Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

1 Timothy 1:5

And, if all of our commandments is not love, charity, out of a pure heart and of a good conscience, what is it for?  If we do not end up with a real, un-manipulated and un-faked faith, have we more than just begun?  In all of our getting, get wisdom, for it is the principle thing!

It was out of love that God killed Ananias and Sapphira.  It was out of love that He set an example for the church, just as He did with Sodom and the world.  It was out of love that He killed His only Son so that we would live, living His life.  It was out of love that He sent forth preachers, and prophets, and evangelists, teachers, and apostles, that the Earth might know the only name by which is Salvation, Jesus Christ.

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Acts 4:12

And, it is in this, that we are taught to love.

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us.

1 John 4:10, portion

We did not know love, and so love came.  We did not love, and so He loved.  And, still, most of the world does not, cannot, and will never love, until that same love wherewith He loved us pierces their hearts as well.

It is in perfect love that the Gospel first came, and in perfect love it is sent out, even if the deliverers are not in themselves yet completely perfect.

The true spiritual man never forgets the least, for in whatever is done unto them, it is done unto Christ Himself.

The spiritual is not in some way separated or distinct from the practical, the mundane, any more than it was for Adam.  Just as with Adam, it was a seemingly “earthly” decision which cost him the heavens, so too it is our sins, done in the mortal body, that had at one time separated from our God.  Unseen yet not unperceived, it has always been the deeds done in this life that have the Eternal consequences.  As Adam sinned, and in dying he died, as Peter doubted, so he too began to sink.  As Peter denied the only true Lord with his own lips, the rage of the enemy came against his soul.  And, as he believed and was restored, life came again.

As Adam was created in the Earth, with feet on the ground and a head in the clouds.  As the church is today, seated in heaven while founded upon the rock, so a “church” that divorces either the spirituality of the life in the heavens or leaves the understanding that it is the life lived, the deeds done either to to their common man, especially those of the household of faith, has not grown to the full stature of the measure of Christ.  It is always “too short” in the measure of the stature of that man.  As Jesus said that it is those deeds through the Holy Spirit (as all other works are dead works) that is our requirement for entrance into the Kingdom (Matthew 7:21), it becomes plainly obvious that we are required first to be in the Heavens by the Spirit, as John was on the Isle of Patmos, that is to hear from Him, but that we must be in the Earth, that is, to do them!  By living such, we do not fall short in any thing, nor do we have any work as credit to ourselves, but merely doing those acts of service prepared in advance for us to do, we fulfill the requirement of Christ, living His righteousness and not our own.

For no man truly in the Spirit of Christ can forget his brother.  And, no man walking down a road can, in perfect love, walk past a perfect stranger in dire distress and not help.  How can we say we love our brother if he is in need and we have the means and do not help?

Some people are of course charlatans, who merely attempt to use, trick, and manipulate us. We follow the Lord in all matters, but even the apostles made a list of qualifying widows to whom would be given to in times of need.  Not everyone made the list, but only those of a certain criteria.

But, as the heart of the Father is towards the poor and the afflicted, so is the heart of all of His children.

It is never in the ability to give, but in the desire to (2 Corinthians 8:12).

Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

1 Peter 1:22

The heart of the matter is still love.  A church that has not learned to love has not become perfect.  A church that sees no need most certainly never will.  But, the sign of discipleship is the love between one another.  It is not our “blessedness” in the eyes of the world, but merely a heart change, a level of commitment to one another in the Spirit of Christ that the world pays lip service to wanting, but neither can produce by force or laws nor will it bow to, for it is impossible without Christ.

Peter wrote of the purifying of the heart.  In the book of Acts, he spoke of it, speaking of there being no distinction between the Jews and the Gentiles, saying, “And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” (Acts 15:9).

For, it is with the truth, through faith, that the heart is made pure.  It is a new heart, a new mind, and a new Spirit.  It is a new life of love, and not hate and bondage and sin and death.

