Choosing to Love and not Lust after God’s Creation

Mark 12:30-31

³⁰ “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”” NET Bible

According to Strong’s Concordance, one of the Greek words for love is agàpe and it is defined is as such: love, benevolence, good will, esteem, love-feasts. Properly, a love which centers on moral preference. Typically refers to divine love or the love of God for man and man for God.

The Greek word for lust is epithumia and it means: desire, passionate longing, lust, eagerness for, inordinate desire. Epi means “focused on” and thymòs, “passionate desire”—properly, passion built on strong desires (urges). These can be positive or negative whether the desire is inspired by faith (God’s inbirthed persuasion).

We can see by these definitions that the two words may imply similar things, but the end result is different. Love focuses on serving and benefiting others while lust focuses on serving and benefiting self. From this difference, we can see God’s nature and the devil’s nature because they both seek to hone his respective nature in our hearts. Our job is to make a choice of which nature we will allow to grow and be rooted in our hearts. Depending on our choice, we will have either life in abundance or destruction.

God made us in His image and likeness. Many things can be said about this statement, but I am going to focus on the fact that He created us to love Him and worship Him. He also created us to love the creation He loves. But the serpent (Satan) came with his contamination of selfishness in the Garden of Eden to turn our love into lust. He did that through Adam and Eve. Before the appearance of the serpent, Adam loved God and His creation all around him and was able to be used of Him in a powerful way to co-labor with Him on behalf of what he was given authority and influence over. 

What enabled Adam to do that were God and His loving nature which helped him desire the best for what he was entrusted with. The wholesome relationship he had with His God provoked him to take care His creation and make sure it was well preserved and growing healthy. For this, Adam had everything needed to do that because his trust and reliance on God were strong and the glory of God’s Kingdom was within his reach.

Then Eve came and became his help meet and the two were able to do even more together in unity. They gave to one another of that love that God had poured in them not only for Him, but for each other and His creation. Much more could be accomplished between them as they joined their gifts and talents together to fulfill the mandate God had given them to be fruitful, multiply, subdue, replenish the earth and take dominion over what they had been blessed (empowered) to care for (See Genesis 1:17-18). 

But then came the serpent with its cunning craftiness to deceive Eve and make her question God’s mandate for them of not eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They ate of the fruit and their disobedience worked a transformation in them that turned them into people that focused more on themselves than on the things they once loved. They still did their work in the Garden, but now their own agendas were more important.

At this point they could see things in a different way and no longer could they reason things from God’s loving nature. No longer could they give themselves wholeheartedly to care for what they were entrusted with without expecting something in return. No longer could they relate to God in the same way they did before. In addition, their senses were no longer used to help in co-creating and co-laboring with God. Now their focus was to satisfy their own desires and go after what looked, sounded, and felt good to them. 

In addition, they could not inquire of the Lord for His input whenever they seemed challenged with their mandate to make what was given to them to be conformed to the ways of the Kingdom of God. This happened because instead of a faith that works through love, the fear that perverts had set in. They had become sensual beings (focused on their senses where the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life were more important to them) and this became the compass for their decision-making. 

Galatians 5:6 says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight—the only thing that matters is faith working through love.” NKJV

1 John 2:16 also states, “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” NKJV

The more they did this, the more they turned from the One who loved walking with them and hearing their great ideas to name the things given to them to steward. Their contamination was too strong and caused them to concern themselves with their own ambitions at the expense of the things God had put under their care. This happened until they could no longer dwell in the Garden. By this time they and God had incompatible differences.

This self-centeredness caused them to reach the point of no return. So they had to be expelled from the Garden and this way, God made sure they could not return by placing a Cherub angel with a swinging flaming sword outside of the garden. This happened because once God exposed their condition, they did not repent. Instead, they tried to hide themselves and continued with the wrong thinking and behavior and what’s more, their reverence towards God was also gone.

Adam and Eve had exchanged the truth for a lie. Darkness had also become more comfortable for them than being in the light of God’s presence. But God, in His love for them, could not tolerate their selfish involvement with His creation around them, and sent them to the wilderness of testing to sweat and see how they had given up His glory for a lie that brought death to their dreams. He did this to help them return to the rock from which they had fallen to hopefully cause them to desire the genuine kind of love again instead of the lust of their senses (See Genesis 2-3).

