The Trees in the Garden of Eden (Part 2)

In part 1,

I went through

the root fear

we all face and

how we conquer that fear.

We delve into the role of love and fear and

our role as sons and daughters of God.

Why it's so important that we find

our true individual identities

in relationship with God, so that we can be

a stronger community.

If you haven't,

you might want to read it

before getting into the actual trees, but

part 2 will still make sense if you don't.

The Trees in the Garden of Eden

The two trees we hear of in the garden of Eden were the

Tree of Life (#1)

and the

Tree of the Knowledge

of Good and Evil (#2)

.

 Note,

it's not just "the Tree of Knowledge". I'm sure growing up you, too, were taught that when the Word said

"their eyes were opened and they knew they were naked"

, it meant they

suddenly knew too much; things they didn't know before.

Recently, however, God took me on another very visual, very vivid journey, to reveal

this new perspective.

(It is so true that no one knows the whole mind of Christ. It is beautiful that He gave us a lifetime of mystery and relationship with Him to learn it! So amazing, our God!)

All the knowledge we had was shrunk to knowledge of just good and evil.

 In short, I've learned that the Knowledge of Good and Evil shrank the Knowledge of Life in it's Fullness to just black and white, good and evil, perpetual judgement. Get it?

Tree of Life, Tree #1,

revealed to us the

full range of colours,

the role of good and evil in the midst of the rest of life, and

the role of Love

in keeping everything else in place, in the 'right' roles. Perhaps this will help:

Tree #1 (Life)                                                                    / Tree #2 (Knowledge of Good & Evil)

• All colours (which make up white, coincidentally) / Black and white only (oh, and grey *sigh*)

• All: good, evil, beauty, Love, growth, learning       / Good and evil (and constant fear of falling)

• Love keeping perfect balance, harmony                  / Perpetual judgement (fear of falling)

Source:

lovecoversall-godislove.blogspot.ca/2015/02/the-trees-in-garden-of-eden-part-2.html

You see, Adam and Eve didn't not recognize evil because it was in it's place, when they had only seen Life to the Fullest.

They enjoyed what was good because by contrast evil shows us that good is good - that way good is never boring or 'status quo'. Remember, the enemy fell before they came - they always knew he was always there - but they (and he) always knew his place, until they submitted to him. That is why it's called the Fall. They, we (we would have done the same thing),

fell from the

Full Knowledge of Life

to the mere

knowledge of Good and Evil.

Good news!

This is why

Jesus Christ's

coming, our LORD and Saviour, is just that - salvation - because

He restored to us the capacity to see that, again.

Our gospel is that!

Hence, Love is His message!

 God is His message! God is Love! We utter words and don't hear our selves. Try this: Say it out loud and sit with it -

God is Love!

Are you free now to walk in that?

The Fullness of Life

A huge part of knowing the Fullness of Life, in Christ,

is knowing the place of Good and Evil in that Fullness. It is, then, that we begin living from a place of

restoring our Knowledge of the Fullness of Life.

That means dropping all that baggage - perfection, appearances, joggling balls, fears - and

choosing to walk (doing it, afraid or not) exactly as you truly are,

skeletons and all, right now. You will literally feel it physically: you breath more deeply, more slowly, your shoulders relax (or you finally realize they hurt! Lol), you stand straighter.

You simply are. No pressure.

No burden. You see,

we were not designed to carry all that weight.

That baggage is what came with the Knowledge of (only) Good and Evil.

That baggage is why death entered the equation. All that stress destroys us, and the enemy continues to deceive us into thinking

"oh, that's just the way it goes".

It doesn't have to be. It's why Christ revealed that it is this very body that will be transfigured. Why not start now? First, we have to accept and love our current selves, good, bad and other, before we can go any further. As long as you're holding on to all that baggage, your hands will be too full to walk out of that prison -

the prison you created after Christ died to free us from it.

This is what Christ died to give us.

