No Greater Love

 

“Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.

 You are my friends if you do what I command

 I no longer call you servants, because a servant doesn’t know his master’s business.

 Instead, I have called you friends, for everything I have learned from my Father

I have made known to you.” John 15:13, 15 (NIV)

This scripture tells us that there is no love stronger than the Lord’s love for us. He shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus spoke to the disciples and told them, “I now call you friends.”

In our world, today, when we call someone a friend it means we have a relationship with them. When Jesus used the word to describe that relationship with us, it becomes more special. He has shared something with us; we have obeyed Him. He honors us when he calls us ‘friend’.

In today’s world, we have a relaxed meaning of the word ‘friend’; relationships are more casual and less long term. Our teenagers have the term “best friend forever’ (BFF.) But how long does ‘forever’ last? Those in this generation want one of their relationships to be permanent. But, alas, certain issues cause these desired relationships to languish. One moves away, one gets married and the other stays single for a while, they might find something that causes them not to accept the other’s way of thinking. 

But, with Jesus’ saying he calls us friend we have a stronger bond, when we obey Him.

Song:.Now I Belong to Jesus

Graphic: solid rockchristianchurch.org

Obedience Equals Love

 

“’As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love,

just as I have obeyed my Father’s command and remain in his love.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.’”

John 15:9-12 (NIV)

Jesus puts it very plainly, when we obey His commands, we show our love for Him. He also tells us that His Father loves us just like He loves His Son.

God’s love stays with us during the times of illness—personal or of a family member, financial hardship, loss of a loved one and its aftermath.

There is something unique about an earthly parent’s love for a child. That unusual quality is magnified many times over when we describe the love God has for Jesus and the Lord, for His children.

When God sees us living for Him, doing His Will, and following His guidance, He smiles. When this happens, we receive a joy that surmounts anything we will ever know.

Song: Such Love

graphic: www.aroyaldaughter.com

Book Review: The Question That Never Goes Away, Why

     

By Philip Yancey

_{Mr. Yancey discusses the always present question when things go wrong. When he was a year old, he lost his father to Polio. His first book, entitled Where Is God When It Hurts?” dealt with the grief and pain of times when God allowed suffering into the lives of His children.}

_{In his latest book The Question That Never Goes Away, he visits three areas of the world where disaster prevailed. He discusses the tragedy of the earthquake/tsunami and the aftermath. He relates what he saw in the bloodbath of the Balkans some 30 years after the civil war there. He then writes about his experience of going to Newtown, Connecticut and speaking to those who lost children in Sandy Hook Elementary School.}

_{Clive Calver, someone with whom Philip had worked some time ago, called him to come to Newtown and speak on his first book Where Is God When it Hurts? Mr. Calver served as a minister in a church just outside the town limits of Newtown. Several of the church members were teachers at that school. Philip Yancey asked for prayers from a group of close friends to pray for him as he spoke at “the toughest speaking assignment” he ever had.}

_{This book is not an ‘easy read’. It is a necessary read for Christian counselors, first responders, pastors, and dedicated prayer warriors,}

_{I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers through its BookSneeze program. All I was asked to do was read it and give an impartial review.}

_Graphic:http://booklookbloggers.com/

Love, Mercy, Grace

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,Love lifted MeLove Lifted Me

made us alive in Christ Even when we were dead in transgressions—

it is by grace you are saved.”

Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV)

“But because of his great love for us. . . ” We know God has a motive for all He does. It is a simple one. He loves us.

 “. . . God, who is rich in mercy. . . .” When we list the attributes of our heavenly Father one of the ones we mention is mercy-the quality of withholding just punishment for our sin. He has enough mercy for even the foulest sinner. 

“. . . made us alive in Christ . . .” Because of that mercy, God has given us a new life—one in Jesus. He chose to do this rather than send us to the nether world.

“even when we were dead in transgressions . . .” Because of our wrong doing we can be sentenced to spiritual death and have no way of our own to break free from the domain of the devil, unless Jesus intervenes for us.

 “. . . it is by grace you are saved.”      God chooses to redeem us from our sinful state out of His great love for us. We call this great love grace. He bestows His love on us even though we are unworthy of any of it.

Graphic: www.onlyabreath.com

Song: Love Lifted MeSong:

God’s Love

 

"The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands." John 3:35 (NIV)

The Lord God loves His Son so very much that He entrusted all things to Jesus. We have written evidence of this truth. When Jesus was baptized:

            “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:16-17 (NIV)

This passage from Matthew calms my heart. A dove comes from heaven at a very tender time for Jesus and for John the Baptist. This is God’s affirmation of His relationship with Jesus.

He tells those present, and us, three important facts about Jesus.

“This is my Son. . .” This is the first time, since Jesus; birth, their relationship is made known.

    

“. . . whom I love. . . “The Father tells those in attendance of the warmth of their relationship.

    

            “. . . with whom I am well pleased.” When God sees Jesus doing his Father’s will, it                        causes him to have joy.

Because of this joy, God entrusts Jesus with the things of the Kingdom. To those who obey and trust Jesus, God extends us the privilege of having certain promises given to them and fulfilled at the right time.

God loves his Son; Jesus, the Son loves us and we love God through the Son. I find that to be a beautiful arrangement.

Song:On the Wings of a Dove

Book Review:A Starfish at a Time

       

By Dana Wynn Steele  

Dana Wynn had recently graduated from law school. She worked as a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines when she married a San Diego business man, Alan Steele, who was a single father. Alan shared custody of his three children with their mother.

She opened a law office shortly after their marriage. Until the law practice sustained itself, she continued to work as a flight attendant on the weekends. She and Alan talked about the possibility of their adopting a child. She tells us she was unable to have children. Due to the needs Alan’s three children had of them, she dropped the subject.

In her book, A Starfish at a Time, touches on the life stories of the children she and Alan have adopted. Most of the adoptions are cross racial. They adopted these children through the welfare departments’ foster parent program. They have taken in infants, toddlers, older children-including some who were almost going to ‘age out’ of the system. These children were classified as ‘hard to place’. One of the little girls got removed from their home and placed with a relative in another area of the United States.

Mrs. Steele shared that at Christmas, each child receives three presents from her and her husband. They arrived at this number because of the three gifts the Christ Child received from the Magi.

At the end of most of the chapters, she has included pictures of the adopted child and a comment from that child.

During one period of her life, Dana Wynn Steele underwent treatment for Breast Cancer-including a double mastectomy and reconstruction. While all this occurred, they received a call that asked them to take another child into their home. This is one remarkable couple.

I received a copy of this book from the author through The Book Club Network, free of charge. All she asked of me was that I give an unbiased review.

Graphic. amazon.com

He Loves Us Unconditionally

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else, in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39(NIV)

Did you catch it? Paul tells us that nothing will separate us from God’s love. In explaining this, he uses opposite circumstances as examples of what can happen on our lives. God’s love is that great.

We all are human; we have times of stress and trials. No matter what negative thing we have in our life that vexes us, God loves us through Jesus. Several years ago We visited a church for a few months. While we were there one of the men gave his testimony. Part of it went something like this, “God saw me and knew all I had done wrong but He saved me anyway.” He saves us and loves us in spite of our wrong doing. He looks beyond our faults and sees our need.

When we are wrapped in God’s love, the mundane cares of this world no longer bother us. We don’t find ourselves excitable over things we don’t understand. We can take things in stride because we know any problem that comes into our lives falls under God’s care.  

God loves us no matter what we have done. He loves us because He made us. Praise Him for His love.

Graphic: wallpaper4god.com

Song: Jesus Loves Even Me