THE LOVE OF GOD

God's love surpasses human love so much that it cannot even be compared to human love. Often His love can be limited by our human thinking or what we know of human love. Our love can be tainted because of circumstances i.e. things that have happened to us or how we were raised and it can affect our view of God's love to us.

The love of God can't be taken from us, but we can lose His love from our hearts - we ourselves can remove His love from us whether through misunderstandings or selfish reasons. When you have God's love in your heart, doing something wrong is strongly felt because His love is so strong that you don't want to displease Him and when you do, it hurts. Yet, God's love is greater than the mistake. It takes a lot to get away from God's love - namely, doing something that you KNOW is wrong - overstepping the boundaries God has set for us.

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not." (1 John 3:1)

"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous: And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:1-2)

A Saint
There is a lot of talk about “Saints” in the religious community. Some pray to saints, some feel that you can only become a saint after you die, and some think that there are saints for certain days and events. The discussion of saints could continue for quite some time.
The Bible also discusses saints in many instances, but these are all among the living. Many of the writers in the New Testament address those in the Church of God as saints, those that are called to follow Christ. They became a saint while they were alive and are not held above any other that chooses to serve God also. That is what a saint is, one who has accepted Christ as their savior and has determined in their soul to follow him.
Now you ask, how can one become a saint? In a very simplified formula, one first needs to recognize a need within them self. Why are you going to look for something if you are completely satisfied? Once one has recognized their need, they need to want and be willing to change. It is sometimes easy to see that one needs to change, but are they willing to do so? Then if both of those conditions are met, repentance needs to follow. This is to ask for forgiveness without reservation for what may come ahead, completely letting go and submitting one’s life to God willing to forsake and turn away from the past life of sin and go on to live without sin with God’s grace. Throughout this process of becoming a saint, God is faithful to guide and direct if we truly seek his will.

The Master Planner

Proverbs 16:9

We have been given free will, above plants & animals which only utilize instinct, not choice. Choice is part of God's plan for the human race.

Joshua 24

God fought for Joshua, but He required that He be put first. He demanded "choose ye this day whom ye will serve." He demanded that a choice be made. Once we choose God, He has a plan & a path for each & every one of us.

While we all have a choice in what we do with our lives, let us be careful to always seek God's direction. Present your plan to God. Does He direct? Proverbs 3:4-6 expresses that, although we have a choice, we need to be diligent & faithful to God's direction.

Deut 30:19

God wants us to trust Him, but He also wants us to put forth an effort to plan for our own lives, while seeking His will. Trust God, but plan for yourself. Let us not fail to recognize God as the Master Planner.

Prayer
Pray without ceasing
1 Thess 5:17
God wants us to pray to him & keep him 1st and don't get caught up with the things of the world.
Get in the habit of praying, Matt. 6:5
Pray alone & give God his time, God wants us to pour out our soul
Watch how you are giving your life to God. Stand before God in prayer every day because you never know what that day may bring.
Serve God in prayer.
When we come to God alone God will hear our prayer.
Without prayer we are living an independent life. When we get up in the morning we need to depend on God to help us throughout our day.
Don't let your prayers be repetitious. Praise him in prayer.
Serving God will naturally lead to having a burden for souls.
Are we asking for Gods guidance & wisdom in our prayers.
Are we asking for Gods direction in every path or are we only asking direction on some things.
Are we praying like a hypocrite & only praying when someone is watching?
Don’t be ashamed of the gospel don't be a hypocrite
Our prayer is the secret of communion. Make prayer more special.
When we pray turn off everything of the world, your thoughts & communicate with God.
Get to your prayer closet & have communion with God.

John 15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

What distracts you from abiding in Christ? Is it your job? Is it your social life? Is it your future plans? It is easy to abide in Christ when we are under pressure, or when we need God to intervene. But is it a genuine invitation if we only desire to abide with Him when we are in times of need? Abiding in and with Christ should be a continual effort. God doesn't want us to abide with him when it is convenient for us, or when we are ready to put aside time for him. He wants to abide in us always. Make it your determination to abide in Christ whenever and wherever you are.

