"LOVE MEANS NEVER HAVING TO SAY YOU'RE SORRY" WRONG!

Good Evening to All!

February is the "month known for the holiday of "commercializing "love".  The stores will be bombarding us with greeting cards speaking of love, all kinds of candy, stuffed animals and flowers.  The jewelry stores will be plastering all of the television networks and newspapers with messages of  how we women just can't imagine not having a new diamond ring or necklace.

The thing is I really don't care ANYTHING about any of those things.  I would just as soon have my husband take me out to eat, or cook for me and wash the dishes.  Anyone can go to a store and spend money, but to do something one doesn't really enjoy doing just to show their spouse that they love them is really special.  Does that thought sound familiar?  On a MUCH, MUCH, MUCH SMALLER SCALE of course. 

And they spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head.  And after they had mocked Him, they took His robe off and pout His garments on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.  (Matthew 27:30-31)

 

My devotion for today brought up the movie of years past titled "Love Story".  It mentioned the coined cliche, "Love means never have to say your're sorry."  How wrong can they be?  That is exactly what love is.  Being able to say you are sorry and admitting when you are wrong.  Also if you have not done anything wrong and still saying you are sorry. Love demands that we ALWAYS say we are sorry.  How else can relationships be restored whether they are relationships in families or churches or even at our jobs? 

Saying we are sorry is a type of sacrifice, which is part of love.    To admit falibility is a sacrifice.  We are all human, we ALL make mistakes.  There is no shame in admitting it and to apologize. 

The Answers to the Bible Quiz of this past Friday are as follows:

1.  c--Establish churches in every land  (Matthew 28:18-20)
2.  c--David   (1 Samuel 21:4-5)
3.  b--Is for us  (Mark 9:40)
4.  b--A woman poured expensive perfume on Jesus' head (Mark 14:3)
5.  c--Caiaphas  (Matthew 26:57)
6.  d--Only the Father  (Matthew 24:36)
7.  b--Which of them was most important. (Mark 9:34)
8.  a--Get behind me, Satan   (Matthew 16:23)
9.  d-- All of the above  (Mark 7:33)
10.  c--Ritual hand washing  (Matthew 15:2)

Good Night to All and May God Bless!

LOVE = OBEDIENCE AND SACRIFICE

 Good Afternoon to All!

Have you ever thought about how easy we have it?  I'm talking about being obedient to God.  In the Old Testament, there are many examples, but several really brought how easy we have it home to me.  God has Never asked me to place any of my loved ones on an altar and kill them.  He has Never told me to just up and leave my home country and everything behind.  He definitely has Never made me be in charge of leading millions of people out of bondage.  

In the New Testament, He does give us many commands and expects us to obey them IF WE LOVE HIM.
KEEP His commandments.  This is according to John 14:15.  This does not mean just following the "big" Ten. 

If you will notice, you won't find anywhere in the Bible where He asks us to do anything, or even make a suggestion.  It is always a statement, which in turn is another word for command.  He never says "will you please..., or it would be nice it you would.....  It is always do this or that.  

Again, He tells us "if you love Me, keep my commandments.  He tells us to "enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. (Psalm 100:4)  He told Peter to tell the people to Repent, be baptized everyone of you in the NAME OF JESUS CHRIST for the remission of your sins and you SHALL receive the Holy Ghost.  (Acts 2:38)  

If we love Him, WE need to take the initiative and make the effort to show Him.  As one example, in Exodus 3:1-4, Moses came to the Mountain of Horeb.  He notices the bush is burning, so he looks a little closer only to see that it is not being consumed.  It says that he said I will turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.  This tells me that he is curious, wants to involve himself more and shows more interest.  God told him to take off his shoes because he was on holy ground, so he did just that showing the willingness to please God.  He wants us to show that extra willingness to please Him.  
 Just as we go out of our way to please our loved ones and spouses, we should do as much or MORE for him.

We are to make that extra effort. God will not force us to do anything.  It has to come from within us.  If we want His help, We have to step up and ask Him.  We also have to show our faith in Him that He will do whatever it is that we need.   Just as in healing.  God is a healer, but WE MUST put up the effort to believe that He will do it.  After all, on the Cross, His last words were "IT IS FINISHED".  Meaning He has done His part. Now it's up to us to believe and have faith in Him.

He doesn't want us to read His Word like it is no different than a newspaper or a magazine.  He wants us to take an interest in it and study it so that we can learn more about Him, and the way He wants us to live. 

