Love... What do you instantly think of when that word echoes in your mind? Do you think of all of the people that have shown you love in your life, or all of the people who you felt should have, but didn't? Some people live their entire life feeling that no one loves or cares about them. How sad is it to live your entire life and leave this earth not knowing what true love feels like.
I have been learning a lot about love, and the degrees of love. I get amused at my son when he approaches me to tell me how much he loves me. He always puts a limit on it. As he rises one of his small hands up, he will tell me each day, "Mommy, I love you five." Sometimes I'll get a ten if I've done something super special for him that day. I'm so glad I know that his love for me goes past five! In his growing mind, loving someone five is a lot. He thinks that loving me five is all the love that he has to give at that moment.
I'm sure you chucked a bit at my son giving me his love, but all too often, we are just like him. We place limits on our love. We only love someone when they are performing outstanding tasks that place them in the admiration of others. We only love someone when they are doing something for us. We only love someone when we feel close to them. We only love someone when they love us. We only love someone when we want to. We decide who we want to love and why we want to love them. For the people that we don't love, we blame them. Someone doesn't love their father because he chose not to be involved in their childhood. Someone doesn't love their child because he or she grew up to do everything they were taught not to do. Someone doesn't love you just simply because of who you are and what your complex personality entails. And, you don't love someone because they don't love you! What a miserable, endless cycle of lovelessness!
Let's face it, as much as we would love for everyone to love us; they aren't! And, the only thing you can do is to show love towards them, regardless of their actions towards you. Yes, what a difficult task! And, no, I can't say that I practice loving everyone at all times. And yes, some people make it difficult for you to love them! Guess what, sometimes we may make it difficult for God to love us, but He still does. God shows us agape love. Agape love is love that lasts. Agape love is a love that says I love you no matter what! I love you when you don't love me! I love you when you treat me rotten! I love you when no one else does! I love you when you are giving me all of you, and even when you aren't giving me any of you! I love you through test, trials, and storms! I love you when you don't even love yourself! I love you when you are truly unlovable! And, not only do I love you, but I continuously show you that I love you!
Isn't it awesome that God loves us no matter what? I don't know about you, but I have mistreated many of His children, have broken His commandments, have been disobedient, have been disrespectful, have had a rebellious spirit, have abused and mistreated some of the blessings I have received from Him, have tried to steal His glory at times, and a few other sins also. And, not only have I done these things once, but numerous times in my lifetime. I know this because He loves me so much, that He shows me my wrongs towards Him so that I can confess them and be washed white as snow by Jesus' blood. There are no words for the gratefulness that flows through my heart that God loves me so.
We must think about how much we show God that we love Him. Do we agape love our heavenly Father? Do we bless Him, or curse Him in the midst of our storms? Are we obedient unto His word daily? No, we will not reach perfection here, but we are a work in progress and should be showing a little improvement each day. The Bible provides proof of God's immeasurable degree of love towards us.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting live. (KJV)
God loves us so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus to live a rough life full of hard work and torment only to die on the cross after much mistreatment. Do you love anyone so much that you would give up the life of your child? God's love for us cannot be matched by any human being! I want every reader to know today, that God loves you. Sometimes we need to be reminded of that. Let's thank God today for His agape love!
Father, I want to thank You for your agape love this moment. I thank you for loving me so much, that you sent Your only Son to die for my sins so I can spend eternity with You. I thank You for loving the real me and not the LaVetta that everyone sees. Thank You God for loving me when I was unlovable. Please forgive me for times when my actions did not show love towards You, and thank You for loving me despite my actions. Forgive me for times when I did not love others, for I know that it is Your command that we must not only love one another, but also show love towards one another. Help me to love all of Your children. Thank You for those that love me, and those that do not. Teach us all to love one another. Help me to not look for reasons to love someone or make excuses for reasons why I don't love them. Lord teach me to agape love.
Amen.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Heaven or Hell? The Choice is Yours!
This has become one of my favorite times of year because every fall around Halloween, Southside Baptist Church in Princeton, Kentucky opens up their "Judgment House". Tonight, my family and I anxiously attended Judgment House to see what had unfolded this year.
The Judgment House is like a play. You begin on a journey with characters. There are usually about two or three main characters that you travel along with on their life journey. Tonight there was a young lady, 17 years old, who was diagnosed with cancer. She worked hard for the Lord. She was very passionate about introducing people to Christ to help build His Kingdom. She was a kingdom minded young lady, whose life of earth was difficult to live because of her terminal illness. As we traveled with this young lady, we actually walked through different rooms to watch the scenes of her life unfold. We watched her rollercoaster ride with cancer, and her determination to keep bringing souls to Christ despite her own illness.
In tonight's journey, the young lady, named Hannah, actually introduce another young lady around her age who also had cancer to Christ. The young lady prayed The Sinner’s Prayer and was saved. Hannah attempted to spread the love of God to a young man who also suffered from cancer, but he refused because he felt that everything in his life had gone wrong. First, his dad had left, and he did not know where he was, then the doctor's had informed him that there was nothing else that they could do to help cure his illness and that he was going to die. He was an extremely angry young man.
To make a long and emotional story short, Hannah actually dies, as well as the other two youth. We traveled to heaven with Hannah, where she was surprised to see the young lady that she shared Christ with, and to hell with the young man that allowed his anger to overshadow Christ’s love for him. Waiting for him was his father, whom he had been disconnected from since early childhood. His father still rejected him, and the young man began to blame his father for being in hell. The boy begged God for another chance, but God refused. He told him that he had plenty of chances, but he was too busy focusing on his own struggles that he could not see that God loved him. He had made the wrong choice and was hell bound for eternity!
