Love Preserves!

“Love the LORD, all his faithful people! The LORD preserves those who are true to him, but the proud he pays back in full.”(Psalm 31:24 NIV)

God is love and love is of God, if we do not love, we do not know God. When we love, we preserve relationships–keep them from failing or falling apart and keeps us from thinking about harming others or dishonoring God. His love–saves us from ourselves and preserves us unto the day of His coming where we will know our final disposition with Him.

This is what The Lord does for those who are faithful to Him.

But the proud–those who determine, they do not need to know Him, honor Him, or obey Him–those He pays back in full, by allowing them to go their own way and suffer the consequences of their choices.

Salt is a natural preservative–used in keeping foods fresher longer, especially canned goods and in earlier times, used to preserve meats.

Love is a spiritual preservative--used in keeping loved ones safe and protected, especially in families and since we are in The Family–with God The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are safe and protected from the wiles of the enemy, who wants us destroyed.

Think about the love shown towards us as we celebrate this season–love that determined our final destiny by the decision He made to come down in the likeness of sinful flesh, yet did not sin, and took upon Himself–sin, so we might be saved. That’s preserving power of Love!

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The Promise of Authority!

“To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end, To them I will give authority over all the nations.” (Revelation 2:26 NLT)

While in the spirit, John received the messages from Jesus to share with the churches–specifically named then–but to include all that exist, now!

With this particular segment, many have erroneously concluded and proclaimed that “Jezebel was a harlot” and in doing so, made every female who wore make-up or attempted to “look better” feel inferior when attending church. What must be understood is that “Jezebel” is a spirit of manipulation and deception. This spirit then can and does inhabit both male and female and it has nothing to do with what person does to “look better” but everything to do with their seductive, manipulative  attitudes.

Why then does Jesus call this spirit–she? This is a reminder of who she was and what she did as recorded in the Old Testament. She manipulated her husband, sought to kill Elijah (I Kings) who killed the false prophets that she had established to deceive the people and was later killed because she would not repent, and scorned God. The dogs licked her blood against the wall in Jezreel.

Are there not still false prophets–people who are intentionally deceiving the nations and manipulating God’s Truth, encouraging others to live in opposition to God’s Word? Yes, there are and God’s response is that He will cut them off so that not one–not even the descendants of such behavior–shall live.

All who have an ear to hear what the Spirit of The Lord says, hear and obey! Repent and turn from wickedness!

But for those who remain faithful to God, victorious in obedience, to them will He give authority over nations! Hallelujah! This is the promise of authority that we can look forward to receiving when we “stay in The Word” and faithful in our obedience to Him, not man! What a mighty God we serve!

Faithful!

The Lord is faithful in everything He does and in what He has said to us through His Word and when He speaks to us privately. Are we as faithful (reliable and trustworthy, thorough in the performance of duty) to Him as He is to us?

Some people work at being faithful to spouses–when it is convenient for them to do so.  When one determines that being faithful is too much work, people stray and marriage vows develop wings and fly.

Some people begin a new job by being faithful–for the first ninety days--and then they complain and find all manner of things wrong with the company to whom they said, “I want some of your money,” when they applied for the job.  When the job is terminated because of their lack of faithfulness, they stand, stunned, unable to comprehend what happened.

Then there are the people who cannot be faithful to their children–love, nurture, guide–past the time they cease to become “cute” (potty training time). They abuse, abandon and misuse their children and then wonder why their children are disobedient and disrespectful towards them.

Some friends are more faithful to each other than they are to a spouse, a job, or a child, but that friendship is totally reliant upon a reciprocal relationship.  The minute one can’t do for the other, the friendship ends.

In the political arena, the only faithfulness we see is to whoever has the most money and can do the most for someone else. There is no faithfulness to the people who put politicians in office; if there was–all decisions in government would be for the benefit of all the people, not special interest groups.

We sometimes expect God to be our personal magician as a demonstration of His faithfulness towards us, but are we faithful to Him? Are we in constant communication with Him? Are we loving one another as ourselves? Are we obedient to Him and doing what He asks us to do?

If God’s faithfulness towards us was the same as ours towards each other and Him, where would we be?

 

Lord, thank You for Your faithfulness! Create in us a desire to be as faithful to You as You are to us and never deter from our allegiance to You. In Jesus’ name we pray and thank You, Amen!