“We love Him, because He first loved us”. The Lord sowed the first seed of love to us by sending His only begotten Son to die for our sins on the cross. His only begotten Son means God used the virgin Mary a human being but God Himself overshadowed Mary by the Holy Ghost to put the seed of love in her, producing Jesus Christ our Lord. And God feels no different than we do about allowing His child to be killed for someone else, but because He so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son as a sacrificial lamb so that justice could be satisfied. Only the blood of Jesus, a sinless man could accomplish obtaining our freedom from wrong doings. We can now choose to be free from habitually doing wrong. Love was given to be passed on. Once we come into a saving knowledge of the truth, we can love God because He first loved us. There is no greater love than this, that a man would lay down his life for another.

“And this I pray: that your love may abound yet more and more and extend to its fullest development in knowledge and all keen insight”. Love is the most powerful force in the universe. I say that based on the fact that God is love, as the bible plainly states. The seed of God’s love gets implanted in the heart of the newly recreated human spirit. We have the potential to let that seed of love in us grow. Once love becomes our motivation and not personal gain, we enter a new realm of reality. You begin to see people in a different light, understanding we are human, prone to mess up. The wisdom of love in us, can discern another’s intentions, good or bad, and can reply to those intentions accordingly. It’s a walk of love that can help us live above the evil in the world. A sacrificial walk, that can cause discomfort to your flesh, you’re soulish area, your mind will be challenged. Once you’ve got a handle on reprogramming your way of thinking to God’s way, the battle will be easier to win. Everything of value has a higher cost. When a person gets to the point in their life where everyday life seems like a constant uphill battle, maybe it’s time for you to change, because you will not easily change another person’s will. Love finds a way.

“……….you shall love your neighbor as yourself”. Your neighbor is anyone you come into contact with anywhere and everywhere, not just the people living next to you on your street. Love covers a multitude of sin, the bible says. We can show love on many levels. Sometimes showing love can be not going off on someone who may deserve your wrath. Avoiding someone you know that works your last nerve, or being slow to anger, and quick to hear. To do God’s commandment, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, is to walk in His love. Sometimes tough love is necessary. Correcting someone who’s dead wrong about something and you know it’s gonna hurt their feelings, but you do it anyway, that kind of love can stop something worse from happening to the person. As we love each other, God’s way, it builds in us a maturity not otherwise obtained. Denying yourself and taking up your cross, because it’s a sacrificial love. There is no law that can come against you when you’re living in the agape love of God.

“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him”. Trusting Him is the answer to it all when it comes to the Lord. We can’t see Him with our physical eyes so it’s a belief without seeing. We are in a world of tangible, visual, hands on the environment from birth till death. Faith, which is believing without seeing, seems too scary for some people. To trust someone you’ve never met in person physically isn’t the way of the world, unless God is in it. Joy and peace are two byproducts of fellowship with God. Things go better with God in the mix. Problem is, most people don’t know how to put Him in the mix. The only way is through the Lord Jesus Christ. He connects the dots between mankind and God. He’s the mediator, our attorney who stands up for us when we get into trouble. The way has been made for mankind so there’s no excuse not to do well in this life. Seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened. With God, He’ll never force us to do anything, that’s Satan’s job, to force you. Joy and peace are attainable if you really want it.

“True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches honor, and long life”. These are God’s words to anyone that will heed them. Being a doer of God’s word and not a hearer only brings grace and favor to your life. Grace and favor in your life is when you neither qualified for a job, nor deserved it, but you got the job anyway. Things like that happen all the time because of God’s grace and or favor. Our job as christians is to go after learning about the Lord, and becoming a doer of the word, and not just mentally assenting to it. The reverential fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and that’s how we live above our circumstances and troubles. Being humble is key to receiving from God. Humility will walk you right into the Kingdom of God, and riches, honor, and long life are waiting for you there. Get off the full of pride train and humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and He will exalt you at the right season in your life.

