A Christmas twist

If you think that I am going to be posting a cute Christmas message or story this year, you would be wrong. I am going to go with a short story I wrote over at my other blog, which won the Friday Fiction contest on One Minute Writer. The mandate was to write a short piece from the perspective of an elf.

I watch the sleigh lift off, as it has every year for two millenia.

It never gets old.

As it gains height, and fades into just another glowing star in the festive sky, I wonder – not for the first time – what He did to deserve this job. I can still remember my own sentencing, all those centuries ago. 500 years of hard labour, and an embarrasing uniform.

I’ll be eligible for parole in 2100, but poor Nick still has a long way to travel.

I don’t know whose toes he trod on with those oversized boots of his, but it must have been someone important.

Oh well, breaks over. Only 32850 days left – but who’s counting.

Ho-Ho-Ho indeed!

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Biblios Hokku - Malachi

Ah, Malachi. The last Old Testament prophet, and the last of our Haiku for the year. Since it is Christmas tomorrow, and the books have all been heading towards this, I thought it was a good time to stop.

Malachi prophesied in about 450BC, and had some harsh words about emplty rituals. He also spent a lot of time passing on GOD's promise of messiah. "But unto you that fear my name, a Sun of Righteousness shall rise, with healing in his wings."

After the prophecies here, GOD was silent until the arrival of John the Baptist.

A final promise of what is to come tomorrow....

MALACHI
You have lost your way.
Your faith you weaken in vain,
I will send my light.

Biblios Hokku - Temple building

There came a time in history, when the Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem from their exile in Babylon. At this time, two prophets both encouraged the people to rebuild the temple which had been detroyed in the conquest.

Haggai points out to the people that they should be more concerned with building the temple, before their own comfort, while Zecheriah goes further and says they need to rebuild in preparation for the coming of their messiah, but that some will make their hearts as stone and close their ears.

HAGGAI
Look first to my house.
From this day I will bless you.
Show your strength and work

ZECHERIAH
Turn to me I say.
You have made your heart as stone,
All will soon be gone.

Biblios Hokku - Habakkuk & Zepheniah

Two minor prophets. Speaking of judgment and salvation.

Habakkuk is one of the most mysterious prophets of the Old Testament; we know little about him. He argued with GOD when he found out that GOD was planning to use the Chaldeans to punish His people. He says that the Chaldeans are even more disobebient that the people of Judah, but GOD reminds him that He has a plan, and it is not our place to understand it. A reminder that GOD know what he is doing, and will redeem his people eventually.

HABBAKUK
Trust God, and his plan.
The just shall live by his faith.
Just you wait and see.

Zepheniah on the other hand is one of the least mysterious of the prophets. He wrote his prophecy in about 630BC, and he is even identified as being the grandson of King Hezekiah. He also prophesied that "The day of the Lord is near", quite a strong warning to the people about their behaviour. But he also reminds us that the faithful have nothing to fear from this. "the Lord your GOD in the midst of you is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy."

ZEPHENIAH
Rejoice, we are saved.
God’s might in our midst.
We need know no fear

Two prophets, one message. GOD has a plan, and he wants us to be on the right side of it when it comes to fruition.

Biblios Hokku - Assyria

For our Biblios Hokku today, I want to talk about Assyria.

Assyria was a violent and Godless nation, and for some reason GOD took it into his head to try and save them. More particularly he sent one of his prophets to preach to their capital city. You may have heard of it - Ninevah.

Jonah was called by GOD to go to Ninevah, and he refused; not because he was afraid, but because he didn't want them to be saved. Eventually Jonah goes, and preaches to them, and they repent and are saved. Of course Jonah sulks, because he wanted GOD to destroy them, not save them.

JONAH
A cry of warning.
Salvation reaches to all.
Who are we to judge?

