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1John 4:18 “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has torment. He who fears has not been perfected in love.”
Hebrews 10:14 “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” 

Some of the Greek and Hebrew definitions of the words “perfect, perfection, and perfected” are “to complete, complete, to set out for a definite point or goal, to bear or carry”.
His goal has always been to make us complete, or one with Him and the Father, and He was willing to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows (Isaiah 53:4-5) as a way to make us complete in Him. You can’t get any more perfect (complete) than God. Adam and Eve initially started in a perfect state finding their completion in the One that created them in His own image (Genesis 1:26). They lost that perfection when they disobeyed God and passed that same incomplete image down to all mankind, but God had a plan in place already for our redemption and restoration to that perfect state when we turn to Him in simple child like faith and receive His Son as our Savior (Revelation13:8).
The definition of “creature” in 2nd Corinthians 5:17 means “original formation” and also “(through the idea of the proprietorship of the manufacturer); to fabricate, that is, found (form originally): – create, Creator, make.”
Praise God, He recreates us into the image of His Son, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah! I’m far from perfect but I discovered the perfect love of my Heavenly Father when, in simple childlike faith, I received His precious Son as my Savior and when I did He perfected me forever. We are perfect in our Daddy’s eyes!
Five times in John 17:21-23 He uses the word “one.” Just hours before Judas betrayed Him Jesus was praying for us that we might be one, that we might be made perfect with Him and the Father.
God the Father gave His One and only Son that we might be made one with them, no more separation because of our sin but a sweet oneness, completion with Almighty God. When our Savior died He won back for us what Satan stole from Adam and Eve, their completeness with the Father.
Should we give Him our best? Absolutely, or better yet we should follow His instruction in Romans 12:1 and give Him ourselves and allow Him to bring out His very best through us (Galatians 2:20).

I’ve heard it said “we should strive for perfection, we will never attain it, but we should strive for it.” Misguided thinking like that can lead us into the bondage of perfectionism that can rob us of the freedom that has already been won for us. Perfectionism creates the “paralysis of analysis,” and can destroy our closest relationships. His Word commands us to “be perfect,” (Matthew 5:48) not strive for it, He then fulfills His own command to us by declaring us “perfected forever” the moment we receive His Son as our Savior (Hebrews 10:14). He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves, so why not learn to rest in Him and allow Him to accomplish through us what His heart desires for us (Galatians 2:20).

One hot summer day while my son and I were trout fishing our Father taught me a valuable lesson about resting in Him. The day started out with comfortable temperatures but as the day progressed so did the heat as it rose well into the nineties. We found a still pool of water away from the current of the river and when we simply laid down it met the need for relief from the heat that we so desperately needed. Then I realized, we were already standing in the source of our relief, all we had to do was lie down in it and enjoy the refreshing rest from the heat. Jesus so lovingly tells us in Matthew 11:28-30 if we find ourselves laboring, striving, just come to Him and He will give us rest. He is our source, when we have Him we have everything we need.

Try to live perfectly and endure all the frustration that brings to ourselves and others, or receive the promise that we are “perfected forever” and live in the wonder and the grace of the One that declared that promise over us, realizing how deeply He loves us.
My dear friend Rick told me he thought the “perfect love” mentioned in this scripture was all about that simple faith and love of a child. Our children love us unconditionally and aren’t afraid to approach us about anything. As I considered that I realized that type of faith is so rooted in the love of Almighty God that we should not hesitate to approach Him about anything and believe that He will meet any need that we bring to Him, a faith that recognizes that our Daddy can do anything, and so can we (Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”).

Many years ago, while playing with my son and his friends in our yard, I decided to participate in a ramp jumping contest the boys had started. They built the ramp out of a cinder block and a piece of plywood and were jumping their bicycles over it. I made a tragic mistake of saying “I can do that,” so I straddled that twenty inch bicycle with my six foot three frame and off I went. I peddled up to my neighbors drive, even told my neighbor and her sister in law “watch this,” (we males never get over trying to impress the ladies). I quickly formulated what I thought was a good plan that in my mind consisted of building up all the speed I could, hitting the ramp dead center, sail over it, and land. I was standing up on the peddles of that bike and the last thing I remember before the ambulance came was hitting the ramp dead center. The next thing to hit was the front tire, and subsequently the right side of my forehead. After the impact I slid on the right side of my face in the pea gravel that our street was made of.
Later on in the ER the doctor picked gravel out of my wounds for thirty minutes before he could stitch me up and while he was working on me he said “Mr. Henry, if you decide to have plastic surgery you might want to get it done in the next six months.” I thought to myself “what kind of mess have I made of myself.”
Becky even told me that in the dim light of the hospital room I looked like Freddie Krueger. If you can imagine raw hamburger meat that is what the right side of my face looked like.
When I got home the next day our pastor came by to check on me and I told him I wouldn’t be attending church on Sunday for fear of scaring the kids. He told the congregation that he saw me and it scared him.
My daughter Jessica was about four at the time and when she came home from her grandparents the next day I asked Becky to prepare her for what she was about to see. When Jess came into the room she looked at me and in the sweet tone of a four year old she said “Hey Daddy,” and crawled up in my arms as if nothing was wrong or out of the ordinary. She just loved her Daddy and wanted to be with him. Joy flooded this Daddy’s heart when he realized his little girl was not afraid of him, no matter how he looked.

