What To Do About Creeps – 11-30-22

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.” Jude 1:24-25 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

Do you already have a relationship with a powerful God who cares about your every need because He loves you? Did you know my God can communicate with you and protect you – He has a plan for you to prosper if you just submit to His will and let His plan play out in your life!!! God wants a relationship with you and has already made a plan for your life. He loves you so much He sent His son to this world, to die as a sacrifice for your sins and rise from death with victory over sin and the ability to have a personal relationship with you.

Do you want to know truth? Be able to discern lies? Know how to figure it all out in these confusing times and have peace? The Bible says Jesus is the truth. I have experienced it and it has changed my life. I was once a hot mess of sin, promiscuity, drug and alcohol use and so much more. But I was lost and when I could not find my way, or find a truth, I numbed it with bad choses. When I found Jesus, and truth – I found peace and deliverance from those things.

If you want a relationship with God without truth you will get the counterfeit, hypocritical Christianity that has kept some of you away for too long. You need truth and relationship. You need to be honest with yourself and God (including honest repentance) and God will reveal truth to you. It becomes the two way, interaction that your relationship with God is built on. This is why Jesus is called the truth, because he is our only way to the Father.

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10 NIV
Here is a prayer for you to pray:
Jesus, I believe you are the way, the truth, the life, and the only way to the Father. I believe you are the son of God, you came to Earth and lived. That you died on the cross as a sacrifice for my sins, and rose again so that I may be saved from my sins and be able to get to know you. I declare: Jesus, you are Lord!
Therefore, I confess that I am a sinner and I ask that you forgive me of my sins and come into my life. Help me to turn away from my sins and transform me into what you have lovingly created me to be. Help me through a real personal relationship grow and accept your will for my life – that I may live in your blessings. Please walk with me, and talk with me – I accept a relationship with you and with our Father God, through you. In the name of Jesus I pray ~ Amen

BIBLE READING:

Dear Heavenly Father – Please give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of who you are, who Jesus is, and who the Holy Spirit is. Open the eyes of our understanding, please, so we may know the hope of our calling and the vast sovereignty and power of the grace of the cross. Please do not let us miss out on what you want and need from us today. Lord, I pray that your word prepares us and not scares us! We forbid the works and influences of fear over your word and our sound mind. And please keep us and bless us and shine your face upon us and pour out grace over us and give us peace! And we pray for the peace of Jerusalem! Thank you! – In Jesus name we pray, Amen

Today’s reading is the Book of Jude (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Greeting to the Called

¹Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,

To those who are called, ^[a]sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:

²Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Contend for the Faith

³Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord ^[b]God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Old and New Apostates

⁵But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶And the angels who did not keep their ^[c]proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; ⁷as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the ^[d]vengeance of eternal fire.

⁸Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of ^[e]dignitaries. ⁹Yet Michael the archangel, in ^[f]contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. ¹¹Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

Apostates Depraved and Doomed

¹²These are ^[g]spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried ^[h]about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; ¹³raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

¹⁴Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, ¹⁵to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Apostates Predicted

¹⁶These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. ¹⁷But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: ¹⁸how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. ¹⁹These are ^[i]sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

Maintain Your Life with God

²⁰But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

²²And on some have compassion, ^[j]making a distinction; ²³but others save ^[k]with fear, pulling them out of the ^[l]fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

Glory to God

²⁴Now to Him who is able to keep ^[m]you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
²⁵To ^[n]God our Savior,
^[o]Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and ^[p]power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Colossians 4:2 –

“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Today we start and finish one HUGE book – so there is not a lot of time to get into all the everything about everything! Jude is NOT Judas, although the name is Judas in Greek. It is most likely Jesus’s brother, also the brother of James. He wrote this book in two parts – the first is a call to action! A call to spiritual war – a call to stand! (Specifically to stand against.) And the second half is a call to remember – the kind of remembrance that fortifies you stand. The book starts with a profound greeting and end with a profound glory to God! And everything in between is a hard word, a jagged little pill – especially for the modern church. (It is no wonder it is seldom touched on from the pulpit.)

In the interest of not going deep and long with words – I will give you the abbreviated discussion. The depth of the book is in the profound strength in the stance – so I can let it stand for itself to some extent… but you know me, I love to talk about the Bible! Yes, this is long… but there is so much more in here we can talk about and we are not going to.

“¹Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ: ²Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.”

Jude only greets the “called” – that includes you and me. We heard the call of Christ and answered – that is why we are here. Some of us are fully committed and some are thinking about making a commitment and some are in between. There is NO question in my mind that you are called. You would not be this far down in this blog if you were not. EVEN IF someone handed this to you and said read this – because I have no doubt that even you are called!! (Although your friend’s ministering technique could use some work – go ahead and lovingly remind them to work on it!) None the less, you are called!! So pic up this call!

Jude knows something his reader doesn’t know, that is the contents of this letter. So he prays for a multiplication of mercy, peace and love on the reader. You and I should come into agreement and pray for that over ourselves as well. We will not hear the depth of our calling, nor the call to contend for our faith that Jude is putting forth, without God’s mercy, peace and love. Mercy is activated in true humility and a contrite heart, so is peace as a matter of fact – and love is only received and revealed in humility. So let’s be open to what Jude is calling us to do.

“³Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”

Jude was ready to write an account of the gospel. If he had, we’d have 5 gospels and no one to blow this trumpet and battle cry for the heart of our churches!
This is the trumpet call of the Old Testament! We are to contend earnestly! Our churches, our fellow believers’ very souls are at hand. We are being robbed blind!

“⁴For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

When was Jude written and to whom? I am so glad you asked! We don’t know. Many think 2 Peter references this letter – so that would put the date before 65 ad – 60 to 65 range, possibly. As for the originally intended audience? It is unknown. This is important because if it was one specific church we’d know the social issues plaguing them and better be able to define specifics (maybe make it less harsh). We can only use this book itself to explain itself and therefore – it is not tempered.

I have told you before, I have a few friends who believe grace is a license to ill. They can live in sin without consequences. I know MANY churches who also preach it. I know I have not sugar coated or made light of the many verses in many book that literally say the opposite – including that we can lose our salvation!
Jude says these corrupt people have crept in unnoticed. Our modern church is so much more asleep than the first century church – these same destructive forces have crept in through people in our churches unnoticed as well – along with witches, and warlocks, and satanists and many other forms of evil. Hey have entered into our leadership teams. In every church. NO EXCEPTIONS. We are sometimes so comfortable, in our discomfort that we forget the enemy turned up the heat. We forget that we are so very close to the end and hell fire and so instead we turn grace into lewdness and deny our Lord Jesus in the name of being a more tolerant and accepting church – to save more souls we say. We already have that lie in the world – we need the truth from the pulpit!

We need true grace that is actionable and transformative – not restrained and abused.

So what was the sin of these unnoticed creeper?

“⁵But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.”

Think Baal worship. Think doubting and lack of faith. But more over a constant striving to assimilate the other religions. AND not “be good people” religions – NO! They joined up with child sacrifice religions. It is believed that the children abuse was also sexual – as many of their worship practices with adults are believed to also be sexual.
In our modern world – these men would be on the list of Epstein Island visitors. They would have wives at home who had abortions. They may even be women. They may work for Balenciaga – when picture of grooming children make for the normalization of Baal worship.
This images will be seen more and more – we are much later in the hour than most think! I tell you NOT to scare you, but prepare you! Jude says stand! It is a battle cry – contend earnestly!

“⁶And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;”

The book of Enoch is not considered canon but a few books do reference it. It might be one you might want to read some day. The story is larger than the physical world and a group of angels behaved so badly they are literally in chains until they get sent into the pit of hell. I would not be surprised if he leaves the chains on them when they are sent in. What did they do? They raped and abused humans, male and female. They participated in every form of perversion, without regard to life. AKA really bad stuff. Humans became corrupted in ways they had never been corrupted before. God sent a flood and Enoch’s son got into a boat with 2 of every animal and his family and God destroyed the earth.

“⁷as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

Because, in church, we do not like to discuss dark depravity of evil, the depth we cannot even imagine – we white wash Sodom and Gomorrah. We picture it a city of rainbows and feminine men. The violence could not be worse that a slap fight with some wimpy screams. If that was the case the Gay Pride Parades in New York and California would spontaneously combust into fire! No – the depravity is indescribable by good Christians. So dirty, saying it would make you need to repent.

Side note: after the flood God gave Noah a rainbow as a promise. Then other evil spirits took up the cause and brought back the same corruption and attached the rainbow as the symbol – the very sign God gave saying the first of those spirits are in eternal chains.

Now – back to the book of Jude. That is a lot of terrible sin creeping in. Sin that is becoming more common in our modern world but we hide our eyes from it and pretend it is not. No wonder we do not notice it or discern it in the people in our church. And then Jude says – BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

“⁸Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. ⁹Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. ¹¹Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.”

They are dreamer, they defile the flesh, they reject authority, they speak evil… and then Jude goes on to explain why speaking evil is so bad. He says evil Michael says to satan, “The Lord rebuke you.” We forgot the universe was spoken into existence and fail to comprehend the power of words. The sin is not the negative talk alone. I myself struggle with negative self-talk – it comes from a narrative that developed in my childhood of hearing negative talk (very text book – it is kinda where ALL negative self-talk comes from). As I identify it and make a conscience effort to change it and to bless myself, it should give room for God to help me heal and help me make it a lifestyle to speak life to myself. On the other hand, I am better at speaking life and truth to others, as I know I am held accountable for that differently. The power of words is astounding – and the sin was not in the negative talk alone…

Jude goes on to say they have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit. Balaam was a false prophet for hire – he was paid handsomely to curse the Israelites. However God took over his mouth every time he tried and made Balaam, bless them instead. These are the false teachers of our day – saying the things that keep the big tither’s in church. Their paycheck depends on keeping everyone happy. Some of these are even internet famous preachers.

Now it is important to note – Jude is not saying ALL these corrupt and vial sins are in each of the “certain men” who “have crept in unnoticed”. Jude is shining a light into a dark and sleepy church and saying these are the cockroaches that have gotten in and are corrupting the body!

“¹²These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; ¹³raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.”

These men are doomed… and if not dealt with… the whole body can become corrupted and doomed. Their doom is a known principle in the spirit world that is traced back to a prophecy by Enoch:
“¹⁴Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, ¹⁵to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Right now I am thinking – I am so glad he isn’t talking about me… I mean I am a sinner, we all are. We strive to be like John and overcome it all… I am honestly not there yet. God still uses me, thankfully. God always uses fallible man. But maybe we should take a closer look at ourselves before we dismiss this book.

“¹⁶These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.”

I have been known to complain here or there. It is my go-to… before I catch myself and repent. It is part of my negative self-talk. Let’s get honest here. We are all in need of Jesus for some reason. All of us have known a sin battle. That very battle – if lost, make you one of those “certain men” who “crept in”. We are not as corrupt, yet (and prayerfully never)! We are not hard of heart to our sins – we contend earnestly for our salvation. We do not walk in our own lusts – but we seek God for his way and strive to obey.

