Archive for the ‘love’ Category
…Your love breaks through and reminds me of the hope that I have in You…
The Arms of My Savior
When I’m all alone / And the weight of the world / Is more than I can bear on my own / When all my plans have failed / And I suffered defeat / I’m down on my knees / I can’t get to my feet
Your love breaks through / And reminds me of the hope that I have in You / That I have in You
There’s no other place / That I’d rather be / Than safe in the arms / The arms of my Savior / There’s no other place / Where I can be free / So I run to the arms / The arms of my Savior
When I’m feeling overwhelmed / Like I can’t take anymore / I’ve thrown up my hands / All I see is the floor / I’ve looked to the north / The south, the west, and the east / But as far as I can see / I can’t find any peace
Your grace breaks through / And reminds me of the hope that I have in You / That I have in You
There’s no other place / That I’d rather be / Than safe in the arms / The arms of my Savior / There’s no other place / Where I can be free / So I run to the arms / The arms of my Savior
Life shouldn’t be something to dread / ‘Cause I know You still know / How many hairs are in my head / And so I run to You / And so I run to You
…how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us…
11 For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other.
12-13 We must not be like Cain, who joined the Evil One and then killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil, while the acts of his brother were righteous. So don’t be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on a long time.
14-15 The way we know we’ve been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn’t love is as good as dead. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don’t go together.
16-17 This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.
When We Practice Real Love
18-20 My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.
21-24 And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God! We’re able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we’re doing what he said, doing what pleases him. Again, this is God’s command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.
[1 John 3.11-24, the Message]
Love One Another
11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. 13 So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
14 If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. 15 Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.
16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion-how can God’s love be in that person?
18 Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. 19 Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. 20 Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.
21 Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. 22 And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.
23 And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.
[1 John 3.11-24, New Living Translation SE]
Love One Another
11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
[1 John 3.11-24, English Standard Version]
I’m dying…
Ok. I’m not really dying, at least not any faster than normal (as far as I know). Sometimes, though, it feels as if I am. The state of the world; the lying, the hurting, the crap all around us…that’s on us. It’s our fault. It’s brought death to our lives. I can feel it, and if you slow down for a second I bet you can too.
Friends, when are we going to stop? Hating each other? Lying to each other? Talking down and killing others with our words? Gossiping and starting rumors? Tearing each other down…hating, killing, destroying ourselves and others…from the inside out. Is this really what we want? Are these things, deep down, really our hearts desire?
Be honest.
God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.
[Ephesians 4.14, 15 from the Messsage]
Love. We need to love.
I want to get this clear; I am NOT pointing my finger at you, you or you. I’m not calling anyone out. If I were, I’d be pointing 3 more fingers back at me. I’m merely putting the facts and the truth out on the table. For all to see. We are a mess and we aren’t doing much to clean up our acts. I’m the chief of sinners. I own just as much of this crap as anyone of you do. Would you take some time to pray for each other? Pray for yourselves. Pray that we could…no…that we will change.
It’s time for change. Obama was right about that. We need it. But it won’t be brought about by a new president, a new economy, a new haircut. The change, real lasting, meaningful change starts inside the hearts of the people. We need to learn to love again. Speak up in love, Act in love. Somewhere deep inside our hearts is the ability to love. Inside you and me and that guy or girl you’re always talking crap about. That smelly old homeless guy on the exit ramp every morning that we all quickly pass by, he could change everything…each of us,..could change everything if we would simply love. When will we?
I have so many struggles of my own right now, not that I’ve ever been without them, but they seem to be screaming and calling me out every chance they get. We all have crap in our lives; we all make stupid ridiculous mistakes. We live to please ourselves and climb our own individual ladders of success, however we measure it. Some of us find success in how much money we can make a year. How much junk we own. Some of us by the number of friends we have (real or on Facebook). Some of us by how “smart” we are or how many guys or girls we’ve been with. Does any of that REALLY matter? Is this what we are putting our life’s value in? Is this what we are striving for from the moment we wake up till the moment we close our eyes at night?