I share this story for those of you that didn’t have that loving relationship with your earthly father, for those of you that are still tormented by excessive punishment that was inflicted upon you, and maybe are projecting the image of that scary, imperfect father onto your heavenly Father, a Father that just wants to show you His unconditional love and grace. Please, let me encourage you to study the scriptures to discover who He really is and allow Him to perfect your love for Him until you are able to crawl up in His lap like a little child, and permit Him to lavish His love on you. It will make His day and yours too.

Here are a couple scriptures that will help you on your journey.
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” 

1Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you.” 

CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST

It is a truth of God’s Word that we are crucified, impaled on that cross with Him. I don’t understand that but I receive it as truth because He said it.
Paul seems to be in a quandary of thought here when he says “Nevertheless I live, yet not I.” How can I live if I have been crucified? The same way He lives after being crucified, He was resurrected and so am I to walk in the newness of live that only He can give— “but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.” It’s obvious that Paul is still a living, breathing human being, still walking around in this body of death, however he has discovered the truth of Matthew 11:28-30 of resting in our Savior and allowing Him to do through us what He wants.
Satan will war tooth and nail to keep us from getting this truth, he wants to keep us so busy laboring over other things, (even church stuff sometimes) that we will totally miss the blessedness of resting in our Savior and will never learn to allow Christ to accomplish what He wants to do through us, things we think are impossible. For example, speaking to and removing mountains. When we are faced with a mountain in our lives we can do one of two things, try to climb over it (self effort) or remove it (faith effort). Many settle for the first option when their lives would be so much simpler if they would learn to use the indisputable authority that has been given us by our Savior to remove it (Mark 11:22-24). As Becky and I were talking the other day the Lord prompted us to remove a mountain of paralyzing doubt and fear that a friend of ours deals with about her salvation. To this day I don’t understand the dynamic of speaking to and removing mountains, by all human ways of looking at that, it sounds absurd but in the realm of our faith it is an exciting reality. Not only did we remove the mountain, we asked Him to fill the void where the mountain once stood with the light of His Word, the light of His truth, and the light of His love. We won’t ask Him again to deliver her from the doubt and fear (no need to mention something to Him that is removed) but we will continue to praise Him from this point for filling her mind with the very things that will produce the faith she needs to walk in the freedom that He has in store for her. As I was working on this particular part of this study I listened to a devotional on 1st John 5:14-15 and I am confident that we prayed according to His will for her, we know He heard us, and therefore we stand in that confidence that we have (not will have) the petitions we asked for—it is a done deal.

COME TO ME

Mat 11:28-30: Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.

Vs. 28
“Come to Me” is an imperative meaning to “come here.” It is imperative (“of vital importance, crucial”) that we learn this or we will live a life of laboring “for the Lord” and miss the blessedness of finding our rest in Him. Indeed there is much to be done in our kingdoms work but it becomes much easier when we approach it after we have entered into His rest and allow Him to do through us what we might think is impossible.

“you who labor and are heavy laden.”
Many times when we start laboring about something we start laboring harder to figure out a way to deal with what we are laboring about, when He says to simply come to Him, yes, I said “simply.” A victorious life in Him is that simple, that is the reason He said it is “imperative” that we learn this, and that is the reason Satan will war against us to keep us from discovering this truth and to keep us from enjoying the fruitful life our Father has in store for us.
For example, when I first got saved I can remember telling someone, “The more I do for Him the more He will bless me.” Pretty soon it became a duty to serve Him rather than a pleasure. Looking back now I can see I was focused on the blessings rather than the Blesser and when the blessings didn’t come as I thought they should, I became very frustrated with myself, wondering if I was doing something wrong and worked even harder to try to please Him. 
Indeed, He does want to bless us, but the blessings should never be the motivation for doing anything for Him. Our motivation should always be to serve Him out of a sense of gratitude rather than duty. Very soon in my walk with Him I became so heavy laden by this sense of duty that I remember having the thoughts, “I wasn’t this miserable before I got saved.” Satan had me where he wanted me and he used ‘church work’ to do it.

Fortunately, God sent a new pastor into my life that helped me understand that God was pleased with me simply because I was in His Son, “had blessed me with all spiritual blessings in Christ” Ephesians1:3) the very instant I received Him as my Savior, and as it became apparent to me that I was serving Him out of a sense of duty rather than appreciation for what He had done for me, I started searching His Word to discover what all the blessings are. That has been over forty years ago and I am still discovering His blessings for me and as He blesses, as He intended to do from the onset, I find it much easier to just live in the overflow of that and share my Savior’s great love with others. Thank You, Father.

