Posts tagged ‘love’
Loving Your Neighbor
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27 NIV)
Dear Heavenly Father, the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. Help us to be prayerful of opportunities that allow us to reach out to the people living in our neighborhoods. Perhaps a neighbor is lonely, has lost a loved one recently, has been sick, have children in diverse difficulties, need help with a task or errand, are searching for God’s purpose and some we could witness to.
There are people we encounter daily in the grocery store, in our children’s school, in our workplace, or at the social club we frequent who we’ve not thought as being our neighbor. They may need a listening ear, an encouraging word or an invitation to attend church with us. Help us remember them in prayer and offer help when possible.
Finally, Lord, help us to forgive with your love the neighbors who have mistreated, taken advantage of, hated, cursed or robbed us. If we have done any of the aforementioned, forgive us and help us to do good in restitution. May we be a blessing to them and your Holy Name. Amen.
Loving Family
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35 NIV)
Lord, God, loving family includes our children, parent(s), brother(s), sister(s), in-laws, step-children or step-parent, distant relatives and those who are in our church family as well.
Help us to be patient, kind and forgiving when they are difficult or almost impossible.
Help us model Christ-likeness in our giving, church attendance, and extra-curricular activities.
Help us repent of a habit contrary to the role-model we are to be.
Lead us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
Help us with the chores we do for family members, however menial or unpleasant.
Lead us to show love and kindness by sending a card, making time for and bonding with family members, blessing them with homemade goods or gifts to cheer when they are in need and on occasion performing one of their tasks unexpectedly.
Give us direction as we offer our service to the church.
Help us to have special times of prayer for family members who are unsaved.
Give us a desire to read your Word daily and spend time before your throne of grace in prayer. Fill us with your Presence, and help us serve them with a glad heart.
May we be faithful to pray for guidance for our loved ones to become who and what you have created them to be.
Finally, Lord, forgive us when we have been an ineffective witness because we displayed undesirable behavior toward our family.
Forgive us when we’ve been harsh, abusive, spiteful, jealous, covetous, hurtful, unloving, unyielding, unkind, and unfaithful.
Reform us into the family members that bring glory to you.
In Jesus name, Amen.
Loving God
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30 NIV)
Help us, dear Lord, to have hearts that are free to love you as you have requested in your Holy Word.
Reveal to us any secret sin that may cause deception, thereby keeping us from loving you as we should.
Forgive us our trespasses through your Son, Jesus, and purify our souls.
For when our souls are pure and holy, our minds can think according to your Word.
As we meditate on your Word, we find comfort, hope, peace, direction, illumination, wisdom, knowledge and strength.
In your Presence, there is fullness of joy, and the joy of the Lord is our strength.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, that you loved us so much that you gave your Son, Jesus, to the whole world as part of your plan of redemption and Eternal Life.
Thank you Jesus, for the love you gave to each of us in that you went to the cross and you took our sins upon you, though you were without sin. You sacrificed your life in order that we may have the remission of sins and the gift of your Holy Spirit. Thank you for the hope of your promise that we’ll one day have the privilege of living with you for eternity.
We love because you first loved us, and it is your love that flows through us.
God is love and he who abides in God, abides in love, and God in him.
Help us love you more and serve you better than we did the day before.
In Jesus name, Amen.
“Ain’t Misbehavin”
The title to this song with its catchy tune has recently side-tracked me to find it on-line and I railed it up over to this blog.
The first time I heard it was many years ago while watching a BW movie called “Stormy Weather”, starring Lena Horne and Cab Calloway.
This past week, I again encountered the title, but it was in my thoughts as I reflected on waiting until marriage to enjoy the fruits of love.
“Ain’t misbehaving’. I’m saving all my love for you.”
Many would say I’m old-fashioned and that times have changed, in fact, the majority of singles at some point in their lives have skipped the ceremony and rushed to the honeymoon.
I don’t want to appear as if I have always honored my parental and moral upbringing that can be found in the following passages of the New Testament. (I Corinthians 6:9-11 and 18-20 NIV)
Having sex before marriage is sin.
I like to think of keeping sex inside of the bounds of Holy Matrimony as the safe zone. Outside that protective boundary it is hazardous emotionally, physically and spiritually.
