Agape Love means that you ALWAYS seek after God

Today is an important look at perspective. This is one of the lost lessons for many of us (I count myself among them - No Judgement in the statement) when times swing from bad to good. We are not always in a struggle, even if it seems so. We move from Glory to Glory on our journey. Our Path carries us through long slogs and drudgery - to be sure, but it also carries us to the manifestations of His Blessings for us at several stages of our lives. 

Luke 12:13-21 (Amplified Bible)

¹³ Someone from the crowd said to Him, Master, order my brother to divide the inheritance and share it with me.

¹⁴ But He told him, Man, who has appointed Me a judge or umpire and divider over you?

¹⁵ And He said to them, Guard yourselves and keep free from all covetousness (the immoderate desire for wealth, the greedy longing to have more); for a man’s life does not consist in and is not derived from possessing overflowing abundance or that which is over and above his needs.

¹⁶ Then He told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man was fertile and yielded plentifully.

¹⁷ And he considered and debated within himself, What shall I do? I have no place [in which] to gather together my harvest.

¹⁸ And he said, I will do this: I will pull down my storehouses and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain or produce and my goods.

¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many good things laid up, [enough] for many years. Take your ease; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself merrily.

²⁰ But God said to him, You fool! This very night they [the messengers of God] will demand your soul of you; and all the things that you have prepared, whose will they be?

²¹ So it is with the one who continues to lay up and hoard possessions for himself and is not rich [in his relation] to God [this is how he fares].

It is not always a question of life or death, but it is ALWAYS a question of God or Self. Verse 13 is a clear and common statement we make when our head is in the World. In verse 14 & 15, Jesus warns against covetousness, not against achievement or even against possessions, but against worshipping possessions over worshipping God. 

The key to the lesson is in verse 17 - "he considered and debated within himself...". He did NOT seek God's Divine Counsel. Instead, he only seeks the "wisdom" of his own ego in making a critical decision. Seeking God would have led to a different action (v18-19) and a different end result (v20). 

I submit to you that the Agape Love decision for such a harvest is NOT to tear down your barns, but to tear down your tents. I believe that the Agape Love Decision would look something like this:

¹⁷ And he went and Prayed to God, What shall I do? I have no place [in which] to gather together my harvest.

¹⁸ And he heard from the Spirit of God within himself, I will do this: I will pull down my tents and build larger ones, and there I will throw a feast of jubilee and share all my grain or produce and my goods with those who have labored for this harvest.

¹⁹ And I will say to them all, "God has blessed US with a bountiful harvest this day - Take your ease; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself merrily."

²⁰ And God was pleased that the rich man maintained and exercised his Agape Love. The man could fell it from within his own self that God was pleased with him this day. 

Enlarge your tents and with a cheerful heart, share and delight in the bounty of the harvest. By doing so, you will not only please God, but you will insure that He can continue to trust you with more and more (since you stayed focused on Him when the manifestations came to light).

Bless and Be Blessed,

Bryan

The Whole World is Waiting for YOU to pick up your sword...

Today's lesson looks at Faith in our circumstances. Fear is the principal weapon of our enemy. Fear must be accepted by us in order to affect us. Unfortunately, we are too often ready to accept fear and to doubt that we can succeed on the path He has chosen for us. The text teaches us to realize and remember who we are and where we stand. We are His children, and as a result, we are empowered by using our Faith to reject fear and embrace His possibilities.

Romans 8:15-25

¹⁵ So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”¹⁶ For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

The Future Glory

¹⁸ Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. ¹⁹ For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. ²⁰ Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, ²¹ the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. ²² For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. ²⁴ We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. ²⁵ But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

See verse 15-17 - each of us is infused with the Holy Spirit and a DIRECT connection to God "as His children". We are God's heirs to His glory, and as such, we are fully empowered to reject the negative thoughts and words that the enemy bombards us with. See your inheritance as a source of strength and a bulwark against your current conditions.

This does NOT mean that every day is smooth sailing, far from it! (v18) We are going to be challenged at every turn BECAUSE we are His heirs. Remember that the enemy is seeking to knock you off your path and into a state of wandering. Your focus and your Faith will indeed keep you on track! Your burden is a substantial one - just look at verse 19-21. The whole of creation is counting on YOU to stand tall and separate yourself from the herd of grumbling and defeatist attitudes. 

This would be daunting, but remember whose you are! You are HIS child, embrace your identity and stand tall against the attacks. Rejoice when you are under fire, because; (1) your Faith has a chance to grow and get stronger, and (2) the enemy is growing more and more afraid of you because you are getting closer and closer to His Plan's destination for you. See the attacks as an increasingly desperate act and let your confidence in your Faith grow stronger and stronger.

Blessings,

Bryan