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Sunday, October 02, 2011

To Suffer and God's Will and Love

"Faith for my deliverance is not faith in God. Faith means whether I am visibly delivered or not, I will stick to my belief that God is love. There are some things only learned in a fiery furnace."
- Oswald Chambers

"Pain is not good in itself. What is good in any painful experience is for the sufferer, his submission to the will of God, and for the spectators, the compassion aroused and the acts of mercy to which it leads."
- C.S. Lewis.

I want to be a living sacrifice that lives in the perfect will of God- no matter what may come knowing God's love will over take me as I surrender to my hope in Him. I am going to let go of the steering wheel of life and not try to grab it back from God no matter what may come.

Do we really know or want to suffer knowing the unmeasurable amount and understanding of God's love that comes through suffering. To know the deep reality that is so secure that nothing can robe you of the fact of God's deep love for us. To come to the end of ourselves seeing no value in anything that the world could offer. To be so persuaded that there is no hesitation to admitting our frailty and our need to be solely empowered and dependent upon God's love- where we are not afraid of death or what may come. Not afraid to speak of God and Jesus to anyone because we so deeply and genuinely know He is here with us not matter what we may suffer in this life or what things look like on the outside. Where we are comforted by the reality of heaven and the joy of our God who cares so deeply for us.

When Peter was asked by Jesus, "Do you love me?" several times what was he truly saying? He was saying, do you really understand how much I love you and if you know how much I love you will be able to endure the suffering to come. Of course Peter's understanding of God's love grew has he went through suffering and torture and his own crucifixion.

The most expensive perfume we can pour out upon the Lord's feet is our lives for we were bought with a high price and it only means something if we truly love the Lord and know he is good, unfailing and faithful.

Our lives are not our own- so why do we try to live our lives as if they are our own? Why do we hang on so tightly onto this life when our life is suppose to be in Christ. We are his vessels to be used as he wishes and he wills. - Just as Jesus said, "May your will be done Father." We are to do the same knowing no matter what happens to us in this life God truly love us.

If we truly understood this we would not fill our lives with things that do not really matter and worry and fear things that do not really matter.

God wants to live in our hearts not part time or when we think the time is best but all the time as we trust and exist in His wonderful limitless love.

God does not want us to just know the WORD- Jesus Christ but live in the WORD's love. And the more we do this the more we are willing to live the will of God regardless of what may or may not happen to us- because we have such a deep understanding of how much God truly loves us.

Thinks of those who risked everything for Jesus Christ? Think of all apostles. Think of the high schools students who did not deny God and were shot for it. Think of those who suffer and say I wouldn't take this cancer or these circumstance away because it has brought me to stronger and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

He alone is my rock and my salvation; my fortress where I will not be shaken." Psalm 62:6

"And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death or life, neither angels nor demons; neither worries about tomorrow-not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love." Romans 8:38

"We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God and God lives in them." 1 John 4:16

"I pray that from His glorious unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as God's people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep His love is." Ephesians 3:16-18



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