God is Love

1 John 4:16 “ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”

God is love! Several times in the Word, the Bible, it says that God is love. (1 John 4:18, 1 John 4:16). This is a continual ongoing state of being for Him. His love does not fluctuate or come and go. It is continual, permanent, and unconditional. God judges, this is an action He does, that has a beginning and an end. His judgment comes about because He is just. However, His love is as eternal as He is. It does not start or stop. It is constant because He is love and He is everlasting. Love and holiness are unchanging attributes of an unchanging great and mighty God. Therefore; like His word says, nothing can separate us from His love because He lives, He is eternal (Romans 8:38-39), and He is love!

Since He is love and we are His creation we do not go unnoticed by God. He is faithful to His creation (2 Timothy 2:13). At times we may have moments when we feel like no one notices us or cares. We all have moments when we feel that way, but our God notices us and loves us. Just as His eye is on the sparrow, His eye is also on us (Luke 12:6-7), and He is concerned about every aspect of our lives.

Although at times it may not feel like it but, He is with us, He is for us, He loves us, all of us, and is not willing that anyone should perish (2 Peter 3:9). Pray and tell God how you feel. He will hear every word of that prayer.

Emmanuel, God with us!

Prayer:
Father, thank you for your love. Help me to remember that you are love and that your love for me is constant.

Read More:
Psalm 136

Action Plan (James 1:22 & 25):
You are loved more than you know. By faith, decide to believe that today.

Verse of the Day

Hi All,

I have just added Bible Gateway's Verse of the Day to my blog. Now you can log on everyday and get a verse that God has arranged in advance for you to read. Please feel free to check this site often to see what verse God has for you each day. He loves you and is thinking of you constantly! He deeply desires a close relationship with you.

See the verse of the day on the right above the Roman Road to Salvation. Click on it to read the verse, then click the back button to get back to this site.
Have a blessed day!
Darlene

Gentle Nudges

Verse: Galatians 5: 22 & 23
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

I had a cat that loved for me to pet her. She would stand right beside me and nudge me with her nose. She knew exactly where to put that cold wet nose so that I would have no choice but to move my arm to get away from that nose. Then she waited for my arm to come down right next to her and for my hand to land on her waiting head. It worked every time.

God is gentle, patient and loving toward us. In Galatians 5:22 & 23 the fruits of the spirit are listed as; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The fruits of the spirit are traits that we gain by imitating Christ and living in obedience to His Spirit. Since that is how we obtain these fruits, then it is true that Christ, already possesses these traits. He must first possess them in order to give them to us. When we are obedient to Him these traits are blessings that are given to us as a reward for our continued faithfulness. Since God, the Father, is gentle, then it makes sense that He would urge us toward obedience and stepping out of our comfort zone, gently.

Vine’s Concise Dictionary of the Bible defines gentle as: ‘not insisting on the letter of the law,’ and ‘sweet reasonableness’ (p. 152). In 1 Kings 19:12 the Lord spoke in a gentle whisper. Zechariah 9:9 states that He is gentle, (lowly) and Matthew 11:29 says that He is gentle and humble. From these verses we see that Jesus and God the Father are gentle in speech, and in actions, and in His request for obedience. Therefore, when we perceive something coming from Him in a forceful manner we may be interpreting His actions according to the world’s standards. Biblically that is not His nature when He interacts with believers.

If we are thinking that He is being harsh then that is most likely a misinterpretation on our part. Also, remember the fruits of the spirit. One of them is gentleness, in order for God to give these traits to us (believers), He must first possess them Himself.

Love the Lord, all His saints!

Prayer: Father, thank you for your gentleness towards me. Help me understand the characteristics you possess so that I can recognize your work in progress and join you.

Read More:
Matthew 11:28-30

Action Plan (James 1:22-25):
Ask God to show you where you can step out of your comfort zone for Him. Remember that He will be gentle about it and it will be your decision to obey. He will never force you.

Peace and encouragement

This is from an e-mail I sent to some friends who are experiencing difficulty right now. I hope it may be a blessing to others as well:

Last night I was reading a book by Anne Graham Lotz (Billy Graham's daughter) and something struck me and I am hoping that it will bring you peace and encouragement today because I know you are going through a difficult and stressful time right now.

Anne Graham Lotz says in her book, 'Pursuing More of Jesus', that to the disciples Jesus' death on the cross appeared to them as murder (p. 180). Remember that the disciples saw Jesus walk on water, calm storms with one word, raise Lazarus from the dead, and heal many people who were sick. Now He was taken from them and crucified.

