I want to welcome everyone to this first and what I believe to be the most important message shared by this new online ministry that our Heavenly Father has called me to serve in and has led me to name “The Love of Truth“. He put this ministry on my mind and in my heart approximately 2 months ago and He pointed out to me 2 Scripture references to serve as 2 witnesses to what He wants to reveal to His people in these days that are becoming darker and darker (void of light, see Proverbs 6:23), which reinforces the reason why He chose “The Love of Truth” as the name for this ministry. Those 2 Scripture references are 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 & Psalm 119:142, as you read these verses keep in mind what our Heavenly Father is revealing in regards to what He defines as “truth” and ask yourself if you truly have a love for His truth? In the end, all that will truly matter is if we have a love of His truth or not.
As I read this article and others for those that prefer to listen over reading, I want to ask you and encourage you all to read the written articles along with me as I read through them. I promise this will help you in a couple different ways. First, it will help you to retain this information in your mind and most importantly in your heart, if the Holy Spirit and His Word reveal truth to you in this message. Secondly, it will help to strengthen your reading and recognition skills which will be very beneficial later on in your walk with God through His Word. In the written articles I give all the Scripture references that I believe are witnesses to what I am sharing. After going through this message please read all of the Scripture references cited in this article which I will add at the bottom of every message that is shared on this website for your convenience. Please read them to see if the context is correct and if the Scripture references truly support the messages that are shared. I will always instruct everyone to never accept anything you are told or taught without verifying first in our Father’s Word and thru prayer as this is the responsibility of every of believer to make sure you are not being led astray (Matthew 22:29)!
I also want to say that you will hear and see me use the names “Yeshua” & “Jesus” when referring to our Lord & Savior as they are one and the same! The name Yeshua (which is the abbreviated form of the Hebrew name Yehoshua, which means God’s salvation) is His name in Hebrew that our Savior was called when He walked the Earth two thousand years ago but most people know Him today as Jesus. The name Jesus came about thru transliterating the name Yeshua into the Greek (Iesous), then it was transliterated from the Greek into Latin (Iesus), and then transliterated from the Latin into English (Jesus). Please keep in mind that I will never tell anyone how to call upon the name of their Savior as each person should use the name that they feel led to use as this is based upon your personal relationship between you and Him! I share all this to help avoid any confusion or any possible offense when I use the name Yeshua as it is the name I prefer to use now, even though I came into this salvational relationship using the name of Jesus which I am so very thankful for! HalleluYah! Let’s begin the message.
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Right Relationship
If you were to ask everyone that claims to be a Christian if they have a relationship with God and with our Savior all or almost all would say a definite “yes!”. We need to understand that “a” relationship does not always mean “right” relationship. What do I mean by this comparison? I could have “a” relationship with someone but it could be a very bad relationship where I never get to truly know the person because I am only focused on myself and the interaction I do have would be one of contention and strife. A relationship that doesn’t involve me seeking to know the person on a more intimate level keeps me from ever getting to really “know” them. If I don’t take the time to spend with them to learn about them and inquire of the desires of their heart, their likes, dislikes and even their needs then love and understanding are severely lacking on my part. I share this aspect of “a” relationship to emphasize the need for “right” relationship as it applies to our Heavenly Father, our Savior and with one another to reveal that “a” relationship is not enough, we need to have “right” relationship!
Our salvation is truly based upon right relationship with Yeshua (Jesus) our Lord and Savior. Does “right” relationship mean we have to be perfect in our relationship with Him? Ofcourse not, but it does require of us to seek to truly get to “know” Him, to know His Word, His character, His heart for His people and to walk in obedience to whatever He reveals to us as He is our Master and we are His servants! This is the picture of taking up our cross and following after Him, it is a relationship of faith and love that is revealed in our daily sacrifice of our will in order to do His will (Matthew 16:24 & Romans 12:1).
The most terrifying thing I could ever imagine hearing from our Messiah when He returns would be the words “I never knew you, depart from Me , you worker of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23). When we examine these words spoken by Yeshua (Jesus) in Matthew 7:23 the part that is most important to understand is when Yeshua (Jesus) says “I never knew you”! Without right relationship we are not able to truly “know” Him as the relationship would be more about us and not Him. The evidence that Yeshua (Jesus) doesn’t know these false prophets & those that bring forth bad fruit in Matthew chapter 7 is that they are “workers of lawlessness”. In other words, they walk contrary to the law of God and satisfy the desires of their flesh and therefore do not take up their cross and follow after Him (Romans 8:4-8).
For if we truly abide in Christ then we are to walk even as He walked. (1 John 2:6) How did He walk? We know that He was without sin and He had to be in order to be the promised Messiah, which means He walked in the law of God perfectly. Even though we could never perfectly walk out the law of God we are to do our best to follow after His perfect example as He covers us when we fail (and we will) if we just continue to abide in (remaining in right relationship) Him.
