Jesus Loves Me: That's All that Matters

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

God's love for us is inconditional. In fact, God loved us enough to send His Son for us even while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8).

God did not wait for us to get our act together, but sent Jesus so that He could reconcile us to Himself:

"To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5:19)

Nothing can separate me from God's Love.

For the longest time, and even recently, I have realized still that I had placed conditions on God's love. If things were going well in my life, then I was assured that God was for me.

But if things were difficult, if I was going through trials, then I would waver. "Where is God in the midst of these hardships? Why am I going through all of this?"

God wants to break those doubts out of our lives. Also, He allows us to endure hardships to test and refine our faith (1 Peter 1:17).

God wants us to rest fully in Him, to labor, to make it a priority to enter His rest and receive from Him all things.

Consider what Joseph went through. God had given him two dreams, in which his brothers and even his parents would bow down to him. Yet he endured many trials before God finally accomplished all that He had dreamed, all that He had planned for Joseph.

So too God allows hardships to take place, so that we mature, we grow in grace, and receive more from Him:

"3And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." (Romans 5:3-5)

and

"But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." (James 1:4)

God's love is all that matters. Whatever you have thought or be thinking, whatever you have done or may done, nothing can separate you from the love of God:

"38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)

Whatever good or bad comes your way, know that God's love for you is there, is real, and is going nowhere!

"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13:5)

His love is unconditional, independent of your circumstances and certainties. Jesus loves you--that's all that matters!

Nothing Can Separate Me From God's Love, Not Even My Anger

"38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)

This development, this revelation has taken more time to seep in.

For years, for decades I was convinced that I had to be free of anger. I could not have bad or fearful or unpleasant feelings in me, so that God could flow freely through me. It was unbelievable, the amount of pressure, pain, tension which I had put myself through.

I really believed that my relationship with God depended on how I was feeling! This is the deepest perversion that comes out of Alcoholics Anonymous.

That awful program teaches people that they have to be free of anger. Nonsense! You can have those feelings, and it will not prevent you from knowing, feeling, and receiving God's love.

Granted, Paul does give this clear-cut counsel to the church:

"Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27Neither give place to the devil." (Ephesians 4:26-27)

It's not sin to get angry. In fact, there is something wrong with you if you do not get angry at evil, injustice, wrongdoing in the world.

"Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;" (1 Corinthians 13:6)

and

"Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good." (Romans 12:9)

You can't really love people if you are celebrating or accommodating evil. 

At any rate, this is such a new, profound reality for me.

For the longest time, I was constantly taking responsibility for my thoughts and feelings, as though I  had to stop them, suppress them, repress them, put them out of business, so to speak, so that they would not do me any wrong.

This is absolutely crazy, the mind games which I was dragged through.

But God is Love, that is who He is, and who He is not going to change, regardless of what I am thinking or feeling.

Nothing can separate me from the love of God. Not even myself, and certainly not what I am feeling, what I am thinking. Amen to this wonderful discovery. Thank you, Jesus!

No Longer Paying Attention to the Worries and What Ifs

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

For the longest time, I would pay attention to the worries, they weirdness, and the "what ifs?" of life.

There were constant premonitions in my flesh, and dreaded outcomes would flood into my imagination.

I kept thinking that I had to respond to every "what if?" and "what about?".

This was a big challenge for me when I was facing unjust persecution in courtrooms.

At first, I could not understand why God had allowed me to be found guilty, when all I had done was sit in a city council meeting.

Then it really occured to me how important it was for me to understand the gift of righteousness, that it is a gift, and that it does not matter what happens to me in this world. Evil people are going to do evil things, but they do not have the power to slow me down.

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

There is going to be rough-riding and rough-housing in the world. This world is a fallen place filled with fallen people.

But I am risen with Christ Jesus (Colossians 3:1), and we are above every circumstance and setback in this life.

It's OK if I don't understand what is going on all the time. It's OK if I get worried or upset. It's OK if I start asking "what if" and "what about".

However, it's not my job, it's not my problem to answer those questions.

