Is it truly possible to love others as we love ourselves?

[Gideons300]

In the book of Acts, the early Christians, filled with the spirit, were so filled with love for one another that they shared all things common. Those that had plenty had nothing left over. Those that had little saw no lack. Is it any wonder that this type of love caused the church to blaze thru the known world, "turning the world upside down" as one non- Christian exclaimed in Acts?

We would be hard pressed to see anything like that anywhere in our Western Christianity today. This commandment to love others as we love ourselves is not easy, most would agree. I will go a step further. I believe in truth it is not just hard, it is impossible, unless a man or woman gets free from their fleshly nature.

But there is the rub. How many truly want to be free of it? Many say they do, but it is the most valuable asset in our collection of pearls, self-rule, that must be sold in order to truly possess and be possessed by the one who is the pearl of great price.

With the defeat of the flesh goes our "right" to self-rule, self-will, , leaning on our own strength and determination to follow after God, which will never be enough, especially as the cost for following the Lord increases as times get bad,

In these last days, God is revealing that when we say "Lord, Lord", we use the word correctly, as someone how is not his own but as someone 100% submitted to the will of the loving master, the one who bought him with a price.This is Christianity with a cost, something almost unheard of in our Christianity today. This is also the pathway to walking "free indeed", free to love one another with our entire hearts, not just with the remnanants of what is left over after we finish loving ourselves. This is the "being saved to the uttermost" that we as His body so desperately need to walk in to prove to a disbelieving world that our God truly reigns.

Make no mistake, the challenge before us is.... Can a man walk in the new nature as Christ promised? Can a man be brought to a place, a dwelling place, an abiding, where he is no longer in the flesh, but in the spirit, all day, every day? Paul told the Ephesians "Nothing profits but a new creature" but how we do not want to believe that.

Our God has promised that our shield of faith would quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. He promised that we would be given a way of escape in every temptation. He promised that sin would not have dominion over us. He told us clearly that we are not in the flesh, that we are dead to it, and we are now to yield ourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, not as those trying to die.

Why is it we hear so few hunger after this type of victory? To not know how to walk here is forgivable and understandable, as few teach this "being saved to the uttermost". But not to even hunger after truly defeating the old nature, content to simply "do the best we can" when we all know for a fact that we put far less than our best effort into becoming holy....that is the problem I see we need to address if love is to ever rule as God wills in our lives.

We can talk about love all we want, but until we talk about how to lose our old nature, it is simply nice sounding words, with no power to back them up. Jude told us to "earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints". If we are to "turn the world upside down" again as the early saints did, if we are to love as they loved one another, the answer is contending for the faith that "it is no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me".

May God help lead us to do so.

Blessings, Bruce

[missjenny]

In the book of Acts, the early Christians, filled with the spirit, were so filled with love for one another that they shared all things common. Those that had plenty had nothing left over. Those that had little saw no lack. Is it any wonder that this type of love caused the church to blaze thru the known world, "turning the world upside down" as one non- Christian exclaimed in Acts?

We would be hard pressed to see anything like that anywhere in our Western Christianity today. This commandment to love others as we love ourselves is not easy, most would agree. I will go a step further. I believe in truth it is not just hard, it is impossible, unless a man or woman gets free from their fleshly nature.

But there is the rub. How many truly want to be free of it? Many say they do, but it is the most valuable asset in our collection of pearls, self-rule, that must be sold in order to truly possess and be possessed by the one who is the pearl of great price.

With the defeat of the flesh goes our "right" to self-rule, self-will, , leaning on our own strength and determination to follow after God, which will never be enough, especially as the cost for following the Lord increases as times get bad,

In these last days, God is revealing that when we say "Lord, Lord", we use the word correctly, as someone how is not his own but as someone 100% submitted to the will of the loving master, the one who bought him with a price.This is Christianity with a cost, something almost unheard of in our Christianity today. This is also the pathway to walking "free indeed", free to love one another with our entire hearts, not just with the remnanants of what is left over after we finish loving ourselves. This is the "being saved to the uttermost" that we as His body so desperately need to walk in to prove to a disbelieving world that our God truly reigns.

