Righteous Without the Law!

Galatians 2:16- knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

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In the last post, I shared with you that Paul called Peter a hypocrite. I also shared that Paul rebuked Peter for his hypocrisy, sharing with him that he had set aside the grace of God. Today, I want to share with you another important issue: righteousness does not come through the law.

Paul continues his conversation with Peter:

knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ,

Galatians 2:16 NKJV

Paul understands that Peter already knows that a man is justified not by works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. But since Peter has gotten up from the table of the Gentiles to be with the Jews, Paul has come to the conclusion that not only has Peter set aside the grace of God, but that he has obviously taken up the position that you had to do all things Jewish to be a Christian.

Paul reminded Peter that although they both grew up Jewish, observing all things Jewish, the law did neither of them any good. In fact, when it came to being justified, “dikaioo,” they had to trust in Jesus Christ, not the works of the law. The Bible clearly tells us:

“and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

Acts 13:39 NKJV

The law of Moses was not able to justify anyone.

Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Romans 3:20 NKJV

Though the law had a purpose of showing us our sins, it did not justify us before God! Only Jesus did! And we come to the conclusion,

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.

Romans 3:28 NKJV

The Bible repeatedly states that we are justified by faith in Jesus, not the law! Then Paul declared both he and Peter had made this crucial decision to believe in Jesus Christ.

knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

Galatians 2:16 NKJV

Paul wanted to make this point very clear to Peter. Not because Peter didn’t already know it, because he did. But because this was the very foundation of the faith that they had already partaken of. Of grace that didn’t require the law. A grace that was strong enough, it needed nothing else to get the job done. I still think the statement is true:

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:12 NKJV

That rings as true today as it did when Peter said it. It wasn’t a sentiment, it was a truth. No other name! No other means! No other way! Just Jesus! People try to make the gospel of Jesus more complicated than He ever made it. They try to add to or take away from it. But the simple truth is that we are justified by faith in Christ alone! Paul said,

“For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

Galatians 2:18 NKJV

What exactly is Paul saying here? I believe he is stating that if he took up the position that salvation was from the law and Christ, he would become a transgressor. He had already moved away from the law as a requirement to be saved because he fully understood the grace of God that was bestowed on him. He embraced the truths of God’s word, which was the law, to understand God and His purpose and His plan. But it wasn’t the law that saved him or anybody else, and to take it up again, he’d be a transgressor.

Paul was earnest in his talk with Peter. He shared with Peter from the depths of his heart. He realized Peter was acting like a hypocrite, although he was the apostle to the Jews. He realized that Peter’s decision to move away from the Gentiles was contagious because it had caused the other Jews and Barnabas to move away also. And I believe Paul’s heart was broken.

What are you wrestling with today? What things have you added to God’s grace that people might be saved? Maybe you’ve added that they need to be a Republican or a Democrat? Maybe you’ve added that they need to believe in pro-life or abortion? Whatever you have added to the grace of God has made you a hypocrite, because you too have set aside God’s grace and added something to it.

If you have, just repent! Repentance is always the way to get things right with God! No matter what you have messed up on, He is always waiting to hear that you are sorry and it won’t happen again. That’s true repentance. Wonderful Jesus!

Pretense is Overrated!

Galatians 2:13 – And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. NKJV

It’s the second chapter of Galatians, and Paul has been defending the gospel of grace. He shares how he came to be an apostle, the places he visited after coming to the faith, and how he even spent 15 days with Peter, the apostle to the Jews. And now we find him calling Peter a hypocrite.

Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed;  for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. 

Galatians 2:11-12 NKJV

Peter had visited Antioch. While he was there, he enjoyed the fellowship of the brethren, eating and drinking with them. However, when James sent some Jewish brothers to visit them and see how things were going, Peter removed himself from the Gentile brothers. To make matters worse, Barnabas also removed himself from the midst of the Gentiles, and some of the others did also.

And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.

Galatains 2:13 NKJV

In the Greek translation of the Bible, the word for hypocrite is hypokrisis. This word is more accurately translated as dissimulation. But it’s the picture of the word that is most interesting. The word conveys a picture of an actor on a stage playing a part. Pretending. So when Paul uses this word in relation to what Peter, Barnabas, and the other disciples have done, he is implying that they are playing a part. Which, in essence, is a problem.