For all of the rest was fear of punishment, and ultimately, a fear of death.  But, when life came, death, for us, is no more.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:18

John wrote that fear has torment in it.  Perfect love casts out all fear, and the one who fears is not yet made perfect in love.  It is the in the mature, sincere love that the substance of the Gospel is made known.  The church is called to walk in love, as clearly as this was on of the last commands given by Jesus Himself to the apostles.  Over and over, He exhorted them, commanded them, and taught them to love, demonstrating it through His own life.  Until we reach this point, of no more fear because of His love within us, all our great feats are little more than trifles, and we have been little in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For, though we move mountains, and have not love, we are nothing.  And, though we do many mighty things, and even face martyrdom and pain and death, and do not love, as He loved, then we have accomplished nothing.  It is not as we will ever hear sung on a secular radio, for it is only by God’s love that we know.

But pure love, perfect love, real love, is only possible in the heart of a believer (1 John 4:7-8), not as the world would give, but only as Christ Himself.  No strings, no self motive, but love, unknowable and unenterable by the un-reborn.  It is the new heart, and the new mind, of love, and it is that which keeps us in His perfect peace and stay.

When Christ is kept in the center, despite the pressures, despite the pain and the intensity, despite death in the flesh, we face death all the day long for His sake, and are not afraid.  What is life but a shadow?  If I live, I live for Christ, and if I die, I die to Him.  Whether we live or die it is to the Lord.

In the days of the martyrs of Rome and at other times, God even preserved those from the burning.  Even when their bodies were consumed, they sang psalms of praise in the midst of the flames, until the expired.  No human alive, under any natural strength, could withstand that pain of physical burning, but only those possessed by something greater than themselves.  And yet, the record remains that they stood, not tormented, but alive with the power of God, even as their bodies perished.  Even as the Roman soldier attending the crucifixion of Jesus, seeing how He died, exclaimed, Surely this was the Son of God.

Many men would give their life for a lie they believed to be the truth.  But few to none would give their lives for a lie they knew outright to be such.  Yet, history records that every single one of the Apostles faced martyrdom willingly.  The apostles knew that Jesus was alive, for they saw Him, and were convinced, and not a single one of them turned around from that point.  That fact, in all of history, demonstrates irrevocably that what they recorded, they believed, to the last one.

This is their record, that we might have fellowship with them, in Him, through His Words, Eternal in the heavens.

A Gospel that does not look like Jesus is missing something.

We have a part, but unless it compels a man to complete obedience, to perfect love, and perfect faithfulness, let us continue to press on.  Some are thirty, some are sixty, but why settle for less than one hundred fold return, for, as Jesus said, the one who is fully trained will be like his instructor.

Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world

1 John 4:15-17

That we might dwell in love and thereby dwell in God.  That we might abide in Him, and His words abide in us, that we might be His disciples, and that we would know the truth, and the truth would set us free.

There is no other gospel, not two, or four, but one, and any who preach any other gospel, let them be eternally condemned.  This, too, is love.

Love, in perfection, is God, for God is love, and what God does, He loves completely.

When God created the world, He said, “It is good.”, for He created after His kind.  The fall was not His design, but He has worked salvation through it.  What He did not desire, He foreknew, and so slew the Lamb before the foundation of the world.

God, and only God, is good, and He desires His goodness in each of us, that we might be one, even as Christ and He were one.  This is Jesus’ prayer, that we might have His glory, and know Him, to be with Him where He is.

Love stretches Beyond the confines of time, Beyond even the concept of anything, for God is, and He is a rewarder of those who diligently pursue Him.  Before time was brought together, love was, in perfect unity, and the Word was God.

And, herein are you truly His disciples, that you love one another.

What is the ultimate in love?  Jesus gave us the answer.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13

The highest call of love has always been martyrdom.  But, Jesus makes it clear.  It is not death for a cause, it is death for a man.  It is not dying for an idea, it is dying for Him!  No one in Christianity is ever called to die for a doctrine, but every one of us is called to face death daily for who we have seen, Him, the Eternal, even Jesus Christ our savior.

