Give and Receive

Good morning family, it is so very good to speak with you all this absolutely beautiful day. A little cool out but truly gorgeous. Isn’t God’s creation so divine! I have been spending a lot of time in the woods lately among His greater more expansive creations. This is one of the reasons I absolutely love hunting season. I love it because it’s a way to have the alone time we all must have. If we aren’t taking the time to have this then we are in trouble in some ways. I can increase the whole rest of my life by having that alone time with my Father by being in the woods with Him. Yes, I do have to have my heart and head in the direction of Him first. I must put my focus on Him with intent. Just as we do in our prayer closets or our secret places or our prayer time, no matter where it’s spent. We all need to be filled with His presence, it’s a must for our Spiritual survival.

Ephesians 3:19-21 - 

"To be filled with the fullness of God is to be conscious of and yielded to God's presence, strength, care for others, spiritual authority, moral excellence and character (holiness, righteousness, love)"

Galatians 5:22-23 - 

"The characteristics of a believer who is filled with or guided by the Holy Spirit is that they manifest the fruitage of the spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control"

Philippians 4:8 - 

"Fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable"

This fullness is a mind altering, flesh battling, spirit filling, soul saving must for anyone who chooses eternal abundant life with Christ. We are all called to walk as Jesus.

1 John 2:3-6 - 

3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God's love [2] is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

We are to set out to walk like Jesus and Jesus started out by walking to others. He gave! He gave of His time, His knowledge, His understanding, His love, His compassion, His joy, His peace, His patience, His goodness, His faithfulness, His mildness, His self-control. All the fruits of the Spirit just flowed freely from Christ as He interacted and walked with anyone, God fearing or not the fruits of the Spirit just flowed from Him. No matter where we are at church or at the store or at a local football game, we must do our part to walk as Christ.  The mentality “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” is truly one of the most deceitful of statements we would ever ascribe too. We look at this statement or just hear it and we know its completely wrong, immoral, self-serving, evil, or just plan simply demonic. Unfortunately, the world is ascribing to this type of mentality to do whatever one wants with no regards for consequences, or even more the belief that that there are no consequences because we believe we left it where it happened and didn’t bring it with us. Where is Jesus here? How did what you did affect others? Was one of those others Jesus’s followers?

Matthew 25:40 - 

40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, (A)inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

My whole thought today was to talk about giving and only being able to do so through receiving. Whatever we are filled with is all we can give. There is multiple scripture references here as well. We are all called out to serve as Jesus serves. Giving is a must to be as Jesus.

Matthew 28:18-20 - 

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

This is our calling once we turn our lives and desires over to Christ. Yes, we have our own personal desires, but I have found the more I grow and mature in Him the more that my desires are minute or no longer desirable. I find that my desires truly align with the Fathers. I think of the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Luke 22:42-43 - 

42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. 43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

I think about every time I needed strength in the call upon my life that as I gave it to the Father, He has always sent me strength that I didn’t have within me alone. I may not have seen that angel out rightly, but I can tell you this He was there. We all must come to the realization that Christ is always there to strengthen us just as He promised. Lean on that! We may need to do the hard things first before we realize it, but He is there. For me it always seems I have to bump my head if you will, and finally realize I must determinately give it to the Father. The more outwardly the more vocal the more indisputable I give it to Him, the more peace, and the more clearly, I feel his presence, and know His angel(s) is with me.

Luke 6:37-38 - 

^37 (BE)“Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. ^(BF)Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ^38 (BG)Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your ^(BH)bosom. For ^(BI)with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

Know that through all your struggles, the strength that you need, is always there, you just need to give the struggle over to the Father first. His strength is your strength, you must rely on that promise. As we are weak He is strong. I love that from the little children’s song. There is a multitude of truth in those lyrics that you must come to receive, but you only receive by giving. You receive strength by giving your battle to the father. You receive blessings by blessing others. The more abundantly you bless the more abundantly you will be blessed.

Father in the Holy precious name of your son Christ Jesus I ask that you give us the strength to lean on you as needed and give to others more abundantly than we are able too on our own. I ask that you give us strength to abide in you in all areas we are called too. I receive your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control all the fruits of the Spirit as you bless me with them. In the wonderful amazing gracious merciful humble selfless name above all names Christ Jesus, Amen!