1 John 4 ~ God is love †

 

Goal: Stay in the Lines. Get "Home."

And take as many people with you!

1 John 4

†

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 

4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 

6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 

8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 

12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 

16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 

17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

John describes Heaven as the walls fell away.

Life after death survivors tell us

the walls fell away.

21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

We know so many love languages: 

Abundant, joyous. Life. Philemon 1:7 Your love has given me much joy and comfort, my brother, for your kindness has often refreshed the hearts of God's people. Harbor. Safety. Tenderness. Trust. 

Long distance. Giving God the priority, let's us establish boundaries, letting people be people. And not overcrowding. Tough Love. 

Works. Praise. Encouragement. Memories. Time. Loyalty. Faith with Hope. Prayerful. Sincerity. Godly. Gift of God. Believe in the best of you. Listening. Talking. Honesty with bravery. Admonish as God would build up. Teach in teachable moments. The right to be heard.  Honesty with mercy. Steadfast. Dependable. Renewed. Resilient. Enduring. Patient. And... Abundant!

Wisdom. James, the Brother of Christ, tells us we can ask for wisdom and God will give us this.

When we aren't wise, apparently to ourselves or the ones we love, we can count on being unable to take us out of God's love for us. He will hear our prayers for our loved ones. We cannot break His Plan. Jesus tells us always to Pray with hope. This is sometimes confused with a prosperity Gospel. However, we can count on Jesus Christ to sort out Love and good intentions. God of Love. God of encouragement.

1 Corinthians 16:14

Let all that you do be done in love.

Tens of millions have discussed and watched Jesus in The Chosen. My favorite aspect of this series, creating healing in so many hearts during the Pandemic Recovery, is in John 21.

John 21:25

 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. 
Were every one of them to be written,

 I suppose that the world itself 

could not 

contain the books that would be written.

My heart was filled with such joy, I wept to see Season 2, Episode 1. Jesus the Good Samaritan to help the Samaritan thief, deeply concerned he had killed a Jew.  The richness of the entire episode explaining Jesus, with His insight, bringing the Bible together. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.  Filling our hearts with the hope of more of the Light of Christ shining in mankind. Healing to a hurting world. His Good Creation.

I hope this will be your favorite Episode as well. Why? Because the Gospels can come into all the Books of the Bible, just as Jesus lived and explained The Good Samaritan to the thief on the cross.

This Series is a complete Gift of God. 

Filling our hearts, seeing the exact nature of our God.

The Light of Jesus

Shines Brighter and Brighter.

The Light in mankind

Philemon 1:7

Your love has given me much joy and comfort, my brother, 

for your kindness has often refreshed the hearts of God's people.

Psalm 84:3

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, 

where she may lay her young, at your altars, 

O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

Luke 13:18,19

He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? 

And to what shall I compare it? 

19 It is like a grain of mustard seed 

that a man took and sowed in his garden, 

and it grew and became a tree, 

and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

Psalm 126:6

He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, 

shall come home with shouts of joy, 

bringing his sheaves with him.

Abba, Father,

Dwell in us mightily.

Know every cell and bring Light

within us in Your Joy and Love.

Be the Light to those I Love.

Help this Joy fill Your Good Creation.

Help us to not grow weary

Renew us

remembering our Living Water 

Streams of

 Jesus Christ, Messiah, Son of the Most High

In Your Mercy

help us to be

Your Joyful Temple.

Help us to Seek You First

and Pray

to You

in Jesus Christ

with all Joy of Your Steadfast

Love.

In The Highest Name of

Jesus Christ

we believe

and 

ask

Please Father,

Your Willing and Immeasurable

Blessings!

Our Father is able to do immeasurably more 

than all we ask or imagine, 

according to His power 

that is at work within us, 

to Him be the glory in the church 

and 

in Christ Jesus 

throughout all generations, 

forever and ever. 

Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

Yes Bless The Lord Jesus

Yes Jesus Bless Asbury

† †

Psalm 23 ~ The Lord is my Shepherd

Psalm 23

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.

