“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.”  (I John 2:9-11)

Hatred and bitterness is a virus within man that will only destroy in the end.

For years I watched a feud unfold between two Christian families–and Pastoral families at that–where hatred of each other was the common venom of conversation.

There are times and seasons when it seems that such hatred takes over entire regions and communities. Those who live within them are so blind to their hate that they do not realize that they are no longer living for God.

They continue calling out for God to revive their church and land in one breath and in the other they are tearing down the church and their neighbor across the street.  They are double-minded, unstable in all of their ways.

These people are more like sorcerers than Christians.  They curse and abuse their fellow man hoping to secure power over them to justify their own wickedness.  If they achieve rank within the community they will be prominent. Those who hurt and abused them in their own minds will have to come to them and make amends with them.  Much like Haaman wanted Mordecai to come to him.

This is not Christianity.  This is pride.  Humility doesn’t care if it is abused.  It doesn’t care if others hate it, revile it or even speak all kinds of nonsense against it.

Love chooses to face such opposition with forgiveness and reconciliation.  Even in moments when true Christians are being tormented, they lay down their earthly rights to revenge.  They seek the path of love and forgiveness like Jesus did on the cross or as Stephen did when he was being stoned to death.

I don’t believe the Lord will contend with this behaviour forever.  Those who continue in it will die in their sin in the end.  They will be very surprised to find themselves in hell and darkness. They will cry out and say to God: “But I did all kinds of service in your name!”

He will look at them with great tears in his eyes and tell them to depart because he never knew them.

If you do not know love, you do not know God.  There is no other way to God but through love.

I can hear someone saying now: “Are you saying that there is another way to God other than Jesus Christ?”

Jesus Christ is love!  When you are seated with Christ you are seated in love.  If you do not repent of your bitterness and anger, you are not in Christ, because in Christ you have given up all your rights to revenge and unforgiveness.  In Christ, Love is the only way.

Would you pray with me today that God would open the eyes of those who are blinded by hatred? Let us ask Him to help them walk out of this toxicity of bitterness and anger and into the arms of love.

If perchance you are holding on to hatred, then this is my prayer for you.

“For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.” (Isaiah 61:11)

This Scripture is about the promise of revival to the nations.  God is going to do a new thing.  There will be a new sound that comes from the hearts of the nations.  I can see it. Can’t you?

This is not something that the nations will do for themselves.

In their ignorance and because of darkness, the light would not likely shine on many lives, but because of the sure mercies of our God, this righteousness will burst forth in many hearts in the hours to come.

It is not the seed that causes itself to grow.  You and I are just seeds lying in the soil of God’s Holy Spirit.  Can you not feel him all around you now?

You are about to surrender to the pulse of heaven invading your heart.

It is not that you sought God, but He sought you and in the seeking you surrendered to the highest power of all–love.  It is the one thing that will remain for all of eternity.

His grace working in your hearts will help you come to the highest place.  You don’t have to strive to enter into the Kingdom of God.

The curse will roll away as easily as snow off a metal roof when it is warm.  The snow did not decide to leave the roof, but the conditions were ripe and it just sorta happened.

This is the season of it just sorta happening.

It is no “sort of” at all but rather a miracle that will take place in the earth by the power of God.  He is reconciling hearts to Himself and even now is bursting into the rooms of men in visions, and dreams rapturing them into His presence and with His love.

They will surrender to His peace because they had no peace.  They will surrender to His love because they had no love.  They will surrender to His joy because they had no joy.

In the coming moments they will acknowledge Him as King and surrender to His will and renounce all their old idols and the persuasions of men.

Yes, righteousness is springing up. Can you see it?

“They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. Strangers will shepherd your flocks;  foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.  And you will be called priests of the Lord,    you will be named ministers of our God.  You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.” (Isaiah 61:4-6)

I have often heard people say “I wish I could have what I once had.”  The say this as if what they had in the past was so incredible and glorious.

