Living by Love vs. being forced to fear A firm foundation must be in place in our thinking and we must have a firm belief in our heart that;
God is the creator and the beginning of all life. Having this awareness is what makes us start out seeking after God with
hope and finding out that; He is the source of all comfort and security and as we truly get to know Him; we come to understand
that; He gives us a free will choice to submit or not to His authority. As we do this; we come to know the difference between
experiencing His love verses being forced to fear. When man fears; he feels he is going to pay a penalty for disobeying God
in some way. Man will always be incomplete in his endeavor to find his true identity and Godly purpose with out an intimate
loving relationship with Jesus Christ.
Now assuming this is your motivation; let's
define the dilemma and struggle we all have to deal with to have a secure resolve with in our self of experiencing the love
of God the Father; who sent His best love gift in Christ Jesus to die on the cross at Calvary because; He wanted to restore
our broken relationship with Him. We were born with no power to live the Christian life because; our will power was weak and
we were not able to keep His commandments. The consequences; it caused us to not be able to have an intimate sharing of common
interests, goals and experiences with God.
By our accepting Jesus sacrifice and
having a born again miracle take place through God‘s Spirit which gives us a personal witness with in of this happening;
our eyes were opened to explore the spiritual kingdom of God. The devil knows the potential and the power we have to live
in love rather than being forced to fear. This has always been the arena of what man has had to deal with. Man was uniquely
made by God and was His best handy work which He made in His image and the devil is out to totally destroy man kind.
I believe the devil has a greater respect for man than man has for him self and he knows how dangerous
man is to take back what he has stolen and how he tries to thwart God's plan to bless His creation. As God's children;
we must not remain ignorant of the power we possess because; of being ignorant, not spiritually alert and not fully aware
that; we are God's sons and daughters in Christ Jesus; with the power and ability to go to war in the spiritual world
for our self and others.
Unless a person becomes born again by accepting Christ
Jesus into their heart which in turn makes them recognize how to have a continuous dialogue with the Holy Ghost; they are
not a child of God. Even though God's intent was to have man kind experience His love so they can become and remain whole;
they will not have the power to understand the spiritual world and; be able to receive and participate in a love motivated
relationship with God verses the devil trying to control them by being forced to fear. We must be grounded in this relationship
with God with tunnel vision, with a complete resolve and determination to focus on His plan for our life because; we are not
an accident waiting to happen. As His children; we are an extension of His own body and because He is love; not a person who
loves; we need to know that we are complete in Him and He nourishes us; as He nourishes and loves Him Self.
Many have this false theory in many deceptive forms of a big bang theory that created the universe
and believe that; there was no supreme being at work behind the scene orchestrating planned events and wanting to create and
share His love and wealth with man kind. When ever God's presence is being hindered from communicating in two people settings,
group settings or worldly settings and He is not able to participate in sharing His wisdom in our discussions with each other;
the only thing left is a living entity of the force of fear that is at work behind the scenes wanting to dominate and control
our future. This is a matter of heaven or hell to those who have not been born again and for those who are born again children
of God; it is ridiculously grotesque to not realize the giftings and security we can have in Christ Jesus by not enjoying
His presence.
If we are going to truly understand these two entities of love and
fear; there is one commitment that we must make and apply to our life. We must become mediators of God's word both day
and night. You read God's word because you know that; it is the healing medicine and wisdom which gives us the power to
live in love verses fear. The bible is a living word and only the Holy Ghost teaches it. We must learn how to reason with
Him as we meditate on it and experience how it comes alive in us. It must not be a book of regulated rules and commands that
forces us to be obedient because we are afraid of the consequences if we do not.
In
John 14:23, Jesus says, "If a person really loves me, he will keep my commandments." Blind obedience without love
will maintain order, but does nothing to enhance a loving relationship. Blind obedience without recognizing its value is destined
for failure. Love gives the reason to obey and gives us value and worth. The hungering heart will seek with Passion the kingdom
of God. The complacent heart will grow restless in his walk with God.
Love has
no needs; it meets needs
We are being influenced by love and fear continually. Only truly experiencing and responding
to God's love gives the Christian the ability to keep God's commandments. Who is winning over you? By experiencing
God's love at all times; it gives us the power to lay hold and operate in the eternal life that we already possess. Almost
all the Christians I have talked to over the years don't even believe or understand that eternity already came into us
the day we were born again. God does not lend things to people. He gives and gives and gives taking nothing back and expecting
nothing in return.