So years later, Israel and Judah start falling into bad habits of worshipping false gods and cheating the poor. So GOD sends Micah to warn them that GOD expects greater things from them. They are warned that they will be judged, and GOD does this by sending the Babylonians and Assyrians to destroy them

MICAH
Do good, love mercy,
and walk humbly with your God.
Or you will be judged.

So after being warned and save donce, powerful Ninevah has fallen back again. It has become a 'city of blood' and GOD's hand will not be stayed a second time. Nahum brings a prophecy of destruction against them, which brings to an end our Assyrian tale.

NAHUM
A city of blood.
My anger is slow, but sure.
No escape this time.

Biblios Hokku - Obadiah

Do you remember Jacob, son of Isaac? A dodgy character of note, but GOD chose to use him anyway, and renamed him Israel. Well, he had a brother, as you may recall. His brother Esau, was also renamed. He was called Edom. Isaac prophesied that Edom's descendants (Edomites) would always be at war with Israel's (Israelites) which in fact happened for hundreds of years.

After Edom took part in the ransacking of Jerusalem in the Babylonian invasion, GOD sent Obadiah to pass judgment on them...

OBADIAH
Curse not God’s chosen!
For the Lord will cut you off.
An end for Edom?

Another exciting chapter in the Biblios Hokku saga. Read it all here.

Biblios Hokku - Amos

"Prepare to meet thy God, Oh Israel!"

Sounds like something we'd hear Clint Eastwood say if he was starring in The Ten Commandments doesn't it?

In actual fact this was a warning given by lowly shepherd Amos in 760BC (give or take.) Amos sees visions of GOD's displeasure at Israel for falling back into Idol worship again. As always with Biblical prophets, he is given a message of hope; and a warning.

AMOS
Seek justice for all,
Like a never-ending stream;
and you shall meet God.

You can see the whole Bible here, or learn more about Biblios Hokku here.

Hokku Biblios - Joel

Next up in the Hokku Biblios series - Joel.

Joel was prophesying on some tough times, comparing GOD's judgment of His people to a plague of locusts. He talks about the coming of a "dark and terrible day of the LORD" However, as with all the Old Testament prophets, he also talks about repentance.

Some of the line from Joel will be familiar to us. "Whoever calls on the name of the LORD will be saved" - Joel 2:32 and of course "I will pour out my Spirit on all men...." (Joel 2:28) is quoted by Peter at Pentecost to explain the workings of the Holy Spirit. (See, he wasn't just making it up as he went along.)

Joel suggested that the Day of the Lord was near for those multitudes in the Valley of Decision.

So what does it tell us?

JOEL
Vale of Decision.
Call on his name and be saved.
His Spirit will pour.

Biblios Hokku - Hosea

Poor Hosea. He was a good man, in a wicked world, and he faithfully followed GOD's isntructions to him. Unfortunately for him, those instructions included telling him to marry an unfaithful wife. HE uses this as a picture of his marriage to an unfaithful Bride, Israel.

The book is full of warnings about the consequences of their unfaithfullness "For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind" - Hosea 8:7.

It also includes some wonderful pictures of redemption if they would return, including "I will heal their backsliding.... I will love them freely"

For my Biblios Hokku project, I wrote this piece.

HOSEA
Harsh is my judgement.
Oh return to my healing.
Free will be my love.

Biblios Hokku - Daniel

I don't have to tell you who Daniel is, do I?
I don't have to tell you what he and his friend did, do I?

Good, then enjoy a Haiku about him, and go visit my other page of you want to read more.

DANIEL
Steadfast and constant.
Through fire and beast they stand -
And God stands with them.

New Branch, old root.

Out of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot--yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him--the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. ~ Isaiah 11:1-2



With the rapid approach of Christmas, I decided to end the year in my Bible-Study group by going through the family tree of Jesus. So for the last two months or so we have been doing a course called "Who's line is it anyway?"



It has been quite interesting, as we examined the line, from Adam to Jesus, and saw how GOD used the same stories of redemption, over and over, to try and prepare use for the ultimate story. Also, there were some pretty interesting stories in there that we sometimes gloss over.



