Following the voice of God with Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3)

Genesis 11-23, the story of Abraham. For the full StudyMap of Genesis, click here.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Lord Jesus, teach me about this text. 

Response received:

Abram, who was to become Abraham, was a simple man, and he listened to our voice. He took the risk of following us, of leaving his country, his kindred and his father’s house. He lived in idolatry, as all the persons around him. It is only by learning to listen to our voice that he was able to get away from this idolatry and to find peace and joy. We did not give him any specific direction, other than leaving and following our guidance. His wife was barren, and his hope for the future was dim, yet he did not despair but accepted to take the risk of following our guidance. Faith in God always involves risk, it involves following our voice. 

Many look for things, like houses, money or getting a spouse or children, yet all this is not the most important. What is the most important is to follow us, to learn to walk in the spirit and in love. That is why the key for Abram was to accept to go and to trust us with his life. We created the heaven and the earth, so we can provide anything that is needed, but these things should not become the center of a life. Love is the real purpose of your creation, receiving and giving love, the pure and holy love that comes from us and flows through us. 

Abram did not follow his ideas but our guidance. We did promise him blessings for him and for all the families of the earth. Our purpose was to open a new path with Abram, a path of life and peace, a path where the many deceptions of idolatry could be removed. The way we guided Abram is the way we want to guide every believer, through our voice. I am the Good Shepherd, and my sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me. Abram became a model for all believers in the world, who learn to listen to the voice of God, to our voice, and to follow this voice. The Bible is not here to replace us, but to guide people to us, to recognize my voice. 

When you read the stories in the Bible, the key is always to listen to our voice. It was the case with Abraham, with Moses, with David, Isaiah, Daniel, and many others. As you learn to listen, you become able to discover how faith and obedience are two facets of a same reality. As you learn to welcome our voice, to recognize our voice and to follow our directions, you learn to welcome our love and to share this love with others. One of the biggest mistakes is for people to think that they can love without help. Love is about humbly receiving and humbly giving. Love does not focus on itself but on God and your neighbor. 

Abraham learned to love as he followed our guidance. He heard me and saw my day, he rejoiced in advance about what was going to happen. Abraham did make mistakes, like lacking in the protection he should have given to His wife, letting her be taken by Pharaoh for instance (see Genesis 12:10-20). We taught him, and he learned to respect his wife (see Genesis 17, where Sarah is to be his partner of covenant with God), to be careful not to make of his dear son Isaac an idol (see Genesis 22). As he walked with us and learned from us, he became our friend. That is why we shared things about the future, like the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (see Genesis 18:16-33). We are not looking for people who obey blindly, but who listen to us and learn with us. We don’t want robots, but people who learn to love. We don’t seek control but grace and joy. 

As you learn from Abraham, we encourage you to remember that faith implies risk, that walking by faith will require to leave many things behind and to trust us. As you read the New Testament, you learn to recognize my teachings and my voice. I will never guide you to hate or lie. I will lead you in the ways of truth and love, that is the whole purpose of my coming on earth and the sending of the Holy Spirit to dwell in you. People tend to judge and condemn, yet I came to save and deliver those who would trust in me. Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and it will be forgiven to you. 

As you learn to walk with me, as you learn to listen to me and follow me, we shape you and transform you, we guide you to the places where you find the water of the Spirit, where you find that I am the Bread of life given by the Father. As for Abraham, we want you to be blessed and become a blessing for many. This is not about proving that you are better than others, but simply about listening and walking in our love. That is what I showed to my disciples on earth, that is what I still show to my disciple today. I am with you until the end of the age. Learn to dialogue with me, to ask so that I can respond to you, to seek so that you can find me, to knock so that I can open to you the doors of our love and guidance. We want to bless all the people and all the races of this world, yet the path we chose is a path of humility. We want to spread this love through my disciples, who follow me and do the Father’s will. This is the way we want to transform the world. Through Abraham and through his example, we want to bless all the families of the world. 

The Art of Worship (John 4:19-24)

John 4. Find the StudyMap of the Gospel of John here. 

The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know, we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Jesus, please explain to me what worship is. 

Response received: 

Among believers, the temptation is often to limit worship to a specific place and time in the creation. Many people limit worship to Sundays in churches for instance. Yet, this should only be a small part of worship. Since I came, people are invited to become temples of the Holy Spirit, and therefore worship should not be anymore limited to a moment and place, but it should become a lifestyle. Worship is about coming to God and responding to His love, through words, actions and attitudes of the heart. 

