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Love Your Neighbor

14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. 16 He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people. ~ Genesis 14:14-16NIV

Abram wasn’t in any danger. He was safe. His people were safe. His belongings were safe. He was flourishing. All was going well with him, but Lot had found himself taken by the enemy. See, Lot settled in a wicked land. Sodom constantly did what was evil before the eyes of the LORD, but Lot, according to 2 Peter 2:7, was righteous, and his soul, tormented by the wickedness surrounding him, became a victim of that wickedness. So, when Abram heard his nephew was taken, he gathered trained men to go with him to deliver Lot and all that was taken from him.

See, sometimes, as Christians, we go places that we really shouldn’t go. We go to places that have nothing for us. Places that only torment our souls. Places that we don’t belong. We aren’t influencing the community, but the community is affecting us. It’s spiritually attacking us. It’s spiritually oppressing us. It’s bringing us deeper and deeper into spiritual bondage that sometimes we aren’t even aware of.

When Abram, his uncle, saw this happen, he didn’t say Lot should’ve known better than to stay there. He didn’t say Lot got himself into this mess so he can get himself out of this mess. No. Abram not only went after Lot to rescue him Abram got 318 men that he knew were well-trained and that he trusted to help him rescue his nephew.

This is how we should be today. We need to be so prayed up, so in tune with the Spirit of God, that when He tells us someone we love has been spiritually captured by the enemy, we’ll go after them. We’ll do anything it takes to get them, and all the enemy took back from the enemy. We have to be willing to admit that this isn’t something we can do alone, so we reach out for help. Not help from people who don’t know how to spiritually fight but trained seasoned warriors of God. People who have spiritually trained for battle with the enemy through continuous praying, fasting, and worship.

Oftentimes, it’s easier to just say, “They should’ve known better,” and move on, but this isn’t the will of God. We all fall at some point in time. We all make mistakes. We all go places that we shouldn’t go. And when we do, wouldn’t you want someone to come to your rescue? Jesus said to treat others how you want to be treated. Solomon said cast your bread upon the water, and it will return to you in many days. How we treat others and judge others will be how we are treated and judged. Therefore, always act from a place of love, for the entire Law is founded on loving God and loving your neighbor.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Love Your Neighbor.

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A Pleasing Aroma

7 Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. 8 He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come. ~ Exodus 30:7-8NIV

Throughout his letters to the different churches, Paul references fragrant offerings and pleasing aromas to God. Except, in these cases, he’s not talking about burning physical incense but spiritual incense. How do we do that? Paul explains that we achieve this through our actions.

One instance in particular, Paul says that we are to love others in the same way Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us. This one caught my eye because this isn’t an easy task Paul is calling us to. It’s a difficult task when we really put it into perspective. See, Jesus took verbal abuse and accusations constantly by the very ones He came to save. He didn’t just condemn them to Hell and turn His back on them, though He’d be justified if He had. Instead, Jesus loved them. He taught them. He answered their questions and accusations with wisdom from His Heavenly Father and Holy Spirit. Even while on the cross, having just been beaten almost to death and now being mocked and berated, Jesus still chose love by praying for their forgiveness.

I want you to remember that while on earth, Jesus was still God but didn’t use that to His advantage (Philippians 2:5-8). So, He had to fight the fleshly desire to return evil with evil (Hebrews 4:15). Because Jesus overcame His earthly desires, we can overcome them as well when we go through Him (John 16:33, Romans 8:37, Philippians 4:13).

See, every act of love is a sacrifice to God because you have to crucify your flesh in order to succeed. You have to deny your own feelings, emotions, and pain in order to truly love people. Why? Because people aren’t perfect. We make mistakes. We lash out. We ridicule and mock. Hurt people, hurt people. And we’re all hurt in some form or another. But through Jesus, we can overcome evil with good.

From morning to morning and from night to night, let go of any hurt or pain you have from someone in your past doing you wrong. Let it go as it happens. Don’t hold on to it. Let a pleasing aroma of love be sacrificed on the altar of incense before the LORD, burning always through your actions of love. Because the more we love, the more God can use us. Therefore, let Him use you to be a pleasing aroma to the world. To be a light in this here present darkness. For they will know us by our love.

