May 17, 2003
GP 825
July 1
Love is the most important thing in our religion!
We believe in free love!—Free love of God through Jesus Christ His Son! We have other kinds of love too. It's all important, all of that's important, but His is all-important!—This is our specific religion and these are the principles that we practice: Love, the religion which Jesus Himself taught, the Good News that God is Love!—True love, real love, God's love, is all the religion you need! This unselfish sacrificial love includes the love of one human being for another, love in all forms, as long as it is true love, real love, God's love.
"Love God... and love thy neighbour as thyself!...In these are all the law and all the prophets!" (Mt.22:37-40) That's all the laws put together, the whole Bible—Love! If you have love you've everything!—You are fulfilling all the laws of God!—Herein is our salvation and message!—Love!—True Love, the Love of God and the love of our fellowman!—The Spirit of God's divine Love which helps us all to fulfill His Great Commandment to love one another!
We have such sweet love in the Lord‚ love in the Spirit. Oh, we've got all kinds of love in our midst!—Isn't it wonderful to have love? When you have God you have love, because God is Love!
648:36,37 685:6 — 633:97‚95 633:94 — 172:6 685:5 — 638:72
July 2
Isn't it wonderful to know Jesus? Isn't it wonderful to be saved?
"He that is our God is the God of Salvation!" (Psa.68:20)—Total salvation—body, mind and spirit. God has rescued us from the very gates of death and Hell.—The battle for your soul is won and it's a permanent victory of Salvation forever! You'll never have to worry about being saved anymore or going to Hell or whether you're going to go to Heaven or not.—You have eternal life through Jesus, which is the Gift of God—and you cannot lose it, for He will keep you! You are His!
God says He's blotted out thy sins as a cloud, and as a thick cloud He's put them behind His back, and will remember them against you no more.—You're all clean now, not dirty any more, no longer under the power of the Enemy.—You can start from scratch with the Lord, for you're a new creature in Christ Jesus.—Old things are passed away and all things are new.
You're born again, a new man, God's new child!—With a new plan and purpose in living! He'll meet all your needs and solve all your problems! He's just that wonderful.—He'll give you peace of mind, purity of heart, rest of soul and happiness of spirit now and forever!
"My sins are gone! Thank God for peace at last! The blood of Jesus covers all my past!"
638:73 83:38 — 551:91,92 — 64:7 685:66 — 370:13 — 685:66 510:20 — 172:16 — 629:66 503:57
July 3
Truth is the God-given duty of every child of God and His Prophets!
God's Word says to preach the whole counsel God—everything they need!—And one of the main reasons for our success has been our willingness to face the facts and to tell it like it is!
But lots of times we don't tell people the truth or what we really think because we're afraid to hurt them and we want to save their feelings. Whereas it would be better for them if we were honest with them.—It's half the victory when you've got good communication and you're open and honest about everything, not trying to cover up.—For if you try to compromise and pull your punches and tone it down‚ then God's Spirit tones the Voice of God down, and you don't hear it so much any more. Truth resisted loses its power over the mind. A Prophet of God who has the message of God either has to give it, or he no longer hears it or feels it, and he becomes guilty with them!
So, for God's sake, please obey the Lord and tell 'em the Truth, even if it hurts!—Sock it to 'em with the spear or sword of the Word of Truth!—Come what may! The results are God's business, according to how they receive and obey it—or reject and rebel against it! Speak the Truth!
317:42 685:10 — 171:46 629:52 — 675:25 — 66:25,22,17 555:54; 79:6 — 678:54‚55
July 4
God never gives us burdens greater than we are able to bear.
God is a loving and merciful God. He knows your frame; He remembers that you're but dust and He knows how much you can stand. Even of our service for Him, Jesus said‚ "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light! Come unto Me, and I will give you rest!" (Mt.11:28–30)
If the yoke gets too hard and the burden too heavy, it's not His yoke nor His burden, but our own or someone else's which we've unwisely undertaken or permitted to be placed upon us beyond the Lord's knowledge of our strength and abilities!—Or maybe you're trying to carry too much and pull too hard, instead of letting God do it through you by His power, His love, His grace and His strength!—"His yoke is easy and His burden is light."—It's not too hard and it's not too heavy!
The Devil tries to say, "Well‚ this is too hard, this is too much, this is too heavy!" He comes along and tempts you to quit, "Oh, that's too much!"—But Jesus said it is not!