Yet in that place they are remembering and wish to be, there was nothing but turmoil, misery and depression.

But because we cannot imagine a better tomorrow and because the present is so tortuous and unpredictable, we piece together parts of our past where we saw even a brief glimpse of happiness and try to form a puzzle that is glorious, yet not true.

If you continue in your sins then for all of eternity you will live in this regret, longing for the brief moments of joy that you experienced but are now long past, and in eternity these regrets will be forever.

When I consider the above verse, I see an image of what God wants to do in families and communities.  He wants to revive them to be what they were supposed to be for all of time–a community of individuals blessed by the mighty hand of God and not surrendered to the torrents of misery and depression because of sin.

He does not want to give you brief moments of joy.  He wants you to live in joy every day.

When the spirit of Christ is in you there is warmth of peace and joy that enters into your heart and stays and doesn’t leave because of life’s storms.  Yes, the storms do come but the spirit of God in you helps you to walk on the troubled waters of your life.

There may be a literal renewal of cities that takes place when hearts are revived to God.  But, for me this renewal of generations is a restoration of families of God into the earth, where people can be nurtured and loved in homes and in towns and communities where each looks out for their neighbor empowered by the Spirit of God.

This is ideal I know but when the transformation of our nations comes we will see this with our eyes.  People will be filled with the glory of God and they will worship at His feet.  They will desire His spirit within them and His Spirit will restore all joy and peace into their lives and into their communities.  It will be like the Kingdom of God is on earth.

Please pray with me today toward this end.  I believe this is what God is about to do in the earth.

“They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.” (Isaiah 61:3)

When you came to Christ, perhaps like mine, your life was in ruin. There didn’t seem to be much hope for good things to come upon it.  Perhaps you were burdened with the mess you were in and convinced that life no longer had meaning or direction.

Certainly that is what I felt before Christ, even though in the world’s eyes I had achieved astounding success. But in my own heart I was at the end of myself seeing no reason to continue on.

And yet when Holy Spirit began to breathe the very breath of Jesus into my brokenness, the Lord’s voice began to echo throughout my being declaring how I was going to be his great man carrying his voice to the nations.

I was not at all comfortable with this thought when it first entered my spirit.  In fact I rebuked the Lord for saying to me.  I assured the Lord that my own iniquities and sins certainly robbed me of the fortune to serve within the Lord’s army as an ambassador to the nations, and yet he continued to speak the same sound into my ears.

He said, “You will become an oak of righteousness, a planting of the Lord.”  

I remember the day he said this.  I was sitting in a park that had been devastated by a hurricane in Nova Scotia.  A year or so earlier a category 3 storm had blown through Halifax leaving a trail of waste in its path. Great trees had been uprooted as if they were toothpicks.

I used to sit on a park bench everyday for more than a month, maybe two, and every time my eyes fell on the same broken stump in the ground.  I considered it without considering it.

It lay as an image in my spirit and in my mind, but I never spoke about it to myself or anyone else.  I just looked at it as I looked at everything else.

But at the end of two months my mind began to form a question to God.  I said, “God what is it about this stump?”

And then the still small voice of the Lord filled my senses and said, “Look at it! What do you see?”

I said, “I see a broken stump but there is a new branch coming out of its side.”

The Lord said, “You are like that branch coming from that stump.  Your life was in ruin, but now it is mine and from it I will release my glory to the nations.”

I knew the truth of this in an instant.  Even though my life looked like nothing in 2005, I knew that it was going to become something and that I would minister to the nations and have blessing upon my home.

The glory of God has shone on my life and will shine increasingly still. Not because of any power of my own but because of Holy Spirit inside of me.

Don’t you know that your life is like a candle on a lampstand that shines for everyone in the room to see?  Since I surrendered to Christ I can no longer help but shine for him because Holy Spirit is in me.

