EDITOR'S NOTE:
Devotionals for the period commencing (Monday) November 4 and ending (Friday) November 8 are posted in advance due to our convocation participation.
Sunday, November 3, 2019
THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF LOVE (Part V)
THE TRANSFORMING POWER
OF LOVE (Part V)
The primary evidence
of genuine Christianity is the believer’s demonstration of love. Christ
declares, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love
for one another.” (John 13:35, NKJV)
Since JESUS CHRIST is
the ultimate manifestation of divine love, our definition of love is connected to His person and
work. To wit, LOVE IS THE CHRIST-ANOINTING – spiritually activated in our
thoughts, attitudes, words, decisions, actions and ministries – for the express
purpose of transforming lives, increasing faith, restoring relationships and
authenticating witness.
It is truly liberating
to realize that Satan has only ‘three tricks’ up his demonic sleeve! His
power is actually limited, not unlimited like God’s power, and by extension, it
is less than our spiritual authority when we walk in divine power.
According to I John 2:15-16, “ALL” that Satan has within this world system is
1) the lust of the FLESH, 2)
the lust of the EYES, and 3) the PRIDE of life.
Genesis 3:6 informs us
that Satan gained the upper hand over our fore-parents by launching these three
carnal weapons. “When the woman saw the tree was good for food [the lust
of the flesh] and that it was pleasant to the eyes [the lust of the eyes] and a
tree to be desired to make one wise [the pride of life], she took the fruit
thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”
(Genesis 3:6)
Moreover, Satan
strategically deployed these same
temptations against Jesus. However, he was patently unsuccessful
in doing so. Following Jesus’ 40-day fast in wilderness (Matthew, chapter
4), He was systematically tempted of Satan via 1) a command to turn stones into
bread [the lust of the flesh], 2) a suggestion to throw himself down from the
pinnacle of the temple so that angels would be dispatched to rescue and reveal
His glory [the pride of life], and 3) a deceitful promise that he would be
given all the kingdoms of the world that Satan had shown to Him [the lust of
the eyes]. This final temptation was sheer lunacy since “the earth is
[already] the Lord’s [property] and the fullness thereof.” (Psalm 24:1)
Nevertheless, how did
JESUS respond to satanic temptation? Not by entering into dialogue with
the devil…not by any ostentatious display of divine power…but by immediately
dispatching His primary weapon (and ours), which is THE WORD OF
GOD. HE ASSIGNED A SPECIFIC
WORD TO EVERY SATANIC TEMPTATION, thus dismissing and overcoming
it. Wow! We too walk in this same covenant of victorious faith.
Listen with your spirit to what THE WORD has to say about YOU and your capacity
to overcome:
For the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
I John 5:4 (NKJV)
For whatever is born
of God overcomes the world. And this
is the victory that has overcome the world—our
faith.
OUR
GOD, Who is love
personified, offers ten specific promises to every winner-believer who OVERCOMES. Because of our faithfulness, 1) We will eat
from the tree of life (Revelation 2:7); 2) We will not be hurt by the
second death (Revelation 2:11); 3) We will eat of the hidden manna (Revelation
2:17); 4) We will be given a white stone with a name inscription known
only to God and the receiving believer (Revelation 2:7); 5) We will be
given power over the nations (Revelation 2:26); 6) We will be clothed in
white garments (Revelation 3:5); 7) We will be confessed by Christ before
the Father and the angels (Revelation 3:5); 8) We will dwell forever in
the temple of God (Revelation 3:12); 9) We will be personally inscribed
with the name of God and the New Jerusalem (Revelation 3:12); and finally, 10)
We will inherit all things as the children of God. (Revelation 21:7)
All of these benefits
are made available with the simple conditions that we accept His covenantal
gift of grace, which is the sacrificial atonement of God in Christ, and that we
remain faithful to Him, i.e. to following His Word. (John 10:21 and Revelation
2:10)
This is possible ONLY
because of (and by way of) GOD’S
TRANSFORMING LOVE. The Apostle Peter put it this way: “His divine
power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through
the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been
given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may
be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust.” (II Peter 1:3-5)
Once we have been thus
transformed, it is our signal honor to become “stewards of the mysteries of
God” (I Corinthians 4:1) – with the distinct privilege of serving as AMBASSADORS OF THE KING OF KINGS within
this fallen world system. LOVE
TRANSFORMS and infuses life into dying souls and dire
circumstances. So ask yourself this vitally important question: “WHAT AM I DOING TO EXEMPLIFY AND SHARE GOD’S
TRANSFORMING LOVE?” Now get busy
fulfilling the promise and power of God that is seeded in you!
