Do You Think You Can Love God with All Your Heart?

Do You Think You Can Love God with All Your Heart?







Peter, the most religious and bound to the law of all the disciples kept messing up and the Lord kept loving him.






He rebuked the Lord not to go to Jerusalem and Jesus rebuked him for that.






He thought he was the greatest of all the disciples when they argued who is the greatest.






After all he was the one who walked on the water and he was the one who got the revelation that Jesus is the Messiah. Peter was sure he was the greatest of them all.






He drew his sword and almost killed the guard, but ended up cutting his ear.






He thought he loves God with all his heart, all his might and all his soul and said to Jesus “I will die for you”.






This was in a response to what Jesus had said “you will all forsake Me”.






The same night Peter denied the Lord not once; but three times and I am sure he agonized over his betrayal. Being so sure of himself and his performance, his obedience; his faithfulness, and his love to the Lord – he found himself failing to fulfill the law three times that night. Peter was crushed to realize he cannot meet the standard of the law and the first commandment.






Peter was so bound to the law of the old covenant he wanted to build three tabernacles on the mountain when he saw Jesus transfigured. One for Moses, one for Elijah and one for Jesus. The Father silenced him and rebuked him to listen to His Son.






Peter still thought the tabernacle of Moses is needed even though the glory of the ministry of death and condemnation was fading away. John the Baptist expressed it that he as the voice who represents the last prophets of the law said “I must decrease so He must increase”. But Peter thought there is still room for both Jesus and the voice of the law to be established together.






“The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17)






Did you notice that there are TWO groups in this verse? One is Moses who represents the law; and the other is Jesus who represents grace and truth.






Did you realize that the word “truth” is NOT on the side of Moses, but on the side of Jesus and grace?






The law is not of faith (Gal 3:12). This means that having a relationship with God through the law of the old covenant means there is no faith. Why? Because works can never be of faith or of grace or of truth. Self effort to bear the fruits of the Spirit like Cain is self righteousness.






Thinking that our relationship with God is based and dependant on how much we love God, do for God, obey the law, and are faithful to Him – is a shaky ground.






The Lord said to me once “Elana, if you build your relationship with Me based on how uch you love Me and are faithful to Me, you are on a shaky ground. One day you’re faithful to Me and another you’re not because things happen and you get upset”






I knew He was right. I knew I would be a hypocrite to tell Him that I love Him with all my heart, might and soul. In my frustration to be obedient to the law and do everything the law demands, and be pleasing to me because my performance is right – I already knew I blow it every day and I cannot do it. (Maybe Pharisees can do it).






“Then how do I have a relationship with You, Lord?”






“Why don’t you let Me build your relationship with Me on how much I love you? That will never be shaken. My love for you is always the same and will never change based on your performance. I will love you just the same even when you fail.”






Yes! I want that kind of relationship with You, Lord. I don’t know that one. What is this? Lord, feed me with Your fruits of love.”






This is when the Lord started revealing to me that He loves me despite of who I’m not or what I cannot. “I love you because of who I am; not because of who you are.”






Another time He said to me “Elana, it;s not about who you’re not. It’s because of who I am.”






He said to me that He never said to Adam and Eve to BEAR FRUIT in the garden. He told them to EAT His fruits in the garden. All He wanted is to feed them with His fruits of Love and with His heart and love for them. “Just come and taste My love for you.” It’s like parents who are so excited with their new born child and all they do is shower love on him.






But I was taught in religion that as a follower of Jesus I need to bear fruits and the focus of my walk with God ever since I received Jesus into my heart was ‘how to bear good fruits so I can be a good example and show my love and respect to God.’






I am not saying we are not to bear good fruits. It’s the “HOW WE BEAR THESE FRUITS” that I am focusing on. I was taught ‘self effort fruits. As a new believer and a baby in the Lord all I needed was to eat His love, know His love ad His heart for me. I needed to know His acceptance, reconciliation, dedication, care, kindness, goodness and depth of His heart for me. Can a baby grow up without being shown love, eating good nutrition and experiencing daily close love?






Actually, I remember we had learned in my Psychology classes that babies who are not touched and loved either die or grow up emotionally and mentally under developed.






The Lord started showing me that before we bear any fruit we need to EAT His fruits of love first: kindness, gentleness, goodness, peace,, joy, passion etc. Then we will become what we eat.






The same way Adam and Eve became what they ate – accusers; we can become what we eat from God – lovers.






There is no way man can try and bear fruits of love by his own effort as Cain has done. God rejected him and his self effort fruits (works of his own hands). Fruits of behavior modification are rooted in SELF and have no roots. They are temporary and a result of suppressing emotions, thoughts, feelings to show ourselves approved.






We need to let God reveal His love for us first and in abundance…….. and then we will bear love.






You see, loving one another begins with letting God love you and reveal His love for you.






When the apostles said “we have come to know and believe the love God has for us” They meant it. They ate and enjoyed and experienced God’s love for them.






Good fruits do not come in a day. Even a fruit tree in the natural begins to bear fruits after several years of its growing.






