God is "Love"

Valentine's Day--a time when modern society talks about love.  Everywhere one looks there are hearts, heart shaped candies and boxes of candies.  Decorations everywhere in red and white and shaped as hearts, with "I Love You' on balloons, clothing, cards, etc.

There is a love that goes way beyond this human love, and that is God's love.  I can't explain it, but I would like to tell about it.  When we say ‘God is Love’ this is not giving a definition of God. To say, "God is Love," means that this is an Attribute of God, a fact about Him just as the facts that He is Good, Holy, and Faithful. His love had no beginning and will have no end. He loves as much at one moment as He does another, because as God He does not change. Because He is God and without limits, His love has no limits.

We cannot really define "Love’, but we know about love by how it is revealed to the one that is loved. I Corinthians 13 is a chapter given entirely to an attempt to define love. Specifically: Love is patient, love is kind; not envious; not boastful or haughty; Love is not self-seeking or resentful. Love never fails. Love is uncaused and undeserved.

Love shows itself by how it takes pleasure in what is loved, and God enjoys and loves us as His own creation. John 3:16 states that God loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son to die for us. And here is a wonderful thing about God’s love; when we become His children, nothing can separate us from that love. Paul states in Romans 8:38 and 39 (from the Amplified Version)

"For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life,

nor angels, nor principalities, nor things impending or threatening;

nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us

from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

There is so much to learn about God’s Love; it is so vast and we can never understand it, any more than understanding God. Ephesians 2:4-5 gives a small view of how God expresses His love to us:

"But God—so rich is He is His mercy! Because of and in order to

satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us,

Even when we were dead (slain) by (our own) shortcomings and trespasses,

He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ;

[He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life

with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace

(His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved

(delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation).

The love of God is measureless, and we cannot be separated from it! Praise God!

1. From The Holy Bible (Amplified Version)
2. The Knowledge of the Holy
3. by A.W.Tozer
4. The heart of CC

 

The Little Foxes

Am I the only one, or have others noticed how its the little things that can set off anger, cause frustrations, erode marriages?

I find I can handle big things pretty well. Perhaps because I know I need God’s presence, His guidance with me. When my husband had Cancer Surgery, I was calm. When the doctor came in and told me his findings, I was still calm. When my sister was dying of Cancer, I felt I needed to be strong, as I was now the family ‘matriarch’. But give me a few little trials, a stubbed toe, a burned meal, a leaky faucet, a bunch of ‘little foxes’ and I may fly apart.

In Song of Solomon 2:15 it says: "catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vine…" Perhaps this is what it is speaking of in this verse. Give me some big problems, I willingly take them to the Father and lay them at His feet. But the everyday little nuisances, I often think ‘I can do it myself’. Then I get stuck in the mire, or as the verse says, I have had my vines spoiled.

My Prayer: O Lord, may we not forget, You are not only the God of the big things, the storms, and the bends in the road, but You are the God of the everyday nuisances, the little frets that come on ordinary days. Forgive me, Lord, and I give You now my day with its little trials and ‘little foxes’ and lay them at Your feet. You are such a great and awesome God, yet You care for my smallest needs. Thank You, Father, You are so good. Amen

Happy New Year!

Some comforting words from God's Word, to start our New Year.  These are from The Message, 
Psalm 91:1-13.

"God, you're my refuge.
        I trust in you and I'm safe!"
That's right--he rescues you from hidden traps,
        shields you from deadly hazards.
His huge outstretched arms protect you--
        under them you're perfectly safe;
        His arms fend off all harm.
Fear nothing--not wild wolves in the night,
        not flying arrows in the day,
Not disease that prowls through the darkness,
        not disaster that erupts at high noon.
Even though others succumb all around,
        drop like flies right and left,
         no harm will even graze you.
You'll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance,
         watch the wicked turn into corpses.
Yes, because God's your refusge,
         the High God your very own home,
Evil can't get close to you,
         harm can't get through the door.
He ordered his angels
         to guard you wherever you go.
If you stumble, they'll catch you;
         their job is to keep you from falling.
You'll walk unharmed among lions and snakes,
        and kick young lions and serpents from the path.

The Gift of God

"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.."  (II Corinthians 9:15)

God’s ‘unspeakable’ gift to us was His Son, Jesus. Of Himself, Jesus said, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water." (John 4:10)

Because of God’s wonderful gift, we can have other gifts such as a ‘gift of a relationship with God’. John 1:12 states that all who receive Him, those who believe in His name, He gives the right to be called the sons and daughters of God.

He also gives the ‘gift of His Grace’. Ephesians 2:8 says, "For by Grace you have been saved…" We have received the ‘gift of Eternal Life’, as according to Romans 6:23 "but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

One reason I think of God’s gift as being unspeakable, and perhaps part of Paul’s thinking in II Corinthians 9:15, is that it is greater than we can grasp with our finite minds. Jesus is God, 2^nd person in the Trinity, totally God. Yet in order to become the propitiation for man’s sin, He had to take on a human body. In doing so He had to become a human being. Now we have something beyond our imagination, something incredible, beyond words, unspeakable. He was still God, just as though He had never been man; yet He was man as though He had never been God.

