Love - Four letter word

 

A four-letter word that comes alive through actions. LOVE. 

Our belief in God hinges on God's love - "For God so loved the world that He gave..." Can you see that action word right there? God loves, so He gave... 

Paul writes in 1 Cor 13:7 Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail. 1 Corinthians 13:7 GNT 

We see so much action locked up in these words:

*For us to love, is to create a safe place of shelter, physically and emotionally. 

*For us to love, is to carry and bear all things that we normally don't want to or feel like doing, no matter what comes. 

*For us to love, is to never stops believing the best for others, even if current circumstances look grim. 

*For us to love is to never take failure as defeat, but to learn from it, build on it and move forward. 

*For us to love, is to never give up, never look back, but to keep on going to the end, to remain steadfast, to keep on hoping. 

Whenever you feel like everything is too much, whenever you feel like giving up on someone or something, whenever you feel like it is not worth it, remember Love didn't give up on you and found you worthy! 

Trust in the God of love to perfect your love!

#wordworshiplifestyle

#intunewithGod 

#intune 

#alwaysintune

#alwaysintunesince2012

Know it all

 

Know-it-all to seek-it-all 

Have you ever met a know-it-all person? Someone who, doesn't matter what you say, always knows better? How does that make you feel? 

Paul writes to the Corinthians these words: 

"If anyone thinks of himself as a know-it-all, he still has a lot to learn. But if a person passionately loves God, he will possess the knowledge of God." 1 Corinthians 8:2‭-‬3 TPT 

Many times when I met a know-it-all person, I kind of agree with Paul - they still have a lot to learn. And it all starts with a change in heart attitude. The good news is that God is a generous God when it comes to wisdom and He is the fountain of understanding. 

Proverbs 2:6 in the Passion translation says: "Wisdom is a gift from a generous God, and every word he speaks is full of revelation and becomes a fountain of understanding within you." 

Do you need wisdom for a specific situation in your life? Ask God, read His word and pray about it... and you will find that that fountain of understanding will well up inside of you! 

Let's move over from know-it-all people to seek-it-all people.

Seek wisdom from God. Ask and He will give  - seek and you will find, it is a promise.

No condemnation Romans 8

Romans 8 is one of the most loved chapters in all of Scripture. Why? Because this chapter spells out all that God is for us! 

Paul begins and ends this passage with statements about the absolute security of those who are in Christ. 

First, Rom 8:1 say: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (ESV)

No condemnation - at all

Last, Paul writes that in Rom 8:28-29:

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 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.”

Nothing will ever be able to separate us from God's love for us in Christ.

In between, we find this passage in Rom 8:32 

“For God has proved his love by giving us his greatest treasure, the gift of his Son. And since God freely offered him up as the sacrifice for us all, he certainly won’t withhold from us anything else he has to give.”

The unthinkable is affirmed by Paul: God did dit spare Jesus. God handed over his Son to death. Nothing greater or harder has ever happened. Or ever will. God has done the hardest thing to give us everlasting happiness.

Whenever you doubt God, whenever you feel far from Him, whenever you have gone astray, whenever you feel alone, whenever you face an impossibility, please read through Rom 8. 

You will soon be comforted by the fact that God is for you!

How to pray powerful prayers

 What is a powerful prayer?

I was texting a friend, asking how they are doing. The friend said they are doing fine. Someone sent them a voice vote with a powerful prayer. Happy that my friend was okay, I wondered what makes prayer powerful.

I want to pray powerful prayers. 

I'm thinking about what makes for powerful prayer? Maybe praying loudly with passion? Or quoting Bible verses? Maybe only preachers can pray powerful prayers.

Well, I decided to search for an answer in God's manual. The Bible. There must be a lot of powerful prayers in there. I mean even Jesus' prayers were recorded in the Bible. 

To my frustration, I could not find one instance where somebody's prayer is described as powerful.

The interesting thing was that in James there was a reference to powerful prayer - the prayer of a righteous person is powerful!

That's just it, if you want to pray powerful prayers, you must be righteous.

And how do you become righteous (in right standing with God)? You accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord, and your prayers will be powerful.

The Good Shepherd

 The Lord is my Shepherd

Have you ever wondered what a shepherd is to his sheep? 