Abraham and Sarah had no fruit of love. It took them 40 years from the time God said to Abraham he was right with Him to bear fruit.






Abraham who came from Babylon which is a place of Harlotry (Babylon the great harlot) though he could love God with all his heart and was about to sacrifice his own son on the alter when God told him to do so. The knife was in his hand and he was really going to sacrifice his only son for God……….. when God showed up and renewed his mind big time. “Hey Abraham, it's Me who loves you with all My heart. Sacrifices and burnt offerings I did not desire. I am the One who sacrificed My Son for you. Rest in how much I love you”. Abraham rejoiced when He saw Jesus as his sacrifice for sin.






I am sure his joy was tremendous when he not only got his beloved son back; but he realized his walk with God is not based on how much he does for God or sacrifices for Him.






Peter thought he could love God with all his heart and even die for God (Jesus I will die for you). Until he got it when Jesus told him after He had resurrected:






“Peter, do you love Me God’s love?”






“Lord, I love You human love”. And again………






“Peter, do you love Me God’s love?”






“Lord, you know; I love You human love”. And again……..






“Peter, do you love Me God’s love?” Meaning, “Do you love Me the way I love you, Peter?”






Peter was crying because he got it and realized, there is no way he could love God with all his hear, might and soul.






“Lord, I love You human love”.






It’s as if the Lord was saying to Peter: Peter, it’s not about how much you love Me. I already know you are human and will never be able to fulfill the law. I came to fulfill it for you and also show you how much I love you. It’s Me Me who loves you with all My heart. I am the One who died for you. I am the one who sacrificed My life for you. Can you rest in My finished works and let Me love you?”






It always amazes me how the Lord chose messed up Peter to be the one who would feed His sheep and take care of them.






It makes sense that John the beloved or any other will be the one to shepherd God’s flock. But the Lord chose the one who had experience in failing to fulfill the law. He even told Peter right before he was sifted “when you are converted strengthen your brothers.” Jesus made sure Peter is established on His righteousness; and not on the self righteousness of the law by man’s good performance and love for God.






Jesus qualified the most messed one who drew a sword and cut the ear of the guard a few night before. It’s as if he would use a gun today to shoot someone intending to kill.






Can you imagine having pastors who are messed up and not perfect in their performance and it’s Jesus who chose them? I can’t imagine what the others must have felt when they heard Jesus tell Peter “feed My sheep” three times. They must have thought there was a mistake. But no. No mistake.






Moses murdered, David murdered and committed adultery; Paul murdered and persecuted the believers in Jesus; Abraham lied, Jacob stole his brother’s blessings by assuming a false identity, Solomon married many wives and turned after their gods, Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and had a baby with her father in law, Rehab was a prostitute; Ruth was a gentile and rejected by the law – and the Messiah came from these three women. And on and on.






God, did You get it wrong? Is this a joke?






God never qualifies us by our performance and because of our skills, titles, credentials, status or life experiences.






He qualified the blood of Jesus only. He shed His blood (life) for our sins, took the punishment we deserved, perfected us and made us right before God. All this and much more apart from our performance and good behaviour.






2Co 3:4-6 NASB ”Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. (5) Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, (6) who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”






Let God love you and in time you will be able to bear good fruits. Be established and firmly rooted on His love for you and you will grow in faith. Why? Because faith is all about believing that God loves you.






God does not love you when you are good and then stops loving you when you fail. He is love and He loves you all the time. He even pours out abundance of grace when we fail because it’s who He is.






1Jn 4:15-19 NASB Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. (16) We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (17) By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. (18) There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. (19) We love, because He first loved us.






You see, God’s love will give you confidence when there is judgment. Let His love be perfected in you and you enjoy His fruits of love in abundance. All you need to do is ask Him.






Love,






Elana Polinger

What makes man fall from Grace and from Christ?

 

What makes man fall from Grace and from Christ?

 

By Elana Polinger on Thursday, December 2, 2010 at 2:24pm

 

 

If you ask any follower of Jesus "What makes people fall from grace? Most of them say "Sin".

 

But is this what the Bible teaches?

 

God has dealt with sin on the cross once and for all by becoming our sin sacrifice. The sin/debt account with charges against us were canceled, taken out of the way and nailed to the cross. The sin of our entire life was cast to the depth of the sea.

 

Do you think God is going to dive into the depth of the sea to show you what's wrong with you?

 

Isn't God love?

Love is kind and gentle and it keeps NO ACCOUNT of what's wrong with you.

Did He mean it when He said "as far as the east is from the west He cast all our sins?

Did He mean it when He said He will remember our sins no more?

If God still remembers sin, who can stand?

 

God, if you keep an account of sins who can stand?

 

Psa 130:3 NASB If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

 

Psa 130:3 אם־עונות תשׁמר־יה אדני מי יעמד׃

 

 

 

Sin can no longer separate us from God because it was taken away, not just covered as in the old covenant.

   

Jesus died to blot out all our sins, to cancel the certificate of debt with charges against us, so we will be free from judgment and accusations against us.

