Behold What Manner of Love

By John Foll, 10/29/2016

“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. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure. 1 John 3:1-3 KJV.

It is such an amazing thing that God would not only want to save us, but would want to make us one of His sons or daughters! We will never deserve the honor and blessings that God wants to lavish on us, but they are ours, if we will only claim them, and let Him qualify us. God not only wants to forgive us, but He wants to purify us, to make us like His Son Jesus! Yes, He has bestowed on us the honor to be His son or daughter! But all who would be His son or daughter must let Him purify them, even as He is pure. Is this your hope, to be the son or daughter of God? Then let the Holy Spirit fill you, and change you to be like Him, so that when Jesus the Son of God appears in the clouds with great glory, you will see Him as He is, because you adore Him, and not shrink back in fear. Matthew 24:29-31; 26:64. Hebrews 10:39.

Therefore let us get to know Him, and see Him as He appears. Let us keep His word (John 14:23), become His disciple (John 13:35; 15:8; Isaiah 50:4), and see the King in His beauty. Isaiah 33:17. Let us ask Him for help to take the remaining world out of us and purify us to be like Him, so that we can become His son or daughter.

Amen!

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What Lack I Yet?

By John Foll

“And, behold, one came and said unto Him, ‘Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?’ And He said unto him, ‘Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.’ He saith unto him, ‘Which?’ Jesus said, ‘Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honour thy father and thy mother: and, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’ The young man saith unto Him, ‘All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?’ 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.’ But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” Matthew 19:16-22 KJV.

This rich young man did not have the love for others that he should have had. He claimed that he was keeping all of God’s commandments, but Jesus plainly stated that we need to ‘love our neighbor as ourselves,’ in Matthew 22:39, and in Mark 12:31, which includes helping the poor. And Moses revealed this truth that we are to help the poor too: “If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs.” Deuteronomy 15:7-8 NKJV. If this young man had been willing to give to the poor, and to follow Jesus, this would have proved to be the remedy for his soul! If he would have had God’s Spirit in his heart or wanted to have God’s Spirit in his heart, he would have willingly done this. After thinking about it, he went away sorrowful, because it wasn’t worth it to him to give up all of his possessions to love his neighbor as himself. Jesus didn’t indicate that the young man had a problem with all of the commandments, because he didn’t state all of them to this young man. But in reality, the young man was breaking the first commandment too, because he wasn’t loving his neighbor as himself, because everyone belongs to our loving Heavenly Father in Heaven. If we love God, then we will love our neighbor too. Paul states this same truth when he says: “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,’ and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:8-10 NASB. This young man had made the claim of keeping God’s law, but Paul’s statement here declares that this young man was in fact breaking God’s Law, because he did not love his neighbor as himself.

Was this young man wanting to come and follow Jesus? No, perhaps because it required giving up all of his wealth, or maybe it was because he didn’t want to forsake all and come and follow Jesus? This was an even bigger problem! But praise the Lord there were some who wanted to follow Jesus, who left everything to follow Him, who preached to those who came before us the gospel message, Jesus’ Disciples! After this rich young man left, in response to Jesus’ statement ‘with men it is impossible to be saved, but with God all things are possible’ [including salvation] Peter questioned Jesus: “Then answered Peter and said unto Him, ‘Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?’ And Jesus said unto them, ‘Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’” Matthew 19:27-28 KJV.

So what was this young man really lacking? He was lacking love for God and love for His neighbor! If he was willing to love his neighbor, by helping the poor out of his worldly goods, to relieve their needs and suffering, this would have shown his love for God.

So likewise, if you don’t love your neighbor as yourself, or are not willing to leave everything and come and follow Jesus, you will be in the same boat as this young man! Anyone who speaks unkind words about someone behind their back, or harsh critical words to them, certainly does not love their neighbor as themself, and are not keeping the first commandment to have no other gods before God, Exodus 20:3. It does not matter if someone says that they know the truth, all of the truth, and claim that they follow it or not. If they do not love their neighbor, they are a transgressor of the law, and are lacking the knowledge of the truth of God’s love. If you love your neighbor as yourself, that means that you are Jesus’ disciple, for the only way you can love your neighbor as yourself, is if you love Jesus and are willing to forsake all and follow Him. God will provide everything you need if you are willing to come and follow Jesus.

When God’s love is dwelling in your heart, it changes the way you speak to others and what you say about them, and it will help you to not want to damage their reputation; kindness will be in your words and thoughts about them. You will seek for their good, and not seek to expose their sins and weaknesses to others. “Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” Proverbs 3:3 NASB. When God’s love is dwelling in your heart, it will change the way you view the needs of your neighbors, and you will seek to help them. Yes, you are not only your ‘brother’s keeper’ (Genesis 4:9), but you are your ‘neighbor’s keeper’ too!

