thoughts by Francis Frangipane Archives - Daily Thoughts about God

Published July 10, 2024

The True Foundation

Christ Himself is the eternal blueprint for our lives.

Only in studying Him, in measuring ourselves by Him, do we grow securely upon the foundation of God.

Beloved, we were created to become like Christ. God’s plan has not faded or become obsolete! Even as Christ has not changed, so neither has the plan of God for the church. Our transformation will burn in God’s heart

“until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).

You see, the focus of both leadership and congregations should be upon attaining Christlike transformation and His love for people. This has been the Father’s purpose from the beginning of time and it remains His unchanging goal at the end of the age. (See Genesis. 1:26-27 and Romans 8:29.)

The problem is that, too often, as Christians we define ourselves by what we do for God rather than what we become to Him. What pleases the Father most is not what proceeds from our hands but what rises from our hearts. He is seeking the revelation of His Son in us. There is nothing on earth that so pleases the Father’s heart as when Jesus Christ is revealed through us. As Paul wrote, we become a “fragrance of Christ to God”
(2 Corinthians 2:15).

This is why we focus on revealing Christ Himself. Other aspects of Christianity develop correctly only as they emerge out of our greater pursuit of Christlikeness. You see? No aspect of our spirituality functions properly apart from our living union with Christ. It is here, in pursuing Christlikeness, that we find true spiritual assurance that we are not being led astray.

Consider: Paul said that the result of seeking the measure of the stature that belongs to the fullness of Christ is that “we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4).

Paul warned that people can be “carried about by every wind of doctrine.” Yes, false doctrines are dangerous, but Paul wasn’t limiting his warning only to false teachings. For even a true doctrine can have a false emphasis and lead us astray. The pursuit of Christlikeness aligns us with the Father’s highest priority for our lives. It secures us upon the path to truth, for “truth is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:21). He Himself is the way, the truth and the life.

As a result, Paul wrote that intimacy with Christ was the deepest cry of his heart. He said, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Philippians 3:10).

He was not speaking of some esoteric knowledge of Christ but an intimacy that led to conformity. Do we see this? He wrote, “That I may know Him . . . being conformed.” Knowing Christ and being conformed to Him is of the same essence. Christ Himself is the true foundation upon which we must build our lives.

By Francis Frangipane
used by permission

Wounded in Pursuit of Oneness

The Bible says, “Pursue peace with all men” (Hebrews 12:14). Pursue means we aggressively take the initiative to make things right. It means we act on behalf of Heaven rather than allow another’s anger to serve the purpose of hell.

However, we must be realistic. When we reach out to a deeply offended person, they will likely be repulsed by our first efforts. Scripture tells us, “A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a citadel” (Proverbs 18:19). If a person has been hurt, they will need trust to be restored, and this process of initiating trust can actually be painful to both parties. A wounded person may lash out. You may feel like the price of restoring the offended person’s trust is simply too great to pay.

Let me share an insight I received about the basic nature of relationships and reconciliation. My wife and I were “bird-sitting” our oldest daughter’s pet conure. A conure is about half the size of a parrot with similar coloring. However, this creature was hostile. Each time I’d touch the cage, it would squawk and try to bite me. After several initiatives at being nice, I said to myself, “Who needs this? If I’m going to be attacked, I can be attacked at church.” So inwardly I made an evaluation that we had been given a “killer conure.” Obviously, I concluded, this bird came from the wrong side of the tracks.

My wife, however, decided she was going to love this little bird. Even though it was just as aggressive toward her as it was with me, Denise relentlessly extended herself toward little India. Each time she fed it by hand, the bird attacked, taking chunks of skin from her fingers with each bite. Denise would yell in pain, then instantly return to talking softly, reaching into the cage with food.

After a week or two, the bird finally began to relax. Her survival instincts based on my wife’s gentle response, convinced India that my wife was not a predator, but a friend. Soon it permitted Denise to reach into its cage without attacking her; a couple more days and I discovered this aggressive little finger-eater perched lovingly upon my wife’s shoulder, its little round head snuggled warmly against her neck, cooing in her ear.

Denise won the heart of this little bird: it loved, because she first loved it. You see, the problem with the bird was not aggression, but fear. My wife allowed herself to be wounded so trust could be established; when wounded, she did not retaliate. She won the heart of this little bird one wound at a time.

As I watched this little drama unfold, I saw something basic, yet profound, concerning God’s relationship with us. Trust is not an accident; it is the result of love that pays a price.

