Embrace the Within no. 161

“But I say to you who hear [Me and pay attention to My words]: Love [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for] your enemies, [make it a practice to] do good to those who hate you, bless and show kindness to those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever strikes you on the cheek, offer him the other one also [simply ignore insignificant insults or losses and do not bother to retaliate—maintain your dignity]. Whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you. Whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. If you [only] love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

Luke 6:27-33 AMP

I am not to react selfishly to the words and actions of my neighbors and my enemies. My struggle is not against flesh and blood. My struggle is spiritual. My war is not physical. My war is spiritual and mental. When I act in the ways of the world, when I look to hurt others, when I look for my vengeance, when I look for my pound of flesh, when I look to get even, when I look to protect my pride, when I look to defend my honor, then I lose sight of what Christ commands. Because I am not important. What is important is being His Ambassador. And to be His Ambassador, to show His love, I need to show “loue, ioye, peace, long suffering, gentlenes, goodnes, fayth, meekenesse, temperancie” (Galatians 5:22-23) in my relationship with the Lord as His Ambassador.

I need to give up the rights that God gave me to serve others. I need to surrender the freedom God gave me to serve God. I need to give up my abundance to help others. If there is something that needs to be repeated, it is this idea today.

Why am I following my culture? Why am I repeating the mistakes of the world? Why am I so worried about me? Why do I want to save face? Why is my pride more important than God? Why am I so selfish?

There is a family, worldly history of making poor choices that I need to overcome. Every family has different poor choices built into their history. I need to come to terms with what those poor choices are in my life and give them over to God. God doesn’t love me because I am saved. God saves me because He loves me.

And He loves me when I am sinner. And He loves me when I walk in His Way. And I am thankful that He can love me enough to look through space and time and decide that two thousand years ago He was going to make a way for me. And He was there making a way for you too. He made that way knowing that I was going to make mistakes and fail BUT He made that decision out of love. And that is what this is all about. Loving God and others a lot more than I do my own pride, my own freedom, and my own abundance.

I can choose to be out there swinging and flailing like the third monkey trying to get on the Ark. Or I can trust in the Lord. And I spent plenty of time being that third monkey. Today and tomorrow I choose to trust in the Way of the Lord. And that means trusting Him when I don’t understand. That means trusting Him when I don’t see a path. That means trusting Him when He tells me things that don’t make any sense to me. Because trusting Him is not about understanding. Trusting Him is about obedience despite and in spite of my own understanding.

I pray that this lesson of Christ lays heavy on my heart when I wake up and want to choose violence. I pray that Christ’s love be an example of how I am supposed to live daily. I pray that I get out of my own way and let God lead in His Way. I pray that I am a better example of Christ’s love to my neighbor and my enemy each and every moment of the day. Let the fruit of the Ruach HaKodesh be there to temper my heart with mercy and compassion to mirror that of the Lord.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH

Embrace the Within no. 160

“But woe (judgment is coming) to you who are rich [and place your faith in possessions while remaining spiritually impoverished], for you are [already] receiving your comfort in full [and there is nothing left to be awarded to you].

Woe to you who are well-fed (gorged, satiated) now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now [enjoying a life of self-indulgence], for you will mourn and weep [and deeply long for God].

Woe to you when all the people speak well of you and praise you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.”

Luke 6:24-26 AMP

Judgment is coming for me. I am going to have to make an account of what I have done. And if anything says works matter, there is just that simple fact that one day I am going to have to stand before my Lord, my Saviour, my King and make an account of all that I have done with the grace and love and abundance that He has given me.

If I place my hope in things, if I live the fat cat lifestyle, if I live in self-indulgence, if folks praise me, then I have already received my reward here on earth for my choices. So, I shouldn’t be looking for another reward. I shouldn’t be hopeful for a, “Well done my good and faithful servant.” I shouldn't be expecting a, “I am well pleased.”

Christ allows us to choose our level of commitment. We can choose not to trust and obey. We can choose to trust. We can choose to obey. We can choose to trust and obey. We can choose where we take our level of involvement. We can choose what our “Yeah, BUTs” are. I can “Yeah, BUT” my way right out of an eternal relationship with the Creator.

“Yeah, BUT” it isn’t a sin to . . . And it also isn’t obedience and trust. It also isn’t what He wants. “Yeah, BUT”ing is the new legalism. It’s looking at the Word like a set of rules to get what you want from God. “Yeah, BUT”ing is treating God like a list of dos and don’ts and not a relationship that is supposed to get deeper and stronger. I am to want to learn more about Him because He already knows everything about me.

I pray that I don’t look for my reward now. I pray that I work to build a better relationship with the Lord daily. I pray that I don’t let my “Yeah, BUT”s hinder my relationship with the Creator that I am here to represent as an Ambassador of the Kingdom of Heaven. I pray that each day my relationship with Him grows stronger and deeper in understanding and action.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH