Authentic Love

[doinghiswill]

Authentic Love



Within my own being there is this desire for full on surrender to Christ. There is this longing to give the whole life to him and to do like he did in loving. I’ve found all about the body of Christ a mean spiritedness that as days go by I find baffling.
I know that Jesus is the final destination and that his desire is for us to be with him in will and deed. I understand that much of what we are waiting for heaven to receive can be had now (for the glory of God) and lived out in these last days.

Php 2:1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
Php 2:2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Php 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Verses Like this seem to be of great importance to me here lately. The need to love in the real for me has seemed to lead me into something new in Christ. By new I mean that it has always been there in the bible but I never thought about how it applies to me. I want to apply it to anybody but me.
The need to show Gods love in a real way has escaped a great many of us I think. We are way caught up in our agenda’s to look and see if Gods love is abiding in us.

Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
I believe that Gods love in its fullness can and should be abiding in the Body of Christ in these last days.

 

[Timf]

I’ve found all about the body of Christ a mean spiritedness that as days go by I find baffling.

There are two possibilities for a mean spirited Christian. The first is that he is not a Christian. The second is that he is a carnal (fleshly) Christian. Jesus encountered some of these same type of people. We have an abundant description of the Pharisees from which we get a lot of insight into carnal religiousity. However, even in this group, not all were lost. Consider Nicodemus who was fearful of what the other Pharasees would think and came to Jesus at night. However, he still came. He wanted to know the truth and was drawn to Jesus who is truth.

After 2,000 years the Jews had turned the worship of God into a elite club and a type of racket. After 2,000 years Christians have turned their churches into systems well suited to be appropriated by Satan so that they can be used for his purposes. Consider the number of inner city churches taken over by homosexuals and secularists and have for funding all of the money that was given to those churches 100 years ago when they were attended by Christians.

It looks like Satan is being allowed to prepare the world to be enslaved with interlocking collectives. It is beginning to look like setting Christianity up as an organizational system may not have been the best choice.

As the darkness quickly approaches, I do not think you will find the warm and welcoming fellowship in "Christian" groups that you hope for. Most "Christian" groups have been drawn along after the doctrines of demons that the Bible mentions. You will probably not find any "Christian" group that has been able to resist infestation of at least some of these doctrines. As a result, your fellowship will have to be with the occasional Christian individuals you meet.

Even churches that have better doctrine than most are being drawn after the world. Because Satan has attacked people with how they live not with some theological teaching that most people ignore anyway. For example, a church may go so far as to teach against abortion. They feel that this courageous stand insures that they are being faithful to the Lord. They will not even consider mentioning that oral contraceptives allow ovulation 25-35% of the time. They will not mention it because they would find that most of their congregation would revolt at the implication that they are conducting the very abortions they take a stand against. A real Christian has to stand for truth even when churches that think they are faithful to truth cannot consider speaking against what is popular.

A carnal Christian is one who has drifted away from his Lord. He cannot show much of the fruit of the Spirit in his life because he has quenched the Spirit. The same is true for collectives of "Christians". The "mean spiritedness" you mention is just a measure of the distance from the Lord. It is our worship of our own comfort rather than the truth of the Lord that has put a distance between us and our Savior. If you make everyone feel good, you follow the peace of the world (which is compromise) and are drawn even further away. If you stand for truth, you will find many who hate you and accuse you of dissention and disturbing "peace".

Just like at the time of Jesus, institutional religion is being administered by those whose faith is doubtful and show increasing animosity to those who would follow their Savior. I consider it a waste of time to try to fix failing systems or promote an alternative system. All we can do is seek the leading of our Lord and walk by the power of His Spirit so that we can hold high the light of His truth and love. Those, like Nicodemus, who are still drawn to the light of truth we might be able to minister to until the end comes.

In a way, these failing systems are a way of forcing those who would follow Jesus to seek each other out and minister to each other as individuals as we were intended to.

 

[Innkeeper-Ministry]

I am a 1%ter - yes new word. I actually see less but 1% will have to do for this conversation. My wife and I have been doing home church ministry for over 11 years. The ministry is called Innkeeper Ministry. Not a plug just a reality. Since we started we have had ZERO interest in anyone coming to hear the Words of Life from Scriptures. Many times has frustration grasped my heart. Many times have I considered closing up the ministry and rejecting who God has ordained me and my wife to be for the very reasons stated in the first post. I have asked many times 'why should I bother since no one gives a crap?' Yet the same answer comes to my heart 'Because I did'!

Authentic love is in EVERY TRUE BELIEVER! However as you are seeing, not many true believers. Jesus said 'FEW there be that find the narrow path" , so few means few. I will in no way say WE are the only ones who know truth. However I desire to have fellowship with other likeminded souls - so where are they? No wonder the lost stay lost because the church is just a bunch of religious people making rules that don't apply and have no accountability for their own actions that contradict the nature of Christ. Do I sound angry? GOOD! Because I am. I don't expect sloppy agape I want real commitment to the body. You may not like me but you must love me. You may not agree with me but you can't reject me. I have very hard and ugly feet. They hurt all the time. They look like something found on another planet. Do I chop them off and discard them? NO! Why? Because my feet are part of the body. I could live without the feet. I just wont be doing as I was designed to do. Likewise when you see a part of the body that is not pretty or nice or kind. You can not just toss them aside as if they don't matter. They do. Look folks - we are all fools. We all do stupid very well. Is sad that we accept and understand our weakness but when it comes to others we tend to throw then out as if I have no need of them. SELAH!

 

[JoJo]

My wife and I have been doing home church ministry for over 11 years. The ministry is called Innkeeper Ministry. Not a plug just a reality. Since we started we have had ZERO interest in anyone coming to hear the Words of Life from Scriptures. Many times has frustration grasped my heart. Many times have I considered closing up the ministry and rejecting who God has ordained me and my wife to be for the very reasons stated in the first post. I have asked many times 'why should I bother since no one gives a crap?' Yet the same answer comes to my heart 'Because I did'!

Perhaps Jonah felt a similar frustration when God asked him to preach to Nineveh. Keep up the good work!