In 1 John 4:12-19 John says. "GOD'S LOVE LIVES IN
US AND BY US EXPERIENCING HIS LOVE; WE ARE COMPLETE IN HIM. WE NOW CAN KNOW THAT WE LIVE IN HIM AND HE LIVES IN US, BECAUSE
HE HAS GIVEN US HIS SPIRIT. AND WE HAVE SEEN AND CAN TESTIFY THAT THE FATHER HAS SENT HIS SON TO BE THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD.
IF ANY ONE BELIEVES IN THEIR HEART AND CONFESSES WITH THEIR MOUTH THAT; JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD, HE WILL KNOW AND TRUST ON
THE LOVE GOD HAS FOR HIM. GOD IS LOVE AND WHO EVER LIVES IN LOVE LIVES IN GOD, AND GOD IN HIM. IN THIS WAY, LOVE IS MADE COMPLETE
AMONG US SO THAT; WE WILL HAVE CONFIDENCE ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT BECAUSE; IN THIS WORLD WE ARE ALREADY LIKE HIM. 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 YET MADE
PERFECT IN LOVE. WE NOW HAVE THE ABILITY TO LOVE BECAUSE; WE KNOW THAT HE FIRST LOVED US."
Our born again experience makes us know that we have God's spirit alive residing with in us. I would live
in a lot of doubt and apprehension if I did not have a personal witness that God was alive in me.
John had a physical encounter with Jesus when He walked the earth; he states that he handled him and ate with
him and after Jesus ascended to heaven; he lived with a personal witness through the Holy Ghost who lived in him and he openly
shared his relationship with great confidence and joy. This personal witness and him being reminded by God of how much He
loved him is what secured and anchored his soul when the devil showed up to make him feel that when he went through some trial
of life he became afraid. You have to know deep down in your gut that God will never leave or forsake you.
(There is no security for man kind with out this personal witness from with in.) God Him self who is perfect love is the one who drives the living entity of fear from our intellect, will
and emotions.
There is a system being taught in a large majority of born again
assemblies where they focus on having a need to do some self righteous acts in their own strength to become perfected before
they can get delivered from fear. Experiencing God's love supersedes our own reasoning power of our concept of what true
morality represents. For God's children; our morality is in us seeing our self as God the Father sees us, already pure,
free from evil and set apart from worldly entanglements with His power to do His bidding. We became a new creature in Christ
once becoming born again and we will always be righteous in His sight no matter what crevices or thickets of life we may get
caught up in. Christ Jesus gave us His own righteousness permanently.
We are to
no longer reason with our natural mind and lean towards our own understand. As born again people we are to reason with the
mind of Christ that we received the day we became born again. Our natural mind was too weak and the devil uses our natural
mind to bring us into bondage to fear. It is hard to comprehend that God looks at us so perfect because; the devil wants us
to focus on our oppressive faults and failings in our life.
This fault finding
attitude is reinforced when we sit under religious teachings that tell us after we have become born again; that we are still
sinners and there is a penalty that we will pay by God like going to hell if we do not repent. This fear entity tries to make
us believe that God couldn't possibly love us like this because; the fear that most Christians live in is based on a shame
and guilt value system that they are judging them self under and they live with a lack of peace and joy after asking Jesus
to become their Savior. This whole concept that we are sharing from scripture is us being influenced by demonic spirits forcing
us to fear verses us trusting that still small voice from with in us saying. "You are my beloved children in whom I am
well pleased."
In 1Timothy 6:11-12 Paul tells us. "MAN OF GOD; FOLLOW
AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS, GODLINESS, FAITH, LOVE, PATIENCE, MEEKNESS. FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH AND LAY HOLD OF ETERNAL LIFE
WHERE YOUR WERE CALLED AND WHERE YOU HAVE ACKNOWLEDGED THIS BEFORE MANY WITNESSES." If a Christian is ignorant of the
spirit world he was born into; his fighting is like boxing shadows and it is a story of repeated disappointments that keep
him a cripple all of his life.
God did a complete job by sending His Son
to the cross and when we accepted Jesus sacrifice; eternity was planted in us with all of our inheritance. As God's children;
we are pregnant with all of God's love gifts and now we have to be taught how to be a king and high priest knowing how
to use them.
Paul tells us if we are going to lay hold of eternal life; we must
follow after Righteousness, Godliness, Faith, Love, Patience and Meekness. Let's take each one of these and define them
from the original Greek translation.
Continued in part 2