So, in a similar way, the words sung by Fats Waller, “I’m happy to be up on the shelf”, is how I feel. That part of love I put up on the shelf for the proper time.
Honoring God brings peace and happiness to my soul. If you are single and in a relationship, I hope you will choose a godly lifestyle and wait until marriage to delight in the gift of sex. You will never regret it.
I’m glad I can’t get the phrase of this song out of my head. “Ain’t misbehavin’, I’m saving all my love for you”. I rather fancy singing my choice.
Perhaps you will savor listening to the recording of “Ain’t Misbehavin” sung by Fats Waller in the video I’ve pasted below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=97Wwhe9Hx_w
Sowing Seed
About this time of year, in the colder regions where some of us live, many people come down with a case of cabin-fever. You know, the blahs, doldrums, sick and tired of this cold, dreary weather that is putting its damp on my style. Among the remedies for cabin-fever featured on television are construction projects, home improvement ideas and beautifully landscaped displays resembling the Garden of Eden. I, myself, begin to dream of the possibilities of what the planting season will bring and get the “green-thumb urge” to go out into the fresh air wearing my work clothes, gloves and boots and begin sowing seed.
Jesus spoke of sowing seed that is of a spiritual nature but illustrated it so simply in the Parable of the Sower. “As he was scattering seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop-a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.” Matthew 13:4-9 NIV
I thought about this passage many times before, but in regards to the context of verse nine; primarily how much of a crop is produced. Recently, a friend spoke to me about my writing and the neighborhood ministry I had been working on for the past several years. She expressed how I had let it fall by the wayside. I couldn’t get the phrase, “fall by the wayside” out of my mind so I googled it . There in verse four of the King James Version, I read a similar expression, “some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up.” I’ve thought about the neighbors/readers who may have been searching for Christ, and how I neglected sowing the seed of love. How many opportunities to reach out to them fell by the wayside? I’ve resumed writing and have gotten the “green-thumb urge” spiritually to plant the seed of love by helping others in my neighborhood find peace, love and forgiveness through Jesus.
I encourage those of you who read this post to think about how God may want you to sow seed. Do you sense an urgency to do something God has planned for you alone to do? Perhaps you have a desire to visit the sick, work the line in a soup kitchen, donate clothes that you don’t need to those who have little, or reach out to a neighbor. Perhaps you have an emptiness within, the blahs or lack an interest in spiritual things? Are the activities in your schedule crowding out time that could be spent serving God? Do you hear God calling you to plant seed for his kingdom so it will produce a crop that is a hundred, sixty or thirty times greater than what was sown? Let’s get busy about his business of planting seed.
Father, help us make you our priority each day. Forgive us for missed opportunities and help us sow the seed you’ve given us while it still may be planted in the hearts of men and women.
Gallery
The Blackberry Harvest Part-4
HOW DO YOU STAY CONNECTED TO JESUS AND BEAR MUCH FRUIT?
I think the answer to the above question is simply given in God’s Holy Word, the Bible.
John 15: 4 states, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
The concept of the vine and the branches is used because it refers to the relationship between the source-which Jesus is portraying himself as the vine and the branches-which are the believers in Christ.
Staying connected to the Lord will enable you to bear fruit. The prerequisites include faithfulness to the relationship and obedience to his will.
How do you bear the fruit that is spoken of in John 15? Of course, it’s not the kind you may buy at the corner market.
This sweet fruit can be the things you do that reflect an attitude or deed which glorifies the Father.
It could be giving your neighbor a loaf of baked bread or a plate of cookies.(Why not invite them to church while you’re at it?)
Letting the person behind you, go ahead of you in the grocery line since you have a cart that is full and they have only a few items.
Giving a compliment to another person, it doesn’t have to someone you know, that you notice is good about them, their attire or hairdo.
“This is to my Father’s Glory, that you bear much fruit showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15 :8 NIV)
Are we using every opportunity to love others and glorify the Lord?
Are our lifestyles packed with errands, responsibilities and overcommitment, so that we don’t have room for bearing fruit?
“Well, I do my part in service to the church. That’s serving the Lord isn’t it?”
Only you and God can answer that question.
What does your harvest look like? Abundance or slim pickings?
