Free Will

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You've probably heard the saying that goes something like: "If you love something set it free. If it comes back, it was and always will be yours. If it never returns, it was never yours to begin with." Some people refer to their relationship to their children - others to a boyfriend or girlfriend. It means that true love is a two way street. Love does not hold some sort of power over another or hold them against their will.

We were created with a free will. We can choose how to lead our lives. Who we love, what we do, where we go, what we value, is all a result of this. We have a choice in everything we do. God does not force us to do anything. Think about it for a second. The Creator of the Universe could have created us as loving, adoring creatures that dedicated our lives to worshiping and serving Him without any thought of ourselves. He could create billions of humans whose only purpose is to honor and sing praises. But he didn't. He gave us the opportunity to choose our path in life and beyond. All he asks is that you return to Him. In John 8:32, Jesus says: "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

John 14:6 describes Jesus as "the way and the truth and the life". Knowing Jesus is knowing the truth, and the truth shall set you free. What a loving God we have, who gives us freedom through Jesus, the freedom to choose for ourselves. To return to Him, all he asks is that we accept His Son as our Savior. That's it. No tests, no standards to meet. He loved us so much, he set us free.

DAILY WISDOM © 2006. All rights reserved. (Please include this line to forward the message).

What is love?

 

"See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him." (1 John 3:1)

 

Love, so often we want it, but so seldom do we really, truly focus on what it is.  We love BECAUSE He first loved us.

 

Love is not a feeling. Happiness is a feeling.

Love is not an emotion. Anger is an emotion.

Love is not a "state". Confusion is a state. (So is Delaware, the first state in fact, but I digress.)

While love can have all of these expressions associated with it, it is still more - so much more. Love is a decision.

What we are formed by and immersed in so often, though, is the worldly interpretations and definitions of love, which are often short-sighted and self-directed.

The world says that "love is blind". The truth, however, is that LOVE sees 20/20. It sees our imperfections, our sin and our failings - all of our humanity, and says, "I still choose to love you."

The world says that "love means never having to say you are sorry". That's a crock. You want the truth? Ask a married couple. They'll tell you, "Love means having to say you are sorry A LOT."

The world says that "love is give and take". They're half right. Love is GIVE. The "and take" is often added out of fear. Fear that the other is not going to offer love back, fear that the other will take advantage and manipulate and fear that we'll be left with nothing in return. There's nothing "and take" about the cross. The Lord gives us Salvation and we don't even "take" that - we receive it.

The world says that "love is priceless". Not true. Love carries a price tag, a heavy one, and He picked up the tab, for you and for me. We never could have flipped that bill, but Jesus paid the price.

The world also tells us that "love doesn't come in a box". Yes it does. Love dwells in the "box" in every church, in the Tabernacle where love dwells in the flesh, for you and I to adore.

The world tells us that "love doesn't grow on trees". Yes it does. Love GREW out of a tree on Calvary that day. The tree of love was planted on stony ground (our hearts) and the roots (Jesus' blood) ran deep below the earth, crushing sin and ushering in LIFE.

Pray this verse today, really pray it. Recite it and learn it and know it, for "we love BECAUSE He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

I once read, "A bell's not a bell until you ring it. A song's not a song until you sing it. Love in your heart is not put there to stay. Love isn't love until you give it away."

The Christian knows where to find love in the midst of a world that does not Offer love today, in its purest form, and you will wake up tomorrow more like God, who is love.

Decide to love. Seek love. Without it you're not really living, only breathing.

LIFETEEN by Mark Hart © 2006. All rights reserved. (Please include this line to forward the message).

Rescue Heroes

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV)

I was looking through the clothes rack when my then two-year old son, Joshua, walked up to me with tears streaming down his chubby cheeks. He'd been playing in the children's area of the small consignment store, but now he was pulling my hand and leading me to his injured friend - a clothes mannequin.

"Look mommy," Joshua cried, as he pointed to the stand and the metal rod that was shooting up her back. Then he whimpered, "Ouch, that hurts."

Overwhelmed by Joshua's tender mercy, I almost started crying. I knelt in front of him to explain that his friend was okay. She just needed a little extra support.

Joshua's heart was so full of compassion. It was a picture of God's love for me that day – love that shows concern, not just with words but with actions. Joshua saw someone who was hurting, or so he thought, and he came to her rescue.

