Our Supply of Love
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When we think of some of the dear people in our lives spontaneous feelings of love sprang to our hearts. Then there are others who are not so easy to love. They challenge our sense of justice, our patience and even our Christian faith as we grapple with how to love them.
We all have them in our lives from time to time. There might be the group at church who is talking about the pastor and trying to get him to leave. Or they might be woman at work who just seems to want to make life miserable. Maybe it’s a neighbor who mistreats his family and evokes disgust from the neighborhood, or a politician who represents you yet makes decisions contrary to your beliefs. Even some extended family members can be awfully trying. Sometimes we feel justified in withholding our love.
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The Bible talks about the characteristics of love in 1 Corinthians 13. Here God clearly outlines them. One particular characteristic stood out to me recently… “Love is patient and is kind”. God’s Word says that the world should know we are Christians by our love. Love should be the hand-rail that will steady us in all our relationships and dealings with the world around us. Yet how is it possible? One could not just turn a blind eye to injustice, mistreatment and gossip.
The springs of love are within God…love does not naturally exist in our own hearts when love is not returned. God tells us exactly what is required of us when we face this dilemma in our hearts. Listen to His wisdom….
“And what does the Lord require of you?
- To act justly
- To love mercy and
- To walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
It makes sense. Our responsibility is simply to walk humbly with our God allowing Him to keep our hearts soft with mercy while striving for fairness. This would make the difference in the situations where people seem so irritating. His Holy Spirit can give us the patience and the ability to be kind. This approach would even bring balance to situations at church or work that might be getting out of control. This love makes sense. . Mercy and fairness from God’s heart can help us deal with some of the hard spots in life.
Father in Heaven,
You have called me to love the world around me. It’s not an easy thing to do. Thank you that You not only spell out how but You also offer the resource of Your mercy and Your wisdom to bring balance to circumstances that seem so out of balance. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit today and let Your love flow through me so others see You through me. In Jesus’ name, amen
Questions: What does “walking humbly with your God” mean to you? How do you love someone that you feel dislikes you?
About the Author Gail Rodgers
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Dear Meghan, I join Linda R in praying for you, your estranged sibling, and all those whom he/she has tainted with hurtful, demeaning remarks about you — may the Lord let them see the truth, that they would rebuke slander and gossip, and your reputation would be preserved! Please remember, dear sister, that your sibling’s mean-spiritedness and rejection suggests an unregenerate heart, for which your continued prayers and Holy Spirit-driven forgiveness can comfort you and empower you to love the unlovely. As Christians, we are called to forgive, for it only takes one person to forgive, with the help of the Holy Spirit within us. We are encouraged to seek reconciliation whenever possible, but that requires the cooperative efforts of two persons. God does not hold you responsible if your sibling refuses to restore your relationship. God bless, dear one!
Precious Lord, I join Linda R in lifting Meghan up to you, asking for Your divine intervention in their family! Guard her spirit, Lord, as she battles discouragement from sibling estrangement and conflict. Give wisdom and discernment to those whom her sibling would seek for pernicious gossip, that they would rebuke such unloving behavior! Empower Meghan, Lord, to reflect Your spirit of grace and forgiveness towards her sibling, that she would be a glowing witness to Your Presence and Your power in her life! In the mighty Name of Jesus, Amen!
Hi Meghan Newcomb, I know exactly how you feel except I have not been degraded
to the community. I am so very sorry for the horrible situation that you are in. The only answer or suggestion that I can give you and that I have found that is slowly but surely working for me is to keep loving your sibling with the Love of the Lord and continually pray for them that their eyes would be opened to the truth about you and that they would be filled with genuine love for you too.
