James 5.16

The fear of Judgment …. A nasty place to be, an easy place to be. The Lord does not sit up there and decide to leave you or forsake you for something we did, but He hurts because of what we are doing to ourselves, whatever that may be. So many times we will confess our sin to the Lord but we will not confess to one another like it says in James 5:16 therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.NIV You have to get to a point where you can confess to one another without the fear of being judged. Many times it is the fear of being judged that makes us not want to confess. Proverbs 28:13
He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.NIV

So confess your sin and walk free or keep it to yourself and be bound up. So the question is this: have you confessed to the Lord but not to your brother? If that is the case, then do what needs to be done and don't give the enemy any ground by keeping your mouth shut. If you are fessed up, then more power to you. Amen

Be Free

 

So we will better know you

 

Lord, sometimes we cannot help the way we think.

That really does stink.

You know what, that is okay.

Look to the clouds and pray.

 

Sometimes Lord, we cannot explain

The way we truly feel.

Sometimes we are in so much pain

Nothing seems real.

 

Everything You do God, is so calculated

So why does life sometimes feel so complicated.

He speaks to us in prayer that is how we communicate.

He always gives us something to contemplate.

 

The Lord instills in us confidence

The Lord in our lives is not a coincidence.

Sometimes it takes a crisis to get us out of our stalemate.

He tells us that whatever we do, please do not deviate.

 

The Lord is talking about our walk.

He says, "spread my word when you talk."

Some people will not listen, that is okay.

Those that do not listen get their names and pray.

 

 

 

By kevin gwyn

ÓCopyrighted 4/17/2002

 

 

 

The rest of the Story

The rest of the Story: Darrin Hufford is the man in the story. He is the author of several books. This story comes from the book I just finished called "The Misunderstood God".

A young married couple had asked him to stop by their house and minister to the young lady who was living with them. They said she was demon possessed. They were going to be with him but they had to go out of town at the last minute so he had to go alone. This made him very nervous. He had actually been training for a while about deliverance. So he got prayed up and when arrived at the house he even drove around the house seven times. He put anointing oil on his hands so when he shook the girls hand he would scare the demons but to his amazement nothing happened. So he sat down with the young lady and she begins to explain to him that the demon in her spoke to her all the time and that she knew his name. That is when he said, can I pray with you? she said, yes but you cannot use the J-word (Jesus). That was paralyzing to the author! It would be like training a soldier in the use of a weapon and then stripping him of it moments before battle. How are you supposed to cast out demons without using the name of Jesus? So what did he do? He pleaded the blood, rebuked the demon and called down the blessings, but nothing happened. He said he was dead in the water and felt like a traveling snake oil salesman at the end of his bag of tricks.

So he sat there with her for more than two hours feeling embarrassed and emotional spent. While sitting there thinking about what else he could do, he caught a glimpse of the little girl. She had not slept in days. He saw a little girl consumed in fear that she could barely sit still. It was in that moment that his heart broke for her as if she was his own child. He got up and walked across the room and took her into his arms and held her tightly. Everything in inside of him melted and he cried with her as he held her. That moment that young lady was set free. Her name was Joy. And she had reclaimed her Joy in his arms. He learned that day that tricks are for kids. Though he was stripped of using Jesus' name, He found that if he became Jesus to her all the power of the universe was at my fingertips. It was love that sat her free. From the day forward the author says that his entire ministry was built on the foundational truth that God is Love and that it is more important to be Jesus with skin on than to just say His name. God is Love and nothing else. God gave us the Golden rule. Do unto others as you would them do unto you. The golden rule is for God as well….. Not just us.

John 15:17
These things I command you, that you love one another.NKJV

The J - Word

I have something for you to think about. You get a phone call from someone who asks you to go over to a friend of theirs to minister to the individual. They tell you this individual has demons hanging off of them like bats! This individual is expecting you. When you arrive this person answers the door and invites you in. You see that this individual is somewhat scared but you do not know what this person is scared of. You begin to ask questions and then you ask if you could pray for this individual and this individual says yes you may, but I have to ask you that you not say the

J – word (Jesus) when you pray for me. What are you going to do?

