Through Jesus' Love

If life were a business, it would be all about the bottom line results.  In truth, this is how most people approach life.  Even people in ministry are often too heavily focused on the results (the number of members, funds collected, funds distributed, etc.) of their ministries.

In God’s kingdom on earth, it is all about the process.  God takes full responsibility for the results.  He looks to us to follow His primary processes – love Him above all things and love our neighbors as ourselves.  Through our efforts done for His glory, He takes care of all the rest.

Most of us in America were raised to be fiercely independent.  Our level of independence was often the measure of our maturity.  

That admirable trait, in the eyes of the world, impacts how we are able to build intimacy with God.  When we fall short of full surrender to Jesus Christ because of our independent spirit, we end up living on the fence – half in a spiritual life and have in a carnal life.  

Only a Holy Spirit led lifestyle that fosters our intimacy with Our Heavenly Father will enable us to completely surrender our lives to Jesus.  We will have reached spiritual maturity when we get off the fence and become consciously devoted to God in all that we do.

From the beginning, God gave man free choice.  While God has a plan for our lives, He allows us to discover it through the life choices that we make.  He will provide urgings in our spirit through His Holy Spirit.  He will provide stop signs in the same fashion.  But through it all, our free choice will remain.

The closer we are to Our Heavenly Father will dictate how closely our choices mirror His choices for our lives.  Our intimacy with Him will ultimately lead us to a place where our choices will be the same as His.

The living water is within us when we receive Jesus Christ as Our Savior.  The living water is never turned off.  It is always available to us and to those around us.

Only the level of our faith restricts the flow of the living water.  Without faith, we build a dam.  With a little faith, we allow a measured flow.  With much faith, we release an unlimited torrent of absolute power.  Our faith must be in the One from whom our experience flows.

A new man in Christ is identified by his obedience to God’s commands and by the fruit that he bears.  His life is an expression of the gifts that he has received – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  In everything he does, he shares with the world around him the perfect love and forgiveness that he received from the Father.  He pleases the Father by bringing honor and glory to His name, the name of Jesus and to the Holy Spirit.

One thing is as certain as death and taxes.  We are going to experience trials in our lives.  Some of the trials will be small while others will be so big we will nearly faint.  In each, we must learn to rejoice for trials are God’s way of drawing us close and teaching us His ways.

Through our faith we will have our character built up so that we may become the person God intended us to be.  And as our character builds, our faith will grow stronger to facilitate even more spiritual maturity.

When we are in full submission to Jesus as Lord of our lives, we have prepared ourselves to allow the full power of the Holy Spirit to be released into the world around us.  At this juncture, we are fully capable of doing all that God has planned and willed for our lives.  All we need to do is listen for and respond to the gentle urgings of the Holy Spirit.  If we do this, our path will be perfect and our fruit will be plentiful.

When we try to teach, preach or evangelize through our own strength and capability, we will not be successful in delivering the true message of redemption.  The work of revealing Jesus is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit within us.  If we let the Holy Spirit lead us, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will be our product.

Fundamentally, it is not our job to convert people.  It is our job to have people drawn to us through our living testimony.  Once drawn to us, then Jesus is revealed to them as the way, the truth and the life.  The conversion of souls is the work of Jesus Christ.  To Him goes all the glory.

We are the vessels of the living water that dwells within us.  We are the lanterns for the light that shines from us.  We are the place that others can go to share in the fruits of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  We are temples of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Nothing that flows through us to others is of ourselves.  It all originates from the perfection of the Holy Spirit within us.  Our responsibility is to keep the temple undefiled so that the Holy Spirit can operate freely in our lives.

New government leader, new boss, new co-worker, new neighbor, new acquaintance, new friend – not a single one of them are new in our lives by chance.  God has placed them all in our lives to teach us new things about ourselves. 

It seems impossible that all the people placed around us are there for our good.  But our God is the God of the impossible and He loves us so much that He goes to all lengths to meet our needs.  He places people all around us to mold us into who He created us to be.  Some of the people will challenge us, some will aid us or support us and some will need our aid or support.  All of the people around us can benefit us if we take the time to realize that they are not there by chance.  They are there as part of God’s plan for our lives.