Dear Heavenly Father I bring Meghan before you right now and Jesus you see all the strife that is going on in her family between her and her sibling, Lord I just pray in Your Name that You would touch that siblings heart to realize what a wonderful sister they have, how hurtful they have been, dishonest and what they are missing out in on their relationship. Please convict them to ask for healing and forgiveness of all the hurts, the bad things that were said and bring restoration between them and let their be a stronger bond than there ever has been before. I just pray all these things in Your name in faith believing Amen & Amen! Hugs, Linda!!!
How do you love a sibling that won’t talk to you and degrades you to the rest of the family and community? I need help and guidance. Please help and let the Lord show me the way!
To love someone that dislikes you is not an easy task to do, but Jesus gave us the express example of that, He loved us when we were yet sinners i.e still His enemies, and He died for us. He has also given us this capacity to love like Him which we can harness through the Holyspirit. I pray that this sincere love fill my heart and that of all my friends.
[...] When we think of some of the dear people in our lives spontaneous feelings of love sprang to our hearts. Then there are others who are not so easy to love. They challenge our sense of justice, our patience and even our Christian faith as we grapple with how to love them. (Read the rest of the devotional) [...]
Walking Humbly with God means just that I cannot do it on my own! Only God does the work in my heart! If they dislike me well that is their problem! I am responsible for my actions not someone elses responses! Leave them with the Lord and move on! There are other people you can be friends with!
God bless you, dear kanj, for your candid confession of unforgiveness that ate away at your heart, like a cancer, for those 20 years — praise God for His loving perseverence and patience in wooing His beloved daughter-to-be!! It makes His mercy that much sweeter, eh? Unforgiveness and love cannot occupy the same heart, and when we choose to fan the flames of hurt/anger, it scorches all our relationships. Bitterness holds our spiritual development/growth captive, and drains one’s emotional energy. Praying for those who have betrayed our trust, or committed transgressions against us, keeps our hearts soft, and our spirits teachable. God takes our hurts and weaves them into the tapestry of our lives, making us stronger, and useful in ministering to others. God bless, sweet sister!
Marilyn, I need to say Amen to the Lord with your comment. Marilyn, I see it now but my old nature allowed Satan to rule as God was not in my life. I realize that the past is the past but when I reflect back and realize that I fed Satan for 20 years over a hurt in a relationship that I could not get over, 20 years, that just tells me how powerful Satan is. and in those 20 years I could think of this hurt and re-live it in the blink of an eye. the one thing I wanted out of it was VENGEANCE. oh, I plotted all those years but I never followed through. instead I put myself through the gates of hell and robbed those closest to me as to whom I really was–a good person within but without(my choice) Jesus Christ. I do realize now that this person was not the one to blame and in forgiveness, a gaping hole was mended, the heart became soft and Jesus Christ came to share the rest of my journey here in a loving, peaceful and forgiving way.
the last sentence you wrote, ”seeing others through God’s eyes helps us to love them with His grace”-Praise be to God for His mercy and grace.
What a wonderful devotion, Gail, followed by beautiful testimonies of how God has given His beloved daughters the grace to love through their hurt! Yes, dear kanj, this IS a “blessed fellowship!” I think we must always remember who our enemy really is . . . and it isn’t those in our lives who have said or done hurtful things to us, or even those who have rejected us. Satan is our enemy, but he is crafty and an opportunist, who watches for any means by which he can muddle our Christian thinking, or hinder our walk with the Lord. He skillfully uses those relationships in our lives which tempt us to sin, whether by provoking our frustration or anger, or by prompting us to repay evil with evil. He also tempts us to believe that our worth/value come from the outside (relationships, career, accomplishments, acquisitions), not the inside where the Holy Spirit dwells. When we recognize how Satan uses the people in our lives as unwitting pawns to accomplish his goal of causing us to stumble, we can engage the Holy Spirit to help us overcome Satan’s ploy. Seeing others through God’s eyes, helps us to love them with His grace!