That was part one – the call to fight. Now part two is the call to remember.

“¹⁷But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: ¹⁸how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. ¹⁹These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.”

We are about to read revelation – and people fear it because “it’s about a scary end time” – but it is not really. We have already read more about what the end days will be like in all of the Bible than we will read with direct certainty in Revelation. Like in the Book of Matthew Jesus said it will be like in the days of Noah in the end days. Sensual, depraved, ungodly men – walking according to their own lusts.

“²⁰But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

I have often said that I grow tired of building myself up in the Lord – But we must and we must get good at it. We need to know how to remember. We need to know how to take that recall and make it work in power, building faith and fruit.

After we are encouraged and strengthened – we must retrieve whichever souls we can.

“²²And on some have compassion, making a distinction; ²³but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.”

Some will be saved by us showing compassion and other we must reach down and snatch them out of the put of hell! How will we know the difference? God will lead us. Not all of those “certain men” will be ready to repent and change.
Jude gives us a personalized approach to each unique case – without giving us any written direction. You see God is powerful and sovereign – His grace, real grace is sufficient.

“²⁴Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, ²⁵To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.”

Now – isn’t that the solution for everything and everyone. Even for our selves – able to keep us from stumbling! We need the same experience with God that everyone needs – including the creeps.
In that is the tender love for the one who needs compassion. In that is the living waters and transformation that can snatch them out of the fire. In that is everything.

Let’s read it again:

If you can write it down and read it a few times throughout your day. It’s powerful.

***

I also wanted to remind and inform all of you, that instead of writing a book on fasting (since it is the topic I get asked the most about) I have created a Facebook group that is designed to be interactive and give you all the Bible verses on fasting, all the types of fast, and how to fast. In the group are specialist to help us along the way, like the creator of The Fasting Protocol (fasting for health and weight loss; which is part of fasting and important to know about – He can also speak to fasting in a healthy manner). The group is new and other experts are invited, I am hopeful they will join. So let’s join the group and see what we will learn about prayer and fasting. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/509149707741862

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace. Walk in wisdom.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

29 Nov 202228 Nov 2022

The Truth of our Testimony – 11-29-22

“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.” 3 John 1:11 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Third Book of John (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Greeting to Gaius

¹The Elder,

To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth:

²Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. ³For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. ⁴I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in ^[a]truth.

Gaius Commended for Generosity

⁵Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren ^[b]and for strangers, ⁶who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, ⁷because they went forth for His name’s sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. ⁸We therefore ought to receive^[c] such, that we may become fellow workers for the truth.

Diotrephes and Demetrius

⁹I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. ¹⁰Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating^[d] against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.

¹¹Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, ^[e]but he who does evil has not seen God.

¹²Demetrius has a good testimony from all, and from the truth itself. And we also ^[f]bear witness, and you know that our testimony is true.

Farewell Greeting

¹³I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and ink; ¹⁴but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face.

Peace to you. Our friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Colossians 4:2 –

“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

We have discussed the drama happening in the churches in Ephesus and how a group of people renounced Christ and started trying to recruit others from the church to split off and go with them.
John sent a letter to EVERYONE to address it and encourage their faith. He sent a second letter (we read yesterday to the leader of the house church (it seems) these people broke off from. And today we have a third letter written to Gaius, who was a member in another house church in Ephesus. The group Gaius was part of was led by a guy who disagreed publicly with the way John told them to handle this matter. This man made such a spectacle of his own drama that he was no better to the body of Christ than these false prophets.
John was sending missionaries and asks Gaius to house them because he was sure Gaius was able to keep them safe from all of the drama long enough to correct it.

This book is seldom preached from because it addresses very specific situation and circumstances – leaving very little by way of quotable verses and personal application (unless you are in the middle of a church split). And even then – all this really says is: ‘Hang tight! I am sending help!’

“¹The Elder, To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth: ²Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. ³For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. ⁴I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”

We could ALL learn from the way the first century church greeted each other – with hugs and (holy) kisses and spoken blessings, encouragement and compliments. I know plenty of people who walked into a church building this past weekend and were not greeted with a blessing and encouragement. I did hear a few compliments – but they were focused on attire and not spiritual attributes.
Another way of looking at it – are we living a life worthy of such a compliment? Are we walking in truth and have outward evidence of a prosperous soul?

John then commends Gaius of his generosity and says this is why he is selected to welcome the missionaries.

“⁵Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, ⁶who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, ⁷because they went forth for His name’s sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. ⁸We therefore ought to receivesuch, that we may become fellow workers for the truth.”

It is very possible the missionaries John sent are the very people handing them the letters. Talk about short notice. This would explain why John needed someone generous and lived a life that was ready for this sort of thing.
Gaius had one major concern: Diotrephes. You see, he is IN the church and KICKS OUT anyone helping John. So there is a very real chance that Gaius could be kicked out of the church for accepting these men John sends. I wish we had the rest of this story. Obviously Gaius took these men in. Did Diotrephes try to kick Gaius out of the church?

“⁹I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. ¹⁰Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, pratingagainst us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.”

Now we see reference to a letter. Was this the first letter (we read last week)? IS DIOTREPHES THE LEADER OF THE FALSE PROPHETS?! Gasp! This is juicy! However historian and scholars have also suggested it is another letter which has been lost to time.

“¹¹Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.”

John was standing next to Jesus when Jesus said: they will know we are believers by our love. AND John seems to be the only human on earth without a broken love concept – as a matter of fact, his concept of love is so whole and perfect that he is often called ‘The Lord’s Beloved’. The rest of us broken blokes (unless that is not you – then right on!) are on a journey of healing and learning. We need these reminders that our fruit, our love and God’s goodness reflected in us will bear witness of Christ – and if we are not these things, we’ve got a problem!

Demetrius almost had that problem! The ‘accuser of the brethren’ was apparently causing some to question Demetrius and what side he was on.

“¹²Demetrius has a good testimony from all, and from the truth itself. And we also bear witness, and you know that our testimony is true.”

Lucky for Demetrius – he walked out his Christianity in love and reflecting the goodness of God!

The word satan in Hebrew translate literally as the accuser. It is what he does. So when he accuses you, are you prepared with a good testimony?
Today, I learned a crazy lesson about accusations. Visiting with a friend, I was asked in confidence about a problem she was having with a mutual friend. Besides the obvious advice about going to her and not me (although she was coming for prayer, we searched the word, came up with the wording and that sort of thing – and she is at the point of needing a witness). Back on track – I hear accusations that astounded me and are completely contrary to the person I know. Now, I know one of the two of them is lying or communication was so broken down that it appeared to be a lie.
So we got together. And what I know for sure is that HE WHO ACCUSES IS OF THE DEVIL. Because that is his job! But it is not an accusation if it is true. We prayed and I played referee – keeping everyone on point and dealing with each hurt. We unpacked a bigger suitcase than we set out to unpack. I am sure this is no surprise to anyone.
Everyone owned their part. Everyone committed to praying for and blessing each other. Everyone confessed their lies and their truths and once in the light – it turns out they were all saying the same thing. It just sounded different with someone else’s voice. Turns out both of them had a good testimony and their testimonies went a long way towards clearing this up. If they were not already known to be godly women… this could have been handled differently.
And most shocking of all one little accusation could have caused me to separate myself for a godly women, if here testimony bore witness against her.

Are you following this? We went through a crying, praying, weep fest, of time consuming emotional soul work, only because her testimony was good and the accusation were contrary to it. If her testimony was bad it would justify us keeping a healthy distance with boundaries in place and address it through some form of authority.

This is what John is saying about Demetrius. It is time we maintain a good testimony – the accuser will not stop accusing.

“¹³I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and ink; ¹⁴but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face. Peace to you. Our friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.”

John closes saying to tell everyone he says hi – and he has more to say but he is not putting it in writing. I have not found any evidence that John made it to Gaius as he wanted in relation to this. From the year 64 to about 100 there are very few documents and historical evidence that survived. But the church lost Paul and Peter, then the fall of Jerusalem and the temple, and now John is getting old and a lot just did not come out of that time frame. There are writings, that are not canon, from the next generation that help show us where things progressed to as well as historical documents from Rome (and it’s literature) that can help us fill in some pieces of church history. But there is definitely more to this story and we do not have anymore.

***

28 Nov 202227 Nov 2022

This is Encouragement – 11-28-22

“This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.” 2 John 1:6 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Second Book of John (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Greeting the Elect Lady

¹The Elder,

To the ^[a]elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth, ²because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever:

³Grace, mercy, and peace will be with ^[b]you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

Walk in Christ’s Commandments

⁴I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father. ⁵And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another. ⁶This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.

Beware of Antichrist Deceivers

⁷For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. ⁸Look to yourselves, that ^[c]we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.

⁹Whoever ^[d]transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; ¹¹for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.

John’s Farewell Greeting

¹²Having many things to write to you, I did not wish to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.

¹³The children of your elect sister greet you. Amen.

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Colossians 4:2 –

“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Rome in the first century was a very patriarchal society. Jesus and the Apostles came through and shook up the societal norms. They said slaves (who were believers) were to be considered and treated as brothers – they broke down societal discrimination, age discrimination, race and religious discrimination (while holding firm on their being only one way to heaven), and gender discrimination. For all our advancements in our modern culture the church has regressed in their mindset of social hierarchy. For example a male pastor I know, shared a post about a female pastor and the revival happening at her camp meetings. (She is not the head pastor of any church – just an evangelist who has effective camp meetings wherever she is invited.) Immediately that pastor’s page blew up with comments, shares and controversy. It was shared and past to multiple unrelated Christian groups I am in on social media and crossed over to other platforms. AND to my surprise the majority of the comments were angry people who believe women should be silent in church. Do NOT use Paul letter to the Corinthians as a rebuttal to today’s reading – lest you say John and Paul contradict each other leaving the entire Bible on fallible ground. The Bible has no contradiction.

