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"Owe no man
anything..."
-Romans 13:8
"...the borrower becomes the lender's
slave."
-Proverbs 22:7
"...the
righteous man shall live by faith."
-Romans 1:17
"...without
faith it is impossible to please Him."
-Hebrews 11:6
"No one can
serve two masters..."
-Matthew 6:24
"The Lord
will make you abound in prosperity..."
-Deuteronomy 25:11
"...God
loves a cheerful giver."
-2 Corinthians 9:7
"...the
Lord... is giving you power to make
wealth..."
-Deuteronomy 8:18
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Greetings in the name of Christ Jesus!
Thanks be to God who ALWAYS gives us the
OVERWHELMING victory!.
In our last newsletter we began an examination of an
important relationship between finding victory in HARD
TIMES and living one's life by the commandments of
Christ. As we continue today to explore this subject,
one of the things to keep in mind is that Jesus didn't
leave all that many commandments behind. People
were used to trying to obey more than six hundred of
them under the Old Covenant; but one day Jesus
reduced all that to just two basic requirements. And
when He spoke out the two He made it clear that they
were COMMANDMENTS. We've summarized them
here from Matthew 22:37-40 and Mark 12:28-31:
- LOVE the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind
(and strength).
- LOVE your neighbor (fellow man) as yourself.
Now, it's very "human" to overlook these two
commandments when we're trying to figure how to
deal with our trials, especially our financial
trials. "What's love got to do with our money," right?
And of course, the correct answer is that LOVE has
EVERYTHING to do with it even as we struggle to
understand how they're connected. We know of their
connection because Jesus went on to say that all the
Law and everything the Prophets ever said DEPEND
on (are subordinated to and function through) these
two commandments. In other words, according to
Jesus' own statements EVERYTHING in the Kingdom
of God works by and through LOVE which would
therefore have to include whatever makes it possible
to live in the victory of Christ.
For this reason the New Covenant is often referred to
as the "Covenant of Love." Indeed, LOVE is the
essence of Christianity. Because God LOVED us, He
gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16) and He made
His GRACE (undeserved favor) available to all people
(Titus 2:11). By our LOVE for Him and for our fellow
humans, we can abide with Him in His LOVE (John
15:10). In fact, the scripture says that we HAVE to
abide with Him if we expect to "bear fruit," which is to
say that "in order to be victorious in life" we MUST
abide with Christ. If we abide with Him in love,
whatever we ask will be done for us. But apart from
Him, i.e. when we DON'T keep His commandments,
when we aren't abiding with Him in LOVE, we'll
accomplish NOTHING (John 15:4-7).
Friend it's impossible to experience victory during
HARD TIMES or during any other times if we overlook,
ignore or disobey the commandments of Christ.
Everything works by LOVE. Even our FAITH won't
function properly if it doesn't come out of LOVE (1
Corinthians 13:2). And, if our FAITH isn't working right,
then we can't please God (Hebrews 11:6); and if we
feel like we're not pleasing God then we'll live in FEAR
which is the exact opposite of FAITH. The truth is it's
not possible to live in FEAR and VICTORY at the same
time. But by our LOVE the New Covenant produces the
PEACE that surpasses all understanding (Philippians
4:7) even when we're dealing with trials and
persecution and even in the midst of HARD TIMES. Is
this not indeed the VICTORY we're all seeking?
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| We Routinely Disobey the Love Commandments |
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We need to consider though that most of us routinely
ignore the commandments of Jesus. We're so busy
with all those "important" things we're doing in the
world, so pressed down by the related pressures and
distractions that we frequently don't give attention to
the most important things of life that ought to come
first. At the risk of being repetitive, let's look again at
some examples from the previous Newsletter of
normal conduct in most of our lives where we fail to
manifest love:
- Failure to spend time daily with the Lord and His
Word
- Grumbling and complaining
- Selfishness
- Compulsive competitiveness
- Impatience
- Gossiping and slander
- Pride
- Anger and strife
- Resentment and bitterness
- Revengefulness and unforgiveness
One of the reasons most of us fall so easily into these
loveless acts is that we've tended to view the
commandments of Christ as beyond our ability to
accomplish. So, we've allowed our Flesh and the devil
to convince us that we don't need to be overly
concerned with requirements in the Word of God that
seem "impossible" to keep. But friend, these
commandments are QUITE possible to keep or Jesus
wouldn't have given them. He would surely have
called them something other than COMMANDMENTS
because out of love He would never set us up to fail by
leaving behind COMMANDMENTS we aren't able to
keep.
As we mentioned last time, if any of these areas have
been hindering your VICTORY, you don't have to
continue in the same way. If you're a Believer, by the
Holy Spirit and by FAITH God has given you power
over your Flesh and you don't have to continue walking
in defeat. Jesus ALREADY won the VICTORY for you at
the Cross of Calvary over the exact HARD TIMES we're
living through right now and He wants you to possess
and enjoy it.