Many in the body of Christ go through the motions of this state of being and still do it in the name of God. But in this hour, God is demonstrating His love for them and how, due to this kind of love, He will not leave them in their mess. For this reason, many will be sent to the wilderness of testing where they can know to reverence Him and learn to love Him, love themselves, so they can in turn love others and serve them and turn their attention from self to loving and serving others more than themselves. 

This is not something to fear because the furnace of affliction is designed to turn us into pure and refined gold. Without this, we cannot love and serve God in the way He originally intended for us. The contamination of the enemy in us will be burned so that what is left is Christ in us, the hope of glory. Here we can run to Him instead of away from Him and make Him our first priority instead of a second or third option as before. No other God loves us enough to not leave us in our filthiness and comes down to pick us up to cleanse us with the water of His word and makes sure that the fire that is sent to refine us, does a thorough job.

 Only He knows what the designed product should look like after it has gone through the process of removal of everything that was not originally intended for it. Therefore, the things that nurtured and sustained the wrong thinking like crutches, will be removed so we can depend on our God and Creator more purposely and learn to stand on His promises while we get to know Him in new ways. 

So, in these times, when fear or uncertainty want to come, know that there is One who is focused on us and not on Himself. He is ready to give us the proper cleansing and purifying so we can be reduced to love and look more like Him. To Him alone be all the glory.▪

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Characteristics of Those Who Qualify for a Wealth Transfer

Genesis 22:17 
”Blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.” NKJV

This promise was made to Abraham after God saw that he was willing to sacrifice his promised son at His command. At first glance, this Scripture may imply a reference to a multitude of people that Abraham would inherit throughout the generations. But in reality, it refers to a people of quality that will have such influence they can be compared to skyscrapers that can be seen from miles away.
They will be seen as stars because many people will see them as models to follow in order to know God and the ways of His Kingdom. Their identity as His warrior bride that walks in dominion in the earth in the spheres they were given to occupy for the Kingdom will also be noted and sought after by many of diverse walks of our society.

They are broken vessels that shine the light of God’s glory for others to see. And in the areas where they were broken, God will demonstrate through them His power to destroy the works of the devil. They are also compared to the sand of the seashore because they are meek—knowing that their power and authority to do great and supernatural exploits in the earth comes by their relationship with the Living God, their Creator, and Lord, and sole object of their worship.

Like Mordecai in the Book of Esther, they do not bow to the system of this world which is full of idolatry and can stand confident in their God to see the enemy of their callings removed from their path and hung on the gallows he built for them so they can continue to advance and defend the Kingdom of God with His love as their banner.

Truth and peace are their emblems, and their humble, but fierce recognition that without God they can do nothing, will also drive them to tell the enemy that he has no part, portion or memorial in the restoring of the sphere they have been given to influence, conquer and rise back to God’s original intent. Since they will help spread the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, they will see generations bowing their knees and proclaiming the Lord as their God to worship and serve Him only.

This remnant has survived the fire in the wilderness of testing and trials designed to turn them into a great army, strong carriers of God’s glory, willing to do the will of the Lord without reasoning or second-guessing His commands. They march fiercely into battle to devour the enemy of their purpose and destiny because they have first sought the Kingdom of God and all His righteousness, and know it is now time to receive the harvest for which they have sown with tears and hardship. These are described in Joel 2:2b-3, 7-8 which says,

“…A people come, great and strong,
The like of whom has never been;
Nor will there ever be any such after them,
Even for many successive generations.
3 A fire devours before them,
And behind them a flame burns;
The land is like the Garden of Eden before them,
And behind them a desolate wilderness;
Surely nothing shall escape them.

7 They run like mighty men,
They climb the wall like men of war;
Every one marches in formation,
And they do not break ranks.
8 They do not push one another;
Every one marches in his own column.
Though they lunge between the weapons,
They are not cut down.” NKJV

One important reason why they are not destroyed by the enemy is that they know who they are—holy people, set apart to be claimed by God alone. They are disciplined and know their authority and ranks, and how to operate the weapons given to them with precision. They are His sheep who only respond to the voice of their Shepherd. They understand that the grace given to them to do the works that were predestined for them is a gift, and it is nothing they can earn because with many others they were called, but are found among the few that were chosen.