If Satan can use ‘church work’ to get us discouraged just think what he can do with the cares of the world. We all have them and one of Satan’s favorite tactics against us is to use them to “choke out the Word, and cause it to become unfruitful” (Mark 4:18-19), but fortunately our Savior encourages us to “cast all your care on Him because He cares for us,” (1st Peter 5:7) just another way He says to us “Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Vs.29
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;”
The word “yoke” means “a coupling or servitude.” In other words, that to which we couple ourselves we will become servants to. Before I was saved the yoke that I was coupled to was primarily one of fear that manifested itself in the form of anger and hatred, and I suffered the consequences of a life filled by angry outbursts, fear of just about everyone that developed into a hatred of myself and others, a hatred that was consuming me without being aware of what was going on. I developed a tough guy routine to cover my fears, I was a real “man’s man” (in my mind at least) not understanding why I was so fearful.
Then came the Jesus people, the same people that I had developed a hatred for and the God they served. They came to my home telling me about a God that loved me and wanted to forgive me of all my sin. God used a series of events to soften my heart so I would at least listen to what they had to say. Finally, I repented of my sin and received Him as my Savior, but as I shared earlier I was still in servitude to fear until He broke that bondage for me. Jesus’ implication here is He has a different kind of yoke that He wants us to learn about and be coupled to. What does He want us to learn about this new yoke?
For starters, “I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest for your souls.”
He is “meek,” meaning “gentle.” God does not deal with us in anger when we mess up, but in gentleness, constantly calling us to turn from our way of dealing with cares and simply come to Him. The goodness, the kindness of God leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4).
He is “lowly in heart.”
The word “lowly” means “depressed, humiliated, cast down.” Now would be a good time to read Isaiah 53 and let its words sink deep into your soul. Jesus suffered great depression as He said “my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death” (Matthew 26:38), then He endured the humiliating death of a cross to make a way of salvation for us, He allowed Himself to be cast down so that we could be lifted up to find rest for our weary souls.

Vs.30
“For my yoke is easy,”
The word “easy” means “employed, that is, (by implication) useful (in manner or morals): – better, easy, good (-ness), gracious, kind.” It also means “to furnish what is needed.”
There was nothing easy about the yoke I was coupled to for years. My employer had nothing useful, good, gracious, or kind, and on payday— only misery. But, His yoke is always all that my yoke was not and will always furnish everything we need to deal with any care that might arise in our lives.

“my burden is light.”
Do you know any Christians that are constantly “burdened?” They will usually remind you of all the things they are burdened about. I remember one sister in the Lord that was constantly sharing all her burdens with everyone and though I don’t know her heart it seemed to me that she was more worried than truly burdened, even one of her favorite hymns was “I won’t have to worry any more,” (seems like the lyrics teach us that this life is one constant struggle but praise God “I’ll get to rest” when I reach the other shore— what about resting in Him now). I know we all have things to come into our lives that cause us worry but to stay in a constant state of worry is a sin that will rob us of the rest He has in store for us. In light of what Jesus has been teaching us in these three verses we need to examine ourselves to see if we are doing the same, if we find we are guilty look to Phillipians 4:6-7 for some help:
4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, (or, don’t worry about anything) but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God (His rest) which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” 

We should all be burdened about the things that are important to God but if we become immobilized by worry what good are we to others, ourselves, or God. If the burden is anything other than “light” and becomes too heavy for us to bear, maybe we need to examine the source of the burden, come to Him, and allow Him to give us rest once again. Also He has given us an entire network of helpers to assist us when our burdens get too heavy; it’s called the Body of Christ. Many times His rest will come when we get our pride out of the way and just ask someone for help (James 5:16).

ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS

BLESSED BY THE BEST, TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED

Before I met Jesus my life was filled with all manner of carnality. I call them “carnal cursings.” Let’s take a look at them.

CARNAL CURSINGS BEFORE I MET CHRIST (DETRIMENTS)                                           
paralyzing fear                                                              
hatred                                                                             
anger                                                                                 
doubt                                                                                
second guessing
cursing, filthy language
vulgarity
sexually perverted thoughts

After I met Jesus I came to realize that He has blessed (past tense, done deal) me with “all” spiritual blessings simply because I am in His Son. He starts listing some of them immediately after making this statement in Ephesians 1:3. Let’s take a look at them.
SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS SIMPLY BECAUSE I AM IN CHRIST (GIFTS).
vs.4
I am chosen, He chose me not because I was the last choice, but because He wanted me on His team.
I am holy, don’t always act holy but He says I am holy, He even declares me to be the righteousness of God in Him (2nd Corinthians 5:21), He doesn’t just give me His righteousness He says I am His righteousness, He rates me right up there with His Son, Wow!
I am without blame, I should be blamed for all the misery that my ungodly decisions brought myself and others but I am not.

vs.5
I was predestined to be adopted by Him. He took a long look at me (at my very sinful worst) and said “it is with great pleasure that I choose this one to be my child.”

