God's Love Among Us

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

 

1 John 4:9

So Do Not Fear

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

 

Isaiah 41:10

Where Is Your Hope

 

 

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."

 

Lamentations 3:24

 

As We Remain In God

 

And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

 

1 John 4:16

 

God's ways may be baffling, but His character is not.

 

He is a God of love, a God who loves each of us beyond measure.

 

God can be trusted.

 

But unless we are willing to jump… His trustworthiness will be simply a useless, unproven, untheological , rather than a powerful, personal, life-changing reality.

 

This "jump" doesn't mean diving out of a plane and praying for angels to arrive. Instead, it's a deeply personal experience in which God shows Himself to us in an undeniable way, resulting in our own reassurance that despite what happens, God is trustworthy.

 

Maybe we have made it through past issues but fret about the future, feeling either gripped by fear or resolved to conquer what lies ahead with sheer determination.

 

After all, we have made it this far; why turn the reins over to God now?

 

The path God leads us on doesn't always seem best. And still, it is hard enough to entrust our future to Him and harder still as we venture through rough terrain. But in the midst of our dusty, often frustrating journey, we can take these words to heart: God will always, always come through in the end.

 

He is faithful by nature.

 

God has a greater purpose for our future than we could ever devise (See Jeremiah 29:11), and He will see us through as we follow Him.

Will Not Be Moved

Will Not Be Moved

By: Natalie Grant

 

I have been the wayward child

I have acted out

I have questioned Sovereignty

And had my share of doubt

And though sometimes my prayers feel like

They're bouncing off the sky

The hand I hold won't let me go

And is the reason why

 

[Chorus]

I will stumble

I will fall down

But I will not be moved

I will make mistakes

I will face heartache

But I will not be moved

On Christ the Solid Rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand

I will not be moved

 

Bitterness has plagued my heart

Many times before

My life has been like broken glass

And I have kept the score

Of all my shattered dreams and though it seemed

That I was far too gone

My brokenness helped me to see

It's grace I'm standing on

 

And the chaos in my life

Has been a badge I've worn

Though I have been torn

I will not be moved

A Reflection Of God Even In Your Attitude

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!

 

Psalm 84:1

 

 

A rotten attitude is easy to come by when things are not going so great or how we planned them to. Though if we are longing to be a reflection of God, to the world around us, we need to demonstrate it even in our attitude.

 

We see in the life of Jesus that He denied self and worked toward a powerful witness to the reality of God's selfless love. He understood as He walked this earth that certainly not everything goes according to plan.

 

Think about a recent difference of opinion you had with someone.

 

What was the root cause of this disagreement?

 

Do you think you glorified God with the attitude that was displayed in this situation?

 

Do others see the dwelling of the Lord Almighty in your attitude?

 

A Word About Love

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

 

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;  does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 

Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

 

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 Corinthians 13:1-13

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The Heart Of A Warrior For God

 

While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.

 

Acts 7:59-60

 

 

Falsely accused, Unjustly dealt with, yet, Stephen spoke from his heart, laid it on the line for the Pharisees—religious leaders—and paid for his boldness with death.

 

We see the warrior spirit, heart, and uncompromising conviction of Stephen in the verses above, which cause us to look inward and question our own heart:

 

• Do we have a boldness to tell others about God in our daily living?

 

• Are we willing to die for our faith?

 

• Do we have the fortitude to stand up for God, His truth, His heart, His ways—in the face of opposition?

 

• Would we pray as Stephen did—for our enemies?

 

Taking this kind of evaluation of our own heart is very humbling.

 

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God Is Far Greater

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

 

Ephesians 3:20-21

 

We see in the verses above that Paul repeats a petition he makes for the believers in a letter to the church in Ephesus. In his prayer, he asks God to give his brothers and sisters:

 

• Strength in power through the Holy Spirit
• The dwelling of God in their hearts through faith
• Being rooted and grounded in love
• Having comprehension and personal knowledge of the love of God
• Knowing all the fullness of God

It is after making all of these requests that Paul reminds his readers that their God is the one who can do "far more abundantly than all that we ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20).

 

At times we tend to forget that God is a God of unlimited possibilities, which leads us to putting limits on ourselves and what He is leading us in. 

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Kingdom And Priests

 

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father, to him be glory and power for ever and ever.

Amen.

 

Revelation 1:5b-6

 

 

Here John addresses the 7 churches in the Asia region with an exhortation of which God is and has made them to be—a kingdom and priests to serve Him.

 

In such a prophetic book filled with visions beyond our wildest imagination, John roots the believer in the foundation of giving God glory because of who He is and made us to be.

 

In a world filled with self made kings who live self ruled lives, we are called a kingdom whose heart is enthroned by a King—God. Once darkened by the flesh ruling the domain of our past nature, ways and will, our kingdom was overturned by the entrance of a new King—God.

 

Our heart is now called His Kingdom and we are called as priests who serve God. We are called to live differently as a Kingdom priest, and it is our calling and duty to represent God well as His priest.

Training Our Soul

Train yourself in godliness.

1 Timothy 4:7

If the gym is the training ground for physical discipline, then perhaps we can learn something from it about training our soul. The word translated discipline in the Bible actually comes from the Greek gymnaze, meaning to train or discipline. From it we get the word gymnasium. The apostle Paul, a spiritual gym rat if ever there was one, instructed Timothy to, "Train yourself in godliness" 1 Timothy 4:7.

How do we work up a good soul sweat?

We first have to deal with the heart of the matter.

Cardiovascular training is the first vital aspect of a physical workout. Keeping the heart strong enables the vitality of the other organs and gives strength and energy to work the rest of the body.

Spiritual health is not about how we look religiously, but about how freely and powerfully we allow God to flow through us. God, by the indwelling Holy Spirit, cannot flow through us into the world if our heart is clogged with spiritual plaque.

To get our heart in good condition we need to examine the heart of God in contrast to our own—we need to know the heart of God. We must learn about the heart of God in order to understand how to change our own heart.

And how do we know when a change is taking place?

Try taking the spiritual "treadmill test" for the heart is the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22).

Our purpose in exercising our soul is not to feel better about ourselves, but our purpose is to become stronger, more fit, and conditioned to go into the world and do the work God is calling us to and preparing us for.

Following Joseph's Example

 

But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.

 

Genesis 45:7

 

 

It is quite inspiring to read the story of Joseph, his brothers, his journey and life. It is tough to imagine that with all that Joseph lived through, he would not want to harm, or at least make his brothers lives miserable.

 

In our own lives we need to apply how Joseph responded to his circumstances in spite of all we might have gone through and are facing. It is very easy to focus on ourselves and then throw a pity party, or worse yet take revenge.

 

We need to keep our eyes on God at all times, but even more so when the circumstances around us are not what we had anticipated. Allow God to be God and seek Him no matter what like Joseph did.