Posted by:
Mikki
| Comments
…love one another fervently with a pure heart. 1 Peter 1:22
Let brotherly love continue. Hebrews 13:1
If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4: 11
By this will all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35
The fruit of the Spirit is love… Galatians 5:22
Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:8
If love were always easy, then perhaps the Word wouldn’t give us so many admonitions about it. Over and over again we are told to love. Love God. Love one another. Love ourselves.
The war over love is really a war over our hearts. Many things can fill our hearts. Strife, hatred, anger, lust, greed, bitterness. The Word teaches us that whatever is in our hearts will come forward in our words and in our actions.
Romans 5:5 says that the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and then goes on to remind us that God demonstrated His love for us in that WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS, Christ died for us.
We can add fuel to the fire of love in our hearts by humbly reflecting on how Christ gave his all to show us God’s love for us. The realization that God loved us while we were completely lost in our sins, when as to yet, we had done nothing for him, yet His pure undeserved love poured out for us and gave Christ as a sacrifice because God so longed to have us, to be in relationship with us – that revelation can and should fan into flame the fire of love on our hearts.
Would you stop for a moment and think about how God gave His love for you? Would you ask the Father to blow on the embers of your heart and fan into flame His love? Would you ask Him to show you who you can love better? Would you ask Him how you can love better?
Read more...
Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..
Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin
Posted by:
Mikki
| Comments
The cross was confusing for the disciples. Although Jesus had shared with them what would happen to him, they had no context for understanding. All they knew at their present moment was that their leader was gone and that all they had given the last three years of their life for now seemed to be destroyed. They were afraid and disillusioned to say the least. The events of the last week just didn’t fit into any paradigm of thinking that they had. They had gone from Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem to seeing his dead body upon a cross. They had experienced the joy of the crowds shouting, “Hosanna”. They had experienced utter confusion, pain, and doubt as they watched their leader crucified.
It had been a roller coaster week.
Their emotions were spent.
Their physical bodies were exhausted.
Their minds were confused.
Yet God was right in the midst of it all.
How Jesus must have longed to rescue them from the hours of pain during those days just as a parent longs to rescue their child from pain. Yet at times, we who are parents know that we must not rescue our child from their present difficulty – not just yet. The journey is important. In fact, it is a requirement.
After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to them, “And their eyes were opened and they knew Him.” Luke 24: 31
“And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.” Luke 24:45
At the right moment, Jesus gave them understanding. It didn’t come from their own resources. It came from Christ. It clicked just like when a combination on a lock clicks into place and the lock opens.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit can do that for us. And when it happens, you know it. The treasures of the safe become available to you.
I wish I could tell you that the rest of the story was an easy, pain-free ride for the disciples. It wasn’t. But it was one of great adventure as the disciples became literal world-changers. Many more times, they would need their understanding to be opened. And such is the life of faith.
As we participate in this time of fasting, may we embrace the journey of faith for whether we find ourselves in dark, confusing days or in days of joy and celebration, God is right there in the middle of it all with us. As we seek to follow Him, we can rest in the assurance that at the right moment He will open our understanding.
Read more...
Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..
Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin
Posted by:
Mikki
| Comments
Do you keep little notes and cards that people have given you? I have notes from my husband and children and friends that I keep in a special place. I have messages on my phone that I don’t erase. While I may not consciously think about the scripture “The power of life and death are in the tongue”, my actions almost always tell me that it is true.
I have a note on my desk that my husband wrote to me this year. In fact, I have an entire box of love letters that he and I wrote to each other over 30 years ago when we were dating.
I keep a note in my purse that my son Andrew wrote to me for Mother’s Day one year. I have a message saved on my phone from my son Elliott because it captures his sweet heart as he tells me he loves me. I keep a card from my daughter Kara Beth which expresses her heart for me. I have a note from my son Nathan that pictures his love for me. I have a card my brother wrote for me right before I got married.
My friends and I laugh at each others and say we are “wordy” girls or “wordsmiths”. We love a good card or a book that reads us. Read more...
Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..
Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin
Posted by:
Mikki
| Comments
Life can throw us in the ditch sometimes. Whether it be circumstances beyond our control, our own foolishness, the cruelty of others, or a combination of things that knock us off the horse we are riding, we’ve all found ourselves in the proverbial ditch. At times, our wounds are minor and the ditch is shallow, and we manage to get out by ourselves. At other times, our injuries are life-threatening and without intervention, we are as good as dead.
Scripture teaches us that as believers we can bear each other’s burdens. Then it says that by doing so we fulfill the law of Christ. It’s a sort of hidden backlink. When we seek to bear another’s burdens, we somehow mysteriously fulfill the law Christ has given us. Most of know that even the sound of the word “law” in the Bible can conjure up thoughts of judgment and failure. The law itself leads us to know that we cannot fulfill it. Yet when Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament law, he laid down another law – one that is higher in origin and even more difficult to fulfill because it involves the denying of self and the giving of one’s self to others. But the beautiful mysterious part of this law is that when we cease being caught up in promoting our own agenda and begin to seek to really care about others, in some mysterious way beyond our human understanding – the higher law is fulfilled and our own needs began to be beautifully met. This is somewhat of a paradox so stay with me; I’m not finished with this train of thought. Read more...
Enjoy this post? Share it with your friends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button..
Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin
