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

Never Give Up

 

During a time of war, King David found himself in a precarious situation because his men were talking of stoning him. Each of them was bitterly vindictive in their spirit because of the loss of their sons and daughters in an ambush. They wanted to take their revenge out on David. David lost family members in this raid too. He was in as much grief as they were. So, David waited on the Lord, prayed for direction and found strength in the Lord our God (1 Samuel 30:6). In His own timing and way, God always exalts those who wait on Him (Psalm 37:34, 40:1; Lamentations 3:25; Isaiah 40:30-33).

There are so many hectic demands on our life in today’s society. Working long hours, children’s activities, the needs of a spouse, a fulltime career as well as a home to keep clean and organized, extended family obligations, church expectations and all of our friends want our attention all at the same time. We stand the chance of offending someone if we say, “No” to a request. However, if we have the courage to stop the frenzied demands and to take time to wait on the Lord, He will always strengthen our heart.

It is so important to stop the frantic pace we usually maintain; and, instead, to wait on the Lord for the leading of His Spirit moment by moment throughout the day (Psalm 27:14). No one who puts his/her hope in the Lord will ever be put to shame. Instead, God will place that shame on our enemies when they deal treacherously with us without any grounds or reason (Psalm 31:24, 25:3: Proverbs 20:22). Our soul – our mind, will and emotions - finds rest in God alone, because our hope comes from Him as we rely on His Word (Psalm 62:1,5, 130:5).

When we gladly accept God’s salvation for our self, we have so much to rejoice in (Isaiah 25:9; Psalm 119:81). In our quiet times, we lay our requests before God and then wait in expectation. The Lord always hears our voice and answers us, even if it is not in the way we imagined (Psalm 5:3; Micah 7:7).  Even when the Lord chooses to be silent, to hide His face from us, if we wait on Him and put our trust in His faithfulness, He will never let us down (Isaiah 8:17).

Do not grow weary and give up, because we will indeed reap the fruit of our labors if we do not quit (Galatians 6:9). Our health may fail, our eyesight grows dim and our soul may grow weak, but God remains the strength of our soul and He is ours forevermore (Psalm 73:6). Numerous troubles my surround us on every side, our sins and our flesh may overwhelm us, we may be overcome with depression, stress and anxiety; but the Lord quickly comes to rescue us when we call upon Him (Psalm 40:12-13).

So, do not lose heart. Paul calls these hardships momentary and light affliction when compared the eternal weight of glory God prepared for us. Do not look at the temporal, earthly life you are living; but look to the eternal, everlasting promises that God has for us both now and in Heaven. These earthly trials are fleeting, but the attributes that God is working in your life through this tribulation are perpetual (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). Our citizenship is in heaven, and we await the coming of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, from Heaven (Philippians 3:20).

Prayer:

Father God, my soul waits for You more anxiously than the night watchmen who wait for the first morning light (Psalm 119:148, 130:6). Even as I fall asleep and wake again the next day, I remember You. I think of You all through the watches of the night (Psalm 63:6: Isaiah 26:9). I rise before dawn and cry to You for help. I put my hope in Your Word and I delight myself in You (Psalm 119:55, 147). I will constantly praise You for Your wise counsel. Even at night You instruct my heart (Psalm 16:7, 72:2). During the day, You shower me with Your love. At night, Your songs of praise fill my soul as a prayer to the You, the God of my life (Psalm 42:8).

Thought for the Day:

Don’t quit just before the miracle happens. Wait on the Lord.