The selfishness that occurs due to our weak knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is caused by a lack of communication with God. We may say that we pray every day, but my beloved, what are we praying for? Are we praying for the truth of God to be revealed in us so we can preach the word of God throughout the world? Or are we praying to worldly satisfaction? Do we want people to do everything the way we want it done because we are the perfect Christians? I say assuredly, when we continue to pray to God for something He does not want to give us, He eventually may allow us to obtain it, but it will also come with the consequences of why God didn’t want to grant that prayer request. Let us not blame the Lord for our selfishness.

This denomination outburst is incredible. We have become so divided in order to have a higher place so in this world to say we are doing the will of God. The commandments of Jesus Christ were to “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39) Our selfishness causes us to be divided; we are unwilling to accept one another. We are so stiff-necked and hard-hearted. We all want the Word to conform to our lives and to be shaped around our selfish nature. We must shape our lives around the Word of God so it can mold us into His perfect image.

I have seen so many denominations of Christianity that will not even listen, let alone acknowledge another denomination because they do not do the same things or follow the same rituals that they do. We all want to have people convert to our denomination by teaching why our denomination is better than all the other ones, but where is the Word of God? Where is the encouragement to love brothers and sisters and to tend to the lost sheep? Yet we keep statistics of how many converts we make, and how many members we have, how much money we raise, building projects, and all this worldly information so we may boast. This information is not for the Lord because He already knows! Why does it matter how many members a church has or how many people converted?

Speaking to a Catholic relative the other day, she told me the Catholic Church is the ONLY church because it is the “universal” church and is the church that Simon Peter established. I say assuredly, the ONLY church is the Church that the Lord Jesus Christ established. That is the universal church. What we label a church is not what makes it the Church of Christ, it is what our spirits put into it and what our spirits get out of it that makes it the church. Whether we are Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, or any other denomination of Christianity, we are ALL baptized by the SAME Holy Spirit and none of us is any different from the other. To be a Christian, we must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If we do not trust Him, rely upon Him, cling onto Him, knowing that He died for our sins, but rose again on the third day by the power of God the Father, and have the assurance of salvation, that we will be with Him in eternity, we are not yet a true Christian. We are just going along with the label. Whatever denomination we claim, the ONLY thing that truly matters is that we preach the Word of God and we live accordingly to the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ. Assuredly, if we want to stand to worship, sit to worship, wear earrings or not wear earrings, hats or not hats, sneakers or shoes, and the list can go on and on, do it for the glory of God. Just love the Lord and praise God for giving us life! Don’t let petty rituals and religion get in the way of the loving relationship we have with our Savior, our Comforter, our Friend, our Protector, our Provider, our Messiah, our Christ, our Lord, OUR GOD!!!

In Romans 14:1 the apostle Paul writes “As FOR the man who is a weak believer, welcome him [into your fellowship], but not to criticize his opinions or pass judgment on his scruples or perplex him with discussions.” (Amplified Bible)

Who are we to say a person is a weak believer and tell them how they serve the Lord is wrong? Let the Lord guide them as we unite with them in fellowship. Let us not cause brothers and sisters to fall because we do not agree with their methods. The way they serve may bring them closer to God the same way we serve brings us closer to God. If the way we serve doesn’t bring us closer to God, maybe we are really the weak believer and should be the one asking for their guidance.

I actually have an answer to the opening question “how to be a perfect Christian?” The answer is simple. The Lord Jesus Christ answered it to for us two thousand years ago. If someone disagrees, you are not disagreeing with me because I didn’t say it; I’m just quoting my Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. The answer is to love God with your all and ask Him to let the Holy Spirit guide us. Once we have truly opened our hearts and accepted the Holy Spirit, it will unite us with our brothers and sisters covered by the blood of Jesus Christ regardless of which denomination of Christianity we belong to. Let the labels not divide us, but let Christ unite us! We shall speak out on what is against the will of God, provide support for the body of Christ, helping each other grow in truth accepting each other’s differences, so in all ways we can glorify Christ, our Savior and King.

With the certainty that Jesus gives us, and the love that He has for us, those who truly believe and completely trust in Him have no limitations to sharing the gospel. Many people reject it, but some do accept Christ into their lives after hearing the love that Christ has for them. As Paul expresses he becomes all things to all men with the hope of winning a few for Christ Jesus. At times, we will be persecuted, ridiculed, even attempts to hurt us because we share the love of Christ to the world. Let us share the same assurance and confidence that Paul has in Christ and live without fear or limitations. It is a beautiful love story how Christ died for our sins while we were still sinning; we should be honored to live without limitations, even including death, for His name, His life, and for the fact that He still lives today!

One thing is for sure, all though we once were blind as well, all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and have a personal, intimate relationship with him, we are now able to see. No matter what people say against Christ, with various methods to make Him seem that all He has done is not true, or the Bible full of errors amazes me by the amount of ignorance possessed by ‘man‘. We are so quick to accept a history book with information (which constantly proves what the Bible said thousands of years ago), but we reject the true History book that tells us about all creation. It amazes me how the book that is not a history book has so much history in it, and a book that is a history book has barely any history in it. Regardless of the fact, we once were blind and followed the ways of the world. Christ Jesus provided us the Light that our spiritual eyes needed so they may be opened, our chains of slavery to sin sin broken, and our lives to have been healed. No matter what people say, let us be convinced and persuaded, that we will not be separated from the love we have in Christ. Neither death or life can severe, heights or depths can measure the amount of love Christ has for us and the love we have for him. Amen.