vs.6
Paul has a praise fit about this one, i.e. I have been made accepted by Him, no longer do I have to struggle to be accepted by anyone (including myself, and especially God). I am totally and unconditionally accepted by Him and because I am in Christ I am as acceptable to my Heavenly Father as Jesus. It still sounds strange for me to say that about myself but if we are in Christ we can’t get any more acceptable than that. If He doesn’t accept us He would have to reject Himself (John 17:21, we are one with Him).

vs.7
I am redeemed (He paid my ransom in full) and forgiven of past, present, and future sins (He has perfected [past tense, done deal] forever them that are sanctified. (Heb 10:14).
I am a recipient of His marvelous, matchless grace.

vs. 8-9
We can know the great mystery of His will, He came to save sinners.

vs. 13
He has sealed me by His Holy Spirit, you can’t get any more secure than that.
Saved, Sealed, Delivered, I’m His (sounds like an old Stevie Wonder song, Ha Ha, some of you will get that)!

This is just the starting point of His blessings, I don’t know how many there are but according to Him, we have them “all” and as we continue in our walk with Him and especially the study of His Word we will discover our blessings far outnumber our troubles.

Let me encourage you to start your own list and the next time you start feeling stressed just refer to and recite your list of blessings, it will probably make you feel better and you will drive the devil crazy, he’ll have to flee.

As my wife and I were having a conversation about some cares of life that had flooded in on us in a very short period of time, we found ourselves casting those cares on our Savior because He cares for us. Then during our time in prayer we started thanking Him for all the things we are grateful for. Becky shared with me that when she is overwhelmed with life she starts with the alphabet as her guide and thanks Him for anything that starts with each letter of the alphabet, hence, the ABC’s of gratitude, therefore we are grateful for:

A
An Amazing Father (when I shared this with my granddaughter, she gave me this one first).
Almighty God wants to be this amazing Father to all of us. We can have a deeply intimate relationship with Him.
“All spiritual blessings,” (Ephesians 1:3) instead of all the hellish cursings that filled my life before I came to know Him. I don’t know exactly how many blessings there are in His Word for us, but I do know “all” means “all,” and as we continue to study His Word we find them there just waiting to be discovered.
All our needs are met in Him (Phillipians 4:19).

B
Becky, the love of my life, I shutter to think of where I would be without her.
Barrage of Hope (my daughter gave me this one), He bombards us with His hope as we learn to turn from our way of dealing with life and simply come to Him (Matthew 11:28-30).
Body of Christ, without their help I can never be all God wants me to be.
Blessings, that’s what this list is all about.

C
Constant, He is the great Constant in my life, my constant companion, continually helping me, delivering me, loving me.
I am a child of God!

D
Doug Henry, the man with half a brain taught me so very much about gratitude, things I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

E
Eternal life.
Emmanuel, God with us.
I am an eternal being that will live in eternity with Him forever.
Enthusiasm for life.
Energy to keep on going.

F
Friend of God. He calls us His friend (Exodus 33:11; 2nd Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah41:8; John 15:15). God Almighty calls me His friend, what a thought, Hallelujah!
Frasier Smith, what a Godly example for us all.
Faith and the faith producing Word of God.

G
Goodness of God leads us to repentance.
Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin.

H
Holy Spirit, my constant helper, friend and guide, Almighty God living in me, hallelujah!

I
Immeasurable grace of God.

J
Jesus, my Savior, my friend.
Joy unspeakable and full of glory.

K
All the kindness that has been extended to me, for His loving kindness that has transformed and continues to transform my life.

L
Love, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”—enough said.

M
“Made us accepted,” (Ephesians 1:6) for years I lived in all kinds of destructive behaviors just to be accepted by others, then at the very instant that I received Him as my Savior He did for me what I could not do for myself—He “made” me accepted in His beloved Son.
Made Him to be sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2nd Corinthians 5:21). What He was “made to do”, “causes me to be” (made) the righteousness of God.
Mercy, where would we be without it.

N
“No condemnation,” (Romans 8:1). Don’t try to figure this one out, just receive it, enjoy it, and let it be a springboard into a Godly life.

O
One, He wants us to be “one” with Him and the Father (John 17:21).

P
Praise Him Daily, we can all work on our PHD!
Pray without ceasing, praise without ceasing, give thanks in all things.

Q
Queen Esther, may we have more of her spirit.

R
Righteousness of God, we have already looked at how through His sacrifice He made (caused us to be) the Righteousness of God.
Repentance, He both leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4) and grants (gives) us repentance (Acts 11:18).

S
Sanctification, Thank You Father for continuing to work on us to change us into Your likeness with ever increasing glory (2nd Corinthians 3:18).

T
Truth, “If we continue in His Word we shall know the truth, and the truth shall set us free” (John 8:31-32).

U
Understanding, “He opens our understanding that we might understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:45).

V
Victory in Jesus, my Savior forever.

