Category Archives: love

The Romans Challenge: Rejoice in Hope

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“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Today we start Romans 5!

Hope is the confident expectation of good.

Glory is the sum of all God’s characteristics. It is all of His perfections or excellence.

When we come to know God for who He is and all of His greatness, we know that we will experience good from Him. No matter what our circumstances are we know God is at work for our good. This is because He is completely good and He is completely love. All this love and goodness is poured out upon us.

When life is hard, we have reason to rejoice! Because whatever hardship that God has allowed into our lives is working in us perseverance, character, and hope. More than all of this, we will experience God’s love, which is defined as His will to good for us!

When we trust God in impossible circumstances, we will find out that He is faithful! He never leaves us or abandons us. Each and every circumstance will deepen our understanding of God and grow our relationship with Him, if we will determine that our eyes will be fixed on Him.

We will “rejoice in hope!” We have hope that He is working here and now on our behalf. Romans 8:28 says He is working all things for our good.

We also have hope that when all is said and done, we will experience the ultimate good, eternity with Him!

Rejoice! No matter what God is for us!

James: Do Not Slander

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(Today is James 4)

“Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?”
‭‭James‬ ‭4‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Speak life!

Slander- . A false tale or report maliciously uttered. and tending to injure the reputation of another. (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)

We are to be careful of how we talk about others. If we slander, or speak evil, of others, we judge them. We also judge “the LAW” —The one law that Jesus stated that completed and fulfilled all the others: 

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.””
‭‭Mark‬ ‭12‬:‭30‬-‭31‬ ‭NIV‬‬

When we speak evil of our neighbor, or our spiritual family — brother or sister in Christ, we are not loving them as we would love ourselves. So we have judged the second of the greatest commandments, that Jesus stated, as irrelevant to us. We are not keeping it or obeying it!!

Loving our brother and sister is to desire to benefit them and prosper them and to act accordingly to that desire. It is action. When we love we “do.” We display that love by what we do and say.

Our words must be used to build up and encourage, NOT defame and destroy.

“Who am I to judge my neighbor?” Jesus didn’t instruct us to judge (condemn/ punish – Greek) our neighbor…

He told us to love!

Show Us The Father — Abandoned

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Abandoned — To give over entirely.

Today is Mark 14.

Jesus at any moment in His 33 years on earth could have changed His course to the cross. He knew exactly why He had came. He knew how this would all play out. He knew the rejection He would suffer. He knew the pain He would endure. Yet He “abandoned” Himself. He gave Himself over to the purpose of His Heavenly Father.

Over and over in this chapter He warned the disciples that He was going to suffer and die. But He chose to abandon His will that desired for His Heavenly Father to “take this cup” from Him. Then He spoke these words, “Yet not what I will, but what You will.” (Verse 36)

Jesus gave Himself. The Father gave His Son! (John 3:16). Our Heavenly Father abandoned, gave over entirely, His Son for us out of His love. When I consider this great love, my thoughts go to what my response should be.

In every situation and circumstance of my life, may I echo the words of my loving Savior. “Yet not what I will, but what You will.” My Heavenly Father gave without reservation His only Son. Jesus gave without reservation His very life. May I give without reservation EVERYTHING I am and live a life that is abandoned to God’s will!

Show Us the Father — Good Will Toward Men

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Today is Mark 1:21-45.

When teaching about the love of God, A. W. Tozer said, “First of all, love is the principle of good will. The angel sang, “good will towards men.” (Luke 2:14) Love always wills the good of its object and never wills any harm to its object.”

Jesus demonstrated God’s love in the words He spoke. “He taught them….”(verse 22) God knew that the best way for us to see Him and understand Him was for us to be taught by Him. His will towards us came out in every Word Jesus taught or preached.

Jesus demonstrated God’s love, His will for our good, when He healed the sick. “He healed many who were sick with various disease, and cast out many demons…” (verse 34) In fact, Jesus spoke the very intent of God’s heart towards us when approached by a leper desperate for Jesus to make him clean, free of the horrendous disease. Jesus said, “I will…” (verse 41) His divine determination was for that man’s good, to be made whole, “clean.”