His yoke is not too hard and His burden is not too heavy. So if you take it from the Lord and do His will it's not going to be too hard or too heavy.—He Himself will never suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able!—He always gives us some way of escape! (1Cor.10:13)
641:58 259:115 — 159:7 — 106:56 169:6 — 159:7 — 641:3 — 399:52 575:145,146 575:148 — 169:6 — 641:58
July 5
He wants you to be happy!
We don't have a sad God!—I have a happy God, Who wants me to be happy too, and you as well! This is the whole point of it all, to relieve us of the suffering, pain, death and tears brought into the world by the Enemy and the sins of Man.—God is not a monster who's trying to deny you everything and make you miserable. But He loves life and created it for you to love and enjoy!—He made it all for you to enjoy. It's good, not bad!—He has made this beautiful world as a home for you, His child, to live in and enjoy! He has lovingly given you a wonderful body, mind and heart with which to enjoy it and each other!—"Behold‚ I have made all these things in perfection for thy pleasure!"
He often almost spoils us with such good things that He gives us the desires of our hearts for having delighted ourselves in Him! But God's pretty smart and He knows the happier we are, the more we'll love Him and the more obedient we'll be out of pure love, and so do an even better job for Him in serving others that He loves who need us so!—So He wants to help and make you happy with His love, and help you to make others happy, too—with both His Love and your love!—This is our main purpose in life, to love God and enjoy Him forever, and to try to help others to do the same!
584:6 258:72 — 560:1 — 258:77 — 560:3 — 584:5 — 624:7 326B:17‚18 — 584:4 — 159:5
July 6
"The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink...."
It's not fleshly nor earthly. It has very little to do really with what your flesh does or doesn't do or what you drink or don't drink, etc.—It's a spiritual thing!—It's "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost"! (Rom.14:17)—No matter what little things you eat or drink or do.
The only thing that counts is faith: Faith in God and His Word and obedience to the Lord. That's what counts! Not whether you are circumcised or not.—It's all in how much faith you have.—It's all in your own spiritual attitude and in your mental attitude. It's how you approach it and whether you do things by faith in love—"faith which worketh by love".—You have to operate the way your faith goes. You cannot operate outside of the limitations of your faith. (Rom.14:23)
Are you obeying the Lord?—That's what counts!—If you've got the Faith and the Truth and the Word and obey!—That's what counts!
"Take, eat and partake of the fruits of the Kingdom, for all that I have is thine‚ and I have given it unto thee! But why stand ye in doubt and with hesitant hands that reach not forth in faith to eat of that which I have set before thee? Take, eat and enjoy the fruits of the Kingdom!"
604:18 — 594:65 — 604:18 635:46 — M:7 — 594:61 — 604:13 635:47 185:75
July 7
"Thou art wise that thou art simple."...
It's wise to be simple. Knowledge is not it! All these worldly people get all this knowledge, but they'd be wiser if they were just simple. The Lord has to get by all that stuff to get to their heart.—"Beware lest ye be led away from the simplicity of the Gospel!" "Except ye become as a little child ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!" (2Cor.11:3; Mt.18:3)—If we'll just recognise that we're just little children and we don't know anything and that the Lord's the one that knows it all and He's the only one who is really wise and knows what He's doing, and we just follow Him—that's really being smart!
The newborn babe does not try to rationalise his mother and father and brothers and sisters and the new world and life around him. He just accepts and enjoys them and starts learning how to live and enjoy life and loved ones.—It's just that simple: You don't have to personally know all the answers‚ the why's and wherefore's, or be able to explain everything or answer all the questions—just know Him! He brings you love, He makes your life, He gives you happiness and all you ever wanted and more! What else matters?
"Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong, we are weak, but He is strong!"
254:12 — 154:42 — 752:13 510:22 — 306:64,69‚73 154:39
July 8
If you do your part in the will of God in the place God wants you, God will never fail to do His part, whatever you can't do.
All it takes is a little faith and obedience to start with. The Lord can do all the rest, if we'll just start out and obey.—You have to take a step in the direction He says to go‚ to find out what He's going to do. I have faced mountain peaks of decision when I had to take a step of faith‚ with nothing but thin air between me and the next peak—but He never let me down, even if He had to pick me up by His hand and lift me across to that next mountain peak, without any visible‚ natural, normal, logical‚ reasonable means of help!
