- Aug 4
- 23 min read

My Mind's Growth - Learning To Love

Updated: Aug 5

Revelation 2:1-7

New Living Translation

The Message to the Church in Ephesus

2 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus.

This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand,

The one who walks among the seven gold lampstands:

2 “I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance.

I know you don’t tolerate evil people.

You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not.

You have discovered they are liars.

3 You have patiently suffered for me without quitting".

4 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!

5 Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first.

If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.

6 But this is in your favor: You hate the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans, just as I do".

7 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God".

To Love God Means to Show It with Actions

This message from the Son of God in Revelation 2:1-7 is about love waxing cold (Mt. 24:12). If you got feelings for Jesus, show it by what you do. In v. 2 Jesus is talking about "works". In v. 4 Jesus calls it "love". To love God are acts of devotion to God and the church.

To Love Jesus

Means to Do What He Says

John 14:15

Authorized (King James) Version

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me:

What do we do to show Jesus that we love Him? His commands. In Rev. 2:4 above, Jesus is talking about loving Him and the church. Read the Bible and do whatever Jesus says to show Him and the church that you love them.

Matthew 22:34-40

Authorized (King James) Version

34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence,

they were gathered together. 35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer,

Asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him,

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,

And with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

If you're in love with Jesus but are having problems showing it to Him due to a love waxing cold, Jesus says to do this to get back to normal.

Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first.

To Repent and do the First Works

Is called "to endure"

Matthew 24:13

Authorized (King James) Version

13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Proverbs 24:15-17

Authorized (King James) Version

15 Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place:

16 for a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again:

But the wicked shall fall into mischief.

17 Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:

God Calls it "to faint"

When you Lose your First Love

Revelation 2:3

Authorized (King James) Version

3 and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

2 Corinthians 4:15-17

Authorized (King James) Version

15 For all things are for your sakes,

That the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish,

Yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment,

Worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

Galatians 6:8-10

Authorized (King James) Version

8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption;

But he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

10 As we have therefore opportunity,

Let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Hebrews 12:1-17

Authorized (King James) Version

12 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,

Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us,

And let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

2 looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;

Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,

And is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself,

lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children,

My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

6 for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons;

For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us,

And we gave them reverence:

shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure;

But he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous:

nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness

Unto them which are exercised thereby.

12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

13 and make straight paths for your feet,

Lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God;

Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

16 lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau,

Who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected:

For he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

Got it? Mistreatment leads to bitterness. Bitterness leads to a cold love. To mature and learn to love and grow out of this, you repent and start doing what you used to do when you first got saved. Don't let Satan hinder your mission and vocation in the Lord.

Don't Fight Evil

Endure It

Mistreatment is the Trap of Satan

To Hurt you and Make you Faint

To Overcome,

You Repent of a Cold Love

And Start Doing Things for God and the Church

Again

Matthew 5:38-48

Authorized (King James) Version

38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

39 but I say unto you,

That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.

41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said,

Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you,

Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you,

And pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:

For he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Keep the Word

If You Endure You Will Bear Fruit

If You Wallow in Pain, You Will Wither

I learned a long time ago that to bounce back from sin is the sign of a true Christian. How sure are you that you will bounce back? If you endure and bounce back from sin, you will overcome the devil and his works in this world and bear fruit to eternal life.

Psychological Warfare

Look at the reasons why Christian's faint and are defeated. V. 12 says that before all the works of the devil in this world, the fashion of the world (1 Cor. 7:31/ Jms. 1:10-12), that are made to make you faint, come, the devil is the first one there to steal the word of your salvation from your heart.

Word In, Word Out

World In, World Out

(Pr. 4:20-27/ Jn. 17:14-19)

The Bible is alive (Heb. 4:12). When you read it, it talks to you (Pr. 6:20-23). When you're born-again, the Holy Spirit from within you will bring scriptures to your memory that are the answers to your life (Jn. 14:26). Have you ever had Bible scriptures disappear from your memory? You're about to talk about it, and it's gone. Lk. 8:5, 12 are talking about the devil making you forget the Bible. He steals it from your mind. To get it back, keep the word. Keep reading the Bible. The more you read it, the more it will take root in your mind and make the devil leave.

Pr. 4:20-27 talks about your sensory-system. Your five senses. Sight. Sound. Taste. Smell. Touch. These are the gates to your heart. What you sense with your senses goes down into your heart and comes back out.

Pr. 4:20, 21, 23 reveals the two senses that God uses to give you the victory over the world with His word. Sight and sound. What goes in your ears and eyes goes into the midst of your heart, makes you who are, and then comes back out.

Proverbs 4:20-21, 23

Authorized (King James) Version

{Paraphrased}

Keep your heart like you keep God's word

20 My son, attend to my words;

incline thine ear unto my sayings.

21 Let them not depart from thine eyes;

keep them in the midst of thine heart.

Keep thy heart with all diligence;

for out of it are the issues of life.

Separated from the World with the Word

In John 17:17, Jesus says that God's word, the Bible, will keep the evil in the world away from you. God's word will separate you from the evil in the world. Separate from all the devil's attacks, the unbelief, temptation, worries about money, and pleasure of Lk. 8:4-15.

Make A Testimony

Turn Your Tests into Testimonies

Overcome the devil with the word of your testimony about the Blood of Jesus (Rev. 12:11). V. 13 says that if the devil can't steal the word from your heart, you're a joke to him because you have no root to grow in love and when tempted, you sin instead of take root and grow in love. He doesn't have to kill you himself cos you do a good job doing it yourself.

Endure Debauchery

Don't Become "the evil servant".

V. 14 is talking about people who go back to their vomit (2 Pt. 2:19-22). The devil is still laughing at this type. People who go back to the life of sex and fighting at parties. Jesus said that this kind of Christian is called "the evil servant" in Mt. 24:48-51. In their unbelief, they backslide and stay there. A defeated Christian whom the devil has hurt and kept in the world medicating the pain with a life of debauchery instead of making the word take root in love by enduring the world, the flesh and the devil by keeping the word.

Keep the word

(V. 15)

To keep the word is how to endure. Don't let these things keep you medicating the pain. If you keep the word of God and endure in love, you will overcome the devil, temptation, money & the life it buys, and pleasure. The word is the way out of this world.

Luke 8:4-15

Authorized (King James) Version

{Paraphrased}

4 And when much people were gathered together,

And were come to him out of every city, {Jesus} spake by a parable:

5 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed,

Some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.

6 And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up,

It withered away, because it lacked moisture.

7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.

8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold.

And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

9 And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?

10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God:

But to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil,

And taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

13 They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy;

And these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.

14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard,

Go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life,

And bring no fruit to perfection.

15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart,

Having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

All the attacks of the world, the flesh and the devil, are made to hurt you and make you fall away from God. But if you keep studying the Bible and keep it by enduring all these darts of the wicked (Eph. 6:16), you will grow in Christ and bear fruit like the good ground in Lk. 8:15. You will repent and become a fruitful plant bearing a hundredfold. You will revive your first love for Jesus with your works, as Rev. 2:5 says to.

Motion is the Cure for Grief

(Rev. 2:5)

Instead of falling away in pain, you keep the word in you through study (2 Tim. 2:15), so you can know what to do to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil. When attacked by the devil, temptation, the love of money with the worries of how you're going to pay your bills, and pleasures, you keep the word by studying it and doing it. When you're hurting, you do the word because motion is the cure for grief.

Grief will keep you in a wheelchair. You don't want to move when you're hurting. That's called "grief stricken". But moving around, like getting up and cleaning the house, will cure the feeling that makes you want to just lie there in pain. That's called "grief".

Getting up and doing what you used to do for God & the church when you first got saved; love, will give you the victory over the enemy, this world and your flesh. This is what Jesus is talking about to do in Rev. 2:5 as the solution to fainting in Rev, 2:3. Repent and do the first to get back to your first love of listening to the Bible. Serving God and the church. Loving God and the church. Don't let satanic attacks keep you grief stricken in the world. If you faint from grief. Move around and do the word in the midst of your heart. get out your Bible and go back to when you first trusted the Lord.

Make Your Calling and Election Sure

Keep On, Keeping On

If You Endure Grief by Doing the Word

You Will Never be Unfruitful or Fall Away

2 Peter 1:1-11

Authorized (King James) Version

{Paraphrased}

1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through {knowing} God, and Jesus our Lord, 3 according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through {knowing} him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in {knowing} our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: 11 for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

For Clarity

Just to make it clear in your mind, take 2 Pt. 1:1-11 above, and put it in Rev. 2:5 as the way to remember the first works and do them again through repentance. Learning to love God. Endure in God's love when you faint in despair and grief.