The King James Version translated the original scrolls into King James English during a time when women were seldom educated and couldn’t read. Women were seldom even permitted in ‘real’ churches in those days – but they could go to the small local country churches as long as they were silent. And even in that strongly patriarchal society – the men translating the book of Second John, did not change the gender of the Elect Lady, nor did they play down her election. Although specifically who this woman is leaves a lot to speculation is it believed that the three letters from John that we are reading now were carried at the same time to the churches in the area of Ephesus. Book on was a letter, reads more like a sermon, to ALL the churches. It seems a group has renounced Christ and John was writing to remind them of all they know – to hold fast to it and to not be led astray. And in such difficult times of division John focuses on LIGHT (aka truth) and LOVE! At the same time he is writing to this elect lady who seems to be the pastor of a church. (let’s remember the structure of these “churches” = there were people like Timothy and John who over saw a city or region of house churches… the house churches were the smaller local churches. I attend a local church, my pastor is also the head of all the pastors in the region in this denomination. It is a similar structure – we have changed which title goes to which position.) So the second letter is to a lady, leader – and her house church. It was written to her and her church, most likely because she was not getting enough support, because her little church was a target and greatly affected by these rebels who John called antichrists and false prophets in First John or because these rebels attended her church and came out of her church.
At the same time he ALSO wrote 3^rd John written to a man in another one of these house churches, because the head of his church was sympathetic to the ones who left the church and deny Christ. This man was encouraged and John was sending them missionaries to help them. (But that is tomorrows reading)

So before we jump into today’s reading – I refuse to speculate and argue scriptures about if women are or are not to lead churches, speak, or if they can even be called of, by God. It is ridiculously ignorant if you have actually read the text. Jesus called, delivered and relied on women to fund His ministry. Jesus can the apostles treated everyone as a soul and told EVERYONE to go ye therefore. I answered a call – it was not a conference call and you were not there. I know, that I know, that I know what Jesus told me, a woman, to do. I study to show myself approved. I share with you if you’d like to take a short cut to some of the wealth of information inside my head. God gave me a gift to learn it and explain it – I share it freely. Any issues need to be addressed with the complaints department – which is on your knees before your God. Who, by the way, literally says in scriptures to pray for blessings upon me!! I will happily accept the blessings and pray God sends all curses back where they came. Good luck.

Now – onto today’s reading:

“¹The Elder, To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth, ²because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever: ³Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.”

Although some believe this refers to a lady and her biological children – it was common to call the congregation of a small church group, children. It was from this tradition that the Catholic Church adopted “Father” for their leaders.

“⁴I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father. ⁵And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another. ⁶This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.”

As it is believed this letter was sent with the First John letter – we see how John is literally just pointing out which parts of the first letter are specific to her and her family (church).
Some think the deceivers and antichrists came out from her church while others feel she received a letter because the deceivers were targeting her church. Let’s look at the verses:

“⁷For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.”

“Have gone out into” seems to be the same regardless of translation and the Greek gives little insight. But the specific reminder to love (in the couple of verses before this) and the warning to keep themselves that follows and the reassurance that they are doing as they should be – does feel to me like it was her church that split and these disrupters are now targeting all the churches.

“⁸Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.”

John leaves no room for condemnation – only assurance and hope. We must learn to encourage ourselves and each other this way.
Let me use myself as an example. I just went through the biggest sales weekend of the year! And as I write this, I still have not reached my goal, my expectation, let alone my big faith number I held up to God and declared I would believe for. However this sales event doesn’t close until a couple days from when I am writing this. It is easy to get discouraged or self-condemning or doubting my own faith. It is even easier when ‘church people’ (who play the role of Job’s encouraging friends) say, don’t you think that should just be a hobby and it is time to go find a real job. (A job like one where I would be unable to spend the time I do devoted to God, reading/studying the word, and to you?! I do not think so – not until God himself tells me to move.)
If instead they were tender and loving like John – no condemnation. Just say, good job at sticking to this as God told you to even though it must be hard! Great job being a Christian. Imagine how my spirit could rise and with it force a testimony!! Instead – I fight through their discouragement and try not to get it on me. I stand on what God has told me to do and I do it with all that I have as unto Him. AND I STLL RISE UP IN TESTIMONY that despite the odds and even the believers being against me – MY GOD is a SOVEIRGN PROVIDER!
And I have help from a crazy believer friend who’s faith might be even more miraculous than mine. Who challenged me to believe for 50 NEW customers this Christmas shopping season – and is rejoicing over 2. Who is excited for what eye cannot see and ears cannot hear – for a time when I can fund complete ministries and send more people into the “Go ye therefore!” Who is teaching me about “there is therefore now no condemnation” and blocks those in my life who are like Job’s friends and reminds me to focus on not losing the things we worked for in the spirit – so we may receive a full reward!
God told me to bring her under my wing and disciple her – and in many ways I can offer her things she does not yet know… but Paul is very clear that in teaching he is taught. And I am taught many things by her.

“⁹Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; ¹¹for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.”

So what do we do about a church split – specifically one where the people leave because they reject Christ, and only come back to cause problems, divide further, and recruit people to come away with them? Do not let them in!

Modern churches invite witches in. Expect the pastor to save them. Same with Satanist, with atheists, and all manner of people. Have you seen the churches that let a drag queen lead worship?! Or lead the sermon?! Lord help us!
Historically the first century church had a greater evil besides these corrupted doctrines. The Roman Empire blamed the Jews and Christians for all sorts of things and persecuted them. Killed them like Paul did to Stephen…. later (just after this letter was written) entire house churches were raided and taken to the colosseum and killed for sport. Seriously they should not let traitors in!! And honestly – the body should be out there saving souls, not the pastor. Get your pastor off of social media and get him feeding the sheep – and not airing the dirty laundry. Get the outreach department onto social media with an evangelical message to save the lost. Put the locals up on there so the community can relate. Focus on your city instead of the world. And do not tolerate witches and Satanists and unrepentant drag queens in the church and definitely do not give them the mic!

“¹²Having many things to write to you, I did not wish to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, that our joy may be full. ¹³The children of your elect sister greet you. Amen.”

As we discussed with the First letter from John – he was thought to be on the Island of Patmos and imprisoned by the Romans when he is writing this. He was unable to write, because they Romans were too busy boiling him alive in oil and keeping him in damp unsanitary caves in a sulfur rich island that killed most of its prisoners.
Paul was in prison in Rome – AKA a rented house with an armed guard preventing him from running off. He had toilets and civilized amenities. John was chained in a cave with open wounds at almost 100 years old. Many speak of how easy John had it, because he lived a long time – but many forget that the beloved disciple suffered greatly – and still loved and tried to save his enemies as well as loving the church.

***

27 Nov 202226 Nov 2022

WEEKEND READING – 11-27-22

“When His lamp shone upon my head, And when by His light I walked through darkness;” Job 29:3 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Job chapters 29-30 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Job’s Summary Defense

29 Job further continued his discourse, and said:

²“Oh, that I were as in months past,
As in the days when God watched over me;
³When His lamp shone upon my head,
And when by His light I walked through darkness;
⁴Just as I was in the days of my prime,
When the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;
⁵When the Almighty was yet with me,
When my children were around me;
⁶When my steps were bathed with ^[a]cream,
And the rock poured out rivers of oil for me!

⁷“When I went out to the gate by the city,
When I took my seat in the open square,
⁸The young men saw me and hid,
And the aged arose and stood;
⁹The princes refrained from talking,
And put their hand on their mouth;
¹⁰The voice of nobles was hushed,
And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
¹¹When the ear heard, then it blessed me,
And when the eye saw, then it approved me;
¹²Because I delivered the poor who cried out,
The fatherless and the one who had no helper.
¹³The blessing of a perishing man came upon me,
And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
My justice was like a robe and a turban.
¹⁵I was eyes to the blind,
And I was feet to the lame.
¹⁶I was a father to the poor,
And I searched out the case that I did not know.
¹⁷I broke the fangs of the wicked,
And plucked the victim from his teeth.

¹⁸“Then I said, ‘I shall die in my nest,
And multiply my days as the sand.
¹⁹My root is spread out to the waters,
And the dew lies all night on my branch.
²⁰My glory is fresh within me,
And my bow is renewed in my hand.’

²¹“Men listened to me and waited,
And kept silence for my counsel.
²²After my words they did not speak again,
And my speech settled on them as dew.
²³They waited for me as for the rain,
And they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain.
²⁴If I mocked at them, they did not believe it,
And the light of my countenance they did not cast down.
²⁵I chose the way for them, and sat as chief;
So I dwelt as a king in the army,
As one who comforts mourners.

Job’s Wealth Now Poverty

30 “But now they mock at me, men ^[b]younger than I,
Whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock.
²Indeed, what profit is the strength of their hands to me?
Their vigor has perished.
³They are gaunt from want and famine,
Fleeing late to the wilderness, desolate and waste,
⁴Who pluck ^[c]mallow by the bushes,
And broom tree roots for their food.
⁵They were driven out from among men,
They shouted at them as at a thief.
⁶They had to live in the clefts of the ^[d]valleys,
In ^[e]caves of the earth and the rocks.
⁷Among the bushes they brayed,
Under the nettles they nestled.
⁸They were sons of fools,
Yes, sons of vile men;
They were scourged from the land.

⁹“And now I am their taunting song;
Yes, I am their byword.
¹⁰They abhor me, they keep far from me;
They do not hesitate to spit in my face.
¹¹Because He has loosed ^[f]my bowstring and afflicted me,
They have cast off restraint before me.
¹²At my right hand the rabble arises;
They push away my feet,
And they raise against me their ways of destruction.
¹³They break up my path,
They promote my calamity;
They have no helper.
¹⁴They come as broad breakers;
Under the ruinous storm they roll along.
¹⁵Terrors are turned upon me;
They pursue my honor as the wind,
And my prosperity has passed like a cloud.

¹⁶“And now my soul is poured out because of my plight;
The days of affliction take hold of me.
¹⁷My bones are pierced in me at night,
And my gnawing pains take no rest.
¹⁸By great force my garment is disfigured;
It binds me about as the collar of my coat.
¹⁹He has cast me into the mire,
And I have become like dust and ashes.

²⁰“I cry out to You, but You do not answer me;
I stand up, and You regard me.
²¹But You have become cruel to me;
With the strength of Your hand You oppose me.
²²You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride on it;
You spoil my success.
²³For I know that You will bring me to death,
And to the house appointed for all living.

²⁴“Surely He would not stretch out His hand against a heap of ruins,
If they cry out when He destroys it.
²⁵Have I not wept for him who was in trouble?
Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
²⁶But when I looked for good, evil came to me;
And when I waited for light, then came darkness.
²⁷^[g]My heart is in turmoil and cannot rest;
Days of affliction confront me.
²⁸I go about mourning, but not in the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.
²⁹I am a brother of jackals,
And a companion of ostriches.
³⁰My skin grows black and falls from me;
My bones burn with fever.
³¹My harp is turned to mourning,
And my flute to the voice of those who weep.

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Philippians 1:6

“being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

26 Nov 202225 Nov 2022

WEEKEND READING – 11-26-22

“Then He saw wisdom and declared it; He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out. And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, And to depart from evil is understanding.’ ” Job 28:27-28 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Job chapters 27-28 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Job Maintains His Integrity

27 Moreover Job continued his discourse, and said:

²“As God lives, who has taken away my justice,
And the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
³As long as my breath is in me,
And the breath of God in my nostrils,
⁴My lips will not speak wickedness,
Nor my tongue utter deceit.
⁵Far be it from me
That I should say you are right;
Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
⁶My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go;
My heart shall not ^[a]reproach me as long as I live.