That is why they have such unwavering devotion to worship and serve the Most High God, who through their intimacy with Him, gives them revelations that order their steps to see new levels of favor with Him and man that helps them fulfill their destiny. Revelation 22:21 says in the Amplified Classic Edition,

21 “The grace (blessing and favor) of the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) be with all the saints (God’s holy people, those set apart for God, to be, as it were, exclusively His). Amen (so let it be)!”

This is necessary for them to plunder the system that oppressed them for so many years and for which they had to wait for the cup of iniquity of their enemy to be filled (See Genesis 15:16). The Israelites served Egypt, a representation of the system of this world ruled by the antichrist spirit. This system is full of idolatry and rejection of God and of His ways.

But the time has now come for the remnant who did not succumb to the temptation of God’s enemy to seek riches and a good life at the expense of forfeiting their destiny. They did not follow the lust of their flesh, the lust of their eyes, or the pride of life. To these, God has said, “Well done, good and faithful servants.” They can now enter into the joy of the Lord which is to receive the reward of their labor— the evidence that they are children and servants of the Great I AM.

The evidence is the wealth transfer that they shall receive from the system of the enemy who oppressed them and stole from them. The power of their God will now bring a great demonstration of His power to fulfill His promises to them and they will be recognized as sons and daughters of the Living God. Their declarations of who they are and whose they are and His Word will frame their world together with every obedience to His commands.

These are also like Joseph, who endured the pit, slavery, and prison, but was restored after the time of testing of the word God spoke over his life was over, and was sent to the palace to occupy a position of preeminence, as second in command to Pharaoh. Like Joseph, they understand governmental administration and the purpose of every title and position they are given. They know it is to save the lives of many people and expose the enemy and his schemes so that captives can be set free.

Every generation will benefit from the influence of these influential servants and as Exodus 34:10 states, they will be seen as signs and wonders that God performs on their behalf and through them and will leave many astonished along their path. That is because the One who called them from the burning bush will defy the laws of nature on their behalf in a way that eyes have not seen and ears have not heard and that God does for those who love Him. The Scripture says,

“And He said, ‘Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth’, nor in any nation, and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord. For it is an awesome thing that I will do for you.” NKJV

These miracles, signs, and wonders that God will perform for the remnant of His people and through them will be done also on behalf of the poor whom they have been anointed to preach the good news to, whose blind eyes they will open, and who will be set free from captivity. Broken hearts will also be healed, and the prison doors will be open for those who have been bound. In addition, this remnant will raise trees of righteousness, planted by the Lord for His glory alone (Isaiah 61:1-3).

Moreover, the rod they used along their journey in the wilderness which reminded them of God’s faithfulness and showed them every level of authority they had reached in the spirit to make their names be recognized by heaven and hell, will now be turned into a snake that will devour the snakes of the magicians because the creative power of God cannot be imitated or surpassed by them who worship other gods.

This will frustrate the signs of the sorcerers and diviners will be driven mad, the wise by the wisdom of this world will be turned backward and their knowledge will seem like foolishness because the words of this remnant servants will be confirmed and the counsel of these messengers, God will perform so that society can be rebuilt and inhabited by those who will be raised to follow the counsel and guidance of the Holy Spirit wholeheartedly (Isaiah 44:25-26).

Lastly, Ecclesiastes 2:21 says, “For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it…” NKJV

This passage explains what God has been doing behind the scenes on behalf of His remnant since they preoccupy themselves with fulfilling God’s command to be fruitful and multiply, replenish the earth and subdue it, and take dominion over the spheres they have been given to rule with authority and power from on high and the counsel of the Holy Spirit. For them, God causes many who have used the wisdom and knowledge of this world to raise riches and wealth to give it to them.

