It's God's Love #5

Last month I started this new Sunday Series.

There will be a simple, short post each week
consisting of a Bible Verse around the topic of
God's Love and I would be very pleased if you
would join me each Sunday.

Today I am looking at Colossians chapter 3

Firstly we must look away from the things that Satan has 
in this world

and

then 

look to the virtues of God

Mercy

Kindness

Humbleness of mind

Meekness

Longsuffering


Bound together by love, not just any love but that which can bring perfect unity

God's Love

It's God's Love #3

Welcome back to this new Sunday Series.

There will be a simple, short post each week
consisting of a Bible Verse around the topic of
God's Love and I would be very pleased if you
would join me each Sunday.

When Paul is writing to the Corinthians he obviously thinks something is important and needs to be said as the finishing note for the end of his letter.


2 Corinthians 13:14


He exhorts them to pay attention to how they should live

Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.


BUT

he is not finished yet


He then leaves them with a great blessing

Love of God.

Grace of Jesus.

Fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

Be with us all.

AMEN - So be it.

It's God's Love #2

This is the second week of my new Sunday Series.

There will be a simple, short post each week
consisting of a Bible Verse around the topic of
God's Love and I would be very pleased if you
would join me each Sunday.

Can we be good without having Love?

God is Love
&
God is Good

Forever & Forever

He will love us



Forever & Forever

He has already loved us

Thank You God

For your Unending Love.

I love Hearts - A Dose of Encouragement

As I sit at my desk......Last year I started a blog post with similar words but no I am not repeating myself.

As I sit at my desk in the study I just simply have to glance to the right of my laptop and I get the first example of hearts that can be found around our house.


Some hearts are decorative but these ones have a useful purpose as well.


They are the Love Heart coasters that I use each day for my coffee mug or glass in the study.

Yes I love hearts


BUT


That does not mean we are a very soppy couple because we are not - I just like hearts.



They are not the only hearts in the study.

There are also hearts as tiebacks for the curtains

There is also a heart decorated box.

   (It is really just decorative as I love boxes too and this one is quite small so is not used to hold anything at the moment anyway.)

Oh and two more boxes!!!

Oh and a heart shaped one!!!


There is also a heart decorated wooden Tissue Box Cover.


And I mustn't forget the  "Home is where the Heart is" Hanging Decoration.


Then there is the Fred & Sandra Christmas decoration that just somehow didn't get put away with the other decorations one year because it needed to be repaired and then when I did get it fixed I just hung it on the door of my craft armoire.


And of course the heart cushion that I lean against each day when I sit on my computer chair.


Oh I nearly did forget the 2 hearts with HOPE and FAITH that I couldn't resist buying earlier this year and don't know where they are meant to go yet so they are just sitting on one of the bookshelves.

That is just one room


There are other examples


A small heart garland hangs on a chest of drawers upstairs

A heart shaped clock is waiting to be put up on the wall of the Dressing Room.

And my heart shaped Friends Cushion that sits in the Sun Room.

Someday I should try to count up all the heart things I have.

I may collect hearts but I can't collect a real heart.

I cannot take someone's heart or make anyone love me.


Fred loves me and my children love me and there are others who love me but I did not make them love me, they chose to do that themselves.

We cannot make people love us, there are no special words to say or things to do.

We also cannot make God love us.

We cannot ever be "good" enough to make God love us.

It has nothing to do with "how much" we might love God.

It has nothing to do with "how much" we might try to get His attention.

We cannot make God love us.

Because He already does.

He has always loved us.

I am very thankful that God first loved us.

He loved us before we even thought about loving Him.
(see 1 John 4 v 19)

He loved us so much that even though He could not have us sinful creatures in His presence He made the only perfect way for us to be united with Him.
(see 1 Cor 15 v 3&4)

HOW?


He gave us Jesus.

Have you ever tried to make someone love you?

Have you ever thought or planned what you could do to change your life so that God would love you?

Do you feel that you would never be good enough for God to love you?

Don't think any longer just acknowledge the fact that you can do nothing to earn His love you just simply have to believe that He loves you and accept the gift of Jesus.

Jesus is the only one who can take our sins and give us His righteousness so that we can be in God's presence.

This can happen as soon as we admit that we are sinful and decide to turn to God and away from that sinful nature.

If you would like to know some more about God's Love and how we can be saved from our sin just click on the  3 2 1 Presentation at the top of my sidebar.


Or you might like to have a look at my Sunday Series called "It's God's Love"

The Gift of Love - A Dose of Encouragement

We do not really celebrate ST. Valentine's Day.

My husband and I never got into that as girlfriend and boyfriend except to exchange cards.

Perhaps it was because we were still at school and then at university for the 4 years before we got married, and school kids and students in the 70's did not have money!

Anyway we have never (that I can remember) gone out for a meal or special event for Valentine's Day.
Unless you count last year when we went to the local hotel for a meal with our son and his girlfriend and our daughter.  Seems strange, you may think, to go out with others on that night but we were not going out because of Valentine's Day but because our daughter was due to leave for South Korea a few days later and that was the night we were all free to have a farewell meal together.  I think it may have seemed a bit odd to the hotel as we were the only table not for a couple.

