The Love Challenge (Part 10)

We are busy looking at love from 1 John 4. I recommend reading the other posts first.

Verse 18 had me thinking a lot, as I listened to how the Holy Spirit explained it.

1 John 4:18: There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

This passage can be interpreted from various angles.

Our Father loves us. He only has good intentions for us. The fact that He loves us and will be kind to us drives fear away, since He is going to be patient and kind, and possesses all the characteristics described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

If we love Him as He loves us, we will be obedient and have no reason to fear His discipline (punishment). Jesus used words similar to John 14:21 several times in John chapters 13 to 15: "Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them." Do you think it may be important to Jesus if He put so much emphasis on it?

Therefore, the one who fears probably doesn't love God enough to live in perfect obedience to Him, and therefore has a reason to fear discipline/punishment.

The passage in 1 John 4:18 above can also be applied to the love among people. If I love someone, my expectations of and the way I treat them should not instil fear in them. 1 Corinthians 13:7 states: "Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening] (Amplified Bible).

Our love for others should cover their trespasses toward us. We should not judge or accuse them. We should rather pray for them that God will help them see their error and then help them to change. At the same time, one can pray that God will do the same for you. One can discuss issues lovingly.

We should make a point to believe the best of them and reject critical thoughts about them entering our minds.

We should hope the best for them because God can change anybody. We should also be careful what we say. Proverbs 18:21 "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life]". Gossiping about people and cursing them by saying critical things about them comes easily, doesn't it? Let's rather replace our tendency to judge with love and give the Lord the mandate to help them through loving them, instead of giving Satan the mandate to destroy them through cursing them with our criticism and gossip.

It's not easy to live with something you believe is wrong, but you should always realise you don't know all the facts. Rather, play it safe by letting love help you endure what irritates you until the Lord comes through for you. 

(To be continued)

The Love Challenge (Part 9)

I want to apologise for taking so long to publish this next post in this series. I've been distracted, and the Lord already slapped my fingers. I promise to be faithful in publishing at least once a week from now on, but I will attempt to do more.

We are busy looking at love from 1 John 4. I recommend reading the other posts first.

1 John 4:16: And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

The words "and so we know..." mean that, since we acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God and therefore submit to Him as Lord, we will understand the love God has for us and rely on it. He loves us, so why should we fear or worry? If he loves us, He only has good in mind for us, and therefore we can trust Him.

Then verse 16 reads: “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God,
and God in them.” Do you remember the passage in Acts 17:28: ‘For in him we live and move and have our being’ and the vision I had of us being in the cloud (see here)? I want you to see the cloud as love. God is love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is therefore a definition of who God is: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” So, if we love like this, we are one with God, and He is in us.

In the preceding three verses of 1 Corinthians 13, Paul describes the religious churchgoer who goes through all the motions of religion, but does not love like God is: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3: "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." Does it sound familiar? Have you caught yourself being like this? Have you come across people who are like it?

1 John 4:17 is profound and to be carefully understood: "This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus." What is the purpose of understanding love and being obedient in doing it? It is so we don't have to fear the day when we will stand before the judgment seat. We can be confident that we complied with all of the Lord’s expectations for us. Think of a time you had to face an interview panel for a job position. Have you prepared well for the interview? Have you ensured you have complied with all their expectations? Did setting yourself up for the job and the interview by doing everything they expected of you give you confidence to pass the interview?

What is the expectation for us to be confident during God's interview to enter heaven?

Love should be complete among believers.

How is love made complete among believers?

In this world, we are like Jesus. I.e., if we do the things Jesus did and have His attitude towards fellow believers and people who need Him, we will all love like He does, and love will be made complete among us.

How is Jesus?

Go and read the gospels and do what Jesus did, to the letter. Stop being churchy and religious.

To be continued.

The Love Challenge (Part 8)

We are busy looking at love from 1 John 4. I recommend reading the other posts first.