⁷“May my enemy be like the wicked,
And he who rises up against me like the unrighteous.
⁸For what is the hope of the hypocrite,
Though he may gain much,
If God takes away his life?
⁹Will God hear his cry
When trouble comes upon him?
¹⁰Will he delight himself in the Almighty?
Will he always call on God?

¹¹“I will teach you ^[b]about the hand of God;
What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
¹²Surely all of you have seen it;
Why then do you behave with complete nonsense?

¹³“This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
And the heritage of oppressors, received from the Almighty:
¹⁴If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword;
And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
¹⁵Those who survive him shall be buried in death,
And their^[c] widows shall not weep,
¹⁶Though he heaps up silver like dust,
And piles up clothing like clay—
¹⁷He may pile it up, but the just will wear it,
And the innocent will divide the silver.
¹⁸He builds his house like a ^[d]moth,
Like a ^[e]booth which a watchman makes.
¹⁹The rich man will lie down,
^[f]But not be gathered up;
He opens his eyes,
And he is no more.
²⁰Terrors overtake him like a flood;
A tempest steals him away in the night.
²¹The east wind carries him away, and he is gone;
It sweeps him out of his place.
²²It hurls against him and does not spare;
He flees desperately from its ^[g]power.
²³Men shall clap their hands at him,
And shall hiss him out of his place.

Job’s Discourse on Wisdom

28 “Surely there is a mine for silver,
And a place where gold is refined.
²Iron is taken from the ^[h]earth,
And copper is smelted from ore.
³Man puts an end to darkness,
And searches every recess
For ore in the darkness and the shadow of death.
⁴He breaks open a shaft away from people;
In places forgotten by feet
They hang far away from men;
They swing to and fro.
⁵As for the earth, from it comes bread,
But underneath it is turned up as by fire;
⁶Its stones are the source of sapphires,
And it contains gold dust.
⁷That path no bird knows,
Nor has the falcon’s eye seen it.
⁸The ^[i]proud lions have not trodden it,
Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.
⁹He puts his hand on the flint;
He overturns the mountains ^[j]at the roots.
¹⁰He cuts out channels in the rocks,
And his eye sees every precious thing.
¹¹He dams up the streams from trickling;
What is hidden he brings forth to light.

¹²“But where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
¹³Man does not know its value,
Nor is it found in the land of the living.
¹⁴The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
¹⁵It cannot be purchased for gold,
Nor can silver be weighed for its price.
¹⁶It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx or sapphire.
¹⁷Neither gold nor crystal can equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for ^[k]jewelry of fine gold.
¹⁸No mention shall be made of ^[l]coral or quartz,
For the price of wisdom is above rubies.
¹⁹The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰“From where then does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
²¹It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
And concealed from the birds of the ^[m]air.
²²Destruction^[n] and Death say,
‘We have heard a report about it with our ears.’
²³God understands its way,
And He knows its place.
²⁴For He looks to the ends of the earth,
And sees under the whole heavens,
²⁵To establish a weight for the wind,
And apportion the waters by measure.
²⁶When He made a law for the rain,
And a path for the thunderbolt,
²⁷Then He saw ^[o]wisdom and declared it;
He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out.
²⁸And to man He said,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
And to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Philippians 1:6

“being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

25 Nov 202223 Nov 2022

Doing the Painful Work in Victory – 11-25-22

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” John 5:14-15 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the First Book of John, chapter 5 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Obedience by Faith

5 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. ²By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. ³For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. ⁴For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—^[a]our faith. ⁵Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

The Certainty of God’s Witness

⁶This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. ⁷For there are three that bear witness ^[b]in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. ⁸And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.

⁹If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of ^[c]God which He has testified of His Son. ¹⁰He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. ¹¹And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ¹²He who has the Son has ^[d]life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. ¹³These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, ^[e]and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

Confidence and Compassion in Prayer

¹⁴Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

¹⁶If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. ¹⁷All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.

Knowing the True—Rejecting the False

¹⁸We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps^[f] ^[g]himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.

¹⁹We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

²¹Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Colossians 4:2 –

“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

**All verses below this point are in the Berean Study Bible Version**

While it is wise to take advantage of the discounts on Black Friday and it can be a fun day out shopping with family for many people, we must be careful not to fall into the trap of materialism. Especially after having victory yesterday with our families. Please take a quick moment, today, to read and hear from God.
And by victory I mean, even if you have a great relationship with your family, you’ve maintained it. Even if you have a bad relationship and there was no resolution you can still give glory to God and thank Him, knowing He is still sovereign and He works all things for the good, regardless of what your human eyes see. God is BIGGER than our own shortcomings and failures, so if you have failed to be Christlike even though you have tried, repent (apologize to people if need be) and bathe in GRACE knowing God can still use it for His glory!

Overcoming the world is a process. We haven’t discussed it yet. We have focused on behavior modification, like don’t sin (which is obvious) and actually be bold and do what we are supposed to do (which only seems obvious when it is said) – AND we know ONLY GOD and GRACE can transform a person – but HOW DO WE ACCESS THAT CHANGE? How do we reach the transformative power of grace and have an experience? How do we overcome?
First of all, I have testified over and over of my experience with grace. Honestly, while I was in it there was no blinding light. There was no tingling. There was no sensation, lightness, relief, burning, or anything. I walked away changed and I failed to even see or recognize the change that happened. HOWEVER, once I began to move in God, I looked back and I see what a radical experience it was and how the comforter came and comforted me in a way that was not of this world and anointing broke chains and grace made me a new creature.
I am explaining this because many time God is a still small voice that has a radical impact, we can only see in hindsight. But in the moment and the moments after we are changed if we see it or not. This type of change is most common and results in a transformation that make sinning harder to do and makes doing God’s will easier. It is the missing piece. We cannot teach behavior modification without dealing with our issues and healing our human hurts, in our souls.
The holidays stir all that up for any people, so it is a great time to unpack it all at the foot of the cross and ask God for radical healing. It is possible to overcome!!

“¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves those born of Him.”

Listen, I can talk a lot about all of this – but it does NO GOOD if you won’t do the work. Have you been struggling to love you family? Ya know that is dysfunctional. You know that just because they are also dysfunctional does not mean you have to be. So, take the time and look at your internal lover and ask God to show you why it’s not loving. Unforgiveness? Resentment? Lies? Demonic strongholds that need to be renounced and broken? You’ve heard Jesus tell the story of how you cannot come into a house to pillage unless the strong man is first bound. You are the House and Jesus is the strongman inside – the devil and demons have NOT authority inside Jesus’s house! Jesus overcame them by His love for us and we too overcome by love – unconditional, no string attached, regardless of hurt type of love. Jesus loves them – so why don’t we and how can we be Christlike unless we love?

“²By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments. ³For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome, ⁴because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.”

This is not a time for fake it until you make it. This is a time for pulling these things out by the roots and making a mess – then cleaning it up. This is a time for great faith – the kind of faith that lead you here. You cannot help others until you deal with the thing in your own eye.

“⁵Who then overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. ⁶This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ—not by water alone, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies to this, because the Spirit is the truth. ⁷For there are three that testify: ⁸the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are in agreement.”

OK, friends. I cannot help you do this deep work. If you believe this, then you know you were made in the image of God – you were made for community. God is three in one. Here we see three witnesses. Moses had Aaron and Herr. It is time for you to grab your team. You MUST walk out into the light. God to those two others and be open and honest. Go to the two others and left the support you, pray for you, hold you accountable, be in the light with you. If you are married, then one of those two is your spouse. (That should help you narrow down who they are.)
Then unpack those areas of struggle, talk about your families problems with them, you problems with them and keep no secrets – all in the light. Then, with the help of others you can begin to overcome and heal.

John knows some things hit differently once you do the work. Once you let your soul heal – like our testimony of Christ:

“⁹Even if we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is greater. For this is the testimony that God has given about His Son. ¹⁰Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him; whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son.
¹¹And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ¹²Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

Not to mention, our discernment and ability to know who is dark and who is in the light is strengthened. We can still love those in the dark – Jesus loves them and died for them too. Just because light has no fellowship with darkness does not mean you cannot have a holiday with a group of sinners. It does mean you MUST love them as Jesus did.

“¹³I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Look all these warning about NOT being saved have been written to those who believe. Do not let the skeletons in your closet be authority and legal grounds for the demons to rob you of it without you even discerning it! This is a warning to believers – Not to your unsaved relatives. They are supposed to be a hot mess – They need Jesus!!! You have Jesus, you are supposed to be doing the work to NOT be a hot mess!

“¹⁴And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess what we have asked of Him.”

You cannot have that confidence with a sin problem. Or with a demon problem. Or with a selfishness problem. Or with a wound, unforgiveness, hatred, etc. etc. You want the kind of effective faith that is confident? Own you stuff and work WITH God and friends to fix it. Break up the hardened parts of your heart!

“¹⁶If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he should ask God, who will give life to those who commit this kind of sin. There is a sin that leads to death; I am not saying he should ask regarding that sin. ¹⁷All unrighteousness is sin, yet there is sin that does not lead to death.”

Once we fix our own wounds – sin issues resolve and we love others so much we intercede for them! NOW we are in the right order!! Then the family gathering at Christmas will be much better than yesterday was! (EVEN for those of you who had a pretty good time!)

“¹⁸We know that anyone born of God does not keep on sinning; the One who was born of God protects him, and the evil one cannot touch him. ¹⁹We know that we are of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one. ²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. ²¹Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”

We forget that we really have NO NEED for teachers, if we are open and soft and able to be taught by the Holy Spirit. (But even then, it is good to read or listen to good teachings – God does provide them.) But it is important to recognize that the Holy Spirit is STILL the only one who bring revelation. And that Jesus intend to give us understanding – of all thing… in a loving new perspective that we have not seen before.

If you do this soul work – you will experience your own pain, yes. But it will heal, quickly. And THEN, you will understand the pain of others and their desire to hide it like you did out of shame, avoidance, regret, fear, etc. You will gain understanding – it is all a lesson that God wants to use for His glory to grow you into an effective intercessor and so you take action and go, fill their needs, hold up the arms of someone who might be fighting a battle like Moses was. To minister, to love – to be the example of Christ this dying world needs. And you will not go out of obedience – but because the little lover deep inside you have been repaired and is able to love others.

Join us this weekend for some weekend reading, presented without discussion, from the wisdom books – we are in the book of Job. Then we will return Monday with the Second letter from John.

***

24 Nov 202223 Nov 2022

Happy Thanksgiving – 11-24-22

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the First Book of John, chapter 4 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Love for God and One Another

4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ²By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, ³and every spirit that does not confess ^[^a^]that Jesus ^[^b^]Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

⁴You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. ⁵They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. ⁶We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Knowing God Through Love

⁷Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Seeing God Through Love

¹²No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. ¹³By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. ¹⁵Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

The Consummation of Love

¹⁷Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. ¹⁸There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. ¹⁹We love ^[^c^]Him because He first loved us.

