Tag Archives: God

Loving the Unlovable

Loving the Unlovable

Posted on by

How to love the unlovable – Matthew 5:38-48 (photo, Timmy Gibson)

What is love, and how do we truly exhibit love?

I think we all go on these love craves during which we desire to show God's love as much as we can. We have an encounter with love and want to pour out love every second we get and then we then don't pour out His love as well as we should.

I believe God's love becomes a fad like a W.W.J.D. bracelet. They were a hot item for a while and probably made the creator a lot of money. They then, however, wore out naturally and spiritually.

Aren't we supposed to be all about God's love? The first place we can start being about God's love is in the home. How can we show God's love in the world if we are not showing it in our own home? What does this mean? It means spending time with your loved ones.

In the day and age of modern technology, we can be in a room together with one another, but are we with each other? No. We have our laptops on, phones within reach and a movie or video game on the TV screen. How is this showing love?

What about getting irritated with our family members? Should we snap, get angry, have sharp tones and comments and get irritated with what another person said or did? Is that truly showing God's love? I think that is where the W.W.J.D. bracelets come in. How would Jesus react to another family member? The answer is with love.

We need to learn how to extend and be love to those people who sometimes "drive us nuts," to those "we can't stand to be around" and to those who"drain us emotionally." But why do we even feel that way about "those people?"

I was talking to the Lord recently about whom the world would label "high maintenance people to whom we need to extend a little extra grace." I mean the people who don't seem to want to do anything for themselves or who ask you to pray for them all the time. How many times do you want to shout back at them: "Pray for yourself! You have two lips and a tongue!"

In all seriousness, why do we get irritated with them? Because we do not love enough and because we do not love as Jesus loves.

When will we get back to the place of compassion and love; of pouring ourselves out on people and truly serving them and being a channel of love? When will we do it right? When will we love like Jesus loved? When will we be a stream of constant love?

You know why those people do the things they do to us; because they need love. They are hurting, lonely, rejected, insecure, inferior and they need love. They need someone to pour into them. They need someone to invest in them and to say, "You know what, you are valued and loved, and you are important to me." They should be important to you because they are God's children. Aren't you supposed to love as He loves?

I challenge you to be love. You know who that person is who maybe you would rather have not bug you so much. Perhaps you would be happy if they were not in your life. I want you to love them abundantly. I want you to make them your love assignment. Be nice to them. Go out of your way to love on them and pray for them. Pray that God would give them a love encounter and that they would receive the love of God that comes through other people in their lives.

Make it a practice and a way of living to outlove the other person. Think about how much you are loved. I want you to pour that much love out, that you outlove the person to next you, who loved on you. Yes, a love mission. Learn to outlove the next person. Learn to be love; and when you think you accomplished your mission, when you think you have achieved love, ask the Lord to help you love even more, because it's all about L-O-V-E!

Kathy DeGraw is the founder of DeGraw Ministries, a ministry releasing the love and power of God. She travels hosting conferences, teaching schools and evangelistic love tours. Kathy empowers people to release and be love with her #belove campaign. Kathy enjoys writing and is the author of several books that educate, empower and equip people, including A Worship Woven Life and Flesh, Satan or God. Connect with Kathy at degrawministries.org.

 

When God Says Go

When God Says Go

Posted on by

You will know when it's time to go just like God commanded Abraham (ECWA archives)

I still remember the response of my son's orthodontist upon finding out that our family was moving from Upper Michigan to Minnesota—"Oooh," he mused while inspecting, through squinted Scandinavian eyes, Seth's newly straightened teeth, "You're going to the flatlands, huh?"

"Yeah," I chuckled, "I guess we are." Because God had said "Go forth."

Our family had been happily settled into the familiar landscape of life as we knew it. We lived within miles of our large, close-knit extended family, and my husband was an elder at the local church that had become dear to us as well. He had been a teacher at a relatively young Christian school nearby and was in his second year as the school's administrator. Life was good, but our fledgling school was facing adversity.

The ministry from which the school rented space had decided to use that space for other purposes, and our school, faced with too short a timeline to get another building up to code, had made the decision to close. Around the same time, a relative from a church about a half hour north of the Twin Cities sent me a text that their church's school was in need of an administrator. The rest, as they say, is history.

Now, back to the squinty-eyed orthodontist. You have to understand, here, that we "Yoopers" (a term for natives and inhabitants of Michigan's Upper Peninsula) are a unique breed—fierce, independent, proud of our mines and our ability to withstand frigid winters with over 300 inches of snow on a regular basis (eat your heart out, Boston). But tough as we are, we find ourselves weak-kneed when faced with the rugged, wild, majestic beauty of creation. Rolling hills, mountainous, ore-filled peaks, acre upon acre of untouched hardwoods, mile upon mile of Lake Superior's sugary sand and clear waters … even atheists in the U.P. call her "God's Country."

