What exactly is love?  What does love look like?  As we have been studying The Great Command, we see clearly that it is completely encompassed by us loving God.  To me, this topic of love is extremely complex, but yet somewhat simple.  Without running to the different Greek words used for love and writing a thesis, let’s try to remain as simple as possible.  When asked to define and explain, most people run straight to 1 Corinthians 13.  However, I believe the love described in this 13th chapter cannot be fully understood without hearing what Paul was teaching several chapters earlier.

The first three verses of 1 Corinthians 8 have taken a new meaning to me recently.  The end of verse one states, “…but love edifies” (1 Cor. 8:1c, NASB).  So the question really becomes, who is being edified in the act of love?  The word edify is from the Greek word oikodomos commonly defined figuratively as, “building someone up, helping them stand” (Strong’s 3618).  It is used as an action in such a way to show honor, respect and encouragement toward someone or something.  The point I desire to make is that the action of love by its definition has a focal point on something or someone being lifted up, called edifying.  This focal point of love is the important part of the act of love.

Please be patient with me as I seek to explain where I am going through a silly illustration.  One may say, “I love chocolate.”  Understanding what was already spoken about love edifying, I ask who is being edified in this statement or action?  Is chocolate being edified?  Not necessarily here.  Instead, we actually see self edified.  The truth is, it is the love of self and how self feels when chocolate is consumed.  So because I love how I feel in what I taste when I eat chocolate, I will eat chocolate.  Though our statement is “I love chocolate,” it is not chocolate that I love.  Instead, it is myself that I am edifying by the act of eating the chocolate while having no regard for the chocolate.

Now carry this same idea into this next thought.  Since Paul was moving on from the topic of marriage when he made this statement of love edifying in 1 Corinthians, I ask the question of why do you love your spouse, or why did you choose your spouse to begin with?  Commonly, you see someone of the opposite gender that draws your attention; whether that is their eyes, smile, laugh, or whatever characteristic that caught your attention.  You seek to get to know them better and before long your response is, “I love her or I love him.”  So I ask the same question as before, who is being edified in this love?  Is this individual fulfilling a need or want in your life?  Is it that you love how you feel when you’re with them, so you make the statement that you love them?  Has your focus been on loving and serving yourself through your spouse in your marriage?  I guess this explains why more than 50% of marriages in the church end in divorce.

What if we sought our spouse through God alone?  We let God choose our spouse as we wait for Him to give us direction prior to entering into a serious relationship.  It is then that we can truly love that person by seeking to edify them; by dying to self to live for the other.  This is ultimately how we edify God.  Now does Paul’s teachings in 1 Corinthians 7 and Ephesians 5 make more sense?  The truth is, when we seek to edify our spouse instead of ourselves we end up with a beautiful marriage where every personal want and need we have is also fulfilled.

Now that we understand that love is the action of edifying someone, we can approach the topic of The Great Command.  When we truly love God, we edify God.  Often we say we love God because we know that we need God and His blessings.  It is a love based around us edifying ourselves because God fills a need we have.  However, we read in 1 Corinthians 8:3, “but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him” (NASB).  When we seek to edify God, meaning we have completely died to self and the desire to edify self, we then become known by God.  This is the love Jesus had and this is the love Jesus desired to give us (John 17:25-26).  It is by being known by God that our names are recorded in the book of life, which Jesus says should be our only focus (Luke 10:20).  To love God means we are to edify God alone in both our words and our actions with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and when we do so then the blessings come.  I think of John 3:30 when it comes to loving Jesus and edifying Him.  In this passage John the Baptist spoke about Jesus saying, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (NASB).

Then we can work on the second half of The Great Command, to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  Again, to love our neighbor we must seek to edify our neighbor in our words and actions.  Maybe then we can understand Jesus’ teaching in John 13-16.  Whom are you seeking to edify by your words and your actions?

I desire to live a Faith-Full life, in the fullness of His love.    

I can’t seem to shake this topic of worship and it’s relation to loving God with all our heart as stated in The Great Command.  The passage from Mark reads:

“One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, ‘What commandment is the foremost of all?’  Jesus answered, ‘The foremost is, “HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD YOUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.” And the second is this, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”  There is no other commandment greater than these’” (Mark 12:28-31, NASB).