When I came on earth, I learned to worship by remaining in constant communion with the Father, and He trained me during all my years. As a human, I learned to worship him also in Jerusalem, but this was only a very small part of it. You are to learn to worship Him in spirit and in truth. To worship in spirit implies that you are not limited to a specific place, you can worship God in any place and at any moment, as you welcome the Holy Spirit in you and let us guide you. Worship implies dialogue with us. Worship is about centering your heart on God, on us, and letting us guide you as you worship. In ancient times, people would come to a king by lying on the floor until the king would tell them what to do. It is similar with us, we want to guide you in your worship, the Holy Spirit wants to teach you all things, to remind you my teachings, so that you can worship the Father with simplicity and truth. 

As you learn to let the Holy Spirit flow in you, like a wind can flow in a room, He will teach you, he will lead you in all truth. Remember that this is supposed to be simple, you ask and receive. You ask the Holy Spirit to my Father and He will give it to you, as a loving Father who has good gifts for His children (see Luke 11:11-13). As the Holy Spirit flows in you, ask Him or ask me questions, and we will answer you. Ask us how to worship the Father. Sometimes it is simply singing with your heart worship songs, sometimes it is showing love to your neighbor, sometimes it is listening and learning with us, sometimes it is showing the way to a person in darkness, sometimes it is accepting to be humiliated as you show love in the way we ask you to do it. Worship is a way of life, it is about welcoming the Father’s love and responding to this love in all you say and all you do. You can’t worship alone. Worship always needs for you to come in our presence, and sometimes to be with other brothers and sisters in the faith. 

As you learn to worship, you begin by inviting the Holy Spirit in you, to create a temple in your heart. As you do so, a space of dialogue with us is created. You are then to receive my words of truth, sometimes by listening to us directly, sometimes through reading biblical texts, sometimes through songs or hymns, sometimes through learning from nature, sometimes through listening to a person. As you welcome our spirit and receive teachings of truth, you will realize that truth is not only about facts to know, but that I am the truth, the way to life. The Holy Spirit will help you realize that I am your guide, that truth cannot be mastered but only received, that the ultimate truth is that you have been created to be in constant fellowship with us and that in knowing me, in knowing intimately the Father you have eternal life. 

Worship is not a technique, but a way to relate to this world through our love, through our presence in you. Worship is about love and freedom. As you learn to worship, you will perhaps first make simple steps like repeating biblical verses that bloom into your heart, or repeat words of songs with others, or listen to a sermon or to my voice, but this is only initial steps. You will then learn to respond to me, to respond to the Father or to the Holy Spirit, as we speak to you through our creation. You will then learn the flow of our love, to receive and to give, to listen and to respond. You will then begin to learn the steps of the dance of creation, of the joyful fellowship with us. As this love flows in you and through your words and actions, you will see flowers of hope and joy appear around you, you will see buds of love blossom even out of the mud of pain and despair. 

Worship is like learning to dance with us. It is not a lonely dance in which you want to impress people and attract the attention, but a humble and joyful dance in union with us. It is about moving at our rhythm, at the pace of our love, in the ways that the Holy Spirit opens before you. I learned to dance this dance with the Father, who led me in all I did and in all I said. In the same way, let us teach you the art of worship, the dance of divine love. As you learn to worship, you will understand what is the purpose of your creation, the reason of your existence. As your life becomes worship, you will learn that true happiness is a fruit of our love, a fruit that no person can destroy, a fruit that opens the doors of eternal life. 

Come to us, to learn with us the dance of creation, the art of worship, the rhythm of our love in you and through you. You will then understand what kind of worshiper the Father created you to be. You will then understand what it means to worship in spirit and in truth. 

What is the purpose of the serpent? (Genesis 3:15)

Genesis 3 StudyMap. Complete StudyMap here. 

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. (Gen 3:15)

Lord Jesus, why have you not crushed the serpent or devil then? Why did you let him harm our heels for all these generations?

Response received: 

Your heel is where you are weak, where you need protection. This reflects a key element in your creation. You have not been created to be self-sufficient, but to rely on others. This was a key element that would help you move toward love and away from the pride and bitterness that the evil spirits have acquired. 

You have to learn to discover that weakness is not a curse, but a blessing, as you learn to come closer to us, as you learn to love us and love your neighbor. Without weakness, you would be even more tempted to despise others. It is a paradox, but allowing the serpent to harm your heel is a key help we gave you to not wander too far away from our love. 
The problem is with people who despise their weakness and want to deny it. They will then enter into always greater lies and thus always more under the power of Satan, so that they will be destroyed by all the lies that they have accepted. Satan, the ancient serpent, and all the impure spirits, don’t have power as long as you remain in the truth, they get their power only through lies. 
It is only when you are with us that you are safe. All the creation is designed for love and mutual respect, grace and peace. This is where I am shepherding you, as all of my disciples, for you to learn what love is. 

