Tag: Love

A Faith Strong Enough to Love

Posted on by Dorci


“The only thing that counts is
faith expressing itself through love.”
Galatians 5:6b

The proof of our growing faith in God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit is our love, our love for God first, and through Him our love for one another, our love for our neighbor, and even our love for our enemies.

 

 

As we cultivate a deeper relationship with God we’ll know Him more, growing in faith and changing into the image of Christ, having His heart and mind, seeing with His eyes of grace and mercy, and loving others the way He does. 

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34

Our love for one another in the family of God is a given, or at least it should be. Jesus said the outward display of love we have for one another would be proof to the world that we are followers of Christ. 

But that can get a little tricky sometimes, right? We’re still human and sometimes we can grate on each other’s nerves, say things that are hurtful, treat one another thoughtlessly. But obeying the command to love one another shows our faith in the Lord. It shows a faith that trusts Him and entrusts others to Him, a faith that forgives and loves at all times.
 

“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply (intently, fervently, enthusiastically, without ceasing), from a pure heart.
1 Peter 1:22

Over time, as we grow in faith, our love for one another will grow, too. We’ll genuinely love others with a deeply affectionate and compassionate heart.  

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Matthew 22:39

Our love for our neighbor might be a little more difficult. Of course our closest neighbor is our family. Sometimes that’s easy, and sometimes family can be, well, challenging. It can take great faith to love them.

But a neighbor is anyone God puts in our path. Maybe we don’t know them. Maybe they’re not believers. Still, God calls us to love them, to show them the love of Jesus, and that may sometimes take even more faith. We have to be able to trust God to take care of us while we take care of someone else. But as we grow in Him, our faith is stronger and we know the Lord will always be with us and will always provide for us. 

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you,
do not demand it back.”
Luke 6:27-30

Now that’s a tough one. Loving our enemies takes a great amount of faith. 

But a maturing faith will change who we are. We’ll walk less in our own prideful, self-serving flesh and more in the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit. Our behavior won’t be dictated by how others treat us, but by our understanding of God’s endless love for us, and the great faith and love we have in Him. 

A faith that is perfected – matured – is a faith that expresses itself through love no matter what because we know God’s love is not dependent on us. He loves at all times because that’s His nature.  We remember that God loved us while we were yet sinners by sending His Son to die on the cross for our sins. It’s a love that desires others, no matter who they are, to see and come to know the love of God through His Son. 

“Because of the increase of wickedness,
the love of most will grow cold,
but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
Matthew 24:12-13

 

It’s too easy to get caught up in the world’s hatred. We must refuse to, and fix our eyes and hearts on the One who is able, day by day, to save us from a hardened heart, and allow Him to continually fill us with His love, and then go out into the world and share it with others, trusting Him to change hearts as He changed ours.  

 

Dear Heavenly Father, help us grow and walk in faith that expresses itself in love. May we bring you honor and glory by living as witnesses of your great grace and mercy so that others will see you in us, and put their faith in Jesus Christ as their own Lord and Savior, turning one more heart to a life of your love. Please give us wisdom for those who are hard to love. Show us how best to love them, and may we always start with prayer. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

 

“Love is patient
love is kind.
It does not envy,
it does not boast,
it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth. 
It always protects,
always trusts,
always hopes,
always perseveres.
Love never fails.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

 

Choices

Posted on by Dorci

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”
1 John 2:15

In some ways this command seems to be getting easier to follow all the time. Still, there can be a lot to love in this world. Why wouldn’t God want us to love it? 

You might have heard that while in English we use the one word – love – to talk about all kinds of love, there are many Greek words for love –

phileō – a friendship love
philostorgos – a familial love 
‛âgab – a sensual love 
eros – a romantic love
philarguria – a love of money

And that’s not even an exhaustive list. 

The word used for love in the command above is agapaō – to love much, or dearly, to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing, to have a preference for, to prize it above other things, to be unwilling to abandon it or do without it. 

It’s the same word Jesus used when asked “‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: ‘Love (agapaō) the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love (agapaō) your neighbor as yourself.’” 
Matthew 22:36-39

Jesus then goes on to say “‘All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’”
Matthew 22:40

The commandments in the Old Testament were given to show people how they were to love. The first four commandments pertained to their love of God, starting with the command to “have no other gods before me,” and then moved on to how they were to love others – “honor your father and mother, you shall not murder…” and others. 

Christ reiterates, and makes possible in and through us as the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts, what the commandments said – that if we love God first, love for others will flow from that. 

It’s even the same word Jesus used when He said “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”  
Matthew 5:44

But when we agapaō the world, when our mind is focused on and busy with all the world has to offer (name your worldly passion), if we prefer those things, cling to those things, put those things first in our lives over and above God and above showing love to others, then we’ve gotten it all out of order. 

It will cause us to put off spending time with our Father, growing our relationship with Him by abiding in Him through prayer and the reading of His precious Word. 

And if we don’t remain in His love through abiding, we won’t have the love we need to fulfill the second commandment Jesus gives to love others and all that would entail. 

