Are You Ready For Anything?

The beautiful thing about thinking about true preparedness, it covers all aspects of your life. Or, at least it should.

The simple fact is the next few years are going to be full of challenges. Just hearing of wars and rumors of wars, rumors of pestilence, and threats of this or that, can be unsettling – but it doesn’t have to be. The tension in this country alone seems to be at a fevered pitch. The world seems ready to burst at its seams.

Knowing that we are prepared to weather the storms ahead by, first, staying in the Word of God has helped us to prepare both mentally and physically. Do we have a lot of treasure? Not at all. Are we ready to endure, yes we are.

Be assured of your own salvation, know the comfort that this brings. Know what it is like to not worry about anything. Have joy, faith, love, and the abundant richness of peace that comes from knowing. Living this, LIVING THIS, every day brings glory to God.

When all the world seems like it is crashing around us, having that peace will make people hunger and thirst for what is ours and can be theirs through knowing Jesus Christ.

I am not saying to compromise truth, I am saying take the mote out of your own eye first.  I am saying – don’t demand that others follow you, blaze the path in your own heart first. If they choose to follow, wonderful. I am saying that God does not need our wrath to help Him accomplish anything.

We know what the Word of God says about the issues of our day. We know what we believe to be true. The Word of God is a sword that divides, but it is not a sword of battle in the natural sense. The Word of God is not something to beat others over the head with. How we should then live is with confidence in the Word of Truth that we know, we need to live it in our lives first – every single day without compromise.

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

It seems as though some think that if we do not confront the issues of the day we will lose the battle for the hearts and minds of the lost. The way that some confront these issues makes me think that they are living in fear, they are demanding their rights because their life and liberty is in jeopardy. So they confront with anything but meekness. How hard this must be.

The idea that this has become a nation of secularists, agnostics and atheists, makes them bristle. But does this bristling come from a hedonistic desire to have rights and to live in a country where we are comfortable as Christians or does it come from the knowledge that those who oppose Christianity are lost for eternity and are their actions motivated by deep care, concern, and love for the lost? If it is from deep care and concern, from the love of Jesus Christ, then his example is how we are to reach the them. Never did I read in the Word of God where Jesus angrily confronted anyone. Never did he stage anything that mocked the lost and sinful. Never did he do anything that could have been considered to have a angry motive except when the money changers were in the outer courts of the temple.

I grieve the loss of Christian ethics in our society, I grieve moral disintegration, I grieve what will be visited upon the innocent and I know a time of trouble will be visited upon all of us. But even in that time of trouble I will have the peace that surpasses all understanding if I am right with God. And it is that peace that is the light that must illuminate the path ahead.

Our forefathers may have had Christian ideals when they founded this nation, but this was never a Christian nation. We never lived in a theocracy, and this is not the kingdom that we long for, live for, or should be fighting for. We are Americans by earthly citizenship, but we have a dual citizenship. Religion and religious values should influence government and policies through what we bring to the table as involved citizens. But as James tells us, with bridled tongue and meekness. The most that we can hope for here is that the majority of people share in our deeply held beliefs. Demanding that others, who do not recognize or long for this truth, tow the line is demanding something that is not for us to demand. Debating in order to change minds about the need to protect the innocent in a day of evil will not happen unless there is a heart change first. Wipe the dust from your feet and move on.

Hearing and Doing the Word

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
~James 1:19-27

We are living under judgment already. Abortion, lawlessness, sexual immorality, lying, cheating, love of money, these are the judgment. And they will increase as more and more people abandon God for the idolatry of today. Instead of fighting, battling, screaming, demonstrating, and fighting against the judgment that some are taking on themselves, live the peace that is ours.

That is not to say that we should live under the judgment. And we should always be ready to speak about the reason for our hope. We have peace and joy. Those under the judgment will not.

Be ready to heap coals of kindness. Be ready to love your enemy, be ready, be prepared to bring glory to God because you are wholeheartedly devoted to His Son Jesus Christ.