That is

reconciliation with God

and

walking in Life Abundantly.

I know and honour the fact that this is not likely a perspective you've heard before. I just want you to know that. If you can see it, however, if this has awakened something in you or if it's put together all the pieces of a puzzle for you,

I'm honoured to have been a part of that.

Be & Love the True You

If you truly lived this, being true to who you are,

where you are, at all times, then light will always shine on what needs to change or a new opportunity for growth.

Your truth will illuminate your next level of learning and growth.

As you explore that new area of growth

in freedom, love and faith

(instead of the bondage of doubt, fear of doing wrong and guilt/shame),

you will enjoy it!

You will enjoy learning

"wow! all the time I thought X, and God's revealed Y to be true."

You'll want to learn more, no? Making mistakes is a part of the growth process! Learning from experience rather than the words of others is a part of the growth process.

Being a part of your own growth process is relationship with God!

Your pastor, priest, mentor, counselor cannot have that relationship on your behalf.

You have to live it.

You need to love it, however, in order to keep wanting to do it!

Look back on your life.

We make mistakes and then we see all the "negative consequences" of our action and we think

"I'm paying for..."

Isn't that, technically, blasphemy, if Christ was supposed to have paid? Aren't we supposed to truly repent,

and know that it's been paid for?

Take a look at one mistake you made

that you can see the trail of "consequences" for. I'd like to invite you, now, to 

look at that same mistake, and see what you've learned from it,

what good things came out of what you learned, what good things you've learned about yourself, and how you can use all of that to empower, encourage, others who perhaps have made the same or similar mistakes.

Can you?

I'll ask the questions from the image in

Part 1

, again:

Source: 

lovecoversall-godislove.blogspot.ca/2015/02/the-trees-in-garden-of-eden-part-1.html

Write me or comment and let me know your thoughts?

I truly believe that as we discover our purpose in Christ, through relationship with Him, our lives will be the examples that empower others to do the same.

The Trees in the Garden of Eden (Part 1)

To those of you who've been following me consistently for some time, I'd like to say thank you for reading. You know that before 2014 the tone of my posts has been to

ask why, to encourage

and, at times, to

admonish us for hurting each other.

2014, however, was

life-changing for me

.

God broke through so much fear, that now I see so much of it where I never saw it before in our Church. I'll get into that in today's post, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on my new direction.

[P.S.

Part 2

actually gets to the trees. ;)]

The Deepest Fear

This fear that God broke in me was

not the surface fears

- fear of man, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of unforgivable sin, fear of not being righteous, fear of not trusting God, fear of unbelief - the list is long.

Those are not the worst fears.

The fear that God dealt with in me is invisible until He shines His light on it.

It is fear of the unknown.

The surface fears above are somewhat knowable, but fear of the unknown is a greater obstacle, as the unknown can lead to ALL others!

Once God broke me free of it, it was all I could see in the Church (the body) around me.

Our sermons are so full of

"no", "the law"

and living within

a very small, but widely approved, box,

that none of us feel safe enough to

find out who we

individually are in Christ,

so that we can be

a stronger community.

The body of Christ is us. If we each have a purpose in Him, we will not all look alike. We cannot. Your stomach, baby toenail and lymph nodes do not, cannot, be the same if you are going to live. Why can't we understand that in the Church? It's time to stop holding hands with the enemy and singing,

"you're right, accuser, we'll just stay under this bushel and never shine, because you're right, accuser, it's vein, prideful, and will lead us astray"

! We're not 'wusses' in Christ!

We're sons and daughters of God in Christ!

Source:

lovecoversall-godislove.blogspot.ca/2015/02/the-trees-in-garden-of-eden-part-1.html

Conquering Fear

I kept saying above that God broke me free of it, but the truth is

I broke free of fear in God's strength.

We can do nothing without Christ, but

He does nothing until we take that step in faith.

As soon as I said,

"enough! I don't know what this block is, but I'm over it!"

