Energy spent on trying to be perfect is not wasted if spent in effort to remain still in GOD’s hands.

Posted by D.L.Fuller on

Reposted with a little more clarity…Hope it encourages you!

Adam

We can never obtain a thing that we don’t understand. I have heard many believers saying we will never reach perfection in this lifetime. All through the bible our Heavenly Father tells us to be perfect even as He is perfect. I heard someone say in a bible study recently, “God tells us to be perfect but He knows that we can’t.” That is not consistent with our Father’s character. If He says we can be perfect in this present world, then we can. We just need to understand what He means by perfect and stop leaning to our own understanding. In His eyes, we are perfect the way He created us, even with our perceived flaws. He made man from a lump of clay and shaped him into a man after His own image.

We were perfect until we decided to turn ourselves into a DIY project.

DYI MAN 2

Whatever is broken in us will remain broke until the Lord fixes us. We can’t fix ourselves, but we can make up our minds to sell out and surrender to His hands. When we surrender in the hands of GOD, through the Cross of Christ, we become that perfect lump of clay in the Potter’s hand. That lump of clay doesn’t look like much; in fact, it can look like a mess, however in the Potter’s eyes it is just what he is looking for. If you look at scripture, you will see that our GOD never chooses anyone perfect according to man’s definition. Look at the men GOD has chosen over the ages, from Abraham to Moses, to David, all the way to the Apostle Paul. All these men like a lump of clay, had messy beginnings, but they obtained one common trait that made them perfect, they surrendered to GOD. They were surrendered to GOD and their hearts were set on pleasing Him. This is what our Father expects of us. To be like Him, faithful, true, and single hearted; not uncommitted and double minded. If we can focus our energies on seeking Him first as our resource for everything that pertains to life, He is able to guide us in a way that’s perfect for who we are at that moment. Checkout these scriptures:

1 Kings 6:61

“Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.”

1 Kings 11:4

“For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. ”

Here is an excerpt from my book “True Heritage” on the topic:

Let’s also look at Matthew 19:21 (KJV): “Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” Are we to believe that the rich young ruler was flawless in every way except for the need to sell off all of his belongings for the poor? No, that’s not it. He was not yet ready to be totally and singularly identified with Christ in his life. The Bible says that the rich young ruler went away grieved because he had great possessions. Matthew 6:20–22 (KJV) says, “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” The rich young ruler was not ready to be filled with light, because his heart was divided. Every man has the potential to reach the point of total surrender where he realizes that all of life’s true riches are obtained through following GOD.

 

 

Back To Perfection

Posted by D.L.Fuller on

Adam

We can never obtain a thing that we don’t understand. I have heard many believers saying we will never reach perfection in this lifetime. All through the bible our Heavenly Father tells us to be perfect even as He is perfect. I heard someone say in a bible study recently, “God tells us to be perfect but He knows that we can’t.” That is not consistent with our Father’s character. If He says we can be perfect in this present world, then we can. We just need to understand what He means by perfect and stop leaning to our own understanding. In His eyes, we are perfect the way He created us, even with our perceived flaws. He made man from a lump of clay and shaped him into a man after His own image.

We were perfect until we decided to turn ourselves into a DIY project.

DYI MAN 2

Whatever is broken in us will remain broke until the Lord fixes us. We can’t fix ourselves, but we can make up our minds to sell out and surrender to His hands. When we surrender in the hands of GOD, through the Cross of Christ, we become that perfect lump of clay in the Potter’s hand. That lump of clay doesn’t look like much; in fact, it can look like a mess, however in the Potter’s eyes it is just what he is looking for. If you look at scripture, you will see that our GOD never chooses anyone perfect according to man’s definition. Look at the men GOD has chosen over the ages, from Abraham to Moses, to David, all the way to the Apostle Paul. All these men like a lump of clay, had messy beginnings, but they obtained one common trait that made them perfect, they surrendered to GOD. They were surrendered to GOD and their hearts were set on pleasing Him. This is what our Father expects of us. To be like Him, faithful, true, and single hearted; not uncommitted and double minded. Checkout these scriptures:

1 Kings 6:61

“Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.”

1 Kings 11:4

“For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. ”

Here is an excerpt from my book “True Heritage” on the topic:

Let’s also look at Matthew 19:21 (KJV): “Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” Are we to believe that the rich young ruler was flawless in every way except for the need to sell off all of his belongings for the poor? No, that’s not it. He was not yet ready to be totally and singularly identified with Christ in his life. The Bible says that the rich young ruler went away grieved because he had great possessions. Matthew 6:20–22 (KJV) says, “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” The rich young ruler was not ready to be filled with light, because his heart was divided. Every man has the potential to reach the point of total surrender where he realizes that all of life’s true riches are obtained through following God..https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47347692-true-heritage?from_search=true&qid=ivu4cNWAED&rank=1

 

 

Desiring A Match Made In Heaven

Posted by D.L.Fuller on

cloud heart

You know, if you want someone to love you, the first thing you have to do is reveal yourself to them.  After all, how can someone love you if they don’t know who you are? Once you reveal yourself, it is their values, knowledge, and understanding, which will determine if they choose to love you.

