Good morning beloved!
In America, most people go to church for what God can do for them, but God wants us to gather together to CONSIDER ONE ANOTHER in order to stir up love and good works BY NOT FORSAKING the assembling of ourselves together, but EXHORTING ONE ANOTHER so we can become more like Him. This is what Hebrews 10:24-25 says.
Romans 12:2 tells us NOT to be conformed to this world, but to be TRANSFORMED. This comes from the word, “METAMORPHOSIS” ~ like when a butterfly turns into a catapillar.
Jesus tells us in John 8:31-32,
- Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”
We need to be free from ourselves so we can love one another. This is what we are called to do. If people hurt us, we need to say what Jesus said in Luke 23:34,
- “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing.”
All of our trust is in Him and we are called to LOVE ONE ANOTHER. We’re not supposed to be so alive that people can break our trust. We’re supposed to have died with Christ.
From the time we were born, we desperately needed someone to love us and appreciate us. Do you know what the twist is in that? We’ve accepted that as normal, but that’s the way we became through sin, through the fall. WE WERE CREATED TO LOVE and the twist made us in need of love because we got severed from love. So, people are trying to find it everywhere but from Him.
People have failed us, disappointed us, let us down, and hurt us and we rationalize it and accept it as normal but it’s all from the fall of man.
Jesus knows that there’s so much more to people than what they’re manifesting ~ He sees our value. He paid the price, and while they were killing Him, He was loving them to truth.
As Jesus’ disciples, we’re called to follow Him (Matthew 16:24). We’re called to live godly lives according to 2 Timothy 3:12 with honor and trust (1 Samuel 2:30). We’re called to give our lives to one another. If we would start living this way, it would be wonderful!
We’ve all been disappointed with the body of Christ, but let’s stop talking about that and thinking about that. Let’s start ministering and showing love. YOU rise up and be a woman or a man of God. YOU rise up and walk in mercy. YOU rise up and be a peacemaker.
We’re called to live by the Spirit according to Galatians 5:16.
People can get very hostile about this because they’ll say, “Well, YOU don’t know what I’ve been through.” Let’s stop making our story Lord instead of making His story Lord.
See, when bad things happen in our lives that are unfortunate, they were designed so that when the good news comes, we can’t hear it.
Satan is afraid of the gospel. Sin is designed to spread like a cancer and blind the human heart, so that when the good news comes, there’s nothing good about it because we say, “You don’t know my life.” Family, what are we doing? What are we thinking? What are we giving power to, when we all say, “HE IS LORD!”
2 Corinthians 5:14 says,
- For the love of Christ compels me…
See, if I can know Him, then I can share Him. We don’t really know the Word until we become it. And when we read the Bible for ourselves, we tend to become it. We need to quote the Scripture and then become the Scripture. Family, we’re the body of Christ, so we’re the embodiment of His power representing His truth. That’s God’s label, not ours. It wasn’t our bright idea. We didn’t come up with the idea to call ourselves the people of God. It was HIS idea. So, we can’t be arrogant and overconfident and yet at the same time, we can have a great confidence and boldness towards Him.
Ephesians 3:12 says,
- In Whom we have BOLDNESS AND ACCESS with CONFIDENCE through faith in Him.
We have boldness to approach Him, because He’s our Father. And because He’s our Father, we are His children, according to Romans 8:16 and 1 John 3:1-2. If you can see yourself this way, then you’ll be able to love your neighbor.
Some people have been deceived into not even liking themselves ~ No wonder they can’t love their neighbor! We want everybody to love us and we don’t even like ourselves. We can’t expect people to meet the need of our lives, when God is the source of love according to 1 John 4:7-8.
We were created to “be” love and all our lives, we’ve needed love, because we were severed from love. Why don’t we get joined again to the source?
We can’t become one, like Jesus prayed in John 17 without LOVING ONE ANOTHER, but we can’t be in that desperate needing one another or we’ll break eachother’s hearts along the way.
Jesus came and died because He saw the value of men and knows the truth about who we are in spite of how we’re acting, manifesting, or living.
God might say, “I see where they’re going; I see what they’re doing, but I know who they were created to be. I know their created value and I paid the price to redeem mankind. I’m not judging them according to the flesh ~ I’m seeing them according to their created value.”
According to Genesis 1:26, everyone was created by God in His image and likeness from the beginning. So, if you’re on this planet, it’s not by accident. You’re alive because the giver of Life said so.
Let’s start seeing each other through God’s eyes. Let’s start LOVING ONE ANOTHER, especially the unlovely.
Remember this: YOU are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, HIS OWN SPECIAL PEOPLE, that YOU may proclaim the praises of Him Who called YOU out of darkness into His marvelous light.
So, let’s be imitators (carbon copies) of God, as dear children (Ephesians 5:1) and let’s do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10).
Seeing your value in Christ Jesus,
Lisa Gordon
Assistant Pastor
Jesus City Church