And it will be the same with you…

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Isaiah 61:1-2a)

I remember the first time that I really encountered this scripture.  I was sitting in Kinburn one Friday night reading one of the red bibles in the pew.  I just opened up the Bible to this scripture and began to read.

Just then my sister sidled up to me and said, “Darren I want you to read one of my favorite scriptures.”  I was a bit annoyed at being interrupted but lifted my head to see what it was she wanted to show me.  It was the same scripture.  Oh my, was God saying something.

We both laughed and rejoiced at what God was saying. The service then took a different turn.  We always sought at Kinburn to follow the leading of the Lord and do as Holy Spirit was showing us to do.

Pastor Mark Redner asked if anybody wanted to share something they received from the Lord.  A little Korean preacher stood up and went toward the microphone.  She opened her Bible and began reading from the exact same scripture.  Any coincidences in my mind were thrown to the wayside.

What was the Lord saying to me?  I began to see myself in this verse.  Of course this is the same verse that Jesus used to introduce himself to Israel as the Messiah in Luke 4.  He was telling the people and leaders of Israel this was what he was coming to do.

I believe the Lord would have Jesus inside of us to be this to the people that we meet each day.  We should constantly remind ourselves that the anointing of the Lord is upon us to do the things we are called to do, both great and small.

There really is no small act in Christ.  Each time we pray for someone or each time we serve someone because of the compassion that wells up in our hearts we are acting like Jesus in this world.

So each of us has a way of looking into the world through the eyes of Christ to see where the brokenness lies in the hearts of men. And when we see it we should ask God to help us become the greatest encouragers.  Our encouragement can become like a hammer over the darkness that lies above the heads of men.

When we speak in the name of the Lord carrying the anointing of the Lord we can become conduits for the Lord to act upon these men and women, changing their lives forever.

And so I pray today that this verse will stir your hearts and minds.  I pray that you too will become a great conduit of the anointing of Christ to break the yokes over people’s hearts and minds.

Beloved, we are [even here and] now God’s children; it is not yet disclosed (made clear) what we shall be [hereafter], but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall [as God’s children] resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He [really] is. (I John 3:2)

I really love the thought presented above which I will state in my own words, “it is not yet clear what we will become, but we know we will be like him when he does come.”

As Christians none of us knows what will ultimately be our form once Christ appears, but we can have a hope that as he is we will be.

Revelation 21:4 says, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

So our state or condition when Christ appears will be one where our old nature filled with sorrow and pain will no longer weigh us down.  We will be a part of a new order of humanity– one that is filled with the joy of the Lord on all occasions.

Many Christians have a peace in their hearts on occasion but there are times that we falter and the joy and peace seem to depart for a season, until the joy of the Lord comes again strengthening our hearts and minds.

The key to the Christian life is to listen to the Lord and obey so that we can remain in this state of peace. To have his peace is to have everything.

When depression and anxiety no longer linger in our hearts, we have the power to live a life of true freedom.  Freedom from these things is greater than democratic freedom because even in democracies sorrow and pain hold people down.

Oh, but when the new order of Christ comes into the earth there will be such joy in the hearts of men!

We don’t know what we will be like, but the hope of such an existence propels us deeper into the arms of Christ. The hope of no more pain and no more sorrow, of perpetual peace draws us deeper and deeper.

And while we cannot be absolutely certain about our final form, we know for sure that we will be like him, because we can feel him in our hearts even now, and what he is, is beautiful, and lovely and true. Amen?

Yet I am writing you a new commandment, which is true (is realized) in Him and in you, because the darkness (moral blindness) is clearing away and the true Light (the revelation of God in Christ) is already shining.

Whoever says he is in the Light and [yet] hates his brother [Christian, born-again child of God his Father] is in darkness even until now.

Whoever loves his brother [believer] abides (lives) in the Light, and in It or in him there is no occasion for stumbling or cause for error or sin.