This is just something to chew on.

Kevin

Forgive

Proverbs 24:29
Don't say to anyone, "I'll get back at you for what you did to me. I'll make you pay for what you did!" The Message

Ephesians 4:31-32
Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.The Message

So you have a choice today, You can walk in forgiveness or not. I choose to walk in forgiveness for the man who stole my wife from me 9 years ago. I can choose to get mad at him and he will not even know it, but my life will be measurable. That sounds like fun doesn't it. Matthew 12:31-32
"There's nothing done or said that can't be forgiven. But if you deliberately persist in your slanders against God's Spirit,
(This part right here really made me think)
you are repudiating the very One who forgives. If you reject the Son of Man out of some misunderstanding, the Holy Spirit can forgive you, but when you reject the Holy Spirit, you're sawing off the branch on which you're sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives. The Message
Matthew 18:21-22
At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, "Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?" Jesus replied, "Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven. The Message Forgiveness to me is this "Lord when "blank" stands before you on judgment day please forgive him for what He did to me" Then pray a blessing over this person even if he is deceased. Do you think for a moment that there are occasions when I would like to go back in time and get my revenge for what my ex wife's husband did? There have been times, but I immediately take that thought captive to Christ. When the anger and bitterness start to take root you have a choice, You can pull it up right then and stop and take it captive or you can dwell on it which is fertilizing the root. It is your choice.

Who do you need to forgive today? Quit living in the past. There is no future in the past. Be Blessed and Highly favored

Remember, if you have not forgave then you have been turned over to the tormentors. How is that working for you?

Proverbs 14. 12-16

Change……… don't we love that word. For a lot of us, change is more than we want to deal with, because it means looking into our heart. It means that we may have to admit …..Oh My Gosh, I am wrong! So many times we value being right more than we value our relationship. A lot of times when that happens we move on to another relationship, until it happens again. A lot of times when people speak into our lives we think it as judgment when really all it is meaningful input. So many times we are not aware that we are going the opposite direction of God's wisdom. You must ask Holy Spirit!

Proverbs 14:12-16
there's a way of life that looks harmless enough; look again—it leads straight to hell. Sure, those people appear to be having a good time, but all that laughter will end in heartbreak. A mean person gets paid back in meanness, a gracious person in grace. The gullible believe anything they're told; the prudent sift and weigh every word. The wise watch their steps and avoid evil; fools are headstrong and reckless. The Message

 

Quote: So don't reject those who have been faithful just because you don't like their input. When you find yourselves being defensive or reactionary, ask yourself why you are so resistant. Sometimes it good to listen to people with whom you disagree, just to get another perspective. The wise learn by instruction; the slow learn by correction; the foolish learn by consequences; and the selfish never learn. Listen, learn, grow …. And stop the pain.

 

Be blessed and Highly Favored today! You are a Son!

 

Anyone read James lately?

James 1:19
Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.NLT

1 Corinthians 4:5

Who are you listening to? What voice or are there many voices that you are listening to? For me, often times I will seek wise counsel among Godly men and women and those are the many voices I hear. What I often find is this; if you talk to enough people you will get a split answer. Some will say go left and some will say go right. Does that ever happen to you? Often times we forget to ask Holy Spirit. We get so caught up in what is going on that we just forget. I think if we ask enough people we will eventually get the answer we are looking for and then we will ask Holy Spirit to "bless" our decision that we made without Him. Just something I have been chewing on today. I pray that you find favor in Him today. Kevin

1 Corinthians 4:5
So don't get ahead of the Master and jump to conclusions with your judgments before all the evidence is in. When he comes, he will bring out in the open and place in evidence all kinds of things we never even dreamed of—inner motives and purposes and prayers. Only then will any one of us get to hear the "Well done!" of God. The Message

Job 40.8

 

Have you Judged God lately?

