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When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, He gave the people two commandments. He stated that they are to love God with all their hearts, minds, and strengths, and to love their neighbors as themselves. 

We serve others as unto the Lord. Serving is about giving of ourselves in some way. It begins by loving our neighbors. Many times we enjoy the convenience of serving the nice neighbors rather than the ones we prefer to avoid. We tend to give of ourselves where we are appreciated or recognized for our efforts. Do we have a desire for people to be aware of our generosity? 

Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. Matthew 6:1-4

God is  generous and giving, and He expects His children to be generous as well. If we were to look at His generosity towards us, we find that He does it subtly and quietly. He models a generosity that is not showy. He does not advertise His giving from the rooftops nor does He pridefully reminds us of those great blessings.

If you have ever had an abusive person in your life, you know how people remind you of great things they have done for you in order to make you feel guilty. God does not do that for He is loving, patient, and generous with us, and  It takes effort and attention for us to recognize all His blessings.  He waits for us to come to the realization that He has been very good towards us.

In a similar manner, Jesus tells his disciples not to do their charitable work to be seen by men.  If we truly love God and love people, our generosity comes from a heart of giving not a need to receive recognition for it. If we have a need to be seen by men, then we should think about our motive and the reason for doing it in the first place.

Everything we do must be done in faith because the scripture tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith. If we seek to be seen by men, then we have received the earthly reward we were looking for. However, we will forfeit the pleasure and the reward of God because we did it to be seen by men rather than by God.

I sleep, but my heart is awake; It is the voice of my beloved! He knocks, saying, “Open for me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one; Song of Solomon 5:2a

The Lord tells us that we are his sister/brother, his love, and his dove. In the above scripture, his final thought about us is that we are perfect. Jesus does not see us as a project to work on. He sees our potential to grown and mature.

Jesus is confident that we will change. Love is the greatest changing agent. Jesus considers us enough! In the light of His glory we are perfect! We don’t have to feel ashamed or defective. We don’t have to strive to be accepted or loved! He is not concerned about what others think of us, and He wants us to feel the same way about ourselves.

The Lord is looking for that awakened heart who is willing to respond when Jesus knocks on the door. He has a genuine interest in our lives, and He desires an intimate relationship with His bride. We don’t have to understand everything, but we can still respond with love, trust, and expectation.

Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith (See Hebrews 12:2) . That means that no one else holds the pen to write our destiny. He is there to carry us through all the way to the end. He has committed Himself to us. He made a covenant with us that is a guarantee of our union with Him through eternity. He is a faithful bridegroom, and He expects His bride to be faithful to Him.

Be excited about the journey with Christ and a loving intimacy with Him! He knows where He wants to take us. We are to enjoy our relationship with Him, and at the same time grow up into maturity. We already are His sister/brother, His love, His dove, and His perfect one. He has seen the end from the beginning. We rejoice in His work and keep going!

I sleep, but my heart is awake; It is the voice of my beloved! He knocks, saying, “Open for me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one; Song of Solomon 5:2a

To live a successful Christian life, we need to find out what God thinks about us.  There are times that we are tired, burdened, and exhausted, and we are in need of being refreshed by God. Jesus desires to encourage and uplift His bride.  He wants us to know His thoughts about us. The above scripture gives us a glimpse of how Jesus feels about those who have accepted Him:

He calls us His sister/brother. We belong to the family of God, and we are His brothers and sisters. He adopted us the day we made a decision to accept Him into our lives. We may have come from a family who rejected us, but God accepts us into His family. His Kingdom and all the benefits of the Kingdom belong to us. 

He calls us His love. God is love, and He enjoys giving that love away to His beloved. He is a generous God who desires to lavish His children with His great love. The scripture tells us that nothing can separate us from His love (See Romans 8:35-37). It is God’s nature to love. He chose to create us in His image, so we can have the ability to commune and communicate with Him. People’s love may be shaky at times. Sometimes we may not even love ourselves, but God always does. 

Jesus calls us His dove. It doesn’t matter how dark or ugly our past has been. He has the power to wash us, make us clean, and restore our innocence. We don’t have to live in a survival mode,  fight for ourselves, or prove to be right. We can walk in innocence and simplicity of faith not because the world is a trustworthy place, but because He is trustworthy to protect us and watch over us.