A relationship is impossible to have without knowing each other.  He knows us so well that He knows the number of hairs on our head.  His word tells us that He knew us before we were born (hows that for those people that don't think fetus' are babies?) That right there tells me that I need to get to know Him better, which means reading and studying His Word, praying and carrying on conversations with Him.  

We are in the last days.  His time is definitely drawing nigh.  Just listen to the news and study your Bible and you will see how close we truly are.  

God loves sacrifice and He loves obedience.  Therefore, we must give Him both.  Disobedience is a sin and as we all know, sin is not allowed in heaven.  Think about that one. 

I know this post was a bit all over the place, but I had so many thoughts roaming around in my head that I wanted to talk about them all.  LOL!

Have a Wonderful Afternoon and Evening, and May God Bless!

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"WHAT IS YOUR PRIORITY?"

Good Evening to All!

I write to you, little children, Because you have known the Father. (14) I have written to you, fathers Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one.

(15) Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (16) For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. (17) And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

(28) And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.
(1 John 2:13-17, 28 NKJV)

God's Word says we live in the world, but we are not to be partakers of the world. There is nothing wrong with going out shopping. I enjoy at least one or two cokes EVERY DAY. On the days I go into town and clean houses, I stop by our the convenience store and buy the person I'm cleaning for and myself a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit.

(16) And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (17) Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. (18) And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
(2 Corinthians 6:16-18 NKJV)

Idols are anything that take precedence over God. Whether it's things that keep us from attending church, keep us from reading our Bibles, praying. When we start enjoying doing things and having material things that we think more of than God then we need to rethink our priorities.

What I am getting at is that when it gets to the point that we can't be satisfied with what we have, that we can't seem to get enough of what we want,or make enough money to be content, then I would have to say we have some VERY MESSED UP PRIORITIES. When we think more about the things of this world such as material things, and worldly entertainment than we do the spiritual side, it is time to do some soul searching and reflection. We are giving the "world" too much of ourselves. We belong to God, and we need to remember that and act like it. I know I am guilty of it and have to give myself a "swift kick" and get back on track as to what is important.

When we tend to over-do shopping, or enjoying the things of this world, there is usually an underlying cause. It may be we are trying to validate our worth, it might be that we have a void in our lives that we think owning things or drinking and partying will fill. I know from experience that won't happen. I knew a person who would go shopping and spend quite a sum of money when she got angry. I tried it one time, and it didn't help my mood at all. All it did was make me feel guilty, so I took everything I bought back to the store the next day! LOL! My hubby really loves that about me.

The point I am trying to make is that there is nothing wrong with shopping, but we need to check our reasons and keep a handle on the importance we are placing on the things of this world. It doesn't even have to be shopping, it could be all sorts of things that the "world" has to offer. If we know it is against God's wishes for us to do it, then we should not do it. If whatever it is is taking our time away from the things of God, then we need to get back on track with the things of God and spending time with Him. God set the priorities for us.--GOD FIRST, FAMILY SECOND and then everything else. (If we place God first, then everything else will naturally fall into place because it will be HIS plan.

As far as shopping and spending money, it's a proven fact, the more money you make the more you spend so the more you want to make. It is a vicious circle. Therefore one is NEVER satisfied, unless we STOP in our tracks and just say THAT'S ENOUGH.

We are getting down to the nitty-gritty. His time is almost here. We are in the latter days. I know people have been saying that since the 1940's but if they were saying it back then, then look how much closer we are to it today.

We all need to get our priorities straight. We need to re-read the parable of the 5 wise virgins and 5 foolish virgins, and make sure that our lamps are filled so that we will be ready for Him when He comes. (Matthew 25:1-13) We don't want to be caught short or unaware, because He won't wait for us to get right.

The answers to last night's Bible Challenge "Mountains" are as follows:

1. c) Ararat (Genesis 8:4)
2. b) Moriah (Genesis 22:2)
3. d) Horeb (Exodus 3:1)
4. Sinai (Exodus 19:20, 31:18)
5. b) Hor (Numbers 20:22-29)
6. d) Pisgah (Deuteronomy 34:1-4)
7. d) Elijah vs. the false prophets (1 Kings 18:20-40)
8. d) Hermon (Deuteronomy 4:48)
9. b) Olivet ( 2 Samuel 15:30)
10. d) not named (Matthew 28:16-20)

I hope you did well on the Challenge and had fun doing it.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!

"LOVE IS FORGIVING"

Good Evening to All!