God is Love. That is established. And just as I receive His gift of righteousness apart from works, so too He loves me apart from works, efforts, thoughts, or feelings on my part.

Righteousness Has Nothing to Do With Us

"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:17)

Righteousness is a gift. We receive it as such. A gift has nothing to do with us, and everything to do with the giver.

The bigger question emerges: Are you willing to receive it, or are you insisting on achieving it in some fashion?

Ever since Pastor Prince expounded on Romans 5:17, I was invested in receiving and receiving this gift.

Yet I had no idea that in my own mind, to an extent, I was still trying to earn it. If there were bad circumstances, if there were mean people who shamed or harmed me, if there were bad feelings, or environmental upsets, I would still question my righteousness.

In this was a problem for me because I was still attaching myself and my circumstances to my status of righteousness.

This is a bad habit which God wants to break us free of.

I had to get to the point where I was found guilty without cause in a courtroom, and I was forced into sentencing, then faced unjust outcomes. In the midst of all these circumstances, I learned to understand that no matter what's happening around me I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ. It has absolutely nothing to do with me myself my circumstances my status my sentiments absolutely nothing.

"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:" (1 Peter 1:7).

Faith in what, though? Our righteous standing in Christ!

This faced some trials, but by the grace of God I have come out stronger, and more entrenched in the truth of who I am in Christ Jesus!

"In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee." (Isaiah 54:14)

None of the weapons of the past have prospered against me.

It's all about understanding the gift of righteousness, and to realize that whether I have done something wrong, or even if I have done something right, my righteous standing in Christ before God has nothing to do with me.

God is Enforcing Righteous Boundaries in a Lawless World

"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way." (2 Thessalonians 2:7)

The COVID-19, or the Coronavirus, is spreading around the world.

Nations are closing up their borders. Leaders are enacted strict orders forcing the closure or limitation of public gatherings. Even the most liberal, progressive, "accepting" of leaders is not allowing large gatherings are potentional for the spread of infection.

Why is this happening? Why is the viral spread racing around the world?

What's happening is that God has stepped in and is now in forcing boundaries that people have not submitted to.

The politicians, the leaders in mnay countries have insisted on rebelling against the laws of nature and nature's God. Men and women who have rejected God's loving boundaries are now forced to comply with boundaries of some kind because the consequences of death are final and unremitting.

Progressives have wanted open borders. Those open borders come with too, too heavy a price. Even regressive, left-wing mayors, governors, and national leaders cannot allow for open borders anymore.

Whether the Left likes it or not, they cannot ignore the laws of nature. They cannot ignore natural law. They cannot defy God's principles, and expect to remain princes, in the broadest sense.

God is enforcing boundaries on a lawless world.

The entertainment and sports industries, too, have been promoting rampant, godless defiance. Now they are paying a price. Their performances are getting shut down. The sports competitions are in freefall. They will be forced to compete in empty stadiums before empty seats.

The movie industry was already in freefall, and now it's falling even further. This is big!

Schools will be forced to close for the next two weeks in a number of states, including California. What will the families do with their children, though? They have to provide daycare for a number of them, don't they? In California, independent contracting work has been banned. That means independent caretakers can't operate anymore! I wonder how those parents, those voters will feel come November! This is going to be interesting.

On a broader note, indeed God is starting to enforce his judgment, His moral righteous outlook in this fallen world.

Evil men in Hollywood are starting to pay a price. Harvey Weinstein is going to prison for a long, long time. How many women has he fondled, abused, raped outright? How about creepy porn lawyer Michael Avenatti? For three months straight, Avenatti was promoted as the candidate to take on, and take down President Donald Trump. Now, he's been taken down to a rotting, federal prison with four-legged rats.

Oh, how the mighty, the arrogant have fallen! Indeed!

Bad people are not getting away with the bad things they have done.

Bad leaders are not getting away with their evil deeds, either. The President of China, Xi Jinping, has been widely criticized for his disgusting failure to handle the Coronavirus pandemic. The peasant populations in China are not following for his flimsy propaganda, either.