Do you see yourself as Jesus sees you?

I will continue on this subject in the next devotional. 

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20

In the above scripture, Jesus is not asking the unbelievers to open their hearts to Him. He is knocking on the door of His church, and He desires to come in and meet with His people. Jesus wants fellowship with us and desires to be part of our lives.

This a reminder of the story of Mary and Martha when Jesus visited them at their house (Luke 10:38-42). Martha was distracted with all the planning and preparing, but Mary sat at Jesus’ feet. Jesus told Martha that Mary had chosen the better thing.

Many congregations are too busy serving God that they have lost the intimacy with God. Having plans are not the problem. However, working on the plans without being open to hearing God’s voice is the issue. This causes our relationship to be only functional.

We cannot afford to ignore the Holy Spirit’s knock at the door. He is a gentleman and will not force Himself. If we let Him come in, He will transform our perspectives, will heal our hearts, and will deliver people from bondages. Isn’t that what we want in our services after all!? He is the ruler of His church and desires to minister uniquely to each person and touch His bride.

Have we lost the faith that God may speak in the midst of the service? Do we leave room for people to have few moments of personal worship without rushing them from one song to another? Can God show up without a three point sermon? Do leaders see themselves as the point person rather than pointing to Jesus?

Our intimacy with the Lord will grow when we give Him room to speak and are not always the ones doing the talking. We then give Him room to be our friend, lover, and counselor. His voice will affirm, encourage, and strengthen us. We need His presence and His voice to ensure we are staying in a living and growing relationship with God. 

The book of Song of Solomon is a picture of Jesus’ relationship with his bride.

I sleep, but my heart is awake; It is the voice of my beloved! He knocks, saying, “Open for me, my sister, my love, My dove, my perfect one; For my head is covered with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.” Song of Solomon 5:2

While the bride was sleeping, her heart was awake. This is an important aspect of our love relationship to God. At a natural level, love has an enamoring affect. Our heart leaps with joy when we get a phone call, or we get to see our loved one. In a similar manner, when God’s love touches us, we are overwhelmed and comforted with His love!

Our heart is always awakened because of love. That’s the kind of heart God is looking for. He doesn’t just want a functional bride that does a lot of work for Him, but He is looking for one whose heart is awakened by Him. He desires a bride that does not mind being interrupted with her routine life to do it differently today. He is looking for a bride whose heart is expectant and ready to receive his voice and his presence with great joy! 

Sadly, many churches struggle with having an awakened heart. Everything is controlled by a programs and a timeframe. The direction of what will happen on a Sunday service has all been worked out, and there is no room to listen to the voice of the beloved or possibly change from the original direction.

Today, keep an awakened and expectant heart. Make room for Him throughout the day and listen, so you can hear Him when He knocks. Allow Him to minister to you, love you, and direct your steps.

In the last devotional, I shared that fearing God is a healthy fear. Reverence to God brings blessing to our lives and produces a fountain of life. On the other hand, all other fears can be considered unhealthy fears because they are taxing on our souls and bodies.

Unhealthy fears cause anxiety, worry, strife, insecurity, loneliness, and rejection. One of the primary unhealthy fears is the fear of man.  This fear can be paralyzing, and it can completely change the direction of our lives and move us away from God’s purpose.

The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. Proverbs 29:25

Definition of Snare according to Strong’s H4170: “bait, lure, snare, by implication, a hook (for the nose):—be ensnared, gin, (is) snare(-d), trap.”

The enemy’s goal is for us to be ineffective as the children of God. Seeking the approval of others is a trap. This keeps us in bondage of other people’s opinion. As long as others have favorable opinion of us, life is good, and we are happy. However, as soon as, there is a change in opinion, we can go into a tailspin. We are trapped and obsessed with the fact that this problem needs to get corrected right away. We get angry, anxious, and frustrated, and then strife ensues because we are trying to gain the favor back.

In this tough predicament, people generally rely on perfectionism or compromise. The perfectionists will analyze themselves over and over again to find and correct every fault. The sad truth is that not every disapproval means that they are wrong.

Compromisers give up part of their values in order to regain favor. Compromising for the sake of gaining approval is an attack on our identity. Since this method is effective for gaining approval of others, people tend to repeat it over and over again to the point of losing themselves. They no longer know who they are and what is important to them. All they know is that they have “peace” because they are in “unity” with others. 

