ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

We NEVER know when our time is up on this earth... We aspire to live long healthy fruitful lives, but the Bible says our life is a vapor... regardless of if we live it until old age or not... The reality is- there is an end.

Have you been REALLY {LOVING} the people God has given you? The people that hurt you? That blame you? That you may not see all the time? That you may take for granted? Or that maybe take you for granted?

This week I have been even more-so praying for my loved ones. We have been called to love.

{FORGIVENESS THROUGH HEARTACHE} 

Two of my most AMAZING friends- who are wonderful young women of God have gone through some very difficult (to say the least) things within their families. Some of you may relate- others may not. 

Each of these people have had to really forgive people in their lives for hurtful things they have done or said.

Although it was difficult, I saw these women walk in love, act in love, and forgive in love; these people who hurt them- and PRAISE GOD for that!

Doing this is NOT an act we can do on our own as people. We need God's supernatural help!

The incredible thing to me is this- Within the SAME WEEK. The people who my friends had forgiven: One of them had to have quadruple bypass open heart surgery (with only a 10%-25% chance of survival)- Thankfully this person survived... And the other person was tragically and unfortunately killed in a motorcycle accident.

My heart goes out to these women- and the pain, I know they are, and will experience- I cannot imagine. My heart grieves with you.

{ARE WE LOVING THOSE WHO GOD HAS PURPOSEFULLY PLACED IN OUR LIFE?}

To see the PURE AGAPE LOVE  (LOVE OF GOD) pour out of these women for the people experiencing these difficult things showed me how much God loves us-

Through hurt, pain, struggle difficulties, or offenses.... FORGIVENESS is so important.

We NEVER know how much longer we will have to just simply ENJOY the people God has given us.

Even if you don't have to forgive the people you have in your life- ENJOY THEM... BE GRATEFUL- ... We just simply do not know how long we have on this earth- or how long our loved ones have...

Make the most of your time. LOVE PEOPLE- Don't hold grudges- don't be angry- don't keep offense in your heart. LOVE THEM... Ask God to help you forgive them if you can't yet.

{REMINDER} 

Just remember, that as YOU were STILL a sinner and still hurting God... Christ died for you- and forgave you.

We should remember this and treat others the way God treated us...

There is NO greater love than to lay your life down for a friend. And that's what Jesus did for you.

He laid His life down.

I pray today that you would receive and understand His love in a fresh way- and that you'd be sure to outwardly love someone in action and truth- that maybe you haven't been lately...

Let us not take for granted the breaths we have left...

IF I DON'T HAVE {{LOVE}} I AM NOTHING

{THE GREATEST GIFT}

Though I speak with tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) 

This is my theme this morning! I heard this beautiful song on the radio for the first time: "The Proof of Your Love"- by King & Country

A beautiful song! > If I sing, but don't have love, I waste my breath with every song.... If I give to a needy soul, but don't have love, then who is poor? ....So let my life be the proof, the proof of Your love, let my love look like You and what You're made of... How You lived, how You died, Love is sacrifice- so let my life be the proof, the proof of Your love. . . <   You Tube the song so you can hear it! its wonderful :)

And right after the song finished the verse of the day came up on my phone and it was the verse I shared above: 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3

Again--- I don't believe in coincidences... I know how much God loves me :) How much He loves you... I know that He gives me inspiration to write so that I can encourage the people who will read what I have to say.

{I AM BLESSED} 

I truly am blessed to be surrounded by the people that I have in my life. The friends The Lord has given me in my life and especially in my church are just simply amazing!

Of course nobody is perfect, but when I see these people in action when they let God move through them, it inspires me!

Now, we have a nice little church, maybe about 20-30 people consistently coming to services. And I truly believe that I have seen almost each and every one of them (if not all of them) operating in their gifts that God has given them. And most importantly, LOVE.

I have been behind the scenes, and know the incredible heartfelt prayers prayed and tears cried by our wonderful Pastor and his wife. And the passionate prayers shared by the wonderful leaders in our church.

{AUTHENTICITY} 

What stands out to me MOST about these wonderful people God has placed in my life, is their authenticity. Their willingness to be humble, vulnerable, and to walk in compassion. To see someone hurting and embrace them and minister the LOVE of God to them. To NOT PRETEND TO BE PERFECT.... To admit publicly when they make a mistake- apologize- repent- and do what they can to fix that mistake. To be hurt, slandered, practically abused by someone- and STILL love them and walk in forgiveness. To operate in and use their gifts and talents for the encouragement of each other and other people in their lives. To build real, meaningful relationships with others in the church, and strangers who visit, and people outside of the church. Their friendship is real. And more importantly their love of God is real. Their desire to see HIM glorified and not themselves- is real. They are not a vain and puffed up people. But they walk in LOVE. I watch them POUR OUT God's LOVE on people constantly. Weather it is people who need help in the church, who are struggling, emotionally, financially, spiritually, etc... Or maybe it's people on the streets. Offering prayer, food, or simply warmth and kindness.

Watching their LOVE in action inspires me, and I know this is JUST THE BEGINNING...