Make no mistake, the challenge before us is.... Can a man walk in the new nature as Christ promised? Can a man be brought to a place, a dwelling place, an abiding, where he is no longer in the flesh, but in the spirit, all day, every day? Paul told the Ephesians "Nothing profits but a new creature" but how we do not want to believe that.

Our God has promised that our shield of faith would quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. He promised that we would be given a way of escape in every temptation. He promised that sin would not have dominion over us. He told us clearly that we are not in the flesh, that we are dead to it, and we are now to yield ourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, not as those trying to die.

Why is it we hear so few hunger after this type of victory? To not know how to walk here is forgivable and understandable, as few teach this "being saved to the uttermost". But not to even hunger after truly defeating the old nature, content to simply "do the best we can" when we all know for a fact that we put far less than our best effort into becoming holy....that is the problem I see we need to address if love is to ever rule as God wills in our lives.

We can talk about love all we want, but until we talk about how to lose our old nature, it is simply nice sounding words, with no power to back them up. Jude told us to "earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints". If we are to "turn the world upside down" again as the early saints did, if we are to love as they loved one another, the answer is contending for the faith that "it is no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me".

May God help lead us to do so.

Blessings, Bruce

Bruce, thank you for posting this. I am wondering tho is if folks truly understand the biblical concept of love. I think most think in terms of the 'love' they see and experience everyday, instead of the powerful love that God says that He IS! A love that hates evil by it's very nature, for instance...as I have recently been TOLD that God's nature is much MORE then love because HE judges and deals heavily with sin and etc......yet, the two - dealing with sin and loving - ARE very compatable, and not seperate at all. When I love someone I do not want them harmed by evil. I also want the very best for them...and therefore do not want them tangling with sin and it's destruction. Also, true agape love displaces evil...as light displaces darkness. It also sacrifices itself for another. It comes from heaven, therefore it is powerful and so it IS NOT the fluffy, powerless love we see here on earth.

Therefore, I think people have to realize that when they read about God's love or loving others in scripture that THIS love is a far-cry from the love they are automatically thinking of.

Blessings to you...

[Gideons300]

In the book of Acts, the early Christians, filled with the spirit, were so filled with love for one another that they shared all things common. Those that had plenty had nothing left over. Those that had little saw no lack. Is it any wonder that this type of love caused the church to blaze thru the known world, "turning the world upside down" as one non- Christian exclaimed in Acts?

We would be hard pressed to see anything like that anywhere in our Western Christianity today. This commandment to love others as we love ourselves is not easy, most would agree. I will go a step further. I believe in truth it is not just hard, it is impossible, unless a man or woman gets free from their fleshly nature.

But there is the rub. How many truly want to be free of it? Many say they do, but it is the most valuable asset in our collection of pearls, self-rule, that must be sold in order to truly possess and be possessed by the one who is the pearl of great price.

With the defeat of the flesh goes our "right" to self-rule, self-will, , leaning on our own strength and determination to follow after God, which will never be enough, especially as the cost for following the Lord increases as times get bad,

In these last days, God is revealing that when we say "Lord, Lord", we use the word correctly, as someone how is not his own but as someone 100% submitted to the will of the loving master, the one who bought him with a price.This is Christianity with a cost, something almost unheard of in our Christianity today. This is also the pathway to walking "free indeed", free to love one another with our entire hearts, not just with the remnanants of what is left over after we finish loving ourselves. This is the "being saved to the uttermost" that we as His body so desperately need to walk in to prove to a disbelieving world that our God truly reigns.

Make no mistake, the challenge before us is.... Can a man walk in the new nature as Christ promised? Can a man be brought to a place, a dwelling place, an abiding, where he is no longer in the flesh, but in the spirit, all day, every day? Paul told the Ephesians "Nothing profits but a new creature" but how we do not want to believe that.

Our God has promised that our shield of faith would quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. He promised that we would be given a way of escape in every temptation. He promised that sin would not have dominion over us. He told us clearly that we are not in the flesh, that we are dead to it, and we are now to yield ourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, not as those trying to die.

