God's Great Love

“Behold what manner of love the Father

has bestowed on us, that we should be

called children of God!”

     1 John 3:1 (NKJV)

“For I am persuaded that neither death

nor life, nor angels nor principalities

nor powers, nor things present nor

things to come, nor height nor depth,

nor any other created thing, shall be

able to separate us from the love of

God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

     Romans 8:38-39 (NKJV)

Trust is the bedrock of faith.  But in order to trust God, we need to be convinced—really believe deep down in our hearts and know without doubting—that He loves us and wants the best for us. The greatest demonstration of His love is at Calvary.  Jesus Christ loved us so much that while we were yet sinners and enemies of God, He died for us so that we might be called children of God. 

We also learn of God’s love from His word.  The Bible is God’s love letter to us.  It is filled from cover to cover with truth about God’s love, and how He’s proven it over and over to His people.  That’s why we need to feed on Scripture every day. 

Does your faith seem weak?  Are you struggling to trust God in some difficult circumstances?  Are you holding back from stepping out in faith?  If so, you may need a greater understanding of or a fresh reminder of God’s love for you.

Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.  Having an assurance of God's great love will help you trust, obey and submit to Him in all things.

Thursday Devotional - Chasing After the Wind of Talk

Talk is cheap. People can say or promise all kinds of things. It’s easy to talk big and another thing to follow through. Also, people can look good on paper, sound great in an interview, but be a big flop on the job.

Ecclesiastes 10:12-14 Words from the mouth of the wise are gracious,
    but fools are consumed by their own lips.
¹³ At the beginning their words are folly;
    at the end they are wicked madness—
¹⁴     and fools multiply words.

No one knows what is coming—
    who can tell someone else what will happen after them?

¹⁵ The toil of fools wearies them;
    they do not know the way to town.

In an outside organization, I’ve worked with someone that is a very pleasant conversationalist, has great ideas, but is now starting to sound repetitive (multiplying words, as verse 14 states). He brings up the same issues and ideas, but talks in circles about them. We, on various advisory committees, have recommended or provided assistance to help with some of the issues/ideas. However, he either doesn’t try them or doesn’t follow through to complete what was started. So, we end up talking about the same things at the next meeting, wearying us all.

Ecclesiastes 10:18       Through laziness, the rafters sag;
    because of idle hands, the house leaks.

What about you and me? Are our words folly or wearisome?

Are we busy talking rather than working?

Maybe it depends on the project, whether it’s at work, or home or church. Where do you and I need to make sure our work matches our talk?

Alice

No law

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 

Imagine not having to be restricted by a law.  Having freedom to do something without limit.  So often we are restricted by the law however here in Galatians, we are told there is no law against the fruit of the spirit.  We have to be careful though because this could easily be taken out of context.  We could pick just one of these, such as self-control and say something like, there is no law against anything I do as long as I display self-control.  This would be false.  However, when we live within the guidelines of the Bible, we can do some things if we show self-control.  I few weeks ago I talked about drinking and how this has become the norm in the world today.  While I still believe we must be extremely careful to make sure that we don’t cause our brother to stumble, does the Bible say that you can’t drink at all?  No.  We are told we need to display self-control. 

Too often, the fruits of the Spirit are areas that we do not display enough.  Think about how the world would be different if only we spread more of these fruits instead of the hatred, hurt and malice that is often spread.  As Christians we are called to be the change.  We can change the world, one person at a time. 

How will you start spreading the fruits of the Spirit today?  For me, I need to start on this in my own home.  I need to show more gentleness with my son. I encourage each of you to look at where you can spread more fruit of the Spirit.