for love.
It's because of Christ love, that we have His grace.
His love.
LOVE
I sit here staring into my keyboard thinking about this word...Love. It's many text book definitions that can go from extreme passion to a mere... like. There aren't enough keys in front of me to begin to label the definitions of love. Millions of trees cut down and shredded up to make paper for all those love notes passed around in 6th grade. Love. What any parent would go through to keep their child in peace from pain. What mountains are dominated and deserts crossed under foot of man. Fortunes given away and fortunes amassed in its name. Love. Screaming into the sky proclaiming it unto all the earth when we find it. Love. Wars waged and damsels in distress saved.
Love, true love, is akin to 2 person on a boat out in the sea. In the sun, rain, sleet , fog, wind, thunder and lightning, hurricanes, depressions... they would stay in that boat together no matter what comes against them.
You know how it was when you first fell in love as a teenager. Nothing else mattered to you except that other person and not even the gates of hell could keep you from them.
We have all been there at least once and if you haven't been there just yet let me tell you...it's the only time everything seems to be going right in your life.
In the Bible Paul defines love as this:
1 Corinthians 13 (God's Word Translation)
Love
I may speak in the languages of humans and of angels. But if I don’t have love, I am a loud gong or a clashing cymbal. I may have the gift to speak what God has revealed, and I may understand all mysteries and have all knowledge. I may even have enough faith to move mountains. But if I don’t have love, I am nothing. I may even give away all that I have and give up my body to be burned. But if I don’t have love, none of these things will help me.
Love is patient. Love is kind. Love isn’t jealous. It doesn’t sing its own praises. It isn’t arrogant. It isn’t rude. It doesn’t think about itself. It isn’t irritable. It doesn’t keep track of wrongs. It isn’t happy when injustice is done, but it is happy with the truth. Love never stops being patient, never stops believing, never stops hoping, never gives up.
Love never comes to an end. There is the gift of speaking what God has revealed, but it will no longer be used. There is the gift of speaking in other languages, but it will stop by itself. There is the gift of knowledge, but it will no longer be used. Our knowledge is incomplete and our ability to speak what God has revealed is incomplete. But when what is complete comes, then what is incomplete will no longer be used. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I no longer used childish ways. Now we see a blurred image in a mirror. Then we will see very clearly. Now my knowledge is incomplete. Then I will have complete knowledge as God has complete knowledge of me.
So these three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the best one of these is love.
When you find that bond with Christ, and you truly love Him with that passion, you will know all things are in fact going right and no matter the storm you will have the strength to make it through. If we love each other as He loves us, lust will die and half the worlds problems will fall away.
No New Revelations?
It amazes me that so many of today's saints believe that God is required to be in constant communication with them. As a Christian I have experienced many times in my life where I wondered why God delayed answering me. Sometimes, in the absence of God speaking to my heart I wondered what was wrong with me?
In all actuality, there really wasn't anything wrong with me at all. When we study the Bible, we can see, especially in the old testament, many times where God didn't speak to His people for sometimes even a hundred or more years. During that time, God's people were not without His word, they were simply suppose to continue on with what He had already told them.
If you as a Christian really want to know the will of God in your life, then I propose that you begin to study your Bible. In there, you will find what God's will for you is.
John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
John 15:12 says "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you."
These two scriptures say plainly that God loves you, but not just you, He loves all His children. Jesus died so that all might be saved. It is said that Matthew 28:16-20 is the great commission and that WE should teach all nations about God and to teach them to observe all things that Christ had commanded the disciples.
If we love God and He loved people, then we also have to know and understand that the treasures we need to be laying up in heaven are souls. The first and most important soul however, is YOURS. Sometimes Gods children are so busy trying to reach souls that they forget to spend time with God themselves. Time spent with God will result in a closer relationship with Him. That closer relationship will in turn drive you to reach out to others.
Romans 12: 1-2
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
When you have spent enough time with someone, you learn their personalities, their likes and dislikes. That understanding will help you walk in love with those friends and family members. The same holds true in our relationship with God. IF we spend time with Him, seeking Him in prayer, fasting and the studying of His word we will begin to understand what God really wants out of us. Verse one simply means that if we truly LOVE God, then it isn't unreasonable to do those things that make Him happy. By being conformed to God and not to the world, we may then have our minds transformed and WE will be able to prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
What more revelation then do we need than the word He has already left for us? Let us therefore, study his word, learn what it is to be pleasing to Him, and then we will know what it is God is expecting of us.
Don't take short cuts and don't think of God like a teacher at a school, or a friend you get on the phone and spend time with once in a while, but look at God like he is your closest friend, always beside you and never willing to leave you alone.
