Pray, Know, Love and Do

I am beginning to believe that living life as a Christian can be boiled down to four very simple principles. Pray, Know, Love and Do. Let me explain this further...

PRAY:

Once we have made a profession of faith and have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior. Each of us must at all times be in constant communication with God. We are to be emptying ourselves of ourselves and refilling with the spirit. The way we empty ourselves is through confession and repentance. We confess, repent and refill with the spirit.

Through this constant dialog with God we are taught, molded, changed, rebuked, transformed, blessed, uplifted and shown who we are. We also are shown that we are deeply loved by the many things that we hear from God. Prayer; which is communication, is a two way dialog, we talk and we listen. It is not a time to give God our big list of wants like He was Santa Claus. He does want us to come to him with our requests but we are to ask in the context of "if it is his will, let it be so". He wants us to be in relationship with Him and in a relationship you talk to one another. Same with God, prayer is talking with God.

KNOW:

We must know deep in our hearts just who God is. How can we know how to live the way God would want us to live if we do not know Him? God has given us the Bible; it is His written word to us. It is His love letter to mankind. It was written to show us how to live in communion with Him. We are to study it, know it, and love it. He tells us to hide it in our hearts. He tells us this because as we begin to know His word, we will begin to know Him. The more we get to know the character of God, the more we will love Him. The things we love we hide in our hearts. When we hide His word in our hearts, we are also hiding Him in there as well.

As we begin to understand the character of God, we begin to trust Him. We understand that in all things He has our best interest at heart. He is concerned in the quality of our character and will do what is needed to complete His transforming work in us. Each time that we put our trust in Him, He shows us He is there, which builds our faith.

LOVE:

We are called to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, then love others as ourselves. As we begin to know the character of God, we then love Him more. He builds a stronger love in us that we can then turn around and give to others. It is only through His power, living in the spirit of God, that we can truly love like we are called. We are to love sacrificially, which we can not do in our own power. As He grows in us the love for Him, we are also given the kind of love that is unselfish and other centered. We become less concerned with our own needs and more concerned about others.

We must first ask for help to have the kind of heart that loves God. Then ask for the heart to love ourselves. After that the heart to love others. It comes in this order. We must love God to love ourselves and love ourselves to pass it on to others. It is through this kind of supernatural love that lives begin to change.

DO:

Once God begins to change our hearts and build a love in us. We are called out into the world to do. We are usually called just to do the next thing. God does not usually give us the "ten year plan" with all details included. Normally you only get the next detail when you need it. He wants us to learn to know His will and His voice so we can obey when we are given instructions. Sometimes it is just obeying the instructions He gives for that day and sometimes they are bigger things.

I believe the key is availability. We are to keep our eyes looking up, our ears open for the voice of the spirit and our hearts available to go when instructed. When we keep ourselves open and available we hear the next thing He needs from us. It is not our agenda but His and He can give it to us anyway He likes. We just need to stay available to go when we are called.

Pray, Know, Love and Do, these are what we are called too. They seem simple in concept but sometimes they are not always easy in practice. So we Pray, Know, Love, Do and then Repeat.

Words of a Father

I started my day today with a sadness that I could not pin point the cause of. It’s that feeling that comes over you in a crowded room when you feel so alone. I have always pondered on that, how we can be surrounded by people in our lives but feel completely alone.

I think it started with looking back on the times I had with my children. They are growing up and I sometimes feel left behind. I know that I am loved and appreciated. But I miss them and at times like these I want them to come back and be little again. I want them to need me like they used to.

I took my hurting heart to my heavenly Father, curled up in His lap and spent some time in His embrace. As I poured my heart out to Him, I could almost feel His hand stroke my hair, saying it will be OK, I will hold you till your done. The tenderness of a Father that loves His child seemed to pour over me.

What I knew at that moment is, I am not alone, I am never alone. My Father with His watchful eye never lets me out of His sight. He is always waiting for my hand to grasp His and hold it tight. He never leaves me alone. I only need to turn my eyes towards Him and speak His name and He hears. The moment the words leave my lips in prayer, He has heard me.

So I tell Him of my broken heart and how my feelings are betraying me. I tell Him how I feel so much less than I should be. How I should be stronger and more grateful for the things that I have but I'm not. As I pour out the words, they seem so shallow, so unworthy of speaking them. I have so much to be grateful for and yet I can not find that place today. "I can not find it, please help me find it", I say to Him.

I take it to my Father and lay it at His throne, my burdens, my hurts and I humbly ask for Him to replace them with a grateful and joyful heart. I need a change inside today and I am not able to make it happen.