Israel Resists the Holy Spirit

"You stiff-necked (stubborn) and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. (52) Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murders, (53) who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it." (Acts 7:51-53 NKJV)

Stephen the Martyr

(54) When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. (55) But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, (56) and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" (57) Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears , and ran at him with one accord; (58) and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man name Saul. (59) And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. (60) Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin." and when he had said this, he fell asleep (died). (Acts 54-60 NKJV)

We don't read much about Stephen, but he was one of seven men chosen by the apostles in Jerusalem to serve tables and distribute food to widows when the church gathered. He also had received power from the Holy Ghost to perform signs and wonders among the people.

Just as in Jesus' case the Jewish leaders, antagonistic toward faith in Jesus, got men to lie and bring Stephen before the Jewish council. Because of appearance of Stephen being filled with the Holy Ghost, his compelling defense that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, and the vision of heaven that God gave Stephen as he testified the council got riled up and reacted with violence.

In following Jesus' example, Stephen's last words and act before he died was to forgive his murderers.

True and absolute love entails forgiveness of all things. I know it can be the hardest thing we as humans ever do. Oh, we say "I forgive you", but do we really? Or are we just pushing their trespass or betrayal to the back of our minds? I've wondered that so many times. I had a couple of friends explain to me that when you (or I) forgive someone for whatever they did, we should not bring it up ever again. I have had my friends tell me that I must "still be bothered about certain things or I would not bring them up in conversation.

God's Word says "when we confess our sins to Him, He casts them as far as east is from the west into the sea of forgetfulness". He doesn't remember our sins after He has forgiven us, so we should do the same.

I pray for strength in this area constantly, because even though I forgive, I haven't learned how to "forget" yet. Therefore, I haven't truly forgiven. It makes me wonder about my level of loving. Don't get me wrong. I do love, I love my husband and my sisters, but we throw that word around pretty often and pretty loosely. I know I do. Especially after reading the devotion for tonight. Jesus and Stephen knew how to "LOVE". Their's was an absolute kind of love. Pure with no doubts. I don't know if I could do what they did.

I could if I knew the people personally, but I doubt if Stephen knew all of his accusers. Jesus (being God), I'm sure He did know the people. I think forgiving would be easier if the people were townspeople which they had personal contact with.

The more I think about this, I would think it would be harder for Stephen to forgive because, Jesus is God and God IS LOVE, therefore, Jesus can have nothing but love in His Spirit.

This is one area I REALLY need to work on because I do know that God will not forgive those who don't forgive others, and I doubt if my way of forgiving meets His standards.

Do you love purely enough to forgive those who have wronged you, or do you keep in in the back of your mind ?

How are you at forgiving?

Good Night To All and May God Bless!

"THE ULTIMATE GIVER OF LOVE"

Good Evening to All!

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God: and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. (8) He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (9) In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. (10) In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (11) Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (12) No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. (13) By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

There are many ways to express love, the exchange of Christmas gifts, or Valentine Cards and candy being just a couple. While these express love in a fun and meaningful way, I must say that the true gift of love is better any packages tied up with pretty bows and ribbons or cards with cute sayings or pretty poems in them.

I heard several accounts of the beginning of "gift giving" particularly of Christmas gifts a quick explanation of those are: some people don't believe in celebrating Christmas because Jesus was not born on December 25. Others go as far as to say it's "paganism", but I have also heard that the giving of gifts was started because the wise men brought gifts to the Christ child. Now, out of all the things I have mentioned, I would come closer to agreeing with the last one. . . BUT, truly, the ORIGINAL One who started the giving of gifts out of love was God Himself. First He gave of Himself, because He left His wonderful kingdom of Glory to come to earth and walk among us sinners. He got hungry like we do, He got tired like we do, He went through the trials and tribulations like we do. He as a human had to endure more than we as humans did back then or do today. So He showed His love for us to do this. THEN on top of that He sacrificed His human body and His blood for our sins, just so we would be able to live in eternity with Him, (if we choose to follow Him). That was and is the ULTIMATE gift any one of us could ever receive. He said it Himself . (12) This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. (13) Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.The thing is, it doesn't stop there. He keeps on giving. His mercy is a gift to us. We do not deserve His mercy. Look at how we treat Him. we pay more attention to our pets than we do to Him. We might spend a couple of hours a couple of times a week in His House. Unless we have a true relationship with Him and actually realize how important He is to us, we don't spend Near enough time with Him.

God wants the giving of love to continue. As we share God's love, we are completing, or perfecting, god's will that we love others. We put God's love into action, and He responds by abiding, or living in us. Love creates an unending circle.

Anyone who is human has been hurt at one time or another. Whether it be by a loved one, a friend, even an employer. Humans will let you down at one time or another. They cannot help it. God, on the other hand will never let you down. Now, I will be honest, at times you may think he does or has, because "you didn't get what you asked for, or your prayers weren't answered". Let me say, the answer to the first comment is God knows what is best for you and if you are asking for something that will cause you harm or trouble down the road, then not getting it would be a good thing. The second thing is God answers ALL prayers. They again may not be the answer you want or are expecting. The answer might be NO, or wait a while, or you might get it, just not the way you think you should, but He will answer. We must remember God sees from the END TO THE BEGINNING. He has been to the future, so He knows what is going to happen and can keep you from making mistakes and having excess problems IF you will listen to Him. Listen to that little voice inside that says " you shouldn't go in debt right now", you shouldn't do this or that. If you will listen to that little voice your life will go a lot smoother (which would also be a gift from Him).

Sorry I got off on a rabbit trail. All these thoughts started flooding my brain

I know that loving someone who has wronged you is hard. Believe me I could be the "poster girl" for that. the thing is we must choose to let the bitterness go, before we can show true love to anyone. Bitterness is like a cancer. The longer you have it inside of you the more it grows.

If we will turn that bitterness energy into energy for loving God, and allow Him to work on our hearts His love will renew our love for others and help us to show love to others by putting the best interest of the other person not only as God's desire, but as our's as well.

When we develop a loving lasting relationship with God, His desires become our desires. We will want for ourselves what He wants for us, and His will will be our will.

A quick thought. I have had a lot of people comment to me about having to "give up so much" if they become a Christian, meaning partying, drinking, wearing "sexy clothes", and other things. The thing of it is, when you develop a soul search absolute love for God, your ideas of "entertainment, immodest clothing, drinking, and immorality aren't important to you anymore. They are replace instead by clean living, (no drinking or drugs), no immorality, modest dress, and many other things because God works on your heart and you WANT to change. No one twists your arm. You do it because when you study His Word and read these things that make God unhappy, you don't want to do them.

Well, so much for my "quick thought"! LOL! Now y'all understand why I don't get on Twitter much! LOL!

The answers for last night's Bible Challenge "Food and Drink" Part 2 are as follows:

1. b) Noah (Genesis 9:4)
2. b) Noah (Genesis 9:20-27)
3. d) fins and scales (Deuteronomy 14:9-10)
4. a) raven ( Deuteronomy 14:14)
5. False (Deuteronomy 14:19)
6. It was hallowed temple bread. (shew bread) (1 Samuel 21:1-6, Mark 2:25-26)
7. b) Solomon's (1 Kings 4:22-23)
8. c) salt (2 Kings 2:19-22)
9. d) honey (Ezekiel 2:8-2:2, Revelation 10:9-10)
10. False (there are no references to tomatoes in the Bible)

I hope you enjoyed this challenge and did well.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!

"AWESOME GOD, AWESOME LOVE"

Good Evening to All!

The one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him (Jesus) , "which is the first commandment of all?
(29) Jesus answered him, "the first of all the commandments is: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, is one.
(30) And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment.
(31) And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
(32) So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.
(33) and to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." (Mark 12:28-33 NKJV)

This scribe, listening to Jesus, asked Him about a specific point of law. The scribes in Jesus time were lawyers, accustomed to mulling over and debating legal issues. This scribe probably viewed even God's law as a set of "rules" to be debated and argued about. The answer Jesus gave him was one of diplomacy. Rather than coming out with an answer that could have kept the scribe going and in a state of mind wanting to argue and debate, Jesus focused on love, not law.

He summed up ALL God's law in these two greatest commandments--love God first and completely, and THEN LOVE EVERYONE ELSE. If we look at these two commandments and think about them, they take care of every other commandment God has. If we have love for God first, then we would definitely put the second one into action. When we put the second one into action, that will cover the complete way a Christian is suppose to live and treat all others, as well as themselves.

Jesus' answer more than satisfied the scribe. He showed he understood, by his response. Under the law, offerings and sacrifices were made specifically made to thank and honor God, make amends for sins and accompany specific requests.

Love brings us to a deeper level and a deeper understanding with God. It strengthens our relationship with Him and makes it personal. Love makes living for God, obey His commandments much more important. We want to please Him.