I have very nearly perfected procrastination. I can find a million things to do before I sit down to read or pray, or do whatever God is calling me to do. And I look back and regret that countless times. 

But I don’t want to just “phileō” God, to love Him as a friend on par with the rest of the world, as Peter confessed in John 21 when Jesus asked him twice if he “agapaō” Him, and both times Peter confessed that he only “phileō” Him.

Then Jesus asked him a third time if he even “phileō” Him, if he even loved Him as a friend. Peter was grieved because he could not yet say that he “agapaō” Him, that he loved Him unconditionally, that he was ready to put Christ above all things, or that he was unwilling to abandon Him for the sake of the world. 

But once Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, he “agapaō” Christ, even being willing to endure persecution in order to tell others the gospel of Jesus Christ, all the way to being crucified upside down. 

I don’t think God doesn’t want us to enjoy the things He’s given us in this world He created, He just wants to remind us to keep it in its place, to remember that He needs to be who we love above all things, that when we have a choice, and we will have choices, our only real choice is Him because without Him we have nothing. 

I pray that whatever God is calling you and me to do, we will not put it off because we’re busy doing other things.  A whole lifetime can pass while we do other things, but in the end only one thing will matter –  how we loved the Lord and lived our lives in Him. 

In His agape,

 

 

Heavenly Father, we confess that we’ve chosen other things before you and we humbly and sincerely ask for your forgiveness. Help us to agapaō you, to walk in your Spirit every minute of the day and night, always putting you first, doing what you call us to do, glorifying you with our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen.

 

 

Saturday Song – Remind Me Who I Am

Posted on by Dorci
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
And that is what we are!”
1 John 3:1a

 
Remind Me Who I Am
by Jason Gray
 
When I lose my way
And I forget my name
Remind me who I am
In the mirror, all I see
Is who I don’t wanna be
Remind me who I am
 
In the loneliest places
When I can’t remember what grace is
 
Tell me, once again
Who I am to You, who I am to You
Tell me, lest I forget
Who I am to You, that I belong to You
To You
 
When my heart is like a stone
And I’m running far from home
Remind me who I am
When I can’t receive Your love
Afraid I’ll never be enough
Remind me who I am
 
If I’m Your beloved
Can You help me believe it
 
Tell me, once again
Who I am to You, who I am to You
Tell me, lest I forget
Who I am to You, that I belong to You
To You
 
I’m the one You love
I’m the one You love
That will be enough
I’m the one You love
 
Tell me, once again
Who I am to You, who I am to You
Tell me, lest I forget
Who I am to You, that I belong to You, woah
 
Tell me, once again
Who I am to You, who I am to You
Tell me, lest I forget
Who I am to You, that I belong to You
To You
To You

2022 National Day of Prayer

Posted on by Dorci

“Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, 
so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted 
and now being built up in Him
and established in your faith, just as you were instructed,
and overflowing with gratitude.”
Colossians 2:6-7 NASB


Thursday, May 5 is this year’s National Day of Prayer, and boy do we need it. The date has come in the middle of this nation’s war, quite literally, between life and death. 

The theme given for this year is ‘Exalt the Lord, who has established us,’ which is based on Colossians 2:6-7. 

The Hebrew word for exalt, when exalting the LORD, means “to be high actively, to rise or raise, to lift up. 

In our dictionary exalt means to raise in rank, honor, power, character, quality, to elevate. 

To praise. 

It is to see God and acknowledge Him for who He is: the Righteous One who judges all and through Christ shows mercy. To humble ourselves before Him, elevating Him in our hearts, minds and souls, praising Him as the King of kings and Lord of lords, seeking Him to do His will on earth as it is in heaven, to do in His strength what we can never do alone. 

Let’s lift our voices together, coming to the throne room of God to praise Him and to seek His mercy. 

Heavenly Father, the Holy and Exalted One, the One worthy to be praised and glorified forever and ever, our Creator, our Giver of Life, and Redeemer, we lift you up as our Lord and King. 

We humbly come before you on behalf of this nation that has been ravaged by the evil one and has turned away from you and your truth and believed lies. 

Father, we ask for the merciful pouring out of your Holy Spirit to give people eyes to see and ears to hear the truth, to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, the one who bore all our sins on the cross that we might be forgiven of all our sins and have life with you now and forever. 

We pray you would pull the spiritually lost and blinded back from the brink of hell. 

Father, we pray, though, that those who have yet to know you, who are believing and proclaiming and fighting for lies, would see your love in us.

Help us remember that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12)

Though we are angry at the sin because it destroys the sinner, may we be your lights, shining your love and grace and mercy to all those whose hearts will receive you. 

May you grant repentance, LORD, and freedom for the captives. 

We are humbled and blessed beyond comprehension that you know us, and have opened our eyes and hearts to know you. Thank you for revealing yourself to us in the pages of your Word. May our love for you and our faith in you grow more passionate every day.  We pray in the precious name of Yeshuah Hamashiach, Jesus the Messiah, the Anointed One, the One who was, Who is, and is to come. Amen.

 

Walking Through Holy Week – 4

Posted on by Dorci

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
John 17:20-24