So now we are finished, but it's not too late for you to join us.

My friend Michelle over at ~ Psalm 104:24 ~ is once again doing her annual (every year since last year) Jesse Tree project. So go along to Isaiah 11:1-2 to share in a different devotion every night leading up to Christmas. I'm too lazy to do one myself, so I'll just go watch hers. :-)

Biblios Hokku - Ezekiel

Ezekiel was a priest and prophet to the Jewish nation in exile in Babylon. He reminded the people that it was their sin that had brought them to this place, but that GOD was still wanting to restore and rebuild the nation.

EZEKIEL
Woe unto Israel.
You do not do what is right.
Turn yourself; and live.

Celebration time!

So I see that according to my post log, this is my 100th post.

Woo Hoo and all that.

It is also my first post since finishing my latest novel. (I love that phrase.)
That's right, November National Novel Writing Month is over, and I am emerging victorious with my 50,000 word draft in hand. (A rather cramped hand I might add; did I mention I was writing the whole thing longhand?)

I am sorry I didn't get to pop in here as often as I would have liked, but the writing has been more intense than I imagined. I hope to try and catch up with all of you over the next few days, and see what has been going on behind my back.

Update

For those of you who were wondering how my latest novel was going...

15000 words, and counting.

So it begins

Well I won't be staying long today, I was up until midnight last night so I could start writing at 00h01 last night. I just thought I would pop in and say howdy, or should that be Hoo Ha Ha?

I have a few ideas for posts that I will be doing this month, as well as releasing new pieces from the Biblios Hokku series, so I won't be completely abandoning my Fishy responsibilities. I will also be following all your blogs as usual, especially since I can't let Katdish and Wendy catch up with me over at Sherri's Silly Saturday contest. (You take your eye off the ball for one second and someone else runs with it.)

Just to get you warmed up, here's a few more prophets from my Biblios Hokku.

EZEKIEL
Woe unto Israel.
You do not do what is right.
Turn yourself; and live.

DANIEL
Steadfast and constant.
Through fire and beast they stand-
And God stands with them.

HOSEA
Harsh is my judgement.
Oh return to my healing.
Free will be my love.

JOEL
Vale of Decision.
Call on his name and be saved.
His Spirit will pour.

As always, the whole work to date may be found here.

Is GOD like a cell-phone?

I have terrible skin. 

I always have, and probably always will.  When I get stressed, I break out in acne, and you can always tell my emotional state by looking at my complexion.  Quite sad really.

One day at church, a few months after I started work, a friend of mine who is also a lawyer commented that my skin was looking good. I discovered that she had prayed that when I started work my skin would clear up, because she said she knew how hard it was to start a new job and be taken seriously, without the added pressure of teenage skin.

WOW!

Why didn’t I think of that?

I mean I prayed hard over each job interview, and hard over which job offer to choose, and hard that God would sustain me in my chosen career.  It just never occurred to me God might also be interested in my skin.  Talk about small-minded.

I think we sometimes do that with God, we treat him like his attention is free minutes on a mobile phone contract.  You know, where you get 120 free minutes to use in the month.  2 whole hours of free time, but you’re afraid to use it to phone your friends, because what if you need to talk to someone urgently on the 29th of the month, and have no minutes left.  Shouldn’t you save it until then, just in case something more important comes up.

Do we think God will refuse to hear our “serious” prayers later if we bug Him with too much of the “petty” stuff now?  Or do we just think he is too important to deal with this?

So next time I’m in need, hopefully I’ll remember to put in a call.  No free minutes on this package - God’s already got the bill covered, and we can talk as much as we like.

Lessons from an alien

Have you ever watched E.T. : The Extra-Terrestrial?  Of course you have, who hasn’t?

Now I know Steven Spielberg has stated that there are no Christian messages in the movie, but something did stick out for me.

