I have been thinking alot about God's love for some time now. Ever since I watched the movie Fireproof. After watching the movie, I decided to do The Love Dare. I didn't do it because my relationship with my husband was in turmoil because but because I knew it could be better, but along the journey i learned way more than I bargained for. God shows us things when we least expect it.
When we think about love and the Bible, we often think about I Corinthians 13. In this chapter love is described in many ways, by many different characteristics. The first characteristic we see is Patience. In my Bible which is the NKJV Spirit filled Life Bible, it says LOVE SUFFERS LONG. Being patient is so much more than holding your temper in certain situations or waiting for something to happen. Patience is suffering and not for a short time but for a long time. It is as if Patience is being a martyr.
A martyr is someone who loves God unconditionally as HE loves us and does not sway from that. They are willingto give up everything for Him, to SUFFER just for HIS name alone. If that is not showing love then i don't know what is.
Patience isn't jumping front of a bullet and then dying quickly because you were protecting someone, it is jumping in front of a knife and dying a slow death just to save the one you love. This may seem a morbid example, but when I think of suffering this is the most vivid picture that comes to mind. When some people think of suffering they might think of waiting an extra thirty minutes for lunch after they skipped breakfast but this is not the kind of suffering that the Bible speaks of.
When the Bible describes love and its first words are long suffering. It is speaking of Jesus and His unconditional love that he would cry out so desprately to God in the Garden the night before his death that He would bleed drops of blood and then be betrayed by one of His own and even then still love him. The next day, He was beaten in a manner that most of us can not even think about without shedding tears and He still carried the cross to the mountain and was nailed to it raised up and mocked. Not to mention watching His own mother stand before Him in tears as she watched him die. Jesus suffered every form of death. He did all for us and why because He loved us so much and had so much patience with us and our misgivings and sin that He refused to just let us die. Even after everything we had done He wanted us to live and to live forever.
Next time you start to feel that temper rise up, remember that it is from Satan and He knows not love. he would never suffer for you. He wants you to suffer for him. Jesus never asked this of us. Instead, He took it upon himself.
Okay so this is alot to think about and it is just my thoughts. if you disagree that is fine. I am always open to conversation and new enlightenment to things that maybe i do not understand. You are welcome to comment.
I Love You and I do not take Love lightly anymore. May God Bless You in Everything You do.
Rachel
After i finished writing this I went to the dictionary and looked up patience and long-suffering. These words took me to the word endurance or enduring. Getting to the point it reminded me of Hebrews 12:1 in which it talks about running with ENDURANCE the race that is set before us. In the KJV, it says run with PATIENCE the race that is set before us. If you can use these words interchangeably I feel that we can just as easily use the word love. so let us run with the LOVE the race that is set before us.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE you all,
Rachel
It does me good to see you share this from your heart it is obvious you have a deep love for God by the way you express yourself. You have passion, and the love of God flows in and through you. Gods perfect love is what holds everything together it is the most powerful force in the universe, it is the force behind the gifts of the Spirit if we want to flow in the gifts of the Spirit we must first walk in that love, like the bible says without love we are like a cloud without rain.When it comes to patience God surely must have known you would be blessed with it or He would not have given you 5 children, and I would say you have phrased it correctly when you said lets run with love the race that is set before us. You are a great mom I am so proud of you. thank-you for your words of love they are an inspiration.
ReplyDeleteI love you
Dad
Thank you for saying this. I was a little nervous about putting myself out there in a blog. I love you so very much. Thank you for always being there for and encouraging me.
ReplyDeleteRachel, don't be nervous..you are full to overflowing with grace and love. When I read what you write, it is like you are sitting in the room with me. You make me smile. Your sweetness is so genuine and God will use your heart to reach us and others.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding me about love.
1 John 4:8 & 16 say, "God is love"
Gal. 5:6 "faith worketh by love"
1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear"
1 Cor. 13:8 "Love never fails"
I like how you phrased this:
So let us run with Love, the race that is set before us.
It places us in God, in faith with no fear of failure.
I'm glad you're blogging. :)
I love you
Connie
Hey, this may be way off....James says in 2:17 & 20 "faith without works is dead"...if faith works by love then faith without love is dead. Love is the works. Love produces the works. Love is the life of works. Love is the fuel. If we are struggling in works we are probably low on fuel.
ReplyDeleteWe have a natural love that's makes us want to do the works therefore we set out to do and fail because natural love is flesh. It's supernatural love..God the Holy Spirit where true works flow.
When you said you would not take love lightly anymore, I am there with you. The word love is something that is thrown around without realizing the true value of it.
GOD IS..LOVE..I AM..ALL THE POWER LIES IN HIM..WHO IS LOVE..(the circle of love)
In Rev. Jesus is talking to the churches, He says to each one of them.."I know thy works".
To the church of Thyatira, He says, "and he that overcometh, and keepeth MY WORKS unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations", He also says to the same church, "I will give unto every one of you according to your works"..chapter 2:23&26
(emphasis mine on My works)
I don't want to receive according to my works..I want to receive according to "HIS WORKS"
If this makes no sense to any of you, it is because God is dealing with me. It helps to write and read. I tend to forget if I just try to go over it in my mind.
Connie
I completely understand what you are saying, Connie. This is so awesome. I am finding more and more than it goes back to love. It is so powerful. But not just love, God's love. This love that is more powerful and filling than any fleshly love. I am going to continue blogging about it and its characteristics as I go back through THE LOVE DARE. Like you say I tend to forget things that i go over in my mind but when i out it down on paper or type it in this instance I am able to go back to it but I usually just remember it because I have gotten out of my head, if that makes any since at all.
ReplyDeleteThank you for what you said about me not being nervous. That makes me feel better. I know that we can all learn so much from each other no matter how young or old because God works with us all in different ways and about different things but the funny thing is they all seem to go together in some way or another. It is ao awesome.
I was telling dad the other day it is amazing how much God shows us through children. they are the ones who are wise beyond their years and they do not even know it. I told dad I guess that is because they haven't had the time in this world to be tainted by politics and other religious theories, etc.
Anyway, I suppose i am getting off the subject so i will stop talking for now.
I LOVE you all very much.
Rach
Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI just looked at my e-mails and saw yours. What really is remarkable about God, is that He uses all kinds of people to get His message out. It doesn't matter how old or how young we are. When the Holy Spirit is doing the talking He can say it through anybody. Just remember that when you write, He will do with it all that He wants to. It's His power that makes it all come together. So, don't ever worry about what you write because He is not putting the responsibility on you to see that it does what it's supposed to. He will put this urge on your heart which will compell you to write. Let it go and praise Him. God even takes the things we do wrong and turns them into a right.
I tell you what's so exciting about what you wrote, is that the depth of God's love sometimes isn't understood. God continues to display His unconditional love to us daily. I am convinced that He wants us to see, more than anything else, His perfect love. God never looks at us the wrong way. He never thinks bad things about us. He never turns His back on us. In fact, He is the one that carries us, not that we carry Him. We truly have nothing to offer God, but He has all to offer us. As He leads us to surrender to Him, He fills us with more of who He is. When God can get us to the point of allowing Him to use our life for His purpose, we begin to fit into the purpose He made us for. God wants people to see His glory through us. He is not interested in people seeing us. We really don't have anything to give. But He can give everything. When we can come to the point, of it not being about ourselves, but all about Him, then people will see His glory. Praise be to God, for He is busy about getting us out of the way. He is perfect and can get the job done. WE CAN'T!! As I read your comments, I can clearly hear God speaking. He is doing a mighty work in your life. I am so excited for you. He will take you places you have never been before. His truth will continue to take you closer and closer to Him. And you will stay in awe of the greatness of who He is.
God bless you and keep writing,
Stan