Stop.
Just stop.
Don’t give me that crap about it “not being that easy” or oh, maybe I’ll change next week. One more high and I’ll tone it down.
That won’t work.
I’ve tried.
You’ve tried before.
We’ve failed.
It’s time to wage a new war. It’s time to quit focusing on all the distractions, all the pleasures, all the things we think will make us happy and fight. Fight for our lives…for the lives of those around us.
It’s time to speak up, speak the truth and speak it in love. Let us not stop there though. Let’s act in love, one small action at a time. Encourage one another. Pay for someone’s drink, coffee or dinner. Give someone a good book to read. Take the time to pray with one another. Simply spend time with each other and listen. Listen.
Stop the death. Stop the killing. Let’s start truly living. Living in love.
25 So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. 26 And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 for anger gives a foothold to the devil.
28 If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. 29 Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.
30 And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
[Ephesians 4.25 – 32, New Living Translation, SE]
I love you all…grace and peace. May God’s love be shown.
But I can’t forget how much this seems to fit …
About some things I know Im reading into
Because you and me come at this differently
And I’m just trying to be honest with you
You were right in front of my face
You could be the one
Go change the subject
But I can’t forget how much this seems to fit
When you feel this way
Everything sounds so cliche
But I’ll try to explain my side of this
You were right in front of my face
You could be the one that I could hold on to forever, hold on to forever
You could be the one
Maybe you are the kind that doesn’t want to say it
I should just let you be
But maybe if I spoke up that would be enough
To give my mind some peace
You could be
You could be the one that I could hold on to forever, hold on to forever
You could be the one, You could be the one
[Bethany Dillon, You Could Be The One]
…I will fight for you, would you fight for me, it’s worth fighting for…
My wife is my best friend, who I love dearly, and she loves me. But isn’t it fascinating that two people who love each other so much can cut one another so deeply? When you let issues build up in a marriage, the smallest thing can trigger a war, and pretty soon you can lose sight of your love and commitment to one another. We had a night where something as trivial as spilled pretzels forced into the open things we had left unsaid. Once everything had calmed down, I wrote this song. In that moment, I fully realized my duty, as my wife’s husband, was to wrap my arms around her. To love her more than my pride, more than my desire to be ‘right,’ and to find a way to move through life’s good and bad times together. That will be a struggle at times, but love is worth the fight.
I wrote “Love is Not a Fight” about my marriage and my commitment to my wife. I’ve been performing it at my shows now for about six months, and after every show I am overwhelmed by the many different ways the song is affecting other people. I heard a story the other day about a man who has an adopted daughter. He said at times the challenges seem impossible to struggle through, but my song reminded him that Love is Worth the fight. The song has proven to be more than just a tune I wrote in my living room about my story, it is song about all of our relationships.
It’s easy to just skim by on the surface of life. The challenge is to go beyond the shallows into deeper relationships with the ones we love. At times this can be uncomfortable. It means we have to take the time to invest in their lives. It means we will have to be vulnerable and honest about who we really are. This will likely result in some pain. But it’s the kind of pain that carves out space in our souls for more joy than we could have ever experienced before.
More “things” will not bring you the full life that we all crave. It is time we make the important things important again and seek deeper relationships with our Maker and the people we share this space with. Love is not a fight, but it is something worth fighting for.
–Warren Barfield
“Love is Not a Fight” is the first single off of Warren Barfield’s third studio recording WORTH FIGHTING FOR scheduled to release MAY 20th 2008.
Love is not a place / to come and go as we please / It’s a house we enter in / then commit to never leave
So lock the door behind you / Throw away the key / Work it out together / Let it bring us to our knees
Love is a shelter / in a raging storm / Love is peace / in the middle of a war / If we try to leave / May God send angels to guard the door / No, Love is not a fight / but its something worth fighting for
Some love is a word / that they can fall into / But when they’re falling out / keeping that word is hard to do
Love is a shelter / in a raging storm / Love is peace / in the middle of a war / If we try to leave / May God send angels to guard the door / No, Love is not a fight / but its something worth fighting for
Love will come to save us / If we’ll only call / He will ask nothing from us / but demand we give our all
Love is a shelter / in a raging storm / Love is peace / in the middle of a war / If we try to leave / May God send angels to guard the door / No, Love is not a fight / but its something worth fighting for
Cause I will fight for you / Would you fight for me / It’s worth fighting for
[Warren Barfield, Love is Not a Fight]
God is Love…Glorifying God
My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.