We loved our home, but God had said, "Go forth."

God's Provision

As I reflect back on those days, I can't help but think of Abram and Sarai and the Lord's command to them in Genesis 12:1:

"Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you" (ESV).

Having already left their wealthy, populous, cosmopolitan home city of Ur, Abram, Sarai, and their family set off from Haran toward Canaan, the final leg of a journey that would total some 1,500 miles. With merely their possessions and a promise, they navigated rivers, mountains, and deserts—likely natural and man-made hazards of all sorts—until they were eventually set down in a territory unknown, one in which they were asked to trust in El Shaddai—God Almighty—who had assured what seemed laughable at best.

But they persevered, and He provided.
A covenant, in spite of their conniving.
A nation, from the depths of a barren womb.
A sacrifice, beneath a father's trembling, outstretched hand.

This is our God, too, and He had said, "Go forth."

A New Country

On a well-traveled highway from our Upper Peninsula hometown to a nearby city—and, yes, the isolated region's only Target—upon rounding a slight curve in the road, travelers are greeted with a break in the heavily-treed landscape, and all eyes are drawn upward from the four paved lanes toward an expansive blue horizon. And in that instant they are met by the big broadness of Lake Superior stretched out against the bright blueness of the sky. Its sight is a God-created quencher of thirst and fresh air for world-weary lungs.

But today I will drive the flatlands on the way to my straight-smiled son's soccer game. I will continue to learn what the Lord has for me in this new and unfamiliar terrain—straight roads lined with cornfields, acres sprawling with soybeans, amber waves of grain. I grumble at times that here, in the land of ten thousand lakes, I can go weeks without seeing one! Yet we will trust in His perfect provision in the midst of our imperfect "Go forth." We will thirstily look for grace as we navigate new ministries, new friends, and a new church family. And just as He did for Abraham and Sarah, El Shaddai will show His might. Jehovah Jireh will provide. He already has.

Has the Lord directed you to "Go forth" lately? Will you trust Him in unfamiliar terrain today?

For original article, go to www.ReviveOurHearts.com.

 

God Can Restore any Christian to His Side

God Can Restore any Christian to His Side

Posted on by

Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, '700 Club Canada' co-host, shares her story of restoration at the Women's Journey of Faith Restore Conference in Saskatoon, Canada. (Riley Semchuk)

Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson had been married twice with her second marriage that involved police incidents. Melinda Estabrook was a high-profile Christian TV celebrity who announced her divorce on her network. Lorie Hartshorn is a Christian leader who had three children who became ensnared to drugs, alcohol and the partying lifestyle.

Thompson, a 700 Club Canada co-host with Estabrook and Hartshorn, shared their stories with transparency and vulnerability at the 16th Annual Women's Journey of Faith Conference in Saskatoon, Canada. Over 1,200 women gathered for that conference from across Canada. The interdenominational organization has broken barriers such as race, denomination and religious affiliation for women.

"I grew up in a good Christian home," says Thompson. "My parents were missionaries in Uganda, but when I turned 18, I wanted to go my own way." She married against her parents' wishes and then became involved with another man during that marriage. She divorced her first husband and married for a second time but that relationship became volatile.

"I felt like I had messed up too much for God to want me," says Thompson. "I knew better and yet I made bad choices and I was paying for them." Her mom invited her to church where the pastor asked everyone to write their three sins down and to nail the piece of paper on the cross.

"I didn't want to write them down because they were the big ones, the ones mentioned in the Ten Commandments," she told the audience. "I realized that if I didn't respond that I would have to write down a fourth sin of rebellion." She wrote her sins down in illegible writing because she didn't want anyone to know about the shame of her sin.

When she posted that note on the life-sized cross, she realized how much of a price that Jesus paid for her sins. That night began a journey for Thompson as God miraculously opened doors for her in TV to share His message.

Hartshorn is a discipleship pastor for C4 Church in Ontario. She shared with SpiritLed Woman about the challenge of walking through the season of when her three children raised in church rejected their faith.

Hartshorn realized when her oldest son was in the hospital after getting drunk, that this was a spiritual war for her children's destiny. "He got up from the hospital bed and began screaming at the wall 'stop laughing at me.' We felt a dark presence in the room and we knew that the enemy was after our son." Hartshorn and her husband began to pray regularly for her children and God opened up the reality of demonic activity in the lives of her children. She wrote a Bible Study and DVD called Finding Freedom with the wake-up call for spiritual warfare.

Today, Hartshorn's three children are headed into the ministry. "You would have never saw that five years ago," she said. "It took years, and my husband and I connected with other parents and began to pray regularly for our children." Prayer carried Estabrook when she announced her situation on a Christian TV show for women, Full Circle.

