Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Today I want to talk with you about being perfect. Many people often excuse bad behavior by themselves or others by saying “Nobody’s perfect.”
But do you recall that My Son told you to “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect?”
You know that if My Word tells you to do something you can do it. I do not demand the impossible of you. I do the impossible for you and in you. You do not work it up in your flesh. You receive and participate, that is, partner with Me, but you can do nothing without Me. But I have set up your authority on earth so that I cannot really act in the earth without you. Together as one, we can do all things. I have the power and I have given you the authority to release it on earth. I strengthen you with My life in you which is called “grace.”
For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Romans 5:17.
So when I tell you to do something, I also give you the grace to do it. My commands are actually empowerments, enabling you to will and to do what I command. When I said “light be”, light was.
So when you read My Word “Be perfect,” you should shout for joy because you know that I have given you the power to be so. My yoke is easy and My burden light.
That Word received, submitted to and acted upon will produce. I have given you the power in that Word received to be perfect just as I am perfect.
In order to do this you need to know what perfect means. You need to look further in Scripture to find out. If I tell you to do or be something in My Word, I always then define it for you and let you know how to achieve it. And it is always something I do as well.
As for God, His way is perfect: The LORD’s Word is flawless; He shields all who take refuge in Him. Psalm 18:30.
In the Book of James I define the perfect man for you. I tell you that the perfect man is one who controls his tongue. James 3:2. A perfect man is one who controls what he says. He does not say idle, vain, negative, or harmful words. And I tell you that the one who does this controls his entire body. And your body is what does all the actions you do. It is also a question of whether you prosper and be in good health as well. This affects your entire being, spirit, soul, and body.
So if you control your tongue, you control all your actions and emotions and your total well-being.
Being perfect also involves being holy. But I have empowered you with My own holiness as well, which is all part of being perfect.
Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13-16.
And furthermore, I am love, I am light, and it is impossible for Me to lie. And I tell to imitate Me as My dear children and walk in love. Jesus told you to you to love one another as He loved you and to love Me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
All these things come down to monitoring your thoughts, words, and action with the help of My grace. That would be the perfect man.
The tongue is like a rudder of a ship or the bit in the mouth of a horse, it directs the direction, the course, of your entire body and so of your life. For the way you go is where you will end up. It will take you to a safe harbor or to shipwreck on the rocks.
So what you say determines where you end up, it determines your destiny.
Being perfect comes down to controlling what you say. And I tell you to be perfect. And yet My Word also tells you that no man can tame his tongue. James 3:8. Is this a contradiction in My Word? No, not at all. Let Me explain.
No man from his own flesh, his own efforts without Me, can control his tongue. You can do nothing without Me. John 15:5. The flesh is useless, it is the spirit that gives life. And My Words are spirit and life. John 6:63.
My Spirit will give you the power to control your tongue. If you remember on the day Pentecost was fulfilled, the Holy Spirit descended as tongues of fire that rested on each believer and entered their hearts which then gave holy utterance to their mouths in their heavenly prayer languages of tongues.
Remember that a fruit of the Spirit is self-control. Galatians 5:22-23. It is yours, but to have it you must walk in the spirit and not in the flesh. Galatians 5:16.
I do not tell you to do things and not give you the power to do them. But it is up to you to utilize that power. And you do it by walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh. If you sow in the flesh you reap corruption and death, but if you sow in the spirit you reap life and peace. Galatians 6:8; Romans 8:6.
Walking in the spirit is living by faith in My Word and not only by what you experience, see, and hear with your five senses. Walking in the flesh means limiting what you believe to what you see with your five senses and feel with your emotions.
Faith sees a higher reality beyond the circumstances. Faith in My Word sees what I say as able to change the circumstances and bring a desired result. Flesh limits you to what the circumstances are at the moment. Flesh remarks, faith remakes.
For example, My Word tells you that by the stripes of Jesus you are and were healed. Circumstances may tell you that you are ill. Both are true at that moment, but faith knows that you can change the circumstances to match the reality of My Word by speaking and believing the desired result. The law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus trumps the law of sin and death. Romans 8:2. Just as the law of lift and thrust trumps the law of gravity. Both are real but one can cancel the effects of the other.
Walk by faith and not by sight and then you can turn the darkness into light, sickness into health, ashes to beauty, poverty to prosperity, weakness to strength, and failure to success.
If you walk in the Spirit all things are possible. All things are possible to those who believe.
But you must find a Word in the Bible from Me that tells you that you have something before you can believe for it and speak it into being.
Controlling what you say is a matter of what is in your heart. Your mouth speaks from your heart’s abundance. If My Spirit fills your heart and you have chosen, that is, set your mind, to think and speak only in a way that lines up with My Word then you will be able to control your tongue. Jesus did. He only spoke My Words, He never spoke anything that was not from Me. And any believer can do the works He did and greater because whatever you ask in His Name He will do in you, with you and for you by His infinite merits. John 14:12. So you can control your tongue, but only by walking in the Sprit and not walking in the flesh. The flesh is useless it is the Spirit that gives life. And My Words are spirit and life. So it all comes back to guarding and keeping My Word.
You cannot control your tongue without controlling your thoughts, and you do that, as we have discussed in the prior Life Lessons, by renewing your mind in My Word so that you develop a Word mindset. If you meditate on My Word day and night (read Psalm 1, Proverbs 4:20-27, and Joshua 1:7-8) your mind will begin to think as I do. And then you can be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. I control My Words. I use them as tools. You should do the same. You are in My image and likeness, you know. And once you have taken Jesus as your Lord and received the gift of the Holy Spirit it will not be difficult if you develop a habit of daily reading and meditating upon and declaring My Word.
And I will share a secret with you. The more you meditate on My Word, the more joy will fill your life. For My Words are life to those who find them and health to their whole bodies. Proverbs 4:22. And they are sweeter than honey and they shed light. The more you look into the light, the more light you will see and become.
Give it a try. You will love it. I can open a whole new world to you for I have already translated you there in Christ.
And once you control your tongue you can control your whole body. It will obey you. Think of the great possibilities! Healing, right actions, freedom from addictions, and a life of peace and joy!
Of your own you can do nothing (from the flesh) but with Me you can do all things. My grace is sufficient for you. In fact if you receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness it superabounds for you. And you will reign in life through Christ Jesus.
I love you. With enough grace you can do anything. So come boldly to receive at My throne of grace. Jesus has opened the way and He is the way. So come bringing His infinite merits as if they were your own and receive favor and grace just when you need it. He is your burnt offering, your grain offering, your peace offering, your sin offering and your guilt offering. There is no fault in Him. He is perfect. And He has made perfect by His one offering of Himself all those who are being sanctified unto that perfect day!
For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Hebrews 10:14.