More of God's love

The separation of two people that love each other is a time that is long, dark and lonely.  This is just how it was in the Old Testament.  The Lord desired closeness with those He loved and they continually turned away from Him and created a vast separation.  There became a veil that kept people from the presence of God.  God could not and would not let that separation continue so He provided the way for us to be in His presence. 

The books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tell us about that way.  The Lord Jesus was born and lived a sinless life on earth and then took ALL sin upon Himself on the cross.  He was crucified as the sacrifice to cover each of us.  Matthew 27:51 says "Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split"

Wow!  The veil was torn all the way from the top to the bottom, nothing can no longer separate us from His love! That is super exciting and makes me want to do all I can to be closer to Him and share that love with others who have not heard the good news or maybe they are not experiencing it in their lives. 

Those two separated lovers have a goal to be with each other once again. There also is a goal for God's love...eternity.  He wants to be with us forever! 1 John 4:16 says "And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.  God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him."

Our Motivation of Love

The Bookmobile came to our house today!  We are so lucky as homeschoolers in a very small town to have the Bookmobile come right to our house each month.  I always pick about 30 books for my mother-in-law, who can read a book a day.  I then usually pick a bunch of easy readers and books that will go with up coming holidays or themes that are being studied but today I was drawn to the adult non-fiction section and came across the book: Experiencing God Day by Day - The Devotional by Henry and Richard Blackaby.  I thought that it might be a book I would like to read over the next month.  I put it in the crate of books to be checked out.

This evening I sat down with the book and turned to the devotional designated for January 22nd and I was just blown away.  It is just amazing to me that I have been focusing on love...specifically God's love and the title for today's devotion is "Our Motivation of Love"  Shut up!!!  Are you kidding me...no God would not kid me.  So with that said here is that devotional:

Our Motivation of Love

"O righteous Father!  The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.  And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." John 17:25-26

You do not "organize" the kingdom of God, you "agonize" the kingdom of God.  You cannot be close to God without being affected by His love.  The heavenly Father loved His Son with an eternal love.  Everything in the heart and life of the Father was released to His Son.  As the Father expressed His love for a broken and sinful world, this passion was manifested through the life of His Son.  The Father initiated His plan to save mankind, and out of a heart of devotion, the Son accepted the assignment that took Him to the cross.

As Jesus walked among people, the Father's love filled His Son.  Jesus recognized that no ordinary love could motivate Him to go to the cross.  No human love could keep Him perfectly obedient to His Father throughout His life.  Only His Father's love was powerful enough to compel Him to commit His life to the saving purpose of His Father.

Jesus prayed that God would place this same love in His disciples.  He knew that no other motivation would be sufficient for the assignments God had for them.  God's answer was to place His Son in them.  It is impossible for a Christian to be filled with this measure of love and not to be on mission with God.

You will be incapable of ministering to everyone God sends you unless you have His love.  You cannot forgive others or go the extra mile with others or sacrifice for others unless you have first been filled with the boundless love of God.  Seek to know the Father and His immeasurable love, then allow His Son to love others through you!


Oh Lord, take me on this journey...you are my motivation of love!

Elements of God's Love

We have all read the famous passage of scripture about love...1 Corinthians 13~ Love is....but there is so much more covered in the scriptures about love.  Some of the elements of God's love that I have come across are:

God's Love is:

• Indestructible~ Romans 8:38-39 "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Oh that each of us could just grasp this about God's love for us.  His love IS there and nothing can change that! Of all the circumstances I could go through and endure, even death can not/will not separate me from my Lord!
• Compassionate~ Isaiah 49:15-16 "Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb?  Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands..." A mother is so devoted to her little ones and imagine that our Lord is even more devoted to us.  The baby cries and I am quick to care for his needs.  In the same way, my God has provided all that I need!
• Constant~ Jeremiah 31:3 "The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you." I have people in my life who always let me down and make me feel unloved but God's love is everlasting and He draws me to Himself.  After I have been so disappointed I sit quietly and ask my Father to wrap His arms around me and just come over me and be near me.  I am never disappointed...He is happy that I have asked for His closeness and I always feel Him!