I invite you to realize how your growth in love has always been related to a form of weakness or need. Without this, love does not grow much. When you learn that you have a need, you will seek help outside of yourself. Sometimes, people don’t seek help the right way, they demand and claim that you or others have to help, without respect and humility. This is a reality, yet this is not the only way to handle a need or weakness. Others will try to deny a weakness in order to hide that they need help, this is also a reality. Yet, there is another way to handle weakness, it is to acknowledge it and to come to us for help, to come with humility to your neighbor and humbly ask for help. It is not about claiming, it is not about despising, it is not about denying, but it is about humbly recognizing that you are incomplete and that you need the help of someone else. Ask and you will receive. It then becomes an occasion to realize that you have been created with needs, and that you need help to meet these needs. You need security, food, affection, many needs that we have embedded in humanity to help you overcome the pride and bitterness of fallen angels like Satan. 

As you learn about your weaknesses, that some are still there, like Paul learned (see 2 Corinthians 12:7-10), you learn to deepen your relationship with us. We created you to learn to love, and you cannot learn alone. It is not a punishment, but rather a healthy safeguard. You can then discover where real strength comes from - from communion with us, from communion with your brothers and sisters in faith. You can then help others with their needs, and others can help you with your needs. If you observe around you, this relationship between mutual needs and mutual help is the foundation in your world of all healthy economies. It is such a simple reality, but also such a deep one. 

We allowed the serpent to bruise your heel, but don’t forget that I crushed his head, so that you also can now crush his head. I brought a final defeat on his evil power by accepting to rely on the Father, in a time of great weakness. I chose to trust his love, when I was to be crucified. 

In the way of the cross, there is the secret of the victory over evil. You learn to rely on love, on the pure love of God, so that evil cannot destroy you anymore, so that you are completely free to continue to love. This victory was costly, and in some ways this victory will not be easy to receive in your life, you have to follow my path. 

I died once for all, to open the way to complete freedom from sin and death. Yet, you also have to deny yourself, your desire to be self-centered and self-sufficient. You have to take up your cross and to rely on our love. I had weaknesses as you have weaknesses. I have won the victory, so that you can be renewed in the image of God. You can now welcome the Holy Spirit, after having been purified from your sins through faith in my sacrifice. 

As you welcome the forgiveness that flows from the cross, you are invited to follow me, to welcome the Holy Spirit and to walk in full communion with us. Some weaknesses will remain, but you will then be able to do what I did, to remain in communion with the Father, through the Holy Spirit and through me. Then, the weaknesses - these attacks on your heels - will become occasions to crush the head of the serpent and to find deeper freedom in our love. As I told you, take heart because I have overcome the world. With me, you will also be able to overcome the world in its temptations and deceptions. All things are possible when you are with me, when you follow me. 

Remember, our path is the path of love, love for God and love for your neighbor. On this path, you will find the peace and joy that your heart longs for. 

God's Promised Victory Over Sin and Death (Genesis 3:15)

Genesis 3. Full StudyMap on Genesis here.

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring an her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

Lord Jesus, please explain this word that was given to the serpent, after the Fall of Adam and Eve. 

Response received:

This verse, the Father's word to the serpent, mentions both the tension between the serpent and humanity, and announces my coming victory. 

When Eve and Adam disobeyed the Father’s command, when  they ate from the tree of good and evil, they went away from His perfect protection, and discovered evil. They already knew about what is good. What they did not know was what evil is. Now they began to learn about evil, about doubt and loneliness, about guilt and shame. This had a sad impact on the relationship with us, they could not anymore experience this closeness and intimacy that was there before, they forgot that the Father loved them dearly and they began to fear Him. They had entered on the path of sin and self-centeredness, of broken relationships, they began to distrust us and to accuse each other. 

In your life, you also have learned the consequence of listening to the voice of the serpent, the voices of power, pride or selfishness. You have learned the cost of following such voices, but now you learn how to be released from evil through my cross and through my guidance. 

This verse speaks about the battle between good and evil, and announces my coming and victory. I would be born of a woman, a distant offspring of Adam and Eve. The devil did bruise me, but I crushed his power. He could only harm my heel, the weak places in my life, but I came to crush his head and defeat him. 

The devil could bruise my heel or target my heel, attack me when I was weak. It is what he did when I was fasting in the wilderness, he only came when I had spent 40 days fasting and that I was weak and hungry, and he came again at Gethsemane when I was tired and struggling to fully accept the weight of the cross. 

In the same way, the devil will try to attack you in your weaknesses. Remember that we are able to sustain and to protect you, particularly when you are weak, but you need to come to me. When you are tired and weak, come to me and I will give you the rest that you need (see Matthew 11:28-30). You need to discover that it is when you are weak that you are strong. 

If you follow my example, the moments of weakness will become key moments in preparing fruits for your life and for others. After the serpent targeted my heel - my weakness, in the wilderness, after I stood by the words of my Father, I began the ministry that He had prepared for me, in the power of the Holy Spirit. As I kept my Father’s word, He sent angels to serve me (see Mk 1:13). As I fully accepted the cross and refused the temptation of the devil to reject the perfect will of my Dad, I could win the final victory over death and sin. I could defeat the devil, who was keeping people enslaved through sin and the fear of death. 

