Wealth in God

Would you believe that spiritual wealth comes from overcoming for the full future rewards in the kingdom? God does not intend for His beloved people to be satisfied with less than our full allotment of all He has promised. There is an abundance in God to be accessed through the holy spirit. We are cautioned not to think we have it all, not to become complacent or satisfied with our religious status, knowledge or spiritual “wealth.”

God prefers us to be either cold or hot, no fence-sitting in Him! He removes our heavens, those spiritual places in which we dwell, shaking up our earth, our fleshly understandings of Him, until we move on. Hear what He says in Revelation to the church in Laodicea:

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God’s creation. I know your deeds; you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were one or the other!

So because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to vomit you out of My mouth! You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.

I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, white garments so that you may be clothed and your shameful nakedness not exposed, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 3:14-22 Berean

Riches in God are granted—all the fruit of His kingdom, full of the love, peace, and joy He promises along with wisdom to live His way. But the qualification for these rewards is overcoming all, as Jesus overcame all. When we think we have it all already, He is outside the door of our hearts, knocking to be let in, to invite us to dine on the rich delicacies of His words of truth and love.

Overcoming means to be successful in dealing with an obstacle or a problem. What is it that we are to overcome? We are to overcome our flesh nature as He did. This Laodicean condition of being lukewarm is found today in many religious groups, churches or denominations who think they have arrived and already have it all. Thinking we are spiritually rich and don’t need anything more is a condition that can be in the hearts of many of God’s leaders, instilling it in their followers.

When we believe this, it stops us and those under our leadership others in their tracks so they progress no further. Many of us have experienced times of our own “Laodicean condition,” periods of peak spiritual experiences leading to contentment, followed by a season where God had to deal with us so that we’d move on. There are multiple opportunities for growth and obstacles He allows on our path to becoming like Him. We can welcome these obstacles rather than thinking we are being mistreated by God when they happen.

God knows how to do this with each of us when we are willing. We too may recall former times during our incredible walk with the Lord when we thought we had it all and had arrived with the best God has to offer. In our hearts, we became self-satisfied, rather than God-satisfied. Sometimes we were even self-righteous about what God was giving us and our special place in His kingdom. We are attending the best fellowship, hearing the top preachers, reading and studying with all of the best ministers, teachers, authors and speakers of the day, attending every gathering where we hear the spirit is moving.

So, we put down our roots in that place instead of in God! Looking back at past exciting and precious times with God’s people in various gatherings where He was moving, we have deep gratitude that these were times where our spiritual walk was radically changed. Though many former gathering places are no more, we recall with love and appreciation our Elders, now on the other side, who filled our storehouses with God’s own seed of righteousness and revelation.

Friends and fellowships, ministry and hardship, joy and suffering have been shared with others who were just what we needed at the time. Though we may have thought it would last together at the time, we lose contact with them on this earth. God knows. One way or another, God moved us on. When we were reluctant, He knew how to remove the blessings from that season until we had to move on or others moved on from us.

While many men and women of God were allowed, in fact, given the task of writing on the hearts of God’s elect for just that time, those times have come to an end. The love and gratitude remain along with wise teaching deposited our storehouses, building a strong foundation in Him. These are words by which we now live, ever learning to understand these teachings in more depth by the spirit. We never move past eternal truths, but we do go on to know Him in all the richness of His character.

When we have “ears to hear”, we move on, longing for more of the Lord:

“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:8-12 KJV

If we plant our stakes in our current spiritual realm, insisting this is where it’s all happening, God will arrange for us to be moved on through circumstances around us. He brings a famine of the word where there had been plenty. He allows a dry season to take away the rain of His spirit. The fellowship we are attending, for various reasons, falters and is destroyed. Then, we hear the call to “come up hither,” and answer it.

Some worry that they are dishonoring their elders and teachers by going further, but those who have hearts for God would want us to go further than they did. Our elders, just as the saints of old, saw much in God’s promises in which they were not allowed to participate. We now move higher, go further than our elders saw and told us about. There’s always a word of revelation through God’s messengers about God’s truths that sees far beyond what obedient servants could see or experience themselves.

Revelation is God revealing His secrets, showing us His ways, the heart of the matter of things to come. That’s why the book of Revelation, a book for now that has been only a future hope for many, is ae most important one for us to understand nos.. We are destined to eat with Jesus our King and God Our Father the words of that book. Unfortunately, Revelation has been s a most controversial book, with much confusion and strife about how to understand it, how much to spiritualize it or to take it literally, and considerable lack of unity about its meaning.

Written to God’s people, John the Revelator is revealing Jesus Christ, laying out the coming times of judgment:

“But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?” 1 Peter 4:16-17 Berean

We are where His judgment is happening now, in the hearts of His people, and that’s a good thing! As Christ is formed within us, He is making His abode inside of us, where is His kingdom. The time of our change has already begun and is ongoing for God’s called and chosen people. We can learn from the seven churches in the Book of Revelation, each told that God is aware of their deeds, and their acts in His name. He also sees what is in their hearts, what misses the mark of His high calling to dwell in His kingdom.

He tells each church to repent, to change. Each church representing a realm of spiritual experience must “hear Him” if they have spiritual ears to do so. They must overcome all of the flesh realm indicative of their experiences in order to enter in. The only church He does not tell to repent, chastise, or warn that He will remove their candlestick, the light of His presence, is the church of Philadelphia. Why? Because He sees that this church of brotherly love, despite their limitations, has His love in their hearts. He tells this church who is practicing brotherly love from their hearts, to hang on to that little they have.

The word given by John the Revelator to the church of Philadelphia starts out the same as the word to the rest of the seven churches, but ends differently:

“I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door, which no one can shut. For you have only a little strength, yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name. Look at those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead. I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I love you.

Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.

The one who overcomes me will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will never again leave it. Upon him, I will write the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God (the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from My God), and My new name.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 3:8-13 Berean

The church of Philadelphia has an open door because of their brotherly love. An open door means they can go on, go further. God saw something different, something worth preserving, to build upon in their hearts. Those who have brotherly love can go on to perfection. God opens the door before them because this quality of brotherly love is a keeper! It is on the path of life toward the love of God fully dwelling in a people. All the other churches had conditions from which they needed to repent, to submit to the fires of God to be further purified into His nature, but the Philadelphia church is told to hold on to what they have.

The messages to the seven candlestick churches found in Revelations 1-3 are to His own, revealing a spiritual pattern of the progression of the saints, the true church on earth. It was not written only to those seven groups of believers in actual cities of the time. Nor is it written to “all those others” who are in need of repentance and the refining of their natures. These messages are to us, God’s people! We are told there is a great blessing in both reading and believing the words of John the Revelator. The Revelation’s candlestick churches use spiritual language about what we need to know in this Day of the Lord.

Jesus tells this account of two sons that furthers our understanding of how God sees His own:

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has put in charge of his household to give the others [in the house] their food and supplies at the proper time? Blessed is that [faithful] servant when his master returns and finds him doing so. I assure you and most solemnly say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

But if that servant is evil and says in his heart, ‘My master is taking his time [he will not return for a long while],’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards; the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour of which he is not aware, and will cut him in two and put him with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping [over sorrow and pain] and grinding of teeth [over distress and anger].” Matthew 24:45-51 Amplified

The evil servant surely is not holding on to what the Master has given him to feed and bless others. God will deal with us when the mercy and grace He extends to us is not freely extended to others. This is the refining of our nature into His nature. God is so good to us, providing all that we need, all the time, and with the most important gift of the spirit within. This is wealth in God! We are to share all of His goodness, His provision, with others as God leads.

Thankfully, none of us get what we deserve because of the grace and mercy of our Lord. We can freely give to others, without fear or favor, as He does. God does reward the humble and appreciates a truly repentant heart. In the beatitudes, our spiritual “constitution” for kingdom life, Jesus says:

“Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy!” Matthew 5:7-8 Amplified

It may appear that this promise means that when we are merciful to others, God will be merciful to us. The judgment we hand out is said to come back to us as well. But what if the deeper meaning is that the merciful will obtain God’s heart of mercy? This goes beyond acts of mercy towards others in order to please the Lord to becoming His mercy on the Earth. What a reward!

“And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.” Romans 8:28-29 Berean

There are believers who are destined to be like Jesus Christ our Lord. Father God predicts many to be conformed to His image. That is true riches! How different is God’s definition of wealth than our earthly understanding of it! Yes, money does bring more choices in this world. God does bless some of His people He chooses to trust with wealth. But riches from money and possessions are certainly neither a requirement nor necessarily a sign of God’s favor.

God may bless us with material wealth for the purposes of our calling in His kingdom. Riches may come after our hearts please Him but it is not what we are to seek. We are not to even worry about it, which is a much bigger challenge:

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” Matthew 6:31-33 Berean

Jesus tells His followers to be different from the unbelieving Gentiles of His day. They focused on all the things they needed. He reminds us that these will be provided as we seek His kingdom first. God and His ways are infinely more valuable than rubies or gold to us. The true wealth of God is available to us in the spirit. Those who have plenty are not more loved or pleasing to God because of it. And those who have little are no less loved by Him or being punished by our heavenly Father.

As the first stanza of this song states:

“Lord, You are more precious than silver;

Lord, You are more costly than gold;

Lord, You are more beautiful than diamonds;

And nothing I desire compares with You.”

(Author unknown)

God works within us so that all our earthly desires fade in comparison to Him. When we have Him, we have everything we need. We can always go to Him when there is lack. We are to be made like Him, in His image and likeness, and He is love. When perfect love dwells in our hearts and swallows up our being, we are no longer subject to the torments of human fear. We are delivered into the wealth of His kingdom where no unclean thing may enter, and God’s perfection reigns within us.

Hear it: the wealth of wisdom that we seek begins with being in awe of our God’s nature. How can we be in awe of our God when we don’t know much about who He is, let alone the decisions He makes? We are to have an awesome reverence of our Father, not to fear and mistrust what He will do. God is completely and wonderfully able to remove fear from our hearts as we seek Him. Do we believe it?

Would any of us really prefer the wealth of this world instead of God’s peace? As reverence is present and fear is being removed, we continually draw near to Him in love, learning of His ways, not just His acts. Yet far too often we have sought the things of this world, regardless of our faith in God. When you grow up with little, there may be a drive to accumulate, an envy of those who seem to have all they want in addition to all they need.

God teaches us that our desire, even yearning, for outward but unnecessary things, is hollow and ultimately dissatisfying. Things don’t change what is inside us, in our hearts. Many a rich person in this world is most unhappy, never satisfied or at peace with what they already have.

Christians look forward to God working in us so that we can join Paul in saying.

“ …I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:11b-12 NIV

“Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, so we cannot carry anything out of it.” 1 Timothy 6: 6-7 Berean

To be content with what we have, to value godliness as great gain, such is wealth! Consider that some Christians do not have their needs met on a daily basis. It takes amazingly mature faith to have nothing, yet continually trust God for every need, but many many have and do that daily. It’s easier for those of us who have a measure of prosperity to be content. We may not have the deprivation others do and yet, God makes no qualifications to this scripture.

We are born into different circumstances, different human heritages, and differing abilities. It’s God’s business who He decides to make of each one, including Christians who are rich in the things of this world. Regardless, it is His chocie and not something we are to complain about. We are not to seek these things, to focus our energy on getting material things in this world.

“But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”

Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?” Romans 9:20-21 Berean

When we have a fear of lack, a scarcity mentality, He still provides what we need, but not all that we want. He removes the fear of suffering that is such a part of the human condition. This is true riches, lasting and eternal, of far more value than any things for which we may seek. It is about faith in Him, not the desires or actions of humans. How we long to know Him not only in the fellowship of His suffering but along with Paul, be found as living epistles of His righteousness:

“…be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.

I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:9-11 Berean

We carry the cross in our daily lives as circumstances put our own ideas and ways to death. What a wonderfully compassionate, understanding, and patient Teacher our God is with His own! He is willing and able to give us the wealth of His kingdom, the riches of His nature. Some of us are just hard learners! We are not the potter, but we are the clay of His workmanship. The very most satisfying place is being in the center of His will, even when it is the only peaceful place in the heart of a storm of events.

God loves His called, chosen, and elected people that He has been preparing through the ages for just this Day of the Lord. We who are called to be sons and daughters of the most High know that the Father’s strictest disciplines and most important lessons show forth His love and purpose for us. We need never be afraid of Father God or in terror of His actions. When we do find ourselves overwhelmed with fear and anxiety, God understands and will heal and deliver us with His comfort and mercy, making a way of escape as we ask.

God is able to bring the merciful into the lives of those who received no mercy to show forth Who He really is. Yes, there are many “not my will, but Yours be done” moments like Jesus had at Gethsemane, but we will never struggle with nor face what Jesus was called to do. He did it with the Father’s strength within for the joy that was set before Him.

But we can become more and more like the One we worship and adore as we enter into His sufferings. Our Lord understands turning points in our lives to be opportunities for change and growth that forever change our hearts. This is the gold of His kingdom, the true wealth of His nature worked in a people, eternally His own. What God teaches in this way becomes a part of us, written in our hearts. We can count on the promise of God to have the mind of Christ.

God is more than able to create in us a clean heart, something that no money or possessions can create. We are enabled, empowered to share the wealth of His kingdom with others. We show forth the riches of His nature of love and mercy, comfort and patience, having faith that He has everything we need in His hands. Should we be granted riches in money and possessions, we are free and generous in the sharing of them.

“But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.

God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24 Berean

We all have a change of heart by learning God’s heart in any matter. Surrender is the ultimate desire of our Lord’s heart, not ever “giving up” in despair. God will have a people with no guile, whose words and behaviors match in displaying His nature of justice and truth, mercy and love, sharing and showing forth the wealth of His kingdom.

Such wealth is found as we follow our Lord Jesus Christ wherever He goes:

“They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have been redeemed from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.

And no lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless [have no guile.]” Revelation 14:4b-5 Berean

United by God

Our Lord addresses many issues in His word concerning intimate relationships between men and women. He knew we’d have challenges living with each other. Everyone does, regardless of culture, beliefs, or even gender. We are created in His image and likeness, male and female, and we are one in Christ Jesus. We all are made to desire being loved. God knows this and He made us this way!

Without wisdom, many confuse love with sexual attraction but there is so much more to the quality of love that God intends for couples. God is a great Counselor during difficult times. We may cry out, “But Lord, it’s so hard. S/he is not doing what You said…”. Well, yes. Who told you it would not be hard on our flesh to do what God asks of us, to be willing to do His will, in His way and time? When God calls two to become one in Him, the joining process takes time and commitment.

Family life is so important that people create families around them when they do not have their own. With the great variety of families today, the two-parent family is no longer the majority. There are thousands of single parents, often not of their own choosing. Both fathers and mothers find themseles raising children alone, for various reasons, while having to work. Many families are unable to provide for their family needs if only one parent is working.

Some of us have callings, “gifts differing” that lead us to work. Some speak critically out of disrespect, judgment or envy when they do not recognize the Lord’s calling on another, male or female. We can choose to be empathic rather than critical with others whose partnerships and calllings differ from our own. God is not a “cookie cutter” God who has created us all to travel the same path. No one has the ideal family, and God has it all covered!

Why is it that when we have different paths, it seems to threaten our own choices? We judge by outward appearance and hold up one standard of how things should be with women and men. But not everyone has the same array of choices due to income and opportunities. Many women who must work have hearts that yearn to be with their children rather than at work, grieving lost opportunities while their children are growing up. The exhaustion from work and other home responsibilities also robs their time off with their children.

Professional women called to careers have similar challenges. Finding a balance in work and home is difficult for those in ministry as well. How is it we think we know what others should do when we do not know their circumstances or how God is dealing with them in their lives? God desires us to treat others as we would like to be treated, whether it is returned or not. We need not criticize and judge others who serve the same God though their paths differ from ours. God takes care of it all.

As we further explore God’s standards for Christian marriages, He reveals just what we, male or female, may find hardest to do in our relationships with our spouses. God speaks directly to husbands who may have difficulty in loving and understanding their wives as God intends:

“In the same way, you husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way [with great gentleness and tact, and with an intelligent regard for the marriage relationship], as with someone physically weaker, since she is a woman.

Show her honor and respect as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered or ineffective.” 1 Peter 3:7 Amplified

This is so important to the Lord that prayers are hindered when husbands do not fulfill this directive from Him. How many wives long for their husbands to really understand them?! God comforts and strengthens the hearts of those who are longing for love. So very many women and men truly do “look for love in all the wrong places.” In God’s kingdom, however, husbands are to commit to having understanding, love and respect for their wives as sisters in Christ, fellow heirs in God’s kingdom.

Intimate relationships are not easy, thus the many jokes about it! One such attempt at humor is a book entitled something like “What I Know About Women” that is blank inside! But no Christian husband needs to be in this situation. We all have the best Counselor in the world to teach us. The God of all wisdom is living inside us. None of us need to live with our spouse without understanding:

“The beginning of wisdom is: Get [skillful and godly] wisdom [it is preeminent]!

And with all your acquiring, get understanding [actively seek spiritual discernment, mature comprehension, and logical interpretation].” Proverbs 4:7 Amplified

Spiritual understanding, discernment, is available to us, living within us. We are learning to understand God and His ways. He is able to equip us with wisdom in all that He directs, including what He tells us about husbands and wives. He covers us both! Men and women can be mysterious creatures to each other, but not to God. Who but the Creator understands us? It takes time and patience to really understand one another, let alone be united. When Christian husbands follow the above directive, great gentleness and tact improve their understanding of their wives.

God is saying to husbands here: “Be wise about living with your wife. She is not like you and I planned it that way.” Some women object to the phrase, “as the physically weaker vessel,” and it is not necessarily accurate. here are women who just happen to be taller, bigger, stronger —and yes, smarter —than their spouses. I’m sure Paul meant what he said when he said it, especially since the position of women in his culture was very limited. Whatever the intent, it certainly should not be used to religiously define or contral all women. There’s much more variety and differences among individual women beyond male and female differences. T

Stereotypes do limit our understanding but God is not limited in that way. Females may be seen as “weaker,” in the sense of more tender in emotions, a beautiful characteristic needed in this world, especially in mothers. But we all know couples where the woman is the tough one, while the man is tenderhearted, more easily showing emotions than the male stereotype would allow. There are differences in the male and female nature in the animal kingdom. While male mammals vary greatly in their raising of young, mammal mamas lovingly raise their young and fiercely protect them, thus the “mamma bear” description of protective mothers.

This does not have to be interpreted as derogatory, meaning that women are “so emotional,” though this scripture has been used to demean and disqualify women of faith, particularly women in positions of authority. God has no part of gender stereotyping that discounts females or devalues female competence and strength. There were women of honor all through the Old Testament, including several in the lineage of Jesus. Female leaders were mentioned by Paul in the early church. There have always been gender differences along with individual, cultural, societal and many other factors that influence who we are created to be.

Many variables go into our unique personalities because we are all very carefully knit together in our mother’s wombs by God Himself. God’s woman in Proverbs 31 reveals a busy woman of many talents, taking care of family and conducting business with her husband’s support and approval.

“A wife of noble character, who can find? She is far more precious than rubies. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he lacks nothing of value. She brings him good and does not harm all the days of her life.

She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She rises while it is still night to provide food for her household and portions for her maidservants.

She appraises a field and buys it; from her earnings, she plants a vineyard. She girds herself with strength and shows that her arms are strong. She sees that her gain is good, and her lamp is not extinguished at night.

She stretches out her hands to the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers. She opens her arms to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. When it snows, she has no fear for her household, for they are all clothed in scarlet. She makes coverings for her bed; her clothing is fine linen and purple.

Her husband is known at the city gate, where he sits among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchants. Strength and honor are her clothing, and she can laugh at the days to come.

She opens her mouth with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband praises her as well: ‘Many daughters have done noble things, but you surpass them all!’

Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her at the gates.” Proverbs 31:10-31 Berean

Here is a woman who does it all, with the most praiseworthy being her fear of the Lord and her godly, wise character. Outward appearance is not held up as the ideal—she is not praised for her outward appearance, great figure, or beauty. She is not told to stay out of commerce, to leave business to her husband. Instead, her husband and children bless and praise her for her wisdom and her work on their behalf, seeing these as noble aspects of here character to be respected. Her husband is proud of her and all of her accomplishments, including business dealings that prosper the household.

The ideal wife of Proverbs 31 makes decisions and handles what her labors have earned. This is not a woman who does all the work while her husband takes the credit and the benefits. She is publicly honored and praised for what she accomplishes at the gates of the city where men of stature gather. She is a prosperous woman with many talents that are flourishing, bringing blessings to all around her. One wonders if those who are convinced all women should stay in the home ever read these passages, let alone have any understanding of the multitudes unable to do so lest their families suffer lack.

There are so many differences in our character and stature, a wonderful variety of people on this earth. There are women who are the tough ones—and may need to be—in contrast to their more tender-hearted husbands. Mothers are designed to strongly and fiercely defend our young, surely a survival instinct given to mothers in nature as well. Everyone knows not to get between a mama bear and her babies!

Women often have very tender hearts, more easily touched—and wounded— than the hearts of many men.That’s why there are so many stereotypical jokes about males and females. We may even laugh when we recognize ourselves in these situations, as long as it is respectful. Teasing is good as long as there’s no underlying guile, the “zinger” in the humor. Laughing together provides an opportunity to compare and contrast with other people and marriages, to realize relationship struggles show similar themes.

But humor also leads to over-generalizations and blind spots in the truly internationally held gender stereotypes that do injustice and disrespect to both genders. Women are still limited, controlled, and oppressed by males in authority in many countries. This is also true in many areas in our own country as well, not infrequently justified and promoted because of religious standards, traditions and laws. Men’s nurturing qualities are devalued and see as emasculating.

Generations have held women responsible for men’s lust, controlling their dress, activities, and behavior as the Taliban does now. This is so pervasive that women who are sexually assaulted struggle not to blame themselves. When such cases go to court, the very defense of the perpetrator focuses on the character of the woman rather than the man’s decision to assault her. When the stereotype is about the “emotional, irrational, incompetent female,” it does grave injustice to all the competent highly skilled women at work and in the home, all called to differing paths of leadership based on the gifts God has granted them.

Husbands may appear to fare better in such gender prejudices but that is also untrue. When the stereotype is about the “sloppy, forgetful and incompetent husband” of many a former family sitcom, it does not fit with husbands who develop patience and tolerance by being more organized, neat, practical, and efficient in the home than their wives are. In the 50’s it was “Father Knows Best,” but after that, society, as represented by social media, completely flipped. Men are portrayed as clueless, incompetent, and lacking familial wisdom their wives display

There’s no true wisdom or balance in society and the tendency to overcorrect extremes is evident.
Let us recall that all are made in the image of God:

“This is the book of the generations of Adam. On the day that God created man, He made him in His own likeness. Male and female He created them, and He blessed them.

And in the day they were created, He called them ‘man’. Genesis 5:2 Berean

We were first created in the same body, united as one being called “man,” in the likeness of God Himself. When God saw that Adam was lonely, He separated His creation into male and female bodies, making “womb-man” or woman. You can count on Adam especially delighting in how Eve was different. He needed a helpmeet, the foundational purpose of marriage. We all need companionship and help and God prepared for that.

God is the “Master Joiner,” the best one to choose whom we will love and create a home to be with and enjoy life together. Our own hearts can be most deceitful when doing our own choosing. When we ask our heavenly Father to choose our spouse, waiting upon Him to do it, our marital prospects for a blessed future increase. It also helps if others are praying for wise choices to be made when the time comes.

This does not mean there will not be challenges and issues. Some “meant-to-be” Christian relationships will also fail. But when God puts two together, this is the lasting relationship that ideally is never to be severed. Even when God does the joining by His choice for us, sustaining our union together, we still have moments of bafflement or discord, finding ourselves reminding God that this person was His idea for us!

“…and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”…Mark 10:8-9 Berean

The Concordant Literal New Testament puts it this way:

“…and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” Mark 10:89 Concordant Literal

Here is the foundation: God puts us together. Some people in relationships were not put together by God. They did not ask God nor follow the leading of the holy spirit in their choices. Their intimate relationships are not based upon God’s joining by the spirit. Other factors were more important in drawing them together. We are directed not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, but two Christians can also be unequally yoked. Just because a married couple sits beside each other in church does not mean they are equally yoked in God.

There are couples where one is a nominal Christian who attends church occasionally out of duty or to please their spouse, with no heart or hunger for spiritual things. Their spouse, meanwhile, is passionately in love with the Lord, totally committed to His ways, walking alone in this commitment to God. Was God leading this marital choice or was there an assumption that because both are Christians, it must be His idea and plan?

When we deeply love another who is not God’s choice, it is so very difficult. “Whom God has joined together, let not man put asunder,” (Matthew 19:6) underscores that it is God’s job to join us together in Him. These are the relationships that are sustained and should be, between Christians in marriage. Other relationships reveal the lack of shared spiritual foundation, lasting for a time or a season before God causes one or the other to change direction or just fade away.

In these matters, God is more merciful than Christians who make not divorcing one of the top commandments for believers. Jesus said it is not ideal but stated that it keeps happening due to the hardness of our hearts. When our hearts are soft to be teachable within, the person in some marriages that are actually “prison houses” may hear God’s directive to leave. As the scripture states, He is able release us from unbelieving partners if she or he leaves. God forgives us our errors, including marriages made in foolishness, youth, or other unwise reasons not ordained by God.

What wounds we add to others when we think we know what someone else should do and how they have missed God according to our rules! We also do not know His long-term purpose for a currently troubled marital situation, where some prescribe divorce as the answer. What is God’s will in the matter? He may turn these things for good, for future change when we stay.

”But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.” 1 Corinthians 7:15 KJV

Outside those in relationships, we assume or judge those who end up divorced. But we can’t know the heart of either by outward appearance, despite the gossip and speculation that arises. We know so little about our Christian friends and neighbors within their own households. How can we really know what led a devout Christian to separate or divorce? Out of respect for their former spouse and protection of their children, some do not speak of the issues that led to the divorce. This is a covering of sin rather than exposing for all to see and causing further harm, particularly to the children.

Unless God reveals the core of the matter to us for purposes of intercession, we need to guard our tongues from uninformed opinions. No Christian plans to marry with divorce in mind. Judgment from Christian brothers and sisters only adds to their loss and grief as they go through becoming divorced. It is His business to put together and take apart, each in His planned season. This is another “law vs. heart” matter where the judged Christian chooses not to share the shameful or painful reasons that led to this decision.

Many of us who end up divorced were young in either age or faith, not serving or being led by God. Some couples who divorce were not put together by God in the first place. It’s truth, though resisted by those who insist that Christians should follow the law of never divorcing. Of course, it is not ideal, but Jesus said it has been allowed since Moses’ day because of the “hardness of the heart.” Painful circumstances and behaviors harm one or the other, betrayals occur, difficulties become unsurmountable, destroying peace and love in the home.

Children suffer from divorce, but many also suffer from unhappy, even violent relationships between their parents. Who are we, really, to decide from the outside what another is directed to do by God? There is nothing we do that is beyond the love and forgiveness of God, including marrying outside of His will or divorcing when it becomes impossible to reconcile. When we are led by the spirit, that higher “law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” God, in His mercy, ends some relationships that are harmful or never should have happened.

Alternately, God is surely able to sustain the obedient, believing partner while He does His work on the other. Nothing is impossible with God, but change happens more rapidly with two willing hearts to address problems. Submission to the Lord can hold one in place while the other’s heart is changed. God knows all hearts, which relationships have a good foundation or not, what situations and partners will change. God also grants patience and love to those Christians in relationships where change is so very long in coming. Then we recall that all things work together for our good when we love the Lord and are called according to His purposes.

There are times when God releases a believer from a painful or even dead marital union, for His calling and purpose in their lives. In His mercy, God forgives wrong choices in marriage, but some Christians seem to forgive murder easier than divorce! Does a divorcing believer need to announce such reasons as infidelity and other deep betrayals so others will know she or he is in the right? Or is it more respectful—and godly—to withstand the judgment of others than to make those reasons public?

When we choose wrongly due to immaturity, impatience, surface attraction, or other factors, and the relationship cannot be sustained, God is always able to do repair work. He is not caught by surprise by our choices in life. God can change any heart! But it’s better to be obedient first than risk the potential sacrifices later should that change never happen. Fortunately, some choices we thought were our own turn out to be God’s hand in our lives, whether we knew that at the time or not.

God always has His hand on people, some of whom have no clue He is there! Many have faithful intercessors, including parents and grandparents, who have been asking God to make this most critical choice for their loved ones who are seeking a spouse. God does answer prayer, for this choice and for any challenges that follow it. Loving intercessors also are a wonderful support for any couple going through troubled times. When fellowships judge someone who is divorced as unworthy of serving God among them, it adds further wounds. These are all fleshly ideas coming from the world, not the Lord.

So what is the answer? Being equally yoked by God’s spirit is God’s best, His ideal for marriages. When God chooses the partner, we are yoked together in Him with His best choice for us. Not the perfect person, but the perfect person for us! God’s perfect person has the key qualities we need in a helpmeet to walk together with Him in this life. Our joining in Him keeps us tethered when the union is strained—that three-fold cord that is not easily broken.That does not mean the qualities we need to balance us out in this life are always appreciated! Sometimes these are the very qualities that rub us the wrong way as we live together, until God changes our viewpoint to think and consider like He does.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8 ESV

Some Christians find it easier to focus on what is excellent and worthy of praise than others, but if God said it, we can all do it. Setting our will to focus on these qualities more than the fault or lack in our spouses enhances our love and appreciation of each other. Praying and thanking God over a list of good qualities when it’s become difficult to appreciate the spouse changes our viewpoint to what is good, the strengths our partner brings.

These are often the flip side of some of the qualities that occasionally annoy us. Is our partner being sensitive or too emotional? Structured or controlling? Spontaneous or unreliable? Laid back or lazy? Same characteristics, but the first is a positive way to understand that particular quality and appreciate it in our lives. Consider how we benefit from the differences to make us a stronger union. A laid-back (not lazy) partner is good for one that is passionate (not driven). The practical, common-sense partner balances out the imaginative dreamer. God helps us change our viewpoints!

God is in charge of the destiny of His creation, who is the right one for us, choosing more varied paths for people than we realize. Our uniqueness is a beautiful thing, showing forth God’s creative genius. God’s best for His own precious sons and daughters in lasting relationships is to be put together, joined, united in God. Many of us pray for years that God will make us one as He promises is possible, at some times praying more passionately than others!

Some differences between couples are more difficult to bear than others. These are the areas that require negotiation, compromise, and acceptance as we draw upon God’s love and wisdom in the relationship. God teaches what is hard-wired in our patterns and what is able to change through God’s intervention. In fact, this is the wisdom of the Serenity Prayer! Change what we can (ourselves), accept what we cannot change (others) and have the wisdom to know the difference.

God is more than able to let us know what is a permanent aspect of our spouse’s nature—and it is likely the part that will cause the most spiritual growth over time. What rarely works is setting out to change our partner ourselves, rather than allowing the holy spirit to do so. Most of us are willing to change but rarely does anyone appreciate someone trying to make them do so! Instead, God refines us, our fleshly ways, and our ability to grant forgiveness and mercy when that spouse of ours is being difficult.

We learn to cover our spouses in love, not rehearsing them to ourselves, reporting them others or even to mentioning them at all. What a discipine that is! We learn to guard against words that cause division, generating lasting conflict, along with bitterness so apparent in many marriages. We also use our good sense of humor from Father God to ease the friction that may arise. Our life partners are a blessing as well as an instrument of spiritual growth.

God is very efficient in bringing an end to our fleshly ways, using our most intimate partner in life to refine and change us:

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17 Berean

While this is not specific to marriage, it certainly applies! We do get sharpened and refined, as we live with our spouses and “rub” against each other. Yes, there is friction, but when submitted to God, rather than getting out our own “knives” to use on each other, the inner qualities of God in marital unions grow. Some of our spouses might even say that living with us has definitely made them more godly!

Agape love brings the oil of forgiveness and peace, making things go more smoothly. God’s words to husbands and wives, which we are exploring here, are the foundation of marital life for Christians, but generalizations about what a marriage should be that are not based upon God’s design are just human opinions. There are many patterns of happy marital unions in God’s kingdom, some of which would not appeal to everyone, but the Lord as the foundation makes it work.

Some unions start out more compatible, while others less so. Part of marital growth and compatibility is learning to blend what each partner brings rather than insisting that our partner be more like “us…our parent…society’s ideal…our friend or neighbor’s spouse.. images in society…or whoever.” It is impossible to talk about everything beforehand that arises in living together. Marriage equals growth, but some are surprised that growth is required along with love and acceptance.

Each spouse has some things we bring into relationships that we believe to be the right way to do things, big and small. Often we don’t even realize we have these assumptions going on underneath until they show up as conflict. There are jokes about the small things like how the toothpaste tube is to be squeezed or other habits as well as those larger issues such as patterns of communication, who does what work needed for home and family, expectations around celebrations and holidays, expressions of love and affection, and many many other important areas.

When unexplored “shoulds” are applied in a Christian marriage, these do damage. Whether they come from others or show up in marriages because of learned spousal or gender roles, they divide and conquer rather than unite and connect in love. God’s wisdom and understanding is available to guide and direct us to live in increasing compatibility, accepting each other’s differences as gifts rather than irritants.

We learn through God to enjoy and appreciate each other and the incredible richness of human life together. We surely cannot rely on man’s wisdom or advice, even when some say it is “just common sense.” Common sense says “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” while also saying “Familiarity breeds contempt.” Neither is absolute or godly wisdom. God’s wisdom is the only thing we can count on, and being led by the holy spirit is the primary path to contentment and joy.

Our Lord created us for relationships, intending that we would enjoy our relationship with Him and with each other. The spouse who is able to love their partner and enjoy being with them more than with any other has been given a great gift, indeed! God is love, and He is the expert on marital love as well as every other kind of love required to grow up into in Him. He has all our differences in background, childhood, values, habits, family traditions, and beliefs covered.

God knows the need and lack in our partner than we can fulfil. We need not allow our focus to be pulled to those differences and away from God. It’s human nature to focus on what’s wrong more than what’s right, but we are not of the flesh, but of the spirit when Christ is dwelling within. If in doubt of the human addiction to bad news, check it out. Though there are the occasional “feel-good” stories included these days, it’s not typically the good news that makes the headlines. What sells the news in any format is the bad news. But this is not God’s way:

“But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.

Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.” James 3:17-18 Berean

His wisdom applied in marriages is at first pure. Pure wisdom is without guile, selfish motives, or intent to manipulate. That takes a mature Christian! There is no hidden intent or "game-playing” behavior found in honest hearts seeking to be joined in Him. His wisdom growing within us always has the heart intent of peace, being gentle and accommodating. We are not to be peacemakers in the world alone, but peacemakers created by God to live with our spouses in unity.

God’s understanding then grows that we may live together in the precious companionship of love, joy, and peace. These qualities of the kingdom of God are nurtured and grow within us in our marriages. When God chooses to put together partners whose personalities and habits are similar, understanding may evolve more easily over time. Such couples are best friends right away, often with fewer conflicts than when God puts opposites together.

God knows who we need, whether it is someone much like ourselves or more in the “opposites attract” category of relationships. God even has us covered when we did not surrender to His choosing in a life partner. Whether God is in charge of a couple’s choices or not, there are times when lack of understanding brings discord, overwhelming one or the other spouse. That’s why it’s recommended for Christians to share a faith in God.

The Holy Spirit is the “tie that binds,” our strongest commonality in union with another:

“And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:12 KJV

The Concordant Literal provides a more clear visual picture of God’s plan for unity, particularly in expanding this passage:

“Two are better than one because there is better reward for them in their toil. For, if they fall, one can raise up his partner; But woe to him when there is no second person to raise him up.

Also, if two lie together, it is warm for them, yet for one, how can he keep warm? And if somebody can overpower him who is single, then two can stand firm in front of him who attacks.

A threefold thread cannot quickly be pulled apart.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Concordant Literal

A literal three-fold cord isn’t easy to pull apart—try it! For Christians united in marriage by God, our three-fold thread is each partner and Jesus Christ. God has compassion for those who do not have someone to “raise them up and keep them warm, to stand firm with them when under attack.” But is this not an awesome description of a godly partnership? When God puts two people together as His choice for both, this union cannot be quickly pulled apart, divided to separate emotionally, despite what comes.

These “man-woman-Jesus Christ” unions are those that God Himself has put together. It is like gold to find “the one” God has prepared for you, regardless of what either of you have gone through before. It doesn’t even matter what you think specifically brought the two of you together when the foundation is in God. He is that sure foundation. We all need someone to lift us up and keep us warm, stand with us when we are under attack from the enemy of our souls.

Due to life circumstances, such as the death of a spouse or one who is left not of their own choosing, God is able to repair the wounds and often provides another companion for such believers. Godly husbands can still anticipate having some challenges in loving their wives, especially when she is falling short of what he wants and expects of her. They may have murmurs and complaints, even frustration and bitterness, asking God “When is this woman going to listen to me? How many times do I have to say..? Doesn’t she respect me?” When such thoughts are allowed to be planted in the heart or spoken out loud, there’s danger ahead.

It is all too easy to have a root of bitterness springing up within. God warns against this “harbored hurt”:

“Husbands, love your wives [with an affectionate, sympathetic, selfless love that always seeks the best for them] and do not be embittered or resentful toward them [because of the responsibilities of marriage].” Colossians 3:19 Amplified

God would not have had Paul say this if it was not a common issue. As someone said, “Get better, not bitter.” Bitterness is truly an awful poison, ruining many relationships, and not just in marriages. Husbands are cautioned to keep their hearts clean toward their wives. These scriptures not only speak to the husband of his requirement to love his wife, but to respect that she is equal to him as God’s heir. Think of it! He is to let go of the issues that arise with his imperfect wife and look to God to give him what he needs as a husband to endure it, and hopefully, to enjoy her as the marvelous creature God meant specifically for him.

Women often try to make their husbands love them, but that job is only for God. Love that is demanded is not godly love. We might persuade a man, force or control him to act like he loves us, demand to be treated in certain ways, becoming angry or punishing when he falls short, but it will never satisfy our hearts. A wise woman waits on the Lord to work the love she needs into her husband’s heart, meanwhile drawing from the love of the Lord. How long it takes many of us to “wise up.”

God is the changer of hearts, unifier of flesh and blood into One in Him. Love is the strongest changer of hearts and He is love. We then pray most sincerely to God that our spouse be changed more into His likeness and image, in accord with God’s principles of love and respect in marriages. The challenge then is to learn to leave it with Him! We can influence our partner by our behavior but the response is theirs and God’s. Our focus must be on our own hearts, and what God wants changed in us.

There is no need to assign blame, which is quite different from responsibility. We are all responsible for our own actions and choices. Blame takes it further, judging the person, their character and intent as bad, accomplishing nothing to solve the issues present. Some of the reactions we get when trying to force our partner to be different are due to inept and even hurtful attitudes revealed in our behavior towards them.

Though our partners may actually want and desire to change, no one enjoys being controlled by angry, withdrawing or punitive behavior. No one should impose their human ideas of what their spouse should be. As godly men and women, we seek to learn and apply what mutual submission in love means. God has the blueprint that will fit each one of us. Paul says to submit “as unto the Lord.”

Do we submit to the Lord out of gladness and delight or out of fear of judgment and chastisement? It’s clear which God prefers. God is not satisfied with outward behaviors, an appearance of submitting to Him. He is after our hearts! God desires a full heart submission, with love and awe for our Maker and, as a result, for each other. “Submission” in Christian relationships is challenging to even bring up as it has been so misused by both men and women.

There is wisdom to be gleaned with a spiritual understanding of God’s meaning. Peter warns wives not to use words, including scripture, to persuade or judge:

“Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your husbands, so that even if they refuse to believe the word, they will be won over without words by the behavior of their wives.” 1 Peter 3:1

However you understand Paul’s directive for today, understand this: Paul spoke to Christian wives to submit themselves, just as He directed husbands to love their wives. Nowhere does it state that husbands are to make them do so, let alone that every man is to force every woman in fellowship or elsewhere to obey males in general. It does not say so! The husband is not to demand the wife submit, but to wait on the Lord for God to work this in her heart. This takes longer than husbands want it to as well!

Sometimes we do need to learn to “shut up,” as women are known to use more words than men in many situations and relationships. This is a hard, hard lesson for those of us who love to talk—and even make a career of it! The truth that many fellowships deny is that Christian women are not required in the word of God to submit to all male authority, regardless of men applying it this way for their own gain. These Christian males take a distinctly different attitude towards women than Jesus did. Jesus spoke and demonstrated far more about serving each other in love than dominating another because of one’s gender.

When we serve each other in love, what we do outwardly may look the same, but the thought and intent of the heart is to bless and please the one we love. If I love to wait on my husband at times though he does not demand it or if my husband loves to treat me like a queen though I do not expect it, is this not honoring to the Lord? It’s our business, not a law someone else and their expectations puts on us to rob us of our spiritual freedon.

In contrast, is it honoring to God for wives to “submit” with a heart of resentment and bitterness or out of fear of anger and blame? Gifts are freely given, and love makes no demands. God does not demand love, He freely gives it. Submission is first to God, our Lord and Master. Is it God’s way for husbands to demand that their wives submit instead of leaving this heart work to God? Is it the Lord who is causing wives to shame and blame their husbands for their lack of love?

God could demand that we all love and submit to Him, but He did not. He loves the heart that loves Him willingly and draws us all through His nature of love. There are limits and God surely has discipline for us, but the motive is always for our good. Would God have us use any scripture to justify or excuse wanting one’s own way at the expense of another? Is our Lord pleased when we use His word as a weapon of control, to expect to be be waited on and served, to demand having things our way?

This is selfishness and pride, not God’s character at all. Jesus Christ came to serve and we are to serve each other in marriage. There is no one pattern because there are differing challenges. Flesh makes laws about things that only God can accomplish within us. Each partner may have strengths in dealing with aspects of marital and family life that complement their partner who is not strong or gifted in that area. These may sharply differ from the division of roles and responsibiilities we grew up witnessing with our parents. We are different, times change, and so do marriages.

Some women are married to unbelieving husbands, bringing particular issues to the marriage. It can be difficult for unbelieving husbands to accept their wives’ love and time for the Lord more than for them. It is also challenging for the believing wife to refrain from pushing God onto their husbands. An amusing cartoon about this is entitled “Joe felt led to go to church,” with a picture of Joe being dragged there by his wife. We laugh partly because it may hit near the truth!

Let’s revisit Peter’s controversial directive about wives submitting to their husbands, considering the context of this submission directive:

“ Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.

For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God.

But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” 1 Peter 2:13-22 NIV

“Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” 1 Peter 3:1-9 NIV

Peter addresses all the ways we can demonstrate love, honor, and submission to the Lord, becoming like Him and bringing His grace into every situation. He states that we’re all required to submit to others, including those over us in authority, regardless of how they are handling themselves. We may suffer unjustly and unfairly, as Jesus did, and God honors that. Wives and husbands may do “it”, this submission that demonstrates the character of the Lord, in differing ways according to each one’s needs.

In other words, every believer is required to learn submission to others, not for their sake or position in marriage, but as unto the Lord. And He rewards us with more of His character for His glory. We are all to to bless and serve one another, each of us in our calling in order to enjoy our blessings. Given these passages, where is truth in separating out the woman to submit to her husband, while ignoring the much larger message Peter has for God’s own?

What Peter says about not using words applies to others also, not just wives. Many words can be a torment to the one desiring to live in peace. Articulate godly men and women who are publicly used in speaking to others, such as ministers and teachers, will learn not to use what works publicly in the same way at home. More than one family of a preacher or spiritual leader becomes weary of getting “preached at.” Children of teachers or counselors do not enjoy becoming their parents’ student or counselee. Just because we can, we do not have to speak all we know.

The roadmap of the submit/love balance remains true in His word, but needs to be understood by the spirit, applied in a far different way than the history of its use in religion. Women have and continue to suffer much disrespect and abuse in religious circles. Some blame all women for Eve’s deception, for causing sexual immorality, considered less than, even viewed as servants to men. How can this possibly fit with the heart of God, Who is love and mercy, truth and justice?

This is motivated by self rather than love, stemming from fear and lack of trust, not godly love.There’s a balance here, with Paul talking about husbands loving their wives immediately following this directive to wives to submit themselves. It’s easy to submit ourselves to someone who loves and understands us, who is laying down their lives for us as Christ did for the church. It is not God’s character that insists gender and marital roles be a certain way to be Christian.

When husbands try to make their wives submit, particularly through anger and control, it works no better than wives who try to make their husbands love them. Paul also speaks to children submitting to parents and slaves to their masters, fathers to children. The key is God’s emphasis on the attitude of the heart:

“...not in the way of eye-service [working only when someone is watching you and only] to please men, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart; rendering service with goodwill, as to the Lord, and not [only] to men,” Ephesians 6:6-7 Amplified

The word to fathers and masters speaks clearly about the kind of authority God would have coming from the heart:

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to the point of resentment with demands that are trivial or unreasonable or humiliating or abusive; nor by showing favoritism or indifference to any of them], but bring them up [tenderly, with lovingkindness] in the discipline and instruction of the Lord…

You masters, do the same [showing goodwill] toward them, and give up threatening and abusive words, knowing that [He who is] both their true Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with Him [regardless of one’s earthly status].” Ephesians 6:4;9 Amplified

Oh that we could heed this guidance in family relationships, to treat children with tenderness and loving kindness, instead of as “masters to slaves,”,recognizing the limits of their development and wisdom. Husbands and wives model godly behavior—or not—to their children. Without submitting all to God the Father through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice, generational patterns repeat the same harm and wounds.

All of this is training and preparation in serving the Lord from a heart of submission in love, as clearly stated in the following verses:

“In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [draw your strength from Him and be empowered through your union with Him] and in the power of His [boundless] might.

Put on the full armor of God [for His precepts are like the splendid armor of a heavily-armed soldier], so that you may be able to [successfully] stand up against all the schemes and the strategies and the deceits of the devil.” Ephesians 6:10-11 Amplified

Put on all the armor of Go to fight our true enemy, which is not other human beings, but the strongholds of lies, deception, and selfishness that live in the heart of humans. Our enemy, including those things in our spouses, is not flesh and blood, but powerful strongholds in the spiritual realm, working against, dividing, and, yes, testing us in the crucible of intimate family relationships.

Satan loves to divide and stir up strife, using deception to cloud the love we are to have for each other. In a related passage in Colossians 3, Paul emphasizes again:

“…Whatever you do [whatever your task may be], work from the soul [heart] [that is, put in your very best effort], as [something done] for the Lord and not for men, knowing [with all certainty] that it is from the Lord [not from men] that you will receive the inheritance which is your [greatest] reward. ” Colossians 3:232-24, Amplified

Yes, everything works for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Allowing God to choose our partner is a great advantage. He knows exactly what each of us need and how to make us one. The best foundation is to be joined spiritually, having similar beliefs and looking to God to refine both our faith and our walk in Him. That does not mean the path will be easy, but being unequally yoked has its own pain and challenges.

In a conversation with a Christian woman years ago, she revealed she was about to get divorced for the third time. She was heartbroken, shamed, guilty, and discouraged, blaming herself and also wondering why God was allowing it to happen again. It was a revelation to her, as a Christian, that she could, and actually needed to ask God to choose her husband! She hadn’t even realized this was God’s heart’s desire to do for her, His beloved daughter. Such an important decision, and yet the God she clearly loved was not at the center of it.

When God does the choosing, it may come as a surprise that He does not rely on the other person calling themselves Christian. God chooses some who do not know the Lord for His beloved believers’ spouses. There are couples whom God has truly put together, while at the moment, one is not a committed believer. God knows when a heart is prepared to receive Him and will work it out.

My parents were married for 56 years, with my father having been a believer since age 11 when he went with his parents to a tent meeting. He and his parents remained faithful servants of God, attending church from that time on, continuing in honor and devotion to God throughout their lives. When my father was a young man of 25 attending a local youth group, God spoke to him about my mother, also in attendance at that youth group. My mother attended the church where the youth group was being held, so she had a nominal faith. God said to my Dad, “She’s the one.” Then my father waited on God for a year or more to be certain.

We didn’t know until a few years after my mother died that my father had been so directed in his youth to marry my mother. It’s amazing that this occurred as my reserved father did not share other examples of being spoken to by God. He remained a steadfast and gentle man of faith, walking in what he knew and obedient to what God expected of him. God honored that by giving my mother to him.

Outwardly seeming to be Christian, my mother actually did not have a personal relationship with God, though she and my father raised us in a Christian home. Because of my father’s godly leadership, we always went to church, prayed at meals, and learned about the Bible, observing my parents living with godly values. My siblings all cherish the memory of my father reading Bible stories to us every night after supper on the farm. It is an incredible gift to have a godly gentle father who exhibits the character traits and values of the Lord.

For that reason, I did not realize growing up that my mother was outwardly conforming but really did not know the Lord. I also did not understand how much my quiet, gentle father’s faith was the foundation of our Christian upbringing. My father surely remained steadfast, never spoke of her as an unbeliever, waiting many years until my mother came to know Jesus Christ personally. She eventually got captured by the Lord during the charismatic movement in the 1970’s and began to change by the spirit. In fact, she changed so much that we adult children noticed it and it influenced us as well.

My parents’ shared values united them through the years, but it was my mother who later went further spiritually, hungering for God, eventually experiencing the baptism of the spirit like her mother had. After my mother was converted, she shared many examples with others of being led of the Lord. Mom was known for her love and wise counsel, her nonjudgmental acceptance of those around her. Many many prayers were said for us, her children, including praying for our spouses. I thank God for the Christian upbringing we all were given and follow to this day. What a blessing that no one told Dad not to marry Mom because of their differing spiritual commitments.

Only what God gives us to say and do will result in the resolution we seek. Peace is not truly peace when it is demanded of a spouse, enforced by fear or control. God’s love makes no demands, as He gave us free will to follow or not. We are on a path to be more and more like our Lord Jesus Christ, whom God sent as His perfect example. He is always with us and faithful to grant wisdom in being united in God to anyone who asks it of Him.

He is inside of us, in spirit, and we can reach out for godly counsel at all times and in all things. We are His. He alone is able to unite us in Him.

“God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.

For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’” Acts 17:27-28 Berean

Worship

Have you ever considered—or even debated about —the “right” way to worship God? It is an essential aspect of any fellowship with God and others. As in so many other matters, we Christians don’t agree on it. There are many different forms of worship with a great deal of variety in how Christians worship. We typically develop patterns and preferences of worship based on our fellowship and our familiarity, our heritage and traditions.

Churches even accommodate preferences in worship by offering a “traditional” service as well as a “praise and worship” service, with the distinction being how worship is conducted. We worship alone, at home, or with others as God gathers His people to honor Him. The traditionalists have kept to piano and organ to accompany the familiar hymns, old and new, often with a formal choir. Children and youth seem to lead the change in enjoying contemporary worship styles, using a praise and worship team with guitars, drums, tambourines, and other accompaniment.

There has been a gradual change through the years about this, with more and more fellowships adding contemporary worship to engage and bless young people. And some of us seniors enjoy it too! But any pastor or church leader will tell you how challenging it can be to please an entire congregation of worshipers with differing tastes in music, let alone beliefs about what is proper worship in honoring the Lord.

There is also a distinction between praise songs, which are typically free-flowing and joyful, and worship songs that lead us into a more quiet, deep reverence of our God. The people of God want to worship Him, but what blesses and lifts us into God’s presence differs. Further, worship does not require a religious setting, but that is where most of us have learned about worship patterns and beliefs.

I grew up in a traditional denominational church, singing many well-known hymns there as well as playing and singing them at home with my family. The church choir made beautiful music and those who sang solos had voices that rose in melody and love to God. These hymns of praise and worship by the saints of former times are imprinted upon my heart. Growing up in a Christian family where church attendance was required, they were the best part of church attendance for me.

These wonderful hymns, some hundreds of years old, still ring in my spirit, bringing back memories of the hymns my parents most loved and sang. My father was a Christian from childhood on and his voice singing these and other hymns really blessed our growing up years. My mother sang and played the piano and later, my siblings played music as well. I still love hearing such well-known hymns such as What a Friend We Have in Jesus. This Is My Father’s World, and I Come to the Garden Alone, among many others. And will any of us ever tire of Amazing Grace?

Later, as an adult hungry for God, I was drawn to a nondenominational church that sang only choruses, over and over. In the first few months, I found this strange, repetitive, and uninspiring though I never shared that with anyone at the time! I did not see the point of singing the same words over and over. I did not feel God’s presence or the spirit in these wonderful choruses I later grew to love. I missed the old hymns and type of worship I was familiar with, so much that after a few months, I almost returned to my familiar denomination.

Thankfully, the Lord held me steady until my heart could soften enough to receive the holy spirit to enliven my experience of worship. Receiving the baptism of the holy spirit helped me discover deep meaning in the spiritual presence of God that these choruses of praise and worship brought. I gradually began to enter into the worship and praise at my new church, learning how to join in the spirit of them in honoring our Lord together.

But no one ever required me to worship in this way. Not one of them told me how to worship nor made me feel chastised or judged because I did not enter in as they did. They just let the holy spirit do its work. As a result, I spent much of the first six months with this fellowship crying through worship times. God was softening my heart, making a place for the teachings of the spirit this group had to offer.

Soon I felt such a presence of God in the worship that it moved me greatly. Then it was easy to be lost in beautiful choruses that had once seemed so repetitive to me. Soon this way of worship, a freedom to express whatever was in us to God, became most meaningful to me. Later, I was surprised and honored when the Lord made me the worship leader at this fellowship. It was not a calling I had expected or even desired to have, but He put it within me.

Through that, God taught me by the spirit what to sing when. He often placed a song in my heart to start our worship. Then the Lord would lift up the worship into the spirit where He was. I learned how to “catch the mind of the spirit” to flow where His spirit led in the song services we had together. God even released my ability to play the piano by ear, through the word of a prophet, so that I could accompany the songs we were singing to the Lord.

That fellowship and any guests patiently endured my times of plunking away until this gift was refined. No one said to me “Here’s how to lead song service, here are the steps to leading worship,” though others in that fellowship had done it and knew how. I had wonderful examples, but once again, they let the holy spirit be my teacher and guide.

I did not realize then the great gift this precious fellowship of saints, and their paster, Rev. Maxine Plowman, gave me in allowing the Lord to train me, rather than humans. I sat under one of the best preacher/teachers of that time, learning under the spiritual mentorship of Sister Plowman, my spiritual mother. I was also privileged to learn from the many seasoned ministers who visited us during gatherings of the saints.

Not only did they bring a powerful word, many were amazingly gifted with songs of praise and worship. They were all different, rarely having perfect voices or demonstrating mastery of instruments. But oh, how achingly beautiful was their worship and praise from their pure hearts of love for God. These were strongly formative years of my spiritual walk, and how I cherish the memories, though we are now all scattered and that work is gone.

God has many troubadours who are gifted with incredible talent to sing and play instruments for Him, whether all of them realize it or not! Many of us enjoy contemporary Christian songs of worship as well as secular musicians who show forth God’s calling in their lives. He is the creator of music and He has many expressions, much variety in what He uses to speak spiritually. While some music is immediately recognizable as having absolutely no God-given spirit, so much music of infinite variety speaks to each of our spirits in differing ways.

Like in other callings, what is in the musician’s heart, what the intent is in the music that is shared, comes through to bless and uplift us. Some are clearly anointed to do what they do, whether in spiritual settings or outside of such occasions. God’s own recognize His life in many forms of music. Think how incredible the music of the heavenly hosts must be! Never will there be melody, harmony, and expression of the pure life of God in music like that will be to our ears!

There are many different cultural traditions in the nations where Christians dwell throughout the world. Some of us appreciate a broad variety of forms of worship but that is not so for all other believers. The very thing that touches one Christian’s heart turns another completely off. Humans go through changes and styles, groups and solo worship, ideally with one key commonality: honoring our Lord through the spiritual expression of our love and faith in Him.

There is one experience I will share here that is relevant to this topic of worship. One Easter, I was visiting a small town, unfamiliar to me, staying with a family who were not churchgoers. I wanted to attend Easter services somewhere as it was meaningful to me. The church I chose had an incredible choir, accompanied by skilled musicians. They put on a beautiful musical program, singing songs honoring the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.

By that time, I was used to always feeling the Lord when I gathered with other believers. For the first time in years, however, I sat in this church, hearing beautiful music, and did not sense the presence of the Lord at all. It actually frightened me because it was so unexpected. They had beautiful, stunning harmony, accompanied by talented musicians as good as any professional production, with warm and friendly people, but it did not touch my spirit at all.

When I asked God what was happening here, hoping to understand why, He said, “They don’t know me.” Never had it been so clear that the presence of God is brought by the people who come together to love and worship Him. This music was amazing entertainment but there were not enough people gathered in that place who brought the Lord and His spirit to make it worshipful.

God is spirit and when there is no spirit of His life in the worship flowing from hearts who love Him, it is dead. It does not touch the heart, though the emotions may be stirred. Though outwardly making beautiful melodies, sadly, it did not seem to reach the Lord. A joyful noise from less talented believers would have honestly been an improvement. More than one spiritual gathering is elevated by powerful praise and worship that, listened to later without the anointing, becomes literally “making a joyful noise to the Lord.” The anointing of God swallows up musical error and lack of talent to produce amazing harmony with the Lord.

God is not interested in being entertained or having His people put together an impressive program that lacks His presence. This is a form of godliness without power, as Paul spoke about to Timothy. Here is what God said in Isaiah:

“Therefore the Lord said: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.

Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.” Isaiah 29:13 Berean

“And saying is Yahweh, ‘Forasmuch as close to Me is this people with their mouth, and with their lips they glorify Me, yet their heart is far from Me, and their fear of Me is becoming as the instruction of mortals' teaching.’" Isaiah 29:13 Concordant Literal

Some believe that there should be no such thing as “Christian” artists who make a living singing and playing songs for their audience. Yet God has many troubadours and they are not all in church. Division and controversy increase when we insist that there is only one way to truly worship God—our way—and attempt to make others take on what is meaningful to us. Then it is not just differing traditions or tastes, but a judgment that our way is right and others are wrong. Inevitably, division and strife arise. And that is not a heart attitude that can praise and worship in the pure flow of God.

What does God say about the worship of Him? What is pleasing to our Lord? Is there only one way to worship God, one right style of words and music that honors Him? We know that it is the heart of believers that is our Lord’s focus, much more so than whether we are worshiping in the “right way” according to our traditions, musical gifts, level of comfort and familiarity. We can sing off-key, we can have not one ounce of musical talent, we can be clumsy and awkward in what we attempt to do with the musical part of our worship, but if the Holy Spirit is present within, it is holy, anointed to honor our Lord and express our love for Him. Here is what the Lord says:

“But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.

God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24 Berean

Let’s take a look at the specific words in this passage. God is seeking true worshipers to worship Him in spirit and in truth. The translation of this passage is remarkably consistent among various versions of the Bible. True means just what it says: worshiping in truth, the foundation of God’s truth. The word “worship” is from the Greek word “proskunetes,” meaning an “adorer, one who kisses or prostrates oneself in homage, doing reverence.” Worship is an expression of adoration of our Lord and Savior, a heart condition that is critical for the outward expression of worshipful music and praise.

Hearing someone who is called to minister in music and song is an incredible blessing, uplifting us from our earthly existence into where He dwells. But even when we do not have any of these gifts, we can still make a beautiful noise onto our God. He looks at the sincerity of our hearts. It must be true worship, worshiping the true God, allowing the spirit of the Holy One to be preeminent. Worship flows from a heart of adoration, a reverence for Who He is and all that He has done for us.

How do you pour out your adoration to our God? Is it confined to one specific form of worship, one type of music? Or can you adore God, prostrating yourself in your heart to Him regardless of circumstances? God is saying that the worship He desires is in spirit and truth. As Paul said to the Ephesians in the above passage, we can sing and make melody to the Lord in our hearts all the time! There is no requirement that it must be done in a religious setting. Adoration of our God can flow out of us each moment as we consider His love for us, this beautiful creation He has made, and the precious people of the Lord as well as all humanity who need Him but do not yet know His love and mercy, truth and justice.Who—and what— do we adore?

There are many people we love, things we enjoy given for our pleasure, but who and what do we adore above all? The very first commandment underscores the position God wants in each of our hearts:

“You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:3 KJV

Jesus chastised the scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders of His days on earth, about this, repeating the words of Isaiah quoted above:

“You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’” Matthew 15:7-9 Berean

Worship of God in spirit and truth requires more than lip service, organized forms and patterns of a song service, or the singing of hymns or choruses. What is meaningful to one person holds no spiritual value to another, but the issue is not doctrine. Doctrine, according to the dictionary, means “a principle or position or the body of principles in a branch of knowledge or system of belief.” There are fundamental doctrines of our faith that are important building blocks for our walk in God, but He is much more interested in our relationship with Him than man made requirements that have become doctrines and beliefs.

David well knew this:

“For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, Oh God, you will not despise.” Psalms 51: 17 Berean

For the Israelites, sacrifice of animals as burnt offerings was the acceptable form to worship God and atone for sins. David had grievously sinned against the Lord. He knew all of the traditional ways of Jewish worship, how to bring sacrifices and burnt offerings. David realized that these would not please or delight the Lord after he had grievously sinned against the Lord. God was only interested in a heart change within David. That was what would restore David in His relationship with the Lord.

All through the Old Testament, we see that God often took issue with His people for worshiping other gods. Many times their leaders were removed from authority and their lands given to another because they’d fallen into worshiping idols, influenced by the unbelievers around them. Jesus came to do away with this need for repeated sacrifices for our sins and the old traditions and rules of the religious Jews. He fulfilled all of the commandments of Moses, stating:

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40 KJV

The new covenant that Jesus brought is a covenant of love. We are commanded to completely, with all of our being, love the Lord: heart, soul, and mind. For many of us, this is a lifelong process of in-working so that we truly adore God first and foremost. It fulfills all of what was laid out in the Old Testament about God’s people. It comes from a heart that is in love with our Lord, desiring His rule within our hearts above all. Then, we truly delight in the Lord!

The critical question is not “what is the best way to worship God?” Instead, it is “What or who do we adore?” Most of us have many things we enjoy but this question, when asked by God, delves deeper into what is most important to us. God is stripping us of all those things to which we have run through the years. The Israelites are not the only ones who succumb to idols. Examine what our societies promote and hold up as important and it’s easy to see that God is not often at the top of the list.

As Christians, we allow many things to take up residence in our hearts, pushing the Lord further and further behind in our love and devotion. And this can be many good things! Our children or family, our work called by God, great food and entertainment, and even our church and its traditions of worship and praise. Some of these things we have run to are ways to soothe and comfort ourselves in place of God. Only God knows what is in each heart.

We need not judge one another by the type of music nor the position of our bodies as we worship and praise Him. Some always lift their hands in praise, while others are acutely uncomfortable to do so, at least in public. Many congregants would not dream of making any noise, let alone a enthusiastically particpate in the worship service. Others are expected to do so whenever the spirit moves them. It’s these differing experiences that we can learn to leave with God.

God knows what things are a priority for us. We humans are created for worship but those who do not know God, or when we do not yet know Him deeply, heart to heart, allow enjoyment of many things to grow into adoration, taking priority over the Lord. We believers do not want to be counted as such. God even reveals to some of us that we adore the feeling of worshiping God more than God Himself. It is the best thing in the world to feel God’s presence, but He did not list this as a requirement of worship. Even when we do not feel Him with us or get that wonderful flood of blessing to our souls when we sing and worship Him, He is with us. He promised to be with us forever.

God is busy revealing where our hearts are far from Him, when we still unfaithfully run to things when we are upset or distressed before the Lord. Hobbies or habits are not filling the heart with God. He doesn’t condemn us, He changes us so that our hearts can become true worshipers of Him. Many of us have sung the song “He’s All I Need,” as we long for it to be so. It’s usually true when we are focused on Him. But we get distracted and busy, with so many choices and, yes, temptations, that draw our hearts away.

He loves us still and honors our worship according to the truth we know. Now is the time when He is purifying our desires to have full hearts of adoration towards Him. And even that we cannot do without being in a relationship with Him! We cannot by works make ourselves, let alone our hearts, be true and faithful. Only God by His spirit can do that. The good news is that He created us to be in a relationship with Him, our Companion forever.

God desires us to worship Him in spirit because He is spirit. We connect with Him spirit to spirit. When our spirit knows His spirit, we know when God is present in our worship and praise as well as in many other times in our lives. We sense if it is true worship by the spirit or just a form or tradition in which He is not there. God dwells in the praises of His people. That means He promises to be with us as we praise Him. When David’s soul was crying out in desperation to God, he says:

“But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” Psalms 22:3 ASV

God is everywhere. He is not restricted to showing up in our lives just when we praise Him. But He sure loves it when we do! The word “dwells” comes from the Hebrew word “yashab”, meaning “to sit down, to remain, make a habitation.” When His people, called by His name, adore Him with an expression of praise and worship, He comes to stay, to sit with us, to tabernacle in us. We can count on it!

As Peter says, we are His special possession, chosen to declare His praises on the earth.

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9 Berean

“God, take us further into You. Create in us, Your people, worshipful adoration of You that flows from our hearts as the One we adore.” Amen.

Kingdom Priests

“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the Day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine. The Lord will roar from Zion and raise His voice from Jerusalem; heaven and earth will tremble.

But the Lord will be a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the people of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who dwells in Zion, My holy mountain.

Jerusalem will be holy, never again to be overrun by foreigners. And in that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. All the streams of Judah will run with water, and a spring will flow from the house of the Lord to water the Valley of Acacias.” Joel 3:14-18 Berean

The Day of the Lord is upon us, wherein we are have opportunity to be filled with all the fullness of Christ. We are to do His will in the earth as He has destined for us. We need all of His nature, all of it! If we are to have God’s redemptive justice married to His mercy, we will not feel a speck of superiority or in any way predict oncoming condemnation outside of His love. We long for our hearts to be free of religious zeal, the need to appear and act righteous in front of others.

Yes, we are to avoid the appearance of evil, but not because we want to impress others. We desire first and foremost, to be right in God’s eyes and at peace whether others are okay with us or not. God says that when a man’s ways please the Lord, even His enemies will be at peace with him! Amazing, isn’t it? We submit to the Lord when we are drawn, allowing God to prepare our hearts:

“The preparations of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits.

Commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will be established. In mercy and truth atonement is provided for iniquity; and by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil.

When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Proverbs 16:1-3:6-7 NKJV

Think of it. God looks at the spirit dwelling within our hearts. We prepare our hearts for the Lord as we seek Him for His answers. When our ways please the Lord, our enemies won’t bother us. The refining of any area that pleases God needs no more opposition, no internal or external enemies to test it. It is no longer needed when God pronounces that the refining process is complete in us. This is when He is reigning over us, His authority supreme in all matters. Then we can truly say we are ruling and reigning with Him!

Remember, our enemies are not people:

“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12 NLT

Do you realize that there are evil spirits in heavenly places? Heaven is a spiritual place of dwelling, and there are many dwelling places in God’s heavens. Not all heavens are pure in spirit, but there is the highest heaven that is pure and clean, where those who overcome dwell with God. This is Zion, the new Jerusalem, the habitation of priests and kings, where the throne of God and the Lamb are established, in full authority of rulership.

Oh yes, the enemy of our souls, the devil who Jesus said was evil from the beginning, loves to stir up trouble in some of the heavenly places we dwell. He delights in dividing and conquering through strife among the brethren. He plants the seeds of discord, discontentment and disturbance in our hearts. But this is not always to be.

For kingdom priests, these heavens are not our final destination.

“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.” Malachi 3:1 Berean

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.’

And He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ And He said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true.’ Revelation 21:1-5 NASB

He sent His holy messenger to be in our temple, within us, preparing the way for the Lord to fully dwell within. Our holy habitation is a dwelling place not made by hands, just as Abraham sought. It is a place in the spirit while on this earth. A new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness actually dwells here, in our very own fleshly earth. He brings about His Day, where there won’t be tears or sorrow or crying or pain, ever again.

When God fully dwells within us, all tears are wiped away. Wouldn’t you like to be a part of wiping away all the many tears of sorrow and pain for the people of this world? It is to come on the earth, in this life, where death is to be destroyed. These promises may not happen in our particular lifetime but they will happen. God said this would all come to pass, and cannot be for “heaven” as most conceive of it, because there already is no sorrow or tears or mourning or pain for the dead.

Here, where we live in this world, is where the need is for the Lord to bring His full and complete victory over death and sin. And it shall be so, no matter how long it takes. Christians do not yet have unity in much of their beliefs and doctrines but most of us sense it is the beginning of the great and terrible day of the Lord. Knowing we are the temple of the Lord, we see that He has promised to come and dwell inside of a people who are His holy habitation.

“For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” 2 Corinthians 6:16b NASB

“I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the Lord.

And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has promised, among the remnant called by the Lord.” Joel 2:31-32 Berean

His kingdom priests, those dwelling in the spirit in Zion as well as those remaining on the earth, are being trained to build, to edify and be built up in love. We seek the Lord to tear down those strongholds that remain in past heavenly places we have experienced. Satan can only operate where there remains earth for him to work within. Where God gives the victory, we no longer dwell on that earth.

“The Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.” Genesis 3:14 ESV

“Now judgment is upon this world; now the prince of this world will be cast out.” John 12:31 Berean

God’s judgment on the small serpent in the Garden was that he could only operate on the earth. The serpent was cunning, using his deceptive venomous mouth to deceive and destroy. And by the end of the book, in Revelation, he is going about “as a roaring dragon”, seeking whom he may devour. But the book also says he will be cast out, done for, destroyed, thrown into the lake of fire along with hell and death.

Snakes are an effective symbol of the devil’s weapons. Snakes have no hands or feet, but they do have a mouth with venom that can destroy. Is this not just what has happened in the Christian churches since the beginning? Words, words, words! Man’s opinions of the things of God, man’s judgment on others who believe differently, rumors and gossip condemning without understanding, laws and traditions debated and used to “kill” others’ ministries— all these words used to deceive and condemn are satan’s weapons.

But our earth is being swallowed up in victory! In every area where we overcome through the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. Satan will have no more access to that earth to trouble us. He can no longer plant his seed of deception and evil within our souls because we have a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness! He no longer is allowed to buffet us, to test us as we overcome in our walk with the Lord:

“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:4-5 ESV

“And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” Revelation 12:11 ESV

We are living in the spirit in ever-growing, victorious areas no longer dominated by the fleshly habitations of men. All the saints who have passed on, eligible for the highest place in God through suffering and overcoming, dwell in spiritual Mount Zion. They have no more enemies, but we on this earth still have much to overcome. They without us cannot enter in, so you can just imagine how they are cheering us on!

There is a great deal of the “earthy” in us that must be purged. Our enemy in this life is still around until God swallows up all in victory in the ages to come. There are those who will have a spirit of opposition and contention, coming against the word and will of God until facing Him after death, but the spirit within them cannot disturb our peace. Oh, Hallelujah! There is a season for all things.

God knows His sons and daughters and He is preparing us thoroughly for every good work, as Paul told Timothy:

“A large house contains not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay. Some indeed are for honorable use, but others are for common use.

So if anyone cleanses himself of what is unfit, he will be a vessel for honor: sanctified, useful to the Master, and prepared for every good work.” 2 Timothy 2:20-21 Berean

God is the only one who knows exactly what is in the hearts of His people. He always knows where His wonderful surgical word needs to cut away the flesh, allowing the fire of His presence to burn up the dross.

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 NIV

Each of us can be a vessel of honor at some times, used for every good work, and potetially, at other times, as a vessel of dishonor used to try and test our fellow humans. We want all of God’s best as we interact in this world, desiring pure motives in our hearts. If called to be kingdom priests, we will be representing a balance in intercession between God and men, a priesthood, as well spiritual authority as kings. God will not give authority or responsibility in His kingdom into the hands of anyone who is not made in His likeness and image.

Oh, to be like our Father: full of love, always redemptive in our judgments with the intent to alleviate suffering and pain, releasing others from bondage, blessing and not cursing, to wait upon Him for His dealings. Some of us “talkers” have many more times when God tells us to be quiet than to speak His word! Thankfully He has “spiritual duct tape” necessary for just this purpose until His ways are fully written in our hearts. After enough times of God stopping words that rise up in haste or selfishness, to be heard rather than to hear, or just because it is not the time, our hearts will be purged so such words don’t even occur to us.

“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts.” Proverbs 21:2 KJV

“Every way of a man seems upright in his own eyes, yet it is Yahweh Who gauges the hearts.” Proverbs 21:2 Concordant Literal

God makes clear that we cannot judge our own hearts. We humans all think we’re right in our own eyes until God sheds His light within us sufficiently to see. The Hebrew word “takan” is translated as “ponder or gauge” in the above translations, meaning to “balance, measure out, or weigh” the heart. The Lord is not just seeing what is in our hearts, He is evaluating it, balancing it in accord with His righteous heart.

The Lord knows when our hearts are not right, whether we do not know or refuse to recognize it. He continually calls us to love with the unimaginable purity of the love of God. New vistas of God are unfolding within as He enlightens us to the truth of His redemptive judgment. His Kingdom priests will be empowered to rule righteously, with mercy and justice together.

Those dwelling in spiritual Zion now are kingdom priests—kings with authority who intercede with God for people on their behalf. The two together—kings and priests—are the Kingdom's authority in His holy spiritual government. Melchizedek was the first such priest and Jesus is a priest of this Melchizedek realm of an endless life.

“Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was the priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.’” Genesis 14:18-20 NIV

“And having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him and was designated by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 9:9-10 Berean

Melchizedek was king of Salem, meaning “peace,” serving as priest for God Most High.He just suddenly appears in the account of Abraham’s experiences. In Revelation, God speaks of the many more kingdom priests He will form after this same order of an endless life. Others may not be called to be kingdom priests, not required to take the same route to God. God is in charge of each Christian’s calling.

After Jesus told Peter to “feed my sheep,” Peter asked Jesus what was to happen to John, his brother in Christ.

"Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is going to betray you?’ )

When Peter saw him, he asked, ‘Lord, what about him?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me." John 21:20 NASB

Jesus essentially told Peter, “It’s none of your business what I do with another. You focus on following Me!” What great advice this still is, particularly when we are wondering why our sisters and brothers in Christ seem to be having experiences with God that differ from ours. We need not be concerned if another seems to be prospering in their way while we are not. We are told to not even concern ourselves with what another follower of Christ is, has, or may be doing that differs from our own lot in life.

What does it matter to us if they have 1000 followers while we have only a handful—or none? What is the difference if some are called to large successful ministries fit for that age while we wait upon God in the desert to become priests and kings for Him? We have the roadmap of His Word, by the spirit and in the Book. We must walk our own walk in the way God has designed for us. We cannot tell by outward appearance whether another is called and chosen by God as a king and priest in God’s spiritual kingdom.

Once when our son was in grade school, his circle of friends began to change, leaving him alone on the playground for a time. I told Chris it was a test from God. His all-too-human response was: “Well, can’t someone else take the test?” The only One who ever could, Jesus Christ, was my son’s Friend, and he did pass this test in his young life. There are times when another’s trials do look easier, even preferable, to ours. We might want to ‘trade tests” with them as Chris did.

But we have no idea, unless God reveals it, what that other person has or is now really experiencing. Our trials may appear similar, but God designs just the adversity we need to form us into His image. As we mature, we’re grateful that we only have our own particular tests that God has allowed. We are thankful not to have the experiences some other Christians are going through. There are always those who are suffering more, and others suffering less, than we are.

“For every man shall bear his own burden. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Galatians 6:506 KJV

It’s not about suffering or worthiness, it’s about God’s will. As Jesus said, our job is to follow Him, passing those tests He puts in our way. Sometimes our tests and trials seem more difficult, even unfairly so. There are times when a series of adverse events have occurred, that we may say to God, “Really?? Really, Lord, you thought I needed all of this?” We give no credit to the devil as we are in the hands of the Father and it is Him with whom we have to deal.

It is the way of the flesh to bring critical judgment to what is happening to others. If bad things happen, the carnal judgment is that the person must have done something to deserve it. That’s what Job’s friends told him. This also means that those for whom good things happen must have done something to earn it. It is a comfortable, if erroneous, explanation for suffering, giving us the illusion that if we are good enough, we can escape suffering.

God’s judgments are different. They focus on our character and our calling, what will most grow the fruit of the kingdom within us. He is always working to refine His truth within, writing it in our hearts. Sometimes the suffering and trials that come upon us are because of what we have asked Him to work out within us, such as the old joke about praying for patience, only to have a number of things that test just that!

We all bring our past into our present walk until God deals, heals, and moves us on, enabling us to forget it. He is exposing and purging lies we have accumulated along the way. Just as our calling and gifts differ, so do our wounds in this life. Even very similar experiences bring different testings for different people. Some saints have been deeply wounded by being lied to, stumbling around believing a deception that parents, caregivers, or society had taught them. When these precious saints recognize the lies, particularly from those who are supposed to love them, a commitment to truth grows.

Others suffer more from life’s losses, the many closed doors that God allows along the way. Some suffer so quietly, we don’t even know they have trials! The Lord works within to strengthen our faith, to refine our ability to trust God and His people who are sent our way to love us from a pure heart. We need the “love” side to grow to be kingdom priests who speak the “truth in love”:

“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head.

From Him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love through the work of each individual part.” Ephesians 4:15-16 Berean

The Body of Christ, the true church of the spirit, is built up in love. Observing some believers, however, we would sadly conclude that His kingdom is built of criticism and condemnation of all other Christians who believe differently, let alone sinners who are missing the mark. How can this be? How many of God’s people have misunderstood or ignored this directive in favor of speaking the truth without God’s love? Some saints have been so battered with the truth they are discouraged in their walk.

The goodness of God is overshadowed by this focus on what is wrong, regardless of whether the intent is to help rather than hurt. Some are created by God to be tender of heart, easily persuaded and sensitive to others. Harshness and anger from parents, caregivers, and society further this timidity into a fear of people more than God. Such timidity God needs to swallow up, replacing fear with His boldness.

The timid and fearful cannot enter, so we must learn to not fear anger, rejection, or punishment from others. God’s work of refinement for Christians enables us to be balanced as we stand on the truth, without fear or favor. No matter what man can do, He will enable such timid pleasers to become pleasers of their Lord and King:

“The Lord is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me?” Psalms 118:6 NASB

God also knows how to temper His bold speakers of truth into ministers who serve others in love. Some people have not developed or nurtured kind and patient ways of interacting with others. He knows our frame, exactly what each of us needs to bring about the change we so long to have seen within us. It is a calling to maturity in Him. These fierce warriors God gentles into loving fiery warriors for Him!

The prize of our High Calling is not a gift. Prizes are earned, rewarded for running the race well and successfully. Being kingdom priests is not a free gift, such as salvation. It requires sacrifice, overcoming suffering as obedient servants. We yearn for the Lord Jesus Christ to take up full residence within us, tabernacling—coming to dwell—in His temple, which we are.

Jesus said the kingdom is within us. It is established there with the purpose of us becoming His habitation. We are truly being built up in love to be His dwelling place.

“In Him [and in fellowship with one another] you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:22 Berean

As we actively engage with others in our calling, the holy spirit teaches us to look past outward behaviors to see the heart. When God graciously reveals the heart of another, He provides a key to understanding them. He will not tell us another’s secrets unless He knows we can be trusted with them. When we see the wounds, the arrows that have pierced the heart of those with whom we deal, we are enabled to compassionately understand even wrong behavior.

God reveals to us how it happened, the root of others’ actions and issues. This we take to God for the Holy Spirit's direction and guidance. God reveals the secrets of others’ hearts when our purpose of knowing is redemptive. God is never a tattle tale and He is the best keeper of our secrets, ever! Thankfully, there are many things that only God will know about us. He is fully trustworthy. And when He calls us into His army, we are trusted with the deeper secrets of men’s souls, for the purpose of intercession and healing.

When we are the one sitting opposite a troubled soul, praying to our Lord to give us His insight into this person’s heart, will He not hear us and equip us to do the work He has called us to do? God allows us to understand how another is trapped in their misery, what led to their suffering and problems. Then our assistance is meaningful, compassionate, and on target. God’s word always accomplishes what it is sent to accomplish. There is no failure in His work.

“ When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. But He placed His right hand on me and said,

‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last, the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever!

And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.” Revelation 1:17 Berean

Jesus has the keys to freedom from all death and misery, even for those who do not yet know Him. What does having a key mean? A key unlocks what has been hidden, so it can be seen, accessed, and dealt with. Keys give us a way in and Jesus Christ has the keys—the answers—to all that has brought death and hell to humans. Everything that separates us from God is accessed by Him within us, destroyed by the fire of His authority and presence.

This sounds like a really massive project, doesn’t it? While it is lifelong, it’s not too big for our God. Jesus Christ is unlocking within us anything that has been locked up, hidden within our hearts, bringing death instead of life, hellish conditions instead of love, peace and joy. He already defeated it all and now He is within to defeat it in us, His temple. He also gives us the keys to the death and hell that others are suffering, that we may minister a powerful word of hope and healing.

God teaches His kingdom priests how to apply His keys, the answers that fit what’s been locked up in the darkness of our souls. His spirit of Life enlightens it all. There are good things locked up too, promises God has made to us that are yet to be released in our earth, to bring us to maturity in Him. He holds the keys to death and hell, not man nor man’s will that brings so much evil and destruction here on this earth.

God gives discernment to those He calls for this work. Often we cannot judge by outward appearance or demeanor what is in the heart of another, whether their struggles or their beliefs. Believers do struggle in the same way as non-believers in all things that are common to man. We, however, have hope that life’s struggles have their purpose in Him. We know that there is a way out. He always makes a way to escape.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.

To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 3:20-21 Berean

The key to ruling and reigning with Jesus is to overcome all by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. It is by faith that we enter in to all He has promised. As we overcome every trial and test that comes our way, we are qualifying to sit with Him, to rule as an authority in His kingdom of peace, love, and joy. When called to be a Counselor in His house professionally (and not) as I was— we trust that those who come our way are those He is bringing.

Perhaps it is someone else’s prayers that brought them. They may or may not know our Lord, but regardless, they are God’s workmanship. We have compassion for those God sends our way to walk with for a while, regardless of their beliefs. We can rest in knowing that He knows the end from the beginning for them. We are confident that Jesus Christ our Lord has the keys to unlock and expose in love and truth, that which is keeping Him out of the hearts of people.

We search for these keys as we intercede as priests between God and the people He brings our way, or into our hearts for intercession. Sometimes, God provides the key to understanding the other’s heart right away, but understanding another’s heart's motives does not always change the outcome. They must be ready, willing to follow through. Some may need time following a seed for change but another may water this crop and witnesses the fruit of His spirit of truth and righteousness later.

It’s difficult for those of us desiring to help our brothers and sisters to accept that some people don’t want to be helped! It may not be their time, just as there were those in Jesus’ earthly ministry who were not given “ears to hear; eyes to see.” Those who are not ready wear out others who keep trying to assist them on their journey. We end up working harder than they are on their issues! This happens in fellowships as well as families.

It’s important to recall that Jesus was surrounded by acute and chronic need in the people in His earthly ministry, but He did not minister to everyone. Nonetheless, seeing into their hearts as God allows increases compassion and love for the other person, particularly if we have not walked the path that they have. While many behaviors are sinful, problematic or wrong, they can be compassionately understood. One of my favorite verses at these times is:

“For He knows we are but dust and that our days are few and brief, like grass, like flowers, blown by the wind and gone forever.” Psalm 10314-16 TLB

Ah, yes. We are but dust, earthy. We came from the dust of the earth and will go back to it, as God so ordains until all death is swallowed up in victory. Jesus Christ only did what the Father showed Him to do. He is absolutely able to show us what the Father would have us do. Each step towards this kingdom priesthood requires no reliance on our flesh. It absolutely cannot enter in.

Only complete surrender to the will of God takes us through. He subjected us to this knowingly:

”For the premonition of the creation is awaiting the unveiling of the sons of God.

For to vanity was the creation subjected, not voluntarily, but because of Him Who subjects it, in expectation.” Romans 8:18-20 Concordant Literal

We did not choose this way. God Himself subjected us to “vanity.” We did not volunteer for living in our present fleshly creation. We were created by God to be “transient, temporary, profitless,” until the plan of the ages unfolds to restore us back to what Adam and Eve lost.

God knows every person, inside and out and understands the creation in which we dwell now, our temporary home. When we are called to be kingdom priests, sons of God and servants of man, we are being prepared by the Lord to deal with the hearts of others in order to bring deliverance from Mount Zion, God’s holy habitation in the spirit.

All we have is His, and all we go through is His path for preparing His Kingdom Priests. All we are or can be is preparation for the work of reaping the hearts of His people in this Day of the Lord. Hear what He has promised:

“Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He will sustain you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” 1 Corinthians 1:7-9 Berean

Facing Gethsemane

Have you ever found yourself alone with God, facing the most important trial of your life? This is when we profoundly struggle to say, “Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine, be done.” Jesus Christ was in Gethsemane when He battled within, knowing the time of his death was at hand. He was in agony of spirit, in His humanity wanting another way than the incredible suffering and death laid out before Him. His specific prayer is recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke:

“Going a little farther, He fell face down and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.’” Matthew 26:39 Berean

“And he said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.’” Mark 14:36 Berean

“Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.” Luke 22:42 Berean

When everything within Him did not want to face what He knew the Father had foretold was ahead for Him, He poured out His heart to His Father. Then He set all that He desired aside with either the word “yet” or “nevertheless.” He is saying to the Father, “Disregard all I just said, if it must be this way.” Jesus knew His Father could deliver Him in an instant. Did He not say that He could call and a myriad of angels would rescue Him? But His great heart of obedience, His understanding of the Father’s plan, and His love for us, led Him to commit all to God’s will.

It is most comforting to know that when we are in agony about facing something that God has brought us to in our walk with Him, a critical crossroad in our life, we, too, can pour out all of our feelings to our Father. He knows what is in our hearts and we can be assured, as Jesus was, that He hears us. Jesus did not leave that time of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane the same as He went into it. When we submit our will to the Father’s will, we leave our times of desperate prayer changed as well, with His strength girding up our submission to His will.

Jesus, the Pattern son, went to Gethsemane right before He was to be arrested and condemned to die on the cross. He had asked His disciples to wait and pray with Him, but they were tired and fell asleep. And Father God did not immediately lift the agony from His soul. Three times He went to pray, talking with His Father about it. His feelings did not rule Him, so He was strengthened to endure the path before Him.

He never said He would not obey. He just asked the Father if there was another way to accomplish what God intended, if this “cup” of sorrow and horrendous pain He was to drink could in any way bypass Him. How humanly alone our Lord must have felt! Luke gives the most complete account of this most difficult time in Gethsemane:

“Now when He arrived at the place, [Gethsemane], He said to them, ‘Pray that you do not come into temptation.’ And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, ‘Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.’

Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, and He said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you do not come into temptation.’ Luke 22:40-46 NASB

He had just told the disciples two days before that the time when He would be crucified was close at hand. He said this right before the Last Supper, during Passover, when He identified Judas as the traitor. Revealing Judas as Jesus’ betrayer was another blow to this close group of His faithful followers. He knew the upcoming period of time would test them to their limits and wanted them to pray for strength as well.

But the disciples had been “sorrowing” and Jesus understood that. He also knew they would be much more vulnerable after His arrest than any of them anticipated. He urged them to pray that they would not come into temptation, but they did not believe they would betray their Lord. We may assume the same thing—until such a Gethsemane experience comes upon us. For most of us, it is not a life and death matter, not comparable to what Jesus went through, though there are Christians who have and still suffer greatly and die for their Lord.

As these crucial events unfolded before the disciples, however, it was not just Peter who denied Jesus three times to others. All of the disciples fled during His arrest, out of fear of the soldiers and the angry crowd. The scripture records:

“At that time [of Jesus’ arrest] Jesus said to the crowds, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a man inciting a revolt? Every day I used to sit on the temple grounds teaching, and you did not arrest Me.

But all this has taken place so that the Scriptures of the prophets will be fulfilled.’ Then all the disciples left Him and fled.’” Matthew 26: 55-56 NASB

He was truly alone at the darkest hour of His life. He knew the joy that was set before Him but he still had to go through being betrayed, arrested, whipped, ridiculed and beaten before dying a shameful and pain-filled death on the cross. He knew what He would be facing and also knew all would abandon Him. He had been given strength to endure at Gethsemane.

Matthew’s account of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane varies from some aspects of Luke’s account:

“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and told His disciples, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ And He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with Him, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.’

And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.’ And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, ‘So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying, so that you do not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’

He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if this cup cannot pass away unless I drink from it, Your will be done.’ Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. And He left them again and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.

Then He came to the disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let’s go; behold, the one who is betraying Me is near!’” Matthew 26:36-46 NASB

Both accounts report that Jesus told them to pray, then leaving His disciples to pray the more earnestly to His Father. They fell asleep instead. They did not have the strength to stay alert and pray to stay out of temptation. Jesus doesn’t bother them the third time, but it’s hard to tell whether He was chastising or warning them with these two accounts. He does show compassion in recognizing their exhaustion from sorrow, wanting to be with their Lord in spirit, but their flesh is too weak.

Since then it is a frequent, even casual quote for people to say, “Well, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Our flesh is weak and cannot accomplish the will of God. Jesus coming in the human flesh of a man illustrates this, particularly in His Gethsemane experience. At no other time does our Lord talk to the Father about desiring to avoid what God wanted Him to do.

Christians called and chosen of the Lord see the pattern Jesus set forth. When we are to endure something that God clearly requires of us but we dread, hate, or even have agony about, only the spirit of Christ within us can strengthen us to obedience.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 NKJV

We may not yet see all of our flesh being swallowed up by the spirit of Christ within us, but we have faith that what He promises, He will accomplish within us when we submit our will to His. This does not necessitate a change of our emotions. Obedience submits the will, and the emotions follow as God takes over. Sometimes He brings immediate peace with our surrender. At other times, we may continue to have feelings about the matter, but our surrendered will steadfastly holds us in His will, the eternally faithful One.

We are able to have the faith of Abraham:

“Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’

He is our father in the presence of God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not yet exist. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as he had been told, ‘So shall your offspring be.’” Romans 4:16-18 Berean

Jesus was in agony about fulfilling the plan of God. Our Gethsemane experiences may first appear in yielding to God’s will about what we want or desire, we resist or even dread. It’s the way we learn the harder lessons of trust that He knows best, even though we cannot see that. We need to stay in God’s school until we have the faith necessary to believe all that we know, every bit of what God has promised, will come to pass, regardless of whether we now see it.

“I will lead those who are blind by a way they have not known, In paths they have not known I will guide them.

I will turn darkness into light before them and uneven land into plains. These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone.” Isaiah 42:16 NASB

We do not know all the paths God has for us and that is a good thing! There are periods in any Christian’s life that, had we known what was coming as Jesus did, it would become that much harder to face. We enjoy it when the Lord gives us a glimpse of His specific good future for us, but it is not so enjoyable when He gives us a sense of impending suffering or a denial of a strong desire we have.

There are severe times of testing when the Gethsemane experience is continually in our lives, such as when those we love suffer and die. All of Jesus’ followers experienced this. Surrender to the Lord’s will brings much affliction to our flesh at such times. But truly yielding our will to His brings acceptance to what is or will be rather than what we so very much want, desire, and even need. Practicing surrender eventually results in more rapid yielding of our will to His will.

This is sharply different from giving up in resignation. Giving up is not true, full surrender to God and His plan. It may be a stage we pass through, however, on our way to full surrender. It’s when we conclude that we cannot control the outcome, that it is beyond our ability to change it unless God chooses to do so. We ‘give up’ in defeat rather than faithfully surrender to what the Lord decrees.

When the full yielding of our soul—our mind, will, and emotions—is completed, we stop trying to avoid what is necessary in God’s plan for us. We face it, deal with it, accept it. We no longer pursue ideas or methods to make it happen, with or without His blessing. Obedient saints do confront things that are dreaded, that we’d prefer to avoid. Frequently this can be asking, hoping, or praying for physical life for others or ourselves.

Sometimes it is a deeply felt and long-held desire to have something that other saints have seemingly obtained without struggle, such as a life partner or a child to love. Dearly-held dreams that are fleshly desires are crucified in a Gethsemane experience as we yield to His will. Surrender is our sacrifice. The questions and feelings we bring before the Lord are similar to His Gethsemane prayer, though most of us cannot fathom the deep agony Jesus faced at that time.

There are many natural human desires —to have a secure home and income, to be safe and well-loved, and to stop going through the same trials that never seem to resolve on our behalf. Sometimes we feel like the horse running a race to get to the reward of winning, only to see it denied again and again. Discouragement sets in and even despair when we do not see God’s answers in our time frame or seemingly even in our lifetime here on this earth.

Peace arrives only through surrendering to what will be, regardless of our desires. We can always rest in the scriptures of the promises He has given:

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 NASB

Here is God’s promise, the eventual outcome of our spiritual lives, though momentarily we struggle to believe it during any Gethsemane experience of agonizing over obedience to Him. Saints who come to these spiritual turning points believe that God is able to either fulfill their heart’s desire or deliver them from the torment of wanting something God has denied them. When we accept that God’s plan does not include what we are seeking Him for, like Jesus we are strengthened to accept His will is not ours.

Such Gethsemane experiences are deep spiritual lessons from God. Typically we are alone in them, just as Jesus was alone with His Father. While others may not all fall asleep, they still cannot be inside us, experiencing with us the agony of our souls. God takes us through times of sorrow and grief that are common to man, not out of them. Our prayers are to be given endurance in accepting His decision. He is able to take the pain of loss, of denial, of the ending of hope, from us. Then we are in His rest, regardless of the outcome.

A Gethsemane experience is a crisis, often a turning point in our walk of faith. Though it might seem turning points in our walk would come primarily from peak spiritual experiences, times of acute struggle more often bring further understanding, refinement, and commitment to God’s ways. They are necessary to learn more about our God. Many of the Lord’s people in the Bible waited for years for the fulfillment of God’s promises to them. What God promises will happen but the timing is still His—unless we take matters into our own hands.

Those things we struggle with in our Gethsemane times may require years of waiting on the Lord. We can be most miserable during this wait, especially when we have a very strong will to have what is being denied. Or we can learn to wait with peace and faith in our Father as Jesus did. When waiting without knowing what God plans specifically for our lives, when we are “walking blind” into our future, it can be most troubling indeed!

Yet these are times we learn to rest and trust like never before. When we yield it all, seeking Him with a whole heart, He is able to grant His peace and trust in the waiting. A very important lesson during these Gethsemane experiences is learning, really knowing, that God loves us regardless. Jesus had heavy feelings, with much weighing on His heart. He took it all to the Father, who sent an angel to strengthen Him in facing what was to come. He did not pretend to be a happy martyr in Gethsemane.

Jesus did not want to have to do it—who would? But there was no rebellion in His heart as there may be in ours. He was well-practiced in doing the will of His Father. God is faithful and most able to answer surrendered prayer by granting it. Or He may show another path for us, a better way for our lives to unfold. He knows the end from the beginning, the unexpected changes in our circumstances that we cannot know in order to plan for this ahead of time.

It is easy to look back and be grateful for how He skillfully and perfectly planned things out, even if, at the time, we were angry, resentful, or even pouting about the matter. We do learn to surrender and wait peacefully for His answer for us. Or we fret and fuss, complain and even become bitter. God knows these things are in our hearts and will help us as we learn to surrender to Him, no matter how long it takes.

When we desperately want something that He is not granting, God is burning out the dross within us. He knows what we’ve been waiting for, asking for, knocking for. The issue is this: the very thing we most want is at risk of being more important to us than the Lord is, an idol in our lives. He sees the longing and even desperation in our hearts—that we believe what we desire is most important, if not essential. But He will have no other gods before Him, as He states many times in the Bible.

“Let there be no strange god among you, Nor shall you worship any foreign god.” Psalms 81:19 Amplified

Strange, foreign gods were always an issue with the Israelites. They were surrounded by those who worshiped idols and kept falling into this grievous sin. We are also surrounded by things that others idolize. What is an idol but an object of worship? We can certainly identify idols in our present society, most of which God does not prioritize. What people love to have and love to do can grow into taking more and more focus of time and investment. More than a few of us Christians have had desires in our hearts at some point that somehow became more important than the Lord within us.

What we believe is essential to our life and happiness most definitely is not essential if it is not God’s will for us. Regardless of the outcome, the path of life is to surrender our desires to the Lord. While in our Gethsemane experience, however, disturbing human thoughts can flood our minds. This is most likely to occur when our struggle is with a common desire for a good thing that other Christians have easily received:

“God, don’t you love me enough to grant me what is so very important to me? How come you allow others to have [children, good health, healing, a life partner, a loving, stable family, a long life, success, esteem, wealth, beauty etc. etc.] but do not grant this to me?” Such thoughts, while all too humanly understandable, risk anger with the Lord Himself. God has a plan for our lives. And God does know how to listen to His people who are in anguish before Him.

Only God sees in our hearts to know what our primary motives are. Jesus understandably did not want to go through the suffering He knew was to come. We can comfort ourselves that, though we suffer with Him, most of us will never have the agony He brought to the Father at Gethsemane. Never was anything more important than Jesus’ submission to the cross. It was the hardest test of Jesus’ earthly life. Gethsemane's experiences are the ultimate times of testing in our walk with God.

Everyone’s Gethsemane experience is different because we each have our own most important desires of our hearts for which we petition God. When we pass these tests, not surprisingly, they often yield the richest of spiritual rewards.We are empowered to better face sudden threats of painful loss and times of adversity. We can be like Him in both surrender and the resurrection of a new beginning that He works within.

As a result of Jesus’ obedience, His surrender at Gethsemane, the whole plan of God was revealed and changed for all:

“Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. This is a trustworthy saying: ‘If we died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him’”. 2 Timothy 2:3;11-12 Berean

While our decisions are not equally impactful for others, God does rely on people to carry out His will on earth as it is in heaven. We don’t know what the cost of our desires will be in what we are called to do, but He does. My own Gethsemane experience was about a lifelong desire to have a child. I was by no means instantly obedient to laying this down for whatever God called me to do. It took years of misery, even bitterness, until I yielded this to the Lord.

When I came to the point of true surrender, I gave up any right I thought I had to this if it would not allow me to fulfill His will for my life. What I finally asked for was peace, regardless, not the sharp pain of being barren while others, even those who did not want children, became mothers. Through His word, God showed me He was in charge of Who has children—if, when, and how. It was not the man I was dealing with but God Almighty.

I am reverent enough not to insist on my own way in such an important matter. I was not tempted to make it happen myself, as some suggested I do, but I did not want to suffer any more. After years of struggle and a significant change in circumstances, I was granted great peace after this surrender! I know I would be ok remaining childless if that was His will. But what a battle raged with my soul and His spirit!

The lessons I learned through those years of struggle made a permanent change in my spiritual walk with the Lord. Our Gethsemane experiences are all different but God is faithful in providing the strength and peace to go through it. Jesus left that time of prayer in the garden of Gethsemane strengthened to do the Father’s will and so can we do so. I was forever changed in realizing that God loved me, was not denying me a child because He did not, and that I could be peaceful in Him regardless.

Sometimes, as God did with Abraham in telling him to sacrifice Isaac, his only child, God lets us know we have passed the test and then releases us from it. Shortly after my surrender and peace, God made me know, confirmed by a prophet, that I would have a child. Circumstances changed, and a few years later, Rich and I had our wonderful son, Chris, when I was 40 and he was 41. At least I was not as old as Sarah when the Lord gave her and Abraham their son of the promise, Isaac!

This may be nothing like your Gethsemane experience, but it was what God dealt with me about. I wish I would have been able to handle it more maturely, but it seemed to be the best I could do. There are other times when God says no, such as the death of my brother at age 39, when the Lord eventually comforted our hearts in the loss. He knows what is required for the future of His plan. He always knows the end from the beginning and brings us to that place where we can trust Him in all things.

Remaining single when a Christian desires to have a life partner, experiencing people we love and are praying for die rather than live, seeking physical health and release from affliction that is slow to come or never does, periods of suffering and loss with changes, even betrayals in our work, home, and country—all are trials we go through on the path to spiritual growth.

“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace.

In the world, you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy];

I have overcome the world [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]” John 16:33 Amplified

The Gethsemane experience may be about any trial facing us in this life, with one common to all: it will be the very hardest thing for us to lay down, to surrender to God’s plan instead of our own. Perhaps you cannot relate to what tested me the most, but Jesus can. Jesus Christ our Lord has already been through it all, so He knows.

“For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize and understand our weaknesses and temptations, but One who has been tempted [knowing exactly how it feels to be human] in every respect as we are, yet without [committing any] sin.” Hebrews 4:15 Amplified

Jesus knows. He is at the right hand of the Father, ever interceding against the enemy of our souls. We can do everything required of us because He is our strength within. We are comforted in all ways by the spirit. We come out victorious, just as He did in the resurrected life given by the Father to Him. We can trust that we are stronger, better, more obedient, more like Him, when we emerge from the cocoon of a Gethsemane experience to fly free of any weight that has held us back.

The key is not whether we get what we want or not but the peace that follows surrender to God, trusting His will, not our earthly perspective. Times of adversity that bring the most suffering to our human nature are part of His preparation for what He has called us to do in this life. While we prefer the times of blessing and peace, times of refreshing in the spirit, these do not create the deep changes in our hearts that times of affliction and struggle produce. We can wish it weren’t so, but it was so for Jesus and so it is for us.

“It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.” Psalms 119:71 Berean

God’s plan is always the best, no matter how difficult it may seem, how weak our flesh may be in the matter. Looking back, we are grateful in seeing how God’s plans unfolded for us for our good. Some dearly held dreams for our lives are desires that God has placed in our hearts and are eventually granted. Others need to be rooted up, burned up by God’s fiery presence within, so these fleshly desires do not hinder our walk with God and the calling He has destined for us.

