An Act of Love

“An Act of Love”

Ephesians 3:17-19  “And that you, being rooted and grounded in love would be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God”.

God is love – Should this statement be pushed to the side or deemed just semi-important?  No…For this is the foundation of true love, for any of the true love that you and I walk in.  God is love – and what is the proof?  The proof, that the Father would send His one and only Son into the sinful world, be smitten, beaten, scourged, mocked, crucified and become OUR sin that we would be put back in the place from which we had fallen, that we would be a family yet again, the Father and His children.   This is love – No greater love does a man have than this, that he would lay his life down for his friend.  He would give up all he had for his friend, everything the man had, his entire life, to save his friend.  And so we have our loving Savior, Jesus, who did this for us.  Jesus is the perfect representation of the will of the Father, and the Father is love, which makes Jesus love.  We must be grounded in this, we must be grounded in Him.

In order to be rooted and grounded in love, we must be walking in it.  It takes a setting of our will to love.  Chances are we have run into people who are not loving at all but yet Jesus, who is the perfect will of the Father made manifest, said we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  It even takes a setting of the will to love God!  Yes, it’s true, we ourselves have to set our will on God to love Him.  You may be thinking, “WHAT?  I LOVE GOD WITH ALL MY HEART!” But do you act like it all the time?  I guarantee there are areas still need working, and if you think there aren’t, you have deceived yourself.  What if He asks you to take some time in the morning, get out of bed 30 minutes early and spend some time in the Word, what will you do?  At that point, we must set our will to love because fact of the matter is, the flesh doesn’t want to get out of bed and the decision that is made will determine whether you are loving the flesh more or loving God more right at this time – love comes down to single decisions.  Now if you don’t choose to get out of bed at that time, God isn’t going to grab his Holy Club and beat you over the head. After all He is love!  The reason He asks you to do these things is because He wants you to get closer to Him, He wants to be close to You, He wants to make Himself so real to you like never before.  When we don’t choose to act in a loving way towards God, we actually open the door to the enemy because we chose to ignore the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  He really cares about you – A LOT!  If bad things happen as a result of not following the leadership of the Holy Ghost, it’s not God putting evil on you, it’s the enemy now having access because you chose to step out of line of God’s will, out of His arms of protection.

So, how much are we willing to give to God?  Are we willing to love God with all that we have?  With our time, our resources, our talents (which are from God), our lives? He doesn’t ask for more than what He has already given.  John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life”.  God gave us all that He had, He gave His Word, Jesus, to pay the price for our mistakes and He sent the Holy Spirit to teach us and lead us and empower us to do His will on this earth.  We have all that we need, He’s given us all He has.  What are we giving to Him?

Lets make a sincere effort to give more.  If you’ve been giving a lot, see if you can increase it.  If you’ve been giving little, don’t be condemned or discouraged, turn it around, repent, He is ready to forgive, 1 John 1:9  “If you confess your sin, He is faithful and just to forgive you your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness”.  Lets make an effort to go all out, or rather, all in, and love with every breath that we take, every action we make, every word we say, every thought we think, all that we have, lets live to love to the fullest!

Fearless

Mark 5:35-36 “While He was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official (Jairus) saying, ‘Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?’ But Jesus overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, ‘Do not be afraid, only believe’”.

This past year has been a 180 degree turn in so many areas, but I believe this area is the biggest one for me. This past year, fear has been broken off of me in so many areas and I’m learning more and more areas where I have been acting out of fear and quickly uprooting it. God is so good and has so many great things up ahead for my life and yours as we give ourselves to His Word and His direction from the Spirit of God.

Jairus in this passage approached Jesus at the beginning of the chapter implored Jesus to come and heal his daughter who was nearly dead. Jesus, the willing Healer He is, went with him. On the way there was a bit of a hold up when a lady with a blood issue found Jesus touched His cloak and was healed. As this was happening, officials from Jairus’ house came to him and said that his daughter has died so there was no point in having Jesus come. But before Jairus could let anything out of his mouth, Jesus piped up and said “Don’t be afraid, only believe”. This statement is life-altering.

Jairus came to Jesus on the basis of faith – he believed that Jesus could heal his daughter. But what was he faced with later on? His daughter was not only sick, but now she died so his faith had to be taken to a different level. It was obvious the ones who approached Jairus had no faith for they said that she had died and to not bother Jesus anymore, afterall, he can’t raise the dead…But the words that came forth from Jesus’ mouth gave Jairus faith, faith that Jesus could raise his daughter up from the dead, and Jesus didn’t want any words of doubt to come out of Jairus’ mouth – Jesus knows the importance of words, and so should we (We have the ability to create and to destroy with our mouths). Here is the point that I want to get to. If there had been any fear in Jairus about Jesus not being able to heal his daughter or raise his daughter from the dead, it would not have happened.

