Remembering to Love

Our church is doing 40 Days of Love. I stumbled upon this today and thought it went right along with what we are studying. It was weird because I had to double check to see if I wrote this because it was if I was reading what somebody else wrote as it spoke to me. I guess you could say God turned my own words on me! LOL.

RhemaJoy Ministries

For some time, God has been speaking to me on the topic of love and abiding in Christ. The two of them go hand in hand. We cannot truly love apart from God (and I  know this by experience without a doubt).  We cannot fear if we have love because perfect love casts out fear.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love (1 John 4:18).

Have you ever noticed that at the root of all our bad behavior is fear? We fear being hurt. We fear failure. We fear insecurity. We fear not being loved. We fear pain. We fear suffering. We want to protect ourselves against these things because we fear them.  There is one thing that overcomes all of this fear. That thing is perfect love.

I know when…

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The Narrow Path

 

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. – Matthew 7:13-14

Sometimes we believe that something is God’s will when really it’s just what we want to believe. We will not listen to those who speak Truth because we want to hear what we want to hear. We believe lies spoken by those who claim they hear from God when God’s Word is clear and those who we think are prophets are truly false teachers who tell us what we want to hear so we can please what our flesh desires and claim it’s God’s will when in reality it is our own. These liars dress up their claims with scripture to give themselves credibility when in reality it is not what the scripture is saying at all.  

A pretty reliable Truth to fall back when trying to discern between God’s will from what you want God’s will to be is this…

The easy path is rarely the right one.  It usually gets us lost, leads to destruction and takes us further from our destination.  Doing God’s will usually require great sacrifice but brings about such peace despite the circumstances. We must speak Truth even when it hurts…even when it causes division.

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. – Hebrews 4:12-13

The old saying, “Sometimes the truth hurts” is accurate. But it is also the stinging antiseptic that brings about healing.

New Year Blues

I had it all planned, how I was going to spend the first week in January celebrating Epiphany by taking time to focus on the Jesus whose birth I never get to celebrate through stillness and rest prior to or on December 25th because of all the chaos surrounding traditions of Christmas.  I can’t ever focus truly on the miracle of His coming and the fulfillment of the prophecy.  So, on Monday through Wednesday, of this week, I was planning on having my personal CHRISTmas in the quiet of my home.  However, plans get interrupted and that will not be happening this week.

I’m struggling with this and wondering if I have made the right decision.  I just want to please God in these things. I don’t have a peace that I have done that. I feel like I have put him on the back burner again.

It is my goal this year to learn to rest in His presence more and to spend less time on “ministry” work.  When we spend time with Him, we will get all things accomplished that He sets us out for us to do.  When we get so busy doing things “for” Him, we just wear ourselves out doing works and we actually miss Him altogether in the process.  If what we do in service to God is burning us out, then we are no longer serving according to His will or by His strength.

The most important thing God wants for us to do is abide in Him.  He wants us to experience peace in the midst of the chaos of life. We will not find that peace by staying busy – even if the busy is in ministry.  Our peace, guidance, and strength come from rest in Him.  So even though I’m not off to a good start, that is my goal this year – to learn to say no to others more, so I can say Yes Lord, more.  I want to learn to find my peace and rest in Him.  I really need it.

At this time I am exhausted from the Christmas traditions I put myself through each year, often leaving little time for Christ.  Oh the irony.  But, instead of spending the last few days of Epiphany focusing on His light, I have committed to something that will keep me very busy during these final days of Christmas.  Having compromised my long awaited time to rest and focus on God these last days of Christmas has left me with the blues.

