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You couldn't have picked a better one if you picked Jesus!!

Love Thy Neighbor!!

Verse 31. - Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. God is to be loved above everything - above all angels, or men, or any created thing. But after God, amongst created things, our neighbor is above all to be loved. And we are to extend to our neighbor that kind of love with which we love ourselves. Our love of ourselves is not a frigid love, but a sincere and ardent love. In like manner we should love our neighbour, and desire for him all those good things both for the body and for the soul that we desire for ourselves. This is what our Lord himself teaches us. "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, even so do unto them." There is none other commandment greater than these. 

What does the Bible say about loving your neighbor?  What does the Bible say about loving people at all?  Love is a big topic in the Bible because it circumferences 3 types of love.  In Greek, pornea is the selfish cravings dealing with lust and sexual intercourse outside the bonds of marriage.  Phileo is brotherly love, which is where the city of Philadelphia derived its name from.  Lastly, agape, is the unconditional love that denies “self” for the care and compassion of others.

The Greatest Commandment

In Matthew 22:36-39, a Pharisee asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”  And Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  The kind of love expressed in both of these laws is agape love.  In regards to the second commandment, this love seeks for the greatest good for our neighbor.  By way of definition, “neighbor” in this passage refers to anyone who is around us:  our actual neighbor or the person at the desk next to us at work.  Here are 7 practical tips for loving your neighbor as yourself.

In order to really focus on loving others, we have to constantly be aware of how much Jesus loves us by how He laid His life down for us on the cross. When we are thankful for Him, we can really express the love needed to plant the seed into an unbeliever’s heart.

Seek Out Your Neighbor 

In Ezekiel 34:16a, God says, I will seek out the lost, and I will bring back the strayed.  God does this so many times through his flock.  Jesus did not spend His time around the saved, but the unsaved.  We should model our lives after His.  Seek out someone that God has placed on your heart.  Seek them and love them for who they are, not for who you want them to be.  Jesus ate with tax collectors, he talked with prostitutes and spent time with the sick.  His reputation was not even a factor.  He spent time with them because He loved them unconditionally.  We have to put pride and our reputations down at the cross if we want to truly love others.

Bless Those Who Persecute You 

Yes, the ones who persecute you need Jesus more than ever.  Romans 12:14 says, bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.  This is a reflection on Jesus’s words in Matthew 5:44 when He says, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.  God has never stopped seeking the hearts of man, even in the “self-fulfilling” world we live in.  He is always knocking, hoping that the unsaved will answer.  We should be the same.  We need to pray throughout the day for those who persecute us.  And in all circumstances, show them love no matter what.  It is the very least we can do considering the grace and mercy God has given us through Christ’s death.

Be Real 

We have all received gifts or honors because “it was the right thing to do.”  You just can’t feel love from someone when they are doing something good for you because “it is the right thing to do”.  People feel love when it is really expressed.  “I love you,” is a very common phrase.  Many times it just feels like it should be said.  Really, though, it needs to come from the heart.  Sometimes it is better to do something that says, “I love you” than saying it.  For instance, a woman always feels a need to be cherished.  As men, we need to show them that by taking them to do things that they like to do, or by stopping what we are doing to talk with them or to dance with them.  The interaction is really where true love is expressed.  With interaction comes connection.  With connection comes a bond.

Sacrifice 

With sacrifice comes remembrance.  This is why Jesus instituted the “Lord’s Supper”.  Luke 22:19 says, and He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them (the 12 disciples), saying, “This is my body, which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of Me.”  The wonderful gift and sacrifice of Jesus’ shed blood on the cross covering our multitude of sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness is what we remember each time we partake in communion.  I had a flat tire on the highway once, which was so old that it literally fused itself to my truck.  My friend drove by and saw me.  We both tried to pull it off with no avail.  I ended up calling another friend, whose dad runs a body shop, and his dad picked my truck up, got the tire off, and replaced it all for free.  I felt much compassion and love from him that day, especially because I knew that his love came from Christ.  His sacrifice made such an impression on me that I will never forget it.  I will always love and respect him for his act of compassion on me.

Be a Good Listener 

We all know what it is like when we try to talk with someone and they interrupt us or ask, “What did you say again?”  It feels like they don’t even care and they honestly may not.  You will always feel like someone cares for you when they genuinely listen to you.  Listening is a conscious choice you have to make.  James 1:19 says, be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.  Following this model, we will show our neighbor love even if they don’t recognize it.