, He literally said

"Finally"

in a fit of immeasurable joy,

and opened my eyes to a host of amazing wonders!

It's like He could finally hold my hand and run with me!

I can keep up because I'm no longer heavy with fear! Don't you want that? Don't you want to know Your God on every level? Are you willing to take the risk and step out in faith to find out?

Do you trust Him to take care of you wherever you go?

You and I both know there's something holding you back.

If you're not shining, if you can't say the words "I love, love, love myself" and

ooze nothing but joy to overflow,

if you can't walk by different religions without feeling sad, then something IS holding you back and, perhaps, you don't know the power of Your God! Perhaps.

Fear is only conquered when we truly trust God,

when we love ourselves as He loves us,

so much so that we can't help but

share that love with others,

and teach them to do the same.

Darkness cannot exist when light is present. Fullstop.

Fighting darkness and fear is a waste of time and energy. Light! Be light, be love, focus on the good, and that will overflow to cast out the negatives.

Food for thought:

all those people we judge - 'backslidden' brothers and sisters, other religions, cult groups, sociopaths, criminals, other Christians with different perspectives -

can only be changed by personal encounter with God. Not a word you utter means anything without that.

Plus, you don't know enough to know that you're absolutely right about everything you believe, so stop worrying about it and stop fighting it.

Love them instead, but first, love yourself!

If it was not God's will that any should perish, why do we focus so on who will perish? Why don't we become, as individuals, a safe space for all to come and be, and be loved? Why don't we do that, our part in Love, and let God do His work? Let us focus on love and light. The details will be worked out by God. You'd be surprised to see true Serendipity, which is His.

Your Powerful Mind

Let me tell you what I've learned about Love - I'm still learning.

Love, not courage, is the opposite of fear.

That is why it is the gift that is above all others.

Love frees us so we can see more clearly.

We are not anxious, worried, distracted juggling multiple "what if" thoughts. We see clearly what is in front of us, even in some small part the way God sees, when we see in Love.

The battlefield is truly in the mind.

It is why the New Testament is so focused on

renewing your mind!

All the gifts in Corinthians - love, tongues, understanding, faith, knowledge, interpretation of tongues - are there!

It is the battlefield because

it is what we, in God's image, create with!

The

heart, mind

and

tongue

are what we're cautioned about, because they are the most powerful aspects of our being. The heart and mind both feed thoughts and feelings.

Our hearts and minds,

produce emotions (love and fear) and feelings (joy, sorrow, hope, anger).

Our tongues,

the words we speak, form the declarations and contracts we seal (with God or the accuser) to create what we see. We may want to, but we can't avoid the responsibility of being creators if we are made in the image and likeness of God.

If you don't wield your mind and heart, regardless of how much you say you surrender to God, the enemy will.

Surrendering to God is empowering, not oppressing.

The scripture

"I become less that You (God) might become more"

does not mean that you disappear. In the Holy Spirit, you'll learn that

'the old you becomes less, that the new you - in the true image of God in Christ - becomes more'

.

The manifestation of the part of God that only You can carry,

because of what He created You to be. So surrendering to God means freedom for You to wield your mind!

God has empowered you.

Fear or Love?

If you can't hold every thought captive,

use your feelings as an indicator

of whether or not your thoughts are positive. If you've surrendered to God, you have nothing to worry about. Good feelings - joy, peace, calm, contentment - come when we remember that we are righteous (even if not always right) in Christ. When you're angry, afraid, resentful, jealous,

what are your thoughts?

Now, beware that bad feelings were created by God (just as physical pain was)

to let us know when something is wrong. Don't ignore them,

 but put them in their right place, deal with the cause, place your burden at God's feet and then turn your thoughts back to what is good.

Spend most of your time on the good.

Energy invested in negatives is energy positives don't have access to. Let it go, for your sake.

You see, you can't do any of this if you don't love yourself.

This is why I ask you to

choose - fear or love?