Why not ask the Lord of the Harvest to prune you so you bear much fruit and glorify him?
Father, you are so good to allow us to go and bear fruit that remains. Help us focus as we begin each day, to give the baskets of our hearts to you to fill it with much fruit that glorifies you. In the name of your Son, Jesus, Amen.
A Cause To Pause
- Ground Zero Cross
Romans 8 : 28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
The 10th anniversary of the terrible destruction to the Trade Center’s Twin Towers calls for A Cause to Pause.
The majority of people living in our Patriotic Nation remembered what they were doing or exactly where they were when the terrorist’s attack happened on September 11th, 2001.
What fear and dread must have been running through the hearts and minds of those related to people who worked in the building and what devastation must have overcome numerous people in the midst of the chaos, confusion and calamity.
No American raised with the knowledge that the Giver of Life gave us the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, would have wished this on their worst enemy.
Neighbors, Friends, Friends of Friends, Mothers, Fathers, Sisters, Brothers, Daughters, Daughter-in-laws, Sons, Sons-in-laws, Aunts, Uncles, Nieces, Nephews, Cousins and Kin; once or twice removed; all were affected by the planes’ demolition.”
“And We Know That In All Things. God Works. For The Good Of Those Who Love Him, Who Have Been Called According To His Purpose.”
This was cause for many bystanders, if you will, to pause and pray for the loved ones of the victims and the loved ones of the hero’s who died at that time or in the hours afterward . Many church pews once half filled and some all but empty, began filling, and in some churches it was the first time in a very long time for A Cause to Pause.
This past September 11, 2011, memorial services all across this land from ‘sea to shining sea’ were held in homes, communities, and churches. Inevitably, the media of television, cable, internet and radio realized by broadcasting some of these solemn events, they too, had A Cause to Pause.
A Cause To Pause came in my community. God was indeed one of those who paused at the cause of the grief in the hearts of millions of men women and children. An unexplainable rumbling coming from the stormy clouds pealed for hours and hours. Never before have I heard such a wonder. I’m sure the Lord was grieved, because the grief of millions of hearts touched His Holy heart.
- Wadsworth, OH 9-11 Memorial Service
A friend of mine said it rained until the memorial service began in the center of Wadsworth, Ohio on September 11, 2011. When the service was over, it began to rain again.
Later that evening, I thought about the song we sang during the morning service in the church I attend, which is also in Wadsworth, OH . As the congregation sang, “There Shall Be Showers of Blessings”, it began to rain. One of the lines of verses is, ‘Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead.’
Heavenly Father, would you rain down on us showers of your blessings. Showers of a Holy Spirit Revival. Showers causing men, women and children to pause and turn from sin, back to you. Give us showers that transform men, women and children into your image. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Face To Facebook
Doc1facetofacereflectionRomans 8 28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Have you done something that has wounded another individual(s) without having any intention of doing so, that you wish, if it were possible, could be rewound (no tacky pun meant) and done differently? If only I could have… Fill in the blank. Issues, issues, issues! Who wants them?
What do you do with the issue of broken relationships that seemingly cannot be undone? You can’t go back and change anything, but you continue to live in the: should’ve, could’ve, and would’ve mentality. (Incidentally, it will make you a little more than mental to live there.)
When we look in the light of Romans 8:28, we can allow God to work in our heart, in our weaknesses, and the circumstances surrounding the issues. If we let him use what has occurred, whether they are caused by self or others, we then can become vessels that are reshaped for use.
Then, they will know we are Christians be our love. What the world needs to see is how God can take offences we’ve caused and forgive, restore and heal. This will open the way for others to see Jesus, instead of our offences which prevents them coming to the Light.
I was the offender needing God’s Grace. I needed to accept blame for the hurt I had inconsiderately caused others and I needed to let Jesus carry the grief that offended. When we offend others, it is also offends Christ. Oh, wounded hearts, there is Balm in Gilead. Jesus will take our sins, mistakes, sorrows, and pain when they are placed at the foot of his cross.
Facing our wrong doing is the first step in the process of being free and forgiven. It allows us to look into the face of those we offended for mercy and love. While we are looking forward to seeing Christ one day soon face to face, let us look beyond offences done on Facebook.
EverGreen 
Written
on 09/03/2012