![]() The Lord has spoken to me a great deal this year regarding love. I do believe this is a fresh word for the Body at this time. The Lord has been giving me a greater understanding of the purpose of love than ever before. He has spoken to me about love towards others, and love towards His bride. God loves His bride, and how we talk about His bride matters to him. How we discern the members of His body, or His bride matters to him. We must see God's bride the way that he does: through the eyes of faith, patience, and love. Remember, there is always someone that is counting on you to believe in them! Don't let them down!
"May the Lord cause you to increase and excel and overflow in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you." (1 Thessalonians 3:12 AMP) Everything that we do and say must be filtered through the eyes of God's love, even when it comes to those who are not saved. They are in need of the love of Christ and the power of Christ. It could be said that miracles, signs, and wonders are expressions of God's love toward His bride and toward the lost. God longs to bring the harvest in through the demonstration of His love to the world through you and I. Paul said that through the truth spoken out of love, we will grow to become mature in Christ (Ephesians 4:15). Paul also said that love knits the hearts together (Colossians 2:2). The gospel + love is the recipe for unity. God's greatest desire is for us to grow together in Christ with love and respect for one another.
The greatest anointing is not the anointing on an individual; it is the corporate anointing. It comes from a culmination of different anointings coming together. "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all in one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting" (Acts 21-3). As the disiples gathered together, the fire fell, and a corporate anointing came. The church was birthed and something changed in a nation. 3,000 souls were saved as a result of this great anointing! I believe the key is that they were all in one accord; they were in agreement, as the early church was in one heart and mind (Acts 4:32). This same anointing came in Acts 4 also. Though we have experienced a level of the corporate anointing, I long for the day when the body of Christ comes to this place collectively. When the five fold ministry gifts come together in unity, we will see whole cities overshadowed by God's glory! Isaiah asked the question: Can a nation be born in a day? (Isaiah 66:8). I believe the greatest corporate anointing is yet to come, as the body of Christ comes to together in unity and agreement on the word of God, honoring one another in love. Love is a great place to start with seeing the fulfillment of this great anointing! We are all connected as we are members of His body. We are a family in Christ. Though there are different offices and different functions as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 12, we all need each other. No man is an island to himself. We need all the different flavors of those anointings and offices! They are precious to the Lord! We can take more ground for the kingdom collectively, rather than individually. This is why unity is so important. This greater anointing will never come without honor, love, and appreciation for one another. One can put a thousand to flight, but two can put ten thousand and to flight (Deuteronomy 32:30). We are truly stronger together than apart. We must grow in the precious fruits of love and patience. We must know the enemy's strategy. We are not ignorant of his devices (2 Cor 2:11). His strategy is to bring dishonor and division. It is to bring the wrong form of discernment, which is accusation or faultfinding. Do not side with the enemy in accusing your brothers and sisters in Christ. The Bible says that faith works by love (Galatians 5:6). When we are truly motivated by love, we err on the side of honor, grace, and love. Honor is one of the greatest signs of maturity and humility. David truly modeled a lifestyle of honor. I truly believe that God is raising up a generation of Davids that are truly seeking the heart of the father that understand the importance of love and honor! In His Love, Jesse Shamp
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The Bible mentions many different forms of discernment. The most common form of discernment that we hear most about is the gift of discernment mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:10. Firstly, I want to talk about our foundation in the word of God, which is most important. If our foundation is not right, our discernment will come out of the wrong spirit.
"Strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even by those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Hebrews 5:14 KJV). The author of Hebrews is not necessarily talking about the gift of discernment. He is talking about mature believers that are discerning good doctrine vs bad doctrine, right thinking vs wrong thinking. Not everything that we hear, even though it is well meaning, is truth. Not everything that we perceive to be truth is truth. It must be in line with God's word and heart. We cannot have proper discernment without first a foundation of love. How we see ourselves in Christ has everything to do with how we see others. Paul talk about us being accepted in Christ and the beloved (Ephesians 1:6). The Word of God causes us to truly know the heart of the father towards us, and His children. The heart of the father is love, patience, and long suffering. These are the fruits of the spirit mentioned in Galatians 6, that mature believers walk in! However, some Christians may be growing in faith and are still on a certain level of spiritual maturity.
