Relationships - God, Others and Self

If I walk in relationship with God, I will bring Him glory. If I remain in relationship with Him, I will tend to the weeds of life to prevent them from finding root inside my heart. My "tending" includes reading God's Word daily and lining each thing I see, smell, taste, touch and hear up against His Word. By doing this; I will make wise decisions. I will talk, walk and act in ways that will bring Him glory. I will love Him, others and myself. I will forgive and walk in mercy. I will be a light that shines in a dark world. When I fail, I will ask forgiveness and remember that just as I fail, so will others fail God and me. I will remember His mercy and grace and walk in that continually.

I believe the Lord has anointed me to edify others. He has given me spiritual discernment. What He has given me is to lead others to Him. Often He shows me things to tell another person that will confirm what He has already told them. Often the purpose for this is to confirm God's calling on their life. I believe He shows me things that are going to happen because He wants me to pray and believe that He will answer the prayers that I have prayed on their behalf, when it is prayed according to His Word. Praise God, He only shows me what He wants me to see. I would never want to know so much about another person that it causes them to shrink from God. Christians can’t read minds, at least not those who are led by the Spirit of God and are called the children of God. We should not seek the hidden things and we should only want to know and be willing to see, hear and know what comes from the Spirit of God. Anything more than that is not from God. If I walk in God’s Spirit, I will be led by His Spirit. I will not walk according to the spirit of this world when I maintain my relationship with Him. That includes reading His Word daily, seeking Him for direction for every situation in life, repenting when I fail Him and thanking Him for all His blessing (regardless of whether I am able to see them as blessings). Not only do I only want to know things from the Spirit of God, I only want to speak things over others that are found in the Word of God. Some think that a prophet's voice is just for telling future events that will occur. I believe it also tells what can and/or will happen if we "only believe". In fact in Isaiah 55:11, God's Word tells me, "…So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it". We are told to speak it. The power of life and death is in the tongue. Proverbs 18:21

Even though the choice to believe it is ours, we are also told "only believe". Mark 5:21-43b I believe that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Matthew 12:34; Luke 6:45 When a person believes in God, they are not ashamed or afraid to tell others. Romans 12:16

Many people think that only the perfect can hear and know God. I total disagree. I find it amazing that God would use any man. We are such imperfect vessels. 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 David failed God. Peter failed God. Even Jonah failed God. And yes, I still fail God and I will fail others. But; I have and will fail my self too. Yet, in spite of all my failures and shortcomings, God continues to forgive me and cleanse me of all my sins. Because of my acceptance of the blood sacrifice given by His only Son, Jesus Christ I can be free me from sin's bondage by keeping my heart. Hebrews 9:14 I can keep my heart clean by repenting of my sins, asking for His forgiveness when I fail Him and then turning away from those things to press forward toward the things He has called me to do for Him. 1 John 1:9; Philippians 3:13

Often the enemies of my soul will place things before me and sometimes they will succeed in causing me to fall. But, if I remain in relationship with God and keep a repentant heart, the sins I have committed and all my failures won't break me down, cripple me, bind me or chain me to anything, not even to my past. Neither will my sins and failures cause destruction in the lives of others when those whom I've hurt or failed haven chosen to forgive me. I must remember to ask to be forgiven and I must also be willing to forgive others; when they ask and even if they never ask. Often, the hardest person of all for me to forgive is my own self. If I refuse to forgive, I will become bitter and vengeful. If I cannot forgive myself, I will not be able to forgive others.

In Luke 10:27 I am told to "...love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my strength, and with my entire mind; and my neighbor as thyself”. God tells me to love and to forgive. In fact, I am told that if I want to be forgiven, I must forgive. Matthew 6:15 tells me “if I forgive not men their trespasses, neither will my Father forgive my trespasses”. Matthew 18:35 tells me that my heavenly Father will turn me over to the tormentors if I do not forgive those who trespass against me and my Father would also refuse to forgive me if I refuse to forgive others. Luke 6:37b tells me that when I forgive, I will be forgiven. Ephesians 4:32b tells me to forgive every person just as God, for Christ's sake has forgiven me. (Scripture has been translated to personalize the Word of God for my life). So, who do I need to forgive? I must forgive God, others and my self, too. God does not do anything that requires our forgiveness because He never fails. Yet, often we develop anger and resentment against God because He allows us to experience hurts, pains and losses. After we "forgive" God for the supposed wrongs He's done against us, hopefully we will realize that we were not really angry with Him. The truth is: we were really angered with our own self, with others or by others. Not only do we need to forgive others, we need to ask others to forgive us. Forgive and be forgiven. Love and be loved.

I want to know God. I want to know others. I want to know myself. Often when I begin to know myself, I will see things that need to change. Nine times out of ten, I cannot change those things alone. They require God's help. If I continue to seek Him for help and healing, He will heal and restore me in His time and in His way. The more I know God, the more I will understand who He is. As I begin to understand who He is, I will see that He loves me passionately. Receiving this immense love He has specifically for me, will help me to become what He says I am. I will see the one and only, the real me- one of God's most precious creations. He meant to create me. I am not here by mistake. He has a purpose for my life. He wants me to receive who He is, but He also wants me to receive the me that I am and the me who I am becoming. The more time I spend with Him, the more I will become like Him. When I allow myself to know God and receive His loving kindness, the more I will love Him and I will also love myself. The more I learn about Him, the more I will not be able to stop loving Him and I will not be able to stay away from Him. I will also love others with the same love God shares with me. Not only do I want to believe in God, I want to believe in others and myself. I believe wholeness in my body, soul and spirit comes when I develop a love relationship with Abba. To know Him is to love Him. When I love God, I WILL love others and I will also love my self.

Of the three; faith, hope and love- love is the greatest. There is no other commandment greater than love. John 15:17; John 13:34; I Corinthians 13:13

Love brings vitality to my life. I want to measure everything I say and do on a scale of love. I want to see everybody through eyes of love. I want to know that what I believe is true, so I line up my beliefs with the Word of God. Everything else is totally irrelevant. If what I believe is found in the Word of God, it is Truth. John 17:17 If it does not, it is a lie. I refuse to mix the Truth with the lies of this world. I know others believe they are little gods. I am not a god; nor do I want to be. I am a vessel that the Spirit of God chooses to work through as long as I seek Him for all my needs. He promises that He will supply all of my need according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19).

I know I am prone to failings, yet when I fail I pray that I can remember that there is no sin so great that the Blood of Jesus Christ can’t cleanse it... I must ask for what I’ve already been given to me. Today I am thankful that the God of the entire universe loves me so much that He sent His only Son for me. John 3:16 He did that just for me. He did that just for you. Romans 10:9 “If you will confess with your mouth and believe in my heart that God raised Christ from the dead, you will be saved”. Now, that is fairly simple. All you have to do is ask. Salvation is a free gift that cost Christ everything. But we are worth the Blood of Jesus. God’s most precious gift of all was his Son.