Haggai 2:6-8 states,
6 This is what the Lord All-Powerful said, ‘In just a little while, I will once again shake things up. I will shake heaven and earth, and I will shake the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake up the nations, and they will come to you with wealth from every nation. And then I will fill this Temple with glory.’ That is what the Lord All-Powerful said! 8 ‘All their silver really belongs to me! And all the gold is mine!’ This is what the Lord All-Powerful said.” ERV

There are cycles of time in which God sends a great shaking to judge the spirit of this world, and everything that was done under its influence will crumble (Amos 9:9) because God owns the silver and the gold, and He will cause the wealth raised by the wicked to come to us, His servants. He does this in order to reveal His glory in and through our lives.

Because we are stewards of the true riches of God’s Kingdom and even though He gives us the power to make wealth, He still owns it all and can decide what to do with it at any given time. Our job is to obey every command to give and in the specific way, He instructs us. Those, who influenced by the spirit of this world, think it belongs to them and hoard it or steal it from others for their own selfish ambitions, will receive an awakening to the reality that the earth belongs to the Lord and the fullness thereof, the world and everyone who lives in it (Psalm 24:1-2).

The shaking will do that. That is why Nebuchadnezzar said in Daniel 4:37, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol the king of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways are justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down.” NKJV
To God alone be all the glory. ▪

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Behaving Like the Bride of Christ 2: By Praying Effective, Radical Prayers without Getting Burned

^{James 5:16
16 “}Therefore, confess your sins to one another [your false steps, your offenses], and pray for one another, that you may be healed and restored. The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man (believer) can accomplish much [when put into action and made effective by God—it is dynamic and can have tremendous power].” AMP

 

We have entered times in which we need to actively take the Kingdom by force. This is essential since we have entered our promised lands and need to move strategically with the lead of the Holy Spirit in order to successfully see the removal of the giants in our land and receive the spoils which are our promises that we have steadfastly been praying, fasting, warring, and seeking wisdom for us to possess. Now as we take the Kingdom by force, one important tool in God’s arsenal is our praying radically for the manifestation of those things we can see with our spiritual eye that are practically within our reach, and that we call forth as though they are. 

But one important aspect of praying radical prayers is not only recognizing that we are the righteousness of God through our faith in Christ Jesus and through our belief and trust in Him as God’s Son (Romans 3:22). The other side of that coin is that when we pray these radical prayers, we must be found with clean hands and a pure heart. We obtain these when we yield to God’s process in the wilderness of testing that ensures we will be purified as gold. Psalm 24:3-6 says,

“^3-4 Who can climb Mount God?
    Who can scale the holy north-face?
Only the clean-handed,
    only the pure-hearted;
Men who won’t cheat,
    women who won’t seduce.

^5-6 God is at their side;
    with God’s help they make it.
This, Jacob, is what happens
    to God-seekers, God-questers.” MSG

One main reason is that when we are being purified in the fiery furnace, God is taking great care in removing the dirt and the dross that makes us ineffective vessels in His arsenal against the enemy and his tactics. We know we inherited the sin of rebellion from Adam and Eve, therefore, it must be purged out of us. Every time we reach a new dimension or level in the spirit, more righteousness and holiness is required from us. We can see that in the beatitudes Jesus described in the Sermon on the Mount as it says initially that we are blessed when we demonstrate we are poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3).

This means that acknowledging we can do nothing without God and cling to Him tight should be our posture since we do not know our way in this new dimension and need Him. As God demonstrates His greatness in and through our lives, He will prompt us to get rid of everything that poses as a hindrance to our victories and the manifestation of His glory we are seeking after. The other sign that shows this is necessary is found in verses 10-12. 

Because warfare has erupted against us, we cannot obtain the victories of the battles and of the war, God fights for us without first inquiring of the Lord and seeking how to engage the enemy and enforce the victories given to us at Calvary. The reward shown in both, verses 3 and 10 for doing this is that the Kingdom of heaven is given to us now and forever (the resources and everything needed) to accomplish what God has called us to do and has purposed for our lives in this season. 

Another reason this is important is that every generation is called to fight the Antichrist enemy that opposes the advancement of the Kingdom in the earth through us (Exodus 17:16). Thus, in order for our prayers to be effective, we need to confess our trespasses to God and those we trust in order to receive the healing and deliverance we need from the bondage we were under. Otherwise, we cannot call fire on the enemy and not get burned too if we are still under bondage to him.