Where there's a will, there's a way!—With God's help. "Nothing is impossible with God, and all things are possible to him that believeth!"—He'll never fail! He'll always do His part faster than you can do yours.—As you begin to obey and continue to obey, God will bless you beyond measure for your faithfulness in fulfilling His Word!—Obey and do your part, what you know you can do—and then stop worrying about the rest that you can't do: God will take care of that part; God will do what you can't do!
Those that obey have found that God never fails to do His part!—Do you believe it? Then let's go!
683:71 144:14 — M:38,25,33‚26 697:68 — 47:24 — 151:26 — 4:94 328C:1 — 151:29
July 9
Let's keep moving for the Lord, spreading the Good News as we go!
From the earliest times‚ God's people have always been on the move for the Lord: "These all confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, declaring plainly that they seek a country—a better country‚ that is, an Heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God"! Hallelujah! God is proud of His travelling pilgrims on their constant pilgrimages for Him en route to that Heavenly City "which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God"! (Hebrews 11)
Like Jesus and the Apostles of old, we are pilgrims and strangers here and have no certain dwelling place.—We know this world is not our home, we're just a passin' through tryin' to get a job done for Jesus on the way!
We must never let our roots grow down so deep that we cannot be uprooted again.—We must be always prepared to move and will always be on the move if we are to remain His Gospel gypsies, seeking a better city in a better country until at last we find His perfect one! So keep moving for God until righteousness covers the earth as the waters cover the seas! God bless and keep you going into all the world to preach the Good News of His Love to every creature!—He is with you every step of the way, and will never leave nor forsake you!
150:9 150:3 110:16 — 150:5 110:16 — 317C:9 175:60 — 318B:69 — 175:60
July 10
If you witness you always win!
The number one job we have to do is to preach the Word, and number two, try to win those to whom we preach it. In a way‚ winning souls is really God's job‚ but you have to be the channel and the instrument.—You have to give them the facts and the truth and show them love and show them the Lord, then you've done your part.—Of course, you hope to win them to Christ‚ but that's really the work of the Holy Spirit. They have to make their own decision.
You may not always win the soul, but you win the favour of God and you obey God; whether it saves them or not, it does the job. And whether you or they like it or not, God likes it!—And they will like it if they receive it.
But even if they don't receive it, it's not wasted, because witnessing is never wasted! You accomplish your purpose just by showing the love of God and witnessing. What they do with it is their responsibility—"Love never fails", so you just can't lose! We're on God's side and He just doesn't lose—eventually He always wins somehow. So witnessing and winning souls is no gamble—you've got a sure winner!
Witnessing is never unsuccessful! Witnessing always pays! Witnessing never fails! We're in a business that cannot fail! Hallelujah! Wanna win with us?
602:34 697:51 — 594:9 — 714:31,32 602:34 — 594:8 543:5 — 602:35 543:10,12
July 11
It's time we wake up to who we are and what we are!
We are the reincarnation of the Early Church‚ reincarnated by the Holy Ghost of God, possessed with the Holy Spirit—the fanatics of the Last Church, the radical Christian extremists of the Last Day, the Prophets of God of the Time of the End! This is it!
It's almost like we've picked up where the Lord left off, because there hasn't been any church like us since the Early Church.—Nothing like this!—We are totally different from any other kind of church ever born! The closest thing to us is either Moses and the Children of Israel or the Early Church.
We are the main religious bomb of the century, and probably for the end of the world! Such a mighty move of the Church has not occurred since the first century! Who hath heard of such a thing and where hath such a thing been done before? A nation hath exploded in a day and the fall-out is saturating the world with the Gospel!
Are you exploding with us? We're really going places and seeing miracles! Praise God! He's not dead, or even sick‚ and it can be done, and we're doing it, by the power of His Spirit in obedience to His Word!—Join the explosion and win the world! See you in the "fall-up"!
47:27 60:40 695:26 — 251:27 611:31 — 176:18 176:25,5 — 173:15
July 12
It's time we wake up to what we are doing, what we can do, and what we're going to do by the grace of God!
As the enemies arise in ever-increasing numbers to be finally led by the Enemy of all enemies—the Anti-christ—the Lord promises that "the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits, and they that understand among the people shall instruct many"! (Dan.11:32,33) Our major job will be to stand up as God's strongest witnesses before the whole world and to explain to them what's happening and to lead and encourage and feed God's children to the very End!—We'll be witnessing to the last day‚ even in the very capital of the Anti-christ, who will be trying to exterminate us!
Will you know what to do? Will you be prepared to survive? Will you know how to help others to do so as well as to continue to worship God and encourage others in the faith during days not unlike those of the Catacombs Church of martyrs under Roman persecution?—You're going to have to have the power of God and the wisdom of His Spirit to survive those days!