To Endure and Keep the Word

Means to Believe the Word

To Have a Cold Heart Through Bitterness

Is a Hardened Heart

Hebrews 3:12-19

Authorized (King James) Version

12 Take heed, brethren,

Lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day;

Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

14 For we are made partakers of Christ,

If we {endure and} hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

15 while it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke {the Lord with unbelief and sin}:

Howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

17 But with whom was he grieved forty years?

Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

The reason Christians faint is because all the attacks of the devil, the world and the flesh, harden your heart and turn your love cold. Heb. 3:17 says that we grieve the Lord when we fall away in grief. To fall away in grief is to faint and fall. Motion cures grief. You get back up and start doing what you used to do. This is called repentance and going back to your first love for God.

Grief, fainting, falling away into sin, bitterness, a cold heart, are all symptoms of a hardened heart. A hardened heart comes from unbelief. Unbelief is the reason why all the Christians in Lk. 8:4-15 didn't grow by keeping the word. Unbelief is why they withered on the Vine and became unfruitful.

Matthew 24:13

Authorized (King James) Version

13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Hebrews 3:14

Authorized (King James) Version

{Paraphrased}

14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our {faith} stedfast unto the end;

Revelation 2:52 Pt. 1:2-4

Authorized (King James) Version

5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works;

Or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Do you see it? The beginning of your faith in Jesus is the works of your first love for Jesus. You hold fast to the beginning of your faith, your first works and first love for Jesus, to the end, or endure in love to the end. To repent and do the first works is how to cure fainting from grief.

I added in two secular songs at the end of the video section by the late Michael Jackson and by REO Speedwagon. Both songs are from the 80's. I did this because they talk about what God is talking about here in this post. To keep on loving others because you can't stop. You're in love with Jesus and the church. Show God and His people that you love them. You love them, but you're not showing it. Show it by doing God's word.

Remember what Keith Green said in the sixth video below, "Rare and Unabridged". God told him to repent and when he asked Him how to, God said to cry. A good cry, godly sorrow, will clear you of the grief so you can get up and go on with God (2 Cor. 7:10, 11).

When I woke up today after finishing this message last night, I heard the Lord say,

"The Energizer Bunny...it takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'".

He's using television commercials from Energizer batteries and Timex watches to talk to you that real Christians always come back to God after a fight with the devil, this world and with their own flesh. We never stay down. We bounce back to God because we're real. The Lord just said,

"You can't keep a good man down".

So, I'm going to post those two commercials to talk to you about God's people. They're like the Energizer Bunny. They "just keep going and going and going and going and going"...God's people are like Timex watches. "They take a lickin' and keep on tickin'".

1 John 4:4

Authorized (King James) Version

4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them:

because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

I don't know...are these Christian owners at Energizer and Timex? Is that why God is using them to explain His people's strength in the Holy Spirit? God is the power inside the Christian that keeps His people going and going and going and going and going, not batteries. Jesus is our recharge batteries. Jesus is our Timex watch. We take a lickin' and keep on tickin'...

2 Corinthians 4:7-11

Authorized (King James) Version

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,

that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

9 persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

10 always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,

that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake,

that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

The Wheat and the Tares

The Lord wants to talk to you about me from the story of the wheat and the tares. When I copied and pasted Lk. 8:4-15 above yesterday, the Lord was talking about the story after that one in another chapter. The wheat and the tares. God once told me that I was the wheat among the tares getting choked by them. But Jesus called my name and not theirs, and He said that I ran to Him. He commented in that message in my posts on this website, about how fast I ran to my Father when He called me out from your world like the Prodigal son in Lk. 15:11-32. He said I was the only one that came from all these people in North Dakota and California...

God's people are wheat among the tares. This message is to you from the Lord about my growth in Christ. The tares choke the wheat and try to kill them. But the wheat don't die. They grow together. As Christ won the war when He rose from the dead (Rom. 1:4/ 1 Jn. 3:8, 9/ Heb. 2:14, 15), so I won this war with you because I came back to God from the tares.

The Lord said that He's killing you because you want me dead. He said that you're from church that do this. I'm the wheat among the tares. We're from the same seed of God, but you did not come when He called your names. Only I ran to the Lord.

This is what God said through me yesterday when I wanted to post about bearing fruit from Lk. 8:4-15. God spoke for me to you about you.