1 John 4:14-15: And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.

How do we have it now? Jesus said in John 3:3 & 5: "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again," and in verse five Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit," and in 1 John 4:7-8 as we discussed earlier in this series: Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Then, there is the clear indication in several passages that obedience is a prerequisite to salvation. What needs to happen for salvation is that the Lord needs to be your first love. That's what a love relationship is all about, isn't it? Imagine a woman meets someone and promises commitment to him, but their relationship consists of her saying hi to him every morning, and that's about it. He never sees her apart from when she greets him, and the occasional asking for help when she has exhausted all other options. He sits there longing to spend time with her. Do you think he'd want a relationship like that? The Lord desires a relationship with those who love and need Him at all times, not only when it's convenient for them.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23: Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ 

What Jesus said here is that those whose attitude is one of using His power for their own benefit won't be accepted into the Kingdom of God, but only those who have a childlike relationship with Him and obey His Father, acknowledging Him in all they do. As we obey Him, we get to know Him and build a relationship with Him. That's why He said, "I never knew you". It's like using the name of a well-known person to open doors for you, but you never meet them. Then, one day, you happen to see him at a meeting, and you walk up to him, saying, "Hello, I'm John. You have opened wonderful doors for me." He'll just look at you and say, "Who are you?" 

A believer's first priority is to build a relationship of trust with Father God, by the Holy Spirit, through the Son, Jesus. Everything else flows from it by faith and in obedience. The focus should never be on the believer, but on and to the glory of the Master who does the work through the believer.

These words in 1 John 4:15, "If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God", therefore encompass all the passages relating to salvation we've mentioned above. Acknowledgement is more than just saying that Jesus is the Son of God
Acknowledgement is living in obedience as if Jesus, the Son of God, is your Lord. 

It's like a little child waiting for the next step from her parents. She
knows she cannot do it on her own and acknowledges her complete dependence on them, exercising the resulting obedience to them. This is why Jesus said in Matthew 18:3: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

From this will flow all the other prerequisites for salvation - rebirth, love, and obedience in doing the love acts He has prepared for you.

To be continued

The Love Challenge (Part 7)

We are discussing love from 1 John 4.

We have reached 1 John 4:13: "This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit." I want you to see the picture. The Bible says the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father 

We see it in 1 John 4:13 [above], and in

Matthew 10:19-20: But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time, you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Matthew 12:18 & 28:  “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.

V28: But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

John 15:26: When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.

Acts 2:17: In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

On several occasions, I used the following illustration to show how our relationship with the Holy Spirit works. The Bible says in Acts 17:28: ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ God is Spirit and is everywhere. We are in Him. Let's take a bowl of water and a small glass bottle with a screw-on lid. The water in the bowl represents the Holy Spirit, and the bottle represents a human being... you. If one closes the bottle, pushes it to the bottom of the water in the bowl and lets go, what will happen to it? The bottle will pop to the surface of the water, won't it? Why would that happen? It's because it's filled with air. What must happen to get it to stay at the bottom of the bowl of water? The air inside needs to be removed. So, let's take the cap off and put it back in the water. The air then bubbles out, and water, which replaces the air, fills it, allowing it to remain at the bottom. Now the water inside and outside of the bottle is one, and the bottle stays in the water.

The air in the bottle represents the sinful nature of humans, the carnal and godless behaviour that doesn't go along with the Lord. When a person is full of self, sin, and things belonging to the carnal nature, they don't want to be one with the Lord, having a relationship of obedience and submission to the Lord. They just want to get away from Him, hence the bottle popping out of the water when the cap is closed.

When a person, however, gets rid of all carnal things, i.e. the air inside the bottle that bubbles out when the cap is opened, the Holy Spirit fills such a person, and they become one with the Holy Spirit as presented by the water in the bowl and now in the bottle. Then the person wants to be in the Spirit. I have made a video of this illustration, which can be viewed here: https://bibbytes.blogspot.com/2022/05/where-is-god.html

I once asked the Lord how it is that He can be present with everyone at once. I then saw a vision which is difficult to describe. It is based on this passage in Acts 17:28 that I mentioned earlier: ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’

I saw people up to their waists in a cloud, almost like stage smoke. In front of each person, the cloud took the form of a person, interacting with the person standing in the cloud. So, we are all in the Lord (represented by the cloud in the vision), who is everywhere, and who manifests Himself as a person to whoever calls on Him.

The Lord is very real, and we need to stop treating Him from a distance as a religion. He is our Father who wants to cuddle us on His lap and will do anything for us, as we see in John 14:12-14: "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

Because we live in the Father's Spirit and He in us, those who call on Him will be the love He is, and will manifest the same things Jesus did, so that the Lord's purposes may be accomplished on earth through obedient believers and His name be glorified.

