Beloved
of the Lord,
If we are to walk in the Kingdom of God life, it begins with some simple truths, but sometimes we ignore them because of what was done to us or to those we love, but we are commanded to love our enemies...
We are commanded to forgive those as God has forgive us.Is your heart growing hard today? Are there offenses you are holding unto? It is easy to do so. We are tempted to do so everyday? Because people are less then perfect and fail each other every day and even hurt those they love. Yet, we are commanded to do as Jesus would tell us to do.
We are not just to cut off some offenses, but every single one. We are not to hold unto any offense, or what anyone has done to us no matter what.Many have said, "I forgive them, but I won't forget what they did to me." That is not forgiveness, It is a lie pretending as forgiveness. Jesus said, "the Father would forgive our sins as far as the East is from the West.
He said he will remember them no more.That is what true forgiveness is. It not only cuts off the offense, it releases the offender as if they never did it at all. Does that mean we stay in a abusive situation where our life is at stake, of course not? Jesus said in Matthew 10 if they persecute in one city, flee to another.
Yet 1st Corinthians 13 says, "love thinks the best of everyone under every circumstances and it's hope are fade-less." Love does not even consider a suffered wrong." Yet the same God will punish the wicked. Why? Because not only must forgiveness be given, it must be asked for and received. That is why we have to repent of our sins and ask Jesus to forgive us of all our sins and to come into our heart and save us.
That is why we need a Savior. One who took our sins for us who didn't even know sin or ever sin. He was guiltless in every way. Yet, he took his sins upon His body for us. He took the punishment WE DESERVED to provide us a way to be saved and forgiven. Then he said, forgive everyone the same way I have forgiven you.
It is sure not easy when you are wronged, harmed, or even abused. The commandment doesn't change by what was done to us by degree, it is just a command forgive your brother their trespasses as Jesus has forgiven yours.
There is no option in this. WE must forgive, We must let go of the suffered wrong and not hold it against that person. That doesn't mean they will receive it, want it or walk in it. It doesn't mean we have to walk with them again.
What it does mean, is that heart has to be pure before God, loving them in spite of what they do as Jesus loved us and to forgive them as Jesus said on the cross, Father, forgive them they know not what they do.
There will be wicked people in the world that will never want forgiveness and hate everything Jesus Kingdom stands for specially love and forgiveness. There will be people who will use these truths to get you to stay in abusive situation, both of these things are wrong.
We are responsible for protecting our families, our loved ones from harm, but that doesn't mean we are not to forgive the ones who have done the harm to us or our family. It is not easy in the flesh, why? Cause this type of forgiveness is not of a human kind, or a love that is of a human kind. This love, grace and forgiveness is from God Himself and only exists in His love for us.
In my human love I can't truly forgive anyone. I have tried, have you? But the constant memories of what was done to you keep running over in your head, so you dwell on what "was done to you." So you "hold that against the offender."
That is what Jesus teaches us about in the Sermon on the Mount. You have heard, "it is an eye for and eye, a tooth for a tooth, seek revenge, but I say love your enemies, bless them that curse you.
The kingdom of God is love, pure, holy love. It is nothing else but love. A love that forgives those who seek it and will extend itself to those who won't want it. . A love that is willing to cut off every offense as if it never happened to those who will welcome it, and will love those even if they won't accept it.
In the book of Hebrews, He warns them, "Today if you hear his voice, Harden not your heart." If there is a strategy of the enemy today it is releasing spirits of accusation, criticism, judgments against the body of Christ so we will hold offenses against people, brothers and sisters in Christ, our families, or anyone, and those who hate us.
We must resist this with all our heart. We must resist everything that is not love. WE must go deeper into the Lord's heart and receive fresh revival love everyday. We can't love the way we are going to need to in these last days unless we go much deeper in God. We must abide in Him and Him in us.
Jesus tell us in John 15, To dwell in love and for that love to dwell in us. I can tell you personally we are being tested and tried in these last days to love and forgive or be overcome with hate and un-forgiveness.
In the last days, there will be perilous times, hard to deal with and hard to bear, Timothy writes to us. We will be hated by all men for His name sake. If they hated him, they will hate us. If they called him the devil, they will call us the devil.
