Seek First The Kingdom of God no. 34

“When he comes, he will show that the world is wrong about sin, about righteousness and about judgment — about sin, in that people don’t put their trust in me; about righteousness, in that I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; about judgment, in that the ruler of this world has been judged” (Yochanan (Jhn) 16:8-11). The world is wrong about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment. It sure is. And Christians have to be concerned that our views of sin, righteousness, and judgment are still right. Too often we adopt and adapt our understanding of sin, righteousness, and judgment to better align with our lives in the world. Too often our sinful nature corrupts our ideas of righteousness and judgment, leaving us with a distorted view of who the Father is without viewing Him through the revelation of the Son and the guidance of the Spirit of Truth. A little later in this conversation, Jesus explains, “. . . when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own initiative but will say only what he hears. He will also announce to you the events of the future. He will glorify me, because he will receive from what is mine and announce it to you. Everything the Father has is mine; this is why I said that he receives from what is mine and will announce it to you” (Yochanan (Jhn) 16:13-15). We need the Truth of the Spirit through the revelation of Jesus, however, too often we discard His Truth. Too often we don’t take Him for what He says. Too often we want to forget His teaching BUT He told us all these things, “. . . so that you won’t be caught by surprise” (Yochanan (Jhn) 16:1). And sometimes we act surprised when folks tell us who Jesus is or when He shows us who He is or when we get a revelation of awe about who He is. We act surprised like we didn’t know all along. Like the Truth wasn’t obviously there all along.

“Grace and truth have met together;

justice and peace have kissed each other.

Truth springs up from the earth,

and justice looks down from heaven” (Tehillim (Psa) 85:11‭-‬12 CJB). Grace, Truth, justice, and peace are all interwoven together with the love of God. We see grace and truth all over this world. He reveals these things all around us and through so many different situations that I need not even give any examples because you already have a few in mind. Justice and peace are what we receive from Heaven. Without looking for Him in our earthly lives, we will not see His grace and mercy in action. We need grace to deal with people in love and truth to reveal how we should live. Without looking above for a right relationship with Him, we will not see His justice and peace. We need assurance of His justice for all to live at peace with one another. Too often we seek to bring our own justice to the world and that leaves little room for peace. Too often folks strive to bring peace by perverse manners rather than awaiting His justice. Far too often we don’t listen to the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount and instead resort to the ways of the Hebrews. We too often forget that Jesus sets things into alignment in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus corrects the faulty ideas of the Hebrews and helps them move forward in right relationship. BUT too often we forget, “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. For the way you judge others is how you will be judged — the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure to you. Why do you see the splinter in your brother’s eye but not notice the log in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ when you have the log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First, take the log out of your own eye; then you will see clearly, so that you can remove the splinter from your brother’s eye” (Mattityahu (Mat) 7:1-5). And too often we are very quick to judge each other without turning that discerning judgment on our own lives. Are we living in grace and truth? Are we seeking His justice and peace? Are we seeking His Kingdom?

Seek first His Kingdom which rests on the foundation of love.

Grace and Shalom to your home. The Kingdom of God is now!

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

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #SeekFirstTheKingdom #NotMyWayYHWH

Seek First The Kingdom of God no. 30

“Keep pursuing shalom with everyone and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Messianic Jews (Heb) 12:14). Grace and Shalom to your home. I say it and type it several times a day. I need grace because it is the only way I receive righteousness. I need shalom because that is wholeness and well-being as well as peace. I cannot be at peace if I am not whole. And being whole means health physically, mentally, and spiritually. And the only way to get shalom is through a right relationship with my body, my mind, and my God.

I cannot be at peace with others when I am at war with myself. When I started this journey, I was at war with myself. My body, my mind, and my spirit were totally out of alignment with being right. I was a mess. So, I started getting my body and my mind right. I stopped poisoning myself and started focusing on health. As my body and mind began to get healthy, I began to get right with God. And once I started to get well-being in myself, then a peace with others began.

So, I know what it was like to be at war. Prior to shalom, I was constantly at war with myself and others. I was at war because I was not whole. I was not right. I was not well.

BUT, I also now understand what it is like to be at peace. It is so very difficult to be right with God and be at war, “How blessed are those who make peace! for they will be called sons of God” (Mattityahu (Mat) 5:9). I needed to seek shalom with myself and a right relationship with Him before I could move forward and love my neighbor. And everything in my walk with Him hinges on listening to Him when He says, “‘You are to love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’ This is the greatest and most important mitzvah . And a second is similar to it, ‘You are to love your neighbor as yourself.’ All of the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on these two mitzvot” (Mattityahu (Mat) 22:37-40). I cannot be whole, I cannot be well, I cannot be at peace, if I am not right with Him. Something is going to need to get aligned if I am not in a right relationship with God.

How can I be right with Him and not possess the fruits of Him indwelling within me, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things” (Galatians (Gal) 5:22-23)? It is not possible. Folks will try to make excuses. I will try to make excuses. BUT, “You will recognize them by their fruit” (Mattityahu (Mat) 7:16). And be warned, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only those who do what my Father in heaven wants” (Mattityahu (Mat) 7:21). “So, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on bedrock. The rain fell, the rivers flooded, the winds blew and beat against that house, but it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the rivers flooded, the wind blew and beat against that house, and it collapsed — and its collapse was horrendous” (Mattityahu (Mat) 7:24-27)!

Seek first His Kingdom which rests on the foundation of love.

Grace and Shalom to your home. The Kingdom of God is now!

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

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #SeekFirstTheKingdom #NotMyWayYHWH