Sometimes we are tempted to delight in evil. When your enemy finally gets what they deserve because of karma (Galatians 6:7-9), and you decide to rejoice in seeing them suffer, that’s considered evil in God’s sight. He’s still our Heavenly Parent always keeping us all in check. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. This is our go to verse for today. Rejoicing over injustice is like slapping God in the face, and siding with satan. Our God is a God of Justice and without it in this world we’d be ten times worse off. God has put boundaries in place concerning this world (things we should not be participating with leading to evil ways) for those willing to obey Him. We should always be on the side of truth. Satan is a liar, and the father of lying (John 8:44). Mankind in general will gravitate towards its fallen nature which is prone to do evil. Without the renewing of your mind with God’s words, we eventually default to doing wrong. Our good fight of faith is to constantly keep ourselves on the side of truth. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Without trying to walk uprightly with the Lord, we will default to our fallen nature, because there’s nothing stopping your flesh from manifesting at will, which is due to the lack of control you have over it. Your flesh is the inordinate appetites of your body, the unruliness of your unrestrained mind, emotions running wild, and the lack of self-control over your motives and behavior. These are all controllable by working the word of God in your everyday life. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

Do you keep a record when someone does you wrong? Are you not able to take a hit when someone offends you without immediate retaliation. If not, there’s love work to be done in you. A reactionary person has no depth of understanding, character, or integrity. if you must answer every negative word against you with a defensive response, your love roots don’t run deep. God says vengeance is mine and I will repay the person on your behalf (Romans 12:19). We don’t have to fight every battle hand to hand combat when God can do it for us without us moving a muscle. Doing it God’s way is less stressful and will keep some of us out of jail. The text today says love does not dishonor others, even when you’ve been disrespected by them, best to just keep quiet knowing God will handle them for you. God will not be mocked, whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap good or bad (Galatians 6:7-9). This love of God is not easily angered, and shows no sign of giving up keeping peace in check during the storms that come into our lives. So to be self seeking which means without God, trying to prosper in life will be limited, and you won’t experience the abundant life the Lord has promised us (John 10:10). Taking on the attributes and character of agape love, brings with it all the backing of the Lord. In everything you do God will be with you, because God is love.

Love is full of character and integrity. Walking in the agape love of God can have you feeling from time to time like a doormat. Your motivation must be from a standpoint of doing this for the Lord and not necessarily for people. Our minds will not be as understanding as our hearts. It is a sacrificial love that is patient and understanding, but can seemingly turn on the person being ministered to because of their blatant disrespectfulness. We are not doormats to be stepped on by another’s foolishness. Our personalities have a lot to do with our tolerance levels and natural patience. As we grow in this love and exercise it by obeying God’s commandments, we will find our own personal groove in showing God’s love to others. Love is patient and kind, and is ever ready to believe the best of everyone. Its hopes are fadeless no matter what the circumstances. Agape love blockers can be found in arrogance, pride, selfishness, and doubt. These faith killing attributes can only be conquered by the love of God. The love of God will begin to melt away these love blockers on behalf of the person dispensing God’s love. Maturity in Christ is the prerequisite to successfully come against these demonically influenced attributes of mankind. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes. Love never fails.

Every scripture is God breathed, and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of wrong doings. They are for correction of error and discipline in obedience. Training in righteousness for holy living, in conformity to God’s will in your thoughts, your God given purpose, and action (the way you do what you do normally, there will be new boundaries). Everything gets affected when we are living our lives as God has commanded in His word. The idea is to be equipped for every good work or assignment the Lord gives us. People say the Bible is written by man, yes it is. But those men and women of the Bible from long ago were inspired by the Lord to write what was in their hearts given to them by Almighty God. If we can read the Bible with true eagerness to know God, and not be distracted by what others are saying, concerning the Bible was written by mankind. We must come to a place where we just decide we’re going to believe the Bible is the truth no matter what we think. It can no longer be about our past ways of understanding things naturally or our emotional thoughts about the Bible. Decide the Bible is true and written by God through mankind. It’s like how I’m writing this text today. I’m listening to that still small voice on the inside of me before I write down the thought I want to get over to you. Sometimes I’ll write something down and I’ll know, this doesn’t sound right, and I’ll delete the thought. God has made a way for us to be equipped for the battle for every good work, take it, and do better.

If you hope in the Lord, you can take heart in knowing you will have the strength to do whatever is necessary. Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength (Isaiah 40:31). Everything we need physically, mentally and spiritually can be obtained from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His purpose when He walked the earth was to provide a way for our deliverance from the bondage of sin. We couldn’t help but do wrong before getting saved. Even now as Christians the good fight of faith is always before us. We can be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might by spending quality time with Him, it’ll rub off on you (Ephesians 6:10). Without expectation of having this strength and power of God, it will not be coming your way. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and without that confident favorable expectation your faith can’t work and your strength will wane. Hope is our expectations in action, but without the driving force of our faith, (our belief that God will come through for us), your answer will be hindered. God needs a clear pipeline of untainted, unadulterated faith in believing in Him. Be courageous in your heart, trust God no matter how bad things look. We walk by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). We are to be led by our spirits and not by our flesh (Galatians:5:18). Faith is faith, and your senses (emotions, what you think works best, or sounds best) have zero input when it comes to living by faith. The sights and sounds of this world should not ever negatively influence our belief in God. Be strong and take heart.

