Love

Recently I took the bible study “Living Beyond Yourself” by Beth Moore. This study looks at the Fruit of the Spirit talked about in Galatians. The first quality or fruit is love. Beth Moore addresses the topic of love by talking about the possibility of rejection. When you love someone you take a chance that you might be rejected. I have thought about this topic for a few weeks now. Even the possibility of letting someone know you like them you take the risk that maybe they won’t feel the same way about you. I by nature am not a risk taker. I like to know the answer and know exactly where I am going. This attitude has sometimes hindered me in my spiritual life as well as in my relationships and career. I am by trade a bookkeeper. A very conservative job where there is normally a logical answer to every problem. I have in the past been wounded by rejection and still bear the scars from it. I got to thinking about how Christ knows what it is like to be rejected. Isaiah 53:3 says, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Can you imagine the King of kings and Lord of lords rejected? Christ Jesus bears some of the same scars as we do when it comes to rejection, yet He loved anyway. He loved all the way to the cross. Laying down His life so that we could be forgiven. The Bible says love covers a multitude of sins and in our case His love covers all of our sins. Oswald Chambers said “No love of the natural heart is safe without being satisfied by God first.” Our heart is not safe unless God has satisfied us first. Letting God love us, and accepting His forgiveness, is the way to have a healthy heart and provides a foundation for us to love others. Loving like the Lord loves, with agape love. The Greek language has many words it uses to express love. When the Bible talks about God’s love for us, it is said to be agape. Which means to love with best interest in mind, an esteeming love. “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.” 1 John 4:16-17 Maybe today we could let Him lavish His love on us or we can let the love of Christ show to others.

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19

Lori

Peace

In a recent study I did of the Fruit of the Spirit I the quality of peace really struck me. When we look at the world around is we see little peace. There are countries against countries all the way down to family members versus family members. We live in an unstable world, where can we go to find peace? Ephesians 2:13-14 says “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace…” As the verse says Jesus is our peace. During his ministry Jesus was followed constantly by crowds of needy people. They desired his attention, his miraculous touch and his amazing teaching. He in human flesh at times grew tired. There are several times in the Bible it talks about Jesus withdrawing to a quiet place to pray. We can find peace in prayer and spending time in God’s word. I love the Psalms. David expresses his inner most feelings and pain. I like to read the Psalms when I am feeling overwhelmed and feel as if I am lacking peace. I take comfort in the words of David as he expresses the good and the bad of his life. I believe prayer is one of the best ways of regaining the feeling of peace. Sometimes when things are bothering us we just need to talk things through and that’s part of prayer just discussing what is on our heart with God. In John 6:1-15 we read the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. He used five barley loaves and two fish and was able to meet everyone’s needs. I love how Beth Moore in her study “Living Beyond Yourself” related this story to God’s peace. She made these points that we should consider. The first thing is Jesus made them aware of their need. Sometimes God has to make us aware of our need. We live in such a fast paced and hectic world it takes coming to a point that things are piling up around us and we are overwhelmed before it is clear what we need. The second thins is Christ took what they had. I love that we can come to Him when we are running on empty and He meets us where we are. No scolding, no guilt. Christ also placed the people in a posture to receive. He had them sit down. Sometimes we need to get in a place where we can receive from God. If we ask I believe He can grant us peace in a moment’s notice, yet for a consistent life of peace we need to be in a place where we can receive from Him. Then finally Jesus gave them more than they could ask or imagine. Ephesians 3:20 tells us that is what He wants to do for us in our life. Peace in this world is attainable. It’s keeping our mind focused on Him. Isaiah 26:3 says “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” Our mind focused and stayed on Him, for He himself is our peace.

Lori

Fig Leaves, Part II

Yesterday we looked at the concept of hiding from relationships, yet sometimes we also try to hide from God. We may have fallen into a sin and we are ashamed and we have guilt and yet we try to cover over it with some sort of “fig leaf”. We have a barrier between God and ourselves. Here is what David said in Psalm 32: 5 “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” David decided to come clean with the Lord and not “cover” up his sin. He let nothing come between God and himself. Isn’t that the way to live? A life of nothing to hide before God, a life of being able to come to God and confess things so we don’t have to carry around guilt and shame? So, if we have a barrier between God and ourselves how do we get it removed? First, I think we need to go back to Psalm 32:5. We need to acknowledge to God that we tried to put things between Him and us. We need to confess it to Him and let Him know that is not the kind of relationship we want with Him. God wants us to be close to Him. He wants to care for and love us. God is love. Next, we have to recognize those feelings of wanting to hide from God. Ask Him to make you aware when a situation comes that will make you want to get out the fig leaves and cover yourself. We also need to make sure we are reading our Bible and spending time with God. By knowing God and His heart we will come to know that we can bring anything to Him and that is what He wants. Do not let past bad experiences rob you of the joy of having relationships with God or with others. “Come near to God and he will come near to you…” James 4:8

Lori

Ephesians 2:8

If you were asked to give the definition of the word grace, how would you answer? Grace is a word that conjures up all sorts of images in our minds. We can look at a gymnast or ballerina and say they are graceful. The word can also mean the blessing given before a meal is eaten. We say grace. Sometimes creditors give us a grace period to meet a financial obligation. Webster’s dictionary uses words such as approval, favor, mercy or pardon to describe the word grace. We sing the song Amazing Grace. Yet, what does the word mean to us as Christians? What does it mean to those who are perishing, that do not know Jesus? Looking at some of our great Bible heroes we find that some of them were adulterers, murderers and even torturers of believers. Yet, God by His grace forgave them and restored them. Paul’s life was changed forever and he went on to be a great missionary and spread the gospel to those he once persecuted. David was called a man after God’s own heart even after a season of adultery and having a man murdered. God extended forgiveness and restored these men because of His grace. What can we say about the grace that God has extended to us? He sent His son Jesus Christ for our salvation, to cover all of our sins. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” It is by grace that we have been saved. The amazing part is that grace is a gift from God. We can do nothing to earn it, our part is to just receive it. Praise God today for His awesome gift.
Lori