Joshua's love-in-action reminded me of a story Jesus told about another rescue hero. There was a man who was traveling down the road one day when he noticed a hurting neighbor who had been robbed, stripped of his clothes and left for dead. Unlike others who ignored him as they passed by, this man saw the injured victim and was moved with compassion. He bandaged his wounds, took him to an inn and got him the care he needed (read the story of the Good Samaritan in Matthew 10:23-27).

Jesus told this story to show what compassion looks like. But, it was more than a story He told, it was a story He lived.

With never-failing love and compassion Jesus became our rescue hero. He had an aching awareness of our injured hearts, our sin-wrecked lives and our need for His forgiveness. He couldn't just walk by. Instead, He came to our side. With outstretched hands He offers to heal our wounds and give us the care we need.

Today's verse tells us that even when our hurts and our stuggles consume us, or our responsibilities, jobs and failures overwhelm us, God's love is greater. His compassions never fail.

I love that Jesus didn't just tell us to love, He showed us how to love -  by loving us first. He told us to love sacrificially. Then He demonstrated by sacricing His life for ours. He told us to be there for others, because He was and is there for us.

So, whether you need more of His love or feel called to give His love away, remember the same compassion that brought Jesus near over 2000 years ago moves His heart toward you today.

No matter what you need, He offers healing for your hurts, comfort for your concerns and rest for your wearied soul. No matter what you face today or tomorrow, His compassions will never fail. They are new every morning!

Application steps:
Are there areas in your life that are hurting (marriage, work relationships, parenting, financial stress, etc.)? Tell God about them and ask Him to be real to you, to care for your needs, to be your rescue hero. Then look for evidence of His active love in your life - a song you hear, a sunset you see, a friend who stops by unexpectedly, or a stranger who simply smiles and asks how you are doing today.

Soak up the truth of today's devotion. As you experience God's love for you, look for ways to give His love and compassion to those who are hurting around you.

Try to remember different times when you've needed help, when you've been a rescue hero, when you've been like the inn keeper who helped someone care for another, or when you've been too busy or bothered to help. We have all been in each person's place. Ask God to show you what character you are most like today.

 

Prayer,
Dear Lord, thank you for seeing my greatest needs. When I fail or feel failed by others, remind me that your compassions never fail me. Thank you for loving me with Your Words and Your actions. Help me do the same – love you and others with my life. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Power Verses:
"As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him."   (Psalm 103:13 NRS)

"Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins." (Psalm 51:1 NLT)

"But the Lord still waits for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion." (Isaiah 30:18 NLT)

PROVERBS 31 MINISTRIES by Renee Swope © 2006. All rights reserved. (Please include this line to forward the message).

Past heartbreak leaving your future in doubt?

“May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.” (2 Thes. 3:5)

Is a past hurt hurting your future? Have you allowed your heart to become hardened?

Years ago I received an email with a simple message in it, simple yet profound. Some of you may know it. The advice reads as follows: Love like you’ve never been hurt. Work like you don’t need the money. Dance like nobody’s watching. It’s often in the simplest advice that the greatest insight is contained, and while this advice is usually seen in secular emails it still contains great theological truth.

We could write pages upon pages about “work like you don’t need the money”. If we are, indeed, following our vocation as we are beckoned by God to do (Jer. 1:4-8, 29:11), we will end up working that way…we will love what we do and be doing that for which we were designed.

At the same time, we could talk for days about the need to turn our backs to public opinion and perception, to “dance like nobody’s watching”. The entire foundation of Christianity is to follow Christ alone (Gal. 2:20, Rev. 15:4) and not to be led astray by others (Matt. 15:14).

While both of these aforementioned lines are challenging, it’s that first line that is especially hard for most of us…to love like you’ve never been hurt.

Do you? Do you love like you’ve never been hurt, or do you love so as not to be hurt again? Has a pain from your past suffocated your present or dimmed the brightness of your future? We were made in the image of God (Gen 1:26), that is, we were designed to love (1 John 4:19). We were designed to give love freely and to receive love gratefully.

And then sin entered. Or should I say, “sin enters"? Often times, as easily as love enters through a relationship, sin enters even more readily and more easily, because it is in relationships that we can focus more on the “I”, than the “love” or the “you”.

Have you ever given all of yourself to another person, only to have them use you for their own selfish gain? Have you ever used another but justified it in your own head? Have you been so hurt after sharing all of yourself, that you have allowed your heart to become hardened, your life guarded, so never to feel that pain again? Are you stuck in that prison of control and fear?

