Fill the Tank

On August 11, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 5: 19

Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”

Yesterday we read 1 Corinthians 13: 3 – 7 which is commonly known as the love chapter. The Message version certainly brought out some interesting and key highlights. It put the passage into plain language for us which makes the scripture very easy for us to understand and relate to. It also makes it difficult for us to ignore though. We cannot intellectually duck below the radar, avoiding those challenging sections.

In yesterday’s Word of the Day I encouraged you to live according to 1 Corinthians 13. It was a bit unfair of me to implore you to do something without giving you the “How To” instructions so today I am going to give you the secret to living in love exactly the way Jesus did.

Some of you, when you read yesterday’s Word of the Day, made a commitment to live the love walk. You made a decision to adopt 1 Corinthians 13 as your lifestyle. Let me tell you though, this is not something you can accomplish by an act of your will. It is too big and we are not strong enough in ourselves for such a herculean effort but I do admire you greatly for you commitment to the Father.

Truly there is only one way to live the love commandment. So here is the big reveal. If you take this one big secret and integrate it into your life you will have the keys to The Kingdom. Okay – the secret is that you must receive the love of God. God is love (1 John 4: 8). In order to live love you must receive love. How can we say we have received God if we have not received love?  The two are inseparable.

May I be honest with you a moment? I see so many Christians whose life is far from characterized by love. You can see the hurt in them. And subsequently, hurt is all they have to share. Whatever you have within you is what you will communicate to others. We dedicate our lives to God. We do service to Him or for Him but far too few of us ever allow God to actually penetrate our beings; too few bare their hearts to the Father and allow Him to move in and set up house. Even those of us who allow God in don’t let Him arrange the furniture or mend the drapes. We keep Him as a guest and sequester Him to certain rooms. This is not a criticism. It is simply experience. It is the experience of a great number of Christians. So we try to live the love commandment but we don’t have the love to give. We have not received it so we cannot give it.

Look at your life and ask this question, “Would those around me say that I demonstrate the love of God?” Don’t entertain your own opinion because it is likely skewed. Would your children say that above all else you are a lover? What about your spouse? Now, don’t condemn yourself if the honest answer is that you are not expressing the level of love that you imagine God wants for you. I suspect for most of us that will be the response. The solution, though, is not to re-dedicate yourself to the love commandment. The real answer is to humble yourself before the Father and ask Him to fill you with His love. Ask Him to touch the broken places and minister His healing. Then tomorrow, you can do the same thing. This is a journey rather than a onetime experience. We heal in bits, we receive the fullness of God’s love in doses. Fill up as much as you can today and then receive more tomorrow. There is no end to the vastness of the Father’s love.

If you wish to walk in the earth as Jesus did then you must use his formula. He received everything from the Father and then gave it away. We can walk as Jesus walked but only if we have the same power at work within us. That power is the love of the Father. Fill up you tank today.

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The Bottom Line

On August 10, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 Corinthians 13: 3-7      (The Message Bible)

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Love is the bottom line. God is love and the only way that we are truly going to reflect the image of Christ and become like Him as we say we wish to, is to major on love. We must arrest ourselves when we feel ourselves acting in a way that is inconsistent with the above text. We should repent when we find that we have contravened any of the guiding principles we see in this passage. Only then can we begin to turn ourselves to a life that is governed by the rule of love. This is no small task. Rather it is likely the most difficult journey any of us will ever make. Yet because we love the Lord, we will strive to be like Him in this most vital way. Because He first loved us, we are willing, and even desire to walk a life of love for His name’s sake.

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He is Coming

On August 7, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 40: 3

A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness.”

John the Baptist was the one prophesied that would be the voice of one crying out in the wilderness to make ready the way of the Lord. This Old Testament passage foretold the coming Messiah and his herald. Now the coming of Jesus is history too. And yet, the old has become new again. Jesus is coming back and there is a voice crying out, make yourself ready for his return is imminent. That cry is from the Holy Spirit telling us to make ready the way of the Lord. There are many people who do not know of the greatness and the love of the Holy One. They are hungry and searching but they search after every kind of lost doctrine out there. They become the blind leading the blind and they will all fall in a ditch. Only the true voice of the Holy Spirit can lead them into truth, which is the son of God. Let us each find our voice and also pray that the Father will anoint people to go into the world carrying salvation and the grace of the Lord with them. We must all pray if we are going to accomplish great things for the Lord. Who shall we send? Jesus is coming. He has salvation in his hand. All of us have a part in spreading this message. The time is at hand. Make clear the way of the Lord in this land.

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Dial 1-800-GOD

On August 6, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 107: 6

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses.

My name is Cain Rorie and I am Ivey Rorie’s nephew. I am twelve years old. I am writing to you today because I want everyone to know and feel God’s love.

What I take from this scripture is that God is always listening in good times and bad. He is always there to help you to get through bad times. He loves you, no matter what. God is your Father. He will never leave you.

