TRADITIONS, LIES, and TRUTH – PART FORTY-EIGHT
LOVE
Saturday – December 14, 2019, Kislev 16, 5780
Greetings precious brothers and sister in Christ Jesus and welcome back to this study titled “Traditions, Lies, and Truth” where we separate Truth from fiction. God is so good to give us His Truth in the Holy Scripture. The Holy Spirit is our primary teacher and we are relying on Him to show all the Truth and help us to separate light from darkness. Today I will be teaching about love (agape) what it is and what it is not. I know that I am dealing with this issue a lot between this series and the Book of John but quite frankly if we don’t get this right, we may get to Heaven but with nothing to show for our time in the earth. What a travesty and lack of honor for our Savior that would be. If you are reading this on Facebook please take a moment to hit the “love” and “share” buttons to encourage us and to increase the reach of this ministry.
The God kind of love which is a part of our spiritual DNA is expressed by the Greek word agape or agapeo. We have been given the same capacity for love (agape) that God has but we must develop it with exercise. As we look at this, we will see that ultimately Adam did not love God. He was obedient to Eve not God, the Word of God, she became his god. When we believe another gospel over the real Gospel, we do not love God, but instead hate God and are in rebellion. These are strong words but understand that we cannot move forward until we understand that loving God is all about being dead to self, recognizing we are in a Blood Covenant, and absolute obedience to the Word of God. So, let us examine these three aspects of Godly love.
- True love, Godly love is selfless; we are not the main focus but God or another person. Until we are dead to self, God cannot manifest legally according to Covenant in our lives. With God it is all about us, and with us it is all about God.
Hebrews 9:16-17 (KJV)
16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
- We are to be aware of the Blood Covenant we entered with our acceptance of Jesus as Lord. There are several elements of Blood Covenant but two very prominent elements are the laws of reciprocity (what one is willing to do or has done the other must also be willing to do or do) and common ownership (joint-heirs, all things in common).
Genesis 22:16 (KJV)
16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
Because Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac and Isaac was willing to be sacrificed then God, the Father, had to be willing to sacrifice His Son and the Son willing to be the sacrifice.
Romans 8:17 (KJV)
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
A joint-heir in Scripture does not mean a 50-50 ownership but total ownership by both parties like a husband and wife both own the whole house. We see the type and shadow of this in the Old Covenant.
Genesis 14:18-22 (KJV)
18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
In the preceding passage we can see that first Abram is identified as possessor of heaven and earth and then God is identified as possessor of heaven and earth, joint-heirs.
- Godly love at its very core is obedience to the Scripture.
John 14:21 (KJV)
21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
I don’t know about you but I want the Lord (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in full manifestation in my life, Donna’s life, and our family. I want our finances, our health, our ministry, our marriage, and our family to overflow in the abundant goodness of God as a powerful witness to all. Is not this in essence what the following verse says?
Deuteronomy 28:1 (KJV)
1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
When we walk in love we cannot fail, love never fails. Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible puts it like this. The King James translation uses the word charity but it is love, the God type of love.
1 Corinthians 13:8 (YLT)
8 The love doth never fail; …
To love God means to diligently listen to Him, keep His Word in our eyes, and then actually do His Word. Nothing else will work in the kingdom of God. Anything else will gum up the works and make a mess. I heard someone recently say that their Church had received a prophecy which in part said; “you have just scratched the surface of my blessing”. They took this as a promise of an impending outpouring of the blessing of God. Really, it is a call to repentance and soul searching since the fulness of the blessing has been available since Calvary. Why have we just scratched the surface? Shame on us! Why have we so enthusiastically embraced another gospel? We do not know the real Gospel; we have not been like the Berean’s (Acts 17:11).
Until our next publication, as a Bible Teacher and Prophetic Voice I speak this blessing over each and every one of you, receive it, believe it, and speak over yourself and your family by faith in Jesus name!
Numbers 6:24-26 (AMP)
24 The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
26 The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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