Shed Abroad in Our Hearts

The flowering trees in our neighborhood are just beautiful. The azaleas in our flower bed have the most prolific blooms I’ve seen in years. I noticed some petals in my driveway that didn’t come from any of our trees. They were still full of color and as I looked around I spotted the source of the petals down the street. Evidently the winds of recent days had blown flowers beyond their normal dropping place beneath the trees. 

Just as the petals of flowers are shed and then cast farther than we can realize, so the love of God is for us. If we could sit and sip a cup of coffee or have a coke and open the Book of Love, I would want to tell you how loved you really are. It’s beyond comprehension I assure you. There are times when I still scarcely believe He loves me. Me. You know, the one who has flaws and faults and doubts and worries and fears. The one who makes mistakes, regrets the past and has real concerns about the future. 

I would bet you can relate. Have you ever said to yourself, “Surely if God knew all about me He wouldn’t love me, not really.” But oh beloved! He does know all about you. He knows more about you than you know yourself. And He does love you! This is a passionate, all encompassing, enduring, faithful, no-matter-what love! And, because you have put your trust in Christ for the Salvation of your very soul, God has put His magnificent love in your heart. It’s there whether you realize it or not, whether you appropriate the goodness of that incredible love or not, it’s there. But beloved, if you will appropriate that love, let those petals loose in your spirit, trust the casting of it across your heart and mind, God will explode in your heart and burst forth from your soul. 

God wants you to know that His love for you is the real deal. He never goes back on His love for you. Because of His Agape love, He will never renege on His commitment to you. He won’t look at you one day and say forget you. He won’t walk away or shut you out. Your name is written on the palm of His hand precious, precious one. Engraved, not just written, not tattooed – for writing can be erased and tattoos fade with time – but engraved! Eternal, permanent, forever. Engraved with His own precious blood, Christ says “you are Mine”. God says, “You are loved”. The Holy Spirit wants to pluck the lies of the enemy out of your heart and instead shower you with love and favor and gently bring you into a growing faith in God. Gently, not crudely, God’s love is ever so gentle. Hold some rose petals in your hand and feel their velvety delicateness – that’s how God feels about you in His hand. 

Why do you need to know this beloved? Why is God saying His love is shed abroad in your heart by Christ Jesus? For until you know this great love intimately, there will always be thorns coming from the enemy to keep you preoccupied with your troubles, your mistakes, your sins, your issues, your relationships. The enemy says you’re done for, but God always says we can work this out. Agape Love keeps on where everything else fails. God’s love is your point of surrender and your source of strength. No adversary can kill it for it is born of God Himself. The enemy wants you to believe you have to do something to be loved. He wants you to believe that God’s love is conditional. But God wants you to know that His love came first! You can let Him love you because He first loved you! Then you can love others, your life and ministry will be motivated by love and you can respond in love no matter what.

“Lord, we need Your love in our lives – Agape Perfect Love. We need to know this love, so we must get to know You better. Bring us into Your presence. Woo us with Your Love. Thank You for Your patience in letting us learn. But Lord don’t let us keep looking for the love we need in any other way or place or person. Don’t let us settle for cheap short-lasting substitutes. But give us your Love, shed it wide and long and deep into our hearts and minds so we can live it out and share it with others.”

Oh beloved, God loves you and He’s for you and that’s the beginning of the greatest love story ever told – your love story in Christ. 

Romans 5:5 …and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. KJV

Psalm 136:26 Give thanks to the God of heaven. His faithful love endures forever.

Jeremiah 31:3 … “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”

Romans 8:39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Psalm 36:5 Your unfailing love, O LORD, is as vast as the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.

The Love of Christ Controls Us

The Love of Christ Controls Us…

When planning our getaway, both Danny and I looked at maps and studied where the best bluebonnet blooms happen and which roads were good riding but non interstate. He had plans and I had plans. We also had friends going with us and they had plans as well. Between all of us we finally came to an agreement and the plan was good. But what would have happened had someone taken all the control of the event? Someone has to lead but the road captain doesn’t have to make all the decisions. He just has to get us there safely. 

In faith and in life we like to have control, take control and be in control.  Many times we like to call all the shots and then put a cross on them. It makes it look good. But that doesn’t give us God’s seal of approval does it? Sometimes we let others control our lives and we call it love. We succumb to their demands in the flesh and try to respond in the spirit. But if we’re not careful we’ll be under their thumb and not realize that we are now in control but it’s fleshly control.