How can we avoid fear of man?

The above scripture gives us one of those ways. In the midst of fear, we need to call out to God and declare our trust in Him. People’s rejection will require us to have courage. We need to trust God for the consequences of being rejected, which may be loss of relationship, popularity, or position.

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. 1John 4:18

When we recognize that God is the giver of perfect love, it takes us out of the position of slavery to man’s opinion. In addition, He expects us to give love away. We are no longer at the mercy of others’ opinion of us, but rather we are in a position to bless them with our love and acceptance.

Fear is an emotion that most of us have to face. Most fears are paralyzing and are unhealthy, but there is one fear that is healthy and has many benefits to us. The fear of God is a healthy fear that brings life to the believer.  

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death. Proverbs 14:27

The fear of God is about paying close attention to His ways and His will. To know His ways, we need to read the Word, pray, listen, and obey His instructions. The fear of God is about recognizing that He is the ultimate ruler, He is powerful, and He will do what He has said in His word. It is about taking Him seriously and not treating Him as an ordinary friend for He is Holy! The fear of God keeps us from hidden sins. It motivates us to be honest because we are accountable to God. The fear of God protects us from foolishness and bad decisions. The fear of God produces a fountain of life!

The above scripture is a reminder of Jesus declaring that He is the living water. Water is essential for our existence. When people fast, they are still supposed to drink water to ensure their bodies and organs continue to function appropriately. The fountain of life provides good clean water that quenches our thirst and keeps our spirit, soul, and body healthy. No other fountain can satisfy the desires of our hearts!

In our modern day, we take clean water for granted because it’s available to us in variety of ways. However, in poor third world countries, clean water is a luxury. Many have to live with polluted waters for drinking, bathing, and washing. They have no irrigation or no access to a well to draw clean water from. The problem is so severe, that many non-profit organizations raise money to build wells for poor people around the world.

As believers, sometimes we take for granted the fountain of life that quenches our thirst and keeps our souls and bodies healthy. At times, God’s fountain of life seems boring. We like the adventure of trying something new by going to unknown fountains and experiment with different waters to quench our thirst. After all, we have the freedom to choose anything we want! In the process, other fountains pollute and compromise our spiritual health. This is where the fear of God reminds us that we should stay close to the clean and unpolluted water and not drink from any fountain out there. 

There are many fountains that appear to provide living waters. Self-help gurus appeal to our flesh and tell us by thinking positively and taking care of number one, we can be healthy and confident adults. There are those in the Christian community, who focus on the grace and mercies of God without challenging the people to fear Him and stay within His boundaries. We cannot maintain spiritual health apart from regularly receiving from the fountain of life. 

The above scripture tells that the when we truly honor and revere God, it becomes the source of life and health in our lives. The fountain of life provides health and wholeness and keeps us from the snares of darkness and spiritual diseases. In turn, we become source of life to others because God’s life flows through us. 

When was the last time you heard a sermon about the fear of God? 

The baptism of the Holy Spirit was so important for carrying out the Great Commission that Jesus told His disciples to remain in Jerusalem until they received the promised Holy Spirit.

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.  Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2:1-4

Obviously, the disciples had no idea what they were waiting for. There was no script for this plan. It was not something that they could make happen out of impatience, passion, or restlessness. All they knew was that Jesus had asked them to remain in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit. They didn’t know how long they had to wait or what they were exactly waiting for. 

Isn’t this how God works with us sometimes!? He tells us to wait or to be patient, but we don’t know what we are waiting for or why we should be patient. Chances are that if we knew the reason, we would try to make something happen and solve it with natural means. That still doesn’t stop some of us from conjuring up natural reasons and developing solutions for imaginary problems! I am so thankful that the Lord patiently works with us and waits for our half-baked ideas to come to their own logical dead end, so we finally ask Him for help. 

The disciples must have thought they had learned everything they needed to know from Jesus until the Holy Spirit overwhelmed them.  They spoke with tongues that they were not familiar with, yet they didn’t feel awkward. Peter opened his mouth and gave the first gospel message, and, most likely, he surprised himself and his colleagues with the revelation he had just received.They found out that they were not in control of this spirit-filled meeting. This was a remarkable day!