Men and women around the world have invested so much in their work, in their money, in their personal legacies. Now, they need to pay more attention to receiving the grace of God. They need to put God's Word, God's Love, God's Grace first and foremost.

That is a core, essential boundary.

Nation states are God's will. God purposed nations to exist. The open borders powers that be in the world are militantly anti-God, militantly anti-Christ. This Coronavirus catastrophe is forcing countries to abide by God's natural law once again.

Rest, Don't Try To Do Anything About How You Feel

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." (Philippians 4:6)

I have been growing more and more in my Christian walk, and I have learned so much about what "walk" means in God's Word.

I will expound on the deeper revelation of "walk" presently.

For now, I want to talk about this incredible revelation which has come upon me.

For the longest time, I would have bad feelings, bad thoughts, and I was constantly tied up in them, convinced that I had to do something about these bad thoughts, these bad feelings.

I started having these bad feelings all over again about a bad incident in my life. It was a painful moment, and the feelings would just overwhelm me. Every time these resentful sentiments would overcome me, I would be asking God: "What do you need me to do. What am I not doing?"

It was then, this very evening, that it occured to me completely:

"You don't do anything. Since when do you have to react to a feeling or a sentiment?"

I cannot believe that this had been happening to me all this time. I kept thinking that every time some fire would erupt in my mind, I had to do something about it. For years, I believed that those bad feelings and bad thoughts would somehow stop God's flow, God's Spirit from flowing in my life.

That's not true at all! Grace flows and flows not because I do anything or deserve anything, but God's grace flows because of what His Son Jesus did at the Cross, and what He is doing even now!

God has been flowing, at work in and around me. The only thing that the devil has had on me is to tell me that I still need to "do" or "maintain" something so that He will be able to flow in and through me.

Not so! He is my life, and His life does not depend on me, but on Himself, for He is our Life (John 14:6; Colossians 3:4)

Does Paul not write:

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16)

When to Extend Grace, and When to Mete Out Justice

"God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." James 4:6)

Unlike most people in the church circles that I mingle in, I have no problem watching Pastor Joel Olsteen. Earlier this week, he shared a sermon about going the extra distance for people who have wronged us, who have harmed us.

He also talked about extending grace to those who don't deserve it.

While listening to this sermon, I admitted to God out loud: "I don't want to let people off easy. There are people who have harmed me, and I simply do not want to let bad people get away with bad things which they have done to me."

I later recognized that this is an attitude which needs to change. This state of mind is something that He will change in me, however. It's not my job to change myself:

"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:18)

At any rate, I have been learning for the last two months that God loves it when I am honest with Him about my feelings, about my reservations, about my rank unwillingness to do certain things. He loves that we come to Him with our limitations!

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)

I then asked God to give me some guidance about this, because there are times when I had forgiven someone openly, only to witness those individuals engage in more shameful behavior towards me and others. I have often recognized that the most important aspect in our walk with others people is that God's peace must rule in our hearts as a judge, or as an umpire (Colossians 3:15). God does not want us leaning on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6), but walk in His Spirit (Galatians 5:16).

I was so pleased, so grateful to the Lord! He answered my prayer by drawing out to me to different scenarios from my former teaching career.

In 2010, I was a substitute teacher in the Centinela Valley Union High School District. It was one of the most difficult, most unpleasant experiences (at least when I was a long-term sub in Hawthorne and Lawndale high schools).

The Hawthorne High School students were pretty bad to me, except for 0 period and 2 period. In Fourth period, one kid was generally not that bad, Ricardo Galvez. But for the most part, the students loved tormenting me.

Then there was Lawndale High School. One student, Ivan Ordonez, was the worst. He loved torturing me, I guess. The school pretty much let students get away with anything, in large part because the deans were too cowardly to hold students accountable, and they would not allow administrators to drop the hammer on misbehaving students. The last day of my assignment at Lawndale High School, I remember how cool I was in the midst of everything in the classroom, and I sent out Ivan a third time without any regret.

Fastforward about ten months, and in came the next school year.