We must be free to fulfill what we have been called and chosen to do.There are things that we must do, just like Jesus did, and God gives peace and strength to go through it. No one wants a Gethsemane experience, but most Christians who go on to know the Lord and His ways will have one. It’s time to consider anything we hold on to in our hearts, even those “good things” that we long for, that God would have us yield to Him.

He will have a people called by His name who do not put anything above Him. When we surrender all, He makes it so.

Enough Love to Go Around?

The Amplified Bible even more beautifully states the heart of God in loving the world:

“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16 Amplified

God, our Father, has an infinite amount of love for His creation, especially humans, but this fleshly world often behaves as if there is not enough love to go around. It’s done by dividing people instead of unifying them. We humans, including Christians, have so many ways we do it. It’s about the “haves” and “have-nots.”I t’s there in the worry that someone else will get a “free ride” for what we worked so hard to get. It’s about the “deserving” versus the “undeserving,” who is judged worthy of benefits or blessings. It’s the judgment of this group against that by belief, race, culture, appearance, fstemming from fear or pride, if not hatred.

There is an endless list of words that could be added to this list. But love unites. It does not divide. This poverty mentality of love and grace appears when our strong sense of justice demands that others pay fully for their mistakes. It shows up when others seemingly get unearned favor. It incorporates the multitude of ways we lose sight that we are all the creation of God. We are all greatly loved and dearly prized. Not just Christians, not just our brand of believers, not just people of our race or culture or background, not just the successful, not just…not just…!

There would appear to not be enough love to go around when our love only stretches to “us four and no more.” We simply cannot seem to shake free of this division, this mentality of scarcity of love. We all do it whether aware of it or not. Only God is able to grant us His love for all, even those who are deemed unlovable. God continually provides lessons in love, stretching our hearts to love more fully. Just when we think we’re pretty good at this, He will send someone who challenges us to grow further, accessing more of God’s love for those who are least lovable.

Who should be the recognized experts in loving, including those unlovable folks, than God’s people? Who will love the unlovable if we do not do it through God’s provision of unlimited love?

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35 NIV

This is the only way, the final way, that all will know—from the least to the greatest, from the lowest to the highest, from the little one to the elderly, the living and the dead—all will know God’s love for His creation, and most especially all humans:

“For it is written, ‘As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’” Romans 14:11 KJV

God will do it, no matter the ages it may take. If He was a forceful God, He could have made all to bow the knee, demanding a verbal confession that He is God. He has the power to do it but fortunately has an abundance of mercy and patience, to wait until we become a people showing forth our love for Him and others from our very beings. He so loved the world before any were saved by His Son!

God specializes in looking at hearts, so He is able to weed out thoughts, attitudes, and misbeliefs that prevent us from expanding love and creating unity with others. Where there is division, there is strife and hatred, weakening anything we are trying to accomplish. Whether it is a family, a fellowship, a community, or a nation, division limits achievement as well as harms individuals. We will never be unified by doctrine, by one natural system, by laws or regulations, or any other means. Only the love of God, the highest standard there is, can accomplish unity.

God knows the garden of our hearts, where He is planting seeds to bear the fruit of the spirit. He contends with our weeds while nurturing and growing the fruit of His spirit, the mark of the kingdom of God inside each of us. As His love expands in us, we are more able to let it flow to others. The Christ within makes room for more of His love in our being, flowing easily to others— all those “others” we formerly avoided, separated ourselves from, avoided, would not be seen with, or otherwise isolated, limiting their access to the love of God.

He is the master at tearing down walls of division. We see all the walls in the body of Christ, but it is far, far beyond us to fix it. He is changing us as we recognize how much our Lord absolutely hates and despises division among us:

“There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who declares lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.” Proverbs 6:16 NASB

Know the truth of this: God is against division! Each one of these six things causes disunity and conflict among people. When we sow discord, most especially with our Christian brothers and sisters, we limit and block their connection with God, keeping the love of God from flowing their way. We stop the flow of the great river of Life that all humans require to thrive.

We’re behaving as some parents and families do—as if there is only so much love to go around. Because love is believed to be limited, we share it sparingly, giving it to the good, the favorite, the ones we are close to, understand and can relate to, while withdrawing love or connection with others. We show a scarcity of love for anyone who displeases us by not performing up to our standards. It’s so easy to do this and even easier—much more comfortable—to ignore this condition within our own hearts because it is so commonly human.

Division and strife have been around forever, beginning with Cain and Abel, and on through the centuries of God’s people. Christian churches started out well but within a few years, even the early church fellowships were in conflict as local leaders fought for position and authority. These ambitious believers took followers unto themselves, dividing them and eventually even excluding the apostle Paul, who had birthed them all.

These New Testament writers said so:

“I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number, men will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them.” Acts 30:29-30 Berean

“But I will keep on doing what I am doing, in order to undercut those who want an opportunity to be regarded as our equals in the things of which they boast. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:12-13 Berean

“Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.

They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us.” 1 John 2:20-23 Berean

Paul ministered the simple faith of Jesus Christ as sufficient for all, but among the flock, even then, there were people who were “anti-christ” or “against Christ.” Those who coveted followers for themselves needed to distort the truth by adding more than the sufficiency of faith in Jesus Christ to accomplish it. It’s difficult to get your own following if you do not alter the message in a way that shows you have more “truth” than others, establishing your unique knowledge and leadership.

Paul called them “savage wolves,” devouring the flock because of their own greedy appetite for power and recognition among other believers. John writes about them, calling those who had separated themselves from the original fellowship “antichrists.” He saw they were working against Christ, for self instead of for the Lord.

The Corinthian believers had this condition of division from false apostles deceiving the believers for their own gain. Paul told the Corinthians:

“And I, brothers and sisters, could not speak to you as spiritual people, but only as fleshly, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to consume it. But even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly.

For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like ordinary people? For when one person says, ‘I am with Paul,’ and another, ‘I am with Apollos,’ are you not ordinary people?” 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 NASB

These are things God hates, but there are no people on this list. What is on the list are conditions of the heart requiring change. It is not the outwardly sinful behaviors that God is after but the heart conditions that lead to it. We should hate what God hates and the hard truth is these things He hates are found in the heart of many of us Christians. Paul said that division, strife, and jealousy among these early Christians were fleshly, not spiritual, showing their immaturity in Christ. But Paul makes no mention of outer differences in traditions and practices as signs of immaturity, as he knew the roots of such behaviors.

This same abominable weed continues growing in our garden of love. In fact, it is so common, and Christ’s body of believers are so divided, that we don’t seem to think much about this strife and division that God hates. We have accepted names for our division of the body of Christ. We are taught a list of doctrines that divide and distinguish us from others. We may fellowship across denominational and non-denominational lines, but that is not unity in love.

Such separation has been around so long, it is normal and appears insurmountable. We prioritize condemning and trying to control the sins of the flesh over what is in our hearts. But our Lord is crystal clear all through the Bible that it is what is in our hearts that causes the sin, including lack of love and unity among us. God sees the roots of jealousy, envy, coveting another’s calling, influence, pride, desire for status, possession or position, all part of our fleshly natures.

Worse, the sins of the flesh seem often to be the primary judgment believers put on unbelievers while our own hearts remain full of guile. Our Lord had some strong words for this:

“Do not judge, so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye!’” Matthew 7:1-5 NASB

Humans are just naturally aware of others’ faults more than our own. This is the flesh nature we were given. There is no answer for man’s patterns of division and strife except that Jesus Christ change our hearts. Deep down, we are fearful we will not get our portion because someone else has theirs. We desire to be the main person others look to, whether it is in ministry, friendship, coworkers, families, or nations. It’s understandable to want to be noticed and valued, get attention and commendation. So very “normal,” but not pleasing to God.

Just when we think God has pulled all of these divisive weeds up, we find prejudicial thoughts sprouting up, separating and limiting our love for others. This remains a grievous condition for us today, as it was to Paul and John in the early church. God our Creator is not surprised. It has been deeply ingrained in our fleshly ways. Do you think God was surprised when this showed up right away in the Garden? Was He caught unprepared for the choices Eve, then Adam, made?

God does not point out such things in our hearts without making a way of escape. He is able to change our hearts, to continually replace our limited, divisive human love with His all-encompassing Father's love for everyone. So, when love is granted conditionally in some families, when others are required to “earn it,” be “good enough” to be loved, we see that it causes harm. This may stem from a works message opposing the Lord’s free gift of love.

Love and favor unfairly divided between parents and their various children or with extended family can be passed down generation to generation. It even is the explanation for family splits that took place so long ago we have forgotten why. Division is harmfully sustained in families long after the favoritism or jealousy that began the strife is remembered. This continues until someone breaks this generational curse by bringing it to the cross.

Thankfully, Father God does not love us only when we are “being good,” nor does He withdraw love when we are “bad.” We may have learned this as a child but God delivers us from such childish ways. This style of conditional love eventually damages a child’s view of God. How are they to believe in an all-loving Parent they cannot see when they’ve not seen it in action here on earth? Children are harmed in their souls and spirits when growing up in households where it would seem there is not enough love for all.

It surely becomes harder to extend this to our neighbors and communities when this is both seen in parenting children and modeled for the children in how partners treat each other. It instills a fear of losing God’s love such as they have seen happening in their homes. Instead of running to Him in trust, knowing that His love is steadfast and sure, never limited, they fear and avoid Him. That is not God! He shows no favoritism or partiality among people.

And God’s love has no limits:

“For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.” Deuteronomy 10:17 Berean

“…for there is no respect of persons with God.” Romans 2:11 KJV

“…who is not partial to princes and does not favor rich over poor? For they are all the work of His hands.” Colossians 3:25 Berean

“And you, masters, do the same things to them, [your slaves] giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.” Ephesians 6:9 NKJV

As a Jew, Peter had to grow in the Lord through the power of the Holy Spirit to learn that God has no favorites. He was raised to believe that the Jews were God’s favored people. Never were Gentiles seen as acceptable or called of God. Jesus was sent to the Jews, and even He had to be persuaded by the faith of Gentiles to grant them His healing ministry. It was not yet the time for the Gentiles to receive. The ways of Jewish life, their religious and dietary laws, their beliefs and traditions, were not practiced by Gentiles.

Others did not follow Jewish laws and customs, including eating things that God had taught the Jews were unclean. This was established until Jesus Christ made the way for all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, to enter into God’s kingdom of love. Paul was specifically called to bring the good news to the Gentiles, and was received among the brethren. Then God specifically dealt with Peter about these changes through a vision, after which he understood that Jesus Christ made unity possible, with no partiality or favoritism.

Here is how this lesson unfolded for Peter:

“…Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven open and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, as well as birds of the air.

Then a voice said to him: ‘Get up, Peter, kill and eat!’ ‘No, Lord!’ Peter answered. ‘I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.’ The voice spoke to him a second time: ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ This happened three times, and all at once the sheet was taken back up into heaven.” Acts 10:9b-16 Berean

After this, Peter ministered this powerful word of Christ’s love for all to those believers who were gathered with him in the home of Cornelius:

“…As Peter talked with [Cornelius], he went inside and found many people gathered together. He said to them, ‘You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. So when I was invited, I came without objection…’

Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism, but welcomes those from every nation who fear Him and do what is right. He has sent this message to the people of Israel, proclaiming the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.” Acts 10:28-29b;34-36 Berean

Peter learned a shocking lesson that we all need: we are not to call any man impure or unclean. Jesus made clear that it is not what goes into the mouth, but what is in the heart that defiles a man. The truth that God is not partial and loves all equally is well established in the Old and New Testaments. So why is it that this lesson seemingly is so hard to come to fruition within us?

Divisive thoughts leading to separation rather than unity appear everywhere, causing strife in our homes and lives, in our communities and in the world of nations. It is also occurring for those of us who love the Lord and desire to have the love of God fully within our hearts.

“Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: Because of the loving devotion of the Lord we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.

They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!” Lamentations 3:22 Berean

We thank God that He never fails us in His mercy and love. His love has no limit and cannot be measured. His love for us who serve Him continually reveals such weeds in our hearts to be pulled up, burned up by the fire of His presence. We are humanly unable to do it without Him. Only He can work love in our hearts for all men, everywhere. It seems hopeless but it most definitely is not! It is God’s plan and anything He directs us to do, He is able to grow His nature and will within us so it may be accomplished.

God’s love is certain. He is love and He is eternally the same. His love is the foundation of His redemptive justice. He demonstrated His intense love for the world when He sent His dear Son to be an eternal sacrifice for everyone. We are enabled to do all things through the Christ within, including greater love for one another. We are never separated from His love—nothing can bring about that separation.

Paul spoke of this most powerfully:

“Who shall ever separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? Just as it is written and forever remains written, ‘for your sake, we are put to death all day long, we are regarded as sheep for the slaughter’.

Yet, in all these things we are more than conquerors and gain an overwhelming victory through Him who loved us [so much that He died for us].

For I am convinced [and continue to be convinced--beyond any doubt] that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the [unlimited] love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39 Amplified

God’s passionate love for us all is guaranteed through Christ Jesus our Lord. It’s tempting to believe that we are no longer in the circle of His love when affliction through adversity comes upon us. Doesn’t this mirror that false childhood belief about love? When things are going well for us and we’re blessed, then God loves us, but if difficulties arise, He must no longer love us. God’s ways, however, are so different from ours that being disciplined through affliction is actually a sign of His love!

All the afflictions listed in Romans are common to humanity, yet they do not separate us from His love.

“And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: ‘My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.’

Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?” Hebrews 12:5-7 Berean

We are exhorted to take God’s discipline through affliction seriously, seeing it as a sign of God’s great love for us. Remember, nothing separates us from His love. Very few things in this life are known to be absolute. The love of God is absolute, with no exceptions. Nothing at all, ever, keeps it from flowing out to the entire world.

No one has perfect parents and some wounded children grow up to wound their children in the same ways they have been treated. We parents are all subject to this because we are human. But here’s the good news: Father God is a perfect Parent and always loves us! God Himself Fathered the only Perfect Son. He is able to heal the wounds of divisive, conditional love as He expands our own hearts with love for others.

Have you noticed all of God’s creatures respond to genuine, heart-felt love? All wounded creatures melt and are changed when any sense genuine love, compassion, and mercy is extended toward them. There are innumerable examples of people lovingly connecting with animals, both domestic and wild, large and tiny, beasts and bugs. All respond to loving, healing, gentle, and kind interactions with humankind. Some even say that such creatures are much easier to love than our fellow humans!

There may be truth in that, as animals are often used in the rehabilitation of people. Those who love God’s natural creation are used to heal the many mistreated, neglected and abandoned creatures around us. And even the most damaged human souls are reached by God’s love! We often see abused and neglected children flourish in a home where love is patiently applied to their wounds by wise, patient, and understanding parents.

We need only read part of 1 Corinthians 13, known as the “love chapter,” to illustrate this:

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no account of wrongs.

Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things…

LOVE NEVER FAILS…And now these three remain faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a;13 Berean

How beautiful are these words and yet how short we all fall in this greatest gift of God. If anyone told us humans that there was something that always works and never fails, wouldn’t we all rush out to get it? God’s love is freely given by grace—unearned favor—and His mercies endure forever. There is no limit to the love of God. We who bear the name of Christ can truly be known by our great love for others. Think of it! Don’t you long for this to be so?

When anyone has been wounded in childhood, regardless if someone else thinks it should have hurt or not, the ability to trust other people is damaged. The love God would have us extend to others becomes limited not only by divisive judgment or partiality but by fear. It’s not unusual for us humans to fear the different or unknown. If any of you have entered a room filled with others very unlike you, you have a small sense of what it is like for anyone in the minority in our society.

Our Lord Jesus Christ came to move us past all of this: “For God so loved the world…” Love truly is the most powerful force in the universe and Love lives within us. When our eyes are open to spiritually see as He sees, God’s love is shown to be above and beyond any other power. We recognize the need to heed Paul’s urging:

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.” Philippians 2:1-2 NIV

Paul’s exhortation to unity is based on love, not on doctrine. The truth is we all, adult and child, are in need of love even more when we are “being bad.” We know God hates sin, but He always loves the sinner. He is our model, so He enables us to love the child or adult while hating the wrong or evil behavior. He disciplines those He loves for good. It is redemptive discipline, discipline with a purpose. It does not rely on our mood or situation or personality or past, nor on our ability to earn it by good behavior or good works.

Each child is a gift on loan from God, given specifically to the parents God has chosen, whether birth parents or not. We may draw upon His unlimited love whenever we need it to raise the children God entrusts to us. We, His children, also need to recognize how much God loves us. Do you know anyone who loves you so much that they even know the number of hairs on your head? God does! God planned for our specific and unique presence in this world, celebrating each of us being birthed into earthly life.

The Lord carefully knit each of us together in our mother’s womb, as David states:

“For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.” Psalms 139:13-16 Berean

All people require the security of always knowing they are loved by someone. Grandparents or extended family often provide this sanctuary for children seeking a place of secure love. Without love, any heart shrivels up and becomes hard and bitter. Sadly, many believers don’t know that they are loved, including many of God’s own people quite familiar with the scriptures. Some even use cultural patterns or traditional ways of parenting that show God as a weapon, threatening His wrath or punishment if disobedient.

When one grows up with messages about God that He will “get you” if you don’t behave, it works fear in the heart, not love. In contrast, pour out God’s agape love onto a shriveled and damaged heart that has not truly experienced such love. You will see the person begin to change, their heart to soften, their countenance lighten. Do it as led by the Lord and your reward is with Him, not from the other person.

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” 1 John 4: 18 ESV

As another’s heart is changed by godly love, their behavior changes as well. Only agape love casts out fear and brings peace. We are freed from fear of punishment by God when we know how much we are loved, regardless. Agape love is the distinguishing mark of Christians. Are we yet known for our great love of God and all of His creation?

John, the disciple beloved of Jesus, shared this in the full passage:

“Beloved, let us [unselfishly] love and seek the best for one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves [others] is born of God and knows God [through personal experience].

The one who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. He is the originator of love, and it is an enduring attribute of His nature.

By this the love of God was displayed in us, in that God has sent His [One and] only begotten Son [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind] into the world so that we might live through Him.

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [that is, the atoning sacrifice, and the satisfying offering] for our sins [fulfilling God’s requirement for justice against sin and placating His wrath].

Beloved, if God so loved us [in this incredible way], we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. But if we love one another [with unselfish concern], God abides in us, and His love [the love that is His essence abides in us and] is completed and perfected in us.…

There is no fear in love [dread does not exist]. But perfect (complete, full-grown) love drives out fear, because fear involves [the expectation of divine] punishment, so the one who is afraid [of God’s judgment] is not perfected in love [has not grown into a sufficient understanding of God’s love]. We love, because He first loved us.

If anyone says, ‘I love God’, and hates (works against) his [Christian] brother he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should also [unselfishly] love his brother and seek the best for him.” 1 John 4:7-12;18-21 Amplified

We have God living in us through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is love and we are to have that same love. Oh Lord, let this work within us, ever growing and becoming visible in us through Him! Our human love is so often conditional, provided only when earned by what we judge to be good and acceptable behavior. But Father God gives His love and salvation to all. He said so. He is no respecter of persons. He even loves the unlovable! He still loves us when we are unlovable. We trust the Lord to change our hearts to be filled with the fullness of His love. There’s a desperate need for love in this world. All of God’s people need to know that they are always loved: “For God so loved the world…”

My son taught me a child’s perspective on this when he was 3 years old. As an only child, he sometimes felt…well…alone! It’s easy for any child to sometimes feel ganged up on by their parents but this is doubly so for an only child. There are no siblings to complain to or support them, to at least understand how the child is feeling. Yes, siblings can become part of the problem but they also can mediate by sharing the burdens of childhood. When you are the only one, it’s all about you–and not in a good way when you are in trouble!

Little Chris had been scolded by his father for something, and then I came along and scolded him about something else. He sat his little self down, looking very sad, and said, “Nobody likes me when I’m bad.” Oh, how this broke my heart. It still breaks my heart to think this little guy, so dearly loved and precious to us, truly wanting to please his parents, would believe such a thing. It was critical to correct his understandable, but erroneous, conclusion.

Our heavenly Father also has words to reassure us that we are always loved, even when we are falling short of His godly standards. That is His mercy and grace. Some of God’s people are given a human nature that is perfectionistic, resulting in intolerance of any mistakes. Mercy does not come easily to their exacting natures. God knows that these children in His family will not only be hard on others but even more harsh with themselves. Perfectionists have unrelenting standards that may leave little room for God’s mercy and grace.

Other parents may lovingly, but mistakenly, fail to limit their children, causing difficulties for the child and others who are around that child. This may come from having been treated harshly or having a parent who modeled such imbalanced ways of loving. These children are left to learn limits from others to be able to fit well into society. Babies need unlimited love, but soon wise parents know to begin teaching their children what is safe and acceptable to do as they grow.

God always loves us, most especially when we feel least deserving. As Christian parents, we are able to tell our children how much God loves them, what a precious gift they are, cherished because they are created by God Himself. Though more challenging, parents who did not receive unconditional love are made anew within by God to grant what they did not receive to their children. Instead of repeating this pattern, they determine in God to break it.

Thankfully, He empowers us all to provide what we lack. God makes it so as He makes all things new. How much our perfect Father loves us regardless of what we have done! When we are enabled to absolutely know this, separately from our human way of measuring love, we stop avoiding God or His messengers and run to God our Father when we are in trouble and make mistakes.

We begin to count on the understanding and compassion of Jesus, who was “in all points tempted, yet without sin.” We seek Him first in times of trouble, even when it is of our own making. In such times, we can give God the “ashes” of our failures, so that He can make beauty out of them:

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.” Isaiah 61:1-3 NIV

Beauty for ashes—what an amazing God! What is the splendor of God? Why, it is His very nature! His love, mercy, and redemptive justice are Who He is. Out of Zion, God’s heavenly spiritual government, we are to proclaim this good news! From the very highest spiritual place in God’s kingdom, where Jesus and Father God have established the authority of the Throne, this message of love and hope is to be proclaimed. You will not find a message railing against sinners or divisive, condemning judgment here! God’s wisdom is first pure, then peaceable.

The kingdom age is upon us and now is the time to become established in Zion. We are called to know this in our own times of adversity as well as to proclaim this sure word to others who are poor, broken-hearted, in captivity and in the darkness of all kinds of prison houses, literal and figurative. When people struggle and suffer loss, we can confidently state that it is never because God does not love them!

We need not fear the Lord’s vengeance, as it is always redemptive. We could literally go around the world, point out all the troublemakers, including evil doers and ask, “This one, too, Lord? Even this one?” He always says: “YES, EVEN this one.” He will deal with each, now and in the ages to come. He loves all of His creation and has made a plan for the ages, unfolding in His time and in His way. And I especially love how He knows everything about us and loves us just the same! What a Friend!

How, then, can we come against those God chooses to love? We enjoy God’s unmerited favor, so what stops us from extending it freely to others? We can be made strong, planted in righteousness like a mighty oak, determined to seek His love in all situations. We cannot make ourselves love as God loves, but we can set our will to obtain it through our walk with Him. Then we are enabled to display the splendor of our God. What shows forth His splendor more than when genuine love is displayed, one human being to another?

But first, we must give God the ashes of our failure to love as He loves. We can go for years recognizing our shortfalling in agape love, but never give them to God so He is able to make beauty out of them. We need to lift the ashes and dust of any failure to God our Father, with confidence in Him, not ourselves. We do not need to keep looking at the ashes of our fleshly ways that have failed. We do not need to cover ourselves with ashes because of our lack.

We give it all to God, and somehow, time after time, He makes beauty from them. Amazing! We can trust our God to work beauty within and even without in all our messes! There is nothing more beautiful than pure, true and heartfelt love. We do not have to know how He will make beauty from our ashes, but we learn that He is always prepared to do so. He redeems us and the situation for good because we love Him and are called according to His purpose.

God the Father’s love is steadfast and that tremendous love He had in order to give His only and most beloved Son is provided for us. There are so many hearts shriveled up from lack of love, hardened and bitter because they do not know, they have not experienced the love of God. Some have been even further wounded in the House of God. Wounds in God’s fellowships, His family, hurt most deeply, and require sensitive ministry for healing.

It’s very important to remember how many willful and disobedient children God has and yet He never gives up on us. He is most definitely the expert in loving the unlovable. When we learn mercy from God about those things in which we fall short, we are more able to apply God’s perfect love with others, without scarcity to anyone, child or adult. All those “others,” people who are different from us, including partners who are opposites, as well as those with differing habits, beliefs, values, traditions, and behaviors, are covered in His love: “for God so loved the world…”

God is very fond of all of us. In fact He enjoys our company! We were made to be in relationship with Him. God seems to have a way of making each of us feel special to Him. And we are—fearfully and wonderfully and purposefully created by Him. God is able to empower every Christian parent to have the love needed so each child knows he or she is special in his or her own unique way.

There is enough love to go around in any home that belongs to God, just as there is in any heart that loves the Lord, desiring to be like Him in this world:

“And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him.” 1 John 4:16-17 NASB

David’s Psalms 139 confirms just how special and unique each of us are, even though we may not yet realize it. We are each a marvelous work of God! We may erroneously believe God loves those He rewards more than those who do not seem to receive His blessings. That is humanity’s way, the ways of the flesh, which cannot enter in to His kingdom. It is not God!

If God thought that having favorites was a good plan, He would have shown us that. He does have a chosen people, certain ones of each age called out for higher purposes. This is because of the plans He has made for us, not because He loves those in ministry, given much revelation, used mightily of Him, more than the rest of us. And for whom much is given, much is required!

“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12:47-48 NIV

Thankfully, we can count on Him to bring a balance in our relationships, enlarging the borders of our hearts to be more like Him in this world. Consider Jabez. There are only a few lines about Jabez in the Bible, but what is there is profound:

“And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, 'Oh that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and You would keep me from evil, that I might not cause pain! '

So God granted him what he requested.” I Chronicles 4:10. Berean

We ask God to enlarge the borders of His presence within us, the territory of our hearts, to make room for more capacity to love others as He does. Our hearts are His dwelling and His kingdom is within us. He seeks those who worship Him with a whole heart. We can trust that He will accomplish all within. When the sincere cry of each Christian’s heart is to “not cause pain,” as Jabez requested, God grants that request.

We do get what we ask Him for, when we ask with our whole hearts according to His will! We need to grow up into Him, into our Lord Jesus Christ, to meet His standard in relationship with others. The only way is turning again and again to our Lord. We are in “God’s school” where He points these things out to us, then cleans our hearts of all the spots and blemishes remaining.

We don’t have to “try harder, do better.” We submit to Him and rest in faith that He will do it:

“…for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13 Berean

Hasten the day, Lord; hasten the day!

Speak the Word!

We know what one human is capable of doing to another, as there is no shortage of evidence showing the consequences of sin. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life are always on display in this world. At the same time, we are surrounded by love, compassion and beauty flowing out from humanity. What if God granted us the ability to see as He sees, revealing everything in the hearts of others? Could we tolerate the ugliness we would see in each heart, including our own, if God chose to reveal it to us as He sees it? Would our compassion increase or our condemnation and judgment grow towards mankind?

Our Lord is able to see everything and love fully, completely, and unreservedly. It is one of many incredible marvels of His nature. He Who is in us is able to bring that perfect, balance of love and justice. God does this. He loves while seeing everything in this “bottomless pit” of our human souls. We’re promised that our love will increase in Him as we ask to be more like Him. We wait, hoping with patience and endurance, until our redemption draws complete and it is so, on this side of heaven or on the other. God knows.

“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” Luke 21:28 KJV

God’s justice, His dealings with His creation, are always redemptive. Always, in all cases, circumstances and people, redemptive! God’s constant purpose and focus is ultimately to save people from further suffering and pain, to grow new life in the spirit. That is the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we walk His path for us, we ask: “How will you, Lord, work to bring Your balance of mercy and justice into our hearts, written upon us so there is no imbalance in our response to others?” We know He is able, but of course, it takes time, including ages and ages that are unfathomable in our time-limited understanding. He is able to work the completion of His perfect mercy and justice, as He spoke to the prophet Zechariah:

“And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah: ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.’” Zechariah 7:9 KJV

We are not to oppress others around us who are struggling to make it in this world. Note that the admonishment is to our hearts. It is certain that any evil intent in our hearts, unless dealt with by His Spirit, will be revealed in our words and behavior. He is a merciful and just God, who wants good things for us:

“Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him.” Isaiah 30:18 KJV

If you have been subject to much hellfire and brimstone teaching, you may have missed this good news! God is not looking for opportunities to chastise and condemn us. He longs to be gracious, waiting to show us the compassion we need. He sees the longing in our hearts for Him, to be like Him. He connects justice, His right judgment and compassion, His mercy, together. We hope and wait patiently, in expectation of His will to be fulfilled:

“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope. Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” 3:21-26 NIV

His compassions never fail. We are to be like Him so if our walk, our ministry to others, includes discerning what is in the hearts of others, how desperately we need more of His compassion and love! We need right judgment along with His mercy to handle everything we know with truth in love. We require it as He reveals the ugliness within ourselves, and most certainly require His compassion and mercy to minister to others, either in prayer or in person. We can be like Him in this, as in all other things.

He promises we would be like Him and see Him as He is:

“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” 1 John 3:2 NASB

What a powerful promise yet to be fulfilled: to be complete in Him. Is not the Lord continually appearing to us, day by day, to create in us that clean, obedient heart we need? This is surely not a one-time event, accomplished when we first believe. It is a process over time. He appears daily within us, hourly, minute by minute whenever we see Him as He is, how His nature would be in circumstances, and how His spirit would lead us in all things.

Realizing that God’s justice, the judgment He brings, is always redemptive, never vindictive or self-righteous, gives us a stronger sense of our God. Here is a fuller way of seeing and understanding who He is. Many of us have longed to know how to love as He loves, without seeming to overlook the truth of His word about sin. We know and love many people whose life choices are not the same as ours. If there be any grace and mercy as we interact together, could others come to see the Truth as we see it just by being in our presence?

Love is the most powerful force in the universe! Love accomplishes the impossible! Knowing we are loved no matter what opens our ears to the truth, in a way that condemnation and judgment never does. God’s truth is good news!

“How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation and says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” Isaiah 52:7 KJV

Good news—this is what we bring to others! We swallow up the darkness with His light. Through years of walking with the Lord, His truth is always revealed as good news. In fact it is often the only good news in our troubled world. It can be difficult to see the “goodness of God in the land of the living,” in the midst of clouds of controversy and sin! Oh, how our hearts desire to be the bearer of the good news! May we come up hither, to the high places of God, to bring good news to all.

When others really come to know our Lord in spirit and truth, they will fall in love with Him, just as we have. How may we be a more true lens through which others can see God as He is? Our Lord accomplished so much just by looking at others. His eyes of truth and love pierce through the darkest countenance, breaking down the resistance and fear this sinful life builds within each of us.

Could this become true for us, His people? Can we trust Him when He is leading us to speak His word or even just say nothing to someone about our spiritual differences? Are we able to be led by the Holy Spirit to only speak as the Father speaks, just as Jesus did?

“So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.” John 8:28 NIV

Can we resist the human need to throw in a slight frown, tone of voice, or clarifying statement about where they are wrong? Can we keep from showing a face of disapproval while not saying a word unless God directs? Let us truly believe the love of God, which is completely who He is and all contained within it, is the powerful change agent that can touch the other’s heart to free them from bondage. We are learning to rely on His timing, the leading by the spirit, to increase in doing all things well, just as He does.

These are things to ponder we walk along with our Lord, allowing Him to expose and change all that falls short within us. He is correcting all that is coming out in words and behaviors not led by the holy spirit, not profitable for spiritual growth in others or ourselves. Whom we truly love from our deepest hearts are those we desire to please above all things. God the Father and Jesus Christ, His Son, reward all those who come in a loving relationship with the Master of the Universe.

His plans for the world are established and the purposes of His heart of love flow out through all the generations to come:

“But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.” Psalms 33:11 NIV

The Lord knows whose heart is receptive and ready to hear what He might have to say. Jesus certainly did not speak directly to every sinner around Him. There’s no point in the spirit of speaking of things that will not be heard without the hearer having a teachable heart prepared to receive. How many words are wasted or hearts further hardened by human-led instruction to repent, change our ways and serve God?

We’ve likely all done this out of zeal or duty rather than by the spirit leading us to do so. We need discernment to know the time and place. Certainly, we can be ready, and prepared in our hearts to speak the truth in love when it’s time. Paul taught Timothy, instructing him how to conduct himself in what he was called to do.

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” 2 Timothy 4:1-2 NIV

Interesting that Paul puts reproof, rebuke and encouragement all together as part of patient instruction to others. When reproof and rebuke is needed, it is a part of encouraging others in their spiritual lives through patient instruction. The purpose is always redemptive. This is speaking truth in love.

Those of us who desire to share God’s word and ways are to always be ready to do so when called upon. We are to be prepared in season, when we would anticipate having opportunity, and out-of-season when the opportunity to speak of God and His word arrives unexpectedly. Let us consider our heart condition—the readiness of the heart when we are speaking to others, both believers and non-believers.

When speaking His word of life we seek discernment about that person’s readiness of heart to hear so it will prosper. If we are led by the Lord, He will check our spirit on many occasions, showing us when ears are closed, hearts are not open to Him or ready to hear. When God speaks a Word “in due season,” we can be sure that Word does its work, throughout all generations.

His word is not only powerful, but effective—it succeeds! Those who are used to speaking this word may not witness the crop that grows, but that’s God’s business. Ours is to be obedient to speak or not to speak, to share the truth in love when the heart is open to receive. We can then trust the Lord to do His will with that word, bringing forth the crop He intends. We can learn how to speak according to the condition of the heart rather than our religious zeal to do good works for God.

God teaches us to follow Him through the promptings of the holy spirit, preparing our own hearts to do so. We are to be like Him, learning to speak as Jesus did—only what the Father instructs us to speak. We can do this naturally and effortlessly, as He did, when we are fully instructed in His ways. As God once said to me, “Don’t tell all you know.” We may have a lot to say, but unless it is led by God, it is a waste of time and breath.

Many know so very much of God and His ways that others may not be prepared yet to hear. We hold all truth in God closely, being ready to speak truth in love whenever and wherever the heart conditions are right. How is that different from preaching daily on the street corners or knocking on doors with the message of salvation? God examines the motivations of our hearts for doing these things.

When we act for God motivated by zeal, as a part of a program or duty, we risk sharing with many who are not prepared to hear it. If we are doing such things only of our own accord or at the direction of another human, it does not bring forth the fruit of the kingdom, no matter how sincerely done. It becomes a fleshly activity that can never produce the righteousness of God. Our actions and activities may be the same as we learn of the ways of the spirit, but the heart of obedience to God’s spirit leads us to assist others in ways that are productive of righteousness.

When what we do is God’s idea and not the fleshly plans of man:

"For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.” Isaiah 55:10-11 Berean

When we are called, enabled to share the Word of God as He directs, His Word will always prosper when and where He sends it. We may plant the seed, and another reap the harvest, but He will have a crop. There are plowmen and there are reapers, both busy in the kingdom. God is always preparing the ground of our earthly hearts for the planting of His seed.

The religious world has so many programs and plans, motivated by good intentions ,to reach the world for the gospel of Christ. Though much good has occurred, these efforts have not produced fruit equal to the labor and investment. It is not what is said and done, but Whose idea it is to begin with. The power is in His word, proceeding from His mouth through those called to be His mouthpiece. Aren’t you glad it is so?

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 NIV

The Enemy of Our Souls

The reconciliation of all things is such a deep truth to comprehend. It’s good news that God will judge and redeem all as the fulfillment of His eternal plan and purpose! He does not have a plan to sentence some to hell. Hell is endless torment and punishment, with no way of escape. An eternal hell of everlasting judgment that would accomplish no redemption, only punishment. This understanding of hell cannot lead anyone back to fellowship with the holy Presence of our Lord.

Further, an eternal hell denies that God is the changer of even the most evil and despicable hearts. God will not fail to change the hearts of billions who are all destined to be judged by Him. He has determined to do so. Yes, it is true that those who are not with Him at the time of His coming will be “thrown into the lake of fire”. But what does this really mean? Since our God is a consuming fire, the dreaded “lake of fire” is the purging of all who have not come to him to be changed before this.

It is none other than the fiery presence of God’s kingdom priests, those who minister the word of reconciliation for this time. Now we can understand a much different outcome when God’s redemptive justice is seen. God is throwing all sinners, all who fall short of His righteous standards, into the cleansing, purifying Word of God to change them. God does not suddenly, at the end of time, lose His ability to reconcile, to bring back all to Him. God will have His day of judgment and we all are held accountable. He is very clear that no flesh will be allowed in His Kingdom. But for what purpose?

All of us found lacking the spiritual qualities to meet God’s standards of mercy and justice. All of us need God’s consuming fire to burn up our dross. We will all be truly changed, clothed in righteous garments, with our flesh swallowed up in His victory. So shall we be forever with the Lord and His saints! You see, being cast into the lake of fire is a necessity! It is a redemptive process, justified when an unbeliever dies. This is good news that isn’t reserved only for sinful unbelievers!

“ Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” 1 Peter 4:12-13 NIV

Aha! Fiery trials are allowed by God. He is in control over our enemy! Our wise Father created the adversary to destroy. He was a devil from the beginning, not a fallen angel who has gathered his troops to war with Jesus. Did not Jesus defeat this enemy on the cross? Though this truth is not popular or widely accepted, it is nonetheless based upon sound doctrine.

“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” 1 John 3:8-9 KJV

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, it is time for this truth to no longer be hidden from God’s precious saints. It is time for Jesus Christ and His army of saints to reap the earth for God’s kingdom. Some prefer to reject the idea that our loving God allows the adversary to work against us in even horrific, evil ways. Many avoid, if not reject, the book of Job that illustrates God allowing satan to come against a righteous man of God. But through unimaginable loss and destruction, Job learns Who God is and who he, a mortal man, is not.

This aspect of our merciful, compassionate Lord is not easy to understand or accept. His ways are not ours. Our God is a God of contrasts, knowing we need the darkness to see His light. His plan from the beginning has been to use the enemy to test and refine us. That’s the job of the enemy of our souls and he does it well. Never has God lost control of His servant, the devil. Victory for all men is sure:

“‘Behold, I have created the blacksmith Who blows the coals in the fire, Who brings forth an instrument for his work; And I have created the spoiler to destroy.

No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me,’ says the LORD.” Isaiah 54:16-17 NKJV

Satan, the blacksmith, increases the strength of the fiery trials we walk through and endure on this earth. As we mature, such trials are more and more like the suffering of Jesus—undeserved, unfair, even cruel. Just as satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he puts his thoughts into our minds and hearts, particularly during the inevitable times of adversity in living on the earth. He is God’s instrument, this enemy of our soul, operating in the fleshly realm of our mind, our will, and our emotions.

Jesus Christ conquers satan within us, over and over, bringing His victory to triumph over every fleshly thought, desire, and emotion that satan is working to plant and increase in us. While weapons are formed against us, His servants, they will never prosper. He promises this! Earlier verses leading to the above passages provide further context to show that, rather than destroying His creation, God makes a new earth in us:

“To me, this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again.

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the Lord, who has compassion on you.” Isaiah 54:9-10 NIV

God swore that He would never again be angry with humans nor rebuke them as in the days of Noah. Think of it! This is the heritage of the promises given to Abraham. He will have compassion on us for good. He promised not to again destroy the earth, giving us a sign of this promise in every rainbow in the sky.

“Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

And whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of every kind that is on the earth.’ So God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and every creature on the earth.’” Genesis 9:14-16 Berean

God recalls His promise through the rainbow, just as it is a sign to us of His promise never to destroy the earth and all living here. A rainbow is made by a multicoloured arc of light striking water droplets, most commonly when sunlight strikes raindrops at a precise angle. The colors on a primary rainbow are always in order of their wavelength, from longest to shortest: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet (National Geographic, paraphrased.) Amazing, isn’t it?!

God is light and there is no darkness in Him. Who is more precise than our God, the Son from whom we receive light? The rainbow is an eternal promise of restoration, assuring us God will not destroy people nor any living creature on the earth again. God is a destroyer of sin and death, but not of the creation He made. He loves His creation, this world, so much that He redeemed it through the great and wonderful sacrifice of His son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Mountains are being shaken, and all those high places where humans are dwelling that are not established by God will come down. Hilly places where the path is more difficult are removed from our walk. His unfailing love is not shown in spite of these shakings but through them all. He is the One we cling to as He brings these shakings in and around us.

The shaking of all things that can be shaken on this earth is His work in us and others. The apostle James tells us further to count it all joy when trials come upon us, because of the new growth, the new heaven and new earth that comes from it. This surely makes the Lord’s own distinctly different from others in this world with its increasing upheavals:

“Consider it nothing but joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials. Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace].

And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4 Amplified

We are assured that our many trials are for the testing and refinement of our faith, to perfect us. Many are experiencing this purging as we draw near to Him in this life. He is always coming to us, His temple, dwelling within, where He is building the Kingdom. We are to be clothed with His glory to be revealed in us, His saints. The only way we can consider all our trials with a joyful heart is to know that God is strengthening our faith, producing endurance, through them all.

Endurance is based upon a Greek word that means to “stay; abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand” (Strong’s Concordance). We abide and remain in God and He in us as He works. He develops His precious qualities of gold and silver into our nature, the very inner being of His servants. We are to be transparent like Him, a pure light in the darkness of this world.

“You are the light of [Christ to] the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16 Berean

There is to be no “spot or wrinkle” in His holy people to be seen for all eternity. Good deeds led by God from a pure heart of love and faith are indeed seen by others. This promise is for those who overcome the flesh, obedient unto death to self. The dying man or woman who has walked with the Lord intimately for many years passes easily through the thin veil between flesh and spirit to come into the presence of the Lord.

But those who are deathbed confessors are naked before God. They have not been clothed with the Christ when passing from this life. How can they be? They have just met Him! This person is facing God, still needing Him to refine them. It may take ages before the billions who did not know the Lord in this life are awakened to be further changed and clothed with righteousness. God has a lot of work for His saints yet to do that has never been done, that could not be done until this Day of the Lord.

Now is the time to pray for reapers of His harvest of the fruit of the Spirit:

“…His disciples came to Him saying, ‘Explain [clearly] to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He answered, ‘The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and [as for] the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the weeds are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.

So just as the weeds are gathered up and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend [those things by which people are led into sin], and all who practice evil [leading others into sin], and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping [over sorrow and pain] and grinding of teeth [over distress and anger].

Then the righteous, [those who seek the will of God] will shine forth [radiating the new life] like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears [to hear], let him hear and heed My words.” Matthew 13:36-43 Amplified

God’s harvest is the nature and character of all souls becoming Christ-like. He sends His angels, messengers of God’s word, to do this reaping. All seed sown in the earth of our hearts grows a crop. God has allowed these two crops, from the good seed of the kingdom and from the evil one, to grow together until the end of the age. Then the weeds from the evil one are gathered up and burned in the fire of His presence brought by His angels, messengers who bring tidings of great joy.

So, it is the crop of weeds, the fruit, so to speak, of the flesh, that must be destroyed, because no flesh can enter in to His kingdom. It is not the destruction of the earth or of our being in which it was planted. Our being is the holy temple of God. He came to save the world, not destroy it. His messengers are sent to gather the crop from His good seed in our earth. He is reaping the fruit of His kingdom, which is in those of us who believe and serve our Lord.

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” 2 Corinthians 6:16 Berean

So, what do we do with fruit that has been reaped? Why, we eat it! We all know that the very best, tastiest, most nourishing fruit is picked off the vine and consumed immediately. So too is the fruit of God’s word to be given as a feast of nourishment for others. As we abide in the Vine, others are able to eat the nourishing fruit of His spirit, the love, peace, and joy within us. He has planted His seed and it is growing a spiritual crop that become His harvest.

When the light of His countenance shines with purity from His holy and refined people, others will see Him. We are on that path and long for its completion within us. This work is done by holy, righteous people, prepared by God and joined in spiritual Zion. It is done in the rest of the Lord, by the spirit of a purified, united people with no guile. Think of it!

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away (vanished), and there is no longer any sea.

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, arrayed like a bride adorned for her husband; and then I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying,

‘See! The tabernacle of God is among men, and He will live among them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them [as their God,] and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be death; there will no longer be sorrow and anguish, or crying, or pain; for the former order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:1-4 Berean

What heavenly words of promise! All of our former dwelling places, on earth and in those spiritual heavens we’ve known, pass away. So does the sea, that sea of unbelief, all the “waters of people” of the world who do not know Him. John saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. He comes down to dwell within us, not to a geographical place to which we can point. His kingdom comes without scrutiny, as Jesus said when He told others the kingdom was right there, in Him.

He is raising us up to dwell with Him by spirit. God then plans to establish His holy habitation in the spirit from spiritual Zion where He rules. He wipes away tears on this earth, for there are no tears in heaven! This place of the throne of Jesus Christ and Father God is finally brought to dwell among us, the place where His departed sons and daughters, martyrs and leaders of the faith, are already spiritually foundwhile they await our perfection:

“These were all commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised. God had planned something better for us, so that together with us they would be made perfect.” Hebrews 11:39-40 Berean

In this well-known faith chapter of the Bible, the writer of Hebrews lists many of God’s saints who were commended for their faith. What a powerful, diverse list it is! God’s plan has been to withhold what was promised to these precious saints until we who remain on the earth, having this same calling of faith, are made perfect. One is not to proceed without the other. How they have longed to see the fulfillment of this most precious promise, from Abraham to the revelation of John.

No wonder the saints dwelling in spiritual Zion, our homeland, are cheering us on in this day and hour. Dare we believe that now is the time? God does reveal His times and seasons to those who love Him. Many of God’s people, from various walks of faith and regardless of differing doctrines, believe that the Day of the Lord is upon us. We welcome it and are surely in desperate need of it. Only God can repair, heal, and restore the conditions we now have on this earth.

God grants marvelous and powerful revelatory understanding of these important scriptures for this day. My heart fills with gratitude and appreciation to the many ministers of the Gospel, past and present, who faithfully taught such truths as the reconciliation of all men and the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles. This most especially includes Sis. Maxine Plowman, my spiritual mother in the Lord, Pastor of Gospel Center, Bro. Sears Westlake of Vine Street Gospel Chapel, and Bro. J. Preston Eby of Kingdom Bible Studies. They are now all on the other side but the life of their ministries lives on in those of us who were privileged to learn from them.

Most of all, love and gratitude to my husband, Rich Mikelson, for his teachings and revelatory wisdom shared through his Feast of Tabernacles messages as well as in our life together. What a privilege to walk together in God!

Please check their ministries out if my few writings about the message of reconciliation lead to a hunger to learn more. May God bless and increase the fruit of the spirit in your hearts, preparing you for the great reaping to come!

Conversations With God

Learning to be led by God’s spirit is a wonderful, unfolding process as we walk with Him. We learn to listen to the spirit, to recognize the difference between our own thoughts, the thoughts of the enemy, and the Holy Spirit. Our Lord may speak something to us that is completely unexpected. For example, He suddenly drops a thought, a name, or even gives a picture of someone we do not even know who needs intercession. Such communications from the Lord are easier to recognize because they are clearly not anything we would think or say.

God also speaks a word of correction, a refining of our understanding. He reveals the next step in something we’re doing. He provides discernment on how to pray. Father God also has a sense of humor and can gently tease us. Where do you think we got our healthy sense of humor? Some people might think this is irreverent but is not humor a part of intimate relationships? We should become comfortable enough in His presence within us to receive all aspects of His personality. We can have a good laugh with the Lord at some of our foolishness!

As we tell the Lord how much we love Him, He never tires of hearing it and often whispers back, “I love you too.” God’s conversation is never boring, but ours sure can be! When we feel His urging in our hearts to act on such spiritual communication from Him, we know it is God’s burden we feel for that situation. Then He provides the perfect word when we are led to share with another:

“Like apples of gold in settings of silver, is a word spoken at the proper time.” Proverbs 25:11 NASB

How we long to always have just such a perfect Word that encourages and edifies others. How precious it is when He grants such words to comfort another’s heart as well as our own. When the spirit is leading the words we share, it is much more powerful than just bringing out a few scriptures that seem relevant. So many believers still need to know God really loves all of us and prefers not to be seen as a distant, unrelatable Lord.

This brings the deepest rest of all when we know we are always safe in His love. Such words are of great value! No human can promise us that, nor are humans able to fulfill this throughout our lives and beyond. He truly is a Friend at all times, laying down His life for us.

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:13-15 ESV

He is always and forever with us, His people, teaching, directing, and giving us wisdom. We need to learn to hear directly from God, to know His voice. Of course, it is wise to have a healthy skepticism about what we may think we are hearing from God, particularly when it matches a strong desire of our own hearts. When we say that God told us something, it is not to be said lightly and certainly not as a justification for our own will. God gets credited with many a decision based on our own desires rather than His!

Our Father knows what is in our hearts about these matters. We have even seen this in great ministries where leaders state God told them to raise funds for a specific work of ministry or to build a bigger, better building, only to watch as it fails to produce fruit and dies. When we hear from the Lord about such important things, we do well to wait and rest until confirmation. We may have zeal, rather than the holy spirit, leading us. We have ideas and plans, but we learn to hold them loosely until God confirms.

As our walk with the Lord deepens, we also learn that feeling peace is not the definitive sign that God is leading us in the matter. We do seek His rest that comes from following the path of life He has ordained for us. But we can also feel peace because we do not want to face something we’d prefer to avoid. We have a human desire to avoid the difficult, the controversial, the unexpected, and the losses. It is not a peaceful process to face upsetting things or difficult, but necessary, changes. Our human, fleshly avoidance of what God has been leading us to do or not do keeps the fear of change at bay.

We may feel a momentary relief at these times but is not the rest and peace of God. There is a continual nudge from God, an awareness that this “peace” is not His deep, lasting rest in the matter. But as we wait patiently, God confirms His will for us over time and in many ways. He brings a confirming word in scripture, daily reading, or something someone else says as well as the internal voice of the Lord. He speaks to us in song, in nature, in so many other ways. He gives us His rest, far beyond our understanding.

“My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.

No one can snatch them out of My hand.” John 10:27-28 Berean

God is always present, willing to strengthen us while we go through the many challenges of life in this world. We are learning to put ourselves in His hands, to rest in Him. When we are seeking specific answers, our brothers and sisters in Christ often have a word of wisdom or guidance that is just what we need, exactly an answer to our prayers. They may not even realize it as we are communicating.

As we mature, we recognize His voice with more certainty, just as a child knows the voice of his or her parents. He is most gracious to the sincere heart that truly desires to be led by Him. He wants us to hear Him! We ask others to pray for God’s will for ourselves and others, too. As we continue to present our heart’s motivations to the Lord, He purifies them. We become less susceptible to hearing what we want to hear. Prayer is effective!