Obedience by Faith

²⁰If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, ^[^d^]how can he love God whom he has not seen? ²¹And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Colossians 4:2 –

“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I know most of you are not from the USA – but here I am in New York State, USA and today it Thanksgiving. We have taken the universal harvest festival idea and made a national holiday to thank God for a good harvest. In our modern world, all that remains of this original concept is a huge feast.
Once a long time ago, families harvested together and took part in the feast together. Now family is obliged to visit and make nice regardless of pain, hurt, dysfunction and inability to harvest together. Normalized dysfunction is still dysfunction, it doesn’t really matter if it is normal. Many people have had to make rules of engagement to keep healthy boundaries. As the family unit has fallen apart. These are all signs of the attack on the family unit. And I cannot fix something in my generation that was begin 2 or 3 generations ago with people who are now dead, but their dysfunction is carried on ignorantly in darkness. If you cannot bring it to the light to be dealt with – love and healing for the people and cast out the demons, then nothing will change. We all say we want God to move, but when He starts to and He isn’t doing what we expected, we say “Not like that!” and shut Him down. It will not look like we want.

Besides the people end of things, there is the spiritual end of thing and false doctrines and false teachers and prophets who have brought in corruption – or maybe it came in by humanism or modernism or some other antichrist spirit parading around as an ‘ism.

Today, is going to be a tough day for many.

Lord Jesus, thank you for a day to be thankful and help us keep our eyes on gratitude to you and not on the distraction of this world. Thank you for each of our families and we know you can work all the pain and hurt for your glory and we give to you our portion. Help us to also own our part of the mess and apologize and bless others. We give you permission and even ask you to go before us. Be seen in each of us. And work through us. Let us sit down in peace, love, forgiveness, healing and most of all thanksgiving! Now Lord Jesus, we dig into the word for your help for today – we ask for your voice to speak clearly to us. We thank you for it. In the name of Jesus we pray ~amen

We ask for His help and today He gives us how to spot the corrupted, false spirits and love to people. Then John moves on to point 2 which is love and point 3 which is love and well – Thank God for Love! I think it is pretty clear that we must love today.

“¹ Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ²By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, ³and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.”

Last week I went to a Christian Conference and there was deliverances that happened at the conference. Glory to God. It was a great time. The speaker took this verse literal! So as part of a test to see if you are demonized (under the influence of demons, strongholds, etc.) he asked if there is a demon in you to answer and confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh and is of God as well as other similar questions. Besides being able to participate I was able to watch as well. So I saw MANY people freed. One man leading a prayer team asked the question in his own words and NOT word for word as everyone else did. The answer was not a simple yes or no – it was a quote from the Bible:
“You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” James 2:19 NKJV
Sneaky little gremlins, aren’t they. They thought they could hide behind scripture. Luckily, the prayer team realized it was there and cast it out.
They believe and could answer that they believe – but every question of confession, they could not confess Him. Pay attention at the table today – in your life and in your church. People you do not see often can appear to be living righteous – but they cannot maintain a lie. God has woke you and I up so we can now see clearly through testing the spirits. No discernment needed, but if you have that gift it is even better.

“⁴You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

Some of us are going into the den of wolves – or are inviting over a hungry pack of wolves. I will be the only believer at my table today and God is miraculously feeding people who have burned bridges due to addiction and sin, and have no place to go. Pray for me. However, there will be more in my house for me than against me! There will be companies of angels at the ready.

And you – there are more with you than against you. Jesus alone is enough because He has overcome the world – but our God is a God of exceeding abundance and therefore we also have our company of angels!

“⁵They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. ⁶We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

First let’s address today. Today is probably not a day to be chatty if you are surrounded by unbelievers. If you are surrounded by believers, you might still want to be reserved and pay attention. You will learn a lot about waling in the spirit when you pay attention to these spiritual clues. John tells us to pay attention to them, how people speak and if they accept or reject you.

Next up – Ever been completely misunderstood when you are in the flow of the spirit? I have. To spare them embarrassment I ask someone to translate me, as if I was not speaking English correctly. The truth is NO ONE can accurately interpret because they CANNOT hear.
I once went to a church where every time I spoke no one understood what I was saying or they couldn’t hear me. It was surreal and literal. My friends would try to interpret for me – never worked. I soon learned that they were not of God. It was a very sad thing.
I once went and visited a church, and I could not hear one lady. It was weird and I pretended to have a hard time hearing everything – It was just that one person. Pay attention. “By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error”.

Thankfully the answer to it all is LOVE. Knowing God who is love and loving through God.

“⁷Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

That is a great few verses to hold onto when around non-believers. Testify of God’s love in your life and how it can change theirs. But the truth is – only the hearts that God has prepared will understand and be changed. Most will not hear.

“¹²No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. ¹³By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. ¹⁵Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”

And when we testify and share Jesus – we must do it in deep love. Love that we are walking in and living in. It cannot be faked.

“¹⁷Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. ¹⁸There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. ¹⁹We love Him because He first loved us.”

It is love that draws people to God – not fear of heal. Do not use the enemy’s tools to fight for souls!

“²⁰If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? ²¹And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”

And own you part – if you hold unforgiveness, hate, resentment, etc. against your brother, sister, mother, etc. you need to own your trash and clear that up. Make it right today if you see them or hear from them.

You and I came here for the Love and Grace – do not rob others of it and make them think your God is NOT what He says He is. God will deal hardly with you if you misrepresent Him. So today I will focus on showing love and not speaking too much. What is your strategy?

***

23 Nov 202223 Nov 2022

Can we just do it? – 11-23-22

“My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the First Book of John, chapter 3 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

The Command to Love

3 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of ^[a]God! Therefore the world does not know ^[b]us, because it did not know Him. ²Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. ³And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Sin and the Child of God

⁴Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. ⁵And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. ⁶Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

⁷Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. ⁸He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. ⁹Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

The Imperative of Love

¹⁰In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. ¹¹For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, ¹²not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.

¹³Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. ¹⁴We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love ^[c]his brother abides in death. ¹⁵Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

The Outworking of Love

¹⁶By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. ¹⁷But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

¹⁸My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. ¹⁹And by this we ^[d]know that we are of the truth, and shall ^[e]assure our hearts before Him. ²⁰For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. ²¹Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. ²²And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. ²³And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave ^[f]us commandment.

The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error

²⁴Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Colossians 4:2 –

“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

As we progress towards a holiday here in the USA (I know many of you are not from the US and do not celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday) but I will be becoming more and more busy. So I will attempt to be more brief. Although lately when I say I want to give a brief word the Holy Spirit takes the opportunity for a good laugh and fills me with many words. No promises, this week – I love you and my flesh will try.

Originally I was planning on taking Thanksgiving off for rest. Just me and Jesus. My son doesn’t usually come home for Thanksgiving anyway – so it is a nice quiet day for me. UNTIL… a friend asked me what I was doing for the holiday and I said I was doing nothing unless God filled my house with needy people – well, now the head count is up to 10. I guess God had other plans. And to testify: a friend offered to pay for the meal. God is so good. So I will need to clean and meal prep and all that jazz.
I was looking on Facebook at my memories and at Thanksgivings of the past. There were a few with friends and full of love – but what stood out to me was the change of my heart over the year and my love for those who are not friends. It is easy to love my friends, fellow brothers and sisters, it is another thing to love stranger, like Christ would.

“¹ Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.”

And sometimes what is even harder to learn and grow in is the fact that He loves us and calls us His.
The world does not know us – especially the old patriarchal concept of ownership implied through his. The slave / owner concept of a human owning a human. Our modern world has looked at the corruption and decline and says we can do better – but I think we might have thrown the baby out with the bath water! Seriously, we should revisit the Biblical ‘ownership’. Once upon a time a woman could say that is MY husband and because he was hers he could not give to others, what he was to give to her. Now a days, nothing is sacred. And yes – I fully think spiritually this older version of ownership had a different meaning that brings depth, security, and unconditional love to a relationship.

I am glad that I am His! It is Hid deep amazing love that makes me His child! Ask the Lord for the deep revelation of this kind of tender love that make us His, with the implied ownership.

“²Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. ³And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

You see once we understand that – remove the corruption from the world – we long for this way of being that we cannot see yet or even understand. All we know is this indescribable peace that compels us to be pure and live right.

“⁴Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. ⁵And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. ⁶Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.”

Without the revelation we are not compelled, or transformed and we continue in sin and darkness, without the light of the deep understanding. We cannot move past verse one today, until we know love.

“⁷Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.”

This is pretty clear.
Now I know some unrighteous people can put on a show of righteousness for a temporary time – but a lie cannot be maintained for long.

“⁸He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. ⁹Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.”

I remember reading this as a teen and thought – cool! Now it is impossible for me to sin. Boy was I sad when I realized I could still sin. It’s a real thing. And when I did sin I could feel shame and remorse and separation and a desire to repent to make it right and get back into right standing. And that helped me not sin as much.
Then there were sin struggles attached to demons and I had to be delivered from addiction, and other things and as I broke free of that and had the transformative experience with grace – sin lost more of its hold on me. And when you are not in bondage to sins, and you alone are responsible it is merely a matter of choosing not to sin. I do not believe we are ever perfect – But I do believe we can be free from the pull and able to not sin.

“¹⁰In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. ¹¹For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, ¹²not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.”

If you have been around, you know I fully believe we have entered a time of judgement and God is shaking everything – and if you do not feel a shaking you probably have already been shaken to the ground and probably should work on getting back into right relationship with Christ. Besides myself – many other have read the word of God, understand the signs of our time and therefore can apply the word of God in relation to this judgment. The shaking of the wheat and the tares, and the sheep from the sheep from the goats. Light cannot be with darkness and the world has been too gray for too long. There is a line being drawn, worlds being broken apart, and people being separated.
John says the Children of God will manifest light, love, and Christ-like works. And he says the children of the devil are all who are not behaving like Christ. This is not to condemn you, but to wake you up and shake the gray off of you, if there is any. Here is the awful truth: I came back to God and I laid hands on the sick and I cast out demons and I did all the things Jesus did. Then I was told I was wrong and I needed more understanding and that grace could not coat the work of the Lord. I was told to stop swinging my sword around all willy-nilly – in hindsight, some casual Christian were afraid they’d become casualties by my sword (and they still might if they do not let go of the hem of the enemies lies)! I was told I needed to wait to be loosed and anointed and appointed and ceremoniously released. JESUS NEVER ASKS FOR CEREMONY! Never do anything ceremoniously – there is room for the enemy in ceremony!! A wise mentor said to me: “God will send you sick people. Your job is to find them and lay hands on them and pray for them. God’s job is to heal them. He may do it instantly, most likely he will not, because you must continue to press in.”
It was like Jedi training camp. And the first one manifested in demons and let me pray but would not receive. It was wild! Then the next one was easier and easier. I asked my mentor why God sent me a demoniac first and she did not know. Oh I am getting off topic… the point is: Christian’s lay hands on the sick. Christians quote scriptures and swing their swords. Christians cast out demons in the name of Jesus. Signs and wonders follow those who believe.

