Category: Love

Love

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“You have heard that it was said, ‘love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Loving people is not always easy. People aren’t perfect and they do things we don’t like and they hurt us and fall short of ours expectations. The only one who will never hurt us is God. He will give us the strength we need to love anyone he puts in our lives if we ask him. Many people don’t know God and don’t have his help in their lives. When you don’t know God you do things that cause hurt first to yourself and also to others. When you are hurting because of your poor mistakes you tend to hurt others. Misery loves company. If I feel bad why shouldn’t others. But when you are totally and perfectly loved by you Father you have the strength and the wisdom to show that same love to others in a way that will totally amaze and confuse others. They just don’t understand that kind of love. The more you treat people with respect and love the more they will treat others that way. I have a nurse who had a patient who was the typical grumpy old man, because he was confused and others around him we’re also confused and had uncontrollable problems that irritated him, so he was always yelling at everyone around him. This nurse went out of her way to show him love and respect and he started being kind in return. Others still irritated him but with less outbursts. We all need love just like air and when we don’t get it we suffer. So go out of your way to love and respect those around you and they might surprise you.

Love Is

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“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:1-2

It is God’s will that we love others the way he has loved us and I hate seeing someone treat others improperly and in anger. But I never really thought of the consequences. I do know that people can bring on consequences in their life because of sins in their lives. We can do so many things like taking drugs or robbing banks that can end very badly but just being mean? I read this verse this morning, I mean I really read it. It says that everything you do is exactly what will be done to you. Think about your day, about everything you say to others and do to others. Is that how you want treated? It can go the opposite way too. Do you like it when people say good morning or I love that green blouse on you it brings out your eyes and you look awesome. Do you like it when someone prays for you when you’re not feeling well. Or when someone invites you to a party or to just have coffee. These things make us feel important. But that is love. Making someone feel special and respected and well loved. Did you just ignore the people around you as you went through your day. That isn’t being mean but could you show people you care in a small way or even a bigger way. Let’s say you’re shopping and the person in front of you is short a $1, offer to pay it. Have you ever been a $1 short, it’s embarrassing and upsetting. Do you say something when someone irritates you? Maybe they are having a hard day and maybe that’s just how they are but being loving might change them. Maybe you could say a quick prayer for whatever is hurting them. Loving others isn’t always easy but if you just put yourself in their shoes for a minute you might have more understanding and compassion. I like my day to go well and I like to interact with people. People are what is special about life. Not just your friends and family but all people. Why not try to make your friends and family bigger by making someone new apart of it by loving someone new.

Amazing Love

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“How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! We’re I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand – when I am awake, I am still with you.” Psalms 139:17-18 NIV

God delights in us, his love for us will never fail. He made us on purpose for greatness and he thinks about us continually. When you have someone like that on your side you have hope. This is a difficult life we live. We need someone who loves us unconditionally that will always be there for us. Even though we won’t always be there for ourselves. We are not perfect like God. We can get mad at ourselves, put ourselves down and even lie to ourselves. God will not. You can not be happy until you know this unconditional love that God gives. I see so much anger and complaining from people. People can be very selfish thinking first and foremost about themselves. They even expect others to fulfill them. of course they cannot and that angers them even more. There is something inside of us from the time we are born that is searching for unconditional love. Even if we find that for a time with a loved one, the day will come when they let you down and you realize they aren’t perfect. Someone can love you but it’s not their job to make you happy. Only a perfect God can do that. And he wants to do that. But we do have to come to him first. Until you are finally loved unconditionally by God, following him, doing his will, his way, can you be truly happy. Until you are it’s going to be hard to get along with others, who are like yourself, imperfect. I am a happy person and care very much about my interactions with others. I always try to be pleasant and helpful to others. But I wasn’t always that way. Things could easily bother me and upset me. I knew God all my life but I didn’t really know him. I made it real personal in 2013 when I began searching for the Lord with my whole heart. The more I read of God’s word and just spent time talking to him the more I got to know him and how much he loved me. For the last year I have been reading a devotional called, “Letters From God” by Ivan Tait. I love this book because it tells me so many thoughts God has for me that are empowering. Knowing how God sees you and all he has for you can fill you. The more love I get from God, the more love I can give to others. When you love God and yourself, you can’t help but love others. God says to love others as you love yourself. But what if you can’t love yourself? Until you are unconditionally loved you can’t. You will be trying to earn that love and nobody but God gives it.