We have the benefit of knowing the rest of the story, that Jesus would be resurrected 3 days later, however to the disciples this looked like an unplanned, traumatic event. It looked like Jesus was murdered and that His ministsry was defeated, and over. Anne Graham Lotz says about the disciples that, "Their faith would be rocked to its foundation." (p. 180).

Now, consider your situation. We can only see what looks to us like abandonment, or that we are deserted, forsaken, forgotten or ignored, because we can only see in part (1 Corinthians 13:12). Just as the disciples could only see what looked like murder. However, 3 days later it turned out to be an opportunity for God's glory.

I bought a new CD last week. One of the songs is entitled, 'Stay Strong' by the Newsboys.
The lyrics read:
"Stay strong, you are not lost. Fix your eyes ahead. We've come to far to lose our way."

It is easier said than done but when things don't make sense, trust. Trust Him. Anne Graham Lotz says, "We simply have to trust our Heavenly Father to know best. We have to trust God's silences and respect God's mysteries and wait for God's answers (p. 181)."

Peace and encouragement to you!
Darlene

Spiritual Warfare

Verse: Colossians 4:2 “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving…”

Prayer is essential to a relationship with our Heavenly Father, and Jesus. However, Satan will do everything He can to prevent us from praying. Therefore, it is wise for us to get ready for spiritual warfare. Satan wants to keep us bound up with anger, fear, anxiety, doubt and intimidation and Satan is not going to give up this fight easily (1 Peter 5:8). The only way to have victory and freedom is to draw close to God.

1. In order to draw near to God begin with prayer. To be sure that God hears your prayers begin with the Salvation prayer (see the prayer on the right). Ask Jesus into your heart and tell God about any sins that may need to be confessed. He is faithful to forgive our sins (1 John 1:9). The prayer for salvation is how we begin a relationship with Jesus and our Heavenly Father. To remain close to God we need to remain in fellowship with Him.

2. To fellowship with God set aside some more time to pray and tell God everything. Whenever we face issues or troubles we can pour out our hearts to Him. We can tell God all the details, emotions, fears, worries and concerns we can think of (Psalm 142:2). He wants us to pour out our hearts to Him. Satan may try to create diversions to keep us from praying when he realizes that we are trying to draw near to God.

3. To prepare for Satan’s attacks get several verses together. Use the truth o f the Word to fight back. Write the verses on cards and carry them everywhere and begin to memorize them. When worrisome/bothersome thoughts surface repeat the memorized verse, if possible say it aloud. A Christian woman at church recently pointed out that the two weapons we have against Satan are prayer and the Word of God.

4. Get an accountability partner. Someone you can call and ask them to pray with you when you feel overwhelmed. Fellowship with other Christians is important to be able to continue in the faith (Hebrews 10:25).

Finally, pray continually. We cannot be close to God with out prayer. When we read the Bible, attend church, sing along with the hymns, go to bible studies etc, yet we do not pray we are deceiving ourselves (Isaiah 29:13). Even though we do all these activities we are wrong in thinking we are close to Him if we are not praying. Closeness and intimacy with Jesus and God come only through heartfelt prayer. It is so important that prayer is the only way we can begin a relationship with Jesus and our Heavenly Father.

See, the sovereign Lord comes with power!

Prayer:
Thank you Father that you are for us and not against us!

Action Plan (James 1:22 & 25):
Set aside time for prayer, today. Make it a priority.

Read More:
Ephesians 6:10-17

The Journey to Trust

Beth Moore said in the Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed study that, “God is not harsh. He is holy” (p. 83). That statement along with a comment from a friend made me think about the magnitude of God’s holiness. That created a desire to really want to understand what holiness is and how He could be holy, yet allow tragedies to occur. When tragedies happen it is hard to believe in God’s goodness and trust Him in those times and sometimes for a long time afterwards.

I have to admit that even now, I have a hard time trusting God. I am fearful. I fear that He will lash out at me to punish me, or He will take away something, or someone that I care about. The reason I think like this is probably due to two reasons. The first one is because my Mother died when I was seventeen. The second reason is because I am human.