2 Kings 1:12 says, “And Elijah answered, If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.” AMPC

Luke 9: 52-54 also says, “⁵² And He sent messengers before Him; and they reached and entered a Samaritan village to make [things] ready for Him;

⁵³ But [the people] would not welcome or receive or accept Him, because His face was [set as if He was] going to Jerusalem.

⁵⁴ And when His disciples James and John observed this, they said, Lord, do You wish us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elijah did?” AMPC

Elijah was a man of God who had clean hands and a pure heart after God and the ways of His Kingdom. That is why when he called down fire on the fifty men sent by the king of Samaria (an idolatrous city), who had just received a death sentence from the mouth of Elijah and at the direction of the Lord because when he fell down a lattice and injured himself, instead of inquiring of the Lord for his healing, he sent his men to seek a word from Baal-zebub, a demon, and god of Ekron. 

The death sentence prompted the king to want to kill Elijah, but every time he sent men to seize Elijah, the prophet called down fire. But this fire did not hurt him because he was clean from the demonic influence the men had been sent to seek after. This also says that Elijah did not play games when it came to the removal of the obstructions to the advancement of God’s Kingdom through him which is an aspect of what we do against the enemy and as led by the Spirit of the Lord. But Jesus said in Luke 9:55-56,  

“⁵⁵ But He turned and rebuked and severely censured them. He said, You do not know of what sort of spirit you are,

⁵⁶ For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them from the penalty of eternal death]. And they journeyed on to another village.” AMPC

Jesus said this because of the Grace He made available to men through His death on the Cross for the forgiveness of our sins that grant us eternal life when we believe and confess with our hearts that He is the Son of God and that He came to give us the access to a relationship with God the Father and the adoption we had lost with the fall of Adam. But there are some that, after His death, still lived under the influence of the spirit of this world and practiced idolatry, even though they presumed to have been believers.

We see an example of that with the Sons of Sceva. You might have seen other instances they have been used in this blog page to demonstrate things that make us ineffective sons and daughters of the Kingdom of God and for which we need to turn from. Acts 19:11-20 talk about the great miracles God was doing through the apostle Paul in Ephesus, a city that was known for its idolatry and great opulence by the worshipping of other gods. The occult was present in a great way in this city. 

After the sons of Sceva saw the workings of the power of God through the apostle Paul, they decided to go and attempt to do the same by invoking the name of Jesus—something that worked for them until they reached a big obstacle. The difference between their ineffectiveness and Paul’s effectiveness was not just their inexperience. They used the name of Jesus to cast out the demon. That should have been enough to get the job done. 

However, Jesus and the apostle Paul operated at greater dimensions of the glory of God necessary to remove this type of demon that held the stronghold over the city. In other words, the men were in bondage and influenced by this demon and therefore, they could not cast out what was also influencing their lifestyle, their thinking, and their means to obtain riches. Matthew 7:3-5 says,

“¹‘Judge not, that you be not judged. ² For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. ³ And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? ⁵ Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.’” NKJV

This Scripture reveals the reason why the demon leaped on the men. They used incantations and even cursed others which are some of the manifestations of the Antichrist spirit that was the stronghold over that city. The Scripture says to not judge. This means that they were judgmental, condemning, unforgiving, slanderous, and gossipers of those they did not agree with. They also pursued riches by seeking their good fortune, casting spells, and chanting incantations. These are all manifestations of the influence the demon had over them. So as they tried to cast out the demon out of someone else, this demon made a way for them to taste what they were mocking, cursing, and judging others for. 

In other words, the way was made for the seven men to understand their need of God and of their knowledge of the ways of His Kingdom that would enable them to walk in victory. Hence, their time in the wilderness of fiery testing designed to remove all that demonic influence had just started for them to be counted among God’s sons and daughters—His true Bride that worships Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24). 

Not only that, but verses 17 to 20, highlight the result of this incidence. Many people became believers and confessed their sins of idolatry and evil seeking, and even burned their books of incantations that were worth a lot of money. This ended up being a great blow to the camp of the enemy, even though it was caused by the presumption of those who thought that calling down fire was just a popular thing that could make them famous in the region. To Him alone be all the glory.▪

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