God’s love isn't just an idea or a wishful dream. It is something that touches our everyday existence, every part of life. Moreover, God’s love took shape in and through a human body, a body sacrificed on the cross.
“A dairymaid can milk cows to the glory of God,” said Martin Luther.
C.S. Lewis, one of the most qualified candidates at Oxford for a professorship position, was overlooked for years while others less qualified were promoted. But years later, I doubt if many of us know the names of those other candidates, but the whole world has heard of Narnia, MereChristianity, and Lewis’ many other accomplishments. His writing has spiritually encouraged and inspired millions of people.
“He who labors as he prays lifts his heart to God with his hands.” —
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, 1130.
Paul had once commended the church at Ephesus for its love for God and for people. But many of the church founders had died and many second-generation believers had lost their passion for Him. They were busy doing good things with a zeal for orthodoxy. Yet their love for Jesus and for each other had fizzled. Although this church looked great on paper, Jesus addressed the primary issue when He said, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first” (Revelation 2:4).
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent. Revelation 2:5
What comes next, do thy first works, return to basics. Just love...
Everything we do, every purpose to which we put our bodies, should reflect God’s amazing love, which we see most clearly in the self-giving sacrifice of Christ.
We don't have to be our fathers (or mothers). We don't have to repeat their errors. Who will break the cycle of abuse, alcoholism, drug use, lust, or infidelity in your family line? Will it be you? Or will you continue to pass on the same sickness to your children and future generations?
2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul tells us: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
Blessed is the church that recognizes the hand of the Lord upon those whom He has prepared to lead. ~A.W. Tozer~
“To be a true minister to men is to accept new happiness and new distress,” wrote Pastor Phillip Brooks. “The man who gives himself to other men can never be a wholly sad man; but no more can he be a man of unclouded gladness. To him shall come with every deeper consecration a before untasted joy, but in the same cup shall be mixed sorrow that was beyond his power to feel before.” Phillips Brooks, Phillips Brooks Year Book: Selections from the Writings of the Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks(Leopold Classic Library, October 2016) p. 265.
Prayer is not a duty or a discipline. It's a discovery into the very heart of God. When you pray, be ready for an adventure of a lifetime! "Call to Me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3).
Don't become the man I want you to be, become the man God wants you to be and hopefully, you will see they are one and the same. Be the man you want to be, not the one others wish to see but always let the Lord lead you...
A woman in a small Arkansas community was a single mom with a frail baby. Her neighbor would stop by every few days and keep the child so she could do her shopping. After some weeks her neighbor shared more than time; she shared her faith, and the woman followed Christ. The friends of the young mother objected. “Do you know what those people teach?” they contested. “Here is what I know,” she told them. “They held my baby.”
I think Jesus likes that kind of answer, don’t you? From Next Door Savior
When you talk to someone new in the Lord, be sure to explain who they are in Christ. Help them build a firm foundation for their faith in Jesus Christ. If we can teach Christ to our people, we teach them all. ~Richard Baxter~
Imagine your child seeing that you are cooking breakfast, and asking if you are going to allow him to eat. How would that make you feel? Would you think your child believes in the love that you have for him? I think that God feels the same way when we have a lack of faith in His love and provision for us. God cares about every detail of our life. God does not turn a blind eye or a deaf eye to our petitions. He is there and more than willing to answer our petitions when we ask in FAITH!
Dream big and ask God to bless that which you desire to do to further His Kingdom on earth.
"Don't let the mistakes and disappointments of the past control and direct your future." -
Zig Ziglar
Deeds fall into three categories. One is “brick deeds.” These evil acts layer into a high tower. We glory in the height of our works, only to find they are also our judgment as they come crashing down on us in the earthquake of God’s wrath. Then there are “kindling” deeds. Everything we lay on the foundation of Christ that does not honor and point people to Him is burned up (1 Corinthians 3:12, 15). The third is the “investment deed.” These are the enduring treasures we “lay up” in Heaven (Matthew 6:20) which determine our rewards in eternity- DR. Ed Young
As we fill the reservoir of our soul with true refreshment from God we learn to relax in the rhythms of His grace. We experience real peace and rest that only comes from the silence and stillness of being with Him. We carry this refreshment with us as we face the challenges of our day.
Wickedness arrays itself in fair garments, and imitates the language of holiness; but the precepts of Jesus, like His famous scourge of small cords, chase it out of the temple, and will not tolerate it in the Church. So, too, in the heart where Jesus reigns, what war there is between Christ and Belial! And when our Redeemer shall come to be our Judge, those thundering words, "Depart, ye cursed" which are, indeed, but a prolongation of His life-teaching concerning sin, shall manifest - Charles Spurgeon
Our lives are to be under the rule (the dominion) of God's will revealed in His word. When we are disobedient to God's will, sin is dominating our lives. The Lord certainly wants us to get out from under the domination of sin and to live obediently. The only path to such liberation is the grace of God. "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:14).
God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves. Dwight L. Moody
Comments