Paul is looking at what is going on, and he is disappointed to see Peter remove himself from among the Gentiles. But when the others do it, he is incensed, because he realizes that hypocrisy is contagious. When one person acts in a way that is bad for the body of Christ, if no one says anything, everyone thinks it’s okay. And then they repeat the behavior.

For example, the first time I got a message saying that Democrats were evil, I was appalled that someone would actually write that about other Americans. But then other Americans began to say it, and it is now an acceptable thing to say in our society. Pretense is overrated because if the people hearing it don’t know that it is pretense, it can become a fabric of our daily lives, and it can become dangerous.

So, the first thing Paul does is to confront Peter face-to-face. The passage gives the impression that they are all still gathered in the meeting place, Gentile believers on one side and Jewish believers on the other. And Paul says to Peter,

“If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?

Galatians 2:14 NKJV

Paul points out to Peter that he was just fine living in the manner of Gentiles before the Jewish brothers came from James. So, why was he all of a sudden acting like the Gentiles had to live like Jews when he wasn’t even doing it?

Then Paul points out the fact that Peter has set aside the grace of God for the purpose of identifying himself with the Jews.

knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

Galatians 2:16 NKJV

When Paul said, “even we have believed in Christ Jesus”, he was stating that he understood, and Peter understood that their salvation was in Jesus, not in the works of the flesh. He was reminding Peter that salvation came through the grace of God, not through anything that he, or Peter, or Barnabas, or any of the other Jews had done. And what is so interesting to me about this is that Peter had received a direct message from God about the Gentiles in Acts 10.

If you will recall with me that in Acts 10, God placed Peter in a trance. While Peter was in this trance, three times God let down a sheet with unclean animals in it and told him to kill and eat. Three times Peter said no to the Lord because he had never eaten unclean meat from unclean animals. Three times God told him to not call unclean what God had cleansed. Then immediately after that, the men from Cornelius’ house showed up and asked for Peter, which God told Peter to go. When Peter got to Cornelius’ house, a Gentile, he said,

“In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.  But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. 

Acts 10:34-35 NKJV

While Peter was sharing with the family of Cornelius, the Bible says that they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and spoke with other tongues. Peter and his entourage saw that God saves whoever believes in Him, and they baptized Cornelius and his household. And later, when Peter was called on the carpet by his Jewish brothers, Peter said:

If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?”

Acts 11:17 NKJV

Therefore, Peter not only understood that he was being unfair to the Gentiles, but he also understood that his stepping away from them was stepping away from the very grace that he had defended.

It is never okay to set aside the grace of God. It is never okay to say at any point in our Christian walk with God that His grace was not sufficient. His grace is sufficient for our every sin and our every need. When Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and rose again, He did it for all of us. It doesn’t matter what color we are, what political party we bend towards, or how much money we may have. Grace is grace! And if it was grace for one person, it’s grace for every person who believes it!

Paul is saddened by this turn of events. They were having a great time, and Peter had to spoil it. He got up from the table and went over to the newly arrived Jews. Then the other Jews got up, and finally Barnabas got up. Can you imagine what this must have looked like? Can you imagine how the atmosphere must have changed because of this separation that took place?

And what about Paul and Peter’s relationship? Do you think Paul was happy that he had to address this situation? Do you think Peter felt good about this public dressing down? I would say Paul may not have wanted to publicly address this issue, but he knew that he had to. What Peter did was wrong! And then it caused others to follow suit! That was just plain wrong.

Maybe you have been in a position where you “pretended” to be something that you weren’t for whatever reason. Or maybe you have witnessed something that you knew was wrong, but you didn’t say anything. Pretending is overrated. If you are not on a stage performing for others, it probably doesn’t need to be a part of your life. In my next post, I’ll explain what else was wrong with this picture. Wonderful Jesus!

A Chosen Generation! Revised!