Sisters and brothers,
be continually blessed and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO
MEET YOUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!
THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF LOVE (Part IV)
THE TRANSFORMING POWER
OF LOVE (Part IV)
The primary evidence
of genuine Christianity is the believer’s demonstration of love. Jesus
Christ declares, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have
love for one another.” (John 13:35, NKJV)
Since JESUS CHRIST is
the ultimate manifestation of divine love, our theological definition of love is directly connected to His
person and work. LOVE IS THE CHRIST-ANOINTING – spiritually activated in
our thoughts, attitudes, words, decisions, actions and ministries – for the
express purpose of transforming lives, increasing faith, restoring
relationships and authenticating witness.
As the express
manifestation of God and the epitome of divine love, JESUS CHRIST breaks the
vicious cycle of sin, tears down the wall of separation between God and man,
and gains absolute victory over this satanically influenced world system.
In the words of The Anointed One, “These things I have spoken to you, that in
Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of
good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, NKJV) The Word
declares that as JESUS IS in the world, SO
ARE WE, who follow Him closely as WINNER-BELIEVERS!
I love to speak
about “THE CHRIST ANOINTING” because
you and I, as winner-believers, have the exact same spiritual authority and
spiritual anointing that Christ walked in and demonstrated daily. YOU AND I have CHRIST’S ANOINTING…which is
the YOKE-DESTROYING…BURDEN-REMOVING…POWER
OF GOD!
To fully apprehend the
OVERCOMING ANOINTING that JESUS IS (and we
have deposited within), we need to look briefly at how humankind failed
to overcome when originally tempted by Satan. Then, we will contrast this
with the manner in which JESUS handled satanic temptation and achieved absolute
victory.
Prayerfully consider
the following scripture passage:
Genesis 3:1-7 (New King James Version, NKJV)
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of
the field which the Lord God
had made. And he said to the woman, “Has
God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of
the trees of the garden;
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the
midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch
it, lest you die.’”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely
die.
5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will
be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good
for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable
to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to
her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew
that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made
themselves coverings.
Fortunately for us,
Satan has only ‘three tricks’ up his demonic sleeve! His power is
actually limited, not unlimited like God’s power, and by extension, less than
our spiritual authority to walk in divine power. I John 2:15-16
admonishes us to avoid falling in love with this world system, and further
informs us of its basic limitations. The Apostle John writes, “Love not
the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For ALL that
is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of
the world.”
Let’s seek to
understand this more fully. Since Satan is “the prince of the power of
the air,” he is the prince and the power of this world system. (Ephesians
2:2) Nevertheless, John informs us that, Satan’s position
notwithstanding, he has only three weapons in this world system that
can be deployed against us. Only three! “ALL” that Satan has in
this world system is the lust of the FLESH,
the lust of the EYES and the PRIDE of life.
Question: How did
Satan use these three worldly weapons to gain advantage over Adam and
Eve? Answer: Genesis 3:6 states “When the woman saw the tree was good for
food (the lust of the flesh) and that it was pleasant to the eyes (the lust of
the eyes) and a tree to be desired to make one wise (the pride of life), she
took the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her;
and he did eat.”
That is precisely how
our fore-parents failed to overcome. Next time, we will discover how
Satan deployed these same temptations against Jesus and totally failed.
Stay tuned…more to come tomorrow.
Sisters and brothers,
be continually blessed and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO
MEET YOUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!
THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF LOVE (Part III)
THE TRANSFORMING POWER
OF LOVE (Part III)
The primary evidence
of genuine Christianity is the believer’s demonstration of love. As Jesus
Christ declares, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have
love for one another.” (John 13:35, NKJV) Since JESUS CHRIST is the
ultimate manifestation of divine love, our theological definition of love is directly connected to His
person and work. LOVE IS THE CHRIST-ANOINTING – spiritually activated in
our thoughts, attitudes, words, decisions, actions and ministries for the
express purpose of transforming lives, increasing faith, restoring
relationships and authenticating witness.
Today we revisit a
primary New Testament passage on covenant love: (I Corinthians, chapter 13, The
Message Bible)
1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but
don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his
mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to
a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the
stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and
what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “Me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “Me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day;
praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what
we say about God is always incomplete. But
when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
11 When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and
cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I
left those infant ways for good.
12 We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a
mist. But it won’t be long before the
weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly
as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three
things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope
unswervingly, love extravagantly. And
the best of the three is love.
Stay tuned…more to
come tomorrow.
Sisters and brothers,
be continually blessed and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO
MEET YOUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!
THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF LOVE (Part II)
THE TRANSFORMING POWER
OF LOVE (Part II)
The primary evidence
of genuine Christianity is the believer’s demonstration of love. As Jesus
Christ declares, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have
love for one another.” (John 13:35, NKJV) Since JESUS CHRIST is the
ultimate manifestation of divine love, our theological definition of love is directly connected to His
person and work. LOVE IS THE CHRIST-ANOINTING – spiritually activated in
our thoughts, attitudes, words, decisions, actions and ministries for the
express purpose of transforming lives, increasing faith, restoring
relationships and authenticating witness.
When Adam and Eve made
the fatal decision to disobey God’s foundational command, the global door was
left wide open for Satan to become the “prince of the power of the air.” Indeed, he has been broadcasting lies and
deceit ever since. In fact, by virtue of humankind’s failure to hold up
our end of the divine covenant, Satan was LEGALLY POSITIONED to become ‘large-and-in-charge’ in
this world system. (Genesis 2:8-15 and Ephesians 2:2)
Nevertheless, onto the
stage of human history enters JESUS CHRIST. Oh, how I love Jesus, for He
broke down the restrictive post-fall barrier that stood between God and
man. He transcended an immeasurable distance, overturned a wall of spiritual
separation (erected from the base materials of sin and shame) and restored all
who would believe to full and free fellowship with our Creator.
ONLY JESUS (acting
as VERY GOD and VERY MAN) was able to satisfy the
righteous demands of God. Mankind lacked
the capacity to save himself, although he would have been ‘justly required’ to
do so since we had deliberately broken the created covenant relationship and
separated ourselves from God. ONLY JESUS – acting as ‘very God’ and ‘very
man’ – had the ability to resolve the dilemma of the justice of God that stood
in direct opposition to the grace and mercy of God. AS A MAN, Jesus assumed the obligation
to restore that lost relationship. And AS GOD, He had the capacity and ability
to “overcome the world,” (John 16:33 and I John 5:4-5)
To recap, JESUS CHRIST
is VERY GOD and VERY MAN. He WAs MAN-ENOUGH to have vicariously experienced
every possible pain, pressure and problem in the Garden of Gethsemane and on
Calvary; yet, he WAs GOD-ENOUGH to
become our “great high priest that is passed into the heavens…touched with the
feeling of our infirmities…in all points tempted like as we are, yet without
sin.” (Hebrews 4:14-15)
He was MAN-ENOUGH for
his own natural body to hunger and thirst – but He was GOD-ENOUGH to receive a
little boy’s lunch and transform it into a super-abundant and sumptuous feast
for thousands.
He was MAN-ENOUGH to
have been a homeless traveler, for He said about Himself, “Foxes have holes,
and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his
head.” (Luke 9:58) Yet He was GOD-ENOUGH to declare “In my Father’s house
are many mansions…I go to prepare a place for you…that where I am, there you
may be also.” (John 14:1-3)
He was MAN-ENOUGH to
have wept at the gravesite of His dear friend, Lazarus. Yet He was
GOD-ENOUGH that every person on the planet is invited to cast “all care upon
Him, for He cares” so much for us. (I Peter 5:7) Hallelujah! What a
living and loving Lord! Stay tuned…more
to come tomorrow.