To be continued

The Love Challenge Part Six

Good day.

We are busy looking at what John had to say about love from the first Epistle of John, chapter four.

Last time we asked how we know what good works of love we should do? God went to the trouble of preparing your life's good works for you in advance.

How would you know what to do? He will present them to you as opportunities. Colossians 4:5-6: "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

Many years ago, when I was still a young believer, I asked a more mature believer how one knows it's God speaking. He told me that humans cannot be good or do good things by themselves. Humans, in their core, are selfish. So, when a good thought comes to mind, it's from the Lord. Then we ought to respond to it. The opportunities God presents to us are thoughts to love and to do good, or an opportunity you identify to love and do good. Natural man will not like to do it and will try to get out of it. The choices are always yours. You can choose to be comfortable and selfish and let the opportunity pass without responding to it, or you can obey and count among those born of God.

Jesus told this parable of the two sons in Matthew 21:28-32: “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

I often think of this parable. Jesus came to show us the way of obedience. It has all been written down, and we have access to it all. How many times do we say in church or whenever the Lord speaks to us through the Word, "I will, Lord," and then do nothing about it? There's no need to have said it verbally, because a thought to do it is to the Lord the same as saying it.

It's actually quite easy to be obedient to the Word of God and to love. Just respond to promptings wherever you are. The good works or love-actions that God prepared for all believers individually (see Ephesians 2:10) are presented to you and me all the time as opportunities, but, unless you look out for those opportunities, expecting them, you will miss them. Rather be the reluctant doer of love than the maker of empty promises of good intentions. Have you heard the saying: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions"?

Believe me, Satan knows these requirements of the Lord and does his utmost to distract you, which is why the Lord Jesus so adamantly said in Matthew 6:24: No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon.

Mammon is the god of materialism. Anything to do with material goods and the concerns connected to it is mastered by Mammon. That is why the world is filled with all the glitter we know. It's meant to distract from the simple, loving relationship with the Lord we're called to have - to love and serve as Jesus did. Satan uses material distractions and other concerns to keep us so busy that we do not get to the love works the Lord prepared for us. IF we see the opportunity to love, we often postpone because we first need to do these materialistic things, which distract us.

Therefore, we need to be very focused and need to have set obedience to the Lord as a priority.

Note that Matthew 6:24 above is followed by verses 25 to 34, which is the comfort given to us that the Lord will look after us and our material needs IF we give first priority to our service in His Kingdom in obedience and self-sacrifice and ensure we are in right standing with Him (Matthew 6:33).

In conclusion, you can read Luke 9:57-62.

To be continued

The Love Challenge Part Five

Good morning

We are discussing love from the perspective of 1 John 4. If you haven't read the previous parts, please do so.

Last time, we ended by saying that the Lord inconvenienced Himself and disrupted His glorious comfort to help man because of love. For the same reason (the love that lives in us through the Holy Spirit), should we be inconvenienced by loving and helping others, which is the topic of verse 11.

1 John 4:11: Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Love is not only saying: "My dear brother/sister, I love you with the love
of the Lord." Those are empty words, a clanging cymbal. Until love costs us and we inconvenience ourselves to serve others, we have not loved like Jesus did. (John 15:12-14: My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.)

1 John 4:12: No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in and through us.

I thought it was said that if you believe in God's existence, He lives in you. The more charismatic ones believe that if you accept Jesus as your saviour and, through that, become born again, God lives in you. But 1 John 4 sets the standard of salvation higher. Only when you love, through giving of yourself, does God live in you. People cannot see God, but if you love like Jesus loved, people will see God in and through you. Should that not be our aim? When we do certain things in marketing, people will see the value of the product and buy it. When people see the Lord in the way we love, they would want to serve Him.

Jesus said an interesting thing in John 5:28-29: "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned." Does it say “those who accepted Jesus as saviour will rise to live"? No, it doesn’t. Does it say "those who believe in Jesus will rise to live"? No, it doesn’t. Does it say "those who went to church will rise to live"? No, it doesn’t. Then, who will rise to live? Those who did what is good. Salvation is in the action of love. It’s part of the covenant. Father God did His part through love by giving His Son. Now we need to do our part through love to serve those whom Father God puts in our way.

