More Than Words

This may be a secular love song but listening to the words I was inspired and was able to hear God telling me that He wants more than our words. We may talk the talk but are we walking the walk. Our works do not create faith but if we have faith and truly love God our actions prove this. If you speak a foreign language does that make you that language’s nationality? I took French in high school but that did not make me French, it just meant that I learned how to read and speak the language.

Thanks to Jesus we have been adopted into God’s family. His sacrifice redeemed us. He did more than say I love you and you are forgiven. He proved it by laying down His own life to pay the price for sins He was not guilty of. He walked this earth not to condemn us but to show us love.

How we live are lives says more about us and our relationship with Him, than the words that come out of our mouths. We say I love you, as easily as we say I love chocolate or pizza. We have watered down our relationship with worldly attitudes and do not even realize it. How we live each day matters, and what we value tells others where our hearts desires are. Scripture tells us that if we love the Lord that He will give us the desires of our heart, but what we do not read is that if you love the Lord the desires of your heart will change to what He desires us to have. Even Jesus when speaking to our Father said, “not will but Thine be done”. When you give you life to God, you are to submitt to His will, to do as He instructs. Our ways are not His, and His ways are not ours. Neither are our thoughts His. Frank Sinatra said he did it his way, but a life with Jesus means we give up our own way. We give Him more than lip service. We give Him our entire lives. We live, eat and breathe His Word. Every action speaks louder than even screaming at the top of our lungs. More than words should be how we live everyday for Him.

Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Luke 6:46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

Colassions 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

1John 3:18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James 2:17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

James 2:26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

James 3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

1 Peter 2:21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

It’s Not Fair! / I never promised you a rose garden

Life is not fair. It is filled with pain and sorrow. You can do everything right and everything can still go wrong. You obey the rules and laws and still be the one to be persecuted while those who break the law get away with it and even prosper. None of this is fair. You believe in God and Jesus is your Lord and Savior but you still suffer. It is not fair. It is not right.

We live in a broken world and there are many who call good evil, and what is evil good. So how do we hold onto faith, and how do we continue to believe in our loving God? You would think that coming into a relationship with Him that our lives would improve, right? Right now your life may be in rubble and you are wondering how could this happen. You have been faithful and obedient yet everything that could go wrong has. A relationship with Christ does not mean a life without trouble. He did not promise you a rose garden in this fallen world. he did tell us in this world we would face various trials and tribulations, and that there would be those would not only hate us but seek to destroy us. So you might be thinking then why bother having a right relationship with Jesus. I will tell you why, we choose this relationship not to escape the troubles in this world but to have the only One who will faithfully stand beside you no matter what you are going through. He will never abandon or reject you, even when fall He will be there to pick you up. He will not condemn you for the wrongs you have committed but love and forgive you, accepting you as you are. He will give you the strength to make it through this life with the promise that this world we live in is temporary and He has gone to prepare a place for us and that He will come back for us.

He did not promise us a trouble free life, but that He will always be there for you no matter your circumstance. He also promised you eternal life for those who believe in Him. Life in this world is temporary, no matter how long your story in this world will be, it will not end with this world but continue through out eternity with Him.

Life in this world will not be fair and like a rose garden life has its’ beauty but it also has thorns. When your faith is tested and you can barely hold on to hope remember that Jesus did not live a trouble free life on this earth. He was rejected, mocked, abused, hated and suffered the cross. He did not have to do this but because he loved us He chose to, so that we are forgiven and have the promise of eternal life with Him. He overcame the grave to give us the keys to life. Hold on and don’t give up, he will see you through this life.

John 7:7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil.

John 15:18-19 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

James 1:2-4 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Isaiah 41:13 For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

Hebrews 13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 31:8 The LORD Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

Song/Faithfully

Another song on love. This song is secular, but the meaning of the name and lyrics do express to me that God is faithful always.

Notes on message on love/ 3rd draft January 1, 2021

With there being so much on the love of God, the work continues on this message. So here is my 3rd draft, love to hear your thoughts and if you have any corrections that I need to make.

Love and Hate

Which do you think is easier to do? People are hated because of the color of their skin, their religious beliefs, their financial status (rich, middle class or poor), where they live and a million other reasons. It is easy to see that it does not take much effort to hate. In today’s climate we see hate and violence all around us. Hatred leads to so much harm, and destroys peace. Hatred has been around since the fall of man when sin first entered this world(Genesis 3). It keeps us divided and fighting against each other than fighting against the true enemy.

Love thankfully has been around since the beginning. It was love that God created man, and it is His love that paid the price to redeem us from our sins giving us a new life(John 3:16). His love has never give up on any of us.