God wants you to know that He has a plan to remove your control issues. His love is meant to be our sole controlling factor. He understands all the decisions you have to make, all the people you want to please and all the voices calling out your name – for help, assistance, relief, blame and more. But He says this morning, let My Love be your control. Let My choices be your choices. Let Me handle the things you aren’t meant to handle. Give your problems, your ministry, your family, your friends, your work, your church and your hobbies over to me. You are not called to be a juggler or a people pleaser. You are called to be a    Christ died for you, so that you no longer have to live for yourself or to please man, but for Him who died and rose again on your behalf.

He also wants you to know if you will quit trying to control things, you will see a light at the end of your tunnel. You will find sweet release in letting Christ control everything. You will still make decisions but they will be based on the Word of God carried out in Agape love. You’ll no longer have to worry about what people will think. And when you get condemnation from wherever it may come, you can speak to it and tell it to leave. You don’t have to be in control anymore. In fact it is only in your emptied state that God can take over. He’s the One who set the stars in orbit. He can work it all out for you. He wants to take care of your business and the business of those you love and pray for daily.  Your responsibility may be great, but must be carried out in love and intercession. There you feel no heaviness and you don’t feel like you’re being pulled in two directions. God will take care of your family and your walk with Him. He promises and what He promises He will perform.

Oh beloved, it’s time to let God lead and get out of the way. Move over and let the Love of your life into the driver’s seat. He’s got awesome plans for you. He calls you beloved and He wants to take you where you cannot get on your own. You’ll have to drop the things that want to control you as well.  You might get dropped but you will see it as a promotion not a rejection. Where you are going it is all God and no flesh. But it will be all good because surrounded by His love, captured into His will and living out His blessings is what you were always meant to do.

God loves you and He’s for you so relax and let His love be your controlling force all the days of your life.

2 Corinthians 5:14 Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.

Micah 4:5 Though the nations around us follow their idols, we will follow the Lord our God forever and ever.

2 Thessalonians 3:5 May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.

Deuteronomy 13:4 You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.

Isaiah 48:17 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, Who leads you in the way you should go.

Swim, Dance, Delight in God's Love Today!

“I love you” is probably one of the most used phrases in the world. It’s a greeting, it’s a good-bye and it’s a comforter. Seeing a spouse, our first thoughts are to say it. Leaving family and friends our last thing is to say it. When problems arise in the lives of our friends and family through grief, discouragement or pain, we always want to hug them tight and say “I love you”.

What does it really mean “I love you”? Is it simply a kindness like a pat on the back or a “bless your heart”? Is it something to get you past an awkward moment or get you through a rough patch?

Real love is aggressive. It snatches you from the flame. It grabs you when you want to walk away. It stops and listens. It keeps on keeping on long after the first thrill. It stays the course. It makes the rounds. It is found in the everyday and makes it fabulous. It’s found in the mundane and makes it anointed.

When the Lord says, “I love you” He means it. He’s giving of His very nature for God is love.  Love is so important to God that He gave us loads of Scriptures about it. How to find it. How to receive it. How to have it. How to give it. How to let it take over your heart and mind and soul.  Because of God’s Agape love, we don’t have to settle for less. We can have His perfect love poured into our hearts and we can pour His perfect love into others’ lives. Without God’s love we’ll simply be going through the motions. You know, scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. Good ol’ boys. Cliques.  Without His love we won’t really love or be loved at all.

It may be hard for you to believe at times, but God loves you! He marvels at how you are made, He is thrilled at how you are unique and special. He pours His love on you day and night and never turns off the flow. He walks with you in the dark places. He dances with you in the joyful times. He sings to you in the nightmares of life. He prays over you without ceasing. He sees your ending and it is a very happy one. He will never stop loving you, no matter what happens or who walks away.  His love for you never fails. His love for you endures forever.

Oh beloved, rejoice in His love today! Swim in it. Dance in it. Delight in it.  You can’t use it up, mess it up or block it up. He says I love you and I AM for you and together you and I, the Lord, will stay the course all the way to heaven!

I John 4:16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

Romans 5:8 But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

Psalm 103:8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

Jeremiah 31:3  The Lord appeared to Him from afar, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”

2 Thessalonians 3:5 May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.

Psalm 136:26 Give thanks to the God of heaven. His faithful love endures forever.