Loving My Neighbor 2/14/2012

Happy Valentines Day!

How's your love life today...if you are measuring with a thermometer...or some other gauge...are we suffering long?  being kind? not thing evil or holding grudges? or??

All this week as I've been preparing...meditating on Agape love...described in 1 Cor. 13, I've been hearing...

So what if you are loving those who love you? What about the unloving? What about the unlovely?

Today, as I began typing here, and began to turning through Luke, thinking I will find Jesus telling the disciples not only to love the LORD with all their hearts, souls and minds...but to love their neighbor as themselves.

There as I turned the page was what I was just telling you about.  It is found in Luke 6, and...beginning in verse 31, it says:

"And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those  from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil."


God always comes through..I'm looking...seeking...and I might  not find immediately...but He always makes sure that I find what I'm seeking...even if a bit later. :)


Pretty wonderful, huh? God is not telling us just to practice love with our family...or with friends who appreciate and return our love.  He even tells us to meet the need of people with no expectation of their  returning the favor, or the book, or give not loan.  He tells us we are the head and not the tail.

Listen to what happened to me several years ago...

LOVE:

I recently attended a seminar of a mentor of mine.  I’m not sure if you’ve heard of her before, Beth Moore, whose book, Praying the Word and her Bible Studies – too many to name – have blessed my socks off over the years.  Beth said, “I want everyone meeting with us today to memorize 1 Corinthians 13, the LOVE chapter.”

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 

When presented with this charge, I was taken back in my memory to a particular moment in time.  I was shopping in a local department store. I was buying a birthday card when I heard, a woman crying “Oh no!  It’s not possible!” 

   

Very much not like me, I moved close enough to hear what she was saying and not look like I was listening. I could hear my thoughts, What are you doing? Eavesdropping? It’s not your business. 

Something about her helplessness kept me listening.  Her scenario: She left her money at home.  Instead of her pocketbook, she only had the diaper bag.  She explained to the check-out clerk,  I live too far away to go home and return for the things my husband needs for the wedding he’s in, tomorrow.

Suddenly, I found myself saying to this total stranger, Let me pay for the items.” 

She said, “You can’t.  I need over $200".  

I said, “You’ll pay me back – right?” 

She said, “Yes, of course, but no one does this.” 

I said, “The LORD does!  He had me eavesdrop in order to let you know how much He loves you. Now, If you ever see a young woman in distress, you must be her help in time of trouble."

I love the hymn, Make Me a Blessing, and, that day, the Lord had made me a blessing to this young woman. I gave her my address and telephone number. 

A few days later, I received a phone call from her husband.  

He said, "I just needed to speak to you because I wasn’t sure that you were not an angel."

I received Christmas cards from the young couple for awhile.  Though we’ve lost touch,  I’ve never doubted for a moment, since that day, that God is Love, and that I can freely give that love to others. How great is that!  

Freely, I have received love.  Therefore, I freely love and so can you!

Love you much!

Teddi

This article appeared in UNC Magazine -- UP In Cumming (GA) last year.  Author, Teddi Holt (me)

LOVE a Strange Word

I wrote this awhile back, but it seemed very fitting for this Bible Study, especially with Valentine's Day tomorrow...let me know what you think...:) <3

Love the Lord your God with all your heart!  Love your neighbor as yourself.  Let the older women teach the younger women to love their husband and their children…that the Word of God no be blasphemed.  Love your enemies.  What a strange word is this word LOVE. 

I love your shoes!  I love Mexican food!  I love that recipe.  I love my dog.  I love that dress.  I love working.  I love babies.  I love to read.  I love to exercise.  I love strawberries.  Again, the word LOVE  is not easily understood.

The Apostle Paul, who wrote for us 13 books of our Bible, wrote for us the Love Chapter.  Beth Moore, a precious woman of God, who ministers through her conferences, books Bible Studies, etc., was here in Atlanta last April.  In conclusion, she gave her audience a charge to memorize it.  To memorize this chapter, just like I memoized Psalm 91, I must pray it every day.  So since that day, we women who pray daily the prayer blanket have prayed 1 Cor. 13. 