“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16 KJV

Much repetition of our scriptural knowledge is not the key. A heart of wisdom is the critical thing.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16 ESV

All prayer is a conversation with God and we grow in the assurance that He is listening. We have Him within and He is all wisdom, ever increasing His peace and presence. We continually direct our hearts toward the Lord while going about our day. It may not be visible to others, but how lovely and wonderful it is to God. There is nothing that pleases the Lord more than keeping our hearts focused upon Him, with a song of thankfulness that flows out from His presence. This brings rest and peace regardless of outer circumstances.

As intercessors, we bring all burdens to Him and He directs our prayers. In praying for others, God honors the intent of our hearts. It does not matter if we prayed the “right” way, with specific formalized words or phrases. What does matter is that we pray sincerely in spirit and in truth. Scripture is the truth we can stand upon and guides in prayer according to His will. But we can make prayer into works by claiming the scriptures or reciting rote prayers, separated from a heart of faith that is led by the spirit.

God certainly hears all prayers and understands if we don’t know another way to have a conversation with Him. But sometimes, in our desperation, we fall into demanding healing, blessing, or needs to be met. Desperation, however, is not faith. We quote scripture as if we must remind God what He promised. I know—I’ve done it! And seemingly unanswered prayers are most difficult, even painful, to comprehend. We know He can do all things, including —or most especially—what is impossible to us.

We may batter the ears of God with a prayer that He has no plans to answer with a “yes.” He teaches us to pray more effectively, to pray that “effectual fervent prayer” of the righteous. We pray more powerfully, with greater strength, as the holy spirit guides. Jesus knows all hearts and His prayers are always effective. Further, He says that this type of prayer, an effective and fervent one from the heart of the righteous, is most valuable. These prayers are effective as they come from a pure heart of love centered on His will.

For our prayers to be even more effective, however, God may reveal a specific understanding of the root of a situation. When we only pray for what we see, we are not getting to the root. It’s like trying to cut off the tops of those weeds in our gardens—they will only grow back. How many prayers have we prayed to ask God to change something external, rather than the heart of the matter? God hears and understands,when we do not see lasting change from these prayers as often as we’d like.

When God gets down to the root of it, the cause of the situation beneath the habit or sin or circumstance, His power is more fully revealed. He removes that root so it can never spring up again! In the garden of our hearts where God has planted His precious seed, He will pull up the weeds in our souls by the roots when we let Him. He desires full deliverance, a change that is lasting for us and in us, as well as for others. God is able to remove the reasons so no more fleshly fruit grows up to defile us again and again.

Coming into His rest, we learn to pause, to take more time to seek a spiritual understanding of His will at the beginning of our prayers. When the Lord shows us a situation or condition that will not change, we more effectively pray for ourselves and others to have the strength to endure it, accept it, and learn what God’s purpose is in the matter. We also need wisdom and understanding to handle what God reveals to us in intercessory prayer. God shares things in perfect timing, but we may not!

In our eagerness to share what God has shown us, we may tell someone something they are not at all prepared to hear. The heart must be ready and willing to hear from God. God may even give us specific guidance that is not to be shared with the person requesting prayer. We also may be allowed to share, to plant a seed, without observing any receptivity in the hearer. Some “crops” take longer to germinate from seed than others. Then we need to get out of the way so God can feed and water this truth.

We may only be the planter, not the reaper. It takes God’s timing for many things to be effective in this walk with Him. It’s like trying to teach a child when that child is upset, crying, and making a fuss. A wise parent will wait until some calm has been restored to teach the necessary lesson in the matter. When we are upset, none of us are in the thinking part, the problem-solving part of our brain. Instead, we are in the emotional part of our brains, flooded with feelings that overwhelm our ability to consider what we did and how to do it differently in future. At such times, we do not have “ears to hear.”

How do we know this? Neuroscience has found that the thinking part of our brains, called the prefrontal cortex, takes the longest to mature in humans, up to 25 years of age. That’s well past our teen years of unwise, impulsive actions that astonished our parents! Who knows more about our brains than the One who created them? God has always known that our brain is able to learn throughout our lives, not just when we are young as was thought forty or fifty years ago.

After all, true scientific discoveries eventually agree with God, whether He gets the credit or notGod empowers scientists to confirm His truth whether they realize this or not, to further our knowledge and understanding of this life. Science may not be godly, but God is in science! The most powerful prayers come inbedded in praise and thanksgiving for Who He is. It is always a powerful prayer to praise Him in all things. The apostle Paul says to pray about everything:

“Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything [every circumstance and situation] by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your [specific] requests known to God.

And the peace of God [that peace which reassures the heart, that peace] which transcends all understanding, [that peace which] stands guard over your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus [is yours].” Philippians 4:6-7 Amplified

Here’s another key to the process of entering into His rest: everything means everything! From the smallest thing to the most important, from the minor issues to the potential disasters, we have the privilege of bringing every decision to Him. This is His directive to us and it matters not if others think we are strange to pray about everything. Praying with thanksgiving in our hearts is most pleasing to the Lord, showing our trust in His faithfulness. We thank Him for Who He is before we have the answers we seek.

God never tires of hearing from us, even about the same old issues. We learn to acknowledge that He knows best and will do His will for the good of us and on behalf of others. This demonstrates our trust in our heavenly Father. We can always thank the Lord in advance for His faithfulness. We build up our most holy faith by calling to remembrance all that He has given and done for us. There is power in rehearsing the many blessings He has provided, the multitude of answered prayers we have received.

But even thankfulness in our hearts must at times be worked out in us by the Lord. At the beginning of most trials God allows to come our way, it is not easy to be grateful in it. We do not have to be thankful for it, but thankful in it. We thank the Lord, praising Him in the situation, as a demonstration of our trust in His will and His way to resolve it. We are showing our God that we trust Him for answers and that we believe His plan is working things for our good—before it is visible, known to us.

As we gain more of God’s spiritual thinking and purpose, we actually may also become grateful for difficult things that happened, but that is easier in hindsight! How many of us testify that the worst thing that happened to us is the same thing that brought us to God or closer to Him? It is easier to see after the fact, to recognize benefits from that awful, most painful situation of pain and loss. We are enabled to see how these very events bring about change for the good, in us and in those around us.

It’s difficult to embrace pain, but God even enables that. Listen to Paul’s testimony:

“So to keep me from becoming conceited [about the abundance of revelation], I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.’

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 Berean

None of us want to be in God’s “school of pain,” but with spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear, we become most thankful that we had that experience. When we are afflicted, we learn most about Him. God is a master at changing our perspective as we allow Him to do so. In God, endings are new beginnings, packaged in a way we don’t always recognize. The hymn “Turn your eyes upon Jesus”, is a well-known Christian song sung by many artists and worshipers through the years.

The chorus says this well:

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in his wonderful face

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of his glory and grace.”

(Helen H. Lemmel)

We turn our focus, our vision, our eyes to Him in praise and worship, not to get, but to give glory and honor to Him. We desire above all to know His purpose and have His understanding in all matters. We eventually learn to pray to hear from God more than for Him to hear us. After all, God knows everything we are going to say to Him anyway. In Isaiah 58, God chastises His people about the wrong attitudes in their hearts when praying and fasting:

“Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek Me and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not forsake the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.

[then they say] ‘Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?’ Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers. You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high.” Isaiah 58:1-3 Berean

Can you see that God is talking about prayer and fasting by His people, those of us who seek Him and delight in knowing His ways? Sinners surely do not do these things. This is His people whom He does not recognize nor respond to their prayers. Such religious efforts are far from Him and His heart of love, being full of wrong motives. God goes on to chastise them for letting everyone know that they are fasting and in intercession. This also hinders their intercession as they want to have others know what they are doing, the sacrifices they are making.

Their purpose is not to hear from God in the matter, but to be heard in order to oppress, cause contention and strife, to strike others. Their focus is on self-gain, on punishment for others’ wickedness. It’s for judgment and condemnation rather than freedom, deliverance, and healing. It is not a redeeming change they are seeking from God for others. Isaiah goes on to share what pleases God in fasting and prayer intercession:

“Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke?

Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” Isaiah 58:6-7 Berean

A godly fast is focused on freeing those in bondage to wickedness, breaking the bondage of others, freeing the oppressed, caring for those in need, seeing God work change for others and self in the sufferings of this world. When we see the naked, without godly righteousness to clothe them, we are to clothe them with our intercession. We are not to pray with hardened hearts while appearing holy. That is not pleasing to God.

God cares about how we pray, where our requests come from internally as we come to Him. When God chooses not to reveal His purpose to us as we pray, we may be led to intercede in tongues with “words that cannot be uttered”:

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time. Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see? But if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 2:22-27 Berean

Jesus taught to pray this way:

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. So then, this is how you should pray:

‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours. When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting will not be obvious to men, but only to your unseen Father. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Matthew 6: 1-16 Berean

Jesus is teaching principles of prayer, not a repetitive formula we must use exactly every time we enter into prayer. When we pray with wrong heart motives, to be seen by others as religious and holy, the reward is from others, not from God. Yes, we may pray many a “formula prayer”, designed and shared by someone else when we don’t know yet how else to pray. We may especially search for specific prayers that others in similar circumstances have learned to pray.

All of these are helpful and are heard by our Lord, but as we grow, our prayers become conversations with God. He is compassionate when we don’t know what to pray other than “Help, God!” As we grow further, getting to know and be comfortable with God, our prayers are heart-to-heart conversations with Father God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Words are not always necessary in the most intimate relationships, where both parties are well connected and at home with each other.

We surely want an intimate relationship with Him! Our words are not the critical part to God. He already knows it all anyway and discerns our hearts when we do not.

“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:13 Berean

God is able to give rest to an intercessor or burden bearer despite the direness of any circumstance in life. There may be times when God makes it clear that He heard our prayers the first time, and that we don’t need to repeat our prayers over and over. During the pandemic, my mental health training business suffered along with the rest of the world’s businesses. Most of us felt helpless about many things during that time. God gave me this business, it was not my idea. I knew whether it succeeded or failed was and is in His hands but I was anxious, not at peace about it.

For the first few months without revenue and mounting debt, I prayed over and over: “God, this is Your business.” After a while, God softly spoke: “I know it is My business.” Well. Of course, He knew that, but did I, really?! If I believed that, why was I continually reminding Him of it? I felt the deep assurance I was heard by the Father. Then He gave me rest in His direction. The outcome was in His hands. Survive or fail, it was up to Him. I had found peace through surrendering the outcome.

All things are in His hands, whether we can believe that all of the time or not. He is a faithful God who preserves His calling and purpose for us, sustaining all provision when it is in His will. We pray continually for someone with whom we have agreed to intercede until we know the issue is resolved. That seems like what we should do, right? Yet God may release us from regular intercession to let us know we have been heard and it is now in His hands. Then we need not ask again.

This takes the holy spirit leading us, for sure! We even have times when we are not led to pray, even when many are praying about it. It may not be on our particular list of intercessory prayers. It certainly is unprofitable when it just feels like we should pray, as a duty, not heart-felt by the spirit. Occasionally I’ve been surprised by feeling no unction to pray about a worldly situation, perhaps because so many others are already doing so.

Evidence of change is not required as we are led by the spirit to keep praying or to stop. Some people have been praying the same prayer about someone or something for most of their lives. God has never told them to stop, as some prayers take a lifetime or beyond to be fulfilled. We are also led to know when the Lord is saying “It is enough.” These prayers are but for a time, a season, even a moment in Him.

Yes, there is intercession that requires repeatedly asking, seeking, and knocking until there is a breakthrough. This is often the case when we are doing battle with those unknown spiritual forces that rule the earth and its ways. We prefer answers that are given in just a moment, but scriptures reveal the many times saints battled while waiting for God to send His messengers, His angels, to intercede.

Here’s the point: God knows the period of time for prayer and intercession. The key for us is that prayer comes from a heart of faith in those who love Him. This brings true rest to the people of God.

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.” Isaiah 26:3-4 ESV

God is the only One we can talk to about many things. Oh, the secrets God keeps for each of us! Even in consistent prayer about heavy burdens and critical matters, He is able to lead us into His rest, a rest like we have never known. We are learning that all things are in His hands.

God will keep refining and purging us, swallowing up the old with the new, including our conversations with Him, until we shine forth as pure gold. He rested from His works on the seventh day, so we are to rest as He did. What a provision He has made for us to pursue in this life and the life to come!

Our Expected End

“For consider your calling, brothers and sisters, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;

but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the insignificant things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no human may boast before God.

But it is due to Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written: ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 NASB

It is enlightening to consider whom God has chosen through the ages to do His work. What can we learn by examining the Lord’s called and chosen? What was their expected end? Take a look at the lineage of Jesus Christ and you will see individuals who would not make the top 10 list in our present religious world. Sometimes it appears we have forgotten where we came from and all the imperfect people God uses in His Kingdom. After all, imperfect people are all He has to choose from!

In this passage from Corinthians, the Lord makes clear to us that He does not choose as humans do. We’re grateful that He sees the heart rather than demonstrations of outward ability, stature, prestige, skills or wealth. He chooses many who do not have the external qualifications to do what He has planned. He supplies everything needed to do what we are called to do. Therefore, the glory and honor is all His, not ours.

Jesus knew the plans Father God had for His disciples and chose each according to God’s leading. There are humorous anecdotes written about why each of the disciples would not make the position of elder in today’s churches. Peter would not be chosen because he had a quick temper. James and John were too hungry for power and position, plotting to manipulate their way to be on the right and left hand of Jesus. Judas would betray Him to the Romans, yet Judas was chosen, too. All of them were deserters who lied out of fear, denying that they knew Jesus when He was arrested.

These twelve men, honored disciples of the Christian foundation Jesus established, had obvious faults and made mistakes. He had to break up conflicts among them as they jockeyed for position. They frequently seemed slow to understand. More than once, Jesus had to explain things to them, correcting their assumptions about applying His Lordship to the earth instead of the spiritual kingdom of God. Remember, they did not have the Holy spirit to enlighten their minds until the Holy Spirit fell on that long ago day in the Upper Room.

The disciples were all Hebrews in the area, with differing occupations and family backgrounds, but He knew what was in their hearts, what their potential would be. Jesus occasionally sounds a bit weary of explaining the spiritual understanding of His ministry, particularly after all the intimate times of fellowship and teaching He had shared with them. He said there were too many things difficult to understand that they had no ability to hear before He died and rose again.

What has happened through the centuries to the churches of God? When you really think about it, it’s a sad commentary on how we have come to put so much weight on external things like education, including religious education, social status, political influence, wealth, age, profession, the details of dress, hairstyle, habits of food and drink, companions, church attendance, and on and on. It’s amusing for this child of the 60’s to remember how appalled adults were at the long hair (among other things) of the young men of that era while in an earlier era, buzz cuts were thought to be devilish.

Now, in the 21st Century, men and women wear their hair in many different ways that have little to do with what is in their hearts toward God. Such is the way society decides worth and qualification. It is not God’s way of looking at people. God cares more about a man’s heart than the length of his hair. God cares more about a woman’s heart than her outer adornment. Paul admonishes godly women about this:

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair or gold jewelry or fine clothes, but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.

For this is how the holy women of the past adorned themselves. They put their hope in God and were submissive to their husbands.” 1 Peter 3:3b-5 Berean

It is an attitude of the heart to which Paul is speaking in this passage. It is not forbidding outward adornment, though someone probably quickly made a law of it in the general assemblies of the time. Paul is saying that God’s way is to look at what is in the heart regarding the purpose He has for a woman. The beauty of the Lord is found in the inner disposition, in the gentle and quiet spirit of a woman at peace. Such is precious in God’s sight because it is costly. It is the work of the spirit creating an inner change, through a process that brings peace without fear.

There’s more in that passage, but the point is this: we absolutely cannot tell by outward appearance who belongs to Him. In fact, God loves the whole world, whether they know they belong to Him or not. In the Old Testament, He did not pay attention to signs of godliness before He called someone. He did not consider most of the qualities by which many, today, assess someone's worthiness to be used by God. The Lord looks at His plan and our potential, knowing the end from the beginning.

In His calling, some are led to excel in outward ways, become formally educated to open doors in work and professions that would otherwise be closed, excel in many and varied fields, and even garner wealth for His kingdom. But none are a requirement, none qualify them as eligible for service nor outward evidence of righteousness. He is the only necessary foundation, to be called and chosen as one of God’s faithful, used as a servant for His people. God has many counselors in His kingdom, whether in the field of professional counseling or not. God has many ministers and not all of them are called Reverend, Pastor, or Father.

Why would our Lord not call people in all kinds of walks of life? He needs people everywhere! God’s people in all walks of life have a purpose to reach others with His love. That cannot happen when we only engage with others who believe as we do and already share our faith. It also is not sufficient to leave the service of ministry to those who are called ministers by profession. How does H reach those who will never visit, even actively avoid, formal religious groups or gatherings called the Christian church.

We are not called to only care for our own, although it surely is more comfortable to gather with people just like us. But where’s that deep darkness out of which we are to shine? Isn’t it everywhere God calls us to go? We are to be a light in the darkness of this world, to be in it but not of it. When Jesus was nearing the time of His crucifixion, He prayed for His disciples this way:

“I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.

While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.’” John 17:11-12; 14-16 NIV

Jesus left this world, but even when He was here, He was not “of the world” nor were His disciples. Jesus did not ask Father God to take us out of the world, but to keep us from the wicked one while remaining to fulfill God’s calling in Christ Jesus. People are vitally needed in the world to do the great work of bringing the news of our Savior to all. The disciples were not taken out of, but instead, left to do the work they were called to do. They had an expected end in Him, much more than they knew before His crucifixion and resurrection.

The callings of the Lord and our expected end in Him come as quite a surprise to many of us. At the beginning of God’s journey for us, we may never have thought or dreamed of the specific paths we would take with our Lord. He reveals He plans as we seek His ways and walk His path for each of us. God chooses those He will use, and what they will become is often the opposite of what is apparent when they begin to be used of Him. His thoughts and plans are higher and our expected end is certain in Him.

Old Testament saints had human faults and weaknesses that would seem to disqualify them now. The Christians of Paul’s era would certainly not have chosen Saul, the fiery persecutor of Christians. But God knew what was in Saul’s heart, that he believed he was doing the will of God. He was upholding and fighting to preserve his Jewish faith with all his being in the best way he knew.

God planned for a nature change so he would become Paul, the great apostle, preparing Him to minister to the Gentiles and founding the early church bodies spread in Asia. God does see the end from the beginning and our expected end is a good one! Be encouraged, saints of the Lord! He has promised a beautiful conclusion for all creation. Brother Josh Gwinnup, a close brother and respected minister and friend, said it this way:

“Our God has a determined end for all of creation – and it is holy, glorious, and perfect.

In the end, every enemy is conquered, death is destroyed, and every knee bows unto Jesus Christ and every tongue confesses that He is Lord.” J. Gwinnup, 2022

Our expected end is already set and it is good news! He has called and will continue to choose many men and women to further us all along His path. He continually chooses those who are unqualified in society’s eyes, then and now. Even the Father of our faith, Abraham, had a few character defects! Yes, in the Old Testament, Abraham was a great man of faith, yet he lied, more than once, about Sarah being his wife.

Here’s the biblical account of Abraham’s behavior when he and Sarah were traveling. Fearing the authority of rulers whom they were visiting, Abraham told others that Sarah, his beautiful wife, was his sister. Sarah had agreed to this but it surely placed her in some very awkward and potentially dangerous situations. One example found in Genesis is the account of Abraham lying to Abimelech by saying Sarah was his sister.

Because of that lie, Abimelech was going to take Sarah, a most beautiful woman, for his own. As both Abraham and Abimelech knew, in those days a king could choose whomever he wanted. Fortunately, God intervened, not with Abraham but with Abimelech. When God revealed to Abimelech that Sarah was actually Abraham’s wife and that Abraham had deceived him, he was horrified to have almost done something so offensive to God and man. And here’s Abraham’s excuse:

“Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will kill me on account of my wife. But indeed she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is your kindness that you should do for me: in every place, wherever we go, say of me, ‘He is my brother.’” Genesis 20:8-10 KJV

What a rationalization from this great man of God! Sarah was his half-sister, but Abraham used this with guile, misrepresenting the truth to others out of fear. How frightening for Sarah to be taken by Abimelech to be his wife, in spite of her agreement to do as Abraham said! It’s a rather flimsy excuse to say she is truly his sister when she is also his wife. There’s even an implied blame on God, who “caused me to wander.”

Sounds like a typical human excuse to our ears today: “I had to do it; I had no choice; You, God, got me into this by causing me to wander and be in danger because of her beauty.” We wouldn’t even accept that from any of the teenagers we know! God hates lies and in no way was Abraham in the right. It was something about which God had to deal with him on his way to becoming who God called him to be.

Consider, however, if this story went around in today’s religious circles. Would Abraham have been allowed to explain, to repent, be forgiven of such sin, to continue to become that great man of faith who became the father of all people of faith? Or would he have been immediately disqualified by the brethren and tossed out on his ear?! Just like the rest of God’s called and chosen people, over time and with more experiences, Abraham grew in his faith, matured, and passed the greatest test of all.

God knew Abraham’s expected end was to be a man of faith, even called “a friend of God.” Let’s look at this great man of faith later in life, when he was enduring the most difficult test of his life. God had ordered Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his only son and long-awaited child of the promise God had given him and Sarah:

“Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, ‘Abraham!’ ‘Here I am,’ he replied. Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.

[Abraham did so and was lifting his knife to kill Isaac]…But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, ‘Abraham! Abraham!’ ‘Here I am,’ he replied. ‘Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ he said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son….

‘I swear by myself, declares the Lord, ‘that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.

Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” Genesis 22:1-3;11-2;15 NIV

Obedience was what the Father required for Abraham to receive the promise. He is not the only saint that God tests in telling us to sacrifice the very most important thing in our lives. The question He allows us to answer is the evidence of whether God is the most important or there is someone, something else, on the throne of our hearts. And how often it is our own child, that most precious gift of God. Sometimes it is a test of surrender that is restored when God sees our obedient heart, just as He did with Abraham.

There are also many important things in this life the saints of God have been called to lay down that are never restored. Isaac was a part of God’s plan and purpose for Abraham’s future, his expected end. The outcome was ideal in this case. God chooses to lead us one way and not another. As a young person, I strayed from walking with the Lord in college. A few years later, I had fallen in love with the Lord again. I recall having 3 requests for things that were most important to me.

Two of the three were marvelously granted, one within a year, while another took years to be fulfilled. A third was denied and the cause of much pain and loneliness at the time. It’s a process, not an event, to learn to sacrifice immediately and with a whole heart, that which we value and find precious. As we mature, He changes the desires of our hearts so we begin to lose our desire for anything that He does not want us to have. We have no ambition to become anything that is not His future for us, nor hang on to the present when He moves on.

We begin to realize, to accept, and even rest in knowing that God is in charge and it’s best to get out of His way. We cease our struggles with His will for us, yielding our will to His, not questioning what He allows along our path of life. When God called to Abraham, he answered immediately “Here I am.” His heart was quick to respond, ready to obey. He knew the voice of the Father and followed through without question.

This is a heart that has practiced surrender! What a powerful test He set for Abraham, to sacrifice his one and only son, long-awaited and beloved! Nothing is more challenging than when God tests us in the things—and people—we love most. For today’s Christians, it is hard to relate to Abraham’s immediate obedience to God’s directive about sacrificing his only child. It is horrifying even to imagine it. Further, Isaac was the child of promise for whom he and Sarah had waited so long.

In those days, other religions surrounding Abraham and Sarah commonly sacrificed children to their idol gods, so it was more culturally prevalent but we don’t know what Abraham thought. There is nothing written about Him having a discussion with God about it, as most of us might have done. Abraham also loved Sarah and one wonders if Abraham even told her about it Any of us who are mothers, let alone the mother of an only, precious, and long-anticipated son, are most thankful that this has not been our test.

We know believers who have lost a child, including ones who had only one child. Some Christian parents have yielded their children to God’s calling that later took their lives. It’s incredible to think of what so many Christian parents have gone through in losing their precious children. What God has worked within them through these incredibly painful losses! Abraham was a flawed human but he trusted God with Isaac, no matter what.

We don’t know if, in his heart, he thought God would raise him up, or what else contributed to his incredible act of obedience. Clearly, Abraham was a man of faith with an instantly obedient heart. Yet God knows as Father God sacrificed His only begotten Son for us! Think of it! He had the power to save Jesus immediately and Jesus knew it. God saw all that happened and did not intervene. How was that for the heart of Father God, watching Jesus suffer and die?

Isaac’s behavior is something to marvel about as well. These scriptures reveal that Isaac had been taught obedience to Abraham and trusted him. The account says that he went with his father and only asked about the needed sacrifice for worshiping God. He allowed his father to tie him on the altar of sacrifice, but what did he say or do, while laying there, helpless, when his own father lifted up his knife to kill him?

God asked for what was most precious to Abraham and Abraham passed the test. He did not remind God of all the promises God had already given to him and Sarah, all the future that would be lost should Isaac die. Personally, God granted me a long held desire to have a baby, one of the three requests that took years to fulfil, and then only after I had truly surrendered this desire to him and had peace either way. It was a long battle but He won! I was granted our precious son years later, at age 40, and in quite different circumstances I could never have foreseen.

Abraham’s type of unquestioning obedience is worth more than gold to God, more than being well educated, attractive, high in stature and wealth or any other external qualifications society may consider. It moves past Abraham’s early character faults that led to lies and deceit. It is most precious in the sight of God. God said about another called and chosen leader, David:

“After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’” Acts 13:22 NIV

Here we are again: God trusts that David’s heart is after His own heart. God knew David’s expected end as well as all the events that would continue to shape Him into Israel’s great warrior king. It certainly did not appear as if David, the lowly tender of sheep, would be the chosen son of Jesse. Yet David had been in God’s school of obedience as a shephard alone in the fields, watching over his father’s sheep. He was neither noticed nor seen as significant in the eyes of others, including his own family.

Meanwhile, David had been learning how he could defeat the lion and the bear attempting to attack his father’s flock. Consider what bravery, strength, and ability that must have taken! It fully prepared David to defeat Goliath with faith that nothing and no one could stand against His God. Yet later in King David’s life, he became a deceitful murderer because of his lust for Bathsheba. God did bring him to repentance through Nathan the prophet, yet how did this great King with a heart for God continue in such sin?

Is this the same man who sought God’s direction before every battle, who did not harm Saul though Saul wanted to kill him, the author of all those beautiful psalms? During that period of David’s life, he surely did not appear to be God’s anointed! Still, David had a heart for God and that tender heart repented when confronted with his actions. David did not defend or explain his sinful actions to Nathan as many of us may attempt.

Can’t you just hear some of the present day excuses for such behavior: “Well she should not have been bathing nude so I coud see her!” Or, “I could not help it, I wanted her so much.” Or “I’m the King and I will not be denied whatever I desire.”David, instead, took responsibility for sinning against God. We humans have a thousand excuses to try and justify what is clearly wrong, but David does not say any of that. His immediate response is “I have sinned against the Lord.” Though he was forgiven, there were consequences God decreed for David. The baby he conceived with Bathsheba died. God allowed turmoil in his family and his kingdom.

But what is even more astounding is what comes after this. It is not the expected end we would predict for adultery! Bathsheba is brought to David’s residence and becomes another of his wives. She conceives again and has Solomon, who became David’s successor, the most successful of Israel’s rulers. This came about by manipulation by Bathsheba to have David, who was on his deathbed, choose Solomon rather than other sons who were vying for the crown.

Think of it! This “adulterous woman” birthed the next king in God’s glorious nation of Israel. It is understood that David was the initiator and adulterer, but so very many societies blame the woman for sexual sin while the man is seen as seduced or led away by her allure. Never mind that Bathsheba could not refuse the king’s demand to come to him while married to Uriah. Never mind that she loved her husband and mourned his death. She had not been looking to be unfaithful to him. How hard it must have been for her, even with the honor of being chosen by the King.

Yes, things were different then. Women did not have freedom or power over their own lives. Men of power and authority, then—and sadly, still now—take advantage and use their authority with women for their own selfish ends, while blaming women for their own lusts. Though it takes two, women in those days, and now in many places in the world, are judged harshly for adultery. What pastor or leader would not be judged when such an illicit affair became known to others? What kind of judgment would fall on Bathsheba’s head? What dishonor some would place on the innocent child of such a union?

God looked at the higher purpose within what was culturally acceptable at that time. The issue here is the attitude of our hearts when such things occur. How many judge the innocent child because of how and who concieved him, regardless of God’s purpose in allowing the child to be born. Would we be tempted to gossip about where he came from, how wrong it is for him to have all that he has, given his “pedigree?”

Would we accept the son of this union, so sinfully begun, as our next religious leader, deserving of the most glorious kingdom of wealth and splendor the world had ever seen? There likely would be comments from some about where Bathsheba came from, what she did to entice the King, and how she happened to birth the next king. Adultery is wrong, of course, but God’s chosen do err. Though the circumstances of Solomon’s birth were far from ideal, God had an expected end that would surprise many today. He was God’s choice, having an expected end for His plans and purposes.

Then there is Rahab, the prostitute, one of the despised Canaanites, who helped Joshua when he was attacking Jericho. She hid the spies and saved her family. She was a woman of faith, telling the spies that everyone was afraid of their God whom she knew would give them the victory. That is a statement of faith already established within Rahab for God to use her with His people. When the king of Jericho asked about the Israelite spies in his city, she lied about their whereabouts in order to protect them and save her own household.

Later, she told them why:

“Before the spies lay down for the night, Rahab went up on the roof and said to them, ‘I know that the Lord has given you this land and that the fear of you has fallen on us so that all who dwell in the land are melting in fear of you.

For we have heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites across the Jordan, whom you devoted to destruction.

When we heard this, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below.

Now therefore, please swear to me by the Lord that you will indeed show kindness to my family because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will deliver us from death.” Joshua 2:8-13 BSB

Rahab was not just an innkeeper, she was running a house of prostitution. Yet God saw the faith in her heart and used her in a mighty way. She not only knew the history and victories of the Israelites, she made a confession of faith in their God. She became part of God’s people and, moreover, is in the lineage of Jesus Christ through the birth of Boaz (Matthew 1:5). How this flies in the face of all those who judge people by the family who produced them! Would some of us even be seen with a woman of such reputation today?

God trains those of an obedient heart to become to become who He wants them to be. He brings each of His called and chosen to an expected end in Him. Each of these flawed biblical characters fulfills God’s destiny for them. In fact, the way God does things, their very sins and flaws shaped them along the way. God dealt with them, maturing all to fulfill His plan. Because of the condition of their hearts, they are submissive and quick to obey. God always has plans for such as these, teaching them to grow up into their calling.

The great Apostle Paul is the first to say he had all the best external qualifications for a religious Jew of his time. He was well-known and respected as an educated, knowledgeable and prominent Jewish leader and scholar of his time. If anyone “deserved” to be a religious leader of the Jews, Saul (Paul) checked all the boxes. But Saul was deceived, not realizing that he was persecuting the Lord he was attempting to defend. Those behaviors made him the last person the Christians of his day would want on their side. He was the enemy of the cross!

But God saw something else in Saul’s future. When Saul met the Lord, he was fully converted, called Paul, and set out to fulfill his calling to minister the gospel to the Gentiles. Once God opened his eyes, Paul counted all his knowledge and stature of that former Jewish life as rubbish. In Acts, Paul lists all his impressive external credentials. He had done everything right according to his religion, but it was not right in God’s eyes:

“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.

I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.” Acts 22:3-5 BSB

Saul was zealous for God, doing what his religion had trained him well to do. But after Jesus completely changed his understanding in an instant, here’s what Paul thought of his external and impressive Jewish resume among the Jews:

“For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself could have such confidence.

If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless.

But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things.

I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.” Philippians 3:2-9 Berean

Saul had an instantaneous change when he was blinded by the voice of Christ on the road to Damascus. Saul’s name change to Paul signifies the change in his nature that God had done. God had much for Paul to do so a rapid change by God was necessary. Paul’s very zealousness and love for the law, the way he had been demonstrating his faith and love for God, was turned to fulfill his calling by Jesus Christ. That same quality of passion for God and commitment to Him making Saul an excellent Jewish leader remained in Paul’s heart of faith.

Paul left all of the outward Jewish achievements, considering it rubbish, to pursue the Lord Jesus Christ. What a humanly unexpected end for the great persecutor of Christians of the time! Paul is one of many, many examples where God uses our weaknesses as strengths in Him. God’s thoughts are not ours and His ways are not our ways–but God wants them to be! Paul recognized that his former righteousness under the law, so highly valued in the religious circles of that day, was less than worthless in God’s spiritual kingdom.

Though Paul’s stellar Jewish history, accomplishments, and religious stature may have given him “street cred” in today’s vernacular, it actually worked against the conversion of God’s own. Good thing his calling was the conversion and ministry to the Gentiles, and it took a while for him to be received by his fellow Jewish Christian disciples. Human nature is fallible, so God is never surprised when we humans don’t behave like one would expect His people, particularly His leaders, to behave.

God’s leaders are, indeed, held to a higher standard, as David’s repentance along with consequences, illustrates. There is redemptive justice—discipline for change— but He knows the end from the beginning. Thankfully, when He calls us, He knows all about us. He calls us knowing we have flaws or sins within, as all do. Paul’s heart to do right was worth a great deal to God, regardless of the error of his ways. Paul knows what it means to show the Christ to others:

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:3-8 NKJV

Jesus Christ our Lord, the Perfect Son, did not consider Himself equal to His Father, though He was sent to do God’s will. He is the Son of God and a servant to all. As with our Lord, the Pattern Son, it is a heart of obedience that God prioritizes above all else in those called to work in His kingdom of peace and love. He chooses whom He pleases, understanding our sinful choices and behaviors, flaws in our natures, how we miss the mark by mistakes, the stupid “in the moment” decisions, lies we think necessary to save ourselves, all the sins of the flesh that first showed up in the Garden of Eden.

“For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. Just as you who formerly disobeyed God have now received mercy through their disobedience, so they too have now disobeyed, in order that they too may now receive mercy through the mercy shown to you.” Romans 11:29-30 BSB

God does not change His calling. He chooses people who have issues and flaws, cleaning each of us up while He is preparing us for what He has called us to accomplish. He shows mercy to those who love Him and are called for His purposes. He could do it all without people, but He looks at the teachable heart that loves Him to be used to bring all further into Him. He does everything well! He even brings children into the world that are needed here, on this earth, for such time and purposes of each era, regardless of the circumstances of their parentage.

God is no respecter of persons and loves to use the most unlikely, often improbable people and situations to show forth His might and power. These are people who would be rejected, held in low regard, by the society around them, then and now. His perfect redemptive judgment looks at the heart and sees so much more than can be understood by hearing outward descriptions of someone’s past or their external present qualifications. He chooses men and women of faith who have a teachable spirit and a heart for God.

All of the unlikely and flawed people God chose in the Bible give hope to each of us. What we think disqualifies a person in God are often the very things God is using to qualify us to fulfill our expected end! Are we able to discern His ways within ourselves and our fellow believers?

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Jeremiah 29:11 KJV

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 Berean

He uses those He has called to serve Him with their whole hearts. The flaws, the lack of external qualifications only make it more clear that it is God who is doing this work. Yes, He knows what He plans for us and goes right past our faults and failures to create obedient servants, fit for His work. His expected end are often quite different than what others predict for us.

You see, God looks at the hearts and searches for those who will love and obey Him, regardless. God’s people have the opportunity to show forth His praises on the earth. We join Paul in saying: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord!”

More On Reconciliation

One would think that the message that all men will be saved, reconciled all back to God, would be welcomed with joy by all Christians. Our loving and merciful God has an eternal plan to redeem the entire world, dead and alive, back to Him. The most well-known scripture of all states that God loves the world, not just Christians. Yes, it comes to whosoever believes, which will happen over the eons.

“After He was found in [terms of His] outward appearance as a man [for a divinely-appointed time], He humbled Himself [still further] by becoming obedient [to the Father] to the point of death, even death on a cross.

For this reason also [because He obeyed and so completely humbled Himself], God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow [in submission], of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess and openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord (sovereign God), to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:8-11 Amplified

Our Lord Jesus Christ made a way for everyone to be reconciled, redeemed from sin and death. God loves the world and made a way for all, not just those called by His name in this present era. In the hours between His death and resurrection, He ministered to the souls in Hades who had no opportunity to know Him. Yes, there is a qualifier that one must believe and trust in Him. It may take ages, but there is a time when everyone will know that Jesus Christ is Lord:

Does a just, merciful, and all-powerful God allow the enemy to defeat Him, preventing the souls of billions of people in His creation from reconciling with Him? Does an eternal hell bring glory to God the Father? Does a God Who so loves the world leave most of its human inhabitants permanently punished and condemned, eternally kept from His presence? Is God unable to cleanse them from their sins, unable to judge toward redemption, to change them throughout all eternity? Does man’s will ultimately and everlastingly triumph over God’s will?

When we believe, stand for, and share the message of reconciliation, we face the judgment and wrath of Christians who do not want their hell to be taken from them. This belief in eternal punishment for all who have not come to know Jesus Christ while on this earth is a dearly held doctrine. What is this passionate commitment to a teaching that is generally accepted but was not a part of the foundation built by our Lord from the beginning? Only God knows what is in hearts that would lead many to cling to a belief that condemns most of humanity.

It’s puzzling for Christians to have such indifference, if not hatred, of unbelievers for whom Jesus died. What is the basis of the adherence to an eternal hell while rejecting ultimate reconciliation as heresy? Some have mistakenly thought that ultimate reconciliation ends up permitting people to live a careless life, doing whatever they want. After all, everyone will be saved in the end anyway. What does it matter what we do now?

But wait. Humans need no permission to continue sinning! Godly men and women who know this message would never represent God’s truth in a muddied and sinful way, seeing it as a free ticket for self-will. And there are surely many more verses that absolutely do not support such an understanding. A holy and righteous life is the end result for all, but it is not given just by naming the name of Jesus Christ. There is a process of purification to enter fully into reconciliation, taking a great deal of time, here and on the other side, to achieve even within willing vessels.

God does not save all despite their inner state, without knowledge or change. Of course, He will have all come to know Him and His ways, The truth of reconciliation for all is the most hopeful promise of restoration to God and is it ever needed! We have been on a long and destructive path ever since disobedience in the Garden, but God always had a plan and a people called to fulfill our ultimate restoration to full intimacy with Him.

Reconciliation is never permission to do our own will, as easily seen with a discerning examination of the scriptures. If fear of eternal hell is the most effective way for Christians to persuade others to believe in God, we’d surely have had a much bigger crop of purified believers than we do by now! Reapers in this hour specialize in sharing the love of God, speaking His truth and sharing His redemptive, restorative justice through ever purified lives. Do we want others to see Jesus in us? When they see Jesus in us, will they see the fiery condemnation of eternal damnation or the love of God able to save all?

God loves everyone and desires all men to be saved. He said so. There is a time when every knee will bow and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, who then turns all back to the Father. All of God’s creation is set for His full redemption, reconciling us back to intimate fellowship with Him like Adam initially had with God. He never excuses sin—missing the mark—but always, always shows the way of escape through Him for humans to change.

He will have a cleansed and purified people, with no spot or wrinkle, no guile in their hearts. You can start now or delay in unbelief until God calls up your rank in Him, but He will do it.

“You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” 2 Corinthians 3:1-6 NIV

We are the epistle known and read by others. The new covenant is one of love, bringing heart change to all who seek Him. Our godly life is the strongest witness there is. It is like the saying, “Preach a sermon and, if necessary, speak words,” commonly attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. God’s people are His representatives on the earth. We are meant to shine forth with the nature of Christ in our hearts. No godly message supports a life where sin is acceptable.

God surely corrects anyone promoting an ungodly lifestyle based upon any doctrine, including reconciliation. Judgment comes first to the House of God, indeed! It may be common to man, but God does not accept it as our final state. He subjected us to vanity—it wasn’t our idea!

“For I am reckoning that the sufferings of the current era do not deserve the glory about to be revealed for us. For the premonition of the creation is awaiting the unveiling of the sons of God.
For to vanity was the creation subjected, not voluntarily, but because of Him Who subjects it, in expectation that the creation itself, also, shall be freed from the slavery of corruption into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Romans 8:18-20 Concordant Literal

Vanity. Futility. Emptiness. Is not that the nature of the human condition when we look at all man has done to each other and to this earth? God Himself set this in motion and His plan takes care of it all, eventually. This scripture, that our current suffering just cannot be compared to the glory to be revealed in future, is sometimes the only answer God gives to those who have experienced the horrors of this life such as survivors of war and other atrocities. It may not seem like much now, but God’s plans are eternal, where our vision is finite, limited to our earthly understanding until the holy spirit lifts us to spiritual comprehension of His ways.

While God’s love is unconditional and His mercy everlasting, the rewards for a godly life are conditional. Gifts are free, but His best and most precious rewards are to the overcomers. Love, joy, and peace found in His kingdom are eternal with overcomers ruling and reigning with Him. Those who walk His paths in righteousness now, following His precepts, are promised many things in this life as well as the next. Anyone who ministers the word of reconciliation, representing the truth that all men will be saved, is even more accountable for how they are living their lives.

Consider God’s ways with His own through the history of the church until now. All through His word, God takes His people through adversity, not out of it. The righteous went through the flood, protected and saved by Noah’s obedience and preparation. God did not allow this weapon of His destruction to harm His own, but He also did not remove His saints from the experience. The flood is the closest He has come to starting over with this creation of His.

The few scriptures that are quoted to support the rapture theory are misunderstood and misrepresented, revealing a lack of spiritual discernment. In the passage below, God uses clouds as a metaphor for His presence in His saints dwelling in spiritual Zion, His holy government.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.

And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12:1 NIV

We have many witnesses observing our growth in God. Most of us believe that God continues to use His saints on the other side, even seeing or sensing holy visitors in our midst. This happens at times when gathering unto God, other times when we are alone. The saints in heaven have an investment in what we are about here on this earth. They have yet to receive all that God has promised.

Those who have gone on to be with the Lord continue to change in the presence of God Almighty, each in their own rank. How could this fail to be so? Is there anyone who is able to be in God’s presence and not change? Will He not complete His perfecting work in all of us, on “both sides of the river” to fully restore—reconcile— His creation to Himself? In the great faith chapter, it says that all the great men and women of faith in the Old Testament are waiting to receive the promise:

“These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” Hebrews 11:39-40 NIV

God is never idle and, while we don’t know what all that the saints on the other side are up to, they surely are changing in His presence. They have shown forth a good report, yet wait to receive the fulfillment of God’s promise. While not looking forward to death of this body, many of us anticipate sitting down with the saints of old such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Abraham saw the City of God, this great spiritual city not made with hands. David envisioned the Day of the Lord and the coming of the Savior. Daniel saw the future plan of God unfold over time though he did not understand it. Paul pursued the prize of the high calling in God, knowing there was more that he could receive. John the Revelator spoke of repentance and change to the various churches and future events to bring about the completion of the work of Jesus Christ to perfect His saints:

“Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” 2 Corinthians 5:1 Berean

We know we have it even when our earthly tent, our bodies, are dismantled, disintegrated through death. We have an eternal, spiritual house in heaven prepared for us. If all these departed saints are still waiting for the promises given them by God, they have yet to be fully perfected, complete in Him. Do we think these passionate leaders in God are sitting around with nothing to do?

They are surely at rest in God’s presence, fully delivered from death, but that does not mean a time of leisure, such as an earthly understanding of heaven would project. Who is interested in a mansion in the sky, with streets of gold, sitting around playing harps? To be with our Lord is the highest reward and those with a passionate heart of spiritual service to mankind would not consider this heavenly!

Many of us walking with God sense the presence of those who have gone before. Holy visitors join us on earth when we touch the high places in God, when we gather to hear or minister the present truth of this Day. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses when our hearts touch the heavenly places wherein they dwell. Our departed brothers and sisters are very much invested in our progress here, eagerly noting our gains as we learn more of the deep things of God.

These holy saints are particularly connected when we speak of spiritual Zion, the coming of God’s righteous government to rule the earth, the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles when God comes to “tabernacle” or dwell within His people. Clouds are the spiritual metaphor the Lord uses to describe people, here and in the spirit. Zion saints on the other side draw near, as part of the great cloud of witnesses of which Paul speaks here.

Other passages use the spiritual language of “clouds” to represent people in the spirit. The disciples saw Jesus ascend “into the clouds,” Peter speaks of false prophets and teachers of his time as “clouds without rain.” Rain has long been understood to represent the water of the Word. To be without rain is saying God’s spirit is not in them or their works. Anyone witnessing a long-lasting drought can visualize the dry crusty earth turning from a desert where no plant can grow, to producing vegetation from dormant seed when rain comes.

His seed is in every human because He is the giver of life. Some seeds are hidden in human beings, without visible growth, until God brings the rain of His presence to water their earth. Then His seed can grow roots and spring up into new life. The people in these dry clouds are living in a dry, dry place where there is no spiritual rain. God Himself withholds the rain until it is time. Spiritually, clouds without rain have no refreshing flow of the spirit within or through them to water the dry ground.

The planting of any seed, including the seed of the Word of Life, cannot take root in dry ground. Throw a seed on very dry ground and it will just lay there, awaiting water to develop roots in order to grow. God has provided so many examples of His works by the words He uses from the natural world He created! Seeds that have been found in ancient tombs still germinate—think of it! Consider the few plants known in the earth now that sustain seeds holding the germ of life forever while waiting for the rain.

One is Moringa, called the “never die” plant. It survives with little rain for many years, tumbling around until finally landing in a little water that causes it to germinate and come to life. There is also a plant called the eternity plant, or ZZ plant, that never dies. As long as there is a seed within, growth is possible, regardless of outward appearance! There are streams in the desert, growth that springs into life when His rain comes.

“Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

The beasts of the field will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I provide water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people.” Isaiah 43: 19-20 Berean

If we understand spiritual language, we will no longer allow the imaginations of men to project our life in heaven as a literal cloud with a mansion and nothing to do. Yet we have many beautiful gospel songs, beloved by so many Christians, that have spread this error far and wide. I’ll Fly Away, written in 1929 by Albert E. Brumley, is the best-known rapture song depicting this view of our heavenly home. It’s a beautiful song, sung and performed by musicians of all genres, but the words are not true.

There are many other songs depicting heavenly mansions on literal streets of gold, visions of saints sitting on actual clouds, playing their harps, and looking down upon with satisfaction at others who have not escaped destruction as they have. But this is God’s spiritual language, like the parables Jesus shared with the crowds. When the time comes in His plan, the seeds of God’s word start to grow. He speaks the word and life springs up at His command. Such is the condition of many, but here is God’s promise:

“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.” Isaiah 44:3 Berean

God’s rain comes and goes and we enjoy the refreshings, but such times don’t last. Elders in the Lord who lived through the Latter Rain movement describe a continual holy presence of God lasting for days. The Shekinah glory descended and stayed with them. They were swallowed up in worship and praise, losing interest in earthly activities. Such times are holy, precious outpouring of God’s spirit that gradually fade and are taken over by man. Like all other wondrous moves of God, they began as pure Godlife poured out on a people but dry up in the desert of man’s fleshly ways.

Man’s imaginations, rather than God’s revelation, has always brought every move of God down to our fleshly, earthly understandings. We need reconciliation, restoration, a lasting change, the “new thing” that God is doing. No longer will we settle for times of refreshing, for revival that doesn’t last. We seek His eternal wisdom and truth dwelling within us rather than a short time of refreshment, pleasant as it is.

Interesting, isn’t it, that the commonly accepted description of heaven reflects what the wealthy have on earth. What does this reveal about our hearts that our projection of heaven, the best place ever to dwell, is an earthly, rather than spiritual, representation? The visual description of streets of gold and mansions in the sky sounds like the luxurious dwellings of the “idle rich.” These projections represent the outward “evidence” of richness and wealth where God’s chosen are at ease, reflecting little of the qualities found in the heart of God.

What?? Did we begin in the spirit and end up in the flesh somewhere? Who would be more used to dwelling in a mansion than those who can afford such housing?! What is true riches in God? God does not think the way we do and He surely does not measure spiritual progress by earthly standards of wealth. In fact, He said it would be hard for rich men to enter. When believers have a heart for God, we hope for much more important things than a mansion that resembles earthly ambition and worldly blessings.

It is not by outward, but true inward heart change that the Kingdom is achieved as our dwelling place. After all the work God has done to refine and perfect His people, do we really believe He will allow us to just sit around? There is a rest that remains for the people of God, but God’s rest does not mean inactivity except in our fleshly ways. God rested on the seventh day from all He had done. We are now on the seventh Day, looking to enter into His rest. No longer will His word and His will be labor for those who roar out of Zion.

“I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us. The [whole] creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God. Romans 8:18 Berean

It’s what is in us, in our hearts, that is growing from the seed God has planted through Jesus Christ within. The traditional teaching of the rapture and eternal hell have caused confusion and fear in God’s people, but when a Christian truly examines God’s word in the light of His spirit, there is very little evidence of its truth. Most who embrace it were handed down this teaching through tradition rather than revelatory understanding. Those who continue to vigorously defend it typically have a strong investment in influencing followers to sustain it along with the power, esteem, and revenue it produces rather than seeking spiritual understanding.

When we desire to know the truth from personal exploration by the spirit, God is always faithful to show us what is truth and what is a theory from carnal man. Teachings based on fear, rather than love that casts out all fear, do not show forth the kingdom of God. Fear-based teaching may work temporarily to change behavior but only God changes us deep in our beings in lasting ways. His love has no limit, His grace has no measure.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 KJV

He doesn’t want us to do what is right because we are afraid of Him or of future vengeful punishment, but because we love Him. Any wise earthly father prefers their child to do what he says because they love and want to please him, rather than out of fear of consequences. That’s external motivation and it lasts only as long as the “external motivator,” the parent, is around. Unless obedience is built up within the heart of the child, that same child will require other external motivators to behave and faces a difficult future.

It’s so good to run to God in fearful times! We need to know it is safe to do that. But fear-based obedience is people-directed, not in-worked by God. Threats of eternal hell have not created the deep, lasting conversion arising from a changed heart, that all of us need. Many more people attended church after the 9/11 terrorist attack on our country, a truly terrifying time for those in the US, but how many sustained their walk with Him based on love and faith?

God does not want us to have fear but faith, because the fearful cannot enter in:

“Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Christ), in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

There will no longer exist anything that is cursed [because sin and illness and death are gone], and the throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve and worship Him [with great awe and joy and loving devotion];

They will [be privileged to] see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be night; they do not need lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will illumine them, and they will reign [as kings] forever and ever.” Revelation 22:1-5 Amplified

The Concordant translates “no more curse” to “no more doom.” We know there is no sin, illness and death after we are already dead but this is clearly our promised future on this earth, our promised “new earth” where we need it. There is already no doom on the other side. This is heaven right here: no more condemnation, no doom, no death, no tears, no more night! It is the state of being God is drawing us into as we walk and overcome with Him. It is His coming again within the saints!

