Showing posts with label God's love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's love. Show all posts

Sunday

Smile God Loves You! Ephesians 5:2 - Sunday Scripture


This Sunday's Scripture on God's Love is Ephesians 5:2  




So many times when looking at a verse from Scripture I come back to these 
Question Words.


Who?

                    How?

                                        What?

                                                            Why?







 In this verse we are exhorted to Walk in Love but the verse goes on to tell us how to do this 
by following the example of God's Love.



Who gives the example for us to follow?
Christ.   We have seen that He loves us.


How do we know He loves us?
He gave Himself in our place.


What did He become?
An offering for us to God, a sacrifice instead of us.


Why did He do that?
To make an aroma of fragrance for God to be able to enjoy.



Because of Jesus we can be a sweet fragrance unto God.




If God had not had such great love for us then Christ would not have loved us and there would have been no sacrifice to prepare our way back to God.

It all stems from God's Love to us.

There is no hope for us without God's Love for us.

Surely this should make us smile each day.













Smile God Loves You! Psalm 36:7 - Sunday Scripture


This Sunday's Scripture on God's Love is 

Psalm 36:7  






What type of Love?

Precious

Important
Personal feel to it.
Worth a lot
Kind
Embracing





What does this love offer us?


Security

Peace
Calm
A hiding place
Protection




What can God's precious love offer us?








What should our reaction be?



Trust His Love

Recognise God's Love is the most Important Love
Believe He is giving us His Personal Love
Know there is nothing else like God's Love
Come into his care
Accept his kindness
Rest in his protection













Smile God Loves You!! Psalm 100:5 - Sunday Scripture


This Sunday's Scripture on God's Love is Psalm 100 v 5  





 One of the things that makes God Good is His Everlasting Love which is exactly what this verse talks about and then it leads on to His Faithfulness.







Look at the powerful words we see in this verse telling us about the Lord, His Goodness, Love and Faithfulness.


It tells us 2 things about this Love

  • it is steadfast  -  sure, dependable, unmovable, like an anchor
  • it endures -  lasts, strives, overcomes everything


Because of this great dependable love that overcomes everything God is faithful to all of us who come to Him.

What else could we ask for to feel (as the well known hymn states)

"safe and secure from all alarms"




The Love that makes God the True Faithful One.















Smile God Loves YOU! 1 John 3:1 - Sunday Scripture


This Sunday's Scripture on God's Love is  

1 John 3:1
  




John has often been referred to as the "Beloved Disciple" and last month we featured a verse about God's Love from the Gospel written by John -  John 3:16  you can read it HERE

Now this month we are starting with a verse from John's first Epistle another verse about God's Love.


This verse 1 John 3:1 tells us about the type of Love God has for us.






God is referred to here as the Father which immediately makes me think of a fatherly love which would obviously be a love that cares about our well-being and protection.


It also makes me think of a love that looks to the future and not just the present time because we expect our fathers to own the responsibility of always loving us and wanting our futures to be good.


God the Father has given us the greatest love because he has accepted us into His family as sons and daughters so we will experience His unconditional love that only He can give.


Being His son or daughter gives us great hope for the future because of His great love.

Parents are human and not perfect yet can love unconditionally.

God is divine and perfect yet He has chosen to make us His children 
and love us unconditionally and perfectly.


It reminds me of the the title of a hymn by Charles Wesley

"Love divine, all loves excelling"


God's Love excels all other love.
  
His love is far greater than any other love.








Of course I always like to make sure to take each verse in context as it was written so let's look briefly at 1 John 3:1-3

 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.


If we have received His Salvation then we are His children and the world will treat us as it has treated Him but we have the assurance that He will pass on His characteristics to us and yes we have great hope for the future.









Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 136


Each Sunday I choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on it.


Today I'm looking at Psalm 136 





This Psalm falls into 5 parts:



V. 1-3
God


V. 4-9
Creation


V. 10-22
Redemption


V. 23-25
Love


V. 26
Hope


This Psalm starts and ends with two almost identical verses - verse 1 and verse 26


However they are each placed specifically at those important points.


We Start with God's Goodness



God.
He is the God of gods and the Lord of lords.
 He is Good, He is Merciful and He is Love and His goodness, mercy and love will never end.
 How could we not be thankful?





Creation.
He is full of wonder and creative power.
All that is on, above and around the earth was made by Him.


Redemption.
He provided our Salvation right from the start.
Our lives should be a witness to that.


Love.
He is the one who always sees, cares, and acts on behalf of His people.


Hope.
Even though we have not seen Heaven or can properly understand Heaven we believe in God so we believe in Heaven because we know His love is not going to end.









The Psalm is a portrait of our lives with Him.

 How He is good to us and draws us 
through our knowledge of 
His Greatness, Salvation and Love 
to the culmination of a 
Home 
perfectly prepared for us by Him.



We end with Heaven.








This is a Psalm which some might say is simply repetitive.

But

this is really a Psalm of recognition on our part of how worthy God is to be praised 
over and over again.


