God's Indescribable Gift

II Corinthians 9:15 "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift."
We are just a few days from Christmas, so it is a good time to remind ourselves of God’ s unspeakable, amazing, beyond our comprehension, gift. This gift was Jesus, all wrapped up in love.  Yes, God’s ultimate 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 the ‘gift of a relationship’. 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 ‘indescribable’ 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 was 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, indescribable. 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 indescribable 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 all our wonderful, no doubt expensive gifts, remember the most unspeakable, indescribable gift of all, ours for the taking. This Gift is Jesus!!

Angels

 

A lot has been said about ‘angels’ in recent years: from TV shows to movies, to figurines both cute and majestic.  What is an angel?  Is this a figment of our imagination, or are they real beings?  To better define an “angel” we turn to the Holy Scriptures in which we find angels mentioned quite frequently.  We also find that angels are ‘spirits’ yet are often given a form of man to perform specific services.  Angels are referred to in the masculine gender, as ‘he’, though sex in the human sense is never given to angels.  Neither are angels given in marriage, see Matt.22:30 and Mark 12:25.  Their power is greater than that of any man, and their place of being is around the throne of God.  Revelation 5:11 states “And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne…” and “And all the angels stood round about the throne.”

 

As to their relation to the believers, they are said to be ministering spirits, and to give us physical safety and well being for the children of God.  These guardian angels have constant access to "“see the face of God” Matthew 18:10.

 

We find that angels are given for our protection, to fight for us, to comfort us, as messengers sent by God, and that the angels watch man--they observe what we do.  Psalm 34:7 states “The angel of the Lord encamps round about those who fear him, and delivers them.”  Psalm 91:11 tells us “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”  We also find in Daniel 6:22 that Daniel told the king “My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths…”  In Daniel 3:28 the king acknowledges that God had “sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him”.  Psa. 35:5 & 6 tells us “the angel of the Lord chase them”…and “the angel of the Lord persecute them” (meaning our enemies), and in II Kings 19:35 the angel slew a whole army.

 

In Acts 12:7-10 the angel woke Peter up, loosed his chains and led him out of the prison.  Once he was safely in the street the angel departed.  In Acts 5:19 the apostles were brought out of prison by an angel.

 

God used his angels throughout scripture as special messengers.  In Daniel 10 there is an interesting story about the angel who states in vs. 11 “for unto thee am I now sent.”  And then the angel goes on to tell Daniel that he was bringing Daniel the answer to his prayers but was held back by the forces of Satan, referred to as “the prince of the kingdom of Persia”.  This brings real meaning to the verse in Eph. 6:12 where it tells us to put on the whole armor of God “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

 

In Daniel 8:15 after Daniel had seen the vision of the “little horn”, a specific angel, Gabriel came to explain to Daniel the meaning of the vision.

 

In Matthew 1:20, and 2:13 the angel appeared to Joseph on two different occasions giving him messages.  The first one assuring him that he should take Mary for his wife, that she had conceived of the Holy Spirit; and the second time to warn him to take his family and flee into Egypt.  Luke 1:11 the angel came to Zacharias when he had gone into the temple, and told him that his prayer had been heard and he and Elizabeth would have a son, whose name would be called “John”.  In Luke 1:25-33 the angel came to Mary and gave her the message that she would bring forth a son, the Son of the Highest.

 

Luke 2:9-14 tells us that the angel came to the shepherds with the message that Jesus had been born, and this angel was joined by a multitude of heavenly hosts.  They were so excited that all the angels wanted to be a part of this glorious and awesome message.

 

In Matthew 28:5 after rolling away the stone, the angel met the women with the message that Jesus was no longer there, but He had risen.  And the angel told the women to give the disciples a message that they were to meet Jesus in Galilee.

 

Angels are sent to comfort us and strengthen the children of God.  When Jesus was in the garden praying, before his arrest, Luke 22:43 states “there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.”  Hebrews 1:14 tells us they are “sent forth to minister (comfort) for them who shall be heirs of salvation.”  I Kings 19:5 and also 7 tells us about the angel coming to Elijah on two occasions, touching him and telling him to “arise and eat”, thus nurturing and ministering to Elijah in his time of need.

 

Scripture also tells us that the angels watch us.  I Cor 4:9 says that the apostles were made a “spectacle unto the world, and to angels.” Ephesions 3:10 (NIV) says “through the church, the manifold (or displaying) wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.” It should be a sobering thought that the church on earth is observed, so to speak, by spiritual powers.