Have you noticed how Satan makes an effort to prevent you from obeying the Lord? When you want to do something good, an action of love, to the glory of God, all kinds of things happen to discourage and prevent you from being obedient. However, to say the sinner's prayer comes easily. Why would that be? Why doesn't Satan try and stop people from saying the sinner’s prayer? It's putting people on a false foundation. Satan knows God's standards, and if he could get you to believe you're okay, why should he be concerned?

Speaking of which, how many messages do you hear on the requirement of obedience in love and works to be saved? Not many, isn't it? We are told that we are saved by grace and that we can do nothing to earn salvation. All we need to do is be grateful and praise the Lord for His grace. The idea of being saved by grace is preached from Ephesians 2:8-9: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." There is a difference between doing good works as a way to earn salvation and doing them in obedience to the Lord. The doing of good works as per Ephesians 2:9 above refers to man's attempt to deserve or earn salvation.

Verse 10, however, spells love and good works, in obedience to the Lord, out very clearly: Ephesians 2:10 "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

What is the purpose of being born again or being created in Christ Jesus? To do good works or to love.

How do we know what good works of love we should do? God went to the trouble of preparing your life's good works for you in advance.

How would you know what to do? He will present them to you as opportunities. Colossians 4:5-6: "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

To be continued

The Love Challenge (Part Four)

I am busy sharing what I have learnt about love from 1 John 4.

We have reached 1 John 4:10: This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Pause for a moment and put yourself in Father God's position. Picture the occasion in heaven where Father God realised there was only one way to set the people, whom He loved so much, free from the bondage that sin brought on them. He had to arrange for someone to pay the penalty of sin on behalf of the people whom he loved so much.

With the required respect, I'm going to paint an imaginary picture of what happened in
heaven before Jesus’ birth as a man. They were sitting in the glorious throne room in heaven.
"Jesus," Father God said, "we need someone to stand in for humankind to pay the penalty for their sin. Would you mind doing it?"
"What would that entail, Father?"
"Well, first you would have to sacrifice this glorious life of yours and live among sinful men for several years. You would not be popular; in fact, many will be quite hostile towards you. Things will build up to the point that you'll be put on trial and die to set man free from having to die themselves." Father God then smiled happily. “Then our relationship with man will be restored for all those who believe you have done it.”
"I'll do it, Father."
"You'll have to realise that it's going to be a hard sacrifice on your behalf."
"Father, for you and for mankind whom you love so much, I'll do it."

Jesus, God's son, lived on earth for 33 years, not having an easy life, but love helped Him persevere. Then it was time for Him to pay the penalty, to become the sacrifice for mankind's sin. Did He feel like doing it? No. How do we know it? Through His prayer in Gethsemane in Matthew 26:39: Going a little farther, he (Jesus) fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” He didn't feel like going through with it, but His love for mankind and for His Father made it possible for Him to do it. Could Father God have stopped it? Yes, He could have, but His love for mankind made Him turn His face away.

With the utmost respect, I say the following.  Although I wouldn’t want to be God with all the responsibility He has and all the flak He receives from mankind, He does live in the comfort of the glory of heaven, if I understand it correctly. Man had the perfect life in the Garden of Eden in a very personal relationship with the Lord, but chose to disobey the Lord and destroy the relationship He had with Him. Was the Lord obligated to restore the relationship? I mean, man was at fault and deserved the consequences. Why would the Lord inconvenience Himself and disrupt His glorious comfort to help man? It was because of love that is patient, kind, does not envy, is not proud, does not dishonour others, is not self-seeking, is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love that always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). 

For this same reason (this love that lives in us through the Holy Spirit),  should we inconvenience ourselves by loving and helping others. This is the topic of verse 11, which we’ll discuss next time.

To be continued

The Love Challenge (Part Three)

We are busy discussing love, mainly from the writings of John in 1 John 4. 

