Love Travels Only the Forgiveness-paved Road

He who covers over an offense promotes love, 
   but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. Prov 17:9

Theme Song: Psalm 130 Out of the Depths

Dear Father,

     You told me that the message for us is that the only way that we can love (AGAPE) people is to forgive them in Your strength. It is a mystery, again, and if I describe this incorrectly, I would be distorting Your Doctrine and Wisdom with my words. So let my Words be from You. Please help me, Father!
In Jesus Christ's Name, Amen

 I am writing this in a sort of unorganized way, but in the order that thoughts occur in my mind and I am praying that you will follow this and understand; you will understand.


     The only way that we can love the sons of men with the Agape of the Father is to forgive them. At first thought we think of the verse above which states that to cover over an offense promotes love. Another verse, Prov 19:11 states that it is to a man's glory to overlook an offense. I (and perhaps you) are tempted to think that these verses mean that we must be so childlike and pure that we do not see the evil in others which in some cases is directed towards us. Others of us think, "Everyone is good to me. There is no one in my life that I need to forgive. I am blessed!".

     Take a man, a stranger, that you meet somewhere and the Holy Spirit prompts you to go and preach the Gospel to him. Consider His voice also telling you as you approach him, "You cannot love him unless you forgive him". And you reply, "Father, I do not know this man. He has not wronged me. He is innocent in my eyes until proven guilty". And God still tells you, "You must forgive him. You know that he is a sinner. You must forgive him in My strength before you can show him My love."

?!?!


“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.Luke 6:37

     Consider another scenario. You meet a stranger in church. This stranger is homeless and pitiful and explains his difficulty to you. You do not know him but you are filled with compassion and love for him. You tell him, "You can certainly stay in our home. We have an extra room and I am sure that my family will welcome you. Please come and stay with us, dear one, for you need to know the love of Christ. We will show it to you. Come and stay with us!" He moves in with you and you show him lots of love on the first couple days. After that, you start to notice that he is kind of loud. Then you realize that he keeps the house kind of messy. Then you see him yelling at your children. He starts to take your love for granted. HOW DO YOU RESPOND? You cannot love him as before. You wish that he would find somewhere else to stay and start to ask others if they have extra rooms in their homes. You realize that you really do not feel any love at all for this man, but only irritation. You ask yourself, "Did I ever love this man with AGAPE?". NO, you had loved him with storge and/or phileo, but when the time of testing came, you could not forgive, and you were left with only resentment. If you are led by the Spirit, you will cry out to God to remind you of His love and forgiveness. He will grant you the power to forgive and love this man in spite of his faults. Only now, after you have forgiven him, you have loved him with AGAPE.

 On the contrary:

   “If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
   if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”Rom 12:20

      Going back to the example of the man that you are called to share the Gospel with: this man is never going to stay at your home and you will never have a chance to be irritated with his shortcomings. But nevertheless, within the 15 minutes conversation in which you share the Gospel, the Holy Spirit calls you to initially forgive him before you can share the Gospel in love.

      We question God asking, "If I have to forgive everyone before I can love them, then I am going to have to know what to forgive: the sin in people. If I am thinking about people's sin all the time, then I am going to have bad perspectives of everyone. Am I not called to think highly of others and not ponder on their shortcomings?"

And God replies with Is. 5:20:


"Woe to those who call evil good 
   and good evil, 
who put darkness for light 
   and light for darkness, 
who put bitter for sweet 
   and sweet for bitter.

and He replies with John 3:

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

     "But God, how can I love people when I know their sin. To love people, I need to have a very high view of them. I need to think of them as noble and virtuous and Godly. I need to think of them as innocent and without guile. How could acknowledging their sin pave the way for Your love to flow through me? It feels as  though I could never love them with AGAPE if I can see all of their sin right at the forefront."

    And here is the crux of this mystery, dear family: when we truly understand salvation and the essence of what God has done for humanity, two things will most certainly occur and become increasingly clear to us as we are conformed to His image:

1.  WE WILL ACKNOWLEDGE HIS HOLINESS AND LOVING FORGIVENESS

     We will see the holiness of God and be like the prophet Isaiah (ch. 6). We will realize that our lips are unclean and that we live among a people of unclean lips. We will cry out "Woe to me for I am ruined!"  Our view of God will become greater and our view of mankind will become lesser. But the view of God's greatness will surpass the temptation of hopelessness and despair at sin in and around us (I have only realized this very recently). As we come to Christ, He takes the coal and touches our lips so that we may be clean. God puts the righteous robe of Christ around us. 