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
~James 3:13-18

Technorati Tags: Living in the end times,Book of James

Have No Fear – but do not be deceived

[In response to the vaccine controversy that I am hearing talked about daily]

God will reveal to us the identity of the beast through the Bible. There will be an unholy trinity revealed, antichrist – the beast, Satan – the dragon, and the false prophet – the second beast, who will expedite worship of the beast, insisting people to take his mark.

This unholy trinity will rule using an apostate one world, global religion, a one world government, and a one world economy. Lately I have been reading about far too many global initiatives for my comfort, and they all seem to appeal on the surface. Of course people who do not know the Word of God will embrace these “wonderful, enlightened” initiatives. They are deceived and they are following man’s reasoning and logic.

Are we there yet?

• I pray that in my own Bible reading, God reveals to me where we are in time.
• I pray that I am not deceived.

For unsaved family and friends I suggest that they pray that God reveals Himself to them.

One thing is for sure, I would not want to live without the indwelling Holy Spirit in the days ahead.

The beast

When that beast comes he will appeal to the whole world. He will appear to be a good man, a child of light, and many will come to worship him, believing that he is their God.

“He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
~Revelation 13:16-17

Seven heads and ten horns – the world will worship him and look to him for peace.

For three and a half years there will be peace and safety. He will appear as a gentle loving man who will first soothe and comfort and exalt himself, that he is here to rescue the people of earth.

Then the covenant with many will be broken.

if you don’t receive the mark you will be hated and then killed. You will not be able to buy or sell.

"Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved."
~Matthew 10:21,22

If you receive the mark…

"If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."
~Revelation 14:9-11

Refuse the mark, be killed here, but then live with God

"Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years."
~Revelation 20:4

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Persecution Will Come

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
~Matthew 10:16

Addressing specifically the vaccine controversy

Now, being wise as serpents and harmless as doves, if you thought long and hard about it, how would you implement this mark? Vaccines on the surface seem so wonderful, life saving, and good. Could they be used as a method of delivery for the mark. Yes, but there use would also involve worshipping the beast. We have to be careful that we do not jump into something that just is not true. The mark has to knowingly be taken. Are we trusting man and science more than we are trusting God? This is a controversy that will not go away. And to be honest with you, I do not have a clear answer. This is something that I myself will have to constantly pray about. I did have my flu shot this year, and I am still praising God.

I choose to put on the full armor of God and trust that seeking His truth daily I will not be deceived when the time comes. If you were to ask me if the fullness of this time is here yet, I would say no.

But I too, am watching the horizon. I too, am cautious. I too, am vigilant.

So what should we expect and how shall we live?

Matthew 10 continues on, beginning with verse 17…

Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.

So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

The Bible is the sword – the sword of truth…the sword of truth that will divide even families

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward."

Have No Fear!

Resources:

Want to be edified?

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs

"a noble army, men and boys, the matron and the maid, climbed the steep ascent of heaven, ‘mid peril, toil, and pain."

Martyrs Mirror

"They pressed with such force through the strait gate, they left their flesh on the posts."

Technorati Tags: vaccines,faith based

Why Be Ready, Why Be Prepared – More journaling for today.

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when,mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. ~1 Peter 2:18-25

So we choose to not serve mammon, we serve God.

While serving God we are subject to earthly masters – both good and gentle and also unjust ones.

Lately it seems like we are entering into a season of very unjust masters.

“But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.”

And we will suffer for doing good.

Jesus Christ is our model. “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

Be patient, continue trusting God.

 

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So in my travels around the net today I found all sorts of calls for us to stand up and against the new world order. Calls to stand up and against “the change” that is ahead. I read calls to get upset about the economy, to get upset that our rights are being stepped on.

I read many reports where people just seem terrified by the approaching storm and all the upheaval we will endure.

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True or not, you decide.

 

‘Every day brings this nation closer to Nazi-style totalitarian abyss’ a Ex-Hitler youth’s warning to America

Obama to fund forced abortions 

- De-funded during the Bush Administration, US money for the UN Population Fund that supports China’s policy of coercive abortion will flow again during the Obama Administrations, say supporters.

World Leaders Agree to Seek Major Global Reform

World leaders holding an emergency meeting to combat the economic crisis agreed yesterday to a far-reaching action plan that, over the next 4 1/2 months, would begin to reshape international financial institutions and reform worldwide regulatory and accounting rules.