Dear Heavenly Father, help me to be a pleasing aroma to You. Help me to let go of the past and the hurts and pains of yesterday so that I might walk in love. So that I might be a reflection of You to the world. Help me not to be held down and tormented within my own soul by another’s actions. Help me to only be affected by You and Your love towards me, for I am perfected in Your perfect love. Please fill me with Your peace and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Help me to follow You all the days of my life. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Focus On Your Call

1 At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah. ~ Genesis 38:1NIV

Judah’s envy of his brother Joseph led him to sin against him. It was Judah who convinced his brothers to sell him into slavery. Now, after seeing the effect it had on his father, he left his brothers and went to stay with a friend in another city. See, envy will lead us to do evil and wicked things. It’ll convince us to sin against another person at all costs in order to achieve whatever it is saying that person has that we want. The problem is that you’ll never be happy. Joseph was gone, yet Judah wasn’t loved by his father more. In fact, he was loved by his father even less. He refused to be comforted. He went into a deep depression that no one could rescue him from. Now that envy had taken so much from him, it quieted and made room for shame to enter and take what was left of him. His family.

Just as Joseph wasn’t with his father all of those years, neither was Judah. Judah stayed in Chezib until his children were grown and could have children. He most likely never left until he had to because of the severity of the famine. That which he took from Joseph was also taken from him. He reaped what he sowed almost immediately. This wasn’t the outcome that he expected.

Envy will lie and deceive and egg you on all in order to convince you to ruin yourself by trying to ruin someone else. God has called each one of us to a specific purpose. We’re all loved and treasured by Him. Your call on your life isn’t the same as someone else’s call on their life. If Judah knew that the Messiah, God Himself, would one day come through His line, I highly doubt that he would’ve been so envious of Joseph being his father’s favorite. We never know what God has in store for us, so we have to be careful not to focus on others. We have to simply focus on our own call from God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Focus On Your Call.

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Do Hard Things

12 The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.” 14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking. ~ Genesis 19:12-14NIV

When you constantly dwell amongst wickedness, wickedness slowly finds a way into your life. Lot was a righteous man, yet he chose two unrighteous men to marry his two daughters. They weren’t upstanding men of God. They were amongst the men banging on Lot’s door in order to rape the two angels that came in human form to destroy the city.

Today, we are no different. We are like Lot, living in a wicked and evil world. Sin is everywhere, from porn being passed as adult entertainment to demonic symbolism, teachings, and plots being passed as children’s entertainment. Everything around us is saturated in debauchery and idolatry. Yet, we must live in the world but not be a part of the world.

We have to raise our children knowing the difference between right and wrong. Good and Evil. Sin and righteousness. We have to raise them up in the way they should go so that when they are old, they may not stray from it. We have to make sure that we aren’t allowing the world to influence them but the things of God. That we aren’t bringing in and introducing wickedness into their lives because of convenience or lack of understanding. We have to make sure that we are immersed in the Word of God so that we can influence the world around us and not the other way around.

Lot could have sent to get good, righteous men for his daughters, like Abraham did with Isaac. Instead, Lot’s daughters were betrothed to men who were a part of the wickedness that drenched Sodom. Never allow convenience and ease to influence your discernment of right and wrong. The right thing to do is usually never the easy thing to do, but it is always the only way to please God. Therefore, you must pick up your cross and follow Jesus in every aspect of your life, lest you be influenced by the world and miss out on eternity with Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Do Hard Things.

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Put All Things Under Christ

37 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. ~ Matthew 10:37

The concept of Christ being above every single thing in our lives is a difficult one to grasp when you really think about it. See, it’s not just the things of this world that have to be beneath Christ, but also our dearest loved ones. Why? Well, when you love your family more than you love Christ, then you’ll begin to not only overlook the sins of your family but fully accept and embrace them. We can see this throughout the Church today.

We don’t correct sin anymore; instead, we make excuses for sin to run rampant in those we love. When we do this, we put our family above Christ. And if we put our family above Christ, then we can’t actually pick up our cross and follow Him. We can’t abide in His love. Sin isn’t something that we can allow in our lives. We can’t let in even a grain of sin because sin’s one goal is to corrupt and destroy. It wants to rule your life. When you tolerate sin, you end up inviting more sin into your life.

So, when it comes to your family, don’t tolerate sin. Yes, love them. Yes, treat them with gentleness and kindness, but you don’t have to accept their sin. Place before God. Pray for them. Fast for them. Believe that God will intervene and show them the Truth. Spiritually fight for your family so that you won’t just save their soul but also your own.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Put All Under Christ.