To Extend Grace

First, I was assigned to Lloyd High School, the continuation school for students who have received consistently failing marks. There, I saw Ivan Ordonez on my student roster for the day. I cannot tell you the panic that welled up within me. I was so distraught, I asked the secretary to cancel my assignment for the day. The secretary knew that I was often a capable substitute teacher, so he asked me what was going on. I told her about the abuse that I had endured from that one student, and she acquiesced to keep him out of the classroom for that period.

When I returned to my assigned classroom for the day, another student saw me and began provoking me: "You know that Ivan is here! Are you scared?!" He had this creepy grin on his face and everything. I didn't know what to think.

Then, then I saw Ivan come into the classroom next door. I don't know how else to explain it, but it's like the Spirit of God just caught me up, and I walked over to Ivan, asked him to step outside. He stood against the wall with his head held down. I then simply extended my right hand to shake his, and I said: "Ivan, I forgive you." He shook my hand, then returned peacefully to his seat.

What happened the next day was beyond amazing.

I was assigned to a larger class, and Ivan was going to be there. I never forgot that day. Calmly, he just walked up to me. Didn't flinch, didn't say a word. He had a calm smile on his face, and he shook my hand.

I just shivered with great joy that day. The last thing I remember asking him was "How's your Mom doing?"

This first example shows how extending graec is the right and righteous response. Ivan was deeply humbled, even pained by what he had done to me. I did not lay into him, nor did I harm him in any way. I did not seek to exact revenge of any kind.

Now, let's turn back to Hawthorne High School

To Mete Out Justice

I was a long-term substitute teacher at Hawthorne High School first. The original teacher who was selected for the assignment I covered had bailed on the school district. The school administrators interviewed seven candidates. I didn't make the cut, as I ended up somewhere in the middle. Let's face it--that high school was never going to select me. I could not control that class. Those students didn't listen to me, didn't respect me, and it was a waste of time to hope for any kind of development of respect to ensue. The students knew that I was not going to be in the classroom for the long haul, anyway.

Fast forward to September 2011, when I was covering classes on a day-to-day basis at Hawthorne High School. I was much more relaxed, much less tense. I was listening to Pastor Joseph Prince's sermons every day. My aspect had really changed, as I had learned in greater measure to Live the Let Go Life, because Jesus is My Life.

I was assigned to an art class, which was fun. I love to draw, and to get paid to watch a class and draw was a lot of fun, too. In one of those classes, Ricardo Galvez showed up. At first, I recognized him faintly, just by looking at him. Then he told me who he was, and that he was in the history class that I had covered.

Right then, he began mocking me. "Poor Mr. Schaper! We got you fired. We made you so mad."

He then briefly talked about how frustrated I was trying to get the class to get anything done.

Then all of a sudden, something just leapt up within me, and I roared at him:

"How dare you talk to me like?! I did not deserve to be treated with such direspect! You screwed yourselves! I wanted to teach, and you hurt yourselves!"

It was amazing! As soon as I shouted at him, Ricardo was taken aback, almost as though I had hit him. He was certainly blunted. Then he retreated to his seat, where he trembled while shrinking behind his desk. He then briefly smiled, trying to stifle his shame.

It was amazing! I couldn't figure out where that outrage came from, but it welled up within me and knocked the arrogance out of Galvez. From that day on, he never spoke to me again. He wouldn't even look at me when I was walking by him.

There, I meted out justice. There, the Spirit of God just moved within me and refused to let Galvez get away with dishonoring me.

When to do one, and when to do another

We extend grace to those who know that they are sorry, who are not proud, nor puffed up.

"God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." (James 4:6)

Let us give grace to the humble. Ivan was humble. He did not make anything of himself. He received what I offered. Galvez. however, was arrogant, puffed up. He was making something of himself while shaming and mocking me. He got exactly what he deserved.

I neglected to mention that I (rightly) humiliated Galvez in front of all the other students in the class. He richly deserved that comeuppance. Shortly after I had reamed him out, he quietly admitted: "That felt good, didn't it?"

Yes! It did. Meting out justice to the arrogant is very gratifying.

Just as granting grace to the humble is very gratifying.