What does love "feel" like!
The problem I see in the Body today is that they don't understand the meaning of love and therefore continue to do it selfishly which is always unrighteous. Love is always righteous and Godly.
Now the title of this devotion is really wrong for love is not a feeling. Sadly, we so often think of love as a feeling such as a warm, cozy, comforting and fuzzy feeling. A "oh the baby is SO cute" feeling.  
The Bible says that Love is a person and that person is God.
1John 4:8 ."...for God is love."
Do you think God always has or waits for that warm, cozy, fuzzy feeling in order to love! The bible says that God loved us so much that He sent His Son to the cross! Where's the warm, cozy, fuzzy feeling in THAT???
Rom 5:8 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Love means "charity" which ALWAYS means giving never taking for selfish gain.
1Co 13:1 "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."
Learn to LOVE as God and sometimes that hurts to the point of death!

 

The bible tells us to honor, respect and love over and over, but it also teaches seperation. Separation from the world's thinking, lifestyle and sinful ways. The problem is that most believers are so immature that they only focus on the love part. They focus on loving others to the detriment of righteousness. They spend so much time trying to love the lost that they have one foot in and one foot out. The law says this in

Mic 7:6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

A man's enemies are in his own household.

And Jesus says  this in

Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

You see we have a responsibility to Christ first and that means biblical principles of Righteousness and Godliness regardless of anybody even in our own family.

WHO do you love more than Christ? Who Do you need to separate from?

 

All sin rejects and offends others in some way even if it is a so-called hidden sin. So because we are already reconciled to God through Christ we then only need to reconcile with people. The bible teaches us that the body is one in Christ and one with one another. There are 2 kinds of forgiveness that we are told to do

We are told to EXTEND forgiveness. This means to forgive the offence that others have done toward us.

Eph 4:32 "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

and

Col 3:13 "Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."

Now we are told to extend forgiveness no matter what toward all people even those who do not take responsibility for their own sin. Even if they don't apologize or not saved, we are told to forgive. This is actually not only being obedient to Christ but freeing for us.

SEEK!

Then we are told to SEEK forgiveness. We should always extend forgiveness first and no matter what and then if we have sinned against another, we should go to them and tell them we were wrong and seek their forgiveness. A good example of this would be in Mat 5:21 "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."

and

Rom 12:18 "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men."

Now this does not mean that we are always completely reconciled, nor does it mean we will forget the offence. It also does not mean we have to continue to be friends depending on the person, offence and relationship. We are responsible for our sin and to forgive and if possible, live peaceably with others.

 

Sadly, there are a lot of people who commit suicide each year. I once knew a woman who had everything. She had a good husband, kids and home yet took her own life.  

You see our tendency is to look at our external circumstances. If our relationships, health and wealth are ok we tend to think all is good, but we could be dying inside. External success does not bring internal life! The external will always fade away.

2Co 4:15 "For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. 16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

Only the internal is eternal and that is what is important. Your spiritual, mental and emotional life is the most important. The things you have and can see will change constantly. That new car gets old fast. That new baby grows up. Don't look at others or things to give you life but rather look at the Eternal Everlasting Lord Jesus!

 

Religion has a way of making people worship things. They worship idols such as statutes, animals and man.

The Pope which is the head of the Catholic church has died. He was worshiped and adored by many yet he us just a man. He is not and never was to be worshiped! Yet even the Apostle John suffered from this way of thinking.

Rev 22:8 " And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. 9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God."

He fell down and bowed to this angel, yet the angel corrected him and said, "I am thy fellowservant,....WORSHIP GOD"! He knew that he was not God, and he knew to whom he should truly worship.

It is ok to respect a man and even to follow them as they follow the Lord, but we worship God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

 

We all know that Jesus was wise, and He showed us how to handle others even when He was about to be hung on the cross. Even in the face of being beaten and murdered He was wise. We read in Mattheew 27 that Jesus stood before the governor.

Mat 27:11 "And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. 12 And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. 13 Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? 14 And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly."

Notice He was accused of being the "King of the Jews" and he responded by saying "Thou sayest". Now Jesus knew who He was and knew His Father and knew to whom He belonged to. We too should know to whom we belong to and know Who we are in Christ!!!

But then the great wisdom of Christ also shows us that when we are confronted with unfaithful, argumentative and self-centered people to say NOTHING!!! WHY? Because they are not genuine or sincere and have no thought of submitting to Christ. They have no understanding of faith nor of WHO they are. Their heart is deceitful, harden and evil. They are full of unbelief and therefore cannot be reached at least at that time.

