The Proof of OUR Love

Do you remember how it felt the first time you fell in love, the first time you wanted to spend every free moment with that special someone, how your thoughts revolved around nothing but that person, just the sound of their voice made butterflies in your belly. Or how about when you had your first child, that desire to protect and nurture your baby, the constant need to know that they were okay even while they were sleeping, the joy of watching them grow, the pride of seeing them learn and mature. What about the love we have for our parents, closest friends and even our pets? 

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

(1 Corinthians 13:1-7 MSG) 

I'm asking about love, because I want to ask a thought provoking question ~ do you love God as much as you love EVERYone and EVERYthing else in your life?  

It's easy to say without a doubt that yes we love God, but where does he come in our life? We tend to put the important things in our life at the front of our list - so does God actually show in the real world the same place as He does on your list? If we put God first on the list, do we start our day with Him? Do we say we love God as much as favorite TV shows, yet we schedule time for our shows but not for God? Is our time with God sound like a laundry list of wants and needs in a short prayer time?

Prayer isn't just a time of petition, it's a time to spend with God, talking to Him - just like you ask your child how their day was at school.  God wants us to take time out of busy days to spend with Him:  talk to Him, tell Him what's on our mind (yes He already knows, but that doesn't mean He doesn't delight in hearing from us), tell Him how much we love Him, tell Him 'Thank You' for all He's done for us. 

Reading God's Word is such an awesome way of getting to know God, talk about falling in love with God all over again!  When we read His Word, it is a love letter to each and everyone of us, it's a reminder of how much God loves us.  Time in the scriptures is time never wasted, we fill our spiritual tank up - we replenish what has been taken (drained) from us by this world.  

Serving others shows God's love - we're called to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  It’s impossible to do this living in our own little world, only attending church for an hour or two each week.  Jesus told us that we would be known by our fruits and He even went further to demonstrate that those who would cast out demons and performed miracles with His name could still NOT know Jesus!  

“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

(Matthew 7:20-23 NLT)

Love is an action, we need to show the world Jesus and what better way to share Jesus but by loving the world the way God loves us.

Overwhelmed or an Overcomer?

This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 

 Who is it that overcomes the world? 

Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

(1 John 5:4-5 NIV)

When we feel overwhelmed, we need to remember we are an overcomer.  When we made Jesus the Lord of our life, we became new creations in Christ, the Holy Spirit now resides in us and by faith we became children of God. This same spirit that rose Jesus from the dead now resides in us, is there any battle that we can fight that we wouldn't be victorious in?  If God would give His only Son as a perfect and blameless sacrifice, is there really any situation we could not endure? Jesus said it best himself... 

"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me.

Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.

But take heart, because I have overcome the world."

(John 16:33 NLT)

There are times when I look at my children and my heart feels like it could burst from the amount of love I have for them, and yet it's nothing compared to God's love for His children.  There's this amazing love that God has for us, that I can't even begin to imagine. I'm in so much awe of His love for me, one of a few billion people on this earth and yet the Creator of the Universe knows my name, He knows everything about me, He knows my thoughts, and He still loves me.  What I think of love cannot even be compared to God's love for us - I mean God IS love, He created it, He knows it and He doesn't withhold it.  

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son

into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.

This is real love - not that we loved God,

but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

(1 John 4:9-10 NLT)

So this amazing, loving God - that sent His Son to take away my sins - He didn't do all this for me to be overwhelmed by life's challenges, to live in despair, or live fearfully.  No this awesome God, full of compassion, mercy and grace gave me everything I need to live as an overcomer: a life where battles may be fought, but the victory will always be mine, because I'm an overcomer!

 Fear not [there is nothing to fear], for I am with you; 

do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. 

I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you; 

yes, I will hold you up and retain you with My [victorious] right hand of rightness and justice.

                                         (Isaiah 41:10 Amplified) 

Live Fearless

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.  

(2 Timothy 1:7 AMP)

Fear and anxiety are from the enemy, they have no place in a spirit filled Christian’s life. When the feeling of dread and despair come upon us, we have to shut it down immediately before it spreads. 

Using the Amplified Bible, I searched the keyword ‘fear’ and there were 485 instances throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament.  God knew fear would be a problem for us, so He wanted to make sure we were prepared to fight it.   

Fear is a flesh response to a situation or even a possible issue.  When we are rooted in God’s Word, we are already prepared to fight, we can rebuke what the enemy has sent and claim scriptures that God has for us.  As we call out fear and tell ‘it’ (‘it’ being used in place of whatever ‘fear’ we are dealing with - sickness, financial problems, relationship issues, etc.) that we refuse to accept it in our lives.  We are not sticking our head in the sand and denying our circumstances; we are claiming God’s protection over what the enemy is throwing at us.  

When we are tempted to be fearful, cling to the rest of the verse and remember we already have this within us:

spirit of power

   But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.  (1 John 4:4), 

spirit of love

  Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear.  (1 John 4:18) 

and of self-control

  But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

(Galatians 5:22-23)

Remember to cling to God’s promises not the problems from the enemy.

Be strong and courageous. 

Be not afraid or dismayed before {your FEAR}, 

for there is Another with us greater than [all those] with {your FEAR}.

With {your FEAR} is an arm of flesh, 

but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.

(2 Chronicles 32:7-8, {substituted})

Doing our Chores for God

Have you ever felt like God has called you to do something, but have felt you didn’t have what was needed to accomplish this purpose? Have you ever been sidetracked in the task God set before you? Have you thought that obstacles along the way were from God?

As a parent, I give my children chores.  I expect them to do be done in a certain time frame and I expect them to be done well.  I sometimes will even give my sons chores to do that they don’t understand (like, cleaning out the dogs water dish and then refilling it with clean water, this makes no sense to them). I admit my kids are like most children, they’d rather not have to do their chores, they will procrastinate and put the chores off as much as possible, usually some complaining and whining is involved.  I always make sure that whatever tools are needed for the chores are given as well. I’ve also never felt the desire to go and interrupt their work or sidetrack them with something else. 

You can probably see where I’m going with this - as God’s children - the tasks He has given us, technically, could be seen as our ‘chores’.  Each child of God has a purpose, we have many chores that can be involved with this purpose.  God called me to start this blog and Facebook page - I might not be able to see what God’s grandmaster plan behind this is, but He knows.  Honestly, sometimes I will kick my feet around in the dirt, find something else to do (anything else to do) instead of my chore, seriously - it must be a fleshy thing!  We all will avoid our chores, trying to put off what we know we should do, but for some reason we just don’t want to - everything else looks better, we can get ourselves busy with other stuff, trying to preoccupy our time, we can even find ‘good’ things to do - but if it’s not the task we were given, it’s still disobedience.  

Sometimes obstacles happen - I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come down with a cold, sinus infection, migraine, or injury when I was close to completing a chore.  I know that all are just arsenal the enemy uses when he's trying to get me off track.  The devil has a reason to keep us all away from completing our chores, he knows he loses in the end - so he’s bound and determined to mess up whatever glory is waiting;  he has one purpose and he will ‘lie, steal and destroy’ to keep us from ours.

We’re not waging war against enemies of flesh and blood alone. No, this fight is against tyrants, against authorities, against supernatural powers and demon princes that slither in the darkness of this world, and against wicked spiritual armies that lurk about in heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12 Voice)

Any purpose God has given us, He’s equipped us with everything we need (including the weapons to defeat the enemy - Armor of God, Ephesians 6:10-18). So if I felt that it was God who led me to write, I can’t say in the same breath that he hasn’t given me anything to write about. We’re talking about the God of plenty - there is no lack, no need, no anything that He can’t supply.

And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19 AMP)

When my sons finish their chores, they’ve always said to me, “Didn’t I do a good job, Mom”,  and I can see the bigger picture now - like a proud parent telling their children yes they are proud and yes they did do a good job - that's all I'm looking forward to hearing one day too.  You see, I’m doing my chores for my Heavenly Father and one day all I hope to hear is, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”, that’s really all the encouragement I need.

Painting by Silvia Barbosa://youth.mahanaim.ca/ministries/art-ministry/prophetic-art/