And He did this as a gift to each of us. "For God so loved the world that He gave (this Unspeakable Gift) His only begotten son, that whosoever believes on Him will have eternal life." (John 3:16)

So at this Christmas season as we open our gifts from those we love, let us remember the most indescribable, most unspeakably amazing gift of all, ours just for the taking.  This gift is Jesus, all wrapped up in love!

Tea Cups

In my china cabinet I have several lovely china teacups. One of these I bought in Halifax, Nova Scotia some 25 years ago. Another one I bought in England at about that same time. The rest of them were given to me by my Aunt, who came from Scotland as a young woman, so I think they would be at least 85 years old.

They mostly just sit in my cabinet gathering dust, but a few years ago I used them every week for awhile. It was after I had retired, and during the day I was home alone most of the time. As I had my devotions one day, I was impressed with the well known verse from Revelation 3:20 that states Jesus said He would come in and ‘sup’ with me; so I decided to provide a place for this. I would set out a couple of my special teacups, fill them with coffee or tea and imagine my Lord sitting with me, to ‘sup’ with me. It was very easy to just tell Him my heart as we had our ‘tea party’.

This brings to mind ‘cups’ that our Savior mentioned in the Scripture. The first one, which stands out to me, was in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before He was crucified. He prayed "O Father if it be possible, let this ‘cup’ pass away from me." I have read different thoughts on this; some say He was afraid of the physical part. I do not believe it was physical at all. I believe it was my sin and your sin that He knew He would bear. He was not to just carry it as a load, He would drink this ‘cup’ of sin, and it would become a part of Him. He knew it was at this point of time when sin and God would clash, and God would have to turn away from His Son. Oh, what a bitter cup!

Jesus accepted that first ‘cup’, and now He can offer us a ‘cup’, the cup of communion as He says "this is my blood which was shed for you, drink ye all of it." Are you ready to drink of that cup? Am I ready to accept what He did on Calvary and give Him my life, and my all? Are you?

When we have given Him our life, we will then be able to do as He asks in Matthew 10:42: "whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is my disciple, surely I declare to you he shall not lose his reward."

I may have some lovely bone china teacups, probably valuable only to me, but He provides the blessings to fill my spiritual cup, to last for all eternity.

"Fill my cup, Lord,

I lift it up, Lord!

Come and quench this thirsting of my soul;

Bread of heaven,

Feed me till I want no more—

Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole!

                             (By Richard Blanchard)

A Worm to a Butterfly

"Strip yourselves of your former nature (put off and discard your old unrenewed self) which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion: And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind (having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude), And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, (Godlike) in true righteousness and holiness."  Ephesians 4:22-24 (Amplified)
For years I had the prayer that God would take me, this worm of a human being, and turn me into a butterfly. Make me what Ephesians 4:24 states, "created in God’s image, in true righteousness and holiness." Then as I began studying God’s Word, I realized, I already am a butterfly. The day I accepted Christ as my Savior, I became a new being. Isaiah 61:3 tells me, He took my ashes and gave me beauty. In Isaiah 61:10 it states "(You) clothed me with garments of salvation, (You) have wrapped me in a robe of righteousness…as a bride adorned with her jewels." II Corinthians 5:17 says, "if any person is in Christ he is a new creation." And in Colossians 3:10 (amplified) "And have clothed yourself with the new spiritual self, which is renewed and remolded into...knowledge after the image of Him who created it."

Wow! I already am a beautiful new creation in God’s sight! I have a new spiritual self! And someday I shall even have a new body, a glorified body, and one like Christ’s glorified body. David is one who realized this when he stated in Psalm 17:15 "I shall be satisfied when I wake in thy likeness." Paul tells us in Philippians 3:21 "(Lord Jesus Christ) shall change our lowly body that it may be fashioned like his glorious body…"

You see, I am already a butterfly, what more could I ask for. My soul is a new creation, and soon, my body will be also.

"Like developing butterflies,

We are to shed the cocoon

Of our sinful nature that we might

Emerge into the beauty of Christ."

(Unknown)

Thank you, Lord, for taking this worm and making me into a butterfly! Amen

*From the heart of CC

Hands

Not too long ago, I was looking at my hands. They now have many brown spots, that we call age spots. (Maybe they are sort of like the rings on the tree, the more rings, the older it is; with hands, the more spots, the older the person.) The skin itself is beginning to get that transparent look, and when pinched up, it stays up. I remember as children when my siblings and I would do that to my grandmothers' hands, and we would laugh and giggle. 
But these hands haven't always been this way. There was a time very long ago when they were much smaller, chubby and dimpled, and they would reach up and grab the big hand of my father or mother and feel safe. Even when my children were small, these hands were smooth, slender, the skin tight, and there were no spots. They would reach down and grab the small hand of my son or daughter to keep them safe. These hands would throw a ball, color a picture, or wipe a tear. But time brings about changes, and the young become the old. Just as the dark hair turns white, so the hands change and begin to show their age.

As I sit here musing over my hands, I am reminded of another pair of hands, the hands of our Savior. He used his hands to touch the blind, the sick, the dead; bringing healing and life. It was His hands that were nailed to the cross in my stead. It is His hands, His precious hands that hold me. He has said "He holds me in the palm of his hand" and "No man can pluck me out of His hand". Jn 10:28. Thank you , Jesus, for your blessed hands.