Do you know just how much God loves you?

The Greatest Command Is To Love

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“And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you love.” 2 John 1:6

From the very beginning of time God has told us to love. Every commandment will be fulfilled when you walk in love. Just think first about the other people in your life and you will not do anything to hurt one of God’s precious children. Everyone has been lovingly made on purpose and for a purpose. And God loves them. God has given me his eyes to see others as he does. I can see hurt and pain in their eyes. Unless you have gone through everything they have gone through then you cannot judge. So very many things have contributed in their lives to who they have become. The way they think about themselves and everyone else. I have great compassion for others. Just like when Jesus walked on this earth. He did not meet someone he did not love. With his full being. He did not feel obligated to heal but he hated to see their pain. If we first show love when we meet someone evil would cease to exist. No murder, no stealing, no adultery, no covetousness, no pride and no selfish ambition. Could you ever consider putting something before God? The one who first loved us with non condemning but perfect love. He who always wants our very best. He gave us everything. Just look around you and see the beauty and intricate perfection placed in everything. Nothing was too much or too good for us. Every morning we get a new sunrise and a brand new start. Every day. Everything we need to make the rest of our lives perfect is available through him. We don’t have to remain who we once were. We weren’t made to struggle and hurt. He has told us to bring everything to him and let him help. Ask God to give you a heart of compassion and eyes to see as he sees.

First Love

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“Yet I hold this against you: you have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” Revelation 2:4-5

It is so easy to take our eyes off of God and place them on problems and business. But Satan will use that to destroy you every time. The door gets left ajar and he barges right in. It starts with a thought. But those thoughts quickly become actions. Is life getting harder and more complicated? Where is your focus? God never gave up on you and he never left. But he is waiting patiently for you to call out to him. To realize that what is missing has been there a along but you have just misplaced it. Our life is so full and exciting when all we think about is our first love. Once you realize that you need someone and don’t want to live without them. You think about them all of the time. You want to know everything about them and what makes them tick. As you spend time reading God’s words to us in his word you get to know him. There are many good promises to encourage you and to give you hope. His character and love become so real to you and your love deepens. You are stronger and can handle challenges and problems so much easier. Two can handle things better together. When those challenges and problems come offer them up to the Lord and he strengthens you. The keys to peace. The ones we need to open that door are found when you spend time in his presence. This life is meant to be full, abundant and successful if you follow the path he has for you. He will never steer you wrong. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. With him by your side (and remember he doesn’t leave but we do) you are strong and ready to take on the world. And some day soon Christ will be returning for his bride, a bride without spot or wrinkle. You will want to be eagerly waiting and ready.

Consistency

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“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.“ Hebrews 13:8 NIV

Aren’t you glad we serve a consistent King? He loves us every day and he always cares. His mercies are new every morning. He promises to take care of our needs today. He tells us not to worry about tomorrow because he’s got that taken care of too. He is so good. His biggest concern is that we love. Love him and love others. To let people know he loves them no matter where they are at in their lives. When Jesus was alive on earth he was definitely one to be admired and liked. He never met anyone that he did not care about. It did not matter if they were male or female., rich or poor, black or white, Jew or Gentile. He even knew prostitutes, murderers, and thieves, but he treated everyone with love and respect. He may have put the proud and arrogant in their place but he did it out of love knowing where their lives were heading to death. He only did those things he saw his father doing so we know by seeing him we got a glimpse of God. God and Jesus both care the same. They’ve had a plan in motion from the very beginning to bring us together. There is nothing as good as family spending time together. They are always with us in this world, because this world can be a scary place. But they have made a way for us to be together forever in a perfect place where there will be no more pain. It will be perfect. We will be a family and all know each other. Everyone will be accepted and loved. Murder, hate,and wickedness will be gone. Jesus gave up his life just for us, it wasn’t easy but he saw the end from the beginning and knew it was all worth it. We are not perfect, that is not why he called us. He wanted us to be like our father and they help us to be. On our own we are just filthy rags but with his help we are jewels. He helps us be his hands and feet. Touching lives each day of people who don’t know him.