1 Peter 2:9 – But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

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But you are a chosen generation! I have always been moved by this verse in 1 Peter. It is as if Peter looked through the portals of time and knew God’s people would need reminding of who they are. So he does just that by saying, “But you are a chosen generation…”

It is implied and validated in the remainder of this verse that we are not chosen by just anyone, but by God. What would it feel like to be chosen by Bill Gates to be a recipient of some of his wealth? It would be amazing! What would it feel like to be chosen by Oprah to work on her staff? It would be pretty exciting! Or what would it be like to be chosen to be in ministry with your favorite evangelist? For me, it would be mind-blowing. And yet, when we think of being chosen by God, it doesn’t provide us with the same level of excitement. And in truth, it shouldn’t! We should be even more excited, amazed, dazed, or our minds blown to understand what it means to be chosen by God!

As a people chosen by God, we have the benefit of His protection. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people. His provision is something we can also have. He said that He would supply all of our needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. We have access to inhabit His kingdom and the ability to reach His throne. And lastly, it also suggests that we, as God’s chosen, are to share in the blessings of God’s chosen people, the Israelites. This is echoed in Galatians by Paul when he states that we are blessed with faithful Abraham.

This being chosen also means that we are to share in the privileged status of Christ Jesus. Again, Galatians 3 states that we are heirs and joint heirs with Christ. And in the same chapter of Galatians, we are told that the blessing of Abraham comes upon us as a result of what Jesus accomplished on Calvary. And if that isn’t enough, John 1 states that those of us who have believed in Jesus and received Him were given the right to become children of God. Are you grasping the scope of being chosen yet?

Now, put chosen with generation, and you get an even richer viewpoint of what Peter is stating. You are a chosen generation, or race. Just as God chose the Israelites to be His people, He has chosen you, us, who have been redeemed by the Blood of Jesus, to be His. We belong to Him. We didn’t just choose Him, but He chose us to be His. We are as special to Him as the Jewish nation is to Him. Any reader of the Bible can see that He was fully engaged in the lives of the Israelites. As believers today, we can count on the fact that He is fully engaged in our lives, also.

God provided the children of Israel with deliverance from Egypt in a magnanimous way. He not only performed miracles on their behalf, but He also told them to “borrow” from the Egyptians. (They were never going to get back what was borrowed). Then, when they arrived at the Red Sea, He provided an even greater miracle by parting the waters and drowning the Egyptians. He provided them with His glory to guide them, and we are welcome to experience His glory today!

Our spiritual deliverance pays eternal dividends and opens the pathway for earthly deliverances. When God steps into your situation and brings deliverance, people take note of the faithfulness of God. When He restores a marriage, people know that He can restore their marriage also. When He delivers you from drugs or alcohol, it gives hope to the person struggling in this area and can result in their deliverance. Anything that God did for Israel, He can and will do for us on a greater scale because our covenant is built on the Blood of Jesus and not on bulls and goats.

It’s overwhelming to the natural mind the scope of being chosen by God, but it is true. The devil wants you to be afraid of embracing God, to believe He is out to get you, to keep things from you, to stifle your life, or is waiting to reject you when you sin; but nothing could be further from the truth!! God Himself has chosen you to be His out of the depths of His great love for you! His hands are stretched out still. Open your heart today and dare to believe that you, as a believer, belong to Him because you are chosen! Wonderful Jesus!!

The Mystery of Godliness! Revised!

1 Timothy 3:16- And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness…NKJV

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Godliness is not a strange term in the Christian vernacular, but the opposite. We talk about it, sing about it, pray for it, and try to practice it regularly, yet find ourselves trying to hone in on the concept of what is true godliness. Paul wrote that without controversy, or in other words, without a doubt, it’s a mystery.

And then Paul does what seems to be out of place. He quotes the words to a popular song (according to scholars) as if he is clearing up the mystery of godliness, or at least is giving us a heads up to what it pertains to:

God was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.

1 Timothy 3:16b NKJV

Before addressing the song, I would like to return to a previous statement of Paul.

I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 

1 Timothy 3:15 NKJV

In chapter three, Paul has listed the qualifications of leaders in the church. His list was pretty exhaustive and covered the gamut of behaviors Timothy should look for when deciding whom to place in leadership. He wrote about leaders not being greedy for money, that they should be married to one wife, that they should not be novices to the faith, that they should be able to teach the word, and not be given to wine. All things that are still applicable for today!