In my humanness it is hard for me to understand that when stressful, difficult, or tragic things happens there must be a reason for it. I imagine Job had a hard time believing God had a reason for allowing him to suffer too. However, God is a big God and he uses big sacrifices & difficult circumstances in our lives to accomplish big things, i.e. Esther, Abraham, Job. As a result of Job’s suffering we now have a book in the Bible (Job) that offers comfort and hope to many Christians. So, perhaps, our tragedies are used by God to accomplish His purposes that we cannot see or understand now. Just as Job surely did not know that his life story would be recorded and used to teach many others about God’s character.

When tragedy strikes we can have faith that it is not from His hand (Job 1:12 & Job 2:6-7), as the story of Job teaches. We also know that God is holy, so He will work everything out according to His plan. Understanding His holiness is helpful in being able to trust Him. Since He is accomplishing big things and He is holy, then He can be trusted even during dark, difficult times. (Psalm 46:1)

Holy, Holy, Holy

Verse: Revelation 4:8
“Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."

A godly Christian woman in my church made a great observation. She stated that the bible says that God is holy, holy, holy. We don’t see in the Word that God is mercy, mercy, mercy; or love, love, love, yet we know that He is merciful and loving. However, the bible does repeat the characteristic of holiness three times stressing the magnitude and degree of holiness found in our God.

We often think of God like He is a 'good' version of ourselves, but God does not have our nature. He is Holy. That is His nature. We, on occasion, do good works that He has prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10), but He is perfectly holy, always. Perfect holiness is a trait that is difficult to understand because, aside from Jesus, there are no human examples of this holiness. Since we are sinful (Romans 3:23), we cannot fully understand the depths of His holiness. We know that it is not equivalent to the idiom, ‘holier than thou’ which means ‘a person who is obnoxiously pious or self-righteous'
(http://www.dictionary.com/). Perhaps to understand holiness it will help if we discuss what it is not.

Holiness takes no pleasure in degrading another via dirty jokes or racial slurs, it takes no delight in seeing others suffer, there is no amusement in the embarrassment or humiliation of another and no pleasure in condemning someone else. It is not abusive emotionally, physically, or verbally. Holiness is the absence of selfish ambition, conceit, malice, dissentions, envy, fits of rage. Holiness is not obscene. Holiness does not turn a blind eye to injustice. Holiness does not ignore oppression. On the other nail pierced hand, holiness is unconditional love, absolute truth, and eternally merciful.

The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high!

Prayer:
When everything seems to be working against me, help me to remember that You are holy.

Read More:
Isaiah 6:2-3

Plan of Action:
Today, during your prayer time, take time to confess your sins to Him. He will be faithful and just to forgive them. (1 John 1:9)

Silence

My Sunday School teacher taught something that increased my faith last Sunday. She explained that after the last book of the Bible in the Old Testament, Malachi, was written God was silent for the next 400 years. He was silent, but it is important to know that He was still there. In fact, it was during these 400 years of silence that the miracle of the oil occurred. You may recall that the temple had been destroyed, but the Jewish people went in to rededicate the temple and found a jar of oil. The jar of oil only contained a one day supply of oil. In order to rededicate the temple new oil was needed and that took eight days to make. (This oil was used to provide light in the temple.) Then God allowed this one day supply of oil to burn for eight days until more could be made. That was the miracle behind Hanukah. This is also how Hanukah began. However, I want to focus on God’s silence. He was silent for 400 years, but as you can see by this miracle He was moving.

Have you noticed this in your own life?

I have noticed that there are times when God is silent. For whatever reason He just does not speak. Yet, He is still there and aware of what is happening now, just as He was for the Jewish people during those 400 years. After learning about this, now I can see it in my own life. There are times when He has not been speaking, yet His hand has still been there. In other words, He is still involved in my life, even though I am not hearing from Him. These periods of silence are dotted with His provision. His silence is normal, everyone experiences it. It can be tempting to loose faith during these times of silence. We pray and nothing seems to happen, but keep the faith, God hasn’t forgotten us, He is very aware of what is happening to us and He will speak again, in His perfect time.