Jesus is still demonstrating God’s love. As Paul wrote in Romans 5:8:

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
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Jesus is our Heavenly Father’s love demonstrated — His will for our good. He wants us to Know Him!

He wants us to know His love!

New Beginnings in the Book of Acts — Too Good to Not Believe!

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“They said to her, “You are out of your mind.”” Acts 12:18 ESV

Today is Acts 12.

Things were looking pretty bleak… Herod the king, had James the brother of John, killed. He was one of the 12 disciples that followed Jesus during His earthly ministry. He was Peter’s friend. Then Herod decided to arrest Peter too. BUT, “earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.”  (Verse 9)

Four squads of soldiers, chains, and the iron gates of the city are no match for God. An angel sent by God came to Peter and led him out of the prison and into the city. It was so incredible that Peter thought it was just a vision he was seeing until the angel left him, and he stood free in a street of a city.

When Peter arrived at Mary’s house, the servant girl who went to the door to answer his knocking was amazed and left him there outside. She reported the miracle to those inside, and they said, “You are out of our mind.”

God is a God of miracles! These miracles are “mind blowing”!  People who hear them may have a hard time believing that what has happened is true or could even occur. I have seen “mind blowing” miracles in my own life. God still works wonders that the world would tell you are impossible. For me, a woman held in the chains of a prison of anxiety — meds,  secular therapy, eastern meditation apps, mindfulness, you name it… I’ve probably tried it… has seen the chains drop off, walked passed the guards, and am standing totally free! Some may say, “you are out of your mind.” Because it doesn’t match the pattern of the world.  A person in prison should stay there… But God!

Earnest prayer was made on Peter’s behalf, and God answered! God is still the same! He answers prayer!

He is too good to not believe!

 

Wash Feet

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“Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”
‭‭John‬ ‭13‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬
“Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” John 13:1 NIV

When I was a kid I had to wear prescription orthopedic shoes. I had foot issues and my feet often hurt. Often there were times that my mom would sit by me on the couch in the evening and ask me if I would like for her to rub my feet. It always felt so good. She loved me and offered herself as a servant to me not only by rubbing my feet but all the other sacrifices she did.

Jesus loved His own. He wanted to teach them a very important lesson — to serve. Why? Because living our lives as a servant focused not on ourselves but on God and His will is the way to a blessed life. (Verse 17) So Jesus washed feet. He displayed humility and love to His disciples.

The truth is you and I are by nature selfish and self focused. When we come to Jesus and ask Him for a heart that is like His, He gives us a new heart. This heart enables us to become more and more like Jesus. It gives us the desire to be humble and loving as He is. He empowers us to no longer be focused on ourselves, but focused on God and pleasing Him.

In this life, there will be many who we encounter that come to us with dirty, stinky, hurting feet. May our hearts desire be as Jesus desired on that night. May we love, bow down onto our knees, and wash the feet — meet the needs — of those around us.

Jesus help me to wash the feet of others so I can be like you.

The Bible Book of the Month Club the Book of Mark — Mark 14:1-31

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Today is Mark 14:1-31 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”

The thing that stands out to me the most in this passage of scripture is the intimacy in relationship that Jesus had with His disciples. Jesus spent time with them eating meals.

Some of the most intimate times I have with my kids are our family dinners. When the food has been eaten, we remain at the table talking, laughing, and enjoying each others company. They are beautiful times.

I can imagine dinner with Jesus being the same. However the accounts of this passage have a more serious note. Jesus tells His best friends, those closest to Him, what is to come. He wants them to understand what happens when it does. What a beautiful Savior we have!

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever! He still wants to have that intimate fellowship with us. We are invited to His table where we can spend time with Him. He has sent that invitation to us! (Revelations 3:20) Our role is to come to Him and open the door of our hearts.