Our only hope of survival, therefore, is to be prepared spiritually and even practically, with both the personal experience of salvation and a working knowledge of His Word and what it advises us to do under such conditions.—The End is closer than ever! "Be prepared!"
47:27 146:6 — 110:16 172:83 — 156:43 172:80 — 655:16,1
July 13
Let's do it God's way!...
And not our own damn way, or it will be damned and just a total failure because we looked to our own fleshly mind.—We cannot lean on man's ideas and wisdom: We have to lean on the Lord and His leadings.—"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thy own understanding." (Prov.3:5)—If you go in your own understanding‚ you may fall flat on your face like Israel did when she ran ahead of God in Joshua's own wisdom, instead of depending utterly on the Lord's direction. (Jos.7:1-5) So don't try to reason around with your own understanding, but get down in prayer and cry out to God and look to Him alone for the answers. The right answer might be just the opposite of what our natural mind thinks.
But as long as we let God run things we're bound to win, even when we look like we're losing! But if you or I try to run things, we're bound to lose, even when we look like we're winning! What looks like success to the world may look like defeat to God, and what even looks like defeat to us sometimes is an actual victory for the Lord, for He gets His greatest victories out of seeming defeats, those impossible situations which it takes to make a miracle!
So keep going God's way and you can't lose—'cause He can only win!
C:20 — 329A:7 — 35:15 — 51:56 — 4:45 — D:9 — 56:11 56:11
July 14
"The Earth shall reel to and fro like a drunken man." (Isaiah 24:20)
There shall be a very great shaking in the land, and the earth itself shall tremble, and the high places shall be destroyed and brought low! All those high places! Those towers! And only they which call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved!—The whole earth is going to shake, the whole earth is going to tremble before the Lord in the days of His judgements.
When the Lord just shakes Himself a little bit in His wrath, there's nothing like it! Even the hydrogen bomb, multiplied many times over, can't equal the power of even one hurricane‚ one volcanic eruption, or one magnificent earthquake—mighty judgements of God which can flatten and totally wipe out all of man's puny creations in their path.
Well, when the time comes the Lord will take care of us as He sees fit: He'll either take care of us or take us, one or the other! So we've got it made, we've got nothing to worry about. Even all the whole city of Jericho fell except the part of the wall on which Rahab's house was standing.—When His judgements fall on the wicked they usually miss His children or His children are spared from them.
"O ye of little faith, wherefore dost thou doubt? Dost thou not think I am able to protect thee also in whatever fate I design for thee?"
373:120 276:84 — 373:120 68:11 373:95,101 — 581:28 56:5
July 15
While there is life, there is hope!
"Though ye have lain among the pots, yet I shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold." (Psalm 68:13) Though you have been cast on the trash pile by others, God can give you wings to mount to the Heavenlies in a new ministry - glory such as you have never known before - heights of ministry you have never imagined!
When you reach the end of your rope, and are in some great crisis experience of your life, cry out desperately to Him in this time of trial, in this time of Gethsemane, followed by this crucifixion, and God will answer, and it will result in glorious resurrection which can surpass all your wildest dreams and is mightier and greater than anything you ever thought of! Let go and trust God to bear you up on His wings to heights to which the rope of the traditional never could have borne you!
They that trust in the Lord thy God shall be saved and shall rise again like the Phoenix from the ashes of defeat by the miracle working power of God‚ like a resurrection!—"I will cause thee to mount up upon the wings of a dove to heights that thou hast never dreamed of‚ for I myself have made thee wings of gold and silver, and given unto thee the voice of the turtle dove! "
312:18 83:29 526:2; 297:37,48 276:25 — 116:23
July 16
You can't keep the birds from flying over your head‚ but you can sure keep them from building a nest in your hair!
The Devil will do everything he can to tempt you to forsake God's way.—Nobody can keep temptation from coming, but you don't have to yield to temptation.—God gives you enough sense by His Spirit to know the difference between what is good and bad, then He gives you a choice between good, and evil, Himself and the Devil.—The Devil cannot prevent us from choosing. That's the one thing we can do no matter what the Devil does—we can choose!—You have a will and you can ignore him! "Submit yourself to God, resist the Devil, and he will flee from you!" (Ja.4:7)
It is impossible for the Devil to win over you unless you give in to him. "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the World." (1Jn.4:4) The only way he can win is if you quit, give up, give in, surrender, stop fighting. If you keep fighting You keep winning!—So when the Devil tempts you to get down and discouraged, fight! Slam the door in his face and don't even listen to him! Much less surrender!—Then you won't have a chance to listen to or believe his lies!
