Mentoring Minutes

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”  2 Corinthians 5:17

Love and Lordship in Focus…Perhaps the greatest identity we have in Christ is that He makes us completely new in Him. The old person and selfish flesh no longer have to rule over us as we choose Christ and His Holy Spirit in us by faith. Are you choosing to live as a new creation in Christ…or still living in the flesh?

As we celebrate Thanksgiving and look forward to CHRISTmas, because of Christ and who we are in Him we have everything to be thankful for. Stay with me here as we wrap up our series on our identity in Christ and I pray you are not only thankful but are becoming more confident and content in who you are in Him…and loving the new self He has recreated you to be in His Kingdom!

Because I am a believer and follower (disciple) of Jesus Christ, I am a personal witness to Him in and through my life (Acts 1:8).

In Christ I have been given the power (the Greek word for power that is given to all true believers is “dunamis” where we get our word, “dynamite”…now that’s powerful) of The Holy Spirit in me to shine The Light of His Truth and Love (these are inseparable) to the world.

My life should reflect in every way that He is my Lord and His Truth and Love comes through me in every motive, thought, decision, action and relationship. In this way I am a testimony of His Love and Authority for others to see in every situation I engage or encounter…in your home, across the street or around the world!

God has chosen to partner with us in Truth and Love to show the world Who He Is. The way we think, choose, act and relate every moment of every day reveals whose Lord of our life and reflects, positively or negatively, on what others see of Jesus in us.

How awesome is it that God chose us, you and me, to be a testimony of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world! Do you realize your identity in Him?

What is your witness of Jesus Christ? Savior only and you live the way you like otherwise…not possible according to Scripture. Do others know He is Lord of your life…spouse, children, family, church, coworkers, acquaintances, even enemies?

Is your life a living witness of His grace, mercy, Truth and Love in and through you so others might know Him as Savior and Lord?

Think about this…because God values you and me so greatly as His temple, His workmanship, a personal witness of Christ, chosen and appointed to bear His Kingdom and Spirit fruit…and so much more, He has called and equipped us to be salt and light in this world (Matthew 5:13-14)!

This is one of the very first proclamations that Jesus made in His public ministry in what we have come to know as The Sermon on the Mount. If you doubt it think of what those who heard Him said at the end of that message…”they were amazed because He spoke as one who had great authority” (Matthew 7:28-29).

Salt sharpens, enlivens and preserves. Light illuminates, clarifies and exposes. In some cases we like salt and light…and in others we don’t. However, in both cases God has a great and perfect purpose for us to be both salt and light to a sin-ridden, lost and dying world. Sin must be exposed, Truth must be revealed and we are His witnesses to graciously make Him known.

Don’t let your salt lose its saltiness and be good for nothing but the manure pile. Don’t let your light…His Light in you be dimmed and extinguished. He has a great purpose for you in His Kingdom!

Are you salt and light to those around you? Do they see Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life and the only way to The Father (John 14:6) through your life and mine?

As we conclude our 2nd series on fulfilling the Greatest Commands (Mark 12:29-31). The 1st series was the Names of God that began on Oct 18 and ran through that latter part of January with nearly 70 or so names to encourage us to know and love Him more and with all our being and to worship Him alone (1st and Greatest Command).

This 2nd series has been on our identity in Christ and through His Word He has shown us very plainly and graciously that we are fully accepted, totally secure and of great value and significance to God in Christ and by His Holy Spirit in and through us!

As we wrap up all of this comes together in this final assurance of our great value to Him…He has reconciled us to Himself (we have an intimate, personal relationship with Him) in Christ and He has given us this same ministry of reconciliation to share with others (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). Think about it…God has made you a brand-new creation in Christ and has entrusted you with the Gospel of Christ so that you can minister to and help others be reconciled to Him just as you are in Christ.

You are made righteous in Christ and are recreated to help reconcile others to this same new creation and righteousness in Him! Whatever else He entrusts to us in terms of time, wealth, abilities, etc., the greatest thing that He can trust us with is the eternal souls of men and women so that we can point them to the reconciled relationship they can have individually and we can have collectively as Christ’s Body, The Church, with God in Christ! How absolutely awesome is that?

You and I have EVERYTHING to be thankful for in Christ…and because of Christ! Are you living a life of gratitude that reflects the new creation that He has made you to be in Him for God’s Kingdom and Glory?