There is a difference being weak in spirit and going against the Spirit. When we are weak in spirit, we allow the Holy Spirit to begin to be a light to our path, and although we may stumble as toddlers in the faith, we are striving to build up strong spiritual legs. As time passes, we become strengthened as long as we humble ourselves. However, if we blatantly go against the Holy Spirit, how can we honestly say we love God? The way we dress and carry ourselves which bring lustful or deceitful thoughts to those who witness us, or the profane words that come from our mouths that preach hate, envy, greed and more are the same mouths and bodies that say they love God. Acts 5:1-9 speaks on lying to the Holy Spirit and how the lives of Ananias and his wife were taken in an instance. Let us pray for those who are constantly lying to the Lord our God their eyes be opened and realize that God knows all things. He is giving an opportunity to repent and turn from our lying wicked ways. Love has no measure so take the time to look at yourself in the spiritual mirror and ask the question: “Do I really love God?” If the answer is yes, let’s obey His commands. God bless!

15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”

We all know that Jesus asked Simon Peter three times if He loved Him to restore Peter after His denial of Christ when He was arrested the night of His betrayal. Let us focus on the first time the Lord asked Peter if he loved Him. He asked “do you love me more than these?” In our lives, Jesus asks us the same thing. Look around at all the things and people that we have here on earth, and ask ourselves how much do we value them. Do we value our cars, houses, jewelry, jobs, money, wives, husbands, children, parents and anything else imaginable more than Christ, the risen Lord, King, and Savior who died for and with our sins, took them far away, and resurrected back to Heaven to be with the Father? We must be careful not to let the fruits of this world blind us from what is important. It is nice to have “stuff,” but it is LIFE to have Christ who redeems us and makes us righteous before of the Father.

May the Lord bless you now and forever more and give you life, life more abundantly.

¹⁴You are My friends if you keep on doing the things which I command you to do.

¹⁵I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. [I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.]

We are never alone. If you have ever felt that this world has left you out or left you behind because of the fast pace it moves at, remember that Jesus calls us His friend. This is a friendship far greater and far more worthy than any friendship we can ever experience on earth. Never doubt God’s love for us. He tells us exactly how much He loves us in John 3:16. Then Jesus tells us exactly how much He loves us in John 15:9. Then He shows us how much He loves us by dying on the cross. As Jesus said, there is no greater love than someone who would lay down His life for His friends. He laid down His life on the cross for us, and in turn, that makes Him our friend!

We have never truly loved someone until Jesus comes into our lives through His Holy Spirit, reformats our mind, body, heart and soul, and teaches us how to truly love another as He loved and continues to love us. We often take the phrase “I love you” for granted, but deep in our hearts, it is only the first part of what we really mean. What we really mean is “I love you up to this point” or “I love you because…(and there are many ways we can finish this statement)” However, with Jesus as our guide, we will love each other because He is love. He instills inside of us unconditional (Agape) love. We understand that we are not perfect to each other, but the love of Jesus is the glue that keeps us together. We can say we love someone, but we will never know how much we do until that love is tested in unforeseen circumstances. Assuredly, the love we possess for one another will truly reveal itself as the love of Christ was revealed on the cross.

Our prayer on love is a simple one, “Lord, teach me how to love as You love me.” As Jesus said to the disciples, whatever you ask in My name to the Father, it shall be given.

Relationships in families, marriages, friendships and so much more can be ruined with lack of forgiveness. Forgiveness is one of the key elements in life. Being that NOBODY is perfect, when you make a mistake, you expect to be forgiven, so why must you be unforgiving?   After all, Jesus was crucified on a cross to forgive us of our sins so we can live eternally; so how can we not forgive others? Can we really say a person has caused us more pain than the pain Jesus went through for our sins?

Matthew 18:21-22 reads ²¹ Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Jesus will forgive us as many times as it takes to get it right! As hurt as you may be, we must be forgiving, compassionate, loving, and accepting of the faults and flaws of the people we love. It is what strengthens us in Christ. Holding a grudge hurts you more than the person who has wronged you.

So many relationships suffer because both parties are unwilling to accept the fact that humans make mistakes. Instead of working through the rough times, they abandon the ship and dwell on the pain instead of aspiring to work together and progress.

In my line of work, there is something called regression testing. That is when you go back to check if the prior mistakes have been corrected. This should not apply to relationships.  One of the worst things to do is bring up prior incidents and situations. That is not really forgiveness. That is just collecting leverage to use against a person when future mistakes are made.

Pure forgiveness is acknowledging that although something has occurred, it will NOT tear our relationship apart. We can talk through it, and work together to leave it behind us. Nothing is too big to accomplish through Christ.

I am not saying to allow yourself to be a doormat and have people walk all over you; you must carry your faith strongly. However, you must remember that we all fall, and just as Jesus was there to extend his hands to save the disciples on drowning, He will reach out His hands to pick us up when we fall down; you must be willing to do the same for the people you love.

If we walk with compassion, understanding, love, and forgiveness, none being greater than the other, then we can be that brightly shining light in the lives of others that allows them to know we are all human, and you will be there for them to love and forgive them just as our Savior is there to do the same for us.