He could have started over, but time and time again He has given us the opportunity to turn back to Him, to repent, and to receive His love and forgiveness. He made the way, with His Son. Sending Jesus to this earth, both knowing what He would suffer. No wrong, no sin, He was the perfect Lamb of God, who was sacrificed to pay the price of our sins to redeem us from death and give us eternal life. This love cost God everything. He held nothing back but gave us the most valuable gift of all, His Son, Jesus. For the love of God covers a multitude of sins.

It is said that faith without works is dead. The same can be said of love. Love without effort/work dies or it was never love to begin with. It like a white washed tomb, it may look good on the outside but is dead on the inside.

How far would you go, and what would you not do for someone you love? There is a song titled, ‘There ain’t no mountain high enough’ that can express how nothing can keep God’s love from reaching us.

Nothing keeps Him from loving us. Even though we break His heart over and over. He has kept loving us, patiently waiting for us to turn to Him and love Him back. He is the One we can trust to love us and lean on Him no matter what is going on in lour life. So how do we start doing this? Just turn to Him and fall into His loving arms. Let His love transform you. Let Him give you a new heart that He has molded just for you.

James 2:16-18 16If one of you tells him, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that? 17 So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action is dead. 18But someone will say, “You have faith and I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.…

Romans 8:37-39 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither life nor death neither angels, nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither 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.…

Today I pray we all choose Love.

Notes on message of love / Dec. 25, 2020 love songs

I have had this thought for the last couple of days. Not only can you find verses on lve through out the Bible. Think about the number of songs about love.
Here are a few songs that have popped into my mind since I have started working on ‘The Message of Love’.
1 Haddaway – What Is Love

2 Foreigner – I Want To Know What Love Is

3 Tina Turner -What’s Love Got to Do with It

4 Rick Astley – Never Gonna Give You Up

5 Bonnie Raitt – I Can’t Make You Love Me

There are literally more songs and scriptures on the subject of love than I can count. I would normally focus on scripture but I believe these songs have been popping into my head for a reason. The first listed makes me think about the question what is love? Number 2 is the desire to want to know what love is, the 3rd what does love have to do with the physical and worldly things. The 4th song even though the singer is singing from a romantic feeling, I hear more than the singer and the song. I hear God telling us that He is never going to give up on us. The 5th song listed here I hear God speaking again even in a secular song, telling us that He cannot force us to love Him and the difference between love in the world and His love. None of these songs are about faith or God, but somehow God can use anything to speak to us. I see God all around me, even in the darkness of this world. His love can reach us and shine His light upon us. God has given to each of us free will. He doesn’t want robots or puppets for His amusement. He wants a living, and loving relationship with us. A relationship that grows and produces life. A love we do not yet know or understand. To know true love we need to do more than learn the definition of lave, but get to know the Author of Love.
Back to the songs listed here. The lyrics show us how many see love and I see both the contrast to God’s love and how the world has limited it to a physical and sexual nature. Then in some of the words I can hear how God is longing for us to love Him more than the things and people of this world. think about the first two commandments. One God, no other. Then no idols, things of this world coming between Him and us. An all consuming love with our undivided attention being given to Him. Not because we have to, or that we are ordered to do so. To love Him out of our own desire. To chose to love Him above all else.
Today being Christmas is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Yet Jesus existed long before His birth into this world. He was in the beginning and He will always be. God has loved us from the beginning and His love is eternal, because He is eternal.
This thought has added to the list of love songs but for now I want to not focus on the songs but On God Himself, the True Living and Loving God.

Here is a song to end this post

Whitney Houston: Jesus Loves Me

Notes on message on love/personal thought on love

What is love? When love is mentioned we think about the emotion we call love. Emotions however are unstable, they can be tossed around like a small boat in the ocean. Ups and downs, they come and go. If you say a person is emotional you may also be calling them unstable. So again I ask, what is love? Christian rap group DC Talk have a song titled love is a verb.

If we look at love as only a verb then we say it is an action. Something that is performed. Is that all love is?
No! Love is so much more, it is not just a fleeting emotion, or an action. So again I pose the question what is love?
Love is alive, and is a being greater than any person on earth. God is Love, His Spirit is Love, His Son Jesus is Love. Everything God has done has been out of love.
What else can we say love is?
What do you say love is?

Days of Noah

Read Genesis chapters 6-8

In the days of Noah God saw that man had become truly wicked throughout the Earth. He was so displeased with man that He had regretted creating him. God had felt that He should destroy all men and even all the creatures because of the wickedness that was covering the Earth by the sins of mankind. But God looked at Noah and Noah had favor in God’s sight so God came up with a different plan. God chose Noah and Noah’s family to build an ark. Not only were they to build an arc, they were to gather the animals throughout the land. God had given Noah warning saying that when the rains would come that he and his family would enter into the ark. And that the ark would carry them safely throughout the storm. The rains came and the Earth flooded. After 40 days of rain the waters did not immediately subside. I’m not quite sure how long it took exactly but one day a dove did return to Noah with a twig from an olive tree. Then Noah and his family and all the creatures within the ark exited.