 

During the time of the Tribulation, God will use His angels to execute most of the judgments.  It will be the army of God’s angels that will defeat Satan and his fallen angels and cast them forever out of Heaven, and at the end an angel will seize Satan and bind him and cast him into the bottomless pit for a thousand years.

 

God created the angels sometime before He created the universe, as they were there according to Job 38:4-7.  And we know they will be entrusted with guarding the New Jerusalem in eternity as Rev. 21:12 describes this beautiful place as having a “great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates.”

 

As powerful and beautiful as these angels are, and as overwhelming as it might be should we actually see an angel, we are not to worship them.  When John was overcome at the sight of the angel, the angel told him “Do not do it!  I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus.  Worship God! (Rev. 19:10, NIV)

Also in Rev. 22:9 he again says, “Do no do it! I am a fellow servant…Worship God!”

Crowns

Man makes a lifetime of running around, trying to lay up riches for himself.  Psalm 39:6 states: “…every man walks about like a shadow; he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them.” 

 

In Proverbs 27:24 it states “Riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations.”  Wow!  That is a truism.  I have just been reading II Kings and very seldom did a kingdom go from father to son, to son.  Someone, maybe a Captain of the Guard, or an outside villain would have a ‘coup’ and kill the king, then take over the throne.

 

We may never receive a crown while here on earth.  Some of us may never receive any kind of reward or medal for accomplishments or great leadership; but the Bible says there is a ‘crown’ waiting for each of God’s children when we get to Heaven.

 

Paul states in II Timothy 4:8 “Henceforth there is laid up for me the “Crown of Righteousness” which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, will award to me and recompense me on that day—and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved and yearned for and welcomed His appearing.”  So here we have a “Crown of Righteousness”.

 

Another Crown we will receive is the “Crown of Life”.  James 1:12 says “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the “Crown of Life” which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”

 

In I Thess. 2:19 we hear about the “Crown of Rejoicing.”  In the KJV it is Crown of Rejoicing.  In the Amplified Version from which I have been studying lately, it is called “a Victor’s wreath of excellent triumph when we stand in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming.”

 

Here is one I am really looking forward to, found in I Peter 5:4 (KJV): “And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a “Crown of glory” that fadeth not away…”

 

The only reason we are able to even claim such crowns is because of the crown our Savior wore while here on earth, namely, the “Crown of Thorns”.  Matthew 27:29 states: “they plaited a ‘crown of thorns’, they put it on His head.”

 

When I was in Israel we were shown the kind of thorny bush from which they took the branches to make the crown.  The thorns were an inch, to an inch and a half long.  These they twisted together and put on His head, no doubt forcing it down so the thorns pierced his skin.

 

When I think of the crown Jesus wore, knowing it was part of the curse He took for me, so that someday I can stand before Him wearing my Crown of Righteousness, I feel so humbled, so very unworthy. 

 

My Prayer: The crowns You give Your children, Lord, are incorruptible; they will last forever and ever.  And these crowns are mine only because of what you did on Calvary.  I have done nothing to deserve them.  You are so good!  You are the Life in me!  You are my All and my Salvation.  Holy Lord, You are my treasure and it is at Your feet where I will lay down my heart and my crown!  Amen

 

 

I Am on God's Mind!

 

Did you know that God actually thinks about you, just YOU!  When I first realized this it was awesome to me.  It took me awhile to just sit and absorb it.   In Psalm 40:17 (Amplified Version) it states:  “I am poor and needy;  yet the Lord takes thought and plans for me…”

Just think about that!  With all the millions who are God’s children, yet because He is God, He thinks of me as though I were the only one.
 
Dear Lord, You call me Your beloved, and You call me by my name.  Your desire is to me, and Your thoughts of me are precious (Psalm 139:17)  You saw me being formed in my mother’s womb and loved me even then.  You have said You will care for me even to my old age and gray hairs.  I am the apple of Your eye and through You I am rich and possess all things. When I go to sleep, You see me; when I awake You are still with me.  Praise God, I am Yours, and I am on Your Mind!  Amen

What Happens to my Sin?

Have you ever really wondered what happens to your sin when you accept Jesus as your Savior?
Have you wondered when something brings to mind a sin of the past, whether you need to again ask forgiveness?

In the book entitled "Pilgrim’s Progress’ by John Bunyan, is the story of Christian, leaving his home in the City of Destruction. On the back of Christian was his heavy load of sin and causing much grief. His journey was to find relief of his load on his way to the Celestial City. Eventually he came to a place where the road was fenced on either side with a wall, called ‘salvation’. Up this road he ran encumbered by the load on his back. He came to a place where there stood the Cross, and a little below in the bottom a Sepulchre. When Christian reached the Cross, his burden came loose and fell off his shoulders, tumbling till it came to the sepulchre where it fell in, and was seen no more. It was the sight of the Cross that eased his Burden. It is at the Cross where through repentance and trust in the one who paid our ransom, we receive life. Where does our sin go when we come to Christ’s Cross? How can we know it is really cast away?