Why is it we hear so few hunger after this type of victory? To not know how to walk here is forgivable and understandable, as few teach this "being saved to the uttermost". But not to even hunger after truly defeating the old nature, content to simply "do the best we can" when we all know for a fact that we put far less than our best effort into becoming holy....that is the problem I see we need to address if love is to ever rule as God wills in our lives.

We can talk about love all we want, but until we talk about how to lose our old nature, it is simply nice sounding words, with no power to back them up. Jude told us to "earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints". If we are to "turn the world upside down" again as the early saints did, if we are to love as they loved one another, the answer is contending for the faith that "it is no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me".

May God help lead us to do so.

Blessings, Bruce

Bruce, thank you for posting this. I am wondering tho is if folks truly understand the biblical concept of love. I think most think in terms of the 'love' they see and experience everyday, instead of the powerful love that God says that He IS! A love that hates evil by it's very nature, for instance...as I have recently been TOLD that God's nature is much MORE then love because HE judges and deals heavily with sin and etc......yet, the two - dealing with sin and loving - ARE very compatable, and not seperate at all. When I love someone I do not want them harmed by evil. I also want the very best for them...and therefore do not want them tangling with sin and it's destruction. Also, true agape love displaces evil...as light displaces darkness. It also sacrifices itself for another. It comes from heaven, therefore it is powerful and so it IS NOT the fluffy, powerless love we see here on earth.

Therefore, I think people have to realize that when they read about God's love or loving others in scripture that THIS love is a far-cry from the love they are automatically thinking of.

Blessings to you...

You have much wisdom, Miss Jenny. You are correct. Sadly, if we are existing still in our flesh, we think thru that flesh and judge by the flesh. We are told to put off the old man and be renewed in the spirit of our mind and to put on the new man, created in righteousness and true holiness. Yet how many try to renew their minds without first putting off the old nature which is totally contrary to God working thru us, and teaching us real truth.

Love is the very essence of our Christian faith, but it is far from just ooey-gooey feelings. It is submission to His will, totally trusting that His will for us is "that good and perfect and acceptable will of God". It is putting full faith in His promises to us, no matter how far fetched they are to our human reasoning. We do not serve a God of the natural, but of the supernatural, and all His promises in Christ are yea and amen. We can take them to the bank, write checks on them regardless of what we see and feel, and know that God is not a man that He should lie.

How do we truly show our love to our Father? We TRUST Him with our lives, and in that trust, fully, 100% submit to His will, whatever it may be. How can we do that? Because we KNOW He loves us and would never give us anything that was not perfect for us to make us full of joy in Him.

You posts are much appreciated.

Blessings,

Bruce

Edited June 5, 2010 by Gideons300

[missjenny]

In the book of Acts, the early Christians, filled with the spirit, were so filled with love for one another that they shared all things common. Those that had plenty had nothing left over. Those that had little saw no lack. Is it any wonder that this type of love caused the church to blaze thru the known world, "turning the world upside down" as one non- Christian exclaimed in Acts?

We would be hard pressed to see anything like that anywhere in our Western Christianity today. This commandment to love others as we love ourselves is not easy, most would agree. I will go a step further. I believe in truth it is not just hard, it is impossible, unless a man or woman gets free from their fleshly nature.

But there is the rub. How many truly want to be free of it? Many say they do, but it is the most valuable asset in our collection of pearls, self-rule, that must be sold in order to truly possess and be possessed by the one who is the pearl of great price.

With the defeat of the flesh goes our "right" to self-rule, self-will, , leaning on our own strength and determination to follow after God, which will never be enough, especially as the cost for following the Lord increases as times get bad,

In these last days, God is revealing that when we say "Lord, Lord", we use the word correctly, as someone how is not his own but as someone 100% submitted to the will of the loving master, the one who bought him with a price.This is Christianity with a cost, something almost unheard of in our Christianity today. This is also the pathway to walking "free indeed", free to love one another with our entire hearts, not just with the remnanants of what is left over after we finish loving ourselves. This is the "being saved to the uttermost" that we as His body so desperately need to walk in to prove to a disbelieving world that our God truly reigns.

Make no mistake, the challenge before us is.... Can a man walk in the new nature as Christ promised? Can a man be brought to a place, a dwelling place, an abiding, where he is no longer in the flesh, but in the spirit, all day, every day? Paul told the Ephesians "Nothing profits but a new creature" but how we do not want to believe that.

