LET LOVE ENDURE
Jesus was the man of opposites. This word came to me in a very unique way. It
came over a course of a week. I read over it and I do not know why Father has
instructed me to write it. It is not a brilliant piece of literature but it came
from Father. Also it shifts gears abruptly at times. I would have gone back and
rewrote it to make it all flow better but it did not come to me in that fashion
and I feel this is how it should be presented.
Many folks throughout their life stunt their growth by smoking, drinking or
abusing drugs. Often times not only the physical growth is inhibited but also
mentally these foreign agents pollute the mind, the psyche and the will of the
individual over time seizing hold and laying claim to that which does not belong
to them. Man then gets a false sense of who he is, looses his identity, amnesia
reduces his origin to that of four footed beast and crawling things. A person is
easily programmed by their environment, upbringing, and affiliations. Even the
best of intentions can turn out to be wrong and thus if one grows up believing
something false it affects this person in every aspect of their life.
If you poison a plant with the wrong chemicals it will many times wither and
die. Sometimes it struggles for life and it shrivels up, the leaves fall off and
it lives on in another form than what it was originally meant to be. In its seed
was every thing needed to geminate and to grow into whatever pure plant it was
planted as a seed to be., But when corruption came in, no rain, bad ground or
too much fertilizer the plant begins to loose its life. Even if it lives through
its affliction it never blooms or produces the ripe fruit it was intended to
produce.
Humans are not much different than plants. In you is everything that is
necessary to produce the Christ of God. But many never reach this level because
in their minds they have been poisoned to believe that they could never reach
such a state of perfection even though the very Bible they study and claim to
live their life from tells them something different. So they feel it is of a
necessity to work and do good to keep their salvation. They work and give in
order that God would bless them for their loyalty. All the while they stray
further from the truth that salvation is a gift of God granted by the grace of
God and nothing we do can merit this blessing.
There are other poisons and vises in the grass waiting as the serpent to strike.
Men taking on the form of godliness, thinking themselves to be wise yet denying
the power of Father to transform and energize their lives thus these folks
surrounded by religious security are fools in the eyes of the Great I Am.
Men feel in order to get close to God that they must do something. Maybe pray
more, possibly give more of their income to the church, dedicate more of their
time in activities around the church, read so many chapters from the Bible each
night. These are all forms of outward worship and God is not impressed. People
throughout the ages have worked diligently in their churches thinking that
somehow God would shine on them for this, but these sorts of activities does not
bring a person closer to God, matter of fact it is a lie that drives a wedge
between God and man.
The separation of man from his Creator, his Father, and his God is death. For to
be carnally minded is death. Death produces death. But life produces life. What
is born of the Spirit is Spirit and what is born of flesh is flesh. Mankind has
engaged in fornicating acts between soul and the flesh and has committed
adultery against the Spirit and now lives in a false sense of his own being.
Think about it. I personally know people who have read their Bibles all of their
lives and are no closer to God now than when they first picked the book up and
began reading. I have watched people commit themselves to work around the church
day in and day out, doing duties such as cleaning, building, ushering, doing any
volunteer work, yet these people are no closer to God.
They miss the ultimate truth because they have failed and they cannot see the
difference between the reality and the illusion of life.
Living separated from God is also a lie. How can you separate yourself from God?
He never leaves you nor forsakes you. So once again this ideal of separation
comes from a false identity. This false identity always feels needy. It feels
the need to always pray. It never feels like it is close to God and thus must
always do more to please Father.
I have the incorruptible seed of Christ living and abiding within my being.
Contained in my body, incased by this temporary body of flesh is the God of the
universe, creator of all things. Everything that He is is contained in that seed
which He has planted in me. It is not “many seeds” but one seed which is Christ
the Lord.
I am in other words “InChristed” Being “InChristed” means I know who I am. I
know where my authority and power originates. I have the Holy Spirit in me
revealing to me what is in the heart of man, my Spirit bearing witness with His
Spirit looking into the souls of mankind. The only way to properly minister is
to have discernment.
We have pretenders and masqueraders in the religious community who are defined
as the tares ready to sow discord, divide, deceive and traduce over others in
their attempts to appear more holy, more righteous more pure than others. These
are those who desire to seize power and run the show. These are those who beg
for the attention of others. These are the ones who are not happy unless all of
the attention falls on them.
These are the adolescents, the immature, the babes running to and fro, never
satisfied. In the music industry which I have been closely connected now for
many years I have been the recipient of vicious attacks. These attacks are a war
of piercing words from critics and so called fans that use their immaturity to
strike a chord against me and Bride. It is amazing that the assaults are few yet
they penetrate many times deeper than any gratitude that I could ever receive. I
often wonder why that is? I could imagine Jesus healing the sick, raising the
dead, going about doing good while all the while there were enemies standing
close by to belittle everything that He did. In recent days we released a new CD
called “This is it” it was intended to reach and touch the lives of those who
have followed the band throughout the years. It was our labor of love to those
who enjoy the older style of rock. On some Web Sites they encourage fans to
write reviews and their opinions of the music they are listening to. Well,
Brides new CD for the most part has won the favor of the majority and the band
has been highly complimented and feels a sense of accomplishment that we have
been instrumental in giving folks music that blesses them in some way. However
there are the opponents who have chimed in with their opinions and instead of
constructive criticism they have lashed out as if Bride recorded this CD to
spite them personally. These folks have written some very nasty and vicious
things concerning the band. I now understand that they are not just voicing
likes and dislikes, but rather what they think themselves to be is manifesting.