Pebbles in the Road
I'm getting close to deployment time again and yesterday it just started to feel like the whole situation was starting to come down on me.
Lots of worry about things I haven't got done around the house, along with college classes and I'm worried about how the family is going to be. No this isn't the first time I've been away for long stretches but it's getting old quick.Going to work everyday fearing that the next time a flight chief talks might mean 6 months away. Keeping strong can be a real challenge and keeping faith even harder cause I know there is nothing in my power to stop these things and it's part of carrying the load.
I'm far from being who I want to be. I still face the challenges I faced before all this and sometimes I fall, and sometimes I fall a lot.
It's not something I am not proud of and it bothers me all the time. Putting myself aside and being His isn't easy. For the last few hundred years Christians here have had it pretty slack. How often are we faced with swords of hate telling you to renounce Christ? Words of hate and lack of faith are our challenge and our personal inhibitions are our enemy. I can stand against persecution but can I stand against my personal sins?
I don't stand here alone.
Dirty Feet
When Jesus came he put his crown aside and walked among the common people. Single mothers, fatherless children, people with addictions to sex, alcohol and gambling. Among Men who think they are strong and men who know they are weak. Among those who lie, steal, kill in greed, the rich and the poor. Among those who live adulterous lives. Among drug dealers, drug users, pimps and prostitutes. Among those who hate what they fear and fear what they do not know.
Among the common people.
He gives up what we so desire... the peace, the love, the knowledge, the joy of heaven. He left the ever powerful presence of God putting His crown aside and walks among us.
My definition of hell is a place where God chooses not to be. Christ left the most pure and the most potent plane of existence with God where sin is not allowed. He came into a world that rejects and hates God, willingly coming into this world, this filthy- nasty- shameful world as a man... for you...for me.
Say Hello to Peter G.!
I just want to extended a warm welcome to my co-author Peter G. to the True Grit Family. God put it on my heart really thick to invite Peter to post to the website after running into him on facebook. He's a assistant Pastor down in my home state of Missouri and I know this man burns bright for God. So please take a minute and give Peter a welcome to TGC!
I don’t have no pancake mix
When some people don't understand something they will make a joke of it. We all have seen it and it's usually the most arrogant of people.
If it's not because of unknowing, it's because of all the lies that have came from those using Christianity for their own means. Through the millenniums people have been beat down by various mongers of religion. Watering down the truth and hiding the suffering of Christians behind a pastel plastic Jesus who will heal you if you believe and pay your credit card bills if you cry enough. This is what they mock so stop holding your hands out to receive but hold your hands out to give - yourself - to Christ.
Today in church, after a very powerful worship service, the pastor asked everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes. I've been through this perhaps a thousand times but today- felt different. As I sat there the pastor asked if there was anyone needing Christ in their life, and if there was, they should raise their hand.
I'm ashamed to admit it because I didn't react to God's push because I was hoping the pastor would. I felt...I don't know...maybe anger or excitement because it my heart was beating so fast and I my breathing quick. All I could think of was how many times I have sat through these alter calls with my head bowed, not out of reverence... but for privacy... for the comfort of others. As if, we was ashamed to come to Christ.
Hear me out.
Who is ashamed to turn their life over to Creator God and to recognize Jesus Christ as His true Son? I was. I sat there many times scared to raise my hand, scared to raise my voice and scared to rise and go to the alter. All because we was told to bow our heads and close our eyes. Someone might here the shuffling of my shirt or the creek in the pew I was sitting on because I was ashamed to say that I needed Christ.
I want to hear a different alter call...
Who among you is willing to cross the fires of hell for Jesus Christ?
Christ has already cross those fires and He is holding his hand out to you right now. Are you willing to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and quit living a lie?
Are you willing to walk unto the ends of the Earth even if it cost you everything you have?
If you're not willing, then you are not accepting.
The line is drawn here and sin will go no further. If you are willing stand and be counted and let your brothers and sisters witness your devotion to God.
Then lead in a righteous sinner's prayer asking for nothing but offering all to Jesus Christ.
I am ashamed, I should of jumped the moment I felt His pull. Father I told You no matter the cost and I didn't do what You asked when You asked. I sat there through misguided teachings and preaching time and time again. Father guide me to uncover the truth in Your word so Christians are brave hearted and sure footed. You are the fire and I am the flame.
It’s not the water
I bring you something very special today. While visiting back home my dad put this DVD in the player. It was a Sunday night service my brother was holding in the church we both grew up in. Standing in front of the pews where my grandparents worshiped God, where my wife and I was married, where tears of hundreds fell on the floor, near the alters of Grace. He spoke on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. There is truth here full on Glory to God truth! So I highly encourage you to watch and share.