Isn’t this the way of the Lord with our own hearts? He came to us, yet we repeatedly wounded Him. Instead of retaliating, Jesus prayed, “Father forgive them.” He proved over and over again that His love was safe, that He was not our enemy.

Even when we rebel and sin He shows us mercy, working to restore us to Himself. It is His kindness , the Scriptures say that lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4). He repeatedly shows Himself trustworthy, merciful and loving. He knows that, in time, we will come to rest in His goodness. And as we do, we let Him reach into our cage; we climb upon His hand, and He carries us on His shoulder.

As He has been to us, so He wants us to be toward others, even those who may appear hostile and alienated from us. Paul tells us, “Love suffers long” (1 Corinthians 13:4 NKJV).

We must be willing to let ourselves be wounded, even repeatedly if necessary, in pursuit of healing relationships.

We must prove, not just in word but indeed, that our love is real and our hearts are trustworthy. Whether we face divisions in families, churches, or in the racial conflicts we see today, only when trust is established, can healing begin.

By Francis Frangipane
used be permission

Christ, Our Life

For many, Christianity is simply the religion into which they were born.

For others, although Jesus is truly their Savior, their relationship with Him is hardly more than a history lesson, a study of what He did in the past. For those who truly love Him, however, Christ is Savior and more: He is their very life (Colossians 3:4).

When Jesus is your life you cannot go on without Him.

There is a story of a man who, in search of God, came to study at the feet of an old sage. The master brought this young man to a lake and led him out into the shoulder-deep water. Putting his hands upon his pupil’s head, he promptly pushed him under the water and continued to hold him there until the disciple, feeling he would surely drown, frantically repelled the old man’s resistance. In shock and confusion the young man resurfaced. “What is the meaning of this?” he demanded. His teacher looked him in the eyes and said, “When you desire God as you desired air, you shall find Him.”

Was this not the attitude of the psalmist when he wrote, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for Thee, O God“ (Psalm 42:1)? You see, there is a place in seeking God where our heart goes beyond the limits of desire, where the actual issue becomes one of survival. I need Christ as a drowning man needs air and as a parched deer needs water. It is here, where we feel we cannot exist without seeking and finding the reality of God, that our deepest passion is fulfilled.

By Francis Frangipane
Used by Permission
From: www.frangipane.org/

Unoffendable

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” Ezekiel. 36:26

God has a new heart for us that cannot be offended, an “unoffendable” heart. Beloved, possessing an unoffendable heart is not an option or a luxury; it’s not a little thing. An offended heart is endanger of becoming a “heart of stone.”

Consider: Jesus warns that, as we near the end of the age, a majority of people will be offended to such a degree that they fall away from the faith. Listen carefully to His warning:

“Then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another . . . and because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matthew. 24:10-12 KJV).

“Many” will “be offended.” The result? The love of “many” will grow cold. My prayer is that we will hear His words with holy fear.

When we allow an offense to remain in our hearts, it causes serious spiritual consequences. In the above verse Jesus named three dangerous results: betrayal, hatred and cold love. When we are offended with someone, even someone we care for, we must go to them. If we do not talk to them, we will begin to talk about them. We betray that relationship, whispering maliciously behind their back to others, exposing their weaknesses and sins. We may mask our betrayal by saying we are just looking for advice or counsel, but when we look back, we see we have spoken negatively to far too many people. Our real goal was not to get spiritual help for ourselves but to seek revenge toward the one who offended us. How is such action not a manifestation of hatred? For an offended soul, cold love, betrayal and hatred are a walk into darkness.

People don’t stumble over boulders; they stumble over stones, relatively small things. It may be that the personality of someone in authority bothers us, and soon we are offended. Or, a friend or family member fails to meet our expectations, and we take an offense into our soul. Beloved, if we will “endure to the end,” we will have to confront the things that bother us.

When Jesus warns that we need endurance, He is saying that it is easier to begin the race than finish it. Between now and the day you die, there will be major times of offense that you will need to overcome. You might be in such a time right now. Do not minimize the danger of harboring an offense!

No one plans on falling away; no one ever says, “Today, I think I’ll try to develop a hardened heart of stone.” Such things enter our souls through stealth. It is only naiveté that assumes it couldn’t happen to us. I know many people who consistently become offended about one thing or another. Instead of dealing with the offenses, praying about them and turning the issue over to God, they carry the offense in their soul until its weight disables their walk with God. You may be doing fine today, but I guarantee you, tomorrow something will happen that will inevitably disappoint or wound you; some injustice will strike you, demanding you retaliate in the flesh. Will you find more love, and hence, continue your growth toward Christ likeness? Or will you allow that offense to consume your spiritual life?