¹ Blessed is he
   whose transgressions are forgiven,
   whose sins are covered.
² Blessed is the man
   whose sin the LORD does not count against him
   and in whose spirit is no deceit.Ps 32

     The forgiveness of God in the face of His holiness will become a refuge and a strong tower. Seeing the Light of His Face will make us very aware of the darkness in the world and in our flesh. As we receive Him and as He reveals His glory and forgiveness to us, a deeper and more gruesome view of sin is given to us. As He bestows His forgiveness in Christ, we will have an even greater LOVE FOR GOD. Certainly God is righteous and there is nothing wrong in Him that anyone should need to forgive Him. And as He forgives our sin which has become ever-increasingly distasteful to us, our love for Him will continue to increase. BUT AGAIN, THE JOY, GRATEFULNESS, AND LOVE TOWARDS HIM THAT HE PUTS IN US IS GREATER IN INTENSITY THAN THE INTENSITY OF THE SORROW OVER SIN. 

¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,^[b] God made you^[c] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.Col 2

2. OUR LOVE WILL INCREASE TOWARDS THE SONS OF MEN. 

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. Rom 13:8

     We will certainly see the sin in others as we see God's holiness. As Isaiah declared "I live among a people of unclean lips" and David declared "When I speak I am for peace, but they are for war" and "there is none righteous, not even one" and Solomon declared "I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all" (? :) )  and Daniel prayed "O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you"

.... 

     Godly people are very aware of the sin of all men. But they are also filled with an even greater view of God in the face of their own sin. I must also state that this high view of God given to us, He removes from us the comparisons between men that are made with regard to morality so that "no flesh may boast in His sight". Not only does the sight of God's holiness remove from us any inclination to exalt one man over another, but we will be able to forgive any wrong done to us. When we see the weight of our own sin removed, no sin committed again us is too big for us to forgive as we abide in Christ. IF WE CANNOT FORGIVE, WE HAVE NOT KNOWN HIS FORGIVENESS. 

 ³² “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

   ³⁵ “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”Matt 18

    

     When we think about forgiving others, we usually think about greater offenses (and certainly each of our views of what comprises a "great offense" differ). But God speaks of a "continuing debt of loving one another". It would not be just for us to forgive great offenses, but refuse to forgive the lesser offenses. Rather Christ says that:

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’Matt 25:21

     Personally it has been easier to forgive those who have committed greater offenses than to forgive for example subtle hidden slanted words or minor irritations. The debt of love that is given to us as we receive Christ's forgiveness allows us to continually forgive others. Our forgiveness is not only continual, but it is continuous as we abide in Christ continuously. It does not ignore sin or fail to acknowledge sin, for certainly all of the gifts of the Father (including forgiveness) come from the Father of Lights with whom there is no darkness. This forgiveness is not contrived, but flows out from the love of God within us. It does not waver, but humbly and willingly perseveres and submits. It keeps on forgiving, MOMENT BY MOMENT. As He gives us this strength to continually forgive, we are able to love with AGAPE.

     Where there is no conviction of sin, there is no perceived need of forgiveness. Where there is no forgiveness, there is no AGAPE.

Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”Luke 7:47

      Do you see the chains we have gotten onto ourselves to try to ignore our sin and the sin of others?

     We must see all of the sin, and yet see the Savior so much greater. What results is an infinite storehouse of AGAPE and forgiveness for others in spite of a clear view of their sin. This is true love. This is true love. When we see the worst of each other and still forgive and love: this is AGAPE. I am saying these things because they are true, not because I understand how or why they are true or because I have experienced these things more than in a very small way. 

     But this much I know: the people that I love the most with AGAPE are those whom I have seen the worst of and forgiven by His grace. 

     Dear family, it is okay to acknowledge sin in each other, for certainly no one may boast before Him. Yes, our sin is very great, but His forgiveness, love, and glory are exalted and supreme. And we are able to see the new perfect righteous LOVABLE creations of our family in Christ. Our vision of their perfection is by faith through the Spirit. 

⁹ However, as it is written:

   “No eye has seen,
   no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
   what God has prepared for those who love him”—

 ¹⁰ but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.I Cor 2

     Going back to the opening verse that states that to cover an offense promotes love, we acknowledge here how sin is covered or atoned for: through love and faithfulness...the love and faithfulness of God the Father in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. 

Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for;
   through the fear of the LORD a man avoids evil.Prov 16:6

    Ignoring or not identifying sin does not cover it. It hides sin. In this manner, we are also ignoring the atoning sacrifice, love, and faithfulness of Jesus Christ. The way we cover over sin is to say, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" and to "stand in the gap on their behalf before the Father" and to plead that Christ would intercede for them before the Father. The same blood that made atonement for our own sin makes atonement for the sins in others as well.

True Encouragement

     True encouragement involves perceiving the sin of the body of Christ (you do not have to try, but as you see the holiness of God you will simply know what is dark) and exhorting them to turn away from sin, but to always portray the glories and blessings of the Father even more so that they know why they are turning away from sin and to Whom they are turning. And encouragement means exalting those very words, actions, attitudes, etc. that come from the Spirit of Christ in one another. This kind of encouragement does not flatter and it does not increase the ego. But rather we will become increasingly aware of His goodness to us in the form of the good works which He has both prepared for us and enabled us to do as we made our abode in Him. 

With regard to the remaining sin in each other, God has been teaching me to "Wait for Him more than watchmen wait for the morning". Hence the theme song. 

Prayer Request:

     I am defending my Master's thesis tomorrow (Tues, Dec 20th) and would be grateful for prayer for me to bring glory to God, that the committee would see Christ in me. And if you pray that I pass, that would be good too. 

     Another prayer request is for my lab people to trust in Jesus. This has been my insatiable anguish for the last couple weeks (and sort of months)...as though my heart existed only to plead their case before God. I will be leaving them by the end of this month. I am praying about writing Christmas cards to some of them completely pouring out my heart to them about Christ (I have done this several times in person). I do not care if I sound like an emotional mother or something like that. May God bless them and keep them, make His face shine upon them and be gracious to them. May He turn His Face towards them and give them peace. 


We are going to see Anand and Prasanna for Christmas! I am most likely continuing under another adviser after that for the phd unless God shows me something else. And I am still praying/waiting for God to inspire His man to come find me!

Regeneration of Those Who are Being Made Holy

³ For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. ⁴ But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, ⁵ not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3

Theme Song: "What a Savior" by Sovereign Grace http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9O8OGsNRzg

     Paliggenesia, the Greek word for "regeneration" refers to a "complete change of mind and heart" or a "restoration to the original state". 


Dear Lord,    You are the Regenerating One. You are able to bring dead bones to Life. You are able to breathe Your very Life into our beings. You know that I cannot comprehend regeneration and how much this work of Yours means for me. Please help us that we may see Your glory and be changed. In Jesus Christ's Name, Amen


DEAD BONES


     Our birth into sin made our souls like dead bones buried in the deep recesses of the world. We could not hear His Words of salvation. We could not see His righteousness and glory. We could not taste to see that the Lord is good. We could not smell the Fragrance of His Presence. We could not feel love, joy, or peace. Our hearts were hardened as stone. There was no way we could respond to His Gospel, to His Word which gives Life to the One who hears with faith. 


      Even though we did not have faith, we could not even hear, comprehend, consider, or understand this Gospel. We were altogether dead in our trespasses and sins. There was a thick dark shroud that enfolded our eyes. Deep darkness was over the surface of our deep dead souls. Even if the Word of Life was spoken to us, how could we hear It that we may be revived? How could we see Him that we may be drawn to Him as to the Light shining in the dark place or run from Him and cry out for the rocks to cover us because we had seen the Holy One while living in our sin.? How could we understand or comprehend the essence of His death and resurrection, His forgiveness, mercy, grace. Surely His Gospel was a foolish mystery to us. How could a dead mind repent and leave behind the world to follow Christ? How could a dead heart want Him? How could a darkened will choose Him? How could a dead soul make a decision to obey Him? 


     We were hopeless. We could not know Him. We could not hear His Gospel. WE COULD NOT CHOOSE OR LOVE HIM BECAUSE WE WERE DEAD. 


THE LIFE GIVER


Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

 ³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Gen 1

     Our souls were formless and empty. Darkness covered the surface of our deep wickedness. Yet the Spirit was hovering over the chosen ones. Indeed the Spirit hovers over the souls of all those who have been chosen and predestined for His glorious grace. God said to our dark souls, "Let there be Light". And indeed in Him we find the Light of Life. 

⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Eph 2

     We truly were as the very dry bones that were piled in heaps in the valley that God showed to Ezekiel (ch. 37). God asks you and me today about the dead parts of our lives and the dead souls of those around us, "Can these bones live?"

LORD YOU ALONE KNOW!

“Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
 ⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
 ⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. Ez 37




      This Great and Sovereign Lord has brought His people Life. Yes, He is bringing Life to many now. There are many before us, fields white for harvest, the valley, filled with dry bones that God is bringing to Life in Christ. These dead souls cannot choose Him on their own. God must first bring them to life that they may see and understand. The faith that saves them is a gift of the Father. He has given them everything they need to live in Him. He first brings them to life that they may respond to His Gospel. Then He gives them faith that they may be saved by the Gospel.

I will set pines in the wasteland, 
   the fir and the cypress together, 
²⁰ so that people may see and know, 
   may consider and understand, 
that the hand of the LORD has done this, 
   that the Holy One of Israel has created it.Is 41


THE SPIRIT'S WORK OF REGENERATION IN THE QUICKENED SOUL




     After He brings us to life by enabling us to choose Him in faith, He grants us His Spirit to live inside of us. The Spirit's Work is the regeneration and renewal of the man of God. In the verses below, we find one of the clearest descriptions of regeneration: 


 ³⁷ I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. ³⁸ They will be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹ I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰ I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. ⁴¹ I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul. Jer 32


     Everything good and righteous that we desire to dwell in us comes completely from Him, from the One who gave life to our souls. He does not bring us to life and leave us on our own to live righteously. One of the works of the Spirit is to convict the world with regard to righteousness because Christ went to be at the right Hand of the Father in heaven. We could never have the righteousness of the Father without the Holy Spirit's bestowing of power and wisdom to our souls. We cannot contrive any goodness in our souls even after having been brought to life. The Spirit Himself brings singleness of HEART and ACTION to us. 


     This means that our Savior is going to do everything to save us. He who died and rose to life to save us from hell, will also perfect these souls of ours. He does not stop. He is always doing the work of His Father. The work of the Father is to purify for Himself a people who His very own and who are eager to do the will of God. God will remove our sin. He Himself will remove it. He causes His seed to remain in us. Do you writhe in the agony of the sin that you cannot remove? He surely will remove it from you if you are His child.


     Are you afraid that you cannot stop sinning? He surely will remove every sinful inclination of our hearts until the day see Jesus face to face. He is the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. The Shepherd will carry His Lambs forever. He is able to inspire us to fear Him. We cannot make ourselves fear Him. He must inspire us to revere His Name and to hold Him as holy in our hearts. He will never stop doing good to us. For us who have many areas of our hearts, minds, and souls yet to be perfected, the way He does good to us is to treat us as legitimate children and to discipline us. 


¹³ Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, ¹⁴ because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.Hebrew 10


     He is making us holy. Do not faint and lose heart at the fiery trials and at the perceived hardness of your heart. He surely is working zealously on behalf of His own Name to sanctify and purify you. If you are His child, you need not fear sin, not even your own sin, for He surely is going to remove your strongholds. He will wash the evil from you as with a "launderer's soap" and it will be completely be His work and none of yours. And yet, know this: there will be trials and testings of our faith which He will use to accomplish His purifying work. But nevertheless He has overcome your sin. 


     All of the sin in your life is going to be removed in the days to come. It will involve deep cleansing. It will involve painful circumcision of the heart. It will involve Godly sorrow. It will involve circumstances of fires and earthquakes which will wrench your soul. It will involve time of comfort and peace from the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings. It will involve trouble. But He surely will remove your sin, my dear family. This is His way of never stopping to do us good. 

     Do we turn away from Him time and again? He promises to inspire us so that we will never turn away from Him. God is not powerlessly waiting for us to be wholeheartedly devoted to Him (the perspective I had in some manner). He is powerful. THE ZEAL OF THE LORD ALMIGHTY WILL ACCOMPLISH THE COMPLETE SALVATION OF HIS CHOSEN ONES. He is going to inspire us. He is going to inspire us!

     Does the knowledge of the complete authority of God over our heart, mind, and soul cause us to be lax and negligent in the trust that He has given us? It cannot. For surely "a curse is on the one who is lax in doing the Lord's work" and "those who are lukewarm will be spewed out of His mouth". When the true sheep hears of this regenerating work of the Shepherd, he runs into his Shepherd's arms with overwhelming gratefulness and thankfulness. For the goal of his faith was the salvation of his soul and for the glory of God. 