Through my death and resurrection, I could demonstrate that the power of the snake, his hideous head, was crushed forever, that the life of the Spirit in me had defeated sin and death. This victory is final, and each person who comes to me and learns from me will share in this victory. Eternal life is not about a distant future, it is about partaking with me of the life given by the Father, it is about renewed fellowship, it is about learning to know the Father and to know me. As you learn to know me, as you learn to fellowship with us and to follow me, you learn to let eternal life flow in your veins (see John 17:3). As this eternal life flows in you, you experience already the first fruits of my victory over sin and death. Take heart, I have overcome the world. 

Power Without Love Is Meaningless (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

1 Cor 13. Find the full StudyMap here. 

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clinging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

Jesus, please teach me concerning this text. 

Answer received:

Paul, the author if this text, experienced many miracles and received many revelations from me. Yet, he also realized that  all the spiritual gifts were nothing in comparison with love. He is not saying that knowledge and miracles are not important, because they are. I did many miracles during my time on earth, but it was out of love that I did all of them. When I was asked to perform a miracle to prove something, when love was not the root of a action, I could not and did not want to perform miracles, even when the Pharisees insisted. Yet, if love is not the foundation of all this, it is useless. Praying and seeing people healed is meaningful when it reveals God’s love and your love for persons. Love is the real goal for all humans. 

You are to learn to love the Father, the Holy Spirit and me, you are to learn to love yourself as well as your neighbors. The key in all that is to receive our love as you learn to commune with us, to have fellowship with us in prayer. As you learn in our presence how much we love us and how we guide you to receive and give our love, you will be able to accomplish your human destiny. Each human being is different, and we want to guide each in a unique way. Yet, there is a common point for all, love. 

It is because of our love that with the Father and the Holy Spirit we created the universe. It is out of love that we created Adam and Eve. It is out of love that we taught Adam to lo love and live. It is out of love that we did not destroy Adam and Eve when they sinned but rather prepared the way for our love to be received again fully. It is out of love that we protected Noah and his family when the sins of the men around was causing so many ravages and destroying their world. It is out of love that we pulled Abraham away for the deadly idolatry of his family. It is out of love that we lead Moses to deliver Israel from slavery and to teach them to come to us. It is out of love that we taught David how to follow us as a sheep follows a shepherd, and to teach others through psalms. It is out of love for Israel that we sent prophets to warn and to encourage. It is out of love that I was sent to earth, to teach people to love the Father and to follow His direction. It is out of love that we sent the Holy Spirit since Pentecost until now. It is out of love that we spoke to Paul, leading him to discover our love and how to share this love with others. It is out of love that we did not permit my Church to crumble in nothingness because of the many sins and foolish things that people did. It is out of love that I continue to speak with you and many others still today. 

I, Jesus, am alive, and I promised that I would be with all who join in my name. When two or three are united in my name, I am among them. It is really hard to teach people how to love as long as they have not learned to dialogue with me as Abraham did, as Moses did or as David did. It is pretty hard to teach love to people who think they already know while they don’t. Yet, we will never abandon. 

The best you can do is to understand that power is not first but that relationships are first. As you learn to develop a strong relationship with me, a relationship grounded in love, this love will overflow from your life and bless many others. To love is not always easy, it involves sometimes pain. Yet, it is in love that your life takes meaning, that your future becomes bright, and that your purpose in this world becomes clear. 

Remember that you first have to learn to receive our love and to develop fellowship with me, so that you are filled with love and become able to share this love with others. It is by grace, through faith, that you are delivered from sin and dark paths, it is by grace and through faith that you receive our love. You then become able to do the good works that we prepared for you, works of love and peace, of joy and freedom. As your life becomes filled with our love, as you learn the fundamental art of prayer and fellowship with us, you become able to fulfill your destiny of love, you can become the person we created you to be, and joy will become your constant companion, my peace will not leave you, and your communion with us will allow you to shine of our love like a light shines on a lamp stand. You will then see our love flow in you and through you, as Paul did, and see the miracles of our grace spread through you to many. 

You will then know that no power or knowledge, no spiritual gift in this world can replace the importance of love, a lesson that Paul learned well. 

How did our Story with God begin? (Genesis 1:1)

 

Genesis 1-4. For the complete StudyMap of Genesis, click here

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 

Jesus, please speak to me about this first verse of the Bible. 

Response received:

The Bible is not a book of science, it is a book of encounter. It was not designed to explain creation in detail, but to guide humans to fellowship with us, to salvation from death and sin, to eternal love. 