Job 40:8
Will you also annul (set aside and render void) my judgment? Will you condemn Me [your God], that you may [appear] righteous and justified? AMP

Job 40:8
"Do you presume to tell me what I'm doing wrong? Are you calling me a sinner so you can be a saint? The Message

 

Do you create a concept of God that justifies your life experiences. What I mean is so many times we recreate God in our own image instead of seeing Him the way scripture says who He is. We want God to see the experiences in our lives the way we want him to see them.

 

Quote: When we begin to ask "why" in regard to God, we enter into judgment about Him. God has told us all we need to know about Him in His word. He sent Jesus, who modeled all that He is. We should be able to look at the life of Jesus and understand God. But we don't – we look to our experiences and ask" Why did this happen to me?" "why did God let that happen"

 

So here is the big question, are you judging God and asking him to bless your life in the same sentence? The rest of the passage below

 

Job 40:9-14
Do you have an arm like my arm? Can you shout in thunder the way I can? Go ahead, show your stuff. Let's see what you're made of, what you can do. Unleash your outrage. Target the arrogant and lay them flat. Target the arrogant and bring them to their knees. Stop the wicked in their tracks—make mincemeat of them! Dig a mass grave and dump them in it— faceless corpses in an unmarked grave. I'll gladly step aside and hand things over to you— you can surely save yourself with no help from me! The Message

 

 

Proverbs 15.5

Who are you? Do you learn from instruction, or do you choose to learn the hard way. Holy Spirit in Proverbs says 15:5 Only a fool despises a parent's discipline; whoever learns from correction is wise. NLT Proverbs 17:10 A single rebuke does more for a person of understanding than a hundred lashes on the back of a fool.NLT The majority of the pain in our lives comes simply because we will not listen. In the proverb above, the fool's only hope of learning is when he has to face the consequences of his own actions. Think about that for a moment ………. How many times have you sought out advice, or someone spoke into you, only to find that you felt you knew better than they did. So you chose to do it your own way and it was wrong or it did not work and it cost you dearly. Then the thought comes in your head "I guess I should have listened." That is always fun listening to that little voice.

So here is my question, Has someone spoken into you lately or you sought out Godly counsel on a mater? Then you chose to do it your way? This isn't Burger King you know. How did that work for you?

Be Blessed and Highly favored today

If you will ask

This is something I read this morning from the book "If You will ask" by Oswald Chambers. The book is about prayer. Below is something out of chapter 3

 

 

If we struggle in prayer it is because the enemy is gaining ground. If prayer is simple to us, it is because we have the victory. There is no such thing as a holiday for the beating of your heart. If there is, the grave comes next. And there is no such thing as a moral or spiritual holiday. If we attempt to take a holiday, the next time we want to pray it is a struggle because the enemy has gained a victory all round, darkness has come down and spiritual wickedness in high placeshas enfolded us. If we have to fight, it is because we have disobeyed; we ought to more than conquerors.

". . . and having done all, to stand"— a mental state as regards confidence, no panic. What is it puts us into a panic? The devil is a bully, but he cannot stand for a second before God. When we stand in the armor of God he pays no attention to us, but if we tackle the devil in our own strength we are done for. If we stand in God's armor with the strength and courage of God, he cannot gain one inch of way, and the position of prayer is held, as far as we are concerned, untouched by his wiles. Confidence in the natural world is self-reliance, in the spiritual world it is God-reliance. We run away when we have not been practicing, when we have not been doing anything in private, then when there is a new onslaught of the wiles of the devilwe lose heart instantly. Instead of standing we scuttle, and others have to fill the gap until we are sufficiently ashamed to come back. We cannot stand against the wiles of the devil by our wits. The devil only comes along the lines that God understands, not along the lines we understand, and the only way we can be prepared for him is to do what God tells us, stand complete in His armor, indwelt by His Spirit, in complete obedience to Him. We have not to wait for some great onslaught of the enemy, he is here all the time and he is wily. The secret of the sacred struggle for prayer lies in the fact that we must stand in the armor of God, practicing what God would have us do, then we can hold the position of prayer against all the attacks of the devil.