They do not realize their value to God.
One would think after 20 years of service to the Christian community that there
would be more respect given toward bands that paved the way for the newer groups
of today. But I have certainly found this not to be the case. When I was younger
there were many groups playing music that I adored. I simply thought they were
the very best. There were some that I was not fond of but the notion or thought
to sit down and write a negative letter to these groups never crossed my mind.
It is almost as if in our Christian community there is no longer appreciation
for the accomplishments of others, even though we are all supposed to be working
to spread the joy of the Lord to the broken hearted. The reverence, courtesy,
and appreciation for others seems to be a thing of the past, old fashioned if
you will.
The difference I have seen is that there are two seeds, the incorruptible seed
and the corruptible seed in the heart of people. Once that corruptible seed
takes hold it will choke the life out of a person. They will no longer see the
good in anything except that which satisfies their lust and carnal desires. It
has taken a while for me to understand this. Early on I would take great offense
to those who would malign our music. But now I understand that these folks can’t
help themselves as long as the root of bitterness remains their source of
inspiration.
From our politicians who make slanderous remarks about the other candidates to
the heads of denominations who belittle others who believe differently we are a
race of despisers.
I believe we ought to do all things be done in love. I understand that the world
can’t produce agape love. But we as believers are without excuse.
If the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost we will have a
God-like approach and attitude in everything that we do. In other words the
world should see a difference in our behavior and how we present ourselves.
Maybe you have watched the popular American Idol contest on TV.?
There is a judge named Simon who sits on a panel of three and he says if the
contestants move on or if they fail to make the cut to become a Super Star. More
times than not Simon in his so-called honesty is very mean spirited and very
hurtful in his comments to the contestants that he does not feel make the grade.
I believe that Simon’s attitude has become infectious throughout the Christian
community. What I mean by that is there are those folks who when telling groups
how they feel about their songs or CD’s have no tact, no kindness and are less
considerate of the feelings of others.
I have given all these matters over to Father in whom I have full confidence
that He will in due time reveal Himself to every man.
The inner man in which God is redeeming gives birth to the Christ. If we judge
correctly we ought to only see the Christ in every man. This gives us true and
righteous judgment. Our judgment is never to condemn. For Jesus did not come to
condemn. We must speak truth in love and in doing so there will be a positive
result and not a negative outcome. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear;
but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. I see too many times those whose
growth in Christ has been stunted they never ever come out of the withered
state. They become complacent and live out their lives never experiencing Christ
alive in them.
1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love
the brethren. He that loveth not [his] brother abideth in death.
Too many in the church are still in their covenant with death. How could you
have joy unspeakable and full of glory in hell? It is not possible. If a man
shut up his bowels [of compassion] for another because they disagree how can the
love of God dwell in that person? How can Christ be their center? How can they
eat from the tree of life? They cannot. In deed and truth love must reign in our
lives. We can say we love someone but if we never show it, is it a reality or
just smooth words from the tongue?
So I guess what I am saying is that, we need to grow up into Christ. We must put
others first. We must not rely on our own strength but our trust must be
invested in God. It is important for us to see the value of God in every man.
Our teacher should be the Holy Spirit. This will make our relationship with
Father much closer. We cannot trust the outward, carnal, five senses at all. God
is a Spirit and we will only mature if we are transformed by the renewing of our
mind and put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
We that call ourselves “Christians” have an incredible responsibility to
represent the Kingdom of God in light. For in God there is no darkness at all.
Our differences of opinions, taste in music, our affiliations, even though they
may be unalike should never separate us from fellowship with one another. We in
the Kingdom need to invest more in relationships, and joining in union with
others. I believe Jesus saw Himself in every man and this is why He could so
easily adapt to any situation. Those around Him were at peace and found comfort
in His words. Only the religiously minded sought to disrupt the association that
Christ Jesus shared with those of the world.
You see, I am in the world yet not of the world and though there are folks who
have accused me of preaching doctrines of devils, reproving me of falling away
from the faith. These are the babes in Christ who with every good intention fall
short of the glory of God. I have a doctrine that has been given to me out of
the heart of father that brings comfort and rest for the weary and troubled
soul. The doctrine I have followed in years gone by never brought this sort of
serenity. Old things are past and behold all things are made new. We are living
in a world that gross darkness has engulfed our land. But I foresee a day when
nations shall come to God’s Holy mountain and worship together. It is all a
matter of growing, maturing, being made perfect and complete in Him.
Let us be more longsuffering, enduring with others, not thinking ourselves to be
wise, not being high minded, be open to others and their beliefs, it could be
that we do not know it all or know all the answers. But most of all let love
endure and cradle our very heart.
Dale Thompson