“¹³Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. ¹⁴We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. ¹⁵Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”

Unforgiveness is also a form of hate and murder. It gives demons authority to hold you in chains. It give demons access to your life and family – it murders your life and your family! That there is a hard truth. It can remove your name from The Lambs Book of Life. Why do you think Jesus was so big on forgiveness? In the Lord’s Prayer – some have even taught that there is a direct correlation between the amount of forgiveness you give and the amount you receive. And I disagree – I think we receive forgiveness from God in a disproportionate amount – meaning we are forgiven SO MUCH MORE than we are ever asked to forgive!
Jesus laid down His life for me, born of sin and has participated in sin, and I am only asked to forgive someone for saying hurtful things. Perspective makes it so much easier to forgive. I may have been abused, but I abused grace with my abounding sin struggles and lack of love. In perspective it is easy to not only forgive but to love and bless others.

“¹⁶By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. ¹⁷But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?”

It just keeps coming back to if we are Christians then we should be doing it. If we are not doing it – there is NOTHING wrong with Christianity. There is something wrong with us.

“¹⁸My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”

As many of us arrange to see family, people we need to forgive – let us remember to NOT ONLY forgive, but to love them. AND not by saying it – but by showing it. Ask God what you can do to show God’s love to them.

“¹⁹And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. ²⁰For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.”

If our hearts condemn us? Yes, besides the enemy accusing us – we do his job for him and accuse ourselves. If we have this time of guilt, shame or self-accusations show up in the form of condemnation it is because we deep down know we can do better, we should do better, and we are called to do better and have thus far failed. It is time to do better.

Our failure breaks our confidence in God – NOT because God is not faithful and firm. But because we have put up a wall prohibiting us from receive access.

“²¹Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. ²²And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. ²³And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.”

Close the gates to the enemy but keep the gate to Christ wide open, by keeping a clean conscience – by doing the things we are told.

“²⁴Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”

Trust the process and let Jesus be the Lord of your life – then live it.

***

22 Nov 202222 Nov 2022

We Know This Stuff – 11-22-22

“But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.” 1 John 2:27 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the First Book of John, chapter 2 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

The Test of Knowing Christ

2 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ²And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

The Test of Knowing Him

³Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God ^[a]is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. ⁶He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

⁷^[b]Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard ^[c]from the beginning. ⁸Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

⁹He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. ¹⁰He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. ¹¹But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Their Spiritual State

¹²I write to you, little children,
Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.
¹³I write to you, fathers,
Because you have known Him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
Because you have overcome the wicked one.
I write to you, little children,
Because you have known the Father.
¹⁴I have written to you, fathers,
Because you have known Him who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men,
Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you,
And you have overcome the wicked one.

Do Not Love the World

¹⁵Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. ¹⁷And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Deceptions of the Last Hour

¹⁸Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the^[d] Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. ¹⁹They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

²⁰But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you^[e] know all things. ²¹I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

²²Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. ²³Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Let Truth Abide in You

²⁴Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

²⁶These things I have written to you concerning those who try to ^[f]deceive you. ²⁷But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you ^[g]will abide in Him.

The Children of God

²⁸And now, little children, abide in Him, that ^[h]when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. ²⁹If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Colossians 4:2 –

“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Those of us who have been around the Christian world for a while have heard the verses that tell us to test the spirits – Paul, Luke and John have all given us instructions to do so. Often times in churches and reading we are told to do something but not given good instruction on how. It makes since that we should test the spirits and see if it is God or not. But how do we and when do we? I am learning I do not test them often enough, something I make an assumption and that leads to doubt. And since God WANTS us to test, God is happy to provide clear and loud – obvious answers. The confirmations never need to be tested as they prove themselves. Let me give you an example:
As I told you I went to a conference an God did a million things in my life and I will be talking about it for a while (sorry, not sorry). I know many things I experienced were to make me a better teacher, so I have my own experience and not just head knowledge (and many things were for my reproof and correction and there was even an extraction of a demon or more and SO MANY GLORY TO GOD things). I am very busy this season, sales are picking up a little praise the Lord (and keep praying they are not yet where I need them to be), and I have Pre-black Friday Sales and Black Friday Sales, and sales just to keep up the excitement and sales, etc. etc. Lots of energy, lots of excitement, AND cleaning for company on Thanksgiving. AND prepping for thanksgiving. AND 3 long days away in a conference. AND late night up catching up on emails and correspondence because of being away for 3 days. And a godly woman in my life says: you need a day of rest. I tell her not to worry, I have Sunday. I was not going to work on Sunday and go to church and then start the thanksgiving prep and then go visiting and then and then and then… so that will be my day of rest. She strongly encouraged me to take a day still, praying, worshiping, thinking on Jesus, maybe even napping, and rest. I thanked her for her wisdom. Older people always are so smart, but I know it is restful to get responsibilities done, then they are not looming over you waiting to be completed. I kept my plans the same. Lesson one is to test the spirits and I failed to even wonder if it was a God message or if it was a kind older woman’s wisdom.
The last day of the conference, the altar call, I told you yesterday how I blindly had to walk to the altar being led by a stranger – it was NOT an activity everyone did, just me. After all was said and done, and I was about to head back to my seat, the man added on that I should take a day off to bask in God’s presence. To rest in Him. To NOT ask for anything. Just be with Him. I said you just confirmed what this lady said to me. Lesson learned: I do not test enough. Lesson 2 learned: test the spirits, test if it is the voice of God, test if the person giving it is a person of God.

I know of one teen who often questions her salvation. This is something many young believers do and as we will see in today’s reading there is a test for that as well. Testing is something we should be doing. As time passes believers should be growing and should stop questioning the foundational salvation – if they are still questioning, there might be a spirit problem and we should do more testing.

The first test is the test of salvation. Why don’t we do it along with John in our reading – are you saved? If you say no or do not know, or if there is hesitation, or if there are other things making you say no or doubt your eternal salvation in Christ, with Him in Heaven – the first step is to be honest about it with yourself. Step two, read this:

“¹ My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ²And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”

Do you believe it? Jesus is the propitiation or the substitute – He died so we do not have to. All we need to do is confess our sins – bring stuff into the light. We can ask for forgiveness for only the things we acknowledge – and with forgiveness comes cleansing and mercy. Then we can turn away from doing those sins again – and with the help of the Holy Spirit we are able to succeed in not sinning.
This is a long process for most of us. AND Jesus told us to repent daily, because He knows it is a long process and God is merciful – He works on us on a few sins at a time. We will fall down – but we must get back up and try again as many times as it take until we succeed. Do not buy the lie that since we always have some sort of sin, it is not worth it, because it IS possible to not sin in our corrupted bodies (read verse one again!) – it is impossible to not have ever sinned (except for Jesus).
I have heard it preached that when you overcome sinning, God takes you to heaven – I have found NO Biblical evidence for that. People who learn not to sin are rare and never point it out so I am sure it is hard to identify them. But they have learned things that John knew – and they are valuable teacher for us. I am SURE God lets us keep them to learn from.
Now that we understand that all a little better. Take a moment to ask Jesus to save you or to rededicate your life to Him. Confess to Him your sins and if you have sins you struggle with bring them into the light and confess them to someone who can hold you accountable. Ask for forgiveness and help to never do those sins again. (Do it right now – before you keep reading.) Then put todays date down somewhere you will have it – like inside the front cover of your Bible. So if you ever doubt again, you can look at it and see it and know – without ceremony of religion, you simply entered into a relationship with Jesus and now have committed yourself to work on that relationship daily, going forward.
Every time I feel I was separated and had a breakthrough I rededicate my life to Him. Not in a ceremonious way or anything. God DOES NOT want that. He wants it real and raw and honest. In my mind I equate it to… ya know when you have a fight with your spouse and after you make up, you bring flowers or you go out on a special date to a fancy restaurant and you know you’ll fight again and you pray you’ll work it through again – but you want to promise it will never happen again… you want to recommit your love? Do you know that feeling? That is what a rededication can be like. It doesn’t need a doubt of your salvation – it could be a breakthrough and a moment of closer intimacy with Jesus.

Remember that teenager I spoke of above – she was giving herself to Jesus daily, she was just so unsure. But there is a second test that John says, and she passes this test with flying colors. (So we can tell her she is saved, but work on whatever is causing her to doubt it.) This second test is:

“³Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

Did you read this? If you or I or other people DO NOT do the things Jesus commanded we do, we are a liar and the truth is not in us. If you just gave your heart to the Lord and have not yet walked out the process: First – PRAISE THE LORD! And Welcome to the Kingdom Community. Keep your eyes on Jesus and not us, we are all a mess and need Him just as much as you do! Second – find out what Jesus said and did and do that. Find out what Jesus said to do and do that. Then find out about how the apostles acted like Christ and do that! And you’ll be fine all the days of your walk with God!

“⁵But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. ⁶He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”

Here is a sad truth. Jesus said love, if you do not love – you might need to rewind and go back to set one of falling into alignment with your salvation – which comes by having a relationship with Jesus. People in relationships begin to act like each other – act like Christ. Recommit and start fresh, submit to the will of God.
Another example, if you aren’t testifying of His goodness in your life, you are not keeping to a task Jesus has told us to do. We should be more grateful and excited that Jesus was good to us (met a need, opened a door, brought comfort and peace, etc.) than we are embarrassed to speak to people about it. They might think you are a Jesus freak – and hopefully you are! Now, the first time you don’t testify, you aren’t losing your salvation, and it is not a sign that you aren’t saved. But testifying is not a task you need to wait for God to prompt you to do. You should just do it – to everyone. Work on your gratitude and open your eyes to the mighty things He does for you every day. However, if you never share, ever… then you are in a wrong place and I do question your salvation.
Same for those without joy, same for those living in open un-repented sin, and same for those who refuse to read the Word of God (because the word tells us it is God’s command that we hide His word in our hearts). There are no new commands, so this isn’t hard, nothing is hidden.

“⁷Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning.”

John is not trying to trick you by saying there is no new and the next verse below says a new. Let’s exam this – The command from the beginning is the word – who is The Word? Jesus is the Word and was in the beginning when God spoke light and everything else into existence. Jesus is there for the old commandments given to Moses in Words on Mt Sinai.

“⁸Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.”

So the new commandment is? Jesus, word become flesh. Jesus is the truth and light. If you turn on the light, darkness cannot even run – it can only be overcome and turns into light! This is a deep and rich spiritual type of command and principle. In the spirit before darkness could hide as shadows and now darkness is overcome by light.

“⁹He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. ¹⁰He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. ¹¹But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

John only uses the example of love – which I briefly spoke of above, knowing John would explain it further.

