Post by jazzlover on Jun 3, 2006 19:37:14 GMT -5
As you love the way Jesus loves, your life will change. There is no bond Satan can bind you with, that love does not overcome. As you pour out in love to others, it will set your spirit free in a way you never imagined. You will be set free to take a step up in the Kingdom to be more effective in your ministry and more powerful in prophecy, tongues and revelation.
1 Corinthians 13:4 Divine love endures patiently, [and] is kind; divine love does not envy; divine love does not brag, is not arrogant,
5 Does not behave improperly, does not try to have its own way, is not easily provoked, does not take evil into account;
6 Does not rejoice in sinfulness, but rejoices in the truth;
7 Always covers up, always has faith, always has a positive expectation, always perseveres.
This sure looks like a long list of do’s and don’ts that no man is capable of achieving! Lord, I know you told us to do this – but man! It sure is impossible, don’t you know how horrible those people are? Stop right there. I have a news flash. You are never going to do it. Try all your life if you like – you are not going to get there, you will fail on every count. Encouraging isn’t it? In this passage are the fruits of love. In other words, if you are walking in the agape love of God, these fruits will be showing in your life.
Forget about manifesting the fruits in your human strength, your starting point is on your knees at the feet of Jesus, He will plant in your heart that sapling that will in time bear these fruits. You need to spend time in the presence of one who knows how to love. A child learns by watching his parent, and so we need to watch the Lord. You need to be spending time with Him learning how He does things, asking Him to show you how He sees others. Asking Him questions, reading His thoughts in the Word. Soon, you will be building pictures in your heart. Positive pictures, you will not be able to help yourself, but to start feeling the love, you surround yourself in.
You see, there is no effort involved in loving. You do not need to ‘try’. You just need to follow the steps of the Master. Before you know it, you will be copying Him, as a child you will learn to do things the way his Father does them. You will be so soaked and watered by His love that it will start to show in your life. It will no longer be something you ‘hope to attain one day’ but something you are walking in all the time. The world will see what was planted in your heart and is now bearing ripe, rich fruit.
Romans 5:5 And hope does not make ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.
I am sure that by now all of this seems so overwhelming. You have an idea now of what you need to do and what your responsibilities are, but you are wondering in your heart if you will ever be able to rise to this call. I heard a really good description of hope. It went something like this: Hope comes from endurance through trial. In other words, as you go through times of testing, hope is built in your heart. Each time the Lord calls you to a death to self, so do you grow and so does hope grow in you, next time you face trial.
The Lord will never call you to do anything without preparing you first. He has probably already been preparing your heart for this time. Every time you have faced trial, so has He prepared you. So now He is calling you to another death – He is calling you to a death in shame. To be prepared to uncover all shame for His sake. To expose your innermost parts for His use.
Once you are at that place of commitment, so will the Lord be able to cover your shame with His love. The endurance through trial you have achieved to be transparent, will not cause you shame, because the love of God clothes you, His grace adorns you. You will be made a beauty for the world to behold.
1 Corinthians 13:9 For our knowledge is limited, and our prophecy is limited.
10 But when maturity has come, then the limitations will be removed.
The Lord is right now chipping away at that wall you have built so neatly around you. And, I am sure that right now you are very scared. Maybe you would rather just hide from all this and carry on the way you were? But can’t you see that you have but a part of what He wants to give you? There is so much more!
As a prophet of God, you will never be able to have hiding places, you will never be allowed a place to conceal yourself. God will be your fortress, He alone will be your secret hiding place. Jesus revealed to each of us His shame, that he might cover ours. The Lord requires of you that Faith that pleases Him. Faith that says
"Father, I give you my most hidden place for you to show the world, knowing that you will cover me."
Everything you do as a prophet is in faith, but all words you speak as a prophet must always be in love. If you do not have love in your heart when you speak forth, then the words you speak will lack power. Test all you speak by that guideline. Even words of Judgment or correction should be in love – there is no getting away from it.
Can you see now why the Lord has to bring you to that point of transparency? Why it is so vital to being effective in the calling the Lord has on your life?
Just have a look at King David. He was a child when the Lord first called him. I can imagine his training started that very day. He spent time at the Lord’s feet and learned to love. While he was a little nobody watching the sheep, the Lord could break down walls and build new walls of love and tenderness. When he first spotted Goliath, his first impression was not "well what are my brothers going to think of me, I hope they don’t say nasty things" It was "How dare He speak against the God of Israel," the God he loved. Are you prepared to face Goliath today for the sake of your love for Jesus? Are you prepared to knock down that stone around your heart that the Lord may use you to a greater degree?
If you choose to, you can take from the hand of God right now not just a part of what He has for you, but the whole. If you are prepared to sacrifice yourself just like Jesus sacrificed Himself for you, will you be able to move into a unity with God you have never known. For now, you prophesy in part and you get revelation in part, but if you will submit to the gentle hand of the Lord you will know His thoughts at all times. For He is indeed a God of love and if you are walking in that love, so will you know His heart at all times, His will at all times and His power at all times.
You will have in full, what you have only a taste of now. But, it is going to cost you. It will cost you the price it cost Jesus. It means being prepared to open yourself to shame, to be persecuted without saying a word in your defense, to give and open your heart to others and face rejection. Do you have what it takes to become the prophet of God you are called to be?