God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.
We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.
[1 john 4.7-21, the message]
An airplane is meant to fly, a car is built to be driven, and clothes are designed to be worn. You would have very little use for a plane that would not fly, a car that would not move, or clothes that can no longer be worn.
Why? Because their purpose is not being realized. It’s a great frustration to have things that are no longer useful. God must feel that way about us sometimes.
You were designed to know Him, not simply to have a comfortable life. You were not created just to get married, have children and a successful career, then grow old and enjoy retirement. These are some of life’s benefits, its side dishes, not its purpose.
The tragedy today is that we have taken life’s benefits and tried to make them our purpose. We’re trying to make the side dishes the main course. The result is that we often find the benefits very unsatisfactory. No wonder.
So if the purpose of life is not marriage, success, happiness, or any of that, what is it? What were we created for? Answer: we were created to know and worship God with an all-consuming passion. That’s it. That’s why Paul tells us to do everything to God’s glory.
Bringing glory to something means to put it on the mantel where it can be admired. A woman seeks glory when she decorates her home in such a way that guests say, “Wow, where did you get that?” She puts a special treasure on display so that when people see it, they are in awe.
That’s what we’re supposed to do for God. We’re supposed to display Him in such a way that people are awed by Him. Glorifying God means to make Him look good, to place Him on display so that when others see our lives, they are in awe of our God.
Even in the everyday stuff, your goal should be to make God look good. But I can tell you, it takes real passion to live like that. To anyone who is trying to know and serve God halfheartedly without passion, I think Paul would say, “Why bother?” If you’re going to seek God, go for it like you mean it!
–Tony Evans
have you been tempted to seek your joy in the “benefits of life”? how have they proved unfulfilling?
why is it important to glorify God?
how can you glorify God in practical ways in your everyday life?
Do You Really Love Him?
If what we call love doesn’t take us beyond ourselves, it is not really love. If we have the idea that love is characterized as cautious, wise, sensible, shrewd, and never taken to extremes, we have missed the true meaning. This may describe affection and it may bring us a warm feeling, but it is not a true and accurate description of love.
Have you ever been driven to do something for God not because you felt that it was useful or your duty to do so, or that there was anything in it for you, but simply because you love Him? Have you ever realized that you can give things to God that are of value to Him? Or are you just sitting around daydreaming about the greatness of His redemption, while neglecting all the things you could be doing for Him? I’m not referring to works which could be regarded as divine and miraculous, but ordinary, simple human things— things which would be evidence to God that you are totally surrendered to Him. Have you ever created what Mary of Bethany created in the heart of the Lord Jesus? “She has done a good work for Me.”
There are times when it seems as if God watches to see if we will give Him even small gifts of surrender, just to show how genuine our love is for Him. To be surrendered to God is of more value than our personal holiness. Concern over our personal holiness causes us to focus our eyes on ourselves, and we become overly concerned about the way we walk and talk and look, out of fear of offending God. “. . . but perfect love casts out fear . . .” once we are surrendered to God ( 1 John 4:18 ). We should quit asking ourselves, “Am I of any use?” and accept the truth that we really are not of much use to Him. The issue is never of being of use, but of being of value to God Himself. Once we are totally surrendered to God, He will work through us all the time.
i’m giving You my heart / and all that is within / i lay it all down for the sake / of You my King
i’m giving You my dreams / i’m laying down my rights / i’m giving up my pride / for the promise of new life
and I surrender / all to You all to You / and i surrender / all to You all to You
i’m singing You this song / i’m waiting at the cross / and all the world holds dear / i count it all as loss
for the sake of knowing You / the glory of Your name / to know the lasting joy / even sharing in Your pain
and i surrender / all to You all to You / and i surrender / all to You all to You
[surrender, lincoln brewster]
Strangers Among Us
San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge is known for its man-made beauty. But the manmoth structure is also infamous for something ugly–lonely and depressed people jumping to their deaths into the churning water and jagged rocks below. One young man who committed suicide left a note on the dresser in his apartment that read, “I’m going to walk to the bridge. If one person smiles at me on the way, I won’t jump.” Tragically he didn’t find what he was looking for.
Have you ever felt as though no one cares? Like a stranger in a strange land? If so, you’re not alone. God’s people have a history of alienation. Abraham left his home to become a nomad. Jacob and his sons left a familiar land to live in Egypt. The children of Israel left their oppressors in Egypt to become strangers in the promised land. The disciples left their homes in Galilee to take the Good News into the world. The apostle Peter addressed his first letter to the church, “To God’s elect, strangers in the world” [1 Peter 1.1].
Every child of God has been a stranger, a foreigner, an alien. And the truth of the matter is that God designed it that way. The teacher in the book of Ecclesiastes states that God “has also set eternity in the hearts” of people [Ecclesiastes 3.11], so that our souls would always look beyond what we see here and toward a better future. We have this innate sense that what we see is not what we’re going to get–that there’s a spiritual aspect to this life that somehow affects what happens after this life. Those who believe in God recognize this internal dissonance and use it toward God-glorifying ends as they try to make this world a better place so that others will experience hope as well.
Which leads to the next point: You may be a stranger, but you’re not alone, not by a long shot. Take a look around you, and you’ll see strangers everywhere. Some are aware of their status as God’s wayfarers on this earth; others aren’t, and they may be as frustrated and hopeless as the young man described above. God gave us as job to do when it comes to the strangers among us. As He reminded His people not to mistreat them or take advantage of them, so we’re reminded of the same today. But does He leave it at that? No. Because you’ve been a stranger, you are called to love strangers just as you love yourself.
What does it take to feel loved when you’re a stranger? Maybe just a smile will do, or a kind word of encouragement, or a helping hand. Be on the lookout today for strangers in need of love.
When have you felt like a stranger?
What individuals around you today might feel estranged?
What simple thing can you do today to help a lonely individual sense God’s love?
Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?” He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?”
He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”
“Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”
Looking for a loophole, he asked, “And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?”
Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.
“A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’
“What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?”
“The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded.
Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”
[luke 10.25-37, the message]
remember the root command…
But remember the root command: Love one another.
[john 15.17, the message]
…i pray you’re not at all in love with someone else…
Hey, uptown girl
Can you hear this downtown song?
Wrote a couple of words to tell you
Right here is where you belong
I bet you walk the streets
Wondering who you’re thinking of
Hope you’re looking for someone to hold
And not at all in love
And I wonder if you can relate
To nights upon my pillow case
Eyes wide open middle of the night
You’re the last thing on my mind
Only the lonely know
Only the lonely know
Only the lonely know
What nights like these do to me, yeah
I keep asking myself
If our hands were meant to be
I know this town is busy,
But I live on Public Street
We can get out of here
If only for just tonight
Ride like some Rollin’ stone
That’s forced to waste your life
And I wonder if you can relate
To nights upon my pillow case
Eyes wide open middle of the night
You’re the last thing on my mind
Only the lonely know
Only the lonely know
Only the lonely know
What nights like these do to me
When I’m under (when I’m under)
Is it me you’re thinking of?
With this light (get on your knees)
I pray you’re not at all in love
With someone else
(With someone new)
With something other than me and you
Just wanna be where you are
(Just where you are)
If ever you’re lonely I won’t be far
Only the lonely know
Only the lonely know
Only the lonely know
Only the lonely know
Only the lonely know
What nights like these do to me, yeah
Only the lonely know
Only the lonely know
Only the lonely know
What nights like these do to me
[Anberlin, Downtown Song]