Do not be like this rich young man, who thought he had it all, but was missing something big! When he found that he needed to give everything he had to help the poor and come and follow Jesus, he went away sorrowful, for he had many possessions. If any do not love their neighbor as themselves, this is what they lack! If this is the case, then they most certainly do not love their Heavenly Father as well, as the first commandment requires. And they do not know Him, because our Heavenly Father most certainly loves everyone on this earth, and is doing everything to help and save them, and so should all who truly love Him. Any who are not thinking enough of the needs of their neighbors should now confess this sin to God, to receive pardon, and grace for help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16), and allow God’s sweet Spirit to animate their heart and life, then they will come and follow Jesus, and have no lack of any good thing that they need! No one who loves God, can turn away from the needs of others, when it is in their power to help them! “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.” Proverbs 3:27 NASB. This will be a blessing to you if you always help others, when it is in your power to do so!

If you know you fall short in this area, and what you lack is love for your neighbor, there is good news for you! If you will confess your sins to God, and ask Him to cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9), and willingly yield yourself to Him, then He will forgive you and bless you with new life from Him. No one need stay in this state of lacking the most important thing in their life, love, if they will allow God into their heart, to mold them and shape them. If you are having trouble believing or yielding your heart to God, you can pray, ‘Lord be merciful to me a sinner’ (Luke 18:13), and He will hear your prayer and smile from Heaven on you! And be sure to tell Him you are sorry for not putting Him first, and breaking the first commandment, and make Him the Lord of your life! All this and more your Heavenly Father wants to do for you now!

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If You Believe In Jesus You Will Have Eternal Life!

By John Foll, Written between 10/12/2016 to 10/13/2016.
© Copyright 2016 John Foll


Do you worry for your future? Are you weary from worrying whether you are good enough to be saved or not? Are you fearful? Maybe you are worried because of your past mistakes. But fear not! “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 KJV. These are the conditions for salvation and eternal life!  No matter how bad you are, or what you have done, eternal life with its love, joy, and happiness are within your reach! If you will just realize that Jesus and His Father love you and want to save you, and believe in their love, this promised eternal life will be yours! Is your eternal happiness and eternal life really that simple? Yes! But that sounds too easy, how can it be true? Surely there must be something else you must do besides believe in Jesus to be saved, isn’t there? But there is no mistake in this scripture, for it was told by Jesus Himself! He explicitly stated that the Father loves you and wants to save you, and that if you will just believe in Him, then salvation is yours! Let’s not make salvation any more complicated than this! Your salvation really is just this simple and easy to understand: whoever believes in Jesus the Son of God, will have eternal life!

But what does it mean to believe in Jesus? Here is where many make a mistake or are in error. Some think that they believe in Jesus, when they haven’t yielded their heart completely to Him. Brother Paul tells us that of the three: faith, hope and love, ‘that the greatest of these is love.’ 1 Corinthians 13:13. Paul also tells us: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 KJV. Now the Apostle John says about God that “We love Him, because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 KJV. So our faith comes when we hear and learn that God loves us. John also says, “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.” 1 John 4:15-16 KJV. So here we see the link between faith or belief in Jesus, God’s only begotten Son and God’s love. The belief that John 3:16 is talking about is the belief that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that those who believe in His Son and Him, should not perish but have everlasting life! There can be no belief in Jesus, where there is no love for Him and what His Father did for us. Therefore to believe in Jesus is to love Him, because love is greater than belief or faith, and because God so loved the world. God’s love for us is the first cause. Thus you cannot love Him, until you realize that He first loved you. When a child learns that its parents love them, then the child also learns to trust them, and believe in them. So faith is born when one learns that Jesus and the Father loves them, and can be trusted to take care of them, and looks out for their good.

To believe in Jesus, is to love Him and His Father with all of your heart, and all of your mind, and all of your soul, and give yourself to them because you love them. Matthew 22:37. It is impossible to fully believe in Jesus, until you love Him, and have yielded yourself to Him. God’s love for you takes care of the rest of your salvation! If you love and believe in Jesus, you will naturally believe in His sacrifice for your sins, and His desire to save and help you, and that God will send you just the help you need. And you will naturally confess your sins, and believe that God has forgiven you. 1 John 1:9. Then you will have great peace with God, and be filled with great joy when you believe in Jesus. Jesus said, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:16-18 NASB. Here Jesus promises all of His disciples, which will be you if you love Him, that He will ask the Father and the Father will give you another Helper, who will abide with you forever, if you want Him to! Jesus also said, that He will not leave you as an orphan, but He will come to you! Jesus also said, ‘And Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.’ Matthew 28:20. But how do you know that the promise Jesus made to His disciples here applies to you? You are Jesus’ disciple if you love Him, which you show if you want to keep His commandments, which are to love one another. John 13:34. Jesus said, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.’ John 14:23 NASB. If you want to keep Jesus’ word, then you are His Disciple! You are His disciple if you do what He says. Jesus said, “And why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?” Luke 6:46 NASB. Thus if you do what Jesus’ says, He is your Lord, and you are His disciple. See also John 13:34; 14:21; 15:10. Notice that all of this traces back to love for Jesus and His Father. You could have none of this if God did not first love you! But what has this to do with believing in Jesus? It has everything to do with it! Because if you do not believe in Jesus, that means that you do not love Him, and probably do not really know how much He loves you, for if you believed that He loved you, this would awaken love in your heart, and would make all of the difference to you. If you do not believe in Jesus, that means that you don’t really believe that He loves you, or you don’t want the salvation He is offering you. So believing in Jesus is based on knowing His love personally.

