{"id":29027,"date":"2015-12-16T00:15:30","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T05:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=29027"},"modified":"2015-12-15T21:57:10","modified_gmt":"2015-12-16T02:57:10","slug":"gift-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2015\/12\/16\/gift-of-love\/","title":{"rendered":"With Every Act Of Love"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/phssChristmasgraphic2014.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23090\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/phssChristmasgraphic2014.jpg\" alt=\"phssChristmasgraphic2014\" width=\"560\" height=\"280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/phssChristmasgraphic2014.jpg 560w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/phssChristmasgraphic2014-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">Sitting at the stoplight<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> He can&#8217;t be bothered by the heart cry<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> Written on the cardboard in her hand<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> But when she looks him in the eye<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> His heart is broken open wide<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> And he feels the hand of God reach out through him<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> As Heaven touches earth<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"><em>Oh &#8211; we bring the Kingdom come<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> <em>Oh &#8211; with every act of love<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> <em>Jesus help us carry You<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> <em>Alive in us, Your light shines through<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> <em>With every act of love<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> <em>We bring the Kingdom come<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">There&#8217;s silence at the table<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> He wants to talk but he&#8217;s not able<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> For all the shame that&#8217;s locked him deep inside<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> But her words are the medicine<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> When she says they can begin again<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> And forgiveness will set him free tonight<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> As Heaven touches earth<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">God put a million, million doors in the world<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> For His love to walk through<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> One of those doors is you<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> I said, God put a million, million doors in the world<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> For His love to walk through<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"> One of those doors is you<\/span><\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Vo1cDBbnBlU?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<em>Jason Gray<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">* \u00a0\u00a0\u2665 \u00a0~ \u00a0\u271d \u00a0~ \u00a0\u2605 \u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Christmas is <del>all<\/del> so much about giving. \u00a0Even the stingiest folks that we know\u2026you know, the ones with the \u2018bah! humbug!\u2019 attitude\u2026understand 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<p>Now\u2026back to my first sentence.\u00a0 What I first wrote is true. \u2018Christmas <strong>IS all <\/strong>about giving.\u2019\u00a0 THAT is the absolute, total, complete, whole TRUTH!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For God so loved the world, that He<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"><strong> gave<\/strong> <\/span>His only begotten Son,<br \/>\nthat whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.<br \/>\nJohn 3:16<\/p>\n<p>But, wait\u2026let\u2019s look at those words again.\u00a0 God \u2018so loved the world\u2026\u2019 His love was the motivation.\u00a0 And what He <span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"><em>gave<\/em><\/span> (His only begotten Son, Jesus), well that\u2019s love, too.\u00a0 Almighty God has set the standard for <span style=\"color: #a11e24;\"><em>giving\u2014<strong>LOVE<\/strong><\/em><\/span>.\u00a0 Giving should be all about love.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Just like God, love should be the motivation for our giving<\/li>\n<li>Just like God, love should be what we give<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And we, as His children, have been enabled and equipped to be ABLE to love.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2026for God\u2019s love has been poured out in our hearts<br \/>\nthrough the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.<br \/>\nRomans 5:5<\/p>\n<p>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: <strong><em>let\u2019s purpose to <span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">give<\/span>\u00a0LOVE!\u00a0<\/em> <\/strong>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\u2026give love by smiling at those you meet.\u00a0 Whether wandering through the aisles or in line at the grocery store\u2026look into the eyes of those you pass and smile.\u00a0 (Oh!\u00a0 And pray for them!)\u00a0\u00a0 Or go a little bigger\u2026there 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\u2026I KNOW He will!<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.<br \/>\nEveryone who loves has been born of God and knows God.<br \/>\nWhoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.<br \/>\nThis is how God showed His love among us:<br \/>\nHe sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.<br \/>\nThis is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us<br \/>\nand sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.<br \/>\nDear friends, since God so loved us,<br \/>\nwe also ought to love one another.<br \/>\n1 John 4:7-11<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">* \u00a0\u00a0\u2665 \u00a0~ \u00a0\u271d \u00a0~ \u00a0\u2605 \u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Oh dear Father, You have shown such a perfect standard for giving.\u00a0 And we thank You for that! \u00a0And You have enabled us to show Your love by pouring Your love into our hearts.\u00a0 Help us, Father, especially during this Christmas season, 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sitting at the stoplight He can&#8217;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 &#8211; we bring the Kingdom come [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":23090,"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":[4937],"tags":[4845,235,1287,1597,429,4846,2831,566,620,4582,7901],"class_list":["post-29027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psalms-hymns-and-spiritual-songs","tag-1-john-47-11","tag-coleen-hayden","tag-gch","tag-girlfrends-coffee-hour","tag-giving","tag-gods-love-poured-into-our-hearts","tag-jason-gray","tag-john-316","tag-love","tag-romans-55","tag-with-every-act-of-love","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/phssChristmasgraphic2014.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-7yb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29027","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=29027"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29116,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29027\/revisions\/29116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}