Below is something that was shared with me by two brothers during a recent phone conversation. I hope you enjoy this and can glean some fruit from it. I have also included a YouTube Video link at the bottom if you would prefer to listen to the message instead.
I did not receive this from the Lord, Chris Hall did, and I
feel it is important enough to share, I don't take any credit for this at all.
Yesterday (5/26/22) at 1:54pm · Dayton, OH
I had a spiritual encounter while in prayer. I was in the
Spirit (I have Pentecostal roots) and prayed to God about division in the body
and true holiness... and I believe God spoke to me. I was overwhelmed with
thoughts and emotions to the point where I had to type it all out. Here's what
I believe the LORD told me...
***********************************
ME:
"Why are we so divided?"
"What must I do to be holy?"
GOD:
My child, I will tell you why you are all so divided. It is
your religions. They are not of me. Each of you has a list. A list of do’s and don’ts.
And each of you think that I authored your respective lists. Baptists have
their list, Catholics have their lists, Pentecostals have their lists,
Methodists have their lists, Lutherans have their lists, Charismatics have
their lists, Messianics have their lists, Episcopals have their lists… each
list is different. I’m not a God of confusion. Each list is a doctrine of man.
Some say you must keep the Ten Commandments that I delivered to Moses to give
to my people. Some of you expand upon these and add feast days, Sabbaths,
dietary regulations, linguistic nuances of eccentricity wherein you think you
are shown to be wise, yet you are looking foolish in your conceits. You want to
be so much like my people… but not like me. You fail to realize… I’m the eternal,
the constant, the source; the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning, the ending, the
all in all, the great I AM that I AM… I’m not Catholic, Protestant, or
Evangelical… neither am I Jewish. I’m GOD. Still, some of you have codified my
teachings into a strict body of church law in which you seek to please me by
changing your “behavior” … but not your “being”. Teachings of mine were for
spiritual development; they were not intended to be turned into dry do’s and
don’ts to maintain a religious status quo. Then some of you codified the
methods with which I addressed issues in Israel or the first generation of
churches... making them “commandments” instead of seeing the spirit behind the
reasoning. A reasoning that endures in any context, be it time or culture. Then
you added historical traditions established by various religious leaders and
founders. You codified congregation structures, financial models, added
liturgies, added dietary regulations, added special days of worship, added
dress codes, even added prohibitions on both men and women I never required.
Each of you has these LISTS! Stop trying to please me by living these man-made
lists! They divide you because you measure yourselves against one another based
on your respective man-made LISTS. Ask the Pharisee to list exactly what must
be done to please me! Let him present his list! And suddenly you’ll see another
Pharisee argue against something on the first Pharisee’s list or seek to add
something from their list to it!!! Eventually they are all squabbling over
which commandments on which list has to be obeyed and which do not! Why? It is
because the spirit of legalism leaves you awash in the sea of subjective
personal interpretation wherein one man’s interpretation is just as good as
another’s. Yet you cling to them because you think they make you “holy”. These
lists don’t make you holy. What makes you Holy is… ME.
You see… I am the Vine, and you are the branches. You are
called to be living extensions of me… not living extensions of the ancient
nation of Israel, your given church, or your given denomination. You are called
to be conformed into the image and likeness of Christ… not the image and
likeness of your respective church, movement, or denomination. When you live by
their LISTS… you are becoming like them… NOT like me.
And so, you ask… How do I become like you? I, the LORD,
shall answer you this day. He who has an ear, let him hear!!!...
The answer is in the very nature of my being my beloved. You
see… I AM… love. When you are loving, gracious, forgiving, kind, compassionate,
patient, long suffering, temperate, and giving… you are being like Me. Do you
wish to fulfill “the law”??? DON’T live by its letter. Find its core. Find its
essence. Find my reason for delivering said laws in their given contexts. Find
its spirit and intent. You’ll discover that it is because I was teaching many
different things… but the core was and always has been… MY love. Love me my
child. Love me with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And demonstrate
your love for me by loving others as yourself. If you do this, you will have
fulfilled the essence of MY law. If there is any other commandment ever brought
to your attention, know this… it is fulfilled in this single statement, “Love
thy neighbor as thyself.” In this you do no wrong… and in loving… you become
like me… the one who is love itself.
So be not swayed by their LISTS. Do not be deceived by their
vain and eccentric verbiage. Do not emulate a nation, a denomination, or a
church. Instead… emulate Me and you will find rest for your souls. Love Me with
all your being… and show me that you love Me by loving others as yourself. The
only commandment I give you is this… LOVE. For love will not murder, steal,
covet, slander, commit adultery, rage, revenge, or blaspheme. Love will set
every day aside as holy… because love seeks to give absolute devotion every
single day without end. I am not impressed with your LISTS. First, your lists
all differ. And second, you don’t even keep your own lists perfectly! This
makes you hypocrites of the worst kind. Why do you do this to yourselves??? Do
you really think I’m IMPRESSED by anything you do? Am I impressed by any cherry-picked
LIST of commandments you’ve chosen to embrace… at the expense of others that
you chose not to? Do you really think I’m going to open the books and judge you
by each of your respective lists???! Will I judge according to dress code,
hairstyles, feast days, and your labored mispronunciations of an ancient
language??? Will I praise you for acting Jewish… even though if the truth were
to be told… you don’t have a single drop of Hebrew blood in your body??? No.
When you stand before Me… I will only seek to know two things: Did you love me
with all your being? Did you seek to show your love for me by loving others as
yourself? And you’ll then begin to see how your LISTS hindered you from loving
your neighbors. You will see how your lusts, adulteries, thievery, slander,
etc. are not rooted in failing to obey a rule on a LIST… but in your failure to
LOVE. For love does no harm to the object of its affection.
So, I leave you with this… become like Me. Be conformed into
the very image and likeness of Jesus Christ, my beloved Son. And in this you
will find true holiness. In this you will find the law of liberty… the law of
LOVE. You will have discovered… ME.
No comments:
Post a Comment