Love is a Choice

Love is a choice. It’s not something you have or you don’t have. It’s not something you can fall out of.  It’s something you choose to do. Love is something the Lord has commanded us to do.  In Deuteronomy 6:5 we are told 

“And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”  And in Matthew 22:39 

“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Jesus tells us that the 2 greatest commandments love thy God and love the neighbor.

If you follow the first 2 commandments you will obey them all because if you love thy God with all your heart, soul and mind you would not put any other God before him. You would not take his name in vain. You would not worship idols and you would obey the Sabbath and keep it holy and you would honor thy mother and father. If you would love thy neighbor you would not steal from them. You would not covet his wife or commit adultery with her. Bear false witness against or commit murder.

In Ephesians 5:25 the Lord commands husbands to love their wives.

“Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” 

 According to the U.S. census the divorce rate for 1st marriages is 50%. If wives would submit themselves unto their husbands as unto to lord as it states in Ephesians 5:22 and husbands would love their wives as the lord loves the church as is states in Ephesians 5:25 then the divorce rate would be drastically reduced.

We are told to love thy brother and I can think of no other way to state that than in 1st John 4:7-21.  Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.  In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us.  If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?  And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

Our ultimate goal is to be as Christ like as possible. It is not well enough to just love thy neighbor, we are told in Matthew 5:43-44 

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.'

It is not easy to love somebody who has done wrong to you. Whether it is a father abuses a child, an abusive spouse, or a stranger on the street robbing you. In 1st John 4:18

 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.'

 I know sometimes it can be difficult to love thine enemy. Instead of forgiveness you want revenge. Even sinners can love their own child. . Perfected love comes when the person knows God and believes the love that God has for him/her.    One of the greatest acts of love is to sacrifice yourself for another. The next time you are having trouble forgiving someone and loving them just remember the sacrifice our Lord gave to you when you were yet still a sinner.

If I am having trouble loving anyone then I need to meditate on knowing God and understanding the love He has for me.

Father, reveal yourself to me. I want to know You. Teach me who You are and help me understand the love you have for me.

Shout Joyful praises to God

Praise

Praise is mentioned about 596 times in the Bible. I’m just going to use Psalm 66.

Shout with joy to God, all the earth!

Sing the glory of his name;

make his praise glorious!

Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!

So great is your power

that your enemies cringe before you.

All the earth bows down to you;

they sing praise to you,

they sing praise to your name.”       Selah  Psalm 66:1-4

So we are told to (a) shout with joy, (b) sing the glory of His name, (c) make His praise glorious, (d) sing praise.

David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals. 2 Samuel 6:5

They were celebrating getting the ark of God back to the city of David.

So when did we stop giving God the praise He deserves? Isn't He doing wonderful things in our lives, in the lives of our family and friends that we should be celebrating?

Shouldn't we be celebrating His magnificence? His glory? His faithfulness? His forgiveness? His healing? His protection? And the list can go on and on.

In my opinion not only has ‘going to church’ become a habit, a religion; but so has the time of praise. We finally arrive at church after arguing with our flesh or spouse or children….that did not want to get up, it’s the only day they get to sleep…..or we are still thinking on the work we left on our desk Friday….or maybe we are dwelling on some gossip we heard and can’t wait to see if so and so shows up today. You name it, our minds; our desires are elsewhere so we go in and go through the motions. We sing the songs but are we really noticing the words and the meanings? Are we really singing these songs to God? Can you close your eyes and feel His presence and if you hear Him to tell you to lift your arms in worship to Him, will you do it or are you concerned about someone seeing you and ‘gossiping’ about you?

 

I know we are to do all things to glorify God, but when you read about how they praised Him in the Bible; it seems we have lost exuberance.

God has done so much for me that I want to make sure I’m giving Him all the glory every day of my life and when I come together with the body of believers I worship with – I want to be able to put our praises together and welcome His presence in our midst.

One day I was asking God why it felt heavy, like no one was really singing to Him, it was ‘habit’. And I heard Him ask me, ‘What do you want?’ And I told Him (while praise was still going on I stopped to write this down so I’d remember it).

     I want to go into a place of worship and if even one ounce of flesh is on me…..it falls off! There is so much passion for God and for His people that nothing else can come in – we leave our pride, selfishness, fear, sickness, gossip, etc at the door.

Then I heard the Lord clearly say to me, ‘If we don’t come really seeking Him we squelch the Spirit. If we can’t find and rest in His joy we are losing the Light. We are to praise Him with all our might, to know what we are singing and why, it is beautiful to Him.

I believe if you want to see a move of God’s power, we need to know what we are singing, why we are singing it and make sure we focus on giving God the praise.

(c)Has Breath Publishing LLC

Life of Praise

A Life of Praise

Psalm 34:1 says, “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in mouth.” 

Meditate on that scripture a moment.

Notice that David says that he will bless the Lord at all times, not just sometimes or not just when everything in his life was going great. 

David constantly had enemies pursuing him, yet David chose to bless the Lord at all times. 

How many of us are actually hiding from enemies that are out to kill us? 

The faith and trust in God that David had was pretty intense. David knew that the Lord was upholding him, no matter what the circumstances looked like.

Psalm 63:8 says, “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”

 David had a revelation of the importance of being close to God and not only that, but the importance of praising God. 

Some of us may have this idea that worship is in the sanctuary or worship is with music, but it is so much more than that. You can praise him with your mouth throughout the day whether you’re at work or in your car…anywhere. Notice that David didn't say he praised God when it was convenient or when he knew that he was safe from his enemy…no, it says that he would bless the Lord at all times.

I know that I need to work on this and I believe that the closer we cling to God that this will just be a natural product of that, but today I just want to challenge you to open your mouth more and praise God despite your surrounding circumstances. Know that God is with you and that He will never leave you nor forsake you. Remember that praise is an act of surrendering to God. 

Psalm 145:14 says, “The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.” There is something about bowing down and surrendering to God and living that life of praise that makes the enemy cringe. 

Album Party Faith Has A Voice

ALBUM PARTY

NOVEMBER 10TH

SATURDAY

3:00 pm

at

LIFE Church and Training Center

5895 E. Thompson Rd.

Indpls., IN 46237

317-786-5460

FAITH HAS A VOICE

Get Up

Get up and praise the Lord to this awesome song.

Worship, Tithe and Sermon

We love to worship the Lord!

This is a snippet from the

Awaken to God Come Hear and Be Healed Conference 2011

Kari Jobe You Are Good