Japan to seek to take lead in creating new financial order: Aso

Prime Minister Taro Aso has made an ambitious bid to take the lead in creating a new global financial mechanism, as Japan announced its fresh commitment to tackling the global economic crisis.

Obama backs global response to crisis: advisers

President-elect Barack Obama supports a coordinated response to the global financial crisis and is ready to work with Group of 20 countries on improving the financial system when he takes office.

Obama urges Congress to quickly pass rescue plan

President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday urged lawmakers to quickly pass at least “a down payment” on a new economic rescue plan to help resuscitate the ailing American economy.

2009 Terror Attack Being Peddled By Establishment Media, Intelligence Sources

The notion that terrorists will attack America shortly after Barack Obama takes office is again being vigorously pushed by the corporate media as well as shadowy intelligence sources, and has reached the same crescendo that preceded 9/11, a disturbing sign that the public is being prepared for a newly manufactured mass casualty event.

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My point is…be patient, continue trusting the Overseer of our souls.

Matthew 24:4-21

Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.

"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 1At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

"So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

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the abomination that causes desolation, then destruction in Judea.

 

Technorati Tags: reach the world with the Gospel

Just journaling my thoughts today – Matthew 7:7-11

Ask, and It Will Be Given

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

 

 

Take care when your brother asks you for bread, that you give him not stones.

 

Changes require wisdom and discernment. Ask, seek, knock.

 

What wisdom do I have? None that I care to share because I do not want to give my brother stones. All I seem capable of doing is pointing to what I notice so that we can pray about such things together.

 

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

 

“I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name”

 

Those old hymns are wonderful.

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: wholly trust in Jesus’ Name

How to overcome – preparedness for life

This is what I believe.

Your mileage may vary.

I believe that I have experienced a miracle in my life.

That miracle is rebirth into the Body of Christ because I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

I have no claim to any gifts, talents, or wisdom. I claim no office, I am simply a woman who loves God, His Son Jesus, and I give myself over to the Holy Spirit to use as He will. I have a servant’s heart.

Whether I am successful in conveying what is in my heart is not something that I give a whole lot of thought to. That is up to the reader to determine for him/herself.

After traveling the net, I simply need a blog where I can speak without really thinking that every word was going to make me a bad guest. I really have no desire to offend anyone. I respect others right to believe what they want to believe. I do live under the command to spread the Gospel and so I must.

So this is my blog, I am the hostess here, and I can say what I will. If the reader doesn’t like it, well, they can move along like I have done from so many places. It is my hope that we meet up again.

Not that I am hurt or being defensive, I am just tired of moving along.

This is who I am, what I believe, and I shouldn’t be offending anyone because I am not condemning anyone.

If a reader feels condemnation it is the Holy Spirit using the Bible verses that I quote to pick at your conscience. I call it heart conviction. God is shining His light into your heart.

So don’t blame me if the Word of God does that to you, it does it to me too. But I welcome it because it causes me to pray and grow.

I do ask that people hold me accountable for my words.

The Bible is the Word of God. I will not change or add to it when I quote it.

Where the reader has to be careful is when I speak about how I experience the Word of God in my life. We should always use discernment when we read each others words.

I am saying, never put your trust wholly in another person. Search the Scriptures daily in order that you may discern the truth. Pray for them to enlighten you.

My husband, other believer’s who I trust, family, friends, they all read what I write and let me know what they think. What I speak comes from my heart. I speak it as I believe and I am wholly responsible for the content of my mouth. In writing, I don’t have a goal or purpose in mind. I am simply publicly journaling my thoughts.

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I do believe that if anyone desires a miracle in their own life, they can simply ask God to reveal himself to them about the truth of Jesus Christ, His Son.

If there is no God, I have been the fool for believing.

When God does answer your prayer, and there is no doubt in my mind that He will answer a prayer prayed from the true heart’s desire to know Him, you too will know the truth. 

Pray for more faith.  Pray, read, study, decide, pray.

You have nothing to lose and eternity to gain.

Let me know when you experience the same miracle of new birth.