Sisters and brothers,
be continually blessed and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO
MEET YOUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!
THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF LOVE (Part I)
THE TRANSFORMING POWER
OF LOVE (Part I)
The most profound and
pivotal evidence of the Christian faith is the believer’s sincere demonstration
of love. In the words of Jesus Christ, “By this all will know that you
are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35, NKJV)
John, the apostle of love, affirms the fact that our relationship with God (and
others) is fulfilled and evaluated through the covenant of love: “Beloved, let
us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God
and knows God. He who does not love does not know God,
for God is love.” (I John 4:7-8, NKJV)
THE
LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST IS THE EPITOME OF DIVINE LOVE. That is, “GOD
WAS IN CHRIST, reconciling the world to Himself…and has [thereafter]
committed to us the word of reconciliation.” (II Corinthians 5:19, NKJV)
When JESUS CHRIST walked
upon the earth, He existed as the spiritual and physical manifestation of the
LOVE OF GOD, inhabiting this mortal plain. His life-long, sacrificial
representation of the LOVE OF GOD forever redeems us from the power and penalty
of sin and death.
JESUS is the supreme
embodiment of divine love. My THEOLOGICAL DEFINITION OF LOVE follows:
LOVE IS THE
CHRIST-ANOINTING – spiritually activated in our thoughts, attitudes, words,
decisions, actions and ministries for the express purpose of transforming
lives, increasing faith, restoring relationships and authenticating witness.
Allow me to explain
this in another way, by taking a trek back to the beginning of time. In
the infancy of human history, we took our first step away from God. Quite
often, Eve is saddled with the blame of first succumbing to satanic deception,
but this line of reasoning puzzles me. After all, God issued His divine
directive to BOTH Adam
and Eve. “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He
created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them,
and GOD SAID TO THEM, ‘Be
fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the
fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that
moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:27-28, NKJV)
We don’t know where
Adam was when the serpent stealthily slithered his way into Eden. Perhaps
he was tending to the garden; perhaps he was simply asleep at the switch.
Nevertheless, it is my contention that Satan was able to launch an effective attack
against the matriarch of humanity because the patriarch had left her
alone. At the risk of sounding a bit sexist or chauvinistic, women do
need the covering of men. Likewise, men certainly do need the covering of
women. We are much BETTER
TOGETHER…than apart.
As a matter of fact, a
prime satanic strategy is to ISOLATE
US and (via the entry door of our aloneness and loneliness) to gain
access to OUR THINKING and
to thereby influence our ATTITUDES
AND ACTIONS.
However, there is an
absolutely amazing reservoir of divine power that resides in UNITY and
AGREEMENT. Jesus Christ declared, “where two or three are GATHERED TOGETHER IN MY NAME, I am
there in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20, NKJV) The sage Solomon
stated, “TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE,
because they have a good reward for their labor.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9,
NKJV) Indeed, it is possible for ONE
TO CHASE A THOUSAND, but standing in the unified power of God, TWO SHALL PUT TEN THOUSAND TO FLIGHT!
(Deuteronomy 32:30)
The foregoing biblical
principles undergird a SPIRITUAL
GEOMETRIC PROGRESSION that literally terrifies Satan and his impish
minions! Unfortunately, far too many of us comprehend and utilize the awesome
spiritual force that is released when we walk together in purpose and
unity. When we fully awaken to realize and actualize THE POWER AND POTENTIAL OF UNITY, a wide array of demonic devices
will be nullified and obliterated within our families and organizations.
Stay tuned…more to come tomorrow.
Sisters and brothers,
be continually blessed and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO
MEET YOUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!
EDITOR'S NOTE
EDITOR'S NOTE:
Devotionals for the period commencing (Monday) November 4 and ending (Friday) November 8 are posted in advance due to our convocation participation.
Devotionals for the period commencing (Monday) November 4 and ending (Friday) November 8 are posted in advance due to our convocation participation.
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