     He changes us that we may glory in Him and desire for His glory. Previously we had gloried in our fallen self, but He has changed us to the state that He had intended for the sons of men: to find their deep satisfaction in the glory of God. 

HIS LAW WRITTEN ON HEARTS

     He changes us so that instead of being resistant to His laws in our flesh, on our new hearts are written the Laws of the Creator.

 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

 ¹⁶ “This is the covenant I will make with them
   after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
   and I will write them on their minds.”

 ¹⁷ Then he adds:

   “Their sins and lawless acts
   I will remember no more.”

 ¹⁸ And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.Heb 10

     We will no longer struggle and falter to keep His laws. We will no longer stagger under the cup of God's wrath due to transgressors. Instead He will write His Law of Love, Truth, and Justice on our hearts. We will act according to the righteousness of our new hearts...Christ's imputed righteousness. He is going to change the hearts and minds of His people that they may act, think, feel, and speak in the Righteous Way of the Spirit of God. They will no longer live in darkness but will live the Life worthy of the calling that they have received. 

CHOOSE FOR YOURSELF THIS DAY

      The work of our salvation and regeneration is completely His. He has done everything. He did not do 99% and we did 1%. He has done 100% of the work necessary for our complete salvation and perfection until the day of Redemption .

²¹ Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. ²² But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— ²³ if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. Col 1

     Christ presents us holy in His sight and at the same time, He calls us to action. Regeneration is His complete work and yet He calls us to choose to serve Him this day. When we read of His regenerating work in His Word, are we not inspired to choose Him this day? Does not the knowledge of His Sovereign love and enabling of our souls to live and be righteous cause us to want to obey Him?

     His calls of action to the Sheep for whom He has done ALL the work to save:

1. deny self, take up the cross and follow

2.  repent and believe the Gospel

3. give up everything you have to be His disciple

4. pursue righteousness and peace

5. make every effort to be at peace with God and men

6. preach the Gospel to all people

7. watch and pray that we will not fall into temptation

8. love and obey Him

9. seek Him with all of our hearts that we may find Him and live

10. eagerly desire the greater Spiritual gifts

11. fan into flame the gift of God

12. put on the whole armor of God

13. stand firm and not be burdened with the yoke of slavery

14. run with perseverance the race set out before us

15. humble ourselves before Him that He may lift us 

16. be among God's people and a servant and a feeder of the Word of God

17. do not complain or argue

18. forgive and you will be forgiven

19. love your neighbor as yourself

20. be ready for the day of His return!

21. flee the evil desires of the heart

22. submit to God and resist the devil

23. put off what belongs to the sinful nature

24. put on the new self made to be like God in true righteousness and holiness

25. offer hospitality and generosity

26. do not store up for yourselves earthly treasures

.............

All these calls to action, He makes knowing that He Himself alone can and will inspire us to do these things. God is Sovereign and We are Accountable. 

Personal Testimony

      One thing that God has taught me in the last few years is not to let the family of God [that I talk to] be secretive or personal. I have no intention of "minding anyone's business" or of "not being too personal". I have been asked how I end up having deep conversations with people that I talk to. By God's grace, we can be bold to ask one another "personal" questions because we truly love one another's soul. And then God calls us to "let His Word dwell in us richly" that we may "teach and admonish one another". Shallow talk is not necessary among us. With those who do not believe, I am led to listen and to converse about earthly things as a way of "storge". With Christians there is a place for a little of this, but we must not hesitate to speak of more noble Truths. We should praise and thank Him with every breathe.Who of us will accuse or criticize one of us others if we speak of our Savior more? No one. We are His Sheep and we listen to His voice. Pour out your hearts for He surely is inspiring us to fear Him (Above). We will be drawn to each other and to Him more is we speak the Words of Life to each other and not small talk. 

     God is teaching me to cast all of my burdens on to Him. I cannot handle the stress response (cortisol-mediated) and thus resort to tears or temporary illness during hard times if it were not for the Father's comforting wings that I may hide under. I have been burdened by [particular] unsaved souls around me (but am finding hope in His ability to bring life to very dry bones) and the many things that must work correctly in order for me to finish my masters this year and for me to finish writing the grant for the phd. Last year God taught me to pour out my soul to Him each day and He is reteaching me to do that. The slightest removal by the Spirit of my fear of judgment removes every single earthly fear. I do not understand how or why this works!