Paul begins by declaring to us that regardless of all the wonderful things we do, without LOVE, we’re nothing.  Then, beginning with verse 4 and continuiing through the beginning of verse 8, Paul gives us the character traits of LOVE:

When we read the love chapter, we wonder, we have to ask the question, Do we love anyone? Are we patient and kind with everyone in our life?  Are we patient and kind with anyone 24/7.  I mean, it’s easy to love someone who loves us back.  It’s easy to love affectionate, appreciative, encouraging people, but haven’t we been told we are to love the unlovely?  The Lord said, in Matthew 5, 46, “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?”  Stranger and stranger is this word LOVE. 

Love is a fruit of the Spirit.  Or is it a fruit? Years ago, I was shown a Truth in the Word that has blessed my socks off!  The one sharing this mystery with me was an evangelist, and he said there should be a colon after love in Galatians 5: 22-23.  He said it should read: But the fruit of the Spirit is love: joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

                                 

Love,  I believe is the fruit of the Spirit, and the other eight are characteristics of Love.  1 Corinthians 13 backs that up.  We can take all the things that love is, and we can lay it side by side with the 8 characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit.
                                  

As we read more in the Word about fruit, the Lord says that we are not to only bear fruit, but He has so planned for us to bear much fruit!  He tells us that the way we are to know each other – the body of Christ or the brethren – is by our fruit.  A good tree can’t bear bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t buy good fruit. We are even to know the brethren -- other believers -- in one scripture it says, by our fruit, in another, by their love.

Speaking of love, John, the beloved disciple, tells us, He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4: 8).  We love Him because He first loved us, He who loves God must love his brother also (1 John 19 & 21). 

There are so many precious promises regarding God's love.  1 John 5: 3 says, For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.  Verse 4, Whatever is born of God, overcomes the world.  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

In order to keep God's commandments, we must abide in His Word, hiding it in our hearts that we not sin against Him.  Abide means to stay.  Therefore, we seek the Secret Place of the Most High, abiding in His Word every day, so that He gives us the desires of our hearts.

Fruit trees bear fruit.  Inside, there are many seeds, each representing a tree with fruit.  When we internalize all this, meditating – eating the Word – then that Love grows in us, molding and making us in His image. We are now, living epistles.  We abide in the vine – the LOVE – Jesus who is God – and He abides in us, and we ask what we will and it will be done for us!  

Very important to note is that if we plant a seed, we expect the kind of the tree to reproduce itself.  In the Garden, in the beginning with Adam, plants and animals, including man, reproduced after their kind.  In other words, if I plant squash, then, apples are not going to come up.  In order to reap apples, I must sow apples.  In order for me to reap love, I must sow love -- which includes all the characteristics in this chapter.

Now, that I know this, I must share what I know.  The Lord declares to the elder women in the Church to teach the younger women to love their husbands and children and describes how.  

If I say I love my husband, am I patient and kind 24/11?  Am I not jealous or boastful or proud or rude?  Do I not demand my own way? (this hurts) Am I never irritable?  Do I keep no record of being wronged -- thinking no evil?  (this probably is the bog down in all of us -- for if we are not forgiving and forgetting as our Lord does, we are holding up our on answers to prayer).  We must never give up!  We must never lose Faith!  We must always be hopeful and endure through every circumstance! 

LOVE = Obedience 2/11 /2012

Today's study is shorter...I mean it is Saturday... and freezing outside here in Atlanta, Ga....and I am by here with only me and the LORD...

I have to do some catchup on my other Bible Studies...but He's been prioritizing things for me...prayer, and wwpray ministry 1st...then SHINEGIRLS (daily study and most days communication..then Sheila Walsh's study about promises...then Sharon Jaynes...also catnap...and maybe time to crochet...that doesn't include household things...

Laugh out loud!!! I'm about the busiest retired woman I've ever known...but I bet there are plenty like me!!! If you are about Your Father's business...that includes raising Godly children...or ministering Christ's LOVE at work... or from a sickbed...or from a wheelchair (like Jone Erickson)..

I'm just sooo full of GOD!!! His goodness and mercy is following me all the days of my life...because He is Who He says He is!!! He will Do what He says He will Do!! I am who He says I am!! I can do All things through Christ!! His Word is Alive and Active in me!!

