Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:5 NRSV.

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, “From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.” John 7:38.

You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but you will restore me to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth. You will restore me to even greater honor and comfort me once again. Then I will praise You with music on the harp, because You are faithful to Your promises, O my God. I will sing praises to You with a lyre, O Holy One of Israel. Psalm 71:20-22.

And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 119: Ascended into Heaven. Psalm 68:18: You have ascended on high, You have led captive Your captives; You have received gifts among men, even among the rebellious also, that the LORD God may dwell there. And, Luke 24:51: While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

This morning in our Friday Zoom retreat, we talked about love. That God IS love and because He is love every good blessing springs from and is in His love for us. “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.” John 15:9. And as He told me in prayer, He has loved us just as He has been loved by His Father, Our Father, who created us in His image and loves us. He loves us as the Father loves Him. Can we sit with that a moment? As one of our group pointed out in the discussion that followed, how can we not become an empty cup if we don’t go to God and receive His love and abide in His love so we can love others. Do you ever feel that? An emptiness? And this: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God – but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 1 John 4:7-13. “Ought to” becomes not a rule but an imperative for life itself that we would know what love is by loving God, and by loving God, something vital shifts within us and we begin to love one another. And all we need to do today is look around at the mess in every nation that comes from choosing not to love God and not to trust Him for the understanding we so desperately need. Jesus loved us when He walked with us then just as His Father loved Him. That’s why His impact was so revolutionary then and is so revolutionary now. He loves us still today and is ready to teach us how to love. And just as Jesus promised then, He promises today: “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” Living water isn’t stagnant and neither is God’s love flowing in us, nourishing us and healing us of every wounding, and teaching us by His Spirit what abundant life truly is.

***ENVYING NONBELIEVERS – Truly You are good to Your people, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Always at ease, they increase in riches. I thought, “All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.” But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task – until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I discerned their end. Like a dream when one awakens, O LORD, when You rouse Yourself. You despise them as phantoms. When my soul was embittered, I was brutish and ignorant. Nevertheless, I am continually with You; You hold my right hand. You guide me with Your counsel, and afterward You will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but You, God, are the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from You shall perish; You put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to You. But as for me, it is good to be near God; I have made the LORD God my refuge so that I may tell of Your works. Psalm 73:1-29. Adapted.***