Love makes having a relationship with God more important than just following rules and learning how to behave.

I think this is where a lot of people get mixed up. Tell me if this sounds familiar.

"I go to church every Sunday but I don't pay tithes because I need the money for my bills and the tithes just go to the preacher. I'm a good person because I don't lie, cheat or steal. I don't curse (that bad), at least I don't use God's name in vain. I help others when I can.

I don't like to read the Bible because I don't understand it, but I go to church and listen to the Pastor. I don't pray because God knows what's in my heart, so I don't have to say anything, but I love God, so I know I'm going to heaven.

This is just a little bit of what I have heard since I have become serious about my relationship with God. Believe it or not, I used to say some of the same things. UNTIL I got a hunger for God and His love. I started reading my Bible and realizing what He expects from me as a Child of God and as a Christian. He expects me to love Him the way He loves me.

He loves us ALL, because we are His creation, but that does not mean that we are all "Children of God". We are a child of God if we have a relationship with Him, if we have accepted Jesus as our Savior and been baptized in Jesus' name, and received the Holy Ghost. Now, before y'all get ready to "stone me" I am going by Acts 2:38, the Plan of Salvation.

God wants us to love Him passionately. We love our spouses with passion, and as much as I hate to admit it, there are times when our loves let us down. God will NEVER let us down. He will always be there for us. We should love Him with a passion ABOVE all others. I think a lot of the problem is we have the frame of mind, "out-of-sight, out-of-mind. If we will start looking at the world in a different light and start seeing God in everything He created, I truly believe we will have that passion.

I'm sure there are a lot of Pastors out there who know a lot more than I do, but the way I read and understand it, being a child of God, being a true Christian, and being saved should go hand in hand. If a Pastor reads this please let me know if I am wrong.

This being said, I must get back to my main thought. If we are to consider ourselves Christians then we need to do as a follower of Christ would do, and emulate Him. To do this we must read our Bible to get to know Him and find out what He wants from us. Which comes back to an intimate relationship with Him. If we will allow Him to be part of our lives completely and be part of His, meaning to want to do as He tells us, then adhere to the first two commandments will not be as hard as we suspect. Especially if we surrender to Him and let Him guide us. If we do this, then the other commands will fall into place.

We should focus on loving God and others with our thoughts, actions, and energy every day

Good Night to All and May God Bless!

"THE WAY OF LOVE"

Good Evening to All!

If I give everything I won to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

LOVE never gives up.
LOVE cares more for others than for self.
LOVE doesn't want what it doesn't have.
LOVE doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies.

We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing Him directly just as He knows us! (13) But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly. love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

1 Corinthians 13:3-8, 12-13 The Message Bible

The true meaning of love is taken for granted so much now days. I have heard often that love is an enigma. Something which cannot be explained. More songs, sonnets, ballads and poems are written about love than any other theme. The problems with all of these are that often they only describe physical feelings, or emotional responses rather than real love.

People don't seem to give any kind of DEEP thought as to what love is truly all
about. I mean lets think about it. I have heard people ask others what they want in a spouse. Too many times I have heard; attractive looks, intelligent, sense of humor, ok, I'll give them a couple-- honesty and kindness.

They have not even given thought as to what love entails which is putting other's needs above their own, do their best to please their partner in every way through our words and actions.

Willingness to forgive is a big part of love. When we forgive, we don't keep a record of hurts. This is not a matter of allowing or enabling someone to do wrong, but rather unselfishly wanting the best for the person. To truly show love, we need to forgive grudges, release jealousies, and commit to encourage people we enabled to change their behavior.

Really, I don't understand why the idea that love is hard to explain ever came into existence. If we would just treat others the way we would want to be treated, love wouldn't need an explanation.

Love, the greatest of the three virtues of faith, hope, and love , is worth exercising and understanding

Good Night to All and May God Bless!

"JOY, LOVE, AND THE DAY OF JUDGMENT"

A Joyful Return to Zion

Those who trust in the LORD
Are like Mount Zion,
Which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So the LORD surrounds His people
From this time forth and forever.(Psalm 125:1-2)

According to the Reference in the NKJV, these verses refer to it as in the other songs of Zion
(Ps. 48), there is a deep belief in the invincibility of the city of Jerusalem because of the LORD's choice of Mount Zion (1 Kings 11:36). Likewise, the psalmist proclaims that those who trust in the LORD will endure. "the mountains surround Jerusalem": Jerusalem is built on one of seven mountain peaks in the region. The mountains provide some protection for the city, since any invading army would have to march through arduous and dangerous mountain paths. Yet the city's true protection comes from the LORD.