Distorted teaching about the book of Revelation is part of the rapture doctrine where revelatory words and events are applied literally to some sections and not others. Revelation is often taught as the judgment of God coming on the world of earthly sinners. But the Book of Revelation given to John is the Revelator is a most important Message our Lord is bringing to us, His people. John was in the spirit when He got this revelation. It is in symbolic language meant to be understood by the spirit.

John clearly states in the beginning that this message is to us, Christians, His slaves:

“The Unveiling of Jesus Christ, which God gives to Him, to show to His slaves what must occur swiftly; and He signifies it, dispatching through His messenger to His slave John, who testifies to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, whatever He perceived.” Revelation 1:1-2 Concordant

All through the Bible, God speaks most important words to His own in order to teach us how to live. He does not end His book any differently. He wants His people to know what is coming and what they need to do to be ready. Revelation begins with messages to the early, scattered “candlestick churches.” The Lord speaks to the spiritual condition of each, what is good, lasting, and eternal, and what needs to change to move on in His plan of redemption for all.

In Revelation’s final message of warning to the churches, the Laodicean church is depicted with Jesus Christ standing outside the door and knocking. How sad that so many of today’s churches of this day operate without the Lord’s presence leading by the spirit. He is no longer present in its patterns and rituals, its worship and ministry. Instead, He is standing outside the door, knocking to be admitted again. There have been so much of man’s ways embedded in the the order of the service, schedule of speakers and singers, and so on, established that the presence of our Lord and His holy spirit has left. There’s no room for God in these entertaining programs! Sadly, there is little recognition between beautifully and skillfully delivered worship and word and the anointing of the spirit. And the anointing causes the oppressor to flee:

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.” Isaiah 10:27 KJV

We who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose for this hour follow on to know Him. We leave the Laodicean condition of thinking we’re rich and have need of nothing. We know we need more of God! We do not settle in that camp or any other, but “come up here” , as the Lord directed John, up into the spiritual realm where He is.

“After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven.

And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, ‘Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.’” Revelation 4:1 NKJV

We are growing up into Him now, not waiting for a future rapture to take us away from all our problems. The cost of clinging to such unexamined, dead teachings is to miss out on much character growth in Him now. This is referenced in Hebrews 11, the great faith chapter, as the goal of a “better resurrection,” following an account of all the saints of old endured

“Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection.” Hebrews 11:35 NIV

If there’s a better resurrection available, with the key seeming to be affliction and suffering, there is also a resurrection that falls short for some. When we are just waiting for the rapture, this doctrine becomes a robber and a thief! There are Christians who have stopped growing, resting in their current condition while waiting to be taken away when the rapture happens. They are satisfied with what they know and the religious things they have always done. They have slowed down or stopped learning and growing in necessary, spiritual ways to advance in the Lord.

When we believe some things can only change once we are dead, that only the death of our bodies can accomplish this, we settle for where we are. We build our tent of dwelling in this camp and miss His further intent to perfect us, to be complete in Him. But hear this: the kingdom of God has been and is coming in us. Jesus stated this very clearly in the gospels. If God says we will be perfect, complete, we will be, on this side of heaven or the other.

He promised we would be perfect, never stating it is only possible after we die.

“You, therefore, will be perfect [growing into spiritual maturity both in mind and character, actively integrating godly values into your daily life], as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48 Amplified

Matthew does not say here that we will be perfect when we die. He just states: “You will be perfect!” God tells us we are to be perfect, complete in Him. We are to be like Him with the mind of Christ in us and His character written in our hearts. Because we have yet to see the fullness in someone on this earth does not make it any less so. Is there any work God has begun, ever, that He does not finish?

God does not tell His people to do something that He does not make a way for us to do. But when? The message of ultimate reconciliation provides so much hope for us now, rather than expecting everything to be done in the afterlife. He made the way for this to be. There is only one place where we can be made perfect. That is when we come up spiritually to the place where Jesus Christ is, His throne in spiritual Zion with Father God.

Here is where just men are being perfected. We leave all other camps, all other realms of Christianity in which some have settled, to answer His call to come up highert in the spirit where He rules and reigns.

“Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels in joyful assembly, to the congregation of the firstborn, enrolled in heaven.

You have come to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous, made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” Hebrews 12:22-24 Berean

You have come, not will come! Though we know only One perfect being, our Lord Jesus Christ, the perfection of Jesus Christ has come to dwell in us, to perfect us as He is. He promised. God is within us, enlarging His habitation inside of us, wherein is His kingdom. He will continue to lift us out of death and hell, making us a fit habitation for Jesus and His Father. Jesus Christ our Lord is the firstborn of many brethren.

We who remain on earth but live in spirit have the opportunity to be made a part of this first fruit company of the sons of God.

“So then, my dear ones, just as you have always obeyed [my instructions with enthusiasm], not only in my presence but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ].

For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:12-13 Amplified

We are directed by Paul to take our salvation very seriously, to be in awe of our Savior and His work within us. What God decrees, He completes in us. We are His workmanship. How well we know that we cannot do anything God directs us to do in our own strength! He even creates the will in us when we do not have it! We enter into His rest while He works in us a willingness as well as a character that pleases Him. That, brothers and sisters in Christ, is good news!

To be thrown into the “lake of fire” does bring death, but it’s death to self, a lifelong process that continues in the afterlife. Have you heard the phrase, “That just burned within me!” from someone who has received God’s message of correction? That’s His fire, His presence sent to purify us. Eventually hell is thrown into the lake of fire, after all on earth and in heaven, including the great sea of unbelievers, each judged toward redemption.

This lake of fire cannot be they cannot be the same thing as hell—and satan ends up there, too. His job is done. There is no more flesh, no more earth for satan to work within.

“Then I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne.

And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades [hell] gave up their dead, and each one was judged according to his deeds.

Then Death and Hades [Hell] were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire. And if anyone was found whose name was not written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:11-15 Berean

We are to be perfect—complete—as He is perfect. He perfects us through adversity, His fiery presence within us that burns up our dross. It is difficult to believe God meant for us to wait for this project to begin when we are talking perfection that could take an eternity! It’s wise to get started as soon as we can when earthly life inevitably brings adversities. We believe and seek Him for any command or promise He has given, just like Paul pursued the prize of the high calling while walking this earth.

Because we have yet to see a human fully perfected in God does not dismiss this truth. In fact, God may have had a few who did it here, we just don’t know about them! God said it, so we can do it! But there still is this matter of timing. Many have longed to be perfected, to look into this Day of the Lord, but have been prevented because it has not been God’s timing. But there are now signs that this Day is dawning, this long awaited Day of the Lord.

Jesus has been coming back within a people, to be “unveiled,” seen as He really is from within us. He is not seen as a God too weak and powerless to save all of the world He so loved. Jesus Christ is by no means still battling satan whom He defeated on the cross. He is battling and conquering the antichrist, anything that is anti—against—Christ within us:

“And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.” Revelation 6:2 ESV

Has He not been conquering our fleshly ways, the sin that misses the mark He has set for us, since we invited Him in our hearts? For too long we Christians have put the anti-Christ off on others, saying it is this or that powerful dictator or leader in our present-day world. No, it’s this denomination or that. Wait, it is this minister or that who is teaching error. It is time to look in the mirror and recognize that the anti-Christ is within us, well established in our all-to-human natures.

This anti-Christ to be defeated dwells in all flesh that resists God and His spiritual reign. John said there were already many antichrists in the world back in his day:

“Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.

They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us.” 1 John 2:8 NKJV

Those who left them were antichrists, ones in their midst who had too much “anti” or “against Christ” within them to be swallowed up in life. They went off to do their own thing, seeking their own power and esteem through taking over the message and people of God. This was already in the early Christian church and the Apostle Paul also spoke of it in his writings. We too need to see all that is “antichrist” within us, trusting our Lord to conquer and be conquering everything as we walk with Him.

Jesus said that the Kingdom does not come with scrutiny, with visible observation to those looking for it out there somewhere. How then could the antichrist be one evil person in the world? We can look and look at the world for the antichrist and many have. People, denominations, and even nations are said to be the coming antichrist, past, present and future. But Jesus went on to state that the kingdom of God is in us, so think about it. Isn’t that where the forces against His kingdom operate as well? Amazing, isn’t it?

With spiritual eyes open to see and spiritual ears ready to hear, we see that the antichrist dwells within the fleshly souls of humans. We have those things within us that are against Christ, keeping His full authority from ruling over us as He comes within His temple, which we are. God takes off the covering, our “refuge of lies.” Once exposed, in faith and trust we yield all to God and turn away from anything that is working against Christ being formed in us.

Our human, fleshly nature has to be swallowed up in life because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

“Just as we have borne the image of the earthly [the man of dust], we will also bear the image of the heavenly [the Man of heaven].

Now I say this, believers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit nor be part of the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable (mortal) inherit the imperishable (immortal).” 1 Corinthians 15:49-50 Amplified

The only thing that is imperishable is the spirit of God. Our spiritual bodies will indeed live forever in His sight. God is not waiting until we die to work these changes in us. His word, His direction, His path throughout is to become more and more like Him now, in this life. Things are rapidly changing and “all that can be shaken is being shaken” by ever more dramatic events occurring on Earth. Why would we refuse to grow up into Christ as far as we can while in this life?

It takes faith and endurance until He accomplishes all that He intends to do with humans. God’s will for all men to be saved surely will happen but some may not know His full salvation and redemption for ages to come. Let’s allow our Lord to decide just how far each of His people can go in their calling and election in Him while here on the earth. Does He not need His people to shine a light in this present darkness here and now?

We are surely in much darkness on this earth, in great need of God’s light to shine through His people. We pursue the prize of the High calling just like Paul, so we may be clothed, rather than naked, at His appearance. Are we not given “all things” because of what He has done? What truly is in the hearts of those who cling to the rapture doctrine proclaiming all non-believers will burn in a literal hellfire and brimstone furnace if they are not saved in this life?

May God draw His own into all truth, as promised in the holy spirit. What matters most is what the spirit of truth teaches each of us as we sit before the Lord to learn of Him. If you struggle with this truth of all men being saved and reconciled to God, I encourage you to ask the Lord, sincerely, if these things be true. Allow your heavenly Father to speak truth to you and you will know His ways, not just His acts. It is His work to bring us into all truth, spirit to spirit:

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” John 16:13 NIV

Joy

“Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all of them, ‘This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.’ For all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the Law.

Then Nehemiah told them, ‘Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send out portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8: 9-10 Berean

The Israelites had just completed the rebuilding of Jerusalem, God’s holy city that had been destroyed by their enemies. Their leader, Nehemiah, along with Ezra and the Levitical priests, were reading the Book of Moses to the people. They had so longed to hear the words of the Law of Moses. They asked that it be read to them by their leaders, then began weeping as they listened and understood.

But this was a time of restoration, of celebration, so Nehemiah told them to go and feast. It was a Holy Day and there was no need to grieve, for “the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

“As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” John 15:9-12 KJV

What makes joy more likely to remain in us, filling us up with His joy? Why, it is love! When we love the Lord, there is no limit to the joy we know in loving Him, abiding in His love, and loving others! It’s not just a great feeling to be joyful, it’s the source of every Christian’s strength. He is our joy, ever-present within us.

Ever have times when you are battered and beaten down in this life, feeling little strength to get up and go at it the next day? Those are likely times when we’ve lost connection with His joy, ever-present but not always felt within. But nothing gets us out of our own times of struggle more quickly than when God turns our focus. God knows how to refresh us, revealing Himself afresh to us and renewing our joy.

His joy is not like our joy in having great experiences and blessings in our lives. It’s not the momentary flood of happiness at a special event or time of celebration. It is an enduring part of God’s nature, available as part of the Kingdom within. Joy is always there, whether we feel it or lose sight of it. True riches are found in love, not enjoyable circumstances. God is love and His love is rich with all of the fruit of the spirit, including joy.

There are 430 times when joy is mentioned in the Bible, far more than happiness is mentioned. This supports the distinction between the joy of the Lord and our earthly feelings of happiness. Happiness is that momentary, wonderful feeling that comes from external events, including a wonderful time worshiping and communing with the Lord. Joy is the ever-present substance of God’s nature, always bubbling like a well within, ready to overflow:

“For His anger is but for a moment, and His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Psalm 30:5 Berean

David wrote these lines when he sought the Lord for deliverance from his enemies and healing from his afflictions. We go through our dark times, “weeping in the night” when the light of His countenance seems far from us. The truth of David’s statement about God only having momentary anger sharply contrasts with the teaching that an angry, vengeful God will eternally punish unbelievers, banishing them all to hell forever. That is not momentary anger and it takes no account that His mercy endureth forever.

His judgment is sure but always redemptive, limited for a season, a time, an age, or a spiritual dispensation in order to accomplish His refining work. God is love and mercy. His nature is not to remain angry with those He loves and He loves the world. It’s just for a “moment” when it seems as if He has turned His back on us. God directs His discipline to deliver us from our enemies within, to bring us into the joyful light of His morning. His wrath is His passion for having a people in which to fully dwell.

When Jesus was facing the suffering, pain, and shame of the cross, He predicted joy to His disciples. How odd this must have sounded in such desperate times! He knew how they would suffer watching His arrest, whipping, derision and shame. Such deep suffering and death they witnessed but hallellujah, joy comes in the morning! Can we even imagine the joy of resurrection morning, when Mary Magdalene found the tomb empty and He then appeared?

“So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” John 16:22

Jesus told them that no one could ever take their joy from them after they saw Him again, in His resurrection. He is our joy and no one can take Him from us. We have times of sorrow and weeping, enduring through the night, darkness swallowing us up. But joy does come in the dawning of the new Day. He promises that joy within, coming from His abiding place in our hearts, will not be taken from us.

When we can’t find the joy and note that our strength is waning, we have just momentarily, through times of adversity and pain, lost sight of it. We do become weary in well-doing. But joy cannot be taken from us because He can never be taken from within us, in our hearts. Once invited in, Jesus Christ does not leave. Happiness is circumstantial, more fleeting than we would wish. It leaves as the many sorrows of this earth overtake us.

But joy, His joy, is everlasting. Jesus’ joy at fulfilling His calling is certain:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2 Berean

Yes, Jesus Christ endured the cross but scorned or despised the shame. In other words, He did not focus on the suffering or the shame of dying on the cross just like the worst criminals of His day. He set His heart on the joy He would bring to humanity by fulfilling what His Father had called Him to do. His victory gave Him enduring joy, forever available to us no matter what we are facing. We can endure present suffering and affliction, knowing our times of participation in His suffering eventually bring much joy in God’s processing and plan for all.

His joy is in us with the fullness of His joy developing over time. When we see pictures of present-day saints who have endured great suffering and grief, there is noticeable joy in their eyes, a twinkle of the rejoicing of His ever-present, most faithful spirit within. Their years of affliction and sorrow do not rob them of His joy. This joy has filled these Christians up inside so that it shines forth from their countenance, overflowing in love for God and others. They know the presence of His joy, having passed through many tests and trials where they learned of His faithfulness. They clung to the words Jesus spoke. They are spirit and they are life!

We don’t have to rely on His fleshly presence as in the days He was on this earth. Because He lives inside of us, building His kingdom of righteousness, He is ever-present. The kingdom of God is within us, and He brought it! We, like David, can always go to Him. David had many dark times, regardless of the eternal promises given to him by God. We see in the Psalms how he took his troubles to the Lord and celebrated in His presence:

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence, there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalms 16:11 ESV

God desires His people to be joyful, to enjoy the allotment of His Kingdom He has provided. His presence continually fills up His joy within us. It’s a powerful prayer to ask God to show us the path of life He has for us. This is not merely a nice turn of phrase, it is a specific promise that He will show us how to live. There is His path for our lives, outlined in the scriptures and more specifically understood by His spirit. Therein lies the joy of walking in obedient surrender.

There is a particular path for each of us that God knows. He is revealing it, appearing within to tell us how to walk, where to go, and what to do. As we draw near to him, particularly in times of adversity, His presence to guide, direct, and reassure us is there, along with His joy. The most joyful place to walk is in the center of His will. Challenges? Yes. Afflictions? Yes. But:

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” Psalm 34:19-20 NKJV

God is the only way to experience eternal, everlasting joy! His presence is love and that is the fullness of joy. When our roots go down deep into Him, the fruit of the spirit grows naturally, being attached to the Vine. Joy is the second fruit of the spirit to be named by Paul, who said there is no law against these qualities. Joy connects with happiness but is distinct from it because it is a stand-alone fruit of the spirit.

We can seek and obtain all we want of His nature to bear all of His fruit, the signs of living in Him.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 ESV

Our heavenly Father loves us. Like any father, He enjoys us being joyful. What makes a parent more joyful, themselves, than when their dearly loved and precious children show forth joy? Wise parents teach their children that true joy comes from those things that are unseen, the godly qualities within, not from possessions or entertainment or experiences. Indeed, we are commanded to be joyful:

“Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” Psalms 32:11 Berean

His joy is literally our strength. Without it, we are weak and become despondent, particularly in our trials. We cannot fake it or work hard to have it. We need faith to trust that because He is within us, His joy is always there and will return when our “morning” comes. He promises to bring our awareness to it again, to bubble up within as we come out of our dark times—and occasionally, right in the midst of darkness!

The Lord does not say we cannot have joy while there is so much darkness and suffering in the world. Who is more aware of all that than our heavenly Father? We have joy because He knows the end from the beginning, because He is promising that, like David, we will emerge from the night into the bright dawning of a new day, into the joy of His presence. Joy comes in the morning!

We humans are prone to work at being happy. We go from thing to thing, experience to experience, relationship to relationship, possession to possession, success to success, in search of happiness. Happiness is a good thing, but what we learn is that it is only fleeting. When growing up with lack and scarcity, some mistakenly think in their hearts, “When I have enough (money, possessions, security, adventures, friends, love, etc), then I will be happy.”

As we mature in the Lord, we learn that this kind of happiness leads some to seek more and more in this life, an endless search for fulfillment with no lasting contentment. That’s not what He promises. Here is what He promises:

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33 Berean

Joy is not something we need to work at and try hard to develop. Does fruit have to groan and strain to grow on an fruit tree? It grows and matures naturally as long as it is connected to the tree, receiving rain and sun along the way. As we focus on Him, the fruit of His spiritual character grows within us. Our spiritual Vine has all we need for spiritual maturity.

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the Law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.” Psalms 1:1-3 Berean

We delight in His word, His way shown to us daily. Do you want to prosper in all that you do? Here are the spiritual keys to that. God’s people are not to walk in worldly counsel, follow the path of life that sinners take, nor be a part of the mockers around us. We learn to delight in His law, enjoying His word more than anything else. There is a hunger for spiritual things and an appreciation that God builds within us that surely does not come easily to the fleshly man!

Humans have a natural spiritual hunger often unrecognized as a longing for God. Look all around and you will observe humans feeding our God-hunger with many other things that are temporal and unsatisfying. Of course, only God can satisfy God-hunger, that deep longing within for the love, intimacy and comfort with our Saviour and our heavenly Father. To find it, the focus of our hearts is to be on the kingdom of God, which is love, peace, and joy.

We seek His righteousness, the right way He does things, and our path of life, first. Then anything we truly need will be added—and more! We become that tree planted—rooted and grounded in Him—by His streams of spiritual water. This yields the fruit of His spirit in every season. No withering leaves for the Tree of Life! Everlasting joy is within, giving us the strength to endure the hard times along the way:

“So the redeemed of the Lord will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy.

Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.” Isaiah 35: 10 Berean

In this Day of the Lord surely upon us, we are returning to spiritual Zion, where dwell the perfected saints on the other side. They are waiting for us to join them in coming victories on the earth at His appearing. The fullness of His joy is a promise to be fulfilled in this time. Truly, truly His kingdom is coming to the earth, established in His redeemed saints. The time for the fullness of His joy is now!

Entering Into Our Rest

Some Christians feel selfish every time they do something for themselves. But feeling selfish does not mean that we are actually being selfish. Feelings are not facts. We can learn to love ourselves as we love others. There is a balance that God is able to bring in our care of others and care of self. It is not selfish to take care of ourselves and our own needs. In our busy lives, to have time to literally rest, to refresh and to renew is critical. Jesus did this, particularly after significant times of ministering to the multitudes.

We are His workmanship and He is teaching us about resting in Him. But for some busy and burdened Christians, what they, themselves, need is a brand new question to consider. Some of us can tell you the needs of everyone around us but draw a blank when asked what we need. We become so busy helping and serving others, addressing their needs and giving to others, that we neglect to receive for ourselves. Giving and receiving is best in balance over time.

We are to give freely, but we also can learn the receiving part when our giving is out of balance.

“As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.” Matthew 10:7-8 Berean

It pleases the Lord when we give freely, without expectation of reward from others. But if we begin to question and become upset because others don’t seem to give back the way we have given to them, we’re focused on what we’re not getting in return, rather than motivated by pleasing the Lord. This heart condition leads to resentment. We always receive from God Who blesses and ever rewards us for all we do in His name. His nature of love makes no demands. We must give ourselves the same grace and love that God gives us and we display towards others.

Note that we are to be loving others as we love ourselves. Yet, human beings can be very harsh on themselves, with a severe inner critic that is not God’s voice within. We talk to ourselves in ways we would not dream of doing with others! All the fruit of the spirit is good for ourselves as well as others. God knows everything that is required of us. He is able to prioritize what we need to do each day. He also teaches us what we need to stop doing because there’s no benefit–it’s not expedient for us to do those things.

His word does this work within us:

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:12-13 Berean

God does this paring down, this refining work we need within each heart that determines to serve Him, in order to enter into His rest. Here’s the thing: God loves us. He is most fond of us and made us for relationships, for companionship. Our heavenly Father wants us to enjoy the life He’s given us. We are to “enjoy our allotment” in His kingdom as He conquers all things within us. Does it show forth the glory of God when we are all bent down with burdens and miserable in our walk with Him? Or when we are going along well, only to run into another believer who is burdened down and heavy laden, and we take it all on?

It’s not good if, when we part, others are much lighter but we are now burdened down and heavy laden! We are to assist others with their issues in response to the guidance of the spirit, without being caught in a snare ourselves. This is not just vulnerability to the same issues, it also is vulnerability to take on and continue with the other’s burdens that they should be taking to the Lord themselves.

There’s a great release when God opens our eyes to show how we are taking on burdens that do not belong to us! Some burdens cannot be ours even though these are great needs in the world around us. Many of God’s burdens, particularly for intercessors, are only for a season, a period of time, as led by the holy spirit. God shows when either the need of the other is met or we are released from interceding on their behalf.

To mature in our walk with the Lord, we all must ultimately face dealing with Him ourselves. It is our responsibility, not another’s. We do not want to get in the way of God’s dealings with another growing believer. We can walk alongside others, interceding for their needs, allowing the Lord to teach us how to keep the burden in the Lord’s hands, not on ourselves. Others’ needs then go through us to the Christ within.

One of my favorite songs is this Catholic hymn, The Servant Song, taken from Jesus’ words in Matthew (above). Originally the first line was “Brother, let me be your servant,” sometimes alternated with “Sister, let me be your servant.” Either way, these lyrics eloquently summarize the balance needed as we walk with each other in the Lord:

The Servant Song

Will you let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you;

Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant, too.

We are pilgrims on a journey, we are trav'lers on the road;

We are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you in the night-time of your fear;

I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping; when you laugh I'll laugh with you.

I will share your joy and sorrow ‘til we've seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in heaven we shall find such harmony,

Born of all we've known together of Christ's love and agony.

Will you let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you

Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too.

(Richard Gillard, 1977)

Do you hear the balance, see the mutual exchange here? When God deals with us about our balance of giving and receiving, He includes all of the good things provided for our enjoyment. Multitudes of scriptures encourage us to be joyful, providing keys to true happiness and blessings. Earthly parents love to see their children enjoying things, from a baby’s delighted giggles to their adult child’s enjoying their “pursuit of happiness” with pure joy.

How much more so our Lord delights in us, His children, enjoying the life He is providing for us and His amazing creation all around. God surely does not want a bunch of “sad sack” Christians grimly going about life, oppressed with labor and fear. He lightens our load when we let Him. Jesus enjoyed the life and the people around Him, and yet He had more burdens than we can ever imagine. These He consistently took to His Father, as we need to do.

Everyone requires a balance of rest and relaxation in between our busy, more demanding and potentially stressful times—even our Lord did during His earthly ministry. We need to reserve some time for ourselves, not selfishly but out of necessary. When we do not, our bodies often will do it for us, becoming unable to function through fatigue or illness. When we love the Lord, our alone times of refreshing are with Him, taking times of communion and conversation in His presence. Jesus said:

“One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’

‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31 NIV

Without loving the Lord wholly, we cannot fulfil the second commandment Jesus told them: to love our neighbor as ourselves. Most of us hear that first part, about loving our neighbor, but the Lord is saying to love ourselves as a balance for love of others. We are to treat others with compassion and respect while realizing that we, too, need that sort of attitude toward ourselves within our own hearts.

When no one else in our lives is providing that, God is always doing so. Sometimes the Lord must teach us how to be merciful with ourselves, how to relax and just be. We may continue to think we are honoring God in all we do—until we break down from the imbalance and get worn out. Paul encourages care of our Christian brothers and sisters while cautioning:

“Let’s not become discouraged in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not become weary. then, while we have opportunity, let’s do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” Galatians 6:9 NIV

Good works are important, of course, but they need to flow from the leading of God rather than our own zeal. Those “have tos” that we take on may not be what God is leading us to do. Instead, they may be based on the fear of man, including our own inner critic. Teens are not the only ones who are vulnerable to peer pressure! There is considerable pressure from Christian peers who want us to be as busy as they are, particularly in upholding their works.

When God draws us into a time of solitude and outer inactivity, our Christian brothers and sisters sometimes start thinking we are backslid! This just exposes how little the Rest of God is understood. Yes, there are ups and downs in life. Wise believers sit with God, allowing Him to examine our heart motives as we review our commitments. There are times of rest, times of being drawn away with God alone.

Consider all of the balance of the seasons and times revealed in Ecclesiastes:

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ESV

We see this ebb and flow, life’s balance of God’s life all around us. The seasons change in God just as they do in the natural world. Only the holy spirit within us can reveal the seasons of our lives and what He would have us occupying ourselves with as we continue to walk in Him.

The Apostle Paul lived a full and busy life, led by God to accomplish much for God’s kingdom. Then his season of active ministry ended. For the last two years of his life, he was imprisoned in Rome. What a change in his walk with God! He could have railed against God that he could no longer go to the churches and minister in person. We know he loved the brethren and more than once mentions his longing to see the people of the churches he nurtured.

Paul could have complained that he was isolated, stuck in jail where he could not do for others as in the past. When his in-person external ministry came to an end, there is no evidence that he had such an attitude of heart. He certainly did not write about any such struggle. What Paul wrote in the two years he was imprisoned has marvelously lasted through the ages, gifting the rest of us his highest and greatest ministry. This is surely far beyond what Paul may have imagined when he was in prison where his ministry ws primarily in writing to the saints.

Earlier, when ministering to the Corinthians about the sins of the body, particularly sexual immorality. Paul speaks of balance in this way:

“ All things are permitted for me, but not all things are of benefit. All things are permitted for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.” 1 Corinthians 6:12 NASB

Paul is saying he will not be dominated or compelled by anything –though lawful or acceptable – except for the Lord compelling him. He is not dominated by others’ demands for his life, his work, and his ministry. He is not bound by the Jewish laws concerning food or drink. He then continues to name sins of the flesh stemming from wrongful desires. There is nothing inherently wrong with food or drink or sex or entertainment or our myriad present life blessings and advantages. God created many things to be enjoyed. But we, like Paul, should refuse to be under the authority of, out of balance with, any of these things.

Jesus was born of Mary into a human body that got weary. All the needs around Him drew consistently upon His compassion and tender mercies. Yet we have no example of the Lord using any means other than time alone with His Father to manage His burdens. He never asked His disciples to pray for Him because He was tired, sick, or, as we would say, burned out. His human body did get fatigued from His busy ministry and the opposition he faced, but He went to the Father, not to activities. He also drew His closest followers away with Him to special times where He taught and fellowshipped just with them.

When we are entering into His rest, God reveals all those things we have run to in order to distract us from our stressors, to attempt to find rest when we are distressed and lacking in peace. Those of us in the Western world have an abundance of choices for enjoyment and distraction. But when other people and activities become our primary source, those things become more important than God and His provision for peace and rest to our souls. Most of the world now has technology to advance their life and connection, but these too can be a snare.

To what do we run to find rest? If it is other people or activities instead of God, or if we have to have everything for our loved ones in place before we can relax, we are falling short of God’s promise of rest in Him. When do we put our devices down and just be? We must examine anything that grows in significance, in time, thought, and energy, to begin dominating our time and focus instead of the Lord. Even when others we love take His place in our hearts, it is shown in what we habitually do.

It’s not that we must stop all such things or connections, but that we need to be led by the spirit in all. Many of these things are deceptive because they are not “bad” things, just out of balance and used for the wrong purpose. It can even be that we are focusing on others’ needs and others’ problems as a way to avoid our own. More than one of God’s servants called to minister to others is avoiding problems and issues in their own lives while devotedly ministering to others in their care.

Years ago, the Lord gave me a dream. I was standing next to a fence separating two fields with. flowers and weeds. I had my back to the field I was standing in while leaning over the fence, vigorously pulling weeds from the other field. Well. You do not have to be a prophet to understand that message! I was focusing on the weeds in another’s field while ignoring my own. God always has ways to reveal the motives of our hearts!

We need not continue with people or activities not motivated by Him. Sometimes He even takes the others who are draining our time and energy from our lives, even our fellowships, though they may think it was their decision. Thankfully God takes us a step at a time, refining by the sharp sword of the word. He reveals by His spirit each person or thing that will rob us of God’s best.

It’s not sinful to have favorite hobbies like gardening, reading, watching shows or sports we love, participating in our child’s activities, enjoying concerts and other entertainment. Some people are like this, too—we can always count on them to distract us from ourselves.They bring joy and pleasure just being around them—they are a blessing! Despite all our issues, this is an amazing world God has created for us to dwell within.

What we are dealing with here is what God reveals in our hearts. It’s an internal issue. God does all things purposefully. It is quite significant that Jesus starts the Greatest Commandment with “Love the Lord your God with all your heart.” Are we dominated by, under the control of, or driven by anything other than the Lord? Are any activities or people a substitute for God dealing with our fears and anxieties? God shows us so He can change us. Jesus dealt with the motives of our hearts in what we do:

“Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you…

Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

But seek first the kingdom of Godg and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:1-4;31-34 Berean

Some of us just don’t know how to relax and must be taught. My wonderful husband told me to relax so often that when our son was only three years old, he would tell me “Just rewax [relax}, Mom!” So, tell me to do something and I’m on it but how do you do relax? It is easy to work too much when you love the work God has given to you. We can justify all the hours because, after all, it’s our calling. It is expedient to learn to be more watchful about all those good things that hinder entering into His rest.

Only He knows the progress made within. We are His workmanship, not our own.

“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.” Ephesians 2:8-10 Berean

As God continues to refine us, we realize that some things we are doing, though harmless or even good things, are out of control. We humans are so vulnerable to pleasures that are initially acceptable but later begin to dominate us. That is what addiction is–a way to feel good and escape pain and distress. Many of us are vulnerable, over time, to get out of balance, becoming driven to overindulge in any good thing, including working for our living, exercising our bodies, being a loving parent and spouse, seeking external entertainment and escape, enjoying food and even fellowship to excess.

What do we live for? Is it God or is it something or someone else? All are gifts from God, to be sure. But many wonderful and lawful things still work death in us when they begin to control or dominate how we live. They become idols just as much as the golden calf of the Israelites. God can show each of us what is robbing us of the rest and peace we need. We learn to notice what brings peace or lack of it.

What we see, watch, read about, and listen to—all that we take in and focus upon—will either nourish us or cost us, depending on what God knows is best for our individual needs. Our creator made us, and we are not all the same. What brings peace to one may be the very thing that adds to another’s stress.

Here’s an example of a good thing that can dominate us that most of us can relate to. If you use a smartphone, lay it down for a day. Try taking a smartphone vacation! It’s a good way to see how addictive that piece of wonderful equipment can be. How many of us reach for our smartphones upon waking, check our phones all day, and look at it as the last thing before we sleep? While there are multiple benefits to having these devices, our work does not end if we taken them on vacation to stay in touch with work. Sadly, some positions and some businesses even require it.

Think about when electric power is lost in our Western world. Nearly everything we might think of to pass the time we are unable to do. We can’t even charge our smartphones! All around the world, smartphones have become vital for communication. They broaden our world, just as those of us who remember when TV’s first came into our households. But like many families, we begin to gather around the TV entertainment more than gathering with each other! Our devices are a wonderful gift when we need to stay in contact with family, friends, and work. They become vital in emergencies.

What a tool to keep track of our children, to make sure our loved ones who are traveling are safe on the road, to quickly communicate requests or needs, and—for those of us who are geographically challenged—to get us where we are going! In third-world countries without the infrastructure we have, many have smartphones to stay in touch. Smartphones all over are even recording wrongful acts to expose and correct, bringing about crucial changes that show evil in action and even result in a revolution of government.

I’m surely not saying smartphones are bad, except for unmonitored use by children who put themselves in danger because of the access others have to them. Who do you think gave individuals the ability to create such things? God wants us to be free as we enjoy His kingdom within. So, God has to deal with some of us to periodically detach from devices, to lay them down on occasion.

Maybe we need to learn that the world can proceed without us being in touch for a period of time. God may lead us to avoid some “good things” that are okay for others but put us at risk of imbalance. What starts as an enjoyable activity begins to consume us. Games and entertainment are a great way to distract ourselves and, for us seniors, keep our brains active and alert. Yet it is easy to get “hooked”, where the activity is controlling us to an unhealthy degree.

Times of restoration are required for the fullness of life God wants us to have. God knows our frame and our individual weaknesses. He sees in our hearts where we lose our “all things in moderation” commitment to Him. Then we realize we are in the territory that Paul said not to allow. All things are lawful, but not all things are expedient. God strengthens us as we continue to refuse to be under the control of anything external.

We, the people of God are to be only under subjection to the Lord. When God shows us something needs to stop or change, we are able to do it.

“I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency;

I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.] “Philippians 4:13 Amplified

We need not make changes as a law for others to follow, nor even stop some things permanently. . Some Christians enjoy social media while others stay away or limit involvement as it is neither expedient nor profitable for them. God knows when hobbies or habits lead to too much unproductive time being spent. He also knows the error comes in how we use these things in our lives rather than in those things themselves. We must stay alert to be led by His spirit. When something that began as a pleasurable way of passing time and connecting with others starts to dominate the center of our being, God is no longer in it.

The Lord is to be at the center of our being. We are His dwelling place and He is a jealous God.We may have seasons where God leaves certain areas alone until He decides it is time. It’s step-by-step as He exposes the layers of fleshly activities robbing us of His peace and His life. After years of walking with the Lord, we become more and more aware of all the areas that draw us away from Him.

Sometimes we need deep healing to mend the wounds, the past trauma that keeps us falling into the same old temptations. We sit at the feet of the Lord and learn moderation in the life He has given each of us.

When we are at His feet, learning or resting, others who are busy resent it! They even accuse us of not being loving or not serving God. We may be judged for our outward inactivity and considered selfish and uncaring. After all, we are no longer helping them carry their heavy loads! Further, there are Christians who put off all of this inner change and the potential to be truly led by His spirit far into the future, reserving it for the afterlife.

They preach that we cannot enter into God’s rest until we die and are in heaven. Search the scriptures, however, and you will see it does not say so.

“Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be deemed to have fallen short of it. For we also received the good news just as they did; but the message they [the Israelites] heard was of no value to them, since they did not share the faith of those who comprehended it. Now we who have believed enter that rest…

there remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For whoever enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.” Hebrews 4:1-3; 9-11 NASB

The writer of Hebrews says now, in that day, it was disobedient to refuse to enter into His rest. It was available to them as they have faith in Jesus Christ. We are not told we have to physically die before entering into His rest. He is able to grant the peace that passes understanding while we remain on this earth. Isn’t it on this earth that we most need His rest? His rest is much spoken of in the Word, but it seems there are many more sermons about what we should and not do to fulfill the law. Rest is not something we can do, it is something God grants to us because of our faith.

We need to know more about “making every effort” to enter into His rest. This is an attitude of our heart that only our Lord and Savior can work within us. The Lord has led many of us to stop former activities, including fellowship, doing good works, leading others to Christ, visibly helping the poor, or working for Christian causes like pro-life. It does not mean we do not share these values and beliefs, only that God is not leading us to make any of these activities our focus. Jesus was not a “one issue “ God and neither are we to be unless God makes it our passion and cause.

God is in charge of our calling and we must fulfill it, but it is not God when we insist on others sharing our same passion for that issue or judge them as lacking when they do not. We should not insist that all other Christians prioritize what we do. Others may be called to do many specific things that God has not laid upon our hearts. It is not our calling. Even our specific individual calling, when centered around one issue, should never come before our relationships with God Himself.

We must heed the specific call of the spirit, leaving the Tree of Good and Evil to eat of the Tree of Life. While we are at rest, God is very active within us. He has our undivided attention when we are drawn to the wilderness, alone with God. What God is accomplishing within us isn’t seen by others. We ourselves may not see or understand it. The fruit of that time with only God, no distractions, later becomes evident, visible in our lives as righteousness. Much spiritual growth and maturity occur when God seemingly is doing nothing in and through us.

“The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment. For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?

But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 2:15-16 Berean

The mind of Christ is within us—we have it. His mind is nurtured and fed by God within as we walk with the Lord. Those of us with busy, unruly minds are being taught of the spirit to allow the mind of Christ dwelling within us to dominate us. These are the most precious times with our Lord. We learn to please God and not have fear of man in whatever He leads us to do.

But even pleasing God is not a restful pursuit if we are fear-based rather than faith-based. We are to “fear.” that is “be in awe or reverence” God, which is in great contrast to the fear of punishment if we do not. Often there’s a deep-down fear of God’s judgment, of not being good enough for Him if we don’t do all we have been taught to do. This does not bring God’s rest—how can it?

“There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror!

For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love’s complete perfection].” 1 John 4:18 Amplified

Fear and faith do not go well together, but we can state “what times I am afraid, I will trust the Lord.” God teaches us what pleases Him most as we learn to rest in Him. How He loves the praises of His people as He is teaching us His ways! There’s an old chorus we sing that expresses the desires of our heart at times like this: “Teach me, Oh, Lord, how to be pleasing. Teach me, Oh Lord, how to please you. In everything I say, in everything I do…”

Meetings and quiet time with God and service to others are not laws we must meet to qualify in God’s eyes. Freely we have received and freely we give, led by His spirit rather than rules and regulations. Fellowship with other Christians is precious and can be mighty refreshing when we are led to gatherings in Him. Otherwise, it becomes just another thing that is required of us.

Yes, we are directed not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. The idea is to be led to be with others, joined in the spirit and gathering unto Him. When we gather out of fear, duty, or others’ expectations or even requirements, is it truly a blessing to God? Are we to go to every meeting, even when exhausted and resentful in heart? What might the Holy Spirit be leading us to do instead?

Some of us were raised to dutifully go to church every time the door was open. We raise our families in the same manner and it is wonderful training for a child. It does not bring peace and rest, however, if it is merely a religious activity, tradition, or habit, a “supposed to.” We love the genuine worship and honor of God with others but we do not have to gather with others to be with God. As a dear Christian friend once said to me, “Sometimes it is more holy to stay home and rest!”

Jesus only said and did what He saw the Father do. That’s how all the needs and demands presented to Him in His ministry were sorted out. Jesus did not address every need around Him. He certainly did not go to every gathering or activity others asked of Him. He enjoyed fellowship with His disciples, teaching some more deeply of His truths than others. He only took three to the Mount of Transformation:

“About eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter, John, and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming.

And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah, who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who were standing with Him. And as these two men were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good that we are here; and let’s make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’—not realizing what he was saying.

But while he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And then a voice came from the cloud, saying,

‘This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!’

And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent, and reported to no one in those days any of the things which they had seen.” Luke 9:28-36 NASB

We identify with Peter, who immediately wanted to do something for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, but God’s voice stopped him. We do not know what the other disciples thought when these three only were taken by their Master to witness such an incredible thing. We do know, however, that servants of the Lord are capable of resenting others’ callings that appear greater, more honorable, privileged, or exciting than their own portion.

Some would push to hear all about it, even demand that they be included the next time a mountaintop opportunity arose. A few go so far as to insist we are all equal in our calling in the Body, which is not what the scriptures teach. We are to honor each other and our ministry, our service to God, recognizing that every part of the Body of Christ is needed. But there are gifts differing, and a marvelous variety of callings that fit each of God’s own in a unique way.

We more easily recognize when someone has a calling we would never want to be our own. But does jealousy or resentment burn in our hearts when God chooses to elevate someone above what we have been given? We know the disciples—at least some of them—fought for the highest place in the Lord, which only God could grant. Christians can confuse our different gifts and callings as evidence of being unequal, some “better than” while others are “less than.” T

Some fight for their place, to be accepted, and seen by others as equal to everyone else. Some who have been given very public gifts or ministries may forget this as well, taking honor and recognition as their due rather than remaining humble as a servant is to be. Those who are insecure in their own spiritual place in the Lord are stung by this, when it is a matter of the other person’s heart, rather than the differences in calling and ministry.

What a rest that will bring, to be led only by His spirit within us! We are not there yet, but we can have faith to pursue that prize, to enter into such rest as He has. God is a changer of hearts. He invites us to be a part of showing forth His rest as He builds faith for it now. We rest in His hands as He does His work within and without. We are learning to be led only by His spirit:

“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons and daughters of God.

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’” Romans 8:14-15 NASB

There is definitely a difference between slavery, which is bondage, and sonship, which brings freedom. Those called to sonship are sons and daughters of God, promised kingly authority, and servant-priests to others. Such is the qualification for being sons and daughters of God, joined with Father God, led only by His spirit. Sons and daughters led by God come to God as our Father, not in the fear of a slave to a master. It is the work of Jesus to bring us to the Father through Him. As we experience God as our Father, we learn to rest in Him.

There is always more to learn about being led by the Lord in everything. Our Lord Jesus is the perfect model of a faithful and true Son. We read many times about how He sought time with His Father as He fulfilled His ministry. So we, too, seek time with God our Father. Prayer is a conversation with God about any of our concerns. But we can even be burdened down and unfruitful in prayer when we haven’t been taught how to pray as led by the spirit.

Without the spirit’s leading, prayer becomes automatic, repetitive, and perhaps even laborious. We sometimes fall asleep in the middle of it, too! Of course, we can bring any prayer or concern to Him, that’s not an issue. But when we automatically pray for whatever someone asks us to pray for without godly discernment, or for what makes sense in our own minds for the situation, it becomes unnecessary or even unproductive: “Pray for me to get this job. Pray that I will recover from this illness. Pray that God will give me a…(spouse, child, new house, prosperity, etc.” These are all good and needful things, worthy of intercession for others. God is absolutely able to do all of them and they are valid requests.

But what if God’s intent in the matter differs from the obvious need presented to us for intercession? The Lord does provide discernment about how to specifically pray to those who ask Him for it. Perhaps He leads us to pray that someone accepts their single status or waits longer before a job comes through. One time when interceding for another at their request, God clearly told me “I will heal their broken heart when it is given to me.” Well, I surely could not do that part for another! As an intercessor, it is a work in progress to learn to pray according to His will.

There are clearly some things we cannot do for another. God is the healer of broken hearts when humans do the unspeakable to other humans. What happens to innocent children is most painful and difficult to understand. Regardless, each of us has to surrender our own hearts and our own will. We take our life of prayer and intercession to a higher level when we wait upon the Lord to pray according to His will.

It brings a rest when we know we are praying, in words or in spiritual utterances only understood by God. This is the way the Lord would have us pray and includes revealing issues in the heart in need of intercession. Prayer is not just a one-sided conversation of talking to God. It is also listening to Him. It takes time walking with the Lord to hear His voice, to converse with Him.

Sadly, a number of Christians don’t believe that God directly talks to anyone, that no one really hears the Lord talking to them in their inner being. They only know one-sided prayer requests. Yes, there are answers in the Word, as illuminated by His light of understanding. But there are also answers that rise up within us. There are answers about anything we need from the Lord to walk in His specific path of life for each of us. We can learn to be tuned to the right spiritual “channel,” to hear Him without the static of our soul.

Our thoughts, will and emotions cloud what God is telling us, but His still, small voice becomes more clear as we are trained to listen, to have ears to hear what the spirit is saying to us. When we are given discernment about how to pray for another, we have the precious privilege of praying for the root of the matter, whether the person for whom we’re interceding knows it or not. God may direct us to keep that to ourselves, just like Peter, John, and James did, never talking about what they experienced with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Early on, when ministering to others, God told me, “Don’t tell all you know.” Jesus surely did not. Some of us have lots of words, not all of which are edifying and in season. He was teaching me discernment about what to share and not share, when to use words and when to wait in silence. I am still learning that! We can rest in the truth that God desires us to hear Him, or He would not have repeatedly told us to!

The Lord can tune out all our fleshly static. He has a multitude of ways to bring His personal word to us. Saints testify of reading His word and the answer, the truth, the comfort, and the wisdom sought are right there, leaping out of the page. We may find ourselves singing a song in which we recognize an answer to our petitions. And it is not always a spiritual song through which He speaks! During a very busy time early in my life, God brought this line from a song, “Stop and smell the roses…” and it was just what I needed.

To the sincere and willing heart, He makes a way. We can trust that! There is not one time when we are desperate to hear Him. He knows we need to get His wisdom and direction, so He responds but not always in the time frame we’d prefer. Often the best answers require waiting on the Lord. We can wait in impatience, fear, or distress or in peace and gratitude that He will answer according to His will in Christ Jesus. As we walk and learn of our Lord daily, our relationship with Him, like with all those we love, deepens in understanding.

He already understands all about us and loves us just the same and He promises to reveal Himself to those who love Him. This is our greatest need, above all seeking Him in His kingdom of righteousness within. It’s what that long-ago Mary was seeking at His feet. The Lord said to sit at His feet is the only true need. It’s about the heart-to-heart relationship that the Father longs to have with His children, made possible by Jesus our Savior.

It is just like it is with humans we love. The more time we spend with someone we love, the more mutual understanding we gain. We rest ourselves in God while He does His work within us. He is our peace:

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace.” Ephesians 3:14-16 Berean

God's Rest

The Tree of Life is the pure God-life of the Lord Jesus Christ, made available to us through His sacrifice and resurrection. He’s in the midst of the garden of our hearts. He did it all and now draws us to walk in all He has done. We are no longer to eat from the Tree of Good and Evil as we have in former days. In the rest He brings, we know our good works, if done by us and not led by the Holy Spirit, are no more acceptable than the bad things that need to be purged.

We are learning how to enter into His promised rest for those with faith:

“We may be afraid, then, lest at some time, a promise being left of entering into His stopping, any of you may be seeming to be deficient…

But the Word heard does not benefit those hearers, not having been blended together with faith in those who hear. Then we who believe are entering into the stopping…

For He who is entering into His stopping, he also stops from his works even as God from His own.” Hebrews 4:1-3;10 Concordant

The Concordant Literal version of the Bible calls God’s rest a “stopping.” Isn’t that beautiful? His rest is a stopping, a ceasing of our works and a surrender of faith in His work within us. In Hebrews 3, God chastises some for their stubbornness and idolatry. They continually strayed in their hearts, displaying unbelief. They could not enter into His rest in their present condition.

Stopping our own efforts to change ourselves and others is the key to entering into the rest promised for us here on this earth. We realize that we have nothing to offer to our God except faith. We have become weary of soul-driven external works, visible to others but not prompted by the Holy Spirit. And it is not that His rest means doing nothing. We may do many things as they are led by God. In His rest, we can do them with peace and joy, only motivated to please Him.

Further on in Hebrews 4:

“Since, then, it remains for some to enter His rest, and since those who formerly heard the good news did not enter because of their disobedience, God again designated a certain day as '‘Today,” when a long time later He spoke through David as was just stated:

‘Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.’ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.

There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For whoever enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.” Hebrews 4:6-11 Berean

When we are entering into His rest, His leading is to stop doing our own works. He teaches us to withdraw from unprofitable activities, including religious activities, that are pleasing others or we believe are necessary to earn our salvation. We walk away from all that is unnecessary for our maturity in Him. The truth is that we can do many things “for Christ” that do not nurture the Christ within us. When these things are done to please men, or to look outwardly religious, or out of fear rather than love, they are not a part of the rest of God.

The word translated “effort” in the above passage is translated as “labour” in the King James Version. But that sounds like working at resting rather than resting in God’s work in us! It is useful to examine the Greek word labor in this passage, “spoudazo,” translated also “to use speed, be prompt or earnest, give diligence, or endeavor.” It comes from the root word “spoude” meaning “speed or eagerness.”

We are to endeavor to surrender our will and decisions to Him, to learn to stop our own planned activities, expectatons, rules, and ways we come up with to please the Lord, and be earnest about trusting ourselves to God. This understanding of “effort” or “labour” assures us that we are not told to work at resting! Rather, it is an eager, speedy focus we are to undertake with diligence. It’s our priority, a goal to pursue promptly, something we’re eager in our hearts to obtain.

We fully realize that we are His project, not our own fruitless efforts to become righteous.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10 ESV

God surely works to bring the unnecessary things that we do to an end. Our Lord strips us of all we do that is not motivated by His spirit. It is, in particular a stopping of external religious deeds and actions that do not result in heart change. Our motives are no longer to do good works to be seen of others, because of others’ Christian expectations, to keep up with someone else, because of tradition, because we feel guilty or cannot say no, or just to keep ourselves busy. All keeps us from having time to stop, to rest and grow within, just enjoying our God.

As He continues to clear out our hearts, much of what we used to do “for God” in the church realm particularly, fades away. This includes relationships that are not edifying as well as those activities with no spiritual gain. Some of our Christian brothers and sisters are unable to edify others due to their own conditions. God is in charge of our relationships and is careful, even protective, of His own.

Some relationships are just unprofitable, even spiritually draining. After a season, others become no longer mutually growth-producing in our spiritual walk. God changes how we spend our time with others, releasing us from relationships that are no longer a part of His plan for us. He leads us to examine our “have to’s,” the pressures and demands that others and ourselves put upon our lives. We are weaned away from external, flesh-driven business for God until, more and more, we can be at peace in the doing of only what He leads us to do.

Rather than a list of the do’s and don’ts, we lose our desire to do many things, as they are no longer of interest to us. Those we have been fellowshiping with may not understand that God may have called us to walk together with others, to change in our fellowship with others in Christian love and fellowship. It is hard to leave long-term relationships because God is leading us to do so, but not all Christian relationships or fellowships are eternal.

Entering into His stopping seems to lead more often to walking alone with God, drawing from His spirit and learning of His ways to be written in our hearts. We fellowship with the saints as God leads, but we no longer seek Him primarily in great meetings or ministries, or through others. We seek times to be with God one-on-one. If God has called us into personal ministry or counseling, we need to be particularly wise about what we do and how we spend our time away from your calling.