Tempted

Last week, I was tempted. I'll start at the beginning. Early in the morning I was rushed so of course the thing that goes out the window when I am rushing is my prayer time. As I am driving into work I realized that I forgot to pray. Then I was angry at myself, and promising God to pray as soon as I got the chance. Anyway, at work I had to leave my office and drive to the visitor center parking lot to go into one of the classrooms to work. (That is a normal work day for me.) As I pulled in the lot I noticed the arm on the ticket dispenser was up, so I went ahead and pulled in. Since the arm of the ticket dispenser was up I assumed the dispenser was broken and did not push the button to get one of those hot pink tickets. I found a place to park and then went into the building. Once inside I sat at a location where I was able to look out of the classroom window and see the parking lot ticket dispenser. I watched as people would pull up in their cars and push the button and then not receive a hot pink parking pass. Most of them continued into the lot and proceeded to park. (Although, I did see several people turn around and come out of the entrance to the parking lot. That entrance is one way! I guess I will be slowing down when I turn into the lot from now on, now that I know people are exiting the one way entrance.) As I watched the parking lot ticket dispenser and all the cars, I finally saw the parking lot attendant come to the dispenser and adjust the arm so that it was lowered to prevent people from driving straight into the lot. She also fixed the ticket dispenser. Now when people entered the lot they were forced to slow down and push the button for a ticket, then the arm would raise and they could enter the lot to park. The arm was finally fixed at about 10:15 am. (I arrived in the lot at 9:00 am.)

Now fast forward a couple of hours. It was time for me to leave. As I left the parking lot I suddenly had this inner turmoil. Actually, temptation is what it really was. I thought, I could tell the attendant that I had arrived at 10:00 am and save myself some money in parking fees. As I approached the exit the thoughts continued; no, it is best to tell the truth and pay the extra fee. So when I arrived at the booth I told the attendant the truth. I told her that I had arrived there at 9:00 am. To my surprise she only charged me from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. She said, 'I only wanted to charge you two dollars.'

I don’t want you to get the wrong impression. I do strive to be honest. It was a momentary thought that I did not act on. However, when things are tight financially, as they are for everyone in this economy right now, I was tempted to try to stimulate my own economy. As I left God showed me the double blessing I had received in being honest. If I had lied to the parking attendant, I would have carried the guilt of that all day, but had an extra dollar in my wallet. Now, I am fortunate to carry the double blessing of honoring God with my actions, and having the extra dollar in my wallet.

Desire for God

Verse: Hebrews 10:25
“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Once I became saved, I was often envious of the devotion to God and church I saw in other Christians. These people gladly went to church every time the doors were opened. I did not grow up going to church, so it was not a familiar habit to me. It took some time to develop the desire to go to church every Sunday. However, now there is no where else I’d rather be.

Desire to attend church and revival don’t seem to go together, but without a desire for God, who is found in church, there will be no spiritual revival. Vine’s Concise Dictionary of the Bible defines revive as, “to flourish anew” (p. 317). Excitement can be a great motivator, but eventually excitement wears off and it is important to have good self-discipline and self-control to continue when the going gets tough. So how do we get the desire?

Desire and self-discipline/self-control are closely linked. Sunday morning when the alarm goes off to get up for Sunday School, it is our self-discipline and self-control that gets us up and out the door. Or it is a lack of self-discipline and self-control that makes us turn off the alarm and go back to sleep. Like any other skill we are trying to acquire gaining self-discipline and control takes practice and repetition. The more we are successful at resisting that part of our human nature and Satan’s pull (James 4:7) then the more we will be able to attend church and learn the things God would have us do. The blessings come when we hear His Word and see Him work in our lives and in the lives of other Christians. The Bible says hearing His word increases our faith (Romans 10:17 ). Likewise, seeing His works and blessings in our lives and in the lives of others increases our desire for Him. It becomes a positive yet delicate cycle. Both faith and desire for God are cultivated in church and in close proximity to other Christians. Spiritual revival only happens in church, it cannot happen apart from gathering together with other believers.

Glory to the Righteous One!

Prayer:
Father, give me the strength to persevere in my pursuit of Jesus.

Read More:
Isaiah 58:13-14

Action Plan (James 1:22 & 25):
Think of something you have wanted to do for God. Make a decision to do it for Him this week. Once you have completed it, reflect on what you have learned as a result of your obedience and offer that to Him in prayer.

If God has put something on your heart and you feel comfortable sharing it make a comment below and let us know what it is. We can encourage each other by bearing one another's burdens and praying.

Vanish!

Verse: Psalms 103:12
"...as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."

