“BE PERFECT!”

 

Matthew 5:43-48                     (ESV)

Love Your Enemies

“[43] “You have heard that it WAS said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ [44] But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, [45] so that YOU MAY BE SONS OF YOUR FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN. For HE makes HIS sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. [46] For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? [47] And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? [48] You therefore must “BE PERFECT”, as your HEAVENLY FATHER IS PERFECT.”

The are MANY TIMES that GOD places me in situations to REFLECT HIS LOVE to a lost and dying world!  But the “human nature”, that we ALL are born with, does it’s best to stay alive, even though DEATH came to it when I surrendered to JESUS on January 08, 1978!  

Killing a person is not something that I am experienced in.  Taking away their will is just as important to their life.  When we “give up” our former way of life to THE LORD, we “surrender” our wishes to what HE desires to get from us!  

FATHER IN HEAVEN, cause this humble servant to YEILD to YOUR guidance and leadership and to “BE PERFECT”, as my HEAVENLY FATHER IS PERFECT!!!

WHAT IS REQUIRED???

 Micah 6:8                    (ESV)

    “HE has told you, O man, what is good;

        and what does the LORD require of you

    but to DO JUSTICE, and to LOVE KINDNESS,

        and to WALK HUMBLY with your GOD?

“BE STILL, AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD!”

 Psalms 46:10                    (KJV)

“BE STILL, AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD”: I WILL BE exalted among the heathen, I WILL BE exalted in the earth.”

A post from social media a few years back reads “Be still and know that I am GOD.  The original Hebrew root of Be still doesn’t mean “be quiet”; it means “let go”.  That’s very different, don’t you think?  Let go and know that I am GOD.  Let go of trying to control your spouse!  Let go of your worry about your finances!  Let go of your unforgiveness!  Let go of your past!  Let go of what you can’t control— and rest in the knowledge that GOD is in control!”  

SEEING people, INCLUDING MYSELF, exhibiting the “drawing” to do whatever “they think is best” is perhaps the ugliest misconception from “the enemy”???  Humanity doesn’t have the ability to follow PERFECTION (JESUS’ example!)!  There are times when we are so “caught up in the moment” that we DON’T consider the path that GOD might have PLANNED for our lives!  

Recalling the journey of “my life”, I have VERY OFTEN performed what is right before my eyes, never considering if that is what HIS PLAN was being fulfilled by my actions?  But recently GOD is “leading and guiding” me to LET GO of the “ways of this world” and do things that will HONOR and GLORIFY HIM!  

Having your EYES OPENED is a task that humanity has NO CONTROL over!  We need to LET GO, to “BE STILL, AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD” more than “doing what we think” is best!!

Isaiah 60:22

 Isaiah 60:22                    (ESV)

    “The least one shall become a clan,

        and the smallest one a mighty nation;

    I AM THE LORD;

        in its time I WILL HASTEN IT.”

Micah 6 (ESV)

 Micah 6                    (ESV)

The Indictment of the LORD

1Hear what the LORD says:�Arise, plead your case before the mountains,�and let the hills hear your voice.�2Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the LORD,�and you enduring foundations of the earth,�for the LORD has an indictment against HIS people,�and HE will contend with Israel.

3“O MY people, what have I done to you?�How have I wearied you? Answer ME!�4For I brought you up from the land of Egypt�and redeemed you from the house of slavery,�and I sent before you Moses,�Aaron, and Miriam.�5O MY people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised,�and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,�and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,�that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.”

What Does the LORD Require?

6“With what shall I come before the LORD,�and bow myself before GOD on high?�Shall I come before HIM with burnt offerings,�with calves a year old?�7Will the LORD be pleased witha thousands of rams,�with ten thousands of rivers of oil?�Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,�the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”�8HE has told you, O man, what is good;�and what does the LORD require of you�but to do justice, and to love kindness,b�and to walk humbly with your GOD?

Destruction of the Wicked

9The voice of the LORD cries to the city—�and it is sound wisdom to fear YOUR name:�“Hear of the rod and of HIM WHO appointed it!c�10Can I forget any longer the treasuresd of wickedness in the house of the wicked,�and the scant measure that is accursed?�11Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales�and with a bag of deceitful weights?�12Youre rich men are full of violence;�your inhabitants speak lies,�and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.�13Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow,�making you desolate because of your sins.�14You shall eat, but not be satisfied,�and there shall be hunger within you;�you shall put away, but not preserve,�and what you preserve I will give to the sword.�15You shall sow, but not reap;�you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;�you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.�16For you have kept the statutes of Omri,f�and all the works of the house of Ahab;�and you have walked in their counsels,�that I may make you a desolation, and yourg inhabitants a hissing;�so you shall bear the scorn of MY people.”

“YOU HAVE ONLY TO BE SILENT!”

 

Exodus 14:14                      (ESV)

“The LORD will fight for you, and “YOU HAVE ONLY TO BE SILENT”.”

A lot of us have the character trait of “joining in the crowd” when victory is being celebrated!  The verse in the photo above is different than the ESV, a version that I use most of the time.  But ALMIGHTY GOD is telling us that HE is fighting on our behalf, probably because we can DO NOTHING outside of HIM in the first place!!!

When my Brain Hemorrhaged in 2007, I was the type who thought that I could do ANYTHING with GODS HELP!  But GOD didn’t need the assistance of anyone, let alone the person HE was trying to SLOW DOWN!!  

Whether you use the translation BE SILENT, BE STILL, BE CALM, or HOLD YOUR PEACE, basically GOD was displaying to this humble servant that HE is enough!  HE doesn’t require assistance from me.  HE occasionally BLESSES me with an opportunity to TESTIFY if HIS GREATNESS and HIS ABILITY to restore any amount of health HE deems necessary!

There are occasions where “YOU HAVE ONLY TO BE SILENT” is more difficult than this weakling can fathom and I STILL try to “help GOD out”!  HE displayed to me recently that ONCE AGAIN HE is quite capable of delivering me from any dilemma I place myself in! “YOU HAVE ONLY TO BE SILENT” needs to be my default, rather than my last resort!!!

“THE LORD!”

 Proverbs 16:9                    (ESV)

    “The heart of man plans his way,

        but “THE LORD” establishes his steps.”

There are MANY TIMES that I find myself dreading how I will HANDLE what might come my way when I REALLY have very little to do with it!  The morning I awoke and my face hit the floor all because a blood vessel in my brain had broken is a perfect example.  The statement written on my medical records a month after I was released to go home states “However, he has had a remarkable recovery that could only be defined as a miracle from God”!!!  

When I am “required” by the ONE WHO CREATED me to pause and consider what the future holds, I am amazed that HE permits me to continue to breathe HIS AIR!!  I wasn’t here when HE SPOKE these worlds into existence, and I wasn’t here when HE suffered and died on Mount Calvary!  Yet I wonder how HE is going to do “miraculous things” with my life when every breath I breathe is a miracle!!!

GOD doesn’t require any of us to accomplish HIS PLAN! In Exodus 17:11 says “Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.”  It was if GOD was telling US ALL that HE was there, but we MUST acknowledge HIS POWER for our BLESSING to be realized?  

Just as HE continues to GIVE ME BREATH, “THE LORD” is in control of WHATEVER is happening…..not only in our lives, but in EVERYTHING!!!  One day my physical life will end, and when that day comes HE will “take my breath away” for the final time!  Until THAT DAY, I will WORK and PRAISE “THE LORD” for WHO HE is and WHAT HE is doing!!!