So don't even let the ol' camel get his nose in or he'll soon have the entire tent! "Give no place to the Evil One!" Hallelujah!
575:106 M:22 — 575:106 — 326:33 — 203:38 — K:7 K:2 — 551:137 — 33:25; 599:146 — 291:68
July 17
All you have to do is open your flower and let the Light come in!...
The Light streams down from Heaven into the flower, filling the flower with Light!—Such brilliance! Open the heart of the flower to the Light‚ and the Light pours in and fills the whole flower, and you glow with such radiance and color and beauty! All you have to do is open! Let the Light in!
God is able to warm your heart and cause you to be like the white heat of the sun, clear and enlightening and warm and bright, pure, hiding nothing. He's able to shine on us and chase away all the shadows and doubts and fears and the cold.
How do you get rid of darkness? Do you go around trying to beat it out and chase it out and kick it out? No, you just let the light in!—Heavenly light to fill your soul and set everyone of us on fire with beautiful light! Hallelujah! Thank You Jesus!
"For we have come from the darkness into His glorious light, and that which was darkened has become enlightened, and that which was in darkness has seen a great Light!"—"Oh how beautiful the light that I have given unto My children!"
214:39 203:13,11 399:65 — 191:18 214:38,21
July 18
What do you think makes my Letters—me?...
No! I'm only the channel.—I'm so nothing and such a mess that, when God even speaks to me about "David"‚ I'm almost afraid and ashamed to say it because I feel so unworthy! But I know God is trying to show it's only Him.—It's the Spirit. You're not really thinking about me. You're thinking about the truth and the Lord and what is being said.
I'm nothing but an instrument of God—His tool.—God's Man is nothing but a wirephoto and teletype machine, like the news media use, on which they get the latest news in words and pictures! That's all I am! He sends the pictures and the words by turning on my Key on my wavelength, and I, His little machine, simply rattle it off and pass it on to you It's just that simple and that easy, crazy as it may seem!
I'm not the light! I'm just the lens through which the light shines, like by a projector in the darkness of a theater!—I'm nothing but a channel, a pipeline‚ a prophet spouting the Words of God.—I'm only a messenger boy who delivers His telegrams, and I'm not always responsible for what has been said or revealed. You'll have to blame God for that!—Or thank Him.
"For I have quickened the heart of David and enlightened his mind and brought forth his waters as honey and sweetness that they might nourish my little ones."
328:7 — 264:4 — 328:7 536:58 — 161:41 214:28 — 290:3 — 193:3 152:6
July 19
Our only hope is the Coming of the only Prince of Peace—Christ Jesus.
Only the direct and forceful Second Coming of Jesus Christ to set up His Own Kingdom of totally righteous and authoritarian rule here on Earth will ever bring a reign of perfection, with peace and justice for all!—This is our only hope, and it will soon be a reality, if we are faithful to Him‚ His Truth and His Love.
Out of Heaven will come the great hosts of Heaven with Jesus in the lead on a white horse to mete out His violent wrath upon the wrongdoers, to save His Own children from His enemies—and we take over the Earth!—It will be like God taking over the world by invading it from outer space!
Then and only then, under the supreme and powerful rule and reign of Christ and God's children, will all wars finally cease and men will "beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruninghooks"!—All wicked and vengeful men of war shall be stopped at last, and only then shall the men of peace and the God of peace and the Prince of Peace rule and reign and bring "peace on Earth"!
"Lift up therefore thy heads, for thy redemption draweth nigh! Behold‚ thy King cometh as a mighty Man of power, strong to save and deliver thee!"
1:8 172:75 — I:8 695:64 — 172:75 — 214:10 277:155 — 637:59 — 281:57
July 20
"In that Golden Age I shall rule upon the Earth in person with a rod of iron and ye shall rule with Me in mighty power!"
We're going to run the world!—The pitiful little bands of persecuted Christians and believers in God and His Love are going to inherit the earth and the Kingdom of God on earth to run and govern it by love and the power of God! "The meek shall inherit the earth." (Mt.5:5) Jesus and His Kingdom are going to be the government, and we are going to be His Angels and teachers and enforcers and policemen.—We'll have supernatural bodies and powers and the authority of Christ's Kingdom on Earth which will really facilitate the job, and God knows we'll need it!