Do you know this great King?

Our Glorious God

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“I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.” Jeremiah 31:3 NIV

How much God does love us. Every day as I set out to write I seek God’s will for what to write about. So yesterday I felt led to write about his great love for us and how much he has done for us. I felt so overwhelmed by his goodness and just couldn’t come up with the words to express my feelings. Some days I just don’t have it. I can’t write and feel inadequate. But after spending time seeking him and remembering that it isn’t me that has any power to get it done, I relax. Our God loves us and we can see this through his words. In the very beginning he had a perfect plan to shower us with everything good and give us a perfect life with himself to share it. He made our amazing universe. Billions of stars and billions of galaxies. He doesn’t do things part way but in great abundance. A world that could sustain us and keep us safe and happy, but one that we could never get bored with. We could spend forever discovering it’s beauty and greatness. He made a garden that was more beautiful than any since. And he made man in his own image with everything needed to make us mighty and wise. It was very good to a perfect God. There was nothing evil. He also gave us free will to chose and we let that control us. We wanted what was good but let ourselves get in the way of what was great. “For no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived, the things that God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 God still wanted man after he was banished from the garden and he had to make a way for us to be together again. His own son would come to earth as a poor helpless baby, giving up his place in glory. He would live a perfect life and freely give his life to be killed in a horrible way, just to save us. We did not deserve it, and we could never earn it. We were bought at such an exorbitant price and that price was God’s very own son. Now we could be free. Our salvation made it possible for God to see us as perfect again. We would no longer die but live with him in perfection forever. No, everything he does is to help us become perfect. He is in no hurry, but patiently and lovingly he will continue to work on us. We were never created for a mediocre life but a very good and awesome life. To be all that we can be. We have to sacrifice our desires for the one who knows better than us, what we really need. We need to love sacrificially. Loving God, our neighbor and even those we don’t want to love. Those that might not deserve it,. The more we give, the more he gives. It’s a win win situation.

How many want to be all you can be?

Discipline

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“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11 NIV

Who wants to be disciplined? Nobody, but it is important. The other day someone told me how as a young kid they had stolen fireworks and when dad found out he showed them the stars all right. They were spanked so hard that they never did that again. But discipline is so that we learn to do right and to be safe. Our parents love us so much and they really want the very best for us. They don’t want to see us hurting ourselves in a life of crime or getting blown up. Our parents may not be perfect but they are doing the best they can with their limited knowledge. God, though, is all knowing. He has lovingly formed us with all we need to become all we can be. He is all knowing and knows our every thought and how we will behave. He also knows just what it will take to have a wonderful, full life. It was him who made us how we are so he knows our needs better than we do. He has promised to make all that happens to us work for our good. If he is always looking out for us he will never tell us to do something wrong, for us. If we want a full life we should listen to him and follow his commands. They are not there to hinder us but to help us be our best. God wants us free, happy, loved, respected, and successful. It may not be exactly what we want but it will make us happy. I am his creation and he knows best and following his design and what works best only makes me run better. I have done it both ways, my way, messing things up badly. I’ve done it his way, boy does that work better. Even doing it my way he didn’t reprimand me but kept loving me. He understands that the world is not perfect and neither are we. We may want to do good but we will never do it perfectly. We are all sinners saved by the grace of God. He will forgive us. He just hates to see us doing things that will not help us but only hurt us. Now I try to live like Jesus would. He wanted to be just like his dad and I do too. Each day I look into his mirror and see if I look more like him. Where do I need to work? I need more unconditional love for less than perfect people. I’m sure I’ll be a work in progress for some time but I can see improvement and that makes me happy.

