You have all the love you will ever need

Today's blog post is contributed by David Trotta:

Such hope [in God’s promises] never disappoints us, because God’s love has been abundantly poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5)

Recently we have been talking about spiritual maturity and how it’s measured by how much we love God and others, not on our efforts, knowledge or giftings.

So if the above verse declares that God has abundantly poured out love within our hearts, then it stands to reason that everything we need to be spiritually mature already resides in us.  It’s not anything we have to strive to produce or manufacture.

All we need to do is rely on the Holy Spirit to produce spiritual maturity in our lives.  We need to believe and be confident in His ability in us.

The bible teaches us that God is love (1 John 4:8) and that God dwells within us (1 Corinthians 3:16), so all the love we will ever need is already within us.  It was abundantly poured out into our hearts at salvation.

We just need to choose every day to walk in love.  How do we do that?  By relying on God.

Isn’t it just like God to give us a command to love Him and others and then equip us with everything we need to carry out that command?

You only need to apprehend that truth and believe it with all your heart.  God has poured His unending supply of love into our hearts.  We have all the love we will ever need.

You were created to love.  You are equipped to love. Your destiny is to love.

The next time you don’t feel like showing love, stop and say “spirit of love within me, rise up!”

Do You Love Me?

“I have loved you just as the Father has loved Me;

remain in My love [and do not doubt My love for you].”

John 15:9

 

 

I am certain I have made this point in the blog before but here I go again...

Our ‘love’ too often has innumerable strings attached.

I will love you if...

I will love you when...

I will love you only because...

We stipulate the terms of our commitment and then wonder why the relationship didn’t last.

If a small child doesn’t get their way we may be in for a tantrum from them.

The same is true for an adult even though the ‘tantrum’ may not unfold by rolling on the floor accompanied with screaming and crying.

It is immature behavior regardless of the age of the one exhibiting it.

An evidence of our spiritual maturity is when we continue to love God even when we don’t get our way.

“Not my will, but yours be done.”

Have you ever heard those words before?

Jesus did not make that declaration lightly.

He wasn’t facing a day without lunch.

We all know what He was facing and yet His love for the Father never faltered.

I cannot say the same and be honest with you.

God loves me and He continues to love me even when I am less than perfect and less than willing to obey.

But do I love Him when He doesn’t do what I want or expect Him to do?

Ouch!

You see, He will bring us to that place of decision.

Not once, but many times.

Do you love me?

Even when the job you wanted doesn’t come through?

Do you love me?

Although your friend or loved one died unexpectedly?

Do you love me...

 

He Who Has Begun...

“I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return].”

Philippians 1:6

 

That’s a pretty small word underlined above.

Just two letters but don’t underestimate the importance of those two letters when it comes to your spiritual maturity.

It is God who is working in you to bring you to a place of maturity.

All you have to do is cooperate!

He began the good work.

He will continue the good work.

He will complete the good work.

We like to take credit for stuff.

It’s easy to claim for ourselves the work that God is doing in us.

After all, why should He get all the credit?

Because He is faithful when we are not!

Because He perseveres when we are ready to throw in the towel!

Because – remember what it says – His work in us is a good work!

 

Please click on the link below for a song by Aaron Shust that will encourage you to give God alone all the glory for the work He is doing in your life...

 

https://youtu.be/dfZMKfu86z0

Convinced and Confident

“I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return].”

Philippians 1:6

 

 

Are you ‘convinced and confident’ that God is working in you to make you spiritually mature?

Is that an attitude you hold too?

Or

Is it ‘maybe’, ‘perhaps’, ‘I think so’?

Are you a ‘Wishy-Washey Wally’ or a ‘Hem’n and Haw’n Hannah’ when it comes to that conviction?

Paul left no doubt when he wrote his epistles to the church at Philippi.

He was convinced and confident.

You see, one attitude builds hope and expectation while the other only doubt and double mindedness.

Don’t approach your walk with halfhearted commitment.

Instead be convinced and confident of His work in you!

 

 

From Cradle to Grave

“I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return].”

Philippians 1:6

 

 

Have you ever met an ‘overnight’ sensation?

Usually they are not you know!

Spiritual maturity is the same.

You don’t just wait 24 hours and voila!

It is a life looooooong process.

Call it cradle to grave if that helps you to picture it.

From the cradle of the new birth to the grave of the physical body

(or Christ’s return if that comes before physical death for any of us).

There is not some ‘magical’ arrival point where we declare to others:

“I’m done! I’ve arrived! God’s work in me is finished!”

Much as we might want it that way.

It takes time to perfect you and me.

How often we have wished for some season or trial in our life to be over but to end it before it has completed what God intended for us is to short circuit the process of spiritual maturity.

But the good news...

...it’s His good work in us.

He gets the glory!

And He knows just what is needed to mature the areas of my life where I am not quite as mature as I need to be.

The same is true of your life.

Will you trust Him with the process?

True spiritual maturity is….

Today's blog post is contributed by David Trotta:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31)

It’s easy to love God when things are going well.  But how about when things are not going well?

Do we withdraw from God when things don’t go our way or do we choose to love Him anyway as commanded by scripture?

The sign of true spiritual maturity is when we love God even when are lives are turned upside down.

On the flip side, spiritual immaturity is demonstrated when our love for God is dependent upon our circumstances. 

Doesn’t God choose to love us unconditionally, regardless of our many sins and shortcomings?  Doesn’t He continue to love us even when our behavior deserves nothing but His wrath?

While beaten, bruised, and nailed to a cross, Jesus chose to love.  He could have thumbed His nose at God or spewed hatred at those who put Him on the cross, but instead, an incredible declaration of love came from His lips – “Lord, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Hours earlier in the garden of Gethsemane and knowing what lay ahead, Jesus demonstrated love for His Father by saying “not my will, but your will be done,” even though He knew it was His Father who orchestrated the path He was about to walk.

Jesus’ love for His Father and us never waned, even in the midst of incredible pain and suffering.

The best way we can demonstrate our love towards God is to love Him even in the midst of difficult or unwanted circumstances.

Such a reaction blesses the heart of God and reassures us that we are on the path to spiritual maturity.

Majoring in What Matters Most

“If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains,

but do not have love, I am nothing.”

I Corinthians 13:2

 

 

 

Suppose you had the ability to memorize the entire Bible!

You quickly find any verse or any topic and share it with others.

Not only that, but you can righty apply the word to bring wisdom, insight and revelation to problems people present.

Others seek you out for your biblical knowledge.

Is that the epitome of spiritual maturity?

You need look no further than I Corinthians 13:2 for the answer.

While ignorance of scriptures is no badge of honor, neither is a competence in biblical knowledge alone the barometer of spiritual maturity.

Pride lurks closely when we believe otherwise.

While God possesses all wisdom and knowledge it was love that brought us back into fellowship with Him...

...for God so loved the world that He gave...

Love, not knowledge or wisdom, moved the heart of God to action.

Love should motivate us as well.

Lord:

May your love in us motivate and inform our actions toward others.

May we grow daily in our love for you and for others.

May we major in what matters most and not in the ‘minors’.

Let our love be evident to anyone and everyone we come in contact with.

We ask this in Jesus Name

Amen.