I posted this on my wall...Womenwho Pray...on fb...today, inviting people to this LOVE feast.  I wrote:

The subject is LOVE...the LOVE (Agape)...LOVE feast as defined in Strong's Concordance. 

The LORD said Do...and in my self...I questioned:

"LORD, I'm in 2 Bible studies that I go to..once twice a month...the other 3 times a month...

and I'm participating in one on line...SHINEGIRLS...reading through the Word...much discussion...

I keep my grandgirl and I man this wall all day and many nights...praying much!

I awaken to pray early...praying and praising for 1 1/2 hours.

Do I really need to do a Bible Study online?

Well, obeying the LORD because there is not other way but obedience for me.

I'm 62 years old, and I can look over my life and see clearly that I've never received anything

but goodness and mercy and divine favor..doors open...heavens pouring out..and on and on..

if I will just DO what He says...even if I don't see...or if I don't feel like it...

He just is GOOD all the TIME!

Well, as always, I can't outdo Him. As I study each day, and I write on the blog, the anointing is

amazing...I have to move about my day...returning...and writing more ...until I complete...in fact, I

just have to stop and meditate! Just this week prayers have been answered...divine favor and open

 doors for just DOING the WORD! Just hearing my Shepherd and DOING HIS WILL!!

      *Favor for my son this week...that I have been asking for...twice in fact!

      *Divine Order in Secret Place of the Most High, sharing each A. M. with  who join me...

      *and today a young man who translated the Prayer Blanket into his language in India, and who         has printed in pamphlet form 1000 of them and is passing them out…

      *and another  young preacher in Pakistan who is declaring on his wall to all on fb that Pakistan         shall be saved, who wants to translate but doesn't have funds to print

       *Well, I am connecting them to be friends on fb…that one can share with the other.

       Glory! India and Pakistan shall be saved!! Woo Hoo!!

       *Also my dear mentor, sister, and friend posted on my wall this morning that she’s          looking forward to lunch with me! Thrills me to no end!

       All desires of my heart!                 

            Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart!

I think I’m getting it, LORD!  You have been so patient with me, LORD! Thanks for never leaving or forsaking me! Thanks for letting me see…and say, “Look what the LORD has done!!” J

Come join me…the anointing is something!!! Come as you are…when you can…follow/join me so you can comment and so I will know you are there.

Whether anyone comes or not…I must be about my Father’s Business.

You know when God blesses any ministry…it is from the top down. 

All involved received the blessings of the leader.

Freely I receive so freely I give!! Woo Hoo!!! Pour it out LORD!!! 

My cup is so full, I’m drinking from the saucer.  

J <3 xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Teddi

LOVE, a Verb (2/10/2012)

Leading in from our last lesson...isn't it wonderful to know that the love of God never fails!!! Love never fades!!

Years ago, I read The Spirit-filled Woman by Beverly LaHaye.  I learned from Beverly that I my temperament is sanguine. I can't possibly let you know all of what that means, but if I apply it to me, I can tell you that along with my love languages...and I have more than one...I've grown much in the LORD.

The sanguine temperament, as all 4 of the temperaments, has strengths and weaknesses. One of my strengths is that I am a people person...make friends easily...and have many, many friends.

Of course, I know now that the Word says that to have friends, we must show ourselves friendly.  Well, this is one of those areas that was easy to obey. Weaknesses that go with it are lack of self-control...laughing, talking, etc., too much.

I've been separate from some that may have been offended by me, or who might have offended me, and years may have gone by...and the LORD have us cross paths again...older and wiser...and be friendly again. 

Having had 3 sons....and looking forward to daughters in-law...I've now had more of them than I have sons...and I've had a hard time not being with those precious women brought into my life...and then taken out of it by divorce.  Even grandsons I had for awhile...I miss terribly...as they were grandsons by marriage..so now, not grandsons?

LORD, I said, "...but I'm a forever person!!!"  When I love someone, it is forever!!!

Now, I imagine the pain He walks in when any of His children walk away.

That's what a prodigal is!  It is one who has left his father's house...he's a lost sheep...was in the fold...now is out on his on...in the world. 

The prodigal or lost sheep can't prosper the way he/she should.  Out of the fold means not longer under the umbrella of protection...the blessings. 

