December 25, 2024

A Heart Like You

February 21, 2015 by

SeekingHimLogo
This is how we know what love is:
Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
If anyone has material possessions
and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them,
how can the love of God be in that person?
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech
but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:16-18

 

Singer/Songwriters: Love & The Outcome (Chris&Jodi King Rademaker)

Burn bright in my life
Burn away the things I hold tight
Give me eyes to see
Your kingdom the way You want it to be
What can be worth more than You?
What do I have I wouldn’t lose
If it means You and I look more alike?
That’s what I choose

I’d give up the world to find my soul
Pour out my life, give You control
I just want to be what You want me to be
I just want a heart that’s true
A heart like You (a heart like You)
I just want a heart like You (a heart like You)

As Your ways take shape
All my guilt and shame start to fade
And Your love takes their place
I become a well of Your grace, Your grace

I don’t mind the price it costs
I will count all I have as loss
When this fades away, what’s true remains
What can be worth more than You?
What do I have I wouldn’t lose?

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God’s Love IS Possible

February 18, 2015 by

SeekingHimLogo

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.
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?
Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.
1 John 3:16-18

Love is more than just a warm feeling.  Love does.  Loves does many things!  As I’ve said before, “Love says ‘yes!’ even when faced with impossibilities.”  David and Jonathan had a love for each other. Jonathan was David’s friend.  He had sworn his allegiance to David and loyally honored it, because love is faithful.

Saul now urged his servants and his son Jonathan to assassinate David.
But Jonathan, because of his strong affection for David,
told him what his father was planning.
“Tomorrow morning,” he warned him, “you must find a hiding place out in the fields.”
1 Samuel 19:1-2

The king of Israel—his father, Saul—commanded Jonathan to kill David.  At one point Saul reminds Jonathan that as long as David is alive Jonathan will never be made king.  Jonathan put his own fame and claim to the throne, as well as royalty and prosperous family life on the line to honor God and his friend.  Jonathan by birthright had right to the throne, not David the shepherd.  But his love reflected in his actions and, thus, Jonathan helped David on many occasions.

Everything he had he was willing to give up for his friend.  Love does that. Jonathan sided with what was right, because love can conquer all evil. This one human relationship shows that not only Jesus can love in the same way that God loves. We can. God’s love is possible!

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Lord, help us to love the way You do.  Not just in our minds, not just in our dreams, not just in our hearts, but in our actions.  Help love to conquer any fear or obstacles that would hinder us from loving the way You love.  And show us those people whom You would put in our path for us to love specifically because of their need for Your love. Amen.

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Love With Actions

February 16, 2015 by

SeekingHimLogo

This is how we know what love is:
Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
If anyone has material possessions
and sees a brother or sister in need
but has no pity on them,
how can the love of God be in that person?
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech
but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:16-18 NIV

For the last few years our military men and women have been in other countries fighting for freedom.  Some have paid the greatest price—they have been killed in the line of duty.  Some of those who have served in the police departments and fire departments have also given their lives in doing their jobs.

Now we are hearing of people in the Church being martyred in other countries because of the persecutions occurring there.  This is what the verse is speaking of—“lay down our lives…”.  I pray that we would be brave and strong. And that we would stand up when we need to for our religious freedom.  That we would encourage our children to speak up when our God is being put down and not be embarrassed to speak about His glory.

When we see a brother or sister in Christ having trouble we should not hesitate to help them.  God will surely honor us in this act of kindness.   We will be changed when we do this.  We will understand the struggle of our fellow Christian as they share the struggle they have been through and we can usually offer sound advice. But we will be surprised at being blessed by the other person who shows how their faith has grown as they have gone through the struggle and hurt they have experienced.

“A new command I give you: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are My disciples,
if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35 

As Jesus told us, we are to love one another and in doing so we show that we are His.  It is not about a competition to see who can do more, do better; it is about what is in our heart that makes a difference.  God is looking for those whom He has called to step up and bring the good news to everyone.