But then Paul states that he is also writing so that Timothy would know how to conduct himself in the house of God. Yes, Paul was advising Timothy on choosing godly leaders, but Paul was also telling Timothy what his life should look like before the church. I don’t think the mystery of godliness had anything to do with Paul not knowing or understanding what godliness looked like. But during a time when there was a lot of focus on Judaism, Hellenism, Romanism, and Greek mythology, Paul wanted to help Timothy set up boundaries in his life and the lives of other church leaders that would make them stand out in the crowd. Also, Paul wanted to encourage Timothy so that even when it was tough, or odd, or if he was the only one, to continue living in godliness.

We’re living in such a day now. There is a lot of focus on a lot of things. We have more religions now than were prevalent in Paul’s day. We have people who claim to know the same God, and are reading from the same scriptures, yet walking away with different understandings of what is godly and what is not! We argue whether women should have their heads covered in church, or should they wear pants, or even, if they should teach and preach, but a greater concern lies in their lifestyle. How are they living before the church and the world?

As a church, we have been studying the book of Timothy. Last week, our daughter made a comment about what she thought was godliness. She said that when we think of godliness, we should think of those things that point people to Jesus. Therefore, anything that was a distraction from the person of Jesus should be considered ungodly. That resonated with my spirit. All the things that point us and others to Jesus pertain to godliness. And now Paul’s song makes perfect sense as a part of the dialogue about godliness:

God was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.

1 Timothy 3:16b NKJV

What’s our focus as believers? What really matters as we live our lives as kingdom citizens? To really attain godliness, we must remember that God was manifested in the flesh as Jesus, the Savior of the world! There is no other God besides Him, and none can compare to Him! We must also remember that the Spirit of the living God justified or vindicated Him through acts of supernatural empowerment and raising Him from the dead! The Spirit of God bore witness that Jesus was indeed God!

Jesus was seen by angels. How many times in the scriptures did angels appear on the scene for Jesus? There were several! When Jesus was born, angels announced His birth! After He was tempted for forty days and nights, they came and ministered to Him. On the day that His tomb was discovered empty, angels proclaimed that He had risen! And on the day that He ascended into heaven (was received up in glory), an angel asked the disciples why they were still gawking at the heavens.

He preached amongst the Gentiles and believed in the world! That was huge! He was not only the God of the Jews, but now the Gentiles had access to God through Jesus! That news is still being heralded around the world today! Jesus is the Savior of the world! We can only obtain access to God through Him, and throughout the centuries, millions have come to God through Him!

Godliness is very much about our actions. It also includes our character, our attitudes, and the way we conduct ourselves (Tony Evans, NASB study bible). Jesus was our first example of godliness, and His disciples continued with their own lives being examples. Our challenge today, as it was for Timothy and others, is to not be influenced by the world around us, but to influence the world around us with a lifestyle of godliness!

My favorite scripture on godliness is found in 2 Peter:

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as 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.

2 Peter 3:2-4 NKJV

That’s a lot to unpack! Suffice it to say, God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through His divine power. He’s equipped us to be godly, so we just need to believe that we can live a godly life because He is committed to helping us in our pursuit.

So is godliness really a mystery? I don’t think it truly is since Paul took the time to give us concrete examples of it. Everything he did not cover just needs to come into alignment with scripture. When we miss it, we repent and fix it. But without a doubt, each of us should desire to live a life that is an example of godliness. Wonderful Jesus!

Remember the Dream! Revised!

Genesis 42:- Then Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them…” NKJV

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On Sunday, our pastor was reading from the 42nd chapter of Genesis when this verse jumped out at me:

Then Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!”

Genesis 42:8 NKJV

Then I heard the Spirit of God say, “Remember the dream”! I knew I would be blogging on this topic this week!

In this particular situation in Joseph’s life, his brothers are bowing before him, and he remembers that in his youth, he had a dream of them bowing before him. The dream was so distasteful to his brothers that they plotted to kill him, making this interesting comment:

Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”

Genesis 37:20 NKJV

Yet, here they were bowing before their brother Joseph, and surely his dreams were coming to pass! After all their interference and attempts to stop the dreams God had given Joseph, they actually assisted in the process of making them happen.