I remember when the LORD was teaching me about this.  I was a mother with a teen-ager, a younger brother, and a pre-schooler.  I was in my 30's and just learning to walk this life of Faith....which by the way is the same as the love life.

Israel is our example of this life. If you look at the Deuteronomy 28-30...it is filled with...

...If you love the LORD thy God with all your heart ...and if you obey all that He has said to do...
then you are under the Blessing...and the list is humongous!!

...but...

...If you do not hearken (hear and heed) the Word of the LORD...then you are under the curse...
and that list may be longer than the blessing list.

Then, that precious Holy Spirit taught me through analogy..pictures I call them...because I am a visual person, and, as a teacher I had to use visuals for most of my students.

Holy Spirit reminded me of how I warn my children of things so that they would not be harmed.  For example, I might say, "Drive carefully.  Do not speed or run stop signs or run red lights, or......." Now, when he did not heed my warning...hearken to my voice..I did not go cause him to wreck.  I did not want him hurt so that I would be right.

God is the same.  The laws are already set in order:

"Now it shall come to pass that if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessingsshall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God...."  Many blessings listed... Deut. 28: 1-14

Now for the alternative....

"But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice ofthe LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:..."

God gives us choices...we are free to choose to obey Him or not...but woe unto us if not...for we walk under the curse..

There's just not a nice way of saying it...

Now, the wonder of God is that because we could not keep the law...and obey in every area....and if we broke one commandment, we broke them all...

So, His wonderful grace and mercy prevailed when He came to earth as a baby...and He died on the cross for us...and He arose, taking the sting out of death...and, forgiving all our iniquities....those past, present and future.....and healing all our diseases.

We claim the wonderful promises of Abraham because Jesus is in us and He's of the lineage of Abraham. 

We can't keep the law without Jesus, but with Him we can do all things! Jesus says to us in Matthew 22: 37-40 (I say us ...because we are the ones referred to by Jesus in the Garden  as those to come):

..."'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.  (found in Deut. 6:5) And the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' (found in Lev. 19:18).

Verse 40 says something extremely proufound! Listen closely saints:

"On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

Are you serious?  Jesus, we only have to love God with all our hearts and our neighbor as ourselves?  Wasn't our Savior simplifying this for us?

Well, yes...uhhhhh.....ummmmm....what do you think?

Go back a couple of days of this study.  Didn't Jesus say, If you love Me, keep My commandments?

You mean we have  to do something in order to reap these benefits?

Isn't that where sowing and reaping come together? If we sow, we will reap!

Years ago the LORD spoke these words to my heart as I wrote my one and only book, The Inner Woman of the Heart.  He said, "The DOER of the WORD reaps the HARVEST!" 

Let's see, that would be almost 30 years ago...because we published the book in 1984...made 100 copies...very expensive in those years...and sold them at market price...lost money...but learned so much as I had to live it to write it...and sold them all. 

James, the brother of Jesus, in the 1st chapter of his only book says in verses...well, I was going to say 22-23, but it starts with but so now I have to look back..let's see...to a beginning word.  We'll look at 17-27:

Every good and perfect gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirrror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.

Pure undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Whew!!!

I must stop...ponder...meditate...chewing and chewing this scrumptuous meal...much meat here!

Loving all of you....

Teddi

LOVE Never Fails! (Feb 8-9 2012)

Hey, I started this...and I studied to write this...but I just plain ran out of time.  Wednesday is a day that I practice LOVE by picking up my granddaughter ,who I keep every day, from pre-school.  Then, she stays with me through dinner, goes to AWANAS as I serve in ESL at my Church, and she comes home with me and spends the night.  Such fun for her Mimi and Pop!  Having a little one around me doesn't just keep me young, but she makes me smile!! I am full of joy with my grands around me.  Anyway, I ran out of day...so now I'm continuing what I started yesterday...

How's your love life? How are you doing with this chapter? I pray you are not only reading, but meditating on it day and night.  You know meditating on the Word, day and night, makes us (the blessed) like trees planted by the rivers of water, whose leaves do not wither, and whatever we do prospers. 
If we look at verse 6, of 1 Corinthians 13, we read:

(Love) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (KJV)

The Amplified Bible says it this way:

It (love) does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

If God is love, and if He so loved the world, that He gave us Jesus, His only begotten son, that whoever believes on Him will not perish but have everlasting life, then, we, His children, born in His LOVE and walking in His love, we don't have the right to be glad about anyone being treated unfairly or wrongly. 