We will have been resurrected, translated and changed, and we will have our eternal bodies, spiritual bodies like the Lord had when He was resurrected. This will be a great advantage in being officers of the law and law enforcers, governors and so on, miraculous supermen, ruling in love over the villagers of this world who live outside of the Heavenly City.—We're going to be teaching them how to live and how to be honest and how to love God and obey. (Isa.2:1-5; 11:1-9)
It is you, you, that God is going to use to run the world, and He's getting you ready for it right now!
285:30 551:77 — 306:37,34 — 629:47 — 242:14 332B:10; 316:6 — 629:24 542:113
July 21
There are some things that God cannot do!...
Because He will not do them, because He has bound Himself within certain limitations so as not to interfere with your power of choice.—Just like Adam and Eve in the Garden, everyone is given a chance to choose to do good or evil.—In fact, when all is said and done, that's the main reason we're here in the first place: To learn how to make decisions under God's guidance, from the Garden of Eden to the present! — You have to make the decision, and He's not going to force you to do His Will! "Whosoever will may come!"
God never forces Himself on anyone!—He just gives them the opportunity to receive His blessings. If they refuse them, it's their loss! "Every man must give an account of himself to God!" We cannot hide behind others when it comes to our majesty of choice. We cannot push the responsibility upon others, when God is dealing with us personally! God wants you to make your own choice by faith according to your own faith—not somebody else's, but yours! He wants you to learn to trust Him personally, not lean on others!—The decision is up to you and you alone. No one else can make it for you‚ not even God!
The door is now open!—Walk in where you will, by your own free and loving choice! Your will be done in Him!
59:27 71:45 — 127:25 311C:58 — M:44‚45 — 238:6 238:15
July 22
To Hell with the proper way!...
The proper way is of man! The unexpected and the improper, the unconventional and untraditional, the unorthodox and unceremonious‚ contrary to man's natural expectation—this is the way God usually works! "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts!" (Isa.55:8,9)
God's way up is often down, and He frequently works contrary to natural expectation, just to show He's God, and the Boss‚ and can do anything, even the impossible, regardless of the conditions!—He loves to do things contrary to the way we think He ought to do them!—And often works in a very mysterious way the wonders of His love to perform!
Many times in the Bible, the men of God even argued with the Lord‚ that that just wasn't the way to do it; but when they finally let God have His way, as He will anyhow, they found out God was right—that God's way is the best way! Praise the Lord!
So don't try to tell God how He ought to do it!—Just trust Him that He knows what He's doing!—And go God's way, no matter how crazy it may seem sometimes!
35:13 56:7 — 35:18 — 537:15 56:8 35:15 — 56:7
July 23
You are God's representative.
The only Bible the world reads is the one bound in shoe leather: You and me! They must see His miracle-working power at work in our own lives, as a genuine living sample and proof that it can happen!—Your body is the vehicle that His Spirit is travelling in and your tongue is the instrument that gives them the Truth.
But why do we have to tell them? Why doesn't the Lord just send around some ghosts and angels and let them tell them? If instead of us going down to the club one night‚ the Lord sent down a bunch of angels and ghosts, there wouldn't be any quicker way of emptying that club or anyone left to witness to!
If God had had the angels preaching the Gospel, if people hadn't accepted it right on the spot, they probably would have struck them dead or something!—Give 'em what they deserve! But instead God uses us fallible, sinful human beings just like them to reach them, because He knows we have more patience, more love and more mercy on them.—But if we were all so righteous and we didn't have any of these weaknesses‚ we couldn't help others much, we couldn't be sympathetic or compassionate if we were so self-righteous and perfect.
So can you see God's logic in taking other human beings to be His witnesses? You're the test tube to prove it works. You're His proof!
560:11 208:10 — 560:13 752:11 583:94 — 720:32 752:12
July 24
If you'll obey Him, He'll take care of you!
With those of us who really love the Lord and are doing our best to serve Him as best we know how, we know that God loves us and is doing His best to help us if we're doing our best to help Him.—God has promised it, God has promised to take care of our needs if we seek His Kingdom first. (Mat.6:33)—So if the need is there, the answer must be there too. Just look around and pray it in!—There's nothing too small for the Lord or too hard for Him. Every little thing! God's going to take care of every little detail!