If they persecuted him, they will persecute us. How will we respond? If we can't forgive those who we love when they wrong us? If we can't forgive each other as Brothers and Sisters in Christ, how will we love those who hate us, or do good to those who despitefully use us, or bless those who curse us?
We must go deeper in Him. We must get more of His love to fill us everyday or we won't make it in the day that is coming upon us. We won't make it. We will not have enough oil in our lamps or extra oil to go out and meet the bridegroom.
WE must love as He has loved us and forgive those as he has forgiven us. We must seek his love until his forgiveness floods us and cuts off someone's offense in our hearts, minds and emotions, until every trace of their sin is removed in us and we can love them as Jesus loved us.
They may never ask for it, want it, or want it so they can continue to hurt or abuse us. God is not asking us to be abused or stay in situations that could harm, kill. or destroy our families, but we must cut the offenses off so it doesn't poison our lives with anger, hatred and murder in the heart. That is the real purpose of the attack to harden our hearts against God and others.
Is love coming out of you when you are offended? Is forgiveness the first thing you seek to give when you are offended? This is what God must do by the power of the Holy Spirit burning in our heart. God will judge the wicked. God will give out punishment for those who reject his love and kingdom.
He said, "vengance is mine" says the Lord. So we must allow the Lord to judge people, situations and what is done. We must not judge for him. We must trust our lives into His hand and His judgments.
He said, "I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful and I will judge those that must be judged."
So let us go deeper in the Lord today. Let us go deeper in love until our hearts are filled with that love so we can cut off all offenses, forgive those who hurt us, and to obey His command to even love our enemies.
No human love can ever do this. No human being can do this apart from the love and power of the Holy Spirit working in their hearts. It is not human love that overcomes, but the love of God that never fails in us that can do these things.
We must want that with every breath of our being. For that is what the kingdom of God is. It is love, righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Let Jesus own words ring in our hearts today. I know I need this word like everyone else. They are for all of us who are contending for the Kingdom of God to manifest on the Earth as it is in Heaven.
Matthew 5:
22 But I say to you that everyone who continues to be [ad]angry with his brother or harbors malice (enmity of heart) against him shall be [ae]liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court; and whoever speaks contemptuously and insultingly to his brother shall be [af]liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, You [ag]cursed fool! [You empty-headed idiot!] shall be [ah]liable to and unable to escape the hell (Gehenna) of fire.
23 So if when you are offering your gift at the altar you there remember that your brother has any [grievance] against you,
24 Leave your gift at the altar and go. First make peace with your brother, and then come back and present your gift.
25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way traveling with him, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.
26 Truly I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last fraction of a penny.
27 You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.
28 But I say to you that everyone who so much as looks at a woman with evil desire for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29 If your right eye serves as a trap to ensnare you or is an occasion for you to stumble and sin, pluck it out and throw it away. It is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be cast into hell (Gehenna).
30 And if your right hand serves as a trap to ensnare you or is an occasion for you to stumble and sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better that you lose one of your members than that your entire body should be cast into hell (Gehenna).
31 It has also been said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.
32 But I tell you, Whoever dismisses and repudiates and divorces his wife, except on the grounds of unfaithfulness (sexual immorality), causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a woman who has been divorced commits adultery.
33 Again, you have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not swear falsely, but you shall perform your oaths to the Lord [as a religious duty].
34 But I tell you, Do not bind yourselves by an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is the throne of God;
35 Or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.
36 And do not swear by your head, for you are not able to make a single hair white or black.
37 Let your Yes be simply Yes, and your No be simply No; anything more than that comes from the evil one.
38 You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
39 But I say to you, Do not resist the evil man [who injures you]; but if anyone strikes you on the right jaw or cheek, turn to him the other one too.
40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your undershirt (tunic), let him have your coat also.
41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two [miles].
42 Give to him who keeps on begging from you, and do not turn away from him who would borrow [[ai]at interest] from you.
43 You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy;
44 But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 [aj]To show that you are the children of your Father Who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes the rain fall upon the upright and the wrongdoers [alike].
46 For if you love those who love you, what reward can you have? Do not even the tax collectors do that?
47 And if you greet only your brethren, what more than others are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles (the heathen) do that?
48 You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, [al]having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect.