1 John 4:9: In this the love of God was made manifest (shown) among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

This can be interpreted in two ways, among others:

1. God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might LIVE through him. Could this be a self-centred interpretation? I want to live, so Jesus came so I could live. The focus is on me.
2. God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live THROUGH HIM. Could this be seen as the God-centred interpretation? I live like Jesus did, under His guidance, through Him. He lives and does things in a certain way, so I live and do things the way He does it. As long as I remain in Jesus, I will be what the Lord wants me to be. John 15:5: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

What does it mean to remain in Jesus? We can compare it to the
children's game that many of us played, called Follow My Leader. The leader makes certain movements, and the followers copy them. It can also be compared to a small child imitating a parent or a parent showing the little child how things are done. As long as we remain near Jesus and have our focus set on what He's doing, we will bear fruit. If we are distracted by money, material things, and concerns about life, we are not even aware of what He is doing. This is when many fruitless deeds, born from human effort, start to show.

Jesus is love, so if we want to be love as we, who are born in God, are meant to be, we need to stay in Jesus, having our focus trained on His every Word and action. He is a Master of the subject of love, so if we learn from the Master, we will master it.

Here are a few guidelines on how to remain in Jesus.

1. Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways (Proverbs 3:5-6). Act as if the Lord exists and waits in anticipation for you to call on Him. Have you ever seen a small child ignoring their parents' presence and availability to help?

2. Always pass glory and credit to Him. John 15:5: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." Without Jesus, we can do nothing, so why take the glory and credit for what we have done? It belongs to Him. Acknowledging that you need Him is a statement that you remain in Him.

3. Ask, seek, and knock. Matthew 7:7: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." Showing you dependence on the Lord makes you depend on Him and remain in Him.

4. Act when a thought, that might be from the Lord, enters your mind. Years ago, as a young believer, I asked a more mature believer how one knows that a thought came from the Lord. He told me that people, in themselves, are unable to be good and unselfish. We are inherently selfish. So, if a thought to do something good for unselfish reasons crosses your mind, it is from the Lord

5. Spend time with Him. Walk with Him. Discuss everything with Him. Imitate what you know about Him. That way, He rubs off on you and you become like Him.

6. Choose to ignore distractions that would hinder your intimacy with Him. Materialism, self-centredness, and human pleasure are used by Satan to keep us busy so we don't have time for and interest in intimacy with the Lord. Satan tempted Eve and Jesus with the same three things: a lust for power and fame, a lust for riches, and a lust after the pleasures of life. He uses these same three things to keep our attention away from intimacy with the Lord.

One of the benefits, as well as a test of whether you are in Christ, is mentioned in John 15:7: "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." If you are in Christ, you won't ask things outside of God's will, and then you are guaranteed to receive it. This promise is confirmed again in 1 John 5:14-15: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him." If my prayers aren't answered, I always search my heart and life for where I am out of Christ and His will.

1 John 4:9 states that the love of God was made manifest in the privilege we received to live through Jesus. The fact that He is available to serve us is an act of love.

How about you and me? Is our love made manifest through our service to our neighbours?

The Love Challenge (Part Two)

We are discussing love from the perspective of 1 John 4. To get the context, please read part one first if you haven't already. We have reached 1 John 4:8: "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love".

So, how do we know we are born again and are like God? We examine our behaviour, interests, priorities, how we interact with people, our desires, and so on, and we test and compare them against who God is, as described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. 

According to these passages in 1 John 4, if you do not walk in love,  you are not
born of God and do not know Him. You may have said the sinners' prayer,  you may be active in a lot of Christian and religious activities, be active in church, but Paul puts it as follows in 1 Corinthians 13:1-2: If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. [2]If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

If all Christians love enough to actively make a difference in other people's lives, the world would be a much different place. We don't need to be world missionaries or trained as pastors. We only need to touch people where we are - in the shop, on the street,  in the parking lot, at work. We only need to be witnesses,  telling our stories. We need to comfort, encourage, exhort, motivate, and teach people what we have learnt in our walk.

Jesus told His disciples in Acts 1:8: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." His disciples could reach parts of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, but needed their downline of disciples (that's us) to reach the ends of the earth. Who did Jesus speak to in the above passage? He spoke to all His disciples, including all those who would follow Him throughout the ages. Are you a disciple of Jesus, His follower? Yes? Then He spoke to you as well. What are we to do? We are to be witnesses of what we have seen the Lord do and what He taught us. We need to care. Satan will throw circumstances your way to keep you busy and so focused on yourself and your problems that you would use it as an excuse not to act in love. 