Micah 6:8 (“Do justly, love mercy…”) really speaks to me right now. I feel more peaceful about the small, silly things I was stressed about. Thanks
from Gail for the devotional and to the first comment to the last, ladies, thank you all. God bless each and everyone of you for your inspiration. This is truly a blessed fellowship. I was already having an awesome, exceptional day in study and worship and each time I read a devotional I am given the blessing of discovering more and more of His Word and able to see how it relates to me. each opportunity to study, bring to the surface, points of reality that we face in the word today, they have to be addressed and in doing so bring me closer to my relationship with Jesus.
God bless you all
Donna, you are so right, when you say, our tendency is to want justice…to see them pay in someone..those who have hurt the innocent.
I remember long ago….someone would say to me…”What goes around comes around” My reply would be, “that may be, but I’ll probably never live to see it”.
I think back on my words and regret what was in my heart. I think I was so focused on my hurt….that I pushed God and His ways, completely out of the picture. I let anger dwell there too long. I don’t even remember what or why my heart changed….Maybe it was simply a gentle nudge from God…reminding me that He loves all His children and His desire is for all to come to His saving grace.
Am I innocent? Have I never hurt someone with my words, deeds or look? Have I never hurt someone deeply who depended on me…and my lack of action, showing love or compassion, hurt or destroyed their faith? Maybe the things I did or didn’t do were not a crime, but never the less, a sin….and in God’s eyes, sin is sin.
How we need to look deep into our hearts and lives and ask Him to shine His light, illuminating those things we would rather keep in the dark. Yes, Linda…”Oh to be like Thee”. Oh to love like He loves us…to love the unlovable, to minister to the poor in spirit, to help in every way we can…without questions, but simply in His love. A simple hug..a smile….may be the very thing one needs.
Oh Lord…yes, to be like You. Help us to surrender…totally to You, to Your will for our lives. Give us Your heart…May Your love spill from us, reaching out to the unlovely, the difficult and the needy….that they will not see us, but only You. Help us to realize how very rich we are…..and that there is always something to give. There is always Your love.
Lord, put those in our path where we can be Your hands, Your love , compassion…and where we can be a witness to You…as we share the glorious story of the cross.
Set us on fire, Lord. Begin a revival in us! Pour over us, Your Holy Spirit….fill us so with overflowing, that none of us can be still…none of us can be silent. Lord, this world needs You. You are the Answer…..to all the problems in the world today….to the problems and pain of our hearts. May we have an urgency in spreading the Word..how You suffered for us, that we may have eternal life. Help us to realize this may be the day……
In Jesus Name…..
Amen
Gail thank you for this wonderful devotional. I read it first thing this morning and right away I felt I should comment but to be very honest I let other things get in the way. Throughout the day I thought of what I was going to say and then well Praise The Lord for Patti!!! she said it all for me just so Beautifully so I just want to say Amen!!! and Amen!!! to what Patti said and Thank you Patti for taking the words right out of my mouth, well actually you did it much better.This Devotional really reminds me of that Song:
“Oh To Be Like Thee”
Oh! to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Refrain:
Oh! to be like Thee, oh! to be like Thee,
Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
Oh! to be like Thee, full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wand’ring sinner to find.
Oh! to be like Thee, lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer, others to save.
Oh! to be like Thee, Lord, I am coming,
Now to receive th’ anointing divine;
All that I am and have I am bringing,
Lord, from this moment all shall be Thine.
Oh! to be like Thee, while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love,
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Hugs and Prayers Linda!!!
John 13:34,35 A new cmomandment I give unto you that you love one another, as I have loved. By this shall all man know you are my disciples, if you have love one for another!
Walking humbiy with God means to me that I am not incontrol the Lord is. Coming to Jesusu on a regular basis through out the door! Asking the Lord to help me to be a good representative of him! I try to treat the other person if they don’t like me with kindness and I pray a lot while I am with them!
some people are just harder than others to love but God tells us we must
Often when we are hurt by people or people we love are hurt we are looking for some kind of justice. We want them to change or pay for their hurt to others and our lives will be better. God has shown me recently that it doesn’t really work that way. God is wanting me to change. This is how we can really show the world who we are. This verse in Micah brings us back to our Godly purpose in Christ. Consider this: if we give up our right for justice, love mercy, and walk humbly we allow God to work in these things, we free ourselves to love the other person the way God does. It’s not easy but in the end when we forgive and move on God promises to bring about good. There is no better wisdom.
