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The Fellowship of His Love

2/15/2011

The New Year has passed, we survived the Blizzard of 2011 here in Tulsa (not to mention the yo-yo temperatures from 70 to below zero and back to 70 again!), and another Valentine’s Day is behind us. Between snow storms keeping us home-bound as well as purposing in my heart to set aside extra time with the Lord, this first month and a half of 2011 has been filled with focusing in on what is most important… relationship with God.

Recently I was praying for a friend and what came up in my heart was, “Your relationship with God is vital!” But that phrase has two sides to it. Yes, it’s absolutely true that our relationship with God is necessary and essential to living in the fullness of what He has for us. But our relationship with God is also meant to be ALIVE! ...living, growing, developing. For years, a favorite scripture has been in Philippians 4… that my determined purpose is to know Him. The Amplified Bible says “that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him”. In a month when there have been marriage seminars going on everywhere and a lot of talk about healthy relationships, I’ve not only been stirred concerning preparing my heart for marriage and strengthening my relationships with people, but I’ve been challenged to put some of those same principles to work in my relationship with God. He is my first love, my true love, my deepest love. I value that relationship and His fellowship more than any other, and I’m so thankful (and amazed!) that He feels even more strongly about me! He feels strongly about you, too!

There are innumerable facets of God’s love for us to discover and embrace. Healing is the love of God in demonstration. Provision is the love of God in demonstration. Every fruit of the Spirit is rooted in love and are facets of His love… joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Even correction and discipline are His love in demonstration. The list could go on. And every time we discover a new aspect of His love… acknowledge that part of Who He is and allow that to be expressed not only in us but through us… we are able to love Him back in a fresh and new way, too. We fall in love all over again… we overflow with love all over again… we are full of gratitude for Who He is all over again.

I am so thankful for His love… for Who He is… for Who He is to me…for Who He is in me… for Who He is through me. His love has been shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit, and when I really allow Him to love me by receiving and embracing that love (even in being conscious that His love IS shed abroad my heart RIGHT NOW), I’m able to love Him back with the love He has given me…I’m able to truly love myself with the love He has given me…and I am able to truly love other people with the love He has given me.

The Greatest Commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your strength. And second like it: Love your neighbor as you love yourself. But we love Him because He first loved us. And we can only truly love ourselves and love other people when we know He first loved us, too. Even Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you. As I have loved you, now you ought to love one another.” In either case, whether loving God or loving people, it all originates in BEING LOVED. You are, after all, His BE-LOVED. I’m so glad it all rests on His love and not mine! His love never fails!

So while Valentines Day may be over for another year, let love… TRUE Love… carry on. Our lives and our relationships will be affected forever.

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Shut in with God

2/5/2011

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2-01-2011 will be a day much of the nation will remember, even as many of us are still digging our way out of the snow! It’s been quite an adventure these last few days with 14 inches of snow falling on Tuesday (blowing into ridiculously deep snow drifts) with even more snow that fell here yesterday. Tulsa is not as equipped as some other places where snow is a common occurrence, so it seems to have shut us down here for a bit.

In the midst, it’s been wonderful to hear stories of people helping people. My friend Ray has a huge servant’s heart and has been digging out all the neighbors. And little did I know when I bought my Highlander last June that is was going to be in a Tulsa blizzard that the 4WD would come in handy! Ray’s wife, Chris, is a nurse at one of the local hospitals, so Ray was able to use my vehicle to get her to work when many others couldn’t. People have been helping others get their cars out of ditches, getting food for those who can’t get out… And a huge team of people rallied together at RHEMA when a building emergency necessitated relocating everything in the main church building to other buildings on campus. They are still working on getting the snow off the roof of the building that's causing the problem (pictured here). It’s always wonderful to see people coming together in times that could otherwise be considered a crisis, though.

In a different way, the snow storm has also been a blessing because it’s caused me to have to slow down and be “shut in with God”. There is an old song that goes like that… “Shut in with God in that secret place, There in the spirit, beholding His face, Gaining new power to run in this race, Oh, I love to be shut in with God.” There have been some wonderful things He’s revealed during these last few days, but I’ll share a few of the scriptures I’ve been looking at today.

This morning, I awoke with the phrase, “Lay your life down,” in my heart. Later in the day, I cross-referenced something in scripture to Revelation 12:11, and oh how I saw that phrase emphasized in the last part of this verse. It’s a key that is so often left out when we quote this scripture. “They overcame (the enemy) by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” Oh my! My life is not my own… I’ve laid my life down so I can pick His up… I delight to die that I might live… that He might live in and through me! This is how we overcome… trust in the Blood of Jesus… proclaim the Lord’s salvation… tell the world what He has done… and die daily to self that He might live… through you!

Later I was in Isaiah 10:20… “We will no longer depend on that which has defeated us, but we will depend on the Lord.” It reminded me about what I shared in an earlier entry about idols in our lives. There are things we may not have thought to call “idols” in our lives, but what are the things that we have put our dependence on recently instead of Him? Ultimately, these substitutes and counterfeits will fall short… they will “defeat us”. Interesting how often we may wander back to those “old friends” though instead of our BEST friend… the Lord. That’s why I love this scripture, and I’m praying it for the body. Again, I declare… In 2011 and beyond, we will no longer depend on that which has defeated us, but we will depend on the Lord!

And then chapter 12… “Oh Lord, I will praise You; Though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away and You comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for YAH, the Lord is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation. Therefore, with joy will you draw water from the wells of salvation. And in that day you will say, ‘Praise the Lord! Call upon His Name! Declare His deeds among the peoples, make mention that His Name is exalted.’ Sing to the Lord, for His has done excellent things gloriously; this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout aloud, O inhabitants of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst.” Hallelujah!

For those still at home because of the storms, enjoy being shut in with God!

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The Fellowship of His Love

Shut in with God

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