By Francis Frangipane
used by Permission

Learn more about knowing Jesus at: https://thoughts-about-god.com/four-laws/

Becoming A People of Mercy

Throughout His life, Jesus reached to those rejected by others. He loved the outcasts, those who were despised, scorned, and excluded. Yet His practice of dining with known evildoers offended the Pharisees, and they confronted Jesus’ disciples with this question: “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax-gatherers and sinners?” (Matthew 9:11).

When Jesus heard their question, He answered,

“It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12-13).

Jesus told the religious Pharisees to go and learn what our heavenly Father meant when He said, “I desire compassion [mercy], and not sacrifice.” So many today are religious without being compassionate. Compassion in the Greek language means a “yearning in the bowels.” It is something that cannot be easily ignored.

You see, a religion without love is an abomination to God. The church needs to learn that God desires love and compassion, not merely an adherence to ritual and sacrifice.

It is right that we should be troubled by the sins of our nation. But we must remember, all nations sin. All cultures have seasons of moral decline and spiritual malaise. Yet these periods can become turning points if, in times of distress, leaders and intercessors cry to the Lord for mercy. Thus, Christlike prayer brings redemption out of disaster.

Mercy, Not Wrath

The church was created not to fulfill God’s wrath, but to complete His mercy. True prayer is born of love and comes in the midst of sin and need. It comes not to condemn, but to cover.

Jesus said His Father’s house would be a “house of prayer for all the nations” (Mark 11:17). Consider passionately this phrase: “prayer for.” Jesus taught His disciples to “pray for” those who would persecute or mistreat them (Matthew 5:44). When Job “prayed for” his friends (Job 42:10), God fully restored him. We are to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6), and “pray for” each other so that we may be healed (James 5:16). Paul wrote that God “desires all men to be saved” (1Timothy 2:4). Therefore, he urged “that entreaties and prayers…be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority” (v. 1-2).

The nature of our calling is to pray for people in difficulty, in sin, in sickness, and in need of God.

Conformed to the Lamb of God

Consider this: the only being in all the universe worthy to “open the book” and release God’s wrath on sin is the very One in all the universe least likely to do so. His commitment to man’s redemption was a total sacrifice, an offering that abides eternally at God’s throne. Yes, He is the lion of the tribe of Judah, but He is also the Lamb slain for men’s sins. He is the only One to whom authority is given to open the book of divine wrath
(see Revelations 5).

Because Christ paid the highest price for redemption, we can be confident that He will not release divine fury until He fully exhausts divine mercy. Even then, when His judgments finally come, they will continue to be guided by His motive of mercy, giving time for sinners to repent.

God’s Word tells us plainly: “As He is, so also are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). Our pattern is the Lamb. Our goal is not merely the exposure of sin, but also the unveiling of the sacrifice for sin. Our great commission is to bring healing and the message of God’s mercy to the nations. Until Christ breaks the seals that ultimately will lead to wrath, we must stand in intercession before God as ambassadors of the Lamb.

May the Lord give us a clear vision of this truth: intercession is the essence of Christ’s life. Not only is He now at the right hand of the Father interceding for us (Romans 8:34), but His coming to earth and dying for sins was one extended act of intercession. Jesus beheld the depravity of mankind’s sin. He examined it carefully in all of its offensiveness, perversity, and repulsiveness. Yes, He rebuked it when necessary, but the wonder of the Gospel is that, in spite of mankind’s sin, God so deeply loved the world that He sent His Son to die for us (John 3:16-17).

We are called to follow this same amazing pattern of mercy.

We are not minimizing sin when we maximize Christ’s mercy. There is a difference between whitewashing sin and blood washing it. The reality that compels God’s heart—that is an underlying principle of life—is “mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13). To live a life of mercy corresponds perfectly with God’s heart. Mercy precisely fulfills the divine purpose: to transform man into the Redeemer’s image.

By Francis Frangipane
Used by Permission

from a chapter in Francis’ book, The Power of One Christlike Life.
Available at http://www.arrowbookstore.com/

Follow Your Hunger

Today too many Christians have lost their hunger for God.