God is the place of protection we are to seek in the storms in our lives. Listen to His instructions. He is our protector and shelter in the storm. If we abide in Him, He will abide with us. He will never fail you or me.

Call To Prayer / Waging War

Prayer is not just a time to make requests from God. It is also a time to make a stand against the enemy. To say enough is enough, the enemy can’t take anymore from you, your loved ones etc… Stand in the gap when no one else will. Asking God to send us His warring angels to fight for us, and with us. Taking back what has been stolen, fighting for those who are unable to fight for themselves. It is time to wage some war.

Ezekiel 22:29-30 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and have exploited the foreign resident without justice. 30I searched for a man among them to repair the wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, so that I should not destroy it. But I found no one.

Isaiah 59:16
And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.

Ezekiel 13:5
Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.

Jeremiah 29:7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have

Numbers 12:13 Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “O God, heal her, I pray!”

Luke 22:32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Numbers 20:15-16 how our fathers went down to Egypt, where we lived many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers, 16and when we cried out to the LORD, He heard our voice, sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt. Now look, we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory.

Acts 12:4-7 When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people. 5So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.

Call To Prayer / Listen!

There is a LOT of talking going on these days. Everyone has something to say about one thing or another. In 1 Corinthians 13 it is mentioned it does not matter if you speak in the tongue of angels or man, without love you are nothing more than a noisy cymbal. So we are making a lot of noise, complaining, arguing, demanding our voices be heard, etc…

Is our prayer life become a noisy mess? Are we too busy talking, that our prayer time has become more like speeches, than conversations? Yes, please tell God about your needs and make your requests known to Him. Intercede for those in need. Then remember to take the time to listen. As much as He loves hearing our voice, He also has things He wants to tell us.

We may hear something but if we are not listening, we will miss out on exactly what is being said. So pray, and pray without ceasing, but include time to listen in your prayer time.

Acts 13:16 Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen:

Luke 9:3-5 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”

Proverbs 19:20 Listen to counsel and accept discipline,
That you may be wise the rest of your days.

Proverbs 5:7 Now then, my sons, listen to me
And do not depart from the words of my mouth.

Proverbs 8:32-34 “Now therefore, O sons, listen to me,
For blessed are they who keep my ways.
“Heed instruction and be wise,
And do not neglect it.
“Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at my doorposts.

Leave any prayer requests you have, and we will pray together for each other and for those in need.

God bless and keep you safe.

Call To Prayer / 2 Corinthians 10-3-5

Corinthians 1:3-5

3For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. 4The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We tear down arguments, and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.…

Prayer is a conversation with our Creator, our Heavenly Father, and with Jesus. It is also how we fight our battles. We do not fight as the rest of the world fights, we get down on our knees, we go into our closets, and we cry out to Jesus. We bind and loose, we ask God for His Spirit to help us, for His warring angels to fight for us. Ours is not a physical fight, but a spiritual fight. We fight for our loved ones, our family and friends. For our churches, and communities. We fight for our neighbors, and for our nation, and for the people in this world who are lost, persecuted, abused, rejected and hated, and for so many other things. In the world today there are so many only concerned about their rights, they trample on the rights of others, and protest in anger and with violence. This is not how we fight. We pray, we love, we show mercy and kindness. Jesus taught us to love our enemies, and bless those who curse us. Yet I must admit I often fail at doing so. I get angry and I do not show love or patience. I say things I immediately have to repent for because I know my words and thoughts are not pleasing to God. So I hit my knees and cry out to my Heavenly Father, and ask not only for forgiveness, but for His Spirit to fill me with His love so that I can love those who I have judged in anger. To be able to pray for those who do harm to others. See through His eyes and not my own. To pray in the Spirit the things I cannot pray on my own. I pray to be a blessing and not a curse. This is how I am to fight my battles, with love and prayer, not with my fists and anger.

[Verse]
This is how I fight my battles
This is how I fight my battles
This is how I fight my battles
This is how I fight my battles

[Chorus]
It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You
It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You
It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You
It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You

[Verse]
This is how I fight my battles
This is how I fight my battles
This is how I fight my battles
This is how I fight my battles, mm

[Chorus]
It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You
It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You
It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You
It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You
It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You
It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You
It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You
It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You
ADVERTISING
[Bridge]
Rock of Ages, cleft for me
Let me hide, let me hide
Rock of Ages, cleft for me
Let me hide, let me hide
Let me hide myself in Thee

[Verse]
This is how I fight my battles, mm
This is how I fight my battles
This is how I fight my battles, yeah
This is how I fight my battles

God bless and keep you safe.

Please leave any prayer needs in the comments so we can pray together and for each other. If you do not want to go into detail, you can just say pray.