God's will is for us to reflect the character of Christ - and the essence of His character is love. "God is Love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him". (1 John 4:16) Also in (John 13:34-35), Jesus said, "A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
What is love? The reason perhaps I believe we wonder about this is in our English language, we have one word for love. In Greek, they have four different words for love.
The first is eros, which refers to the physical or sexual attraction (our word "erotic" comes from it).
The second type of love is storge, which refers to family affection, such as love between parents, children, and other family members.
The third type is phileo, which describes our friendship and brotherly love. Philadelphia, we know this city as "brotherly love", gets its name from this.
The final word, agape, has a much broader and deeper meaning as we would know it it about love. This is the most common word for love in the New Testament. Agape love is selfless love - love that extends even to those who are not lovable or even worthy of love. The bible says this is the kind of love God has for us and is the kind of love we should have for others. This love is so deep, this is the kind of love God has for us - love so deep that it caused Christ to leave heaven's glory and die on the cross for us. However, the opposite of this kind of love is selfishness. But when Christ's love fills our hearts, it replaces the once selfishness in our heart.
I will end with these two verses (Galatians 5:22) "The fruit of the Spirit is love." and (1 Timothy 1:5) "The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith."
Ministry blog to bring encouragement, hope, strength throughout ones lifes's adversities & enjoy in a closer journey and relationship with Our Lord God whom is still on the throne. May HE receive all the Glory and Honor through this blog. May you always feel God's comfort, strength, presence and love. Many blessings to you.
18 May 2010
This post is a follow up to the post dated 25 April 2010. Most of you are probably wondering does God care? My answer to you is yes. Please permit me to explain. God knows what is best for us, and he wants what is best for us. Why? Because He Loves us. God's will comes from God's love. If God didn't love us, he would not have sent his only begotten son to experience the pain and suffering of his death and permitted Jesus who was sinless, to absorb all of the sin of the world, past, present and future sin. That is right. He absorbed the sin of murders, thieves, adulterers, etc. Any kind of sin you can think of, Jesus took it upon himself. (Romans 8:32) "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"
God loves you - and because He loves you, He has a plan for your life. Please do not let anything keep you from seeking it.
I am sure most, if not all, are similar as me and are asking the infamous question...how do we find God's will?
Upon reading a book awhile ago, by Billy Graham, he suggests six ways that I will abbreviate here for your use and to further upon yourself expand upon:
1. Commit your decision to God. As Psalm 86:11 would say "Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart". However, first, we need to ask for wisdom and ask him to show us his will in your life.
2. Search the scriptures. I have always done this, but find it particularly helpful when I search the bible to see if anyone has encountered a similar situation and learn how they responded and results. It is amazing what you can learn from others.
3. Understand your circumstances. I have learned from many resources, to name a few: The Bible, Billy Graham and Dr. Charles Stanley, that God works around us as well as working in us. God will often guide us through our circumstances. I end this segment with two questions. Have we weighed the consequences? And have we investigated the alternatives to the best of our ability?
4. Seek godly advice. I can not express enough how important I believe this is for everything. Either it is advice from the bible or glean some christian advice, both are important. God has provided some individuals a special gift of wisdom, and when we face a decision, it is often helpful to seek their counsel. I will always be grateful for the many people God has given me over the years who willingly shared their wisdom and experience with me. I equally regret many times, when not listening and following through with that God given wisdom from years past.
5. Trust the Holy Spirit's guidance. This one at times challenges me the most. But Isaiah 30:21 says it best for us when we do trust in our Lord. "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it'".
This prompting comes from the Holy Spirit, who lives within us, if we know Jesus Christ and accepted him into our lives. (John 16:13) "When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth".
One thing I must caution you about, we must guard against confusing our own desires with the Holy Spirit's prompting. We still need to pray, study God's Word daily, examine our circumstances and seek godly advice.
6. Finally, we need to Trust God for the outcome. This is a challenge for me daily, but I firmly believe when one trusts in God and keeps the faith, God will provide. He always goes with us and before us. Some decisions are hard to make and some are easy, however, in any case, we sometimes still have reservations or uncertainty once we make a decision thinking it is God's will. Sometimes a revelation will not come to us, therefore, it is sometimes best to start moving in the direction we think God may want us to go and then trust Him to lead you. (Proverbs 3:5-6) "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight"
Remember, God does love you, and He wants you to know His will. Let us all seek it, discover it, and then do it. Remember...His way is always best. Let us not settle for second best, but lets receive his best. Being a parent, we know what is best for our children. This is similar to God, he is our creator and He knows what is best for his creations...meaning...each and everyone of us.
God loves you - and because He loves you, He has a plan for your life. Please do not let anything keep you from seeking it.
I am sure most, if not all, are similar as me and are asking the infamous question...how do we find God's will?
Upon reading a book awhile ago, by Billy Graham, he suggests six ways that I will abbreviate here for your use and to further upon yourself expand upon:
1. Commit your decision to God. As Psalm 86:11 would say "Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart". However, first, we need to ask for wisdom and ask him to show us his will in your life.
2. Search the scriptures. I have always done this, but find it particularly helpful when I search the bible to see if anyone has encountered a similar situation and learn how they responded and results. It is amazing what you can learn from others.
3. Understand your circumstances. I have learned from many resources, to name a few: The Bible, Billy Graham and Dr. Charles Stanley, that God works around us as well as working in us. God will often guide us through our circumstances. I end this segment with two questions. Have we weighed the consequences? And have we investigated the alternatives to the best of our ability?
4. Seek godly advice. I can not express enough how important I believe this is for everything. Either it is advice from the bible or glean some christian advice, both are important. God has provided some individuals a special gift of wisdom, and when we face a decision, it is often helpful to seek their counsel. I will always be grateful for the many people God has given me over the years who willingly shared their wisdom and experience with me. I equally regret many times, when not listening and following through with that God given wisdom from years past.
5. Trust the Holy Spirit's guidance. This one at times challenges me the most. But Isaiah 30:21 says it best for us when we do trust in our Lord. "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it'".
This prompting comes from the Holy Spirit, who lives within us, if we know Jesus Christ and accepted him into our lives. (John 16:13) "When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth".
One thing I must caution you about, we must guard against confusing our own desires with the Holy Spirit's prompting. We still need to pray, study God's Word daily, examine our circumstances and seek godly advice.
6. Finally, we need to Trust God for the outcome. This is a challenge for me daily, but I firmly believe when one trusts in God and keeps the faith, God will provide. He always goes with us and before us. Some decisions are hard to make and some are easy, however, in any case, we sometimes still have reservations or uncertainty once we make a decision thinking it is God's will. Sometimes a revelation will not come to us, therefore, it is sometimes best to start moving in the direction we think God may want us to go and then trust Him to lead you. (Proverbs 3:5-6) "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight"
Remember, God does love you, and He wants you to know His will. Let us all seek it, discover it, and then do it. Remember...His way is always best. Let us not settle for second best, but lets receive his best. Being a parent, we know what is best for our children. This is similar to God, he is our creator and He knows what is best for his creations...meaning...each and everyone of us.
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