{"id":16350,"date":"2013-12-19T05:50:16","date_gmt":"2013-12-19T11:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=16350"},"modified":"2013-12-19T05:48:39","modified_gmt":"2013-12-19T11:48:39","slug":"give-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/12\/19\/give-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Give Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Each week during the season of Advent, our blogs will focus on a central theme which is associated with the coming of Christ\u2014His Advent. \u00a0This week\u2019s theme is\u00a0LOVE<\/em><\/span>.\u00a0 Christians throughout the world celebrate Advent. \u00a0Some light candles or sing songs; some give gifts or \u00a0hang\u00a0wreaths. \u00a0All of these are simple joyous\u00a0ways of extending the celebration\u00a0of Jesus\u2019s coming beyond a mere 24 hours on\u00a0December 25.\u00a0Our prayer is that these devotionals\u00a0throughout\u00a0this season of Advent would help you to celebrate His first Coming and anticipate with\u00a0the peace\u00a0and joy of His second Coming.<\/h3>\n

* * * * * * *<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Christmas is all<\/del> so much about giving. Even the stingiest folks that we know…the ones with the \u2018bah! humbug!\u2019 attitude…understand the giving of the season.\u00a0 Little children understand about giving; big kids, too.\u00a0 So much of our conversation at this time of the year centers around the subject of giving.<\/p>\n

Now…back to my first sentence.\u00a0 What I first wrote is true. \u2018Christmas IS all<\/span> <\/strong>about giving.\u2019\u00a0 THAT is the absolute, total, complete, whole TRUTH!<\/p>\n

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
\nthat whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
\nJohn 3:16<\/p>\n

But, wait…let\u2019s look at those words again.\u00a0 God \u2018so loved the world…\u2019 His love was the motivation.\u00a0 And what He gave (His only begotten Son, Jesus), well that\u2019s love, too.\u00a0 Almighty God has set the standard for giving\u2014LOVE.\u00a0 Giving should be all about love.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Just like God, love should be the motivation for our giving.<\/li>\n
  • Just like God, love should be what we give.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    And we, as His children, have been enabled and equipped to be ABLE to love.<\/p>\n

    …for God\u2019s love has been poured out in our hearts
    \nthrough the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.
    \nRomans 5:5<\/p>\n

    So, in the midst of the sewing, and the wrapping, and the baking, and the shopping, and all the other activities, here\u2019s a challenge I would like to set before each of us: let\u2019s purpose to give love!\u00a0<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>I can only begin to imagine the myriad of opportunities that we will have to give love if we look to do so!\u00a0 Start small, perhaps…give love by smiling at those you meet.\u00a0 Whether wandering through the aisles or in line at the grocery store…look into the eyes of those you pass and smile.\u00a0 (Oh!\u00a0 And pray for them!)\u00a0\u00a0 Or go a little bigger…there are so very many needs in this world!\u00a0 Go to a battered women\u2019s shelter and sit and talk.\u00a0 Visit an assisted living community and sing Christmas carols.\u00a0 If we ask God to lead us and give us opportunity to show His love…I KNOW He will!<\/p>\n

    \n

    Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
    \n1 John 4:7-11<\/p>\n

    * * * * *<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Oh Dear Father, You have shown such a perfect standard for giving.\u00a0 And we thank You for that! And You have enabled us to show Your love by pouring Your love into our hearts.\u00a0 Help us, Father, to reach out with that love.\u00a0 Help us to go beyond our comfort level, and be love to those who need love.\u00a0 May You be pleased by our obedience and our actions.\u00a0 And may the love we show draw others to You.\u00a0 Thank You for Your love, gracious Father!\u00a0 We love You so!\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 precious name, we pray.\u00a0 Amen.\u00a0 <3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Each week during the season of Advent, our blogs will focus on a central theme which is associated with the coming of Christ\u2014His Advent. \u00a0This week\u2019s theme is\u00a0LOVE.\u00a0 Christians throughout the world celebrate Advent. \u00a0Some light candles or sing songs; some give gifts or \u00a0hang\u00a0wreaths. \u00a0All of these are simple joyous\u00a0ways of extending the celebration\u00a0of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":13840,"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":[3020],"tags":[4845,235,3173,1287,1597,429,4846,566,620,4582,3174],"class_list":["post-16350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-1-john-47-11","tag-coleen-hayden","tag-daily-devotional","tag-gch","tag-girlfrends-coffee-hour","tag-giving","tag-gods-love-poured-into-our-hearts","tag-john-316","tag-love","tag-romans-55","tag-seeking-him-devotional","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-4fI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16350","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\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16350"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29026,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16350\/revisions\/29026"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}