W
With God nothing shall be impossible (Luke 1:37).

X
Xenocentric: oriented toward or preferring a culture other than one’s own. Father, You have oriented me toward and I prefer the culture of eternity rather than the temporary housing in which I find myself. Because of Your marvelous, matchless, grace I am a supernatural being in this body of flesh longing to be, and looking forward to the day that I will be totally delivered from this body of death (Romans 7:24). Hallelujah, what a Savior, what a friend. PHD a thousand fold!!!!!
Exaltation, (sounds like an X), exalt His name forever.

Y
Your’s is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever,Amen (Matthew 6:13).

Z
“The zeal of the Lord” shall perform great works in our lives (2nd Kings 19:31; Isaiah 9:7 and 37:32).

GOD SHOWED ME A TREE
A beautiful picture of our Saviors’ deliverance for us.

Exodus 15:22-26
And Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, because it was bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried to Jehovah. And Jehovah showed him a tree. And when he had cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a decree and a law for them, and there He tested them. And he said, If you will carefully listen to the voice of Jehovah your God, and will do that which is right in His sight, and will give ear to His commandments, and keep all His Laws, I will put none of these diseases upon you, which I have brought upon the Egyptians; for I am Jehovah who heals you. 
When life deals us a bitter pill (many times through others or ourself, for that matter) we could learn a valuable lesson as we examine these scriptures before us.
Just as Moses, we have been called to lead others to a saving knowledge of our Savior, but as we look at this story we soon realize others may be reluctant to follow and they will do their best to make life miserable for us. They had just seen God’s deliverance through Moses at the Red Sea but three days later they were balking (murmuring) on him, asking “What shall we drink?”

“What shall we drink?” Think about that question for awhile and ask yourself what kind of bitter water do we choose to drink from.
Do we drink from the well of “greed” and discover later that it is the root of all kind of evil in our life (Ist Timothy 6:10).
Do we drink from the well of “lust” only to suffer the heartache of broken relationships.
Do we drink from the well of “self satisfaction” only to suffer a life of loneliness.
Do we drink from the well of “self righteousness” only to be deprived of the Righteousness of God and all the benefits that that brings us.
Do we drink from the well of anger, fear, or hatred only to be deprived of intimate relationships with others, or worse yet, be deprived of a relationship with the God that wants to be our Father?
The list of questions could go on and on— you’ve probably thought of a few already.
The fact of the matter is we all choose to drink from bitter waters that Satan and this flesh make so attractive, or sometimes life just deals us a bitter pill, but God wants better for us and He wants better for those we come in contact with every day of our lives. When life hits us with circumstances that are hard to deal with, there is always the potential to become bitter, however God’s desire toward us is to turn the bitter into something better, or better yet turn us into something better (Look at Romans 8:28 to see God’s heart toward His children).

We’ve all heard the catchy little phrase, “Be better, not bitter.” Well that is exactly what God wants for us, but as usual we have to choose and that is what Moses chose to do when “he cried unto the Lord.” As a pastor friend of ours has said, “all of us are just one honest prayer from a closer walk with Him.” Moses realized he could do nothing to help with the bitter waters they were faced with and many might have murmured, “well is this the best he can do, lead us out here into a desert to find nothing but bitter waters.”

When Moses cried out to Him, God showed him a tree. One of the definitions of the word “showed” is “to teach,” Nothing is said about what God taught Moses about the tree but apparently there was some instruction going on between them. Moses showed his obedience to God by casting the tree into the water. Moses had to take hold of the tree to cast it into the waters but he first had to take hold of what God instructed him to do. Moses could have been thinking, “these people will think I have lost my mind, they need water and I’m out here messing with a tree,” but his act of obedience paid off as God met the need of the people through his obedience. It is not ours to figure out or to try to make sense of something that God wants us to do, our responsibility is to share want God communicates to us, and leave the results to Him.
A little food for thought here—Could it be that God was thinking about another tree on which His Son would endure the bitterness of becoming sin for us that we might enjoy the sweetness of His salvation? Jesus gives us a pretty good answer to this as He deals with the Samaritan woman when He said to her “but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). Not only does He give us a drink, He gives us the well, He is the well in the person of the Holy Spirit, who always leads us in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:23-24). He has come that we might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).

Something else that God taught Moses when He showed Him the tree was instruction for the people as to how to live the blessed life He has in store for them—”There He made a decree and a law for them, and there He tested them. And he said, If you will carefully listen to the voice of Jehovah your God, and will do that which is right in His sight, and will give ear to His commandments, and keep all His Laws, I will put none of these diseases upon you, which I have brought upon the Egyptians; for I am Jehovah who heals you.” 
In a day when God’s precious Word is despised by so many it is our guide for living in the everlasting way of His abundant life.
Study His Word as if it is His voice to us, for indeed it is, and listen to what He has to say (2nd Timothy 2:15).
As we study His Word let His instruction be our guide into what is right in His sight, for sometimes we think our way is best, but in the end we discover that it is a way that lead us away from the giver of our Life (Proverbs 14:12). Remember also “to do that which is right in His sight” because we are always in His sight.
Constantly listen to what He commands us to do, desiring to keep His instruction for us.
If we will keep this mindset, yes a mindset, we can expect His blessing on our life and can expect His healing for anything that ails us.
Look at the definition of the word “heals,” A primitive root; properly to mend (by stitching), that is, (figuratively) to cure: – cure, (cause to) heal, physician, repair, thoroughly, make whole.
No matter what we are struggling with, He wants to thoroughly make us whole in body, mind, and spirit. He wants us to be one with Him (John 17:21-23).

