That Your Joy May Be Full

I haven't been writing much lately.  It's not that I haven't had much to say, I've just not felt the freedom to say them.  It's almost like God has shut my mouth on purpose.  Partly, I think it's to remind me that He is my source for everything: happiness, peace, creativity, finances, direction, everything that I could possibly need comes from Him alone.

Needless to say, I've also been quiet in real life, too.  It's hard to describe this season because really there are no adequate words.  I love that God uses different times, seasons, vessels and instruments to speak to me and lead me.  Sometimes a song will come on, and it's like He's pouring His love right over me.  Sometimes a dear friend will say just one word that sets off a chain reaction of thoughts that could only come from Him.  Last night, it was in my dream (this happens frequently for me).

I haven't been depressed in a while, but I have felt funky.  I've also been really distant and not pursuing a relationship with the Lord.  I haven't been hiding the word in my heart like I've done for so many years.  A pastor I knew growing up would always say "hide the word in your heart when you don't need it, so when you do need it, it will be there."  I know, the truth is, that we really need the word everyday, but for this purpose, I am using this quote.  

So, last night, I kept hearing the song "this is my commandment that you love one another that your joy may be full."  I wasn't really dreaming, it was more of a prophetic state where I knew God was speaking to my heart and reminding me of His word.  I can't post all of John 15, but that's where we get the command to love so that our joy will be full.

John 15:11-12 "I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you."

The key to complete joy is to love.  Throughout much of John 15, Jesus talks about what it looks like to love and how to love like He does.  Joy found in our things, people, worldly hopes and dreams is temporal and fades quickly.  The joy of a new car fades as soon as the first bill comes and new car smell goes.  Putting our joy on the actions, words or intentions of others will fade as soon as they fail us, because they will.  

However, when joy comes through the Lord, wisdom is born and we are strengthened in that joy.  Not much can move us off that foundation.  Jesus gave us many charges as believers to show people we are followers of Him, but this is the one commandment that He reiterates over and over.  I think there is a reason He would put so much emphasis on love.

John 15:17 "These things I command you, so that you will love one another."

It's like after teaching all this stuff about love, Jesus closes His sermon out with this last thing "love one another."  That's what it all comes down to.  That's where we find our joy.  It's not in the hating of our brothers and sisters in Christ, or even those who have not come to know Him yet.  It's in love that we find our joy.  

Father, thank you for speaking to me in dreams.  Thank you for reminding me to walk in love, and to keep hiding Your word in my heart.  You are so faithful and true, and Your love never fails.  I praise you and I thank you for your goodness and mercy, may they continue to follow me everyday.  May Your love be so evident in my life that joy overflows everywhere I go.  In Jesus Name, Amen!   

I Choose Love

I'm linking up with Lisa Jo Baker and a couple hundred other bloggers again for Five Minute Friday.  The past few weeks, I've been writing my Friday post on Sunday.  I'm late, and I've been going over my five minutes.  I'm not usually a rule breaker, but things are stirring on the inside.  I would love for my blogging friends to join us at the link up every Friday.  You will be so encouraged by the community of writers there!  This week's word prompt is Choose.

It had been a long week.  Getting things ready for my sister's bridal shower with my mom on Friday was just a small thing on my task list.  I had a whole list of things on my mind about home things I needed to do as well.  While I was making my bed, the Holy Spirit spoke softly to my heart.  He said "Love wins.  Choose love."  There wasn't any turmoil going on in my life, so I didn't think of it as something I needed to correct my attitude in immediately.  

However, throughout the past week, there was a lot of political talk going on in our country about who we should serve and why our beliefs would dictate who we could serve.  I don't usually carry strong opinions on this matter, and I'm not very politically active.  You can boo me now if you'd like.  But, this thing I heard while making my bed stirred up something in me I didn't know I had.

I thought about Jesus, who is our ultimate example especially if we call ourselves followers of Christ.  Jesus, in all of the gospels, in all of the words written that were spoken by him, never ruffled the feathers of the sinners.  Instead, Jesus was really good at stirring up the religious elite (Pharisees), and sometimes even His own followers.  

Jesus wasn't out to condemn the sinner, but often shows that He had compassion for them.  I felt so convicted in this area of my life Friday.  I felt fired up, something I very rarely feel in my INFP/green/phlegmatic personality.  I'm typically laid back, easy going, so for me to get riled up, you must know that God is working on something in me.  

What if, as a church, we have it wrong when it comes to the sinner?  What if our call is not to choose to cast them aside, believing our own sin is without weight, but instead to offer them hope and show them love?  What if, as we call ourselves followers of Christ, we acted as such and acted as Jesus would if He was living in 2014?  I'm pretty sure He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  He would have compassion on people today just as He did 2000+ years ago.  