 

Boldness

Sometimes I am told that I can be bold. This is funny to me. The reason is because I have been everything but bold all my life. There was a time when I was timid and sweet. Yeah…really! I know that’s hard to believe. But, my timidity was ungodly and allowed abusers to take advantage of me. It did not glorify God (Rom 8:15).  God does not call us to be timid (2 Tim 1:7). He calls us to boldness that is accompanied by the fullness of His grace abounding in love. He calls us to fight for His justice. He calls us to defend the weak and help the poor. He calls us to be mighty warriors. He calls us to be shepherds.  Jesus did not consider himself above sinners, but a servant to all.  He dined with them, loved on them, defended them with boldness – and changed many hearts as a result. He calls us to be accountable (which is never easy). He calls us to transparency (being real, not disclosing every private detail of our lives). As I am reading over this, I am beside myself at how He has changed me through the reading and meditating on His Word. We are not called to be popular, liked or to have an easy “happy all the time, feel good life” full of carnal riches and personal glory. He has told us that we will have trouble in this life…but our hope is that He is with us through it all. Jesus  was not a handsome man, nor a man well liked by his community. He was rejected by his own people and his own religion to the point of being put to death by those very people…for their sake.

So, who am I to think I deserve better?  I will continue to be bold. I will continue to be transparent. I accept that at times this will be frowned upon (even and especially by other believers who don’t understand). Rejection is something my God accepted for me and He did not deserve it. So, how can I be unwilling to accept the rejection that may come when I am bold and transparent in His Name?

The Holy Spirit in me compels me to be a voice for the voiceless. He compels me to stand for justice. He compels me to defend and stand with those who are hurting and unable to stand for themselves. He compels me to befriend the rejected, lowly and poor in spirit. He compels me to be real (honest) regardless of consequences. I have seen many “friends” come and go because of this. Yet, I have gained a richness that I could never have known if I hadn’t taken the loss. As a result I can count the loss as gain when I compare it to the richness of the glory I have found in Jesus Christ. I count it all joy for the cause of Christ. This warrior will choose to march on. I will continue to trust in Him to make me bold, strong and courageous as I fight this battle in His army. He is my Commander in Chief and I will never lose a battle as long as He goes before me. My biggest failures in life have been when I have chosen to go into battle without Him. He never lets me go too far before drawing me back in line.  May my life be one that will cause others to recognize that I have been with Jesus.

To God be the glory. Great things He has done!

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

Acts 4: 13

On Suffering

Colossians 3:23 Homemaking

In light of all that is going on in the Middle East with ISIS persecuting Christians and subjecting them martyrdom, I have admittedly been struggling to cope with the fate these people are facing. Most Christians, including myself, have a hope that God will protect them fromharm, and that Hisangels wage constant war against the evil around us. So how, exactly, can God allow such tragic fate to come to the samepeople who call on His name? I’ve belonged to Jesus for many years and still struggle with this aspect of faith. A few days ago, in attempt to answer this question for myself, Iopened the Bibleand refereed to my concordance under the wordsuffering. After reviewing Paul’s sufferings (I never did getto read all of them), something very serious prompted me to write about my findings.What occurred to me is that I am guilty of sharing a slightly…

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Remembering to Love

For some time, God has been speaking to me on the topic of love and abiding in Christ. The two of them go hand in hand. We cannot truly love apart from God (and I  know this by experience without a doubt).  We cannot fear if we have love because perfect love casts out fear.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love (1 John 4:18).

Have you ever noticed that at the root of all our bad behavior is fear? We fear being hurt. We fear failure. We fear insecurity. We fear not being loved. We fear pain. We fear suffering. We want to protect ourselves against these things because we fear them.  There is one thing that overcomes all of this fear. That thing is perfect love.

I know when I am “forgetting” to love when fear of past hurts happening again keeps me on guard and prevents me from being able to love those who persecute me. I don’t fear just for me.  I also fear for others experiencing the hurt I did.  Instead of fearing for others, I should be allowing them to experience the things God allows to make them stronger.  I should be trusting God instead of trying to defend others who I am not called to defend.

Fear also prevents us from forgiving past hurts. It is human instinct to react when we should respond. Often, when I am persecuted, I begin to persecute back and I forget to love.  I forget that I am also quite capable of being a persecutor at times. I have to think, “Do I want to be given the same courtesy I have shown to those who have caused suffering to me?”  It makes me think of the three fingers pointing back at me when I point one finger toward somebody else.  I do this more than I care to admit. It reminds me of  Matthew 7:3, “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye?” It’s easy to use that scripture when referring to somebody else but it was originally intended as a wake up  call to encourage us to examine our own hearts when we are forgetting to love. I am so thankful that God’s love and mercy are perfect and not like mine. I am thankful that God never forgets to love.