     Dad has been studying Hebrews in BSF and is growing a lot in Christ through his study. He will repeat phrases and sentences from his study as if he had memorized them. The Holy Spirit "brings to mind" the Words of Christ. 

     In the attachment is a presentation on the role of women in the church that I found in a search online. It very clearly replicates my current view. 

     On Sunday night dad had us visit Fourth Baptist Church in Plymouth. They were celebrating their 130th anniversary. Several old baptist men and women spoke about the history of their church and shared some personal testimonies. We were really blessed. Several people talked to us including a man who me that he had worked for some company for 30 years and been laid off for two years. He had 4 children and a blessed wife. He had joined the seminary there and was describing how "God has a plan". Such men who have lost something of dear value and find their soul's comfort and satisfaction in God are the most blessed among men. I was amazed at the solid doctrine of the main pastors and some of the speakers. Our church used to be Baptist and I can see many remnants of that heritage. I remember Paul Washer saying that he had the privilege of fellowshiping with "old staunch Baptist men" who described "the Presence of God as those who had themselves experienced It". 

Love that Surpasses Knowledge

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.Eph 3


       The great mystery of the cross is that He bestows on us AGAPE. He bestows His love freely. No longer is His holiness which consists of the loving glory concealed as with the veil that parted the Holy and Most Holy Place in His Temple and Dwelling Place. He has done a new work in our hearts, a circumcision, that is a destruction, of it entirely. It is not as though He had to remove some parts of our hearts which were filled with hatred and preserve the more noble parts. Rather, our entire hearts were filled with hated.


     This hatred in our hearts from birth is the root cause of our inability to keep His Law, which is summed up in the commandment to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We could not keep His law because we could not love Him. We could not worship Him alone, honor His Name, restrain ourselves from idolatry, and honor the Sabbath day because we did not love Him. We could not honor our fathers and mothers, avoid murder, adultery,  theft, bearing false witness against our neighbors, and coveting because we did not love the people whom He had created for His glory. We did not know that the very people whom we despised and cursed in our hearts and actions were made in the image of God. We did not know that it holds true for all the Spiritual children of God that to him who curses one of them, he will be cursed, and to him who blesses one of them and gives a cup of water to a little one in His Name, that man shall surely be rewarded and blessed. 


     In our own hearts we set ourselves above others. To our own selves, our malicious ways seemed right and just. We inwardly defended our hatred towards others and justified that very thing that had murdered our souls if not for His grace. 


All a man’s ways seem right to him, 
   but the LORD weighs the heart.Prov 21:2


     We looked for justice to be administered to our own selfish causes and scorned those who would threaten to undo us. And yet we refused to show justice, but rather oppressed the poor and demanded bribes from those who could not pay .


¹ Woe to those who make unjust laws, 
   to those who issue oppressive decrees, 
² to deprive the poor of their rights 
   and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, 
making widows their prey 
   and robbing the fatherless. 
³ What will you do on the day of reckoning, 
   when disaster comes from afar? 
To whom will you run for help? 
   Where will you leave your riches?Is 10


     We were altogether incapable of bearing even a whisper of His Agape on our own. All of the love that we thought that we had apart from what was imparted and imputed to us from Him and all of the love that appears to be true which comes out from those who reject Him and those who do not know Him brought forth only death and destruction. For the love that comes from within a man can only reflect the righteousness of that man. And if he knew only evil from birth, his most noble love is wrought with evil. 


     We consider the mother's intense protective love for her child, that very God-given instinct, and we see its degradation in the face of abortion (please see 180 movie free online; 33 minutes), in the motivational foundation for embryonic stem cell research, and in the incidence portraying the wisdom of Solomon with the two mothers with one living and one dead baby (I Kings 3). The motherly love of the unbeliever, regardless of how noble and tender it is portrayed to the world, can bring forth no true fruit. Even the love between a husband and wife who know not the Father is not selfless. It cannot forgive. It cannot bear up when God strikes with calamity. In an instant the strong tower of human love will fall down before the eyes of the world. 

¹⁶ When I tried to understand all this,
   it was oppressive to me
¹⁷ till I entered the sanctuary of God;
   then I understood their final destiny.