When we love God with ALL our heart, we are brought into a new realm of living a life of worship.  This topic of living a life of worship is one topic that we need to focus on understanding.  I say this because of the reality of what was mentioned in the sixth post on The Great Command of the Kingdom of Heaven being all about worship.  Scripture is full of references to the angelic beings worshiping the Father, and people in heaven worshiping the Son and the Father; heaven is all about worship.  If heaven is our goal (both here on earth and after life on earth), then we must learn how to be worshipers.

Jesus taught on the importance of worshiping our Father God while living on earth.  Jesus stated to the Samaritan woman (someone who knew that the topic of worship of God is of extreme importance), “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.  God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24, NASB).  The question remains, what does it mean to worship in spirit and truth?

One thing I can tell you is that this is not simply a statement about what we are to do on Sunday mornings in church.  As a matter of fact, Sunday worship begins on Monday. I will even venture to say that if you are not worshiping God on Monday thru Saturday, then it is impossible for you to worship God on Sunday.  Attempting to worship God on Sunday without worshiping Him as a life-style all week long results in the prophecy of Isaiah being fulfilled again, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me.  But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Mark 7:6-7, NASB).

We continue to learn from the seventh chapter of Mark that it is not what enters into a man that defiles him, but that which comes out of man is what can defile him (Mark 7:14-23).  Luke records Jesus’ teaching as being stated “…for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart” (Luke 6:45c, NASB).  Your words can either be uplifting, encouraging, edifying to others and the church, thus resulting in worshiping God (Ephesians 4), or they can be bitter, degrading, and unholy resulting in division of others and the church.  How can someone speak words of hurt or bitterness, greed or envy, or even filthy words or coarse joking on Monday thru Saturday think they can come into church on Sunday and actually worship God in spirit and truth?  This is living a means of honoring God with lip service, with a hardened heart; resulting in an emotional experience on Sunday (or any gathering time).  Please read Jesus’ words given to John to write to the church in Laodicea again in Revelation 3:14-22.

These words can be taken as meant for those who are living crazy evil lives of wickedness, but this is not the case.  This is intended for those who are in the church doing good things; seeking to love on those they come in contact with and those who love the Word of God.  It is for those who have been distracted by ministry, tradition, and/or each other, instead of humbly living a life of worship – in spirit and in truth.  Have those words of “worshiping in spirit and truth” clicked yet?  If we are to “worship in spirit” knowing that “God is spirit,” we must understand that we cannot truly worship God prior to receiving the Holy Spirit.  Also, we cannot receive the Holy Spirit without first learning how to listen to God through prayer.  Getting out of order prohibits true worship, and it results in emotional activities that come and go.  If you’re not understanding what I am writing in this order, then please read my book “Kingdom Living:  The Twelve Gates” to clarify this process.

Loving God with all our hearts is a life-style called a life of worship.  I desire to live a Faith-Full life, in the fullness of His love.

There is so much to gain and understand from the simple teaching from Jesus that we call, The Great Command.  The passage from Mark reads:

“One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, ‘What commandment is the foremost of all?’  Jesus answered, ‘The foremost is, “HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD YOUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.” And the second is this, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”  There is no other commandment greater than these’” (Mark 12:28-31, NASB).

I am continually brought back to the first statement of this command in loving God with all our hearts.  The seventh chapter of Mark is all about the heart of man, which returns back to the purpose of man’s existence in worshiping God.  John’s Revelation shows us a glimpse of heaven and in this snapshot we only see worship taking place.  In the first chapter we see John falling on his face in worship.  In chapter four we see these creatures that do nothing but worship singing “holy, holy, holy…” and also the twenty-four elders falling down before our God in worship.  Heaven is all about worship.  When we pray heaven to earth (as Jesus commanded in the Lord’s prayer) we are calling down a spirit of us worshiping our Holy God; resulting in us loving God with all our hearts.