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| How to Fulfill the Love Commandments |
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To be sure, it doesn't say anywhere it's always easy to
manifest LOVE. The Flesh always contends against
the Spirit (Galatians 5:17) and fights to maintain its
territory. You have to want to change enough to make
the effort, to engage your enemies the devil and your
Flesh in battle. But if you'll sow your attention and
effort, it's guaranteed that the harvest of VICTORY will
follow.
Here's a process you might consider to set things
right and start on a new course for manifesting LOVE
instead of selfishness out of your Flesh:
- Ask God for help - The first step is to admit
you're
unable to obey the commandments of Christ in your
own strength. Ask God to forgive you and cause His
Holy Spirit to help you. Then open yourself to receive
His ministry.
- Spend time with the Lord and His Word -
You'll
never be able to enjoy victory over the HARD TIMES
from a position of ignorance or disobedience of His
Word. Accept that this is true and get busy studying
and increasing your knowledge.
- Release your faith based on the promises in
the
Word - The Word of God says you can have what
you
ask for (Mark 11:23-24). Therefore, ask God for the
ability to LOVE Him and to love your fellow man; and
then believe from that moment forward that He's
already granted what you've asked for.
- Confess your agreement with the Word -
Those
same scriptures tell us that we can have whatever we
SAY without doubting. Therefore, confess with your
mouth what the Word of God SAYS (that you have
received what you asked for) and it will be granted to
you. Say out loud that you LOVE God with all your
heart, mind, soul and strength and that you LOVE all
people even the ones that have been mean to you.
Pray for the people that have offended you and ask
God to release His blessing and favor over their lives
no matter what they've done. You only hurt yourself by
holding on to unforgiveness and withholding your
LOVE.
- Resist the devil when He comes to try to
convince
you that you can't do it - The enemy will surely
come
to put you off your program. How do you RESIST
Satan? The same way Jesus did when He was in the
wilderness: with the Word of God (Matthew 4:1-11).
Give the devil a strong dose of the Word and He will
leave you (James 4:7) the same way he left Jesus. Do
you want to get the devil out of your life? Speak the
Word of God to him until he leaves you alone!
- Rest in the belief that what you've requested is
happening - Then rest in the assurance and
confidence that this promise from His Word has been
given to you. Don't worry about it; just believe and
receive it. At first, you may not feel more loving but the
truth is God will have already given you what you
asked for. Wait in faith for the things you believe and
say to manifest.
- Practice being a loving person - Don't
miss a day
telling God how much you love Him and how much
you appreciate that your prayers are ALWAYS
answered. Forgive someone. Stop arguing with your
spouse. Be nice to telemarketers. Stop being
impatient in traffic. Stop speaking badly about other
people, ALL other people. Give love offerings to those
in need. The more seriously you practice loving the
more quickly love will flow in your life. And after a
season, your loving will cease to be a special effort; it
will become automatic, the dominant part of who you
are.
- Be quick to repent when you mess up - In
the past
you might have ignored the occasions when you
weren't very loving. Now you'll want to take notice of
those occasions and ask God to forgive you for
allowing your corrupted Flesh to have temporarily
taken control. Repent then means to take off going in
the opposite direction from where you were.
If you'll faithfully seek the Lord for the purpose of
obeying His LOVE commandments, it's certain you'll
find Him (Jeremiah 29:12-14). He'll bless you for
trying; He'll reward you for your faithfulness with
increasing victory even during HARD TIMES. Friend,
the Bible says LOVE NEVER FAILS (1 Corinthians
13:8). Believe it, say it and expect the VICTORY to
show up.
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| Some Final Thoughts |
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The Bible also says that God IS LOVE (1 John 4:8, 16).
Understanding and embracing this will elevate your
faith and help you trust Him. The Truth is those who
live by LOVE abide in Him and He abides in them. In
this manner LOVE is perfected in us and perfected
LOVE casts out FEAR (1 John 4:16-18). Friend, the
COMMANDMENTS of Christ are real and the one who
can live without FEAR is the one who lives in victory
during HARD TIMES. Let God perfect your LOVE walk
and you WILL come into His victory no matter what the
TIMES are. Jesus has ALREADY paid for our victory
but we have to pursue it and we have to do what's
necessary to make it work. God rewards those who
diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6) and that includes
you!
Thanks for reading PLN today and we'll be looking for
you again in three weeks on Friday, November 20. In
the meantime, may God overwhelm you with the
fullness of His love and spiritual blessing! Enjoy your
victory over the HARD TIMES!
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| Sinners' Prayer |
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If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life,
you can
do so today just by saying the following simple prayer:
Jesus I believe in you and I believe that God
raised you
from
the dead. I receive forgiveness for my sins and I ask
you to
come into my life today. I receive you as my Lord and
Savior.
If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has
already
come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally
new
species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to
lead you to
a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you
can be
equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.
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© Make A Way Ministries, Inc.
10621 North Kendall Drive - Suite 113,
Miami, Florida 33176
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