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Father, help us to reach out to those who are hurting and lost. Remind us to pray before we act to know what You want us to do to further Your Kingdom.  Reveal Your Word to us so we can know we are hearing from You, not ourselves.  We want to do what is right.  In Jesus’ name, amen!

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Love Gives

February 15, 2015 by

SeekingHimLogo

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need
but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech
but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:16-18 NIV

What made God give us Christ Jesus?—It is Love
What made Christ give us the Holy Spirit?—It is Love
What makes Holy Spirit give us gifts?—It is Love

For God gave us Jesus Christ (John 3:16) and Christ (as He was ascending into Heaven) said that He must go but gave the Holy Spirit who would be with us always (John 14), and the Holy Spirit is the one who gives us gifts (1 Corinthians 12).

So in our focus Scripture this week, we are commanded to act in love the same way we were loved and given the free gift of Christ as well as gifts of the spirit. Brethren, we are in this physical world and so our love can also be expressed by sincerely helping persons in need.

  • We can do this by sharing our earthly possessions with them (James 2:14-17)
  • If we refuse to give of our food, clothing, or money to help others in real need it is to close our hearts to them (Deuteronomy 15:7-11)
  • This also includes giving our money to help bring the gospel to those who have not heard (through evangelism) (James 4:9-10)

May the good Lord help us as we decide to express love
by giving with all our hearts without murmuring.

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Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You and we bless You because You are God. We honor You because You are the I AM who I AM, the omnipresent God. Blessed be Your Holy name in all the earth. Immortal God, invisible God, You are so great. Thank You for Your love for us. The free gifts to us are so precious that we glorify Your name because of such wonderful gifts. Teach us to love one another as You loved us, as Christ loved us, and as Holy Spirit loves us. Thank You for hearing our prayer and granting us the desire of our heart. It is in Jesus’ name that we have prayed. AMEN!!

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Acts Of Love

May 4, 2014 by

psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv

Sitting at the stoplight
He can’t be bothered by the heart-cry
Written on the cardboard in her hand
But when she looks him in the eye
His heart is broken open wide
And he feels the hand of God reach out through him
As Heaven touches earth

Oh – we bring the Kingdom come
Oh – with every act of love
Jesus, help us carry You
Alive in us, Your light shines through
With every act of love
We bring the Kingdom come

There’s silence at the table
He wants to talk but he’s not able
For all the shame that’s locked him deep inside
But her words are the medicine
When she says they can begin again
And forgiveness will set him free tonight
As Heaven touches earth

God put a million, million doors in the world
For His love to walk through
One of those doors is you
I said, God put a million, million doors in the world
For His love to walk through
One of those doors is you

~  Sing this song with me as our prayer and worship today.  ~

Written by Singer/Songwriter Jason Gray along with Jason Ingram

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Over on our Seeking Him devotional blog, we are just finishing up nine weeks of studying the Beatitudes.  Y’know, the portion of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus taught the blessing of having certain ‘heart attitudes’ i.e., being meek, having humility, mourning, etc.  This past week, our focus was on Matthew 5:10.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

It almost seems that, in this beautiful song, Jason Gray could be offering up a suggestion for an addition to the Beatitudes.  “Blessed are those who do acts of love…for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.”  Living our lives with a heart to carry out acts of love definitely puts us in the category of those who are ‘blessed!’

Let all that you do be done in love.
1 Corinthians 16:14

This verse follows along after the great ‘LOVE’ chapter in 1st Corinthians.  No words minced here:  ‘Let a-l-l. that you do….’  Not some things, not a random act, not one good deed per day—but all that you do.  Whew!  Really?!?  When Paul penned this (inspired by the Holy Spirit…2 Peter 1:21), he wrote all and all was the directive.  And we CAN do this!  Here’s how….

And whatever you do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus and in [dependence upon] His Person, giving praise to God the Father through Him.
Colossians 3:17 AMP

(Thank You, Lord!)  It is not in our own strength but in dependance on Christ Who dwells in us.  Just as our Lord truly did all in love, so can we!  We have the mind of Christ, remember?