One cold winter evening my husband and I lit a fire in the fireplace. As the wood burned we occasionally threw in a bank statement or other piece of paper that had sensitive information on it. Then we would watch it go up in flames and turn into ashes. The next day in bible study the group sang, 'In the Presence of Jehovah' by Cathy Goddard. Some of the lyrics in the chorus of that song are, '...troubles vanish, hearts are mended...' The word in the chorus of that song that caught my attention was the word 'vanish.' I thought back to the night before, after the fire was extinguished no trace of the paperwork was left, except for the ashes. However, it occurred to me that even the ashes could be swept up and taken outside to vanish in the wind, never to be seen again. Similarly, the Lord is to our sins what the wind is to the ashes; with one word from Him our sins are removed.

Through Jesus' sacrifice and our repentance, He does remove our sins far from us with no traces remaining (Isaiah 1:18). It is amazing that when we genuinely ask for forgiveness our sins are gone, removed, cleansed, they vanish. At http://www.dictionary.com/ the definition for vanish includes, ‘to become invisible, to disappear by ceasing to exist, to become zero.’ If we really stop to think about how our Heavenly Father forgives our sins it is astonishing. Our offenses, insults, and disobedience that cause heartache; or more specifically cause His heart to ache are gone; they ‘become zero.’ They are not counted against us, and the very person whose heart aches because of our sins is the very same person who forgives us and removes our sins entirely. Only a mighty God could do that.

Since He has forgiven us so completely, we don’t have to continue rehashing past mistakes. We can let go and let God forgive, and then rest in His forgiveness. Peace comes when we believe, by faith, in his total forgiveness.

For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does!

Prayer: You are great and amazing O Lord! Thank you for your faithfulness and forgiveness.

Read More: 1 John 1:9, and Colossians 1:21-22.

Action Plan: During your prayer time today confess your sins to Him and lay your mistakes at His feet. Make a decision not to pick them up again. Regret can be debilitating, to combat regret memorize 1 John 1:9 to use against Satan when he tries remind you of past mistakes.

If God has put something on your heart and you feel comfortable sharing it, make a comment and let us know what it is. We can encourage each other by bearing one another's burdens and praying.

I Will! I Think!?!

Verse: Hebrews 12:25

"See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?"

I came to a scary realization recently. I have inadvertently been telling God, 'no.' I had been wanting to have daily prayer time. I knew God wanted me to have one as well. Yet, when my alarm would go off I would push the snooze button for a few more minutes of sleep. That would end up taking more time than I had anticipated, then I wouldn't have time to pray. Sometime later that day I would tell God, 'I will do it tomorrow for sure,' but somehow I would wind up repeating that cycle again.

When we say to ourselves, I will go to church on Sunday, or I will pray, or I will go to Sunday School, or I will stop participating in... yet, we don't follow our declaration with immediate action to actually go and do the things we have stated we will do, that is the same thing as saying, 'No' to our Heavenly Father. Often we deceive ourselves with our own good intentions. We can be absolutely adamant and determined to do what we have said to ourselves that we will do, however, if our actions that follow that declaration are contrary to our decisions then in reality we are saying to God, 'No, wait, later, not yet,' and even 'I won't.'

We mean well when we make these statements and declarations, but it is just talk if our actions don't support our decisions. True repentance and devotion will include the appropriate actions that were preceded by our thoughts and words.

The Lord Almighty-He is the King of glory!

Prayer:
God forgive me. Help me take steps toward repentance by doing what I have said I will do.

Read More:
Matthew 26:41

Plan of Action:
What kinds of things are you wanting to do to draw closer to God?

If God has put something on your heart and you feel comfortable sharing it make a comment and let us know what it is. We can encourage each other by bearing one another's burdens and praying.

Hello and Welcome!

This blog was created because I felt God was trying to help me understand concepts in His word more deeply. So, for several months I have been writing down some of the things, little tidbits, that He has shown me. Then I had a thought. Perhaps these tidbits might help or encourage someone else, but I wasn’t sure how to go about sharing these things. Then, very recently, God brought blogging to my attention. I have to say I have no experience with this, and technology can be a bit scary, but I am willing to give it a shot if it can encourage someone else. So now, I am inviting you to be a part of this experience. Please feel free to read, discuss, and comment on these posts. Or just read, contemplate, and share them with someone else. My plan is to start slow; I will add a new post/devotion every month.

You may follow the posts by becoming a ‘follower,' which will send any new posts to your e-mail address, or it can be added to your favorites list. Just type in the link in the web address line and click add to favorites. Now, with one click you can pull it up and see if anything new has been added, or comments have been made.

I look forward to sharing this experience with you!

Have a great day, and Be Encouraged!
Darlene

'... the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.'
Psalms 111:4