The world makes a conqueror seem like one who is puffed up and strong. One who speaks their mind and doesn’t care if they’re wrong.  One who doesn’t think twice about addressing someone who’s stepped on their toes, and who doesn’t consider the feelings of others, nor is concerned about their woes.  The over-achievers, who won’t take no for an answer; They’ll step on anyone if it means they’ll go higher. Saying sorry is for chumps, just move on and forget about it.  These are the conquerors that the world so admires.

And then there are those, who’s kindness is looked at as weakness.  They cover up their strengths to not appear too self-confident. They hide behind the limelight.  They choose to not say how they feel. They get stepped on and overlooked, and who cares how they feel.  They welcome the uncomfortable to keep others at ease.  A conqueror? These people? Who would believe; that people so humble can be one to achieve.

But, a conqueror to God is not attained through the flesh; “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord” Zechariah 4:6.

The bible says that “… the Spirit helps us in our weakness” Romans 8:26 NIV. “And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” Romans 8:27 NIV.  “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Colossians 3:12 NIV. “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 14:11 NIV. “…And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8.

“… in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Romans 8:37 NIV.

So the question is asked,

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ … For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35:-39 NIV.

G.M.

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
Hebrews 11:6 KJV

We’ve all heard ‘The Parable of the Lost Son” Luke 15:11-31 NIV.

Or as I call it, the story of Life and Death.

So many of us feel the way that the older son felt.  We did the right thing, followed the right path, worked hard, lost out on opportunities in life and was barely rewarded, yet someone who does the complete opposite, enjoys the world to their fullest desire and when life takes a turn for the worst, here they are being welcomed with open arms to receive help and all the same promises as you. Kind of tough to swallow, huh!

Here’s the kicker, are you willing to gamble your portion in choosing death over life? Well, that’s what they did.

That’s the gamble that you take in choosing to take your portion. When you take something, you are separating it from the whole for the purpose of self.  With God, we really don’t have a Portion, we have it all, everything. “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” Luke 15:31 NIV.  So if everything is ours, why wouldn’t we want to work to take care of it, why shouldn’t we maintain it.

The bible says in Luke 15:17 NIV that the younger son “…came to his senses…”.  He got up and went back to his father.  Now think; how many sons and daughters out there in the world don’t come to their senses.  How many of them are, entrapped, confined, and die in sin. Romans 1:28 KJV says “…God gave them over to a reprobate mind…”. The bible did not say that God will give them over, it said he gave them over. We don’t have to wait for Judgement day; the bible says “The wrath of God is being revealed…” Romans 1:18 and we see it every day.

Jesus is the way the truth and the life (John 14:6). So on the flipside,  when we don’t follow Christ, we are lost, we are wrong and we are basically the walking dead.

In Luke 9:59-60 KJV, Jesus said to a man “Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.”  Jesus is life, and the dead are those without Christ.  So basically he was telling this man, don’t leave your portion (life) to go with those who are dead to bury their dead. Those who are dead in Christ are not considered dead but rather asleep. So we “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” 1 Thes 4:13-14 NIV.

The father said “…We had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” Luke 15:32 NIV.

My prayer: Lord I believe that you are the way, the truth, and the life and that you are my Portion.  Everything that belongs to you, belongs to me also.  Like the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16), I do not believe that you are unfair.  My Portion is the whole pie, no matter when I came to you. I am grateful that you have given me the grace to come to my senses now before I was consumed by my own desires and given over to a reprobate mind. Death is no place for me and neither is your wrath. I choose life.

G.M.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The world has a way of changing our perspectives on the way we look at things based on separation of class and color. When we buy eggs in the grocery store we automatically are geared towards thinking that white eggs are unhealthy and brown eggs are healthy. False. Eggs are eggs no matter the color of the shell; the color is only shell deep. There are breeds of black, brown, red, or orange colored chickens that lay white eggs, etc. What makes an egg wholesome or good for you is what you feed the chicken and how you raise the chicken up, and the quality of life that you afford the chickens.  Room to breathe room to have a choice where to walk or sit or when to pluck about in the soil. When to stand out in the drizzle and when to seek shelter when it rains. When to fan its tail in the dirt or walk upright and proud.