If we are struggling in prayer it is because the wiles of the enemy are getting the upper hand, and we must look for the cause of it in the lack of discipline in ourselves. There are some things we have not been strenuously practicing—we used to pray in the morning, do we now? We used to commune with God over the Bible, do we now? We used to be in contact with God wherever we went, are we now? Put on the whole armor of Godand keep continuously practicing, and then the wiles of the devilcannot get you unawares.

 

Proverbs 27.17

Being judgmental really makes me want to hurl sometimes. Case in point, I had to call someone yesterday to see if he was going on an event, to serve with me. He had not responded to any of my emails, so I had to call him. When I asked him why he had responded to my email, he responded with "I don't get online" I thought "okay" so I asked "how to you read the men's emails?" He responded louder and more sternly "I don't get online!" It really pissed me off the way he was talking to me. Then he said "Mike Chaney knows that" I said "I am sorry, but Chaney failed to mention to me that you did not get online." Now I am starting to get annoyed. (In my mind I am wondering if I am being Judgmental or is this guy being a jerk). What he failed to mention was that his daughter kept him up to date on the emails. He also said he had responded to Michael so he felt he didn't need to respond to me. That annoyed me as well. What I had to do was be super nice to him. He bowed up then I bowed up. So I had to make myself be nice so I could end the conversation on a good note. Which, that is what happened. Does this phone call still bother me…? Somewhat, but I am working through it. Here is what really got me. So I talked to a friend of mine who served with this man and he said that the individual that I am referring to is one of the nicest persons he knows. So now I have to really think about my tone with Him and did I start it?

When I told my wife this story she looked at me and said "that is what you do to me" I said "what" She said, "I will ask you a question and you will give me an answer, but I don't understand your answer, So I ask you the question again and you get louder and give me the same answer thinking that I will understand because you are louder and annoyed that I did not understand you the first time."

As Iron sharpens iron, so one wife sharpens a husband.

 

Proverbs 27.17 "as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another:

Who are you?

When you look in the mirror, who do you see looking back? Do you see a Son? Romans 8:15
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"NASB95. Or are you judging yourself? When you see yourself in any other form other than what God sees you, you a creating a big problem for yourself.

Romans 6:10-11
When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.NLT

Romans 6:11
Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.AMP why do we as a people have such a hard time with believing who God says we are? This is how God sees us. He does not see the sin…….. He sees us!

 

Quote: You may say "Yes, but I have all sorts of problems. This can't be true about me." That's the problem you don't consider God's opinion to be real; therefore, you will never experience His version of reality. You will only experience what you consider to be true.

 

When you get to the point where you believe this verse you will be free from all other judgments, including the harshest ones of them all. The ones where you judge yourself. I assure you that I have not gotten there YET! But I am close.

 

So the next time you stand in the mirror are you going to believe what you see? Or who the Lord says you are?

 

Galatians 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.NASB95

 

Isaiah 42.9

Isaiah 42:9
"Behold, the former things have come to pass, Now I declare new things; Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you."NASB95

 

The Lord gave this to me Thursday morning and when I think back at what has transpired over the last week it is pretty awesome. I know my Dad knows the Lord, I know that my uncle Stanley knows the Lord. I know that my mom is proud of the man I have become. My renewed relationship with my two cousins Holly and Poppy. (Something that the enemy stole from me over 45 years ago has been restored) I have a renewed passion to reach out to my family and stay connected to them. To know there kids.

 

So here is the big question and my challenge to you. Is there a family member that you have lost touch with. That one family member that the only time you would see this person is at a funeral.

 

Stop what your doing right now and ask Holy Spirit who that person or persons are. That name is who you need to call today and say hello too.