Jesus gave us two commandments: love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength AND love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:29-30). We are to love our neighbor because we are all members of his body. We are a family! We can never go wrong with love. Jesus desires for us to love one another despite flaws and differences. Paul often told Christians not to judge one another (Romans 13:14). The Bible calls Satan the accuser of the brethren. He will condemn you! Yet Jesus will never condemn you. He will correct you, he will convict you, but not condemn you. Jesus always calls us back into his love and presence. "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or peril, or sword?" Romans 8:35 If we do not discern out of the right heart, we end up condemning people, or making false assumptions. It could be that we are pointing the finger at those that are still maturing in Christ. I've noticed that some people think that there is a demon under every rock, behind every door. They are so focused on the demonic, mainly because they have been influence by 1980s deliverance ministries. So their belief system is always geared toward the demonic. They often think everything is a demon, everyone has a demon, or that there is always a principality out to get them. They often think someone is moving out of the spirit of Jezebel or that someone is a betraying Judas. In all my years of being in ministry, I have never met a Judas. I may have met carnal Christians that are still growing in grace and love, but never a Judas. I've heard some of the harshest criticism come from those that think they are discerning something about someone. If everything is negative, harsh and critical, then you have to question, is there any love in it? Discernment does not always mean demonic. Even if someone is doing something that is demonically influenced, or out of line, we should forgive and pray for them out of love. How are we any different from the world if we point our finger at others. Let's remember that the gifts of the spirit are for edifying the church, His body. Even the gift of discernment must be used out of love for members of the body of Christ! We are all apart of this one family, as we are of His body! Anyone can have the ability to tear someone down, but few answer the call to build an individual up and celebrate their progress and cheer them on. "Some things that folks attribute to the devil are really nothing more than works of the flesh. It's important to realize that everything that's wrong in life is not directly the work of an evil spirit" - Kenneth E. Hagin, The Triumphant Church The Triumphant Church is one of the greatest books I have ever read about discernment and deliverance. It's about resting in the victory that Christ has provided for us through the cross. I highly recommend this book. Hagin talks about how to cast out devils, and how to walk in your divine authority as a believer! Jesus never intended for us to live in a constant state of paranoia. We do not fight to get the victory; we have the victory already, through Christ! Believe that you have it! Walk like it, and talk like it! Kenneth Hagin was truly a new model for deliverance ministry. Some of the greatest teaching that we hear today about our authority in Christ came from Kenneth Hagin! In His Love, Jesse Shamp According to John Chapter 1, Jesus is the Word. When we received Jesus as our savior, God's word was sown on the inside of us and was made one with our spirits. Hebrews 10:16 says that God’s law is written on our hearts.
God’s word is creative power. So when we renew our minds to the word of God (Romans 12:2), our body and mind is regenerated by that creative power! And with the power of God’s word inside us, we have the same creative ability to speak to our situations, by faith! "Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them." - Mark 11:23 Jesus was always instructing his disciples to speak by faith! When Abraham believed God, God credited it to him as righteousness. Faith is the currency of the kingdom! When we believe God, an exchange happens; our faith is exchanged for that thing that we are believing for. So when we speak out in faith, we can alter the course of history! We can transform our circumstances! When Jesus spoke out that the money for the taxes could be found in a fishes mouth, he was speaking it into being! Our words carry power! When we come into the full understanding of the Word, the power and revelation of that living word is imparted and unlocked within us, and it produces powerful fruit! I declare over you today, that God's word would come alive in you! Let the power of His truth transform you, body & soul! I thank God for the spirit of revelation overtaking you today! In Christ, Amy Shamp |
AUTHORSJESSE SHAMP, author
AMY SHAMP, author
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