Tag: love

Asking For Trouble!

Song of Solomon 4
16 Awake, O north wind, And come, O south! Blow upon my garden, That its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden And eat its pleasant fruits.

  • Look at this request of the Shulamite bride. Why would she ask for the cold north wind to come with risk of frost, snow and death to plant life? Or why ask for the hot, dry wind from the south bring barrenness and thirst? Why would she ask for these? She is asking for discomfort, she is asking for lack of nutrients and hardship, she is asking to be disturbed, she is asking for the unpleasant…
  • What she is longing for is opportunity to share the fragrance of her garden for her beloved. It is the harsh and difficult conditions that stir up the fragrances. Just as love is not love until it is proved so the fragrance won’t flow until the winds blow.

2 Corinthians 2
14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life….

  • Do we consider this when trials come, when our Lord brings us into those ordained hard seasons? Do we consider the testimony of Jesus and take comfort and joy in His fragrance being experienced? Is it our primary focus to consider how the Gospel might be better proclaimed? Is it evident to the world that our chains are in Christ? (Philippians 1:12-13)
  • Oh how I long to be a sweet fragrance of Jesus to Our Father! Oh Lord may You be seen in Your people! May we be an aroma of Christ! Lord blow upon our lives with your north and south winds and cause your fragrance to flow out. No matter the storm, I WILL YET PRAISE YOU! HALLELUJAH! I will praise The name of The Lord my God and cast myself upon Your goodness and mercy!

1 Peter 4
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test you [that is, to test the quality of your faith], as though something strange or unusual were happening to you.
13 But insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, keep on rejoicing, so that when His glory is revealed, you may rejoice with great joy.
14 If you are insulted and reviled for [bearing] the name of Christ, you are blessed [happy, with life-joy and comfort in God’s salvation regardless of your circumstances], because the Spirit of glory and of God is resting on you [and indwelling you].

  • We really can rejoice in suffering if we are in love with Jesus. He is forming us to be more like Him and causing His fragrance to be produced in us. From all that time spent in the secret place, reading His word, seeking Him in prayer… All that He has poured into these lives will start to flow out. HIS GLORY will be revealed in US!!
  • May we always be rejoicing in our beloved. No matter our circumstance, no matter the storm. May we seek to be as ravished with His love as He is with us! May we be joyful for opportunities to demonstrate and manifest His love in us to the world around us! May we have hearts that seek for the winds to come in order that His fragrance may flow out of our lives!

Is It Me?

John 6
64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.
…
70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?”

Matthew 26
21 And as they were eating, He said, Solemnly I say to you, one of you will betray Me!
22 They were exceedingly pained and distressed and deeply hurt and sorrowful and began to say to Him one after another, Surely it cannot be I, Lord, can it?

  • What a truly precious response the disciples had to this claim from Jesus. Their immediate and first concern was to question their own failing flesh and consider their own lack of faithfulness. Each one understood that it could be them! They were not quick to accuse or question others. Isn’t that a beautiful thing?!
  • ⁠Jesus love is so wondrous and perfect that no one but Him knew that Judas was the traitor!! The disciples make no mention of Judas name, they do not doubt him or accuse him at all.
  • Knowing Judas’s heart all along, Jesus withheld nothing from him. Judas had the same access to fellowship and communion with the other believers; he was graciously blessed, taught and loved alongside his fellows; he served The Lord and his feet were also washed. Jesus did not exclude him in order to “protect” the fellowship of other eleven. Judas was in every meeting, taking part and treated equally with the other disciples!! Jesus knew!!… but harboured no fear, bitterness or disdain. Jesus was utterly yielded to the will and love of His Father.
  • Jesus withheld nothing from Judas and loved him no less! Jesus, who did not come to condemn (John 3:17-21), didn’t seek to intervene or protect Himself but left Judas to give account of His own life to The Father. (Matthew 12:36/Romans 14:12)
  • This love of Jesus Christ deserves much consideration. Is it this same love of Jesus that flows through us? Are we as utterly yielded to Our Father’s will? May we yield more and more to Our Father’s love and allow it to flow through us to those who would betray and reject us, for those who hurt us and set themselves against us. May HIS love be shed abroad in our hearts (Romans 5:5) and may we consider our own failing flesh before someone else’s (Luke 7:47).

1 John 4
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loves is born of God, and knows God.

One Who Serves

Luke 22
25 But Jesus said to them, The kings of the Gentiles are deified by them and exercise lordship [ruling as emperor-gods] over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors and well-doers.
26 But this is not to be so with you; on the contrary, let him who is the greatest among you become like the youngest, and him who is the chief and leader like one who serves.
27 For who is the greater, the one who reclines at table (the master), or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am in your midst as One Who serves.

  • Flesh loves to glory in the flesh. Whether it be a man, a ministry, a doctrine, a testimony, performance or experience, the flesh loves to recognise and revere itself. In the world and in the church we find that man looks to man.
  • May we be careful to glory in none but Christ! To “HEAR HIM” Luke 9:35. Our flesh is subtle and our hearts “deceitful above all things” Jeremiah 17:9. So let us be wary and careful of where our affections lie. God has chosen the low, weak and base things, the rejected, the unimpressive, the unqualified and unskilled… “that no flesh should glory in His presence.” 1 Corinthians 1:27-29. God uses His people in powerful ways but may we be careful to glorify JESUS ONLY AND ALWAYS for His testimonies in men and women! The flesh life and its works end in death, physical or spiritual, no matter how religious or impressive.
  • We find Jesus when we are in the place of humble servitude. It is in being the least that we find fellowship in Him. It is in preferring others, giving way to them, in washing their feet… that we find the yoke of The Saviour. After all, it is HIS life within us that desires to serve. It is HIS life that longs to take the lower place and humble itself to lift up others. It is HIS Spirit within us that causes us to live like Him! Which member are we living under? (Romans 7:21-13) A worldly, fleshly heart loathes to serve or sacrifice in the menial, unnoticed and unappreciated. The flesh is utterly opposed to giving without gain or serving without appreciation. Such a heart isn’t looking for The Lord at all but rather self satisfaction and promotion.
  • Oh, Lord teach me to decrease. Transform me by the renewing of my mind to have a heart to serve, to live denying myself, preferring others and finding more of you in following in your example. May I be obedient and instant to remove any hindrance to your life and testimony flowing freely through me. Forgive me where I have been selfish, lazy and given to comfort and ease. Create in me a clean heart oh, God and renew a right Spirit within me that blesses your name and glories in your fellowship!

John 13
5 Then He (Jesus) poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the [servant’s] towel with which He was girded.

Matthew 20
28 … the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

Love

Love – Katie Leighann May
August 13 2012 near Baton Rouge

Genesis 12:1-5 “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.”

Abraham walked with the Lord so closely! His love for the Lord produced the faith he had in the Lord. Everything good is produced from love! God IS love!!! It was God’s act of love toward us to give His One and Only Son for us on the cross, Jesus’ act of love to die blameless on the cross for us, and the Holy Spirit’s act of love to draw each one of us to repentance and help us walk in the power and victory of the cross. To pray for faith is to pray for love. That’s what was wrong with the Pharisees, they had not love for God or the people. Their works were dead because they were done without love (1 Cor. 13). Sin is produced from a lack of love. If you have idols in your life, it’s from a lack of love for the Father. If you don’t treat your neighbor better than yourself it’s from a lack of love for the Lord and that person. Adultry, fornication, pride, envy, murder, selfishness, stealing, and fear are all from a lack of love and ultimately a lack of allowing the fullness of the life of Christ to live in and through you and me.

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