Respect The Boundaries 

You will not be seen as loving if you break into a person’s home.  You have not respected their boundaries.  The same goes for the peripheral boundaries that each person has set for themselves.  It is important that we as Christians can read the signs.  To love like Christ is to be the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13).  Salt adds flavor and seasoning to food.  We are to be like salt.  People want flavor.  Colossians 4:6 says, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”  When we answer our neighbor like we “ought” to, they will be drawn to us.  They will notice something different about us if they are not already a believer, and that is what attracts them.  While respecting someone’s boundaries, they will be more inclined to converse and they will be much more receptive to what we have to say.

Feed The Good Wolf

There is an old Indian proverb about two wolves.  It says that there are 2 wolves inside every person.  One is full of evil wanting to kill, destroy and devour anything it can.  The other is full of love wanting to look after the weak and take care of the less fortunate.  The one that grows is the one you feed.  The Christian’s “good wolf” is the Holy Spirit.  When we are feeding it by reading the Word, spending time in prayer and worshipping our Father, we will be fully equipped to let His light shine into the darkness and to love our fellow man in all circumstances.

Conclusion

In order to really focus on loving others, we have to constantly be aware of how much Jesus loves us by how He laid His life down for us on the cross.  When we are thankful for Him, we can really express the love needed to plant the seed into an unbeliever’s heart.  I pray that we all can learn daily how to love even more then yesterday.

7 Spiritual Growth Tips

The children’s song says, “Read your Bible. Pray every day and you’ll grow, grow, grow.” Daily prayer and Bible reading are two of the foundations for spiritual growth.

“Read Your Bible”

Get into God’s Word daily. You don’t have to dedicate every waking moment to Bible reading, but you should spend time in God’s Word each day. Find a Bible reading plan that you can stick to. Many people read three chapters a day in their Bible to help them read completely through in one year. Instead of reading for a certain number of chapters each day you can choose to read for a set amount of time.

The last two years I have taken the number of pages and my Bible and divide it by the number 300. For me that works out to just over five pages a day. With that schedule I can read the Bible in a little over 10 months which gives me a few extra days to linger on certain passages or get distracted in studying a topic if I want.

“Pray Every Day”

While reading the Bible is God’s way of communicating with us, prayer is our way of talking to Him. You should have a prayer list that you pray through. A few suggested items for daily prayer are your spouse, kids, extended family members and missionary families you know. You can also pray as God brings needs and blessings to your mind. Certainly you can pray at any time or place; but having a dedicated prayer time each day will help you stay connected with the Lord.

Attend Church

Fellowshipping with other Christians is one of the things Jesus taught us while he was on the earth. Those who refuse to congregate with other believers are often those who have trouble avoiding temptation in their lives.

God has given His blessing on the organization of the church. It is the authority which God has established in the life of a believer. The church does not exist to tell an individual Christian what he can and cannot do, rather it was founded by Jesus to give Christians a place where they can serve in the body of Christ and get the spiritual help they need.

Baptism

Obedience is a key ingredient to spiritual growth. The first step of obedience after salvation that the Bible teaches is baptism (Matthew 28:19, 20). This announces to others that you have been saved. Baptism does not save the believer, but spiritual growth will be limited if the believer refuses to follow the Lord in baptism.

Baptism is a public identification that the person trusts in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection for their salvation. Jesus was baptized as an example for us (Matthew 3:13-17).

Serve Others

Finding a way to be involved in the lives of others is a sure way to grow spiritually. When other people are asking you questions about the Bible you will become more studious of God’s Word.

Witness

You should be active in sharing your Christian testimony with others. In Romans 1:16 Paul states that he is not ashamed of the Gospel. As a child of God you have been given the gift of salvation through the Gospel. This is a gift that is available to others as well, but they need someone to tell them about the love and forgiveness God offers. You can do this by being a witness to them.

Give

As a Christian who is involved in a local church, there are plenty of opportunities to give to the needs of the church and the needs of others. Besides the fact that the Bible teaches us that everything belongs to God, it teaches the principle of the tithe. There are differing opinions on tithing and whether it is necessary still today; however, whatever you believe about the teaching of tithing, the Bible clearly shows that we should support the work of the ministry (1 Corinthians 16:1, 2; 2 Corinthians 9:7), and particularly those who teach us God’s Word (1 Timothy 5:17).

I hope these seven spiritual growth tips have been a help. These are just the basics. Any time God teaches you something from His Word you can continue to grow only as you obey.

Just Listen....

As you pray, you must also remember to listen to God's Message to you. 

What to do with our feelings??

Before I begin, I want to make it clear that I am only speaking of the stronghold/behavioral aspect of fear, guilt, etc. There ARE spirits of guilt, fear, worthlessness, etc. that can also be a factor and must be addressed (and driven out). However, if all we do is address the spirits but leave the strongholds in place, they are liable to return. This teaching deals strictly with the behavioral piece of the puzzle.