When we were reading James and I asked are we really doing this Christian walk thing? Just something for you to think on. Well, that question is here woven into the text again. So many times when I ask people about their relationship with Jesus that talk about their prayer time, their reading or studying time, there church attendance, if they give tithes and offerings, if they are memorizing scripture, and how they feel God speaks to them. There is undoubtedly a list of things we should do and too often pastors, with good intentions say: we do not want to just be checking off boxes on the list. I am sorry to say, some of us need to check off boxes on a list – even those who it comes organically to them are still checking off all the things. Just because you write down your list, doesn’t make it any less heart felt.
When I describe this blog – I say it is ALL the things on the list we should be doing: I encourage a life of prayer over a time of prayer, I put out there the reading and studying together, I remind you to attend church and to give tithes and offerings. I challenge you with a verse a month to memorize – and put it before your eyes daily. And we pray daily for God to speak back to us through His word daily. Together we hit all the boxes and there is a HUGE reason I do this. But that is NOT supposed to be the stuff that trips us up. But we all too easily get choked by the cares and busy of this world that we stumble and can’t even do the check list. Check those things off and move onto the real stuff, the important stuff. Like the commands of Jesus: love one another, go ye therefore and make disciples, lay hands on the sick, cast out demons, minister to the random stranger in the grocery store, AND BE THE LIGHT TO A DARK AND DYING WORLD! If we are not doing this stuff – are we even saved? what are we even doing?

“¹²I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.
¹³I write to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men, Because you have overcome the wicked one.
I write to you, little children, Because you have known the Father.
¹⁴I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one.”

I was almost ready to think, John must be writing an evangelistic letter to save souls, right?? I mean, He is not writing to the church questioning their salvation – these are forgiven people who have known the Father from the beginning (and he repeats it). These are overcomers. These are people who knew the Lord as children and as adults. These are strong people of God, who have the word hidden in their hearts. John emphasizes 2 times that these are the believers – yet, he hands out the question: are you even saved if you aren’t keeping ALL of Jesus’s commands. We are also goodly Christians, you and I, aren’t we? Therefore, where do we fall in this equation and what do we do? How do we fix this?

“¹⁵Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. ¹⁷And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

I love when we ask a question and God immediately answers. We do not love the world and we DO the will of God.
I used to say and I hear so many others say: I am waiting for a prompting. I am waiting to be led by God to speak to someone. I see that person had a need, but I was not led to fill that need, I assume God has it for someone else to do.
That my friends is the voice of the enemy. Congrats – you now know what the enemy sounds like. If you see the need, then it is YOUR job to act. You DO NOT need a prompting or leading to minister, pray for, or speak to others about Christ – you have ALREADY been told to – your prompting and leading are writing in the Bible – GO DO IT. This is YOUR SIGN = Get up and go out there and do it. Just do it. Don’t complicate it.

“¹⁸Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.”

If John says that it is the last hour…. How many years ago? …then we are definitely close to the end, now. We still have lots of little “a” antichrists running around our world. I believe the big “A” Antichrist is already alive and also on this planet with us right now. The end is near, much nearer than we think – yet we do not behave like the time is short. Yet we aren’t soul winning like the time is short.

Next John addresses the lowercase “a” antichrists – they are people behaving in a manner that ends up being about something, anything else besides Christ.

“¹⁹They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”

Many church splits back in those days – but back then, the one not in submission to Christ was always the one who left. I have seen modern church splits where the people wanted to split off in mass for the holy teachings so they kicked out the man of God. However MOST of the church splits I have seen are much more complicated and pride caused the split and there really was not a bad guy or a good guy. How do we navigate when it’s a grey mess and not black and white?

“²⁰But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.”

God reveals it to us. Jesus is light and truth and through that we can see the truth in many situation.
But let us talk about anointing. So many people think it is some magical mantle that comes over you and surges energy through you and in you. There is a different between the power that flows when needed in ministry and the anointing in the way the Bible speaks of anointing. Biblical anointing is literally to seal something with oil – they sealed their wine with oil, it was anointed. You could seal and protect the skin on your face with oil. Anointing with oil became a symbol of the seal of God on you.

So when this verse says you have an anointing from the Holy One – it mean God sealed you in with the ability to see the truth. Now the real question is: who? And to answer it you must scroll back up through the text and see it is those of us who are living out our walk with the Lord in the light doing all the things, both the personal things as well as the for others things that are required of us. Those who live and do this – they are sealed with the seal of knowing all things.

“²¹I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.”

Ya know, I never set the stage for this book, did I? Well, many scholars think it was NOT the apostle John but someone else who wrote this book and since there are so many cross references to John’s works that was why early Bible scholars thought it was John. It is also unclear which church(s) it was written to and the year it was written is also up for debate!
Those who say it is of John – here is the thought: John was the leader of the church of Ephesus and was captured and dragged away and imprisoned on the island of Patmos in the year 95. It is unclear if he survived being boiled in oil before or after Patmos. Also one account says he died in the year 98 in Ephesus and another said in the year 99 in Patmos. He was an old man even by our standards in his mid to late 80’s while in Patmos. It is commonly thought he wrote to his home church while he was imprisoned in Patmos.
We have discussed the City of Ephesus in depth before. They had an assimilation culture where they had more temples to more gods than most known cities. They quickly assimilated Jesus culture as well as Jewish culture into their practices. John was the solid force calling out the lies and keeping the false teachers separate from the truth. Before John took over running that church Paul wrote to them about letting in false teachers and being led astray. This was a battle against a principality. And John was anointed and capable of handling it. But John also knew, now that he was in prison – the body was vulnerable to an attack.
The church he was writing to, knew and loved John; and John knew and loved them. They were familiar with the NO COMPROMISE nature of John and understood, because they saw and experienced John, that he was compelled by love. They were no doubt familiar with these types of teaching and this letter would give them encouragement and strength to do what is right. And like we just read, God has sealed them with what is right, they know.

“²²Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. ²³Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”

Which is also a good lesson for us now, while world religions join forces and all roads lead to god / assimilation culture is really taking off. And as Christianity gets assimilated by this cult, Jesus loses his lordship, become a prophet, a teacher, and a good person – striped of the Godhead, from the trinity, and placed equal to man. This is a HUGE problem.

“²⁴Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.”

We need to call out the truth and not let our Jesus be dethroned. We must be keepers of the truth and committed to it – Jesus is the truth. We must drag it all out into the light. It might get messy for a minute – but we can clean up the mess we can see – but there is no cleaning up the mess that hides in the darkness.

“²⁶These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. ²⁷But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”

Paul did not go to Jesus school like the other 11 Apostles. Paul was separated for a season and Jesus taught him through this very anointing that John speaks of here. John is not speaking to a bunch of new believers – these men and women did not have need of teaching, especially teachings that had a new revelation that their Lord and savior was no longer God.
John is reminding them that they are smart, and have already been taught and now that John is not there to do it – they can learn from God directly. I know a handful of people who God took and set aside and He did not send them to Bible College and he anointed and appointed them – and HE taught them. They know the word of God cleaner and in context than most local preachers do. You see, in many cases and we will see more in time – God himself has trained people.
At the conference, the speaker had a doctorate – what made him different? He was taught directly from God. He found himself in a stuck spot and he asked God how to get unstuck and God said … and he word confirmed and BOOM! You see – God himself is enough. It is great to have more – but a relationship with God the father by Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit is the best classroom training ever. I have learned more from them than from any other teacher.

“²⁸And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. ²⁹If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.”

What more can we say? I suppose it is just time to practice righteousness in love.

***

21 Nov 202221 Nov 2022

Standing in Light – 11-21-22

“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the First Book of John, chapter 1 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

What Was Heard, Seen, and Touched

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— ²the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— ³that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. ⁴And these things we write to you that ^[a]your joy may be full.

Fellowship with Him and One Another

⁵This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. ⁶If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ⁷But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

⁸If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Colossians 4:2 –

“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Has God ever told you something – maybe you heard it, had a dream, or had a feeling – and you obeyed and had a few hints that it was the right thing, but still wondered if you were doing His will? I followed a prompting when laying out the reading plan for this year and all year we have seen hints that what we were reading were the right things for the state of our world. Today, I have a solid confirmation and I know that I know that THIS is the exact correct thing for us to read at this time!
Literally four days ago, I loved all the writings of John and loved focusing on his love for Christ. I knew studying this was going to be grace (which I always define as a powerful transformative action). But in the last four days, I have received deep revelation of love. I went to a 3 day conference retreat and all I wanted to do was spend time readying these letters from John and basking in the LOVE of God. To come home and not only do that – but spend the time I study for this blog doing that as well IS GOD’S PERFECT TIMING!! My expectation is that God is going to show up in more of the spirit of revelation so that all of you and myself will feel a fresh tidal wave of God’s love!
Please pray for deeper understanding of God while thinking on these letters written by John.

The letters called first, second and third John – were written by the same John that wrote the Gospel of John (which we read at the beginning of this quarter) as well as the book of the Revelation of Christ – which we will get to read soon. (Side note – John says there is an extra blessing for those who read through the whole book of revelation. I believe him, because the book is full of grace and tender mercy. So please make sure you join us for it and not miss out on that extra blessing!)
John is one of the 12 disciples. He was the one the other disciples teased and called “The Lord’s Beloved”. Not only did John love Jesus – Jesus loved John. John’s love quickly proved to be fearless the night Jesus was betrayed and John followed closing right into the first room where Jesus was being questioned, whole the Bible shows Peter followed afar off and denied Christ and being one of the disciples multiple times. John then continued with Jesus through the passion and was the ONLY disciple at the foot of the cross, next to Jesus’s mother. John then cared for Jesus’s mother after Jesus’s death. We have spoken about how it was the real and strong love that compelled John to follow and behave in a way that risked his own life in a time before the Holy Spirit came and emboldened them.
With the internet – we all have a few preachers and Bible Study leaders we all like to follow; like many of you, have my writings on your daily reading list. (I love and appreciate your support.) As much as we love our favorite people (we do not idolize or worship them) we find their message always has the similar themes. My writing for example seems to always come back to repentance, humility, and grace. There is a reason for this. We are all part of the body and this is my assignment and someone else have the love assignment and someone else has the faith assignment and someone else has the…. We all have our own jobs and together we make a whole. John’s assignment is love. And you will quickly see how much John repeats himself and that is ok. A good message is worth repeating and listening to and re-reading over and over again! Just like we read and reread our Bibles. Just like we watch the videos of our favorite preachers over and over.

The first four verses of today’s reading are very reminiscent of what we read in John 20:19-23 and verses five through ten in today’s reading may remind you of John 8:12-29.