Learn to read and know to whom you are speaking with and don't waste your time trying to win those who don't want to listen. Just move on to those whose heart is reachable and desire to hear the Word of God!

(I might add that sometimes these same hard, unfaithful people are saved folks who walk according to their flesh.)

 

Mat 26:75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly."

As bad as Peter felt after denying Jesus think how Jesus felt knowing that Peter would deny Him. Now Peter was His right-hand man so to speak. Peter was the tough guy who would rather kill someone then to talk it out. Peter was the one man in the world that could have and should have stood up, but he didn't. He failed and rejected Christ, but Jesus knew why he failed. He was afraid to lose his own life. He put more importance on self than on Christ.

Now we all may say we are committed and thankful to Christ and we think we would die for Christ but until your confronted with death we don't know how we would respond. Death has a way of putting everything in reality. What we really think is of greater value, Christ or ourselves!

Peter's fear was reality, but his faith was true and genuine. Peter went on to be a great faithful servant of Christ and in the end gave his life for Christ!

Being fearful of dying may be reality for you today, but you can always be like Peter and give up your life for Christ by faith!

Gal 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

 

I recently went through 4 "tion" words, Justification, Reconciliation, Propitiation and Regeneration. These words tell of the acts and works of Christ. These words are big and confusing to the average believer, but they are very important!

Now another word in the bible and it is often confusing to the church is the word Saint. Too often we identify ourselves and pastors preach that we are sinners and while we certainly do sin, that is not WHO we are.  We are called Saints and Saint means Holy, blameless and pure. It comes from the Greek word Hagios and means to be consecrated which means to dedicate, complete and perfect. Christ is perfect and has perfected us in Him. Spiritually we are whole, complete, perfect and heaven bound.  

Eph 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

2Co 13:13 All the saints salute you.

Spiritually speaking we are Holy just as the Holy Spirit within us is Holy, in fact the word for saint is the same word used for HOLY Spirit. Spiritually you are a Holy one unto God and to deny this is to be looking at your works and your flesh!!! The church often teaches that we are sinners saved by grace, but we are not called sinners anymore we are called Saints. This of course does not mean we don't sin as we still have this earth suit on. We still have flesh and have to deal with our soul and body which struggle but our spirit is set apart and made HOLY by the HOLY SPIRIT!

So, stop calling yourself a dirty rotten sinner and start thinking as a SAINT in CHRIST!

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is to teach the word so that you "SAINTS" may do the work of the ministry! What a privilege we have...

Eph 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Regeneration!

Sharon was a young beautiful woman in her 30's when she started counseling with me. She was saved yet struggled with her past. She was full of shame because she had once lived as a prostitute, selling her body to strangers just to get by. The shame was so great that it stopped her from being productive and creative in all ways.  Feeling rejected and ashamed to even speak about herself. As we talked, she began to see herself the way God sees her. She began slowly to be free from the bondage of shame!

The bible tells us we are a NEW CREATURE in Christ! Therefore, we are not defined by our sins and past failures! We are not defined by our past in anyway and therefore we no longer need to hide and walk in shame!

2Co 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

We are a NEW CREATURE because we have been saved and washed by the regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.

Tit 3:5 "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;"

I have been told by my mom, when being questioned by others on how I am doing she would say "He is a Christian and pastor" and they would say surprisingly "HOWARD" meaning "NO WAY"!... but when we are transformed and washed by the Spirit and that regeneration has taken place, we are different, we are alive, and we are NOT ASHAMED OF OUR LORD!!!

 

Adam blamed God and Eve in Genesis 3 and the blame game started for all mankind. Do you ever blame others or yourself or had someone blame you? It hurts and feels bad doesn't it.  

Propitiation is a big, long word that believers don't really know what it means! It means to expiate or atone for sins and to appease Gods wrath! Now Romans 1:18 says "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;"

Which means God's wrath and punishment will come on all unrighteousness. All who do not believe will go to hell. They are spiritually dead and will live eternity in punishment for their sin of disbelief.

But the believer no longer will face that punishment. Propitiation means Jesus was the sacrifice needed upon the mercy seat. His sacrifice is all that is needed to take away the sin of the believer.