Food for Thought…A few questions to reflect on our Identity in Christ… How are you doing with this great trust that God has given to you as a new creation in Christ? Do you know and are you sharing Christ, the Great Reconciler, with others so they can be in an intimate, loving, personal relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?  Are you thankful? How does it show?

Love in Action –

1. Read the Scriptures in this article and ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
2. Journal what you’ve learned about your identity in Christ in this post. 
3. Write down what it means for you to be a witness to Christ, salt and light of His Truth and Love.  
4. Take time to meditate on who you are as a new creation in Christ. Give Him thanks in all things because of all that He’s done for you.

If you have not accepted Him as Savior and Lord, find someone to talk to find out more.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns and we’ll walk through them together in The Lord and His Spirit.

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com to find out more about how you can know God the Father, Christ His Son and The Holy Spirit.

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Love and Lordship Prayer Focus Heavenly Father, to think that You would not only save and reconcile us to an intimate relationship with You by grace through faith in Christ but that You entrust us with this ministry of reconciliation to help others know Him as Savior and Lord and be reconciled to You as well! That’s amazing and thank You for making me a part of this. May I be found trustworthy with this ministry that You have entrusted to me (and to all) who believe in and walk by faith as a new person in Christ. In His Name. Amen.

“Greet one another with a holy kiss (kiss of love).”  (1 Peter 5:14)

Love and Lordship in Focus…What does it mean to “greet one another” and do it with a kiss of love (in other texts it’s referred to as a “holy kiss”)? Why does this command seem to be totally awkward and yet it’s given to us as Christians in order to show our love to one another?

What does it mean to greet fellow believers with a kiss and why is it important enough to be a command?

Well we must first take a look at and recognize the cultural issues that are much different today than in the near East Jewish culture of The Bible. We also must not throw out the baby with the bathwater and dig a little deeper to find out what The Holy Spirit wanted us to learn from this command (as it’s given several other times in Scripture) when it comes to how we are to love each other in Christ and in His Church. 

Peter closes out his first letter to believers with the same command that Paul shared with the Roman believers, “Greet one another with a kiss of love (or a holy kiss).” (Romans 16:16)

Now if you’re thinking as a young boy or girl (especially a young boy) you’re probably thinking…”EEEEWWWW!” If you’re thinking as a young adolescent, you may be moving from “EW” to “HMMM, I know several that I’d like to kiss.” If you’re thinking as someone who’s allowed the culture and porn to infiltrate and rewire your brain, you’re missing the point completely. How can we think in terms of what God is wanting us to learn in this command?

Again, there is great value in understanding this act of love from a Body of Christ perspective as we encourage and build one another up. In so doing we build a spiritual and relational intimacy that is imperative in showing each other and the world what God’s Love is like. This is not the kiss of marital/sexual love. This is an act of honoring and preferring others above self as the Apostle Paul reminds us in another of his letters to the Church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 16:20).

This act of love, much like today’s kiss on the cheek, handshake or hug, is to declare that we care for and belong to one another in Christ! Are you apprehensive about sharing a heartfelt embrace for a brother or sister in Christ or is the way of the culture caused you to be insecure in expressing a Godly and brotherly/sisterly love for our fellow disciples in Christ?

The holy kiss, holy embrace, etc., are signs of peace and loving acceptance and honor among those who believe. I pray that we all can learn to love “one another” and express it in line with God’s Word and design of pure love so the world will know and begin to clamor for Him and His Love! Again, Paul reminds us in his second letter to the Corinthian Church (2 Corinthians 13:12)

I can tell you that for the longest time in my life, and I know many others, a handshake was all we could muster. The pornified culture that we live in has not only drawn us to an impure love but has pulled us away from being able to share God’s kind of Love in Christ that is gracious and respectful with and to one another. I pray that we can humble ourselves as we talked about in yesterday’s post, and be careful and bold as we greet one another with proper and pure love so the world can see His Love and be drawn to know Christ as Savior and Lord as Paul states again in a letter to the Church at Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 5:26)

Food for Thought…Over the last 3 days of these “one another” commands and messages I find it interesting how The Holy Spirit moved Peter to go from hospitality to humility to intimate and pure expressions of love toward each other as believers. I’m so glad we’ve been able to recapture some of this and truly believe that if we’ll continue to move in this direction and away from the pornified ideas of culture and even of manhood, allowing us to properly express this kind of Godly and brotherly/sisterly love, Christ’s disciples and His Church will have a much greater impact in showing this depraved and perverted world what His Real Love is.