Fear should be just like an abomination when it comes to us believing God for what He has promised. Doubt says “I don’t believe that can happen”, or in this case, “I don’t believe God can do it”. This is gross…That is basically calling God a liar, the One Who has never lied and never will, the One Who gave all He had so that we could have all He had. That’s why Jesus jumped all over that situation, He didn’t want any fear in there! And it’s the same thing with us, He doesn’t want any fear in us, none at all.

Does this happen overnight? No…This takes work, it takes dedication, it takes commitment, it takes time, but it is possible and is so worth the work! The Word says that faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God and fear is the opposing force of faith. The more faith we put in, the less fear will be able to abide. God told me this in the middle of sickness I was dealing with, an unknown sickness – “Uproot the fear and I will take care of the rest”. How can I do this? How can we do this?

Spending time with Him every day, in the Word, in prayer, focusing on His kingdom rather than on ourselves. These are critical and necessary and fundamental! This will produce fearlessness!

Come, Run

A touch of love, a touch of Heaven, A warm embrace, it’s like no other-

Run into His arms, His arms wide open to heal and to restore the bruised, the broken-hearted, the heavy-laden, the hurting, the weeping, come to the Lord

Come, come, run into His arms of love wide open, His touch of Love will mend the very

heart that’s broken-

Cast away your fear, the healing Love of God is here

Come, come, run into His arms, His arms of Love

A love that’s always ready to answer all who come desperately,

A love that’s always wanting to bless the ones who come willingly,

A love that’s always longing to touch the hearts that are crying out

Come on, come run, come on, come run, cause Love is here

My heart and mouth are set on...

Psalm 19:14  “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O’ Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

What pours out of the mouth is the fruit of what the heart is set on.  And how can we tell what the meditation of our heart is?  Well, what am I focused on, where are my priorities, who is my attention set on, what do I consider valuable?  What do I put my time into?  Well all of these things make up the meditation of my heart, but is what I’m doing, what I’m focusing on, what I’m considering valuable, my priorities, are they acceptable to God?  And I will give it away, I will let know that which is valuable to me, for the things that I value most are the things I will talk about most.  If all I speak is mindless babble, what then is the meditation of my heart?  If all I talk about is the opposite sex, what then is my heart set on?  If all I pour my time into is video games or entertainment of any kind, what is the meditation of my heart?  These things in and of themselves are not necessarily evil, yet when they are placed in a level higher than God they become idols and to think such a thing is disgusting, but how many times has it happened?  How many times has the Sweet Father asked us to spend time in His holy presence to talk with Him yet we rejected Him because it is not the most “convenient” time for us…The better question is, what air would we be breathing if it weren’t for Him?  Where would we be going if it wasn’t for His sacrifice?  Thank Him for His lovingkindness and tender mercy.. and it’s not even that He would be mad..It grieves Him when His children ignore Him, when we ignore His calling, His beckoning us to draw near to Him and to learn, it hurts Him when He asks us to spend time with Him and we push Him to the side and continue our daily routine, a daily routine of uselessness if He is not involved..

He created us so He could have a family and if there is going to be a strong family, love and communication will tie it together, just like a relationship.  Don’t silence that gentle nudging on the inside asking you to spend some time with God, He has every answer we will ever need for every situation, He has all we need, He is all we need, and He wants to talk with His children, He wants His children to spend time with Him and He wants to spend time with us, He is Love.  The more time we spend with Him, the more we fall in love with Him, and now He has become the meditation of the heart – this is the greatest, most fulfilling place to be.

From: Jesus, To: His Beloved

I’m fully convinced no one on the earth loves you as much as I love you
My love burns brighter than the noon-day sun
Every day, every minute, every second I fan the flame--
I’m here to love you, to lift you up, I’m here to stand next to you, I’m here to hold your hand, I’m here to encourage you, I’m here to pour my entire affection on you, I’m here to bless you, I’m here to strengthen you, I’m here to serve you, I’m here to love you.
There is no other love that will trump my love for you—
It’s no candle, not a campfire, not even a forest fire, but a wild fire—
Every day, every minute, every second I fan the flame.
My love burns brighter than the noon-day sun and no one on this earth has, is or will love you as much as I do.

I love you, My Beloved

Love,
Jesus

True Value

Phillipians 3:7-8  “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Chris Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ…”

What is it that we value in life?  What is it that so many people are taught?  What is it that we run after, that we use our entire life trying to obtain?