"After I made that announcement and we went off the air, my camera man started clapping," Estabrook says. "Then everyone in the room started clapping and I realized that the fallout and judgment that I expected from Christians wasn't there."

Estabrook and Hartshorn say that the first thing that Christians want to do is isolate themselves when they have troubled kids or they're going through a divorce because they are ashamed of their perceived failures.

"I told a few close friends what was happening to me," says Estabrook. "I had people who were close to me hold me accountable. You can be tempted to quit going to church, but this is when you need the community of faith the most." The network had created a 1-800 line in anticipation of the onslaught if critical calls from Christians but those calls never came.

Instead, Estabrook says she received support, encouragement and help for restoration. Hartshorn also received support and prayer from fellow Christians at her church. Thompson discovered her place in the church as God opened up doors of service in TV ministry.

The three women shared their testimonies of being restored at the conference. The Bethel Band from Redding, California, led worship. "I loved Laura-Lynn's journey of faith empowerment," says Juliet Amuijo, an attorney from Uganda. "The two messages that I listened to empowered me to carry His glory."

Lorna Egungu, Juliet's 71-year-old mother, said that she liked the practical message of "how we want to hide so many things to impress the public. But there's nothing you can hide from God." Egungu added that she was set free from trying to hide so many things.

Sarah Peters, a 31-year-old Mennonite from Alberta, Canada, says, "I feel connected with God. I felt His presence, and it felt good to be connected with like-minded people. Her 18-year-old friend Nancy Dyck says this was the first time that she was at the conference and she had a fresh hunger for God's presence.

"I feel restored to God," says Dyck. "I realized that I don't spend time with God on a daily basis and that I needed to make him a priority." Bringing women together to make God a priority is one of the goals for Women's Journey of Faith.

"In 1999 I came here (TCU Place: Saskatoon Arts & Convention Center) to go to a 'body, spirit and soul' conference," says Jodi Kozan. "One of the panelist speakers was a Christian and I asked her about her faith during the Q&A. She couldn't answer me, and I later learned that she was asked to not speak specifically about her faith."

Kozan got the vision for hosting an interdenominational gathering to promote unity, spiritual growth and fellowship for women. The first conference attracted 850 women at Saskatoon Inn, and 300 women had to be turned away. Since then, the organization has expanded with speaker tours, equipping conferences and tours of Israel. "We're in our 16th year, and now our speakers are traveling from neighboring provinces," says Maureen Brown, a former board member.

The organization has become a bridge into the native population with speakers ministering at reservations. "We are a bridge between white people and Native Americans," says Brown. With women of all ages, from every race and denomination across Canada, Women's Journey of Faith is poised to increase the reach of the gospel.

Leilani Haywood, online editor for SpiritLed Woman and frequent contributor to Charisma, is an award-winning writer. Follow her on Twitter or Facebook. Read original article on Charisma,

 

 

Finding God in the Desert

Finding God in the Desert

Posted on by

When we are in the middle of a desert trek, God's hand seems absent and we are blinded by the glaring circumstances. (HDWallSource by AWLTER)

Desert times are fruitful times. Though they seem barren, lush fruit is being produced in our lives when we walk through the desert. "For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the works of your hands. He knows your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing" (Deuteronomy 2:7).

As we see in this verse, God shows us who He is by what He does. We see His promises worked out in the lives of His people and know that the same God is working in our lives.

Moses is reminding God's people of the ways God has been faithful and of how His hand has been on them every step of their forty-year journey in the wilderness. Can you relate to a wilderness journey? Life's path takes all of us into desert territory from time to time. Sometimes the terrain is brutal and the sun scorching. We feel parched and desperate for a relief that seems not to come. And just like the Israelites, we can see God's hand most clearly in retrospect.

When we are in the middle of a desert trek, God's hand seems absent, blinded as we are by the glaring circumstances. But when we emerge from that leg of the journey, we can look back and see that God has watched over our every step. The journey was hard and went on longer than we thought we could bear. But here we stand. All the way through the desert, just when we thought we couldn't last another day, God's mercy met us in some observable way: a kind word, an unexpected provision, provision, a "chance" encounter. The assurance of His presence always came.

The desert has things to teach us. We learn things there that we can't learn anywhere else. We see the careful provision of our Father in a different light. His love stands out in stark relief against the background of the desert's barren landscape. In the wilderness, we come to the end of ourselves. We learn in new and deeper ways to cling to him and wait for him. When we come out of the desert, the desert lessons stay with us. We take them with us into the next stretch. We remember the God who led us through the desert, and we know that He is with us still.

The Lord will sanctify your desert times and make them to be fruitful in your life.

RESPOND

Looking back, what do you know of God now that you would not know if you had never walked a desert?

Are you in a desert now? Can you see glimpses of God's provision?

Jennifer Kennedy Dean is an author, speaker, conference leader and executive director of the Praying Life Foundation.