7/13/2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him. They will see His face. His name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.”

(Revelation 22.[3] and 4)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

When will we know that all is right with the world? It will not be until we know that God, His Son and the Holy Spirit are in their rightful place. And that place is not merely on a throne whether on earth or in Heaven but in our hearts, in our minds, in our souls and is our only strength. The world can never be right unless God is the lord of it, Jesus is the Lord of all other lords and the Holy Spirit not only “falls on us” but thrives within us as we surrender who we are to who They are. John listens and watches as They reigning forever and ever. It is not that They ever stopped reigning for they have reigned forever and ever. But, it is now that they reign forever and ever over a people who have experienced their reign and desire it above all others.

Does this mean that God is selfish and self-centered? Does this mean that God is not fair and just? Does this mean that God seeks His own way at the expense of all others because it is presumably “all about Him”? I would call to mind this passage of scripture and invite you to weigh such thinking against it:

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices always with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails!” (1 Corinthians 13.4-8a)

The apostle Paul goes on to say:

“But where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. Where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child and I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now, we see only a reflection as in a mirror. [But the day is coming] when we shall see face to face. Now I know in part. Then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13.8b-12)

Mighty ones of God, I contend that what John was seeing revealed in Heaven was that which is yet to come. That which is yet to come is that day when not only are all things are made new but are brought to full completion. As we are now in this world, we live in a state of incompleteness but seek to be completed. We yearn for completeness. We long for wholeness. We find it in part knowing that in all reality it is not the whole until God is the whole of it. This is where the difference must be realized in us and in all those around us. The truth is that we cannot know “wholeness” until there is a “god” of it. Satan, the Enemy of God, proposes that we are being deceived by God. He declares that our “incompleteness” is only incompleteness because we have not accepted that we are intended to be gods ourselves and rulers over our own lives. He contends that there is truth when God says, “Behold, I AM a jealous God and you should have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20.5 and Deuteronomy 3.24) But, what Satan proposes is that the jealousy of God is an envy that we can live without Him and, in essence, have no need of Him. Satan wants us to believe that all we need is all we have. Our ultimate possession, as promoted by the Lie, would be having control over God and enslave Him to do our will on earth. I pray, mighty ones of God, that you rebuke such thinking as is prevalent in today’s world. The destiny that is manifested by the Lie is incomplete and will always be in search of a wholeness that is elusive and incapable of being found. It is a myth and not a mystery.

The truth is that we are not God and we are not gods. We are, however, called to be who we are intended to be: God’s children. The psalmist David, when the shepherd became the king, wrote and sang over his people Israel:

“Make a joyful noise to the LORD. [I say] All the earth: Serve the LORD with gladness. Come into His presence with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us and we are His. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving. Enter His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and bless His name. For the LORD is good and His loving devotion endures forever. His faithfulness continues to all generations.” (Psalm 100. 1-5)

This is where we find our completeness. It comes in serving the Lord our God and worshipping Him in spirit and in truth. We struggle in this world because sin has revealed that we are incomplete without God. We falsely have believed that we can be complete without God and that it is God who has made us incomplete. How can this be? Before we were created, the world existed in the perfect harmony of “good and good.” It was pleasing to God not because He had made it but because of what it was going to do and to be for those to whom it was to be given. God did not make all of this for Himself. God made it for us. God did not create all of this so that it would rule and dominate each other. He created all of it and us so that we would be complete and whole and thriving with God being all we are meant to be. The Lie fomented by Satan is that we can be more than we have been created to be. It is the Lie he himself believed and continues to believe. He sold himself the bill of goods that said, “I am more than one who serves God and live only for Him.” I have no doubt that God sought to provide evidence and the truth that what Lucifer was thinking and seeking was normal but should lead him to the reality that living fully into who he was would allow him to be all that he is without limit. Even in Heaven, Lucifer had not yet reached maximum capacity, completeness, in serving God and leading all Heaven to glorify Him who had glorified them. God was not holding Lucifer back but was inviting him into Himself to be whole, one, united and complete. In the words of Paul, “When completeness comes, incompleteness vanishes and what was just a mere reflection becomes a full reality.” That reality is the fullness of God’s love which we know best in His mercy and in His grace. Our complete joy comes when we serve God and Him alone and are bathed, anointed and baptized into His love, the fount of every blessing!

A PRAYER FOR TODAY:

You are our God and we shall be Your people in spirit and in truth. Continue to dwell among us. Let the revelation by Your Holy Spirit inspire us to greater service in a more refined identity. We do not live as ourselves for ourselves. Rather, we live in Christ as He lives in us. We declare it with all the elders and angels in Heaven, saying “Holy, holy, holy is He who was and is and is to come.” In Jesus’ name we live, serve and pray. AMEN.