Embrace the Within no. 204

“His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. By these he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins” (2 Peter 1:3-9 CSB).

I don’t know about you, brothers and sisters, BUT I am not going to be an angry, judgmental, condemning Christian. I just do not have a place for that within me and, most importantly, the Ruach HaKodesh does not have a place for that within me.

I didn’t look to become a Christian when I started this journey over three years ago. Honestly, I had given up on churches and church people because there were too many angry, judgmental, and condemning hypocrites within its walls and professing belief in Him. I was tired and annoyed of those people when I was going to church. I was tired and annoyed of those people when I was attending church and being an angry, judgmental, and condemning sinner. I was tired and annoyed with them when I wasn’t attending church and being an angry, judgmental, and condemning sinner. And now that I am back as part of His Church, I still have little patience for those that are angry, judgmental, and condemning. And maybe there is still some anger, judgment, and condemnation left inside of me. He is working on that.

God gives a “very great and precious” gift in His promise to us that, “. . . while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life” (Romans 5:8-10 CSB). And because of that gifts, I get to experience all the, “ . . . goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” It so echoes of the gifts of the Spirit, “. . . is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things” (Galatians 5:22-23).

I need all those gifts to share Him with the world as an Ambassador of His Kingdom. “For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I need those things to bear fruit. Just like Jesus said during the Sermon on the Mount, “Be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves. You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So you’ll recognize them by their fruit” (Matthew 7:15-20 CSB).

It’s amazing how I don’t start out in the Sermon on the Mount BUT I always seem to end right back there. I spend a lot of time circling right back there. “The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins.” What fruit are you producing?

Grace and Shalom to your home.

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

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH

Embrace the Within no. 203

“Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:12-13 CSB)

People are not easy to love because they want to be enthroned for all the wrong reasons. People want to be enthroned to give out punishment rather than to give freedom and mercy. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us about what has become the Golden Rule, “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Who among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him. Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:7-12 CSB). If even in my unrighteousness I can choose goodness, then how much more good is God that is always righteous? I cannot be an example of God’s righteousness by not showing His righteousness. And that means a lot of forgiving things because I have been forgiven for so much. And if God, the one who is actually enthroned, gives me forgiveness for everything, then shouldn’t I, as an Ambassador of His Kingdom, give that forgiveness as well?

Jesus concludes His sermon by warning us all about hearing and not acting on His Word, “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash” (Matthew 7:24-27 CSB). And that is my choice. Am I going to be wise or foolish? Am I going to trust in Him or myself? Am I going to follow His Way or my understanding? Am I going to enthrone Him or myself?

“Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7 CSB).

Sometimes we forget the fifth statement by Jesus in the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. And sometimes we just want to be the judge of all the world. We want to judge everyone that doesn’t listen to God and He will handle that. BUT more often we want to judge everyone that doesn’t listen to us. We want to judge people that do not agree with us. We want to judge people that do not act like us. We want to judge people that do not do what we want. We want to judge out of our hurt, our bitterness, our anger, our mourning, our despair . . .

I will just end with that and leave the question about whether our lives are showing us hearers or doers . . . “But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works — this person will be blessed in what he does. If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, his religion is useless and he deceives himself. Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:22-27 CSB).

Grace and Shalom to your home.

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

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH