Romans 12:9-14 (New Living Translation)
9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. 12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. 13 When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (New Living Translation)
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Have you ever had to drive on a day when it was foggy, or on a day when it was dark, raining extremely hard and the wind was blowing the rain in such a way that your visibility was impaired? I believe all of us have probably experienced one of these or both at one time in our lives or another. During times like this a range of emotions may take place, you might become concerned or scared that you can not make it to your destination, or that something or someone may prevent you. You may become frustrated because you have to adjust your speed to accommodate the conditions in which you find yourself. You may become confused because the conditions themselves are hard to predict. For some people, even adversity, though does not bother them and they are unphased by the changes they are experiencing. I know that when I have been caught in the midst of these types of situations I have felt pressure, but then I recognize that even in the thickest of fog and the most adverse of weather that God is with me, and all I need to do is ask him for His help to make it through, and He has not failed me yet!
When we are involved in relationships, we inevidable hit the "thick of love." That place where it is tight, stormy and it is nearly impossible for us to see the next minute, none the less the future. We find ourselves trying to stay the course and reach our destination, but the fog or the stroms have given us cause to pause, or in some cases to pull off the side of the road. I have heard people say that they found it hard to speak, touch or be in the same place with an individual that they were in relationship with. It is in these times when frustration gives way to reservation, which will many times gives way to giving up, and getting off the road, in it's entirety, because it is too thick and too uncomfortable. If only we could understand that love does not desolve in the fog, nor does it dissinegrate in the storm. When love is built on God's principles it is weather proof and it can handle any stormy scenerio.
Think for one minute if in the midst of our issues God decided we weren't worth the love that He has for us. What if Jesus decided that the price of loving us was too great and He refused the cross? What a state we would be in, what a mess our lives would be in. If we are in Christ and He is in us, and we understand what abiding love really is, because we have learned to embrace the love God has for us, it is in that recoginition that we can begin to love others, even when they may be at their worse or their best or anything in between. Love is not this frail and ailing emotion, it is hard core and durable. It is tough and it is resistant and resilant. You see when love is faced with a challenge it rises to meet it and endures to the end.
Who better would know the challenges of love or the heart and character of those we are encountering, then Our Heavenly Father. Why not use the greatest resource to learn how to love in the thick. For when God comes in and becomes the apart of the skills we possess and the source we seek, we will find that the road becomes easier to navigate, the persons we are in relationship with becomes easier to abide with, and the distantion we are heading towards becomes reachable. Today, as you may find yourself in the thick of love, know that nothing is impossible with God. God's love is the unstoppable, unceasing, love that will give us the wear with all to stick in through the thickest of LOVE.....
When we are involved in relationships, we inevidable hit the "thick of love." That place where it is tight, stormy and it is nearly impossible for us to see the next minute, none the less the future. We find ourselves trying to stay the course and reach our destination, but the fog or the stroms have given us cause to pause, or in some cases to pull off the side of the road. I have heard people say that they found it hard to speak, touch or be in the same place with an individual that they were in relationship with. It is in these times when frustration gives way to reservation, which will many times gives way to giving up, and getting off the road, in it's entirety, because it is too thick and too uncomfortable. If only we could understand that love does not desolve in the fog, nor does it dissinegrate in the storm. When love is built on God's principles it is weather proof and it can handle any stormy scenerio.
Think for one minute if in the midst of our issues God decided we weren't worth the love that He has for us. What if Jesus decided that the price of loving us was too great and He refused the cross? What a state we would be in, what a mess our lives would be in. If we are in Christ and He is in us, and we understand what abiding love really is, because we have learned to embrace the love God has for us, it is in that recoginition that we can begin to love others, even when they may be at their worse or their best or anything in between. Love is not this frail and ailing emotion, it is hard core and durable. It is tough and it is resistant and resilant. You see when love is faced with a challenge it rises to meet it and endures to the end.
Who better would know the challenges of love or the heart and character of those we are encountering, then Our Heavenly Father. Why not use the greatest resource to learn how to love in the thick. For when God comes in and becomes the apart of the skills we possess and the source we seek, we will find that the road becomes easier to navigate, the persons we are in relationship with becomes easier to abide with, and the distantion we are heading towards becomes reachable. Today, as you may find yourself in the thick of love, know that nothing is impossible with God. God's love is the unstoppable, unceasing, love that will give us the wear with all to stick in through the thickest of LOVE.....
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