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Push Back The Darkness

14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. ~ Matthew 5:14-16

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” He was speaking to the people of His day and age and to us here and now. This now begs the question, what is light? According to the Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains:

light, i.e., that which is contrasted to darkness (Genesis 1:3), note: in some contexts with the associative meaning of guidance, health, life, prosperity, enlightened judgment, and other positive things.

So, first of all, light is that which is contrasted with darkness. Which begs the question, what is darkness? According to wikipedia.org:

Darkness, the polar opposite of brightness, is understood as a lack of illumination or an absence of visible light.

If darkness is the opposite of brightness, or rather it is the absence of light, then we had better start spreading the light. Why? Because according to the definition above, light represents all that is good and useful for life.

  • Guidance
  • Health
  • Life
  • Prosperity
  • Enlightened judgment
  • And other positive things

And darkness represents the lack of all of the above.

Without light, there is no life, and we are the light. In other words, we carry the words of life taught to us by Jesus. What does that mean for us? We are to show God’s good work so that He might be glorified. But we must show God’s light now while we still can. A time is coming when darkness will overtake the whole world and forbid the working of light. We have to work while it is still day because night is soon coming when no one can work. Tribulation is coming for the full body of Christ, making it illegal to even say the name of Jesus. Unless we want that in our time, we have to spread the light now. We have to spread the Gospel throughout all the earth and push back the darkness that is closing in on us so rampantly.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Push Back The Darkness.

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Harvest Before It’s Too Late

35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” ~ John 4:35-38

Jesus is drawing an analogy here. He said, “You are saying that there are still 4 more months left before I have to prepare for the harvest. So, I can do other things while I wait, and why not? I don’t have to worry about preparing for the harvest for another 4 months.”

Then He hits them with the reality that the fields are white for harvest. In other words, some of you are worrying about your earthly treasures or your physical harvest; what can I get out of life? You are busy climbing the corporate ladder, but you are ignoring the true harvest. The most important harvest is the spiritual harvest. The harvest of souls. There is no greater harvest, and the harvest is ready now. The fields are white for harvest now.

I looked up why the wheat field would be white unto harvest. Then I texted a farmer friend of mine who confirmed it. Apparently, there are several reasons. Fugus, disease, etc. The disease is usually caused by a lack of proper watering, insect infestation, or not harvesting the grain on time. In every instance of the grain fields being white, it leads to the death of the grain.

I thought about this, and every account can be related back to the harvest field. The lack of proper watering can be related to a lack of evangelism. Insect infestation due to lack of discipleship. Lack of harvesting due to, again, lack of evangelism due to not enough workers.

What am I on about? The fields are white onto harvest in your world. People are dying without being reaped for the LORD. In other words, they are not being evangelized. They are not being told of the goodness of Jesus. They are not being saved! We are called not to keep our light hidden within us but display it to the whole world. We are called not to be silent but to go out and spread the Word of God to anyone willing to listen. We are to harvest the crop before it’s too late and they die. This is our call. This should be our main focus.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Harvest Before It’s Too Late.

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Lean If Needed

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

8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. ~ Leviticus 26:8

I remember several years back, we were visiting someone in their home, and the owner of the house was seeing 3 black forms with long straggly black hair. My wife also saw the apparitions. Not long after our visit, the owner actually died in the house.

I went back to the house and was praying and worshipping in the house all day until evening. When the night started to come on, I heard a voice, not audibly, but I heard it in my head, and to me, it was very clear. It said, “The night is coming. Soon it will be dark, and he is coming. If he finds you here, they will have to carry you out also.”

I’m not gonna lie to you; it shook me up a little. Okay, it shook me a lot. But in defiance of that voice, I still stayed right where I was for about another 30 or 40 seconds, maybe less, but about another, at the very least, 20 seconds, and then I got out there.

The hair on the back of my neck started to stand up. I felt like my only exit out of there was being blocked, and I would have no way out. In that moment, without even thinking about it, I second-guessed God coming to my defense.

You see, you cannot cast out or drive out what you fear! Fear is a form of weakness that leads to distrust. We have to trust God because He will never leave us, nor will He forsake us. If we don’t fully trust God, we can’t operate in power. Why? We can’t operate in power when we walk in fear. Likewise, we cannot operate in fear if we walk in love.