So this year I suggested to my husband that we have a date night on Friday Night, which he knew straight away was Valentine's Day - question still remains how did he know that without thinking?


I then assured him that I was not choosing

                                because it is Valentine's Day

but simply because on



evening we have a meeting at church,

evening we are going to dinner at our son and daughter-in-law's home (the same pair that were only girlfriend and boyfriend this time last year, got engaged at the end of April and married at the end of October & our daughter managed to come back from South Korea for a few days for the wedding),

evening we have a friend round with us for dinner,

evening we have a prayer meeting in church


                                and

we will need to do all the catch-up from the busy week & be tired in the evening and just want to lie in front of the TV and watch something we have taped during the week.


                                   So

 evening was really our only choice.

Next was the question I could have uttered for him myself but I am kind and I let him say it.

"Well what do you want to do?"

I of course should have been prepared seeing as I knew he would say what he always says but I'm silly and I wasn't.

However being determined not to get annoyed at this usual question I sort of looked around me as I tried to think of something quickly and because I was in the kitchen making the dinner at the time I came out with

"You have to cook me a meal all by yourself"

You would have thought I had told him to do something he knew nothing about and had never seen before.

"How am I going to do that?"

This is the guy who taught me to make an omelette when we were students before we got married but now claims he doesn't know how to make one.  This is also the guy who after we got married made the meals on the days that his lectures were over earlier than mine while we were still students and who made all the meals for the few weeks of my final university exams.


Well that really was not how the conversation should have gone!


But even though I was rather annoyed at the usual type of response, and told him so!


That kind of thing was not going to spoil our week or even our day.



We have to remember that when we got married we promised to

                                         

                                                               so something like this cannot get in the way.

A few months ago the ladies who lead our graphics course were developing a magazine for the iPad called  DIY Marketing Graphics and they asked each of the people on the course if they would like to contribute a graphic on the theme of Love for the February Issue.

This was my offering and I was very pleased that they did feature it in the magazine.

I was just playing around with a nice black background and some red hearts and then the wording came to me.

Basically this is what we are doing when we commit to each other in marriage, we are giving our love as a gift to our spouse and we are committed to this forever.  We do not take it back in the hard times or the times (repeatedly) when we annoy each other.  We have given them our love so that overrules all else in any situation.  

This is what God has done with His love.  

He has given the gift of Love which is Jesus, because He loved us and 

He will not take His love back from us either.

I am very thankful that God has shown us true love by His own example.

We all should know the true qualities of Love (if not, we need to read 1 Corinthians 13) and so we know what our actions should be like.  The thing is we are all human and it is hard to get over being hurt and it is hard to accept apologies and it is hard to be gracious and forgiving.  

I am also very thankful that even though Fred & I may take a bit of time to do the forgiving etc. we know we still love each other and such a trust is in our marriage because we know that.

Have you ever thought about your love being a gift that you can give?

Have you thought about God's Gift of Love to you?

Why We Worship 3

I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship".

I am not presuming that there is one overall right answer.

Perhaps because we are all uniquely different people we may also believe we have uniquely different reasons for worshipping God.

I believe we will have some uniquely different ways of worshipping but there are many reasons why we worship that must be common to us all.

In this series I'm really focusing on the attributes of God at the moment with

       
          God is GREAT

               
                    God is WORTHY 

                             

                                   

and for today I'm taking the bible verse   1 John 4 v 8

How do we know that He is Love?


The Bible tells us He is Love as in the verse above.


Our pastors and leaders in church explain to us that He is Love


But most of all our personal relationship with Him cries out to us that He is Love.

We would not even be able to have this relationship with Him if He was not Love.

We would not have been given the only way of Salvation through Jesus if He was not Love. 

We would never be able to get beyond our sinful nature if He was not Love.

I am thankful that God is Love and I have experienced His great Love for me.

Without a doubt God is Love!

Do you have this relationship where you can say without a doubt that 

God is Love?

Thankfulness, Goodness, Love - A Dose of Encouragement

HAPPY  BIRTHDAY  to our daughter  LINDA

This is the first time you have been away from us for your birthday in all these 26 years.

The first time the boys have not had to complain that you get a day completely devoted to you and they never do because they are at school or work on their birthday.


Not that they ever minded because it was always a complete family affair.


The go-karting

       The ice-skating

              The bowling

                     The cinema   .........

                             and of course always dinner in the place of your choice.


First time apart might as well be on the other side of the world

        - oh yes South Korea does sort of fit the bill.

In church last night Pastor spoke on Psalm 107 v 1  and I think it is very appropriate for you.

Of course it's also appropriate for all of us.

Let's take some time today to focus on this thought from the verse.

         

We should be THANKFUL 

                             Why?  

    Because  God's Love endures forever so He can NEVER STOP being GOOD!

Isn't it great that no matter where we are we can know that God will never stop being good because He will never stop loving us?