Some believe that Jesus was black some believe that he was white. Some believe that Mary is to be worshiped for birthing the savior. Will we continue separate and distance ourselves from the very essence of our Lord, from his purpose, from salvation, from eternal life? Is that what makes him worthy to be praised, because we feel he was one of us? What is our foundation for believing? Are we standing on his promises or his history, oh boy, this is a mystery! Will we choose not to worship him because of what he may or may not have looked like? What happened to in spirit and in truth!

It is evident throughout the Bible that Jesus came in many forms, and that he looked like whichever group of people he was amongst; as high as kings and as low as servants. For as many times one had to ask, is this Jesus, who is this Jesus, which one is Jesus… Therefore It is not shocking that many different religions have written about him in the way that he appeared to them and their experience of who God is. Who God is, is bigger and greater than we can ever imagine.

Today, all religions, nationalities, races… are no longer separated by land and great distances. We are woven into society in a way that we see each other every day. Now, being exposed to Jesus in all forms, ignorance is no excuse. How can we base our love for him on anything other than who he is? Who he is is not in physical appearance… Who he is, is not skin deep…

“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24 KJV.

“Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.” 2 Samuel 7:22 KJV

My Prayer:  Lord I receive your spirit into my heart, and I believe that I am a child of God through your son Jesus Christ.  I believe as you said in your word (John 1:12), that ALL who receive your son, Jesus, and believe in his name, you have given the right to become children of God.  I believe that your word stands true, and that our struggle is NOT against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12). Amen.

“I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”
Jeremiah 17:10 KJV

Why does the Lord search our hearts? To see what resides there. The word says he tries the reins. A rein is symbolic of the ropes that a rider holds that controls the direction, and movement of a horse. It stops it in its tracks, it pulls it to the left or right or it gives it slack to move forward.
Whatever resides in our heart is what controls our reins. That’s why the bible says “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked…” Jeremiah 17:9 KJV.  That’s because it is not biased, it is a vessel, it receives whatever you put in it and it doesn’t just keep it to itself, it pumps it throughout the whole body. Which means that what is in our heart affects and controls our entire life in such a manner that it is a repetitive cycle. It’s the very things that we have placed on a pedestal in our lives that our very decisions and ways are guided by.
So when God says he tries the reins, it means that our trials and our tribulations are based on who’s or what’s in control of our lives. Sometimes we find ourselves walking, trodding, or running fast ahead and then all of a sudden something happens and we get stopped in our tracks or tugged to the left or the right. Now think about it, when you have sorrow in your life it’s always by someone or something that you held as a token in your heart. When you are joyful, it always seems to relate to that very same thing. How is it that the very thing that makes us happy has the power to make us sad and vice versa. That’s just it…  At those moments it causes us to think about how committed we are to it. Because it always throws us off balance when we least expect. It gives way to doubt, trust issues and unstable emotional thoughts. The bible says, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Proverbs 4:23 KJV.
Why? Because the heart is meant to pump one thing blood. That blood feeds every part of your body. It is vital to life. That’s why the blood of our Lord Jesus is so important and that’s why the heart is so sacred. The blood brings life, and that life is Jesus. Our Lord dwells in and flows from our heart. It is his dwelling place but we have to let him in so that he can dwell. The bible says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20 KJV.  You see, we ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but the tree of life came to manifest itself in Jesus through his blood. That life is now in the blood that flows; it is now a liquid. So it requires us to SUP in an exchanging manner. ‘Sup with him’ is us taking in his life into our hearts, and us with him (he with me) is him taking our life in exchange.
So, when he tries our reins, he is testing what dwells within our heart that controls our lives; because when he does so, what lies within will manifest itself through our ways and will be revealed by the fruit of what we do. And from this fruit, we shall receive our reward.

It goes even much deeper because having our Lord dwell within our hearts; the blood of Jesus is our repetitive cycle that pumps within us. Now we produce fruit, but not just any fruit. It is the fruit of the spirit which is OF the tree of life.

The end becomes the beginning. God always finishes before he starts.

Be blessed.

G.M.