“The gospel of Christ illuminates God’s love in a way that renews faith toward God and restores hope in God’s promises. It is a daunting task to believe that the being who created the massive universe, in all of its wonder, has genuine love and concern for man individually, as well as collectively. What makes this so unbelievable is the rejection we receive from our fellow man. On earth, we see that we are physically alike, and see that we have the same needs, yet we hate and dehumanize one another. Some of these people who reject us and hurt us are family members we feel a definite connection to. So, carrying what you learned from those experiences, you try to process how the Supreme Being could love you, whom you have never seen, whom you strain to relate to, and it seems impossible. It is the wounds from the evil around us that stifle our ability to obtain unto the love of God. The amazing grace shown through the cross of Yeshua the Christ brings the Father’s love within reach. The passion of Christ begins to stir us to the realization of God’s divine love. It is also the divine love demonstrated by those born again through Christ that bares further witness to the prevailing love of God the Father.” (An excerpt from my book, “True Heritage” https://www.amazon.com/True-Heritage-Recovering-Spiritual-Identity/dp/1641114576)

YAHWEH has revealed Himself to us in a very relatable way, by coming to Earth in the form of a human with frailties, and then suffering the death of the cross. He suffered the death on the cross to show the depth of His love for us. Now that He has revealed Himself, the question is, will we love Him. What determines this is how much we value the knowledge of His love, and the relationship He is trying to establish with us. Another factor is, if we understand that an opportunity to know YAHWEH, our Heavenly Father, is the gift of life. The religious and the gospel sensationalist believe and teach that GOD’s love for us is everything, but Yeshua taught that it is our love in return which completes the connection, and opens the conduit of life.

 “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.  Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.  He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.” (John 14:21-24)

By the power of the Spirit of Truth which is in me, I can introduce a person to God, but it is their choice to love Him. It is their own love for Him that will determine the sacrifices they are willing to make in order to fulfill the relationship. It is their own adoration and longing for God which will determine the time and effort spent pursuing the knowledge of Him.  It is how much an individual values God which determines if priorities are set before a relationship with Him. A love for this current world, with all of its carnal entrapments, will compete for your focus and affections, but I tell you the things of this world are only lying wonders, and they will never satisfy or fulfill you the way a relationship with your Heavenly Father can. Our Heavenly Father new the carnal mind would emphasize the sacrifice in what is required to know Him, instead of what is gained. That is why He said, “Delight yourself in Him and He would give you the desires of your heart,” and He also said, “Seek first the Dominion of His love, and then everything that pertains to life will be added to you.” It is my hope that what I am sharing here with you will introduce GOD in a way that reveals His sincere love and yearning for you, and that you would choose to love Him back, and that you with Him, will be one of the matches made in heaven.

Knowing the Right Direction Begins With Knowing Where You Are

Posted by D.L.Fuller on

U R Here

You cannot properly plan for your future or plot a correct course for your life, until you have your bearings on where you are. By “where you are,” I am referring to an understanding of your current strengths and weaknesses based on the standards of your Creator; Understanding your values in reference to the mandates of Love; and understanding what you can control and influence in the whole apparatus of your life. Without a grasp on these components of your life, you are ill-prepared to identify a destiny suitable for yourself. There is a plague of narcissism infecting society today which has people’s focus locked on what everyone else has done to impact them, with no sense of what they have done to impact others or themselves. This lack of self-awareness stunts personal growth for the individual, and blocks the development of empathy and unity in the community.

There is one missing element in a person’s life that makes them vulnerable to the state described above, the lack of an ongoing intimate exchange between a person’s soul and the Spirit of GOD. The Holy Spirit is the lamp of GOD in the soul, bringing true awareness to the conditions of the soul, and supplying the strength needed to commit to corrective actions by providing the soul direction, hope, and comfort.  What avails us this opportunity is the death blow to Leviathan by the cross. Leviathan is described in the bible as the King which rules over all of those held captive by pride.  Pride will not allow a person to surrender control of their life to anyone other than themselves. A person ruled by pride is  controlling and tormented by fears.

