Love of God

2 Corinthians 13:14 New International Version (NIV)

14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

1 John 3:1 New International Version (NIV)

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

God loves his creation both human and animal.  Though we think his love is fickle at times, it is not.  He never changes, he always loves us! It is our choice to believe in his love.  He wants to love on you today.  Will you let him?

 

 

Washing of water by the Word of God

Ephesians 5:25-27  (NKJV)  

“25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”

The part of this Scripture passage that has been resonating in my heart this past two weeks is “the washing of water by the Word”.  That phrase kept going through my mind and heart.  The Word of God can wash my heart and soul to become more like Jesus.  I decided to look that passage up to get the whole picture of what the Lord was telling us.  To my surprise, I had forgotten it was dealing with family relationships.

Biblical Marriage Attitudes

To break it down to where we live now, Paul was telling the husbands to love their wives in the same way Jesus loves us.  He then lists some of the things Jesus did to show that love:

  1. He love the Church
  2. He gave Himself for her
  3. He sanctifies and cleans her by the Word of God
  4. He is planning to present her to Himself all gloriously clean, without any sins, faults or blemishes.
  5. His work in our lives cause us to become holy without blemish

This makes loving a wife a big deal.  Men are to love their wives with a pure heart of love like Jesus has.  They are to give themselves to God for her sake.  They are for live a sanctified life before her to help her become clean and pure before God.

Kind of a long list for mere mortal men.  Yet, with Holy Spirit on his side, a man can become that kind of husband.  He can become centered in his acceptance by God, his foundation built on the Word of God in order to not be reactive instead of proactive in his marriage.  Unfortunately, men in the world today are shown as idiots on TV, failures in cartoons and most comedies are a total mockery of true manhood.  Compared to Biblical manhood what we see in media platforms are pitiful, worn down men or total brutes.  Neither is a man after Jesus’ lifestyle.  Though he never married, he treated women with respect and kindness.

The Scripture before this one tells the wife to submit to her husband, as to the Lord.  What makes it hard for most of us women, is a lot of men don’t act much like the Lord Jesus.  God’s best plan is for a unified marriage.  Each partner having strengths the other doesn’t have making a stronger union.  When we marry thinking we have to fight for our position, we miss the whole point.  All of us are to live a life submitted to God the Father, in the Name of Jesus by the power of Holy Spirit.  We are not in this union alone, when we ask God to be our partner.  He created us and knows where each of us are coming from and how to make us truly become one in Him.

My prayer this week is for all of us who have a husband or wife to ask the Lord to reveal areas that need His healing touch and help to change.  He is the Waymaker, Peace Giver and Healer.

Come closer to the Lord Yahweh

James 4:8  (TPT)

Move your heart closer and closer to God, and he will come even closer to you. But make sure you cleanse your life, you sinners, and keep your heart pure and stop doubting.

We see by these words from the Bible, the choice is always ours to draw to God or to receive His drawing call in our lives.  God’s heart is always open to us.  It is we, ourselves who draw back in shame or rebellion.  Take a chance today and open your heart to receive His great love for you.

God So Loved the World

God’s Loved Revealed

1 John 4:9-10 J.B. Phillips New Testament 

“9-10 To us, the greatest demonstration of God’s love for us has been his sending his only Son into the world to give us life through him. We see real love, not in that fact that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to make personal atonement for our sins.”

We find God’s love for the world revealed through the giving of His son Jesus to save us from eternal damnation.  Jesus came by His own free will, died on the cross of Calvary in our place to make the Atonement for sin, thereby releasing the forgive of the Father God unto all mankind.

It is our faith in those actions that releases Salvation into our lives.  The moment we say yes to Jesus, accept Him as Lord and Savior, we are now forgiven and accepted by God as sons and daughters.  Our faith in Him, is our pathway to God.

John 3:14-21 NKJV

“14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should [c]not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

 

Love Includes Honor

Love Includes Honor

When we speak of love, we need to look at some of the traits of love.  Pastor Dennis Langford asked us recently what we were doing to prove our love for the Lord.  If we have to provide proof of our love what does that entail?   Could we show our works of love?  Have we invested our hearts in others to prove we care?

One trait that really gets ignored in some love relationships is honor.  Honor and respect seem to be missing in some of our relationships.  It seems we take for granted that the recipient of our love automatically knows we love them.  We seem shocked if they question our love for them.  When analyzing my own love walk toward others, one of the things the Lord brought to my attention was the lack of showing honor and respect to and for others.

Honor is to regard another person with admiration and respect.  When we freely express both in our hearts and outwardly this admiration, it opens a new avenue of love.  No one wants to be disrespected or made to feel “less than” in another person’s life.  Even a stranger on the street deserves the consideration of respect.  If we treat our family, spouse and Christian brothers and sisters with a lack of honor and respect, we are actually treating Jesus that way.  We are His representatives here on the earth and everything we do reflects on Him.

What about dishonorable people?

We may say, “What if they are not honorable?”  Jesus treated all of us as though we were the best reason for being.  Those in our personal circle deserve our utmost respect and honor, if only because they have accepted us into their lives.  They love us in spite of all our quirkiness and unlovely parts.  When we can show our love by openly honoring their words to us, the many things they do for us and the love they give us freely, we are acting like Jesus.  We are also leading by example to those who don’t know how to walk the walk of honor and respect.  May our hearts start opening up to actively showing honor to those in our love circle.

Here are some Scripture verses about honor:

Deuteronomy 5:16

Honor thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Proverbs 3:9

Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase:

Proverbs 11:16

A gracious woman retaineth honor: and strong men retain riches.

Proverbs 14:31

He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoreth him hath mercy on the poor.

Proverbs 21:21

He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honor.

1 Timothy 5:3

Honor widows that are widows indeed.

1 Timothy 5:17

Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.

Hebrews 13:4

Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

1 Peter 2:17

Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.