Micah 7:19 states "…you will cast all our sins into the depth of the sea." 
Psalm 103:12 tells us that "As far as the East is from the West so far has He removed our transgressions from us."  
In Jeremiah 31:34 we are told "…for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
Also, in Isaiah 43:25 God says He is the one who blots out and cancels our transgressions. And in Isaiah 44:22 He says they are blotted out like a thick cloud.
In Peter’s message at Pentecost, he tells the crowd listening "So repent (change your mind and purpose); turn around and return (to God) that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean…" (Acts 3:19 Amplified). These verses are only a few of the verses showing that our sins are gone. Some days when I am grousing about my past, and ask God again to forgive me, I can just imagine He is saying "What sin, my child? I have already forgotten!!."

Why did He do this?! Go back to Isaiah 43:25b. He says "For my own sake…" Wow!! He wants us to be clean and pure…For His Own Sake! We are His children, so for His sake He forgets all about our past, all about our sins. What a gracious, merciful God!

All Things

 

I love reading the book "31 Days of Praise" by Ruth Myers. If one doesn’t know how to praise, this book will open up the path for you. It will help you verbalize your own feelings by paraphrasing Scripture. Often when I read it, I think ‘that sounds like my thoughts’. It just causes my heart to be enlarged, as with joy I give God the praise that is His due.  With that said, I am going to give you the Prayer from Day 24, showing how our Lord can use ‘All’ things to work out his perfect will.  Any italics  are my own words added. The Scriptures used are at the end.  Read it prayerfully as you Praise God for His goodness!

"Thank You, my loving and sovereign God, that my failures and mistakes and sins are part of the "all things" You work together for good…as well as my tensions and stresses, my hostile and anxious feelings, my regrets, my trips into shame and self-blame—and the specific things that trigger them. I praise you that "all things," including these, can contribute to my spiritual growth and my experience of You…When my heart is overwhelmed, I’m more aware of my need to cry to You…to take refuge in You…to rely on You.

I rejoice that these things keep reminding me to depend on You with all my heart…that they prompt me to trust in Your love, Your forgiveness, Your power, Your sufficiency, Your ability to overrule, and Your transforming presence within me. Thank You for the ways that my shortcomings and failures, and illnesses of the flesh bring pressure on me to open myself to You more fully, and the way they let You show me deep and hidden needs: grief’s and hurts that I’ve never poured out before You, that I’ve never exposed to Your healing touch, and sins that I’ve never faced and acknowledged, I give them all to you, My Jesus. How grateful I am for Your constant cleansing as I confess each sin You make me aware of, and then turn back to You as my Lord. I praise You that I’m free from condemnation simply because Christ died for me and rose again…that it doesn’t depend on how well I live. (This is a Wow!)

I praise You for how You use my sins and failures to humble me, and for how this opens me to the inflow of Your grace—amazing grace, that enables me to hold my head high, not in pride but in humble gratitude for Your undeserved, unchanging love and total cleansing!"

Par. 1 Romans 8:28,29; Psalm 61:2
Par. 2 Proverbs 3:5; Psalm 37:5; 2 Cor. 3:18; I John 1:9
Par. 3 I Peter 5:5; Romans 5:5 (LB)

Freedom Rings

"Let Freedom Ring!" we lustily sing at this time of year. But do we really know what Freedom is?

One dictionary meaning is ‘a being able to act, move, use without hindrance or restraint’. Synonymous with the word ‘Freedom’ is the word ‘liberty’. The dictionary states that ‘liberty’ connotes past restriction, or repression. When our founding Father’s signed the declaration of Independence, they were stating we were no longer repressed or restricted by another governing ruler. We were setting up our new nation to be free and independent of England or any other nation. To have the Freedom to pursue Life, Liberty and Happiness.

So it is with our Spiritual life. Galatians 5:1 states "It was for freedom that Christ set us free…" and in John 12:36 it tells us that "if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed". Jesus declaration to us is from John 3:16, "Whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have Eternal Life." Jesus also said "I am come that you might have Life, and have it more abundantly." (John 10:10). In Christ we will have Life, we will have Liberty, and thereby we will have Happiness. This is our Declaration of Independence that gives us True Freedom!