Only the perfect love of Christ is able dethrone Leviathan and break the power of pride. The love of Christ frees the heart of people from fears, enabling them to trust someone outside of themselves. They become open to accepting the rule of GOD in their lives. The rule of GOD establishes the standards which set a clear path for growth and fulfillment. Reliance on GOD is a firm foundation to building your view of yourself and the world as a whole. This is at the root of the proverb which says, “Commit your ways unto the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.” It is also evident in the proverb which says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding, and in all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.” Through trusting the counsel of the Lord, you are able to make sound plans for your life which will bring deep fulfillment.

A Glimpse at Real Marriage

Posted by D.L.Fuller on

threefold

People live together, have sex, share finances, have monogamous relationships, and even have children together but do not consider themselves to be married. People go to work dutifully at corporations and places of employment for upwards of 40 and 50 years, but do not consider themselves married to their jobs. So being loyal to the work in a relationship doesn’t make you married. What then sets marriage apart from these other relationships? The terms of the covenant. In the first example, people enter relationships all the time with no real expressed covenant. It’s often understood, even if not spoken, that either of them can split or go their separate way at any time they feel the need. In the second example of employment, there is a covenant, but it is based on work and some form of compensation and normally doesn’t require ordination by a higher authority like GOD, clergy, or a justice of the peace.  Also, who has ever heard of someone taking a vacation from their marriage, or clocking out from being a spouse until the next day? We probably all have, but I would question if those relationships qualify as marriage at all.  Another important difference to recognize is that everyone needs to work, but everyone does not need to be married. People should only enter a marriage covenant as a result of desiring to be joined to another, not because they need food or shelter, or some other necessity of life.

old couple

People are often praised and esteemed highly if they have been in marriage for many years. Many years of marriage used to be 20 or more years, but due to the pervasion of selfishness in recent times, this has been reduced to ten or more. The principle of quality over quantity has never had a more necessary application than that of marriage. One of my early mentors once said, “Marriage can be the closest thing you experience to either heaven or hell, while still on earth.” How many people have lived unhappily, unfulfilled, or miserably in a marriage relationship for many years, but stayed because divorce was considered a worse option? I have found that many people considering divorce really need to be considering remarriage, because the divorce has actually already taken place; it just has not been formalized. True marriage involves pursuing an intimate knowing of one another, but there are people who consider themselves to be married but are actually strangers, because they never share their true heart with one another. True marriage involves unity or becoming one, but there are couples who consider themselves to be married and they can’t agree or unite on hardly anything. True marriage involves sharing an expression of love for one another, which means each seeks to joyfully fulfill the other at the expense of self, but there are those who consider themselves to be married yet perform the necessities of marriage life grudgingly and painstakingly, only because they feel they have too.

bible 2

I am speaking here about basic biblical marriage. If you are either unfamiliar with biblical teaching or do not believe the holy bible has authority, then your idea of marriage can be what ever you imagine. On the other hand, if you want your marriage to have the life-giving blessings of The Creator, The Most High, YAHWEH (the self-existent one), then there are some specific criteria that must be part of the covenant. For the body of Christ, the Church, one of the main misunderstandings leading to missing the mark and unfulfillment, is not understanding their own heart and coming to terms with what they really value. A drug addict looking to remain drug free, focuses on not doing drugs. They are still in bondage to drugs because it is still their main focus. A person not wanting to be a sinner, focuses on not committing sin. They are still in bondage to sin because sin remains their main focus. A person looking to remain married, focuses on avoiding problems and disagreements, to avoid divorce. They are not free to journey into the joyful depths of real marriage because they are focused on the minimums to avoid divorce. This is also bondage. The Apostle Paul talks about being a bondservant to Christ. This means every day, he lives his life thinking, “How can I get closer to Christ? How can I know Christ more? How can I please and be more of a blessing to Christ? How can I love Christ more? This form of bondage leads to indescribable freedom!

So, what is the key to entering real marriage? It is the same key to a fulfilling life with GOD.

SURRENDER, as a result of experiencing TRUE LOVE.

To be clear, I am not speaking of true love with your spouse, I am speaking of true love between a person and GOD. I am also not speaking of surrendering to your spouse but surrendering to GOD. There is a certain amount of mutual submission required between married couples to find harmony, but it will not happen joyfully if surrender to GOD does not come first. GOD is love, so you need union with Him before you can love anyone, including yourself. GOD must be your FIRST love. That is my desire for every human, whether you are considering true marriage or not. It is from the spring of love that flows from GOD that we have the hope, strength, desire, and knowledge to fulfill the covenant of the joyful marriage He has ordained. Only GOD is good. If you want to be a good husband or a good wife, and have a good marriage, don’t focus on your spouse, focus on GOD, and His goodness will permeate your life. It is this same spring that feeds a true civilized society. So then, what is true marriage? It is individuals expressing their relationship with GOD through physical and social intimacy, bound by a covenant, which He has authorized.