To God be the glory.

Confess with your mouth, and be baptized.

2 Peter, Ephesians 6, and Revelation

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What do we know for sure?

Plagues and pestilence are visited upon mankind. They have for years and they will continue to do so until the Lord returns.

We do not know when the Lord will return. Even educated guessing is guessing. We do not guess, we stick to what we know from the Word of God.

Do not look for signs of His coming. Concentrate instead on what we must be doing until He does come.

The Greatest Commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love others as you love yourself.”

How to love others as we love ourselves, in season, out of season, during a plague, during a war, during end times…

We cannot do so with any lukewarm-ness.

Fully Armored

Ephesians 6:10-20

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

The way that I read this…

Put on – is an action phrase. To be able to stand is dependent on putting on the whole armor of God.

Wrestling – an action word.

Belt of truth – Truth

breastplate of righteousness – Righteousness

ready feet given by the gospel of peace – ready with coals of kindness, ready to fulfill the greatest commandment. In the world, not of the world, but standing firm in the world, visible and not hidden.

shield of faith – extinguish, an action word, the flaming darts

helmet of salvation – we are sealed by the Holy Spirit upon salvation.

armed with the sword of the Spirit – the word of God.

Praying at all times in the Spirit.

Keep alert with all perseverance

Praying for each other while we also declare boldly the mystery of the gospel as we are given utterance from the Holy Spirit.

 

We will wrestle, not against people themselves, but against mystery Babylon, I believe that we can discern now what is revealing itself more and more, it is this that is to be overcome with the gospel of peace – through truth, faith, righteousness, because of our salvation and indwelling Holy Spirit through whom and by whom we speak, and because God will reveal His glory.

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And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
~Luke  11:9-10

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Love the Lord your God – Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

How to live during a pandemic period

~ the Christian Faith Based view is dependent on our love of God. ~

God is with us. He will not leave us. He will not abandon us. He will strengthen us, give us courage, and He will help us to stand – NO MATTER WHAT COMES

What He asks of us is that we love Him with all of our heart, soul, and mind. He also asks that we love those in our lives as we love ourselves. During a pandemic, during any crisis, that may initially seem quite difficult. That is because we allow our mind to get ahead of us. We allow fear to creep in. We also know that when we are truly fully relying on God, He will give us the strength to endure all. Do not fear.

The One who makes this promise to us is the same One who created the universe. He knows the count of every strand of hair on our head. He knows past, present and future. God makes no mistakes, He knows no boundaries, He is without measure, He is infinite, and He rules His entire creation. He has given us free will to come to Him or to reject Him, but He will not leave us, He is faithful and true all we need do is turn to Him.

One of the greatest prayers that any unbeliever can pray is to pray that God reveals Himself to them.

What will be needed of believers during a pandemic is fearlessness. Fearlessness but not foolhardiness. H5N1 is one terrible virus, and there are other infectious diseases that we may have to work around.

I plan on helping my neighbors all that I can during any crisis that we may face, but I will use my God given intelligence to do so without bringing harm to myself or others. Going door to door aiding others without taking the necessary infectious disease precautions would be a short-lived sort of assistance, literally. We want to be able to love others for the duration of the pandemic, not just a few hours or days. Preparation is necessary in order for our faith based efforts to work in helping others. And what a blessed opportunity we have been given to be able serve God during such a time as this.

Comfort others in the grief, provide food and water to those in need, providing care for children, burying the dead…we will be needed. We will need to love our neighbor and demonstrate that love in real world ways.

This is why we do it

The Great Commandment

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"

And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." ~Matthew 22:34-40

“On these two commandment depend all the law and the Prophets.”

“You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind.”

The greatest commandment because without the first the second is impossible in it’s entirety and in it’s purest form.