This passage gives me assurance of how safe I am with the LORD surrounding me with His protection against all evil. It helps me to know that all I have to do is call on the name of the Lord and He will save me.

The Outworking of Love

By this we know love, because He (Jesus Christ) laid down his life for us. . Here is a correlation I have never noticed before. John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

The Day of the LORD

For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that , whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10)

Paul states that God did not appoint us (believers) to wrath (see 1:10.) There will be wrath at the day of the LORD, but it will be God's wrath on the unbelieving world that has spurned and mocked Christ (Rev. 6:12-17). When we think about divine judgment, we should offer thanks to Christ for saving us from that horrible fate by dying for us (and send back the Holy Ghost) to guide us on our journey of living for God and receiving our salvation). Whether we are still living at the second coming, or whether we have died and our bodies are asleep in the grave as long as we are serious about our relationship with Christ, as long as we live for God, read and study His Word, it will be assured that we will live together with Him forever.

*Statements in Parenthesis within the reference are mine, not from the reference.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!

"DEBT OF LOVE"

Image by viking_79 via Flickr
Good Evening to All!

Before I start my post, First let me say that I do have a very good friend here in town that helps me with some things on the computer such as graphics or some advice on advertising. Lynette at Crazed Mind is a dear friend and I love her to death. That being said, I am truly excited I finally got to talk to my "computer hero" today on the phone for the first time. Redhead Riter and I have been blogging friends, chat friends and e-mail friends for almost two years, but have never spoken live to one another. It was great. Call me quirky, but I like to match faces with voices. Of course, my computer was acting up so we were on the phone for over an hour while I tried to bring up my blog. What she did only took her a few minutes, and she said she had a very fast computer. We compared our computers to cars Her's was a Ferrari and mine is so slow I can't remember what it was. I know horse and buggy were mention at least once! LOL! Redhead Riter, designed my blog, and has literally sat up on the computer with me until 2 and 3am trying to get bugs which "I" created out of my blog. She will spend time fixing something, and somehow, I'll come along and "with good intentions of helping" end up messing it up worse than before. Anyway, HERE'S TO YOU RED! This is the closest I'll ever get to an alcoholic drink! LOL!

Today's Seed: Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute s due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to
whom honour. (8) Owe no man an thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:7-8 KJV

"Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fullfilled the law." Romans 13:7-8 NIV

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Some of us dread the arrival of the mail. Those envelopes with windows mean that another bill has arrived.

The Bible's way of dealing with debt is simple. If you owe someone money, pay it it back! There is one debt, however, that Paul encourages. In fact, he says, let it continue! That's our debt to love one another. It may feel strange to consider that loving one another could be called a debt. When writing to the Romans for Corinth on what was probably his third missionary journey, Paul wanted them to feel the obligation to love one another. He also made clear that they should love their fellowman, according to the Mosaic law, which set down moral and social responsibilities.

The basis for our debt of love to others is the debt relief Christ granted us by saving us. We owe Christ-0-are in debt to Christ--for His all-encompassing love for us. The only proper response to Christ's love is to love others the way He has loved us.

Since Christ's love for us will always be more than what we mortals can produce, we will be continually in debt. But being in debt to Christ carries no fear of a canceled account. Christ's love for us is unending.

Dig Deeper: The Greek word for "owe" is opheilo, which means to be indebted and to be bound. It implies moral obligation and personal responsibility.


Weed & Water: Sometimes--perhaps a lot of time--it's not easy to love our fellowman or woman as Paul encouraged. Some people are just not very lovable. OR maybe we're the ones who have a hard time letting down our guard and allowing others into our lives, but according to God's Word, we have this debt to pay. Loving one another is the only way it can be paid. So, take it one person at a time.

Sprout & Scatter: Love for fellow Christians and people in general is central to God's law. Just as we make sure we pay our bills, we can open our hearts to those around us. There are many ways. Volunteer at church, in a soup kitchen, r at a youth organization. Give both time and money to a worthwhile charity. When driving, we can wave a driver to enter traffic in front of us, hoping that driver will pass our goodwill on to others.

Think about it: To whom do you owe a debt of respect or honor?

How can you take the first steps in following the law to love one another?

Prayer Pot: Lord, help me to pay my debt to others by. . . (Insert your own requests).

Take -Away Idea: Be debt free, except the debt to love one another.

Good Night To All and May God Bless!