Radical Acceptance 

Perfect Love Revealed

With Bishop Ronald K. Powell

Mark 12:30-31 New International Version (NIV) 

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” 

An Exercise in Self Love: 

Take your left hand and put it over your chest caressing your Right Should and take you Right hand and place it over your chest and caress your Lest shoulder and say I love myself and appreciate myself. 

Repeat in the reverse order… and tell your evil twin you love and appreciate Him or her. 

 Today I really want to encourage people with the good news of God’s unconditional love—and to see that reality change our thinking and our emotions. 

I hate rejection. How about you?  

Rejection is uncomfortable. Self-Rejection even more so! 

The side effects are unacceptable; loneliness, anger, fear, and depression. 

Many of us try to deal with side effects, without ever getting to the root cause. 

We can handle the side effects for a little while, but we will never break free and be 100% healthy until we deal with the root.  

The secret to overcoming the root of rejection is found in what I call radical acceptance.  

Radical acceptance means that, at your core, you are deeply convinced and assured that you are accepted and loved unconditionally by God.  

Good news! In Hebrews 13:5 (AMPC), God says,  

“I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!” 

That is RADICAL. When we let THIS kind of acceptance take root in our lives, you will see the side effects go away. 

Now here is the game-changer: Regardless of what others think and say, God does not need you to change for Him to accept you.  

God doesn’t love what is washed. He washes what He loves.  

He loves you and He will accept you… AS YOU ARE!  

When you get a hold of THIS understanding — that He loves you…  

THEN washes you AND makes you a king and a priest (Rev 1:5-6) — this radical acceptance will take root and overtake every negative side effect of rejection! 

I really want YOU to experience the revelation of God’s love.  

I can’t wait for you to feel God’s love in a tangible way. This will take you deeper into God’s love and acceptance, and will help you break free from rejection once and for all!  

I would like to begin with a Quote that is pretty much anonymous, although I have seen versions of it from Christian Philosophers. 

 THIS IS IT: 

• • • Our Thoughts Become Words. 

    • Our Words become Deeds. 

    • Our Deeds develop into Habits. 

    • Habits harden into Character. 

    • And Character gives Birth to Destiny. 

The Moral of the Story: 

Watch your thoughts with Care and let them spring forth from love and respect for all Beings. 

In Biblical terms: Proverbs 3:6 Amplified Bible (AMP) 

6 In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him,
And He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way]. 

So, this is an expression of kismet which really is saying that: Actions bring upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in the life to come. 

Biblical: 

Galatians 6:7-10 New English Translation (NET Bible) 

7 Do not be deceived. God will not be made a fool. For a person will reap what he sows, 8 because the person who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. 9 So we must not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the family of faith. 

We all have a Habit of repeating behaviors again and again. Simply put we are creatures of Habit. 

So when our Habits create our destiny, and when they are fear-based habits, these habits become a block to accessing all that we can be. 

Access to: Happiness, creativity, and a block to all God has intended us to become. 

SO, I WOULD SAY MY DEEPEST EXPRESSIONS OF DESPAIR COMES WHEN SOMEONE REMINDS ME OF A REPEATING PATTERN OF PUSHING AWAY PEOPLE OR GRASPING OUT OF INSECURITIES WHICH UNDERMINE MYSELF OR WHATEVER IT IS… THAT ALL MY LIFE HAS HINDERED LOVING RELATIONSHIPS FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER. 

That feeling of despair raises a question: “How can I ever change? It is so deeply grooved in my life. 

So, today’s reflection will really be on how we can awaken from these Habitual Chains of thinking, feeling, and acting. 

This stimulus reaction cycle that we get caught in that really can bind our lives. 

Answer: The freedom that comes from faith and not fear. “The freedom of responding and not reacting.” 

1 John 4:18 New International Version (NIV) 

18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 

1 John 4:12  

No one has seen God at any time; if we should love one another, God abides in us, and His love is having been perfected in us. New American Standard Bible No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 

 1 John 4:17  

Love is made perfect in us in order that we may have courage on the Judgment Day; and we will have it because our life in this world is the same as Christ’s.  

Holman Christian Standard Bible In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, for we are as He is in this world. 

Each of these scriptures teach us to wake up from fears rooted in rejection, freeing ourselves from actions that push people away. Free yourselves and wake up from these chain reactions. 

In closing 

Don’t believe everything you think… 

Give yourself space to come back into God’s presence. 

Please remember to love other as Christ loves you. 

Let’s Pray!