“God has given us everything we need for living a godly life,”. His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that are requisite and suited to life and godliness…….”. All we need to live a godly and holy life is in the bible. Living a holy and godly life isn’t you being so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good. It’s really a basic way to live above evil in this world. As we line up with the character and integrity of Jesus, we bypass many pitfalls not otherwise realized. We become more sensitive to possible drama, insincerity, fake people, and the unseen presence of danger. Live it before you knock it. The wages of wrong doing is death. Sometimes we play into the hands of trouble without even knowing it. Living for God, a godly life, brings benefits to your life you’d never experience otherwise. The favor and blessings of God will over take you. He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. The life giver wants to give you the life you deserve. Live for God, shame the devil.

“Blessed be the Lord, who bears our burdens and carries us day by day,…..”. God carries our burdens and heavy loads of stress and worry so we don’t have to. We must first learn to cast them on Him. Cast your burdens on the Lord because He cares for you. Most of us try figuring things out on our own, which sometimes can be too much for us. God says, ‘come to me all of you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”. Cast your cares on Him for He cares for you. The thing to understand is, we must make a decision to do it. Casting care on the Lord doesn’t mean verbally, but your actions must be in agreement with not worrying about the issue. Trust is the big factor here, because at one point it may seem like you’re standing around idle doing nothing but your energy and confession should be in line with having given the care of your problem to God. He takes care of that which concerns us. Stop worrying now! It doesn’t help anyway.

“…… And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses (removes) us from all sin and guilt (keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations)”. Guilt can be annoying and can even keep us in bondage. If you feel guilty about something, and you’re not convinced you’re totally blameless, then that’s conviction opposed to feeling condemned. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who walk after the dictates of the spirit , and not the flesh, (your body’s appetites). Conviction is when you know you messed up and now guilt is knocking at your door. We can feel the temptation of condemnation even when we’ve done no wrong, that’s the evil in this world’s job to make you think you did wrong, when you didn’t. Walking in the light as He is in the light, keeps us on the straight and narrow. There are less pitfalls, unnecessary trouble, and heartache when we walk in the light. Walking in the light is simply following the walk Jesus took while on the earth. He followed God’s plan for His life and was victorious on every side. Guilt can be a fork in the road experience. Is it legitimate guilt because you messed up, or are you being tempted with condemnation to test your faith of being right with God.

“The father of the righteous, in right standing with God shall greatly rejoice, and he who becomes the father of a wise child shall have joy in him”. Parents want their child or children to do well. Training them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord gives them a foundation of righteous stability in life. Communication with your children is the basis of life and can develop a good relationship. Most parents don’t have a clue what’s on their children’s minds. Today the internet is raising children, and we know the damage that can bring to a child if they’re not supervised. Most parents want their children to do well in life. Not giving them the tools to be successful from an early age can be a problem, but with God all things are possible. Training your child in the way they should go, implants an insurance policy, built-in to their spirits and minds so that later in life certain temptations won’t stand a chance of your child yielding to it. The joy of the Lord is our strength, but the joy of a father is his wise and godly children.

“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord forgave you”. Unforgiveness is a dirty weed that needs to be plucked out of your life. Everyone has been hurt really bad or will soon be hurt really bad, it goes with the turf of being human. What you do with the hurt is what matters most. How have you been handling offense and hurt. The person that holds it all in or suppresses it, is a walking time bomb for internal and external disasters. Unforgiveness is a slow poison to your heart, mind and eventually sickness in your body. The person that won’t forgive is the one being punished, because it won’t let you rest, the thoughts are relentless. Holding on to offense is an open door for other detriments working on you like oppression, and depression, because you’re not allowing the offensive or unforgiveness to leave you, so you feel trapped internally. Unforgiveness keeps you blinded to your own health going to the gutter, because you won’t let what that person did to you go. It’s not always easy to forgive, but look at what it’s doing to you. Always angry, and always cursing.