From the heart of CCoblentz

Father, My Father

June is the month during which we set aside a day to honor our fathers.  This year it will be on June 17, should any of you have forgotten.  The Father whom we should most honor is our Heavenly Father.  He is the one who loved us so much that He provided a way for us to become His own children and joint heirs with Christ Jesus our Savior. 

When Jesus was teaching the disciples to pray, He said to begin this way: "Our Father in Heaven." (Matthew 6:9) In the same chapter, verse 31 and 32, He tells us not to worry about what we eat or drink or wear because: "your heavenly Father knows that you need them."

The Hebrew word of ‘Ab’, or Aramaic "Abba" means Daddy or Papa. This eventually came to mean ‘dear father’. A few years ago I heard a very strong Christian, a church leader, begin her prayer with "Dear Daddy". I felt very uncomfortable with this, totally against the way I had been brought up and feeling this was being disrespectful. Yet, in Scripture we are told that through faith we may each one of us call Him "Abba" which as we said in English is "daddy".

Three places in the New Testament, God the Father is referred to as "Abba". In Mark 14:36 when Jesus was pouring out His heart to the Father, sweating drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, His cry was to "Abba". The verse says "Abba, Father" or "Father, my Father". To put it even plainer as to the Hebrew and Aramaic interpretation, He was saying "Daddy, my very own daddy."

In Romans 8:14, 15 it is telling us that the believer is a ‘son’ (or daughter) of God, and we can cry ‘Abba, Father’. Then in Galatians 4:6 it says we have the Spirit of Jesus to confirm that we are sons and daughters, by crying out for us "Abba, Father".

How can we have such a close association with God that we can call Him Father, or Daddy? We become God’s children by placing our trust in Jesus Christ as Lord. God receives us into His family and our sins are forgiven. When our ‘Daddy’ looks at us, He sees us as a pure and forgiven child because of what Jesus did on Calvary.

I may never feel the freedom to actually talk to God as my "Daddy" (He will always be thought of as ‘Father’ or ‘Abba, Father’ by me), but I will never criticize anyone who feels this freedom to do so. Our God is a loving compassionate Father, and because of Jesus going to the Cross and paying the debt of sin, we who have put our trust in Him, Jesus, now have the freedom to enter the Throne Room of God and cry out to Him "Abba, Father".

Father, my Father, I thank You for the gift of becoming Your child. I thank You for being my refuge and providing all my needs. May I always glorify You and may others see me as Your child. I would like to hear "she has her Father’s eyes", and may my eyes be a reflection of your love and image. Amen

My Prayers for my children and grandchildren

"Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray and cry aloud:  and he shall hear my voice."
(Psalm 55:17 KJV)

From this mother's heart:

"Father, hear us, we are praying

Hear the words our hearts are saying.

We are praying for our children...

Father, Father, be thou near them...

And wherever they may abide,

Lead them home at eventide."

(Excerpts from a poem by Dr. Edmon.)

Yes, Lord, 'evening, morning, and at noon' I give them all to You!
Amen

My Jabez Prayer

A few years ago there was a lot of talk about the ‘Prayer of Jabez’. This prayer is a little verse in the middle of a chapter of genealogy. This is how it reads from the Amplified version of I Chronicles 4:10: "Jabez cried to the God of Israel, saying, Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and You would keep me from evil so it might not hurt me! And God granted his request.

Wow! What a strange little verse, but a simple one and it says ‘God granted his request.’ As I was reading Psalm 119, I thought it interesting that one could take this little verse from I Chronicles and compare it to many verses in Psalm 119.

His first request: ‘Oh that You would bless me’.  Psalm 119:17 asks God to ‘deal bountifully with Your servant.’

His second request: ‘enlarge my borders’. ( Now this could mean he wanted more wisdom and understanding)  Psalm 119:33 asks the Lord to ‘teach me thy way’, and in verse 34 it says ‘Give me understanding.’

His third request is that ‘Your hand might be with me’.
In Psalm 119:35 the Psalmist asks that the Lord ‘make me go in the path of Your commandments’, asking for God’s guidance.

And the last request is that ‘You would keep me from evil so it might not hurt me.’
In Psalm 119:37 the Psalmist asks the Lord to turn away his eyes from beholding that which is not good and turn away reproach. And in verse 101 it states ‘I have restrained my feet from every evil way.