The translation of this first verse could also be: as a first thing, God created the heavens and the earth. This beginning is not the beginning of our existence or of our actions, but the beginning of the Bible, the beginning of the creation of the world that you know. People try to use the Bible as a tool to analyze us, but it does not allow that. It is simply a tool of great use to come to us, to understand enough about us and our relationship with humans to show the path of salvation from sin and death, to guide to eternal life through fellowship with us. 

This first verse mentions the heavens and the earth. The heavens are later presented as the place where we reside (our Father who is in heaven), and the earth as the place where humans live. Yet, even this is metaphorical, it is a way to show that eternal life is not on the physical earth where you stay. We use human language to communicate who we are, even if your finite languages cannot completely grasp who we are. We are beyond time and beyond space in the way you know them. It is why one of my names is the alpha and the omega, as a way to say that I am beyond your universe. We created the universe you reside in, which is so much bigger than just the earth. 

The description we give at the beginning of Genesis is setting the stage for our interactions with humans, since it is the subject of this blessed book. Since the first sin of Adam and Eve until now, humans have developed the tendency to focus more on factual knowledge than on relationships (relational knowledge). They often want a freedom made of control and self-centeredness, they look for ways to protect themselves. The freedom we offer is a freedom to love and interact, a freedom to learn together and to rejoice. This true freedom is not a rejection of relationships but a discovery of the creativity possible in respectful and loving relationships. 

The purpose in saying that there is the heavens and the earth is to define two domains that will be both distinct and in interaction. Without distinction, there would be confusion. When you meet someone else, it is very important to realize that they are different, that you will have to learn who they are and how to interact with this person. As you learn this difference, you have to learn to value both who you are and who the other is. If both of you show respect and a desire to interact, you can learn what love is, in a similar way we want you to learn to love us. 

You cannot invent love, you have to learn it. You learn it from us, and most learn it also from their human parents. You cannot give what you have not first received. Your parents help you to learn what love is, when they provide for your food, respond for you need of security and affection, when they guide you in your first interactions on the earth. As you grow, you are invited to discover that beyond human parents, we created the world and humanity, we are therefore the parents of humanity. This is why you can call God your Father. The name given to humans for me is the Word or the Son. It was the Word in the first books of the Bible, and it became ‘the Son’ when I came on earth to show the way back to the Father. 

As we created the heavens and the earth, human parents are participating in creation when they give birth to children. We always wanted for humanity to participate in the act of creation, an act that invites to love. When parents have a baby girl, they have to take care of her, they have to feed her and train her how to love. This is the way we embedded in humanity key features of who we are. We created humanity a little like parents give birth to children. We guided this creation and humanity on our paths of love. As perfect parents, we always wanted and always want the best for our children. It does not mean that all our children choose the best. 

Human parents will always need our help, since they are limited in their love and understanding, and ultimately each human is invited to discover that the only perfect parent is the heavenly Father, who loves them more than any human parent can love. I came to lead people back to this heavenly love of the Father, so that the heavens and the earth don’t remain separate, so that you can be united with the heavenly Father. I am the bridge between heaven and earth, really man and really God, I came to help humans to find their way back to the heavenly Father. 

Our purpose in creation is to teach what loving relationships are. You need our help to learn that, to learn to be loved and to love in return. Humans often try to mimic our love and to love even when they have not received much love themselves, but this does not bring many fruits. You cannot give what you have not received. 

I came to show what loving the Father and loving your neighbor meant. I then told my disciples to do the same (see John 15:9-12). We want to pour our love in each human being. When you open your heart to welcome my teachings and the Father’s love, when you welcome the Holy Spirit we can then help you fulfill your destiny of love. Our purpose is to teach you to love by pouring our love in you and guiding you. I said that when the Holy Spirit would come, it would be like rivers of living water flowing out of your heart (John 7:38-39), because love always wants to overflow. As you receive our love, you will want to pour it in others. 

Many try to do our will without learning to receive our love, and this often ends up in many of rules and very little joy and peace. Don’t do this mistake. If you want to receive our love, ask us. I promised that those who ask would receive, in particular the Holy Spirit that wants to pour the Father’s love in your heart (see Luke 11:13 and Romans 5:5). As you learn to let our love fill you, as you are helped by other believers who have learned to receive and communicate our love, you will also become able to love as I love. As you learn to love, as you learn to remain in me and I in you, you will discover the intimate relationship between heaven and earth, how you can welcome the kingdom of heaven in you and in your relationships (see Luke 17:20-21). 

In this way you will better understand heavens and earth, you will better understand the purpose of all creation, you will better understand what was the purpose for starting with “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Humility as the Path to Exaltation (1 Peter 5:6-7)

StudyMap of 1 Peter. See original picture here

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1Peter 5:6-7)

Lord Jesus, what does this text mean for us today?

Response received:
Humility and exaltation are intimately related. Most of the time, people try to elevate themselves by their own strength, to get more power and riches. In doing so, they have to push people aside and crush others. The way I showed was the way of the servant. I did not seek honors but sought to love the Father and those the Father gave me to love. 