Even when you are alone and sad, God is listening. You may feel alone but you are not. In times of stress and trouble, He is with you and will help you. He knows your stress and will rescue you. Even in your darkest night, He is the light. God knows your worries and fears. Whenever you cry out, He hears you. He is waiting to help you and heal you.

Never worry. God’s love is with you every minute of every day. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He is always going to be there for you. Don’t lose faith. Just call 1-800-GOD.

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Rest Area

On August 5, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Mark 6: 31

And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) And they went away in the boat to a lonely place by themselves.

Jesus and his disciples were absolutely flooded with work; so much so, in fact, that they did not even have time to eat. Have you ever been that busy? If so, look at the teaching Jesus gave the disciples. Take time out. Do not keep up this pace. Jesus took them away from their work to a quiet, lonely place so that they could have rest. The work they were doing was important. It was the work of the Lord. They were ministering to the needs of the people and people were getting saved. Yet even though they were doing Jesus’ own work, working in his own ministry he took them away from it. It was important to Jesus that he teach them balance. This lesson was so important to Jesus that he took his disciples away from the needy and hungry children of Israel. Can you really grasp how significant that was? Jesus’ ministry was only to last three years and yet he took his disciples away from work.

And why did this story find its way into the Bible? Of course it is so that we will not make the same mistake that the disciples were making. Jesus wants us to learn to balance our lives. He takes no joy in a work-a-holic. Our society applauds busyness and over work but in Jesus’ book those are the signs of someone who is out of balance and headed for a crash. Jesus said his yoke is easy and his burden light (Matthew 11: 30) so if we are struggling under a heavy burden then we know we have stepped out of Jesus’ yoke and picked up a burden of our own. Jesus would “often slip away to the wilderness and pray” Luke 5: 16. He taught his disciples to slip away so that they could rest and pray. If he did that and he taught his disciples to do the same, then why do you think that he wants something different for you? Luke says that Jesus would “often” slip away. That means that he didn’t just wait for his annual vacation. He lived a life of balance and he wants us to do the same. I once heard Kenneth E. Hagin preach a wonderful message about living a fasted life. Some people live life full steam in one direction and then full steam in another direction. Hagin was teaching balance. Work when it is time to work but rest when it is time to rest. Take time to pray and take time to live. Don’t overload in any direction but rather keep yourself in peace and balance. If Jesus was not only willing but dedicated to leaving his work in order to get rest and prayer time, then don’t you think it is wise for us to do the same thing? I know this can be a difficult lesson to learn but listen to the Spirit of God. He is trying to tell you something. It is in your best interest and for God’s glory.

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Eating Fruit

On August 4, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Galatians 5: 22 – 23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

This is one verse we really must get down in our spirits. Even if you don’t memorize the scripture itself, remember Galatians 5: 22 so you remember how to get back to it and refresh yourself.

And here is the big reason you need to remind yourself. When you were filled with the Spirit of God, the fruit of the Spirit entered in with him. So, if the Holy Spirit is living in you, then his fruit, his nature, his characteristics, are living inside of you too. Therefore, I want you to read the scripture this way: “I am love. I am joy. I am peace. I am patient. I am kind. I am good. I am faithful. I am gentle. I have self-control. These traits are already in you by the Holy Spirit. You don’t have to develop them you have only to express them, to allow them to manifest through his presence inside of you. Meditate on them already being in you and confess them. Read the confession above aloud so that your own ears hear you saying what you are. You will find that you begin demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit more and more.

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Position Available

On August 3, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Ephesians 4: 11 – 12

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.

These are called the five-fold ministries and God calls people to these offices. What I found so interesting about this list is that only one of these ministerial offices is directed towards people outside of the church and, of course, that would be the evangelist. Verse 12 tells us that God gave these offices, and people to fill them, in order to equip the church for her work. In other words, the saints, or the laity, are being equipped for the work of the church. You are the body of Christ.

Jesus told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel (Luke 16:15) but then when he gave the ministerial offices he gave four that were designed more for the church and only one specifically for the unsaved. These offices are appointed to equip us to go into all the world and preach the gospel. They are designated to teach us and build us up. But we are not supposed to only absorb the teachings for ourselves. We are meant to be the distributors of the good news of Jesus Christ. Now how do we do that? Well, this specifically means that we were not all called to preach since we are not all called into one of the five-fold ministries. But we are all called and equipped for “the work of service.” Your calling might be as a school teacher or a hair dresser. Or maybe you are a doctor or work in a laundry. You are the word of the Lord that is sent into the world and you are going to interact with a lot more people than the pastor at your church.  

You are the one who will be there when a co-worker has trouble. You will be the one they see day in and day out. You don’t have to preach at them. Just let the love of God show in what you do. Be loving and compassionate. Do your job with vigor and honesty. Let them see how a child of the most high behaves. Let the light, who is Jesus, inside you shine. It’s not about telling other people what they should do. It is about being who you should be and allowing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 22) to manifest in your daily life. That is how people will be saved, by love. Because God so loved, he gave . . . (John 3: 16).

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