If so, you’re not evil, you’re human.
If so, you’re not alone, you’re in the majority.
And if so, you’re not really living, only breathing.

And have I ever felt that way? Of course I have. Everyone knows the pain of broken trust, a shattered relationship or lost love at one time or another in their life. The point, though, is not to allow yourself to be mastered by the past. Jesus is calling you forward. So, why do I bring this up? Read today's verse again. It's the love of God that is to direct our hearts.

Many people don’t find the relationships they so earnestly desire, because they have not allowed themselves to heal from the past. Rather than looking for the right person, they look for someone “unlike” the person that hurt them. That “logic” is illogical. Others fall into the trap of searching for someone the exact same, not learning from their mistakes; that, too, is failed logic.

What we need to realize is that Jesus Christ is the one by whom all must be measured. Jesus is "steadfast" as we are reminded in this passage. Is that to say we must find someone “perfect”, like Jesus? No, that obviously won’t happen. It is to say that we ought to find someone who strives to be selfless and to love offer and receive love as Jesus Christ, Himself, did.

Whether married or single, the same rule applies: Ladies, you will never enjoy the love you are designed to receive, until Jesus Christ is the man of your dreams. Only then will you live in such a way that other men will seek to mirror His divine image in your life and vocation. Gentlemen, you will never know the depth of true love until you are living as the man of God you were designed to become. Only then will you live a selfless kind of love, in the image of the Savior (Eph. 5:25) and really understand your vocation.

And if you want to read this “advice” as too idealistic or naïve…take some time and put it to prayer. Odds are that the time and pain have allowed the door of your heart to become locked; the emotional deadbolt is secure and in place, but it doesn’t have to be.

The only way to “take control” of your life, including your relationships, is to give up control to the One Who will bring you true life, true love, in His time, if you let Him. That might mean romantic relationships, it will definitely mean holier friendships, but it probably will start with your own spiritual preparation. God is not going to bring you the person you so desperately crave, until your heart is ready. If you’re still in pain from a relationship, talk to God about it today. Let God love you, first. Only then can you truly love (or receive the love of) another.

Adam and Eve forced us to work. Music helps us to dance.

But it was God…God is the reason we love.

LIFE TEEN by Mark Hart © 2006. All rights reserved. (Please include this line to forward).

God's Love Is Overwhelming!

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16)

God is big, very big. The universe shows us that.
We see it when we look at the billions of stars.
Everything God has, is big.
Therefor it should be no surprise for us
to read in the Bible that His love for us is big.

Yet, His love is more than that.
It's not only just big. It's huge.
It's bigger than the universe.
Because God is bigger than the universe.

God created the universe. He shaped
the stars. He gave form to the earth.
All creation has been made by His hands.
But His love goes way beyond all of that.

Why? Because God Himself is love.
Love is the core of His eternal being.

Therefor He loves you more than you

will ever be able to comprehend.

In His love, God wants to draw you higher
than your own life. He wants to help you
get on a higher level with Him, to be drawn up
in His glory, where you can be overwhelmed
by His presence.

Seek Him with all you have, day by day.
Never give up. Don't stop seeking Him.
Because His love is worth the effort.

He Himself is worth it.

CHRISTIAN ART for you © 2004 Inspirational christian art posters copyright David and Renate Sorensen.No unauthorized usage of any of these images allowed.(Please include this line to forward).

What is love?

"See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him." (1 John 3:1)

Love, so often we want it, but so seldom do we really, truly focus on what it is.  We love BECAUSE He first loved us.

 

Love is not a feeling. Happiness is a feeling.

Love is not an emotion. Anger is an emotion.

Love is not a "state". Confusion is a state. (So is Delaware, the first state in fact, but I digress.)

While love can have all of these expressions associated with it, it is still more - so much more. Love is a decision.

What we are formed by and immersed in so often, though, is the worldly interpretations and definitions of love, which are often short-sighted and self-directed.

The world says that "love is blind". The truth, however, is that LOVE sees 20/20. It sees our imperfections, our sin and our failings - all of our humanity, and says, "I still choose to love you."

The world says that "love means never having to say you are sorry". That's a crock. You want the truth? Ask a married couple. They'll tell you, "Love means having to say you are sorry A LOT."

The world says that "love is give and take". They're half right. Love is GIVE. The "and take" is often added out of fear. Fear that the other is not going to offer love back, fear that the other will take advantage and manipulate and fear that we'll be left with nothing in return. There's nothing "and take" about the cross. The Lord gives us Salvation and we don't even "take" that - we receive it.

