“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16; KJV).

We associate this scripture with Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, paying the penalty for our sins. But it is also important to remember that Jesus came to this earth born of a woman under the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). He is not a distant deity that cannot identify with our earthly, fleshly, struggles. He surrendered his deity to become a man on earth with flesh and blood just like us (Heb 2:14). The word says he had to made like us so that he could minister to us in our earthly state (Heb 2:17). He was tempted in every way but without sin (Heb 2:18; Heb 4:15). To minister on this earth, he had to be filled with Holy Spirit, just like us (Luke 3:22).

Isn’t it encouraging that Jesus knows what we go though in our lives; He knows our struggles, God is quick to forgive (1 John 1:9) and is always there to help. He calls us to be holy, godly and perfect as God is perfect (1 Peter 1:16; 1 Tim 6:11; Matt 5:48). This may seem a tall order to keep. However, he gave us his word to guide and enable us and the power of the Holy Spirit to reveal his word to us and to achieve that perfection (John 14:26). He never left us alone, he is always with us and in us and nothing will ever separate us from his love (Rom 8:39). Remember, not even Paul the apostle claimed perfection (Phil 3:12); it is a process of growth that we will still be involved in to the day we depart this earth. Be encouraged today, we can do all things though Christ who strengthens us (Phil 4:13).

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I was reading in the book of Numbers, chapters 22-24 about Balaam. Balak, king of Moab, wanted Balaam to curse Israel for him so Balak could defeat Israel in battle. Balaam was allowed to go with Balak’s emissaries but God was not pleased as Balaam’s motives were suspect; Balaam probably had his eye on a reward from Balak. As Balaam was riding his donkey an angel of the Lord opposed them but only the donkey saw the angel at first. The angel warned Balaam that his ways were perverse and told him only to speak what the Lord required.

Balaam went on to obey God and bless Israel as directed by God and prophesied against Moab and its allies. Balaam’s motives and character were suspect initially, he was spiritually less perceptive than his donkey. Once admonished, he acted as God’s prophet, rejected the bribe offered him and delivered God’s word in obedience to the Father (“All that the Lord speaketh, that I must do”; Deut 23:26; KJV).

So, what does this say to us today? We must walk in fear of God, in obedience and with pure motives. Even though we may displease people, we must only allow what God approves to come out of our mouths. Wow, Balaam got a talking to but he came through in the end. When we read these stories, we should always take away with us the message God is trying to convey to us today.

Be Obedient, It's as Simple as that.

There are always so many areas in our lives that we feel a need for God to change. Often, we get frustrated with our lack of progress. It is easy to want to try to do the changing ourselves, with our own effort but this does not work. We need to cooperate with God and allow him to do the doing.

So, what do we do? Well the word says the only work we need to do is to believe (John 6:29), to have faith; without faith we cannot please God (Heb 11:6). How does faith come? Well, we all have faith (Rom 12:3) but our faith grows by hearing the word (Rom 10:17). Everything in God’s kingdom is by faith, not human effort. If we want to be all God wants us to be, to be changed, then we need to be radical for him. God’s word is truth (John 17:17) and he tells us that if we know the truth it will set us free in all areas of our lives (John 8:32).

God talked to us through Moses and Joshua about being radical with the word. Moses said God’s word must be in our hearts. He said to teach it to our kids all the time, he said to write the word on our gates and doorposts (bathroom mirrors?), to bind it on our hands and hang it before our eyes (Deut 6:6-9) (have it on our computers?). Joshua said the word should always be in our mouths, we should meditate it day and night (Josh 1:8) (have it playing in the car?). Now that’s radical. But see what Joshua also said would happen if we were radical about the word. He said that saturating in the word would cause us to do the word (be changed) and that we would then have success and prosper. Wow, I want that, how about you? Let’s do it. Let’s rest in God’s love (Matt 11:28-30), do our part and see God work in us, through us and on our behalf. Have a blessed day in the word.

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In Proverbs chapter 24 and verse 17 we read that we are not to be happy when our enemies get what they deserve. That does not come naturally to us humans, right? However, it is repeated again in verse 29 of this same chapter that we are not to pay someone back for what he has done. It seems that even our attitudes are important to God; we must be careful what we are thinking.

So, what are we to do? The answer is found in Proverbs chapter 20 and verse 22 (KJV): "Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee". If we leave the matter in God's hands, he will vindicate us and take care of things. The apostle Paul wrote in his epistle to the Romans that we should not repay evil for evil (Rom 12:17 - 21). Moses made it very clear in the book of Deuteronomy that vengeance belongs to God and he will repay (Deut 32:35).

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matt 5:44).

These are all hard things to do and we can only do them by the power of the Spirit. One of the fruits of the Spirit is love (Gal 5: 22-23); even for our enemies. Let’s end with the greatest example of love for our enemies; the words of our savior Jesus Christ from the cross: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

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“The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost” (Rom 5:5; KJV). In the Greek this form of love is agape (noun), an unconditional love. The word agape was not really used in the Greek until its use in the bible. The Greek verb phileo is the more commonly used word for love in non-bible Greek and is a brotherly love or affection that is dependent on our ability to love a person because of mutual attraction and feelings.

When Jesus asked Peter if he loved him in the 21st chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus used agapao (verb) but Peter could only reply with phileo. God commands us to use agape (John 13:34). With agape we can love the unlovable by faith. We may not be naturally attracted to some people but we are commanded to love (agape) them. Our greatest example of love (agape) is that of the Father for us: “For God so loved (agapao) the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16; KJV). Christ died for us while we were sinners.

 If you want to understand love (agape) then read 1 Corinthians chapter 13, especially verses 4-8a: “Charity (agape) suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth” (KJV). This is how God loves us and how we should love him and each other. Don’t get me wrong, we can have affection as well, but we must love all people with God’s unconditional love. Is that wow or double wow? Enough said.

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Check out our web site ( www.onthewayinlove.com ) for information on our book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”, including how to purchase it and also to see more encouraging Bible based blogs. Please recommend our book to others.