Tag: judgment

Trading Fear for Peace

1 John 4:18.
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

The scriptures are filled with the words ‘fear not.’ Over and over again the Word of God drives home the fact that fear has no place in the believer’s life, yet we often find ourselves fretting and worrying about things that are out of our control. Worry is the complete opposite of trust and faith and as the little chorus goes, it asks a very pointed question, “Why worry, when you can pray?” Why do we fall under the torment of fear and distrust when we know that we have a sovereign, all-knowing, all present all perfect, God of love, who sits on His throne at all times, directing the finest, most intricate detail our lives with His all-powerful hand?

In 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul reminds us “That God hath not given the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Trust in a perfect God brings peace to an agitated, fearful mind. We can’t trust and worry at the same time. When we know the Lord and enjoy a personal relationship with Him, we have the Spirit of the living God dwelling within us and the spirit of fear has to leave. It cannot take up residence in the heart of a trusting soul and within the heart of one that truly knows who God is.

To trust doesn’t mean that struggles won’t come our way and that troubles won’t knock on our door, but through them, the Holy Spirit gives us an unexplainable peace beyond our understanding. “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4: 7. The Lord carries us through, enabling us to fight off the power and destruction of the enemy’s fear! What peace is ours when we become like little children and with child-like faith, trust God to bring us through. “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.”.

As Christ Ones, and those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, our sins are forgiven and cast into the sea, to be remembered no more. They’re done, they’re over and they’re gone. We have accepted God’s plan of salvation and perfect love and we have no need to fear judgment from our most perfect God of perfect love because we’ve settled our account with the One who paid the debt for our freedom from the punishment we deserve. Yes, He’s an all righteous God and the all righteous judge and He will come again to judge, but He comes to judge those outside of His love; those who have chosen not to trust in Christ, the spotless lamb who died on the cross shedding His blood for their reconciliation to God.  If you are outside of His plan of salvation today, and you’ve never asked Christ to forgive you, then you will fear and have reason to fear, because His perfect love does not dwell within you, nor you in Him, and God Himself says, there will be a payback day, when God will take action against the evil and the sin that has never been repented of. Our hope is in the Lord as 2 Corinthians 6:2 tells us, “At the right time I heard you, and on a day of salvation I helped you. Listen, now is really the “right time”! Now is the “day of salvation!”.

Our relationship with God has to be more than a head knowledge of God because a head knowledge won’t save us. It has to be a heart knowledge out of true repentance. When we know, that we know, that we know His Spirit indwells us we have His perfect love empowering us and motivating us to go and be and do all that He has for us to do in His kingdom work, without fear, because, remember…“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.’.
#Brokenandloved

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Pitiful Pride


Romans 14:11

“It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’””.

Sometimes personal opinions get in the way and cause problems within the body of believers, within our churches don’t they? We tend to have this ‘I’m right, your wrong’ attitude when it comes to how we should live our lives and put our faith into action. In our verse today, Paul addresses some of these issues because Jewish custom and culture was very different than Gentile culture and it showed in their manner of eating, and in other areas as well. Some were looking down their noses with contempt at others of the faith, who saw things very differently. Paul’s point here, is that these things do not matter in the big picture, because faith isn’t grounded on these issues. True Faith is grounded on the pure and simple gospel message of the cross , the Lord and the Christ who died to make atonement for our sins possible and bring salvation to the lost. It is God, who is the true and righteous Judge, who will deal with the flaws and shortcoming of His people, when every knee bows before Him and every tongue confesses Him as Lord. God will deal with it as He sees fit. Paul reminds the believers that each brother and sister in the Lord, is responsible for themselves personally, before God and judgment from others is unnecessary and uncalled for. In other words, we are not to judge! Plain and simple!

However, because of pride, we get caught up in this haughty mindset and take judgmental authority upon ourselves in order to straighten every one out. We begin to rebuke, criticize, condemn and slander, even cry ‘hypocrite’ to new or even seasoned believers, for not adhering to our self – made ‘laws’ that we govern our own lives by. Such non – graced action quickly leads to dissension, quarreling and divisive behavior, when it’s really no concern of ours, how others, who profess their faith in Christ, live their lives. Paul makes it clear that we are not too look with scorn on those weaker in faith or on those who live out their faith in the Lord differently than we do.


Have you been judged, criticized and ridiculed for something? Has it hurt you or made you leave the unity of the body of believers? It’s the enemy’s tactic for causing strife and bitterness. It’s sad and it shouldn’t happen! Or maybe you’ve been the judge and held the gavel over someone’s head while pronouncing them guilty as charged. That’s pride and is also the enemy’s tactic for causing division. It’s wrong and Paul says we have no business doing that! Instead, we need to take account of ourselves before God and make sure that our own hearts are right!

Now it can get really personal and this is where our true colors of the faith show. It’s where our mature, strong faith in Christ will show up or not! If our behavior causes others to question and doubt, then, we, who are strong in the faith, need to put the questionable behavior behind us and act in such a way that it will glorify Christ and speak lovingly to others. Why? Because as mature Christians, we need to take responsibility for our actions. Forgive and receive forgiveness if need be and put our self-righteousness behind us. Our main goal as a Christ One is to win the lost and be excellent representatives for the Lord and His work. If something we do, hurts someone, then we have a responsibility to own up to it and stop it! It’s our responsibility to maintain peace and share joy, compassion and love within our circles of influence. No, we don’t look at someone else but let’s look into the mirror and yeah, everyone let’s heed Paul’s words of wisdom and quit passing judgment on our brothers and sisters because according to us, they don’t measure up, and let’s make sure we don’t give others any reason to question our own testimony for the Lord. Friends, if we could all live in such a way, our world would be wonderful and our churches? Well…they would not be divided, for each one would settle their accounts before God, give grace where needed and maintain peace and unity within the body of believers.
#soulFire

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