If we are to walk in the Kingdom of God life, it begins with some simple truths, but sometimes we ignore them because of what was done to us or to those we love, but we are commanded to love our enemies...
We are commanded to forgive those as God has forgive us.Is your heart growing hard today? Are there offenses you are holding unto? It is easy to do so. We are tempted to do so everyday? Because people are less then perfect and fail each other every day and even hurt those they love. Yet, we are commanded to do as Jesus would tell us to do.
We are not just to cut off some offenses, but every single one. We are not to hold unto any offense, or what anyone has done to us no matter what.Many have said, "I forgive them, but I won't forget what they did to me." That is not forgiveness, It is a lie pretending as forgiveness. Jesus said, "the Father would forgive our sins as far as the East is from the West.
He said he will remember them no more.That is what true forgiveness is. It not only cuts off the offense, it releases the offender as if they never did it at all. Does that mean we stay in a abusive situation where our life is at stake, of course not? Jesus said in Matthew 10 if they persecute in one city, flee to another.
Yet 1st Corinthians 13 says, "love thinks the best of everyone under every circumstances and it's hope are fade-less." Love does not even consider a suffered wrong." Yet the same God will punish the wicked. Why? Because not only must forgiveness be given, it must be asked for and received. That is why we have to repent of our sins and ask Jesus to forgive us of all our sins and to come into our heart and save us.
That is why we need a Savior. One who took our sins for us who didn't even know sin or ever sin. He was guiltless in every way. Yet, he took his sins upon His body for us. He took the punishment WE DESERVED to provide us a way to be saved and forgiven. Then he said, forgive everyone the same way I have forgiven you.
It is sure not easy when you are wronged, harmed, or even abused. The commandment doesn't change by what was done to us by degree, it is just a command forgive your brother their trespasses as Jesus has forgiven yours.
There is no option in this. WE must forgive, We must let go of the suffered wrong and not hold it against that person. That doesn't mean they will receive it, want it or walk in it. It doesn't mean we have to walk with them again.
What it does mean, is that heart has to be pure before God, loving them in spite of what they do as Jesus loved us and to forgive them as Jesus said on the cross, Father, forgive them they know not what they do.
There will be wicked people in the world that will never want forgiveness and hate everything Jesus Kingdom stands for specially love and forgiveness. There will be people who will use these truths to get you to stay in abusive situation, both of these things are wrong.
We are responsible for protecting our families, our loved ones from harm, but that doesn't mean we are not to forgive the ones who have done the harm to us or our family. It is not easy in the flesh, why? Cause this type of forgiveness is not of a human kind, or a love that is of a human kind. This love, grace and forgiveness is from God Himself and only exists in His love for us.
In my human love I can't truly forgive anyone. I have tried, have you? But the constant memories of what was done to you keep running over in your head, so you dwell on what "was done to you." So you "hold that against the offender."
That is what Jesus teaches us about in the Sermon on the Mount. You have heard, "it is an eye for and eye, a tooth for a tooth, seek revenge, but I say love your enemies, bless them that curse you.
The kingdom of God is love, pure, holy love. It is nothing else but love. A love that forgives those who seek it and will extend itself to those who won't want it. . A love that is willing to cut off every offense as if it never happened to those who will welcome it, and will love those even if they won't accept it.
In the book of Hebrews, He warns them, "Today if you hear his voice, Harden not your heart." If there is a strategy of the enemy today it is releasing spirits of accusation, criticism, judgments against the body of Christ so we will hold offenses against people, brothers and sisters in Christ, our families, or anyone, and those who hate us.
We must resist this with all our heart. We must resist everything that is not love. WE must go deeper into the Lord's heart and receive fresh revival love everyday. We can't love the way we are going to need to in these last days unless we go much deeper in God. We must abide in Him and Him in us.
Jesus tell us in John 15, To dwell in love and for that love to dwell in us. I can tell you personally we are being tested and tried in these last days to love and forgive or be overcome with hate and un-forgiveness.
In the last days, there will be perilous times, hard to deal with and hard to bear, Timothy writes to us. We will be hated by all men for His name sake. If they hated him, they will hate us. If they called him the devil, they will call us the devil.