Luther used to say when his wife complained that he had too many people living at their house‚ "Don't worry, dear! For every additional mouth, God will provide!"—And of course, He always does, praise His Name!—God has never ever deserted us! He has never left us without our needs! In fact, He has abundantly heaped more than our needs upon us as long as we faithfully serve Him and do His will and preach His Gospel and witness to the world His truth faithfully daily.—He will supply all our need according to His riches in glory, no matter what we need, or how many of us there are, or where we are, or who we are, as long as we're serving Him faithfully!
If we do His work, He will take care of us! He never fails! Hallelujah!—Don't you fail Him!
671:63 316B:4 — 641:43 — 659:53 — 1:73 112:1 — 641:40 — 112:1 641:41 — 695:82
July 25
Everything must be judged from the standpoint of love.
When Jesus came He abolished all other laws but love! He gave one law which fulfills all the laws of the Bible, both old and new, and that is Love!—For God and fellow man! (Mt.22:37-39)—Jesus' Law of Love frees us from the old law and is all-encompassing, all-absorbing, all fulfilling and completely above and beyond any other law. Therefore God's only law is love, and as long as something is done in love, with real unselfish‚ even sacrificial love, God's love, then it is absolutely lawful in God's eyes.
We are not judged by the old law—we are judged only by love.—How much love we have and how much we give and how much we share.—God now only judges us according to whether we have love or no love—whether we have love or hate—whether what we do is done for love, or selfishness and lack of love.—Is it doing good or is it doing evil? Are you helping or hindering?
The only rule we can go by in every case is, "Is it love? Was it done in love?"—If you know you're acting in love, then you can go ahead by faith according to God's Word and you don't need any other laws to go by, you don't need any other laws to confirm it.—You're on your own according to God's only law of love.—So love!
594:21 633:92 — 648:46 648:69 — 647:71 — 594:21 648:26 — 647:72 — 696:19 — 647:74
July 26
I will have mercy and not sacrifice." (Mt.9:13)
In other words‚ "I would rather see you have love and not just a dutiful law-keeping offering of sacrifices and duties. I'd rather you'd give love to somebody than to just be so self-righteous."
The drunks and the harlots and the publicans and the sinners came to Jesus for love and mercy‚ and He treated them tenderly, kindly and forgivingly, and gave them hope and love and strength! They didn't go to the harsh, rigid, self-righteous, unyielding‚ unforgiving, critical and condemning religious leaders, who told them to be perfect, or go to Hell! But they came to Jesus, for His love and mercy, forgiveness, encouragement and patience!
"Love throws a veil over countless sins!" But some people are so self–righteous they think they never make mistakes!—All they can see is a button off the vest, instead of the beautiful necktie—the hole instead of the doughnut!
But if you yourself realise how much you need mercy, you'll be much more merciful to others.—Remembering continually what sinners we are and how many mistakes we've made helps greatly to keep us humble and to avoid that spirit of self-righteous pride which causes us to criticise and condemn others.
"He drew a circle that shut me out. But I drew a circle that brought him in!"
647:8 58:20 50:16 — 531:10 — 50:16 606:25 — 325:11 167:71
July 27
God's Word tells us to publish the glad tidings, not the sad tidings!
Words are real things! They bless or they curse; they lift up or they knock down; they save or they damn!—Jesus commanded us to preach the Gospel, which means "good news", not bad news! We love to proclaim God's great goodnesses to us, which are so many! God's Word says that whatsoever things are of good report, think on these things! (Phil.4:8)
So count your blessings and think on the positive things! Don't look at all the negative things and trials of the Devil and doubts and fears and woes and troubles and tribulations and afflictions!—Get so full of the Spirit that all you want to do is talk about Jesus!—Get your mind off of those negative things and think about all your blessings!—Dwell on the positive, not the negative!—Speak evil of no man—even yourself!
Let's talk about Jesus! Let's talk about Love—His Love!—Let's just hear what Jesus has done—in you and through you and by you and about you and to you and with you and for you—and all about Jesus!
So help us, Lord, to be positive, help us to be encouraging, loving, faithful, cheerful‚ praising Thee, always loving Thee and loving each other. Hallelujah!
207:2 33:14 — 207:2 551:25 — 20:19 — 551:25 — 50:16 — 33:29 33:33 — 20:21 631:148
July 28
You have to have conviction, or you can't live!
And then you have to do something about your conviction, or you can't stand to live with yourself! You've got to be convinced that you're right and try to convince everybody else of the same and be willing to fight for what you believe in, or your attitude will be, "Oh, so sorry‚ please excuse me for living."