What you choose for yourself is what you will choose for, and impart to, others. You can choose. In terms of complexity, thoughts are the most difficult to manage. Feelings are easier, but still fairly complex if you're at work or in the midst of a task. Emotions, which actually chart the direction of our thoughts, love or fear, are easier to detect. If you can detect your feelings, do so. If your heart starts racing, you're not breathing deeply and it's not accompanied by a smile, perhaps your thoughts are infused by fear.

Turn it around. Infuse your thoughts with love.

You can choose to stop, make yourself breath - envision inhaling love and exhaling fear

- and choose to think, and put your energy into, good thoughts. "Nothing is too big for God, who has entrusted me to be right where I am right now, in Him", "things always work for good, for those who love God", "if there is power in my words, I declare that all is well starting now".

Think about the good thoughts that empower you, and think those.

That's why the Word is our sword.

Write your good thoughts for a week, and see what you learn about yourself!

You might empower others!

Try It

I think there's a lot to chew on here.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

After you try this, listening to your feelings,

click here to read part 2,

where I finally get to the

Trees in the Garden of Eden.

Moved by Love - A Prayer for Nations

Not sure why, but after watching this movie,

The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012)

, and bawling like a baby,

I couldn't even stop myself from praying incessantly

for all the hearts wrestling with similar decisions. I repented for allowing the enemy to distract me, with my own problems, from

praying for nations

that have to struggle with these kinds of decisions.

I am grateful to God for His awesomeness in using this movie to shed new light on the meaning of

the Great Commission (

Matthew 28:16-20 ESV

).

 Sharing the love of God, honoring free will, I pray for wisdom.

Young people, men and women,

American, Pakistani, Iraqi, Afghani, Israeli, Chinese, North Koreans, Palestinian - countries torn by war,

by the politics and ambitions of a select few who use their power to manipulate the masses - and

even for these men who lead so many sheep astray,

I pray.

I ask that you join me in prayer:

Image Source: 

www.imdb.com/title/tt2032557

I pray that in Christ Jesus, through the intercession of the Holy Spirit, people stuck in these difficult situations, faced with difficult decisions and conflicting loyalties, are moved not by man, but by the divine power of God to think, say and do God's will - knowingly and unknowingly, in all that they do. Just as in Joshua 1:1-9 (ESV) God told Joshua that wherever his feet tread He would give to Him, I pray now that as my heart has gotten wind of their hurt and pain, that "I receive" those hearts to give to God. I thank You, LORD, for Your unending, unconditional Love, and ask that You move mightily, even now, through those nations to restore their hearts to You - Only by YOUR Love, not through fear or manipulation, as has happened in the past. Thank You, God. Amen.

I posted this on my

Facebook page (

Love Covers All - God Is Love

),

before I posted it here, but

I had to make it more permanent

than simply Facebook.

Love You, LORD.

Bless you, All,

and may you never be faced with decisions such as those. If you are,

may you conquer evil thoughts with victory and Love,

always,

in Christ Jesus, Amen.

Happy Easter & Belated Passover Greetings

Happy Easter Sunday

Just want to send love, unencumbered, in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit!

Passover Greetings

Drawing attention to God's wisdom in

using the lamb throughout the period of the Law

in preparation, to make our hearts ready, for when He sent is son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross as

the final sacrifice.

Amazing, our God.

With such a tumultuous history between man and God's law - the Law that not one iota of which will disappear -

I pray we can see the miracle, that

God fulfilled it completely in Christ

through His death, resurrection and ascension into heaven.

I hope we can truly appreciate that we are now, not one with the Law, but one with Christ, who covers the Law,

where we can't (

Romans 7:1-25 ESV

).

Welcome to Spring 2014

In much of

northern North America, Spring

started officially in March, but the weather's only catching up now.

I pray that in this season, your eyes are opened to

God in Christ

and

a deeper relationship with Him,

with every flower you pass, every scent of the moist soil that comes with the rain, and every crisp Spring morning you wake up to.