David has more written about his up and down, anointed life, than Jacob. Jacob, who is named Israel. Not as much Moses, only because Psalms is a Book of Worship. That's quite a lot of Biblical Word given. Almost jaw dropping. However, the Pentateuch has so many more Chapters.

The Song, "Once in a Lifetime," by the Talking Heads

And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack

And you may find yourself in another part of the world

And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile

And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife

And you may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"

Same as it ever was, same as it ever was

Same as it ever was, same as it ever was

Same as it ever was, same as it ever was

Same as it ever was, same as it ever was

David writes of being filled by God. And yet, David writes about being hurt, envied, chased, feeling abandoned, treated with national indifference as he began his mercenary career. Marrying very well. Being abandoned by his Princess wife. Separated from his family. How is David able to write about being filled. His life looked like a slide down the mountain for almost 3 decades.

What attracted God to love David so well? 

David exemplified the 10 Talent Parable. If David lived in a ditch and his family was kidnapped, and then his ruffian and malcontent cohorts planned to kill David due to the kidnappings. And ditch living.  David decided with the same optimism of centenarians: This will work out for the good of one anointed of God.

The summary would be, when in a ditch, look up to God in hope. 

If your background was a ditch, God says you can be a wonderful leader of God's people with your choices. God says if life takes a wrong turn and all turns to dust, God says you can be a wonderful leader of God's people with your choices. If you live in a ditch and have no leadership skills, God will love you as much as David.

 If the ones you love fall into a ditch, your prayers, mercy, and God's Love will protect them and keep them in God's Love. 

Should you find your ditch is substance abuse, look for the help God gave David, keep the faith.

If your ditch is worry and sadness over the culture, being called, 'social decay', prayer kept David alive in some very difficult times, times that didn't seem to have an exit strategy. 

And like all the real people of the real Scriptures, God's Word: real anger, depression, fear, isolation, sin, loneliness, repentance, mind changing, renewal and hope was part of daily decisions.

Blessed are the Merciful, they will obtain Mercy.

During his mercenary days, David did not kill off Israel. David knew his duty was to protect and serve the Children of God. David was known to hope he could live or have his own convenient decisions, "Off God's radar," but David had only to be reminded his life was a purpose of God's purpose, David repented and returned to the Grace, Good Will and God's Purpose and Plan.

David's life in no way or shape looked like the pain free, blessed life of Jabez, who expanded his tent. There and Back Again. 

David fell from the photo above. He fell out of God's grace. He seemed to fall out of God's Plan. David believed God would always restore his soul. David made himself dependable to the Lord. 

One of the primary aspects of David, his ability to Shepherd. The fallen kingdom of Saul and Saul himself. His friendships. The malcontents and criminal class who followed the hero David into mercenary work. 

Endearing. 

God understands David had times with limited choices.  God did not insist David stay home to not eat ham on Christmas, or the stockades. The Holy Spirit understands when life is a prison, not a literal prison. God was pleased when David lived in caves and didn't kill Saul.

One of David's most endearing aspects, his life story, is that of the Samaritan woman. Life didn't offer a banquet, God has a Heart of Love and Empathy. David was doing his best to pick up the fragments, the pieces, under God's Communion Table. David believed God would love even those who hope for the scraps from under the Table of God. Our David, anointed of God, had some humility in his poor circumstances, God would find Mercy for David.

Lamentations 3

I am the man who has seen affliction

    under the rod of his wrath;

2 he has driven and brought me

    into darkness without any light;

3 surely against me he turns his hand

    again and again the whole day long.

4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;

    he has broken my bones;

5 he has besieged and enveloped me

    with bitterness and tribulation;

6 he has made me dwell in darkness

    like the dead of long ago.

7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;

    he has made my chains heavy;

8 though I call and cry for help,

    he shuts out my prayer;

9 he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;

    he has made my paths crooked.

10 He is a bear lying in wait for me,

    a lion in hiding;

11 he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces;

    he has made me desolate;

12 he bent his bow and set me

    as a target for his arrow.