It is only in the arms of my Father that I once again feel loved and protected. As He says to me, "no hurt of yours is too small or unworthy to give to me. I will take them all. I will replace them with my love; you are mine, my beloved. Nothing I have, will I withhold from you, for I love you. I have paid a great price to have you as my own. I will give you all I have in heaven. Just wait and you will see."

Words only a Father would speak to his child. I thank you Father. Just your words spoken over me begin to change my heart. For I know that I am loved. I am loved so much that my Father sent His son to die in my place. I am loved and when I am reminded of that, how can joy not invade my heart.

Love is Patient....What?

Everyone needs a little down time. Time to rest, meditate and refresh. That was my day yesterday.

While I was spending time in reading, God was really speaking to me about the whole concept of love. I realized at that point he was beginning to answer my prayer from Wednesday. I had prayed He would put His kind of love for others in my heart.

I began to think on the scriptures in 1 Corinthians 13 where the bible describes the attributes of love. Love is patient, love is kind..... I had to stop right there. I realized that these two attributes are the pillars that are the foundation of love. God spoke to my heart.... work on these first.

The kindness I have covered, already working on that one. Not a problem! But the patience.... What does that look like? Had to look that up in the brand new book I bought call "The Love Dare"

Here is the interpretation of patience: It respond in a positive way to a negative situation. It is slow to anger. It extends mercy to those around them. Patience brings an internal calm during an external storm. It doesn't rush to judgement but listens to what the other person is saying. It understands that everyone fails. When a mistake is made, it chooses to give them more time than they deserve to correct it.

More time than they deserve to correct it? WHAO! It hit me... I am really going to have to make a determined, deliberate effort to change if I want that kind of love in me. I am going to have to be intentional in my actions to have that kind of patience.

So how do I practice patience? Lets see....

Be slow to anger.... OK, so when someone says something I do not like, I will need to step back and keep my mouth shut. Maybe say a prayer for help! Slow to anger might mean, slow to respond, to give myself time to adjust my natural reaction. Time to think and respond like Christ. Time to ask for a heart change.

Have mercy! I can tell already this is not going to be easy. I'm gonna need some prayers for this one!

Its a good thing I don't have to do it alone.

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 rude, 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.

The Greatest Gift is Love

As you may have already figured out. Each day, I will be writing about the things, people and insights that came from the day before. What you may not have realize is that you have now become my accountability partner. Wow! You didn't see that coming did you. Well, neither did I.

I got up yesterday morning and went in to wake up my seven year old son. It was a Wednesday, a school day, with the same routine as every other day. I lovingly patted his back and called his name. "Get up honey" I said. All I heard from him was a grunt as he pulled the covers over his head. I gently nudged him again. From under the covers came a guttural sound that I think was "LEAVE ME ALONE!".

After I finally got him out of bed, he enters the living room with a tee shirt and shorts on. We live in Missouri, its cold here in November. "Go put jeans on" I say. "I don't want to wear jeans" .... and the argument begins.

Ten minutes later when he is finally dressed properly, we move on to the subject of breakfast. "What would you like for breakfast?" I say. He replies, "What do we have?". By now my patience is gone and I am not thinking like Jesus would at all! I'm thinking, for pete sakes, I have the same things we had in the cabinets yesterday, the day before and for that matter, the last five years. Come On! But instead, I give him his selection of items available for breakfast.

After I finally get him off to school and sit down to do my daily devotions, this thought came to me. "You said you were going to get up everyday and give your day to Jesus to be used by him, did you do that?" Well I guess the daily dedication and commitment each day must come before I even get out of bed!

This blog has reminded me that there are no days off, and the day begins when your feet hit the floor. That I should strive to live each moment of each day to do as Christ would do. Will I fail? Of course I will. I am still here on earth, not in heaven . Until then, I will fall and pick myself back up many times. So you see how you have become my accountability? I can't write about how Jesus changed my day if I didn't take him with me.

Here is what else I learned from the rest of my day.

As I went about my day, I saw many people and once again engaged with them. The woman at the gas station, Wendy's, the book store. Sometimes they seemed surprised by me. Like they weren't used to people being kind to them or trying to have a conversation with them. Then on my way home I said a small prayer to my Lord.

"Jesus, give me a heart to love these people. To really love them. Young and old, strangers and ones I know. And yes, even the ones that make it hard to love them. Let me love them like you love them, I can't do it on my own. And their life won't change without you as their savior. You have said that the unbeliever will know we are yours by our love. Make it known that I am yours."


I Corinthians 13:1-3 "Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing."