Spreading Love

Sometimes doing the right thing is so hard! You know down deep in your heart what God calls us to do but our flesh struggles with it day after day. Do you have a coworker, family member, friend or neighbor that just rubs you the wrong way. Do they walk around with a chip on their shoulder and give you a grunt when you say "hello"? Do they constantly compare what you have with what they have? Are they critical with everything you say or do? Do they seem jealous of you for no apparent reason? So what does the bible say about dealing with this.

In 1 John 4:19-21, it says "we love because He first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God", yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, who he has not seen. And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." (The term brother doesn't necessarily mean your biological brother, but any member of the human race. ) When I read these passages I feel like well that sounds good but I find myself asking, God do you know how they treat me or what they have done to me? It is hard to not get bitter and want to distant yourself from those people. Often times we don't have a choice in staying away from people like that especially if you work with them or they are in your family. So what are we supposed to do.

I have read that God can use these people like sandpaper in your life. Maybe He allows these people in your life to change you. To rub something off of you that doesn't belong there. To make you a clean slate so that He can make you more like Jesus. Just like refinishing furniture, you have to get the old stuff off before you can apply a new coat of paint or stain. If the finish is old and stubborn, it takes more elbow grease to get that junk off.

So if you are dealing with something like this in your life, sit back and ask God "okay what do I need to learn from this"? What are you looking in me to change? God can certainly change you if you ask Him. We need to pray and seek Him. Ask God to give you a new heart towards these people. Often times when you start to do this, the situation with these people may get worse, but don't be discouraged. The devil wants nothing more than for you to stay bitter and resentful.

With God ALL things are possible for those who believe!

 

[Petersen]

Our relationship with Jesus is very delicate and should be nurtured with the utmost love and care. Reading His word every day and obeying what He said. Love one another as I have loved you. My prayer for everyone today is that the Lord will sheperd us beyond our wants, beyond our fears, beyond our worries. He alone will protect and heal us because He love us with an everlasting love.

 

[Intercessor]

Sometimes doing the right thing is so hard! You know down deep in your heart what God calls us to do but our flesh struggles with it day after day. Do you have a coworker, family member, friend or neighbor that just rubs you the wrong way. Do they walk around with a chip on their shoulder and give you a grunt when you say "hello"? Do they constantly compare what you have with what they have? Are they critical with everything you say or do? Do they seem jealous of you for no apparent reason? So what does the bible say about dealing with this.

In 1 John 4:19-21, it says "we love because He first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God", yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, who he has not seen. And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." (The term brother doesn't necessarily mean your biological brother, but any member of the human race. ) When I read these passages I feel like well that sounds good but I find myself asking, God do you know how they treat me or what they have done to me? It is hard to not get bitter and want to distant yourself from those people. Often times we don't have a choice in staying away from people like that especially if you work with them or they are in your family. So what are we supposed to do.

I have read that God can use these people like sandpaper in your life. Maybe He allows these people in your life to change you. To rub something off of you that doesn't belong there. To make you a clean slate so that He can make you more like Jesus. Just like refinishing furniture, you have to get the old stuff off before you can apply a new coat of paint or stain. If the finish is old and stubborn, it takes more elbow grease to get that junk off.

So if you are dealing with something like this in your life, sit back and ask God "okay what do I need to learn from this"? What are you looking in me to change? God can certainly change you if you ask Him. We need to pray and seek Him. Ask God to give you a new heart towards these people. Often times when you start to do this, the situation with these people may get worse, but don't be discouraged. The devil wants nothing more than for you to stay bitter and resentful.

With God ALL things are possible for those who believe!

I heard a Father's Day message yesterday that talked about the necessity of fathers in the lives of children, whether perfect or not, obviously called to image God, who is perfect. It talked about the differences between a father's love and a mother's love, many times the father shows tougher love, yet it is none the less real love. I think that is one of the unfortunates of humanism, anything seen as "tough love" or "speaking hard truths" is mis-diagnosed... Even warnings, throughout the Bible, were persecuted, yet history shows the preachers like Jeremiah and Amos were right...

1964 to Present... Massive increase in fatherless household... Massive" uptick" n crime -- yet rather than repenting, what do we do? Get rid of the commandments of God on buildings, let criminals free and soon there will be no police around to record the crimes... The devil's laughing all the way to his eternal bank... then he will not laugh any longer... yet those who follow lawlessness, well, Jesus warned what would be the end of that at the end of Matthew Chapter 7...