Love is the umbrella that protects us and God’s umbrella is big enough to cover all areas of our lives.

Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs (Proverbs 10:12).

I know I have stirred up some conflict in my life.  Praise God for His Great Perfect Love! I love how the Aramaic in Plain English Bible uses the word, “severe” and the Holman Christian Standard Bible uses the word “intense” in 1 Peter 4:8.

And before everything, have a severe love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.

Above all, maintain an intense love for each other, since love covers a multitude of sins.

God’s love for us is intense.  It is severe.  It is beyond anything we can understand or describe in our finite, sinful, human state.  As long as we live in sinful earthbound bodies we cannot comprehend this kind of love. But, we can experience it! We can experience it when we turn our hearts to Jesus and abide in Christ!  We can experience God’s passionate, intense love through the power of the Holy Spirit living in us. When His Spirit has full authority, we are able to experience this love and it flows out of us as if it were the most natural thing.

When we are unable to love or “forget” to love, then we have turned our eyes away from the Giver of that love. We cut off the natural flow and the pressure builds. We must realize that His love isn’t something we choose to give. It’s something we choose to receive.  Once we receive it then it flows naturally through us. It fills us to the point of spilling over onto every life we come in contact with!  When we are yielding to the Holy Spirit, we are merely a channel of God’s love flowing through us. We could not truly love at all if it were up to us. Love is never something we can take complete credit for.

When we forget to love, usually this means we have fixed our eyes upon ourselves. We turn to self-defense instead of trusting God to make things right. We cut off the channel both to us as well as others. It’s like closing the dam and depriving the flow.

I write this because I am guilty of this more often than I want to admit to myself or anyone else. I stand convicted but not ashamed because I am forgiven and I only have to repent and fix my eyes upon my Savior once again to re-open the flood gates! I want to be a channel of God’s severe, intense love!

While I do believe in accountability and confronting things that hurt God’s church and hinder the Great Commission, I must make sure I do it with the right heart, one that is focused on Him and His glory, not me. I must remember that at times, I am guilty of the very thing I point out in others.  There have been many occasions when I have done things that hinder the spread of the Gospel. The only thing that can fix it is God’s grace through my repentance (turning around completely from the wrong way, to the right).

When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus replied:

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22: 37-40 NKJV).

We love only because He loved us first. This is why we must always keep our hearts focused on Him and open to receive His love. This is our first step in loving Him and loving others.  Once we love Him through accepting His gift of love (Jesus Christ) and continuously abide in that Love (John 15:5), then and only then can we bear the fruit (singular fruit with many parts) of the Holy Spirit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things (Galatians 5:22-23 ISV).

We cannot even love God unless we allow His love to flow into us and back to Him through us.  We do this by saying, “yes” to His invitation. That invitation came when God loved through the sacrifice of His one and only Son.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19 HCSB)

…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

We have to remember, although we are spared eternity separated from God (in Hell) through His great love for us, we are still a work in progress until we reach perfection in glory (die and go to Heaven).  We will still make mistakes and will will constantly battle the flesh we now live in, a body born of this world and bent on having its way.  This is why, at times, even though we are in Christ, we take our eyes off of Him and put them on this world.  This is how we “forget” to love.

We hear it said in fairy tales that “true love conquers all”.  The good news is – this is not a fairy tale. True love really does conquer all.  To be more accurate, true love conquered all.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8).

Love does not always feel good. In fact, God Himself set the example that love is about death.  It is a willingness to die to personal gain for the benefit of another.  It means sacrificing yourself for those who you don’t think deserve it.  Love is self-sacrificing. This is the clear message of the cross. Without love, we have nothing.

 But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.  For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.  For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor. 13: 8-13).