"I was in the mess of pain from a broken marriage. I had a low self-esteem. But I started to understand what God was talking about when He said, "those who hear not" {Lk. 8:10}. This means when you are on drugs and can't see the road ahead. You still get high. But when the time comes to answer for it, you blame them instead of yourself. This the meaning of the parable of the wheat and the tares, next".

God said that He's talking to the enemies who read my Facebook posts in those red letters above. Those are your methods against me. To ruin my marriage and give me a low self-esteem. God says your motives are jealousy and a low self-esteem.

God ended that message with the word "next" because the other Gospel book that talks about the parable of the sower in Lk. 8:4-15, is Mt. 13:1-23 and in the next story, Mt. 13:24-30, is the parable of the wheat and tares. I chose to use the parable of the sower in Lk. 8:4-15 because in this version, Luke adds in an insight about patience in bearing fruit and patience is one of the things the Jesus says the Ephesians church had when serving Him before they lost their first love in Rev. 2:3. It takes patience to not fall away when under attack from the devil, the world and the flesh.

So, God is saying in the red letters above that the tares come after the sower parable. If you look at Lk. 8:7, it is talking about the tares. So, in Matthew's version, Jesus talked more about being choked by weeds in the world. Believers that aren't born again. They believe in Jesus and are in church with you, but they fall away like the seed sown on bad ground. People of the world among the churches.

Luke 8:7, 14

Authorized (King James) Version

7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.

14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard,

Go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life,

And bring no fruit to perfection.

Matthew 13:24-30

Authorized (King James) Version

{Paraphrased}

24 Another parable {Jesus} put forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

The tares are false Christians. False prophets in church with God's people. Friends of the world who hate Christians because we're not one of them (Jn. 17:14). Worldly people who are into adultery and fighting over women and men in church (Jms. 4:1-10). This is the group of people I met in church. Adulteresses picking up on me and adulterers trying to kill me for the women. I'm the only one that came back to God from sex on drugs with women and jail. The rest were all killed by the coronavirus and AIDS.

Matthew 7:13-27

Authorized (King James) Version

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way,

which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing,

but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits.

Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit;

but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,

neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;

but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?

and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them,

I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25 and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house;

and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not,

shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27 and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house;

and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

What's the World's Problem?

They Need Love

And They're Fighting in Church

Over Whom to Marry

And Have Kids With

James 4:1-10

New Living Translation

Drawing Close to God

4 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you?

Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?

2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it.

You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it,

so you fight and wage war to take it away from them.

Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.

3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—

you want only what will give you pleasure.

4 You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?

I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.

5 Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is a jealous spirit within us and wants us to be passionate and faithful to him. He opposes our envy for one another; our idols.

6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say,

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8

Come close to God, and God will come close to you.

Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief.

Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy.

10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

Sounds good that people need to be loved by others and that this good motive is the reason for the fighting in church. People need love. This is why Jesus died for the world. People need love because they're created in God's image. But what they do to born again Christians; to the real flock of God, is hurt them for nothing to secure themselves. People need love but people that aren't born again fight over sex. This is the way people are that aren't born again with the divine nature of the Holy Spirit (Ti. 3:4-7/ 2 Pt. 1:2-4).

That's the way of the world. To fight and kill to get what you want. But real Christians have another source of getting things. God. We ask God and we receive from Him. Vv. 2, 3 say that the world doesn't have what they want because they don't ask God for it. If they do ask, they ask from an unborn again heart with fleshly and wrong motives. They don't get what they want from God or His people. So, as with me, in the end they lose and die.

I have the same problems with adulteress women in church as a lot of clergy, because we're good looking. The world wants the best for themselves. They fight over the cute guys in church. All of the good-looking leaders in church get hit on by women in the pews and their friends. We get the prettiest women, and jealous men fight over them even though the women don't want them. The men are jealous of me.

I like women. My call is to women, kids and animals. Not to the men. But women that are born again don't fight over men in church. They peacefully pray for them. The things you do when you fight in church is what God calls the "evil fruit", "thorns & thistles" and "iniquity" of the false Christian, in Mt. 7:16-23 above in red. To you Jesus says, "I don't know you" and that you are a ravening wolf in sheep's clothing. This means that you are in church with worldly motives to fight and kill for a spouse and He's warning you, both men and women, in vv. 26, 27 that you're headed for an eternal disaster after you die because you did not get born-again in church.