But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts of His heart.
1 Corinthians 2:16

And so, we determine and choose to live as Jesus did. As Laura reminded us the other day, “WWJD—What Would Jesus Do?”  We are His hands and feet in this world.  No longer does the Savior walk this earth reaching out to and ministering to all those around Him.  Just as Jesus was the physical, living proof of His Father…we can, too!  Remember, Jesus encouraged His disciples that they would be known as His by their love (John 13:35)!  Us, too!!!

No one has ever seen God;
but if we love one another,
God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.
1 John 4:12

And so we should be living our lives with acts of love as the standard, the norm, the given…truly, our hearts’ desire. We have been enabled…we can do this!

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,
compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other;
as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Colossians 3:12-14 ESV

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue
but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:16-18

An act of love can look like oh-so-many different things…

  • to a relative living cross-country, it could be a photo montage of your kiddos latest antics…
  • to the elderly widower who around the corner, it could an invitation to have supper with your family…
  • to the crossing guard who is there every morning and every afternoon to guide the kids across the busy city street, it could be a cup of hot coffee…
  • to another mom sitting watching tee-ball practice, it could be a listening ear…
  • to your super-tired hubby who has worked extra late for the third-night-in-a-row, it could be some freshly baked cookies and a shoulder rub…
  • to the friend anticipating another round of chemo, it could be the promise of going and sitting with them during that time….

You get the picture. It is not in the bigness nor the smallness of the act…it is being Jesus’ hands and feet.  It is loving with His love!

“God put a million doors in the world
For His love to walk through
One of those doors is you”

Jesus our Messiah was THE Door (John 10)…the Way, the only Way, to the Father.

May we, as He was, be a door for others to walk through to reach God’s love.

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Everything

May 2, 2014 by

psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv

Find me here
And speak to me
I want to feel You
I need to hear You
You are the Light
That’s leading me
To the place
Where I find peace again

You are the Strength
That keeps me walking
You are the Hope
That keeps me trusting
You are the Light
To my soul
You are my Purpose
You’re everything

And how can I stand here with You,
And not be moved by You
Would You tell me
How could it be
Any better than this

You calm the storms
And You give me rest
You hold me in Your hands
You won’t lemme fold

You steal my heart
And You take my breath away
Would You take me in
Take me deeper now

You’re all I want,
You’re all I need,
You’re everything, everything

~  Sing this song with me as our prayer and worship today.  ~

Singer/Songwriter: Jason Wade / Performed by Lifehouse

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This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need
but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue
but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:16-18

Jesus is everything to those who believe in Him.  When we are lost, we are wanting to feel something.  We are wanting to see and hear something that makes us feel whole.  We need to see the light.  We need purpose, and Jesus brings that to us when we accept Him as our Lord and Savior.

When we accept Jesus, we find peace and love.  We find Someone that will listen to us and love us when we hit rock bottom.  Jesus leads us from the dark to the light.  We can speak to Him about any thing and every thing.  He brings us the strength that we need to get through everyday life and gives us the joy of knowing that we will one day be in eternity with Him.

As you watch this video, you can see that some of the most troublesome pressures about life can be dealt with by just letting Jesus be your everything. Drugs, depression, peer pressure, etc. can be handled by God if we just let Him have everything that is on our plate and allow Him to guide all of our life.

Jesus is all that Christians should want.  We should not want to be part of this world but part of the world that Jesus and God are building for us in Heaven. They are everything that we need because they provide us with what we need on a daily basis.  They do not forsake us. The miracle of Jesus moves those who believe to enter into a relationship with Him.  Believers give up their worldly lives and material possessions to worship Jesus.  We as believers should remember the acronym from a while ago (for some reason, you hardly see it anymore) — “WWJD” standing for “What Would Jesus Do”?  If Jesus is our everything, we should live our lives like Jesus would want us to on a daily basis.  We should always ask ourselves, “WWJD?”