I pray for grateful hearts overflowing with love,

for all of us, so that nothing steals our confidence in Christ, and the joy, peace and hope that comes with His Love. Amen.

If you're in

Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean,

where

Spring/Summer is eternal (thank God),

I pray the same is awakened in you, through every beach visit, and the peace that seems to overtake the nation at this time. Amen.

Love you!

The Sin of Enabling Wickedness

The Sin of Enabling

Being honest is something we regard as righteous, in Christ, but somewhere along the way, we got lost.

For some reason, we're

afraid to be honest with ourselves

about ourselves, and so this is a realm in which our enemy gets to frolic... a lot.

The

"sin of enabling bad behaviour (

BE, not AE

) in the simple act of not being true to ourselves"

refers to

sin that abounds because we are not being ourselves,

acting as we naturally would when someone acts/treats us in a particular way, positive or negative.

Look at babies - there's a reason Christ said be like them.

Boundaries, setting and upholding them, are a feature of wisdom that comes from right relationship with God.

The Genuine Compliment

• Natural response: Smile, feel uplifted and say thank you, even notice a positive in the messenger.

• Faux-Godly response: refuse the compliment, highlight a million items of evidence proving it's not true.

Why? We misunderstand the true nature of modesty, humility.

We now believe confidence is arrogance. In doing so, we've created a society of confused people who never know when/how/if to pay compliments and honoring each other has become... "Awkward". We're deceived! We played right into the enemy's hands.

The Hard Slap

• Natural response: Flee, slap them back or speech them off, noticing weaknesses to pounce on.

• Faux-Godly response: "Please, don't slap me. I realize you (excuses, rationalizing bad behaviour), but...".

Why? We misuse the verse "turn the other cheek",

we've distorted our response. In doing so, we've taught that person that it's okay. Again, look at children. the first time they realize biting hurts, they stop... mostly.

Source:

lovecoversall-godislove.blogspot.ca

In God's Image

I'm not sure why so many in the Church have decided that nature is evil - the Word says "the power of death and life lie in the tongue"

Proverbs 18:21

. We only see, "out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, ..."

Mark 7:21

, but

miss that it is our very hearts that God wants (

Psalm 37:4

, ). Not to destroy it! To heal it!

Because everything stems from your heart. Where we got lost, however, is in trying to do it ourselves.

By design, the natural responses we have, are their for a reason,

given by our Creator, God, in Christ. We help each other to grow by

being exactly who we are. No, not by making them be who we are.

 God in His Holy Spirit, or through these types of experiences with others, refine us into His image - it is not us, trying in our own strength to be that. So please be true to you, and take the displeasing parts to God, so He can change them. Amen.

Honoring Others

It is then, overflowing with God's love, through our intimate experience of His Love,

grace, mercy - His joy and hope, His honor - that we can truly love and honor our neighbours, and our enemies, and not help them along a path of eventual self-destruction by misleading them to believe it's okay to hurt us.

P.S.

For those of us who have decided that

all environmentalists are pagan,

think again.

You might want to re-read

Romans 8

and even

Genesis

. God didn't make the earth and say abuse it - what in God's character is like that? No.

We are to be good stewards i.e. take care of it.

Letting Go - Serving God Not Mankind

What have you been struggling with,

undecided about, in terms of

the relationships in your life?

I'm wondering if I'm the only one with

biblical verses

swirling around in my head along with a series of

injustices, unresolved misunderstandings

and

compromises

that I'm not sure I've identified correctly.

Recently, God has illuminated the reality that

I only answer to Him,

that in Christ, God is the only one I'm accountable to. He has made me see clearly that

serving two (2) masters

(

Matthew 6:24 ESV

)

- let alone 50,

if I count the emotions and needs of the people I love - will inevitably drive me... and you... crazy. Serving God in Christ alone, at the center of everything, gives us rest. (

Matthew 11:28-30 ESV

).