“HALLELUJAH”—WHAT A WORD!

Actually I can’t find the word “hallelujah” in the Bible, however I did find “Alleluia,” (Revelation 19) which originates in the Hebrew language. According to Strong’s Hebrew dictionary it means “praise ye Jah!, an adoring exclamation.”
It is also imperative of another Hebrew word “hâlal,” (Strong’s number 1984), which means “to be clear (originally of sound, but usually of color); to shine; hence to make a show; to boast; and thus to be (clamorously) foolish; to rave; causatively to celebrate; also to stultify: – (make) boast (self), celebrate, commend, (deal, make), fool (-ish, -ly), glory, give [light], be (make, feign self) mad (against), give in marriage, [sing, be worthy of] praise, rage, renowned, shine.”
Today is Super Bowl Sunday and it’s not long until March Madness for all you basketball fans. If you want a good object lesson of the word “Alleluia” just watch the fans. I’ll bet you will see many “making a show,” definitely see some who are “clamorously foolish,” and a whole lot of “celebration” over our sports hereos. Should we not do the same for our greatest Hero?

Also in that definition you will notice the word “stultify,” which according to Websters Dictionary means, “to have a dulling or inhibiting effect on: to impair, invalidate, or make ineffective : negate to cause to appear or be stupid, foolish, or absurdly illogical.”
Many times this “irrational behavior” can give a huge phycological boost to our team that helps them overcome insurmountable odds—and they are just playing a ball game!
Now let’s apply this to our lives and the real “life”enemy (John 10:10) we all face. Satan wants to “steal, kill, and destroy” the “life” our Savior has given us. Our Savior has given us the same authority He has to “inhibit him, to impair him, to invalidate him, and make any thing he tries ineffective.” This authority we possess can “negate” whatever he tries against us and can “cause him to appear to be stupid, foolish, or absurdly illogical.”
Don’t miss this, all this authority is manifest as we praise Him, we don’t have to fight the battle, the battle is the Lord’s. He shows up when we praise Him, He inhabits the praise of His people (Psalm 22:3), and when He shows up, Satan flees.

ATONEMENT

Have you ever thought about the word atonement, or a little play on the word,at/one/ment?
In Hebrew it means “to cover…to expiate, or condone, to placate or cancel:-appease, cleanse, forgive, be merciful, pardon,reconcile.”
In Greek it means “exchange…restoration to the divine favor:” “to change mutually…to make different.”

Everything that Jesus went through was driven by His desire to make us one with Him and the Father (John 17:21). He became the atonement (propitiation) for our sins (Ist John 2:2). He exchanged His holy state to become sin for us, that we might be made (cause to be) the righteousness of God in Him (2nd Corinthians 5:21). He has covered us in His precious Blood, took our penalty (death), cancelled our sin debt completely and forever, (Hebrews 10:14), restoring us to the same divine favor and position (perfection) that Adam and Eve experienced with Him before their fall into sin, (Hebrews 10:14), enabling us to walk in the newness of His abundant life.

Through His sacrifice our old is gone, our new has come (2nd Corinthians 5:17), He did for us what we could not do for ourselves! I was once my own man (still try to be sometimes), alienated from Him in mind and body (Collosians 1:21) and making a royal mess of my life. Now I belong to Him, one with Him, part of His royal priesthood, and possessing the mind of Almighty God, (1st Corinthians 2:16), which enables me to walk in the newness of life that He wants for me (Ephesians 2:10). Hallelujah what a Savior!

THE POWER OF REPENTANCE;
MY BATTLE WITH COVID 19

My battle with Covid 19, led to a more intense battle with myself that taught me the power of repentance to unleash the favor of God on my life.

2nd Timothy 1:6 tells us to stir up the gift of God that is in us. Many times we see the word “gift” and we think it is “something” we get, however in light of the next verse I think it is a “someone” that He wants us to stir up.
He says He “has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind,” all attributes of the Holy Spirit. In other words He wants us to stir up Himself within us, and what stirs Him more than when we come to repentance, turn to Him and allow Him to empower us to love ourselves and others by following the dictates of the mind of Christ that dwells within us. I would like to share a very intimate story with you that brought me to just such a place. Parts of the story are very disturbing and hard to recount but it is my hope that you will sense the incredible positive impact it has had on my life, you might just see yourself in parts of this story.