This is Eternal life, to know Him, and by this we overcome, by His blood, our testimony, and loving our lives not even unto death, for we know our true life remains.

Jesus wrote the book, from cover to cover.  From front to back, all the Scripture testifies to Him, and to love.  As all the Law and the Prophets hang upon the two greatest commandments, to love the Lord with all, and our neighbor as ourselves, so as He speaks His final commands to love as He has loved, He has not changed from the beginning, and nor has the heart of His commands.  To love, to truly love, from the foundations of the world until its end, is the same love, His love.  Yet, as a man would sit and justify in his heart saying, “Who’s my neighbor?”, so Jesus reminds us all of the battered, bruised Jew that only a Samaritan would stop to help.

His command to love has always been the same, and His burden upon each of us to Himself and each other has never changed in all of creation.  But, now, in the light of the Gospel, we have this.  We have seen His love, and seen how He lived, cared, and died, and have tasted and seen of His great kindness and mercies.  And now, because we have seen, we know love.  The very love that He gave, demonstrated, and fed and healed us with, kissed us with, when we were down.  Healed us with when we were broken, and spoke to us in our utter darkness to rescue us.

We have now seen this love, a love demonstrated, given, shown.

And, in the light of this witness, He speaks the same command.  Love one another, even as I have loved you.  Love one another.

This was the original intent, and it was the only intent, from Adam to Moses to John’s Revelation.

 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

John 4:17

We love, because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).

And, what shall we ask for?  We shall ask for provision, and sustenance, we shall ask for blessing and favor.  But, give me an unfailing heart, undivided, that I might fear His name.  Give me this One Thing, that I may dwell in your house all the days of my life, gaze upon your beauty, and inquire of you in your temple.  Give me wisdom, and give me righteousness, but most of all, Lord, lest I perish, give me your self.

For the gospel is a means of great gain, if it is accompanied by contentment (1 Timothy 6:6), but let us seek first the Kingdom, and His righteousness, and the other will be added unto us (Matthew 6:33).  Let us seek Him while He may be found.  Let us find Him, when we seek for Him with all of our hearts.

What does love look like, what does love feel like?  For Jesus, it was a rough cross on a rugged hill.  For Peter, it was later being crucified upside down, according to church history, knowing he was unworthy to be crucified in as His Lord.

We have not yet known love like this in the West.  We have not followed, we have not obeyed, we have not heard his call.  Some due to rocks, and some due to thorns, those in whom it has grown at all.  The Gospel call remains, and still, there are few that find it.

Who would give all he had for love, and yet remain?

Who would lose all he had, and find it, and stand again?

This is the message of the the Eternal, and who would find it?

That the Gospel waters might flow clear again, amidst the troubled times.

This is the path of most resistance, in our selves and among men.

But the eyes of faith shall find it true, and pick up it’s joyous refrain.

To death and torture, peril and slaughter, let us head off to distant shores,

For Christ has conquered and Christ prevailed, I shall not taste sin’s stain.

For His dear blood has bought my soul, and by it renewed I am.

This is the cost, this is the blood, but by it I am free,

To lose my own, at not thought of loss, at precious Calvary.

You see, the poor man hears no threats, and the man who has already died can never be threatened in this life.  This is the key to the abundant life, to have only one thing that we see.

The Kingdom may start off small with us.  We see His love, and His promise, but as they grow, they far eclipse this life.  By a steady, unyielding focus, that which seemed small at the start has become the greatest, and that which seemed insignificant has overcome the rest.

To put anything else before Him, whether it be family, friends, or any other thing, only results in certain peril.  By His Grace we stand, but through Him we can be free.

Only a free man can worship with abandon.  The rest look sheepishly over their shoulders, and their stares and glares and hatred might be real, but they need not frighten me.  For My God is an all consuming fire, and His love has overcome the grave, so I will not live in fear.

For He has redeemed my soul with His price, and by His Stripes, I’m healed.

Where else would we go, but only to look at His face a little longer?  How would we hide, that we might escape Him, for whereever we would go, He would be there.  Even darkness is light to Him, and pitchest blackness as the noon day sun.  In this we can be assured–He is here.  Shammah!

