The Spontaneity of Love

"Because your love is better than life,

my lips will glorify you."

(Psalm 63:3 NIV)

"Honey, do you love me?" she asks. "Why, of course I do, dearest!" he responds. "Tell me why!" she continues, tenderly. "Well, well, well, um, because I do! I married you, didn't I?" He responds with the wrong answer.

Are you in a relationship where you are constantly trying to prove your love to your significant other? You bring gifts and try to do all of the right things hoping they'll know how much you love them. Do you find it hard to say, "I love you?" Is expressing your love similar to shopping at Christmas time and after looking for hours, you end up with nothing but a knot in your stomach because you just don't know what to get them?

Love is an awesome thing and genuine love comes from God, because He is love. True love plans, but by nature can also be very spontaneous. It is like a spring that bursts through the portals of our hearts to the receiver. Love is supernaturally natural. As we allow Gods love to fill our hearts by His Holy Spirit, we are able to live lives that express His love naturally. It manifests itself in our marriages, our close relationships, in our work-places and, most importantly, in our relationship with Him.

Do you love Him today? As you become intimate with the Almighty, your answer should flow from your lips and your life like cool water over the rocks in a mountain stream.

In a relationship where spontaneous love exists, there is no thinking how can I say, "I love you", it bursts through the crevices, here and there. It shows up in unexpected places and moments. There is the deep sense of its presence even when the air is silent.

Are you deeper in love with Jesus today than you were last week? As we worship Him together today, listen and reflect on the many ways that Hes said, "I love you" to you this week and say it back to Him today through your sacrifice of praise and worship, falling in love with Him more each moment,

Pastor MJ

Forgiven Much

"He, who is forgiven the greatest, loves the most."
(Luke 7:41-43)

I've always been intrigued by the story of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18. Think about it; here's a man who owed his master a huge amount of money, more than he probably could have ever paid off. Pleading for mercy, he went to his master and was granted forgiveness of the debt that he owed. Afterwards, instead of humbly living a life that was filled with an attitude of gratitude that extended to others, he went and found someone who owed him relatively little compared with what he'd been forgiven of and treated his friend harshly. Unbelievable! Or is it?

As I write this, I'm aware of the depth of gratitude I owe because of the sins that God has forgiven me for. My debt is huge, but by His grace, love and mercy, Ive been forgiven. Hallelujah! However, at times even after God had "forgiven my sin and cleansed me from all righteousness" and had "cast my sin as far as the east is from the west" and "remembered my sin no more", I still had trouble forgiving. In light of my being forgiven greatly, I should always forgive freely. Anyone who has any idea of the magnitude of their sin against God, after having been forgiven should by the power of the Spirit be among the greatest forgivers.

Well, you may say, "I don't have trouble forgiving others, I just cant forgive myself!" My friend, no where in scripture does it say that you must forgive yourself. Many people are weighed down by the guilt and inability to forgive themselves, when in reality it is Gods forgiveness that we should truly seek. Jesus paid the debt for our every sin and in reality every offense is ultimately against Him. When He forgives and cleanses from all unrighteousness He can pave the way for our own healing and as we live under His grace move us towards reconciliation in other relationships that seemed impossible to mend.

Many times we seek forgiveness from others so that our circumstance might change and we'll feel better. Seeking forgiveness from God paves the way for the changes to occur in us first and then by Gods grace our circumstances will follow through a journey of repentance, reconciliation and restoration, all of which begin with God first.

The next time you find it hard to forgive go back and read about the cross of Christ (Isaiah 53:5) and realize it was for you that died. Realizing that should help us in our decisions to forgive our offenders.

Guard your Heart

Guard your heart above all else,

for it determines the course of your life.
Proverbs 4:23

"She makes me feel so good surely God wouldn't want me to miss out on being happy!"
"I know I shouldn't eat anymore, but when I do it comforts me and helps me drown out my worries!"

"Sure, it might be wrong, but if I don't take care of myself, who's going to?"

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, ’You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ’You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ " "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:1-5)

Its been a deceptive tool of Satan from the beginning of time and is in full force today, trying to make us think that by following Gods path that we are missing out on something better. My friend, the Maker of your heart knows exactly what you need and although often a byproduct of obedience, happiness is not Gods priority for our lives, rather, holiness is His goal for you and me. (1 Peter 1:14-16)

Steve Green has written a song born out of his journey of a stronghold in his life that encourages us to guard our hearts and affections from the counterfeit roads to fulfillment. May it encourage you to live Gods way this week and seek Him, not happiness; He is worthy of our doing so.

"What appears to be harmless glance? Can turn to romance
and homes are divided. Feelings that should never have been
awakened within Tearing the heart in two
Listen, I beg of you

Guard your Heart. Guard your Heart.

Don’t trade it for treasure; don’t give it away
Guard your Heart. Guard your Heart.

As a payment for pleasure its high price to pay.
For a soul that remains sincere with conscience clear

Guard your Heart.

The human heart is easily swayed and

often betrayed at the hand of emotion.
You dare not leave the outcome to chance you must choose in advance
or live with the agony such needless tragedy."

Pastor MJ

Eternal Perspective

Ive been thinking about the illustration that Pastor Jeff has been using during the "Eternal Perspective" series every day since he gave it. The visual above gives only a glimpse of what he was trying to get across; one line going east to west, representing eternity, never ending and the dot in the center representing our life here on the earth in relation to that eternity. As Francis Schaeffer coined, "How then shall we live?"

Its amazing to try and grasp the reality of that illustration. Psalm 8:4 says, "what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"

When we try to wrap our minds around the significance of our existence in the light of the immense nature of eternity we can almost walk away depressed realizing that we are "nothing"! (To put our significance in and of ourselves, read Job 38) And we would be right, were it not for Gods view of us and His plan for our lives as Jeremiah 29:11 declares, " For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." To think that God has chosen to use us to not just make a difference and an impact on our generation, but that the actions, the choices we make will indeed make an eternal impact is incredible.

I have come to realize is that life is not determined by what we want but by the choices that we make. You and I might desire a certain thing out of life and because of the Lords goodness we may be enjoying certain material blessings. On the other hand, you may have an incredible cross to bear and this life has been one of trouble, heartache and pain. In the light of eternity neither situation has much significance in and of itself, rather, the important thing, which will last and ring throughout eternity are the choices that we make in light of the circumstances that we have been given.

The men and women, whose lives we get to witness from a birds eye view in scripture are not here anymore, but their choices, be they good or bad, are lasting in the eternal Word of God and the influence of their story continues to effect lives still today. As you and I make choices every day we have the opportunity to touch a life for eternity. Whether its our friend, neighbor, child, spouse, family member or a total stranger, how we respond daily to Gods call in our lives will not only be noticed, but may make a lasting influence in their lives for good or for bad. We cannot take that lightly.

As we worship the Lord today, lets lay our lives and all of our circumstances, good and bad before Him and ask Him to lead us toward responding in such a way that would be pleasing to Him and that would influence the people around us …for eternity.

"Only one life, which will soon be past; only whats done for Christ will last!"

MJ