Communicating Love

“What the world needs now, is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.” – Hal David

Loving communication is rare in this day and age with such busy lifestyles. Many are too wounded to share positive affirmation and loving reinforcement in our relationships. We expect people to feel loved without communication from us that we love them.

We all need to know that we are loved, especially children, but that will not happen unless we communicate our feelings. Spending time, works of service, verbal affirmation, loving touch, focused attention and gifts are all ways to communicate love.

Some of us prefer one or two of these expressions over the rest of them. Other people would be happy with any expression of love as long as it is consistent. Learning the love language of our significant others is a great way to express love to them.

( http://www.5lovelanguages.com/profile ).

                  

If we listen to our spouse, child, neighbor, extended family member, the person in the grocery line or on the bus next to us, we give that person a very rare treat, a gift more precious than anything money can buy.

If we say we do not love another person, we are communicating more about our own character than the other person’s personality. We listen without condescension, belittling or rejection regardless of what they tell us. We simply express God’s love to them.

As mature Believers, we allow God to love that person through us. We communicate the love, patience and concern of Christ through our words, eye contact, facial expressions and body language. We make time to focus our attention on the people that we love.

Prayer:

Father God, make us vessels of honor for Your glory. Use us to spread Your love abroad in the hearts of every person You bring us into contact with during the day, but especially with those closest to us. Remind us that loving someone in our own way is not good enough, because You call us to love them unconditionally, consistently and in a way that is meaningful to them.

Thought for the Day:

We love people continually through the years, by choosing to do loving things for them, even if our feelings do not follow; and we never give up on anyone, because God never gives up on us. - Luke 6:32

God's Purposes in Trying Times

Have you noticed the slow deterioration of life, as we know it? Governments, financial affairs, justice, personal commitments, geography and climate are all failing. What hope does mankind have of surviving into eternity? There is only one sure hope and that is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The coming of God's Kingdom is just around the corner. We are only ready to enter into it if we realize how intensely our fleshly indulgences grieve God's heart and that we need a Savior. God offers us His free gift of salvation. We simply admit that we are sinners, turn away from our selfish lifestyle and turn to follow Jesus.

There is an unprecedented time of intense suffering coming to the world. Yet, God is not willing for anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). He offers His ark of salvation for anyone who is willing to come aboard (Matthew 24:37). Like Jesus, we live to serve our living God. We dedicate our life to wholly yield to Him our thoughts, words and deeds.

Sometimes, we have to realize that the "prince of Persia" is hindering God's answer to our prayers, and intense spiritual warfare is going on (Daniel 10:13). That is what my husband and I experienced when we followed God's direction to sell our little brick, cottage home and to pay cash for a manufactured home in order to get out of debt.

It started with my six weeks of bronchitis, pneumonia and pleurisy. Then, we moved into a new home with termites, leaking roof, A/C breaking down every other week and a bank that had way too many hoops to jump through to refinance our former home as a rental. However, God is always the victor.

Today, He is blessing three of His families with our former home, and we started a Bible study group in our new mission field in our new community. We also have a growing number of new neighbors attending our church with us. God delights in blessing His children. He uses us in ways that we could never imagine and He always sweetens the bitter lemons of circumstances into lemonade (Romans 8:28)!

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that we need to confess with our mouth that "Jesus is Lord," and to sincerely believe in our heart that You raised him from the dead. Then we are justified and reconciled to You for eternity (Romans 10:9-10). Give us a revelation of Your Kingdom so that we may advance its reach and prepare for its coming to the earth. 

Help us to have a heart for the lost that are heading for an eternity in hell. Give us opportunities to share Your love with those willing to hear Your Truth. May Your Kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is already done in heaven (Matthew 6:10).

Thought for the Day:

I am loving life in God's presence, regardless of the circumstances.

The Gift

Read: Hebrews 4:9-12

“Let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back, and especially those sins that wrap themselves so tightly around our feet and trip us up; and let us run with patience the particular race that God has set before us. Keep your eyes on Jesus, our leader and instructor. “Hebrews 12:1-2

The gift of God is free and readily available to everyone; yet, many resist God’s special offer. Some doubt God’s existence. Others refuse to give control of their life to someone else. A few feel that they do not deserve God’s unconditional love. Several want to hang on to their sinful pleasures a little while longer.

We do not have to be good enough to deserve His love. God’s love is a free gift. His only requirement is that we receive it. We do not need to spend time or energy on trying to overcome the flesh nor on trying to earn God’s love. The only striving that we are commanded to do in the Bible is to enter his narrow gate through the means of Salvation, and then to enter into His rest (Hebrews 4:9-12).

Jesus completed the work of our perfection on the cross. In Hebrews 12:2 Paul suggests that we focus on Jesus and follow His example. Jesus kept His focus on eternal matters, and the earthly matters fell in line. As we simplify our lives at the same time that we abide in His presence, we become fully and calmly aware of God’s presence within us. Rather than working for God, we allow Him to work in and through us.

Jesus Christ came and lived a sinless life as our example. He daily aligned His actions with His Father’s. He died for our forgiveness and gave us eternal life in exchange. I encourage you to examine what is keeping you from accepting His gift. Please, do not let another day go by without receiving it.

Prayer:

Lord, make me a vessel of Your love and fill me until I overflow on all of those around me. Help me to be an example of Your love and grace to others in my life. Let them see Your light in me and glorify You for what you do in my life.

Thought for the Day:
If we humbly recognize our need and receive His gift of salvation in the quiet of our heart, we are guaranteed a place in His Kingdom now and forever.



