Revelation 22:17

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

Encouraging Words

Even at the end of the great apocalypse of time as called out in the book of Revelation, all are called upon to “Come!” to Jesus, to come and take of the water of life freely. Glory be to God!

Revelation 21:3-4

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Encouraging Words

This is the culmination of the faith the we, the followers of Christ, have in our lives. Faith that there will be a day when our Lord Jesus Christ will return and physically dwell amongst us. The fulfillment of this promise began when Jesus became God incarnate and set in motion the new covenant between us and God. He destroyed the bondage that death had on us and gave us the Holy Spirit, the Intercessor to dwell within us until His return. Our hope in Him and our faith is in the promise that He will return establishing a kingdom where there will be no more tears, death, sorrow, crying, or pain. Glory be to God!

Revelation 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

Encouraging Words

Regardless of what anyone believes or teaches about God being an angry and judgmental God, they are wrong. God is love. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has proclaimed that God so loved the world that He gave up His only son to save the world from eternal death. Jesus, himself, proclaims that He is standing at the door of hearts, knocking and waiting for us to answer and let Him in so that we can dine with Him at His eternal table of life. This is love, God’s love. Glory be to God!

2 John 1:6

This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.

Personal Challenge

So! What are these commandments that we are expected to walk according to? They are to love God with all of our heart, soul, and spirit and to love our neighbor as ourself. The essence of God is love. This love comes to us in the form of mercy and grace. God redeems us through His son out of love. He forgives our sins out of love. He gives us eternal life out of love. If we desire to serve Him and be like His Son, we must walk in Him and love. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

1 John 5:10-12

He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Encouraging Words

What is life? I have often heard that life boils down to the dash between two numbers. It is indeed much more than that. It is what we do within the span of that dash. The most important thing that we can do in that span is to give our lives over to God through His Son. By doing this, we experience the true gift of life that extends that dash through the eternity that follows. We become children of God, eternally in His family. That is truly life. Glory be to God!

1 John 4:20

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

Personal Challenge

The scriptures are very clear, if we say that we love God and yet spurn those around us in a spirit of hatred, then our proclamation of loving God is a lie. This problem is so prevalent in both our society and our churches today. There are those who side with their political party, viscerally hating the people that side with the other party, and yet they profess to be Christians. There are those who disagree with the choices of others that conflict with their own choices, especially in areas of sexuality, race, abortion, and a myriad of other social issues, who end up hating the offenders, and yet they profess to be Christians. These professing Christians end up as liars in God’s eyes. It is clearly our responsibility, our obligation, if we are followers of Christ, to love everyone, no matter what their choices are. We are not to agree with their choices, if they are contrary to God’s desire for us, but we are to still love the person as God loves us. This is indeed a difficult challenge to overcome, but one that God promises to see us through. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

1 John 4:10-12

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

Personal Challenge

We have such a misconstrued understanding of love in our culture today.. We love our spouse and children and yet at the same time we love our pet, our favorite sport team, or a myriad of other things with the same fervor. The scriptures try to teach us that godly love far surpasses any of the temporal love that we are so familiar with. Deeper studies into the Greek that the new testament scriptures were written in reveals that there were multiple words used for love: philia, agape, eros, and storge. To understand the scriptural teachings on love and how to live a godly life of love, we must understand this. God has shown us His agape love for us and expects us to do the same to those in our lives. It is only through doing this that we will see God abiding in us. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!