Having A Thankful Heart & The Command To Love ~

With a new year here our family will be embarking on our third year with out Jim and I wanted to do something that I think he would approve of as I shared previously here.  However I'm not certain how many entries I will share.  Jim had a wonderful way of connecting with others.  He and I could say very much the same thing but our styles were different.  In fact we would often joke and laugh about it.  I would say something and he would say how about this  :) since we are saying the same thing! I would reply but it sounds soooo much better coming from you. . .   He was more articulate - he just had a way - especially with our sons.  He could get things across so much better than I could.  Recently, while talking with one of our boys, we expressed we are missing out with Jim being gone.  Grieving is quite different for each person going through it.   He shared how he missed just talking to his dad and hearing his viewpoint,  I offend shared with the boys since they had that relationship with there dad, what would he be telling you right now?  So this morning I thought I would share something that encouraged me as I read it last evening.  There are at least two important messages to get and I hope this will be encouraging to you. VB

When Jim started this blog he stated:

This blog is dedicated to building up the church of Jesus Christ through His new commandment - - "that we love one another as He has loved us." John 15:12

You can read more where his thoughts were when starting this blog by reading on his first two entries, I hope you do.  

Here goes; one entry in rough draft from out of one of Jim's many journals. 

6/6/11

    I never know where to start-- I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart - I will enter His courts with praise. 

It seems as though life's difficulties have no end, and yet our response, how we react remains the key to how we're able to ride the storms.  I so much want to be a light to all those who look in my direction --  It's clear to me that fundamental to one's success is to remain truly thankful to God offering Him our sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving -- continually.  The idea of "putting on" the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness is far more than an idea -- IT WORKS 100% OF THE TME -- The spirit of heaviness comes in many forms.  The same could be said of the Garment(s) of Praise.  

    THE WORDS OF THE LORD (ARE) PURE WORDS, (LIKE) SILVER FIRED, IN THE FURNANCE OF EARTH, PURIFIED SEVEN TIMES.  PSALM 12:6  

    FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE, AND THE GREATEST OF THESES?  - IS LOVE -

I've always found it interesting that there is in fact an order to basic foundational elements of one's faith - But it doesn't take too much mental effort to conclude that the greatest is in deed Love.  Love covers all, Love concourse all it motivates us, calls us to action, Love is the reason that God Himself sent His only Son, that whosoever believe on Him shall be saved .  .  .  As a parent it is extremely difficult for me to think about, or imagine what it would feel like to send one of my boys to die for someone else -- Especially someone as sinful as mankind.  Imagine, if well what it must have been like for Jesus -- How much He first loved the Father, than us.  Think about it,  Jesus came here so that we might be saved, knowing, from the beginning of time - let alone knowing his fate,  His assignment His entire life, never backing down, never changing His mind -- Jesus' willingness to suffer not just the pain of, physical death - but the pain for all His mankind.  Then He suffered the greatest pain of all.  Three days of total separation from God the Father.  I can speak to physical pain -- Living each day in severe physical pain, pain that keeps you up all night or contorted so as to relieve pressure off pinched nerves.

continued next day

John 13:34-35

"A new commandment I give you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

    Today, while trying to get comfortable for an MRI exam, I asked the Lord "why was it so important to Him that we Love one another?"  Why did He give it as a new command ? (noted John 13:34)  In the Gospel of John - Where He, Jesus, also said if you Love Me you will obey (keep) my commands. He then went as He had gave us His new commands. (noted John 1412) 

    Instantly I hear the Holy Spirit speak to me with the following.  That when we love others unconditionally we're expressing His love though us -- not that we're in anyway like God, but that it fullest expression of Him in our walk.  After, He loves the unlovable, without question or condition when we do the same we're showing or opening ourselves up to the full moving of His.  6/7/11

6/8/11

    

    3:30 AM -- Can't sleep --  While praying the Holy Spirit reveled to me the reason God gave us His new command, to Love one another as we love our self prior to His death and resurrection is that we need the residence of the Holy Spirit living within us to ab able to express such Love - Agape' love is after all supernatural! Its the Holy Spirit that gives us the power to love beyond that whish is unlovable or abilities.  Whether we are talking about loving a person with grotesque facial tissue or other wounds that make them hard, if not impossible to look at -- the proverbial "a face only a mother could love."  To looking into the face of Satan himself -- a face so evil that it's hard to describe.  There's no doubt the our ability to Love like this comes from the Holy Spirit-- it is only through the Holy Spirit being filled within us that God's love so fully manifests itself to the world--

In Leviticus 19:18 states  You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you SHALL Love your neighbor as yourself I Am the Lord.

 Jim ~