My family and I went back to the house after that, and we began praying and casting out any evil that was in that home. We went from room to room in the confidence of the love of God. And to make sure fear didn’t have a foothold in our hearts as we prayed, we went at night and left all of the lights in the house off. You cannot cast out what you fear. And if you aren’t filled and surrounded with enough love to face fear alone, take someone (or someones) with you that will believe and stand in faith and love with you. A three-strand cord is not easily broken. One can put a thousand to flight, but two can put ten thousand to flight. Therefore, lean on your brother(s) or sister(s) in Christ when you aren’t strong enough to stand alone.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Lean If Needed.

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The Uncorrectable

11 But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. 12 When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. 13 As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?” ~ Galatians 2:11-14NLT

Peter was one of the Twelve who walked and talked with Jesus Himself. He was arguably Jesus’ best friend. He preached the first message on the Day of Pentecost and brought in 5,000 souls. He was a well-respected leader in the Church; nevertheless, not even he was above correction. When Paul corrected him, he didn’t condemn Paul. He didn’t pull up Paul’s past. He didn’t point out how long he was saved compared to Paul. He didn’t try to drag Paul’s name through the dirt and get him ostracized. Why? Because no one is above correction, but today that’s not a common belief.

Today, the Church has become unable to take correction. I’ve noticed that when someone doesn’t agree with one of my beliefs, they’ll start very friendly and kind, but as soon as I use Scripture they can’t defend against, they point out three things to me: I’m older than you, therefore wiser than you. I’ve been a Christian longer than you, therefore, I know and understand the Bible better than you. If they’re a man, they bring up that I’m female and, therefore, can’t possibly know better than a man. They never use Scripture. In fact, I was recently condemned and called all sorts of things in the comment section because I wouldn’t accept the beliefs of a man who believes he’s older than me (his age was never said, so I can’t say for sure). His biggest problem with me was that I used Scripture for why I didn’t believe his beliefs. He wanted to discuss the Scripture without quoting it. That is the temperature of the majority of “Christians” today. We want to push our ideology, our narrative, our truth, and when they contradict the Word of God, and someone points it out, we get angry. We get defensive. We get aggressive. Why? Pride.

Pride will blind us, keeping us from seeing the Truth. It will force us to create our own truth and disregard whether or not it agrees or disagrees with the only Truth, the Word of God. It will cause us to lash out when asked for Biblical evidence and see anyone who shows us the Truth in the Word of God as a bigoted hypocrite. This isn’t how the Church is to react. We are to use the Bible for correction so that we can grow. No one is perfect. Not me. Not you. Not even Peter, arguably Jesus’ best friend. Pride will keep us from God, for He humbles the proud but elevates the humble.

If your beliefs are challenged, defend them with Scripture. If they are weighed, measured, and found wanting, then change those beliefs. No one is above correction because no one is perfect.

Dear LORD, please search me. Convict me of any false beliefs, practices, or stances that I have within me. Show me any sin that has made a home in my life. Help me to root my beliefs in You and Your Truth and not in myself or another’s truth. Help me to strive to better myself each day. Teach me to take correction, and humble me so that pride may not build up in my life. Help me to always seek You and Your Kingdom. Guide me in all of my ways so that I may not be led astray by another shepherd. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Build Up Your Spirit Man

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ~ 1 Peter 5:8

Have you ever played any type of Mario game? Ever noticed the little boos, the circular ghosts…? Ever noticed when they attack? The only time they will approach you is when your back is turned to them, making your character unaware of their presence. As soon as your character turns around, they will back away, slowly fading so you no longer see them. This is the same way the enemy works.

You will never be attacked while you’re on guard, ready for him to come your way. Instead, he will only come when your guard is down; when you’re unknowing; when you’re confused; when you’re preoccupied with other things; when you’re weak.

Matthew 4 speaks of Jesus being tempted. Remember when He was tempted? It wasn’t right after praying. It wasn’t when He felt strong, powerful, and filled with the Holy Spirit. It was after fasting for forty days and forty nights. He was hungry. He was tired. He was weary.

Have you ever gone all day without eating and then felt so weak you couldn’t walk, talk, think, or focus, and you’re all confused…? Imagine not eating for forty days and forty nights. That was Jesus. But Jesus relied on His spirit man who was well-seasoned and prepared for defense.

We are each Mario in this scenario, and our spirit man is the player controlling Mario. The spirit man can see the enemy attacking, but we can’t. If we build our spirit man up, as Jesus had done through prayer, worship, reading and studying the Scriptures, and fasting, then our spirit man will be able to guide us through our attack.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Build Up Your Spirit Man.

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