Love Fulfilled Ministry

" You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact  the Spirit of God dwells in you.  Anyone who does not have  the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.   But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness " (Romans 8:9-10). Righteousness comes by the Spirit of Christ inside, the Spirit gives freedom and life. Our body, the flesh is still at enmity with God, dead because of sin, until we receive a glorified body. However t he same Spirit, that raised Christ from the dead, is making our mortal bodies alive, as he has made his home in us, v.11. "The Spirit is life because of righteousness" ,v.10. Because we are made righteous by his Spirit in us, we are no longer debtors to live by the flesh, v.11-12. Now w e have been made free from the law of sin and death, v.2. Death no longer has a sting and our sin is no longer held against us. However, living by the flesh brings death to our mo...

" Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb...

"For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God  than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.  O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!" (Psalm 84:10-12) Sometimes life is hard to understand, an unexpected death or an illness hits and we grasp for answers. Human nature is to withdraw from God, however w e should go  to him for refuge and  put our trust in him and not in our own understanding,  " t rust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us " (Psalm 62:8; Proverbs 3:5-6).   If you can't enter into his presence with thanksgiving and praise, then just be at the door. Better is one day in his courts, even if it is at the door, than a thousand elsewhere.  " God is our refuge an...

    " Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.      For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood " (Hebrews 9:15-18). A covenant is defined as "an agreement of two or more parties, binding them mutually to undertakings on each other's behalf."[1] The Latin word testament, which means to make a will, is often used to render the Hebrew word berit and the Greek word diatheke which express the covenant concept of; agreement, obligation, binding, and will.[2] The distinction between a covenant and a testament or will is that a covenant implies inequality on one side. A...

" I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: justice was as a robe and a  crown. I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy: and the cause of him that I knew not I searched out. And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the prey out of his teeth ." (Job 29:12-17). In Ephesians  Paul speaks of  putting  on the armor of God, " put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil" (Ephesians 6:10). He tells us to put on the armor, v.11, and to stand having taken up the whole armor of God, v.13. We are to put on truth, salvation, and righteousness, all which are in Christ (John 17:17). To be readied by the gospel of peace, to take up a doubled edged sword (spirit and word) and at all times, in all circumstances, we are to pray and take up the shield of faith " with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one " (Ephesians 6:10-18). " I put on righte...