But he who hates (detests, despises) his brother [in Christ] is in darkness and walking (living) in the dark; he is straying and does not perceive or know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (2 John 1:8-11)

It is my contention and my intercession that we are in the hour of the lifting of moral blindness.  As the Spirit of Christ rises in the lives of his people, that which is dark begins to lift off of their lives and they begin to be filled with a new love and joy for humanity.

When I encounter so-called Christians who detest people around them I am horrified.  Such poison in people’s hearts will only kill them in the end.  Hatred is a disgusting fragrance of hell and those who justify their hatred will end up there in the end because those who hate have no fellowship with light.

The child of God grows in love.  It is not that we love perfectly or that we love completely when we come to Christ, but Holy Spirit works with us and convicts us and leads us to repent of our hatred and bitterness in order to love more completely.

The Grace of God leads us to higher places in LOVE.  Love becomes irresistible and addicting.  You learn to quickly forgive and overcome offense so that you can remain in the place of love.

I was recently preaching in a region that has historically justified hatred toward their fellow brothers and sisters in the church.  I had to speak in this region and so I asked the Lord what he would have me say.

He told me that if these people do not repent of their offenses toward their fellow man then they would die in darkness and sin.  He told me that if I didn’t remind them that hatred and offense was sin then their blood would be upon my hands.  So I told them.

Quickly after that I noticed that some of the people in those meetings were writing facebook messages on the need for forgiving their brothers and sisters.  The word that I spoke was bold but it produced results.

We cannot have a revival of Christianity on earth if we continue to hate each other.  We have to lay down our weapons of hatred, offense and bitterness and take up a new weapon called “love.”

Only love will save a nation.  Only joy and peace will overcome the offenses in the earth.

When I love my fellow man even when they despise me it is only then that I can hope to lead them to higher ground.  When I promote them above myself I will win them.

This is the key in this hour.  We must walk in love and humility and this by the power of Holy Spirit in us.

God can help us to do it.  It is possible because the early church walked in this power.  You and I are being renewed to walk in this hour in love in a new way.

I pray right now that the spirit of love will overtake you and you will be pulled deeply into God’s arms and that His love will become your love.

What we have seen and [ourselves] heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah.)

But if we [really] are living and walking in the Light, as He [Himself] is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another. (I John 1:3, 7)

I have seen God move many times in group settings.  What always amazes me is the supernatural fellowship that takes place and the joy that people have being with one another.

John says that this “…is a distinguishing mark of Christians.”

It is the one aspect of our Christian faith that we cannot enjoy alone and the reason we need to be together.  When we gather together expecting Holy Spirit to be present and to move there is a glow that comes upon the faces of the people as they push into the place of the Spirit together.

The glow of such a communal encounter with God can last for days and weeks afterwards.

For the last four years I have been ministering in revival meetings all across North America.  There have been times that I have started ministering at 6 or 7 p.m. and I am still going until 1 or 2 a.m. in the morning.

The reason that I can do this is because of the glow and joy of fellowship that I have witnessed on the face of thousands of people as Holy Spirit touches their lives.

It is easy to be together when Holy Spirit binds us together. People will literally will stay and chat with each other for hours and hours when God touches their life.

This is a distinguishing part of the move of God that is taking place in this hour.

The people that I work and serve Christ with become like family to me.  They invite me into their homes and feed me like I was their son, brother, father or uncle or (believe or not) now, even their grandfather.

Personally I believe that when Christians love each other this way, the harvest will be easy because people in the world who are not used to being loved or who have not enjoyed true fellowship will be drawn in as a result of the radiance of glory they see in our Christian communities.

And the truth is as long as we remain in the Christ or in the vine we can expect to continue to enjoy each other.  Those who are not of the Christian way will not remain.  If their motives are not for Christ but for selfish gain they will not last in our midst.  This is my experience.  Only true believers can continue in Holy Spirit fellowship.