At the time of this writing I am 68 years old and not on any medications of any kind. For some reason God has blessed Becky and I with incredibly good health. With the exception of a few colds and the occasional flu I have always felt good physically, however when I do start feeling bad the only thing I want is to feel good again. Ask my wife and she will attest to the fact that I am not a good patient. Over the years I have made the comment “if I ever get anything seriously wrong with me I will probably do myself in by over medicating just so I can feel good again.” Little did I know that Satan was taking note of this comment and would try to use it against me in the future, but once again I would come to the realization that God was the one that was truly in control and was actually engineering the circumstances of my life to deliver me from some “stinkin thinkin” that had the potential to destroy me, after all Satan has come to steal, kill, and destroy.

I woke the morning of December 3rd, 2020 feeling some achiness in my body, but I didn’t think much about it so I went on to work. The achiness grew for the next three days, so Becky and I went to be tested for Covid 19 on the 6th and sure enough we both tested positive for the virus. I called my doctor and he told us all we could do at this point was treat the symptoms. Becky’s symptoms worsened with more severe body aches and fever and by the end of the week the virus was settling into my lungs and I felt the worst that I have ever felt in my life. As my lungs continued to deteriorate my doctor ordered oxygen for me but by this time my lungs were so inflamed it did little to help me breath. I felt so miserable I remember asking God to please let die.

As I mentioned earlier Satan was listening and he began to convince me of how worthless I was by hitting me with a barrage of failures that I had made over the years and now I was considering myself useless because I couldn’t fight off this thing that had taken over my body. I made the mistake of listening to him as he started implanting the thoughts of suicide in my mind. As I listened to him I started to formulate a text in my mind that I was going to send to a friend of mine telling him they could find my body. I was going to ask him to get law enforcement out there as quickly as possible so Becky would not be the one to find me. My plan was to click the send button on my phone and pull the trigger, however, by this time I couldn’t get enough energy to go outside.

On the 14th the EMS came to transport me to the hospital and Becky shared with me later that when they left with me she didn’t think she would see me alive again. Little did she realize I had been hoping to die and because my first plan failed I was formulating another plan to bring an end to my suffering. Unfortunately for her, I called her from the ER and told her that I had just shared with the doctors that I was not to be put on a ventilator and I also wanted a Do Not Resuscitate order in place. I was hoping I would quickly deteriorate to the point that I would need the ventilator but without it I would surely die. My precious wife told me later that phone call scared her to death. I’m sorry I put you through that Becky.

I was admitted to the Covid ICU unit at Carolinas Healthcare System/ Blueridge here in Morganton and as my condition continued to worsen for the next couple days I thought it wouldn’t be long before my plan came together and I would be out of my suffering, “but God” (is that not the most beautiful phrase in all of His precious Word) had another plan that I am convinced was initiated by the prayers of my brothers and sisters in Christ on my behalf.

December 17th was probably the lowest point ever in my life but God’s Word came to my mind and changed it to one of the greatest victories I have ever experienced. The phrase “I shall live and not die” started coming to my mind, actually it comes from Psalm 118:17 “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” Even though it was reversed in my mind from how it is written in His Word, I believe He was reversing my thinking to get me in line with what He was doing. I had a choice to make at this point, would I continue to listen to my enemy and my flesh or would I turn from my plan and embrace His. Fortunately I chose the latter and started declaring “I shall live and not die.” I even told the doctor that I just had a major turn around in my thinking and I was ready to fight. I knew I had come to true repentance and trust in Him when I told the doctor to use a ventilator if necessary and to remove the DNR from my chart. I think he was elated and later found out that he called Becky and shared with her that he thought I had just turned a major corner in this fight.

The least sign of repentance on our part always unleashes God’s favor. Look at the story of the prodigal son, the son of a rich man wallowing with hogs and God only knows what else he wallowed with in the riotous lifestyle he had chosen. Then he came to himself, the son of a rich man, and simply says “I will arise” (he turned from the path of destruction he had embraced) “and go to my father,” (he turned to the one that could help him out of the mess he had made of himself). When he decides he is going to turn from his way and turn to his father we see one of the most beautiful pictures of the Grace of Almighty God in all of scripture. That father was so eagerly awaiting his son to return when he saw him a long way off, he ran to him, embraced him even with the stench of his failings emanating from him and loved all over him. The only thing that mattered to this Daddy was his son was home with him. He celebrated because his child had been dwelling in the realm of death but when he came to repentance and came back to him, in essence, he chose life.

That was the same decision I came to as I laid in that hospital bed, and when I chose to trust God and His plan I knew I was going to live and not die, I even dubbed myself “The Covid Overcomer” because I wanted Satan to know that his plan was overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of my testimony (Revelation 12:11). Then is when I started seeing God’s Favor unleashed on my life as I started hearing what He was saying to me. Just as Satan bombarded me with his hellish thoughts of death and destruction my Precious Father started flooding my mind with thoughts of life and victory.
Thoughts such as:
“I will never leave you, or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5);
“I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life,” (Deuteronomy 30:19);
“You are the head and not the tail; you are above and not beneath” (Deuteronomy 28:13);
“I have not given you the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2nd Timothy 1:7);
I listened to the verse in “Amazing Grace” that says “through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come, it’s Grace that leads me safe thus far and Grace will lead me home.”