At the end, ET is saying goodbye to the family.  He looks at Gertie (the young girl) and says “Be Good.”  Then he turns to Elliot, and they have a tear-jerking moment where he promises that he will always be in Elliot’s heart. 

WOW!

And all Gertie got was a “Be Good”  That kinda sucks doesn’t it?
But what else can you say to a five year old? 
She’s only a child, and probably already has strong feelings of loss welling up in her, and she is probably going to miss him as much, but all she can cope with at the moment is “Be Good.”

Elliot on the other hand, ET has formed a special bond with, and he needs to explain how that bond will go on, and they will always be together, even though he won’t see him again.

So here’s my thinking.  When we’re young, GOD tells us to be good.  Because that’s how we can show that we love him.  We can sing all the songs about having “Jesus in my heart” and “I love Jesus” and they are probably true.  In our child-like state we show that love by being good.

But we can’t be good forever.  Or at least, we can’t think that being good is going to carry us forever.

I know you’re probably all fine, but I know a young fish who has problems with this sometimes. 

He wakes up in the morning, and prays that God will help him to be a good fish all day.  Then he struggles through the day, fighting temptation all the way, until the end of the day.  They he says his prayers, and apologises for being naughty sometimes, but promises to be better tomorrow.

And GOD says to him “What about me?  Did you spend any time with me today?”

“Uh, not Lord.  I was too busy trying to be good.”

“Do you think that’s what I want from you?  To be good?  No, my fishy friend, I want so much more.  I want YOU.”

“Huh.”

“Do you really think you can ever be good?  Without me, you will just burn yourself out everyday trying to be good.  I want you to be good, so that you can be closer to me.  And if you come closer to me,  I will help to make you good.”

Of course I’m sure he’s the only fish in the world with that problem.  Poor guy.
Sometimes he tries so hard to be good, he forgets why he’s doing it.

Submission

“I have said to the LORD, “You are my LORD; all my good depends on you.” – Psalm 16:2 – NIV

A while ago I was on a quiet retreat, and our spiritual director sent us out to meditate on Psalm 16.  The verse I chose to spend time looking at was the one above.  Truly it has a lot to say.

It got me thinking about what it really means to submit, and make HIM Lord of my life.  I looked at it that I need to remind myself all the time that the reason he is LORD of my life is because I asked him to be; because I have chosen it.  I have given Him permission to make his will sovereign in my life, and agreed to submit to it.

Submission.  It’s a funny thing, and I think many of us struggle with it.  What does it mean to submit? 

I think submission carries with it an element of openness that we often lose sight of.  We need to come before HIM, and lay everything at his feet, including what we want.  To be honest and say “This is what I’m thinking, this is what I want, this is what I hope.  Now I give it all to you to do with it what you will.”  Giving our desires over to HIM to use, or not, in his plan is much more honest than trying to deny them.  Saying “Lord, it scares me that you might want me to go to Mongolia as a missionary.  Lord I really feel like I would like to start a teaching group for children.  Lord I don’t know if I can cope with …” Then waiting on HIM, and being prepared to go wherever he calls.  That I think is real submission.

I’d like to think that God uses our wishes as part of his plan.  Not that he follows them, but that they form a part of it. 

Did you ever go out to eat with your parents when you were younger, and they asked you what you wanted to eat?  Did they always listen?

No.

Sometimes they would say, “You can’t have waffles for lunch, have some chicken instead.”
Sometimes they would say, “I think you’ll prefer the chicken to the fish, but you can have either.”
Sometimes they will wish you had chosen salad, but let you have pizza instead, hoping you’ll learn to love salad.

I think God treats our desires like that.  “Tell me what you want, and trust me to decide whether it’s right for you.”

The thing is, that we need to remind ourselves to let him order for us. To remind ourselves that the reason he is LORD, is because we have said to him “You are my LORD.” 

