More of God

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7)

I love how John starts this verse… “Dear friends”, another translation reads Beloveds. How many of you have met a friend for coffee and said “Beloved, it is so good to see you, I will have a cappuccino please.”  Even I haven’t done that! In his first words, he is already practicing what he’s preaching. John is modelling the love God desires for us to have for one another…beloveds.

John goes on to say whoever loves is born of God and knows God. Just sit with that for a minute. I think what John is saying is that if we truly are children of God, then we can’t hide the characteristics of our Father. Those godly characteristics are now woven into the very fabric of our being, it is in our DNA.  Therefore, showing love to one another is a way of revealing who we are and whose we are.

Each Sunday as I make my way to pulpit to preach, I pray, ‘Lord may there be more of you and less of me’. This verse is a perfect and practical roadmap of the MORE of God. Loving those around me grants me a greater understanding of God love.

So, today would you make this your prayer?

God give me a deeper understanding of what your love looks like in my everyday life. And God would you be my help in keeping my eyes, ears and heart open to those who need to feel Your love today.

Trouble with a capital 'T'

War, death, destruction, personal pain, heart ache — trouble of every kind is all around us. Grim way to start a blog but it is true isn’t it?  There is no escaping the fact that life is full of trouble, and to quote the Music Man… “Trouble, oh we got trouble, Right here in River City! With a capital “T”.  Clearly not just in River city ;)

It can be easy to be overwhelmed, to lose hope and to want to turn away and that is when my mind turns to the words of Jesus in John 16:33, where Jesus offers words of hope:

Jesus tells his disciples “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Jesus reminds us that he knows that there will always be trouble in the world in which we live, and he gives it to us straight. “You will have trouble.”

Not only that, Jesus is telling his disciples that he was about to face his own greatest trouble - death on the cross. That’s why he told them in the previous verse: “Yet, I am not alone, for my Father is with me.”

In the the same way Jesus is telling us that it is only through Him that we can find peace in the midst of our trouble.  And when he says, “take heart”, Jesus is cheering us on.  He’s telling us to keep going, to live a life that shows everyone around us the source of our hope!

Remember that book that became a movie, Eat, Pray, Love?  Well I think there could be a sequel:  Eat, Pray, Love, Give, Pray, Serve!  We may need to work on the title but I hope you get the sentiment ;) In the midst of our trouble — we don’t stop, or give up — we continue to do these things to demonstrate the love of Jesus in our community and beyond.

Jesus is saying Don’t Give Up… Why? Because he has overcome the world.

Jesus has already won and we will see this fully in the end!

So what do we need to do?  Take heart and make Jesus’ promise to you real to a troubled world.

Refresh and be refreshed

I love meeting with people over coffee (or tea, or whatever).  I love learning about their lives, hearing their stories.  I feel connected and honoured to get a glimpse of who people are, something I don’t always get to experience on a Sunday morning.

Last week I had such a meeting. This individual had requested to meeting because they were going through something and wanted to talk it out. Just before I left the house I received a disturbing text. My spirit was disturbed, I felt anxious and distracted. I knew I was not in the right head space to meet anyone. I contemplated cancelling the meeting but I knew that it was important to go, they were hurting and I wanted to be an encouragement to them…so I prayed and met this dear soul for “a coffee.”

What I discovered is what I knew all along — God is good.

I was so depleted (and on the verge of tears) when I went into the coffee shop and by the time we hugged to say goodby I was refreshed.

A generous person will prosper, whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. (Proverbs 11:25)

I don’t know about you but I have found that in the toughest season, when I am feeling down and struggling with my own life circumstances the opportunity to listen and encourage another always ends up encouraging my own heart.

Have you ever experienced that?

This Proverb illustrates a paradigm that is easier said than done and doesn’t always seem to be true at face value, does it?

Does a generous person always receive more in abundance?

Does a person who blesses others always feel refreshed and filled up?

I think the principle in this Proverb is rooted in the fact that it is God who provides and supplies our every need.

Prosperity can certainly, and often, refers to material abundance but scripture always refers to prosperity in abundance in eternally significant ways. What I mean is, God provides for our physical needs and our emotional needs and our spiritual needs and when we give of our resources — time and emotional energy — we are not pulling from our own resources but that of Christ.

So whatever you are going through today don’t underestimate how you might be refreshed when you seek to refresh another person.

Maybe you know someone in need? Someone who could use some encouragement? Before you question your own capacity — ask God if you are being led to bless them. And then ask God to provide, knowing that it is out of God’s provision that you show generosity or encouragement to others.

And when you trust God to do so, trust God to do a work in your heart as well. Our God is a God of unlimited strength, power and resources!

With God… refresh and be refreshed!