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Love the Lord your God

with all of your heart – our physical essence and the source of our physical strength. But so much more, the heart is life both spiritual and physical. The heart defines us by what we will and what we desire. Noble, brave, or wicked and depraved, etc., all are attitudes said to be defined in the heart. The heart is the source of our volitions. What I choose to do in my heart, my mind follows, and then my feet. The heart is where we choose the attitude that we will live by at any given time. Our mind may seek retaliation but it is the heart that quiets that urge and seeks love, patience and peace instead. The souls is where the hope lives that stems from the right attitude of our heart.

your soul – the essence and source of expression of mind and body. The soul is the vessel of the deeds of our body, the sum of our emotions and thoughts and the will and attitude of our heart. The soul is who we have been, who we are, and who we will become. It is where we take in the information from our mind and the longings of our heart and define them as our own. The soul is the ethereal imprint of our being and it is what we bring with us when we meet the Lord God. And we will ALL meet the Lord God.

your mind – Our intellect – where we use our knowledge of the world around us and our understanding and develop the attitudes of our heart. The mind utilizes the brain, the organ that senses the world around us and gathers and stores the information that we encounter every day and analyzes that information, the mind feeds the soul and controls the heart.

Love the Lord your God with all of your being. The Apostle Mark added that we are to love the Lord our God with all of our strength. All of our strength is implied because when we take the heart, soul, and mind, in their entirety that is our strength. Love God with your all, with everything that is you. Everything that is you.

The second commandment and obedience to it springs from and is an outpouring of the first. When we love the Lord our God with all of our strength, we will have the ability to love all who are within our sphere of influence, those who God brings into our lives.

There are two expressions of that ability to love.

We have a choice to make, non-believers and believers alike. I don’t tell others what to believe in, but I will tell others that I believe with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. In doing this, and in praying for the ability to love others my heart has been expanded.

We always have a choice

Either we can relate to others by ignoring them, by impacting them for evil or by having an impact on them for good. By ignoring others we have chosen the way of evil since we are not fulfilling the second commandment, to love others as we love ourselves. We cannot ignore our selves and our needs, nor do we want to. We have a drive to survive. So as believers our choice has already been made. We must shed our fear and our lukewarm-ness and become on fire for Christ Jesus. When we do that our passion to fulfill the Greatest Commandment takes all precedence over our lives.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." ~Matthew 22:34-40

 

These words of Jesus Christ were spoken in order that we may know that Deuteronomy 6 was a command that carried forward into the present day.

Old Testament to New – we are still live under the Greatest Commandment

Deuteronomy 6

The Greatest Commandment

"Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.

Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Reading further in Deuteronomy we find more explanation of the heart state required then and now. This is the expression and what is meant by loving our neighbor as ourselves. Look how we are to love the sojourner, the fatherless and the widows, giving them food and clothing. Not because works save us but because we are saved we understand this command.

Circumcise Your Heart

"And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?

Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords,the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.

Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven. ~Deuteronomy 10: -22

Then, as now, there was a blessing and a curse associated with commandments of God. Obey or disobey, there are consequences. Early rain and later rain there are promises to those who keep the commandments of God….and to those who disobey there is punishment. We can lose our reward, complete disobedience to the commandment may indicate that we are not of the Lords flock. “Take care lest your heart be deceived”.

"You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess, and that you may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it, like a garden of vegetables. But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, a land that the LORD your God cares for. The eyes of the LORD your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

"And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full.

Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the LORD is giving you.

"You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the LORD your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him, then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your territory shall be from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea. No one shall be able to stand against you. The LORD your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread, as he promised you.

"See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known. And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oak of Moreh? For you are to cross over the Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you. And when you possess it and live in it, you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the rules that I am setting before you today. ~Deuteronomy 11

…and Deuteronomy 12 continues…

"These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth.

“All the days that you live on the earth”

This verse has current day political implications. Stand by Israel. Another topic for another day.

And now, in the latter rain period, we are to live abiding to the Greatest Commandment. Jesus fulfilled the Law and as the Son of God, fully man – yet fully God, He gives us the power to fulfill the Commandment of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. The essence of God that indwells us at the moment of our new birth when we are born into Jesus’ flock.

I and the Father Are One

At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one." The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?" The Jews answered him, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God."

Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law,’I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father." Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. And many came to him. And they said, "John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true." And many believed in him there. ~John 10:22-42

Believe

Stand firm, and love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Loving our neighbor will follow when we give all of our heart to the Lord God and we live in obedience to Him.

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