Jesus had times of rest in His ministry, times where he enjoyed fellowship, and those precious hours He spent just with the Father. When our calling is to minister directly to others, demands and needs are endles. A heart of compassion can lead ministry to overcommit and become worn out. It may be zeal rather than the Spirit that is prompting such overactivity. Ministers and counselors can become so drained by carrying burdens, often more than God puts on them, that they neglect their own family relationships, health, and times of rest. And who ministers to the ministers?

To “minister” is to “serve” in both the Old Testament Hebrew and the New Testament Greek. These relationships where we are serving each other are most precious, yet there are also people who are “leeches” that suck the lifeblood from Christian fellowships and leaders. These are believers who remain dependent long after they should have some maturity of their own. Some of us are too helpful, continually offering assistance regardless of need. We create dependence when we do something for others that they are actually able to do for themselves.

The Apostle Paul calls these Christians “babes in Christ.”

“Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man?” 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 Berean

Fleshly jealousy and division, conflicts about who does what, who leads or follows, these are worldly, childish things that drain the spirit. Paul had to deal with these things with the Corinthians rather than ministering a deeper word to them. They still needed the basics of how to behave as loving brothers and sisters in Christ. This was still the “milk” of the word when they should be ready for the “meat” of deeper things for spiritual growth.

It’s obvious what a newborn baby can do for themselves—nothing! But it is less obvious when newborn babies in Christ begin to grow and need to do more in their own walk with God rather than always seeking out others. Some believers always have a problem, an issue, an offense, a trial, that they need others to attend to for them. Some Christian leadership may even prefer keeping their followers dependent upon them and their ministry rather than growing up in their own personal relationship with God.

Neither the one who remains dependent nor the one who fosters such dependency can enter into the rest of God. Paul knew the Corinthian believers needed to grow up. He had not been able to minister more than the beginning “milk” of the word because of their immaturity and carnality. These babes in Christ remained immature in their hearts, not growing up into the character of Christ over time.

Newborn babies are very needy—for a time. New Christians start as babes, needing nourishment to build their foundation in Christ, but babes continue to have needs that they cannot meet, so they turn to others to meet them. New Christians are to grow up into Him. Those who refuse to grow not only limit themselves but also those who minister to them.

“Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.” 1 Peter 2:2 Berean

The milk of the word deals with these fundamental sinful attitudes of the heart. How many o fus mature Christians would be offended to be considered babes because of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander? It takes the maturing towards the character and heart of Christ formed within for changes in our spiritual walk. If you are not seeing changes within, if your walk remains the same as it was in prior times, you need to get closer to God!

The Israelites had a lack of faith so they could not enter in to rest during their era. We, too, cannot enter in if we have unbelief in what God has said. We continue being carnal when we harbor envy and strife, causing division among the brethren. We are not and cannot be at rest when such fleshly things are working in our hearts. Rest in the Lord is impossible as long as we are preserving self-focused motivations such as pride, envy, and self-justification.

Envy, strife, and division are natural and common to man but Christ is not divided. God hates when anyone works division and strife among the brethren. It’s in God’s list of the 7 things He hates:

“There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that run swiftly to evil, a false witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up discord among brothers.” Proverbs 6:16-18 Berean

All of these characteristics are motives of the heart that God hates, signs of immaturity from failing to grow up into the love of God. There is no division in love, agape love that is God’s nature. Mature Christians edify others, not tear down, gossip about, or stir up discord and strife about them. We are to be a peculiar, special people showing forth the love of God. That is something we can do through resting in God’s provision for us, accessing all that Jesus died for so that we can truly live in Him.

It is also challenging for those of us who love our Lord so much to allow God to strip us of activities that are not expedient for us or our spiritual growth. We so much want to do something for God, to show Him how much we love Him. Of course, we want to spread the good word of the gospel to others so they will love Him, too. Yet we tend to focus on doing when we need to focus on being. There is no rest in imbalance in our daily lives that are so full of the activities for God that we have no time to just be with Him and enjoy fellowship with Him!

How does God teach us a balance in what He calls us to do? Though the word “balance” is not in the Bible, all of God’s creation shows forth the perfect balance of His creative nature. God is a perfect balance of mercy and justice. All of the characteristics of our Lord are in beautiful harmony with each other. What God made, His creation, was in perfect balance until the world’s growing population and careless stewardship of the earth began to unbalance the natural order He so beautifully established on our earth.

Watch any flora and fauna nature documentary and you see the exquisite balance of nature that God created and the natural world maintains—when allowed to do so. We ignorant humans have routinely and repeatedly disrupted this balance. With all the changes man brings to this world, present disruptions are even more rapid and are becomeing increasingly deadly, not just to plants and animals but to humans.

We are learning the hard lesson that we can’t just wipe out parts of God’s creation without harming His balance, bringing severe, though usually unintended, consequences.

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you.

Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.” Job 12:7-10 NIV

Nature, including human nature, is designed to seek a balance. All systems seek this balance called homeostasis. Homeostasis is the self-regulating process where we always seek a stable state when adjusting to varying external conditions. Gravity illustrates this. Put a straw on an unstable surface and watch it try to balance itself. Homeostasis is a natural state that all systems seek according to God’s design.

It’s part of why we get stuck in old ways when that has become our natural, familiar state. After a disruption for whatever reason, it takes a while to find a new homeostasis, to be balanced again. When we begin to change—or change comes upon us— our balance or homeostasis, our familiar “comfort zone,” is unstable until we find balance in the new. Every couple ever joined goes through this process of individual to relationship stability. Every person experiences life’s endings and losses that disrupt the way we’ve come to live our lives.

Balance brings harmony, built into all biological systems, including humans. It takes much wisdom and commitment to learn ways we can coexist with each other over time. As shown so powerfully in nature, we have to learn to balance human needs with other forms of life in our ever-expanding world population, enabling all to make a living for their families along with the requirements for nature to thrive.

God is able to provide wisdom and balance in even these circumstances. Whether God is always credited with these solutions, He always makes a way of escape!

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness since what may be known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” Romans 1:18-20 NIV

God has shown Himself to humans since the creation of the world. Though He is invisible, His qualities are seen in what He has created. Our God is a Lord of balance and of contrasts. In the Bible, God talks about balance by using the word “moderation.” Moderation is defined as “temperance; the act of imposing due restraint, calmness of mind, equanimity.” Moderation is used regarding Christian behavior in several translations of Philippians 4:5:

“Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4;5-7 KJV

In this scripture, the word moderation is also translated as “lenience” (Concordant), “gentleness” (NIV), and “forbearing spirit” (NASB and Amplified). These words may not seem to connect directly with a balance to bring the rest we are endeavoring to understand. But look at the words that follow in the scripture. This moderation in all things brings peace and rest. And rest is a keeper, going far beyond natural understanding.

We are made to be in balance, fully equipped to learn to enter into His rest. In fact, we can be at rest when there is no earthly reason to be! God’s peace and rest follow moderation, not because of what we do but how and why we do it. It is our heart’s motives that require examination. It can be a shock to some of us Christians when we realize how much we have done that wasn’t God’s idea!

Sometimes such actions are not blessed with successful outcomes, making it obvious whose idea it was. Other times, we may dutifully continue to do things that God is no longer leading us to do, with others benefitting though it is costing us rest. Other people, and even ministries, greatly appreciate our good works benefitting them and their works. The more programs and activities a church has, the better reputation it garners. And we, too, appear blessed in others’ eyes, looking holy and righteous. After all, these are good works, not bad things.

Others will allow us keep doing good works if it benefits them and may be the first to judge us severely when we stop. More than one Christian entering into God’s rest gets accused of being selfish or backslidden when we are no longer performing like others think we should or we’ve taught them to expect of us. These same good works, however, can exhaust and drain us in ways God never intended. And it may be those who most need to enter into God’s rest that get the most disturbed!

We can resent the peace and rest, the balance that others have achieved when we don’t have it. We see how the other person is not working nearly as hard or as often as we are in their walk with the Lord. They are enjoying their life balance while we are slaving away at what God has called us to do. We are the Marthas of the world, when the Lord is drawing us to be Marys, those who sit at His feet:

“As they traveled along, Jesus entered a village where a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to His message.

But Martha was distracted by all the preparations to be made. She came to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me!’

‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord replied, ‘you are worried and upset about many things. But only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her.’” Luke 10:38-42 Berean

Jesus was clear about what was important, and it surely was not all the fussing and planning Martha had allowed to distress her. Well, you might say, someone has to do it! Yes, but God is able to teach us what is important when. We may need to learn to be at rest when there is still much to be done. It may not occur to us to learn from others who are examples, like Mary, prioritizing those times at Jesus’ feet. Not everyone was raised to “do, do, do” as some of us were. We truly can learn from others who show a balanced life we have yet to establish in our Christian walk.

God plants the idea for many good things, that’s not debatable. But we are cautioned even then to have a balance. The question: Is what you are doing motivated by your flesh or God’s spirit?

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16 NASB

So we ask: “Lord, teach us to live today in this world. Give us our daily bread and show us the path of life for each of us day by day as your Spirit leads.” The hours a person works are not the key to how stressful that work is for them. It is the attitudes and motives of the heart that wear us out! If we are driven to help others, to “do for God,” have many friends, make money, achieve outward evidence of success, have a “need to be needed,” desire time for vacations and entertainment, etc., etc., there is the source of our stress!

These are all good things, but if we have resentful attitudes about work, like Martha did, frustration with colleagues who are not doing their part,, we need either a change in our attitudes, if not our circumstances. We may be truly doing what God has led us to be involved in, called us to do. But we need a heart change before we are able to enter into His rest in the doing. We must do what we are called to do, that is certain. But we are not to be overburdened in the doing of it. When we walk fully in God’s will for us, we can learn to rest in Him doing it from within us.

God is able to show us how to be “in the world but not of the world,” when we are unable to separate from others. Those in religious vocations that call for separation from the world still have to deal with what is in their own hearts. When they live in groups of believers who are called to detach from the outer world, they still have to deal with relationships impacting their peaceful lives. They may have let go of much of those outer things that others have or are exposed to, but God still wants to claim their inner land.

It is not the outward separation from the world but rather the inner separation of our hearts from carnal thoughts and behaviors, to which God is drawing us. God changes outward activities, including enjoyable activities distracting from our spiritual growth, as He is always prioritizing the heart. But if we are “giving up” things for God but still want to do them, it is a beginning but not a fullness in His rest. It becomes will worship rather than surrender.

Isn’t it wonderful that God can truly change the desires of our hearts, so there’s no “giving up” to it? It’s no longer a sacrifice but a path of rest when God changes our desires and interests. We no longer want to do those former things God is eliminating from our lives. When they are purged from our hearts, we do not miss them. We are “dead” to them. We learn how much is enough, a balance of serving from the place of rest God creates within us.

Another source of stress and unrest we humans battle is trying to control the uncontrollable. This is particularly challenging for Christians who are perfectionists. God creates some of His own with a strong focus on wanting things to be right. God deals with our imperfect world and is in ultimate control of it all, but oh, my, consider all the out-of-control things He sees going on in this world! He nonetheless remains true to his perfect and right(eous) standard, resting in the plan that He began at the foundation of the world.

We all spend far too much time worrying about things we can’t control, which includes other people as well as the future. God knows that what He wills, will happen. He knows our frame and loves the perfectionist, making use, in balance, of this characteristic. Perfectionists are often the ones who hold up God’s standard of righteousness and truth for the rest of us. But life can be difficult for them as well as for others around them, as no one is perfect but the Lord.

We all can learn to rest in God’s ultimate plan, trusting in faith that everything will work out right regardless of our attempts to control the outcome. The Lord tells us in Matthew 6:34:

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:34 KJV

He is reminding us that we can only handle today. The troubles of tomorrow are not to weigh us down today. That’s the only way His “yoke is easy and His burden is light” – by not carrying yesterday’s or tomorrow’s burdens today. This is most difficult! Nonetheless, it is a key part of entering into His rest. We do have to consider the future when we make necessary plans. We need to learn from the past when we move into the present.

But, we are not to dwell upon or ruminate about the past or the future. We are to forget the past because it is dead and gone, and the future is yet to come. Here’s a chorus that expresses this beautifully:

Yesterday is yesterday, the past is dead and gone.

Yesterday is yesterday, you know you’re not alone.

You let the love of Jesus come into your heart.

You let the love of Jesus give new life a start.

(Author unknown)

We let, and He brings His new spiritual life to us. Whatever He directs, He also enables us to do. Faith in this truth brings about rest. Some of us know quite well how to work at things. We’ve been raised to be this way and know how to work hard. But when God knocks on our spiritual door to be let in, guiding us to a stop, we are clueless! When God tells us just to relax, we may cry out, as I did; “But I don’t know how!”

We don’t know how to practice mindfulness, a practice that teaches how to stay in the present, to focus on the moment. So many precious moments slip through our hands when we are stuck in the past or worrying about the future. Thankfully, our God is the best mindfulness teacher there is! God teaches us how to live in the present, in balance, while doing our required and necessary planning and preparation for tomorrow. We roll our cares upon Him because He cares for us.

When we slow down, we begin to notice the beauty around us, all the multitude of little daily gifts and provisions that God has given. Our slower pace of living allows a growth of thanksgiving and gratitude. In godliness and contentment, there is great gain! It is easier for us who are privileged to have our basic needs met than for those who must work day and night to survive and provide for their families. Yet there are cultures who live very simply, with great happiness, without all the things we consider essential

We all must learn to recognize what only God’s mighty hand can do.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you.

Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 Berean

We may not think we are being proud and arrogant when we continue to do, do, do, or try to control things that only God can, but here it is. We are to humble ourselves under His mighty hand, recognizing that not one of us is essential to God. He is essential to us. We have no life without Him. He created us to be in relationship with Him. He not only loves us, He likes us! It is His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom, but it still belongs to Him and He is to be our center.

We can cast all that is weighing us down upon Him, because He loves us. We are His and we do not belong to ourselves. Rest is not “working at getting rid of,” “trying to die to..” or “dying to self.” Rest is a ceasing of labor, an inner quality that is present regardless of life’s demands. God knows our differing circumstances. Have you ever admired the rest, peace, and joy that parents raising a large family display? They show God’s rest in a way that those of us with one precious child may never exhibit!

The person who spends hours and hours at the work God has given them in peace and joy, knowing they are in the center of His will, is more at rest than the person who spends less time but it always troubled in the doing of it. It is not these external demands, or the circumstances of our lives, or the expectations of others. It is the attitudes within that bring rest or rob us of it. God’s changes written within our hearts are lasting, unlike the present circumstances of our differing lives.

God is so faithful to us! He is able to lead all into the rest that He has promised for those who love Him. The tests may be different but the lessons are the same. He brings a peace that is inside, becoming unshakable within us. This peace and rest is far beyond what humans can explain because it is a work of God. His peace guards our hearts and minds, far beyond and transcending any human understanding and explanation for it. These are the circumstances in which Christians shine forth with the fruit of the spirit, the peace, love and joy that brings rest to our souls—and yes, even to our bodies!

Others who do not know or serve God just don’t get why we are not frantic or upset when trouble surrounds us. There can be a storm, a whirlwind or tornado all around us, yet we are in the center with God while He holds the storm back from us. This stems from surrender to God in all that is allowed to come into our lives. We can bring anything and everything to our Lord, running to Him in thanksgiving and praise as we ask for what is needed. He then reassures our hearts of His faithfulness and love for His own.

“Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything [every circumstance and situation] by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your [specific] requests known to God.

And the peace of God [that peace which reassures the heart, that peace] which transcends all understanding, [that peace which] stands guard over your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus [is yours].” Philippians 4:7 Amplified

As we rest in Him, the Lord increases within us until it is an overflow of Him swallowing up death in life. God is teaching His people in this hour to come to rest in Him. Do you hear His invitation to the promise of entering in to His rest? We can learn how to live in it, day by day, as we walk hand in hand with our Lord.

Reconciliation or Rapture?

Do you know that the world is far from “reaped” by the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Are you aware that the majority of people, dead and living, have had no opportunity to know Him? Let’s examine traditional teaching about the afterlife in light of knowing about the multitudes, young and old, who have not yet heard the good tidings.

There is a widely accepted teaching about a literal, eternal hell where all unbelievers will go when they die. Christians are taught that they will be raptured into a literal heaven in the clouds while unbelievers are left on earth to suffer eternal hellfire and damnation. Though only about 200 years old, this doctrine is well embedded in traditional Christian culture and is the dominant Christian belief that is reflected in our broader society.

Endless books and movies have been created about the Rapture Doctrine. Pictures of flames licking around the bodies of those condemned to eternal punishment while they scream in torment are common. In contrast to the agony sinners are suffering, the saints are painted as sitting on clouds, playing their harps and walking on literal streets of gold, living in luxurious mansions in the sky. People who have had no opportunity to hear the gospel are condemned with unbelievers who willfully refuse to believe in Jesus Christ.

Are you willing to truly examine this teaching? To consider if God really condemns all the millions of people, the innocent babies to the elderly, the living as well as those who have died through the centuries, to literal, eternal hell just because they did not learn of Him in this life? Think about it. We have but a small portion of His love, and most of us would not desire even our worst enemy to live in eternal torment, let alone our unsaved loved ones.

If we do imagine or even enjoy it, that surely is not the attitude of heart that God teaches us to have. Many sincere believers live in fear that their loved ones who have refused faith in God are destined to this place of eternal torment. How does this doctrine fit with God’s redemptive love, which is so much beyond human love? Our God IS love! God’s judgment is always redemptive, intimately connected to His mercy. What is redeeming about sinners being in eternal torment?

What benefit towards salvation is our loving God receiving by allowing a great majority of the world to be put into an eternal place of punishment? And what about the rest of us – whom He knows and loves – having to fear the future of our loved ones in eternal damnation with no hope, even potentially viewing their suffering from the safety of our heavenly home? I don’t know about you, but I would have a hard time enjoying heaven if I had to be aware of such suffering on earth!

Fear of the future of unsaved loved ones drives many believers to desperately pursue a confession of faith before their loved ones die. Fear mixed with love provides no peace until this is accomplished. It becomes difficult to see anything good coming out of this for sinners or believers. The sinners have no hope of ever knowing God and become eternally useless to Him. Believers suffer fear of the future afterlife for themselves and more so their unbelieving loved ones who refuse the Lord before they die.

It certainly adds zeal, if not desperation, to minister the salvation message of Jesus Christ to loved ones before their life on this earth ends. Hope for salvation for those we love becomes finite and without peace.The rapture predicting that the good are taken while the bad are abandoned to eternal damnation just does not ring true with our God’s nature of mercy and redemptive justice. God loved the world so much that He sent Jesus Christ. How could He plan to lose a great number of those He died for?

Jesus even ministered to those in hell between His death and resurrection, resulting in many of the dead being seen raised in the city. He cares about the dead who lived too early to know Him and His salvation. His love extends to the innocent who were too young to know Him when they died. He loves all sinners, not wishing any to perish. Is man’s will and the devil to triumph in the end? Rapture theology surely denies God’s ability to change the hearts and minds of all men, allowing an eternal victory to the enemy of our souls.

But His word says:

“...Our Savior, God, who wills that all mankind be saved and come into the realization of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-4 Concordant Literal.

The Concordant Literal is used here because this version of the Bible translates from the original Hebrew and Greek words to further our understanding. Some translations use “want” or “desire” instead of “will.” If Almighty God wills, desires, or wants something, will He fail to have it? Is He forever facing massive defeat in what He desires, His complete plan, because of man’s will? It is His will to save all mankind. He said so. Will He not accomplish anything that is His will?

Where in the word is there an account of God not doing what He decides to do? He is not somehow ultimately unable to defeat the devil. Jesus has the keys to death and hell. Did He not defeat the devil when He arose, victorious? Our Lord and Savior already has this victory! The Greek translation of this word “will” is strengthened to “to determine, take for oneself, or choose.” God is determined to save everyone!

This is the Word of Reconciliation of all men. What is better news than our God triumphing over all, bringing all of His creation back into intimacy and fellowship with Him? If this is what God wants, it should be what we want: the ultimate reconciliation of all humans back to God. No power in heaven or earth can stand against the blood of Christ, no matter that it take centuries. In contrast to the word “rapture”, which does not appear in scripture, this word “reconciliation” appears 15 times in 12 verses in the New Testament.

Yet the scriptural truth of reconciliation for all men has been much maligned in traditional Christian circles. There are even ministers who admit that they know God will reconcile all to Himself, but will not teach it for fear of losing their audience, congregation or income.

“Wherefore in all things, it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” Hebrews 2:17 KJV

Jesus came to reconcile all to God, making a way for us to be holy and righteous. His ministry will succeed and the purpose of His calling fulfilled through the end of the ages, on into eternity. Yet this wonderful truth, the doctrine of universal reconciliation, is vigorously attacked and rejected by many Christian leaders and their followers who embrace the traditional teaching of the rapture. Though strongly held, the widely embraced teachings about rapture and eternal hell are passed down by traditional teachings unexamined by the Holy Spirit's scriptural study by believers.

The rapture theory is part of dispensationalism, with theologians debating over whether the tribulation happens before, during, or after the Second Coming of Christ. Debate by men rarely results in the truth of God, no matter how much we might enjoy it or even make a living from the practice. Yet did you know that this doctrine of the rapture was not part of the foundation of the early Christian church?

Theories do not shed a great deal of light on our understanding of God’s word in context. Our differences in doctrinal beliefs cause so much division and strife, but God said it should not be so. While we fight among ourselves and divide the body of Christ, unbelievers watch our confusion, along with judgment for those who see it differently, learning lessons that do not fit with what we want to show of Christ and His ways.

Few Christians, including those in Christian leadership, have really searched these rapture teachings out in the scriptures. Becoming doctrine recently in church history, the rapture teachings are not a part of the foundations of Christianity. It’s also puzzling that Christians who stand for the love of God are so comfortable with this condemning judgment of others who remain ignorant of our Lord. Why is it so many believers are extremely invested in insisting that the majority of Earth’s people be condemned to the fiery torment of hell for all eternity?

When you search the scriptures to see if these things are true, the spirit reveals the entire doctrine of the rapture is built on a few misunderstood or mistranslated scriptures. Rapture theology was created in the 1830’s by the English Protestant minister John Nelson Darby. Darby created the rapture doctrine without sound scriptural basis, despite foundational Christian teaching.

Though Darby did many wonderful things for the Lord through his years of ministry, the rapture theology he developed is far more popular and established than its scriptural base would warrant. It was extensively promoted by 19th-century minister C.I. Scofield and rapidly accepted by many. The rapture doctrine teaches that Christian believers will escape the coming end time of tribulation and judgment of the sinners on earth, but there is no place in the scriptures where God says His people will escape judgment.

The truth is that His saints will be judged first, which we will scripturally examine shortly. The primary scriptural basis for the rapture doctrine is found in Darby’s interpretation of this scripture:

“By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise.

After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord." 1Thessalonians 4:17 Berean

The phrase “caught up in the air” was translated by Darby as“rapture” from a Latin derivative of those words, not from the original Greek or Hebrew. He further promotes the belief in a literal, rather than a spiritual, rising up in the clouds to an actual place in the sky called heaven. Jesus was raised from the dead by the spirit and we, too, will be raised by the spirit to be where He is. The debate has been about who gets to go and where we are actually going.

Teaching that God will take His people out of danger on this earth is in sharp contrast to His dealings with His own. We wish that was the case when we are struggling, but Christians have been left on earth for centuries, suffering much for the kingdom of God. Can you name any Old Testament saints who were removed from rather than enduring suffering along the way? We, like all the other saints then and now, go through difficulties or tribulations right along with unbelievers, shining our light in the darkness.

God is with us during times of trouble, but there are few, if any, examples where He literally takes us out of the adversity that comies in this life. And we also learn much more by what we go through than what we escape! There is not one manmade or natural disaster God’s people were not subject to in some way, despite eventual deliverance. And it remains so today.

“For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. And they were oblivious until the flood came and swept them all away.

So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come.” Matthew 24:39-42 Berean

Here is another passage of scripture that is foundational to the rapture theory. It is understood to mean that God will literally take His people and leave the sinners. But if the Lord’s coming is like the days of Noah, it is not the righteous who are taken but the evil doers who were destroyed from their earthly existence. In Noah’s day, every living being was subject to the flood. No one escaped going through it though God saved a remnant by Noah’s obedience to God. God made a way for the righteous to live through it and remain.

This scriptural passage states we do not know the day of the coming of our Lord. Nonetheless, many have prophesied the exact time of the rapture, only to watch it pass, as it has for all the years of this doctrine’s existence. Millions of dollars have been made to promote the rapture theory through numerous books, movies, pictures, and promotions. The more income leaders receive for promoting a lie, the harder it is for them to accept the truth that this is not God’s word nor His way.

Another part of this teaching is a key error in the King James Bible translation of “eon” as “eternal.” The original Greek meaning of eon is “age-lasting, a lifetime.” That is quite different from “eternal” as in “everlasting, without end.” Translators do their best but they are human and may see things according to what they believe rather than the intent of the original Greek and Hebrew.

We must rely on the holy spirit to teach us, comparing spiritual with spiritual, as we explore the Greek and Hebrew meanings of the original texts. Yes, it is true that those who sin shall surely die, and then comes the judgment, as the Apostle Paul states in Hebrews:

“Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once and for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment, so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation [redemption, reconciliation] to those who eagerly await Him.” Hebrews 9:25-29 Berean

Jesus kept that appointment with judgment in dying for all of us sinners. He did it for all the world that His Father so loved. Mankind no longer has to look for a fearful, tormented, eternal ending where they are abandoned by God forever. God makes no mistakes and we are not a bad project that He started but is unable to complete. Jesus Christ has already made the way open to the Father, just as the Father is always with Him.

He is coming again a second time, within His people to rule and reign, wherein dwells His kingdom not made with hands. He is bringing salvation beyond sin-consciousness, possible for all. His second coming, just like His kingdom, is within His people and He has been coming within ever since His work on earth was complete. We are the temple of God, and He has been continually coming, to be seen and take up His abode in us.

We are His habitation, the Kingdom of God. His kingdom isn’t far off, as Jesus said in Luke:

“Now being inquired of by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God is coming, He answered them and said,

‘The kingdom of God is not coming with scrutiny. Neither shall they be declaring, ‘Lo! Here! Or ‘Lo! There!’ for lo! The kingdom of God is inside of you.’” Luke 17:20-21 Concordant Literal

Do we see this truth, so long ago established by Jesus Christ? The kingdom of God does not come with critical observation or examination, not by scrutiny. We’re not to say, “Look here! Look there! See the external evidence of the coming of the Kingdom/” It is not an externally observable place because it is inside of us, revealed by the spirit as God chooses. If we cannot point to it and say, “There it is,” it is not to be found in a concrete physical place on earth such as Jerusalem or a literal place in the sky called heaven.

We are the kingdom in which God intends to rule and reign. It is in a people that God has called and chosen, who will be purified by Him, judged until we come forth as pure God-nature revealing the Christ to others. The Greek word “entos” means “within,” from the root “en” meaning “a fixed position or place of rest.” Many translations use “in the midst,” failing to convey the message the original language is saying: “The Kingdom is inside of you.”

The King James version translates it as “within”, and the Concordant Literal, quoted above, further clarifies it from the original Greed to “inside of you.” Without spiritual eyes and ears of which Jesus often spoke, this kingdom scripture really cannot be understood. God is a spirit and it is our spirits that come alive in Him.

“We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 Berean

Some will not pass from this life to go directly into God’s presence, despite the myths, stories, and sermons about everyone who dies being immediately in heaven. We surely don’t hear ministers preaching at funerals that the deceased will be in hell rather than found immediately in the presence of God. The exception is the Catholic doctrine of purgatory, revealed in church history to be invented to get more money for the Catholic church at the time.

This message is just not done at funerals, for obvious reasons, nor is the truth about the deceased unbeliever spoken of at that time. Yes, we will all be judged in order to be fully redeemed, but Paul states that those who do not know him sleep until their time of change comes. They remain unaware until it is their rank being called up.

“For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at His coming, the people of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:23 HCSB

Note the surety of Paul’s first statement. It is inevitable that in our Adamic, fleshly nature, we all die. There is no exception. So, then is the certainty that in Christ all will be made alive. All. No exceptions. We don’t see it yet as God has an order for each one. First the Christ nature in His first fruits company, then the people of Christ. This is a deep truth that takes much to understand as the holy spirit teaches the hungry heart wanting to know.

And the people of God are the first to be judged, just as Peter stated:

“For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” 1 Peter 4:17 NIV

Peter knew that judgment had already begun for believers who belong to God. The presence—or coming— of the Lord Jesus Christ within began that work long ago. Were not the 120 in the Upper Room continually changed by the holy spirit within?

Satan, the enemy of our souls, gains another advantage with the rapture theory. There is a complacency that settles in while Christians are waiting for the rapture. It limits or stops spiritual growth on this earth. The change in our hearts to be like Christ are postponed until death or the rapture. Many believers become soulishly anxious for the rapture to be delayed so they have more time on earth to marry, have children, or experience other life events significant to them. This strengthens their focus on this earth and its pleasures, rather than on spiritual matters of the kingdom of God.

God is spirit and His words are too. Many believers have not heard nor allowed the Lord to change their hearts in this life. They die without having gained the nature of Christ that Paul so vigorously pursued in his life. While many faithfully sat in the same pews listening to the same sermons, they are not become clothed with His spirit because they did not do so while on earth. Look around and within at human nature and character. Has anyone the fullness of Christ, showing forth His complete character, all the fruit of the spirit?

Added to this confusion of doctrine is the debate about literal vs. spiritual interpretations of scripture. There is fear that some will spiritualize too much—actually anything that the Bible says beyond their comprehension. But insisting on a literal interpretation of every word in the Bible results in teachers and believers flip-flopping randomly from literal to spiritual understanding throughout the word.

A simple example is the many times Jesus repeated “those that have ears to hear” in His ministry. We all have literal ears, so doesn’t He have to mean spiritual ears? If so, then is this “spiritualizing”? If He is a spirit and His words are to be spiritually understood, how about the parables He told the crowds? These were not in plain language, hard to understand even for His disciples. There was a deeper spiritual understanding they could not catch until they, themselves, had the Christ within to teach them.

“‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.’

‘Lord,’ said Thomas, ‘we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.’” John 14:1-7 NIV

Where was Jesus? Where is He now? Jesus said the Father is known to the disciples through seeing the Father in the son. He showed them the Father by the spirit, while He was yet on this earth. Why then would we only be able to see and dwell with the Father and the Son in a literal, visible place on this earth or in the actual clouds in the sky? The kingdom of God is within us and He has prepared a place where we can dwell with Him forever in the spirit.

Yes, doubters or unbelievers may want to say the story of Jonah and the whale did not really happen or Job wasn’t a real person but that’s not spiritualizing, that is unbelief. God said the natural man cannot understand the things of God. When our natural minds apply human understanding to the scriptures, it leads to confusion and division, not godly wisdom. So, what and whom can we trust?

God the Father sent His Holy Spirit so that we will be led into all truth. He is our great Teacher. He is able to provide discernment to any and all of His people who come to Him with sincere hearts, desiring to know the truth. It matters not to Him if we are great men and women of God or scholars of the scriptural teaching.

God graciously reveals truth to anyone who sincerely seeks it from Him. If we are believing or teaching error to His people, whether knowingly or not, God will deal with us. God is no respecter of persons. We do not have to believe, without spiritual examination, all that great teachers may want to teach us. Our heavenly Father is our teacher, living in our hearts. God guides our understanding as we seek His wisdom and truth, including from great men and women of God who worship Him in spirit and truth.

He desires truth in our inward parts:

“Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part [of my heart] You will make me know wisdom.” Psalms 51:6 Amplified

With revelation from God, we see that His word is spiritual because He is spirit. The events of the Old Testament did happen, but for our edification, they have a far deeper spiritual meaning as He sheds the Holy Spirit's light upon them. The Old Testament is filled with examples and patterns for our Christian walk, understood to be types and shadows of things to come. They teach much of God’s plan and God’s ways.

Jesus Christ is coming again, His second coming. That is truth. What is presently a matter of controversy and debate—the how, when and where—is unprofitable for the heart, though it may swell the head with knowledge. God does not want His people to fear, but the rapture doctrine relies on fear and condemnation to motivate change, rather than the ultimate power of God’s love which no man can defeat.

One area of unity that most sincere Christian believers hold is the longing for and looking to the return of Jesus Christ to end the sufferings of our present age. Only God can sort this all out to bring His promised unity among His body of believers:

“But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is worthless, and so is your faith.” 1 Corinthians 15:13 Berean

It is critical for this present age that we know there is a resurrection of the dead because Christ has been raised. Christians look to Jesus Christ in faith that He will—in fact, is—coming again. The details of His coming, however, have been clouded by the minds and imaginations of men. God allowed this truth to be hidden from many of His faithful followers, but now is the time to be ready, not to be caught unawares. Christ is in us, reconciling the world to Him:

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them.

And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 Berean

Consider this statement that God was reconciling or restoring the world to Himself through our Lord Jesus Christ. He does not count men’s trespasses against them, so why would Father God condemn people to hell for all eternity? The purpose of His creation of man, the salvation through Christ, is for the world, not just a small portion of the billions of people, past and present, on this earth who had opportunity to know Him.

It is not the nature of our God to leave His purpose and plan partially accomplished. If this is God’s will, desire, and purpose, will He fail to accomplish it? He can do anything according to His will, with or without us. God chooses to use us, His people, to accomplish His plan for the ages. We are to fulfill His directive about the message of reconciliation of all people to Him. He has given us the ministry of reconciliation. This is good news!

The rapture teaches that God’s people will be taken out of the coming judgment. Rather, the word clearly states that God’s judgment starts with His own people. Here is another version of this important scripture, illuminatin the truth of His judgment for redemption, not condemnation:

“But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?

And, if it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”’ 1 Peter 4:16-18 Berean

Peter stated that it is time now—way back in Peter’s day— for the judgment to begin with the family of God. It makes no sense to say that this time of tribulation comes upon the earth after Christians are gone. If it is yet to come upon us in some future time, what have we been living through since the fall of Adam? For centuries, we have had many tribulations, a hell on earth, and it continues, the just with the unjust, until He says it is the time of the end.

Yes, there is judgment and the people of God are the first to experience it. What a privilege! Our flesh is being judged every time God exposes it so He can burn it up. It’s good news! It started happening then, on the earth, in Jesus’ time. God’s judgment was already working within His called and chosen people to reconcile all to Him. It continues as He faithfully works within to change our hearts of stone into a heart that He can write His truth upon:

“I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 11:19 ESV

“And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26 ESV

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Jeremiah 31:33 ESV

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Hebrews 8:10 ESV

Is this promise of a new heart and spirit available only after we die? Is it not something He begins to work within us here on this earth? To accomplish these necessary heart and spirit changes, God brings judgment. Those who resist Him in this life, the “ungodly and sinners,”are dealt with here or in the afterlife. God will not forego the judgment that all need and must face to bring us fully back to Him. Wisdom teaches believers to welcome His judgment, not to fear it.

We, His called, chosen, and faithful, are to be lights shining in the darkness of every age as He works within to change us into His likeness and image. Through the fall of Adam, God’s people lost our relationship with God, the supreme privilege of walking and talking with God while resting in all of His provision for us. Jesus Christ our Lord, the “second Adam” is sent to bring us back, to reconcile and redeem us back to the Father.

He made the way and yes, it is a long long way back to the Father, but it will be accomplished in God’s time.

“The spiritual, however, was not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.

As was the earthly man, so also are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.” 1 Corinthians 15:46-48 Berean

Jesus Christ is the only “man from heaven” who is preparing us to be like the heavenly man He is. His judgment is redemptive, always. We are promised to be with our Lord through eternity, with no fleshly barriers between God and man. Just because we have yet to see it does not make it less true. Isn’t that faith—believing His word over what we humans can see, hear, and understand? He is coming within us while we are on this earth and will continue coming until the day of Jesus Christ is fully revealed.

In Revelation, this is referred to as Jesus Christ “conquering and to conquer”:

“I looked, and behold a white horse, and the one who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.” Revelation 6:2 NASB

The Concordant reads “He came forth conquering and to conquer…” Our Lord and King, crowned with spiritual authority, is on this white horse. Has He not been coming forth to conquer within His people, taking His place as our Ruler and King now over every fleshly, soulish way in us, giving us His victory? Is He not continually coming again and again, from the time of Jesus and the apostles until now? He will conquer until all within is subdued and we bow our knees to His victory in us.

He comes to rule and reign, is always just, and will have a purified people.

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2: 9-11 NIV

Jesus’ name, His nature, will cause every knee to bow, every tongue confess. There are no exceptions,in the celestial realms of heaven, the terrestrial realms of earth, and the subterranean realms of those who died without submission to Him. The truth of reconciliation of all things does not do away with expecting Jesus to come again. Instead, it shifts our focus from looking “out there”, externally expecting His appearing. to inside of us now.

The amazing truth is that Jesus told His followers His Kingdom is within us! He is bringing His redemptive justice joined with mercy, coming a second time unto salvation until all are made one in Him. In contrast, where is mercy in an eternal tormenting hell, separated from God’s presence forever, such as the doctrine of rapture teaches? Haven’t we all been separated from God’s presence, in a hell on earth, at one time or another, as we learn of His ways?

This doctrine works fear, not faith. Jesus is coming again, bringing the complete salvation He has already obtained for us. His coming in a people is a process begun on the Day of Pentecost.

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass:

‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?’” 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 Berean

The only imperishable things are those of the spirit of God. The spirit from God to every living thing is lasting, eternal, because it is Him. We must “put on Christ,” be fully clothed with our spiritual body, not appearing “naked” before our God. Many are held in sleep until the time of their change comes, each in his own order. As Paul states, what happens in the afterlife is a deep mystery, a secret with much to be revealed by the holy spirit.

Though we all have much more to learn, we do have some keys to understanding this mystery. He promised to reveal His secrets to those who love Him.

“The sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead, and each one was judged according to his deeds. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death— the lake of fire. And if anyone was found whose name was not written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” Revelation 20:13-15; 21: 1-3 Berean

Many are taught that the lake of fire is hell, but why, then is hell and death thrown into it? There will be a new earth as well as a new heaven, a spiritual dwelling place with God. We surely do not need a new earth if we are raptured out of it. If the lake of fire represents where unbelievers are condemned, separated forever from the presence of God, there is destruction of the earth. What use does God have for it if we are all in the clouds of heaven with Him?

Understand this: our God is a consuming fire. It is in the fiery presence of God that we are judged for change. Consider the lake of fire in light of our God being the consuming fire first established in the Old Testament. Moses talked with God face to face and the glory of the Lord upon Him was like fire:

“When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered it, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud.

And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.” Exodus 24:15-17 Berean

Jehovah’s presence with His people, leading the Israelites out of bondage, was a consuming fire. God is not described just as “fire “but as a “devouring” fire. His presence devours or consumes our flesh, our earthly selves, the dross of our humanity, so that eventually, we, too, see Him face to face. Seeing someone face to face means we can see Who He is, having an intimate connection with our Father.

He is still consuming and destroying all of our enemies from the promised land of His kingdom within. The Israelites’ enemies were external forces intent on robbing them of the land of milk and honey God had promised. Now it is that we have many enemies, within and without, intent on robbing us of His kingdom of peace, love, and joy.

“But understand that today the Lord your God goes across ahead of you as a consuming fire; He will destroy them and subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them swiftly, as the Lord has promised you.” Deuteronomy 9:3 Berean

God’s fiery presence is in us to lead us out of fear of bondage and death to true freedom and rest in Him. He was a “cloud” by day and a “pillar of fire” by night, destroying enemies before His people on their way to the Promised Land. When we are illuminated by the spirit, we have the light of His fiery presence to lead us. When we are in the the darkness of our own souls on our way to our homeland, He is a consuming fire to burn up our ways that cannot enter in.

The Kingdom of God within us is a land of peace, joy, and love. We need His “cloud” covering our flesh in the light of day, and the presence of His “fire” in our darkness. Being raised up in the clouds as Jesus was in view of His disciples after appearing to them in the spirit is a spiritual transformation. Jesus was transfigured before their eyes, leaving the earthly form of man to be fully dwelling in the spirit where His Father dwells. Thus we are destined to be raised up into the holy presence of God by the spirit to be with His redeemed in spiritual Mount Zion.

God is so thorough in what He uses to teach us. It is such an incredible metaphor to teach us about God’s use of fire in describing His presence in the scriptures. Consider the nature of fire. all-consuming, destroying anything in its path. But after the fire, new growth begins to appear amidst the ashes. Out of tremendous death and destruction, new life shows up in barren, charred land. This is the pattern of God: death to resurrection, endings to new beginnings.

Mature Christians welcome the fires of God to purge out the dross. The seed of His word then flourishes in the cleansed landscape of our being. His internal judgment of our hearts prepares us to be joined and married to Him. We are the earth in which He allows the fires of adversity and tribulation to cause new growth, bringing a new heaven and new earth within us.

The seed of Jesus Christ, planted within our hearts, absolutely bears the fruit of the spirit.

“For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:8 NKJV

Similarly, our God is a consuming fire who provides “new heavens and a new earth” wherein dwells righteousness:

“Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable [imperishable] kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:27-29

They were receiving the kingdom even then, not waiting for a rapture to receive it where it does no earthly good to those who most need it, the sinners left on the earth. When we understand by the spirit that God’s use of fire to describe Himself through the scriptures, His word of truth reveals itself differently. Righteousness dwells in people as our earthly ways are swallowed up by the fire of His presence.

This “lake of fire” can be understood as symbolic language for the concentration of the fire of God’s presence in one place within His saints. God’s saints in Zion, here and on the other side are this lake that brings conviction and change. When God brings judgment to His own, it burns in our hearts.

It’s amazing how many of us Christians have no idea about the source of what we believe, assuming that it is all God because we are taught by our leaders that it is.

The “lake of fire” is mentioned solely in the book of Revelation, found in 5 scriptures. In traditional translations. It wasn’t until over 200 years past the coming of Christ to this earth that a Roman scholar began to link the lake of fire to the old Jewish concept of “Gehenna,” our modern-day concept of hell. Yes, multiple teachings equate the lake of fire with an eternal hell where God puts the unsaved.

What is hell? Do we have to die to be in hell? Hell is separation from God, which all earth dwellers experience to some degree. All through the centuries, God’s people have existed in many hellish conditions. There are many present hellish conditions multiplying on the earth now. Many, many saints and sinners have and are experiencing hell on this earth. God has allowed humanity to go along, the just and the unjust growing together.

Tormenting fears, deadly illnesses, famine and drought, hurricanes, tornadoes and typhoons, war and conflict all are increasing in frequency and severity. What is able to be shaken is being shaken and all that can be burned up is being consumed by the fiery presence of our Lord’s coming. God is burning up all that is not Him, which is indeed deserving of eternal destruction. If our God is a fire sent to consume, the lake of fire is a whole lot of fire, the collective presence of God in His holy people!

Here unbelievers must dwell, in the fiery presence of His word within a people until they, too, are made spotless and without blemish. It can and will be hell when God comes to conquer even that religious man in us, burning up all our fleshly religious works. It happens even now when believers are around those who do not believe and feel the fiery presence of God within us. We do not have to say a word to have others sense and even begin to be drawn by or resist the presence of God within us.

Some are convicted by the holy righteousness of saints even now to change their ways and seek the purification and reconciliation only God brings. He promises through Hosea:

“Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us that we may live in his presence.” Hosea 6:1-2 NIV

“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” 2 Peter 3:8 KJV

We have had revivals for “two days,” during the two thousand years of the church age since Jesus Christ was on this earth. Revivals of refreshing rain of His spirit have been common during this church age. On the third day, which has begun the collegive launching of the kingdom age, we will not just be revived but restored, fully reconciled, pure and holy, able to live in His presence. Wouldn’t you rather have a restoration that is lasting than a revival that is passing?

It is very difficult to accept that which you have believed and even built your life and ministry on is not the truth. Christian leaders who teach this and other unexamined, false doctrines will be wailing and gnashing their teeth as God burns up all falsehood and guile. Many will struggle to accept what God is showing them. But there is hope, there is redemption as they hear what the spirit is saying, “repent and be changed.”

It’s vital that we do not put this off into a future time, but ready ourselves through submission to His truth. We desire to be ready for His kingdom to be further established within, where restoration is unfolding now. Let us turn our eyes from the worldly events around us to the kingdom of righteousness, of peace, joy, and love ruling within.

It matters not that I believe this. What matters is what God reveals to you as you seek Him daily. God bless your seeking!

The Whole Book

Some Christians find the Old Testament boring, difficult to read, and even irrelevant to their Christian walk today. They cannot relate to Jehovah God, the strong taskmaster and fearsome Ruler of the Israelites. Others of us love all the stories of the Bible, not just the stories of Jesus. After all, He is the Word, there from the beginning. The Old Testament foreshadows the New Testament in beautiful ways. What wonderful teaching you are missing if you don’t get into the stories of the heritage of Christians!

It’s fascinating how very human the struggles that God’s people faced in ancient times, and how familiar they seem to us still. These accounts in the Old Testament so often reveal circumstances and situations we continue to face today. That same God is our God. We can stand on His promises, trusting that He will fulfill them all. He will complete every one of His promises about us claiming our land of promise: the kingdom of love, peace, and joy within. We also learn from their mistakes, connect with their troubles, and identify with them—the obedient and the rebellious!

Perhaps I love the stories of God’s people in the Old Testament because I learned them at my father’s knees. We were privileged to have a father who read us Bible stories from the Old and New Testament every night after supper on the farm. He carried out what his parents had done in his growing-up years. These were short biblical accounts in language that we children could understand. Some of it was still quite puzzling and brought up questions.

While Dad did not know all the answers to why Jehovah God did what He did, what a gift my siblings and I were given, sustained to this day within us. What wonderful memories these are! Our Christian father created in us a knowledge of the history and the word of His people and we are forever grateful for it. This built up our most precious faith as we learned about God’s faithfulness to His people through all their tribulations:

“And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand.

Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel had failed; everything was fulfilled.” Joshua 21:44-45 Berean

God was faithful and trustworthy then, just as He is now. What amazing truths we can learn as we seek the Lord to understand His word. We see how difficult it is for some to yield their superior role to the next generation God is calling. King Saul’s jealousy of David’s popularity with the people and the sense of his future as King led Saul to treat David very badly. He continually tried to kill this young man he had loved and brought into his household. Read about all David went through dealing with Saul’s murderous jealousy of him.

David spent fifteen years running for his life, waiting and being taught by God until witnessing the fulfillment of his calling to be King. He could have killed Saul more than once but he did not. Saul was still God’s anointed and David let God decide on when the nation’s leadership would change. He did not take matters into his own hands about this even though he believed God’s word for his future.

What a godly attitude King David had toward Saul, a friend who had become an enemy. Surely His judgment of Saul was redemptive:

“After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, ‘David is in the Desert of En Gedi.’ So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats. He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself.

David and his men were far back in the cave. The men said, ‘This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, `I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.' Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul's robe. Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe.

He said to his men, ‘The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, or lift my hand against him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.’ With these words David rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.

Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, ‘My lord the king!’ When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. He said to Saul, ‘Why do you listen when men say, `David is bent on harming you'? This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, `I will not lift my hand against my master, because he is the Lord's anointed.'

See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. Now understand and recognize that I am not guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you.” 1 Samuel 24:1-12 NIV

It did not change Saul’s heart beyond that moment, but think of this godly leader who absolutely refused to avenge himself and rebuked his followers when they urged him to do so. When his men advocated that David to “take his revenge,” David refused. He still called Saul his father, remembering how he had been a member of Saul’s household and treated like a son. David shows Saul that he has no evil intent towards him, despite what men are telling him, but Saul’s heart is unable to believe or trust.

What a lesson for us! How hard it can be when God seems to give us an opportunity to hurt or destroy others who are trying to do that to us. There are always others around urging to seek victory and revenge at every opportunity. David could have railed against Saul for all the suffering he was causing David but he did not. He had his enemy’s life in his hands but left that to God. David found he could not even cut off a piece of the robe of the Lord’s anointed. This was taking action into his own hands rather than waiting on what was the Lord’s business.

Instead, David revealed his continuing love and respect for King Saul, even though Saul did not believe him. David was obedient to the Lord despite years of misery caused by Saul. What do you think this taught David’s men about doing what God leads you to do, rather than taking matters into your own hands? God says not to repay evil for evil. Yet how common it is for us humans to feel justified in taking revenge?

In fact, any of us can find a circle of support in “getting back at” those who wrong us. In human eyes, the more deep, lengthy and costly the wrong done to us by others, the more we seem to believe such actions are due, rather than what God has said about these matters. The phrase “you get what you deserve” sounds wise, but it is not true. None of us have gotten what we deserve as sinners saved by grace. Thank God He sees it differently!

It was typically a rocky road for Old Testament saints on the way to fulfilling their promised calling and purpose. Consider the Old Testament example of Esther being born for “such a time as this?” God did not make her a queen to enjoy the palace and its riches. Oh no, He had her there to save her people! Are we not born for such a time as this?

Consider Jacob living in a household of ongoing conflict between his two wives. This was created by the jealousy and competition between sisters Leah and Rachel. Jacob was unfairly treated by their father, who promised him Rachel for seven years labor. Instead Jacob was tricked into marrying the apparently unattractive older sister, Leah. Jacob had to worked another seven years for their father before he was allowed to marry Rachel and establish his own land and flocks.

And the battle between these two wives sounds sadly familiar! It may not be two current wives battling for supremacy but jealousy and competition are surely present today as it was then. There’s a commonality in all our human battles for position, pride, and even love. We seem to have a built-in fear, an assumption that we won’t get our share, that someone else will get what we want or at least have an easier time in getting it.

Old Testament stories of the men and women of faith show us that, whatever our calling, God will have us in readiness to fulfill it. Our confidence builds in Him as we relate to the struggles and doubts of the saints. Read about Moses, who told God he wasn’t fit to lead His people because he did not speak well. Consider Sarah laughing when God said she’d have a baby when she was 90, long past childbearing age. Read about Jeremiah who was faithful, even compelled, to say what God told Him to say despite being repeatedly rejected, beaten, and jailed for it.

Read the powerful words of prophecy foretold by the faithful obedience of Old Testament prophets. They told of God’s future plans as well as were called to speak corrective words to others. They did not often witness repentance to salvation from their words, many suffering greatly for obedience to God. They learned there was no guarantee that others would honor or receive their anointed words and behavior, learning that this is neither promised nor routine.

In the Old Testament, we find many saints to identify with in their struggles. I can understand Jonah refusing to go to Nineveh because he knew God would have him predict disaster, the people would repent, and he’d look like a fool. Maybe it is not a good thing, but it makes me chuckle to read about Jonah pouting, sitting under a tree when it happened just as he’d feared. Jonah shows himself to be one stubborn dude, apparently preferring to be proven right more than obedient.