Instead of coming into the Lord’s presence hungry for more of His fullness, our thoughts are held hostage to worldly pursuits and fleshly distractions. At best we are merely curious about spiritual realities, but not truly hungry.

Let me tell you a story that illustrates what I mean. We have a little dog named Sophie. Sophie loves people food. To her, eating people food is the culinary equivalent of entering the Kingdom of God. She loves our food. She even has a Bible verse that she claims in faith, “Even the dogs get the crumbs” (Matthew 15:27).

When my wife and I share a meal, Sophie will sit at our feet, squint her eyes, and stare at us (she thinks squinting makes her cuter). Any food that falls to the floor instantly vanishes into her mouth. No matter how much of her food she has already eaten, she is always hungry for ours.

Our home has a small, fenced-in yard outside our porch where Sophie plays. Although the fence surrounds the area, there are gaps where the pickets don’t quite reach to the ground. If Sophie wanted, she actually could squeeze under the fence and get out, but she normally has no reason to try.

Occasionally she will get curious and go as far as the gate, stand there a while and look out, but she doesn’t leave the yard.

One day, though, my wife decided to feed a few slices of stale bread to the birds that nest on the other side of the fence. When Sophie went out an hour later, she immediately noticed a human food smell in the air, which she tracked to the bread outside the gate. In less than a heartbeat she found a little gap under the picket fence, flattened herself to the ground, and then shimmied beneath the fence to the bread on the other side. It was gone in less than a minute.

My point is this: hunger will take you where mere curiosity would never go.

My friend, God is looking for hungry people. Blessed are those who hunger. He is seeking people who are truly seeking Him. Indeed, He has bread from Heaven for us, and it is eternally satisfying. We cannot afford to settle into the routine of a fenced-in reality, not when God has eternal food prepared for us. Let us, therefore, follow our hunger as we pursue the presence of God.

By Francis Frangipane
Used by Permission

The Measure of Maturity

It has been my experience that too many of us, as Christians, have been confused about love. We have assumed that attaining the look of love was the same reality as actually being transformed into a loving person. I’m not saying that we have consciously planned on being shallow or noncommittal, but that somehow we have settled on the cosmetic instead of the real.

We have developed an “altar” ego, a look for church that lasts, at best, just a few minutes longer than the church service itself. All we have really accomplished is to perfect the art of acting like Christians.

I think we have yet to learn to consistently walk according to the standards of Christ’s love. I hear how quick some are to speak about the flaws of those they supposedly love, and I wonder, what kind of love demeans an individual behind their back? When I witness unloving words from a Christian’s mouth, I am reminded that we have much to learn about Jesus and what it means to follow Him.

David prayed,

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).

Our words are the by-product of our meditations. Whatever is brooding in our hearts will eventually ascend to our lips. If we have unforgiveness prowling within, our conversations will be barbed with negative comments; even in moments of light-hearted banter, if we are harboring bitterness, it will slice through our speech. Jesus taught that ‘the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” (Matthew 12:34). We cannot fix our words without first fixing our hearts.

When the Lord judges us for our words, it is because He is seeking to purify our hearts. True, the heart is deceitful above all things and it is difficult to know our own iniquity. Yet if we simply pause and listen to how many of our words are without love, we can track them back to the real problem: loveless hearts.

A New Anointing

Christians are in the fire of God. The Holy Spirit is purging the church from negative chatter. A fresh anointing is at hand where God’s people shall speak with the character necessary to represent Him. What the Lord told the prophet Jeremiah He is speaking also to us:

‘therefore, thus says the LORD, “If you return, then I will restore you — before Me you will stand; and if you extract the precious from the worthless, You will become My spokesman”” (Jeremiah 15:19).

Let us pray that as God exposes our lack of love and a time will soon come when we will pray with cr

“You have tried my heart; You have visited me by night; You have tested me and You find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress” (Psalm 17:3).

Do we see this? God judges the quality of our entire lives by the soundness and substance of our words. Thus Jesus warned,

“But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36).

Let us consider Christ’s warning soberly. He continued,

“For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:37).

James adds, ”

Judgment will be merciless to him who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).

I have a holy fear in my heart concerning these warnings. I know that if I am merciless toward others, God will be merciless toward me.

Character Counts
Sometimes I think we try to mask our critical attitude by calling it “discernment.” The fact is, most of what manifests in our discussions about others is simply judging after the flesh. If we truly love an individual, we will be as loving in their absence as we are in their presence.

