Love Meter

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

How is your love meter registering? Loving all people can sometimes be tough. Sometimes it is even difficult to love those closest to you. Love is the greatest commandment. Loving people above things and above yourself. Being unselfish and kind. Being gentle when you would rather be rude. Showing love to the unloveable or even those people you maybe do not agree with. 

Review 1 Corinthians chapter 13 when you get a moment. It is called the 'love chapter' in the Bible and has valuable scripture that if followed can keep your life on track and your love meter full. Pray each day and ask God to give you love for all kinds of people. We even are supposed to love and pray for our enemies. Now that one is tough especially of someone has hurt or betrayed you. Human nature wants to lash out and God's nature wants us to love unconditionally. There is your assignment. Go into the world and show God's love.

PRAYER: Give me the ability Lord to love others through you. Open my eyes to hurting people and help me show kindness and respect in addition to love. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

Beyond This World

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And there was no longer any sea.I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. Prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying. Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. For the old order of things has passed away. Revelation 21:1-4   

Death is going to come to everyone. As much as Hollywood movies such as 'Forever Young' try to depict  freezing people until a cure is found for their disease we  all will die. Death isn't to be feared. It should be feared if a person hasn't  asked Jesus into their hearts.

Grieving hurts. The loss of a baby, a child, or a teen especially is difficult. God loves you my friend. Do not turn your back on Him. There is joy to come in His kingdom. 

PRAYER: Lord losing friends and family to death is hard but help me rejoice when they go home to meet you in the clouds. I look forward to heaven when it is my time. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

Press On!!

Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:13-14

There are times in life when maybe you just feel like quitting.  You pray and pray and pray some more about an area in which you are waiting for a breakthrough but then discouragement sets in. The Bible does say in Luke 18:1 to pray and never give up. A defeatist attitude comes from the enemy of our souls,Satan. He is the one who tries to get you to quit, not go to church, not be "religious", have wrong thinking, speak poorly of others, act superior to others, and just any thing  that pulls you away from the Lord and causes a lack of hope.

Press on my friend. Charge ahead. Keep going. Don't quit. Believe. Hope. Your hope is in the Lord Jesus and every word of the Bible is true. Even when things don't seem to be changing maybe the Lord is also trying to work out something in your own life. Hang in there and run your race to win.

PRAYER: Forever Lord you are faithful. You hear my prayers and I know you love me. Give me strength to endure while I wait. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Whoa! Did I Say That?

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight O Lord my rock and my redeemer. Psalm19:14

Do you ever catch yourself wishing you could take back something you just said, texted, or emailed? I sure have. Being hasty to speak can often times backfire. The more prudent person waits and thinks if there is any doubt about their words being misinterpreted.

Many times in scripture, the mouth, the tongue, or words are talked about. How one little hole in our face can cause joy or pain is a mystery. Words are so very important. If this is an area you have trouble with, do a study in your Bible and find as many of the verses about talking right that you can. Each and every day commit to only saying things that will build up and not tear down. Do not be in a hurry to "get back" at someone who hurt you with their words. Try to remember that you are to be like Christ.  It is the enemy that stirs up bad emotions and tries to cause trouble. Don't allow it. Make up your mind today that you will wait and think before talking.

PRAYER: I thank you for the gift of being able to speak. Help me Lord to use wisdom in how I respond to people. I want to be a witness with every word I speak. In Jesus' name. Amen.

God Is Good, All The Time!!

I remain confidence in this, that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Psalm 27:13

In the movie 'God's Not Dead' currently showing nationwide in the US in approximately 1700 theaters, one of the phrases repeated over several times was "God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good." I have started trying to remember this when I am tempted to be upset about something or think wrong thoughts.  God has a plan and He will prevail. All the junk going on in the world, the lies,the deceit, the evil, the hurt, the pain, will one day be gone. This world is not forever.  While we are here for however long that is, we are supposed to be serving the Lord. Now of course those who have not yet accepted Christ or who are atheists would laugh at this notion. "That is a little fanatical now isn't it being religious all the time" some might say.

Wherever you are you can make a difference for the kingdom of God. Look at your life as a ministry. Your life is not just about one hour on Sunday. It is also not about acting 'holier than thou' but about shining the light of Jesus' wherever you go regardless of your circumstances. When humanly you would want to explode over a situation just say "God is good, all the time!" He really is!

PRAYER: I know everything in life has a purpose. Good stuff and not so good. Things work out. Help me Lord to be an example for you each day as you indeed are good! In Jesus' name. Amen.

Your Mind Matters

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Philippians 4:8


I heard an advertisement once that said "a mind is a terrible thing to waste" and if you think about it, it is true. I believe if we are claiming to be Christians we should be careful what we allow into our minds. Our mind sort of controls us. You feed your mind on garbage such as pornography, movies with continual cursing, violent video games, music with unwholesome lyrics then after a while you could start being desensitized to messages within these.

 I am not perfect by any means and recently I saw a PG13 movie and ended up walking out of the theater half way through as it's content disturbed me. The little voice inside me said, "leave", and I did. It has delighted me that in the past couple months good movies such as 'Heaven is For Real' and 'God's Not Dead'  have been released. I am not saying just go to Christian movies but you need to be discerning. After all you are the temple of the living God and He is with you at all times.

The verse above is a good one to memorize. It can help you make decisions on what you should allow into your mind. Keep your mind daily in the word of God to be able to know the difference in right and wrong.

PRAYER: Lord guide me each day as I make decisions about what to read, watch, or participate in. Help me to run the other way when things are not of you. In Jesus' name.Amen.

No Pain, No Gain

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

I awakened Easter morning with pain in my hip. This is unusual for me since I am active and energetic.Friends affectionately call me "The Energizer Bunny". Whenever I get sick or hurt it always makes me grateful and blessed for the excellent health I enjoy the rest of the time. I don't take it for granted!  People often comment "I wish I had half your energy" and at times I wish I could bottle it and sell it.  Every now and then it helps to have something happen so you can know what people in pain experience on a daily basis, then maybe you are better able to pray for them. I am not saying God gave me this but it can be used to make me more compassionate for those dealing with pain continually. 

Maybe some reading this suffer from pain of some sort. It is no fun to physically or  emotionally hurt. Either way instead of cursing God why not ask Him to use you just where you are. 

PRAYER: I am grateful for those times I hurt so am better able to pray for those hurting every day. In Jesus' name. Amen.