“Love one another with brotherly affection [as members of one family], giving precedence and showing honor to one another.” The Greek word for love here is phileo. Phileo love is brotherly love, friendship love. In this world as it is now, we must strive towards showing this love to the people we come into contact with in our everyday lives. Along with this campaign of showing love to all, is honoring one another. Preferring your brother or sister in the Lord before yourself is another level of walking in love. Agape love is the love God, which He demonstrated to us by sacrificing His only begotten Son for our sin. This love is big on self denial, always putting others first even when they don’t deserve it. Most people can handle phileo love because it doesn’t require as much sacrifice. As we honor one another we demonstrate God’s character working in us. We must come to the conclusion that everything isn’t always about us. We all have different levels of self-esteem which can hender our love walk in general. If you’re not right, how can you give what you don’t have. The Lord has said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” We must include the Lord in our love walk, because God is love.

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.” Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways, and He will direct your path. God wants to be in your everyday life and plans. Getting Him involved adds more grace and favor to your life in all you put your hands to. We are laborers together with God, there’s all kinds of proof in the bible that God wants fellowship with us. We were created for His good pleasure. The angels are not made in God’s image and likeness, we are. Therefore God wanted someone to hang with on His level of existence. The angels and other living beings in heaven don’t have the freedom of choice like us, they were created by God for specific tasks to assist God in running things. We were created for His good pleasure, it’s all in the book. Once we have the necessary knowledge of His word, that will put us on the map of God’s program for life, everything will make more sense. Sometimes you might have a good plan but it’s not a God plan. Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans. Our regular thinking patterns are very much like the Lord, but we have to deal with the sin nature of our flesh and other demonically motivated forces and people in this life. So our governor (the word of God) must have exclusive rights to lead, govern, and guide us into victorious living.

“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or Am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Have you managed to get over people yet? Do you care so much about what people think about you that you’re changing things around concerning your destiny or purpose for them, then Houston we have a problem. We will never be able to satisfy everyone. The only one that really matters is God, and what He thinks about you. Once you come to the conclusion that people are going to think of you whatever comes into their mind about you, which is scary, you don’t need to hear any of it. In your service to the Lord you cannot consider pleasing people along the way. Most people in general don’t have time for God or His plan for their life. Once you get over people, your service to the Lord will be easier to carry out. Unless others are on the same path as you in serving God, ultimately you can’t afford to be around the nay sayers and doubters. There will be enough opposition in filling your service to God without the concern of what somebody else thinks about it. Being Christ centered in your life keeps you grounded in your assignment. They’re gonna talk about you anyway, so let it go, and keep it moving.

“Even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.” Once the Lord’s hand is upon you, it’s a lock. As long as we don’t fight it or the process of His hand leading us, we can be unstoppable. Having the Lord whisper in your ear a word of direction or correction is priceless. Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the true sons of God. Developing your fellowship with God to the point you’re hearing His voice most of the time changes this life game totally. God’s right hand is valiant in its way and achieves strength. His hand will lead us as we’re connected to the source of His instructions which is spirit to Spirit. We must develop the sensitivity of hearing God’s voice. This takes time, and a lot of it, but as you practice listening to His voice during your everyday tasks and jobs, with all the distractions around you, your persistent and adamant attitude towards wanting this, will bring victory every time. Read His word (the bible) as often as you can and talk to the Lord like He’s standing right next to you. Get used to including Him in everything you can, it develops an awareness of Him not otherwise obtained. Walk by faith, not by sight. Be led by your spirit, not by your flesh (your emotions). God acknowledges your emotions but He’s not in them and won’t be moved by them, but He always responds to faith.

“But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith [make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the Holy Spirit; Guard and keep yourselves in the love of God; expect and patiently wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)–[which will bring you] unto life eternal.” The way we build ourselves up on our most holy faith is by praying in the Holy Spirit. Praying in the Holy Spirit happens when we pray in our heavenly language. Praying in tongues back to God is praying His perfect will on your behalf. The gift of the Holy Spirit is given to any christian that will ask for it. But asking for something you don’t even understand isn’t necessarily going to happen. Praying in the Holy Spirit and praying in tongues is the same thing. It’s a deeper dimension of God. It empowers the believer with dunamis (dynamite) power to witness to others about the gospel. This heavenly language will also boost and fortify your faith in God and give you inner strength. The ignorance of some churches insists that tongues have passed away. Don’t believe that lie even if the preacher says it from the pulpit. It is what gives christians that edge to do greater things for God than a christian without the gift of tongues. We are responsible to know for ourselves and not listen with the ear of bondage to the voices in this world condemning it.

“Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God’s favor) to those who hear it.” Is your speech seasoned with foul or polluting language? What we say and how we say what we say can uplift or crush another person. Some people have sensitive ears when it comes to cursing words. Those of us that are world class cursors, every other word out of the month is a “F” bomb or any other four letter word that cuts straight to the heart and soul of another, there’s hope. First you must decide you want to stop with the foul and polluting language. If the people you associate with have a potty mouth too, you won’t easily stop curing because of their constant input into your life. Without the invoking of your will it won’t work. Me being a truck driver in the past, my language needed some help. It takes practice and help from God. You can start in a natural way by substituting certain curse words with the word goodness. Try it, instead of the F bomb or four letter word in moments of frustration or hurt, say goodness! The other spiritual way involving your heart and soul, which helps sustain your clean speech, is by renewing your mind with the word of God. Clean up your speech, you’ll get better friends because of it.

“For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.” God’s word is alive and active. It is a living unseen entity by the naked eye, a force in life with a purpose. Through study in God’s word, we begin to understand things about our life that are not explained in school and not even in depth by the church. The soul and the spirit of men and women are not the same thing, even though the two words have been used as if they’re the same in explanatory inscriptions. The soul of a person holds their personality, their emotions, the thinking processes, and it’s where we can be tormented the worst out of our entire makeup. Our spirit is where our life sustaining force is. Our connection to God is there, it is your lithium battery, which needs charging from time to time by meditating on God’s word. You are a spirit, you have a soul, and you live in a body, which is only designed to operate in the earth (the body). Once we die, our human spirit does not. It goes on into eternity, either to hell or to heaven. The word of the Lord in you judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart, your intentions and your motivations. The perfect guide to victorious living.

“Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.” There is a mouth full in these scriptures. So taking from it the part that says; And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character which is approved faith and tried integrity. To walk in the dream career of your life, there has to be an acceptable amount of character and integrity already operating in you. Smart and wise people recognize the quality of your character and level of your integrity. To move ahead successfully in this world, we must have approved faith and tried integrity. Your degree from college isn’t always enough to get the job. Another person with the exact schooling, degrees, and credentials that you have will get the job before you, because of their character and integrity. So rejoice in the sufferings and troubles of this life, character and integrity are being developed in you.

“The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).” The thief is the devil, and it is Jesus that came so we may have and enjoy life. The devil has always been in motion with his campaign against humanity since the fall of man in the garden of Eden. The devil formerly known as Lucifer, was God’s right hand man responsible for the praise and worship music in heaven before the creation of man. He got full of himself to the point he wanted to be like the Most High and ascend above God’s throne. Once iniquity was found in his heart God kicked him out of heaven down to the earth. Now he goes by the name of Satan and is referred to by the name devil, which means the personification of evil. His way of getting back at God, is by coming after God’s beloved creation, mankind. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil so we might have life, and have it more abundantly. Any person on planet earth in league with stealing, killing, or destroying, it’s safe to say, satan is behind that person’s motivations. With this unseen and almost never talked about subject, we could follow this world’s evil straight to hell. So a choice must be made by every living soul to pursue the get outta hell free card by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life before leaving this world. A better life awaits us all, live above the evil in this world now through Jesus, He’s the only way out.

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.” A well balanced mind is a wonderful thing to have in such a totally unbalanced world full of unbalanced people. We can sway like the wind in this life if we aren’t anchored in some kind of moral stability. God has indeed given us (Those in Christ) a spirit of power, the ability to go forth with more ease and adamant execution of direction. The evil in and of this world will not be able to come against the power of God working in you and for you. The love of God operating in you can overcome any law of man. Not breaking the law but being able to supersede facts of the law by truth which can cause justice to stand down on your behalf, it’s called mercy, which springs from love. To have a disciplined mind, or a certain way of thinking you know works, can guard against temptations and distractions intended to throw you off course. A well balanced mind is a thing of beauty. The mind is a battle ground for what gets to be birthed by the confession of your thoughts. So many people are sick in the mind. Control a person there, and you can control their life. Ask the devil, he’s been doing it from day one, starting with Eve in the garden long ago. He convinced her to eat the fruit with her husband Adam, standing right there doing nothing about it. It changed the world.