Brothers and Sisters,
I want to share a letter I received from my mentor. I am so blessed to have her in my life.

Dear Arlene,
I just returned from Church and I turned my computer on to see if I had missed any messages and as I was waiting for my messages, I found my booklet by mjs on Philippians 3:10  I began to read it while waiting and here are some of the things I read:

    Let us remember that circumstances are planned of  the Father to fit us for the calling He has in view for us.
    Let us consider the four progressive realms of that incomparable composite of growth truths, Philippians 3:10
    1] That I may know him"
    2] And the power of his resurrection
    3] And the fellowship of his sufferings
    4] Being made conformable unto his death.

1] That I may know him was the burden of Paul's heart and the Father's.  It is to enable us to know Him that He both saves us and conforms us to the image of His Son. "this is eternal life, that they might know thee, and the only true God, and Jesus Christ." John 17:3    this is Identification

2] And the power of is resurrection:  this is the principle of Union. Paul's prayer was: "the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of he glory of his inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. " Ephesians 1:18-20

3] And the fellowship of his sufferings: Your present growth and training always constitute preparation for the next phase of development.

4] being made comformable unto his death.  You are called upon to reckon your old man as having died positionally at Calvary, and to reckon yourself as a new creation dead to it. ...The Holy Spirit is training you to ''run with patience the race that is set before us'  He keeps you looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. As you learn to behold Him you are increasingly conformed to the image of the One who for the joy  that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame; and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2

ALL THINGS The Spirit uses all and wastes nothing in producing this balance of death to the old man and life to the new.

Arlene, I had forgotten about this book.  I shall take it to work with me tomorrow and read some more.

The school of suffering graduates rare scholars.

Prayerfully Yours,  D
 

The Other Side of Faith

But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Luke 6:27-18

Dear Brothers and Sisters, beloved of the Lord,
Do you love everyone you meet? Your answer is probably an honest
"I can't. I don't even love my loved ones all the time." Has God shorted us on His provision and power to love? Think again....


 “Here’s the scandalous truth of Christian teaching: Jesus and His followers make it abundantly clear that we do not have the luxury of loving some people but not others. Anybody can love selectively. glt

Love is not a feeling. Love is doing what is good and right for the other person, regardless of what they deserves or how they has treated you. Love is allowing the One who is Love to love through you. This is not just a faith walk but a walk of faith expressed in love. Last week I shared ‘the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love.’ Galatians 5:6  We work and serve the Lord, knowing we are instructed to walk by faith. But how often is what we accomplish done without love, in the strength of our flesh?

As I fed on I Corinthians 13, I saw an in depth definition of love which I had previously not connected with faith, as mentioned in Galatians 5:6. I want to share my gleanings with you, dear brothers and sisters:

'If I have faith to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I am generous to a fault but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I surrender myself as a sacrifice, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
If I have all patience, and I am kind and fully accepting, humble in word and deed and always act in a way that honors God, and I refuse to seek selfish gain or hold a grudge and if you do not find me rejoicing in evil, but I am a proponent of Truth at any cost, and if I bear suffering with a sweet spirit and believe God’s word, and if I hold hope with a joyful endurance, but do not love, what good is it?'

When empowered by the Holy Spirit and I stand by faith, and when I persevere in tribulation, which brings about endurance and good character it results in hope, I will not be disappointed because God's love is poured out in my heart by the Holy Spirit in me. God is Love and He lives in me!! This is the other side of faith, the complete picture.

I’ve come to believe that the ability to love people of all kinds, and to love them well, is the true definition of spiritual maturity. Tauler

Spiritual maturity is not about how marked my Bible is, nor about what others think of me or church attendance, or my sacrifices of service or money given. It is not even about great faith! Peter had faith and with great passion claimed Jesus was ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God’ and later out of love, made a second declaration: ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You.” matt 26:35 But within a short time the cock crew and exposed the truth, an exclamation point to ‘I do not know the man!’ .

I am to be like Jesus. But I am like Peter. Getting up from my sweet quiet-time with the Lord, having worshiped and proclaimed how I love Him and the wonder of feeding on His word, I move into my day, only to find the love I enjoyed moments before, can vaporize like the morning dew and irritations enthrone themselves in my heart!  Where did the love go? Where are the good intentions from a moment before? The obedience? The ‘dying to self’?  Instead, a test came for which I thought I was prepared, but I failed without hesitation! How can I long to be transformed into His likeness, yet so easily abandon the throne to my flesh? I have found God faithfully tests me in what He is teaching me. Study love and He will test you in your walk of love.


If I value true transformation, I’ll value the opportunity to have my ability to love tested, tried, and refined. glt  (ouch!)


Do you desire to grow in love and patience, but avoid people or situations that try your patience? God says in Romans 5, ‘tribulation brings about patience.”

…we can be full of joy here and now, even in our trials and troubles. Taken in the right spirit these very things will give us patient endurance; Romans 5:3 They are what God uses to create the likeness of Jesus in us.


God is love, so wherever He is, there is love! But for this love to reign in my life I must embrace the cross. Spending time on my knees in prayer and reading His word, does not negate the cross. Understanding and appropriating the facts of the cross proves to be one of the most difficult and trying of all phases for the growing believer. mjs  As we move through our day we make myriads of choices, small and large. Dying to self is required to love others. Reckoning ourselves dead to sin, counting it true that you have died with Christ and risen with Him, is the liberating key!