We can only rejoice when right and truth prevail or we are out of line...we come out from under that umbrella of protection. 

Now, I know babes in Christ do a lot of things that I don't dare do.  If they did, they would shudder like I do, looking out for the lightening bolt. I know that it's not that clear as a bolt of lightening, it may come on me like a frog being boiled in water. I don't know I'm in trouble until...hellllppppppp!!

The babes in Christ, the young don't know better.  That's why the LORD says in verse 11...

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.


In the love chapter, Paul is not talking about immature love.  He is not describing a young believer.

Thank God! I mean He's talking about a mature love in this chapter. Agape love is a love we grow into!!!

We are loved with this love from Jesus from the beginning because He is the vine and we are the branches. As we grown in Him, as a branch we become the same size, shape, depth, etc., as He is.  I love analogies.  Branches of rivers also become as large as the source, making it very hard to tell the difference from the branch and the original.

Molded and made like Him!  Made in His image!  Christ in us the hope of glory!

Now for the clincher and thus the title of this post today...

LOVE NEVER FAILS!!!

Now, what do we think of when we here the word fail? We can fail a quiz, or test, or grade. We can fail at our marriage.  We can fail in our job.

It means something much more wonderful Church!! Read in the Amplified Bible:

Love never fails (never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to and end).


It's not just that God is Faithful and will not fail us..let us down...

He loves us and will keep on loving us...Forever and ever and ever and ever and .....EVER!!

This everlasting life that God has given us...is a LOVE life!!!!

We come in by believing on the LORD JESUS CHRIST and we enter a life of everlasting love!!!!

Freely it has been received! Jesus paid it all!  Therefore, we must freely give!!!

We can't outgive God! The more we sow into the Kingdom the more we reap!! 10-fold? 100-fold? We must sow bountifully to reap bountifully!!

Much has been given to us, so much is expected of us! The LORD says clearly that we can't not love our brother (physical or spiritual).  If we do, we are in darkness...blind...cannot see! We can't walk in light and have any unforgiveness.

Thanks be unto our LORD, JESUS CHRIST, for loving us first so that we can love Him back and love others!!

Our commandment...that supersedes all the law...is found in John 15: 12-14. John is quoting Jesus:

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you...."


Still meditating on His love!!

Teddi

Think no evil! (Feb 7 2012)

I'm in love...are words said often in our culture...

Is the word, love, a feeling? As a grammarian, I know what part of speech it is in that statement.  It is a noun and an object of the preposition in. 

In this case, you would be able to fall in love or fall out of love.  The world gives us people in the news and on all the social channels...sitcoms...movies, etc., all the time.

All of us know people who have left their mate because they are no longer in love.

As a young person, I mean elementary school through even high school I was in and out of love all the time. 

You decided you were in love based on qualities that you liked about the person...or because others thought they were wonderful..or for whatever reason.

If they dissapointed you, or came to a time when they did not meet your standard...or they didn't call...or hang around as much as I wanted them to...or if another one that also met my standard came by and called more or gave me more attention...there I'd go...falling in love, again.

Most of us have stories kinda sorta like this one...don't we?

Before I go any further on this note...let's pick up where we left off yesterday.

1 Cor. 5c..(NKJV)

....(love) thinks no evil.

Let's look at it under the microsope of the Amplified Bible.

...(love) takes no account of  the evil done to it (it pays no attention to a suffered wrong).

So, if I'm disappointed with someone's attitude toward me, or angry with the words said to me or about me or the actions displayed against me...then, there I am...I'm not loving.

If my feelings are hurt, then I'm paying attention to a suffered wrong. I'm taking account of evil done to me.  Now, notice, this does not say that I took it wrong and the person was innocent. It says that when someone misuses or persecutes or ignores me, lies about me, and I am suffering wrong...that I'm to let it go...like water off a duck's back.

Do I need to take it to a friend and discuss it?  No, looks like, except where that friend is at a point in their walk with the LORD, and can help you forgive and drop the wrong, then, you do not need to discuss with that person. Gossip is on the list of things that we are to put off  with all our other sinful behavior, as we put on the new man, in Christ.

Teeeeddddddddddddiiiiiiiiii.....Do you hear this?  You haven't been discussing, but you sure were not dropping.  Yes, LORD, I hear. Forgive me, when I pick back up any of the old man...when I veer off the path.  I thank You, LORD, for the Word that is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

You may wonder why I stopped to repent.  Well, as the teacher, here, I am required to live through what I teach...and I have so much of what I'm sharing...but I'm also supposed to let the WORD wash me.  Create in me a clean heart goes with the washing of water by the WORD. 

Take no account of evil done to me.  You mean, LORD, we can't count the number of times...going back to our memory where we stored the last time this person did us wrong...we can't add them together...and keep a record.  Why not?

Ephesians 4: 32 says,

Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.

As a child, I grew up hearing what is called the LORD's prayer, every where.  We prayed it aloud at our Baptist Church. We prayed it aloud at my grandmother's (Naunie's) Methodist Church.  We prayed it every day at school.  We also prayed it in public meetings. Amazing isn't it?

When did you last pray this prayer?  When we began praying the prayer blanket, almost 9 years ago, every day, we ended with the LORD's prayer...and still do until this day. 

In the Amplified, Matthew 6: 9-12  goes like this:

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven (left, remitted, and let go of the debts, and have given up resentment against) our debtors.

Whew!! I think that speaks for itself.  We ask God to forgive us the way we forgive those who trespass against us.

I think I'm stopping right here for today..because I believe that there are those among us who need to stop here and get some things in order.

I have had the blessing of being with teachers like Sandra Jones, Gloria Copeland (Ken's wife), books on forgiveness, etc.  I have had to practice forgiveness daily in my life, in order to pray every time I'm needed. We pray every day in the prayer blanket,

Whosoever's sins we remit (forgive) are remitted (forgiven), and whosoever's sins we retain are retained.

The Amplified Bible says in John 20:23:

(Now having received the Holy Spirit, and being led and directed by Him) if you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of anyone, they are retained.

Holy Moley! ...what my husband might say here.

You mean we are to not only forgive those who trespass against us in order to be forgiven, but we are to forgive the sins of others in order for them to be forgiven.

When I realized that this was a partnership...that my God...my Savior and LORD...my Redeemer...and my Friend...was asking for me to line myself up in order to agree with Him..to pray in accordance with His will...which is His Word...and then, He would answer my prayer. If I abide in Him, and His Word abides in me, then I ask and it shall be done for me. Where any 2 of us agree as touching anything on earth, we ask our Heavenly Father (according to His will...His Word) and He gives us our petitions.

This LOVE relationsip is something else...we are going to keep on letting ourselves be so LOVED by our Father that that LOVE spread abroad in our hearts will make us the disciples He has called us to be.  How will the world recognize us?  By our LOVE!!!!! 

Teddi

Lovest Thou Me? (Feb 6, 2012)

If you love Me, keep My commandments. John 14: 15. 

I haven't left 1 Cor. 13, not in the least, but just in case we thought that the LORD did not mean for us to LOVE...I mean, just in case, we thought that He will just bless us because we're His precious children...God actually requires us to grow up.

So, let's just look a little deeper here...

In order for me to apply the Word to me...to Teddi...to my life and what concerns me...I have to study ...to meditate on what I'm being told to do.

You see, if my Bible is my map..the Way..the Truth...and the Life, then, why would I veer...why would I want to turn left...or right??

I mean I'm not a dummy.  And I understand words...I mean I'm not just a teacher...I'm a word person! I'm a linguist! I mean I taught language arts...English to we older ones.  I taught words, and the meaning of words and how words were used. I'm a grammarian and a writer.

So, bear with me as I look deeper...I'm doing it and going to do it all by myself..or with one or 2 of you..or with as many as would like to join me...

1 Cor. sounds impossible for us...and we say LORD , you'll have to do this through us and somehow wait for Him to do something.