Consciously Addressing the Unconscious

Posted by D.L.Fuller on

turning on the light

I recently took a course on “Unconscious Bias “. I was impressed with the many scientific studies performed which validate this mental phenomenon. The key word being “unconscious”. Somethings are truly too close to see. It is why you are better off sometimes getting someone else to proof your writing. I’m sure we have all looked at an email we sent and realized we left out that missing from the sentence (that was intentional “word”). In humility, we must be opened to having our lives proofed by outside entities, like having our positions fact checked by research, or excepting that our view of something can be improved by receiving information from someone that has a different vantage. Realizing that our world view, as well as our view of ourselves, can me distorted unconsciously by misinformation or a lack of information, we have a moral obligation to consciously seek knowledge to be as truthful as we can be. To say that truth is relative is just an excuse to be immoral. Opinions and feelings are relative, but truth is like math concepts, it is universal and can be applied anywhere to find solutions.

In my book, “True Heritage: Recovering from Spiritual Identity Theft”, I look at some of the consequences suffered by society resulting from not knowing or by ignoring the truth from the Creator. To save civilization, GOD has sent Truth and Light to destroy the darkness which has held humanity captive by deception and the intentional oppression of truth. I appeal to your determination to be the best that you can be, for yourself and your loved ones, and for the community abroad, through an invitation to read this book. You will find a viewpoint that is as ancient as time itself, yet as fresh as this mornings dew.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who Can Receive the Message of Salvation?

Posted by D.L.Fuller on

The Hook

To be born again, you must first die. The missionary can try to fix that up with whip cream and cherries and chocolate chips, but it will always be a bitter truth to those not fed up with their current life. If you love this current world, you will be offended by the cross. To be clear, you will be offended by anyone telling you that you have to sacrifice your life on the cross. Most people will say Christ sacrificing His life on the cross was a beautiful act of love, but when they are asked to take up their own cross to follow Him, they are offended. They know that taking up their own cross means they will have to stop fornicating and living lustfully, stop getting drunk, stop cheating and lying, stop hating their brothers and sisters. In other words, stop living in sin. I know some people will be offended at even reading this. They are offended because their stony hearts have not yet been broken by the love demonstrated from GOD through Christ. The scripture says in 1st John 2:15-16,

“15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

The refusal to surrender your life testifies to the fact that you do not yet love and trust GOD. That is verse 15 of the scripture cited above. You are still doing life your way, instead of putting your life in His hands. This is the reality that I had to face when I was resisting the cross. I had to come to terms with the reality that I was unwilling to surrender the things which were giving me pleasure and making me feel secure, for a chance at receiving the promise of something better in obedience to GOD. To even seriously ponder this proposition, you must know the feeling of a soul starting to buckle from weightiness of life in this world. To make that swap, you have to be convinced of two things; that Yeshua is GOD, and that He really does love you. If you are missing either of these elements in your belief toward GOD, its guaranteed that you have not taken up the cross and totally surrendered your life to GOD.  Hebrews 11: 6 states,

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Those who do not believe the Almighty Creator of all things, in the face of Yeshua the Christ, think they have more options than what are truly available. No greater love has ever been shown greater than the testimony of GOD’s love through the witness of Christ, and until you truly know that, you will always hold on to your self-life. I or know other person, can convince someone to surrender their life to GOD. That point in a person’s existence is orchestrated by GOD, where they will know who it is that is posing the question, “Will you trust me with your life?” Those that have accepted the offer from GOD and want so badly for others to have the same benefits, can only share His love as best they can, and testify to the benefits and terms of the amazing opportunity.

The message of GOD’s Salvation can’t be shared like a bad car salesman trying to get a contract signed by concealing all the cost. Christ new His target market,

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29)

When the rescue beacon of GOD’s voice finally reached my stony heart, it was shattered at the awareness of how I had dishonored and disrespected Him, and how I had rejected His love in counting Him unworthy of my trust, and at the depth of my injustice at refusing to suffer, in the face of the enormous cost that this salvation was being made offered. All of that, and He continued to pursue me, understanding that He alone had what my heart truly longed for and needed. In light of this, my self-life was wrecked into splinters, like a shipped washed into a mountain side by humungous waves. From that day forward, I have been compelled to surrender all.

The Gospel of Christ doesn’t need augmenting for the 21st century, or for any period in time. The cost of Salvation will always be same, His life in exchange for your death. The proselyte can be of good cheer, because resurrection life is real, and it is far more satisfying!