Loving One Another

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:7-12 HSCB

There have been times in my life when I’ve thought, “Okay, everybody in the world is stupid. I don’t need anyone but God, so I’ll just make sure everything is good between the two of us and then I can just ignore other people altogether.” I’ve pictured myself as some type of wild looking hermit monk who lived in isolation being content to worship God without any contact with other people. Even though I would often like for that to be my reality, it just isn’t God’s plan.

God designed us to love Him and to love one another. He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to earth to make a way for us to have an eternal relationship with Him. God wants us to love each other as He loves us. Loving one another means more than simply being nice to each other. It means digging deep into each others lives, being open with each other, exploring the good and the bad parts of one another and then loving each other as Jesus would.

Are you ready to love others as Jesus loves you? If so, pray and ask God to show you someone with whom you need to build a relationship.

God, thank You for loving me so much that You sent Jesus to earth to pay the penalty for my sins. Teach me to love others as much as You love me so that Your love might be perfected in me.

To learn a little more about loving one another, read 1 John 3:16-24.

Course of My Life

The course of my life is in Your power; deliver me from the power of my enemies and from my persecutors. Psalm 31:15 HCSB

Have you ever really needed help? Have you ever had to run for your life? Have you ever been in the place where you felt as if all would be lost if someone amazing didn’t lend you a hand? Have you ever needed a hero?

Read Psalm 31:14-25 and focus on verse 15.
Why did David, the writer of this Psalm, need help in verse 15?
What did David say contained the course of his life?
What do these verses teach you about the power of the Lord?
Are you afraid of something? Have you talked to God about it? Why or why not?

David was a man who encountered many enemies. As a shepherd boy, he faced lions and bears. As a young man, he faced Goliath in battle. Later, he faced King Saul who chased him across the country. As an older man, he faced his son Absalom, who tried to steal his kingdom from him. David knew what it was like to have enemies. However, David also understood that God was in control.

No matter what troubles we may face, we need to remember that God is in control. He is greater than any enemy or any problem that we may encounter. The course of our lives is in His power.

Mind Reader

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14 HCSB

Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings – always darker, emptier, and simpler. Friedrich Nietzche*

Have you ever wondered how life would be different if you were able to hear the thoughts of other people? What would it be like to know the real price of a vehicle in the dealer’s head? How would your life be different if you could read the mind of every teacher who ever asked the class a verbal question? How would your marriage be different if you could read the thoughts of your spouse?

Now let’s put a twist on the above questions.

How would you do business if you knew the other person could hear your thoughts? If your teachers and mentors always knew what you were thinking, would you try to think different thoughts? What type of marriage would you have if your spouse could always read your mind?

God knows what we are thinking all the time. Since that is the case, what type of thoughts should we be thinking?

Lord, have Your way in my thoughts.

*thinkexist.com

His Ears

I called to the Lord in my distress, and I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry to Him reached His ears. Psalm 18:6 HCSB

When the thunder shakes the mighty hills and trembles ev’ry tree, Then I know a God so great and strong can surely harbor me. Barbara Fowler Gaultney*

Sometimes in life, terrible things happen. Everything seems fine, then suddenly unexpected bills arrive, tires go flat, health problems arise, family members go crazy, and friends turn their back on you. During these times, you may be surrounded by hundreds of people but you constantly feel hopelessly alone. You begin to cry from confusion as you realize that you’ve never quite been in this situation before. Through your tears, you see that there’s no safety net, no personal flotation device, no phone a friend, and no help available. You need a Savior. So, finally, at the end of yourself, you cry out to God for help. Even in His temple, He hears your faint voice calling to Him. He will come and save you.

Lord, thank You for always hearing me.

*My Lord Is Near Me All The Time

Before The Throne

“Our Lord and God, You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because You have created all things, and because of Your will they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:11 HCSB

“When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus, We’ll sing and shout the victory.” Eliza E. Hewitt*

According to Revelation, there is a throne in heaven. The One who sits on the throne is surrounded by a rainbow that resembles an emerald. Before the throne is a sea of glass and seven fiery torches. Thunder, rumblings, and flashes of lightning all emanate from the throne. Four creatures around the throne never stop proclaiming the holiness of God. Whenever the creatures give praise to the Lord, 24 elders bow before the throne and worship. In total submission, they remove their crowns and present them to God, the One who sits on the throne.

When we get to heaven, we will celebrate the victory! In total submission and without pretense, we will fall down and worship the One who lives forever and ever.

Lord, You are worthy! I worship You.

*When We All Get To Heaven

Sometimes

If the God we serve exists, then He can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He can rescue us from the power of you, the king. But even if He does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up. Daniel 3:17-18 HCSB

Sometimes questions are more important than answers. Nancy Willard*

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood up to King Nebuchadnezzar, so he had them thrown into a huge fiery furnace. The Lord intervened and they were saved. In fact, the Bible indicates in Daniel 3:27 that not a hair of their heads was singed.

John the Baptist spoke against King Herod, who threw him into prison. Jesus said of John in Luke 7:28 that among those born of women no one is greater than John. However, Jesus did not intervene and John was later beheaded.

Sometimes God works miracles. Sometimes He allows bad things to happen. Regardless, we are called to serve Him and worship Him with our very lives, no matter what the consequences might be.

Lord, help us to serve you no matter what the consequences.

*thinkexist.com

See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure. Malachi 3:10b HCSB

Thro’ days of toil when heart doth fail, God will take care of you; Civilla D. Martin*

Several years ago, my wife Kathy and I spent a year as missionaries in Central Asia. As our time of service was coming to an end, we realized that we were almost out of money. Our plane tickets were being provided, but we had no money for the three days of travel and layovers in four different countries. We didn’t know what to do, so we prayed hard that God would provide. Three days before we were to leave, as we were sorting through our belongings, I came across a collapsible bag full of toilet paper. I wanted to keep the bag, so I dumped out the toilet paper onto a pile on our bed. As I looked at the mound of toilet paper, I was stunned. There, on top of the pile was $2,000 in cash. God had provided for us in a mighty way.

Lord, thank You for taking care of us.

*God Will Take Care of You