Loving Those Who Resist

My week is always a comparison between God's faithfulness and how I reciprocate His love for me with my faithful obedience. How much of my heart I give over to Him, and how much do I compartmentalize and reserve for myself?

Happiness or Joy?

I do not know any person who is happy all the time. There are moments of depression that I will fall into, but the good thing is that I will not be in it for too long. I am not allowed it seems, to be sorrowful for long before my great Comforter will soon restore to me the comfort that was promised me.


Who may comfort my troubled spirit?

God will comfort me; this is His Character. My Father loves me and He is also the God of all Comfort. He made me, and He knows what beverage I need for my thirst.

It is also wise to note that I have observed that Happiness is a feeling, whereas Joy is a state. 

And we know how short-lived feelings are. 

Grace

Building relationships takes a lot of grace. Do I have so much?

Yet I am charged to love and to be gracious, because I have known His Grace and His love. We are in the business of imitating, becoming more like Christ Jesus, so we give grace to others and love them.

Who truly understands grace? Only the greatest sinner who has received full pardon. Paul the Apostle considered himself in this category.

Who validates me? Not men, but my God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

1 Timothy 1:15-16

New International Version (NIV)

 ¹⁵ Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. ¹⁶ But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

One who is aghast at the horror of his vile sins will then understand the full measure of the pardon and appreciate the grace and hope held out for him. If I may be forgiven for these great sins, I may be confident that the One who forgave me loves me beyond my state, and my present condition.

Luke 7:46-48

New International Version (NIV)

⁴⁶ You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. ⁴⁷ Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
 ⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

I think that the casual and unappreciative way Christians speak about grace shows a great lack of knowing what it is.

Grace is neither abetment nor endorsement. Grace frees and Grace empowers one for Holy living. If we truly know Grace and see the heart behind it, we will want to remain in this love and goodness and never depart into unacceptable ways again. Grace results in the ability to forgive.


I think we are vengeful creatures who long to visit others who have harmed us with malice also. But in Christ, we are a new creation, and have His Spirit to help us.

Resolution,
I am to imitate Christ, to forgive and to love those who have not loved Him and have not loved me also.  And so I will-I must, and He will pour out the strength and the love to cultivate this foreign nature that was never mine or a part of me in the first place. This love has always been from Him. 

Journaling

I do not talk about my feelings. I have only talked about my thoughts.
While I cannot remember who said this, I think it is very true-"If I should die before I wake, throw my journal in the lake."

I still want to be honest in my journal, at least for a while more, and gaining access to my writings is gaining understanding of how my mind works, how my heart feels, the contents of my soul and how my spirit is. Sharing this with another is deeply intimate, and it must be done with wisdom.

Prayer


I actually heard the most encouraging thing last evening from my non-believing buddy.
He said he knew if I were angry, I would pray one, adding a "I know him very well".
I wonder if he sees that prayer is not just self-talk, but transformative.
It is also a reminder of how dependent I am, and I must be, on prayer.



Two threads of thought came to me last night before I fell asleep:


"Of one thing I may be confident of and in, even if all else falls apart, that He has loved me with an everlasting love, and His everlasting love moves Him to care for me in every way. Who may know how dearly beloved we are to Him."


And because I know the above, I could say:


"There is nothing left to say other than 'Amen' and to go sleep."






I am not a holy man, who is so close to God that I now have an elevated standing. Rather, I am one who is conscious of Him and His standards and of how I fall short all the time. But I also am conscious of His love and His goodness and the hope held out for me. Therefore, I may live with confidence that He will be with me. 


It had been said, in the last part of Isaiah 49:23, that those who hope in the Lord will not be disappointed. Our hope is based on the Character of our God who is unchanging, whose love for us endures forever. 

Abiding in Him

Prayer takes time, yes. But time spent praying is never in vain, for He hears and He desires us all to go near to Him. However, we ourselves must choose it.

How We Know Our Thirst?


We need to go to Christ daily for our drink of living water, for although we may be filled with His Spirit, like D. L. Moody had said, we leak.

How do we know we are in need of this? I learnt that how we feel about His Word is a good indicator of the temperature of our hearts, be it hot or cold.

Do we desire with eagerness to discover and rediscover the blessings and truths in His Word or we are
content to go on without engaging it daily?

*

There was a need to realign myself even more fully with Him, for I tend to go the other way. So many way I fight His sovereignty and dispute with Him on what is best for me. He works in love; I deal with sinful appetites.

We may trust Him, for His character is unchanging. He is good, His love endures forever, He is holy, and He is true to His Word. Our hope and trust belongs with Him.

In rare blessed moments of sobriety, I feel even more strongly that we are only children and we do not know what is good for us.

But I am sure God prospers His people who are faithful and obedient in more ways than they know it.
We must be sure to be those who are faithful and obedient.

Where We Stand?

Only in Christ do we have firm footing. All else is shifting sand and loose ground.

To remain in Christ, in His love, we must love and obey Him. The Kingdom has no place for idle sluggards who recline and do nothing to magnify Christ in their daily living.

The King and God over all the heavens and earth will not be content with being quartered in a portion of the heart or mind.

Change Is For Sure

The Gospel of Christ, the Spirit has transforming power. It has a tendency of changing lives wherever it touches. Those changed by the Spirit become less worldly, less enamored with the appeal of the things of the earth and now have more capacity for the things of God.

They have more appetite for His Word, for prayer and for godliness.

We know if Christ is to come in and dwell in the temple that is our body, He will most surely rearrange the temple and drive out all the things that do not belong. Luke 19: 45-46, Matthew 21:12-13.

That is the pattern of how He works. He works to clean us and to perfect us, because we are now dearly His.

If you say you have known His Spirit, but you remain the same, and have not been transformed, your position is dangerous. The Spirit is a Spirit of Power; He will not be idle and He will not rest for His work is to glorify God in your person and in your life. This change must, and this change will take place!

Will God not come to the rescue of those who recognize they are in danger and in need of Him?

Cry out to Him in prayer. Immerse yourself in the Scriptures and seek Him in prayer. Ask of Him and ask in the Name of Christ. God has graced us with a way through to Him, in Christ Jesus.

John 14:6

 ⁶Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

It is not that I have taken hold of the full truth, but I have been graced with knowledge that was not always mine. I am definitely proud that I may know these things, but if we look at Him who is the author and perfecter of our faith, we may lose such an inaccurately high view of ourselves.

I do not see beyond the months of December and January, but my God does.