God's Love

 1 Corinth 13:13
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Valentine’s Day is a special day when love is expressed to someone special in your life. It is a day to celebrate the commitment to a shared relationship, or desire for one. This is love that is based on human emotions and feelings toward someone. It is an affection that is sought by all human beings, because everyone desires to find this kind of love in life. But such love is not everlasting and is known to turn into hate given the right circumstances. This is not the kind of love that is spoken here in scripture. This charity (love) comes from above and sent from God and is sealed in the hearts of Christians who have totally given their lives to Christ. “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.” (John 15:10). The manifestation of this love is made possible by the power of the Holy Spirit, which makes His home in the heart of the believer. The list of what this looks like is found here in 1 Corinthian 13, but is also demonstrated through the fruits of the Spirit and Christians living out their walk before the world and other believers. We live in a world of sin and living for self. Self is grounded not in love for others, but in self-gratification, desire and preeminence over all others. Let love rule in your heart, to live in the vine, to allow God to be in you and work through you to accomplish His love to the world that others may come to love and serve Him.

Grieve Not

Eph. 4:30
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Distressing, or causing  the Holy Spirit to be sad happens when we do something or say something that is contrary to the nature of God. Our renewed vessel was made to bring honor to His Name. When we say things that hurt or demean others, we grieve the Holy Spirit. When we allow bitterness, anger, and evil speaking to dwell in our vessel of clay, the Holy Spirit will not abide. He will depart from us if we don’t take action. It is true that a vessel that is fully consecrated and sanctified to God will be sensitive to the checks of the Holy Spirit, and will guard against things that will grieve Him. But Satan is out to destroy what God has made new, and will bring temptations that will play with our emotions and humanity. We are still human, and subject to the temptations of the flesh. We are admonished to put off any behavior or actions that would cause the Holy Spirit to depart. God will never leave us or forsake us, but His Spirit cannot abide where sin abides. He will continue to deal with us and call us back to Him.

The Secret Place

 Psalm 91:1
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Where is this secret place? Jesus talks about a secret place. “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." The secret place is where you and God meet, it is the place where the world is shut out, the things of this world are put aside, and all your attention is given to worship and time spent with God. Prayer is not done like the Publicans who stand on the counter in the public arena and pray so that they may be seen by others. Dwelling in His presence is to constantly be aware that Jesus is the center and focus of what you do. In the presence of the Almighty,  we are careful what we say, how we act, and how we think. This is our permanent residence, this is home. We may not seclude ourselves in a literal closet, but the Holy Spirit abides in our heart, and we allow Him to dwell within us and we in Him. We can have confidence that whatever comes our way, we are in His care and He does what is good and best.

Abide in the Vine

 John 15:4
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

As much as we may try to be a good person and do what we think is right, it still comes short of bearing the fruit that God requires. In the secular world that we live in, the number one priority is humanity, unfortunately half the US population does not consider you to be human until your lungs take the first breath outside of the mother’s womb. Humanism is a religion or way of life that puts humans before it will be considered the creator of humanity. Humanism seeks to bear fruit without Christ. Real fruit can only come from abiding in the true Vine. All other fruit is fake fruit that appears to be the real things, but is not derived from the true source. Your fruit is fruitless in the eyes of God, if it does not stem from the true source. He or she may be a good person because they act good and do good deeds, but such is not necessarily evidence that such a person is abiding in Him.

Living in the Vine

-->

John 15:5- I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Living in The Vine is the name of this personal Bible journal (Blog). The essences of being a Christian is to live and abide in Christ, and to remain always in Him. Having a religion called Christianity without abiding in Him is idol worship and is fruitless. The world measures success by what a person accomplishes in life, but it is all vanity outside of the Vine. The expectation of being part of the Vine is to have a life that will bare fruit. It is the fruit of our lives that testify that we our abiding in the Vine. If the branch does not bare fruit, Jesus said it is of no use and is to be cut off and cast away. We may call ourselves Christians, but to truly be part of the Vine it is essential that our lives show the fruits of the Spirit of God. I judge not, for only God knows the heart. Let us examine our hearts and the fruit of our character. Abide in the word of God, keep His commandments, let your actions show the world what it means to belong to the Vine. As long as we abide in Him, there is no fear of being cut off and cast away.