 

[MightywarriorforGod]

Our relationship with Jesus is very delicate and should be nurtured with the utmost love and care. Reading His word every day and obeying what He said. Love one another as I have loved you. My prayer for everyone today is that the Lord will sheperd us beyond our wants, beyond our fears, beyond our worries. He alone will protect and heal us because He love us with an everlasting love.

Amen to that!

 

[MightywarriorforGod]

I heard a Father's Day message yesterday that talked about the necessity of fathers in the lives of children, whether perfect or not, obviously called to image God, who is perfect. It talked about the differences between a father's love and a mother's love, many times the father shows tougher love, yet it is none the less real love. I think that is one of the unfortunates of humanism, anything seen as "tough love" or "speaking hard truths" is mis-diagnosed... Even warnings, throughout the Bible, were persecuted, yet history shows the preachers like Jeremiah and Amos were right...

1964 to Present... Massive increase in fatherless household... Massive" uptick" n crime -- yet rather than repenting, what do we do? Get rid of the commandments of God on buildings, let criminals free and soon there will be no police around to record the crimes... The devil's laughing all the way to his eternal bank... then he will not laugh any longer... yet those who follow lawlessness, well, Jesus warned what would be the end of that at the end of Matthew Chapter 7...

The fatherless household does have an impact for sure. However, I was a single Mom for years before I got remarried. My ex was a total waste and didn't care about anyone but his selfish desires. I was saved going through my divorce which I believed God gave me the ability to persevere though it all and help my kids become mature, well rounded, wonderful adults. It isn't God's ultimate plan for a family but it can be done if you don't have a choice. There is a good sermon on the "father fracture" and how our fathers shape our view of God. When we can forgive our earthly father for anything he did or didn't do, we can see God in a whole different light. My Dad was a good Dad but he wasn't one to show affection. My siblings and I all suffered from the lack of that emotional bonding and affection. God showed me that I needed to forgive my earthly father and understand that he couldn't give what he didn't have. And look to God has my Father now! I was able to forgive my Dad and the last 12 years of his life was the best time with him. I am the only one in my family that was able to do that and it was all because of God.

 

[Intercessor]

The fatherless household does have an impact for sure. However, I was a single Mom for years before I got remarried. My ex was a total waste and didn't care about anyone but his selfish desires. I was saved going through my divorce which I believed God gave me the ability to persevere though it all and help my kids become mature, well rounded, wonderful adults. It isn't God's ultimate plan for a family but it can be done if you don't have a choice. There is a good sermon on the "father fracture" and how our fathers shape our view of God. When we can forgive our earthly father for anything he did or didn't do, we can see God in a whole different light. My Dad was a good Dad but he wasn't one to show affection. My siblings and I all suffered from the lack of that emotional bonding and affection. God showed me that I needed to forgive my earthly father and understand that he couldn't give what he didn't have. And look to God has my Father now! I was able to forgive my Dad and the last 12 years of his life was the best time with him. I am the only one in my family that was able to do that and it was all because of God.

The best of men are but men at best... Jesus had the best Father, it's true... I am sorry to hear things did not work out for the family and there is a true need for shepherds in the Body of Christ...

I think what we are seeing now, however, is the abandonment of a universal truth for the sake of both convenience and past hurt... Marriage is on the downswing but individual failures do not abolish an everlasting truth. Certainly we cannot choose sin just because the marriage did not work out or was not convenient, which would bring judgement rather than blessing. Many times there was another sin involved which God is also against, adultery, and years of immorality prior to that (whether in thought or in deed). We still cannot blame God's way for other underlying sins which are the work of the devil.
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There are even weapons being forged against God's ways through legislation -- tear down God's truth and set up our own standards by fallen human thinking. Villianaize anyone who contradicts the devil's new normal. Revoke free speech if you say to the contrary. Judge the representatives of God for being judgemental. Censor them for their opinion, fact check that which doesn't fit into the devil's outrageous platform...
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That is the way the devil plays it... Something that is his fault he turns as an accusation against God The Father Almighty and His perfect institution of marriage. He does the same with government, taking individual flaws of fallen people and inciting a riot to abandon the whole structure. The devil's ultimate goal is to get us to choose choice and judgement rather than discernment and much prayer and council about both marriage and for whom to vote... Sanctify all of us in the truth, Your Word is truth (John 17:17), in Jesus' Name
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1“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” 2“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. 3 “You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the LORD of hosts.