Jesus said His disciples would be known by their love. Paul said that the love of Christ is supposed to control us, which means it is the nature and discipline of love that keeps us from joining in verbal attacks or even subtle criticisms. You see, it takes character to avoid being sucked into gossip and criticisms. There is a high road we can take. It starts with prayer, it extends to grace, it is slow to speak, it approaches an individual with a meek heart, it talks privately with the person; it is forgiving when wronged and patient with the spiritually immature.

Of course, if someone is involved with criminal activity or seriously endangering others through their sin, we must love the greater community and take steps to protect the innocent. There is a time to discipline or even publicly expose sin (Matthew 18:15-17), but it’s after we exhaust other means of correction — and even then, our motive should communicate our hope of redemption and not allow our disclosure to become a smokescreen for revenge. In all things, love must guide our words.

Child’s Eye-View of Love
Recently my youngest daughter, Eden, sent me a list of quotes that came from little children. Each child was asked to describe what love meant to them. Their answers were, at times, quite intriguing. One in particular, from a four year old boy named Billy, has stuck with me. He said, “When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.”

That thought seems to say it all: “When someone loves you . . . your name is safe in their mouth.” Behold this clarity of vision as love is defined by a little child. When we truly walk in Christ’s love, those around us will be safe — and others will see the love of Christ that controls us.

Beloved, to walk in covering love is to show ourselves truly acquainted with Christ. Let us ask God,

“Father, show me my heart. Is Your love ruling, even in the unseen areas of my life? Are the names of others safe in my mouth?”

by Francis Frangipane
Used by Permission

Becoming a Fragrance of Christ to God

Jesus warned about our days, saying,

“Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold” (Matthew 24:10).

The Lord’s warning was not just about conditions in the world; He is speaking to His disciples. He warned about conditions in the church.

Today, the church is overstocked with Christians whose love has grown cold.

As a result, rancor fills our conversations. We have become a sub-culture that is mad that the world has not become Christian, while we are tolerant that we are not Christlike.

When you discuss things that are wrong, does rancor come forth or prayer? The word rancor came from Latin rancere, which meant, “to stink.” (See rancid). This is exactly what we exude heavenward when all we do is find fault and criticize. The smell of our rancor ascends into the awareness of God. These things ought not to be.

On the other hand, intercessory prayer is a sweet aroma to God. Again, when we pass through trials and determine to emerge more like Jesus, our very lives become “a fragrance of Christ to God” (2 Corinthians. 2:15). Amazing! in spite of our flaws and weaknesses, while we are living in this harsh world, we can actually become like Christ.

Indeed, may this be the passion of all who trust God’s Son: to become a fragrance of Christ to God.

By Francis Frangipane
Used by Permission

Humility with Faith Equals Breakthrough

When we envision the idea of seeking God with our face down, the picture that comes to mind is one of bowing low before our heavenly Father, and thus it should be. We are approaching Him with abject humility. As representatives of the nations, we are confessing our sins and the sins of our cultures to God, beseeching Him to extend mercy and forgiveness, asking Him to move in His compassion and heal our land.

Yet in the humbling of our souls, let us not discard the reality and power of faith. For without faith it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews. 11:1-6). Yes, let us bow low, yet let us also stand in faith, for the mixture of humility and faith is a potent fragrance.

According to examples in Scripture, this humble yet audacious faith truly moves the heart of God. Consider the Canaanite woman who answered what appeared to be an insult from Jesus: “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs feed on the crumbs” (Matthew 15:27). Hers wasn’t an arrogant reply, but the voice of a desperate woman for her daughter. Jesus’ answer tells me she had the perfect attitude of heart: “O woman, your faith is great” (v.28).

Or recall Elijah as he climbed Mt Carmel and, with his “face between his knees,” prayed seven times that an extended drought in Israel might end. The cloudless sky presented the illusion that the Almighty was unmoved by Elijah’s intercession. Yet when Elijah’s servant reported that there was, in fact, one cloud, a tiny wisp of a cloud the size of a man’s hand, Elijah’s faith recognized God’s answer to prayer. Within a few minutes, this tiny cloud, activated by Elijah’s faith in God, was transformed into a massive downpour that ended three-and-a-half years of national drought.
(See 1 Kings 18:42-45.)

The Bible has many examples of the power of faith when coupled to humility. If we will see a spiritual outpouring in our land, we will need to stay low in the act of intercession. Yet we will also need faith in the goodness of God. Humility empowered by visionary faith equals breakthrough.