The Mercy of the Lord

Psalm 103:17,18 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;..To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

He is a God of love and mercy. His love reaches to the deepest and most insignificant parts of the earth. Yet, to them that fear Him and keep His commandments His mercy is promised them and to their children. God is no respecter of person, and will have mercy on all that will enter into His gates. All have sinned and come short of God’s approbation. But mercy was extended. We were all condemn to everlasting punishment, but the mercy of God made a way of escape. He is a God of compassion and desires to forgive all that are willing to confess their sin(s) and to keep His covenant. Love and mercy follow all that abide in Christ. Those who live in Christ do not have to ask for His love and mercy, for God’s love and mercy abides in those who live in Christ and keep His commandments.

Abide in Love

John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

Love flows from the Father through the Son and to them that follow in His footsteps. Love continues to flow one to another as we allow the love of Christ to work in our lives. One of the commandments of Jesus is to abide in His love. As the vine abides in the branch, so are we to abide in Christ. A sign of His love abiding in us is that we keep and walk in His truth. Failure to abide in His truth is evidence of our lack of abiding in His love. For a person who is in love, will do all they can to bring pleasure to the one they adore. This is the foundation of holy living, or living a sinless life. Is it possible to live a life without sinning? It is possible to always decide that love will win over what is wrong? Can we who are earthen vessels, made from the clay of the earth choose to love Him in every decision we make? Such is possible if we are filled with the  Holy Spirit, who will guide and lead us into truth. The promise of the Father given to us, the Comforter will come and He will abide with those who surrender all to follow Christ. 

Under His Wings

Ruth 2:12 The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. “Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings” 

We are faced with many predators in life, the greatest of all is the attacks on Satan to cause our faith in God to be abandon. God, like an eagle has His wings stretching out over us protecting us from any harm that comes our way. Each day as we wake and head out into a world that despises all that is holy and right, God has promised to keep us under His wings. Staying under His wings we have come to trust that where He leads, He will take care of anything we might face. Ruth came to trust the God of her mother in law Naomi and believed that God would meet her needs. She garnered the attention of Boaz, and Her trust in God gave her favor in his eyes. God looks after His own, and those who trust Him, He will protect and keep.

Constantly Abiding

John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever”-

Constantly Abiding. The Holy Spirit’s presence in this world was made possible because Jesus came and provide a way for us to have access to the Father. The Spirit has always been active in the world, but it was not until Jesus came that the Spirit’s fullness was able to abide in those who walked with God. The Spirit was with and directed all those that lived Godly live before Christ came, but the Holy Spirit did not indwell the believers until the day of pentecost. The prayer of Jesus makes it clear that He had not yet come to dwell, but that He would come. The promise was to believers in Christ who had been saved through believing in the Name of Jesus. It is for us all today for our high priest has prayed to God the Father who always hears the prayers of His Son. He abides, He abides, every day and everywhere. He is constantly abiding in the hearts of those who keep His commandments.

Living in Truth

John 8:31 ““If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”-

Living in Truth is to abide in Him. Free from sin. There are those who teach because we are born in sin and have a sin nature that we cannot live a life without sinning. Sin is part of the human nature and to say you do not sin is to say you are not human, and no one is perfect. This teaching is contrary to the teaching that Christ gives the Jews as they defended their claims to know the Father. It is true that we are all born in sin and by birth are sinners. For all have sin and come short of God’s glory. Being free from sin is not humanly possible for deliverance from sin is only made possible because Jesus died on the cross to pay our debt of sin. Accepting Him as Savior, we now abide in Him, we are now living in the Vine. We now live in truth for He is Truth. As long as we live in Him we can be free from living a life of sin. Sin no longer abides, we are no longer in bondage or enslaved to Satan, He is no longer our father, we have a new Father, a heavenly Father that sets us free from the sin bondage that Satan had on us. A life free from sin is made possible through the blood of Christ and abiding in Him. 

