Disciples or Babbling Babies?

I was petting the dog this morning and thinking love really is universal, so simple even the dog can understand it. Not romantic love but just good old fashioned goodness. Unselfish love treats everyone well and that’s something we all understand. There was a time when the whole earth had one speech, and the Lord said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.” They had the power; the problem was that they proposed to use it to “make a name for themselves.” They had a universal language but when they became self- centered it became Babel. And how many people are still babbling on and acting like babies?

But there remains a universal language and One name that shall be glorified through it. When God sent His Son He came speaking this language. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) When Jesus was moved by compassion and went about preaching, teaching and healing every sickness and every disease among the people He was speaking this language. When Jesus cast out demons and healed all who were oppressed by the Devil He was speaking the language. And when He gave His all and suffered and died on the cross He was speaking to you and I. Saying, “to all those who receive Me and My sacrifice I give you power and authority to become children of God. And not only that, but I will fill your heart with My everlasting love and you will again begin to communicate the universal language. And being endued with love you will love, not just in word but in deed. And when My disciples start preaching the gospel doing Divine deeds that’s something the whole world can understand.” And the One Name the Name that is above all names shall be glorified!

Gen 11:1-9
11 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."

5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
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Zeph 3:9
9 "For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language,
That they all may call on the name of the Lord,
To serve Him with one accord.
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Eph 4:15-16
15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ — 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
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1 Cor 13
1Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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John 13:34-35
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
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John 15:6-10
7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

9 "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
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1 John 4:12-16
12 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. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
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Acts 4:10-12
10 let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 11 This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.' 12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
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Phil 2:5-11

5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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Law or Love?

Are you living by the letter or living by love? If you live by the law you will die but if you live by love you will live.

Matt 22:37-40
37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
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Rom 13:8-10
8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
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Rom 8:3-7
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk 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, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
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Gal 5:16-18
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
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James 2:8-9
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well;
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Deut 30:6
6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
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Rom 2:28-29
28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
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2 Cor 3:4-6
4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
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Gal 3:1-4
3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
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Rom 5:1-5
5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
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Gal 3:1-4
1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
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Rom 7:1-6
7 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another — to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
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Gal 5:4-6
4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
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Rom 5:1-5
5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
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John 13:34
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another
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1 John 4:7-19
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 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. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

12 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. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us.
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Wimps Want Comfort but God Calls for Courage

When God puts something on our heart it takes courage to do it. We have to overcome the oppression of the ordinary. It’s easier to do what we’ve always done you so we tend to hesitate and procrastinate because it takes courage to change. But there’s no peace in procrastination and obedience isn’t just doing what we wish, but God’s will. God’s leading's often bring butterflies and seem bigger than Broadway. And the more we procrastinate the greater the pressure, because we know that we have a part in God’s production but we’re not prepared. Then we have the horror of hurrying and trying to memorize “our lines” at the last moment. First the fear of failure tries to hold us back and then seems determined to drive us when we fall behind. It’s a vicious cycle caused by cowardice. So if we don’t want to be weenies we must be bold and will that we will fulfill God’s will and when He wills. “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Wimps want comfort but God calls for courage. And “taking up your cross” is never comfortable, but it’s a lot better then living in condemnation caused by cowardice. We can either be like Linus, theological and quoting the Gospel’s while holding onto our “trusty blanket” and sucking our thumb or we can lay it down, get out of our comfort zone and find the greater joy of carrying the cross of Christ.

From: A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

Lucy Van Pelt: Linus, you've got to get rid of that stupid blanket, and here, memorize these lines.
Linus Van Pelt: I can't memorize these lines. This is ridiculous.
Lucy Van Pelt: Memorize it and be ready to recite when your cue comes.
Linus Van Pelt: I can't memorize something like this so quickly. Why should I be put through such agony? Give me one good reason why I should memorize this.
Lucy Van Pelt: I'll give you five good reasons.
[proceeds to make a fist out of her fingers]
Lucy Van Pelt: One, two, three, four, FIVE!
Linus Van Pelt: [begins shaking his head emphatically] Those are good reasons. Christmas is not only getting too commercial, it's getting too dangerous.
Lucy Van Pelt: And get rid of that stupid blanket! What's a Christmas shepherd gonna look like holding a stupid blanket like that?
Linus Van Pelt: Well, this is one Christmas shepherd who's going to keep his trusty blanket with him.
[Lucy raises her fist to strike Linus; Linus puts his blanket over his head like a headdress]
Linus Van Pelt: See? You wouldn't hurt an innocent shepherd, would you? …

Later…
Lucy Van Pelt: You think you're so smart with that blanket. What are you going to do with it when you grow up?
Linus Van Pelt: Maybe I'll make it into a sport coat.


Matt 16:24-27
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.
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Josh 1:9
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
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Ps 31:24
24 Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart,
All you who hope in the Lord.
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Matt 14:27-29
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."

28 "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."

29 "Come," he said.
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Get to the Point

Sharpen your skills and get to the point. Be kind by being concise because wasting people’s time just isn’t nice.

Eccl 10:10
If the ax is dull,
And one does not sharpen the edge,
Then he must use more strength;
But wisdom brings success.
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Eccl 5:3
And a fool's voice is known by his many words.
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Prov 10:19
19 In the multitude of words sin is not lacking,
But he who restrains his lips is wise.
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Matt 5:37
37 But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
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Matt 6:7-9
7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8 "Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
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Worry Worms

Be of good cheer and resist the temptation to fear. Anxiety seems to come suddenly, like a sneak attack of a demented little monkey jumping on your back. It wants to grab onto your head, and its parasite spread. Worry worms come out its mouth and try to get in your ear to chew on your brain to drive you insane. They’ll slither into your eyes and your mouth, and then slowly descend to your stomach down south. If you let it in it will feed on your life and make you inclined to failure and strife. So beware because fear is borne on the backs of media monkeys, comes out the mouth of mischievous men and can even be sown by “well meaning” friends.

Be on guard and vigilant to keep fear away, resist with the truth of God’s Word everyday. Don’t turn your back on it but face it and resist it in faith. Because if you don’t you’ll get worry worms! And if you’ve already got em it’s time to get rid of em. So cast all your fear down and tell it to get out a town, it’s not a barrel of monkeys so don’t play around.

2 Tim 1:6-7
6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
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2 Tim 1:7
7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.
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Pray on the Way

Sometimes you just have to get up and go early - when you do pray on the way and endeavor to be aware of God’s presence all guidance all day.

John 11:41-42
And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me…
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Do Something not Everything

You can’t do everything but you can do something. You can do whatever God leads you to no matter how impossible it may seem to you. Because you “can do all things through Christ who strengthens you” and “all things” is “everything God asks you to” not just whatever you want to do. Why would God strengthen you to do something that’s it’s not His will for you? But He has specifically gifted you and will empower you to do the good things that He’s ordained for you. So the question is, what do you believe God is telling you and leading you to do and when will you do it? And what are you trying to do that’s draining the life out of you because God hasn’t really told you to and when will you stop? That’s why it’s important to pray everyday and discern God’s way, because you can’t do everything but you can do something.

Phil 4:13
13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
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Phil 4:13
13 for I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power.
TLB

Jer 33:3
3 'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'
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Eph 2:10
10 For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].
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