Our God has promised that our shield of faith would quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. He promised that we would be given a way of escape in every temptation. He promised that sin would not have dominion over us. He told us clearly that we are not in the flesh, that we are dead to it, and we are now to yield ourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, not as those trying to die.

Why is it we hear so few hunger after this type of victory? To not know how to walk here is forgivable and understandable, as few teach this "being saved to the uttermost". But not to even hunger after truly defeating the old nature, content to simply "do the best we can" when we all know for a fact that we put far less than our best effort into becoming holy....that is the problem I see we need to address if love is to ever rule as God wills in our lives.

We can talk about love all we want, but until we talk about how to lose our old nature, it is simply nice sounding words, with no power to back them up. Jude told us to "earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints". If we are to "turn the world upside down" again as the early saints did, if we are to love as they loved one another, the answer is contending for the faith that "it is no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me".

May God help lead us to do so.

Blessings, Bruce

Bruce, thank you for posting this. I am wondering tho is if folks truly understand the biblical concept of love. I think most think in terms of the 'love' they see and experience everyday, instead of the powerful love that God says that He IS! A love that hates evil by it's very nature, for instance...as I have recently been TOLD that God's nature is much MORE then love because HE judges and deals heavily with sin and etc......yet, the two - dealing with sin and loving - ARE very compatable, and not seperate at all. When I love someone I do not want them harmed by evil. I also want the very best for them...and therefore do not want them tangling with sin and it's destruction. Also, true agape love displaces evil...as light displaces darkness. It also sacrifices itself for another. It comes from heaven, therefore it is powerful and so it IS NOT the fluffy, powerless love we see here on earth.

Therefore, I think people have to realize that when they read about God's love or loving others in scripture that THIS love is a far-cry from the love they are automatically thinking of.

Blessings to you...

You have much wisdom, Miss Jenny. You are correct. Sadly, if we are existing still in our flesh, we think thru that flesh and judge by the flesh. We are told to put off the old man and be renewed in the spirit of our mind and to put on the new man, created in righteousness and true holiness. Yet how many try to renew their minds without first putting off the old nature which is totally contrary to God working thru us, and teaching us real truth.

Love is the very essence of our Christian faith, but it is far from just ooey-gooey feelings. It is submission to His will, totally trusting that His will for us is "that good and perfect and acceptable will of God". It is putting full faith in His promises to us, no matter how far fetched they are to our human reasoning. We do not serve a God of the natural, but of the supernatural, and all His promises in Christ are yea and amen. We can take them to the bank, write checks on them regardless of what we see and feel, and know that God is not a man that He should lie.

How do we truly show our love to our Father? We TRUST Him with our lives, and in that trust, fully, 100% submit to His will, whatever it may be. How can we do that? Because we KNOW He loves us and would never give us anything that was not perfect for us to make us full of joy in Him.

You posts are much appreciated.

Blessings,

Bruce

"Never a soul set free without being made to feel it's slavery." By G. MacDonald

[Matthitjah]

Grace to you,

A love that hates evil by it's very nature, for instance...as I have recently been TOLD that God's nature is much MORE then love because HE judges and deals heavily with sin and etc......yet, the two - dealing with sin and loving - ARE very compatable, and not seperate at all. When I love someone I do not want them harmed by evil. I also want the very best for them...and therefore do not want them tangling with sin and it's destruction.

Actually, you are assigning a very humanistic understanding of the nature of God. Yes, He is Loving, However, He is also Just. Therefore, He will Judge.

Let's take into counsel the whole of the Word of God so that we get a complete picture of God. If not we are danger of preaching an unbalanced Gospel.

It is correct to say that because God Loves that He does in fact Judge.

Peace,

Dave

[Guest HIS girl]

'Gideons300'

How do we truly show our love to our Father? We TRUST Him with our lives, and in that trust, fully, 100% submit to His will, whatever it may be.

John 15 v 9 - 14:

"Just as my Father has loved Me, I too have loved you; so stay in My love.

If you keep my commands, you will stay in My love - just as I have kept My Father's commands and stay in His love.