(Thank you Katharine Henderson Evans for use of your photo.)

What's the Gimmick?

Read: Ephesians 2: 8-9

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” - Ephesians 2:8

Why do so many people miss the opportunity to receive God’s free gift of Salvation (Romans 5:15)? There are as many rationales to answer this question, as there are individuals who decline His invitation. Pride will keep a person from the humility needed to call out to God. The idea of having to sacrifice their desires scares many away. Having someone else in control of their life causes many people to shrink in horror. Letting someone else known their deepest, darkest secrets is daunting to others.

Another explanation may be that Jesus did not present Himself in a very popular humanistic light from His birth all the way to His death. Just think about it! He was born in a stable, worked as a carpenter, never owned a home, never married and never conceived any children. How can He relate to the majority of people on earth, and how can we relate to Him?

He only had twelve good friends in the whole world. Even his siblings failed to believe in Him until after His resurrection. He was not handsome to look at (Isaiah 53:2). To the disappointment of those who looked for a King, He was born as a pauper and he died a common death between two thieves.

Jesus had a solid purpose for all of this, however. He needed no reputation, He proved that He could relate to the vilest of human sufferings, and He gave us an example of how to live by taking on the very nature of a servant (Philippians 2:7). He went around for three years doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because of the Spirit of God dwelling in Him (Acts 10:38). This same Spirit dwells within us as well, because of the price Jesus paid for our salvation and because He became righteousness for us (Romans 10:3-4).

Most people today want to make their own mark on the world. The self-made man is touted as having special abilities and influence that we all respect. The entrepreneur is lauded for his creativity and drive. Even someone who inherits his/her fortune, and manages to administrate it wisely, is credited with success.

Human nature tends to believe that we have to earn what we receive. We have heard the saying, “There is no free lunch;” therefore, we look with suspicion on anyone who comes around offering us something for nothing. The thought of Jesus trading us His right standing with God in exchange for our sins makes no human sense at all.   

To admit that we are orphans in need of adoption is humiliating. It is a bit far fetched to believe that another human being, who died on a cross in a particular point in history at the height of the Roman occupation of Israel, is truly the Savior of the world. Unbelievers insist that there has to be a gimmick hidden somewhere in the offer. They maintain that there has to be more to it than meets the eye.

I encourage them to “read the fine print” located in the Bible, and to see if they can discover any verse that proves we are trying to deceive them. Then I point out to them that even nature points the glory of God out to everyone (Romans 1: 20) and it reveals that everything has a creator (Psalm 19:1-6).

God does not condemn anyone. We actually condemn ourselves by our unbelief, but God sent Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins, so that we are able to inherit eternal life (John 3: 16-18). This starts the moment we repent of our sins and believe that we need Jesus for our salvation. God's part is to save us (Isaiah 43:11). Our only part is to believe (Acts 16:31). Once acquired, this salvation is eternal. Just as man cannot go back into his mother's womb, neither can a believer go back into an unregenerate spiritual state (John 3:1-7).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, please open the hearts of all of those that we come in contact with throughout the day. Open their eyes to see and their ears to hear the truth of Your Gospel message. Enable us to put aside our ego and to speak with conviction in the power of the Holy Spirit the exact words that they need to hear in order to be convinced of their need for You in their life. 

Thought for the Day:

God designed salvation so that no one can take credit for earning it. - Ephesians 2: 8-9

His Power Within Us

Read: Ephesians 1:18-21

"To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me."  - Colossians 1:29

For years I "labored" and "struggled" with my work for the Lord. But, just like Paul, I finally learned that it is only through His energy, which so powerfully works in me, that I can do all things (Philippians 4:13). On that day, I stopped relying on my own strength and abilities, and started learning to follow the leading of Christ’s Spirit minute by minute throughout the day.

The lovely thing about the word Paul uses in this verse for "energy" is that it refers to the power, which is as potent as dynamite. "That power is like the working (energy) of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand in the Heavenly realms now (Ephesians 1:19)." Through His death, He made us members of His body, which gave us His fullness. His power fills everything in every way and it actively works in all Believers (Ephesians 1:23).

This exact same power that raised Christ from the dead is working in us all right now (Ephesians 1:20). The tragedy is that we seldom use this extraordinary gift. We wander aimlessly in life, pushed about by various circumstances, and guided by human philosophy rather than the Word of God. We tire easily and we get discouraged, depressed and bitter. We exist with a carnal perspective on life and we rarely achieve any gift of eternal value to offer back to God. How can we remedy this situation?

As we utilize His power within us, He gives us clear direction, and He helps us to focus on His will and to accomplish all that He planned for us. At times, God actually puts to flight every enemy that comes against us. For the most part, however, God uses this power to strengthen us, to help us to continue trusting Him in our daily walk and to support us as we accomplish His will for our lives.

God's path for our lives varies from day to day and is difficult at times, unless we rely on Him to always provides us with both the will and the power to accomplish all that He calls on us to do (Philippians 2:13). Remember that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30). We find great fulfillment in life only as we fall more intimately in love with Jesus and keep Him as the center of our focus.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, I pray that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened in order that we may know the hope to which You have called us, and the riches of our glorious inheritance as saints, as well as Your incomparably great power in us who believe (Ephesians 1:18-19). We thank you for equiping us with all that we need to accomplish Your will in and through our lives. May You produce in us, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to You, and may we give You all the glory and honor forever and ever. Amen.
- Hebrew 13:21

Thought for the Day:

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. - Romans 11:36