 

Kevin

My Grandfather

Hello All, I have not blogged in a while and that is because I went on Quest last Tuesday and I got back Sunday evening. I relaxed for a while, repacked and left for Amarillo Monday morning. You see, my grandfather passed away Thursday afternoon. I found out Thursday evening. I had already said my farewell's in May. I knew then that was the last time I was going to see him. It was still hard though. What I got to do though when I got to Amarillo was minister to my uncles, my brother and dad and that was good. I look back and I can see where the Lord prepared me in May, So that when the time came of my Grandfathers passing, I would be strong and able to minister to my family. At the graveside service I just stood there as My uncle cried on my shoulder and I prayed in his ear and held him, Then my other uncle cried on my shoulder and I held him prayed in his ear and my brother cried on my shoulder and I held him and prayed in his ear, and then my dad. Thank you Jesus for allowing me to be me. That was huge and that was yesterday. There is more that happened this morning. Two things actually happened. First, Kelly and I met with the preacher of my parent's church who is leaving to go to another church in Philly. I went there for one reason, but it turned out to be for something else. (God likes to play those games) This makes me cry just typing this. I brought up the fact that I thought my dad was not saved and he assured me that he was, He has been praying with him for 11 years. The bottom line is …… I judged my dad's heart, because he would not talk to me about Jesus the way I thought he should. He is saved and I have peace about it. This next thing is just as big as the first. Jeff said that my mom is very proud of the man I have become. He spoke of the Joy that she has when she talks about the transformation she has seen in me over the years. I just started crying. I did not know how bad I needed to hear that until I heard it. It was like my mom was talking through Jeff. Thank you Jesus for my mom and dad, I Love You

Kevin                                     2 Corinthians 1:3-7
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.NASB95 2 Corinthians 1:3-7
All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too. When we suffer for Jesus, it works out for your healing and salvation. If we are treated well, given a helping hand and encouraging word, that also works to your benefit, spurring you on, face forward, unflinching. Your hard times are also our hard times. When we see that you're just as willing to endure the hard times as to enjoy the good times, we know you're going to make it, no doubt about it. The Message

I am stressing

 

I am stressing. I am leaving to serve on Quest today I am walking out the door at 10.30. I got into the word and this is what He said.

 

Psalm 34:14-15
Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry.NASB95

 

I am feeling very unsettled, but at the same time it is a good word for me. Thank You Jesus

My number is 817-683-4319. If you feel that you have an encouraging word for me ….. text me.

That would be awesome

 

It is for Freedom that Christ has set us free!

 

Kevin

 

Peculiar People

Most of us a very familiar with this passage: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.NIV
Quote from Chpt 18. The motivating principle that sets us free is Love. Only when God's love motivates everything we do will we actually experience freedom from judgment.
Jesus died so we could be free. Free from what? Free from sin, judgment, free from rejection and walking in offense. He has actually freed us from more things than I can list. You have to remember what 1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:KJV Deuteronomy 14:2
For you are a holy people [set apart] to the Lord your God; and the Lord has chosen you to be a peculiar people to Himself, above all the nations on the earth.AMP Titus 2:14
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.KJV this means we are free from the judgment of other people Deuteronomy 26:18
And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; KJV⁵ Exodus 19:6 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: ⁶ And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.KJV
So as peculiar people we don't live by the world's standards. We are members of the Kingdom of God. There are times when we put so much emphasis on what we are free from , that we forget what we are free to do and that is to Love unconditionally and not judge or receive judgment from others. To walk in that freedom has everything to do with how we treat people. Meaning we should not treat people based on who we think they are. It should have everything to do with who we are in Christ.

 

Kevin

Love languages

Interesting thing today. My wife sent me a quiz to take on the internet. The Five Love Languages

For years I have thought that my love language was Words of Affirmation. Well I now know that it is not. It is Physical touch, quality time, words of affirmation, receiving gifts and acts of service last. That was an eye opener. Anyway I have noticed that I touch my wife a lot and I like to spend time with her. A lot of times we tend to do our love language to our spouse. So what is yours?