All too often we get caught up in other topics and concerns just like those in Mark 7.  Tradition seems to take priority, whether the tradition is from old or a new tradition trying to be established.  Thus resulting in the prophecy of Isaiah being fulfilled again, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me.  But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Mark 7:6-7, NASB).  Worship isn’t just the music in our churches, but this continues to remain a hot topic for some reason? We don’t need hymns in our churches!  We don’t need new choruses, contemporary music, or a worship leader building an emotional response in music in our churches!  We need a people with a pure heart desperate to worship our Almighty God whether there is music or not!

This is actually summed up nicely in Mark chapter 7 with the Syrophoenician woman.  She came to Jesus begging Him to heal her daughter of a demonic spirit.  Jesus’ response was, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Mark 7:27, NASB).  How rude!  Jesus called this woman a “dog.”  If this happened today the response of the woman would be something like, “how dare you call me a dog.”  We believe that we are entitled to everything and when we believe we are treated unfairly then it should be made right.  We would accuse Jesus of committing a “hate crime” and seek to have Him punished, but that didn’t happen here.  Instead, this Syrophoenician woman humbled herself and said, “yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs” (Mark 7:28, NASB).  This melted Jesus’ heart and He had compassion on her; He saw her humility and pureness of heart in a posture of worship, and her daughter was healed.  This woman was actually living out the teachings of Jesus to perfection; she approached Jesus in complete humility and worship (she fell at His feet in verse 25) and she persisted in the humility requesting His mercy (bread at midnight from Luke 11:5-13).

Are you catching everything that is happening here?  Jesus didn’t just call the woman a “dog” but was calling all gentiles “dogs” compared to the children (Jews).  It was not the appropriate time for the gentiles to receive the blessings, but this one gentile woman came representing all us gentiles.  She could’ve responded in pride, but there was a response in humility.  She could’ve responded in a manner of entitlement, but instead she responded by humbly seeking mercy from the One who gives mercy.  This humility in worship resulted in Jesus taking action when He wasn’t planning to, and the request was answered by Jesus extending grace.

We are called to be humble worshipers of our Holy God and not men and women who honor God by our speaking while in church (and occasionally out of church depending on who we are talking to).  The honoring of God with our lips as prophesied from Isaiah comes down to a spirit of pride, a spirit of entitlement.  Our political environment has invaded our churches and we have a political spirit driving a spirit of pride, and thus causing us to have a “dead” church prohibiting true worship.  One who has pride cannot truly worship God.  We must have humility like the Syrophoenician woman in order to worship God.  Neither you nor I deserve anything from God, and it is only by His grace that we may receive His mercy.  Therefore, humble yourself before Him in the pureness of worship and adoration.  Cry out for His mercy on your church that the spirit of entitlement and pride may be broken off and removed; that your church may be the beautiful bride it is called to be.  Loving God with all our hearts is a life-style called a life of worship.

I desire to live a Faith-Full life, in the fullness of His love.

Jesus’ teaching on the Great Command has led me to many different understandings.  In this writing I will attempt to explain a struggle to living out this passage from a different angle; an angle that will shed some light into the importance of an area of ministry that is often misunderstood, healing or what is often called deliverance ministries.  The passage from Mark reads:

“One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, ‘What commandment is the foremost of all?’  Jesus answered, ‘The foremost is, “HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD YOUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.” And the second is this, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”  There is no other commandment greater than these’” (Mark 12:28-31, NASB).

Through this passage the Lord has led me to understand that our being as a person has four distinct aspects that all function together; heart (spirit), soul (emotion), mind (thought), and strength (flesh).  When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and King, we receive Him into our heart; into our spirit.  This is the first act of the grace of God in us receiving the forgiveness of sins in inheriting eternal life.  As the Holy Spirit continues to draw us to Him through our life of prayer, we are led to the second act of grace commonly called sanctification.  This is where we don’t just accept Jesus into our hearts, but we surrender our hearts to Jesus and are baptized by the Holy Spirit.  Our will starts to become aligned with the will of God.  For some this happens at the same time as the first act of grace, but for most of us there is some time between these two acts of grace.

This is the process of loving God with all our hearts, with all our spirit.  Though there is the crisis moment when we choose to give God our hearts desire, we then have to learn how to live it out.  We have to continually choose to allow the Holy Spirit to convict us of desires that are not completely pure to the will of God, which is done by the focus of our soul, mind and flesh on the presence of Jesus himself; living a life of prayer, a life of worship.