I believe that our call as a body is not to stir up and condemn the sinner, but to engage with them and show them His extravagant love that we so often talk about in our music and church services.  Do we even really know what that extravagant love looks like?  Merriam-Webster defines extravagant as "exceeding the limits of reason or necessity; lacking in moderation, balance and restraint."  That is HIS love for US!  For ALL of US!  Y'all, I know how much my Jesus loves me.  Why would I not want to share that LOVE to everyone?  Why would I want to hoard His love?  

I believe that it's time we choose love and lay down our weapons of words that pierce the already wounded and fall on deaf ears and blind eyes.  Instead of choosing to shut our doors to people who don't look like us, live like us or believe like us, let's open our doors and love them relentlessly.  Let the Holy Spirit do His work, because honestly, we can't.  Choose love, friends.  I choose love.

He Loves You

I missed Five Minute Friday on Friday, so I'm a little late to the game.  So, the word prompt was Encouragement.  To get all the info on what this is all about, go visit Lisa Jo Baker's place and join us!

Go.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8(a) "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; itis not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends."

You are loved.  You are loved with an everlasting love, a love that never ends.  The love that is described in 1 Corinthians 13, your Heavenly Father loves you in that way.  When you feel unlovable, you are still loved.  

Jeremiah 31:3 "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."

God has a plan for you, even when you feel forgotten.  He has a plan for you.  He promises to use even the not so great stuff in your life for your good, and for His glory!  Romans 8:28.  He sees your yesterdays and knows your tomorrows.  He uses it all, loves through it all and works through it all.

The greatest love of all is that while we were still sinners, Christ died for our sins.  While we still did not love Him in return, He loved us anyway.  Friend, there is nothing, not one thing, that can separate you from His eternal love for you.  

You know what?  This is just as much for me as it is for you, friend.  I am an encourager, that is my nature, my spiritual gift.  But, sometimes the encourager needs to be encouraged.  So, I'm being encouraged by these words of life as I write them to the person reading them now.  Let's be encouraged together so we can be an encouragement together.

I pray that you are encouraged today to seek Him with your whole heart, to lean on Him through times of weakness, and to trust Him through times of darkness.  He loves you, yes, He does.

Stop.

A Thankful Heart: Life Through God-Lenses

"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present 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 in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Romans 8:38-39

God doesn't see us through rose-colored glasses.  Instead, He sees us through Christ colored glasses.  He sees us justified, in Him.  He doesn't see us sin stained, but blood washed through the blood of Christ.  The cross' shadow covers our deepest and darkest sins, regrets, mistakes or whatever we think keeps us from God's loving grace.  

The truth is that we don't have to earn His love, His grace, or anything.  There is nothing we can do to merit God's mercy.  The only thing required of us is to trust Him fully, love Jesus, and leave the saving part to Him.  Nothing we do will save us.  That is the great gift we have in Him.  

The works of our hands are only in response to honor Him and show others how wonderful His grace is.  We don't live a certain lifestyle because it's what makes God happy.  Rather, we live that life, the God honoring life, because it honors the One who saved us and redeemed us.  

I think about when my kids draw me a picture.  They aren't trying to earn my love.  Instead, because of my love for them, they respond by the work of their hands.  It's the same way in our relationship with God.  When we understand fully that God loves us, and sees us as forgiven, as washed with the blood, we will serve Him more fully.  It's not because we are trying to earn our way, but in response to His love.  We want to show love to those we believe love us.

And, we know He loves us.  Oh, How He loves us.  His love goes deeper, wider, longer, higher and further than anything we could imagine, and nothing can separate us from His great love. Friend, what if we dared to believe God for that kind of life?  To see others as God sees them? Could we do it?  I believe we can.  Who in your life needs a little extra TLC?  Who is the most difficult person for you to love?  Dare to believe that God can work through you to love them and see them as He does.

Father, how we love you.  We honor you!  We choose to believe you and take you at your word.  We know you have loved us, first.  You love us with an everlasting love.  You have removed our sin as far as east is from the west.  Thank you for your mercy and loving-kindness.  Thank you for loving us past our transgressions and through Christ.  We know nothing can separate us from your love.  Help us to show that love to everyone we come across.  Give us merciful hearts, kind words, and remind us of your love for us so we can see others through Christ-colored glasses like you do.  In Jesus Name, Amen.

A Thankful Heart: Day 33 - That Your Joy May Be Full

You might remember singing the song "this is my commandment that you love one another, that your joy may be full".  This quote from C.S. Lewis reminded me of that song and the verse that inspired it.

John 15:11 - "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."

Why does God want our joy to be full?  What does that mean for us?  What allows our joy to be full?  

The scriptures leading up to and after John 15:11 are the instructions for having a joyful life. The answer is overwhelmingly LOVE.  Love abiding in us, God's love abiding in us allows us to walk joyfully because we are not holding onto anger and resentment toward anyone.  Instead, we see them with the eyes of love, almost with rose colored glasses.  It's as if we see people as Christ sees them.  