So here I am going to take the liberty of rewriting my own verse and calling it "The Prayer of Carol", using the thoughts from Psalm 119:

"O Lord, deal bountifully with Your Servant, helping me to increase my wisdom and understanding, guiding me in the way I should go, following Your commandments. Keep my eyes from looking on evil or that which is not good, and keep me from evil ways. And I thank you for hearing my Prayer.
Amen"

His New Life

"Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?" Luke 24:26

When our Lord rose from the dead, He rose to an absolutely new life, to a life He did not live before He was incarnate.  Before coming to earth as man, He was God in heaven.  He had all, He created all.  Now after being in a human body, He was raised still with a body, though an eternal one.  He entered into heaven again, yet not as before, now He had a body, a glorious body.  Now He is our Savior, our Bridegroom, our Lord.  His resurrection means for us that one day we shall have a body like unto His glorious body.  When we are born again, we receive from the Risen Lord His very life, and some day we shall also share in His Glory!

Collision of God and Sin

"Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." I Peter2:24

Jesus had to become a man in order to die on that tree.  He had to be God to bare our sins on that tree.  It was on that tree that God and sin clashed and crashed.  The center of our salvation  is the Cross of Jesus, and the reason it is so easy to obtain salvation is because it cost God so much.  It is at the Cross I will find life and can enter into union with God. In Revelation 5:12 it states that thousands upon ten thousands cried out "Deserving is the Lamb who was sacrificed to receive all the power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and majesty and blesing!"

The Curse and the Glory of the Cross

In Bible days the act of nailing or binding a person to a cross or tree was considered the cruelest and most shameful method of capital punishment. Anyone hanging on a tree according to Deuteronomy 21:23, is cursed by God. Because of the stigma and curse on anyone ‘hanged on a tree’ the idea of a crucified savior was foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling block to the Jews (I Corinthians 1:23). Yet Jesus willingly took the curse and humiliation of the law and as Galatians 3:13 tells us "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Thus He became the means of freeing people from the curse of Sin.
Jesus did not just ‘die’ in our place—He became a "Curse" of the worst kind, for you and for me. He received the total rejection by the Father so that we could be "accepted" in the beloved. He bore the utter darkness, died alone as the Father had to turn His back on His beloved and only Begotten Son so that we would not have to die alone.

"Because Jesus Christ did what God wanted Him to do, we are all purified from the sin by the offering that he made of His own body once and for all. Every Jewish priest performs his services every day and offers the same sacrifices many times; but these sacrifices can never take away sins. Christ however, offered one sacrifice for sins, an offering that is effective forever, and then He sat down at the right side of God. There He now waits until God puts His enemies as a footstool under his feet. With one sacrifice, then, He has made perfect forever those who are purified from sin". Hebrews 10:10-14 (The Good News New Testament).

The work of the Cross was to atone for the sin of the world, our sin. Atonement itself is life changing. Yet redemption is free through the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. All who accept His payment for their redemption become new creatures in Christ. This is the GLORY OF THE CROSS! Lives are altered and redirected by it!

But we cannot leave our Savior on the Cross. On the third day He rose, triumphant over sin, hell and death! Death has lost and Life has won! He lives, our Savior lives!

Have a Glorious Resurrection Day knowing we serve a Risen Savior! Praise God, He lives!

My Lord Is---?

In Matthew 22:42 Jesus asked, "What do you think of Christ? In Matthew 16:15 He asked His disciples "Who do You say that I am?"
What does the Bible say about ‘who our Lord is?’ In Psalm 24 He is called the King of Glory. Verse 10 states "Who is (He then) this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of Glory, Selah…" When He returns to set up His kingdom on earth, His name is written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords" (Revelation 19:16).

II Samuel 22:2, 3 says "The Lord is our rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer…He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower and my refuge, my Savior." According to Psalm 28:7 He is my strength, and my shield. Psalm 59:9, He is my defense. Psalm 23, a familiar Psalm to many, the Lord is called ‘my Shepherd’. Also in I Peter 2:25 He is referred to as our Shepherd as well as our Bishop. Hebrews 7 and 8 calls Him our High Priest. Hebrews 8:1 "We have such a High Priest, One who is seated at the right hand of the majestic (God) in heaven."

Some nights when I have difficulty going to sleep, instead of counting sheep, I go through the alphabet using names describing my Lord. (Adoni, Bridegroom, Christ, Deliverer, Elohim…and on through the alphabet.) Not only does it help me fall asleep, but when I wake up, He is the first on my mind.

My Prayer: Lord, I love saying names for You. Throughout Scripture there are so many different names to describe You. You are my beloved and the One Whom my soul loves. You are worthy to be praised! You are precious to me, my Chief Cornerstone. Worthy are You O Lord, to receive Power, and Glory. You are all things; You created all things, and yet Your desire is to me. You know my name!! You know my every thought!! O Lord, How Great You are! Amen

*From the heart of CC

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.