Biblios Hokku - Jeremiah & Lamentations

If I love the book of Isaiah, then I think I love the person of Jeremiah. He is one of my favourite prophets in the Bible, and one I can really relate to. For those of you who don't know, Jeremiah was given the un-enviable job of prophesying to the Kingdom of Judah that they must turn from their sin or they will be destroyed.

We don't know exactly how old Jeremiah was, but it was probably early twenties, or younger. At such a young age, GOD sends him to tell an entire nation it is under Divine Judgement.

Ouch.

I often found comfort in his words as a young(er) man, when I felt like crying "I am too young for this God." Despite his pleas of "I am too young", God reminds him that He chose him for this job before he was even born, and that he would give him the words. No wonder every utterance he makes is preceded by "The Lord said unto me..."

Truly a man in touch with God, and not afraid to be used.

After the fall of Judah, he chose to stay behind in the destroyed Kingdom, rather than live in luxury in the land of their captors. The book of Lamentations is also attributed to him, wherein the writer laments their fall, but reminds them that God still offers hope.

JEREMIAH
I chose you for this -
Warn them to turn from their sin.
Thus sayeth the Lord.

LAMENTATIONS
How lost is Judah,
but great is Thy faithfulness.
Restore us to you.

Biblios Hokku - Isaiah.

I think Isaiah is one of my favourite books of the Old Testament. It's almost like a fifth Gospel. It contains so much of what we understand about Jesus, his life, the reason for his coming. Isaiah was preparing us for his coming long before John the Baptist was even born.

ISAIAH

Promise of Good News.
For to us a child shall be born,
coming from the Lord.

I've had a bad week...

... and now this.

BRING ON THE WEEKEND!!!

Biblios Hokku - Poetry

In this Biblios Hokku journey, we have so far looked at the histories, and next we will be looking at the works of the prophets.

But first, a few of the poetic works of the bible, reduced to single-verse Haikus.

PSALMS
Praise ye the Lord.
In our joy, and our sadness,
our help comes from Him

PROVERBS
The fear of the Lord
is the heart of all wisdom.
Look to Him and live.

ECCLESIASTES
For God, in his time,
has made beautiful all things,
and timeless our hearts.

SONG OF SONGS
Love is his banner,
love better than any wine.
“Behold! Thou art fair!”

Biblios Hokku

When I started this insane idea of mine about writing the Bible in Haikus, I really had no idea why I was doing it. I mean I like the Bible, and I like Haiku; but who ever thought they would go together?






Seriously! What was that about?

But something interesting happened as I worked my way through it. It started bringing the Bible to life in a way I had never really seen it before. Particularly the Old Testament. It allowed me to see patterns in the Word that I had never noticed before. Studying the minor prophets as I have never done before, and seeing just how far God goes to try and bring his people back to him. I mean it was almost sad to read, knowing that each warning would be ignored, or forgotten.

It has given me a new perspective on the message of the Old Testament, and how it all fits together so neatly. I think I could spend years just going through one book.

It has been most educational thus far, and I look forward to finishing it soon.

Which brings me to my next point. I am finished the Old Testament now. Over the last few days I had a spurt of inspiration, and write 21 chapters in three sittings. Not a bad piece of work if I do say so myself.

Now I'm going to spend a bit of time polishing, tightening, and above all typing, these works, and then then the will be ready to release. I am thinking I will space them out, and possible release about four a week for the next two months, together with a brief comment about what the book meant to me. This should carry me through October and November without having to think too much, and leave my focus on my novel.

If you're not a fan of the Biblios Hokku programme, then I do apologise. I will be posting other stuff as it comes to me, so keep reading. I just think it will take some of the pressure off me to have to think of something to say, particularly in November, when I will probably be updating my writing blog more often.

Doing the write thing.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may have picked up that I have aspirations of being a writer.  I maintain a separate persona as a writer/poet under the name of David Seven. 