If you can note where the focus has been so far in this writing, you will see that everything has been pointing back to the heart, or to the spirit.  When we yield our heart completely to Jesus, it is then that we can receive the fullness of knowing that the power of death has no power over us; when the devil no longer has power over our spirit.  However, there are still three other aspects of our being where there still may be permissible access (footholds) of the enemy.

To pick out just one example, you may ask how a devout Christian individual can struggle with fear or anxiety?  Most commonly, a perception was formed somewhere in their life, whether it was from a situation they lived through or learned from a person of trust, that unbeknownst to them granted access of the enemy to fear.  The occurrence may be able to be logically explained and understood, but deep in the subconscious of the mind is that foothold the enemy has and he just remains there quietly keeping the person in a state of bondage.  This individual has a sense of peace knowing they have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, but they don’t know there is a complete and fulfilling peace yet for them to experience.

The examples could go on and on and on of access areas that we in the church have given to the enemy without us even knowing it.  The enemy desires to keep in the darkness and stay hidden in really great people who are protected in their spirit, but yet bound (whether a little or a lot) from complete and true freedom of the other three aspects of who we are.  This has resulted in a powerless believer; no matter how much they know, understand, and can reason from the word of God.  Though they themselves are safe from destruction, they are not making any advances against the ruler of darkness; not just powerless in the church, but even powerless in their own family.

So why do I write this now?  Well, I guess I am ready to see the people of God living to the full potential of kicking the enemy’s butt out of their own family and living in complete joy, peace, and abundant love.  As much as I just want to write and speak about our Almighty God alone, we must also have wisdom and understanding of the enemy of the cross.  We need to live out John 10:10; having a complete understanding of the first half of the verse and putting into practice the second half.

Therefore, if you have not had the opportunity to attend a healing session yet, I cannot encourage you enough to ask your local pastor if they are familiar with leading you through a healing (deliverance) session.  If they are not completely familiar (as not all really good ministers are – we all have different gifts), then ask them to refer you to a respected deliverance minister.  Please do not get stuck on the “scary” terminology of “deliverance” as to me the best way to describe deliverance ministry is to say “the ministry of love.”  This is a prayer “session” of letting our Amazing God love on you and letting Him prepare you to live your life in a new love.  It is the perception of many that a “deliverance session” is for those who are full of demons or are living in complete sin, but that is the really small percentage.  Often it is the little thing that we are unaware of that is keeping us from God’s complete peace, and we just need a little direction and help from one of God’s shepherds.  This area of ministry is meant for Christian men and women who are living a good life in Christ, who wants more of Him and desires to live out The Great Command.

If you are not having luck locating such a minister, contact me and I will do the best I can to find one in your area.  My desire is for the Holy Spirit to draw you into a new freedom, one you didn’t even know existed, so you may live the Faith-Full life you desire to live in order to live the life of love.

P.S.:  It is the enemy now telling you that this is not for you!

I desire to live a Faith-Full life, in the fullness of His love.

I really do not like to write anything involving politics, but I will write this one thing because I believe it is of importance in this season we are living.  On Tuesday, November 8, 2016, the people of the United States of America voted in a manner different from what many analysts expected.  The influence of decision making within our American culture that the news agencies has been able to control for the past many years came to an abrupt end when the TRUMP card was played at the request and cry of the church, and the news reporters still really do not know what to say in response. 

Before I go any further, I need to speak of some clarity so I can try to prohibit misperceptions from being formed in any readers.  Do I believe that President Elect Donald Trump is the one who will save America, or that Hillary Clinton would’ve condemned America?  This is where I have to very kindly say, no.  I am not trying to say that Trump will be a good or bad president, nor am I saying that Clinton would’ve been a good or bad president.  What I am trying to say is what will follow in the reality of having a president that is bold enough to say “no” or “yes” to any issue regardless of any political influence.  Therefore, this president-elect has the potential to be influenced through an outside source.  So there is an opportunity in front of the church universal, and the question to me has become, how will the church respond?