Growing up in this society, going to high school (home-schooled up until then), some of the biggest things in life to obtain are wealth, a good career, fame if possible.  It’s sad to say, many are taught that if they don’t go to college or pursue a higher form of education than a high school degree, they just won’t amount to much.  After all, the highest paid careers are the product of years and years of schooling.  And of course a lie is that true happiness is found in money, wealth…Not to mention with fame comes the mass of wealth and that is one heck of a career.  You see it everywhere.  You’ll see people run themselves into the ground to get a good career, spend almost half of their life (some, more than half) to get that title or that amazing paying job, but what is it for?!  Understand that I have nothing against college, nothing against wealth, nothing against fame, but what I do stand against is the idol that is made out of these things.  These things become the goal of our life, and what do we have in the end?  When we’re nearing our last breath, we look back at our life and wonder “what was it for?”  The real question should be this – “Who is it for?”  Take this passage from Phillipians 3 and ask yourself that question. 

If you read verses 4-6, you’ll see Paul giving an account of who he was, what he had attained in life before Christ.  He explains he was the top notch, he was found blameless in the law, he was the MAN, but according to whom?  When he found Christ, an extraordinary change took place – Everything he once considered valuable, everything he ran after, the very things that he spent his life trying to attain, trying to become, he said it was rubbish when he started to know Christ!  One translation which I truly enjoy, says he counted it as dung…That’s yummy.  But seriously, think about it.  The man himself now considered everything he had gained a heaping pile of dung compared to knowing Christ and being found in Him.  If that doesn’t tell you something about the goodness of God, I don’t know what does.

So what is it that we value in this life?  What is it that we are running after?  Are we pursuing worldly, empty things, or are we pursuing the One Who created all things, the One who freely gives you ALL GOOD THINGS (Yes, it’s scriptural).  He wants you to have these things, the wealth, the career, the success, but He wants to be the desire of your heart, and the only true happiness comes from knowing Him more and more.  He is what’s valuable, the most valuable, and even that is a word that falls short of describing Him.

Don’t waste your life away trying to obtain things and leaving God on the side.  God considers you very valuable as well as your life.  Get to know Him more and more, and don’t stop – True value is found in knowing Him.

Self Control

Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…”

Self-control is also known as Temperance in the King James Version, but it is the Greek work Enkrateia derived from the word “kratos” meaning “strength”. In order to walk in self-control, we must have power over our will. Self-control is a fruit of the “Spirit”, not a fruit of self-will. There is a will that is of ourselves and some have developed this will more than others. We refer to the strength to carry something out as our “willpower”. For example, someone who is addicted to smoking and is trying to quit, if they have enough willpower, they can eventually stop smoking. Then there are the others with a lack of willpower who just can’t seem to quit no matter how hard they try. People in themselves can accomplish things by their own willpower, but how much can our will take? Yes, we all have willpower, some can abstain from things, but for how long does the willpower remain? How much pressure will cause it to break?
In today’s society, self-control isn’t widely practiced. We are taught to give into our desires, our feelings, whatever we want to do, just DO IT! After all, it’s our life, we only have one, let’s live it to the max, let’s have fun, let’s do things that are out of the ordinary, let’s be wild and crazy, let’s be sporadic and unpredictable, let’s do things that please me! Drugs, alcohol, sex, curse, party, whatever it is, we don’t want to miss out, but here’s the thing - it’s widely believed that this lifestyle is fulfilling, it’s exciting, it’s fun! But it’s only fun for awhile…Sin has devastating results. You’ll see that the things I just mentioned are actually found earlier on in the Galatians 5 as being deeds of the flesh (it’s actually living out of control), and you’ll see in Romans 8 that the nature of the flesh is directly against the nature of the Spirit. See, as we walk according to the Spirit, as we are bearing this fruit, our desire to do the deeds of the flesh will diminish and eventually be naught. If you are caught in these things (not just these, any sin) and you would consider maybe one or some or all of these things to be habits, know this – there is freedom. There is power to walk in the self-control which is a fruit of the Spirit, to not be defeated and bound to the deeds of the flesh but to walk in the self-control that we were made to walk in.
Many people think that if we were to walk in self-control and not partake of these deeds of the flesh that our lives would be boring and nothing fun would ever happen, but it’s actually quite the opposite! The most fulfilling life ever to be lived is one that is bearing the fruit of the Spirit, but I’ll get into that later.
We must begin to control ourselves, to take control over the old nature that is crying out to do evil deeds, to partake of sin, to have “fun” and be satisfied…True satisfaction comes after we begin to walk in self-control, to walk in domination over those things, and to develop in more and more self-control every day.