I encourage you now to take that step into the presence of God. To let Him teach you, and to let Him make you into a diamond of magnificent beauty.
1 Corinthians 13:4 Divine love endures patiently, [and] is kind; divine love does not envy; divine love does not brag, is not arrogant,
5 Does not behave improperly, does not try to have its own way, is not easily provoked, does not take evil into account;
6 Does not rejoice in sinfulness, but rejoices in the truth;
7 Always covers up, always has faith, always has a positive expectation, always perseveres.
This sure looks like a long list of do’s and don’ts that no man is capable of achieving! Lord, I know you told us to do this – but man! It sure is impossible, don’t you know how horrible those people are? Stop right there. I have a news flash. You are never going to do it. Try all your life if you like – you are not going to get there, you will fail on every count. Encouraging isn’t it? In this passage are the fruits of love. In other words, if you are walking in the agape love of God, these fruits will be showing in your life.
Forget about manifesting the fruits in your human strength, your starting point is on your knees at the feet of Jesus, He will plant in your heart that sapling that will in time bear these fruits. You need to spend time in the presence of one who knows how to love. A child learns by watching his parent, and so we need to watch the Lord. You need to be spending time with Him learning how He does things, asking Him to show you how He sees others. Asking Him questions, reading His thoughts in the Word. Soon, you will be building pictures in your heart. Positive pictures, you will not be able to help yourself, but to start feeling the love, you surround yourself in.
You see, there is no effort involved in loving. You do not need to ‘try’. You just need to follow the steps of the Master. Before you know it, you will be copying Him, as a child you will learn to do things the way his Father does them. You will be so soaked and watered by His love that it will start to show in your life. It will no longer be something you ‘hope to attain one day’ but something you are walking in all the time. The world will see what was planted in your heart and is now bearing ripe, rich fruit.
Romans 5:5 And hope does not make ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.
I am sure that by now all of this seems so overwhelming. You have an idea now of what you need to do and what your responsibilities are, but you are wondering in your heart if you will ever be able to rise to this call. I heard a really good description of hope. It went something like this: Hope comes from endurance through trial. In other words, as you go through times of testing, hope is built in your heart. Each time the Lord calls you to a death to self, so do you grow and so does hope grow in you, next time you face trial.
The Lord will never call you to do anything without preparing you first. He has probably already been preparing your heart for this time. Every time you have faced trial, so has He prepared you. So now He is calling you to another death – He is calling you to a death in shame. To be prepared to uncover all shame for His sake. To expose your innermost parts for His use.
Once you are at that place of commitment, so will the Lord be able to cover your shame with His love. The endurance through trial you have achieved to be transparent, will not cause you shame, because the love of God clothes you, His grace adorns you. You will be made a beauty for the world to behold.
1 Corinthians 13:9 For our knowledge is limited, and our prophecy is limited.
10 But when maturity has come, then the limitations will be removed.
The Lord is right now chipping away at that wall you have built so neatly around you. And, I am sure that right now you are very scared. Maybe you would rather just hide from all this and carry on the way you were? But can’t you see that you have but a part of what He wants to give you? There is so much more!
As a prophet of God, you will never be able to have hiding places, you will never be allowed a place to conceal yourself. God will be your fortress, He alone will be your secret hiding place. Jesus revealed to each of us His shame, that he might cover ours. The Lord requires of you that Faith that pleases Him. Faith that says
"Father, I give you my most hidden place for you to show the world, knowing that you will cover me."
Everything you do as a prophet is in faith, but all words you speak as a prophet must always be in love. If you do not have love in your heart when you speak forth, then the words you speak will lack power. Test all you speak by that guideline. Even words of Judgment or correction should be in love – there is no getting away from it.
Can you see now why the Lord has to bring you to that point of transparency? Why it is so vital to being effective in the calling the Lord has on your life?
Just have a look at King David. He was a child when the Lord first called him. I can imagine his training started that very day. He spent time at the Lord’s feet and learned to love. While he was a little nobody watching the sheep, the Lord could break down walls and build new walls of love and tenderness. When he first spotted Goliath, his first impression was not "well what are my brothers going to think of me, I hope they don’t say nasty things" It was "How dare He speak against the God of Israel," the God he loved. Are you prepared to face Goliath today for the sake of your love for Jesus? Are you prepared to knock down that stone around your heart that the Lord may use you to a greater degree?
If you choose to, you can take from the hand of God right now not just a part of what He has for you, but the whole. If you are prepared to sacrifice yourself just like Jesus sacrificed Himself for you, will you be able to move into a unity with God you have never known. For now, you prophesy in part and you get revelation in part, but if you will submit to the gentle hand of the Lord you will know His thoughts at all times. For He is indeed a God of love and if you are walking in that love, so will you know His heart at all times, His will at all times and His power at all times.
You will have in full, what you have only a taste of now. But, it is going to cost you. It will cost you the price it cost Jesus. It means being prepared to open yourself to shame, to be persecuted without saying a word in your defense, to give and open your heart to others and face rejection. Do you have what it takes to become the prophet of God you are called to be?
I encourage you now to take that step into the presence of God. To let Him teach you, and to let Him make you into a diamond of magnificent beauty.