13 He drove into my kidneys

    the arrows of his quiver;

14 I have become the laughingstock of all peoples,

    the object of their taunts all day long.

15 He has filled me with bitterness;

    he has sated me with wormwood.

16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel,

    and made me cower in ashes;

17 my soul is bereft of peace;

    I have forgotten what happiness is;

18 so I say, “My endurance has perished;

    so has my hope from the Lord.”

19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings,

    the wormwood and the gall!

20 My soul continually remembers it

    and is bowed down within me.

21 But this I call to mind,

    and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord 

never ceases;

    His mercies never come to an end;

23 they are new every morning

    Great is your faithfulness.

24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

    “therefore I will hope in Him.”

25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,

    to the soul who seeks Him.

26 It is good that one should wait quietly

    for the salvation of the Lord.

27 It is good for a man that he bear

    the yoke in his youth.

28 Let him sit alone in silence

    when it is laid on him;

29 let him put his mouth in the dust—

    there may yet be hope;

30 let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,

    and let him be filled with insults.

31 For the Lord will not

    cast off forever,

32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion

    according to the abundance of his steadfast love;

33 for he does not afflict from his heart

    or grieve the children of men.

34 To crush underfoot

    all the prisoners of the earth,

35 to deny a man justice

    in the presence of the Most High,

36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit,

    the Lord does not approve.

37 Who has spoken and it came to pass,

    unless the Lord has commanded it?

38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High

    that good and bad come?

39 Why should a living man complain,

    a man, about the punishment of his sins?

40 Let us test and examine our ways,

    and return to the Lord!

41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands

    to God in Heaven

David's Grandfather

Boaz, who showed Mercy to the Foreign woman, Ruth

the Pillars are the entrance to the Temple.

David collected the materials for this Temple,

his son Solomon built the Temple.

Thanks to foreigners 

and foreign supplies and suppliers.

Generations later,

Hezekiah would establish an unprecedented

reign, fraught with terrible Empires

surrounding all, David had built.

And again, David's dream,

would be realized. 

Foreigners aided Israel.

Foreign supplies and suppliers.

 Great is your faithfulness.

Abba, Father,

We understand You to clearly say, come directly to Me, My Child.

Father God, may the meditations of my heart 

and the words of my mouth be pleasing 

and acceptable to You, my Father God.

I Give You my heart and this prayer. 

And cover these prayers and please bless them and keep them. 

May Your face shine upon these prayers and be gracious to them. 

Lift up Your Face to Smile upon my prayer. 

And keep these prayers covered 

in Your Name - Jesus Christ - with Peace.

We pray for Turkey Syria, afraid to go home and dwell

in a building that might give way.

We ask Your Mercy.

Dozens of earthquakes felt in Turkey

5.5 this week and 4.3 quakes

Lenten opportunity to give:

We pray for relief to help and reach Syria

and Turkey. 6.4 and 4.9 earthquakes this week.

We pray this will cease. Lord, Your mercy upon this land and 

Your people.

We pray Amazon puts back Amazon Smile,

philanthropy is needed today and this program

was wonderful. Many will feel the clip if Amazon Smile doesn't

continue. Please Lord.

We are Blessed to seek You First. 

Blessed to be finding the High Way of Your Heaven today. 

Blessed to ask to see more Heaven upon earth. 

Blessed to have You as our Daily Bread. 

Blessed to ask to Live Love, Joy and Peace.

Blessed to pray in expectation of Your Love and Willingness. 

Blessed to say Thank You that during Holy Week, 

we have seen the Glimpse of Your Glory 

working to heal the fullness of the earth, Yours.

We have had problems,

 Pray for peace, please. 

My mother's roof is in sudden need of

repairs and we want to find the best solutions for her house.

During the rainy season.

We are spending so much time at her house.

We pray for relief and God's Word.

In Jesus, we Live and ask 

Love and ask Jesus to cover this Nation, those who lead this Nation 

and all other nations in this good fight. 

The Light of mankind to shine with Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Lord, Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

Yes Bless The Lord Jesus

Yes Jesus Bless Asbury

† †

Yay Jesus