All tagged love
I was lifted up by the message and scripture of my devotional reading today. The scripture reading that blessed me so immensely was from 2nd Corinthians. And, as I read this scripture, the words of my devotional reading this morning echoed in them. They spoke to me of Jesus being the pattern of prayer, selfless, and the great intercessor who stands at the right hand of God... In this I could see a lesson in how we should all pray for others… it was a lesson in love, and in comforting others.
God never forsakes us. This is our contemplation this morning. Men will turn their backs on kings, and one another, but God never forsakes us, His People. We are asked to love Him with all our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength, because this is how He loves us, but do we understand and believe this to be absolutely true? Do we love our neighbors as we love ourselves? We are His people, and His inheritance, and as such we are priceless in His eyes.
The 2024 presidential election in the United States is over for another four years, and a new president has been elected, but this doesn’t mean that that our nation is at ease. Now begins the big job of healing that facilitates making peace within ourselves, and loving one another. Are we praying for our neighbors and enemies? Do we realize how important praying for them is when it comes to restoring tranquility, calm, and order to our country? Let’s think on this today, and pray as we should for one another.
Let’s consider the topic of "obeying God out of love" this morning. Love is a powerful emotion and leads us to our greatest heights. But unfortunately, when spurned, it has also causes some of our greatest pains, and failures as well. Fortunately, God never rejects our love or fails to recognize our obedience to His Word that flows from it. He rewards us, just as those of us who are in love do with one another; each longing to fulfill the other's desires, even if doing so comes at the expense of our own comfort or desire.
What does it mean to give ourselves to God? Are we prepared to become fully consecrated? These are questions for us to concentrate on this morning. Presenting ourselves to God and becoming spiritually focused rather than worldly centered. When we do this, our lives are changed and we become an example to others of the perfect will of God... we will reflect those attributes which set us apart as holy and righteous before a world of sin and compromise.
How do we come before the Lord? Do we come boldly, or timidly? Do we come in expectation or in doubt like a mistreated dog or a street beggar? Do we come in fear or with confidence? The answer to these and other similar questions lies in our relationship with the Lord, how well we know His character, and our faith in the promises He has made through His word. But most of all it depends on the strength of our love for Him and our understanding of the depth of His love for us. Those who know Him, love Him, honor His commandments, and follow Jesus our savior, enter into His presence with confidence and great expectation.
Jesus talks about keeping (being obedient to) His commandments in the book of John. He isn't talking about an obedience based on fear, but an obedience founded in love and a desire to follow Him. When we obey the biblical commandments out of love and not duty, Jesus will manifest Himself in us, and we will experience the love of God; a love like none other.
God doesn't force us to seek and worship Him; our freedom of choice is paramount in our relationship with Him because He desires a true, not contrived, relationship with us. We have asked ourselves many questions over the past years, not the least of them were… Have we dedicated ourselves to the Lord in such a way that we are considered consecrated? And, have our actions and prayers sought out righteousness and allowed God to sanctify us and make us holy? However, an equally important question is this… Do we love Him freely, just as He loves us?
This morning we explore a life of personal holiness and the prayer which leads us to it. If we pray continually, and seek God's presence, then the natural and inevitable result will be our consecration and eventual holiness.
Today our devotional study has to do with compassion. I was reading E.M. Bounds' thoughts and had to read these words several times "It is no sin to feel the pain and realize the darkness on the path into which God leads us. It is only human to cry out against the pain and desolation of the hour." Compassion is a gift to those who pray; it helps us feel the pains and remorse of those who we pray for, and it makes us aware of the basic nature of human kind as we pray for the return of Christ. It is encouraging to know that Jesus is not without compassion. He felt all of the emotion that we feel and yet He was without sin.
The troublemakers in our lives... E.M. Bounds spoke to this subject in his devotional this morning. He began by saying "Some troubles are human in origin. They arise from secondary causes. They originate with other people, but we are the sufferers." This is true, many of our day to day problems are caused by those around us. In life we will run across those who do us harm; some out of meanness, and others while trying to advance themselves at all cost. I have had my fair share of bullies in my life that were so full of anger that it was hard to see a glint of good in them, and I have also fallen victim to those whose great desire to advance themselves have hurt innocent people in the process. So how do we deal with this fact? Do we ask God to curse them, or perhaps to destroy them? Well Jesus tells us something much different... we are to love them.
This morning we continue to contemplate God's desire for us to commit our love, and lives, to Him. We revisit His desire for us to live and worship Him with zeal. Pastor E.M. Bounds describes the way we should pray in this way: "True prayer must be aflame." And he writes that "The Christian life and character need to be on fire." Today we return once again to Revelation 3 as being the principal scripture that describes God’s expectation of our devotion to Him.
This morning the title of the devotional that I read was "Love Grows as Gratitude Grows" and the author’s message was that as God answers prayer our gratitude grows which causes our love to deepen, then, as a result, our prayers themselves increase. Quite honestly I have never considered this type of relationship, between answered prayer, gratitude and love, to be true. My love for God has always been founded and centered on how powerful His love is for me, and that it is so intense, this incredible love He has for me, that He would sacrifice His only begotten son to redeem me. My love for God isn’t because I am grateful for this (although I am), it is a reflection of the love that He has for me.
What is it about The Golden Rule, and God's Law of Love that make them so hard for us to adhere to in certain situations? Perhaps we have forgotten what makes them so precious, or maybe they have faded in our memories. Just in case we might be unfamiliar, confused, or have forgotten what these rules are comprised of let’s revisit them by taking a refresher course this morning (I need one myself from time to time)... love is like all things, we must practice it if we are to keep it fresh in our lives.
A couple of days ago I wrote about those who are young in Christ, and how they energetically worked in the church and elsewhere but confused this with devotion. Today I would like for us to study a thought that E.M. Bounds wrote, and which takes this a step further as he speaks directly to the clergy, and to church workers. He is concerned about the enthusiasm for the physical activities becoming our focus at the expense of our prayer life and faith in general.