Good Friday

Last night, for the first time, ever, I prepared a Passover meal to observe Passover and The Lord’s Supper on the night that would have been the night of Jesus’ betrayal.  I wanted to do what He did on that night.  That’s what this season is about.  It’s about everything that gives us hope. It’s the season that made the way for me to call myself, Christian.

On this day a little over 2,ooo years ago, my Savior, after being tortured for hours and hanging on a cross for 6 hours, just a few moments ago, I watched Him take His last breath…..

As I watched the earth quake and the veil tearing, fully exposing “The Holy of Holies”.  As I witnessed the Pharisees and Priests grieving over the destruction, I wondered what was going through their minds.  Did they notice that God’s presence had left the temple?  Did they wonder where it went or how they would ever find it again?  Did they even question for a moment that perhaps they were wrong?  We can never know for sure.  But, we can know one thing, God’s presence was not gone, it just moved.

Soon after the resurrection, the Temple of God became people and the Holy of Holies resides in each of us as believers.  May we all regard His temple as holy and sacred and treat is as such.  God’s Holy Spirit dwells in me, reconciling me to God and giving me hope of an eternity separated from sin instead of an eternity in death, forever separated from God.

The only way this is possible is because Jesus took all my sin upon Himself when He became the sacrificial lamb. The lamb that knew no sin became sin in order that the human race could be reconciled to God. When God looks at Christians, He does not see sin.  He sees Christ.

It saddens my heart so deeply that so many people reject this because they think this world has something better to offer.  It grieves me even more deeply when Christians bow to the pressures from culture in order to be accepted by men.  We cannot be accepted by a godless culture and accepted by God at the same time.  We sell out one to be accepted by the other.

I found out recently that the word, “excruciating” originates from the description of the suffering resulting from crucifixion because there was not word that could describe its horror.  I am so thankful, that Jesus, despite how we tortured Him, forgave all mankind, past, present, and future who will accept His gift of reconciliation through the Holy Spirit.  We only have to say, “Yes, Lord, I am a sinner, I know You died for me.  I am so sorry for everything I have done.  Please forgive me and be Lord of my heart and life. ”  When we sincerely accept His gift, we are changed forever.  He suffered so we wouldn’t have to.  There was no hope otherwise for any of us to ever see the Kingdom of God.  He is our only hope.  There is NO OTHER WAY to God but through Jesus Christ.

Tonight, I will watch The Passion of the Christ, take the Lord’s Supper when Jesus does, and stop the movie before the tomb opens because that…my friends…is SUNDAY MORNING!

Lenten 2014 Journey – Day 10

I recently came across this in my drafts folder. I have no idea why it never made it to the blog but it needs to.  It triggered such a beautiful memory and a moment that changed my life and who I am forever.  I don’t think this young mom will ever know how much I grew in my faith walk because of her…….

The Post:

The last several days have been trying to say the least (not to mention the intense frustration with a computer gone haywire).  Often times, in our humanity, we tend to focus on the fasting of Lent.  We place our focus on the very thing we are giving up .  This defeats the point.  The idea is to give up personal desire and replacing that desire with a desire for a deeper walk with Christ.  When I started this season of Lent, I really wasn’t sure what it was that God was asking me to surrender to Him during this season of fasting and focusing.  However, He made it blatantly clear at the retreat what He expected from me.

In order for me to see what needed to go, I had to be humbled by a young mother who spoke Jesus’ words to me – just the way I would imagine He would have spoken had he been the one sitting beside me on that porch swing.  It is kindness that leads to repentance.  As she spoke to me in regards to some mistakes I had made in the way I went about finding a solution to a problem, I felt as if a sword had pierced my heart.  Her intent wasn’t to bring me to a place of conviction.  Her intent wasn’t to point out that I needed to repent for any sin.  It was just in the bold but gentle discussion we had, I realized that pride had caused me to fall.  I had jumped ahead of God, without Him, all the while thinking I was doing the right thing with the right heart attitude.