When I think of the phrase “remember the dream” in relation to Joseph’s situation, I consider how Joseph handled it. As he remembered the dream, he could have allowed bitterness and unforgiveness to rule in his heart, and he could’ve destroyed his brothers. He could have kept his identity from them and never acknowledged them. Basically, he could have reacted in his flesh.

But if Joseph was immature when he had the dreams, his response to his brothers demonstrates that he had matured when he remembered the dreams. I think this is so important to point out. God gives us assignments in life, whether through dreams, a prophetic word, or however He deems to speak to us. At the time of getting the assignment, we may be too immature to handle it. But if we trust Him and His timing, we will handle it with grace and maturity at the time of fruition.

Think about Moses. God gave him an assignment to deliver His people from Egyptian bondage. We don’t know if God had spoken to Moses’ spirit before the burning bush, but we have evidence that he wanted to put an end to what was happening to the Israelites:

Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

Exodus 2:11-12 NKJV

Moses had the right concept, the right dream, but lacked the maturity and God’s timing! He got ahead of the dream. But at the burning bush, he remembered the dream to see his brethren free and was in a position to listen to God!

The other aspect of “remembering the dream” that I am sure Joseph had to reflect upon was all the stuff he endured before the dream came to pass. I’m sure it didn’t feel good to have his brothers hate him, but they hated him because of the dreams!

And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

Genesis 37:8 NKJV

It wasn’t Joseph’s fault that God gave him those dreams! So maybe they hated God because of the dreams He gave Joseph! It wasn’t Joseph’s fault that God and his father favored him above his brothers! And while he might have been immature in sharing his dreams, he couldn’t help that God had chosen him! Just like it’s not your fault, or my fault, when God places a dream, a burden, or an assignment on us that others think they should have gotten. Who wants to fight against God?

The sad truth about life is sometimes, the people we should be able to count on to support our dreams are the very ones trying to sabotage them! We had dinner with my husband’s cousin when we went to San Diego a few weeks ago. He told us how he wanted to go to college when he was younger, but a relative told him he wasn’t going to go to college. However, he actually did go to college, something that was uncommon in his youth! She may not have even realized that she was trying to sabotage his dream and his future; she was just speaking from what was familiar to her. But that’s the thing about dreams; they are bigger than our present and our past and can cause others to feel uncomfortable with their lives! You have to move past the naysayers and remember the dream!

Another thing Joseph had to deal with was the delay or, more accurately, what looked like the death of his dreams. In the reality of his life as a slave, there appeared to be no way possible that his dreams could ever come to pass. Not only was he a slave, but he was a slave to foreigners, far away from his family. Joseph probably didn’t even want to think about those dreams in his present circumstances because they only would have mocked him and caused him to become shipwrecked in his faith!

I think Joseph’s situation made him forget his dreams. I think survival and honoring God were on his mind, not ruling over his family. I believe every day, he chose to be the best person he could be for God, irrespective of what he had once dreamed. And as he continued to live and honor God, he matured in the things of God. Sounds like advice for those of us still waiting on the dream!

Then one day, without realizing it had happened, Joseph stood above his brothers, and they bowed to him. Then he remembered the dreams. God had done it! God had proven that the dreams were from Him, and nothing that had happened to Joseph was able to stop the dreams from coming to pass. As a matter of fact, God used it all: hatred, jealousy, slavery, lies, and being forgotten! All those things that the enemy threw at Joseph to stop the dreams were catalysts for the dream!

As I sat in the service on Sunday, I had an epiphany, a sudden realization about my personal dreams. I have placed some things out of my mind because I am getting older, and they seem even further out of reach than they did when I was younger. But I heard God say, “Remember the dream!”

Maybe as you are reading this blog, there are some things that you have forgotten that God has promised you. Maybe the situations and circumstances of your life are so far away from those promises, and you don’t see how they can ever come to pass. Maybe like Joseph, like me, you have put them out of your mind and have chosen to just live for God to the best of your ability! Well, this moment could be your epiphany! Maybe it’s time for you to remember your dreams! Wonderful Jesus!

Loving the Father! Revised!

Deuteronomy 6:5- “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…”

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I saw a man wearing a T-shirt with the scripture from Isaiah 54:17:

No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.

