Love Your Neighbor As I Love Your Neighbor
A word of The Lord to The Church:
Be led by My Spirit and not by your own thoughts and limited perspective. This can only come through spending time with Me in the secret place, where I will transform you – the old wineskin made NEW[3]. In the secret place, I will transform your heart of stone into a heart of flesh[4].
Hear, My people:
The Lord your God; The Lord is One[5].
This is what I require:
You shall love Me with all of your heart:
“All of your heart” means having a heart of flesh that has been tenderized, molded, and expanded into a heart that carries My heart.
You shall love Me with all of your soul – which encompasses all of your mind, all of your will, and all of your emotions:
“All of your soul” means that your mind, will, and emotions are completely surrendered and submitted to Me. It means that you walk out the truth that you have been crucified with Me and you no longer live, but I live in you[6]. The life you now live in the body, you live by faith – absolute, unwavering faith – in Me and in My ways.
You shall love Me with all of your strength:
“All of your strength” means that every ounce of your energy, focus, and purpose is poured out to Me… as an offering of praise, worship, and sacrifice to your One and Only.
AND…
You shall love every human that I have created in My image and with My breath; for each one carries the purposes and destiny appointed to them by their Creator. You are to love them, as I love them. You are to prefer and prioritize them and their needs over yourself and your own needs.
You can only truly love them if you have chosen to love Me, with ALL of your heart, soul, and strength. From that place, you will find that you have the supernatural capacity to carry and release My heart, My mind/will/emotions, and My strength to others. This is where you honor and glorify Me, as you deliver heaven to earth.
Who is your neighbor? And what does it look like to love your neighbor as yourself?
Your neighbor is anyone that you come across in life. If you encounter them, you can be assured that I am the one who put them in your path; so therefore, you are called to love them. You are not just called to love those who are easy to love. No, you must love your enemies. You must bless those who curse you. You must pray for those who persecute you.[9]
The harvest is here. Are you willing to labor over those who harass you with their twisting and distortion of the truth? The harvest is full of your “neighbors”; those who are currently against Me and My Truth. The harvest is full of those who oppose Me, by opposing you; those who reject you and say all manner of evil against Me and against you[10]. The coming harvest is full of those who are not easy to love. It is made up of sinners – vile, depraved, deceived, lawless, blind and deaf sinners.
My Church must get her house in order through humility, sacrifice, and surrender; which is the fruit that develops as a result of communing with Me in the secret place and feeding on My Word. Having laid down her life before Me, she will then have the purity and capacity to carry My heart of love, forgiveness, perseverance, truth, and redemption to her lost, deceived “neighbors”.
Open up the doors of your heart, that I may purify and expand your capacity to love the way that I love. Remember that while you were still a sinner, I died for you[11]. I did not wait for you to clean yourself up and look presentable. I did not wait for you to come out from under the enemy’s cloak of deception and depravity and lawlessness. No, the Father’s great love for you was demonstrated, in that while you were still in the dark pit of sin, I died for you… And I died for your “neighbor”.
Now that you carry My Light and My redemption through the work of the Cross, you have the great responsibility and high calling to share that Light and invitation into salvation and redemption with your neighbor. Your neighbor is one who is walking in complete darkness; blinded and deafened by the twisting and distortion of truth – the lies – that the enemy has successfully spread across the land. As My Church rises up – not in judgement, but in love; boldly, fearlessly, and uncompromisingly speaking My “unpopular” truth – the world will see and experience a pivot. Holy conviction, leading to repentance and salvation, will break through into the promised Great Harvest of Souls. I will be known by many; beyond anything ever imagined.
My Ecclesia – My command to you is:
Love the Lord your God with ALL of your heart, ALL of your soul, and ALL of your strength. And love your neighbor as I love your neighbor!
Through humility, surrender, and submission to Me and My ways, allow Me to transform you into NEW Wineskins, to carry and pour out the NEW Wine that My heart is releasing.
Press in to Me, giving Me permission to transform your stubborn hearts of stone into willing and tender hearts of flesh.
Give Me your “Yes”, and I will make you NEW; as we move forward together in making ALL THINGS NEW![12]
It is time to reap the harvest!
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[1] Harken – (Hearken): to listen attentively; give heed; to hear in order to obey or comply.
[2] Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
[3] Matthew 9:17 (The Voice) “You wouldn’t pour new wine into old wineskins. If you did, the skins would burst, the wine would run out, and the wineskins would be ruined. No, you would pour new wine into new wineskins—and both the wine and the wineskins would be preserved.”
[4] Ezekiel 36:26 (The Voice) “I will plant a new heart and new spirit inside of you. I will take out your stubborn, stony heart and give you a willing, tender heart of flesh.”
[5] Deuteronomy 6:4-5 The Shema: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”
[6] Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
[7] Neighbor (Strong’s Concordance) – “a friend; any other man irrespective of nation or religion with whom we live or whom we chance to meet”
[8] Mark 12:31
[9] Matthew 5:43-48 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father 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. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore, you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
[10] Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
[11] See Romans 5:8.
[12] Revelation 21:5 “…I am making all things new.”
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Until Next Time....
Blessings!
Shari
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