 ¹⁸ Surely you place them on slippery ground;
   you cast them down to ruin.
¹⁹ How suddenly are they destroyed,
   completely swept away by terrors!
²⁰ As a dream when one awakes,
   so when you arise, O Lord,
   you will despise them as fantasies.Ps 73

     He calls to us to leave behind everything. We cannot love. We cannot forgive. We need His righteousness. He need our Father to circumcise completely the hearts we once had. We need for Him to give us the new heart that fears Him and never turns away from Him. We who have been regenerated need to know His love. And only when we know It, we will be different from the unmerciful servant who demanded the trifling amount owed to him by another when he himself had been redeemed of a priceless debt. 

     Many of us have come to know that we are unable to love apart from him. A common way for this to happen is for someone to wrong us in some way and we find that the love we used to have for them is no longer in our hearts. And we have realized that the response of our hearts to another who wrongs us reflects whether His true love had been the foundation of our prior love for them or whether we simply had a fallen carnal earthly love. 

     Is not our human love self-seeking? We delight in the company of the other and we are glad by the human happiness that is brought to us through them. It may even be that we feel benevolent to love another for it satisfies the hidden pride of our heart. It may be that we seek to love in human ways to satisfy the gnawing appetite of the ever-guilty conscience. Whatever is that self-related reason, our love apart from Him is dying and passing. It is here today and gone tomorrow. It cannot save. It cannot justify. All of our righteousness was surely as filthy rags. 

We consider the differences between Agape and human love. Here are some differences:

1. Agape is unconditional. It does not depend on the return of love from the subject or the progress or status of the subject. Human love is conditional. It depends on earthly characteristics such as the presence of human emotion, success, money, beauty, talent, personality, and many other things.

2. Agape brings glory to God. It points the audience to the glory and splendor of God. When the world sees It they are drawn to Jesus Christ, who is among them a fragrance that brings Life or an aroma of death. Agape never brings praise to the human nature, but rather to the Giver of righteousness, to the One who leads captives in His train and Gives gifts to men. For this reason, the Christians are known by their love. GOD IN THEM IS REVEALED THROUGH THEIR LOVE.

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.Matt 5:16

     And yet the human love does not point to God however pleasant it appears. The world sees human love and may appreciate it for it moral similitude and its tender appearance, yet it points the dying souls of the world to none other but that dying soul who had produced his dying human love. 

3. Agape is able to forgive. It is able to bless when It is cursed. It is able to go two miles with the one who asks It to go One mile. It is able to overlook an offense. It is able to say, "Father forgive them for they know not what to do". It is never irritated or angered...not even in the core of the mind and heart. Human love is unable to forgive even in spite of severe attempts. When love is not returned or when one's own ambition is threatened, the purest seeming love may turn to the vilest hatred. Human love does not forgive because its holder has not been forgiven. It is true that only those who forgive are able to enter the Kingdom of heaven...only those who have been changed by His Agape. 

 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Luke 6: 37

4. Agape is selfless. It does not seek Its own selfish gain. When the reward of human love is denied, that human love will falter. When the return of love from the beloved, the gratefulness of the beloved, or the characteristics of the beloved are removed, the human lover is no longer a lover.

5. Agape love is delivered for the Spiritual Eternal benefit of the beloved. We must linger on this for a while. The love of the believer for the other believers seeks their Spiritual and eternal good rather than to satisfy the momentary pleasures of the flesh. Agape seeks for the believer to be rooted and established in love so that the beloved will approach the throne of grace with confidence and be assured of their standing before God (I John). Agape seeks for the believer to be conformed to the image of the Savior Jesus Christ for this is the true and good outcome meant for all believers and will result in the glorification of the beloved in Christ. That believer will be hidden in Christ and when Christ who is the Life of that believer, he too will appear with Christ in glory. Agape seeks for the steadfast joy of the believer. The believer should have the joy which will endure in them throughout trials and temptations. Agape seeks to strengthen the believer in the faith and to arm the believer with the Armor of God that the believer may resist the wiles of the devil. Agape seeks for the peace of the believer, not necessarily for the removal of an earthly trial of circumstance, but that the believer might be Spiritual ready and protected by the One who repairs broken walls. Agape seeks for the salvation of the believer, even if it means that the believer goes through times of Godly sorrow and anguish. Agape seeks to cause the believer to drink from the Living Water and to eat from the Bread of Life. Agape says to the believer, "MAY ALL YOUR FOUNTAINS BE IN HIM, DEAR ONE!" and "MAY YOU FIND IN HIM THE LIGHT OF LIFE!"

