Peggy Joyce Ruth

Do you know the fullness of God's love? 1st John tells us that God is love and God wants His love to be tangible in our lives. We can miss the fullness of God's love when we fall for the world's substitute. When Jesus healed the multitudes, the bible says He was moved by compassion. So God's compassion is greater than the "love" or empathy we are used to. Many times, we mistake human empathy or sympathy for love. But Jesus' compassion is so much more than the world's empathy.

Jesus came to carry the load. Many times, we are carrying weights that Jesus promised to carry for us. Sin, sickness, and everything that came as a consequence of sin fell on Jesus on the cross. We don't need to continually pay for things that Jesus paid for on the cross. Jesus died so that we might live. He carried what we deserved to break the power of the curse. So we can live a life of freedom.

Once you receive wisdom it is something to be guarded. Because even godly wisdom can become corrupted. The Word tells us these 4 things can corrupt wisdom: pride, sin, alcohol and drugs, and compromising the Word.

What is wisdom? There is a godly wisdom and a natural wordly wisdom. James 3:15 says the world's wisom "is earthly, natural, demonic." The world's wisdom sounds good, there is a seduction to it but leads to a demonic end. But true wisdom comes from above and is more precious than gold.

Unfortunately, today there seem to be so many people serving the great I was. But that is not how God revealed Himself to Moses. God revealed Himself as the great I AM. God is working and moving NOW in the present, not just in past history. The problem with faith is that God confirms His Promise to us after we step out in obedience, not before. So we will never fully see the result of God's Promise until we fully step out in obedience to His Word.

The potential of the anointing in our lives is limitless, but we must protect what God has given. Humility before God is the key to protecting the anointing. We cannot operate in the anointing and do it our own way. Samson failed to seek God in his years of strength. It took him being imprisoned before he cried out to God. We can save ourselves a lot of trouble by crying out to God and seeking Him every step of the way.

It's important that we don't waste what God has given us. When we don't value the anointing and call God has put on our lives, we end up taking what is most important for granted. Whatever we take for granted, we waste. God has put His anointing on us for a purpose to see His kingdom grow throughout the earth.

The anointing is the supernatural ability to fulfill your God-given assignment. In the Old Testament, the anointing would come on a prophet or leader for an assignment, but might not remain. But now, since the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit has been poured out on all flesh, and we have received the Holy Spirit inside of us when we are born again. The anointing is a gift from God. A precious gift, we must learn to walk in and steward.

But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. -Revelation 2:4. Do you remember your first love? You couldn't eat. You couldn't sleep. You couldn't think or talk about anything else. That is how it should be with the Lord. The passion between the Lord and us is the foundation for everything. Don't ever lose what brought you to Jesus.

Waiting is a hopeful anticipation and a deliberate alignment of our will with God’s perfect will. It is the beginning of our total dependency on God. Because He can do what no human can accomplish. Waiting shows God we are willing to be obedient and that we are sensitive to God’s guidance. But those who wait in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint. -Isaiah 40:31

God revealed His covenant progressively throughout the Old Testament, and these agreements reached their ultimate fulfillment in the person of Jesus. Thankfully, our New Covenant is so special because it is sealed by the blood of Jesus, which creates a permanent bond between God and us. His blood gives us the ability to inherit all the promises of God, and boldness and confidence when we seek Him.

Throughout the Old Testament, there was a progression of covenants with the Fathers of our Faith, leading up to our final covenant with Jesus. Even though we don't think in terms of covenants much today in the Old Testament, a covenant, specifically a blood covenant, was the most powerful and binding agreement known to man. It was a permanent joining of two people, two families, or two groups of people. This is exactly how much God wants to be in covenant with us.

If we don't have a revelation of our covenant with God, we will never have the boldness to operate in what has been given to us. A biblical blood covenant is a permanent, sacred union between two parties. We are familiar with temporary contracts today, but that is not how God does things. Our covenant involves His life and our life becoming one. And as believers, we are joined with God through the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross.

Prayer should not be ritualistic or religious. It is a relationship with God, and prayer is the time we get in tune with the Master. Thankfully, Jesus does give us an outline in Matthew 6 for how to pray, but it is meant to be much deeper than just repeating the Lord's Prayer. Prayer is where the Father's heart and way of thinking overtake our own. It is a place where we find belonging in the Lord. Prayer is not a religious checklist, but an encounter with God and His Word that changes us.

Many years ago, as a young mother, Peggy Joyce attempted to witness to her neighbor only to end up questioning her own faith. The next eight years were filled with paralyzing fears and depression. Most pastors and the psychological world had given up entirely, but God had a different plan. (Also available in book form, Tormented 8 Years and Back.)