What is God showing you?
Post it below 👇👇👇

The Bible Book of the Month Club The Gospel of Mark — Mark 12:18-44

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Today is Mark 12:18-44 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”

How much is enough? This is the tendency of our fleshly hearts. We want enough of Jesus to make us comfortable with our lives, but we come without a desire to fully surrender. However, God doesn’t want a half-hearted devotion to Him. Jesus, Himself, tells us the greatest command:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’”
‭‭Mark‬ ‭12‬:‭30‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Love God with ALL!

There have been many times I have approached God with part of me… offering pieces of my time, my thoughts, my desires. That is such a miserable way to live.

If we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we are able to experience Him and His goodness fully. Anything short of wholehearted devotion to Him is a shallow relationship with God.

God desires for us to know Him intimately and experience Him moment by moment of every day. He wants us to give Him all of us because He is offering all of Him!

What is God saying to you today?
Post it below 👇👇👇

The Bible Book of the Month Club the Gospel of Mark — Mark 4:26-41

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Today is Mark 4:26-41 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”

“”Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”” Verse 41.

Crowds followed Jesus. Some followed out of curiosity. Some followed wanting to hear Him speak. Some followed looking for a miracle. Everywhere He went there was amazement over the words the people heard and the miracles they saw. The disciples were able to experience all that Jesus said and did on a personal level. I’m sure what they saw left them standing with their jaws dropped time after time.

In this section, Jesus does the impossible once again. I love the response of the disciples… “Who is this?”

Jesus is the same today as He was when He calmed the storm over 2000 years ago. Walking and talking with Jesus should leave us in a sense of amazement time after time. When He speaks to us and we see Him do the impossible in our lives we should respond the same way they did long ago, “Who is this? Even this is not too hard for Him.” You cannot experience God in a close relationship and not be left in awe of what He does!

God is a God of miracles! You may ask, “how can you say this with confidence?” I have seen them with my own eyes and experienced them time after time. I have been left saying, “Who is this? Even my storms of anxiety and fear, obey His voice of peace!” (This is just one miracle. There are so many more miracles I’ve seen and experienced. God is real!! 😉)

May we be left in awe time after time as we recognize the amazing things He does and is doing in our lives.

Testify!!

What is God showing you in today’s reading? Post it below 👇 👇👇

(Tomorrow’s reading is Mark 5:1-20)

We Stand Between Two Offers

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Make no mistake about it, we were made to receive. We will accept what is offered to us by one of two choices what God gives freely to us or what the world gives with a price we cannot afford to pay. To not choose God will by default be a choice to receive from the world. We will either know God in intimate relationship, or we will know the world and its ways in a destructive relationship with it, being shaped by its influence and receiving only what it gives.

Jesus spoke of the choice that we all must make and the fruits of that choice:

”“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”“ John 16:33 NIV
”The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.“ John 10:10 ESV

Jesus offers us a life filled with peace and life. The world offers us a life of trouble far from the relationship with our Creator, God, for which we are designed. What the world offers us will steal from us and destroy us. Ultimately it will kill us. Anything short of a living in a vibrant relationship with God is a life filled with death, darkness, and destruction.

It is important to take a look at what you are experiencing in your life. We can see that God created us for experience. He gave us our senses to hear, see, touch, taste and smell. He also has given us our spiritual senses to understand and know the things we cannot with our five outward senses. What are you experiencing within yourself? What you are experiencing reflects who you are receiving from.

If your life is a life of turmoil within— anger, anxiety, bitterness, fear, etc. You are being robbed from. You are being destroyed. Your connection with God is at the very least clogged, if not non existent making it impossible to receive from your loving Creator, God.

If your life is a life of peace, joy, and love. You are connected and receiving from God. You are experiencing a close relationship with the giver of all good things.

We have been given a choice of whom we will receive from. May our hearts long for a pure and free flowing connection to the one who generously gives life to those who will receive it, Jesus!