God likes whole-hearted‚ stout-hearted men! Have you got the guts to be one of these?—If you're going to serve God, for God's sake, know what you're going to believe—and serve Him no matter what anyone says!—Take a stand of faith like Martin Luther took on Salvation by Faith before the Diet of Worms. He said, "Here I stand; I can do no other." (I'm willing to die for this truth, I'm so sure of it.)
You cannot stop the man of faith. You cannot dissuade him! You cannot divert him! You cannot stop him! He'll go on with or without you, or right over you, if necessary.—He is determined to go blindly on faith alone, because he has found the truth! He is of one mind, one heart, one soul, one spirit, one purpose, and will not quit until he's made it!
God help us to be soldiers and willing to do anything for You, Lord‚ in just plain thanks for Your salvation!—We must do what we know is right, and be willing to live and to die for what we know is the truth!
66:30 — 685:28 510:56 — 12:31 — M:15 M:57 — F:13 551:103 — 238:9
July 29
One of the biggest lessons you're gonna have to learn is to wait for the Lord to work!
If you don't know what to do, stop everything! The worst thing in the world you can do is to keep on going when you don't know what to do! That was Saul's mistake and it absolutely lost him the Kingdom! Stop to look before you leap!—Don't run off on your own!—Keep in line with His blessings!
Time solves so many problems: A few minutes, a few hours, a few days‚ and we find that God has solved it without our help! Give God a chance! Give Him time! Wait on the Lord! Take time to hear from God, and He'll take the time to straighten out the problem.
When you don't know where to go, sit still! When you're driving your car through a fog and it becomes so dense you can't see, you don't just keep on driving.—You pull over to one side and wait—sit still until the fog lifts and you can see your way!—But if you think you can make decisions on your own and get along without God, watch out!—That's where you run into a stone wall! That's where you crash!
So slow it down! Stop! Look! Listen!—And wait! Trying to force the situation and push your way through just won't work!—"Be still and know that I am God, and I will soon reveal to you what you should do.—I am even now preparing the way!"
74:34 74:18 — 11:5 — 51:54 48:23 — 74:52 83:11 — 4:22 74:49,50 — 83:11
July 30
There's nothing permanent with us except God and His Love and the Family!
We're always open for changes.—Nothing has to be permanent except the Lord! Only He changes not. But we change plenty!
When we stop being open for changes, we've stopped being His Revolution and we've stopped revoluting!—He said of others: "Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God!" (Ps.55:19) So changes are sure good for us! There's no such thing as standing still! We're either going ahead or falling behind!—You cannot stand still!—And once you've started on this road, there is no turning back, or you'll turn into a pillar of salt‚ solidify and die! (Gen.19:26) "Remember Lot's wife!" (Lk.17:32)
To stay alive, everyone must have change, movement, motion—and the signs of life are principally manifested by motion and action! It's like breathing: You don't dare quit or you're dead! You don't dare stop!—So as long as we can continue to change, I have hopes that we will survive!—But if we solidify and freeze like most of the churches‚ we're doomed to a tomb like them!—Don't let it happen to you! God help us to change the things that need to be changed, and not to change the things that don't need to be changed, and especially Lord, help us to know the difference! Amen!
721:34 332B:63 — 721:34,35 332B:63 — 757:17 — 51:23 — 727:96 242:1,26 — 175:30 — 176:31 675:38
July 31
I refuse to let anyone pour God into a mold for Me!
God can break His Own rules if He wants to—in order to accomplish His purpose! Don't try to pour God into a mold and say He always has to use the same methods.—If in this last generation He wants to throw out the whole rule book and give us a whole new set of love rules to go by, God is the One Who makes the rules—not man! He threw out the whole Mosaic rule book when He started the Christian Revolution back in the times of the Apostles! The Christian era was a total change, and it totally outdated, outmoded and overthrew the whole works.
God is the God of all things, and if He wants to set up new rules for accomplishing His purposes, He is perfectly able to do it!—Our Love Revolution is like a whole new dispensation of grace. It's almost been as big a break with the past as the coming of Christ and His message was with the legalism of the past of the Mosaic era.—So as far as we're concerned, we are now liberated, totally liberated from the old outdated Mosaic moral code, if whatever we do is in love!
God is now making His Own rules, as long as it's in love! That's the new law, love! Love is now the law!—God's only law is love!
64:1 576:105 — 27:12,31 — 576:105,106 — 635:71 605:4 — 635:73 576:10
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family