So let’s dig in:

“¹ That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—“

What was from the beginning? In the beginning, in Genesis chapter one verse one was “In the beginning, God”. God was in the beginning. Specifically The Creator – The Word.
Then we look at John, chapter 1 and we see Jesus IS the Word.
And now back to First John where John is beginning his letter by saying this is a testimony of Jesus! Because Jesus is the Word and these are the things we have seen and touched and are a witness to.
It is very hard to argue with a person who has experienced something. Over the last few days, I have had an overwhelming experience with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – I am still processing it all. None the less I know certain truths that no one can argue with me about – having one through it. I can tell you my experience and The Word and how they line up. Therefore Truth. Light. Life.

“²the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—“

Jesus was manifested. And John is telling his readers how He was a witness.
Jesus manifested Himself in my life. I can bear witness. Has Jesus manifested Himself in your life and do you give Him room daily to be able to manifest Himself in your life?
This past weekend – I can also testify of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit and the Loving Father!! We first must welcome them to be present.

^“3that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

We declare. Declaration is a powerful tool. It is like aiming the light into the darkness. But before we think too much on that – let’s talk about fellowship. Water seeks its own level. Darkness fellowships with darkness and light fellowships with light. If all your friends are screwed up messes, take a look at yourself. If your spouse has all sorts of issues, remember you married them. If you are surrounded by strong warriors in God’s camp, I’ll bet you are a strong warrior in God’s camp.

“⁴And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.”

John is about to impart love, truth, freedom, deliverance and all that will fill you with joy – if you are humble before God and receive it. So many times when I was a moody teen, I read these letters from John and saw that they were supposed to bring joy to my sad emotional existence and when it didn’t, and I did not understand I was frustrated at God and religion. If I had learned relationship, I would have known to stop and ask Jesus and let The Light reveal the truth.

Here is the hard truth about my corrupted understanding – I thought The Light was a metaphor for Jesus. I failed to understand that Jesus is Light, and there is no symbolism. And it was great to think Jesus and bright cherry moments would bring joy (which we recently learned is the strength of our salvation). But it is so much more clean and crisp than that – it is truth.

“⁵This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”

The devil himself assigned a demon to me to tell me my whole life that I was not lovable. As long as that voice had legal grounds to stay and was not asked to leave, there was always a place of darkness where light could not shine. I was ashamed and never told anyone – besides, it seemed pretty obvious that no one loved me. I was ALMOST filled with light – I just needed something to aim the light at this horrible lie and declare light. If I shine light into a dark room everything becomes seeable, except the shadows. So if we shine light into the shadows that becomes light too.

I think many times Christians yell the name of Jesus or literally “The Name of Jesus” into these dark shadows and wonder why the light does not expose them. The name of Jesus is not a magic word. The name of Jesus is not going to change the direction of the light and expose the shadows. So we come into three words full of grace that can transform the direction of the light: Declare, Expose and Confess.

“⁶If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

First – of course we must admit the truth. I heard a preacher say: “Own your shit”. And let’s get real – it is smelling discard, waste material – let us stop hiding it. We all have a need for a toilet – we all poop and it all stinks. No condemnation here. Let’s remember the love of John that reflects the love of Jesus and get real for a moment. We all have baggage. Can we bring this all it into the light?

“⁷But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

So two days ago at a conference I was at, they said to get into groups of three and spill your guts out. OK there was a bit more to it – but we were challenged to get super open and honest. Bring things to the “light”. I was there with someone I was always pretty transparent with and honest. It was super easy. Then on the way home (riding together) I felt such guilt for holding back – and told her more and she did too. Then in the morning again I felt like I held back and told her more – but she felt like I had said that already.

Anyway – she and I instantly began to have a better friendship – we were literally fellowshipping without reserve, nothing held back, no pride and no condemnation. And that was that. An open and honest friendship instantly bloomed.

Another person, instead of spilling their beans, deflected that and distracted with taking on responsibility for abuse she received. Sounded super vulnerable and like she was doing the assignment – but nothing she shared was hers.

“⁸If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

We all have sinned. Bring that sin into the light and one of three things are going to happen: 1. it’s repented of. 2. it’s cast out. 3. the person chooses to keep it and the darkness wins.

“⁹If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Four days ago – I would have danced around about what confession means. I have humbly and privately confessed my sins to God over and over again. Some sins are a sin struggle and some I can overcome. If I grab ahold of that sin and drag it into the light – or using the description I used above: declaring, exposing and confessing aims the light into the dark shadows. Then all of it is known – and whoever knows can then help support you.

You see there is no room for pride – I saw pastor and spiritual leaders confess big sin problems and struggle at this conference – no one is outside of the reach of the enemy, because of our own sin cycles. The secret, according to John is to not just confess to God in private but bring it into the light.
I had a friend who used to speak of living openly so that no one can use your past against you. I have always tried to be more open, because of this. You see he learned this lesson because of a secret. (This story does not age well in our culture, so I am leaving out details. In our culture now, he’d be praised for his sins. I will let him save face and leave out details.) He had a secret sin; one that many people thought of as a terrible and grotesque sin. He humbled himself before God and told no one else. He confessed and turned away from it. Many years later he ran for political office. This secret showed up and destroyed his life, politically, as well as his marriage. He was so sad. He thought he had dealt with it. If he had brought it to the light – and many people would bear witness and say, we know – but we also saw him overcome his struggles and he was accountable and proven to be free, then he has an open and honest in the light life. We aren’t perfect – but we should be honest. He could have gotten out ahead of it and showed the kind of character it takes to overcome. Instead he left the church and gave into the sin – he can’t keep a job and drinks too much.

But even knowing my friend’s story I would have wrote this and said, use discretion when bringing things to light and in front of who. BUT I no longer believe that. Because in every case I can think of, no matter how bad the sin is – bringing it into the light makes it lose all its power and authority and makes it so much easier to repent from. It takes a deeper since of humility. A humility which was immediately challenged in me.

“¹⁰If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

Humility and breaking pride is huge for me – this is because I know firsthand the troubles of keeping myself humble. You see, like EVERYONE ELSE I have sinned. Now I am usually very open and honest about my life and use my life lessons as examples. And the risk is people who have sinned, losing respect for me, because I have sinned. Which is silly. If Jesus does not condemn me, what can man do to me? I will stand, therefore in the light. But I did keep a few things to myself. Like the fact that I have a stubborn defiance streak in me. My grandfather had it, my dad has it, and now look at me. No one (except maybe my dad) is as stubbornly obstinate as me. I have tried to use this for good, digging my heels in for good causes and not for bad causes. Because of trying to control it – it often just showed up as pride. I then worked on dealing with the symptom of pride. I learned self-control and humility and became good at it. Self-control was no longer a fruit of the spirit but an urgently forced behavior to control pride and defiance.
This is where you all say – I cannot learn the Bible from someone who had a defiance struggle. Everything she said could have been tainted by her struggle. This is an interesting argument because a few days ago – I might have agreed (because of my ow pride). But then I think of God making the donkey speak – God doesn’t look for perfect men and women to do his work, he’ll use a jackass if he has to – let’s just hope we aren’t the ass. Let’s do better. Let’s bring this all into the light and may NO MAN accuse or condemn. Jesus said, He who is without sin cast the first stone.
At the conference, I saw pastors and church leader rush the stage to get healed and delivered. GLORY TO GOD!!! Many of them demonized and leading churches yesterday and today they are free in Christ still leading churches, but so much better – this DOESN’T MEAN what they said before was false. Many like me, have extensive head knowledge and are still able to preach a clean and effective sermon. Many can still teach and flow in the other various gifts including prophecy, healings, and even deliverance. They are delivered by God not man! Hallelujah! God uses everyone who is willing to be used. Glory to God!! AND just because God uses you, does not mean you are right with God or even more holy or better than others (you could be a literal donkey).
I too, went forward and prayed: Jesus, I just want to go deeper and I want more of you AND I want to live to glorify you! And I waited my turn. A prayer team took me on my turn, two men and a woman. My friend was already prayed for so she came with me. I emptied myself of everything and submitted myself to whatever God had for me. I saw people having demons cast out – what that going to happen to me? Sure enough – something arose in me and it was evil and it felt like it was dwelling in the area of my heart – not that it makes any sense to me. It declared it was “No”. And it was going to stay even though it had no authority or legal grounds to stay. It said No more times then I even let onto. It was surreal and weird. It was this very same defiance my grandfather had. They cast it out. It left. They cast out everything else with it and made sure there were no more and sealed me in the Holy Spirit and I thought – that was weird. Then another team (man and woman) prayed for me and prayed against doubt coming in and asked God what next. Then he said: ‘this is super weird, but close your eyes and take my arm and trust me as I lead you down the isle of the church.’ I said, ok. It was harder than I thought it would be. Then he said the Holy Spirit says trust me like that. Earlier my gift of knowledge was darkened and I kept telling my friend I felt blind – then walking with my eyes physically closed and my spiritual eyes also closed was so hard. And I realized, the Holy Spirit was blinding me before, because he was already telling me this and it is a confirmation. I will have to let him lead me blindly.

Today I learn from my friend that one of the ladies on that prayer team (which prayed for me) is very close with a lady at my church and had told her ALL about the conference. And my friend said, I hope they taught her discretion – meaning, she hopes the lady did not tell anyone that they cast demon(s) out of me. My pride was tested – Honestly, if you judge me for my sins when you have sins – or my demons, and in my case they probably came down to me from my grandfather, when you may also have demons from your family may Jesus Himself help you and have mercy on you. So I said – if they tell my testimony before I can – I hope God gets as much glory as I am going to give Him for this great thing He has done! And I knew I had to share with all of you!! Because if it can happen to me, it can happen to you!
And now I am probably the only teacher you follow that you know is free from demons! Praise the LORD!! (Unless you are following other teachers who have been recently freed from demons!) Hallelujah!
I had a thing – it is brought to light. LOOK WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE! And like everything else in my life I am committed to bringing it into the light. Because it glorifies the Father!
So go ahead enemy let it leak – but make sure you give God all the glory I do. And tell the people I am not ashamed – I overcame the bondage of the enemy and have been set free by the chain breaker, himself and now my whole life can glorify the Father!
Jesus is the light and it is IN the LIGHT that mercy and grace are in fullness and we can have joy. And sometimes what in me, that must come to light, is connected to other people and they may need to humble themselves and repent and bring it to the light as well – if not it will be hard for them. It is so hard without mercy and grace. But I must obey the scriptures.

And of course, as we saw in verse 8 – “we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” We can deceive ourselves – we must be strong, courageous and bold and be honest with ourselves. Wishing we did not confess it, wishing we did not do it, back peddling and trying to hide the darkness in the shadows is the wrong answer – it blocks healing, freedom and blessings. There was SO much more. That happened at the conference, in the chain breaking, in the soul healing and in my life during these last 3 days I cannot even begin to tell it all. So I will share as it comes up. And know, that if Jesus can do it for me, He can and is willing to do it for you – you must just bring it all into the light – no secret formula and no secret words. Just grab yourself a couple believers like your spouse and a friend and tell them and tell God – repent and be healed and made whole.