Whenever I see a picture or a video of a shepherd and his sheep, it always reminds me of how dependent sheep are on their shepherd. They go wherever he goes. If it is time to sit and rest, or stand up and go, the sheep need to do the same. And luckily for them, the shepherd knows where the water is and where the green pastures are. All that the sheep need to do is to follow their shepherd and his voice.

When David wrote in Ps 23 “The Lord is my Shepherd” he had first-hand knowledge of what it meant to be a shepherd, because he was one. He knew all the ins and outs of being a shepherd, and he most definitely knew the responsibility that comes with being a shepherd. 

The amplified Bible enlarged three aspects of being a Shepherd, and still today, I believe that this is God’s heart towards you and me - if we allow Him to be our Shepherd. It says “to feed, to guide and to shield”. 

“To feed” speaks of God’s heart to provide for our daily needs -  Jesus even taught us to pray this - “give us today our daily bread”. As a Shepherd, God’s heart is not for us to go hungry or to be in lack. 

“To guide” speaks of God’s heart to guide us through life. “He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake”. He knows the future from the beginning, and he wants to lead us into the plans and purposes He has for our lives because He created us and He knows us!

“To shield” speaks of God’s heart to protect us! To protect us against evil, to protect us against dangerous situations, and not to harm us! I don’t know if I have ever seen a shepherd standing by and looking at one of his sheep being attacked by a wolf! No, on the contrary, we read about the parable of the shepherd that will leave the 99 and go after the one that is lost.

If you feel lost today, if you experience lack, if you sense that you are being attacked, just call on Jesus - His heart was, and is, and will always be - to feed, guide and shield you! Rest in knowing that He is a Good Shepherd and He knows what you need (even before you ask). Talk to Him like a friend and tell Him what is in your heart.

He promises: I will never leave you, nor forsake you. Be encouraged, the Shepherd will look after you.

@Always.in.tune

You can receive the Holy Spirit - the power helper

Have you ever heard someone say to you: It would be to your advantage if I go away? Perhaps you feel this way about some people in your life, but usually, it is on the contrary - we miss people that go away, and their presence is obvious in the void that is left behind. 

And so it was with Jesus. He once made this comment to his disciples in John 16:7

“It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” 

Jesus would often comment on this one, that at the time does not make sense, but later on definitely...

And we are living in that “later” moment. We read of Jesus' ascension into heaven, as well as the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, as was also promised in Acts 1:8 (ESV)

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  

The Holy Spirit power-outpouring changed the Peter that denied Jesus into the Peter that stood up and boldly witnessed Jesus and 3000 people came to Christ (Acts 2:41). The Holy Spirit is the one who is sent to help delivers live the God-life.

The same Holy Spirit power-outpouring is available for us today! 

It is easy to receive the Holy Spirit. First, you must believe that Jesus is the one who saves you from your sin and restores the relationship between you and God. Second, you need to ask God for the Holy Spirit, for he gives good gifts to his children. You don't need to strife for it - trust and believe that God will do what he said and be content in him.

Would you allow Him to be poured out in your heart and mind to live a life of power, victory, of witness and influence?

He is our Power Helper! 

God wants to restore

Have you ever restored something? Like an old car, an old wooden furniture piece, or even a fixer-upper piece of property? There is something satisfying in restoring an old piece! According to the dictionary, to restore means to “bring back to a former or original condition”. Old wood comes to life when it is sanded down and varnished, a coat of paint on a building dresses it up for the eye to enjoy looking at! 

And apart from the fact that we want to restore something to its original condition, it almost always will increase in value.

When something is restored in the Scriptures, it is always increased, multiplied, or improved so that its latter state is significantly better than its original state.

Joel 2:25-27 say it so beautifully:

25 “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. 26 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, And praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; And My people shall never be put to shame. 27 Then you shall know that I am amid Israel: I am the Lord your God And there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame. Joel 2:25-27 (NKJV)

God multiplies when He restores. And so, in His restoration work today, in your life, God wants to bring a restoration so that your days to come will be better than your days gone past! Don't give up, or give in to doubt and fear. Keep on trusting that God is a restorer and declare it over your life.

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

Proverbs 4:18 (ESV)

@Aways.in.tune