Do you want to live a full life?

This Is Love

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“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.” John 4:10 NIV

God loved us, each and every one of us. At any given point in time that would be several billion people for many years. The God who created this wonderful planet and everything on it. He thought of each and every one of us, before even time began, and he loved each of us with a perfect love. It doesn’t matter if you ever return that love or not. He still loves you. He is the great creator and the creator of love. Propitiation means being reconciled with God. I have been redeemed and nothing can separate me from the perfect love of my father. No one or nothing can ever love us like God. No one is perfect but God. We will all fail to love perfectly because we are not perfect. When men separate themselves from God, thinking that they are better or all they need, they are missing out on the greatest life has to offer. Saying, basically, I don’t need it. The mercy and grace my father has for us, as well as the hope for eternal life, forever perfect life, is not to be missed out on. I can wake every morning with a joy that is unbelievable but it is mine through his great love for me, his daughter. I never ever want to lose that. I have listened to so many people talk about their endeavors for that perfect life without God. There is so much striving and turmoil after perfection. Happiness isn’t really an option. It’s just making sure you are better off than the next guy. Having more on your own is supposed to make you the winner. It doesn’t matter that it might never make you happy. So many people go through life this way and it is so sad. I don’t care if I have the most toys when I die. I don’t even care if I have toys. I can have nothing but the love of my Heavenly Father and a life with him forever. That’s all I want. I have learned during my time at this nursing home that our earthly bodies are failing. We can not know for sure that we will always be in the race for success. But all I need to do is keep his commandments and love him all I can and all others too. That is simple to me because he gives me all the help I need. In myself I can’t do it, but with God all things are possible. This makes me happy. When someone asks how my day is going?, I just smile and think of all I have. I may be wrong but I don’t care. It works so great for me Gods way. I have a future and a hope that will carry me through anything. When I face my final days here on earth I have an eternal faith that God is waiting for me at the end with dessert. His Glory.

The Heart

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“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:23 NIV

God is looking at the heart. What we truly are and think is deep inside of us. Where no one but God can see. We can come across one way on our outward positioning but what’s in the heart is the true person. God has called us to love all others better than ourselves. He has told us that whatever it takes, we should be at peace with all men. That’s tough! It takes a lot of patience to get along with even the best people. It doesn’t take much to get under our skin. To rub us the wrong way. There’s no way in and of ourselves. God has to open our eyes to the way he loves others. He loves with so much passion no matter what people look or act like. He looks deeper to the lonely scared child that wants to be accepted and loved. This person is his. He wants us to be there for others. Brothers and sisters there making it together. This is more important than offerings of things. Money, time, and devotion come in second place to people. That’s why he has called us to take care of widows and orphans, sick, hungry and those that can’t help themselves. We may be their only hope. God can do all things but he uses us. He has given us the privilege of being apart of his bigger plan. When he was on earth all manner of sick, both physical and mental, came to him, their only hope for help. They didn’t know if he could or would help but they had to try. And Jesus had compassion. He saw there very soul and every hurt they had and loved them so. That is why he doesn’t like sin. Because it hurts his beloved children. Those that he greatly cares about. Things like adultery, murder and stealing. All commands affect others well-being or loving God and honoring him. Love covers our every action. If we just love the way he calls us to love we will have it all down. We can not change the way others act, try as we may. Their behavior is between them and God. But if we just take a big breath and ask God for help we can be the best we can be. You never know how your actions will greatly affect those around you.

Will you see others through Gods eyes of love and compassion?