Love in Action…

1. Spend time with God and in His Word, prayer and listening every day…begin with the Scriptures in this message.
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
3. What forms of expressing love and friendship intimacy have you found uncomfortable? Have you been able to find a way to comfortably express this kind of Biblical love with others?
4. What walls need to be broken down in your life to follow through with this command? What walls have been broken down in order for you to be obedient in this? Begin to step out in faith and obedience and see what The Lord does.

A kiss on the cheek or forehead, a pure hug with a brother or sister in Christ, a firm, heartfelt handshake, and others acts of lovingkindness are all expressions of how we consider, care for and love out brothers and sisters in Christ. Let’s follow God’s command in this “one another” and allow Him to bring us together in loving unity for His Kingdom and Glory!  

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, help us to learn to accept and strive to understand Your Word and commands in the context in which they were given so we can apply them rightly in our day and time. May we seek Your Holy Spirit to guide us so that we are obedient and in no way compromising Your Truth. Help us as we discern that we may love more fully as You love us in Christ.  In His Name. Amen.

“You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God is opposed to the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.”  (1 Peter 5:5)

Love and Lordship in Focus…What do you think of when you think of humility? Maybe humiliation? I don’t know about you but that’s not something that I’m especially fond of. And yet, we’re called to put on, wear or clothe ourselves with humility? While we can certainly learn humility from humiliation, maybe humility is much more, and much better, than humiliation? Maybe it’s actually really good for us!

Peter’s next “one another” command to us as believers is a repeat of a prominent command throughout Scripture as taught and modeled by Christ and shared by several of the writers of the New Testament under the inspiration of The Holy Spirit. He tells us to “…Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another…” (1 Peter 5:5).

If you want to be on God’s Team Christ has made a way but we can only do so as we walk, clothe ourselves and grow in humility. False humility (Pride) means we willingly choose to be on the other team and God opposes us (James 4:6). Do you really want God as an opponent?

Paul tells us in Philippians that this should be our attitude toward others, the same as in Christ, that of humility toward others, placing them above ourselves. He then describes what Christ gave up (His Heavenly lifestyle and glory to become a man…fully God and fully man…and then give up that physical life on the Cross). This is Humility. This is Love. (Philippians 2:3-8)

Remember that humility is not thinking less of yourself or not of yourself at all…it is being confident and content in who you are in Christ so you can willingly choose to place others above you (John 13:3-5; Romans 12:3).

This is what Peter (and Paul) and most of all Christ, is calling us to do in order to love others and show the world what His Love really is like.

I don’t know about you but for the longest time, I had to admit that humility was (and at times still is) maybe the most difficult of traits associated with Love. I also have to confess that I’ve not always “loved” in the attire of, or clothed in, humility. However, as I’ve grown in Christ, I’ve found that humility is absolutely necessary for me to love God first and foremost and then others, and it carries with it the most beautiful blessings of love as I continue to put on humility and grow in Love just as my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, did so that others can see and know Him and His Love.

You will find the same if you’re willing and courageous enough to be obedient to Him and walk in humility…it is so powerful and absolutely life-changing…but it does require that we die to our self…just as Jesus taught us to and did for us!

How are you doing when it comes to clothing yourself in humility in order to love others as Christ loved you? As a Christian what is your life saying to others about His Love? If you’re not a Christian you can’t truly know this kind of humility and love.

Food for Thought…How have you thought about humility in your life? Has the way you thought about it endeared you to be obedient in clothing yourself in it…or made you reluctant to wear this incredible trait or maybe even completely resistant to do so and therefore disobedient to God and His Word? What do you need to do be put on humility at all times?

Love in Action…

1. Spend time with God and in His Word, prayer and listening every day…begin with the Scriptures in this message.
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
3. Take time to consider your experiences in humility and whether you’ve associated it with humiliation. How has that impacted your willingness to take on humility?
4. What do you need to do…or give up doing…in order to choose humility in all things…and have God on your side rather than against you? Start doing it today…lay down any and all pride!

Once again we can be in awe of God’s Word and what it calls us to be and do…and yet because of our life experiences, our relationships and our natural flesh we find ourselves struggling to do what He commands us to do in loving others. Being to change that today and be blessed.  

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, humility certainly does not come easy to my flesh and yet You tell us that we are not only to put on humility as our clothing but be humble just as Christ set the example. Help me to choose humility and in doing so know that you are giving me grace and working in my favor.  In Jesus Name. Amen.