LOVE THE LORD: MEDITATION MONDAY AND GRATITUESDAY

(includes MEDITATION MONDAY)

This year, on this blog, our theme is J.O.Y.  This month, we looked at   "J" is for Jesus and His amazing agape / sacrificial love.  I am so grateful for His love and that He modeled it so clearly.

In February, on this blog, I'll focus on the "Y" of J.O.Y.   Out of gratitude to Jesus, love Yourself like Jesus does!   

Each year, I personally spend time in Christ's "Sermon on the Mount" - Matthew 5-7. It's hard to get past chapter 5 because of all the things Jesus shares about how the goal of a christian is to become like Him. 

 The last verse of chapter 5 is mind boggling, "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. "

The word "perfect" in that verse translates to be like our word "mature". Want to be mature? The finished product? Like Jesus? Then, You and I need to be all those things that Jesus said before this summary verse.



We'll talk about it more tomorrow.  Today, with gratitude, let's  meditate on this: 

Do you love Yourself enough to mature to be like Jesus?  Let's prayerfully focus on "growing up in Him" for the month of February!

Love Jesus!

Love Yourself!

~Oh, the J.O.Y.~

  

LOVE THE LORD... SUNDAY IN THE SON...

LOVE THE LORD
as sung by Lincoln Brewster

Love the Lord your God
With all your heart
With all your soul
With all your mind
And with all your strength (2x)

With all your heart
With all your soul
With all your mind
And with all your strength
Love the Lord your God
With all your heart
With all your soul
With all your mind
And with all your strength

I will serve the Lord
With all my heart
With all my soul
With all my mind
And with all my strength (2x)

With all my heart
With all my soul
With all my mind
And with all my strength
I will serve the Lord
With all my heart
With all my soul
With all my mind
And with all my strength

I will love You (I will love You)
I will praise You (I will praise You)
I will serve You, Lord (I will serve You)
I will trust You, Lord (I will trust You)

And with all my heart
With all my soul
With all my mind
And with all my strength
With all my heart
With all my soul
With all my mind
With all my strength

I will love You Lord
With all my heart
With all my soul
With all my mind
And with all my strength (3x)

JESUS IS LOVE!

LOVE JESUS!

~OH, THE JOY!~

I LOVE THE LORD: TRANSFORMING THURSDAY AND FAMILY FELLOWSHIP FRIDAY...

Last week, I wrote the following:

In a christian family and in the church family, our goal is to grow up in the love of Christ or be "taken by the love of Christ". I love this scripture, Ephesians 4, that describes how this transformation happens:


"11 So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to EQUIP HIS PEOPLE for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE, WE WILL GROW to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up IN LOVE, as each part does its work."

I saw this picture on FB and I immediately thought of the transformation process we all must go through and how it relates to our role as wives and mothers.  I connected it back to last Thursdays post (above) and then I thought of two chapters later in Ephesians 6, where Paul says this:

 
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.


18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should."

Life is a battle!   Jesus gives us His armor!

~LOVING JESUS~

 

~Oh, the J.O.Y.~

I LOVE THE LORD.... WOMEN IN THE WORD WEDNESDAY

I am so grateful for God's WORD who feeds us, whether it is through reading and meditating on any scripture or making the higher level connection of looking at Jesus, the WORD, and His role in the big picture.  It is all HIS-Story!

In January, we are focusing on the love that Jesus has for us and our love for Him.  The last few Wednesdays we have looked at several scriptures for possible memorization.  Here are two of the most important... we already looked at them in the Monday post:

Our God sees the little details of life, but He also sees the big picture. Our God is LOVE and He asks the same of us. When God came down and "dwelt among us" (John 1), He was the walking talking embodiment of LOVE. He asks me to be the same! In fact, He said it in the Old Testament and He said it in the New Testament:

• Deuteronomy 6:4-6 ^"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. ⁵ Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts."

• Matthew 22:36-38 ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. "

You can link back here to former Wednesday scriptures on this blog:  WOMEN IN THE WORD WEDNESDAY

Jesus loves me!

I love Jesus!

Oh, the J.O.Y!!!!

I LOVE THE LORD... GRATITUESDAY...

My greatest blessing?

Jesus Christ!

I love the LORD Jesus Christ!

~Oh, the JOY~

I LOVE THE LORD... MEDITATION MONDAY...

As I consider how much Jesus loves me, I must consider my love for Him.  Life is so hard!  It's easy to raise a fist to God and say, "Why?"  or  "You betrayed me!"  The TRUTH is that He does know the answer to "WHY?" and He does not betray. 

Our God sees the little details of life, but He also sees the big picture.  Our God is LOVE and He asks the same of us.  When God came down and "dwelt among us" (John 1), He was the walking talking embodiment of LOVE.  He asks me to be the same!  In fact, He said it in the Old Testament and He said it in the New Testament:

•   Deuteronomy 6:4-6   ^"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.⁵ L ove the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts."
• Matthew 22:36-38  ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. "

What is this LOVE?  1 Corinthians 13 tells us:

"Love is patient,
love is kind.
love does not envy,
love does not boast,
love is not proud.

⁵ Love does not dishonor others,
love is not self-seeking,
love is not easily angered,
love keeps no record of wrongs.

⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

⁷ Love always protects,
Love always trusts,
Love always hopes,
Love always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails.
But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a (wo)man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. "

I love You, LORD!

~Oh, the JOY~

I LOVE THE LORD...SUNDAY IN THE SON...

I LOVE THE LORD

as sung by Whitney Houston

I love the the LORD, He heard my cry
And pitied every groan, long as I, I live
And troubles rise, I hasten to His throne

[Chorus:]
Oh, I love the LORD
I sure do, surely do love the LORD
He heard, He heard my cry
And pitied every groan, yes He did
Every groan
Long as I live, long as I, I live
And troubles rise, troubles rise
I hasten to to to to to
I'll hasten, I'll hasten to His throne
I'll hasten to His throne hold on hold on
Tears are streaming down my eyes
I'll hasten, I'll hasten to His throne

Yes I will, I'll run
I know I can go to His throne
I know I can go, I know I can go
I'll hasten, I'm gonna run
I know I can go, I know I can go
I'll hasten, I'll hasten to His throne

See I can run, LORD you know I will
When there is nowhere to go I know I can go to You
I know I can run to You oh
I'll hasten, I'll hasten to His, His throne
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'll hasten, hasten to His throne
Surely gonna be here

LOVE JESUS!

~Oh, the J.O.Y.~