love?  I have found that, for many, it means we reach out to somebody that we consider ‘in our class.’  If you will be completely honest you will realize that it is incredibly rare for somebody to express real love for someone that they do not consider to be ‘in their class’.

In Europe history has demonstrated that if Royalty falls in love with a Commoner they are fired!  So, when we fall in love as humans, we tend to keep within our status.  We fall in love in our ‘tribes’.  We keep within certain boundaries.  Oh, we don’t talk about it or admit it but we tend to do it.

But Love – – If I ‘love’ a person, it’s that individual that calls forth my highest admiration.  When I look at that person all I can see – I Admire!  There is a Wow factor!  When I talk about that person, they really are something and in truth there is an element of worship involved.  Therefore, when I Love someone it means – They answer to what I feel is beauty which is truly in the eye of the beholder.  Beauty is something that happens inside the head and heart!  That’s what we understand love to be.

Now, when it comes to God and the Bible declares – “God is Love!”  Then, we assume that God is love the same way as we are love.  Every religion in the world has a concept of God that is based on human love.  Include in that grouping, the unconverted apostate of America. 

They have equated what we say love is with God who is love!  So if God loves like we love then He comes to us and what does He find?  He finds someone who in no measure is in His class.  Immediately that eliminates us!  On that basis if God got friendly with us He would be fired! 

Secondly, He finds someone who in no measure is in harmony with Him.  We are in disharmony with Him in our unconverted state.  We do not jell with His holiness and love.  We are selfish, like it that way, and plan to remain in that condition. 

Thirdly, there is nothing in us that would cause Him to say – “That is the best person I know.”  So, if God were to love like we love we, as human beings, would be finished.  Thank God He does not!

I pray that you will go through this day with the knowledge that God is Love and He has chosen to Love Us!

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

Let me begin by addressing two things:   Love is ‘from’ God and GOD ‘is’ Love!  That is important and possibly more important than one would comprehend at first glance.  God doesn’t have love He is love.  I may have water but I am not water.  I may have money but I am not money.  God, on the other hand, IS Love!  If God IS love, and love IS from God, and I say I Know God….  (Know) – Not know about but the word means to know intimately and personally.  It is to penetrate!  So, if I say I Know God then I am saying I have penetrated God or entered into an intimate personal relationship with Him.  It is then and only then that I truly LOVE!  The mark of a Christian is LOVE! 

I find it most interesting and often frustrating that many Christians are overly obsessed with discovering the will of God for their lives.  While that is good and something that every believer should desire to know the approach and mindset can be incredibly frustrating.  So many have adopted the mindset that the Will of God could never be obvious!  Heaven forbid! God would never tell you to do the obvious, right?  Oh no, He surely will always tell you to do something that is out of the ordinary and even unexpected because that way you will know it is God.

For example, God would never tell you to minister to your neighbor that would be too obvious and logical.  He will send you to the bush of Africa (nothing wrong with that) but why do we feel that He would not desire, as His will, for us to do something obvious?  Some seem to have the idea that if it is something they do not want to do then that is what God wants.  Really? 

Where did we get the idea that God is always determined to make us do something we do not want to do?  Is that God?  Some have a picture or image of God that He is always weird and never on our side.  We have the idea that if we say, “I don’t want to go there or do that,” then you can bet your booties that is exactly what God will want you to do.  We become so concerned with the minute and frivolous details that we miss the Big Picture and the purposes of God for our lives.  Some spend so much time seeking to know the will of God that they never get around to doing it.

Let me clear something up – – Before God reveals His will on you He prepares your heart!  He instills in you a ‘want to’ and then asks, “Would you like to?”  That’s how God operates. He is not trying to inflict pain and force you to do things you do not want to do.  God is not weird.  So often the will of God for my life is simply what my heart has been crying out to do.  It is not a struggle to know the will of God unless we try to complicate it with our insistence on knowing every detail of what we are to do before we do anything.  So much of the time is it simply Follow Your Heart! God has already conditioned your heart for what He desires!

Please know that if you are ‘in’ Him and He is ‘in’ you then you do not have to struggle with knowing His will it is in your heart!  Do not let the devil weigh you down with the minute details and miss the opportunity and blessing of doing what God has and is preparing you to do!  Simply ask, ‘What is in my heart?’

May God be with you as you go through your day!