4 “Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.

5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. 6“He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse" (Malachi 4:1-5).

 

[MightywarriorforGod]

The best of men are but men at best... Jesus had the best Father, it's true... I think what we are seeing now is the abandonment of a universal truth for the sake of both convenience and past hurt... Marriage is on the downswing but individual failures do not abolish an everlasting truth. Certainly we cannot choose sin just because the marriage did not work out or was not convenient, which would bring judgement rather than blessing. Many times there was another sin involved which God is also against, adultery, and years of immorality prior to that (whether in thought or in deed). We still cannot blame God's way for other underlying sins which are the work of the devil. That is the way the devil plays it... Something that is his fault he turns as an accusation against God The Father Almighty and His perfect institution of marriage. He does the same with government, taking individual flaws of fallen people and inciting a riot to abandon the whole structure. The devil's ultimate goal is to get us to choose choice and judgement rather than discernment and much prayer and council about both marriage and for whom to vote... Sanctify all of us in the truth, Your Word is truth (John 17:17), in Jesus' Name
.
1“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” 2“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. 3 “You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the LORD of hosts.

4 “Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.

5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. 6“He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse" (Malachi 4:1-5).

You are so right! After I got saved I vowed to God that I would be an open vessel for Him to work through. I knew that if God hadn't delivered me from some of the things I had lived through that He had something else in mind. He has healed me and delivered me from so much and I am so grateful! Thank you for your words of wisdom and discernment!

 

[Cranstonson]

Amen. Thank you so much for sharing.

 

[Brother in Christ (JC)]

Sometimes doing the right thing is so hard! You know down deep in your heart what God calls us to do but our flesh struggles with it day after day. Do you have a coworker, family member, friend or neighbor that just rubs you the wrong way. Do they walk around with a chip on their shoulder and give you a grunt when you say "hello"? Do they constantly compare what you have with what they have? Are they critical with everything you say or do? Do they seem jealous of you for no apparent reason? So what does the bible say about dealing with this.

In 1 John 4:19-21, it says "we love because He first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God", yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, who he has not seen. And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." (The term brother doesn't necessarily mean your biological brother, but any member of the human race. ) When I read these passages I feel like well that sounds good but I find myself asking, God do you know how they treat me or what they have done to me? It is hard to not get bitter and want to distant yourself from those people. Often times we don't have a choice in staying away from people like that especially if you work with them or they are in your family. So what are we supposed to do.

I have read that God can use these people like sandpaper in your life. Maybe He allows these people in your life to change you. To rub something off of you that doesn't belong there. To make you a clean slate so that He can make you more like Jesus. Just like refinishing furniture, you have to get the old stuff off before you can apply a new coat of paint or stain. If the finish is old and stubborn, it takes more elbow grease to get that junk off.

So if you are dealing with something like this in your life, sit back and ask God "okay what do I need to learn from this"? What are you looking in me to change? God can certainly change you if you ask Him. We need to pray and seek Him. Ask God to give you a new heart towards these people. Often times when you start to do this, the situation with these people may get worse, but don't be discouraged. The devil wants nothing more than for you to stay bitter and resentful.

With God ALL things are possible for those who believe!

Thank you MightywarriorforGod.❤
Forgiveness allows Love to continue. Without forgiveness one instills hate. How can one ask our Heavenly Father to forgive their sins while we hold resentment towards another?

Matthew 5:44
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.

John 13:34-35
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

So in John 13:35 we see that Love is not only our new commandment but it's a standard in which a disciple ( or Christian) is measured by.
Forgive everyone.
Heavenly Father I pray that we can let go of resentment and fear and replace it with love and faith, in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.

 

[MightywarriorforGod]

Thank you MightywarriorforGod.❤
Forgiveness allows Love to continue. Without forgiveness one instills hate. How can one ask our Heavenly Father to forgive their sins while we hold resentment towards another?

Matthew 5:44
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.

John 13:34-35
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

So in John 13:35 we see that Love is not only our new commandment but it's a standard in which a disciple ( or Christian) is measured by.
Forgive everyone.
Heavenly Father I pray that we can let go of resentment and fear and replace it with love and faith, in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.

AMEN