Isaiah 54:17 NKJV

That was on his front, and of course, since it’s a favorite scripture of mine, I secretly cheered! But as he passed me, on the back of his T-shirt was “God’s got my back!”

The next thing in my spirit was, “But does He have your heart?”

Interestingly, the Lord can get our attention from simple interactions in this life. That stayed with me, and I wanted to share it. If the Lord asks a question, it’s best to see if you can answer it. Was the question about the young man, me, or people in general?

Speaking to the children of Israel, Moses declared that we are to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

Deuteronomy 6:5 NKJV

Can I be honest with you here? I love God dearly, but I’m not sure that He truly has all of my heart. After all, I have a husband, children, a job, family members, and friends that crowd my mind and heart. So how can I really say that God has all of it when I have to share it with so many others? Why would Moses even say this? Is it even possible to love the Lord with all of my heart?

Someone stopped Jesus and asked Him, testing Him, “Which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus replied,

 “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 

Matthew 22:37 NKJV

In both the Old and the New Testaments, we are told to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts! What does that even look like? Can I just say that I am not completely sure, because I am not going to say that I am there! But oh, how I want to be!

Now, any reader of the Word of God can tell you that we are not to compare ourselves to one another, so I won’t. But for this example of loving the Father, I will use Jesus.

What did this undivided heart of love look like in Jesus’ life? Well…

*Jesus absolutely enjoyed spending time with God. He prayed so much that His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. Not how to perform miracles, not how to teach the word, but how to pray! I know a heart totally bent towards loving Him is a heart that is in communion with Him through continuous prayer!

*Jesus fully obeyed the Father! He said whatever God told Him to do, He did it! As a matter of fact, one soldier said to Him:

For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

Matthew 8:9 NKJV

The centurion recognized that Jesus lived a submitted life to the Father! Obeying Him is a given, but a heart that is totally His not only obeys but does so willingly.

I know obedience is a sign of love because Jesus said:

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.

John 14:15 NKJV

Therefore, Jesus demonstrated His love for God by obeying Him.

*Jesus wasn’t interested in fitting in with the social scene or religious groups of His day! If anything, He was constantly challenging their thinking about everything as He shed light on how God sees and operates! He never tried to fit in, He never whined about being different, and He never cared what they thought of Him. He loved God with all of His heart, and nothing else mattered more than that! He was sold out!

*Jesus knew He was fully loved in return! At His baptism, God spoke from the heavens:

 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Matthew 3:17 NKJV

He trusted in God’s love and operated from that love! And because of His undivided heart toward God, there was nothing that God wouldn’t do for Him because He was so pleased with Jesus!

No one mattered more to Jesus than His Father! No one’s opinion mattered more to Him! And no one’s will, not even His own, mattered more than the Father’s!

When I compare my heart to Jesus’ heart, I truly fall short! But the good news is that because I have Him as my example, all I have to do is follow Him! As I grow in my relationship with Him, I know that there is no greater place of joy than His Presence. When I spend time in prayer, I feel a peace that nothing else can give me. I don’t always pray the same way at the same time, but spending time in prayer with the Father is important to me! I know it is not always easy to keep your prayer life from becoming rote and vain repetition, but it is so necessary for a vital life with Him!

Learning to fully obey God the first time is an area of challenge for us. We have to not only be committed to fully obeying the logos (written) word of God, but those promptings that say: forgive her, apologize to him, don’t open your mouth, give her this, go visit that sister, go to church, encourage that person….these words from Him have to also be obeyed. This has always been a challenge for me because I have to step out of my comfort zone and interact sometimes with strangers. I typically stop and say, Is this the Lord, or is this me? What if I’m wrong, and God isn’t nudging me to do this? Or something on this line. But yet, I make great efforts to do it anyway. And time and again, it has been something that person really needed. Not to mention the joy it gives me to be used by God!

Not fitting in!! We are a peculiar people, so it should be no surprise to anyone that there will be times when we will not fit in. I’m not talking about being weird people, but different in all that we do! It’s sometimes hard for Christians to be different without being weird. It is also hard sometimes to accept that we can’t always fit in. To be the only Christian, to be the only one standing up for Jesus, can get lonely! To be the only one not drinking, not cursing, not sleeping around, not cheating, etc., can cause others to ostracize you. But when Elijah complained about being the only one, God told him that He had 7,000 prophets reserved for Himself! So you are not the only one! Maybe you need to be the one bold enough to stand out for Him so that others will follow!

