God never said what He was calling you to do would be easy. He never said that you would be able to do it without being hurt or talked about. He just said to do it. Love is a sacrifice. You have to sacrifice what you feel and what you want to do ..... in order to pour out on others. In order to help others. In order to do what God has told you to do. You have to go beyond yourself.
Isn't it funny how self will talk to you. It will tell you to just let it go. To forget about the other person because they don't care about you. You need to know how to distinguish the voice of God from the voice of self. God's voice always speaks love. His voice always says to help. His voice says don't worry about what someone else is saying or doing.....be who He created you to be.
Self says....just let it go or let them go. Self says .... "oh well". Self says if you don't love me....I won't love you. You have to understand that true love is not based on how someone else feels about you. Or what someone else can do for you. True love just "is". It is who God is. It exists because God exists. There is nothing that can cause God to die. Therefore love does not die based on what someone else does. Love lives because God lives. That is who He is. God is Love.
Try living your life today selfless. Less of self. Try pouring out the God in you.....which is the love in you on someone who in your natural eye doesn't deserve it. Try being the creation that God created you to be. A vessel of love. A vessel of kindness. A vessel that gives instead of always looking to receive. Try being God's gift to a dying and hurting world. Try being a vessel of prayer and praise.
We tend to try to hold what God has given us in reserve. When the actual fact is....that the love that God has given us....He has given in abundance. The reason that He pours out His love so generously to us is so that we can pour it out on someone else.
We have to adopt a "no matter what" attitude. We have to say "no matter what"......"I will love you". No matter how you hurt me. No matter what you do to me. I will love you. You have to begin to think with your heart and not with your soul. Your soul is comprised of your mind, your will, and your emotions. They are all rooted in self. Whereas your heart is the place where God dwells based on your faith.
Please understand that free will leaves you with many choices. Love is a choice. Whether or not God is seated on the throne of your heart is a choice. When given a choice.....you must choose. There is no neutral point in the choices you make for God. Either you choose to be on His side and do it His way or you choose not to. Either you are or your aren't. Either you do it His way or your own. Remember, God is not rooted in self. We need to be rooted in God.
Worship For Today.....
"Send Your Rain"
Ministered By Pastor Clint Brown & Bishop Marvin Winans
2 comments:
This is a wonderful truth Lynn...Indeed, NO MATTER WHAT. Your blog reminds me of the very last chapter of the Gospel of John. Jesus presents Himself one last time to His disciples in His resurrection glory to Simon Peter, John, James, Nathaniel, Thomas and two others. Simon Peter is the first to declare that he wants to go fishing, and takes the lead. The other disciples follow, though somewhat reluctantly. They spend the entire night fishing, catching absolutely nothing. You can imagine what that must have felt like. Dejected, they slowly make their way back to shore. When morning breaks, they find a man by a fire. The man cries out to the men, "Children, have you any food?" You could imagine what their response would have been like: "Are you blind mister? Can't you see we have nothing!" But the man encouraged them still to cast out the net on the right side of the boat, and they will be bring in a catch. Perhaps it was Simon Peter's habit to cast the net on the left side of the boat all this time: who knows? But the man's plan worked! Soon the disciples found that there were so much fish and yet the net did not break. At once, it was John who realized that the multitude of fish could only mean one thing: it was the Lord on the shore. But the first one that John confided in was Simon Peter. Interesting...... The other disciples were in the boat and were the first ones to get to shore. But for some reason something compelled Simon Peter to dive into the water. There was something about his resurrected Lord which reminded him that it was the same Jesus who showed him what it meant to walk on water. Simon Peter was the last one to make his way to shore, dragging the net with him. Jesus then took the fish and gave them bread. He blessed the food, then broke it. When all had finished eating, Jesus had a special word just for Simon Peter: "DO YOU LOVE ME?" Jesus was asking Simon Peter to follow Him until the very end. It was then that Simon Peter does an awkward thing, awkward to us that is, but very typical of Simon Peter. He turns around and looks at John, and asks Jesus, "But Lord, WHAT ABOUT THIS MAN?" Jesus then responds in a way that is so loving, yet so convicting that it pierced the very soul of Simon Peter: "If I will that he remain till I come, WHAT IS THAT TO YOU? YOU FOLLOW ME!" All his years of following the Lord Jesus, Simon Peter was looking to John and trying to size himself up to him. Certainly there must have been some jealosy, even rivalry. But here the decision is clear cut. Like what you stated Lynn: it is not our job to understand why others do what they do. John had his calling. Simon Peter had his. It was not Simon Peter's job to figure out how John was to live the rest of his life. It was not Simon Peter's responsibility to judge John. But it was Simon Peter's responsibility to love John, maybe a man who he did not particularly like, but love him the way that his Lord Jesus would love him. Thank you for this profound and powerful message!
Lynn, this is again another relevant message. No matter what-It's all about HIM-LOVE. Lord, use me as your vessel of love, kindness, prayer, praise, faithfulness and any way that YOU see fit. To GOD be the Glory!!!
Post a Comment