1Timothy 6:6
But Godliness with contentment is great gain.
Content (To Be) Contentment:
To be content with what you have, could also mean to be self-sufficient, needing no assistance or adequate.
One of Gods lessons for us in life: Contentment.  How do we find Contentment or learn to be content? We must make that choice.  To be content is not always easy, but we must learn how to be happy with the things God has given us, instead of those things which he has not.
There are many examples in the bible you can look to on Contentment: Ruth who left her people to do the will of God is one of my favorite examples.
Ruth 1:16: Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go and where thou lodges’ I will lodge: thy people shall be my people and thy God my God.
How is that an example of contentment? She was content to do Gods will and knew where her help was.     
Jesus our savior is another example.  By bearing the cross of our sins, he had to be content.
Matthew 26: 38
Then he said unto them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here and watch with me. And he went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: but never the less not as I will, but as thou wilt.
If God never gave you what you wanted out of life could you still be content?

There is a time for everything. The Ecclesiastes writer explains this to us.

Ecclesiastes 3:8  A time to love…

The time to love, is NOW.

Quality Time

The one that understands love though the language of “Quality Time” desires more than just being in the same general space. They want to be together focused on something that is enjoyed with full attention. In a book our class is studying, "The five Love Languages" the author Dr Chapman reiterates, " A central aspect of quality time is togetherness. I do not mean proximity…Togetherness has to do with focused attention." But on the other hand, quality time is not gazing into each there’s eyes for hours on end, it is doing or discussing something of importance.

Like with all other languages, quality time has different dialects: quality conversation and quality activities.

Quality conversation or “sympathetic dialog” focuses on drawing each other out and listening to what is being said with out interrupting or voicing your opinion, unless requested. It can be about ones day, or other topics that are of interest to you. But during the conversation, either partner can’t be doing something else, that would not be considered quality time. Our focus needs to be on one another and not other tasks at hand.

Quality activities usually have a task involved that is enjoyed by one or both parties, but that is done in love. This dialect can be spoken through cleaning the car, taking a walk, or building a bookshelf, always together. Again there is an emphasis on being focused on each other, more than the task at hand. You goal is to your loved one that you love them.

Love is a CHOICE. We have to choose to love.

This allows us to decide how we are going to treat those around us that we profess to love.

When we are wronged we have a choice, to get even or to forgive.

Love makes requests not demands. When you make a request you give someone an opportunity to choose to express their love when they perform your request. When you demand, the deed is done out of duty and not love.

Words of Affirmation

All throughout the Bible, we are admonished to consider our words. Proverbs 18:21 reads, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” What we say and how we say it can greatly affect our relationships.

To someone that has the love language of “word of affirmation” words are the most important thing. Not only just the words that are spoken but how we say them.

Affirmation – to assert strongly, declare, announce openly, state as a fact

If you know someone that understands love through the language of “Words of Affirmation”, affirming words can be spoken in different manners. They can be said to your loved one or they can be spoken to others about that loved one when your loved one is present and when they aren’t.

Look around you; do some of your loved ones speak the language of “Words of affirmation”? Have you loved them today?

It is a natural desire in each and every one of us, to want to love and be loved. However many today are in relationships in which true love is lacking. This often is the cause for much of the heartache and endless searching that we see around us.

John 13:34-35

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

God commands us to love one another. In order for us to communicate our love one to another we need to know and understand how they understand love. When we take the time to learn how others receive love, we get to a deeper level of communication and relationship with them. Learning the "Love Language" of those we choose to love will help us to effectively communicate our love to them. However, if we don’t make that effort we can attempt to show them love that they cannot understand.

Love is a choice.

We have the example of Christ, choosing to show his love to us by dying on the cross and rising again for our sins. He didn’t have to go through with God’s plan, and how different our lives would be today, but he made the choice, he said "Not my will, but thine."

We can choose to love those around us. And in making this choice, we make the commitment to learn how they receive love, to learn their love language, so that our love is communicated effectively.