Feelings do not necessarily speak truth. If you feel guilty, it does not mean that you are guilty. Many times, feelings merely tell us what is going on in our thought life (or what we are really believing). If we think we are guilty, there will be feelings of guilt as the fruit of those thoughts or beliefs. It's sort of like feeling a hot stove; feelings are meant to help alert us of something that is wrong. Feelings should not be ignored, but properly interpreted. For example, if you feel guilty, don't start thinking "Oh, it must be true. I need to go confess my sins again and go try to dot every i and cross every t." That is letting feelings tell us what to do, and feelings can be (and often are) wrong.

When we begin to feel guilty, we need to instead get to the root of the problem and address it with God's Word. What does God's Word say about our guilt? It tells us that if we confess our sin and forsake it, we are forgiven and cleansed of whatever kind of unrighteousness that we've committed. When we choose to believe that over how we feel, then our feelings will begin to change because they are merely the fruit of our thoughts and beliefs. In this case, our feelings were wrong because our belief was wrong. Remember,feelings are just the fruit of our thoughts and beliefs. If we feel wrong, then it wouldn't hurt to stop and ask ourselves what we believe. Do we believe that when a man confesses his sin and believes upon Christ, that he is forgiven? Or do we, in the back of our minds, wonder if we've sinned too badly, or if we need to do something before we can be forgiven? Our feelings can be a great revealer of what we are really believing under the surface.

It is important to be balanced when dealing with our feelings. I don't think it's healthy to completely ignore our feelings, but I can assure you that it is not healthy to go by our feelings either. The key is to learn how to discern what our feelings are really telling us, and then get to the root of the problem. Feelings of guilt, for example, do not necessarily mean that we are indeed guilty, but rather that our beliefs are not rooted and grounded on God's Word like they ought to be.

A dirty conscience should not be ignored, but rather investigated. False guilt is an indication of a faulty belief. Is a clean conscience important according to God's Word? Yes!

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Hebrews 9:14

So with that said, I believe it is important to have a clean conscience. But we can only have that clean conscience when we stand firm on God's Word and believe what it really says about the forgiveness of our sins. When we truly believe that the Blood of Christ has paid the full price for our failures, only then can we have a truly clean conscience. As long as we think that we've messed up too badly, or need to do something before we can be forgiven, we will live with a dirty conscience. That is because we don't truly believe we are forgiven, and when we don't believe that we're forgiven, how on earth can we expect to feel like it? We can't!

Fear is another feeling which is completely unnecessary in the life of a believer. How do we know this? God's Word tells us that perfect love casts out all fear. For those who think that fear is a natural and unavoidable feeling, God's Word tells us that "He who fears has not been made perfect in love."

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:18

Got fears? Don't believe them, but rather seek to be established and made perfect in God's great love for you. That will dispel those fears. What most people do is go by their feelings and believe them, rather than seeing them as a warning that something isn't right in their beliefs or thought lives. That is where many well intending Christians go in the ditch. Another ditch is to completely ignore those feelings (or warning signs), and do nothing about them. The question I ask you is, what are you doing about those feelings? Are you going by what you feel as if it were truth? Or are you asking yourself, "What am I thinking or believing that may not be aligned with God's Word?"

Fear, like false guilt, is a result of believing something other than God's Word. False guilt is when we choose to believe an imagination that has risen itself against the knowledge of God (see 2 Corinthians 10:4-5), even though God's Word assures us that when we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us of any sort of unrighteousness that we've committed.

Now of course, not all feelings should be interpreted as a fault in our thoughts or beliefs. There are times when then Holy Spirit will give a person an uneasy feeling about a situation (discernment), or maybe a burden to pray over somebody that we normally wouldn't pray over. These types of feelings are used by God as a means to communicate with our spirits, and should not be ignored.

However, what I am talking about in this teaching is feelings of low self-esteem, fear, false guilt, shame, etc. Feelings along these lines are spelled out clearly in God's Word as being completely unnecessary for the children of God. What these types of feelings (false guilt, fear, etc.) have in common is that they are rooted in a belief or imagination that has risen itself against the knowledge of God (what is spoken clearly in His Word).

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

Be a better YOU!!

In all that YOU do....

Even though the holidays are over and we have come forth a new year, 

we must remind ourselves, on a daily basis to keep Jesus' name in any and

every single thing we do.  Let's not be too proud to ask for forgiveness

or too proud to thank Him for His many daily blessings.