Who Do You Serve?

STOP! Stop trying

to be good, to do the right thing, to "represent God to the world", to hold on to all the relationships in your life (particularly those that only you are working on). Let it all go.

NOW, breathe.

Tell me what that feels like. How light are you, now? Do you know why?

That burden is not yours to carry! It's GOD's!

"Pick up your cross" means come to Christ. That's it!

 Your cross is to put God, in Christ through the Holy Spirit, first.

Make no mistake, that is a cross,

because you're wired by society to

do everything else first and "pray when all else fails". (Wrong)

It is the hardest thing to do, but truly, the most rewarding thing, to

put God front, and center.

 You see, it is not in being and doing good that we draw nearer to God.

It is in being true, honest,

about what is

both good and bad

about you - spirit, soul (mind and emotions) and body; thought, word and deed (action) - and bringing

that

to God.

Source of "God First" image: http://bit.ly/1gx5Ajb

For the past year, I've been struggling with right and wrong, and have realized that I've fallen into a trap that, from the age of 12, I've taken care to avoid -

I've been living and assessing myself on the basis of other people's limited perspectives. (I've failed!)

While I haven't resolved the issue in question yet, I am clear that it had better be my decision, as

I am to answer to My Beloved, God

in Christ through the Holy Spirit, for it.

Godly Boundaries in Relationship?

As I sat at my Church this Sunday, I took a long look at the people around me, and my brain wandered further to incorporate the people I've surrounded myself with in Life. And "what the...?" was my response. It's like I opened my eyes for the first time in years - not months.

Who are these people? Why have I given them permission to speak into my life? Why am I surrounded by people who think they have a right to manipulate; who don't honor Free Will?

They don't know me and haven't taken the time to go deeper with me. They do, however, have the time to impose their will and views on me... because I let them.

For a long time I'd thought it was because I didn't try in relationships. On Sunday,

I realized that I more than tried - I'd poured my heart out, only to get shutdown...several times

...with the excuse of "relationships are messy". I totally fell for it, until I realized that wasn't applicable to them - just to me. My Pastor said, "what's inside oozes out", so that's what you see on this page... but that's what I wasn't paying attention to in all of these people I've been making excuses for.

Where do you draw the line - compassion and 

agape (2) love

 versus genuine relationship? WWJD? Jesus ran to the Father - all the time!

He was always running to God. He answered to no one, but God in Christ. He had relationships, yes, but pay attention to the nature of those relationships.

No more "

suffering just because...

"

and calling it Love.

Now, hear me - relationships

are

messy:

God put your mother, father, brother/sister, difficult cousin(s) in your life so that you would realize that

only after you've taken your good, bad and ugly to Him,

after He's filled you to overflow with Love, can you

love them endlessly and fully,

albeit with wise boundaries.

Until you truly empty the bag in your heart (not your head, or your stomach) before God, and let Him heal you,

you will keep meeting those relatives in various people throughout life.

However, I place emphasis on the "

albeit with wise boundaries

". You have to be true to yourself,

to where you are in your development right now, to what hurts you and what safety means, and you have to act on that.

Loving someone does not mean "no holds barred" in what they can do to you.

Forgiveness is a one-way street

- you can forgive someone and never speak to them again.

Reconciliation is a two way street

- it can't happen just on your side. Serving God only, means you're free from the burden of carrying all of those relationships. You can, then, see clearly how to move forward with them.

[More on Forgiveness/Reconciliation, Mark Driscoll's piece, 

10 Things That Forgiveness Is Not

. Really process that in light of your unique case.]

Free Will & Responsibility

My mother has been trying to explain to me (thanks, Mom) for years,

"you do not have to get everyone to understand everything before you act";

that I am no less loving toward them in Christ if they don't get it. I finally get it, in my head, but my heart has not caught up.

