{"id":15659,"date":"2013-11-12T00:01:57","date_gmt":"2013-11-12T06:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=15659"},"modified":"2013-11-11T15:57:31","modified_gmt":"2013-11-11T21:57:31","slug":"16-day-love-challenge-chapter-7-love-self-seeking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/11\/12\/16-day-love-challenge-chapter-7-love-self-seeking\/","title":{"rendered":"16 Day Love Challenge: Chapter 7 &#8211; Love Is Not Self-Seeking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hello, sisters!\u00a0 Today, we are challenged with \u201cLove is not self-seeking (selfish).\u201d\u00a0 That goes against the grain of this world, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 We are inundated with messages about looking out for yourself, improving yourself, taking care of yourself, making yourself look better.\u00a0 Any bookstore or library will have a HUGE <em>self-help<\/em> or <em>self-improvement<\/em> section. We are constantly told, \u201cYou better watch out for #1!\u201d or \u00a0\u201cIf you don\u2019t take care of yourself, no one will!\u201d\u00a0 The message is almost everywhere, and unfortunately, sisters, we\u2019ve bought into it<b>.\u00a0 MINE<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>We learned that word as young children, didn\u2019t we? My toys&#8230;my snacks&#8230;my food??\u00a0 <b>ME<\/b> do it! As adults it looks a little bit more like <i>my<\/i> agenda, <i>my<\/i> life goals, <i>my<\/i> job, <i>my<\/i> money, <i>my<\/i> time, <i>and my<\/i> talents.\u00a0 We often pride ourselves on our ability to work hard or on our achievements.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got it twisted, ladies, and God is calling us to change that way of thinking.\u00a0 Not <i>our<\/i> agenda<i>, our<\/i> life goals, <i>our<\/i> job, <i>our<\/i> money, <i>our<\/i> time, <i>our<\/i> talents, but <b>HIS<\/b>. And here\u2019s the kicker:\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><i>they belong to Him anyway<\/i><\/span>.\u00a0 Ladies, let\u2019s take a hard look \u00a0and examine ourselves. Are we being selfish\u2026with <b>God<\/b>?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are you looking to fulfill God\u2019s interests first\u00a0or your own?<\/li>\n<li>Are you protective of <em>your<\/em> money? Or do you see it as belonging to God (ALL of it; not just what you contribute\/tithe)?<\/li>\n<li>Who has set the goals in your life?\u00a0 You or God? Do you know what God wants you to do with your life?\u00a0 Have you even asked Him?<\/li>\n<li>Does God get your \u201cprime\u201d time, or your <em>leftover<\/em> time?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">WHY are we so reluctant to give God EVERYTHING we are and EVERYTHING we have? \u00a0Why do we selfishly cling to what is <em>ours<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p>Can I tell you a lesson I learned about God from interacting with my dog?\u00a0 (Seriously.\u00a0 God speaks to us in many ways.\u00a0 I\u2019ve even had a kingdom revelation while playing Candy Crush, but I digress\u2026.) I have a rescue dog, Dyson.\u00a0 He is my \u201cspecial needs\u201d dog. Very shy, fearful, and mistrusting, even as a pup. \u00a0When Dyson is done eating, he will often pick up his food bowl and carry it around with him, crouching around it.\u00a0 When I come to pick up his bowl to give him more to eat, he\u2019ll often clamp down on it with his mouth and growl at me. I then have to do what I can to coax it away from him.\u00a0 One day I was already frazzled, and Dyson and I start the \u201cfood bowl dance,\u201d but Dyson was extra protective \u2013 he even snapped at me! My heart was broken; after all, I am his caregiver!\u00a0 I broke down in tears and started telling Dyson: \u201cDon\u2019t you see that mommy would never hurt you?\u00a0 Mommy will ALWAYS feed you!\u00a0 Mommy will ALWAYS give you more to eat! Mommy LOVES Dyson! Mommy will ALWAYS take care of Dyson!\u201d\u00a0 As tears were streaming down my face, God gently touched me and said, \u201cDon\u2019t you see that I will never hurt you? I will ALWAYS feed you. I will ALWAYS give you more. I LOVE YOU!! \u00a0I will ALWAYS take care of you.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 The weight of what He said really sunk in. \u00a0Why do I hold back from God when He only wants what is best for me?\u00a0 He wants to give me MORE.<\/p>\n<p>Sisters, we live our lives like Dyson.\u00a0 We protect what is \u201cours\u201d because we don\u2019t see the storehouse of blessings God has for us when our bowl is empty!\u00a0 We mistrust God\u2019s provision for us because we can\u2019t physically see what is around the corner.\u00a0 Dyson is always literally steps away from his reserve of food AND treats! We look to our own interests because we don\u2019t believe God cares about them.\u00a0 We are selfish with others because we don\u2019t understand how freely and abundantly God gives to us. When we understand that everything belongs to God, then we realize He can replace whatever we give away! \u00a0The day I learned that I could trust God to supply for me even more than I could possibly supply for my dog was the day I became free of the bondage of selfishness.\u00a0 God LOVES you!\u00a0 He will ALWAYS take care of you!\u00a0 He wants what is best for you!\u00a0 <em><strong>You <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">can<\/span> trust God!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Will you be free from the bondage of selfishness today?\u00a0 Give God your \u201cbowl\u201d today \u2013 he wants to fill it to overflowing!!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">* * * * *<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Let\u2019s pray<\/span><\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p>Holy God, I thank You that You are my kind and loving Father.\u00a0 I thank You that You take care of my every need and promise to always take care of me in Your Word! \u00a0Forgive me, Lord, when I am selfish and look to my own needs instead of Your needs. \u00a0Help me to realize that when I seek You first, then You will supply all my needs through Your Son, Jesus.\u00a0 God, I love You and I want to give to others as You have freely given to me.\u00a0 Help me to live a selfless life!\u00a0\u00a0 In Your Son\u2019s name we pray. \u00a0Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hello, sisters!\u00a0 Today, we are challenged with \u201cLove is not self-seeking (selfish).\u201d\u00a0 That goes against the grain of this world, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 We are inundated with messages about looking out for yourself, improving yourself, taking care of yourself, making yourself look better.\u00a0 Any bookstore or library will have a HUGE self-help or self-improvement section. We [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":15692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[4346,4427,4260,4347,4431,1287,425,436,554,620,4430,724,4424,3474,4428,4429,4425,4426,1141],"class_list":["post-15659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-womens","tag-16-day-love-challenge","tag-ambition","tag-blessing","tag-cherie-zack","tag-dog","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-god","tag-jesus","tag-love","tag-mine","tag-online-bible-study","tag-rebecca-lecompte","tag-robin-caddell","tag-self-help","tag-self-improvement","tag-self-seeking","tag-selfish","tag-womens-online-bible-study","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/16daylovechallengenotselfish.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-44z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15659"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15690,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15659\/revisions\/15690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}