♫ I Want to Know What Love Is ♫

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character, character of God, difficulty, emptiness, faith, faithfulness, God, goodness, help, hurt, loss, love, Love of God, people, promises, promises of GOD

We are surrounded by promises, in America, and most of them never had any intention of being fulfilled! Politicians say exactly what they think we want to hear, not because they actually believe it, but simply to earn our trust and our vote. Broken promises have been in the news lately with the “If you like your plan and your Doctor, you can keep them!” lie. The President and his adherents knew from the beginning that was a lie, yet they intentionally repeated it for months.

Contrary to the multitude of unfulfilled promises of politicians, GOD fulfills promises everyday. The Bible is filled with wonderful & lofty promises that, frankly, are incredibly hard to believe. Yet, any one of us can challenge GOD’S faithfulness by apprehending any promise in faith.

At the top of the page is a promise: All things are possible with God. (Matthew 19:26)

Believe that? I mean do you believe it in your LIFE, or just with your head? There is a difference!

There are many, many more!

Pick a promise! Choose one that fits a difficult circumstance in your life. Pick it & believe it! Each & every promise issues from the loving heart of God. Every one! But that’s not the cool part! The cool part is that GOD has spoken each promise to ME and to YOU … as individuals! When GOD says, “Don’t be afraid, for I AM with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I AM your GOD! I will comfort you! Yes, I will help you! And I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness!” (Isaiah 41:10) GOD is talking to me, but HE is also talking to you. All we have to do … is actively BELIEVE! Can you do that? I can …if I remember who GOD is. If I remember He designed Creation, all its moving parts (not the parts mankind has corrupted, but the wondrous ways Laws of Nature,) and brought it into being with a Word! Ha!

In spite of GOD’S vastness, or maybe because if it, GOD has set His unfathomable love on us, and we see that in His promises. All his promises flow from that love and are evidenced in His unspeakable GOODNESS!

The yes to all of God’s promises is in Christ, and through Christ we say yes to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 1:20

LOVE. It’s our deepest, most urgent need. It’s a requirement for life. Every single human shares this basic need, yet in spite of the volumes written on the topic, a vast array of poems and songs written on the subject, few of us have a clear handle of exactly what Love is.

We often hear “Life is a journey” these days, and I suggest that Love is our destination and our source. We taste it on clear sunny days. We smell it in a gentle spring shower. We hear it in the laughter of children, and we get a glimpse in the touch of a loved one. Never a banquet, only a sample, enough to compel us onward … and a Promise.

Love is not weak, easy, or shallow. Love always … always multiplies. The deepest Love is a promise, a unity of hearts, goals, and future hope.

11 I say this because I know what I am planning for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future.
12 Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
13 You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me!
14 I will let you find me,” says the Lord. “And I will bring you back from your captivity. Jeremiah 29:11-14

As humans, we typically look for the easy route, the path of lest resistance. But the richness of God’s Love takes us always into the deep water without a life jacket, not to drown us, as some suppose, but to empower us to fly higher, dive deeper, push harder, to continue on when there are no landmarks we recognize to take GOD’s love to each and every person. God’s love soothes and inspires. His love never changes … NEVER! Still, it doesn’t always feel like a warm blanket either, but Love is always … always ultimately drawing us to Him: our Source and our Goal, the Beginning and the End. One taste just isn’t enough, but how do we get there?

This song as always been a prayer to me. I’m asking God to show me what Love is … and I know He will answer. Care to take the plunge with me? It’s a little scary, but … is it safe? “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” ~ C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

♫ I Want to Know What Love is ♫

I gotta take a little time
A little time to think things over
I better read between the lines
In case I need it when I’m older
Aaaah woah-ah-aah

Now this mountain I must climb
Feels like a world upon my shoulders
And through the clouds I see love shine
It keeps me warm as life grows colder

In my life there’s been heartache and pain
I don’t know if I can face it again
Can’t stop now, I’ve traveled so far
To change this lonely life

I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me
Aaaah woah-oh-ooh

I’m gonna take a little time
A little time to look around me, oooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh oooh
I’ve got nowhere left to hide
It looks like love has finally found me

In my life there’s been heartache and pain
I don’t know if I can face it again
I can’t stop now, I’ve traveled so far
To change this lonely life

I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
And I wanna feel, I want to feel what love is
And I know, I know you can show me

Let’s talk about love
(I wanna know what love is) the love that you feel inside
(I want you to show me) I’m feeling so much love
(I wanna feel what love is) no, you just cannot hide
(I know you can show me) yeah, woah-oh-ooh
I wanna know what love is, let’s talk about love
(I want you to show me) I wanna feel it too
(I wanna feel what love is) I wanna feel it too
And I know, and I know, I know you can show me
Show me what is real, woah (woah), yeah I know
(I wanna know what love is) hey I wanna know what love
(I want you to show me), I wanna know, I wanna know, want know
(I wanna feel what love is), hey I wanna feel, love
I know you can show me, yeah

GOD is love! He is in the business of LOVE … for the Love of GOD!

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El Melekh Ne’eman – GOD is a Faithful King!