This is a Psalm which uses the history of the world to highlight the Love of God
to His people

and

to lead us to 

the Eternal Hope we have in Heaven - our home with Him! 













Wednesday

The Goldfish from the Fair! - A Dose of Encouragement


Everyone in our family loves babies.

Everyone also loves cute little animals like small cuddly puppies, tortoises, ducklings 

Everyone loves other larger animals even if we each do have our distinct favourites. 

But

        we had never had a family pet!








Well before Fred & I got married I had always wanted a dog but Fred grew up on a farm and so his attitude was
        "a dog is a working animal!".

Then when the kids were young I was working as a Mathematics teacher and Fred's job meant he did a lot of travelling so it did not seem like a good idea to have a pet.

Yes you probably guessed it - I did not want to have to take all the responsibility for it and who would look after it during the day when we were all out at work and school!

Then we moved to live in America for 3 years and as we were moving we did talk about how it was a good thing that we had not had any pets.

So you will understand too that knowing we were only in the US for a few years we were not going to even consider having a pet there.
Not until we decided to take a day out to the State Fair - and we ended up coming home with not just one pet but 4.





Yes four Goldfish that the kids won at some event - I don't even remember what event now all these years later.

They were in a small plastic bag so on the way home we stopped off and got some fish food and then at home I let them use my large clear glass mixing bowl.

We set them on the table and just watched them swim around and around and said how cute they were and then gradually one by one we got bored watching and went on to making dinner etc.
We thought they should have a little something to eat too so sprinkled a little of their food into the bowl.

Of course when you have a pet you need a name but we needed 4 names - if there had been 5 goldfish we could have used our five names but because there were only 4 we decided to name them after the kids so the largest became Jonathan, the next largest became Daniel and the next became Linda leaving us with the smallest one whom we called Tiny - oh how imaginative we can be!!

So off to bed we went that night.

Down for breakfast in the morning and someone glanced at the bowl and we heard the cry


"one of the fish is just floating in the water"


We all looked into the bowl and true enough 3 were swimming around and 1 was just lying there - it was Tiny.

Now they definitely had all been ok the night before as that picture above shows, but overnight poor Tiny had died.


We felt very sad, we could not even look after a fish for one day!


Fred talked to the kids about how hot it had been at the fair and how the goldfish had been in that small plastic bag exposed to the sunlight for a long period of time and Tiny had been the smallest of the four so probably he had suffered the most from the heat on the water.

So we mourned the death of Tiny but at least it hadn't been Jonathan, Daniel or Linda.

Later that day we sprinkled a little food into the bowl again and every now and again we would look at the 3 goldfish swimming thinking how it must be boring to do that all the time.

Next morning at breakfast we realised that we had another death on our hands yes Goldfish Linda was now floating on top of the water.
The next day it was Daniel's turn to float and the following day it was Jonathan.


One after another our four pets had died - what kind of people were we!


All we could think of was the fact that we had not had them very long so the children had not got very "attached to them", thank goodness!


Well I want to encourage you that God is not like us.


Have you become a child of God?

Do you know that even from before you were born He has been "attached to you".




He is the one who Created you in the first place and He is the one who Loves you at all times.

God knows you better than anyone else does.



We found out some time later that we had fed the goldfish too often.

Although we had got the right food for them we had not fed them properly.



So if you feel smothered by others,

        or if you feel neglected by others,

                or if you feel like you are not sure where to turn at times

                        or if you feel that there is just too much to read in God's Word

                                or if you feel there are too many different people telling you what to do

                 

Remember God is not like us


God knows the best way to look after you as part of His family.

God will feed you in the right way.
God will love you in the perfect way.
God will lead you in the way of righteousness.


God will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We just have to give Him our lives and let Him lead us.


Yes!  God will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

Yes!  We just have to give Him our lives and let Him lead us.






I am thankful that God will not neglect us or kill us by accident as we did with the goldfish.


We are safe with God.




Saturday

Christian Songs for Kids - Jesus' Love is Very Wonderful


Do you find it hard to get visuals and recordings for different kids songs?






I have always found this a problem so I am now sharing songs that I have used with children providing you with



Visuals 
(Powerpoint or Picture or details of how you can make one) 


Words   
(chords also available)


Recording  
(mp3 or video to learn the song) 


Then if you would like to download the visual of the song there will be a link provided to my creation, or I will direct you to where else you can find it.   



This month I am taking the theme of



The Love of Jesus



The song I have chosen is 



Jesus' Love is Very Wonderful


I think this is another song that I first learnt through Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) which means I have been singing this one for around 40 years.

Kids love to do the actions for this one as it involves clapping and big arm movements.
Another thing we like to do is sing it a few times and then on the last time really speed it up.

Another great teaching tool for explaining to the children that there is nothing that cannot be encompassed by the love of Jesus.