I have been reminded of several passages in Scripture in these past days, especially the book of Deuteronomy.  How many times do we read about the Israelites crying out to God in the midst of their struggle and God gives them the opportunity to return to Him.  Time and time again we see a prophet speak, “love the Lord your God with all your heart” and “obey God and keep His commands and statutes.”  These two statements are hand in hand.  Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:14, NASB).  Everything about God starts with love (us receiving His love) and ends in love (us loving God and others), for Jesus says, “This I command you, that you love one another” (John 15:17, NASB).  However, instead of seeing the Israelites living out the instruction of loving God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength, they return to their own desires of the flesh.  They have no problem doing good things and being good people as long as they are able to do whatever they want.

With this new opportunity, I now pose a question to the church universal in the United States of America, will the church pursue love?  Or will the church pursue pushing conservative biblical laws of being good moral people and punishing those who don’t want to be living to these standards?  What does it mean to live a life of love that is full of grace while still living to the realities of following the commands of Jesus?  It is hard to put into words just how badly I desire conservative views to return to our government in every aspect, but the manner of how is of extreme importance.  I don’t have an answer as to how this is to happen.  All I know is that the Holy Spirit convicts, the Devil condemns, and we as people only love.  This is why we are called to pray for our leaders in the decisions they must make.

The church of today has the opportunity at their fingertips of leading a nation back to God as their King.  We must be in fervent prayer for Donald Trump, our government officials, and all of the personnel that will surround our President, that they will be seeking the face of God and loving Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.  We must be in fervent prayer that our churches are seeking the face of God and loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength as we must live it before we can ask anyone leading us to do it.  When this happens, we will also be found loving those around us who are currently in opposition and love will unite them to God.  Pushing biblical laws will just push these whom we are called to love away from God, because our attempt of convicting people will only be us condemning them for their actions.  Using the disclaimer that we are doing it in love does not mean our actions are full of love.  The difference here is the church being a bunch of CHRISTians living out love, or a group of CHURCHians pushing biblical law.  Of which group are you?

I desire to live a Faith-Full life, in the fullness of His love, as a CHRISTian.    

Instead of asking how our society defines a Christian, maybe the better question is, how do you define a Christian?  Typically in the church you will hear that a Christian is defined as Jesus Christ in one, as meaning Jesus living in the person who believes.  The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Christian as “a person who believes in the teachings of Jesus Christ” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Christian).  What does it mean to “believe” in Jesus’ teachings?  To me, believing in His teachings is living out His teachings.  Jesus taught us many things, but he said of most importance is The Great Command.  The passage from Mark reads:

“One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, ‘What commandment is the foremost of all?’  Jesus answered, ‘The foremost is, “HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD YOUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.” And the second is this, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”  There is no other commandment greater than these’” (Mark 12:28-31, NASB).

One thing I have learned in life is that you cannot give what you do not have.  This love we are called to give to God is a love that is much bigger than we can choose to do on our own.  It is a desperate love of completeness without even a hint of reservation or concern.  The only way to obtain a love so vast is to first receive the fullness of the love of God.  This means we must accept the fact that God loves you just how you are!  God loves you unconditionally!

We must receive the love of God before we could ever think about loving God in return.  One of the greatest withholdings of God’s love is that we believe we have to first clean ourselves up before God can love us.  We read Paul’s writings such as in Colossians as stating, “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry” (Col. 3:5, NASB), and believe that we need to try and stop doing these things on our own effort to bring death to the desires of the flesh.  This misconception has come from teaching the need of obedience to Biblical law, which the devil is okay with, because he knows this doesn’t work.  We must come to the understanding that our death to the sinful nature of the flesh starts with receiving the love of God.

To me, one of the greatest teachings in Scripture is found in the gospel John, chapters 13-17, because these teachings are directly from the mouth of Jesus.  In chapter 17, Jesus prayed first for the current disciples and then he prayed for those who would believe through the disciples teachings; us.  Jesus concludes His prayer to God by stating, “and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:26, NASB).  The desire of God the Father in sending Jesus to be our sacrificial lamb was for us to receive the love Jesus had from the Father.  God desired for you to receive His love first and foremost, so that Jesus could fully be in you.