Patti, thanks for sharing your wise words today. God is working through you, my sister, in ways you can’t even imagine. And in the process you have been a blessing to all of us!
I pray that we will all meditate on this verse today and when we face those situations that we find challenging or that hurt us we will look to God. That we will allow Him to work in us to bring about the attitudes and emotions that are honouring to Him. Love to you all, Donna
I cannot, on my own love someone who overtly dislikes me and there are those and always will be in our lives. It is only by the Holy Spirit in me that I can love that person. I find that by praying for that person, for the Lord to come into their life or if a Christian, to touch their heart, that in turn begins a change in my heart. He showed us “real” love by going to the cross. There is no other love to compare. Our desire should be to be like Jesus. Of course we will not be made perfect until He comes for us. It is a journey tho…and we must seek Him and seek to become more like Him.
My experience has been….to pray for those whom I feel rejected or disliked. Sometimes, it feels like only words, but I have found that if, in obedience, I continue to lift that person up, ask God to work in their life, bless them and forgive them, it releases me from feeling rejected. It was only until I was able to do that, with someone who had hurt me deeply and committed a crime against me…that I was released from deep depression and was able to step out of the shackles of shame and feelings of unworthiness…ugliness…. that had been a part of me since a child.
Walking humbly before God? I must keep in mind, who I am before Him, releasing all forms of pride….knowing that without Him, I am nothing. There is nothing I can do…without Him, that is worthy or lasting. He is our only hope and we must keep our hearts bowed before Him, trusting not ourselves, but Him, trusting not what the world says, but only in Him.
Lord, I come to You, bowing before You in silence…just soaking in You Holy presence. I pause to think of Who You are and the sacrifice You made for us, as sinners. Thank You for having Your hand on me…even before I was substance. I praise You that You have always had a plan for me…for all Your children. and that even now, You still desire to use me/us for Your Kingdom.
Oh God, search me, search our hearts and bring to light the things that are not of You…the things that are prideful..that we are hanging on to. Change our hearts, Lord..to love only the things that are of You….that we might release all that gets in the way of our relationship with You. Show us, Lord, where we need deliverance….things we may be holding on to….anger, hurt and shame that may still be a part of us. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit, pour down You mercy and grace as many of us struggle in our journey. Take away any fear and fill us with Your peace. May we be slow to speak…and forgive us for careless words or looks….forgive us when we fail You.
Bless all who come here….who come to share, praise or come for prayer. Thank You for this company of women……as we lift each other up to You in love.
In Jesus Name…
Thanks lot for the devotional Gail.
I heard three kinds of ill remarks, rejection and ill- treatment given to me but all responded with surprise and amazement because they did not dampen my humor. They might have thought that I’m ignorant, dull or what whatever they had judged me in their hearts but I leave it to them and to GOD. See in the morning I have this chorus I sing before getting out of bed. It goes this way:
A pure heart, that was I long for
A heart that follows hard after THEE,
a pure heart that’s what I long for
a heart that follows hard after THEE
a heart that hides YOUR Word
so that sin will not come in
a heart that’s undivided
the one YOU rule and reign
a heart that beats compassion
that pleases YOU my LORD
the sweet aroma of worship
that rises to YOUR Throne.
Romel H
This is a great devotional. Sometimes, when people hurt us or we think that they are gossiping about us or have malicious intent when it might be an innocent mistake. I know I can be easily hurt by those things. However, I have been lucky that the Lord has kept my heart soft and given me the ability to continue to love and to give people a chance. I ask Him for help with this today and every day to come. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen