Matthew 7
What you sow is what you reap ? Sow mercy, reap mercy, sow judgement, reap judgement. Loving your neighbour as yourself. Most of us don’t like being judged, let’s not also judge others. Because He first loved us, we can love Him and we can also love others.
John the Baptist said that he only baptised with water ( love others by leading them to Jesus for repentance, and it is still the work of the Holy Spirit …) but one who is much greater comes to baptise with Holy Spirit and Fire. Only Jesus is to judge others with fire!
We are just to love others and leave the judging to Him. We have enough logs in our own eyes to deal with, logs that blur our own vision, but seeing through the eyes of love makes it clearer ( understanding the love of God through the sacrifice of the Cross for our sin). The log in our own eye can be removed by applying the Love of God in our life and this gives us God’s perspective on the same Love that God has for us is also the same Love that God has for the other person. He died for ALL of us…
# Lord Jesus, saturated me with Your Love so that I may see others clearly through Your Eyes of Love. Forgive me for being a person who always likes to judge others and not reflecting Your true nature ( of Christianity) of always wanting to love others. Have mercy on me Lord. AMEN!
Vs 6 – wasting what is Holy on the unholy!
– We are God’s Temple, made in His Image and Likeness and therefore Holy onto the Lord ( in Christ Jesus)
– My virginity – How God wants me onto Himself pure and undefiled
– Wasting our divine blessings / virginity ,
– Choosing death / curses instead of life / blessings
– Giving up our birthright ( virginity) to satisfy the flesh ( Esau and the bowl of soup)
– The enemy wants to defile the pearl that is our life, the enemy wants us to defile the pearl that is our body – the Temple of the Holy Spirit. The devil wants our virginity / purity / holiness onto the Lord defiled!
God shall destroy anything that defiles His Temple ( our body) – [1 Cor 3:17 ].
Just like Balaam and the people of Israel, the devil wants God’s people to defile His Temple and hence provoke the wrath of God against themselves. No one can curse whom the Lord has blessed ( Number 23:8), but one can invoke God’s curse upon themselves( the error of Balaam??).
A word for us all, and the youth in particular in dealing with peer pressure in defiling our bodies ( the Temple of the Lord) such as engaging in sex before marriage / outside marriage. How often it is that a young girl is pressured to offer the pearl of her virginity to a ‘pig’ ( person seeking self satisfaction, not willing to commit in marriage, just eats whatever and whenever for self gratification …) and the pig in turn tramples on the pearl and turns around and attacks them ( you got pregnant, it’s your business! The pleasure is mine, the consequences yours!).
#May God grant me the grace and wisdom to protect the precious pearl of (my) life that He has graciously granted me. May I also not be a person who directly through my actions or indirectly (through being complacent on issues like pornography, abortion…) cause or encourage others to defile their Temple onto the Lord. May I offer my life back to Christ Jesus for Him to give life and to prosper it, as everything put in His hands has life and prospers. AMEN!
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and our heavenly Father will add all the good things we require in our life? ( not necessarily what we want, but what we need). Asking in line with God’s will for our life guarantees our receiving it? – God’s will is the best for us and He will give us what is best for us if we ask.
Therefore it is for me to ASK – ( Ask, Seek and Knock ~JP) – according to God’s will, purposes and plans and I will receive, find and it shall be opened for me to accomplish His will, purposes and plans – all for His glory.
Each and everyone given a choice of either: life or death, blessings or curse, the narrow and difficult road or the broad and wide road.
The narrow and difficult road requires dying to self, surrendering our life to Jesus and living life contrary to the flesh and to the world. ( Flesh and Spirit are opposed to one another – Gal 5:17). Dying to self / world / flesh is usually difficult because we are born into sin in the flesh / world / self and we may become accustomed to it as a way of life. It is difficult to change ( requires supernatural effort) the ways that we are already accustomed to ( law of sin and death operating in our life). That is why we need Jesus to do it for us, and He literally gives us a new birth ( born again, after dying to self, through His Blood and Water of His Spirit? – Blood and Water flowed from His side at the Cross – John 19:34) but this time into the law of the Spirit of Life in Himself.
The few that find the narrow road are the ones that have found Jesus ( Jesus has revealed Himself to them / have been called by the Father and responded?). The road is narrow because it is Jesus alone, the ONLY way (and no other, however many, however noble, however good, excluding all other things / ways / people / philosophies that is not Jesus… ) that leads to the Father.
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life. Those who find Jesus find the Way, find the Truth and find the only life worth living that leads to eternal life. Those who don’t find Jesus miss the Way, miss the Truth and miss the Life. Jesus as the Way, Truth and Life applies to all aspects of our lives – relationships (marriage, children, in- laws,) our work / business, our politics, our Churches. Without Jesus as the foundation of our relationships, our Church, our work / business, our leadership ( politics) – indeed all aspects of our life, then in that area we miss the Way of it , we miss the Truth of it, we miss the Life of it! (Col 1:15-20 – It’s ALL about Jesus).
Is my marriage dying / dead?
How is my relationship with my children / parents?
Is there the Truth in the Church I attend? Am I being taught the Way that leads to Life?
Is there Truth in my politics or does my politics lead to death?
Basically, is Jesus in my marriage/ family / work / church / politics?
# Lord Jesus help, have mercy on me! I repent of any aspect of my life that I have not put You as the Foundation. May all aspects of my life be about You and You in ALL aspects of my life so that I may know the Way of it, the Truth of it and the Life of it! Amen!
False prophets
– Identify them by their fruit ( actions)
– If attached to the vine of Jesus, they produce good fruit – such as the fruits of the spirit led by love…
– If not attached to Jesus, or worse still attached to the devil, it produces the fruits of the world / flesh / devil. A prophet that instills fear or his work (fruit of his prophecy) is in line with killing, stealing or destruction of the faithful in any way is not of the Lord.
A tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire.
– We are all called to produce good fruit, and it’s only possible if we attach ourselves to Jesus ( the true vine that will provide all we need ( nourishment) to produce the good fruit – His Fruit!
– Anything that is not of Jesus shall be chopped down and thrown into the fire. He is the only way the Father provided to righteousness ( Jesus makes us fireproof ?) as all others will not be able to withstand the fiery divine judgement of the Lord.
– Faith without works ( of faith) is dead. Our actions are a good way to find out where our faith lies. It is the tangible evidence of who / what we have our faith in. Our lives should be reflecting our faith in Jesus ( Jesus as a lifestyle) and is demonstrated by Jesus not only being the foundation but also being put first and at the center in All aspects of our lives. Any other thing being put above Jesus would be considered idolatry! And as for the prophets of baal and Elijah – fiery judgement comes to consume the evil altars, woe if the altars are in our hearts and we are not fire-proofed by Jesus the all consuming fire. With Jesus in us, He becomes a refining fire!
# May the way I live my life always make it conducive for the Holy Spirit to continuously dwell in me as His Temple, may I carry more of you Lord Jesus and less of me as you continue to change me into Your Image and Likeness from glory to glory.
Only those who do the will of the Father will enter heaven!
– It not about miracles, prophecy or casting out demons, but…
– Those that demonstrate their faith in Jesus through their actions / lifestyle that testify to that faith in Jesus – the only way to the Father.
We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus and not by our own works or actions. There is nothing we can do ( or add) to save ourselves other than believing and receiving the free gift of salvation that Jesus has already paid for us by His sacrifice on the Cross for our sin.
Performing miracles signs and wonders adds nothing to our salvation! It is only the Blood of Jesus that presents us as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus – nothing to do with us, ALL to do with Jesus and what He has done.
Whose testimony do I carry? Whose fruit do I produce? Who have I given authority in my life ( by listening and being obedient to them )? – Is it Jesus or the devil? Our answer determines whose we are and who will come for us to be with them at the end of our time on earth…and it is for eternity! That is a long time and we should make our choice wisely!
Wisdom – those who listen and obey the Word of the Lord
Foolish – those who don’t listen or obey the Word of the Lord.
It is WHEN the rains and flood comes not IF it comes!
Judgement ( Noah floods) is coming to each and everyone of us.
Am I protected in Yeshua, the Ark of Salvation?
# As for me and my house, I choose life ( Jesus) , I choose blessings( Jesus) , indeed I choose the Way, the Truth and the Life ( Jesus), I choose the Messiah (Jesus), I choose the Solid Rock (Jesus). Oh gracious and merciful God, empower me to always listen to your instructions and give me the grace to always obey. May all the foundations of my life be built on Christ Jesus the Solid Rock so that I may be able to withstand life’s tests, trials and temptations. Lord Jesus, may you enable me to live You each day as my lifestyle with my faith in You demonstrated by the way I live my life – as a living testimony of Jesus Christ. May the precious pearl that is my life – indeed all that I am ( Body Soul and Spirit) be kept pure, holy, and fully committed to You Lord Jesus. AMEN!
THE LIVING WORD 4 LIFE 