This is being a CHRISTian; receiving God’s complete love, so Jesus can be in one.  Simply ask God to help you receive His love in full.  Then ask Him to help you love Him in return with that love He has given you.  Throughout every day ask for more of God’s love; for Him to continually help you receive His love so you can give more love to Him and fulfill The Great Command.  This is when you see your nature change and Paul’s inspired words from God take effect.

I desire to live a Faith-Full life, in the fullness of His love, as a CHRISTian.

If a Christian can be defined as one who is living out the Great Command, then what exactly does living out the Great Command look like?  The term “Christian” is used so loosely in today’s culture, so much so that I don’t even like to use the term.  Therefore, if we define a Christian as one who is living out the Great Command, then one who is not living out the Great Command is one who is not a CHRISTian; for sake of my terminology, this person is a CHURCHian (one who follows perceived Biblical morals).  The passage from Mark reads:

“One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, ‘What commandment is the foremost of all?’  Jesus answered, ‘The foremost is, “HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD YOUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.” And the second is this, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”  There is no other commandment greater than these’” (Mark 12:28-31, NASB).

One thing to note is that with these four aspects of who we are, it is pretty much impossible to separate out one from the other.  Basically I am stating that the mind, heart and soul have influence over what the flesh does.  And likewise the actions of the flesh have direct influences to the heart, mind and soul.  So in this writing we will look at one aspect of flesh, noting that it is not just an action of flesh alone.

As stated in the previous post, we summarized loving God with all our strength by stating we shall love our God with all our flesh.  What does loving God with ALL our flesh look like?  The truth is, we are always battling two different natures; the sinful nature of flesh (darkness) in which we were created and the nature of the Spirit of God (light) as in the nature God calls to live in.  We cannot live under both natures.  Therefore, if we love God with 100% of our strength, then there is no part of our body left to even desire the sinful nature of the flesh (Gal. 2:20).

If we love God with 100% of our body, then we are not enticed to commit the only sin against the body, immorality (1 Cor. 6:18).  We are not enticed to be fornicators, adulterers, effeminate, or homosexuals (1 Cor. 6:9-10) if our entire bodies are sold out for Jesus.  For sake of clarity, we will quickly define these four sinful desires of the flesh that we are not partakers in whenever we love God with 100% of our bodies.

A fornicator is one who has consensual sex with another individual of the opposite gender outside of marriage; commonly called pre-marital sex.  An adulterer is one who has sex with an individual who is married to another person.  An effeminate is one who submits there body to unnatural lewdness, indecent sexual conduct such as forced sex or sex with an underage individual; and an effeminate has also been defined as masturbators such as that stated in the NRSV.  A homosexual is one who has sex with another of the same gender.

The reason these are listed out is because of the effect these actions have on not just the flesh, but on all four aspects of a person since the body is made up of all four aspects.  We must take note of what Paul is stating when he quotes Old Testament in stating that a sexual act unites the two persons (1 Cor. 6:16).  There is a spiritual uniting that takes place in the act of sex.  In the marriage of a male to a female, this is a beautiful connection of oneness, but in regard to the four immoral sexual acts it is the connection to the nature of flesh, the nature of sin.  In the uniting of two spirits in sin, a spiritual bond is formed that the enemy uses for destruction on a person’s heart, soul, mind and body, restricting the fullness of the love of God to both individuals.

Please understand that my whole point of writing this is not to condemn anyone for any previous acts in their life.  The enemy is a deceiver and tries to say that these acts are okay as long as you remain a good person (a CHURCHian).  I do not want anyone to be deceived and miss the fullness of the love of God.  God loves you and desires you to be free of this bondage to the nature of flesh, so you can live in the freedom of His Nature.  God says you can be washed and sanctified from this old nature (1 Cor. 6:11) and be joined completely to Him (1 Cor. 6:17); no longer living to obey the law of Biblical morals, but instead living in the fullness of a love relationship with God.  Repent, and ask God to break the unhealthy soul ties in your life.  Then give God your flesh, so that you can love Him with all your strength.

I desire to live a Faith-Full life, in the fullness of His love, as a CHRISTian.