Real Life

1 John 5:12 “ He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life.”-

To have, or not to have is the question. This is the most important question in life. There are so many things that we do not know and so many things we will never know, but one thing that we can know and must know is “Does the Son of God, Jesus abides in our heart?” If Jesus lives in our heart, it will be known of men by the fruit we bare. It is self evident, he that has Jesus will show forth the life of Christ. Accepting Jesus into your life is life changing. We live and learn the lessons of what it means to have the Son of God in our life. We daily face challenges in our life that bring doubt and confusing, but knowing that Christ lives within us, He is able to give us the victory. 

Perfect Love

1 John 4:7-19
October 28th, 2007

The Love of God how measureless, that I, a sinner should be loved by God who is Holy and Just. How is it possible for man to be filled with such love? It is only through the propitiation of Christ that we are able to have this love dwell within us. Man in his sinful condition, is not capable of manifesting such love to God or to one another. Therefore, If we desire to love as God wants us to love, we must allow Christ to dwell in His fullness in our hearts. “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost that is given unto us” May divine love rule and reign in our hearts and show it’s fruits in ours lives.

Love that is Mutual (let us love one another)
• How do we show love one to another?
• Evidence of being born of God- “Behold how they love…”
• If God loved us, we ought to love one another.
Love that Matters ((born of God)
• Divine Love only comes from God
• If you know God, then you will show love
Love that is Manifest (In this was manifested the love of God)
• God’s Love toward man is
• God’s Love is shown through the giving of His Son
• Christ is "the propitiation," because by His becoming our substitute and assuming our obligations He expiated our guilt, covered it, by the vicarious punishment which he endured
Loves Mysteries Unfold (Herby know we)
• Seeing God is only seen through someone who loves God
• The dwelling of God can only abide in a heart of love
• It begin with confessing Jesus as Savior
Love Made Perfect (Herein is our love made perfect)
• Then face to face…then shall I know and be known
• There is no fear (of judgment) to them that abide in perfect love
• We cannot properly love without His love dwelling in us.

A Child of God- Free From Sin

1 John 3:1-10
Oct. 21, 2007
The debate among believers in Christ concerning this subject baffles me. The question weather a Christian can sin and remain a Christian should be easy to answer. God’s Word is clear on this point. Many will try and twist the Word of God to justify their own behavior, but John is incontestable and unequivocal concerning this matter. “He that is born of God does not commit sin.” This does not mean that it is impossible for a Christian to sin, but as long as a Christians abides in Christ, allowing Christ to live and take control, he will not transgress the known will of God. If he does, he does have an advocate with the father, to restore one back into fellowship, but one must petition Christ and asked for forgiveness.
Abounding Love (what manner of love)
• For God so loved…
• His love reaches deeper than the stain of sin
Adopted of God (sons of God)
• Identify as a child of God- part of God’s family
• The world (society w/o God) lack of understanding
Appearing of Christ (He shall appear)
• Doubts of humanity being part of heavenly
• When faith shall become sight- we shall be like him
Acts of Sin (commits sin)
• The duty of man – to be set apart from sin
• Breaking the laws of God is unrighteous
• Sin- a willful transgression against the KNOWN will of God
Away with Sin (take away our sins)
• Jesus, sinless lamb of God made the supreme sacrifice
• Jesus came and died to take away sin
Abiding in Him (whosever abides)
• Christ is the vine, we are the branches
• John 15- If ye keep my commandments…
Affiliating with the Devil (is of the devil)
• Practicing sin is of the devil- One sin or many sins
• Disobedience leads to unbelief- Sin of Adam and Eve
• Unbelief and faithlessness does not please God
Avoiding Sin (does not commit sin)
• Born of God- Marvel not, ye must be born again
• Cannot commit sin if Christ abides within- spiritual life
Attributes of a Child of God (in this the children of God are manifest)
• If you break God’s commandments, you are no longer of God
• Ye shall know them by their fruit. If ye love me keep…
• Manifest by the way we love- Behold how they love…