I have said this to you so that My joy may be in you, and your joy be complete.

This is My command; that you keep on loving each other just as I have loved you.

No one has greater love than a person who lays down his life for his friends.

You are my friends, if you do what I command you." Yeshua

[Gideons300]

'Gideons300'

How do we truly show our love to our Father? We TRUST Him with our lives, and in that trust, fully, 100% submit to His will, whatever it may be.

John 15 v 9 - 14:

"Just as my Father has loved Me, I too have loved you; so stay in My love.

If you keep my commands, you will stay in My love - just as I have kept My Father's commands and stay in His love.

I have said this to you so that My joy may be in you, and your joy be complete.

This is My command; that you keep on loving each other just as I have loved you.

No one has greater love than a person who lays down his life for his friends.

You are my friends, if you do what I command you." Yeshua

Here is what I have found true in my past life. All the words you share are true indeed, yet there is a problem, or at least there was for me. Romans 7. The things I wanted to do (obey) I often did not do, and the the things I did not want to do (disobey) I ended up doing.

I searched and searched for an answer to this dilemma and found in the vast expanse of modern Christianity, this issue is swept under the rug for the most part. Few talk about it, other than to bemoan our weakness, and then self assure ourselves all is forgiven anyway. What eventually seems to happen is people stop striving for victory at all, and unbelief creeps in, assuring us we will never walk in the victory I see so clearly promised by a multitude of scriptures.

God in His mercy finally led me to Ezekiel 36, where He prophesies to us the new covenant and its benefits. In vs. 26, He says "...and I will put my spirit within you and I will cause you to walk in my statutes".

Praise God! Our lord promises to bring us to the point of obedience. Romans 7 weas for those still serving God in their effort, under the spirit of the law (7:1) and disobedience was still the result, even when we wanted to obey! But thank God, He says that he will bring us obedient hearts by dwelling in us.

Loving others as we love ourselves is simply not a choice. We will run out of steam and revert to self preservation and self pleasuring. We must have a new heart on the matter. We need a new man. And bless God, He provides it to any and all who will receive it from Him by faith.

I love how God finished off His promise of the new covenant. He said this:

"I shall yet be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them."

What an amazing God we serve. To any who long to love others in a deeper way, a way that does not tire or wear out, God has an answer for you, the blessing of putting off your old selfish man by faith alone. Seek Him for it. Tell Him you need it if you are to truly walk as the obedient child you desire deep within you to be. He will not disappoint. As a matter of fact, we are told in the word that His eyes search to and fro across the whole earth, seeking those on whose behalf He can show Himself strong. God is not looking for strong Christians, he is looking for saints who know their weakness and seek Him to live in them and to love through them so that they can finally do the things that before, they simply had no strength to do.

As Paul reminded the Ephesians "Nothing profits but a new creature."

Blessings,

Bruce

Edited June 5, 2010 by Gideons300

[Guest HIS girl]

Tell me Gideon -

is the Christian walk for you the hardest road you have ever taken?

[missjenny]

Grace to you,

A love that hates evil by it's very nature, for instance...as I have recently been TOLD that God's nature is much MORE then love because HE judges and deals heavily with sin and etc......yet, the two - dealing with sin and loving - ARE very compatable, and not seperate at all. When I love someone I do not want them harmed by evil. I also want the very best for them...and therefore do not want them tangling with sin and it's destruction.

Actually, you are assigning a very humanistic understanding of the nature of God. Yes, He is Loving, However, He is also Just. Therefore, He will Judge.

Let's take into counsel the whole of the Word of God so that we get a complete picture of God. If not we are danger of preaching an unbalanced Gospel.

It is correct to say that because God Loves that He does in fact Judge.

Peace,

Dave

Matt, I know you like to argue...however, I am not assigning what you said....you however, are not thoroughly reading my reply to the OP. Love hates evil, so of course it will judge. Of course it will deal with sin...as sin is evil. You are picking at words and not trying to understand. I believe however, that your understanding of God is faulty because yes, He hates sin, but as far as the judgment part....He would much rather, as Christ's death atests to, redeem then judge...this is what kind of Love God has. However...it is your choice to believe what you want.

[Guest HIS girl]

'missjenny'