What is a Christian called to do other than to live out the Great Command?  Or is it better to describe and define a Christian as being one who lives out the Great Command?  The passage from Mark reads:

“One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, ‘What commandment is the foremost of all?’  Jesus answered, ‘The foremost is, “HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD YOUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.” And the second is this, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”  There is no other commandment greater than these’” (Mark 12:28-31, NASB).

This passage has led me to believe that there are four parts of a person; their heart, soul, mind and flesh.  A person’s heart is best described as their spirit; it is their passion, their drive, it is what makes them tick.  To love God with ALL our heart means that we love God with every bit of passion and drive we have.  God is our only motivation, our only desire; it means we are completely desperate for Him and Him alone.

The term soul is commonly translated with words similar to breath and life.  Here in this passage when the soul is tied directly to the person and given an action it is defined by deep feelings and affections (Strong’s 5590, 2); which is much easier to state it as being our emotions.  To love God with ALL our soul means we are giving God all of our emotions; we are not holding back any of our emotions at all.

The mind of a person is not too hard to define at all as it is our mental capacities.  The question that comes into play is when we link our mind to the passage of loving God with all of our mental capacities.  Essentially, when we love God with ALL our mind, God begins to teach us as He originally desired (Hebrews 10).  In this learning we receive the mind of Christ as Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 2.

Lastly is the strength of a person mentioned; as in one’s might or power.  To love God with ALL our strength is to love Him with everything we can muster up in our flesh; to love Him with our entire physical body.

We will break these down over the days to come, but for now I simply ask if your way of living defines a CHRISTian?  One who is completely desperate for God, who is not holding back their emotions in their worship of living with God no matter who is around them, who is living under the same love of Christ sharing His mind, who is loving God with every aspect of their physical bodies has nothing left that could even be tempted to sin.  This is true death to self as Paul taught by saying I have been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20).

I desire to live a Faith-Full life, in the fullness of His love alone.

What is a Christian called to do other than live out the Great Command?  Jesus’ teaching in Mark on what we have coined The Great Command is the one I prefer to use because of the four aspects listed compared to the three aspects of the other gospels.  The passage from Mark reads:

“One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, ‘What commandment is the foremost of all?’  Jesus answered, ‘The foremost is, “HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD YOUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.” And the second is this, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”  There is no other commandment greater than these’” (Mark 12:28-31, NASB).

[I first want to make a quick note how I like that NASB always places Old Testament quotes in capital letters, in case you were wondering why parts of this passage was capitalized.  So yes, Jesus was reciting scripture in His answer of the question, much like all His answers.]

To start this discussion, look how this passage opens; a scribe hears people arguing.  We can make the assumption that he hears the Sadducees and Pharisees arguing with themselves or at Jesus over what they believe and understand, not Jesus arguing with them because Jesus was able to address the question asked of him by the scribe.  After the Pharisees failed at trapping Jesus, the Sadducees gave it a shot.  Both failed, and the attempt at uniting these two very different groups against Jesus ended up with returning to “normal” in their argument with each other.  Unfortunately, I perceive the church to still be discussing their own perceived beliefs about scripture, not yet living the true understanding of what is the foremost of all; love.

Even in the request of what is the foremost commandment, it was a request based upon what law should we be living?  What law does God the Father say we should place at the highest importance?  In the question of law, Jesus replied an answer that is the opposite of law.  The response was this is what you are to be!  Not what you are to do.  We still try to make Jesus’ answer a law type answer and create a law of love.  In our minds we try to define what a “Christian” is using proper Scripture and be obedient to our learning.  This becomes a “striving” of doing good Christian moral things and calling that loving God.  I am reminded of the first line of Psalm 46:10, “Cease striving and know that I am God” (NASB).  Our living is not about doing as much as it is about being; being in His love and living from His love.

The scribe understood Jesus’ answer to be more of who a person is to be by stating “[this] is much more than burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:33b, NASB).  To love as a law is making love a sacrifice or offering, a striving to do the right thing(s).  Love is so much more.  To me the question becomes, what exactly is love?  Are you living your Christian life based upon what has been taught to you as what to do or not to do (are you living Christian Law)?  Or has love transformed you into a new being; a CHRISTian?  Are you willing to ask God where He sees you in this regard?

I desire to live a Faith-Full life, in the fullness of His love alone.