Friends...sisters in Christ...the amazing part is that He has done it! It is finished. I have to pick up the sword of the spirit...the WORD of God. I have to meditate on it for it to be a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

So, I must do what the Word says, in order to receive what it says I will.

In 1 John 5 says, in verses 1-3,

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

Going back to the gospel of John, Jesus says in verse 12, of Ch. 15:

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Verse 14 says,

You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you.

My prayer here is, LORD, I confess my sins of disobedience to You, coming to this understanding today, that where I am holding any disappointment or unforgiveness against anyone, I am not loving You because I'm not obeying You.  I am seeking a heart after God like David.  Thank You, LORD, for giving me the desire of my heart because I am delighting in You. I am repenting of disobedience to Your Word.  Where I've not loved anyone as You love me, I pray that You mend all the broken places and bind up all the hurt and wounded feelings.  Restore, LORD, relatioships in Jesus' Name.  Amen and Amen

You say in 2 places that the world will know us by our love, and it will know us by our fruit.  Our fruit is love, and Ch. 15, vs 12 of the Gospel of John says,

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Sisters, are we getting this? Are we understanding that LOVE is a verb and must be practiced whether we feel anything or not. Love is not a feeling.  It is a choice...a decision..

Now, let's look at 1 Cor 13: 4b-5

...love does not envy; love does parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil..(NKJV)

Reading in the amplified, it says,

...love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy, or fretful, or resentful...

Let's see...am I guilty of any of the above? Well, yeah...how about you?

Looks like I have some of those things better under control...at least for awhile...some things that I don't do as I did when younger...but I'm glad that Jesus is still working on me...

I know that my husband is glad...and that my Mama smiles (from Heaven)...when I don't stomp off and slam a door or slam down a phone...a not so long ago Teddi might have done any of those...

Let's see...unbecoming and unmannerly...guilty!!

Did I ever say aloud, "That's not fair!"? or did I have a self-protective stance arguing with my sibling, husband, parent...responding to buttons pushed? Guilty again!

Now, realizing, that as Sharon Jaynes, writier of The Power of a Woman's Words, is reminding us in another Bible Study I go to  twice a month, in this week's study...to put off the old man...and to put on the new man.  Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3 and Romans 6, all talk about this.

It's not like I haven't had a Bible all my life...from the crib. I just drank milk a very long time, and as Paul tells us that we are to grow up...that too many of us who should be eating meat are still drinking only milk...

Imagine in the physical realm...how uhealthy we would be...certainly malnourished!

Well, ladies...sisters in Christ...we as a Church...still want the pastor to feed us all we need...and it is insufficient.  Our spirit's may not be emaciated...or full of sickness and disease...or dead...but our spirit's may very well be only eating candy and snacks...or all fried foods...or we may just be lean and mean.

We are going to continue to discuss ...I'll continue to share until there's any discussion..or just someone that wants to share that she is being ministered to...refreshed...revived...renewed...or?

Love you in the LORD,

I'll be back tomorrow...We're going to study together...meditating on the WORD actually...gleaning all we can in order to apply the WORD to our life today. 

This is day 3...be sure to read days Feb 2nd and 3rd. 

Please join...we have 3 members as of the time I started writing this...and post this study on the walls of your sisters in Christ who could benefit from studying with us.

I'll be here daily...5 days mostly...more if the LORD leads...but you all have different schedules.

You may do all in one day...and then not be back for a day or 2.  It doesn't matter the time either.  I am doing another virtual Bible Study with Jill Hill at Shinegirls ... studying 1 Samuel...and I have loved that I can get on very early...or midday...or late...or miss a day and catch up. 

The meat is here, and I will be mincing and mashing...blending in a blender...etc,.. to help you in anyway I can to enjoy Jesus and all His commandments. When we walk with the LORD in the light of His WORD what Glory He sheds on our way. While we do His good will, He abides in us still...

The LORD has given us to each other challenge each other to walk in what we know.  When we know, then we must will to do.  Then, step 3 is to DO...the hardest of all steps.  We can know to do good, and we can want to do good, and we fall short of loving our JESUS, for He says, "He who loves Me, keeps My commandments."  Keeping His commandments means doing what He says.

Start...now...putting off whatever old man is still hanging on! and putting on more of the new man!!!

Sojourner with you,

Teddi