Who is He, this fairest of ten thousand?

His head as pure gold, hair black like the raven.  With eyes like doves by the streams and washed with milk,  jewels fitly set.  Cheeks as beds of  spice and sweet flowers, lips like lilies dripping myrrh.  His hands like gold rings set with beryl, and His belly like ivory set with sapphires.  His legs are pillars of marble upon sockets of gold.  His countenance like the cedars.  His mouth is sweetness itself.

Altogether lovely.  This is my beloved, and this is my friend.

And, where has He gone?  To the gardens, to feed His flock, and to gather lilies.

Oh, to be a lily on that day.  As the commentator on the Song, Jeanne Guyon, writes

The moment you are freed from all self-seeking you will know a more complete union with God than ever before.  Now you belong completely to your Beloved. You have given yourself to Him without reserve.  At least you have learned many things about your Beloved.  No longer are you bold enough to say you will never let Him go.  But now you know Him more deeply than ever.  You will never lose Him!  Who would not celebrate this with you?

You are so fully your Beloved’s that nothing stops you from being lost in Him.  Now you are so melted by the warmth of His love that you are ready to be poured into Him.

You are totally His, and He is yours.  You experience His goodness with unspeakable delight.  He repays your pain with gentlest affection; He feeds on your purity.

–Jean Guyon, The Song of the Bride, Commentary on Song of Songs 6:2

Of all the mysteries of the faith, how great is the mystery of godliness, first Christ, and now us in Him.  To leave the realm of merely understanding, to the place of knowing, that we would know as we ought.  For, I endeavor to know nothing, except this Christ, and Him crucified, for all of Life.  United with Him in His death, and one day, united with Him in bodily resurrection.

For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

Colossians 1:10-12

In this, then, is the full indwelling of His power.  In the infilling, in the rooting and grounding of love, in the knowledge of His will with all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

No other path has any lasting power, but even as we dwell and have our being in Him, we are built up in Christ, and made fit to “partakers of the inheritence of the saints in light”.  As we grow in this fruit, this apple of His choosing, the tree of life, which is Christ.

Power alone wont do it.  Tolerance wont do it.  Merely trying to be “nice” wont do it.  Trying to make the world a “better place” certainly has never done anything even remotely worthwhile (John 6:63).  Merely trying to get along and meet people “on their level” has only ever resulted in the removal of any true light that there was.

But the first, the the forth-shining, the delivery, has always been, a man went forth to sow some seed…

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Hebrews 10:35-36

For, from a pure heart,  the Kingdom has always come forth first as a Word.   A true word, a sure word.  Words that are Spirit and are Life.  For a light shining in a dark place, for a people in gross darkness to see and be saved.

The Word first comes forth into the hearts of men, and grows, and prospers, and produces fruit.  And that fruit is judged and counted worthy by its kind and its quality.  But, the very word that brought forth the Gospel of salvation into the hearts of men spreads forth, and reproduces, bringing in a harvest of souls, for he who wins them is wise.

And, as it comes, it beareth good tidings, saving, healing, delivering, and healing all who were harassed and oppressed by the devil.

And, in our firm assurance of these things, we stand fast and with confidence.

We have many people today with a call to love.  We have many people with a eye for His Power.  And, it is in them both, right and left hand together, that we are whole, and can fully do the work, as a body, that Christ has commissioned us.

For whosoever would evangelize without the power often scatters rather than gathers, for he offers little to no hope of lasting change without the Spirit.  Those without the heart will never last the mile.  But, though it is always misunderstood, always criticized, and always persecuted, the true remains true, and brings forth grain.

If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

1 John 2:29, 1 John 3:1

To be possessed of love, perfected in it, ruled and guided by it.  To be filled by it, doing only what we see love, perfect love, doing.  Whether healing, or teaching, or rebuking, or eqiupping.  Whether resisiting, or resting, or shepherding, or following.  Wherever love goes, there we are, because we are in Him.