‭To be strong and not give up is the tone for today. The assignments we complete for the Lord will be rewarded but not before the work is done. He says be strong, that means you can be strong. The idea and overall plan is to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10). Many times we have the green light that God is with us during the task He gave us, but the flesh, our mindset, or current thinking is telling us we’re too tired or it may not work out. Invoke your will immediately and push past that lie from the pit of hell. We are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus (Romans 8:36-39). We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). We are fit for service when we are strong in the Lord, and because of His power we are mighty. Once we put our hands to the plow, we must see it though until the end. Don’t listen to your mind, it may well be screaming NO! I Can’t! But the God inside of you doesn’t see it that way. He created you, He knows what you can take better than you do. We can’t tell God we’re not able when He knows we are. We are not always willing, so tell the truth. If we were told we’d receive a million dollars if we finished the course, with that attitude, and that kind of motivation is how to proceed. Everything else will line up for you because God’s in it. Be strong and do not give up no matter what! You got this!

How good are we at minding our own business. As we get our nose into other people’s business our peace of mind begins to wane. Their problems are taken on by you simply because you’ve gotten emotionally, and or mentally involved. Their lack of peace becomes your lack of peace by your own doings. As the text says today, make it your ambition and endeavor to live quietly and peacefully and to mind your own affairs. If we are not conscious of seeking peace it will be harder to keep it in our life. A quiet life doesn’t happen by itself, since we still have to live life on planet earth. We must seek peace and strive towards living quiet lives. The more busy our lifestyle is, the less peaceful it will be. We can be busy for Jesus, and have the noise of the world speaking to us louder than the voice of God who gives direction. Our quiet time with God is vitally important to preserve peaceful quiet lives. As we spend time in prayer fellowshipping with the Lord, His peace will upload into our souls. We have the Prince of Peace living on the inside of us (Isaiah 9:6). His peace can be our peace, not like the world gives peace (John 14:27). Once the peace of God is experienced, there’s no going back to fake surface peace. We can live in the heartfelt peace of God, and there’s a difference. Make it your ambition to live a quiet life, get rid of everything, and everyone that takes away from a quiet lifestyle.

How’s your mind doing, the central operating system of your make-up. Our minds can play tricks on us from time to time, and we can get fuzzy in our thinking. The mind is also a place where fear can develop. We get a thought and based on the way you normally think about things, fear may get in there. As we renew our minds with the word of God, fear has less of a chance for manifesting in your life. We can stop it there before putting flesh on it, allowing it to express itself through us. God has not given us the spirit of fear, so it’s coming from the enemy. It’s a spirit that needs to be dealt with by spiritual means. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal (like real guns), but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4). God has given us power, love, and self-discipline for a reason. Timidity and cowardice is not who we are supposed to be. God gave us a spirit of power, love, and a well balanced mind. Anything else is not from Him. If you’re experiencing life with much fear, the enemy has invaded your camp and is having his way with you. Take a stand against it, use what the Lord gave us to fight him off. If you don’t know how or what to do, study God’s word and become a doer of it concerning being fearless, it’s all in the bible.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Freedom from what? Freedom from habitual sin, freedom from yourself as far as self infliction goes when you yield to inordinate desires. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, Satan is not. So having the presence of the Lord in our lives on a regular basis is key. To do this, discipline and self-control must be at the forefront of our actions, (maturity in Christ is the prerequisite). The Spirit of God brings freedom from agitating spirits and moral conflicts that we deal with everyday. The more time spent with the Lord alone in prayer, the more of His presence will be on you. If that presence of God is strong enough on you, people will sense it when you go outside. They won’t know exactly what it is about you but that evil spirit riding on their shoulder will know it’s God, and it won’t manifest against you because of God’s presence. The Lord is that Spirit, and He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Sooner or later the scriptures point to Jesus even in the old testament He was prophesied about and there are many references about his coming to Earth. He is the key to unlocking all forms of freedom in this jacked up world. When He is Lord of our lives, that means He’s steering the boat you’re just the boat, not the true captain of your ship. The Spirit of Truth will always lead us to freedom on every level of life. Victorious living is attainable because you have the opportunity to live above the evil in this world (John 17:15).

‭The Lord Himself has said, if any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself, disowning his own interest, and take up his own cross daily and follow Jesus. In doing so we enter into God’s program of Kingdom living with glorious purpose and destiny. It is a lifestyle not offered to people by this world. It goes against all we’ve been raised to believe as if it’s the only way to live life. If you truly want to be the Lord’s disciple and follow his example, there’s work to be done. Taking up your cross for Jesus means dealing with the persecution that goes along with it. People will try and get you to live the same old way you have been, beneath your true potential. They don’t know God’s way and don’t care to know it. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21), on the earth carrying the answers to life’s problems in these earthen vessels (bodies) of ours because we serve the Lord God Almighty. We must lose our lives for the Lord’s sake, or in other words relinquishing our own will towards our personal interest of how we think things should go. In doing so you will be preserving your life, and saving it from the penalty of eternal death. Lose your life today and gain eternal life later when it counts most. We are all destined to die, and every person must determine their final destination before leaving earth. Without Jesus in your life today, don’t look for hope after you transition, as the transition window will be closed for eternal life. If you are saved, you have eternal life now, but take the next step and lose your life.