Take the test

http://www.5lovelanguages.com/assessments/love/

What is church?

What is church? Pause a second and ask yourself that question? To me, church is relationships

Remember, opinions expressed in this blog are no necessarily those of the management. (I read that somewhere. It sounds good anyway) my wife and I have not been in side of a church to listen to a church service in months. We have however, listened to many services on line and that is good. Here what it has done for us. It has forced us both and mainly my wife to seek out relationships that are not Church related or Fellowship of the Sword related, but Jesus related. That is the KEY! You know, it is one thing to not go to church and to isolate yourselves from the outside world. That is not what we do. We seek relationships. Isn't that what Church is about? Relationships? Our church is outside of the Church walls. We help people, we minister to people and we get ministered to. We had church in our house last night for almost two hours. It was awesome! We had church in our house last Monday night for almost three hours. It was Awesome! Three weeks ago Kelly had a Halley Joy show (that was church) and I got to listen and minister to a young lady. I got to hear her healed heart and hear someone who is in Love with Jesus and that ministered to me.

What does scripture say about church?
Hebrews 10:25
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.KJV
Hebrews 10:23-25
Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.NLT

so We are in a season right now and that is okay. I can tell you that in the last six months, my wife and I have grown a lot in our walks with the Lord. You may wonder do we tithe, absolutely we tithe. We have been tithing to FTS and to Elevate Him. We have also been helping her parents. Matthew 19:19
'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'you shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"NKJV Let me be the first to admit that we have church wounds that we are working through. Some of these wounds have been self inflicted and we realize that. Some are not self inflicted. So I leave you with this I do not advocate you not going to Church. What I am saying is that Kelly and I are in a season. I know a lot of people read this blog so if you are not going to church then I hope you are seeking Jesus relationships and are meeting with people and talking Jesus on a regular basis and if you are not then my prayer is that you will. Amen? Don't allow yourself to be isolated or the enemy will pick you off.

Be blessed today

Kevin

1 John 4:18

Freedom from Justification Chpt 18

 

1 John 4:17-18
God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love. The Message

 

^1 John 4:17-18 ^ Love has been perfected among us in this: that ^vwe may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. ^18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. ^19 ^wWe love ³Him because He first loved us. NKJV

1 John 4:18 We need have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly; His perfect love for us eliminates all dread of what he might do to us. If we are afraid, it is for fear of what he might do to us, and shows that we are not fully convinced that he really loves us. The Living Bible

Basically what I am getting out this is when we walk this type of Love out. The love of the Father. It puts us in a position where we don't react to people. What we do instead is respond in love. So the question is this: if you know and feel that God loves you. Do you react in love when something happens in a relationship that you are in or do you judge that person and cause your own pain? I know for me right now it is a process. I actually believe that sometimes I pick and choose who I will love and who I will judge. I am getting better though.

Kevin

The wise will inherit honor

Proverbs 11.30
The wise will inherit honor, But fools display dishonor.NASB95

As I have read this book, it has amazed me how often we assume (ass of u me) or try to figure out why someone did what they did. We or I judge their Heart. I have learned to deal only with the facts. That is wisdom! The bible tells us to judge the fruit. Proverbs 11:30
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise wins souls. NASB95. Matthew 7:20"So then, you will know them by their fruits.NASB95 I have to tell you, now that I have recognized my issue. "Why did you do that?" Life is so much easier. Do you realize when you say "Why did you do that?" You are actually saying "What you do doesn't really matter as long as you reason is good enough." What you need to be saying is "What did you do?" So you have a choice. When someone pulls out in front of you two things happen, you either get angry and pass judgment or……… you forgive immediately. If someone is rude to you or me then we once again have a choice. You can get angry, fantasize, imagine or pass judgment. Or choose to forgive or communicate with this person. We all know Matthew 18:15-16
"Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.
But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that 'by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.'NKJV know where does it say go to your brother and ask him "why?" It says, show him his fault.

Be Blessed today