Love

Wow how God has comforted me and provided guidance for me through His word lately. Last week I found myself struggling, with homework to do, trying to decide whether or not to quit my job, missing my family, everything seemed to pile on as a burden. But as He promises God always brings us out of the darkness and into the light. He will provide for us no matter where we are or what we're going through because He is the author of our storybook.

This morning I woke up and read Romans 12:9-21. The focus is love, my favorite subject. I love to be in love and I don't mean like in the movies. I mean honest love. The love God has for us and gives to us. Love that never fails. Romans 12:9 (NIV) says "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." It just so happens that this verse is also the KLove verse of the day provided in the New Living Translation says "Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good." I love the simplicity of the NLT verse, it is straight forward and real, something that is easy for me to understand and apply to how I live and love.

"Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them." To me this means not just saying you love someone but really loving them with the love you receive from our Father. This love is unconditional and honest, without hesitation. How many times to do overuse love in the day? It's become normal to say "I love that song," "I love that class," "I love the cake I made." Is this true love? Do you really love it or do you just like it? Same goes for relationships. Guard your hearts. Professing you love someone means you really love them. Once again I think back to 1 Corinthians 13, all the guidelines of what love is. To be honest, I don't trust myself in saying that I have loved unconditionally in past relationships. But now that I am living a life with Jesus in my heart I trust that God will provide for me a spouse that I can love unconditionally. I'm simply waiting on Him to correct my heart so that I can love my beloved in the way that He does.

"Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good." There are so many things that are wrong in this world. Things that push us away from God and His plan for us and lead us into sin. We are to hate these things and in doing so run away from them. We all know what is right and wrong, we all have a conscience and have been taught what is ethical. So why would you stay in a situation that leads you to sin, that separates you from God? Instead of sticking with the things that lead you to sin, hold tightly to what is good. Currently, I am holding onto my friends from Chi Alpha and my Rivercity church families that are continuing to grow each day. I hold tight to my Bible, sometimes literally in this Fargo wind! I hold tight to my purity and the new life I have in Jesus. I never want to be who I've been but instead continue to grow in faith and be an example of Christ's love.

God's love is unconditional, limitless, and the best promise we've been given. He will love us no matter where we've been or where we are. He will lift us out of our pit and will bring us into the light as we learn to live out His will for us.

Thank you Jesus for your life and for the perfect example you are of God's love. Give me your heart, help me to love like you. Because I want to be completely in love with you. Amen.

David, A King But A Human None-the-Less

David, the king of Israel, is someone we look to in the Bible as a "Godly man," someone who is a model of loving like God. Yet David had is fair share of worldly problems, and wasn't always close to God. He saw a lot of heartache and fell into a deep depression when he was being hunted by Saul. Saul wanted to kill David, so David fled. Then as Saul got closer to David, he would be forced to flee again. The poor guy is getting chased everywhere and takes refuge in a cave. I would assume he had a lot of time to devote to prayer and meditation while in solitude.


David was an author of 73 of the psalms. Some psalms are joyous and uplifting of praises and thanksgiving to God, others express deep emotions about some of the author's most rock-bottom times. This morning I was lead to Psalms 69-71, written by David when he was obviously seeking freedom from a pit of depression. In Psalms 69 David is crying out to God to save him from the depression he is facing. He turns to God for deliverance because he knows God can raise him up, he's trusting in Him. As I read this my heart aches just imagining the amount of people who are sinking in a pit and who do not know Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer.


Throughout the Psalms, David goes from depressed to joyous, from hopeless to hopeful, from complaining about his current situation to relying on God to take lift him up. How many times do we flip flop between being happy to sad, from being motivated to lazy, from being lifted up to sinking in a pit. David is every bit human yet parts of his story exude God. David had God in his heart and let God be in control, he knew God would not give him more than he could handle so he trusted and waited on God.


When we are in times of depression, sorrow, grief, despair we are to turn to God for redemption, salvation and healing. God can clean any wound, heal any scar, and strengthen your spirit no matter what your past. Because "What is impossible with man is possible with God." Luke 18:27

Who Are You Trying To Please???

God is so good! The Bible, God's word, is a manual of how to live our lives pleasing to Him. The Lord led me to 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12, I didn't realize how much guidance a 5 chapter book could provide. Living to Please God. The first verse of chapter four says, "We instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more." For me this verse is saying, "Yeah you've got the concept, now work harder to live in a way that pleases your Father."

This urge to please God brings me to Galatians 1:10 "Am I trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." As Christians we should be living to serve Christ, if we desire to be servants of Christ we cannot try to please men but must be trying to please God. Similar to my post about the 21 Day "Read Your Bible" Challenge, I can always find some sort of excuse to do something other than spend time with God. There are so many things that I can fill my time with that are not pleasing to God. Ignoring the fact that my Daddy wants to spend time with me creates a space that allows Satan to come between us. When I'm not spending quiet time with God each day, Satan finds ways to sneak in and warp my thoughts or even my heart. As I desire to spend eternity with my Father in Heaven, I will work to live in a way that pleases God.

Getting back to 1 Thessalonians, Verses 3-5 focus entirely on sexual immorality. Living in a society where sex is used to sell everything, even diapers, sexual pressures from the media and our peers is hard to ignore. But if we want to please God we must lead pure lives. Verses 7-8 say, "For God did not call us to be impure but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit." If we are not living a pure life, we are rejecting God. And our Father in Heaven punishes us just as our earthly fathers punish us. To avoid punishment, most likely from both fathers, like a pure life, spend time to learn from Jesus' example.

Verses 9-10 mention how we have been taught by God to love each other which led me to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." What an awesome gift God has given us by loving us! "Love never fails," and since God is love, He will never fail! God is wanting us to love on others in the same way He loves on us.

Verses 11-12 are to the point in saying we should lead a quiet life and to mind our own business. In doing so we will gain the respect of others and will not be dependent on anybody. So let us live our lives dependent on God alone, working to please Him alone. Trusting in Him that he will provide for us, no matter what.

God Bless!
~Paige

21 Day "Read Your Bible" Challenge

Sometimes I catch myself making excuses for why I'm too busy to pick up my Bible to read. "I've got too much homework, Glee is on tonight, I should really do some laundry, Sammy asked me to hang out," the list is endless. But last night at my Chi Alpha small group I realized how important reading God's word really is to me. Thinking back on times where I've read my Bible in the morning, my day seemed to always go better. Even if something negative did happen, my reaction was more positive and I handled difficult situations with more grace. I'm starting a 21 Day "Read Your Bible" Challenge along with the members of my small group. I encourage you to do the same. 21 days, 3 weeks, each day just taking 5, 10, maybe 20 minutes to read the Bible. As I'm typing this I just decided in order to keep me accountable, I will be posting what I'm reading and where God is using it each day.

God Bless and Read On!!!!
~Paige