The evidence of right relationship will be revealed in our love for one another (John 13:35) and by our fruit (Galatians 5:22-26), which is our faithful obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit! If we are walking in right relationship then we will not be led by our flesh but instead by the leading of the Holy Spirit which will lead us into all truth (John 16:13), and we will bear much fruit. We read in John 15:1-6 that if we “abide” (the Greek word that is translated as “abide” is the Greek word “Men-o” which means to remain/not depart) in Him which is a picture of remaining in right relationship with Christ and if we do this then we will bear much fruit but if we don’t abide (don’t remain in right relationship) in Him then we will be the branches that no longer bear fruit and are cut off and cast into the fire that we read about in John 15:6! I know that I don’t want to be one of those fruitless branches that are cast away from Him and destroyed in the fire, do you?!
The heart of right relationship I believe is found in the 2 greatest commandments as revealed by our Savior in Matthew 22:36-40, Yeshua was actually quoting from Deuteronomy 6:4-9 & Leviticus 19:18 as these commandments were not “new” commandments given by Him in the New Testament but had already been given in the beginning of His Word! We know that the greatest commandment of all is to love the Lord thy God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. How can we put this most important commandment given in all of the Bible into a perspective that we can relate to? I will ask you the same questions I asked myself one day when pondering on the greatest commandment as I could only draw from my experiences with love from past relationships with people of the opposite sex that I cared greatly for. Those questions that I asked myself were the following:
-How much time did I spend thinking about that person on a daily basis?
-How much time did I spend with them or how much time did I desire to spend with that person?
-How much did I desire to get to know that person better and to share my heart with them?
-How strong was my desire to learn what that person liked, what they disliked, and what made them feel loved?
-How much did I desire to do the things they liked and made them feel loved and how guarded was I not to do the things they disliked or hated?
-Did I find that thinking about that person all the time, spending as much time as possible with them and striving to show them love as being a burden?
Now insert your answers to these questions about people you have deeply cared about in your past when you first met them and got to know them.
Now realize that we are supposed to love God more than anything or anyone else and go back and insert God & Yeshua (Jesus) in place of “that person” in those questions and see if your answers are still the same. Please understand that my desire here isn’t to give anyone a guilt trip but to give you a possibly different perspective as a measuring stick of the condition of your relationship with God! I know for me these questions and my answers were very sobering & humbling and brought conviction into my heart. This still happens to me everytime I go through this way of testing my heart condition toward Him and my relationship with Him compared to how I have approached relationships with people in my life who I’ve held near and dear to my heart. Instead of allowing myself to become discouraged by my failure, and I have failed much, I turn to our Heavenly Father and I ask Him for forgiveness and use this to motivate myself to do better by Him and I want you to do the same. Our God is a very loving and merciful God that always allows us to repent and turn back our heart and focus to Him. Let’s use the details revealed in those questions to help us to know how to better love Him and how to have right relationship with Him. The things that are revealed are that we should:
-Spend more time each day lovingly thinking about Him
-Spend more time with Him daily speaking with Him in prayer and have a strong desire to do so and share our heart with Him thru that prayer time
-Spend time seeking to get to know Him better by learning what He likes, what He doesn’t like or hates, and what makes Him feel loved
-We should be guarded to not do the things He dislikes or hates (and doing the things that show Him love!)
We can only do the above by seeking for Him daily, to know His character, His heart, His desires for His people and what He loves and what He hates by spending time reading His love letter to us (Bible)!
We can’t allow ourselves to see spending time with Him, thinking about Him all the time and striving to show Him love as burdensome! Instead we should see it is as the greatest blessing of all to draw us closer to Him and His heart! We need to make all these things a daily priority! As every healthy and right relationship is a daily focus and not a once a week focus!
I heard someone say the following statement recently and I agreed with them whole heartedly, they said “you can never get enough of what you love”. This is a very profound and true statement and I would like to add that we can never get enough of who we love if we truly love them with all our heart, soul and mind. Do you agree?
I want to share a verse as we come to the end of this message that should be near and dear to all our hearts as it is an instruction on how we are to love our Heavenly Father.
“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:3)
I just want to share that the calling and the heart of this ministry is to challenge & change incorrect and limited perspectives of our God that we claim to believe in and serve, the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, our perspective of His character, His heart and His Word. And help reveal how to honestly inspect and assess our heart condition toward Him and toward our neighbors. To help guide His people closer to Him and each other in right relationship to bring about unity and to increase faith, love and His light in this dark world. When we reflect His light we help those that are still in the dark to see His marvelous light and to come to Him and glorify Him after seeing our good works! (Matthew 5:1-16) As we do all this, we become more like our God and Savior and bring about greater salvation & restoration to the whole! May it be so!
Until next time, The Lord bless you and guard you!
Scripture References
“For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life” (Proverbs 6:23)
“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12)
“Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth.” (Psalm 119:142)
“Jesus answered them, “You are deceived, because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God” (Matthew 22:29)
“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1)
” ‘And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:23)
“4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:4-8)
“whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which He (Yeshua) walked” (1 John 2:6)
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)
“22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:22-26)
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16:13)
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” (John 15:1-6)
“36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.’ ” (Matthew 22:36-40)
“4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:18)
“1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:1-16)