in the love of Christ

“Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” Acts 5:38-39 I just came upon this passage. I have been praying for the Lord to reveal a few things to me, specific things pertaining to how His will gets carried out and how humanity plays a role. I believe He has showed me a little bit. In this story, the apostles are being persecuted for following a command of the Lord that had given to them by angels. While the apostles stood before the Sanhedrin, Peter said, “We must obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29) The apostles are explaining that they have to do what the Lord commanded them over all the advice, the statutes, and the desires of any man, including themselves. In this situation, that meant putting themselves at risk for persecution. But they followed God anyway. Aft...

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” Romans 12:9-11 “Love must be sincere.” I was reminded by one of my morning devotionals just exactly what “sincere” means. The word “sincere” translates to “without wax”. Long story short, when clay pots got cracks, back in the old days, they became useless because they could no longer hold water. The people selling pots would fill the cracks with wax making them appear to be good. So when a person got a pot that had no wax and no cracks, they called it a sincere pot. I really don’t know what to say, other than that I know I have days when my love isn’t quite sincere sometimes. Some days, when I am running late to class, stressing about school work, worrying about what I won’t get done today, I can feel that the love I shared with my friends, family, or boyfriend was ...

I read a tweet this morning. It was the first thing I read when I woke up. It was a tweet from Max Lucado (the sad part is that I check my twitter right after my morning prayer). Max said “When God gives an assignment, He deposits the ‘want to’ and the ‘can do’ in the same heart.” Yesterday, I was faced with a situation I have never been in before. A friend asked me to accompany her to the hospital and I immediately jumped up, knowing that this was no accident. But the situation was one I have never faced. This world is so broken and full of hurt that I am sure I will be forced to face it again someday, but hopefully not soon. I spent about four hours in a hospital with the strong desire to stand up and tell the person how valuable they were, how great God’s love is for them, how purposeful and intentional their life is!! But I did not stand up and shout (that would have been strange). I also did not stammer through words or wonder what to say because, when the moment was right for the...

My mind is on a hamster wheel right now. It is constantly trying to catch up. I asked God to guide me to a reason for my desire to just reach out and touch, spiritually, certain people. God has definitely led me to a few new friendships recently that I am so very excited about! There is a fire in my heart to have deep conversations and delve into the lives of these new friends. This is where my Father led me: “Jesus answered them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’” Luke 5:31-32 I love it when God just lays the perfect verse in my lap (which He often does when I am honestly seeking Him and His will). This, for me, showed me exactly why it is that I desire such deep friendship with these new friends and also why I feel the need to communicate with God about them constantly. I just want to lock myself in the closet and pray for my friends all day long! Each and every one of them is at a different poin...

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well .” Psalm 139:13-14 (emphasis mine) This morning, God planted this verse in my devotional and I truly was reminded, and am still reminded, of how amazing my Father is. I have been struggling with physical appearance and also some personality traits of mine that seem a little… weird to me. But, it is no surprise to me that God reached down to pat me on the back and remind me that I am talking and feeling poorly about His creation. The truth is that God did create my inmost being and He did none of it on accident. God did knit together all of my parts, proportions and all, in my mother’s womb and none of it was on accident! I am fearfully made because if I were to sit and think about all of the intricacies that went into my creation or a...

Today, as I spent some time alone with God in the laundry room, I studied Deuteronomy 4. Deuteronomy 4:19 says, "And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven." Can you say kick in the FACE!?! Is Moses saying that the stars and the moon and the sun, absolutely astounding gifts from God, could ever be worshiped in the place of God? It doesn't seem to make too much sense to me to worship things that I know and recognize were God's creation. But how often do I recognize that my education, my computer, my family, and many other things in my life are simply God's blessings in my life, in the same way that the heavens are a gift from God that He "has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven". I think that, to the Israelites, Moses said ...

Tonight I sang at my friend Paige's church revival and listened to the visiting preacher talk about the story of Philemon and the need to express the love of Christ to everyone, especially non-Christians. But something else was rolling around in my head. The pastor said something about the changes that happen when you become a Christian, how you become a different person. The idea that hit me and hasn't left me since was that I don't ever want to stop being a different person. What I mean is that today I am a different person from who I was yesterday. This afternoon I was a different person from who I was this morning and now I am a different person than who I was this afternoon! I hope that continual change remains just that: continual. This may seem confusing but hold on just a second. What I am trying to convey is that, in every moment, I hope and pray that I am getting closer and closer to God and understanding His will and with every step I take closer to my Heavenly F...