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Christmas, Christmas blues, El Melekh Ne'eman, God, GOD is a Faithful King, GOD is Faithful, hardships, holiday struggles, life struggles, loss, pain

How FAITHFUL is God? From cover to cover, the various scribes throughout history record event after event, miracle after miracle of GOD’s faithfulness.

Does that mean no one suffered? Not even close! It means that even suffering has a redemptive purpose. Childbirth hurts, as any mother can attest, but the joy of that new life is more than worth the pain. Our suffering “births” (or brings about increase) of God’s purpose in our life.

So then we always feel secure or safe? Ha! One would think, but no. We are flesh and blood. We are weak! Even when we cognitively understand the enormity of GOD, we manage to suppose our situation, our disease, our family issue is somehow beyond His interest, right?

How then should be face the challenges that confront us in this life? Can you imagine as a young teenage girl (or her fiance) learning you’d been chosen by God to bring His Son into this world? Say What??? Yet, unbelievably, Mary’s response echoes through the ages … “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1)

Christmas seems to spotlight “sore spots” in our hearts and lives. At least in my world, it does. Year after year, I struggle, but this year is different. Or perhaps I should say the struggle is different. I have a dear friend who recently lost his wife. My heart breaks for him as he faces his first Christmas without her together with his girls. I know the GOD of comfort will be with them. I have another friend whose husband just learned he has a brain tumor, yet God’s grace is buoying them through the surgery and treatment. I have still another friend whose work hours were drastically cut suddenly last month. She has barely enough to pay bills, and certainly nothing left for gifts for her family. There are thousands of men and women, many of whom served our nation in uniform, living on our streets with no roof over their heads. There is much suffering. There is unimaginable pain. BUT there is GOD …

Each of us have “sore spots!” Life is not perfect. There are obstacles and traps along the way. Then, there is that one thing, that one huge “sore spot” we can’t seem to shake. We need to foster Mary’s deep understanding of GOD. Instead of struggling against that thing, that “sore spot,” embrace it as a tool for growth. Whew … easier said than done, right?

“Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.”

I am not a woman of great financial resources, but I have faith for these and other unmentioned needs. Do you? Prayer is not a last resort, it is a FIRST resort! It is our declaration to GOD that we know He can handle what we cannot. It is acknowledging His greatness and His faithfulness to us, His children. Christmas is the manifestation of His faithfulness in the person of Jesus Christ, who came to take away the sin of the world.

Our pain and suffering may not end, but His faithfulness is more than enough to turn our pain and suffering into beauty. Let’s turn our minds and hearts outward and look for ways to lift the burden others may feel at this time … and everyday!

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”
Charles Dickens

You are Faithful & True

You are Faithful & True You are Faithful and True,
You are Faithful & True to your people.
You are Faithful & True You are Faithful and True,
You are Faithful and True to me.

There is no emptiness in You.
No failure or loss, no turning away,
You are the God of all purpose,
You are Hope, You are Life, You’re the end to my strife.

You are Faithful & True You are Faithful and True
You are Faithful & True to your people.
You are Faithful & True You are Faithful and True
You are Faithful and True to me.

All Rights Reserved © 2002 BJB Music 9/96

Why Is It So Hard For Some Christian Leaders To Face Genuine Pain??

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"life lessons", accidents, christian, condemnation, empathy, fire, friends, leaders, loss, mourning, pain, pastors, sin

One of the reasons there are more believers outside the organized church than within it these days was evident today. A dear friend of mine lost her home to fire and nearly lost her life and those of two of her adult children. Nearly! One of the children, a 20 yr old, fell asleep smoking. He woke up and saw the flames, poured water on them and thought the fire was extinguished. It was not. He went upstairs to bed. Meanwhile the flame smoldered producing a gas which at some point spontaneously ignited. The power of the flame blew out the front window and flames spread quickly in the older frame home. My friend and her 18 yr old daughter were upstairs. They became trapped, but pushed out the window ac unit and climbed out onto their roof. Coaxed by helpful neighbors, the two jumped at least 5 ft to the neighbor’s roof. They survived with some burns, but they will recover. The house and its contents are a total loss.

The response by one of their leaders to questions from those wanting to help, was typical to my experience. “Yes, it’s terrible, but God is doing a GREAT thing in the midst of it.” I have no doubt God is in fact God – therefore He will redeem the situation. That, however, does not negate the fact that this family lost EVERY-THING, and they deserve a time to mourn their loss!!!!

Why is it so hard for some Christian leaders to admit and face genuine pain without condemnation? Bad things happen to wonderful people, sometimes. Sometimes sick people die. Sometimes marriages fall apart. Sometimes accidents happen. Some times there is not a platitude answer for the situations that arise in life. And That is OK!!!! Yes, for the believer, good will alway, always, always come from the every situation … eventually, but there is real pain that needs to be addressed. There is real mourning that needs to be experienced. Why is that so hard for many to deal with without pronouncing it as sin?

Pain is a part of life. It cannot be avoided. Accidents happen. When the church accepts this and learns how to love the victims through their pain, Jesus will become more real and more visible to those inside and outside.

Help us, Lord!