The day of Pentecost ushered a new era for the disciples, and at the same time, it was the day that the new testament church was formed. For the first time, the disciples felt empowered to own the truth and retell it. Now they could clearly see why Jesus had to be crucified. The baton was passed from Jesus to the disciples through the person of the Holy Spirit.  Emanuel came to stay with them and anointed them for bold and courageous expansion of in the Kingdom of God on the earth!

Have you experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit? If you have, do you continually sense the leading and the revelation of  the Holy Spirit as you live your everyday life and try to reach others?

If you have not received the Holy Sprit, is there anything that holds you back? The scripture shows us that the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues. The Holy Spirit has many others gifts that imparts to the believer for the purpose of equipping the saint for intercession and ministry. There is nothing spooky about it. It is God’s idea and God’s gift to empower the believer for the work commissioned by Him. If you desire it, begin praying for it and study the scriptures that reference the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. 

Jesus continued His conversation with Nicodemus by stating:

You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. John 3:7-8

Jesus likened the new spiritual life to wind blowing. The wind is not seen, but it can be heard. We don’t know its starting or ending point, but we can still notice it and see its affect when it is blowing. The spiritual life is not something tangible that we can physically or mentally grasp. While we should read and know the Bible, we also need to rely on the Holy Spirit to give us revelation, inspiration, and understanding. Just as the wind has real and powerful affect, so does the Holy Spirit has a powerful spiritual impact.  We don’t have to understand everything about the work of the spirit to believe and appreciate its affect in our lives.

The natural wind is used to produced electricity and power, but it can also blow things away. The Holy Spirit has similar work spiritually. He empowers the believer, but He also blow away the dead things that do not produce life anymore.

The work of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life is so important that following Jesus’ resurrection, He told His disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they receive it:

And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” …. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts (1:4-5, 8)

Jesus told them that they needed the baptism of the Holy Spirit to receive power for the work He had for them. Without the empowerment and the revelatory work of the Holy Spirit, His disciples would not have been equipped to do the challenging and courageous work that God had purposed for them. Jesus was calling them to be His witnesses in their own neighborhoods, to the Jewish nation, as well as the foreigners that they knew nothing about. The task was great, and they needed the empowerment of the dynamic Holy Spirit to enable them to do this work.

Everyone who is born again has a regenerated spirit and God breathes the Holy Spirit into their spirit man and gives them new and eternal life. However, in the above scripture, Jesus was speaking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit which the disciples had never experienced before or knew anything about.

I will share more about the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the next devotional and His powerful affect in the believers’ lives. 

As we begin the new year, it is important to go back to the starting point of our relationship with the Lord and evaluate our progress. In the last devotional I shared that in John 3, Jesus explained to Nicodemus that he needed to be born of water and the spirit.

Jesus emphasized the importance of baptism as another foundational step in our relationship with the Lord. In addition, He set the example and asked John the Baptist to baptize Him. God followed this decision by sending His Spirit and showing His pleasure with His son in getting baptized (See Matthew 3:16-18).  

Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Romans 6:3

Baptism is a testimony and outward expression of what happened to us spiritually. Our old nature is dead and is buried with Christ. We leave it behind and take on the newly resurrected nature that is governed by the spirit man. Baptism is an act of surrender of the old life.

Is your old nature dead? Do you give it opportunities to die or do you feed it and encourage it to remain strong? Sometimes we use cute or intellectual labels, such as sensitive, introvert, the only child, perfectionist, or type A, to justify not changing in certain areas. Anything that is not of God and is part of our old nature, will keep us in its grip and bondage. We must let the old self die in order to allow the spirit man to fully take control and flourish in our lives. If we rely too heavily on our personality rather than the person of Christ, we are still living with our old nature. Our personality should not inhibit or diminish the work of the Spirit in our lives. 

Baptism is a decision that follows accepting Christ and being born again. Some denominations baptize a baby/child, but the Biblical pattern shows  that the baptism of an individual follows their decision to accept Christ. 

The decision to be baptized is a public declaration to the world that we are in a covenant relationship with Christ, and that we are not ashamed of this relationship. Baptism is a step of obedience and is a demarkation point in a believer’s life. It puts the believer on the spiritual path of growth in their commitment before God. Have you been water baptized as a decision to publicly affirm your covenant and relationship with God?

I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.