Good Morning,
Today I am on vacation, still my thoughts, like yours, I'm sure, are forever on the Father. I view this world and my life in it as a testimony to Him. How can I bring pleasure to Him? I want to please the One I love and the One who loves me. Well, we know the Word says that without faith it is impossible to please Him, and that our faith walk is energized and made effective by love. I can summarize by those statements alone, that a lot of the times I am not pleasing to my Father. Try as I might, sometimes it is not love that motivates me. It could be anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, selfishness, or all kinds of attitudes that would take me all day to list. God is not pleased with anything that is not motivated by the force of love. "If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love." (I Corin. 13:1-3: The Message Bible) This clearly states that without love, all that I say and do amounts to nothing. Every once in awhile all of us need to stop, sit down and be open and naked before God, and do a self examination to see if we have gotten off course in our faith walk. Listen to this, "Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you, if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith." (II Corin. 13:5; KJV) How can we test ourselves and prove whether or not we are still living in faith, by love. The answer is, the Word of God, it is the true acid test to prove whether or not your faith is genuine. We tend to either, "think more highly of ourselves than we should", or have a low opinion trained by years of degraded ourselves (this is another message all in itself). But the Word has been tried and proven to be the sure plumb-line or measuring stick, it can be relied upon. This morning, I will give you the test I took. You must be honest, don't cheat, (by allowing the spirit of pride, or the false humility to lead you), remember you and God knows what is really in you. Sometimes, others on the outside can see or get the brunt of what is in you too, but they may not know what is really going on in you. So, make this test between you and God. When you finish taking the test, you must promise to go through the 'Textbook', the Bible and, "study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."(II Tim. 2:15; KJV) Now, say with me, I will be a student of the Word and allow it to separate between the fine points of my mind, heart and the actions that I do. For it is the doer of the Word that is blessed in his doing of the Word, not the hearers (or the one who can memorize it, or the one who preaches the loudest, or the biggest financial giver, or the one who is the best actor, etc.) (James 1:22-25)
"For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, piercing and cutting to the dividing between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12; NLT) The Word will dissect, inspect and correct truly, if we allow. Here's your test, remember it is for your good, in order to help you locate yourself, in order to bring correction. We will be workman of God's Word. Are you working on this test? Are you patient and kind? Are you jealous, boastful, proud and rude? Are you irritable? Do you keep a record of those who have wronged you? Do you rejoice when injustice happens to those who have wronged you? Do you rejoice only when the truth of the Word wins out? Are you always hopeful? Do you endure all things patiently, without weakening? These questions will help us at all times to test ourselves and examine our faith walk. I took them right from the 'Love Guide' for our faith. You can study and improve yourself by reading and meditating on them, until you are doing it. The answers are found in I Corin. 13:4-7; now let's become workers that need not be ashamed, let us do the Word, this pleases the Father.
"Examine yourself"
Love,
Pastor D.
Author: daughtersofz
Called, appointed and anointed by God, Pastor Debra Lowe has been called to the forefront to pastor along side her husband, Michael Lowe at Hesed Ministries. Pastor Debra has served the Lord for 39 years. Called as a Prophet to the nation she also walks in the office of teacher and is an intercessor. Pastor Debra has used these gifts to minister to the body of Christ, teaching men, women and children to enter into His presence causing them to mature and be changed by His Word. As a servant of the Most High God she brings forth a word in due season to the body of Christ.
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