 With that and the weekend that I just had...I will gladly go and sit quietly in the presence of my Lord.  I need His love for I know that it is indestructible, compassionate and constant!

Mosaics shine!

I recently went to a women's conference that moved me like no other conference I have ever been to.  The speaker, Jana Spicka said, "Intimacy with God is the greatest weapon against...____________."  She filled in the blank but I have left it empty because if we focus on being close to God we can put anything in that blank and it is covered.

She also shared a wonderful object lesson with us.  She had a pretty vase...very lovely to hold flowers or whatever.  She put the vase in a pillowcase and smashed it with a hammer.  That lovely vase was now in pieces... broken sharp pieces, like our life that looks so great from the outside but sometimes we are broken.  We have things that have happened in our lives that make us feel like we are not a whole thing worth anything.  Our broken pieces have sharp edges that hurt those around us and causes us even more pain. The Lord can collect those pieces and carefully put the pieces together even more beautiful than ever.  Jana then showed a mosaic vase...stunning.  But then she lit a candle inside of it and the glow through all of the pieces was just breath taking.  When we let God put all of those pieces together, polish the edges and let Him live inside...He shines so bright and beautifully. 

I had a dream several nights after the conference and it was about the candle.  The candle was inside that first vase but the only light seen was coming from the top of the vase because it was opaque.  As soon as the Lord was allowed to touch the broken pieces of the vase it became transparent.  The pieces were put together with a gentle hand...however sometimes it was hard because the pieces fit together so tightly.  His gentle hand continued until everything was in place and  the candle lit. The glow no longer just came from the top but every broken piece was magnificent and shone with His glory. 

Every pain, hurt, sin...whatever we want to call it can be given to His gentle hand and He will put it together in a way that we could have never imagined.  As I am typing this the song"We Are" by Kari Jobe just came on and she is singing "we are the light of the world...we gotta let the light shine!"  Wow, God I'll take that!!!!

We all have a story and by sharing for real with each other we share that light and His glory.  Don't be afraid of what was broken and what others may think, as my favorite verse reminds me..."He is before all things and in Him all things hold together." Colossians 1:17 (NIV) Every broken part is in Your hands Lord and you hold them together in a beautiful mosaic that shines with Your glory!

My love story with My Lord continues and I look forward to tomorrow!

Love

There are 30 days until Valentine's Day.  I am not a fan of Valentine's Day...never have been and never will be.  I see it as a day conjured up to make us spend money trying to make a point or send a message that we really should be working on every day...I love you!

Love~as defined by the 1931 Webster's dictionary is a noun.  It is a strong feeling of affection, especially to one of the opposite sex; courtship; devoted affection for or attachment to; parental care; a sweetheart.  There is also a verb tense which is to regard with strong affection; feel devotion toward; delight in.

Feel devotion toward and delight in...oh I believe that is so what each of us longs for.  Someone to take notice of us, delight in us and be a devoted witness to our life.  


 In the same way, our Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ longs for us! He wants our devotion.  He is already fully devoted to us.  John 3:16 so clearly shows that love. "For God so LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life."

Love is more than a noun...more than a good feeling.  It is an action of devotion.  For the next 30 days I am challenging myself and anyone else to explore this love and devotion for Christ.  We say we love Him but is there an action of devotion at other times than when we are at church?  I will be digging into scriptures about love and probing my heart to see what moves me to love being a daily action for others and my Father who calls me his cherished daughter.

I am back!

Well...I am back and it is already 2013! The last two months took it out of me! I crawled into myself and just made it through the holidays.  Nothing extraordinary happened to cause this but anniversaries of the passing of loved ones and Daryl' s job loss, my dad being ill, and some inner conflicts kept me away.

I am not sure my words would have been anything encouraging, up lifting or able to bring an glory to God...so I was quiet. Sometimes that is the best thing to do. Hard to do...yes! Necessary...yes!

I just spent the day with the Lord and was reminded that I need to stop and hear His voice over all of the noise around me. Deliberately ask God to show up and then don't be surprised when He does! Ask for faith to see Him and not miss out on His presence.

So as the new year flies into action I start with this verse. "You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance." Psalm 65:11.

Blessings from my heart to yours!