The world says that "love is priceless". Not true. Love carries a price tag, a heavy one, and He picked up the tab, for you and for me. We never could have flipped that bill, but Jesus paid the price.

The world also tells us that "love doesn't come in a box". Yes it does. Love dwells in the "box" in every church, in the Tabernacle where love dwells in the flesh, for you and I to adore.

The world tells us that "love doesn't grow on trees". Yes it does. Love GREW out of a tree on Calvary that day. The tree of love was planted on stony ground (our hearts) and the roots (Jesus' blood) ran deep below the earth, crushing sin and ushering in LIFE.

Pray this verse today, really pray it. Recite it and learn it and know it, for "we love BECAUSE He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

I once read, "A bell's not a bell until you ring it. A song's not a song until you sing it. Love in your heart is not put there to stay. Love isn't love until you give it away."

The Christian knows where to find love in the midst of a world that does not Offer love today, in its purest form, and you will wake up tomorrow more like God, who is love.

Decide to love. Seek love. Without it you're not really living, only breathing.

What is Love by Mark Hart at lifeteen.com

Living Unselfishly

Give without expecting a return. (Luke 6:35 TM)

If you're serious about becoming like Jesus, pay careful attention to His words: "Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them...give without expecting a return. You'll never - I promise - regret it" (Lk 6:31-35 TM).

 

Love, expecting nothing in return. Give, though they'll never say thanks. Forgive, even though they won't forgive you. Come early, stay late, invest everything you've got even though nobody notices. Paul calls this "the high calling" (Php 3:14).

 

And there's a reason: none of us would set such a standard for ourselves! If you think some people are just naturally more loving than others, think again. Love is a choice - one that costs! You can't love others while you're staring into a mirror or give to others while you're clinging to what you've got. Love will cost you your time, your money and your preoccupation with self. If you think you'll just go to church some Sunday morning, read a book or atten d a 7-step seminar and turn into the kind of person we're talking about - good luck! There are no pre-packaged saints; no "add-and-stir" formula that makes God's love gush forth. To be loving you've got to take up your cross, deny yourself and make others your priority.

 

Remember the woman caught in adultery? Jesus stooped down to reach her, stood by her under attack, then sent her home redeemed and refocused. Do you want to be like Him? Go and find people who are hurting, hopeless, and even wrong. When you do, minister to them until they're redeemed, restored and right. That's living unselfishly!

Bible Readings: Deut 18:9 -18, Dan 2, Isa 47:5-15, Acts 16:16-34

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How much love do you have for sinners?

How much love do you have for sinners? That may sound like a strange question, but it's one I want you to think about today. All too often, once we get saved and get our lives cleaned up a little bit, we lose our compassion for those who are still lost. We look at the drunk stumbling down the street or the guy at the office who lies to the boss and tells dirty jokes and turn up our spiritual noses. But if we ever truly understood the heart of our heavenly Father, we'd never do that again. Jesus told a story that can give us a glimpse of that heart. It's the story we call the prodigal son.

You've probably heard it many times, how the son rebelled and dishonored his father, and how the father, in spite of it all, received him home with joy when he repented. But there's one phrase in it I want to draw your attention to today. It's this one: "But when [the prodigal son] was yet a great way off, his father saw him."

That phrase gives such a moving glimpse of the heart of that loving father. It tells us that even before his boy had repented, even during those long days when he was up to his eyebrows in sin, that father was watching for him, longing for him to come home. Every morning he scanned the horizon, hoping to see the silhouette of his returning son. And the last thing every night, he'd look again... straining his eyes in hope. His son was constantly on his mind, and his heart was always full of love for him. The kind of gut-wrenching love that, on the day his son came home, drove that father to run to him and kiss him.

That's the kind of heart our heavenly Father has for those who are lost. It's the kind of heart He had for you while you were still wandering in the world. It's the kind of heart that embraced you with open arms even when you were still covered with the grime of sin.

There's a whole world full of weary people out there who haven't yet found that embrace. They're more than just "sinners," they're our potential brothers... lost ones in desperate need of a loving heavenly Father. God forbid we should ever turn up our noses at them. May He help us instead to start bringing them home.

_______________________

How much love do you have for sinners? written by Senior Pastor Timothy Satryan WILMINGTON first assembly of God