     Indeed, in order to love in this Godly way, one must have wisdom, knowledge, and discernment: the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the believer. An ignorant believer would not know what is of eternal benefit to the beloved and what is of carnal benefit. 

²⁵ Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶ so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.Phil 1

     Human love strives to satisfy the momentary fleshly pleasures of the subject. It seeks to give that carnal thing which fades away and can never satisfy the soul. It feeds into the carnal malice and hatred that the subject pours out in the form of gossip. It even encourages the subjects worship of self. It denies the conviction of sin and seeks to let the subject be comfortable in their sin and not see their need to repent. Human love seeks to please the subject even if the pleasure of the subject is leading them to destruction and portrays the nature of the broad path on which the subject travels. HUMAN LOVE MAY WORK AS AN AGENT OF THE EVIL FORCES TO COMFORTABLY LEAD PEOPLE TO THEIR ETERNAL SEPARATION FROM GOD. Look around you, I know that you are seeing this before your eyes in the assemblies of nonbelievers that you dwell among. 

 ¹² This is what the wicked are like—
   always carefree, they increase in wealth.
 ¹³ Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;
   in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴ All day long I have been plagued;
   I have been punished every morning.
 ¹⁵ If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
   I would have betrayed your children.
¹⁶ When I tried to understand all this,
   it was oppressive to me
¹⁷ till I entered the sanctuary of God;
   then I understood their final destiny.Ps 73


     God is calling us to test our love. Do we have His Agape. There is faith, hope, and love, and He tells us that the greatest of these is love. He tells us that love is the fulfillment of the Law. We know that when we obey, "God's love is made complete" in us. As we live in His love, we are living in the Light and there is nothing to make us stumble because He has opened our eyes to see every stumbling block and to see the Good Path that He has marked out for us: the Calvary Road (Mr. Vogel gave me a reading, the "Calvary Road" by Roy Hession; very good for the soul). But of this we can be sure: as we hate our brothers, we are blinded and walk in darkness and there are innumerable things around that that could cause us to stumble. 


How can we know what love is? We turn to Jesus. We consider how He laid down His Life for us and how He lives to intercede for us.


 ¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. ¹⁷If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? ¹⁸Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. ¹⁹ This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence ²⁰ whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.I John 3


     As we truly love with His Agape, our hearts are at rest in His peaceful presence. I personally know that when I fear judgment, it is because I have not loved in action and in Truth. I have not borne the fruit of Agape. But our hope is in Him. He is transforming us into His likeness with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.


     Every time we are tempted to harbor anger, bitterness, and hatred towards another, we ought to praise God for He is testing our hearts. He is convicting our hearts that we may know that we must yet again leave everything behind and come to Him, anreceive His Agape and His forgiveness. The forgiveness that we receive from Him forgives us and dwells in us to forgive all wrongs in others committed against us. True love sees the new creation, made in the image of God. It puts hope in the sanctifying work of the Spirit in the life of another. AGAPE BELIEVES ALL THINGS. It believes that God is powerful enough to completely circumcise the wicked heart of man. It believes that HE WILL DO IT for the person of interest.



Celebrate the Gift 2012 (album here):


I was blessed to hear the testimony and message of Patti Wiens at the NLC Celebrate the Gift Evening. The main things truths that I acquired:


1. God sees us. Regardless of the hopeless conditions that we live under with regard to our lives, He sees us and He is filled with love and compassion.
2. His love is life-changing in every area. His Spiritual blessings have changed Mrs. Wiens to be the woman of God that she is today. He has given her (and believers) everything that they need for Life and Godliness. 
3. God truly has a plan. His Sovereignty allows Him to works all things together for the good of those who love Him. He makes everything beautiful in His time.

Wooed From Jaws of Distress

     In my last letter, I talked about my longing for marriage. God is continually dealing with me in this regard. The Psalms have been very comforting to me each day. I know that this will be a Spiritual battle that He needs to fight for me each day...that He will keep my heart satisfied, pure, and blameless. I need His help greatly. Some days I can joyfully surrender the desire to Him and be satisfied in Him. This can last for a while. But on other days it has been harder. He is calling me to faithful perseverance. Many people that I see in church these days tell me that they are praying for me. Today I was thinking that a husband cannot relieve me from the fear of death, only Christ can. And that is what brings love, peace, and hope to my soul. My conclusion is that I really need God's help at all times otherwise I would certainly be unable obey Him.

“He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.Job 36:16