My whole message is revolving around love. Love needs to be first humbly received, so that you can share it afterward. Often, people will come to me for crumbs of love, and then try to survive with these crumbs for years. We want to give much more than crumbs, but people need to trust me. You need to trust that we can teach you how to love us and how to love your neighbor. The Holy Spirit would like to remind you all that I taught and to teach you in all domains, but you have to first believe that we can communicate clearly and frequently with you. It is not about giving you all what people ask, in self-centered requests, it is more about learning to love. Do we help people to get things? Yes, sometimes. Do we want to teach how to love? Yes, always. 

Love is about accepting that you don’t impose who you are, that you listen more than you speak, that you learn to give and pray for others more than others give to you or pray for you. In a human life, there is a tipping point when a persons begins to decide to give even if she does not receive in return. For this to happen, and for it to become a pattern in your life, you will need to learn to receive our love and to become friend with me. In this way, when human friendships are fragile, you will rely on me. With the Father and the Holy Spirit, we can be a rock and sure foundation for your life. As you learn to humble yourself, to be a servant to others when you see their needs and hear from us which part you are to play in helping them, you learn not to be concerned about how to elevate yourself. My path is to learn to serve, and the Father will then elevate you. One of the ways to elevate you will be to let miracles flow through you, as you pray for people to be healed, or to release people from impure spirits through your prayers. This is one of the ways the Father honored me and elevated me, as I was serving the weak and the sick. The power of our love flows much more freely through humble hearts, hearts that want to bless others and don’t seek to be recognized. 

Without a real intimacy with us, you will not be able to develop a real humility. You will always need to find approval and recognition somewhere, and if you don’t find it in a close friendship with me, you will need to find it in the world, in people that will be more or less holy. I could do my ministry on earth only because I had this intimate relationship with the Father. That is why Peter mentions that you should humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, to trust that we will give you all you need, be it food, clothing, approval and love. As you seek us first, as you seek our kingdom and the righteousness of faith, you will receive all you need, and at the proper time we will exalt you. 

Learn to cast all your anxieties on us, because we care for you. I died for your sins, and I want to be with you and walk with you all of your days, to listen to you and to speak to you, I am with you to the end of the age. That is why Paul encouraged Christians to pray all the time, to remain in dialogue with us all the time. My sacrifice on the cross is of key importance for you to receive forgiveness. Yet, our purpose is not only that you are forgiven but that you can develop friendship with us. Forgiveness is not so much a path bur rather a door that opens to love, a love that the Holy Spirit wants to spread in your heart so that you develop loving relationships with us and with your neighbors. As you go through the door of forgiveness, as you welcome by faith my righteousness, you are invited to walk with me, to become my disciple. 

Do not let either desire for riches or concerns and anxieties hinder the relationship with us, these are thorns that can choke the words of love that we want to let blossom in your life. Do not seek riches, but simply humble yourself as we teach you how to love, and do not let neither anxieties grab your heart but rather come to us and cast all your concerns on us, we are here to help you and guide you even if you are walking through a dark valley. As you learn to be free from the desire of riches and recognition, in fellowship with us, you will be able to learn humility. As you learn to cast your concerns on us, you will be free from fear and free to love. Our perfect love will spread in you and through you, casting out all your fears. You will know the truth of my love, and this truth will set you free. You will humble yourself and we will elevate you. 

Daddy's wonderful love for us (John 3:16)

StudyMap of John 3 - original here

John 3:16
For God so love the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)
Car Dieu a tant aimé le monde qu’il a donné son Fils unique, afin que quiconque croit en lui ne périsse pas, mais qu’il aie la vie éternelle. (French, Colombe)
Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλʼ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον. (Greek, original text)

Lord Jesus, you teach us to seek so that we find. Although this is the most well known verse in the New Testament, I want to seek in your presence the meaning of this verse, and receive your answer.