Rom 3:25 "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;"

1Jo 2:2 "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

1Jo 4:10 "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

Therefore, we no longer need to fear punishment of God nor the punishment of man. When we blame others or ourselves it is trying to punish someone for something. The blame game is a way of punishing someone and usually we blame others.

An honest appraisal of ourselves and others is needed, and we can admit to sinning, but we don't need to punish others or ourselves. Discipline is different than punishment, as discipline is out of love to help mature and build faith, but punishment is the flesh playing God and wanting to hurt others or ourselves. So don't play the blame game and fear punishment but rest in the fact that Jesus has been the sacrifice and taken all the punishment needed once and for all!

 

Since we have been justified meaning found not guilty and made righteous through Christ we are therefore reconciled to God through Christ also.

2Co 5:18 " And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation."

This means we are no longer under God's wrath but rather we are accepted and desired by Him. We are one with God and he is pleased with us. We don't need to fear rejection from our creator and Lord therefore we also no longer need to fear rejection of man. We no longer need the acceptance, approval or praise of man but can rest in the relationship we have with Christ.

Rom 5:10  "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."

We are saved, justified and reconciled to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

 

We are born in sin meaning our spirit is born dead and without life. This was handed down through Adam and passed on to all mankind.

Rom 5:12 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: ... 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come."

Because we are "guilty" of sin we must go through God's "judicial system", and THAT is what the book of Romans is all about. Through Romans we get the understanding of God's "court" and justice!  Jesus died for our offences in other words for the sin of the world. He resurrected to give us spiritual life and therefore justify us before God. Which means to make us "right" before God. We are made alive and holy spiritually speaking!

Rom 4:25 "Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification."

Rom 5:1 "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: ... 16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. ... 18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. ... 21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."

You are justified and therefore made righteous spiritually! The Judge no longer finds you guilty but now righteous in Christ! He doesn't see you but rather He sees His Son IN You. No longer are you a dead man walking but a Living Breathing Saint of Almighty God through Christ!

Hey stop crawling around!!!

Caterpillars are not very attractive and just crawl around and eat things we often want to keep, but after a while they are transformed from the inside out and become a butterfly. They are beautiful and free to fly.

Before we are saved, we are like the caterpillar. We just crawled around in life and are not very attractive from a spiritual point of view. We are dead spiritually and self-centered.

But when we are regenerated meaning saved, we are made new and alive spiritually! We are transformed from the inside out and no longer want to crawl around for the beggarly things. We seek the heavenly and spiritual things in Christ. We were once spiritually dead but now we are alive!  

Tit 3:5 "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;"

Now all those shameful things we did before we were saved are no longer an issue with God. They are gone and we no longer need to walk in shame. Regeneration has made us new, and we are free as a butterfly to live faithfully in our Lord! Don't walk in shame but tell yourself daily that you are a New Creature and no longer defined by your past!  

2Co 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

 

The story of David can tell us a lot about ourselves. David was King and knew the law as well as anyone. He lusted after Bathsheba and wanted her. Now the problem was that Bathsheba was married, (ps. David was too). She was married to Uriah and so David was committing adultery.

2Sa 11:3 "And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?

So, he took her and then had to deal with her husband who had come back from the war. David then wrote a letter to get rid of her husband.

... 15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.

Uriah was killed and now David was free to marry Bathsheba.

... 26 And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband."

Then God sent Nathen to David to confront him, and he did it in a way that David couldn't defend nor get around. He used a story about a rich man taking the poor man's lamb.  

2Sa 12:1 "And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

After hearing the story David got mad and said to kill the rich man and Nathen said "You are that Man"!!!! You see David was the rich man which took Bathsheba, which was Uriah's, the poor man. David was broken and finally repented!!!

... 7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

... 13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die."

Now the point I am making is that it should have been obvious to David that he had sinned, but it wasn't. He had lusted and coveted and was only thinking of self and this is how we can be. Often times the most obvious sins are not admitted to because we are so entangled in our own self-centeredness. I have seen pastors that can preach the greatest message on grace and right division but can't see their own sin and won't allow others to minister to them. They defend themselves. I have also seen people who come for counseling and defend their adultery in front of their wives as being what God wants.

This is why we need the Body of Christ just as much as we need the Spirit and the Word. Some believers will say they don't need anyone else they only need the Word and the Spirit, but they don't listen to the Spirit and don't "do" the word and end up like David, full of pride and arrogant! The body is there for a reason, to teach, counsel and confront if necessary. Don't be afraid to seek help and counsel from others for the issue you are going through may just be you!