"If I explain things in a way that helps them understand the truth in love. Even if they don't agree, I have done my part to ensure that they understand the situation, and the devil doesn't get to keep us in the dark."

Right? Wrong. Each of us, individuals, is responsible for what the devil gets to do in our own lives.

We can pray for each other, but unless the person you're praying for agrees, since they're the one with the authority over their own lives in Christ, there's nothing you can do.

Free will in Christ. This is a boundary issue.

In my head, I had it upside-down and back-to-front,

because it is supposed to be that 1. God loves us, 2. that teaches us to truly love ourselves, and 3. from that flows a healthy love for others, within the right boundaries; 4. honoring their right to choose.

We are not responsible for anything beyond our own being and actions.

Remember that, the next time you pray

"LORD, make XOX do..." instead of "LORD, please let XOX grow in relationship with You."

It is no small feat to undo those soul ties, but acknowledging them is the first step.

For me, going back to basics,

God first, God only, is the second step.

Only then can I make clear decisions about

setting right boundaries and building right community.

Only then can I carry out

the great commission (

Matthew 28:16-20 ESV

), truly.

The Love and Freedom in the Truth of John 1:1-10

If you grew up

Anglican,

in both the A.C. (Anglican, Anglo-Catholic) and attended R.C.

(Roman Catholic)

schools and, thus, Churches, you have likely heard

1 John 1:8-10

every Sunday before you shared in Communion over the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, by faith.

Before I comment on these verses, and color your opinion,

I want you to read them

and listen to what God says to you, in these verses.

First John, Chapter 1, Verses 1-10

First John, chapter 1, verses 1-10, in the English Standard Version of the Bible (

1 John 1:1-10 ESV

):

The Word of Life

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our[a] joy may be complete.

Walking in the Light

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

This is the Word of the LORD, our God in Christ Jesus, through the intercession of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Source:

http://lovecoversall-godislove.blogspot.ca/ by Crystal-Marie S.

Setting the Stage, My Morning Thus Far

Maybe I woke up high on God. No. I woke up worried, repenting, asking for forgiveness, faith and provision. Then, thanking God for His Love and mercy. I opened the biblegateway.com app. on my phone, and saw

1 John 1:9.

That verse swept over me with such peace, that I decided to read it in context.

I woke up at 7-something this morning, it's now 8:31 AM, and

I'm still high on God.

In fact, I woke up praying, read these verses and got high on Christ in the Holy Spirit and found out that

someone else was surprised to have woken up praying today

(on www.instapray.com). Lol. She was a bit freaked, but then she said "I'm not complaining, God, just saying this is new" and she thanked Him for loving her that much. All I know is that "God is in the air" in a big way, today -

she's in another country

and I don't know her - and great things will happen today.

[

Disclaimer:

the founder of

www.instapray.com

 told me that he is not a Christian and wanted to create a forum where anyone from any religion could pray. Christians dominate the forum, but not everyone is Christian. If you join, you have been notified.]

What I Get from 1 John 1:1-10, Today

Continuing from deciding to read it in context, one of the joys of living alone is that

you can read the Word out loud

without bothering anyone. So, I decided to read out loud - reading as John must have thought it as he wrote it (no, I wasn't there). Suddenly, my eyes were opened to the experience of

hearing about this Messiah from childhood, then being able to know Him,

clear in your very being that this is the Messiah they spoke of!

Can you imagine being clear in the knowledge that God sent His only Son to save us, and that

you get to be chosen to walk alongside Him?

Even now my heart swells! You wouldn't be able to contain all of that JOY - you too would automatically

walk out the Great Commission

(

Matthew 28:16-20 ESV

) - you would run and tell everyone! Anyone who would listen! And you'd be bubbling over. Yours actions would be

driven by nothing but awe and Love.

Wouldn't they? Not by judgement, fear and foreboding.