Response received (with parentheses added by me, to link to biblical texts):
God is love, and the Father has always expressed love in this world. I came to remind people of this simple truth. Yet, not many hear it. I came to offer my life as a sacrifice, but this verse is not first about that, it is about the Father’s love, the Father who sent me. I did agree wholeheartedly with the Father’s plan of love for humanity, I did embrace every word and gesture the Father asked me do say or do. Yet, if I was able to communicate love in this world, don’t forget that this love was coming from the Father.
This verse speaks about the tender love of the Father, my Father and your Father. He gave what was the most precious to him, his Son, and accepted the fact that I would be humiliated and killed, His beloved and only Son, so that many could be adopted in our family. This verse speaks about the powerful love of the Father, His love for me and his love for all those who believe in me.
People cannot deliver themselves from sin and death, they need our help. First and foremost, it is because eternal life is communion with the giver of life, God. You cannot have eternal life by yourself. Eternal life is union with the Father through me, eternal life is about receiving our love and responding to this love. (see John 17:3)
The one who believes in me, who trusts in me, will accept me as their guide, their shepherd. If you believe in me I will guide you. First, most will start by learning key lessons that I taught in the Gospels or that I spoke to the Apostles in the letters of the New Testament. Then, they are invited to a personal relationship with me, to welcome me as their Lord and Savior. This relationship is not only a strong emotional moment, but has to become a lifestyle, a pattern of life.
To believe in me implies listening to me and doing what I show you, like for a sheep with his shepherd (John 10:27). In your world, many people confuse believing in me and believing things about me. To believe things about me is a mere intellectual assent. To believe in me is a matter of the heart and mind, a learning of intimacy with me, a willingness to let me guide. Believing in me implies trusting me. To trust me implies that you do what I show you, either what you see written in the Gospels or what I tell you during your days as you learn to listen to me. It is not those who say to me Lord, Lord, who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father (Mt 7:21). I came on earth to show clearly the will of the Father, his actions and his words. I became obedient even up to the humiliation of the cross, so that the veil that was hiding the Father’s love from humanity could be torn from top to bottom (see Phil 2:5-11).
Some people, even when they call themselves Christian, still have this veil of darkness in their heart. They are much afraid to really do what the Father wants them to do, what I show to them. They are afraid of losing the control of their life, yet it is a key step on the path of love (see Mt 16:24-26). Well, that is one of the fears that the devil spreads in people’s hearts, in order to keep them in slavery (see Heb 2:14-15). The reality is that the Father is much more loving than many imagine. I did all I could to show that, calling my dear Father sometimes “daddy” (the meaning of the word ‘abba’ in aramaic, see Mark 14:36 for instance, or Romans 8:15). I healed many, to show that daddy really loves people and wants their good. Many accuse daddy of being a distant father, a harsh father, yet they don’t come to him and don’t even know him. They take all the problems of the world and accuse him of causing them, when they are often one of the sources of these very problems.  I did not come to judge but to save, to help people stop pointing fingers at each others or to God and help them recognize that love is missing in their hearts (see John 3:17). Many people claim to know what love is, yet who knows love better than the one who created the universe, the perfect father, my daddy and your heavenly daddy?
If you are tired of the world, if you are tired of your efforts to be a good person by your own strength, if you are tired of trying to be religious, I invite you to come to me and to welcome my love. Turn away from all that you know as evil (see Mark 1:15). Welcome me as your guide and savior. Just ask the Holy Spirit to come into your heart, because daddy is such a good father that He gives it to all those who ask him (Luke 11:13). With the Holy Spirit, you will receive our love (Romans 5:5). You will then be invited to learn from me and follow me, to put into practice what I have taught for centuries, this loving relationship with the Father, this love for your neighbor, this living trust that sows miracles of love in your heart and around you. My guidance is not painful but joyful, you will see that it is not a heavy yoke (see Mt 11:28-30). You will then welcome the burden of our love for your world, and will rejoice in spreading this love around you, even when people don’t respond to it (see John 15:20-21).
You will learn to live as part of our family, with many new brothers and sisters on earth, my church, and see how I can renew fellowship and community on earth. In the love that you will have for your brothers and sisters on earth, people will see my love, people will recognize divine love and will believe that daddy really sent me to the world to deliver from darkness and death (see John 17:21). I am the light of the world, shining with the Father’s love, daddy’s love, so that many will not perish but have eternal life.

How can we overcome the world, in its deceptions and seductions? (1 John 5:4)

Summary of 1 John, by chapter.  Full graphic here

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith. 
(1 John 5:4)




Lord Jesus, you taught us to ask in order to receive. Please explain to me this verse.