DON’T MISS THIS! Looking back on all this I see now that He had been flooding my mind with His thoughts all along, but I could not “receive” them until I quit listening to my flesh and Satan (repentance) and embraced His plan for me.
With a new determination to fight this battle I remembered something that I have communicated for years, i.e. “we cannot be all God wants us to be without the help of our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are one body and as we learn to function as such we can see amazing things take place, the impossible, becomes possible.” I determined that I would not fight alone and as I kept my network of support updated about my condition I saw the Body of Christ shine with a brilliance that dispelled any darkness that tried to overcome me, and there were many such dark times, many things to overcome for the next several days (Satan doesn’t give up ground easily that he is trespassing on), but as I continued to keep “The Covid Overcomer Network” updated, they continued to pray, and all the encouragement I received, enabled me to keep my fighting spirit high and return to my family on Christmas Eve to enjoy the most special Christmas our family has ever experienced.
I cannot begin to tell you how important an encouraging word is when you are in a battle for your life but maybe God’s Word can put it into perspective for us. In Proverbs 25:11 He says “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” He uses two of the most valuable substances on earth to describe how vitally important a word spoken at the right time can be. At some of my lowest times I would get a text from many of you with a scripture, with a “I’m praying for you and pulling for you,” with a video of a song that kept me directed to the one that was fighting my battle for me and in turn keeping my fighting spirit high, even and especially, in the very face of the one that wanted to destroy me. Satan doesn’t have a chance when God unleashes His Favor on His children. I will be forever grateful for everyone that was a part of “The Covid Overcomer Network,” for I could not have done this without you.

One of the greatest expressions of His Favor was through the extreme professionalism of everyone of the caregivers I had at the hospital, and the many home health care providers I had after returning home. They worked tirelessly with me and the many other patients they were taking care of, but the thing that struck me about them more than anything else was the kindness that they showed me while I was in their care. I am convinced they had a strength about them that had to come from the very throne room of my Almighty God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Please keep any health care provider you know in your prayers and heap all the praise and encouragement on them that you can. I can’t imagine what they have been through for this past year, they are truly special people, heroes in my book, thank God for His calling on their lives. I gratefully recognize them as part of “The Covid Overcomer Network” that God put together to bring me through this.

My recovery continues at home now, with Becky by my side and my Savior in my heart I am expecting a full recovery and healing from His Mighty Heart of Grace.

You may not be struggling with something as severe as Covid 19, many of you are faced with greater or lesser struggles, but be assured we all are struggling with something and if you’re not you will be. If we could just learn to be quick to turn from our way of dealing with struggle and turn to Him in our time of struggle we could live the blessed life He has in store for all of us.

Jesus said it best in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Many times when we find ourselves laboring over life’s issues we labor harder to try to figure out a way to deal with what we are laboring with in the first place, when Jesus tells us to simply come to Him and He will give us rest. He wants us to spend time with Him in His Word to learn of Him and discover that He always has our best interest at heart, i.e. finding rest for our weary souls.

As I mentioned earlier God was in control of what was going on in my life, not Satan. Luke 22:31-32 says “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold Satan has desired you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not. And when you are converted, strengthen your brothers.”
We see how Satan had a strong desire to have Peter so he could “sift” him. The word “sift” means “to riddle.” We would be foolish to think that Satan doesn’t have a similar plan for our lives. He riddled my mind with thoughts of destruction and death. My Savior offset his plan as He was praying for me, THINK ABOUT THIS, at a time in my life that I couldn’t bring myself to trust Him, my Savior was interceding for me to the Father that my faith would not fail. The prayers of the saints are precious and powerful but to think that Jesus is praying for us also is one of the most incredible thoughts I have ever had, What a Friend we have in Jesus. How can we lose when we belong to the greatest Overcomer Network ever put together with none other than the Lord of Glory leading the charge into battle for us.

We go through many conversions in our walk with the Lord, the most important of course is when we receive Him as our Savior. The conversion I experienced through this trial was a return to what our Savior teaches about life. We should always choose life no matter what. At the outset of this story I shared with you “if I ever get anything seriously wrong with me I will probably do myself in by over medicating just so I can feel good again.” That will no longer be a part of my inner thought processes, nor my speech unless I am sharing this story. Now it will be, “if I ever get anything seriously wrong with me I will choose life, and life more abundant.”

Let’s agree together that we will let our light shine so brilliantly into this lost and hurting world that they will see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven by deciding to turn from their way of salvation and turn to Him for his better plan (Matthew 5:16).

Your brother, and encourager in the Lord,
Steve Henry