POWERPOINT









To Download a copy of this visual for printing on  A4 Card  or  Letter size 

CLICK HERE




WORDS


JESUS' LOVE IS VERY WONDERFUL

Jesus' Love is very wonderful
Jesus' Love is very wonderful
Jesus' Love is very wonderful
Oh Wonderful Love

It's so high you can't get over it
So low you can't get under it
So wide you can't get round it
Oh Wonderful Love



To Download a copy of these words with chords for guitar and piano 

CLICK HERE









ACTIONS

Jesus' love is very wonderful -  clapping in time to the music
Oh Wonderful Love   -  clapping in time to the music

It's so high you can't get over it  -  Point up repeatedly in time to the music with both hands, arms raised high
So low you can't get under it  -  Reach down and use an underneath motion with both hands repeatedly in time to the music
So wide you can't get around it   -  Swing arms out wide repeatedly in time to the music (making sure that the children are apart enough not to hit each other)
Oh Wonderful Love   -  clapping in time to the music




Sound RECORDING







VIDEO  RECORDING








Notes:

I believe the Words are by H. W. Rattle but the composer is unknown.

It is copyrighted by Scripture Union
More information can be found HERE




I Hope you enjoy the song and this is a help to you.






Wednesday

Memories of Love - A Dose of Encouragement


I have been thinking about memories on and off for a while because I have been sorting out old photographs and scanning negatives. (A long, long job)


I have found at different times that my memories don't always match up with the photographs.


Have you ever discovered that or is it just me?






For example when I was 12 years old I went to Barcelona and because that was a very long time ago I only had a few photos and they were in black and white.

I had not looked at them for a couple of decades and unfortunately when I came to the packet the photos were missing and only the negatives remained.  Perhaps later I will find the photos mixed in with some others and perhaps I will never find them but at least I could scan the negatives.

How surprised I was while scanning to find that one of the pictures seemed to be the opposite way round but on checking the strip of negatives I confirmed that I really did have the strip the correct way in the scanner and was not now looking at the reversal of the photo.

I had always remembered that Monte and her mother were standing to the left hand side of the doorway and facing to the right

but in reality



they were standing in the centre of the doorway and facing left.


In the same strip of negatives there were two pictures of the Cathedral in Barcelona,
one of the top




and one of the bottom




Yet I had always thought I had a photo of the full front of the cathedral.

So it just proves that my memories are not always accurate.


Then just this past Saturday Fred and I went for a walk beside a Lake not too far from where we live and at one point we took a path that was rather steep so laughingly Fred got behind me and pushed me up the slope.

As he did so he said         "Does this remind you of anything?"

I immediately answered        "Slieve Donard"


Now a quick summary is in order here:

I met Fred in the early 70's but we were just friends.
A few years later we were both at a Christian Summer Camp.
One of the days we all went to a town called Newcastle to walk up a mountain
called Slieve Donard.
Without going into too much detail, 6 of us were walking along together when we came to a steep part and the 3 girls laughed and said we were too tired so the boys would have to push us.  They said they wouldn't but in the end
Fred did push me up the steep part.



On the slope of Slieve Donard I'm between the two Freds
the one in the centre of the picture is the one I married

So Saturday's reference was to that event in 1975 which will be 40 years ago in July this year.  (I have written about the same summer camp in a blog post last year called    What a Face )


Now back to Saturday.

We both laughed and probably both thought I was a lot lighter when he pushed me up Slieve Donard but at least he didn't say it.

Then I asked him  

 "Do you actually remember pushing me that day or do you just remember me
 talking about it throughout the years?"


And his honest answer was
     
"I think I remember a memory that I have formed because you have talked about it"


Now I had two choices here.

I could have taken the "huff" and been annoyed at him for not remembering something that I had from all those years ago.


OR


I could just accept that we had different memories from that day.

I chose the latter because I know that Fred does not always remember things the same as I do because he doesn't always see things the way I do and vice versa.

Yes even though so many of our memories have been formed together over all these years we each remember some things the same and some things differently.

Even things to do with our relationship?      YES!

Even things to do with our love?    YES!

Does this matter?     NO!  but sometimes Yes.

It shouldn't matter because it is just the way we were made; we are both different people and each day is different to each of us even if we share all the events of that day.

We have to accept that each of our memories of our love are different.
We have to accept that each of us will forget certain things about our relationship.
We have to accept that each of us will notice things in our lives differently.

Why?     Because our memories and our love are not perfect and neither are we.







However there is a love that is perfect.

The love of God is perfect because God is Perfect and God is Love.

God remembers every single part of our relationship with Him and his memories are perfect.

God will not forget about us, He will not forget how much He loves us.

God's memories of us will be perfect and when He reminds us of something it will be true.

God also knows exactly how we remember things and how we have felt through all of our life.

God knows how we feel right at this very moment.


God's memories of Love are unforgettable and you know what 

to God you are unforgettable too.







Is this not the way you want to be loved?


If you don't know this love of God please take a little time to watch the 3 2 1 video on the sidebar.




Sunday

It's God's Love #26


On Sundays I have been writing a short post consisting of a Bible Verse around the topic of God's Love and today we have come to the end of this series.














God's Love 

is 

Perfect

and

will continue forever

regardless 

of everything else. 









I am thankful

that

God's Love

is

greater

than everything else

and

that it is always extended

toward us.