The world cannot see this love, nor comprehend.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not put it out.

This was He from the beginning, the one who is light, and in whom is no darkness at all.

This is He who called out, Adam, where are you?

This is He who paid the price to set us free.

Jesus, only Jesus, and ever Jesus.

This is He.

What more do we need, for in Him all the mysteries of wisdom and knowledge are hidden?  Simply because you have not found them yet does not mean they are not real, and there, and for you.  But, having tasted and seen, no wine is finer than the cup of His love, and no presence sweeter than He.

For He rules over the light, and He is the day.  He is the bright and morning star, and apart from Him, there is no light.

In His presence is the fountain of life, and in His light, we see light.  Psalm 36:9.

But, His light is finer than life, and His love better than all the wonders of the world.  His ability outstrips every other lover, and makes them as dust and nothing before Him.

In His delight, we are satisfied, and put into Himself, we remain.

Never for one moment let the gifts be separated from Him.  Not for an instant imagine that there is any Grace that is not His.  This touch, this divine, this presence, this moment, is Him.  Eternally.  Eternity in time.  Forever here.  Possessed.  Held.  Kept, in His Divine, in His touch.

This is He, and this is Him, the invisible, the Eternal, Immanuel is God with us.

This is He.  That He might fill all in all.  That He might overrun the banks.  That He might overflow.  Again.  Again.  Again.  Consuming.

All consuming fire.  All consuming love.  All consuming gaze.  Burning, ever burning, ever groaning, ever longing, ever yearning.  In love.

Lovesick, for I am faint with love.

All true disciples must lose their life for love, for it is the only way.  All true disciples must learn to unlearn the unknowable, and know Him who is, the Eternal, the uncreated one, the Son of Man.

As a child, before Him.  As a child, relying.  Not separate, but united.  Not as departing, but remaining.  For, where would we go, and what would we do, except the Holy One go with us?  And, to what source would we turn, except the Lord, who made us, who fashioned and formed, and knows us?

This is He of whom the whole world turns.  On Him is set the rising and falling of many in Israel.  Some to Eternal glory and some to Eternal damnation.

For the pure in heart will see God, and what we have heard with our ears, we will see to our shame, for nothing of ourselves is worthy, but only He remains.

To be a lily on that day is to be plain, white, and pure, holding nothing, owning nothing, but by His Grace, “We grow!”

This is how it is with the Kingdom, not of our own strength by His.  Not by our own life, but His.  But, in His Glory, we grow, we bud, we bloom.

Come forth, oh, mighty one, like a man of war.  Gird your sword upon your thigh, and ride, for you shall prevail.

Your might is unknowable, and your kingdom everlasting.  Your righteousness is Eternal, and your mercy knows no bounds.

For you have triumphed over everything, and by righteousness, you make war.

Gird your sword, oh mighty one, and ride.

By this all shall know we are His disciples, that we love one another.  Not by money, not by fame, not by honor, nor by name.  But by a simple, holy thing, a mighty, holy flame.  The fire of love lives burns in us, and knows no other name.  Jesus Christ is our true savior, there is no other Way.  For by His blood, He made a way, and by His life, He saved.

Let all who are lost, hear again, the message that is plain.  That we were lost, but found again, in trusting in His name.

Let none revile or scoff at us, for we are never put to shame, for in His stead we ride the Earth healing sick and limp and lame.

For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

1 Peter 3:10-12

Let us never lose this first love.  If we have been talked out of anything, let us renew it again.  For our strength was not our own, nor was our courage, but by Him, we have everything to gain.

If by peace and pursuance, we find Him afresh, let us not let off until we have laid hold.  Let us not slacken the pace, until we have brought Him back to the place of our first love, until we have brought Him into the innermost room, and there be made one in love.  For, we must seek the Lord while He may be found, and we must pursue Him all our days.  For He must be sought, and love must be pursued.  His Glory is everlasting, and His fame is as yet not known.

This is the sum of the matter, that we might know Him as He has known us, until love is our only name.