David Seven is my pen-name, and comes from my middle name, and the street where I was born.  (Seventh Avenue)  This is the name I use for all the poetry I write, as well as some of my other book-related activities.  Some people in the real world only know me as David Seven; which is weird I must say.

Except for my Bible Haiku’s, I try not to let the two worlds intertwine.  I have enough difficulty pretending to be a fish, without also pretending to be a writer. 

But I thought I should give you a warning that you might not be hearing a great deal from me for the next few months, because November is David’s favourite month of the year. 

It’s National Novel Writing Month!

NaNoWriMo as it is known is a time of the year when hundreds of thousands of aspirant writers from around the world lock themselves away from their families and friends, and try to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

You heard me right. 50,000 words.

It’s not as crazy as it sounds.

Okay, yes it is.  But its still fun.

It’s a month of madness, and giving yourself permission to write really badly, and ignore your inner editor.  It’s a time to thrive on the insanity that is writing, and put of thoughts of editing until December.  At the end of the experiment/madness/adventure I hope to have a 50,000 word first draft for editing.  And 50,000 words of nonsense is a lot easier to turn into a novel than 0 words of pure genius.

Has anyone else ever heard of NaNoWriMo?
Has anyone else ever tried it before?
Is anyone else crazy enough to try with me?

“Madness?  This is NANO!!!”

Three things every parent should teach their kids.

I am taking part in the MckLinky Blog Hop today.  I hope I get it right.

The question we were asked was “What three things should every parent teach their kids?” 

I think you should teach your kids how to play cards, because by doing so you are teaching them three things.

1. Spending time with you is more important than TV or my work.
   
   My father taught us how to play cards, which he learned from his mother.  Growing up, we always had a pack of cards around the house, and there was always someone willing to play with me.  Starting from snap, right up to blackjack.  We played often, during the day or at night, and it was quality time spent together.
   
2. You never have to be bored, because you can make your own entertainment.
   
   ”I’m bored.” seems to be the cry of kids today, who are lost without their DVDs or PS3.  Growing up I always knew that I could make my own entertainment; either for myself, or for one, two, or ten of my friends.  
   
3. It’s better to win than to lose, but once you pack the cards away it doesn’t matter who won. 
   
   People who tell you it doesn’t matter who wins or loses are missing the point.  Of course it matters.  Otherwise why try?  Play your hardest, do your best, try to win.  But don’t tie your value up in who you are.  It was great the first time I beat my family at Canasta, but all those years of losing didn’t make me a failure, anymore than the fact that I win all the time now makes me a better person.  Cards are for fun, life is forever.

 

 

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Rainy Day Monday #12 - Gang Related

On Rainy Day Mondays I usually either post one of my own old posts, or an old post from someone else's blog. This week I'm cheating by doing both. This entry was a short, but profound, quote from another blog I was following.

Gang Related

I found this over at a site I was reading.

A while back, an ex-gang member got baptized at our church. He fell in love with Jesus and turned from his old lifestyle. But after several months at the church, he stopped attending. When we asked him why he stopped attending, he answered: "I had the wrong idea of what church was going to be like. When I joined the church, I thought it was going to be like joining a gang. You see, in the gangs we weren't just nice to each other once a week-we were family."

All I can say is 'OUCH'

Lots of Biblios Hokku today

Another eight poems for my Biblios Hokku project. If you're new to the game, you can find out more here, or read the whole project so far here.

1 KINGS
Wise old Solomon
Building a house for the Lord
How long will it last?

2 KINGS
Judah and Israel.
Both nations carried away.
An exile begun.

1 CHRONICLES
The throne of David
established for evermore.
Grace in spite of sin.

2 CHRONICLES
A nation fallen
Still carrying God’s favour.
“I will bring you home.”

EZRA
A heart that seeks Him.
Ezra prepares the people.
Hope will rise anew.

NEHEMIAH
With prayer and with sword,
The wall of Jerusalem
rises once again.

ESTHER
A woman of God,
Born for a time such as this.
Favoured by her King.