Jesus said in John 13:35: By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” It's not by your church-going, or your religious duties, or even your good works that people will connect you with Jesus. Lots of unbelievers do good works. It's by our love. It's by being Jesus for others, doing what He did and having the attitude He had that links us to Him in the minds of observers. Love is not a feeling, the warm heart we often confuse with love. Love is an action, an activity, something you do. How else can we love our enemies as Jesus commanded us in Matthew 5:44? We cannot feel love towards them. How can you feel love towards someone who wants to harm you, someone who hates you? How would you love your enemies then? By doing good things for them. The Lord made it easy for those attentive to His voice. Ephesians 2:10 tells us: For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The Lord prepared your love activities for you even before you were born and presents them to you daily as opportunities to show off His love. What are you doing with those opportunities? Colossians 4:5-6: Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. [6]Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

What will Jesus do about your opportunities? On the day of judgement of the believers, He is going to call you to account for the good works God went to the trouble of preparing for you and presented to you as opportunities, and is going to require an explanation of what you have done with them. What are these opportunities? They are opportunities to love, so the world can see who Jesus' disciples are and therefore who He is. They are opportunities to make a difference in people's lives, to the glory of God.

To be continued

The Love Challenge (Part One)

Together with our precious and faithful Holy Spirit, I am going to attempt to bring clarity on the reality of love, mostly from the writings of John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. It is evident from John's writings that he had a deeper understanding of who Jesus was, and I can only presume that it came from his close walk with Jesus. I imagine him hanging onto every word and movement Jesus uttered while the others were picturing Jesus as an earthly king to set them free from Roman oppression. He had deeper insight into who Jesus was and what He came to do. He certainly had great insight into God’s amazing love, and he put a lot of emphasis on it in his writings in both the gospel of John and in his letters, the Epistles 1, 2, and 3 John.

Let us start with 1 John 4:7: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

I thought one had to say a sinner's prayer to be born of God. 

When we are born of human parents, we inherit their characteristics - our features, talents, nature, and personality. Have you ever been told, "I can see your mom in you," or "you remind me so much of your dad"? When you do certain little things, such as clearing your throat, making certain facial movements, or speaking, aren't you often reminded of one of your parents you see in yourself? Even weaknesses your parents have/had show in you.

What is the sign of being born of God? 

May I quote a description of God to you?

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Amplified: [4] Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.

[5] It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

[6] It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

[7] Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].

We'll read in 1 John 4:8 that God is love. We can, therefore, replace the word love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 above with the word God. These are all of God's characteristics. We said earlier that you were born to your parents and inherited some of their characteristics.

Therefore, if you are born of God, you would have inherited His characteristics, which are summarised in one word: love.

Can you change the mannerisms, strengths, and weaknesses inherited from your parents? No, you can't. You are stuck with them.

Can you change the characteristics that you inherited from God? No. So what if you don't act in love, which is who God is? That brings us to 1 John 4:8: "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love".

Oops! So, how do we know we are born again and are like God? We look at our behaviour, interests, priorities, how we deal with people, our desires, etc., and we test them against and compare them to who God is as described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. 

We will continue next time.

I am Healed!

More than a blog article, this is a testimony that hopefully creates faith in you to remain healthy or be healed. 

I had some training in effectively and briefly praying for healing. I have seen several healings and have concluded that the fewer words you use in prayer for healing, the more power you experience. I'd love to testify about this one result.

I was working in a pharmacy, and after I had served this lady, I asked her if I could pray for her for her illness. She agreed, and I took her aside and prayed the brief, powerful prayer I had prayed so many times before. She was healed, and I felt prompted to ask her if she knew Jesus.  She said no. So, I asked her whether she'd like to know Him. She said no. Her abruptness took me aback a little, but I heard the Holy Spirit tell me the church had hurt her. Then a wonderful thing happened. 

"Do you pray for everyone you serve here?" she asked,  meaning in the pharmacy with medicine.

"No," I said. 

"So, do you only pray for those God tells you to?"

"Yes," I said.

"So God told you to pray for me?"

"Yes."

"So God cares about me."

"Yes, He does."

"Then I'd better make things right with Him."