{GROWTH OF DEPTH} 

Our church may be small now, but I believe without a shadow of a doubt that it WILL CONTINUE TO GROW... How could it not?

Churches shouldn't grow because of the personality of the Pastor.... or because of the smoke and mirrors and the awesome band.... or because of the "tingly" feeling you get when you are in the building.... (which I'm not saying is wrong-- unless that's the single reason)

They should grow because of the authentic spirit of the people--- The HOLY SPIRIT working IN and THROUGH the people in the church... AND because it doesn't ONLY manifest IN the church, but OUTSIDE the church.... That is what I LOVE about being a part of Abundant + Life.... They STRIVE to be the HANDS AND FEET OF JESUS.... in and out of the church building- every day of the week.

And God is doing a GREAT work in us to develop an EVEN DEEPER walk with Him- so I KNOW GREAT things are in store... and NOT so that our church would simply grow in number...

I am reminded of the scripture in Zechariah I shared in my last blog... Not by MIGHT NOR by POWER... but BY MY SPIRIT--- Says The Lord!

It's not in our own strength that we as The Body of Christ will build great churches - it's by GOD's SPIRIT ACTIVELY MINISTERING TO PEOPLE...

And WE are His conduit!

What an honor!! :)

Without LOVE .... WE ....ARE....NOTHING....

{LOVE IS . . .} 

PATIENT
KIND
NOT ENVIOUS / BOASTFUL
NOT ARROGANT / RUDE
IS NOT SELFISH / INSISTENT ON IT'S OWN WAY
NOT IRRITABLE
NOT RESENTFUL
DOESN'T REJOICE IN WRONGDOING
REJOICES WITH TRUTH
BEARS ALL THINGS
BELIEVES ALL THINGS
HOPES ALL THINGS
ENDURES ALL THINGS
NEVER ENDING

Love is a difficult thing to measure up to... but there is our standard.... The Bible also says, GOD IS LOVE... He is the perfection of LOVE... The personification of LOVE.... HE is our standard.... So when we minister.... let THIS be our standard... When we LOVE other people... let's make sure this is how we determine how we TREAT others, how we THINK toward others, and how we ACT toward others.

{{{WALK IN LOVE TODAY}}} 

THE COMPASSIONATE EYES OF JESUS

{IS GOD REALLY THERE??}

Sometimes we can go through something that is tough to go through and wonder where God is. And sometimes it is only until after we have successfully made it through the tough times can we see a glimpse of God's purpose in it and find comfort and peace.
Yesterday was an emotionally difficult day for me. Without going into detail, basically it was MULTIPLE big and small LET DOWNS from people I love and trusted. Looking at it from someone else's eyes it may seem silly to be upset about the things that happened. But for me, in that time, it was an overwhelming amount of emotion for me to handle. Thing after thing continued to pour into my lap in an already fragile state and I continually tried to carry the load by myself. I tried to give it to God, (Because His Word says to cast ALL your cares upon HIM because He cares for you- - - Its what Jesus died for! To carry the load!!) ... but I was unsuccessful in giving it all to Him... I needed Him to heal my heart and give me strength.

Sometimes a girl's just gotta cry it out!

So that's what I did. I went to a separate room to be alone and just weep in the arms of my Heavenly Daddy. It was wonderful. Although even after I came back into church to worship, I still wept, being comforted by The Holy Spirit. Through my tears God was healing me. There were many thoughts going on in my mind. I wondered if I was invisible, no one seemed to notice or really want to confront me while I was in such a blubbery state...

It wasn't until communion that my wonderful friend and sister in Christ, Rosie came to me and looked me in the eye with concern and compassion and asked me what was wrong. I fell in her arms and began to weep some more... I was a mess. Thank GOD for her!

Not just her-- Thank GOD for people that are SENSITIVE TO GOD's SPIRIT! ... We need more people like this!

We prayed and God further comforted me through her wonderful prophetic words. She didn't know what was wrong, but God did- and He spoke through her.

{DOES GOD SPEAK?}

When I got home I just wanted to take time to feel better. So I cleaned my home, so that I could feel peaceful :) Then I laid on my bed and prayed. I opened up my Bible and it just opened to the book of Zechariah. This was actually the 2nd or 3rd time I had just opened up to it in the past couple of days....

Have you ever done that? Just opened up your Bible and let The Word speak to you? ... I like to do that a lot. Some people might think that is silly or irresponsible, but I trust that God will speak to me every time, and the more "random" it is, the more I hear God's voice! :)

There was a reason I kept opening to Zechariah... but I didn't know it. So I read it and I fell asleep- and took a nice little nap.

My night was wonderful. All things that stirred up during the day had calmed and I was finally healed and resting in God's arms.

{OK, GOD- YOU'VE GOT MY ATTENTION}

I woke up today to come and write. Of course before I began I opened up my Bible... Guess what I opened up to?

You guessed it! Zechariah....

Now by this time....GOD'S GOT MY ATTENTION....

And as always... God is NEVER late with getting through to His people... He knew how many times I'd need to see this random page opened up for it to catch my eye.... He also had a perfect plan with WHY He was showing it to me and WHY I had the experiences I had the previous day...

Before I tell you how God spoke to me through this. . . I'll tell you this: My experiences the day before led me to believe God wanted me to share my experience with our Pastor. Our Pastor is also one of our closest longtime friends, and a wonderful understanding man. I felt God had given me that experience for a reason- and now it is confirmed...

In March God had given me a WORD of GROWTH about our church. God laid it on my heart to pray that it would grow 5 times in 6 months! ... Now I didn't know for SURE if that was GOD speaking, or if I just "randomly thought of some numbers".... Well after a couple of months of just trusting it was a word from God and praying it into existence. God showed me something significant about it. . . 5 times would equal about 100 people-- (and once you break 100 the growth explodes- which I didn't know) ... and the 6 month mark would be our ONE YEAR mark of the birth of our church! .... Now TELL ME that's not significant.... and I'm telling you- its NOT a coincidence... as I continued to pray about this growth- God also spoke to me about how He was going to grow the DEPTH of the church... That He wanted the people in leadership of our little church to grow in great depth before He would expand the church. There was a period of time shortly after this prophecy that our church began to grow rapidly. In one month we went from about 20 people, to 35, and the next week to 48! It was amazing! And after this, it was back at a steady 20.... But it didn't discourage me. As I prayed about it God spoke to my heart and said ' I was showing you how rapidly I will be growing your church- now it is time to focus on your depth' ...

{BEING HIS HANDS AND FEET}

Woo! Believe me, we want DEPTH! What's the point of the Christian life without depth!? We don't gather every Sunday to PLAY CHURCH- We are called to LIVE LIKE JESUS.... which leads me back to what I felt like God wanted me to share....

I felt God wanted me to encourage our Pastor to encourage the flock to not be afraid to be the hands and feet of Jesus... going through my distraught state was an interesting experience. Now I'm not sure if most people didn't really notice, or if they were too afraid. I don't know for sure. But I know that I am close with MOST of them- and I know I was trying to avoid them because I didn't want to disturb their time of worship or preparing to worship... BUT... I felt that I had an encouragement for our small body of believers. That we need to have the COMPASSIONATE EYES OF JESUS...Because even though I was close with them I was STILL trying to avoid them, even though deep down I wanted their comfort.

If I were a stranger in that service, I could have felt alone, or ashamed of my uncontrollable weeping and may have left because of my discomfort. And how much more awkward is it (IN OUR FLESH) to approach someone who is broken or crying when we don't know them? BUT.... here is the wonderful thing. God used Rosie to comfort me. And not only her, at the end of the service I was approached by a wonderful woman in our church, Dana. She approached me with a big hug and an invitation to prayer. God does work wonderfully through His body if we allow Him.... Again- it's that sensitivity to The Holy Spirit...

Now I'm not expecting every person to come running to me asking me what was wrong. But God gave me HIS eyes this morning... what if a seriously hurting person walked through the doors of our church? What if they didn't know the power of God? What if they were hurting much worse than I was? Would they KNOW the LOVE of GOD through our actions? Most hurting people would try their hardest to mask it- they would put their guards up- they would probably not admit their hurt even if you asked how they were doing.... Now here comes our job as God's people to put on the COMPASSIONATE EYES OF JESUS.... If we allow The Holy Spirit to lead us, He will show us people who are hurting. Body language can tell you a great deal!
I urge you my brothers and sisters- WHEN you see a hurting person (not if you do) ... Don't be afraid to approach them with boldness and a hug. Don't be afraid to say, "ok, let's go pray-" or "whats going on".... Just REACH OUT... because PEOPLE NEED THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!

{THE WORD OF THE LORD- ZECHARIAH} 

{{. . . Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith The Lord of hosts. . . 'when you fasted. . . did you all fast unto me? . . . for the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to posses all these things}}Zech. 4:6, 7:5, & 8:12}
As I opened up my Bible to this one place again- God had gotten my attention, so I began to ask Him why He was showing this to me?

I looked and saw there are 3 main underlined sections that I had previously marked. Briefly looking I saw this theme.... Not by might, nor by power, but BY MY SPIRIT, says The Lord.... Fasting for God.... and INCREASE....

As I looked at these 3 areas on the page in front of me, it was suddenly illuminated. God was telling me something... .That the prophecy was again confirmed... He WAS going to bring INCREASE to our church- He would do it by us FASTING as a church, and it wouldn't be by our might or power, but BY HIS SPIRIT! ... WOW!

{AN EVEN DEEPER REVELATION} 

As I read more thoroughly an even deeper revelation began to reveal itself! In Chapter 7 verse 1 it says "...The Word of The Lord came unto Zechariah in the FOURTH day of the NINTH month" ...

Guess what today is? .... June FOURTH.... and it is our NINTH MONTH of the existence of our church! ....

SERIOUSLY?????

Tell me that doesn't spark your interest?? Tell me you don't get chills...

GOD IS ALIVE!

As I read further He spoke even more... In the same chapter in verses 9-10: "Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassion- EVERY ONE to his brother (or sister) ... and do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart" ...

Now I don't know about you, but I'd say that ties in pretty well with what God already laid on my heart about having the COMPASSIONATE EYES OF JESUS...