Consumed by God's love

God’s love is the greatest gift bestowed upon us. Love has the power to heal, to end wars, to mend broken hearts, to comfort us, to help others, and to give us eternal salvation, etc. It is such a beautiful gift, and yet we don’t use it as we should. 

1 Corinthians 13:2-7 (KJV)

2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Charity is the love of God. We need to allow God’s love to lead us and to guide us. What if we allowed this great love to inspire our lives. Can you imagine how great our lives could be? 

I desire for God’s love to consume my life. I want this charity to be in the center of everything that I do. Every day I want to walk in God’s great love and to share it with everyone. The same love that held Jesus on the cross is in my heart. I want to learn to use it as Jesus did. 

I want God’s love to help me to bear all things, believe all things, hope in all things, and endure all things. Then, I will know the true power of God’s love. I know that regardless of my problem love is the answer. 

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Choosing God

God does not want us to stand among two opinions. He wants us to be obedient to Him and walk after Him by faith. When I am really struggling with a decision, I like to think about my reasons for making the decision. Is it what I want or what the Lord wants for me? Am I making the decision based on what my flesh wants or what my soul needs?

God gives us clues. He shows us things. Even when we try to ignore the signals in our mind, our soul knows the truth. During times of uncertainty, we should ask ourselves this question. Will my decision bring me closer to the Lord?

Our relationship with God is the most important relationship that we have. Everything else in our lives build upon our relationship with Him. When I am not aligned with God, then everything else in my life seems off. It is when I am fully aligned with God, walking according to His will for my life that every part of my life just falls into place. 

Above any and everything, I desire to do what God wants me to do. Feeling His sweet spirit is the greatest gift. The spirit does it all. It gives us everything that we need. I can’t even put into words the greatness of feeling God’s spirit. Therefore, we should seek after His spirit. When I can feel His spirit in the depths of my soul, then I know that all is well with my soul. With God by my side, I can face any hardship.

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Being obedient to God

Have you ever just had one of those days to where everything gets on your nerves? Today, I am finding myself in the place of feeling overwhelmed. Right now, at this very moment, it all feels stressful. The thing is that I have nothing to be stressed about right now. Therefore, I don’t know why I feel as if I am ready to come unglued. 

I tried doing laundry and cleaning my house, but it made me feel worse. So I sat down and turned on my writing music and just opened my laptop. Sometimes writing helps. I need to figure out why I feel this way. 

The things that are bothering are not my problem. They are just adding to my irritation. In my heart, I know what my problem is. I just don’t want to admit it to myself nor deal with it. Being obedient to the calling of God is not always easy. Sometimes He puts things on our heart that we don’t want to do. But if we want to grow, worship Him, and lead others to our Lord, then we have to be willing to do whatever that He tells us to do. Otherwise, we can’t walk with the Lord. 

So with tears running down my face, I am willing to do what it is that He wants me to do. For every possible problem that I give God, He reminds me that He already has the solution. He already knows how it will work out. It is not my job to fix everything. It is my job to be obedient to God. 

Sometimes we have to be willing to let go of what we have right now so that God can give us something different. What we see as problems, might really be God aligning it all to answer our prayers. 

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Prayer is a beautiful gift

In the midst of tragedy, we often don’t know what to do. Our hearts desire to do something, anything to relieve the pain and suffering of those we love. We often feel helpless because we don’t know how to help. During these times, the absolute best thing that we can do for anyone is to pray for them. 

Prayers can reach the deep recesses of the heart, where words often come short. Prayer helps a grieving heart to carry the pain. Prayer can redirect our hearts from devastation to hope and help us to see things differently.

I love it when God blesses me to carry someone in my heart. Praying for them continually allows me to help them. It makes me feel connected to them, even when I’m not with them. Praying for someone else is one of the most beautiful gifts that we can give them. 

While we might not know how to help someone suffering, we can cry with them. God understands our tears. He is the great comforter. And He knows exactly how to help them. 