I pray that you also will experience this today and that you will know the supernatural fellowship that comes from only serving Jesus Christ.  I pray that you will go deeper into love and into the Spirit and that your revelation of Christ will increase.

He is our great Redeemer who even redeems our communities so that we can enjoy true fellowship with one another.

Has this been your experience?

“No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD.” (Isaiah 54:17)

Have you ever considered this promise? It is filled with some deep truths and when the truth of it begins to sink into your heart, it has a way of bringing peace even in the midst of the storm.

Throughout my life’s walk I have encountered many tongues that have risen against me.  The old man wants to defend himself but in Christ I have learned to still my voice in these times and let the Lord fight for me.

In Exodus we see a great example of the Lord fighting the enemies of Israel for them.  As the Egyptians approached the Israelites by the Red Sea, Moses stood before the people and declared: “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.” (Exodus 14:13)

Moses understood his God.  Moses heard God speak and was at peace in the midst of the storm.  Perhaps there was some anxiety in Moses about the way that God would deliver the people, but in the moment when the trial began a strong declaration rose up in his spirit that prepared him for the great miracle of the Lord.

Our heritage in God is that as long as we heed His voice we will be safe.  When He speaks and we listen we are assured of our deliverance.

When the seas parted the Israelites had to step into the place of deliverance.  I cannot imagine what it was they saw in that moment when the waters parted.  Perhaps two giant waves stood on either side of them as they walked into the channel of their deliverance.

And yet, had they chosen to stay behind, they surely would have been swept away by the enemy.  Only by heeding God’s voice and stepping into the unknown were they saved.

Much of the time it is that way in this life.  We must learn to listen and as we do the promise of this scripture comes to pass.

You should get excited today because the truth is “No weapon formed against you will prosper and every tongue that rises against you will be silenced.” 

You are a child of God and this is His promise and heritage for you.

“Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
⁵ For your Maker is your husband—
the Lord Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
he is called the God of all the earth.
⁶ The Lord will call you back
as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—
a wife who married young,
only to be rejected,” says your God.
⁷ “For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
⁸ In a surge of anger
I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
I will have compassion on you,”
says the Lord your Redeemer. (Isaiah 54:4-8)

There is such compassion in the heart of God toward His children.  It isn’t God’s desire to see you in pain or to see you experiencing reproach.  His heart is always to bless and to love, and yet His children don’t often understand or see this.

When we come to Christ our sinful past can have a way of bringing shame upon our lives, but in Christ that shame is taken away. Through His life and his sacrifice on the cross, He removes the shame we came under and we become partakers of a new experience and new life.

Old things pass away and all things become new.  Our sin- stained life no longer exists and we become the righteousness of God in Christ.

In my early life as a Christian I experienced much remorse and shame as I looked back over my life.  I could see all the valleys that I walked into and the mire and the stink seemed to remain with me.

But when I read scriptures like this in Isaiah I was comforted.  I began to learn that God was not ashamed of me.  I understood that my past was in the past and that God no longer considered it.

Every time the enemy would try to remind me of my past Holy Spirit was close by my side reminding me of how much the Father loved me and accepted me the way I was.

Even in my dreams reminders of His love and acceptance seemed to flow.  He said that I was a Son of God, a Prince and a Priest of the Most High God.  He showed up in my dreams as a father and loved me just like I was.  His heart was so pure toward me that I couldn’t help begin to love myself because He first loved me.

It is true that in my darkest days I didn’t hear the voice of the Lord.  Isaiah says that for a time He abandoned me.  He couldn’t bless the sin-stained person that I wanted to be.

Only by coming into agreement with His voice and His commands for my life could I remain in the sound of His voice, and being in the sound of His voice is the only safe refuge in this world.

He brought me back to Himself and I have been safe ever since.

I pray for you today.  I know that life has a way of bringing you down.  I know that you have concerns for family members, but I also know the hand of my God is strong toward those who believe.  Just as He touched my life He is going to touch yours and the lives of those you love.