That was it. The Holy Spirit took over, and she preached the gospel to herself. I was blessed by the joys one can experience when you allow the Holy Spirit to lead.

This, however, is not my story and the purpose of this testimony, but is meant to show how alive and present the Lord is for those who believe. 

The time came that I needed prayer for healing, and I realised that if others get healed when I pray for them, why not me? Laying hands on myself would, however, be silly. 

Jesus said in Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. He also said in Mark 16:18 ...they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” The latter, He said as part of the Great Commandment.

Note that Jesus used two important terms. In Mark 11, He said "have received" and in Mark 16 ", they will be healed". There are no ifs and buts.

So, I decided that if I call healing of my illness, I have received it and I shall be healed.

From then on, every time I get symptoms of any illness, I simply declare "I am healed by the blood of Jesus" or "this pain has gone away by the power of Jesus". Without fail, I get healed. Some healings take longer than others, but I get healed.

The condition, however, is faith in God's words as recorded in the Bible. There are no "what ifs", "buts", or "is it the will of God?" He stated His will clearly in Mark 16:18 and various other places in the Bible. He wants people to be healed. I simply don't accept illness. Many patients I serve in the pharmacies seem proud of their illnesses. I often hear people say, 'I suffer from this' and 'I suffer from that'. In my mind, I then say, 'If you want to suffer, then suffer, but I'm not going to suffer. Jesus died for my illnesses and promised to heal me, so I seek healing until I find it.'  Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7). God said it, I believe it, that settles it.

Then again, I tell everyone about it, giving the Lord the glory. He loves glory, and every time you do it, He looks for the opportunity to help you so you can give Him the glory publicly again.

We read at the end of the account where Jesus healed the man at the pool of Bethesda in John 5:14: Later, Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you."  From what Jesus told the man, I have learnt that if illness doesn't leave, I look into my life for sin to repent of and let go, so healing is not kept from me due to sin.

How about you? Are you going to take the Lord by His Word? Do it, and be healed of all your illnesses as you call your healing.

Silencing the Barking Dogs - a Testimony

When the Lord said in Proverbs 3:5 & 6, "[5] Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. [6] In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths,"  He meant it. Here is how I know it.

On two occasions in my life, my neighbours' dogs have barked endlessly in the middle of the night. Eventually, I got fed up and phoned them in the middle of the night to ask them to silence their dogs. That was the end of both of the relationships. The last neighbour refused to speak to me for 7 years and found all kinds of silly things to complain about.

I then decided a barking dog is not worth a broken relationship, and the Holy Spirit gave me this brilliant plan. Every time the latter dog barked, I simply asked the Lord to give it peace and to remove the trigger. Within seconds, it stopped barking. This happened without fail.

We then moved home, and guess what? My neighbour has three barking dogs among the hundreds of others across our little town. Guess what else. God gives them peace instantly every time I pray, causing them to stop barking.

Wouldn't you say that the above counts as making my path straight, as Proverbs 3 puts it?

Another thing I love to do is to tell everyone about it, giving the Lord the glory. He loves glory, and every time you do it, He looks for the opportunity to help you again so you can give Him the glory publicly.

If we examine human nature and honestly reflect on ourselves, we can understand why verse 5 above was added. Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 'All your heart' means with your entire heart, but it also means with everything your heart is concerned with. 'Leaning on your own understanding' often tells us we think it's petty. "Why would God concern Himself with irritating, barking dogs. He has much greater worries than those."

The Lord loves us so much that our concerns are His concerns. If barking dogs irritate me, they do Him as well, for He feels for me. To Him, empathy with His loved ones is part of His love for us. That is why He sent Jesus to empathise with our state.

The other thing is that good relationships between neighbours are important to Him. His Word refers to it all the time. So, if He could resolve my problem with barking dogs before I mess up the relationship with my neighbour in my attempt to solve it, He redeemed a relationship.

The barking dogs issue is only one practical example. There are many petty things in your life that the Lord wants to help you with if you just call on Him. Like the hijack attempt on my car. Men smashed my car windows, and in my fear, I only managed to cry, "Help Jesus!" The next moment, they ran away.

Faith is not something you say, it's something you do. What's the point in serving the Lord and reading the Bible if you don't apply it practically in your life? God said it, I believe and apply it, that settles it..

Take the Lord at His Word and believe Him.