So all the sins of our entire life have been paid for in full, blotted out, and erased.

   

Col 2:13-14 NASB When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, (14) having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  

 

 

 

1. God's forgiveness is complete and it results in the complete removal; blotting out and erasing of all sins; and any separation, division and alienation between God and man.
2. Forgiveness restores completely the relationship which existed prior to the sin.

 

 

The total removal of our sin as a result of God's Divine forgiveness is expressed in His Word:

 

• "I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more" (Jer_31:34);
• "I, even I, am He that blots out your transgressions" (Isa_43:25);
• "You have cast all my sins behind Your back" (Isa_38:17);
• "You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea" (Mic_7:19);
• "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us" (Psa_103:12).

 

 

It's not sin that makes people be separated from Christ or fall from grace. Look what the bible says about it:

   

Gal 5:4 "You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified (righteous) by law; you have fallen from grace."

   

• It's by self righteousness that we fall out of grace and separated from Christ.
• It's by thinking and believing "only if I perform right I am right with God"
• It's by believing "my right standing with God depends on me and how I behave"
• It's trying to be right with God (justified) by works that makes people fall from grace.

   

The only reason we were justified (made righteous) is the works of Christ and His righteousness - not of our own. Man's righteousness is as a filthy rag and has nothing to justify himself before God.

If we can boast before God for our performance and think by the works of the law we are righteous - there is no more grace; but works. 

   

It's through one act of righteousness Jesus worked we were justified. Nothing we have done or can ever do to be right with God by our own effort.

   

Rom 5:18-19 NASB "So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. (19) For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous."

   

 

It's through Jesus obedience, not your own, that you are right with God.

Adam produced man with an identity of "Sinners"

Jesus produced sons with the new identity of "Righteous".

You cannot be in first Adam anymore because his sons are Sinners.

You are in the new Adam and a new creation in Him and His sons are as He is - Righteous.

As He is, so you are in this world.

   

Come out from first Adam, come out of religion and the old covenant that declares people sinners.

 

The teachings and preachings of the law will always speak a voice "you're not good enough"; "you're not meeting the standard of the law"

 

Let me share with you that our righteousness which was given to us as a gift and not by our works means in the Greek. Righteous n Greek means: "meeting the demands of God; meeting the demands of the law".

 

G1342 δίκαιος dikaios

Thayer Definition:

1) righteous, observing divine laws

1a) in a wide sense, upright, righteous, virtuous, keeping the commands of God

1a2) innocent, faultless, guiltless

1a3) used of him whose way of thinking, feeling, and acting is wholly conformed to the will of God, and who therefore needs no rectification in the heart or life

1a4) approved of, acceptable of God

 

Don't read this definiton of your new identity with God as "Righteous" and think…

"Mmmmm but I don't have my thoughts right, feelings right, and I don't act according to the will of god……… so I'm not righteous"

 

No, no!

 

You ARE righteous because Jesus is righteous. In and of yourself there is nothing in your old nature that is right. The good news is - your are righteous APART from anything you have done right. You are righteous by faith – by believing in Jesus. It's no longer YOU who lives but Christ the Righteous one living in you. Therefore, as He is so you are in this world – Righteous, holy, blameless, beautiful, not guilty, accepted, desired, beloved. And it's all because of Jesus works – not yours.

It's by grace not by your performance.

 

Since Jesus fulfilled the entire law, took away ALL your sins of your entire life and made you right with God – you ARE righteous apart from your good deeds, works, behavior, obedience, faithfulness, love to the Lord. If your relationship with God is based on your works – how faithful you are towards Him, how much you love Him with all your heart, obedient to the law, behaving right – you are on a shaky ground.

 

Righteousness was imputed to you as a gift - a gift is received; not based on conditions, paying for it, or working for it.

 

Because of your righteousness Jesus resurrected. Meaning the resurrection is the evidence that you ARE right with God. It's an everlasting righteousness, not temporary on how well you behave.

 

Rom 4:25 NASB He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.

(righteousness)

 

Dan 9:24 NASB "Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.

 

 

Come out from under the law trying to fulfill it and by your performance be right with God - when Jesus fulfilled it for you with all the demands and requirements of the law. The law is not of faith:

 

Gal 3:12 NASB However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM."

 

God never meant for His people to live by the standard of the law. He knew no man can fulfill it or live by it. This is why He sent the Messiah to save us from the decree of death over us since we've all broke the law. The law wan meant to get us to the end of ourselves realizing we cannot fulfill it – so we can turn to Christ and put our trust in Him who fulfilled it for us and made us right with God because of His obedience and one act of righteousness.

 

Eze 20:25 NASB "I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live;

 

We are ministers of the New Covenant, not the old which was found to be with faults.

   

Heb 8:6-8 NASB But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. (7) For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. (8) For finding fault with them, He says, "BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH;

   

Live under the new covenant because the glory of the ministry of condemnation and death is fading away.

   

2Co 3:5-6 NASB Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, (6) who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

 

 

 

Much love

   

Elana