We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. I John 4:19-20


Father, my heavenly Bridegroom, you who woo me to be near You and feed on You, and by Your Spirit, you make real the truth that I am crucified with Christ and risen with Him, I come, I bow, I worship. You are life and peace and truth and my contentment and the strength I need to make it through today. Thank You for pouring Your love into my heart for those I cannot love and on those who I do love. I am so needy and bankrupt of what really counts, and I look to You to be all in me and through me. Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God, wash me in Your precious blood, cleanse me, and fill me and love through me that I might glorify You. I pray for my precious brothers and sisters around the world, give them ears to hear Truth and protect them and strengthen their faith as they trust in You.  I pray in Your Name, Jesus, amen

much love,

az

The Only Thing That Counts..... (correction)

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Galatians 5:6

Dear Sisters and Brothers,                April 3, 2012
I love His Word! My desire is to read it, believe it and live it. My frustration is the length of time it takes to progress from the believing it, to the living it. I want to love Him perfectly, now! I want to serve Him and put a smile on His face. I want my life to shout  to all, who He is! “ He is good and He is love and He is Holy. But when I go ahead with my plan to bring Him glory, working with great effort to serve Him, things inevitably go awry. I sputter to a bumpy stop. He gently reveals a truth I was going too fast to hear, that it is ‘me’  working 'my' will, forgetting Philippians 2:13, that it is He who works in me both to will and work for His good pleasure. Waiting is a test of faith; a test I have often failed. Too many times I have not waited for Him to show me His will.
Me, I like lists. It pleases me to check off many items before the sun gives way to night. The more check marks, the more pleased I am with myself, I judged I did well that day, when one day, unexpectedly everything changed! The Lord asked: ‘Arlene, where is the love?’ I quickly responded back with a question, “What do You mean, Lord?” He took me to Galatians 5:6 'The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love' and the impact of this verse challenged and changed me. I will never be the same. pleasure.“

This is preceded with verses on surrender every knee bowing before Christ. Circumcision is mentioned here as a reference to religiosity with it’s rules and traditions. If our faith is in what we do or in anything except Jesus death and resurrection, it is not true faith. Even the devil believes and trembles, but it won’t save him. Religious works, acts of kindness or giving money for some need, can be done one of two ways: by the power of the Holy Spirit or in our own strength. One is eternal, one is temporary. Man’s great need is to be loved. We are called to walk in Love. Jesus said “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35

 
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Galatians 5:6

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Measure all you have said and done this week with these eleven words. Consider letting these words define you all you do and say. How can we live this love? I cannot! Until the Holy Spirit fills me with God’s love and creates in me a hunger for this divine love and I will not be satisfied with just being saved, but am moved to humbly seek Him, taking up my Cross to follow in obedience, for I am called to His love. A Love that brings unity, for true love, loves all people. (impossible for me) Nothing less can be called God’s love. This love is like a fire: I know no fire like the fire of God, a fire of everlasting love that consumed the sacrifice on Calvary. This is the baptism of Love that I desperately need; it causes me to burn with a need to repent. On my face before Him I confess my lack of love.

“Lord, let love from Heaven flow  down into my heart. I am giving up my life to pray and live as one who has given himself up for the everlasting love to dwell in and fill him.” a.m.
God is Love. I John 4:8    The fruit of the Spirit is Love. Galatians 5:22

Consider this thought: ‘And have we degraded the Holy Spirit into a mere power by which we have to do our work! God forgive us! Oh that the Holy Spirit might be held in honor as a power to fill us with the very life and nature of God and of Christ!” a.m.


  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God...  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.  I John 4:7, 10-13

This scripture combined with Galations 5:6 calls my heart to love. This is HUGE! It is Christ loving through me! God delights to do this and in this way, He is glorified. Only then will His love touch not only the lost, but our hurting brothers and sisters. The greatest gift we are given, to serve Him, is not our abilities; but the gift of His Love. This sets my feet to dancing, knowing He delights to share Himself with us.

Living Love, Eternal and Almighty, Love that will not let me go, fill my heart with faith to believe that You truly want to pour out your love and shed it abroad in my heart. By faith I accept this Truth. I am incredibly and eternally loved by Love itself. And I am purposed to give it away. I confess I have lacked love again and again. How little I have understood Your great love and I ask You to teach me. Keep me mindful of this Truth:  ‘The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love!’ How incredible this statement.  O Lord, how deficient your church is in this love, revive us dear Sacrifice of Love. Your nature is mercy and Your identity is love. These are not just bits and pieces of You, but it is who You are! Come have your way in my heart today, tomorrow, and forever. Amen in the Name of Love, Jesus. 
 He is Risen!!!!!!    love az
          

The focus this Easter week is on Jesus – in His divine condescension He took the form of a man so that he could bear the punishment for all the wrong done in the world by each person for all time. See His goodness and mercy. Stand in awe of Him. Seek to please Him in reverent, humble obedience. Let Him work in you to will and to do of His good pleasure. Then you can join... in the joy of His salvation.  (Vantage Point)