The Jesus MeetUp Is God Mad At You? Week #9
You are LOVED...believe it!
When you accept, by FAITH, that God is your loving Father, then does he need no further reason to love you other than because you want to be his! And accepting by faith means JUST saying in
a quiet time: "Father, I want to have faith in you, but I am not sure how or what that means. Help me, please!" Then, spend a bit more in quiet time going about your day living in the BELIEF that you are behaving as his son/daughter!
2:6.7 God is never wrathful, vengeful, or angry.It is true that wisdom does often restrain his love,
while justice conditions his rejected mercy.
Definition
wrathful: full of or characterized by intense anger.
So, what is the origin of this idea?
It comes from the prophets in the Old Testament, which is the history of the relationship the Jews had with God. Today we understand that over our own lifetime, as little children, we are corrected by an adult. While we may be upset about the correction/punishment at the time, as an adult now, we no longer think of those times, as we grew to understand the intention behind the action designed to change wrong behavior. Add to this information, that Jesus, who WAS the revelation of the Father in his perfectly lived life, showed us in every way the LOVE of his and our Father now and forever.
God is LOVE
Since God IS love, and knows not the experience of being "mad" or looking for ways to "get even", it is inconceivable that he can be angry with you. “God is love”; therefore his only personal attitude towards the affairs of the universe is always a reaction of divine AFFECTION.
2:5.1 He makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Do you think you fall into any of those categories? Well, now you know you're covered by his
love! We ALL are! God has NO favorites. We are each loved EQUALLY, for our own individuality, how ever imperfect we are, ALL the time!
2:5.2 It is wrong to think of God as being coaxed into loving his children because of the
sacrifices of his Sons or the intercession of his subordinate creatures, “for the Father
himself loves you.”
Definitions:
Coaxed: gently and persistently persuaded (someone) to do something.
Intercession: the action of intervening on behalf of another.
Subordinate: lower in rank or position; to treat or regard as of lesser importance than something else.
See, it is so unlike a loving Divine Father to be influenced in any way to
do something good for his children.
He just desires to! And we certainly do not need anybody to speak to our Father for us, as the clergy of the religious institutions of the world would have us believe. You are not lesser than these religious men and women, but are equal to them, as you are their brother/sister. THIS is a universe and planetary fact!
2:6.8 God loves the sinner and hates the sin...Sin is not a person. God loves the sinner because he
is a personality reality... The love of God saves the sinner; the law of God destroys the sin.
I hope you are getting the STRONG impression and truth-fact that any sin you are worried about
is DESTROYED...in fact, look at this:
156:5.8 "Be not downcast by your failure wholly to forget some of your regrettable experiences. The
mistakes which you fail to forget in time will be forgotten in eternity".
We each have regrettable experiences, REALLY regrettable,
and yet, look at what you and I are told.
Forgiveness? Fear? Superstition? Consider this passage. I believe it! So should you!
131:6.2 "When man looks to God for forgiveness, and when he makes bold to enjoy such liberty, he
is thereby delivered from fear."
Definition
Liberty: the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority
on one's way of life, behavior, or political views.
Let's look at this statement which Jesus identified as a true statement from the Jainist religion of
2000 years ago, and see how he makes equal the ideas of being FREE and the connection to
and result of FORGIVENESS. SO wonderful, isn’t it? And then! we are freed from FEAR. Wow.
"Fear" from what, do you think? Maybe...hell?
Will it relieve you to know that hell does not exist? But it is a tool to control the believers in churches? There IS a way to "disappear" the iniquitous ones, those who have chosen to always and only serve themselves and their own selfish ends, shall just no longer exist.
174:1.3 "Divine forgiveness is inevitable; it is inherent and inalienable in God’s infinite
understanding, in his perfect knowledge of all that concerns the mistaken judgment and
erroneous choosing of the child."
Definitions
Inevitable: certain to happen; unavoidable.
Inherent: existing in something as a permanent, essential, or characteristic attribute
Inalienable: unable to be taken away from or given away by the possessor.
Can you see that there is NOTHING you have done or can do which will keep you away from
receiving God’s forgiveness. His forgiveness, based upon your ability to forgive others is open
and free to you, as a permanent part of who the Father is. He knows exactly what challenges
we face as imperfect humans.
148:6.11 "Then Jesus made this final statement: “The Father in heaven does not willingly afflict the
children of men. Man suffers, first, from the accidents of time and the imperfections of the
evil of an immature physical existence. Next, he suffers the inexorable consequences of
sin—the transgression of the laws of life and light. And finally, man reaps the harvest of his
own iniquitous persistence in rebellion against the righteous rule of heaven on earth. But
man’s miseries are not a personal visitation of divine judgment. Man can, and will, do much
to lessen his temporal sufferings. But once and for all be delivered from the superstition that God afflicts man at the behest of the evil one."
Definitions
Afflict: to cause pain or suffering to; affect or trouble.
Inexorable: impossible to stop or prevent
Iniquitous: grossly unfair and morally wrong; as in the actions of Lucifer!
Superstition: unjustified belief in supernatural causation leading to certain consequences
of an action or event
Behest: orders or command
Now at least you know...
that while your life may not be going as you hoped or planned, that God has NOTHING against you,
has NEVER plotted to ruin your life with unfortunate incidents or harm. This is all coming from the unjustified beliefs of olden times, when those, who did not know a loving Father-God, conjured up these ideas, again, to control their social living. Our very own unthinking actions and decisions
may well cause results which are impossible for God to stop as he does not interfere with our free will choices.
Salvation is a CHOICE!
Jesus said:
166:3.3 "...I declare that salvation is first a matter of your personal choosing. ...(the door) is wide enough to admit all who sincerely seek to enter, for I am that door. And the Son will never refuse entrance to any child of the universe who, by faith, seeks to find the Father through the Son."
Free will is a gift given to us by the Father, along with our personality and our own unique,
undiluted, indwelling fragment of him in our mind. It becomes easier to choose for
righteousness, to do the will of the Father, each day that we spend time in worship - where we
devote our soul and mind to slowly become more like him. As we look at the perfect
demonstration of living as shown to us by Jesus, we can personally choose to act out those
behaviors as we see we can in our own daily life.
Remember, he also said:
180:3.7 "I am the way, the truth and the life. No man(woman)goes to the
Father except through me. ...If you know me, you know the way to the Father."
IMPORTANT: Jesus was the visible manifestation of the invisible God.
He was a perfect revelation and reflection of our loving Father, and a perfect specimen of humanity he showed back to God. He was GOD on earth; think of it like this: If God, the Father of Love, were to come
down from his throne on high to live his life here on earth, he would be called JESUS.
180:3.9 "Again do I declare: He who has seen me has seen the Father. ... Do you not believe that I am
in the Father and the Father in me?"
To fully embracing our Paradise Father's love and forgiveness.
Questions to ponder:
What is the first thing you need to do now to express your gratitude to God for his forgiveness?
How can you show your forgiveness to another and free that person up from fear?
Now would be a good time for each of you to verbalize your commitments to Jesus and His True
Gospel OF “The kingdom of God that dwells within you.” Consecrate yourselves to Him and each other.
Finish off by saying The Lord's Prayer together.
Next week's lesson #10: Meaning of the Cross
Is God Mad At Me?