And that was just in verses 1-4! Reading verses 5-10 out loud, after that, I'd already been consumed by the Love of Christ, so to me these verses sounded like

"come to me, pour out all that you're hiding within and hiding from, so that I may forgive you and set you free"

(much like

Matthew 11:28-30 ESV

). It truly was like living water refreshing every cell of my body. Have you ever felt that reading God's Word? I pray you do, because He is the ONLY reason we can have Joy and Peace regardless of circumstances.

I knew God was up to something, though. :) LOL (literally). God has taken hold of me, but this year, I have opened my eyes to see it. I know He's up to something because ALL my life I've heard that verse, 1 John 1:9, I only ever heard

"woe to you, bad child and sinner - you hurt Jesus with every bad thought"

, but Today, even before reading the entire context, I saw it differently. I saw it as

"stop worrying about your sin and give it to me. I need you whole, confident in my Love for you, so that you will want to pursue relationship with Me (God in Christ) instead of feeling shame whenever you come."

My Understanding of God's Heart

I know this is long, but I hope you were inspired to read this far.

God does not want

our only conversation with Him to be

"Sorry, God, I'm bad, horrible, wretched, unworthy, please forgive me."

When He calls us into

relationship, He calls us to know His Love!

We repent, we leave our sin at His feet, in exchange for healing and deliverance from the things that make us sin - wrong beliefs, desires that stem from hurt, fear, doubt, shame, guilt -

things not of God!

God wants to see His children Joy-filled, and He knows that we can only do that in

Freedom!

The freedom His son died and then conquered the grave to give us!

God wants a joyful, peaceful and adventurous relationship with us, and He is pursuing us to give it to us.

Stop running and let Him.

The Joy of the Lord

A Just God

Our God is truly

a just God.

He is a

loving, faithful

and

powerful

God, but these characteristics cannot exist apart from His justice. If you read yesterday's post (I rarely post so often), 

Make Time for God - Avoid the Traps of the Enemy

,

you'll remember that one of the truths that counteracts the enemy's lies, is the knowledge that

Jesus had to die on the cross for us

because 'the wage of sin is death' (

Romans 6:23 ESV

), and 'all sin is sin i.e. your bad thought = breaking all 10 commandments' (

James 2:9-11 ESV

). In His love and mercy,

God wanted reconciliation with us,

but as a just God, the debt had to be paid first.

Read on - the "JOY" part is coming, I promise. Lol.

The Joy of the LORD is Your Strength (Nehemiah 8:10 ESV)

The very lies of the enemy that we believe, that keep us in bondage, steal our joy. Don't let them. Laugh at them and state the truth! (Weird at first, but you'll reap the rewards of that laughter - literally.) This is why the Word speaks of the Holy Spirit "renewing your mind" in Christ (

Romans 12:2 ESV

) - your very mindset has to change, but only God can do that, through the intercession of the Holy Spirit, and only if we're willing.

Image Source:

 http://www.reachingcampus.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/18prodigalson.jpg

The Joy of the Prodigal Son's Brother

See? The enemy stole his joy too. For many years I have empathized with the Prodigal Son (his story - 

Luke 15:11-32 ESV

) because it just seemed so unfair! I knew people are supposed to be, but God?

Well. I recently listened to a sermon, "God's Joy is our Strength" (

Global Legacy, Bill Johnson

), and this pastor said "he was serving God but not in Joy" (paraphrased). I had never occurred to me, until I heard that, that if the Prodigal Son's Brother was consumed by the Joy of the Lord, he would not have seen the 'unfairness' of his brother's royal treatment upon return (coveting?), because he would have been completely sated/caught up in God. That JOY would have been enough. Huh...

Pursue God and Find Joy

My call to you - in your desire for a joyful life, is to take

Matthew 6:25-34

literally. Pursue God first, above all else pursue relationship with Him, bask in His Love, and you will have everything that you need...that you desire! God's yoke truly is light (

Matthew 11:28-30 ESV

) - serve Him alone, and all else will fall into place.

#DailyRevelation