Romans 12:15 (KJV)

15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 

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Refined in the fire

No one ever wants to spend time in the fire. The moment that things become uncomfortable in our lives, then we start begging God to remove us from the fire. Because it hurts. Being refined in the fire is painful. And our flesh doesn't like any kind of pain. We want it to be over immediately. But, if we will just lean into the fire and allow God to mold us into what He wants us to be, then we will reflect our God when we come out of the fire. 

When I’m in the midst of heartache, if I can just pause and ask God what He wants me to learn from the trial, then I can absorb the wisdom and knowledge that God wants to teach me. If I resist, however, and fight against it, then I end up staying in the fire even longer. God doesn’t remove us from the trial until we have learned what the trial was designed to teach us. 

Therefore, I have to surrender my control to God. I can’t learn from Him, when I think I know all about something. Some of the things that He instructs me to do doesn’t make sense to my carnal brain. Because God’s ways are so easy, we usually dismiss them and think they won’t work. I usually have to do everything the hard way, and when I have exhausted all of my possibilities, only then will I truly seek the Lord. When I seek Him, however, from a place of total surrender, then I can find Him and be able to walk with Him. 

God and I both can’t be in control. We have to decide who is going to be the Shepherd of our lives. Who do we want to be in control of our lives? Us, with our limited knowledge? Or God who created the Universe and everything in it? If we will just surrender our lives to God, then He will refine us in the fire until we reflect Him. While it will not be easy or pain-free, it will be worth it. 

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God is on our side

God is in our side. Regardless of what the enemy throws at us, God is with us. Nothing can separate us from Him. We are deeply loved by the creator of the Universe. 

In the midst of despair, when we feel defeated, then we need to remember that the Bible is filled with example after example of God delivering His people. Not only does God help His people, but He does it with ease. God is all-mighty. He is magnificent in all ways. And He is our Shepherd. 

Instead of allowing the defeat to overtake us, we need to look up. If we can look up, then we can get up. We need to fix our eyes so steadily on God that we walk by faith—not by sight. When we walk by faith, then we will find ourselves in deeper waters. God will take us to the places that we can’t go on our own. 

Today, as the problems of this world burden us down, then we need to reach our weak and trembling hand out to the Lord. By faith, we need to reach for the hem of His garment, and allow him to make us what He would have for us to be. We can’t do it on our own. If we could do it alone, then we wouldn’t need God. Give it all to Him—the worries, the heartache, the unbelief, and the fear. In return, He will give you His faith, His strength, His comfort, and His peace. And we can praise Him in the midst of the storm. 

Even during the darkest of storms, the sun is still shining. 

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The battle belongs to the Lord

The bad stuff is easier for us to believe. We cling to the lies of our enemy and allow them to sneak into our hearts. That is why they have power. We are the ones who give the heartache power over us. 

No one has the ability to hurt us with words. And yet we allow the enemy to twist, magnify, and dissect words until they have the power to hurt us. We have conversations with our enemy and allow him to make things seem so much worse than what they are. While he can’t make us give up, he can persuade us. Satan loves to paint us a picture of hopelessness and despair.

The good news is that God is always just one faith call away. God knows what we need before we even ask. He has the power to help us. We just need to call out to Him by faith—expecting Him to help us according to His will. And He will. 

We are all God’s little children and He loves us. God wants what is best for us. He doesn’t just expect us to figure it all out on our own. It is His great pleasure to help us.  

When the enemy evokes feelings of fear and worry in us, then we just need to cry out to Jesus. Sometimes we go through hardships to prepare us for great blessings. God can turn our heartaches into blessings. We just have to trust Him. He is the One who died for us. Instead of meditating on our troubles, we need to think about how much God loves us and how powerful that He is. 

God created this whole world with the power of His words. Nothing is beyond His power. And this all-powerful, magnificent God loves us and wants what is best for us. Today, as the enemy tries to trap us in his lies, let’s take it all to the Lord. Let’s allow His love and power to soothe our troubled hearts. In the end, regardless of how the enemy attacks us, we will be victorious. The battle is not yours, but it is the Lord’s.  

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