So how are we saved? We are saved when we see how much we are in need of help, then learn that Jesus loves us; this awakens faith in our heart! This takes away despair and gives us hope for a better life that He has promised us. Therefore, if you will just learn how much Jesus and His Father love you, this will give you all the faith you need, so that you can believe in Jesus, the Son of God, and thus have eternal life!

But you may say that all of what we have said here is more than just believing in Jesus. But all of the things that the soul needs, develops from believing in Jesus, when the soul learns that He loves them and died to save them. Therefore the one who truly believes in Jesus has eternal life, because everything else that they need will be supplied by God, if they will just believe! And what is believing in Jesus? Again, it is learning that He loves you! Everything you need is supplied, if you will just learn how much Jesus and the Father love you! The soul that is lost, has never truly learned that Jesus or the Father loved them, or didn’t care, it is not because of their sins or mistakes, which can all be forgiven, if the soul will only believe in Jesus! The soul is lost because of unbelief in Jesus and the Father’s love for them, or because it doesn’t want this love or salvation. But how could anyone turn their back on such love? We believe that most people who turn their back on God, never really learned or wanted to learn how much He loves them, thus they didn’t believe!

Therefore John 3:16 is a promise that all who believe in Jesus will be saved, because the Father will forgive their sins, and send them the Holy Spirit, who will help them to be saved, and not leave them as orphans! And Jesus also promised that He would be with His people, until the end of the age! Matthew 28:20. Thus it is really true, that all who truly believe in Jesus will be saved! Do you believe in Jesus the Son of God? Do you believe that He and His Father greatly love you? Then salvation is yours! Go forth with peace, love and joy! May ‘the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.’ 2 Corinthians 13:14 NASB.

Bible Texts For Reflection:
John 3:1-21; John 14:15, John 14:23-24; John 13:35; John 13:34-35; Luke 6:46; 1 John 4:19; 1 Corinthians 13:13; John 14:21; John 15:8-11.

White Raiment Evangelism Purpose:

It is our desire to help as many people as possible learn how to be happy, and have the assurance of their salvation. There is no reason for people to not be happy, have guilt, or not have the assurance of their salvation, if they want it, and are willing to learn what God wants from them and desire to please Him. It is our desire that everyone who wants it, would find ‘the Pearl of Great price’, and that they would have a well of water springing up in them, unto eternal life!

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Oh Hungry Soul!

By John Foll:

Oh Hungry Soul:

You too can know

The delights of being forgiven &

The delights of being cleansed.

And being pure, holy & free!

Surrender your doubts & unbelief,

Surrender your heart & mind.

Give up your broken heart,

Give up your despair,

And let God restore you!

And let Jesus forgive you.

Let Him take that load of

Guilt, Darkness, Sadness, Anger,

Take it away forever!

That’s just the nature of God!

He’s always loved you!

And like a tender Father

Wants what is best for you

And for your happiness!

Oh Hungry soul!

Give your heart to Him, It’s so easy!

His precious Holy Spirit will sweep through

And change you, and purify you,

And lift you up out of the mud.

And recreate your heart –

A heart to love Him and others.

He will write His Holy law,

The 10 Commandments of love,

On your heart to shine

For all the World to see.

He will make salvation easy for you,

He will roll back the shame of your soul,

You will finally be happy! Oh so happy!

Did I say you would be ‘so happy, Oh so happy’?

Yes I did, but say it again ‘Oh so happy!’

When you go throughout the day

You will be happy because

You will stop hurting yourself and others,

You will stop dwelling on negative thoughts,

You will stop feeling sorry for yourself,

You will stop thinking there is no hope for your life.

You will only want to glory in God’s Love,

For yourself and others.

Let God from Heaven

Smile on you and

Grant you the Holy Spirit

Without measure!

Oh Hungry soul!

Think about how much you want His life,

Think about how much you want His love,

Think about how much you want His forgiveness,

And give your heart to Him! It’s so easy!

Just one thought of Him and His love for you

And your heart will melt forever;

Your soul will say, ‘Why does He love me so?

Why does He care for my miserable life?

Why am I so special that He would stoop

To lift me up from the pit of ruin?’

Oh Hungry soul! God makes it easy, so easy!

Just ask for forgiveness,

Just believe He has forgiven you,

Just believe His Holy Spirit cleanses you,

And watch it happen!

It’s so easy! All you have to do is ask!

Invite the Holy Spirit into your heart.

It would make Him happy, Oh so happy;

To make you happy and saved,

Eternally saved, eternally happy!

It’s so easy, because it’s free!

No reason to go hungry anymore,

Because the Holy Spirit,

Like forgiveness from Jesus

Is free!

Written sometime in winter-spring 2014.

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