Building Friendship or Tearing it Down 7-31-12

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Eph. 4:30

Consider our personal relationship with God amidst the backdrop of sin in this life, and let’s honestly ask ourselves this question:  To which do I gravitate most consistently, breaking fellowship with Him or building friendship with Him?

Grieving is involved in both conditions, the question is:

Am I grieving God because of sin or am I grieving with God over sin?

Check out these situations and observe the difference:

1. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain. (Gen. 6:6) // They rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. (Is. 63:10)

~God grieves, man cares not for the condition of God’s heart, chooses to embrace sin, which results in broken fellowship and consequences. ... And God is then blamed.

2. Until the day Samuel died, Samuel mourned for Saul. And the LORD was grieved that He had made Saul king over Israel. (1Sam 15:35) // Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief…Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up. (Jms. 4:9-10)

~God and believer grieve together over sin 
(personal sin or someone else’s) and 

together they foster a deeper friendship, followed by blessing, peace and joy.

Oh how God loves us.

   Do you think Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to live in us envies intensely? (Jms. 4:5)

“You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!” Ps. 139:13-18 

Choosing to live for Him this week,

Shaun and Betsy

Languages of Love 7-17-12

“Love one another.”

 Jn. 13:24; 15:12; Rom. 13:8; Th. 4:9; 1Pet. 1:22; 1Jn. 3:11&23, 4:7,11&12; 2 Jn. 1:5

Next to the first commandment to love our Lord with all of our being, Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Mk. 12:30-31

Who is our neighbor? According to Christ, our neighbor is any other human with whom we live or whom we chance to meet.

What does it mean to love another as oneself?  Love another according to the other’s “language” … as I desire to be loved according to my “language”.

Let’s use a ‘husband and wife’ example:

Imagine that Jane and John have just had an argument. Later, after having spent time with God and collecting their thoughts, J&J come together to seek forgiveness and reconciliation.

Things are still fragile between them so Jane buys John a gift of cologne as a sign of her love.

John receives the gift as a kind gesture, but thinks to himself, “I wish she knew that ‘gifts’ just don’t do it for me. If Jane ‘studied me’, like she did when we were dating, she would know that my love language is physical touch followed by words of affirmation.

…Me, I do ‘study’ Jane, and Jane’s ‘language of love’ is receiving gifts, followed by quality time. I want to love my wife in her language of love, so I buy her perfume and take her to coffee. In doing so, I love my wife according to her love language, loving her as I want to be loved.”

Do you see the difference? We can genuinely believe we are loving another as we desire to be loved, but be missing the love boat altogether!

…We can speak beautiful and loving English to our smiling neighbor, thinking that we are truly communing, and not realize that our neighbor only understands Spanish.

Help us Jesus! Help us to see the people around us through Your eyes and then love them accordingly. Amen.

In His unfathomable love,

Shaun and Betsy

Blessings are Ours 7-10-12

“Lay up treasure for yourself as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that you may take hold of the life that is truly life.” 1 Tim. 6:19

Numerous “near death” experiences describe fascinating accounts of heaven. One matching vision is particularly intriguing: In heaven there is an area with “warehouse after warehouse containing unclaimed blessings”.

If these heavenly “warehouse accounts” are true, what is their meaning?

We know from Eph. 1:3, Heb. 11:6 & Rom. 10:12 that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, HAS blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ, He rewards those who earnestly seek Him, and richly blesses all who call on Him.

Question: If God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ, then WHY are there unclaimed blessings, personal blessings uniquely purposed for each one of His kids?

1)    Lack of faith: I don’t fully believe and appropriate His promises to me because I don’t want to make the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical investment to truly get to know Him, choosing instead to believe the Accuser of my soul.

2)    Lack of obedience: At the end of the day, I think and do what I feel & sense is best.

3)    Refusal to “fight the good fight”: When the rubber of faith meets the road of this dark world, I am simply too worn-out to continually swim upstream. It’s much easier to go with the flow under a religious guise of “peace and love” than to allow God to manifest Himself in my mind, heart, words and actions moment to moment.

God tells us that He blesses those who take refuge in Him and fear Him, who make Him his trust, who have regard for the weak, whose strength is in the Lord, who have learned to acclaim God, in whose spirit is no deceit, who listen to Him and then walk in the light of His presence, who maintain justice and are generous, who take great delight in His commands and keep His statutes, who watch and wait daily at His doorway, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who do NOT walk in the way of sinners or mockers or look to the proud, who love others as themselves, who persevere amidst life’s bumps, and who are merciful, who understand personal depravity and need for utter dependence upon God’s forgiveness, grace and mercy, who love God with all their mental, emotional, spiritual and physical being and wholeheartedly seek Him.

Wouldn’t it be tragic one day to find miraculous and amazing blessings that God uniquely designed specifically for us … that we simply chose not to take? We don’t have to.

As we bring all that we are to all that His is, we receive all that we need from all that He has.

May the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless us. Ps. 115:15

Much love,

Shaun and Betsy