Response received:
By your own strength, you cannot overcome the world, these pressures and forces that whirl around you. You need our power in you, our love in you.
By faith you can receive our deliverance. Faith is not an abstract idea that you believe, it is a relationship with us, a relationship of trust and obedience. Paul tried to convey this when he spoke of the obedience of faith. Faith is not something you achieve, it is about receiving and following my guidance. Faith is not passive, it is following me indeed. When I was on earth, I said to my disciples Peter and James, “follow me and I will make you fishers of men”. In this time it was very practical, they followed me physically. Today, following me is about letting my voice guide you, letting the Holy Spirit dwell in you and direct you. In this way, you follow me like I followed the Father during my days on earth. It is the walk of faith, it is the life of the Spirit.
As we guide you and as you learn with us, the pressures of the world cannot destroy you or bend you anymore, you overcome the world. This living faith, this intimacy with us, this obedient and loving following brings you the real victory that you need, a victory over sin and death, over self-centeredness and all that the world tries to do to lure people away from truth and love.
To be born of God is not about a single event, but about new life and adoption in the family of God. When you are born of God, it means that you have welcomed the Holy Spirit that speaks in your heart ‘Abba, daddy, Father.’ It is what will allow you to grow in us. As you receive our love, poured in your heart through the Holy Spirit, you are invited to respond to this love, to learn to walk with us, to hear us speak in your heart and to respond to us. Being born of God is a gift of God, received through faith, and you are then invited to also walk by faith. Some people confuse walking by faith and walking in the dark, they then try to guess what we want and try to do it, yet what we want is much more than to let people guess in the dark, we want them to learn to listen and follow our love. Walking by faith requires for you to let the Holy Spirit guide you, you need to recognize and to listen to our voice. As the Spirit and I are one, the Father and I are one. I have been listening to the voice of the Father during my whole life on earth, and you have to learn to listen to my voice. The texts of the Bible, in particular the Gospels, are very important to help you recognize who I am and to prepare you to recognize my voice and to follow me. Yet, life is not in the pages of the Bible but in the communion with me, in welcoming the Holy Spirit so that you become part of our family and learn to walk as a member of the family of God. This identity of child of God is what will allow you to overcome the world in its seductions and deceptions. It is an identity that you first receive by grace, an identity that allows you to walk by faith. We will then guide you in the victories of love that we have prepared for you to manifest in this world, to the glory of the Father.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor 12:7-10)

2 Corinthians 12:7-10, “So to keep me from being conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, 'my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Lord Jesus, please explain why you said to Paul, “my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Response received:

In your humanity, you will always seek strength, and this is good. You want to be patient, kind, humble, loving, you want to be able to heal and deliver people from evil, and all this is very good. Yet, there is a way of seeking this strength, whether in your character or in the works you do, that is dangerous. The danger is when you begin to believe that such a strength is your possession. We want to teach you that real strength is achieved in communion - communion with us and communion with your neighbor. Therefore, there are some of the weaknesses in you that will remain when you are not relying on the communion with us. The perfection to which we call you is a perfection of union with us. The biggest disease of humanity is self-centeredness and pride, the search of a perfection focused on you. You have to learn that my power is made perfect in weakness, so that you don’t rely only on you, but first and foremost on us. We don’t try to humiliate you or others, it is simply that you have not been created to be independent and autonomous. We have created you to be in fellowship. It would be very dangerous to let you believe that you can be flawless without a real and living communion with us. As Paul said, you would become conceited, proud and arrogant, and you would damage the love in you and in others. Like Paul, you have to learn what he meant by: when I am weak, then I am strong. 

Our central goal in creating humanity was not power but love. Love repudiates independence and pride. Love involves valuing the other, and realizing that you are incomplete without the others. 

As you learn, through your life, to walk with me, to dwell in me and me in you, some of your weaknesses will be removed, and some will remain. Yet, this does not mean that you will fall, it just means that you will learn to always rely on us, particularly in the domains where you are fragile. You are not supposed to continue to sin, you are called to walk in holiness, but this is possible only in communion with me. 

This lesson is very important, it will help you understand what grace is. Grace is the foundation of life - this generosity through which life flows from the Father to all the creation. Grace is not based on entitlement but on generous love. It is not an exchange between two equals, but a generous gift that cannot be claimed by the recipient. Through this generous gift, you learn that you have received without justification, you learn gratefulness, you learn to receive love. As you learn to receive this generous love, you become able to give such love to others. 

Love is learned through grace. It is fundamental that you realize that you need our grace all the time. As soon as a person begins to have the impression that they don’t need grace, this becomes a danger for all the others. Such persons will begin to think that the others should all be like them, that they made it, that they are thus better than those who fail. This is the disease of many human leaders who think that they have found the final solution to power or perfection, that all people should imitate them, and many write books and give lectures with this sinful attitude. This is idolatry and leads to failure and despair. Follow the path that Paul described: imitate me, learn how I always relied on the love of the Father, on His grace, how I relied on fellowship with Him to do all I did during my life on earth. I did not speak without having heard from the Father first, I did not do without seeing first the Father do (see John 12:49-50 and John 5:19-20). As you learn this lesson, as you listen to me and follow me, you can then tell people to imitate you, because they will imitate your reliance on our love and grace, and not on a proud idea of self-sufficiency. 

Remember that your calling is not to be strong independently from us, but to be strong in us. Love is first. Learn to love God with all you heart, all your soul, all your might and strength. As you love us with all your strength, you will be safe and protected from pride and idolatry. Then your strength will be in us, then you will not separate your strength from our grace, then you will be able to say with Paul: when I am weak, then I am strong. We will never leave you nor forsake you, learn the joyful lesson of grace, of first being loved and then loving in return. 

As you learn this important lesson, you will walk in humble holiness. You will see our love flow through you and deliver many from darkness. You will become a blessing to many, a door that leads to eternal life, a joyful life in communion with us.