We know we are capable of loving like Jesus does.  We are able to grow in areas where we are weak.  Where we are weak, He is strong.  The first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:35-38) is that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind.  We are also to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:39-40)  Jesus is our example for everything.  If we don't know where to start, we look at Jesus and find our answer.  Abide in Him, and He will abide in you.  His love will abide in you.

One thing I have learned is that it is hard to be angry at someone you are praying for.  If you find someone is hard to love, start praying for them.  I guarantee God will change your heart for that person.  He will knit your heart to them, and they won't even realize it.  I speak this from experience.  Some of my best friends were people I could not stand to be around when I first met them.  But God laid them on my heart, and as I began to pray for them, He filled me with a deeper love for them, and I saw them differently.  

When we choose to love people as God loves them, joy fills our hearts, our thoughts, our talk, our complete lives.  Let's choose love today.  God wants us to walk in joy.  Joy is not contingent upon our circumstances.  This is important to know.  It is completely contingent on your walk with God and your love walk.  We are more effective at pointing people to Christ when our joy tank is full.  Have you ever met a grumpy Christian and then they told you about Jesus?  Would you want what they have?  No!  Let them see that in all circumstances we can give thanks, and walk in love with joy following us wherever we go.  I am walking this out, too!

Father, we know that when our faith is put to the test, it is proved genuine.  We rejoice in you with a glorious, inexpressible joy.  Thank you for giving us joy in our journey.  I pray that our joy will be full as we choose to love others, and to bless them as you have blessed and loved us.  Thank you for the promises in your word that lead us back to you, to a relationship with you, that stands the test of time.  We love you, God.  I lift up my friends to you and ask you to fill their love buckets up so they can be a light of joy wherever they go, a beacon of light that points them to Jesus.  In Jesus Name, Amen!

Love and Mercy

Love and Mercy go hand in hand.  You can't have love without mercy, and you certainly cannot have mercy without God's love working in you.  John 3:16 is the ultimate display of mercy - For God so LOVED us (the world) that He gave his only son, that whoever would believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (Mercy). 

Every day I pray over my children, that they would walk in mercy and love mercy.  Micah 6:8  Mercy is undeserved forgiveness, and Grace is undeserved favor.  I pray that my children will walk in forgiveness and give it to everyone, even those who don't "deserve" it.  After all, isn't that what God did for us through Christ?  Ephesians 4:32

I pray these things over my children, but shouldn't I really be praying them and practicing them for myself?  Aren't love and mercy the easiest way to show others the work of Christ in our lives.  We don't need to scream it out, but instead, live it out.  Sometimes living a life in Christ speaks a lot louder than our words ever could.  Because of Christ going to the cross, we don't get what we deserve, instead, we get mercy; undeserved forgiveness.  The greatest example of living out loud, more than speaking out loud was the work of the cross.  

This is my prayer for all of us:  Father God, let us be examples of your love and mercy everywhere we go.  Help us to wear our mercy where others can see it and touch it, and most importantly, experience the profound mercy of Christ in us.  Thank you, Father, that your mercies are new every morning.  Let that mercy work in us so that we can have new mercy every morning toward everyone we come in contact with.  Let us be a light and to shine your love and mercy as a beacon on a hill where people go to find refuge.  Allow us, God, to serve you by loving everyone and walking in mercy.  In Jesus Name, Amen!

Amazing Grace

I have been meditating on the word grace for a couple of weeks now.  Since we started studying the book of John at church, I have become slightly obsessed with the word.  John 1:16 is really what has fueled this passion about grace.  The English Standard Version reads "For from this fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.  Grace is literally translated as unmerited favor.  Favor upon favor.  WOW!

God is so full of grace.  It is the greatest gift a man can receive to understand and know the fullness of God's grace.  It is through grace that we experience any other blessing that God would have in store for us.  I would challenge any believer who focuses solely on the physical blessings of God to, instead, focus on the grace of God.  It is not by bragging of what God has given us (home, car, marriage, job, etc) that is our greatest blessing.  It is by bragging on the grace He has given to us through His son, Jesus Christ.  Everything else that comes out of God blessing us is just residual to the real blessing of eternal life.

John 13:35 says "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.  We can not fully experience God's love and display it to the world without understanding His grace, His unmerited favor toward us.  

It occurred to me today that the fruits of the spirit correspond directly with our knowledge, understanding and experience of God's grace.  A person full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control has understanding of His grace because it is only by grace that we can display, flow and pour out the fruits of the spirit.  

I am so passionate about God's grace, and I pray that I can show His grace to everyone that I meet.  I pray that I am filled with boldness, and that my spiritual gifts  come into action when God has called me to share his grace with someone specific.  I have so much stirring on the inside of me about this, and I'm sure I'll write more about it at another time.  But for now, be encouraged to show grace to everyone you meet.