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Dear Heavenly Father, You are our everything!  You provide for us and take care of us even when we think that we don’t need it.  You bring us peace, light, love, and purpose.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Let My Life Be the Proof…of His Love

May 11, 2013 by

Let my life be the proof … the proof of Your LOVE
Let my LOVE look like You and what You’re made of
How You lived, how You died—LOVE is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof … the proof of Your LOVE

Do these words echo in your heart as they do my own?  So, may I ask you then, what does ‘…let my life be the proof of Your LOVE…’ look like?  (I would love to know your answer!  Please leave a note in the comment section below.)

Here is one answer that I am sure of:

By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us,
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
1 John 3:16 and 18

If my life truly is the proof of His LOVE, then there is sacrifice as well as action, not simply words.

In the Gospel of John, there is also this record of Jesus teaching His disciples about LOVE, and giving them command to follow.

“When you bear much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine. I have loved you, [just] as the Father has loved Me; abide in My love.  If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My LOVE and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commandments and live on in His LOVE.  I have told you these things, that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing.  This is My commandment: that you LOVE one another [just] as I have LOVED you.  No one has greater LOVE than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends.  You are My friends if you keep on doing the things which I command you to do.  I do not call you servants any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing.  But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father….This is what I command you: that you LOVE one another.”  (chapter 13:8-15, 17)

Jesus gave those who walked Him and lived with Him and saw with their very own eyes how He perfectly LOVED many, many examples of how to LOVE.  They were with Him when:

  • He healed (Mark 3:10)
  • He brought back the dead to life (Luke 7:12-15)
  • He cast evil spirits out (Matthew 8:16)
  • He miraculously fed thousands (Mark 6:31-44)
  • He saved a sinful woman from being stoned to death (John 8:3-11)
  • He touched lepers (Mark 1:40-45)
  • He actually washed their own feet (John 13:5-13)
  •  A few of them were even there when, dying on the Cross, He asked His Father to forgive those crucifying Him (Luke 23:34).

They were eyewitnesses and recipients of His compassion and His care and His LOVE.

Jesus not only taught them by His example but He clearly and purposefully gave them instructions for when He was gone.

This is how everyone will know that you are My disciples,
if you have LOVE for one another.
John 13:35

Simply put, LOVE—in order to be LOVE—must be shown through our actions, not just through our words and how we feel.  Our LOVING actions ARE the proof.  When we choose to obey God and to LOVE others in the way that He has told us…it is LOVE just like Jesus’ love.  Here’s the best list of actions that ARE the proof that I know….

Love is patient,
Love is kind and is not jealous;
Love does not brag and is not arrogant,
does not act unbecomingly;
It does not seek its own, is not provoked,
does not take into account a wrong suffered,
does not rejoice in unrighteousness,
but rejoices with the truth;
bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails;
1 Corinthians 13:4-8

And lastly—but of vital importance—is to always remember who we are AND Whose we are!  Jesus pointedly stated,

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him,
he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
John 15:5

Nothing.  (ummm, that IS what Jesus said.)  Nothing of importance, nothing of value, nothing of eternal weight.  But, as we abide in Him, and follow His direction and example, we can be instruments in the Master’s hand.  We can be part of His purpose and plan.  Our lives CAN be the proof of His LOVE!

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Will you pray with me, please?

Dear Lord, how incredibly thankful we are that You did not just demand that we LOVE…You prepared our hearts. You gave us examples (oh, so many!). You promised to help us. You gave us much instruction. You gave us the Holy Spirit to be our Helper!  We so desire to LOVE as You LOVED, Lord!  We so yearn to be Your hands and feet!  We so want to help to draw others to You, as we have been drawn!  Please help us to be humble, recognizing our immense need for Your help!  By God’s grace and mercy, may we bring glory to our Father as we live lives that ARE the proof of Your LOVE!  Thank You, Lord…we pray and ask these things in Your name, amen!

Let all that you do be done in LOVE.

1 Corinthians 16:14

Praying for each of you!

♥  coleen

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