It was after this conversation that the Lord caused me to search my heart as He revealed my true intentions and I realized they were not all as pure as I had convinced myself that they were.  I was ashamed that it took the wisdom of such a young, Christian mother to show me how much I need to grow.  I should be the role model for the young women, yet, so many young women are setting a much better example for me to follow.  This really knocked the “spiritual wind” right out of me.

As the women retreated downstairs for a movie, I found myself locked in the bathroom, kneeling at the edge of the bathtub, helpless and broken.  I wept so hard, and so long.  I felt so worthless and hopeless to ever grow and be where I should be in my walk with God.  I repented.  I repented and repented and repented with all my heart and everything I had in me.  I felt sick and I just wanted to go home but God would not let me.

After about 30 minutes or so, I realized that this sweet lady, who had been checking up on me all weekend to make sure I was ok, would very likely miss me and I needed to dry it up.  I knew she would be by soon.  So, I did my best to gather myself together and dry it up.  I applied some Visine  in hopes to get my swollen bloody red eyes to calm down and not reveal the level of heartbreak that was going on inside.  I needed to deal with this with God, nobody else so I didn’t want to let on how emotional I had been.

Just moments later, before the Visine even had time to dry in my eyes, sure enough, there came a knock at the door and there she was just as I had expected.  “Are you okay?” she asked.

As  I promptly swung the door open, I belted out, with tears streaming, “Will you please stop checking on me!  I am fine!!!!”

She reached out and hugged me and it was exactly what I needed.  It was so wonderful that my eyes are filling up with tears as I write this.  My immature actions had directly impacted her, yet she reached out to me to comfort me in my brokenness.  I felt loved, not only by this sweet young lady, but also by my Jesus.

Just Tell Tell Them….Lent (Day 11)

I always have good intentions to write daily about my Lenten experience but I just can’t ever seem to pull it off.  This year, I am especially overwhelmed with so many things that finding time to sit and write…or even just to be still seems almost impossible. But today I made time.  I may not get a post up every day, but when I do…it’s going to be straight from the heart of God.

Today, God has brought me to a place He brought me to many years ago. This place led to my salvation. But it’s even more amazing today because I am His. I wasn’t then. After many years of struggle and growth…today, through praying for my child, I realized for myself, how much He has done for me…I really thought about the words that we become so desensitized to because we hear it so much as Christians. “Jesus, took God’s wrath in my place.” I was reawakened to the depth of mercy and grace that has been extended to me. Mercy/grace…pardon given where it is undeserved. I also hear it said so often, “no greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for a brother”. No greater grace, no greater mercy can be shown than that which God sent to me through His perfect Son. I spent my life spitting on the cross that Jesus embraced in my place. HE TOOK ON THE WRATH OF GOD for ME! I can’t imagine what it would be like for me right now if Jesus hadn’t done that. I can’t imagine how messed up my life would be if I didn’t have that point where I decided to follow Him. The greatest freedom I have ever received in this life is realizing that it’s not about me at all and I am most miserable when I try to make it about me…to protect myself, my rights and to seek revenge on others…to build walls. Trying to protect me is equivalent to locking myself in a jail cell to be safe. I am my greatest enemy….and as God has even shown me mercy and grace, so I need to do so also to my worst enemy…me! I have no greater enemy than myself apart from God. I need to stop beating myself up for my mistakes. I need to stop identifying myself through the eyes of others and even through the eyes of my past mistakes and lies. My identity is in Christ alone…I could go on all day! I feel like yet another door to a whole new world in Christ has opened today…and He used one of my children to instigate it. I truly believe that this is part of the reason children are such a blessing…not for the “feel good” stuff so much as how God uses them to grow His fruit in us.

I have struggled for days trying to tie together a message I have been preparing for a group I will be sharing with tomorrow. Today, when I prayed and asked God to tell me what He wants me to say, I heard Him say, “Just tell them how much I love them” over and over and over.  “They have lost sight of their First Love.  They need to be reminded. Tell them how much I love them.”

The View from Here….

I can’t think of a more beautiful illustration of the gift of submission.