If they persecuted him, they will persecute us. How will we respond? If we can't forgive those who we love when they wrong us? If we can't forgive each other as Brothers and Sisters in Christ, how will we love those who hate us, or do good to those who despitefully use us, or bless those who curse us?
We must go deeper in Him. We must get more of His love to fill us everyday or we won't make it in the day that is coming upon us. We won't make it. We will not have enough oil in our lamps or extra oil to go out and meet the bridegroom.
WE must love as He has loved us and forgive those as he has forgiven us. We must seek his love until his forgiveness floods us and cuts off someone's offense in our hearts, minds and emotions, until every trace of their sin is removed in us and we can love them as Jesus loved us.
They may never ask for it, want it, or want it so they can continue to hurt or abuse us. God is not asking us to be abused or stay in situations that could harm, kill. or destroy our families, but we must cut the offenses off so it doesn't poison our lives with anger, hatred and murder in the heart. That is the real purpose of the attack to harden our hearts against God and others.
Is love coming out of you when you are offended? Is forgiveness the first thing you seek to give when you are offended? This is what God must do by the power of the Holy Spirit burning in our heart. God will judge the wicked. God will give out punishment for those who reject his love and kingdom.
He said, "vengance is mine" says the Lord. So we must allow the Lord to judge people, situations and what is done. We must not judge for him. We must trust our lives into His hand and His judgments.
He said, "I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful and I will judge those that must be judged."
So let us go deeper in the Lord today. Let us go deeper in love until our hearts are filled with that love so we can cut off all offenses, forgive those who hurt us, and to obey His command to even love our enemies.
No human love can ever do this. No human being can do this apart from the love and power of the Holy Spirit working in their hearts. It is not human love that overcomes, but the love of God that never fails in us that can do these things.
We must want that with every breath of our being. For that is what the kingdom of God is. It is love, righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Let Jesus own words ring in our hearts today. I know I need this word like everyone else. They are for all of us who are contending for the Kingdom of God to manifest on the Earth as it is in Heaven.
Matthew 5:
22 But I say to you that everyone who continues to be [ad]angry with his brother or harbors malice (enmity of heart) against him shall be [ae]liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court; and whoever speaks contemptuously and insultingly to his brother shall be [af]liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, You [ag]cursed fool! [You empty-headed idiot!] shall be [ah]liable to and unable to escape the hell (Gehenna) of fire.
23 So if when you are offering your gift at the altar you there remember that your brother has any [grievance] against you,
24 Leave your gift at the altar and go. First make peace with your brother, and then come back and present your gift.
25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way traveling with him, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.
26 Truly I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last fraction of a penny.
27 You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.
28 But I say to you that everyone who so much as looks at a woman with evil desire for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29 If your right eye serves as a trap to ensnare you or is an occasion for you to stumble and sin, pluck it out and throw it away. It is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be cast into hell (Gehenna).
30 And if your right hand serves as a trap to ensnare you or is an occasion for you to stumble and sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better that you lose one of your members than that your entire body should be cast into hell (Gehenna).
31 It has also been said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.
32 But I tell you, Whoever dismisses and repudiates and divorces his wife, except on the grounds of unfaithfulness (sexual immorality), causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a woman who has been divorced commits adultery.
33 Again, you have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not swear falsely, but you shall perform your oaths to the Lord [as a religious duty].
34 But I tell you, Do not bind yourselves by an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is the throne of God;
35 Or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.
36 And do not swear by your head, for you are not able to make a single hair white or black.
37 Let your Yes be simply Yes, and your No be simply No; anything more than that comes from the evil one.
38 You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
39 But I say to you, Do not resist the evil man [who injures you]; but if anyone strikes you on the right jaw or cheek, turn to him the other one too.
40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your undershirt (tunic), let him have your coat also.
41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two [miles].
42 Give to him who keeps on begging from you, and do not turn away from him who would borrow [[ai]at interest] from you.
43 You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy;
44 But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 [aj]To show that you are the children of your Father Who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes the rain fall upon the upright and the wrongdoers [alike].
46 For if you love those who love you, what reward can you have? Do not even the tax collectors do that?
47 And if you greet only your brethren, what more than others are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles (the heathen) do that?
48 You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, [al]having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect.
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