Jonah also did not hesitate to tell the Lord what was in his heart, which was no surprise to God. This reluctant but faithful prophet did not agree with God’s redemptive judgment, to the point he wanted to die:

“But to Jonah this [saving the city of Ninevah] seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, ‘Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish.

I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.’ Jonah 4: 1-1-3 Berean

Jonah learned that God gives and He takes away. Either way, it is God’s business, God’s justice and mercy that was provided or withdrawn. Thus He made His point as He did to Moses in Exodus:

“And he said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lordbe fore thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.” Exodus 33:19 KJV

And in Romans:

“For he saith to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.’

So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.” Romans 9:15 15-18 KJV

God rains on the just and the unjust. He decides about mercy and judgment in each situation. We could sum up His message this way: He is God and we are not! We realize this as we deal with anything that is far beyond our understanding. Along with Jonah, we may occasionally become angry about God’s decisions regarding mercy and justice. Why does He heal, save, bless, and deliver this one and not the other? Why are our circumstances allowed to be so consistently unequal, at least in outward appearance?

He does not have to explain His ways to us, but He often chooses to do so, particularly for those who are seeking truth and understanding from Him. We need to “eat the whole book” by the spirit as the angel told Ezekiel in the Old Testament and John in Revelation:

“And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, ‘Give me the little book.’ And he said unto me, ‘Take it, and eat it up and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.’” Revelation 10:9 KJV

We need to eat the whole of His word, though it may at times be a bitter pill to swallow. Peter spoke of our path of growth as the way to become “participants of the divine nature,” to make our calling and election sure:

“…employing all diligence, in our faith supply virtue, yet in virtue, knowledge, yet in knowledge, self-control, yet in self-control, endurance, yet in endurance, devoutness, yet in devoutness brotherly fondness, yet in brotherly fondness, love. . .

Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble.” 2 Peter 1:5-10 Concordant

Layer upon layer, all works together to be like our Lord, like building blocks of His character within us: diligence (persistence), virtue (being morally right), knowledge (wisdom), self-control (restraint over impulses), endurance (ability to withstand hardship), devoutness (devotion to God), brotherly fondness (loyal affection), and love (unconditional agape caring).

His ways are beyond understanding, but He promises to explain Himself by the spirit. He does reveal His secrets to those who love Him. We surely do not need to explain or defend our God in what He does or does not do, only if the Holy Spirit directs us to speak. We can and should read and learn from the whole book, Old and New Testaments, because as Paul tells the Corinthians:

“Now these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So the one who thinks he is standing firm should be careful not to fall…” 1 Corinthians 10:11 Berean

Read the whole book and let the holy spirit allow you to see the Old Testament saints as humans struggling to deal with their God, just as we do. There are vast differences in culture and lifestyle, but they were all people learning to follow Him and do His will…or not. None had the depth of the Holy Spirit within that we have since Jesus Christ came, however, so no wonder they struggled to obey and serve God!

When you eat the whole book, you will consider the Old Testament feasts, their patterns of tabernacle worship, the rise and fall of ruling dynasties, and the great leaders and prophets of the ages as patterns from which we can learn and grow. While we cherish the words and behavior of our Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament, we can be sure He is present all the way through God’s book.

The writings of the Old Testament also teach us much about heaven and the foundation of our faith:

“The place where they serve is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the Tabernacle: ‘See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.’" 1 Corinthians 2:17 Berean

“Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.

In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.…” Ephesians 2:19-21 Berean

Is it not miraculous how this one Book continues to teach God’s truth through the Holy Spirit? God refines and clarifies, showing us more and more of Who He is so we may be more like Him. We learn that we are in great company with the saints who have gone before us. He is fitting us together as lively stones growing into His holy temple, a dwelling place for God.

“Come to Him [the risen Lord] as to a living Stone which men rejected and threw away, but which is choice and precious in the sight of God. You [believers], like living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house for a holy and dedicated priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.

For this is contained in Scripture: Behold, I am laying in Zion a chosen Stone, a precious (honored) cornerstone and he who believes in Him [whoever adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Him] will never be disappointed [in his expectations.” 1 Peter 2:4-6 Amplified

Peter quoted directly from the Old Testament:

“So this is what the Lord God says:‘ See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.’” Isaiah 28:16 Berean

We are a part of all of the saints that have gone before us. God is building His house with us. It is a spiritual house created from the Living Stone that is Christ Jesus, our Lord. We offer spiritual sacrifices from our hearts rather than the animal sacrifices of that era. The great prophet, Isaiah, foretells the coming of Jesus as the precious Cornerstone, our sure foundation. All of the disciples saw Jesus Christ fulfilling what they had learned from God’s people of old.

Jesus often quoted the Old Testament in His teachings, as did other New Testament writers. It was still truth to them and had stood through time, though it did not bring the righteousness God so desired in His people. This was fulfilled only through our Lord Jesus Christ. God knew it would not and could not, so He prepared His only Son to be revealed and known as the righteous Cornerstone of the house of God, not built by hands.

The whole Book is good to eat and absorb. It will continually nourish us on our walk, reconciling us back to God. He will write His truth upon our hearts so we may believe and never be shaken. Aren’t you glad?

All the Truth

We can completely trust the Lord to lead us into all His truth by His Holy Spirit. All men are liars. Only the Lord is always truthful. God desires us to know the Truth to set us free, to have His wisdom in sharing His truth with others. As we desire the truth from God, the attitude of our hearts in searching the scriptures is important to the Lord:

“Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.” Acts 17:11 NKJV

The Bereans examined the Word they were hearing from the disciples to see if it was confirmed in the scriptures. They were listening and searching for truth. They did not search the scriptures with the intent to prove this message, new to them, as false. They were not looking for ways to support the truth of their current understanding or to validate their traditions. They were open, teachable, and willing to search the scriptures for confirmation.

Thank God many were open to our Lord’s new teachings or we would not have a body of believers today! In contrast, Jesus chastised the leaders of His day for their erroneous motives in searching the scriptures. The Lord does not desire Christians to search the scriptures to prove something wrong, though He has saved more than one unbeliever such as the well-known author C.S. Lewis, who set out to do just that!

When we are growing spiritually in God’s Holy Spirit school, we recognize and welcome God’s refinement and correction of any erroneous understandings we have. We ask Father God and He grants understanding to teachable hearts. Can any of us as Christians say that we yet understand as we should? We grow as the truth He is teaching us by His spirit continually refines ours, working out a more pure comprehension through the fire of His presence.

This is how he creates gold in us, the gold of His nature. He is the Master teacher, always willing to show us His ways that are past our human comprehension.

“Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire. And these trials will prove that your faith is worth much more than gold that can be destroyed. They will show that you will be given praise and honor and glory when Jesus Christ returns.” 1 Peter 1:7 CEV

We don’t grow when we see only through our biased lens, looking to prove and justify what we already believe.We all have biased, subjective “filters.” residing in our souls—our minds, will, and emotions. Filters are created by all of our life experiences: our personality, family, culture, society, and unique life paths. These develop a “lens,” of viewpoints through which we see life, limiting what each of us can see, hear, and understand.

We literally do not have the same reality as others. It’s astounding to realize how much our human nature influences what we believe is truth. We can’t help developing our own unique ways of seeing things. But our God is a consuming fire and an excellent refiner of His own:

“And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say,

‘It is my people’: and they shall say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” Zechariah 13:9 KJV

What we have been taught, what we come to believe, is the pattern of how we see ourselves, others, and the world around us. Our perceptions limit and determine “truth.” One small, but astounding example is the difference in how people living in snowy areas perceive snow. Most of us in the northern midwest US distinguish snow in pretty basic ways: wet snow, heavy snow, fluffy snow, lots of snow. But the Inuits native to Alaska see dozens of types of snow and have many more ways to describe it.

Their survival is much more dependent upon seeing the reality of snow in a different way than we do. Our vision of the “reality” of snow is overlaid —limited or expanded—by our learned filters what we know as snow. This is just one example of how we literally do not see the same world. There is so much more to the universe than our finite mind can comprehend, but we do have the mind of Christ within us and He is Life. He is our covering, overlaying and exponentially expanding the believer’s vision of our human reality.

The Lord is our vision, and thankfully, He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He cares about and exposes the motives of our hearts when we seek truth. He knows if we really and truly want to understand Him or if we are more intent on justifying ourselves and our beliefs. Let us see, hear, and understand what God said through the great prophet, Isaiah, about an acceptable motive for seeking the Lord when we enter into a time of fasting and prayer:

“‘Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, and oppress all your workers.

Behold, you fast for contention and strife [to justify yourselves], and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you have done today to make your voice heard on high! Is it a fast like this that I choose?...Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?...

Is this not the fast that I choose: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the ropes of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke?...

Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; You will cry for help, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ if you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness..” Isaiah 58:1-7; 8-11 NASB

Isaiah chastises the leaders of his time for fasting in a visible way, giving the outward appearance of religious holiness while inside, in their hearts, they are far from it. They have many wrong motives for fasting and prayer, with God naming each of them. God chastises them for fasting to “point the finger”of blame rather than to bring redemption to others. Clearly, God cares a great deal about the motives in our hearts when we fast, pray, or search the scriptures for truth.

This is particularly true when someone tells us something different from our established understanding. Do we go to the Lord to teach us the truth or immediately jump to expose or condemn the “error” of this new information? Do we search the scriptures to justify our position, to prove we are right? God needs no defense so who are we justifying or defending in these situations?

God may lead us to speak His truth to those in error but it must be in His way “truth in love,” led by the holy spirit in His timing when ears are open to hear. We’re not to search for truth in order to get more ammunition to challenge others. We have likely all done it at one time or another, but it is not ideal. We do not have to defend God. He is perfectly capable of doing that and He will let us know what He would say or do when His truth must be shared.

Yes, there are, indeed, foundational truths upon which we are built. Once the foundation is established in our hearts, however, we are encouraged to go on to maturity rather than settling for what we already have, often requiring a change in our current spiritual understanding.

“Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

And God permitting, we will do so.” Hebrews 6:1-3 NIV

Our knowledge and understanding of foundational principles of this faith are established in us. God is faithful to write such essential principles of faith deeply in our hearts that remain unshakable. We know Jesus Christ was a God-man who lived and died on the cross. We know He was resurrected and gifted us with the Holy Spirit within. Through Him, we are saved and have eternal life. We know these things to be true and have no need to search the scriptures or hear message after message to establish them again and again in our Christian walk.

But God teaches us more through daily food to nourish our spiritual bodies for further growth in Him. We pray He will “Give us this day our daily bread,” our daily spiritual food needed to sustain and further the Christ within us to grow into maturity. These are continual feedings where the Father and the Son come to sup, to dine with us, as promised. Each day we are to build on these solid foundations, not to “lay them again,” as Paul admonishes.

God is continually creating this house of His habitation for His body as we are built up in Him. As we increase in spiritual understanding and knowledge, we grow up into Him. His knowledge, truth and ways are so vast, so beyond our present ability to comprehend, so there is much to learn. We cannot digest too much “meat” of the word at once nor when still needing the “milk “ of the word.

There are new things God brings to our spiritual minds to be examined with a right heart to see if they are true. We can trust the Lord to keep us from any error, and there is already lot of that! There would not be division and strife in the Body if everyone was right. Much confusion and misunderstanding arise with very popular teachings of doctrine based on one scripture and passed down through the traditions of men: r

“Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” 2 Corinthians 13:1b NIV

We have been given a clear direction about what the Lord expects of us. In order to continue to grow:

“Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.” Lamentations 3:40-41 KJV

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.” Psalms 139:23 KJV

“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Can't you see for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you--unless you actually fail the test? ” 2 Corinthians 13:5 Berean

Some of us were fortunate to spiritually grow up with a ministry that did not caution us to fear the ministry of other groups or sources of spiritual knowledge. Our leaders trusted God to lead us into all truth, spiritually relying on the holy spirit to protect us from error as we learned and grew under their leadership. Such ministers do not fear losing their flock to another and have no need to warn or control those in fellowship with them. They trust God, standing on His word:

“So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples;

and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” John 8:31-32 NASB

God’s truth is making us free. It begins with our faith in His salvation and is a continual process. As we know more and more truth, taught by God’s spirit, we are more and more free from the bondage of old ways and beliefs, laws and traditions, from others who want to limit our freedom in Christ. Hasn’t this been the experience of many of us? We are created for fellowship with Him, learning new things and further refinements of what we believe from His word every day. Without this, there is no growth, and our entrance into His Kingdom of peace, love and joy is limited.

When we remain in God’s spiritual school, we don’t set up camp, put down stakes, and think we have all the truth there is. We are freed of old understandings and fleshly ways. Each new truth He reveals makes us more free of the old. Sin and death must loosen their authoritative grasp upon us. We are being made free, as true disciples who know the Truth.

God says to search ourselves, to try or test our ways before God. Then it is astonishing when the Lord corrects long-held misconceptions of the scriptures. That’s why Christians continue to read the Bible year after year. Same book, same words, but endless growth and teaching from the holy spirit. Whether it be fasting, prayer, studying and searching the scriptures, or receiving ministry from others to gain His truth, we are to present ourselves to Him with pure heart motives. We come humbly to the Father to learn His as a faithful and maturing son or daughter, hungry to know His ways.

We are not to come in order to prove ourselves right (pride) and others wrong (revenge), or maintain control (fear) over another. This only brings contention and strife. God help all of us men and women of God to move past doing battle with each other about the Word! Isaiah prophesied that a Day will come when many people seek the Lord:

“In the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say:

‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths, for the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Isaiah 2: 2-3 Berean

What a time this will be! The highest, holiest and chief mountain represents Zion, God’s house, the New Jerusalem, descending from heaven to be seen within a people, here on this earth. Jesus said His kingdom is within us in the gospels. We are not to listen to those saying it is here or there in this visible earth. Natural Jerusalem is not God’s destination. There are no nations in the spiritual realms. This promise is to earthly groups of people living in all nations, all being drawn to the kingdom of God.

All will be drawn to this heavenly spiritual dwelling of God by His sons and daughters who are called to do this end-time work. If this is a new understanding of scripture for you, take it to God so that He may lead you in examining the scriptures concerning this truth. It is an opportunity to search the scriptures to “see if these things are true.” Examine your heart to see what is there as you do so. There need be no fear of error when we leave it in His hands.

We all are already in error, anyway! Who can say that we understand all we should, all of the Truth from and about the Master of the entire universe? Day by day, He teaches us and writes truth in our hearts. It’s His job to correct errors so that we are made free. God knows everything and is the searcher of the thoughts and intents of the heart. When we examine or test ourselves, it is to see evidence of Jesus Christ within us.

God continually reveals the motives in our hearts so we, His people, may have pure hearts without guile. This was the very first word God whispered in my spirit when I received the baptism of the Holy spirit in the 70’s and is still a work in progress! Oh, how tempting it is to defend, to justify ourselves, but Jesus, our Example, did not. Our need to be right when there is a difference is fundamentally human but falls short of what the Lord desires for His own. And even when we are right, we can be wrong in the motives of our hearts.

The first motive of my heart God exposed at that time was chastising me for my anger at the sinner rather than the sin. God said my anger “stunk in His nostrils,” more than the unbeliever who was doing wrong but did not know His ways. What a shock to this believer who thought she was so right! That is one of the strongest words of correction I have received in my walk with the Lord. It was most humbling and not a favorite of the new things He was teaching me!

There followed several years where I continually was led to humble myself by asking forgiveness for my anger even though I was right in my standard of truth. How clear it is, over and over, that it is about the heart, the character of Christ within.This was not an enjoyable test but it worked further truth and righteousness in me. God was training me to act and react according to His truth instead of my own self-righteousness.

“No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful.

Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11 Berean

During this period of learning with God, God revealed the futility of being angry and “beating unbelievers over the head” with my godly words and beliefs. Many do not know our Lord nor His truth. They may know religion but they do not know Him. He bluntly told me I was “beating a blind man,” as He continued His correction in dealing with my heart. He was purging my pride and self-righteousness through the humble, and yes, repetitive process of asking for forgiveness for my anger.

My anger clearly did not, could not, work the righteousness of God—nor could it ever do so because it was not coming from His spirit. God’s focus was on me, not on the other person, an unbeliever who did not know God or His truth. My soulish anger had no good effect on someone who did not even know God. How could I continue to righteously condemn someone who does wrong and lives in error because he does not know the truth?

There are multitudes all over the world who have no opportunity to know God, let alone understand His ways. Thank the Lord, He exposed my sin to me and corrected it through obedience to Him. It is embarrassing now to recall how long it took for the Lord to work His truth into my stubborn heart!

Jesus is truth. He is the only true and righteous one, yet was continually accused unjustly by many ignorant souls who did not know Who He was. Consider all of the opportunities Jesus had to defend Himself when the scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders of His days on this earth, attacked and discredited Him. He did not defend or explain Himself to His enemies.

Jesus only explained His ways to those in intimate fellowship with Him, and then only spoke what Father God gave Him. More than once, when the disciples reported disagreements in opposition to Him, He essentially told them to forget about it. Jesus expected those Jewish religious leaders to resist and discredit Him. He knew what they were saying as well as what was in their hearts. No one had to tell Him about it. Jesus revealed the ugly, secret motives of their hearts, uncovering what was underneath their outward religious ways. That really insulted them and stoked their anger at our Lord!

Isn’t it time for the people of God to allow Him to purge our hearts of such falsity, such hypocrisy? We are not just to “talk the talk,” but “walk the walk!” We do this not by more effort or good works, but by fully surrendering to the only One who can change our hearts into His heart of love, peace and joy. We are all to continue on this path of heart-purging until our hearts are written with the truth of His ways. We are called to be the righteousness of God, the light of the world, not to just make proclamations about our faith.

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV

The Lord has not given us a message of “try harder, do better” like some heavenly motivational speaker. Rather, He is saying in this hour for us to yield, surrender, lay down our heavy burdens and let Him teach us His rest. We are learning to become peacemakers, understanding His ways of peace, surrendering to His work of change in us with faith in His promises. We in our flesh cannot do it and the law will never make us righteous. If it could, we would have seen it by now. He is our righteousness and His dwelling within our temple will produce a purified people.

“It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” 1 Corinthians 1:30-31 NIV

For some, like the religious leaders and well-established Jews of Jesus’ day, it is most difficult to let go of past beliefs when new light is shed on our understanding. The more time, energy, and effort we have invested in it, the harder to allow God to disentangle us from old beliefs that are not His truth. It is a very common battle, first illustrated by the trials Jesus faced in the wilderness.

The need to be right and prove who you are to others is one of the three tests our Lord passed in that time of trial and temptation. The devil tempted Him in the wilderness to prove who He was and He refused, quoting His Father’s word in rebuke of the enemy. The devil was working to have Jesus act in self-interest rather than obedience to God:

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil…the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’

Jesus answered him, ‘It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ Matthew 4:1;5-7 NIV

Three of the four gospels give an account of Jesus’ testing in the wilderness. He must have talked with His disciples about His experience or it would not be written. Do you notice that the devil is using scripture to deceive? This is his highest and most evil deception, the most powerful spiritual attack our enemy has in his arsenel. He excels in getting believers to use parts of scripture for self-interest, to fight with each other over doctrine, and to be “accusers of the brethren” by bringing God’s truth in a deceptive way, knowingly or not.

Jesus knows all of us will be tested to see what truth we stand firmly upon in our lives. It’s a critical issue of humanity. Our human need to be right, to prove we are good and worthy, is a destroyer of many things. Examine any country’s story over time. Harm and destruction to others is a part of any great nation’s history, including our own. This is routinely revealed in national and international politics. It’s rare to hear a politician acknowledge their adversary as right and humbly admit they are wrong when exposed in error.

It is quite powerful when national leaders actually apologize to people their country has harmed or destroyed in the past, as some have done for past slavery and colonization of other peoples. The sad thing is that many of us would respect and perhaps even be inclined to vote for such a leader or politician if they were to do so. But it remains rare in the world of politics. And how many honest and dedicated politicians find it difficult to sustain their values once they get into the ways of our system of government?

Those in politics have campaign managers and public relations advisers who promote attacking, denying, and covering up any error as the way to win votes. Advisers assist by finding more ways to avoid taking responsibility, particularly when facing loss of wealth, power, or position, or elections. We will never be perfected in politics or by human government, but we can learn much from God by observation. He gives discernment so that we can see His truth about the motives of others.

Thus is the way of man and seems to lead to earthly success, but it is neither godly nor righteous. The underlying motives are just those things God is purging from His own. There continue to be many ways that our pride and ego lead us down a path of arrogant, closed-minded beliefs and assumptions. The former politician, Upton Sinclair, said: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

Such self-interest, rather than God-submission, thrives in the hearts of many Christians, particularly those of us who refuse to examine our motives and actions. What if we as Christians looked to the heart, the character of our leaders, rather than what they say or do that might benefit us? God is and will continue to deal with those of us with teachable hearts, knowing human hearts are very easily deceived.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 17:9-10 KJV

It is even more powerfully expressed in the Concordant Literal translation of this passage:

“The heart is crooked above all things, and it is mortally ill; who can know it? I am Yahweh Who investigates the heart, Who tests the innermost being, so as to give to each one according to his ways, according to the fruit of his actions.” Jeremiah 17:9-10 Concordant Literal

Even in the supposedly objective field of science, what researchers already believe—their filters—influences their studies. New information is strongly resisted by the scientific establishment earning their living by beliefs that are later discredited. Think of the persecution the originator of the germ theory experienced from his contemporaries. Thus is man’s wisdom. Science does take a long time to catch up with God’s wisdom!

Once a theory begins to be discredited with more advanced research, those who are still embedded professionally and financially in the old view put up a huge fight such as happened with the new idea that washing the hands stops the spread of disease. Historically the “objective” field of science has fought vigorously against and discredited many a scientist who learns new and most valuable information that has the potential to destroy their incomes, if not their life work.

Humans have great difficulty in being objective, to get out of our own limited vision. In fact, we are likely not aware of many of the areas where our vision is limited because we don’t even recognise it. It is impossible to be fully objective, so the best we can do is be open to our own subjectivity. None of us know all truth and most of us stubbornly cling to more than one questionable, unexamined thing we picked up somewhere along the way.

All of this is carried into our walk with God, who is all truth, all the time. Because of human limitations, our ears may be closed to the present truth now being revealed by God. Yet, there is much truth in every move and every era of God, even when He moves on. Consider the great moves of God in the past. Where are they now? It was and is truth, but God is moving on, moving us further, doing a new thing.

There are always those who just stop learning, encamped and resting on their present fund of knowledge no matter how dated or unexamined. Such were the religious leaders of Jesus’ time and not much has changed. And how many of the next generation get weary of hearing us older ones resist change, crying “But we have always done it this way!” It would be wonderful if God’s people were different, but we are not.

Many religious leaders resist what God is presently doing. They are unwilling to be examined if it does not fit with the basis of their ministry, particularly if the ministry is popular and lucrative. They hang on long after God’s presence is no longer with them, many sitting with empty buildings with a few loyal followers left. Great ministries who have been anointed by God for a time fall into decline and error because of this. What was a godly foundation becomes wood, hay, and stubble that God has to burn to ashes when they no longer hear Him.

Some will be wailing and gnashing their teeth as God continues to burn up the old for the new He is now bringing.

“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’But he will reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’

Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ And he will answer, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves are thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.

And indeed, some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.” Luke 13:24- 28 KJV

Why would the last be first? Because those who came first are more often entrenched, unwilling to move on with the Lord. Thosw who come in last have much less to lose, not having years of religious accumulation to lay down. They just want God! Jesus said the Master does not know many of those who were using His name, doing things with and for God. God did not have their hearts for they have not yielded them in surrender to Him.

It is not how long we have been Christian, professing faith and outwardly following religious ways. It is how intimately we are coming to know the Master and His ways. God is spirit and we are to worship Him in spirit and truth. The Jews of Jesus’ day were at the top of the religious order, having studied to gain knowledge of the Mosaic law for years, but Jesus was quite clear in saying the tax collectors and prostitutes would enter before them. These known sinners were last in that culture but first to enter in because they saw their need for a Saviour.

It’s good not to have any worldly standing, no religious or cultural status or benefits to defend or prove right. They had much less to lose than those who held positions of honor and pride that they fought to keep. The Jews of Jesus’ time had centuries of the law of Moses, but Jesus was not impressed! He saw how their hearts were far from Him, putting heavy burdens on others while not being themselves able to fulfil the law.

The established leadership, as is often the case, resisted the new covenant while blocking others from the present truth that Jesus was bringing. It seems we just can’t keep from putting our stakes down into what we already believe, resisting or refusing to pull them up until we are sitting on the ashes of our works. This human need to be right, the “pride of life,” has a negative impact on personal relationships as well. Relationships are damaged and even destroyed when one or more prioritize “being right” above their loving connections.

Marriages fail because one or both partners insist on their point of view as being the truth rather than how they view things. Such partners refuse to humble themselves to truly listen and hear the other’s viewpoint nor are they able to see the heart of the other during such conflicts. This pride of life is destructive and damaging, bringing many intimate relationships to an end. When we resist, becoming unable to acknowledge our lack of understanding and our own shortcomings, we cannot hear what another is saying nor comprehend the root of the issues we face.

We become unwilling to work towards reconciliation. Years ago, a couples therapist and author, Jay Haley, said that conflicts in intimate relationships appear to be about the rules for the relationship, but they are really about who makes the rules. Isn’t that our ultimate wrestling match with God and our flesh? God will not be satisfied until the heavens rule in us.

Daniel told this to King Nebuchadnezzar, the second ruler of Babylon, when he was called upon to interpret the King’s dream. Fulfilling the warning in this dream, Nebuchadnezzar was granted a glorious kingdom by God but forgot Who had provided for it and the success this King experienced. He had to go through seven years of humility, losing his mind and becoming like the animals, eating grass, until he repented of exalting himself over God.

Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar would endure this:

“…until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.” Daniel 4: 26b Berean

This came true for the King of Babylon and it is true now. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. The Heavens do rule! We believers know that Almighty God makes our rules to live by and writes them in our hearts. He is the truth. God’s truth written in love within our hearts by the Holy Spirit creates the only unity possible. Yet disagreement on the rules of life in God is rampant. Only love is the unifier, stronger than any power on earth, any thought or belief.

Love unites, it does not divide. And there’s no point in a power struggle with Him such as we might indulge in with people. He remains faithful as His mercy endures forever, covering our fleshly ways and human error when we do not yet know the truth. Then, when we allow the Lord to shine His light into our hearts, He reveals the root of conflicts. He reveals the hearts, showing what our arguments are really about.

Conflicts and disagreements are likely to be rooted and nurtured in one of these sinful motives within: lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Beneath our human desire to be right and pronounce it to others are these sinful motives that fall short of God’s best. Often we, ourselves, do not know what is in our own hearts. Others sense it and even accuse us of feeling that way, while we remain unaware, creating discord and distress.

All humans desire to be heard and loved, to have their loved ones hear and respect them. But our arguments are so often not about the topic at hand but about how people are understanding, loving, and respecting each other….or not. Conflict comes from what is in our hearts, not what we are saying. It leaks through in tone of voice, facial expression, and gestures with meaning beyond our words. In many cultures, more of what is not said, the nonverbal signals, are relied upon for communication rather than the actual words being said.

The tone of voice, word emphasis, and a visual expression if face-to-face, are a stronger, more believable way we rely upon to understand communication from others. We can make a statement of absolute faith, such as “The Lord is my helper. Why should I be afraid of what man can do to me?” and make it sound like a completely different message just by adding a sarcastic, mocking tone to these precious words. Think about it!What is in our hearts does come out.

God will deal with us when we resist learning something new, including seeing the truth of our ways that displease Him. We risk being unteachable when someone we consider beneath us, less knowledgeable or respected than we are, someone who has no authority over us, tries to tell us the truth. Sometimes it is the child who shows us, but can we receive it from them?

God does have vessels of honor and dishonor that teach us so we may be the truth teller or resister. I dare say most of us have been one or the other on occasion. His lessons are all around us and He reveals His truth in many ways. We can consciously and unconsciously block out His truth, particularly if we resist the vessel through whom God chose to speak to us. Human bias rejects true wisdom from many a source whose outward status or history would, in our eyes, disqualiy the truth they are sharing.

Have you ever rejected someone’s potential for truth because they are “too young, uneducated, too educated, divorced or single or childless, a recovering addict, too old, too rich, too poor, culturally limited…”? God is the qualifier of any vessel, not man. Through our walk with God, we realize He is always teaching us, even when we do not realize it is Him or resisting the vessel through which it is being delivered.

God used an unbeliever to humble me and teach me about my own angry self-righteousness. He was with me in that situation and wanted me to learn. The unbeliever had an opportunity to witness this and change as well, learning to know the Lord I passionately was trying to follow, but that never happened. I benefited but the only “reward” I got from the unbeliever was a comment on being impressed with my steadfast belief in God when things were not going my way. Our rewards are from Him, not other people!

God does not waste any of our experiences when we long to know His ways, prioritizing seeking the kingdom of God. He is very efficient in using a circumstance or an experience to teach all if we are willing. God’s truth is everywhere, not limited to religious people or religious gatherings. His truth is everywhere in this world, especially as we seek it with our whole hearts. God’s lessons are everywhere when we have spiritual eyes to see and spiritual ears to hear the truth He is teaching us.

When someone points out that we are in error, we might consider in more depth the account of King David, the man after God’s own heart. He committed many grievous sins when he took Bathsheba, another man’s wife, to his bed. It had to be difficult for a King (or any prominent leader) to admit to wrongdoing. After all, most Kings surround themselves with others who support them, even many who will agree and bow to their every wish, right or wrong. It is dangerous to challenge a king who can kill you with just an order.

Wise rulers, in contrast, surround themselves with people who will “speak the truth in love'' to them. Such leaders know their strengths and have those around them who add their skills and knowledge. These advisers know they have permission to tell the leaders when they are wrong. Wise leaders want to be aware of their areas of lack and error so they may grow in their leadership of others. These are wise rulers indeed!

When Nathan the prophet confronted David about his grievous sin against God, David’s eventual response is written in the Psalms:

“Create in me a clean heart, God and renew a steadfast spirit within me.…For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You do not take pleasure in burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, God, You will not despise.” Psalms 51:10-11:16-17 NASB

What David immediately feared was the loss of his relationship with the Lord of his life. He pleaded with God to grant a restoration of the heart-to-heart relationship David had with God. We hear nothing from David about asking God to allow him to remain King. God could have stripped David of this calling, as He did Saul, but He did not. You see, He had given David His word of promise about David’s kingdom.

We can assume David had not been discussing these sinful actions with the Lord while the affair with Bathsheba was unfolding. He surely was not seeking God’s advice as had been David’s way. He was already distancing from the Lord so he could do what he wanted but he still had a heart for God. He knew God was the source of His life and the success of his kingdom. But it took someone else to speak truth to David, to confront him with his sinful actions.

Unlike Nebuchadnezzar, David immediately humbled himself before God with this beautiful prayer. He was well aware that the sacrifices and burnt offerings required as part of his religion would not suffice. Sacrifice and offerings are all external acts that could be done without the motives of the heart being purged. David was wise to know God required a change of heart within him for the restoration of their relationship. This is the best, the only sacrifice: a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart that is acceptable to God when we are in error that causes harm to others.

God is a master at humbling us so that we can let go of this need to be right and all its accompanying self-righteousness. If we do not humble ourselves when we hear the voice of His spirit, He will allow circumstances to do it for us. It may eventually be publicly known, shouted from the housetops, rather than just between God and ourselves. God will do what it takes to discipline us in order bring about the righteousness in our hearts that He desires.

“By this time the crowd, unwieldy and stepping on each other’s toes, numbered into the thousands. But Jesus’ primary concern was his disciples. He said to them, ‘Watch yourselves carefully so you don’t get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness.

You can’t keep your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. You can’t whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day’s coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town.” Luke 12:1-3 The MSG

After such trials and tests as are common to believers, it may take years before we see what God was teaching us. In my early years of walking with God, I saw myself as a butterfly pinned against the wall, flapping my wings but unable to fly. I could not escape what had me pinned to the wall. I just recently realized that it was God Who had me pinned, so that I could not fly off and do what I wanted. I had asked Him to keep me in His will, to not allow me to turn back no matter what happened.

He was faithfully answering my prayers, denying what I wanted while I learned to submit to His will. How unfathomable is His love for us and His patient teaching of His own! When we persist, when we really want to know God’s truth regardless the cost, understanding of why we resist His truth eventually is revealed. It is usually our flesh man that is in the way. Something of self does not want to hear Him, fearing the loss of something we want though, deep down, we often know that it is neither God’s will nor God’s best for us, as David’s heart knew.

We love the Lord, as David did, so we desire the full gospel, the whole truth, to remain teachable in God no matter who is bringing us the truth as God’s vessel. We do not want to stubbornly hang on to something we have always believed or insist on having in our life while missing out on what God has for us now. As a line from a chorus says, “Our God is moving on but His name [nature] remains the same.” When God wants to move us on with Him by refining the truths we have had or correcting erroneous beliefs, we want to move on with Him!

God is very clear about what happens when we stubbornly refuse to go on to maturity. We lose Him, the light of His presence and countenance, becoming at risk of:

“…having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” 2 Timothy 3:5 KJV

This is what the scribes and Pharisees did and exactly what Paul warned Timothy to avoid. They clung to the law of Moses, what they already knew. Their knowledge of the Law of Moses gave them stature among the people. It is difficult for us humans to lay down what we have known, particularly from years of dedication and study. These all-too-human leaders did not want to yield one inch to this new Messenger from God Who threatened to rob them of all they had established and held dear. They had too much to lose!

But Jesus told them:

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. I do not receive glory from men; but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.

I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?

Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope for if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” John 39-47 NASB

They searched the scriptures but remained blind to the Savior in their midst, lacking the love that God is. Jesus told them that He knew all about them and their lack of love for others. In sharp contrast, He did nothing to receive the glory and adulation of men, knowing that it would quickly fade when he was honored and respected. Jesus confronted the leaders of His time by seeking the glory of man rather than God, living it daily. He only did what the Father showed Him to do. His heart intended to please God, not people.

Now when we hear something new in our spiritual walk, we can take it to Father God and trust that we will be taught the truth. We can, like the Bereans, search the scriptures to see if these things are true. We have no spiritual growth when we refuse to keep learning from God. God is the best Teacher we can ever have. He is all truth and does all things for our good. What earthly teacher can say that?

When we are willing, His teachings bring about a change within us. God can establish right motives in our spiritual lives so that we shine forth His truth in who we are, not just what we say. He refines and corrects what we have learned as we continue in our walk with Him. Aren’t you glad that His word is many-faceted, like a diamond depending upon where the light is shining upon it? He is mindful to equip us with His truth and His love, essential to fulfill our calling in Him:

“This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name:

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’” Jeremiah 33:2-3 NIV

What God told Jeremiah when He called this prophet into His service is still true today. When we call to Him, He will teach us more and more. There is no end to what God will teach us when we are open to Him. The holy spirit is given to guide us into all truth, including the motives of our hearts. God prepares His people, most particularly His leadership, when there is humility and submission before Him. He will teach us of His ways and reveal His secrets to His elect.

God discerns the thoughts and intents of our hearts, revealing these to us as His light shines within, so that we may learn how to live in peace and harmony with God and others. God owes us nothing but because He loves us and we have a heart of faith to know Him, He graciously teaches us Truth by the spirit within us. Isn’t it wonderful that we have an eternity to learn from our Lord?

“O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!

Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Who has first given to God, that God should repay him?

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.” Romans 11:33-35, quoting Isaiah 40:9-31 NKJV

When God Says No

What a crushing experience it can be to be a person of faith who had been praying and believing for healing with all their heart for a loved one or friend, only to have them suffer and die. This is a turning point of faith, resulting in spiritual maturing or loss of belief and hope in God. We believe that God will bring miraculous healing despite ongoing evidence to the contrary. After all, isn’t this what faith is: believing for those things that are not yet seen? We absolutely know our Lord can do it, regardless of whether we’ve seen other miracles of life or not. And yet…the person dies. Or continues to suffer with no relief. It is so very difficult to accept that our loving God allowing such pain as we walk this earth.

We may become angry with God. After all, we have done everything right in our prayers according to scripture. We claimed the right scriptures. We spoke out in faith. We were faithful intercessors, sharing words of encouragement and hope. We asked for what we believe, from our viewpoint, is God’s best, a restored, healthy life on this earth. When those we love continue to suffer and die regardless of our prayers, these are times of great spiritual struggle. Our belief in a loving and merciful God who heals is greatly challenged, perhaps shaking our very foundation of belief and trust in the Lord.

We struggle to understand and accept outcomes that are the opposite of our prayers. We know He is an all-powerful God who is able, and, indeed, has provided much healing and deliverance. So why doesn’t He? We may start to think “Why even pray? You are going to do whatever You want anyway.” Some conclude that God loves us but really is not able, has no power or authority to intervene in our lives. Our human free will supercedes His will and our prayers. In addition to this not being scriptural, why believe in a God that is just as helpless or limited as we are? It negates the work Jesus accomplished on the cross when He defeated death and rose in victory over death, hell, and the grave.

Some of us get into a power struggle with God, which of course, we won’t win. We start to warn God that we’ll just quit talking to Him since He isn’t listening anyway. In 1984, when my brother, Dick, was diagnosed with metastacized kidney cancer, I was the “chief intercessor,” convinced God would heal him. Within two months, God allowed my brother to die. He was only 39, leaving a wife and two young children. I was confused as well as devastated. Without admitting it, I got angry with God. I believed with all my heart for healing and Dick still died. I did everything according to the Word.

I did not understand or agree with this decision on God’s part. God shortly showed me rebelliously sitting down in the middle of the road, mad and sad about it all. This, of course, did not move the heart of God though I know He understood.What it did do is cut me off from the comfort and peace I needed that only He can provide in such difficult losses. I had gone out on a spiritual limb of faith and He cut that off. It was no surprise to Him that I was angry! But just as the disciples said, who are we going to go to if not God? He alone has the words of life.

God knows how to handle His pouting children when we do not like, agree with, or approve of His decisions. Our loving Father will not be manipulated. Most of us have faith to believe God could have intervened, as I had believed and counted upon. When He does not, it is difficult to swallow the bitter pill of His inaction. Questions flood our souls:“Why didn't He heal? Why didn't He prevent it? Why did He give us children or jobs or homes, etc. etc. only to take them away? Why did my neighbor’s child live and mine did not? Why why why, Lord?” And on and on we can go, stuck in the dark pit of our soul’s reasoning as we search to understand God.

God is in this darkness with us and does bring healing, but one fact I had to eventually accept. He may grant healing but it may not be the healing in the body that we are asking for. Of course we want our loved one to stay on this earth with us. We don’t want anyone to suffer such painful loss, regardless of what God can accomplish through the process when surrendered to Him. Our hearts don’t see or understand the outcome, at least until some time has passed.

“Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.” Micah 7:8 KJV

When I sat in the darkness of my soul, having no understanding of God and His ways, He was with me. He helped me to heal from this first, tragic “No.” God does not sustain life on this earth for all of our loved ones. There are so many painful, tragic events that cause much suffering and loss that are a part of our earthly existence. When we allow it, though, God will heal our wounded hearts of faith and bring us closer to Him in the process. Who else has answers to life and death? Life will never be the same but God is still with us, even with such unanswered prayers vital to us. It does become easier to see the good that comes after we have passed through such times of pain, distress, and testing.

Love and grief exist together, one inevitably paired with the other. God obviously does not see death as we do. He dwells in eternity while we are stuck in time. God has been allowing suffering, illness and death as part of the curse of this life ever since Adam and Eve in the Garden. He is able to shed His light in our dark times. He is able to break our will while comforting our hearts through these circumstances He’s allowed. Nonetheless, these life events, common to man, remain one of the stumbling blocks along many a Christian’s path.

When we are patient and ask, God will graciously help us understand His will and His ways. He may even explain His timing, as He did after I was done being angry and could listen. Following this period of great spiritual struggle for me, God kindly lifted my oppression and grief so I could hear Him provide this answer to me:“I picked Dick when he was ripe.” I knew that was His voice, in part because I would never have thought or said such a thing! We were all raised in a Christian home, with parents who demonstrated their faith. My brother had a believing wife but had resisted commitment to the Lord.

From his struggle with cancer, facing deaht, my brother was at the “peak” of his spiritual walk. He had understandably turned to Jesus in his suffering. God took him home so he would have a better resurrection. God always prioritizes the things of the spirit over life on this earth. My brother’s death many years ago brought about the biggest change in my spiritual walk I could experience. Knowing that God loves us in spite of allowing things to happen that are very painful and cause suffering is a valuable lesson. We can do everything scripturally right in our intercessions, claim the healing scriptures, have faith and trust in His healing power, but the outcome remains the same. It is still in His hands.

It is not our will, but God’s will that is done, though that is a harsh truth for many unable to accept or understand. People often wonder if it is something they did or did not do that causes disease or accident or adversity. The choices we make in this life certainly impact our health. We know daily habits, stress, and emotions such as suppressed anger and bitterness surely damage our physical bodies. But we can always find someone who has made many poor choices that should have impacted their health or longevity and yet they live to a ripe old age.

The disciples had a similar question for the Lord about a blind man:

“As Jesus passed by, He saw a man who had been blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?’

Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” John 9:1-3 NASB

The works of God are displayed when people learn to live with affliction as well as when a person dies. Paul learned that with the thorn in the flesh that God did not remove. Paul does not say what it was. It could have been a physical affliction or more likely, God did not remove the “thorn” of the opposition and persecution to his ministry from the Jewish religious leaders at that time. Paul did not have an easy time of the calling God gave him. He learned many things through all the persecution and adversity he confronted. Paul testified that the power of Christ is revealed through our human weaknesses and afflictions:

“Even if I wanted to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:6-10 Berean

Leading up to this passage, Paul was listing all the achievements he had when he was Saul, the persecutor of the Jews. It had to be hard for him to go from being a leader held in esteem to one who faced opposition and controversy at every turn. It was not an easy road, as is often the case with God’s own. It was God’s idea, God’s calling for Paul. So why didn’t He make it easier for His apostle? Paul instead had a character change through surrender. He learned to delight, even celebrate, all he faced, including this thorn in the flesh, to show forth the power and grace of his Lord.

There is little evidence in the Bible that God ever makes it easy for those called and chosen by Him! Yet we persist in believing that He will or should eliminate all of our suffering while serving Him. It turns out to be a childish, immature idea that He will reward us with what we want, because God loves us and we are being good—sort of like the fictional idea of Santa Claus. Our merciful God is certainly able to reverse or change what we do for His purposes but it depends on His plan for us and for those we care about.

This is hard to see and understand while we walk on this earth and use our soulish minds to comprehend His ways. Of course, there are consequences to our choices, but the key is to know that God is not punishing us. Disease and death are part of this life. Sometimes it’s a natural consequence of our actions, but more often things just happen. Someone gets lung cancer who has never smoked. Another is in a car accident caused by someone else. Children are born to believing parents who have disabilities, limiting their health and quality of life. Mass disasters and destruction happen, even more frequently. Christians suffer loss, pain, and death all the time, without exclusion.

We must learn to deal with times when God says no. We cannot see the good coming when we are in the bad, until and unless God teaches us more of His ways. How many saints grew up with an issue, weakness, affliction or flaw that God later uses in their calling and ministry? This is not only a comfort to others suffering similarly, but shows the unbelievers that we have faith in spite of as well as because of God’s faithfulness. The ultimate lesson is surrender: He is God and we are not. It is out of our control.

We learn to surrender more rapidly, to really praise Him in all things, not to give up in despair or unbelief. How many times do we have circumstances where all seems lost to us, and it turns out to give us a new beginning? We are not alone in needing to learn how to handle God’s NO at His feet. Whether we agree at the time or not, whether we suffer the loss patiently as part of life, or get bitter and upset with God, He is in control. Illness and death is rarely a punishment from God to an individual Christian. When it is, however, God is able to let us know our sin and deal with it.

We are forgiven, but the decision about wiping out the consequences is up to God. There’s more than one Christian who continues to suffer consequences for past choices, but God redeems and restores it all. This is the lesson God taught many Old Testament saints who thought about, prayed, sought God, hoping and planning, only to have life unfold differently. King David experienced such corrective judgment from God when He grievously sinned against the Lord.

David earnestly sought the Lord’s healing for life for the son he conceived from his affair with Bathsheba. He knew enough of God’s nature to earnestly fast and pray for a week in hopes that God would change His mind about this severe consequence because of his sin. Nathan the prophet, whom God used to confront him, had foretold their baby son’s death as a consequence of David’s great sin:

“And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s widow bore to David, and he was very sick. David therefore appealed to God for the child [to be healed]; and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. The elders of his household stood by him [in the night] to lift him up from the ground, but he was unwilling [to get up] and would not eat food with them.

Then it happened on the seventh day that the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, ‘While the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he would not listen to our voices. How then can we tell him the child is dead, since he might harm himself [or us]?’ But when David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he realized that the child was dead.

So David said to them, ‘Is the child dead?’ And they said, ‘He is dead.’ Then David got up from the ground, washed, anointed himself [with olive oil], changed his clothes, and went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he came [back] to his own house, and when he asked, they set food before him and he ate.

Then his servants said to him, ‘What is this thing that you have done? While the child was alive you fasted and wept, but when the child died, you got up and ate food.’ David said, ‘While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I thought, ‘Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me and the child may live.’ But now he is dead; why should I [continue to] fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him [when I die], but he will not return to me.” 2 Samuel 12:15-23 NASB

David was denied his request for his son to live. He got a very painful and resounding “NO” and had to live with it being a consequence of His own actions. He did all he could through an intense time of intercession in hopes of reversing God’s judgment because He knew God was merciful and gracious. David understood the heart of God but the elders and others in his household were confused by his actions after the child’s death. David was not afraid to ask, to intercede for his child’s life, but when the child died, he immediately surrendered to God’s will in the matter. The scriptures record that David got up and went to God’s house to worship. He had been heard but God’s answer was no.

We may not know what the Lord might be saving our loved ones from by allowing their death when it happens. Some questions we have to wait upon or may never understand while on this earth. Taking my brother when he was “ripe” meant, to me, that my brother’s faith, strengthened by the short months of his suffering, would be sustained in the afterlife. Had he been restored to his life before, he may have once again drifted from his faith in Jesus.

God does not have to explain Himself to us, but it is wonderful when He does. Some of us, however, still have a long list of questions for God when we are on the other side. Either they will be answered or none of it will matter when we are completely with Him in the spirit. While we walk this earthly path, however, we would like God to conform to how we see living and dying. The truth is that our thoughts and ways, our limited human viewpoints, are truly not His thoughts and ways. As did David, we continue to ask until the spirit releases us from intercession.

And there are those seemingly rare occasions when He suddenly reverses a predicted outcome. Read what happened to King Hezekiah when he begged the Lord to live longer:

“In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.

Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying, ‘Remember now, O Lord, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in Thy sight.’ And Hezekiah wept bitterly.” 2 Kings 20:1-2 Berean

God sends the prophet back to tell Hezekiah that He has heard his prayer and seen his tears. He grants Hezekiah fifteen more years, during which Hezekiah accomplishes much. But Hezekiah also fathered his son, Manassah, who was twelve when Hezekiah died. Manassah took over the kingdom and did not do right in God’s eyes. The Israelites then ended up in bondage in Babylon. God graciously changed His mind about Hezekiah, an outcome that seemed good to him but appeared to cause problems later. This gives us more to meditate upon in understanding when God says no.

Surrender to God’s will when we lose someone we love is one of the biggest obstacles on our faith journey. Simple platitudes such as “It was just God’s will,” or “God wanted Him in heaven,” bring little comfort to someone who is too young or too immature in their walk with God to be comforted by such easily said words. It’s least helpful when the person is in deep pain, overwhelmed with grief, loss, and confusion. Sometimes not saying anything, just listening to whatever the grieving person needs to say is wisdom. We can sit quietly and provide love and support while resisting advice that is neither helpful nor welcome.

We need to listen and wait upon the Lord before offering such “spiritual bandages.” We learn to be sensitive to the spirit’s leading, God’s timing and wise counsel as well as His strength, to walk with others who find themselves facing these difficult times. Through our own afflictions, we painfully learn wisdom and strengthe to share with others. The best words of comfort come from the Lord, Whose holy spirit knows just how to support and comfort others. But how long it can take for us to see things God’s way!

In God, endings are eventually new beginnings when we allow Him to work within us. Life without our loved one is forever changed but goes on. We may or may not see the good it might work for the future. But His word is sure and His nature remains the same. These struggles teach us more than we learn in our good times, as we continue to ask like the Psalmist:

“Make me understand the way of Your precepts, so that I will meditate (focus my thoughts) on Your wonderful works. My soul dissolves because of grief; Renew and strengthen me according to [the promises of] Your word…

Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I will [steadfastly] observe it to the end. Give me understanding [a teachable heart and the ability to learn], that I may keep Your law and observe it with all my heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments for I delight in it. Incline my heart to Your testimonies…

It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.” Psalms 119:27-28;33-36;71 Amplified

.Our lives are never the same after the death of someone we love. But God remains the same and He will strengthen us, comfort us, and even help us understand when we are ready to hear Him. We can be grateful He has patience with us, though we may lack it ourselves in such situations. He truly does work all things for good, as He states in a favorite scripture:

“And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes ALL things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.” Romans 8:28 Amplified

Patience in Affliction

“During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered.” Hebrews 5:7-8 Berean”

What kind of father is our Father God? We can learn more about Father God by observing God’s interactions with Jesus, His only begotten Son. He did not make an easy path for our Savior. He did not destroy Jesus’ enemies from this earth. He did not create a family life where His siblings all knew and honored who He was. He had no earthly possessions, no wife or children, not even a permanent home. Yet Father God was always with Him, always giving Him words, wisdom, and strength to deal with His sufferings.

When we start walking with the Lord, it is so good to know He loves us and will take care of us. Our Father expects, however, that we “grow up into Him.” It doesn’t work much character in us if He always and immediately grants what we ask for. Realizing that God’s judgment, His discipline, is meant for our good, helps us mature in trust and faith. Despite human doubt and questions, God does know what He is doing!

As we begin to experience more adversity, and more suffering, it’s tempting to blame this on the enemy. But God Himself, like any excellent parent, disciplines us. As His children, He disciplines us for our good, so we are made fit for His kingdom. If Jesus learned obedience by what He suffered as a Son, so do we. We may not understand it, but, quoting Proverbs 3:11-12, the writer of Hebrews wrote:

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you because the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and he chastens everyone He accepts as His son.” Hebrews 12:5-6 NIV

We can easily recognize our need for patience while we wait for the Lord to set things right on this earth. He will do so. He promised. He is faithful and true, but He sure never seems to be in a hurry! The only account of a nearly instantaneous change in the Bible is what happened to Saul on the road to Damascus when he was still persecuting God’s people. He is always able to do this but rarely handles things in this manner, a disappointment to many of us!