JOB
Hold on to your faith.
Our God gives and takes away,
but always stays true.

Rainy Day Monday #11 – Real Love

For those of you who are new to my blog, Rainy Day Mondays are Mondays where I feature an old post from my own page, or a friend’s page; usually one which was published early on before that blogger had many followers.

This week I will be posting a blog post entitled Real Love from Building His Body by Anne Lang Bundy. Once you have finished reading here, go over to her blog and say hello.

REAL LOVE

real love fully accepts a person "as is"
real love sees beyond appearances to the heart of a person
real love sees evil and remembers that all humanity’s got the disease
real love sees the evil in another and looks past it to the good
real love sees the evil that causes hurt and challenges it to get out
real love sees the good in a person and challenges it to come forth
real love sees every person as made in the image of God
real love knows every person is as special as God makes ME feel
real love knows EVERYONE suffers from inferiority complex and needs validation
real love speaks truthfully, without overdoing it
real love sees the pain another carries and draws close to help carry it
real love discovers the right way to meet another’s need
real love recognizes a heart feeling emptiness and offers what will fill it
real love gratefully accepts imperfect gifts given with sincerity
real love remembers to say "thank you"
real love stands ready to says "yes"
real love says "no" when it’s truly best
real love isn’t irritated by the irritating
real love finds the right outlet to dissolve anger instead of burying it or lashing out
real love says "I’m hurt" without causing hurt
real love means that when I know I’ve caused hurt, I hurt too
real love knows it’s EVER needing to say "I’m sorry"
real love knows saying "I’m sorry" means most when it comes with "I was wrong"
real love forgives completely
real love knows what and how to forget
real love knows what and how to remember
real love wants to share what’s most treasured
real love knows that real love means real sacrifice
real love will sacrifice even what’s most dear
real love is willing to go to the grave
real love goes past the grave into eternity
real love loves without dependence on being loved back
real love loves even those who seem unlovable
real love is usually simple but rarely easy ...
... and PERFECT love does not fear
The ultimate REAL LOVE is God’s love. In fact, the Bible says that God is love. History’s greatest "I love you" was written in blood on a hill called Calvary, sent by Almighty God from His throne in heaven as a gift to you personally.
God knows that the evil in our hearts would ruin heaven. Only the blood of Jesus has the power to wipe out sin and clean up our hearts. There’s NO WAY the Father would have allowed His Son to die the way He did if Jesus’ blood hadn’t been absolutely necessary to clear the way for His love. He won’t impose this gift on anyone who won’t admit that it’s needed and doesn’t believe it’s real. He asks those who trust and accept His gift of love and salvation to remember and value it, and to keep trusting in Him and His love.
The same amount of love it took to send Jesus to Calvary is the same amount of love God wants YOU to have from Him EVERY day. If you’re not feeling His love right now, take a moment and ask the Lord to show you if there’s anything between the two of you that’s hindering the flow of His love, that you need to get rid of. Then allow His REAL LOVE to fill your heart. We don’t have to deserve God’s love (He loves us in spite of ourselves!)—we only have to be willing to receive it.
Whenever you want to know more of God’s love, read His love letter to you (the Bible). Talk with Him, tell Him you’re sorry for the times you don’t pay attention Him, tell Him you love Him, and ask Him to show you as much of His love as you can handle. When you’ve received His love, you can prolong it and multiply its power by sharing real love with others—EVERY day.
And we have seen and testify that
the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God,
God dwells in him and he in God.
And we have known and believed
the love that God has in us.
God is love,
and he who abides in love abides in God,
and God in him.
In this is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,
that as He is, so also we are in this world.
There is no fear in love,
but perfect love casts out fear,
because fear has torment.
He who fears has not been perfected in love.
We love Him because He first loved us ...
And we have this commandment from Him,
that he who loves God should love his brother also.
~ 1John 4:14-19,21 (MKJV)

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