Lord, like Elijah, I too bow low before You. I humble myself before You. Forgive our sins, Lord God, for they are many. Show Yourself mighty against our enemies. Master, even as we bow low before you, we refuse to give up on our nation. Lord, forgive, heal and then empower us to bring the lost to You. Let Your name be exalted throughout the land and Your mercy lifted to the heavens. In Jesus’ name. Amen!

By Francis Frangipane
Used by Permission http://www.frangipane.org/

thoughts by Francis Frangipane Thoughts by Men

Prayer-mental, Not Judgmental

Published August 11, 2023

Prayer-mental, Not Judgmental

A religion without love is an abomination to God. The church needs to learn that God desires love and compassion, not merely an adherence to ritual and sacrifice. Thus, Jesus said His Father’s house would be a “house of prayer for all the nations” (Mark 11:17). True prayer is born of love and comes in the midst of sin and need. It comes not to condemn, but to cover.

All nations sin. All cultures have seasons of moral decline and spiritual malaise. Yet these periods can become turning points if, in times of distress, intercessors cry to God for mercy. Thus, Christlike prayer brings redemption out of disaster.

The church is created not to fulfill God’s wrath, but to complete His mercy. Remember, we are called to be a “house of prayer for all…nations.” Consider passionately this phrase: “prayer for.” Jesus taught His disciples to “pray for” those who would persecute or mistreat them (Matthew5:44). When Job “prayed for” his friends, God fully restored him (Job 42:10). We are to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6), and “pray for” each other so that we may be healed (James 5:16). Paul wrote that God desires all men to be saved (1Timothy 2:4). Therefore, he urged “that entreaties and prayers…be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority” (v. 1-2).

“But,” you argue, “my country (or city) is a modern manifestation of ancient Babylon.”

I don’t think so. But even if it were, when the Lord exiled Israel to Babylon, He didn’t order His people to judge and criticize their new cities. Rather, He commanded,

“Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you…and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare” (Jeremiah 29:7).

Time after time the scriptural command is to pray for, not against; to pray mercifully, not vindictively. God’s call is for prayer moved by compassion, not condemnation. Indeed, at its very essence, the nature of intercession is to appeal to God for forgiveness, and then redemption, to come to sinful people.

We have studied what is wrong with our society and can prove, with charts and surveys, the trends of iniquity, yet we have failed to appreciate the influence of the intercessions of Christ. We consider ourselves experts on the nature and cause of sin, but deny the nature and cause of Christ, which is redemption. My friends, being informed by the news media is in no way the same thing as being transformed into the nature of the Savior.

The media sees what is wrong with the world and exposes it; Christ saw what was wrong and died for it. Study Isaiah 53. It reveals in wondrous detail the Savior’s nature: Christ numbered Himself with the sinners (v. 12). He interceded for the transgressors (v. 12). He is “with us” and “for us” (Matthew 1:23; Romans 8:31), even when He is speaking to us of our iniquity.

God does not want us to be judgmental; He wants us prayer-mental. As instinctively as we have judged people, we should pray for them instead.

by Francis Frangipane
Used by Permission

We Love Because He First Loved Us

Do you love Jesus Christ?

Is there a part of your heart that not only intellectually accepts Christ’s death for you, but actually loves Him for the price He paid?

Do you love His word and appreciate the many times He’s rescued you from difficulties and battles, many caused by your own sin or foolishness? Do you love how He accepts you unconditionally when you turn to Him? He has forgiven every sin you have ever committed. How can you not love Him?

For too many people, knowing Jesus goes no deeper than agreeing to the historical fact of His existence. However, loving Him is a distant, almost unnatural reality for them. They take His name in vain or anger and, incredibly, use it as a curse. However, when you say the name of Jesus, it’s very sound calms the troubling in your heart. They mock His righteousness and delight in lawlessness. Yet, you love righteousness, even if you fall short of your own spiritual aspirations.

The fact that you possess love for Christ, even if your love is imperfect, proves something vital about you. The very existence of your love has been cultivated and awakened by God’s love for you. The living Christ has actually approached you and revealed Himself to you. As it is written, “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Today, Christians argue about doctrines and divide over eschatology’s. Yet, let us look at the deeper issue: do we each love Jesus Christ? If so, our love for Him is the result of His love for us. You see, the proof that we truly know Jesus Christ is not measured by the degrees we post on a wall, but the degree of love for Him that burns in our hearts.

Do you love Him? If so, it is because your love is a response to the relentless warmth of God’s love for you. His love has proven itself irresistible. He says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). Again, He says that “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). Even our coming to Him is a product of His love for us.

When I say, “I love You Jesus,” it is because at some point, long before I knew Him, before I could discern His voice or recognize His influence in my life, His love was drawing me to His heart. Yes, I know I am not worthy, but still Christ loved me. True, I have no righteousness of my own, but I imagine there was a moment in heaven when the Son turned to the heavenly Father and said, “I love Francis. I will bring him to Myself, show him My ways and become the strength of his life.”

Never wonder if God loves you. Rather, look at your heart. Do you love Him? If so, your love for Him is proof of His love for you. We love, because He first loved us.

Heavenly Father, help us to pause, to absorb into our consciousness the impact of Your purposed love for us. Let this wondrous love influence everything we think and all that we do and become: I am my Beloved’s and He is mine. You banner over me is love. Let my life be flavored by Your unfailing mercy until, with all my heart, I love You, even as You have loved me.

by Francis Frangipane
Used by Permission

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Loving the Truth

“No lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless” (Revelation 14:5).

To become blameless is to be free from falsehood; it is to be delivered from sin and the deception that protects sin.

Yet this process is not attained if we are only casually committed to the Lord Jesus. We must be dedicated to the way of truth. Indeed, each of us has been conditioned by decades of unbelief, fear, and an unbridled thought-life, which has reinforced deception.

Christians who tend to automatically assume they are the “chosen of God,” have reassured themselves that they could not possibly be deceived. The very thought, “I cannot be deceived” is itself a deception! Let us stay humble and not presume that the calling of God and the choosing of God are alike. “Many are called,” Jesus taught, “but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). Many tests await the called before they are equipped by God and become His chosen; not the least of these tests is becoming free from deception.

You see, our natural minds were fashioned in a world where the concept of honesty must be enforced by laws. Within our world the bias of our communications media intentionally distorts the facts, advertisers promise the impossible, and people are held spellbound in the fantasy worlds of movies and books. The lie is everywhere and somewhat in everything, and we must accept the possibility that even in those things of which we are sure, there still might be elements of deception.

We do not realize it, but we need revelation to know the truth. People who may appear kind, nice or flattering have proven unkind, cruel and deceitful. And we must admit that we often attempt to appear better than we are as well.

This effort to appear one way while inwardly being another has created a world in which the truth is not apparent, where things that are plainly seen by one can be invisible to another. Deception and confusion so fill this world that in order for us to discern what is right, Scriptures command us to “seek” for, “love,” and “truth” (Proverbs 2:1-5; 2 Thessalonians. 2:10; Proverbs 23:23).

Jesus prayed, “[Father] sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17). He was saying, “Father, purify them of the lies and illusions of this age through Your penetrating Word.” In Ephesians, Paul tells us that Christ sanctifies the church by cleansing her “by the washing of water with the word . . . that she would be holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:26-27).

This then, embracing the Spirit of Truth and allowing the Word of truth to break the patterns of falsehood and deception in our lives is the process through which we become Christlike — and this process begins in earnest when we not only hear the truth, but when we love it.

By Francis Frangipane
Used by Permission

Behold How He Loves Us

Our capacity to actually dwell in Christ’s presence is based upon knowing the true nature of God.

If we see Him as a loving Father, we will draw near; if He seems to be a harsh judge, we will withdraw. Indeed, everything that defines us is influenced by our perception of God.

If we do not believe God cares about us, we will be overly focused on caring for ourselves. If we feel insignificant or ignored by God, we will exhaust ourselves by seeking significance from men. However, once we realize that God truly loves us, that He desires we draw near to Him, a door opens before us into His presence. Here, in the shelter of the Most High, we can find rest and renewed power for our souls.

God’s love is not a reality distant from our needs. The Bible reveals that Lord is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Hebrews 4:15 KJV). He feels the pain of what we experience on earth. He participates in the life we live, for “in Him we live, and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28 KJV). He is not removed from our need; we are His body. He is one with us.

The truth is, we are not alone in our battles. However, if we believe we are alone—if we accept the lie that God does not care—our darkened thinking will isolate us from the loving commitment of God.

Beloved, even in our times of rebellion, the heart of God is not far. Consider the Lord’s relationship with Israel. Though Israel had sinned and was suffering oppressive consequences, the Lord wasn’t far. We read that when the Lord “could bear the misery of Israel no longer” He raised up deliverers (Judges 10:16). God wasn’t distant; He was with them, actually bearing their very misery!

At Lazarus’ tomb, Jesus wept. Jesus knew He was going to raise Lazarus; He knew it six days before He called Lazarus back from death. He wept because they were weeping.

Do you know that the Spirit of God actually feels our heartache? He is with us in our conflicts and near us in our fears. At the tomb of Lazarus, some would suggest that Christ’s weeping was really over the unbelief of His disciples. I think not. When the Lord wept over Lazarus, those who saw Christ saw a man touched by the sorrows of others. They remarked, “Behold how He loved him!” (John 11:36).

Our healing comes when we behold how He loves us.

We are raised from the dead when He comes to our tomb and calls us by name out of death.

We must personalize God’s love.

He gave His Son for my sins, His word for my guidance and His Spirit for my strength. If the Almighty is for me, who can be against me?

Dear friend, with wide-eyed wonder, let us behold how He loves us, and be healed of our isolation.

By Francis Frangipane
Used by Permission

To learn more about Francis Frangipane visit his website at: http://www.frangipane.org/

Possessing the Redeemer’s Mind

As Christians, we spend too much time battling basic, elementary battles: “Am I truly saved?” “Am I really forgiven?”

The fact is, God has so much more for us.

He seeks to conform our thought-life to the actual thought-life of Christ.

Indeed, the Holy Spirit comes, not just to give us goose bumps and chills, but to restructure our attitudes and perceptions until we think the thoughts of Jesus.

Consider Paul’s remarkable insights. He wrote,

“But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:14-16).

This revelation is stunning: we have the mind of Christ. God wants us to have Christ’s very discernment.

Or consider again what Paul wrote to the Galatians. He said,

“My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19).

Critics will call the revelation of Christ in us a heresy, as though all we were to have was the name, but not the nature of Jesus Christ.

You see, God’s goal is not only to see us saved and go to Heaven, but for Christ to be functionally formed and living through us on earth. We are not just to have a religion about what Jesus did; we are called to possess the very substance of who Jesus is.

Yes, it means we indeed will go to Heaven; but it is more. Through our knowledge of Christ’s word and our yieldedness to the Holy Spirit, the actual person of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, gains living access to the needs of man. As His body, we give Him flesh and blood contact with this world. True, we face conflicts, but these difficulties are staged by God so He can showcase His Son through us. Indeed, we face persecution, but it’s only so Christ, in the midst of injustice, will reveal how His life overcomes death.

Again, Paul wrote,

“For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians 4:11).

Isn’t this exactly what you desire, the “life of Jesus . . . manifested in [your] mortal flesh”? Aren’t you tired of the cycle of judging people and then, because of pride, being judged by God in return?

What does it mean to have the mind of Christ? Does that mean we walk on the water or do great signs? Miracles are indeed a part of Christ’s life, yet there is something greater than miracles to attain: Our hearts can be filled with the redemptive, creative thought-life of God! (See 1 Corinthians 2.)

Lord, deliver us of our fleshly motives! Free us from our human instincts and fallen passions. Grant us, Lord, the motives of Jesus. Teach us to think, not as a prosecutor whose quest is to condemn, but as the Savior whose heart is to redeem.

by Francis Frangipane
Used by Permission

A Thankful Man Is a Humble Man

If you think you know God but do not live your life in gratitude before Him, it is doubtful that you really knew Him in the first place. A thankful heart honors God. Too often when we say we “know God,” what we actually mean is we know facts about God. But we should ask ourselves, “Do I truly know Him?”

Paul warns that just knowing doctrines about God is not enough to enter eternal life. He said,

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:20-21).

Even though we may know God, c When we are in that hardened, ungrateful state of mind, every word we speak is a spark lit by hell, set to destroy the quality of our lives (James 3:6).

H. W. Beecher said,

“Pride slays thanksgiving . . . a proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.” We should be thankful that we do not get what we deserve!

When God gives us less than we desire, it is not because He is teaching us poverty; what He is teaching us is thankfulness. You see, life — real life — is not based upon what we amass but on what we enjoy. Even in difficult circumstances God still gives us much to appreciate. We fail to see what the Lord has provided because our hearts are wrong.

Someone once said, “When I see a poor man who is grateful, I know if he were rich, he would be generous.” A thankful spirit is akin to a generous spirit, for both appreciate and receive the riches of God. When we are thankful with little, God can entrust us with much.

By Francis Frangipane
Used by Permission

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