As a Jew, Saul was well-prepared in the Law of Moses and had a zeal for righteousness. He was, however, completely opposed to the New Covenant brought by Jesus. Christians were destroying all that Saul had believed and stood for in his life thus far. Yet, God’s conversion of Saul of Tarsus to Paul, the great apostle, happened in a very short time:

“Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

As Saul drew near to Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?’ ‘Who are You, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ He replied.’‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’

The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the voice but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could not see a thing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and he did not eat or drink anything.” Acts 9:1-7 Berean

God took Paul’s eyesight until his vision—his understanding—was changed. God directed Ananias to go to where Saul was to lay hands upon him for his sight to be restored. Can you imagine Ananias being told that he is to go to this great enemy of Christians, who had been arresting and turning believers over for execution? Ananias is understandably a bit reluctant given Saul’s reputation, but God has everything prepared:

“‘Get up!’ the Lord told [Ananias]. ‘Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.’

But Ananias answered, ‘Lord, many people have told me about this man and all the harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And now he is here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.

‘Go!’ said the Lord. ‘This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.’

So Ananias went to the house, and when he arrived, he placed his hands on Saul. ‘Brother Saul,’ he said, ‘the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’

At that instant, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and his sight was restored. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. And he spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.” Acts 9:11-18 Berean

How amazed the people of that time must have been! Ananias immediately calls Saul his brother and he was accepted among the disciples in that city. God made these changes, saving and baptizing Paul with the Holy Spirit, all within a few days. God had need of Paul to carry the news of the New Covenant to the Gentiles and also as an example to his Jewish brothers and sisters.

Paul did suffer much for the cause of Christ. His afflictions brought about further changes in his heart and character from which we still benefit today. But it remains a rare event to be changed this rapidly by God. Saul, now Paul, already had the right heart for this work, but needed the Truth to change the determined direction he had been taking.

Much of the time, it takes years for us to truly change after our first meeting with Jesus Christ. For some, God’s dealings await another eon (era or age) for fulfillment beyond life on this earth. Thankfully, God is an excellent and most patient Father, waiting for the good fruit of His spirit to develop within our hearts to shine forth to others. His discipline is meant to help us, changing us right here and now so we may live in His Kingdom of love, peace and joy.

The key is what God requires for God’s plan to be fulfilled. Some of us follow Paul’s example, pursuing the prize of His high calling. His plan is redemptive as it continues to unfold through the ages, though our hearts long for it now. There’s where the patience comes in—for us! It is so difficult to see the pain and suffering of the innocent, to pray and pray for change in harmful situations of war, famine, drought, floods, hurricanes, tornados, typhoons, and other disasters, sweeping illnesses causing multiple deaths, and economic troubles adding t personal, family, national and international troubles.

We are all surrounded by human suffering. There is pain, distress, suffering, and horror on a daily basis. We pray for Him to “pull down the spiritual strongholds” in the leadership of all countries, including our own. But God has privileged His people to partner with Him in bringing about change, most especially as intercessors:

“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence,

for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-4 NIV

Intercessors are continually lifting up painful circumstances to the Lord, praying for all men everywhere as He directs. Sometimes, though, the unrelenting evidence of continual human suffering becomes hard to bear for compassionate hearts. We grieve for parents and children in countries torn by war and famine and disease, either having to flee multiple times or stay without clean water, air, utilities, safe food, adequate health care, shelter or warmth. We hurt for mothers who must walk hours just to get water for their families.

We grieve with those who grieve, intercede for those under great burdens. We are saddened by the illness and death of others who lose their lives to all the illnesses caused by such suffering in our earthly bodies. We are concerned for those whose entire lives are destroyed by natural disasters increasing in frequency and intensity in our present day. We feel sadness for the homeless everywhere who don’t have the basics of food, clothing and shelter in every city in the US, many with untreated mental illness, invisibly suffering, and with children making up the homeless majority.

These things are not just occurring in some faraway country we hear about. These are here, whether invisible to our daily lives or not. Many children in our very own prosperous midwest state go to bed hungry, every single night, with parents working two or three jobs just to survive. How can we “take our ease” when so many around us are heavily burdened? How can we hide out and care about only our own lives and those we love with such a needy world crying out for God, in need of salvation and redemption?

As we continually pray for all men everywhere, we may question if it is doing any good. Our puny efforts to pray or to help in other ways do not visibly change the overall landscape of global suffering. It’s like we’re pushing against immovable mountains. We surely have need of patience on this prayer quest. Recently I asked the Lord, “How can you, God who is love, stand to see all of it? I can hardly stand to see what I see, with my small amount of love.” He said, quite clearly, “Because I know the end from the beginning.”

Whether it takes years, ages, or centuries, His plan, what He wills, is accomplished. Do you doubt that Almighty God will not have everything He wills to be done? Who is to prevent the Master of the Universe from accomplishing this? God does know the end from the beginning and shares more of His plan for the ages with us as we walk with Him. His will is to save all men. All will be dealt with, redeemed in His way, in His time, and by His spirit. This life is not our homeland nor our final destination.

Our God does not miss anything! If the salvation of all men, sometimes called the “word of reconciliation for all” is the will of God, as is clearly stated in His word, I say again, who or what will prevent God from fulfilling His will? This requires faith in what we have not yet seen as well as patience in the unfolding of His will. We require His presence to teach us to look beyond this life, this earthly existence, our finite circumstances, and this time and age on the earth.

If this life was the end of the story for humanity, we would, like Paul said, “be of all men most miserable!” We, too, learn obedience by what we suffer. God says not to “fret yourself about evildoers” which the Concordant Literal translates:

“At the fall of your enemy, do not rejoice, and at his stumbling do not let your heart exult, lest Yahweh should see and it be evil in His eyes so that He turns His anger from Him.

Do not grow hot over evil doers. Do not be jealous over the wicked. There shall be no good end for the evil man. The lamp of the wicked, it shall be extinguished.” Proverbs 24:17-20 Concordant Literal

God does not want the attitudes of our hearts to get in the way of His dealings with our enemies. Often we do not see the “no good end” that evil men come to, but God says “Don’t worry about it.” Do not be envious. Evil men and women may appear to be prospering in this life, but God says absolutely they will come to a bad end. Some of us have done just that—grown hot over evildoers, wanting God to eradicate them, literally take them out!

We are surely and absolutely in need of God’s patience in this walk of faith! The Concordant version of Psalms 37 expresses this so beautifully:

“Do not heat yourself up because of evildoers; Do not be jealous over those doing iniquity. For like grass they shall quickly be snipped off, and like green verdure, they shall decay. Trust in the Lord and do good; tabernacle in the land and graze in faithfulness…

Be still before Yahweh, and wait for Him: Do not heat yourself up because someone prospers his way, because a man is carrying out his schemes. Hold back from anger and forsake fury; Do not heat yourself up: it leads only to evil. For the evildoers, they shall be cut off.” Psalms 37:1-3; 7-9 Concordant

Be still and wait?? Don’t get all upset about it?? But we do get “heated up,”f retting at the apparent success of evil. God reminds us that they will be cut off. All will come to the end of evil deeds …but when? It seems as if they are always getting away with schemes to deceive, lie, cheat and steal their way to success in this life. It’s even more difficult and painful when it is not an evil dictator in another country, but someone in our own lives who repeatedly hurts us or others, including those who profess to love us.

We may pray to God that He stop them and their hurtful ways, but they appear to continue on their merry way with no obvious hindrances to their schemes. Then, like it or not, we learn many lessons about loving the unlovable, though God may direct us to limit our time and actions with those who continually abuse our love and fellowship. There will be a time in the ages when we won’t just go in and out of the peace, joy, and love in His Kingdom's land of promise.

In this psalm, David predicts the day when we will tabernacle — dwell — in our land of promise permanently. He will empower us to live in the kingdom of love, peace, and joy with no disturbance, no tears, no woe. We will be changed into His image and likeness so that we will forever be with the Lord. We need patience to wait for God, to see His promises unfolding in our lives. As my husband recently said, “We are moving from woe into wow!!” ]’’

We may learn to endure wrongful treatment while not murmuring or complaining about God’s failure to fix things for us. We can relate to David’s frustration with all the opposition he faced in doing what the Lord told him to accomplish. He’s in the right, doing God’s will, but those coming against him appear to be effective. Here God says “Don’t heat yourself, don’t fret.” Don’t do it!

Evildoers will be dealt with, in this life or the next. Our anger, our fury at them only leads to evil for ourselves, robbing us of rest and peace. Paul’s zealous fury and delight in arresting and killing those who believed in Jesus is one example. God had a purpose and a plan for this man who was such an enemy of Christ. He alone decides who will be changed in this lifetime and who will only be changed after passing on.

All things will be corrected in the ages to come, for the living and the dead. We are to trust the Lord and do good, and our expected end is to dwell in the land of promise peacefully. This is the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles when God tabernacles in His people. We can always see others suffering in ways God has not allowed in our lives. Many of us are blessed with better circumstances we did nothing to earn. Being born in the US is a great circumstance regardless of our country’s problems and faults. If it were not so, we would not have the multitudes of immigrants wanting to come and live here.

One blessing builds upon another, easing our lives even when we all experience distressing world circumstances. The Lord promises blessings for the children of the godly from earlier generations. When we are born into a family of godly believers, this is another tremendous blessing unearned by us. It’s provided because previous generations in our heritage faithfully served the Lord. There is a reward in that!

Given this undeserved favor, we risk arrogantly priding ourselves in how good we are doing while discounting the layer upon layer of advantages God has allowed for His purposes.

“You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, inflicting the punishment of the fathers on the children, even on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

but showing graciousness and lovingkindness to thousands [of generations] of those who love Me and keep My commandments.” Deuteronomy 5:9-10 NASB

These are blessings He has freely granted,, having nothing to do with our worthiness or self-righteousness. It is His grace, His unearned favor. How unwise to assume we are or would do better than others when we have never lived in their lives nor faced their challenges! That’s a judgment we truly should not make. How can we know that we would do better when we have never been in their exact circumstances?

Whether we like it or not, parents pass down generational characteristics to their children that also cause unearned suffering. These are taken care of on the cross, but we need to bring them there and leave them. As we walk with Him, He frees us from His punishment stemming from generational sin, including ancestors who hated Him. No blame or excuse will do with the Lord. We do not have to accept any generational curse, nor excuse our sin by saying we are “just like this or that” because of our parents.

God breaks generational patterns while blessing future generations of those who love and serve Him. We are fortunate, indeed, if we have been blessed with godly parents and grandparents, but God has allowed others to be born into different circumstances and their suffering is greater as a result. Some, like Joni Eareckson Tada, experience adversity that lasts a lifetime. Her spinal cord was severed after a diving accident over 50 years ago when she was just 19. Her website, Joni and Friends: Sharing Hope through Hardship. is particularly impactful for others who have physical disabilities as she has. She speaks eloquently and with much credibility given the suffering she has had that formed her abundant faith.

Joni’s third book, A Step Further, written in 1978 and republished many times, made a deep impression on me. As a quadriplegic, Joni fields many questions from those struggling with their own circumstances. Some feel guilty about their distress when comparing themselves to her situation. She explains that we are all in different places on this “ladder of suffering.” Some are above us in deep distress and unease in this world, higher on the ladder of suffering. Others are below us, not having gone through what we have to be disciplined and defined by God in this life.

Wherever we are, suffering is suffering. Joni shares what God has taught her about suffering and hardship in this life. Here is one of her gems of truth:

“Jesus went without comfort so that you might have it. He postponed joy so that you might share in it. He willingly chose isolation so that you might never be alone in your hurt and sorrow. He had no real fellowship so that fellowship might be yours, this moment. This alone is enough cause for great gratitude!’”

The truth of the matter is, Satan and God may want the exact same event to take place – but for different reasons. Satan’s motive in Jesus’ crucifixion was rebellion; God’s motive was love and mercy. Satan was a secondary cause behind the Crucifixion, but it was God who ultimately wanted it, willed it, and allowed Satan to carry it out. And the same holds true for disease.” (Tada, 2017)

Joni had more nightmarish experiences through the years of her accident and recovery as a quadriplegic wheelchair-bound adult. She steadfastly holds to the truth that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called by Him for a purpose. She did not see her life destroyed by Satan’s actions but rather, blessed and grateful to God for His love and mercy in it. She surely had need of patience before she moved from adversity to hope!

God does not seem to fairly distribute the sufferings He allows in His plans for us. In addition to being in a wheelchair since she was 21, most of her adult life, Joni has also recovered from cancer several times. It is unlikely that she anticipated the life she now lives as an author, skilled artist who uses the paintbrush in her mouth, ministering to thousands through speaking and writing, married and busy with teaching others. With God, the end is indeed better than the beginning!

Comparing ourselves to others only leads to feelings of being better than—superior—or less than—inferior—rather than just different in what God allows for our good. The phrase “comparisons are odious” is said to have originated in the 14th century and is still quoted to remind us that comparisons, frankly, stink! We don’t see what has come easy to us, what blessings flow from God that gives us an advantage.

We are often, however, much more acutely aware of the adversity He allows for our growth. We don’t understand why we suffer something while others are suffering less. The answer is God’s purpose and calling for us, with “gifts differing” needed to equip us for the path of life we are to follow. People minister, teach, and write books about their experiences of suffering and loss to help the rest of us. Many Christian “how to do it” books zealously promote the path of success after adversity, urging others to do it their way.

Joni, however, is sharing hard-earned wisdom from God, not a prescribed formula for spiritual success as some do. She reveals patience in affliction in her ministry but, thankfully, we do not have to have the same circumstances. God knows the adversity that will bring about change within each of us, later to be used to strengthen our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Thus it was with Peter before he betrayed the Lord three times after Jesus’ arrest:

“But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” Luke 22:31–32 KJV

Who is enabled to minister so powerfully to the disabled like Joni? Just so, others may not be able to do what we are specifically called to do because it’s not God’s plan for them. God has taken us on His path for us, where we are measured by the stature of Jesus Christ only. We are God’s workmanship, and, as we surrender, He is in charge of making us what we ought to be.

“For we are God’s handiwork [workmanship], created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 NIV

We suffer what we suffer, with clear differences in our own pile of difficulties. While this does not seem fair in our human judgment, God never said our lives would be fair. Jesus did not experience fairness in His life, did He? The good news of the gospel is that God always makes a way of escape for even the most unbearable suffering a person may experience.

We are in awe of others who walk this earth with great serenity and godliness while experiencing unspeakable pain and suffering. Joni helps us to recognize that we are all hurting while being disciplined by our circumstances, even though there are others suffering more or less than we are. In Romans, we are reminded of the promised outcome for believers in God:

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 NIV

How God’s people handle suffering and adversity can be quite amazing! Another saint from whom we can humbly learn about patience and hope in the midst of hell on this earth is Corrie Ten Boom. She, her sister Betsie, and her father were taken to one of the Nazi concentration camps for harboring Jews in their Dutch home during WW II. They were all treated cruelly, deprived of basic needs, living in squalor, so very many cruelly treated and dying all around them. After their arrest and incarceration, Corrie saw her father die 10 days later and her sister, Betsie, shortly thereafter.

Surely God would not expect a believer to forgive these heinous crimes. But Corrie’s God-given forgiveness and mercy for the Nazis who murdered her family and tortured her happened and is absolutely mind-blowing. God was with them in this “lowest hell,” allowing them to lead others in scripture and worship while suffering unspeakable harm.

Corrie’s testimony underlines the truth that God is everywhere and with us in everything. He even used the fleas that plagued their prison barracks to keep guards away when they were worshiping the Lord and sharing the Word. It’s also a wonderful example of unity of believers despite their various religious backgrounds.

Betsie, Corrie’s sister, shared these words with Corrie before her death in Ravensbruck:

"… (we) must tell them what we have learned here. We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. They will listen to us, Corrie, because we have been here." (Carlson, Carole C. Corrie ten Boom, Her Life, Her Faith: a Biography. Old Tappan, NJ: F.H. Revell Co., 1983.)

Corrie was commissioned by God to do this very thing. Only a few years after the war ended, Corrie returned to Germany to preach about forgiveness. One of the guards who had been in Ravensbruck came up to her after her ministry. He told her, since the war, he had become a Christian. He knew he was forgiven by God, but wanted her forgiveness as well. What a challenge for Corrie to have her heart and actions match her ministry of forgiveness:

“In 1947, I traveled from Holland to defeated Germany with the message that God forgives. ‘When we confess our sins,’ I would say to audiences, ‘God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever’. At the end of one meeting, I saw him, working his way forward right towards me in the crowd. This man had been a cruel guard at the prison where we had been sent.

Now he was in front of me, and he thrust out his hand: ‘A fine message, fräulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea! You mentioned this prison in your talk,’ he said. ‘I was a guard there. But since that time,’ he went on, ‘I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fräulein, will you forgive me?’ And he reached out his hand.

And I stood there… and could not speak. I had to forgive him – I knew that. Jesus says, ‘If you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.’ I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. ‘Jesus, help me!’ I prayed silently. ‘I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.’

And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. ‘I forgive you, brother!’ I cried. ‘With all my heart!’ For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands; he, the former guard, and I, the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then. I had forgiven, and I was restored to my heavenly Father.” (New World Encyclopedia on Corrie Ten Boom.)

In her obedience to God’s will, Corrie was given what was necessary to truly forgive this man from her heart. What precious wisdom she has in stating that forgiveness will follow in our hearts (mind, will, and emotions) when we are obedient to His commands. Corrie Ten Boom is an outstanding example of how God brings “joy for sadness, peace for all thy pain!” How can any of us deny that God is in truth the changer of obedient hearts! He is able to work forgiveness and even good from the most heinous of human cruelty against humanity.

Another gem in Corrie’s writings is the wisdom Corrie’s father gave her. She worried about facing the Nazis for harboring Jews. How would she be able to handle it? Her father told her that it’s like when they are waiting for their ticket to travel by train. God will give what is needed when we need it. We don’t need that ticket until we have to get on the train. It is so reassuring to know that what God calls us to do, He equips us to accomplish it. When Corrie unexpectedly faced that former Ravensbruck guard, He gave her the necessary “ticket” for forgiveness.

Both Joni Eareckson Tada and Corrie ten Boom are saints whose wisdom remains written upon my heart years after reading about their lives. Their messages of hope and faith make a difference for the rest of us. Many more have not had the calling or opportunity to share their stories but God knows them. Christians have endured centuries of martyrdom and cruelty, mistreatment and abuse, in so very many places around the globe —and still do.

The early Christians were tormented and killed, all of the disciples were put to death except John, many Christians have and continue to suffer unimaginable adversity and oppression. All show forth what God is able to do when His people surrender to Him in the midst of incredible suffering and adversity. We need patience to understand the end from the beginning if we are to be like Him.

Just look into the wise eyes of mature saints of all ages. We see a confident expectation of the end of their suffering as they forget the past and continue to walk with the Lord.

In Job, it states:

“For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be steadfast, and shalt not fear: Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away.

And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning. And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.

Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; yea, many shall make suit unto thee.” Job 11:15-18 KJV

We often cannot see or imagine it, but our end in the Lord is better than our beginning! The apostle Paul tells us to forget the past and move on. God is an “ever present help in times of trouble” to those with an obedient heart and willingness to learn His ways. We can always reach out for His comfort and understanding. He knows when our suffering is overwhelming, whether deserved or not. He promises that we will come out of each hard time able to forget our misery, getting “better rather than bitter.”

It can be challenging to accept the truth that the yoke of our loving Lord is easy and the burdens He allows are light. Who deserves the droughts that have and are hitting many parts of the world? Do people living in some areas deserve the increasing weather changes bringing more tornadoes and hurricanes, floods and natural disasters? Does one population deserve the forest fires that follow extended dry spells?

Did any of us earn all the suffering and loss brought by the global pandemic? How can we say people who live in constant warfare and danger due to political leaders and dictators deserve their suffering? Do all the poor deserve to be poor, judged by others because of it? Do we deserve more because we happened to be born into a healthy prosperous family or nation? Whatever our circumstances, God always turns it for good for His own:

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” Psalms 46:1-3 KJV

Surely this is the Day of the Lord, where many spiritual mountains we have stood upon seemingly are being carried away. The soulish places in our earth are changing, with earthquakes within and shaking without. Everything is changing rapidly. God is dealing with the strongholds of men and their refuge of lies, tearing down what has worked against us. He is preparing the hearts of His people to be His representatives on this earth, with all the fullness of the seven spirits of God.

Have we seen all of this yet? No, but we need patience and we will.

"Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:14-16 KJV

We can absolutely count on the Lord to empathize, understand and change our hearts through the discipline of suffering adversity. We are called to share in His sufferings, with our hearts rejoicing.

“But insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, keep on rejoicing, so that when His glory [filled with His radiance and splendor] is revealed, you may rejoice with great joy.” 1 Peter 4:13 Berean

When we get a glimpse of the end from the beginning, we rejoice with great joy in the midst of affliction. Imagine that! Only God can create rejoicing, giving us joy while we endure such suffering. Check out a photo of Corrie Ten Boom or Joni Eareckson Tada. After all these two women have gone through—or because of it—the joy of the Lord radiates through these saints with a visible light of the spirit.

What is more joyful than when God changes us in circumstances that should or could overwhelm and even break us? It is humbling to even write about such things, given the incredible journey God has allowed so many of His precious saints to go through. It is confirmation that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, we can go through that He does not understand, provide for internally and externally, and turn for good when it came from and was meant for evil.

Yes, we do have need of patience, waiting upon our Lord to fully come within His people:

“For you have need of patient endurance [to bear up under difficult circumstances without compromising], so that when you have carried out the will of God, you may receive and enjoy to the full what is promised.

For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay.” Hebrews 10:36-37 Amplified

In the Revelation to His people, the angel (messenger) speaking to the apostle John speaks to that future time for which we wait:

“And he swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it: ‘There will be no more delay!’” Revelation 10:6 KJV

While we wait for this to come to be, we prayerfully sing the words from this song with other believers:

God Turn It Around

I'm praying, God come

And turn this thing around.

God, turn it around

God, turn it around

God, turn it around.

I'm calling on the name

That changes everything, yes

God, turn it around

God, turn it around

God, turn it around.”

(Church of the City. Songwriters: Anthony Skinner / Jess Cates / Jon Reddick)

Amen and amen, Lord, so be it!

Forgiveness

“Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.” Psalms 89:14 NKJV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” Matthew 23:23 NKJV

So much in life necessitates the ability to forgive and move on. If you desire peace in your heart, it is essentail that you clear it of hurt and resentment, anger and bitterness. And yet, it can be so very difficult. There is much misunderstanding of what forgiveness is. It is much more than merely saying “I’m sorry.” God will teach us about forgiving, if we are willing, as we learn to walk intimately with Him.

God is our example and His compassion never fails. His judgments are always right, providing perfect justice and perfect mercy. He is the Perfect Father. We may know earthly fathers who fell short of our perfect Father, but if you were blessed with a godly, wise and merciful earthly father, you easily connect and trust your Heavenly Father. Others without a strong earthly example need to learn of Father God’s nature of love and mercy .Those who suffer because of their imperfect earthly fathers – whom they can see –are more greatly challenged in trusting an unseen heavenly Father.

Our God is more than able to bring wholeness to our hearts in any way He chooses. God is the healer of hearts, the only One able to make everything right within. Wounds created by all of us imperfect parents and others in authority over us are brought to the Father for healing, for release from the past. All can be forgiven in Him: wounds from siblings, friends, teachers, neighbors, and many others who have significance in our lives, and in a child’s life.

Those of us with siblings might recall the bitterness of being punished and held accountable for a sibling’s behavior and choices. Some of us were unjustly accused of wrongdoing or held accountable for a younger sibling’s behavior because we are “older” or “know better.” Others are unfairly treated with mistrust because another sibling did things that created such attitudes in our caregivers. How it can burn to be unfairly judged, mistreated or restricted because of another’s choices!

There are many long-held divisions and conflicts in families because of past unfair and unjust treatment in the eyes of those at the time. These situations involve our inability not only to forgive but to forget what others have done to us or those we love. But our God forgives and forgets. He said so:

“I, I alone, am the one who wipes out your wrongdoings for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” Isaiah 43:25 NASB

Many other scriptures reference this forgetfulness God applies toward our past sins and failures. He is not bringing the past up to us, throwing our mistakes and shortcomings repeatedly at us or reminding us of our failure and shame. It’s our own hearts that condemn us or others, with thoughts in our mind, fed by the devil, that enemy of our souls:

“For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.” 1 John 3:20-21 KJV

Forgiveness is a subject about which we Christians should excel, given the basis of our faith is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the express purpose of forgiveness. Instead, there is foundresistance, denial, confusion, and lack of application of God’s principles of forgiveness throughout Christian communities. Forgiveness is talked about but the fruit of unforgiveness remains visible in and around many of God’s own. Many Christians reveal by words and behavior that forgiveness is misunderstood, misapplied, obviously not present nor practiced in their lives, leaving multitudes in turmoil within and without.

Forgiveness is a process, not a one-time decision. It requires deciding to forgive, of course, but that decision does not necessarily change the heart. This first step is submitting our will to God’s standard, deciding to forgive in obedience to God’s directive. We should know that God commands forgiveness but what brings forgiveness about in our stubborn hearts? And what would God have us do when we are the ones needing forgiveness? Where do we start when this is God’s standard but it does not come easy nor is yet written within our hearts so we may obey it?

What if we, along with multitudes through the centuries, are asked to forgive the unforgivable? We marvel at the accounts of saints who have done just that, modeling themselves after Jesus Christ forgiving His enemies from His cross of death. They knew not what they were doing, but Jesus knew they were fulfilling scripture, completing the work of God. They thought to do evil and harm, but instead, accomplished for God the greatest change in human history!

We cannot successfully make ourselves forgive nor can we make another forgive us by merely asking for it. There is really no substitute for God in situations requiring forgiveness to heal. There is no human formula to clean the heart of anger and bitterness, resentment and vengeful thoughts. God will not try us beyond what we can bear but there are multiple circumstances that are unforgivable to the human heart. He has to make a way—and He does.

We may arrive at an acceptance of what happened, but only God takes the burden of anger, hurt, and devastation from the heart. Determining in our hearts to obey God’s teachings about forgiveness is the essential first step. This is the beginning of wisdom, knowing that we need to align our will with God’s word. Then we wait upon the Lord to work forgiveness in our souls so that our mind (thoughts), will (determination), and emotions (contrary to God’s loving mercy) aligns with God’s will. He is then writing His forgiveness on our hearts.

Children do need to be taught about forgiveness. Perhaps you were taught – or forced – to say “I’m sorry” by parents or caregivers.Many a child has been directed to sit knee to knee with their sibling until both are truly sorry—at least about having to sit there looking at each other! As a child grows, however, they need to learn how the Lord works to truly make their words sincerely and deeply felt in the heart. It’s easy for some tenderhearted little ones, but others are made of strong, stubborn stuff and need more support and guidance in this process.

For some, the words “I’m sorry,” have been too casually used, becoming meaningless or even a mockery. Saying a casual “sorry” just does not resonate with many. We are looking for more than hollow words coming from an insincere heart. As Christians, we are called to forgive without restriction, including whether the other person is truly sorry or not. God never told us to forgive only when the other one is truly sorry. Their heart is their responsibility to God, not ours.

When we are the offenders, it’s much more powerful to do our part in making amends by saying, “I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?” Children as well as adults can learn to humble themselves to ask for forgiveness and do what they can, if possible, to make amends. This teaches the offender to take responsibility for their behavior, foundational for any good relationship. We can do this regardless of whether we intended to offend or not.

There are requirements for sustaining healthy relationships, within families especially, and this is one of the building blocks. Asking for forgiveness leaves the repair and reconciliation to the heart of the offended one. Visualize the offender saying sorry and asking for forgiveness as metaphorically extending their hand to the offended one. It’s then up the the person who got offended to “extend the hand,” back by granting a heart change of forgiveness as requested. Often the offended one finds a release in just acknowledging that they are willing to forgive.

When we offend someone and offer amends like this, we are able to have peace. We have done what God requires and are free of further distress or shame about it. If the relationship is no longer, we may never know whether someone actually forgives us, but Jesus knows. We can even ask for this repair to be done by Jesus with those who have passed on. He can convey that message to comfort our hearts though it may be, being in the spirit, they already know we are truly sorry!

Even when we are actually right in the matter under contention, we may ask forgiveness for wrong attitudes, harsh and judgmental words, impatience and a host of other soulish factors that bring wounds and offense. The key here is to prioritize the relationship over being right. Many relationships become unrepairable because one or both people in the conflict continue to insist on their position in the argument. They’ve lost sight of the higher purpose of relationship repair or conflict resolution that true love and commitment require.

What about when we’ve been hurt or offended by another and we are struggling to forgive? It surely helps if we have witnessed an excellent example in someone who shows the ability to ask for and receive forgiveness. But some will need to learn from the Lord what they were not shown or taught this by others. A child feels very helpless when they have upset a parent or caregiver, while denied any way to make amends. It’s a burden in their hearts, particularly when love is withheld because of it or punishment for wrongdoing continues.

Some Christians have this challenge with God. God surely holds us accountable for our part in the cycles of conflict so common in intimate relationships. But He does not hold grudges, nor does He ever, ever withdraw His love from us. Blame is a very human, but wasted, man-made emotion. After all, when you have decided who is to blame, what does it get you? You still have to deal with the situation.

Blame involves condemnation and judgment of the person—“You are bad,” rather than “What you did is bad.” The motive of the heart in a blamer may be a desire to feel superior, better than the other who is the “bad” one. to project responsibility for error and wrongdoing unto another. This is in contrast to mature acceptancc of one’s own responsibility while expecting others to be accountable for their own behavior.

We are responsible for what we do. Human relationships are interactions, however, in which it can be challenging, if not a waste of time, to figure out “who started it”! We learn in childhood to insist it’s the other one who fueled the flames— and sometimes it is. Pointing the finger comes easily to us humans. Ultimately, however, we have no control over another’s behavior or choices. We may influence them one way or another but we cannot make them change.

This “blame game” shows up early in the Bible:

“But the Lord God called out to the man, ‘Where are you?’ ‘I heard Your voice in the garden,’ he replied, ‘and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.’ ‘Who told you that you were naked?’ asked the Lord God. ‘Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’

And the man answered, ‘The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Genesis 3:9-12 Berean

And here we have it. Our forefather, Adam, blames His wife and even, indirectly, God. Do you hear the accusation in “That woman You gave me…”? Other human husbands have likely uttered these same words! Adam ate of the fruit because he loved Eve more than the commandment of God. Eve was deceived, but Adam was not. He chose Eve over obedience and this continues to occur in relationships today.

Yet these scriptures have been used against women by Christians who still blame Eve for the downfall into sin that began with this act in the Garden of Eden. Well, not me! I was angry at both Adam and Eve! After all, they got us into this mess of humanity. Look at all the death and torment that has followed their decisions! But God wasn’t caught unprepared for this. Not for a moment was He wringing His hands and wondering what He needed to do now. He created us this way:

“For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope…” Romans 8:20 KJV

God knew all along that Adam was not His finished work. He had a plan from the foundation of the world to supply a Savior in Jesus Christ to meet the need. But what a bummer to learn that God’s focus is on us, not the other person, regardless of who started it or who we’d like to blame. He deals with our actions and reactions, the attitudes and intents of our hearts. He sees it all.

It is much more pleasant to blame than to take responsibility for our own actions and reactions before God. This does not mean that He withholds whispers of compassionate love, providing comfort when life is unfair and we are deeply wounded because of it. However, even when we are convinced that we are blameless, God shines the light of His Holy Spirit into our hearts to be accountable for our reactions. Indeed, it is not what happens to us, but how we react to it that causes stress and disturbance. It is in the attitude of our hearts.

His spirit consistently whispers in our hearts to direct us to first examine our own hearts to understand what part of any issue might be something He would change within us. After all, it’s the only aspect of any conflict that we can control. We might choose to do that immediately or decide instead to waste time in self-pity and anger, accusing the other, building resentment or bitterness, and even seeking the sympathy of others for our struggles.

Of course, the support of wise and comforting friends is helpful, but we do not need a chorus of “Poor you, how could they,..” We humans can always justify our own actions in our own minds, even if we’re not verbalizing it to others.

“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts.” Proverbs 21:2 KJV

To complete the process of forgiveness as God directs, we must move past the “blame game” at which children are experts. We are enabled to grow up, to mature sufficiently enough to let go of the issue with the other person. We do not need to complain about it to others, or, perhaps the most difficult, internally rehearse it within ourselves. If we indulge in such internal rehearsals, we are creating a negative, blaming “rut’” of woundedness, even bitterness, in our minds that becomes more and more entrenched and difficult to dislodge.

Sometimes He even grants understanding of the other person’s wounded and damaged heart to increase our compassion. Wounded people wound people. God brings healing. This teaches us what God’s priority is in each situation: to redeem mankind in (not necessarily out of) every circumstance. When we have done no wrong, but are unjustly accused, we are sharing in the suffering of Christ, as we are bid to do by the great Apostle Paul.

Even if no personal wrongdoing is revealed by the Lord, He is faithful and just to work a willingness and completion of forgiveness. Jesus Christ surely knows about being unjustly accused!

“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.” NASB

The Amplified Bible states it even more beautifully:

"‘No temptation [regardless of its source] has overtaken or enticed you that is not common to human experience [nor is any temptation unusual or beyond human resistance]; but God is faithful [to His word—He is compassionate and trustworthy], and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability [to resist],

but along with the temptation He [has in the past and is now and] will [always] provide the way out as well, so that you will be able to endure it [without yielding, and will overcome temptation with joy].” 1 Corinthians 10:13 Amplified

Yes, God always provides a way of escape, primarily through the spirit, as it is the spiritual battles in our hearts that we are to conquer. Teaching about the process of forgiveness is one of the most valuable lessons we can share with our children. We all have many opportunities in this life to exercise our spiritual forgiveness “muscles.”

The cost to a person who cannot or refuses to forgive is considerable. When we hold on to unforgiveness, we pay a price for such resentments. We may think we are protecting ourselves from further harm by our own efforts but it’s easy to see that this does not work! There are troubles in this life and none of us, God being no respecter of persons, are exempt from it. We are guaranteed to need to learn to forgive, ideally as we have been forgiven. We need to understand that God absolutely expects this of us.

Some resist forgiveness because they erroneously believe it is somehow condoning what the other did, that forgiving the other for what happened is saying it is okay and acceptable. Think about it, however: it makes no sense to forgive something that you are saying was okay. Forgiveness only is needed when there has been an offense done. Nothing can make it okay after this happens, because it was wrong, at the very least in the eyes of the offended. This misconception often stems from trying to control our interactions, to protect ourselves from further hurt rather than yielding them to God.

We know Christians who refuse to forgive as a way to punish the other, using silence, anger, withdrawal or reminders of the offense, including withholding love and favor. Believing somehow the other person is being punished by our ongoing resentment, bitterness, or vengeful punishing thoughts and behaviors is a deception! We pay the price for bearing this about in our souls and in our bodies. Bitterness shows up in the body in many ways, costing not only peace of mind but physical health.

God says it’s His business, not ours, to handle offenses, including any vengeance that might be applied. His vengeance is quite different than ours is, as He is a loving God, not a vengeful, angry heavenly Father. True surrender to the Lord involves trusting Him to deal with others and the problematic behaviors they do that cause our wounds. In this life, we are going to have wounds, in fact, those very wounds can heal us, just as they did for Jesus.

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5 NKJV

If you want to talk about what happened with Someone who understands being unfairly punished, talk to Jesus Christ. Our Lord lived such a life, and He allows many of us to join Him in such unearned suffering. He works within us to uncover wrong attitudes and beliefs in our hearts, including wanting to be right, justified in the eyes of others, or just feeling good about staying angry!

Many, many suffering people experience conflict, loss of hope, loneliness, and depression when in a relationship with someone harsh and unforgiving, someone who sets unrelenting standards for the behavior of others without applying it to themselves. There are far too many Christians who are miserably hanging on to and even rehearsing the wrongs that have been done to them. They repeatedly feed the seed of offense with continual focus, even gathering further evidence of the injustice of what happened, allowing it to grow deep roots within their hearts.

This can only lead to a root of bitterness which defiles many:

“See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many become defiled…” Hebrews 12;15 NASB

Bitterness is a poison that can easily be shared by being around someone bitter. It is so very easy to “catch.” Have you ever been with someone bitter and afterwards, you feel sick? It is that poisonous atmosphere, that bitter, hurt spirit you have picked up from them as they unwittingly “defile many.” This person spreads their problems while seldom having any positive impact on change in others.

The truth is, forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves. An old quote, attributed to many sources, states a truth: “Bitterness is like drinking a vial of poison and expecting it to harm the other person, You're not hurting them, only yourself.” Telling your story over and over of how you were harmed, dwelling on such thoughts over time, goes beyond not bringing it up to the wrongdoer. It not only works a poison in others, but in the spirit, soul, and body of the unforgiving one.

Forgiveness is thus not a one time decision but a process worked out in the soul, written in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The evidence of forgiveness doing its work is a visible change in the forgiver. What comes out of the heart of the wronged person changes! When you have truly forgiven another, you do not bring it up to them, you don’t bring it up to others, and, most importantly, you don’t bring it up to yourself.

Quite the challenge, but God is able to work it out over time within His own who trust Him. As Paul states in Philippians:

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-1515 NIV

People joke about forgiving but not forgetting, but that is not humorous to God. True surrender to the Lord involves trusting Him to deal with others and the problematic behaviors they do that cause wounds in our life. We can move on from these times of hurt and pain when they are fully surrendered to our Lord. Our first opportunity is to forgive our parents and caregivers for what happened when we were young. Some parents are able to humble themselves, to ask for forgiveness when they offend the precious children God has loaned to them; others are unable to do so.

Here on earth, we are going to have wounds, Jesus said so. These wounds heal us because Jesus’ suffering was for our healing. How do we learn to have God’s forgiving nature of love if we never encounter pain from another? Could anyone have been more unjustly wounded than our Lord Jesus Christ? He asked the Father to forgive His enemies amid excruciating suffering when He hung on the cross. Jesus knew that they meant it for evil, but God had a plan for good that required exactly what transpired.

The persecutors of Jesus surely were not asking Him to forgive them. In fact, they were rejoicing that this leader was no longer a threat to their established religious leadership and traditions. Jesus Christ is our model. There is not one thing we can experience that He has not already gone through. Consider all He suffered, just in His closest relationships. One of His own, Judas, betrayed Him. Many left Him in the latter days of His ministry.

All of Jesus’ disciples, His “best friends,” abandoned Him when He was arrested. And we know He absolutely did nothing to deserve this, and because of it, Jesus Christ made the way for us. He promises to show us specifically what, how, when, and with whom to do what is necessary in carrying out forgiveness.

“For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15-16 Berean

Jesus knows. He gets it! Understanding the process of forgiving someone is distinguishing the difference between forgiveness from consequences of what they’ve done. There may be a range of outcomes following offenses to God and man, regardless of being forgiven. We suffer consequences from our own behavior—from emotional discomfort to loss of love, relationship, trust or esteem. These are up to God and His justice is certain.

God does not change His standards, but He does look at the heart and surely knows when true repentance is there. It’s sad to have someone be forgiven by God while we are still blaming that person! Confusion comes from believing that forgiveness erases consequences. When someone we love wounds us in an unexpected way that violates our foundation of agreement, our written or unwritten contract with them, our trust is damaged. When trust is broken, the wrongdoer can’t just demand the wounded party forgive them or accuse them of unforgiveness when it is the trust that needs time and changes to be restored.

Trust is given in a relationship as we get to know one another’s hearts and begin to rest in their good intentions, despite our many errors and mistakes. When trust has been violated, it has to be earned back, not automatically given or demanded. Trust demanded by the erring partner as “proof” of the other’s forgiveness is a misunderstanding of the healing process required in any relationship rupture.

Forgiveness has been granted but the restoration of trust often takes more time than the offender wants to allow. Offenders sometimes want their guilt and shame to be “wiped out” by evidence that the other person is getting over it rapidly. But needing time and evidence in order to restore trust to the other is not unforgiveness. It is the natural consequence of untrustworthy behavior. God knows the heart condition of those who are saying they need more time to restore the offender into their good graces, but in their hearts are using it as a weapon to punish and control.

When an offender is earning back trust, words and behavior need to match. For example, if a teenager has lied about his or her whereabouts and parents learn of it, they may forgive him but trust is damaged. It is not unforgiveness but most reasonable to expect the young person to be more transparent about their whereabouts for a time. Another example is when someone in a committed relationship has an affair, emotional or physical, with another person. The guilty party asks for forgiveness but also needs to anticipate their partner will need time to check that their actions match their words, as the wounds from betrayal heal.

Relationships are repairable after such violations, but rarely occurs immediately. It is unrealistic, unfair, and even selfish for the offender to accuse their partner of unforgiveness by needing a reasonable period to prove and re-establish trustworthiness. It is a consequence of the betrayal under which the offender needs to bear up while waiting to display evidence over time of true repentance of wrongdoing to be revealed in actions and words. Forgiveness is a heart condition that God works.

Thankfully, we do not get all the consequences we deserve when God forgives us. God sometimes allows natural consequences or even initiates them despite His forgiveness of our sins. His justice and mercy take care of the length and severity of the consequences. Sometimes it is but a brief period, a smaller cost. Other times, the offender may suffer permanent loss. God knows the heart, and to the merciful, He shows mercy.

King David is an excellent example of God’s forgiveness, of how His judgment in mercy is redemptive. David saw Bathsheba, a beautiful married woman bathing on her roof. He wanted her and he was the king, so he had Bathsheba brought to him. She got pregnant by David while her husband Uriah, the Hittite, was away in battle. David was about to be exposed and held accountable.

If you are not familiar with this story, then you may be astounded at the lengths to which David went to carry out this very wrong act and then attempt a “cover-up.” He used deception and trickery with Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband and one of David’s honorable and faithful men of war. He involved Joab, the leader of his army, in setting Uriah up to be killed in the frontline of battle. Somehow, David, this “man after God’s own heart,” lost awareness of God seeing it all.

Below is the account of David’s actions:

“One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, ‘She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.’

Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, ‘I am pregnant.’

So David sent this word to Joab: ‘Send me Uriah the Hittite.’ And Joab sent him to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, ‘Go down to your house and wash your feet.’ So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.

But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house. David was told, ‘Uriah did not go home.’ So he asked Uriah, ‘Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?’ Uriah said to David, ‘The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!’

Then David said to him, ‘Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.’ So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.

In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it to Uriah. In it he wrote, ‘Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.’ So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.

Joab sent David a full account of the battle. He instructed the messenger: ‘When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? Who killed Abimelek, son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’

If he [King David} asks you this, then say to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’ When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.

But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.” 2 Samuel 11: 1-27 NIV

Time after time, Uriah, the innocent husband, refused to do what David tried to trick him into doing. He was an honorable and committed soldier for King David. David even talked with Uriah face-to-face while knowing he coveted and had bedded Uriah’s wife. David desperately needed Uriah to make love with Bathsheba, to conceal his sinfulness soon to be revealed by Bathsheba’s pregnancy. Bathsheba loved her husband and mourned for him, but she had no say in what King David did.

God then sent Nathan the prophet to deliver a corrective judgment to King David, using a. skill skillful means of convicting David of his sins through Nathan. The prophet used a metaphor to reveal to David just how wrong he was. Nathan is given words to remind David of all that God has done for Him. These words of God from Nathan sound like an earthly parent’s “and after all I’ve done for you!” chastisement to a beloved but transgressing child.

The story continues:

“...he [Nathan] said, ‘there were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms.

Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.’

David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over because he did such a thing and had no pity.’

Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s [Saul’s] house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.

Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in His eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.” Samuel 12: 1-11 NIV.

And here are the consequences that God, through His prophet Nathan, told David would result from David’s sinful, disobedient actions:

“Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own’ This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight.

You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’ Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Nathan replied, ‘The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.” 2 Samuel 12: 12-14 NIV

Here is an extremely clear example of God giving the assurance of forgiveness to David’s repentant heart while the consequences of David’s behavior are also assured. All that Nathan spoke of to David actually happened. The baby Bathsheba had conceived died. David’s son slept with one of David’s wives and fought to take over David’s rulership. David had no peace but calamity in his household, bringing much heartache and conflict up to his death. He remained a man of war and was not allowed to build God’s temple.

Is it not amazing that another son, Solomon, born of this unholy union between Bathsheba and David, inherits the throne of David’s kingdom, builds the temple of worship, is greatly blessed by the Lord and is in the lineage of Jesus Christ? Solomon’s kingdom was so great that other rulers came from everywhere to see Solomon’s wealth and splendor. He was given peace, wisdom, and great prosperity, even though he strayed from the Lord when allowing several of his wives to influence him in heathen worship.

Would this outcome be something we would expect in our day from such a union? God is gracious and able to do whatever is part of His purpose, as we see with David and Bathsheba, regardless of man’s opinions or judgment. We do not know about additional consequences in the hearts of David and his family, but his family as well as the people he led as king suffered from his choices. What we do know is that despite this grave sin, David’s calling and God’s promises for David and his household were sustained. God keeps His word, even when we are faithless.

Though Solomon was born to two people who would not have gotten together but for David’s ungodly actions, God chose their son, Solomon, to continue fulfilling His promises to David. God’s promises remain true and faithful regardless of human sin and error. Read how Solomon honored the fulfillment of God’s promises to David when Solom dedicated the temple of God he had ordered to be built:

“While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. Then [Solomon] said: ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who with His hands has fulfilled what He promised with His mouth to my father David…

My father David had it in his heart to build a temple in the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, ‘You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name. Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood—he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.’

The Lord has kept the promise he made. I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised, and I have built the temple in the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. There I have placed the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that He made with the people of Israel.’” 2 Chronicles 6:3-5:7-10 NIV

This difference between forgiveness and consequences is critical to understand in our dealings with others as well as with the Lord. Forgiveness is a matter of the heart while consequences are constant and just. God’s perfect heart of the marriage of justice and mercy insures us of this. David’s consequences were more severe because of his position as leader. What David did due the the lust of his flesh was particularly grievous after all God had done for him. David surely knew better. He disgraced his household and his people, yet God does not go back on His promises to David. He fulfills all He has said.

We Christians can be very thankful that God’s mercy provides an escape from all that we might deserve, helping us endure any consequences coming our way. Because God looks at the heart, He knows who is truly repentant or even just caught in a snare. He knows who is willing to allow Him to work an inner change, seeing what each person needs for redemption. His grace covers all, just as wise earthly parents learn that each of their children have individual, even differing requirements to come to true repentance of wrongdoing.

In His mercy and justice, the wrongdoer may not suffer the consequences we think are equal to their behavior. But we, too, can certainly recall many times that we did not get all we deserved for our choices and behavior. God’s own mercy applies just the right amount of consequences needed, not just in the situation but to fulfill God’s purpose and calling for that individual.

This is why some children seemingly live a charmed life, “getting away with murder,” while other children get caught every time. When the children of godly parents complain that their wrong actions are always found out by their parents, we can thank the Lord for it. He exposes things that are dangerous and could bring harm to His children, from the little ones to the old. God reveals many actions that miss the mark, most especially if they are repetitive or put a child in danger.

The calling of the child of Christians has a destiny that differs from those allowed to go their own way. It’s a good thing when your child complains that he or she always gets caught! It is a gift of love that Father God provides to train up our children in the way they are supposed to go, according to His plan. Just so, the earlier promises God spoke to David, through Samual the prophet, came to be. All are completely fulfilled by David’s descendant, Solomon, and eventually, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is what Samuel said when David was anointed to be King:

“The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom.

He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands.

But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” 2 Samuel 7:11-16 NASB

David remains a distinct example of forgiveness and consequences. God is faithful to keep His word, even when needing to discipline a powerful king for his wrongdoing. Separating forgiveness in our hearts from necessary or inevitable consequences also keeps us from enabling or rescuing others from the results of their own choices. When we rescue or enable by excusing rather than addressing wrong behavior, we get in the way of what God would teach others. We are then robbing others, including our own children, of what they need to learn.

Such misconceptions about forgiveness may create situations where the offender repeats harmful behaviors, while the Christian partner continually forgives without consequences. Even Christian leaders make this error in advising their followers. The law against separation and divorce is held higher than mercy and justice, even safety for those endangered by a spouse or family member. This benefits neither the offender nor the one offended.

Even our Lord has boundaries, limits that He sets beyond which we are not allowed to go. It’s healthy to have boundaries in our relationships. Yes, there are times when a parent’s loving heart grieves with their child while administering discipline that results in loss. God also grieves for what He has to allow when we, His erring children, just don’t seem to get the message.While our Lord is always the same, yesterday, today, and forever, He does not treat us all the same in every circumstance. He knows what is needed to fulfill His calling in each of us.

Hallelujah, He is always just and always merciful! We can absolutely trust and rely upon what He has already done, reconciling us and our ways to Himself. Forgiveness may be a challenge for us but it is easy for our tenderhearted, loving, and just God! His compassions never fail. The intent of God’s heart is always to fully and completely be in relationship with us, to share His great love. He will have compassion and mercy on our suffering.

Jesus quotes from Hosea, the prophet when He states to the Jews of His time:

“But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:13 KJV

There is not one of us, including His called and chosen, who is not a sinner, falling short of God’s standards. God loves us, so He disciplines us:

“For the Lord disciplines and corrects those whom He loves, and He punishes every son [or daughter] whom He receives and welcomes to His heart...

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” Hebrews 12: 6;11-13 NASB

Oh, how the last part of this scriptural passage leaps out: “Do you mean, Lord, that I can go through these trials over and over if I do not learn to be right(eous), to be trained by them?” We do learn from discipline if we accept the training that the discipline of God brings. Most of us quickly pray to learn our lessons! Sometimes we do learn; other times we may “go around the mountain again.”

In any adversity, an important question to ask and seek God for understanding is: “What are you trying to teach me? What lesson do I need to learn in this?” God is very efficient, never wasting any of our experiences, always desiring for us to learn from what He allows in our lives. Is this not redemptive justice—justice that redeems us from our sinful ways and attitudes developing in our hearts?

He uses our life experiences to correct and deliver us whenever we are caught in the snares of “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” God knows the history and wounds of each of us, intervening in a precise way, like a diamond cutter knows just where to cut. That is quite different from our clumsy human interventions. We may “saw away” at another person’s flesh, bludgeoning them with angry words of condemnation or even using scripture as a weapon. These actions may feel justified by the person as well intended, to help the other, but such treatment rarely creates a redemptive heart change.

Instead, such human behavior creates discouragement or resentment. And we sure don’t enjoy it when someone decides to get their religious sword out and saw away at us! We can rail at satan, the enemy of our souls who rules the earth, as troubles in this life surely come. After we have passed the test of the troubles we are in, life will provide more and God will continue to use them for our growth in Him. We may wish it were not true, but nothing trains us quite like the pain of adversity. Mistakes do equal learning, creating mature godly characters written in our hearts.

So, what are we to do with these things?

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as His children. For what children are not disciplined by their fathers? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all…

therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.” Hebrews 12:7;12 NIV

Words from our Heavenly Father pierce us to accept God’s dealings as meant for our good. Always redemptive, always ready to forgive is our merciful and just God! And He is both our example and our source of this much-needed quality of godly life.