Lastly, understanding the love that He is giving us! Paul prayed:

That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:17-19

God’s love is so complicated that we can spend the rest of our lives learning to love Him completely. Loving God will never be a bad investment, so there’s nothing to fear in His love. It’s worth the time it takes to develop our love relationship with Him so that we can be rooted and grounded in His love!

Does He have my heart? Yes! Is it fully engaged? It’s the thing that I want more than anything else! And as I live my life, I live for it to be an expression of His love for me and my love for Him! I want to be as confident about Him having my heart as I am about Him having my back! Does He have your heart? Wonderful Jesus!

A Prepared Table-Revised!

Psalm 23:5- “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…” NKJV

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Years ago, I was stationed in Italy while in the Navy. I lived on base, and I had my own room. In the room, I had a set of bunk beds, a table, a couple of chairs, and a refrigerator. I didn’t do a lot of cooking, but I had set my table, prepared to eat alone or with a guest at any moment. After washing the dishes, they would return to the table, and I would be ready once again. I’m not sure where I got that from, but I’ve always loved looking at a table that was set for company or a special meal.

As I mentioned before, the 23rd Psalm is a favorite of mine. I remember a few years ago that I was invited to God’s table, prepared just for me. I was in the midst of some challenging situations, and I spent hours in prayer to keep from walking in my flesh! As I would read the word and pray, I would always find myself hovering around this psalm. Then one night, as I slept, I had a dream!

In the dream, I was driving down a street when I saw a man standing on the steps of a church. He began waving at me to come over. I stopped and walked to the church. As he ushered me into the church, I realized that I was in a fellowship hall. There was a long, beautifully set table. I was escorted to the table that had looked empty when I entered, but was now heavily laden with all types of bread, freshly baked bread. A chair was pulled out and I was invited to sit. It was just me at the table with all this bread. And I knew in my spirit that a table had been prepared for me. Peace flooded my soul, and I woke up. Nothing had changed in the natural, but I had peace that God had prepared a table for me and that He was pleased with my response to what was going on around me.

God prepared a table for David and anointed him king. He was out in the field with the sheep, and a banquet was going on to which he had not been invited. But they didn’t understand that the banquet was in his honor. God had sent Samuel for him, and as the banquet was being prepared, no one knew it had been prepared for David.

It is said that eating and drinking at someone’s table creates a bond of mutual loyalty and could be a culminating token of a covenant, as in the Passover meal that Jesus had with His disciples. It is also said that to be an invited guest of the Lord’s is to suggest that you are more than an acquaintance for a day, for it is an invitation to dwell with Him. (Logos)

David had been talking in metaphorical language about the Lord as his shepherd. Now he is referring to the Lord as his friend. It is an honor to have Jesus as your shepherd, for as such, He provides protection, provision, and healing. To have Him as your friend is an even better position. Friends share with one another what they wouldn’t just share with everybody. Friends like just being together. Friends are hard to separate, hard to break apart. Friends can be closer and tighter than family. The Bible talks about a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Everyone needs one!

In that difficult season of my life when I was really going through, He invited me to sit at His table and enjoy fellowship with Him over bread. He is the Bread of Life, and bread represents life in dream symbol books. He also told us to pray, “give us this day our daily bread”. And here I was at this challenging place in my life, and I am being offered bread at a table that has been set, just for me, by my Friend.

Life isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always easy, but Jesus makes it worth living. He knows what we need and how to provide it. I could not have articulated what I needed at that moment, but He visited with me in a dream that felt so real, I smelled the fresh bread. It was as if He had taken leave from His seat by the Father and come for a visit. It was beautiful!

I have had so many times in my life when I have had similar experiences with Jesus. I get David. His relationship wasn’t about doing stuff as much as it was about time with Jesus. It may start off feeling a little funny, or even a little forced, but the more you take the time to be with Him, He will make the time to be with you. My prayer is that you are having these special times with Him already, but if you are not, then I pray that you will begin to pursue that relationship with Him. And one day, you will be invited to sit at the table that has already been prepared for you. Wonderful Jesus!