Let me just say, God really used this group of people to spread the message of salvation. The tour counselor stated that they have had approximately 1,500 people go through the judgment house. Out of that massive number, around 150 have been saved and about 950 have rededicated their life to Jesus Christ. Heaven and Hell looked, and felt like what the Bible describes. Our names were called from the Lamb's Book of Life, and it really made the abstract of life after death tangible.
Attending Judgment House always humbles me. It brings me back to the reality that if my life is not totally committed to Christ, my choices could land me in Hell. It made me think that all that I think I am doing doesn't even really measure up to what I should be doing. When we entered Heaven, I wept the entire time. I don't think it was a dry eye in the group! What a marvelous day it will be when we get to Heaven and are greeted by our heavenly Father!
I am sure that this is not the only church organization that puts on a Judgment House. I have also heard these called Trilogy Houses. Check your local area to see if any churches are putting on anything like this. I have only really given a snapshot of what occurred tonight. And, I am not even sure if there are words to describe everything that I saw, heard, and felt on this night. If you are in this area, I encourage and recommend that you attend "Judgment House". You will never look at your salvation and relationship with God the same!
Lord, thank you for allowing my family to attend Judgment House tonight. Thank you for moving so powerfully through this church and give them the strength and resources needed to continue to do your will. Lord, I pray that anyone that does not know where they will spend eternity will seek your council. Let them know God that you love them, and created them for your purposes. Lord, I pray for each person that has recently found you. I pray that they stay on your path throughout their Christian journey. Lord, forgive me for the areas in my life that I do not exalt you. I realize that I am so unworthy of everything that you have done for me. Right now, I just want to thank you for even allowing me to have the opportunity to enter into your kingdom. Thank you for your son Jesus Christ, for if He had not died, I would have no way to reach you. Thank you Lord just for who you are!
Amen.
The Judgment House is like a play. You begin on a journey with characters. There are usually about two or three main characters that you travel along with on their life journey. Tonight there was a young lady, 17 years old, who was diagnosed with cancer. She worked hard for the Lord. She was very passionate about introducing people to Christ to help build His Kingdom. She was a kingdom minded young lady, whose life of earth was difficult to live because of her terminal illness. As we traveled with this young lady, we actually walked through different rooms to watch the scenes of her life unfold. We watched her rollercoaster ride with cancer, and her determination to keep bringing souls to Christ despite her own illness.
In tonight's journey, the young lady, named Hannah, actually introduce another young lady around her age who also had cancer to Christ. The young lady prayed The Sinner’s Prayer and was saved. Hannah attempted to spread the love of God to a young man who also suffered from cancer, but he refused because he felt that everything in his life had gone wrong. First, his dad had left, and he did not know where he was, then the doctor's had informed him that there was nothing else that they could do to help cure his illness and that he was going to die. He was an extremely angry young man.
To make a long and emotional story short, Hannah actually dies, as well as the other two youth. We traveled to heaven with Hannah, where she was surprised to see the young lady that she shared Christ with, and to hell with the young man that allowed his anger to overshadow Christ’s love for him. Waiting for him was his father, whom he had been disconnected from since early childhood. His father still rejected him, and the young man began to blame his father for being in hell. The boy begged God for another chance, but God refused. He told him that he had plenty of chances, but he was too busy focusing on his own struggles that he could not see that God loved him. He had made the wrong choice and was hell bound for eternity!
Let me just say, God really used this group of people to spread the message of salvation. The tour counselor stated that they have had approximately 1,500 people go through the judgment house. Out of that massive number, around 150 have been saved and about 950 have rededicated their life to Jesus Christ. Heaven and Hell looked, and felt like what the Bible describes. Our names were called from the Lamb's Book of Life, and it really made the abstract of life after death tangible.
Attending Judgment House always humbles me. It brings me back to the reality that if my life is not totally committed to Christ, my choices could land me in Hell. It made me think that all that I think I am doing doesn't even really measure up to what I should be doing. When we entered Heaven, I wept the entire time. I don't think it was a dry eye in the group! What a marvelous day it will be when we get to Heaven and are greeted by our heavenly Father!
I am sure that this is not the only church organization that puts on a Judgment House. I have also heard these called Trilogy Houses. Check your local area to see if any churches are putting on anything like this. I have only really given a snapshot of what occurred tonight. And, I am not even sure if there are words to describe everything that I saw, heard, and felt on this night. If you are in this area, I encourage and recommend that you attend "Judgment House". You will never look at your salvation and relationship with God the same!
Lord, thank you for allowing my family to attend Judgment House tonight. Thank you for moving so powerfully through this church and give them the strength and resources needed to continue to do your will. Lord, I pray that anyone that does not know where they will spend eternity will seek your council. Let them know God that you love them, and created them for your purposes. Lord, I pray for each person that has recently found you. I pray that they stay on your path throughout their Christian journey. Lord, forgive me for the areas in my life that I do not exalt you. I realize that I am so unworthy of everything that you have done for me. Right now, I just want to thank you for even allowing me to have the opportunity to enter into your kingdom. Thank you for your son Jesus Christ, for if He had not died, I would have no way to reach you. Thank you Lord just for who you are!
Amen.
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