Walk In Love

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
(1 Jn 4:16 NASB)

… and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Ep 5:2 NASB)

… and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ep 5:2 NIV)

Love is not a set of rules, that if we just follow them, we will be doing it right. As a matter of fact, love is more about being than about doing, Love is more about being Jesus to those we are around, than it is about doing something for them.

If we approach walking in love as doing, we will not draw close to the heart of God, nor will we enable others to. We can do and say a lot of good things, without caring about the individual, but only that we respond correctly. However, we will never be Jesus to those around us without loving Him and them. It is far more than a general love for mankind, though we should have that. It has to be individualized. It has to be towards the person who is before us right now.

Love cares … Love helps … Love gives … Love adds … Love values … Love always wants God’s best for whoever is before us. To quote from 1 Corinthians 13 “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails;

The kind of love that God requires we walk in cannot be worked up. It can only be walked out as we worked out what God has put within us. It doesn’t come by study, though that illumines our mind. It doesn’t come by being encourage to, though that will increase our resolve. It only comes as we take time to let the tide of God’s Spirit and God’s Word wash through us, flowing in and flowing back out changing us, changing our motives, and changing those around us.

I came across the following poem which seem to fit well with these thoughts.

Walk In Love
By Curtis R. McComis

As sunshine is to the earth, so is love to a person
Without sunshine, a plant will die
So without love a person will also die
Love is our breath of life
Love is the first gift of the Holy Spirit
Love holds a sick person's hand
Love looks beyond our faults and meets our needs
Love is the vitamins that keeps us healthy
Love stays in all types of weather
Love is the same today and forever
Love heals the broken-hearted
Love is not some kind of feelings and emotions
but love is actions comforting the lonely
Love has eyes to see, and ears to hear

Why And Where

I received a question from a friend and thought I would post the answer here also.

WHY IS YOUR BLOG CALLED 'OPEN UP THE GATES", AND WHERE ARE THE REFERENCES FOR THE SCRIPTURE VERSES UNDER IT.

I called it 'Open Up The Gates' to signify a life opened up to God. Not just being open to God and His input, but being opened up to God totally, no holding back, not waiting to see what He will do or say or require, but saying "Yes" to Him before any of that is know.

The Scripture References

I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw… This is from proverbs 24:32, but you need to look at the whole proverb. It is about how God speaks to us with everyday ordinary circumstances, and sometimes not ordinary, to reveal himself, His purposes, His ways, life principles, etc. But we have to observe, think about it, and learn from it.

For God does speak—now one way, now another— though man may not perceive it… This is Job 33:14, and again I recommend reading the whole chapter. It has to do with God speaking to us in various ways even when we don't realize He is.

Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. This is from Ps 24:7 , and again read the whole Psalm. We have a choice about letting the Lord in (our lives, our homes, our situations, etc). We also have to open the door which takes some effort on our part and we need to have a willingness to accept what He will do or say or change, in other words, what His will will be.

The Purpose of the Desert

(From TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os HillmanMonday, January 07 2008)

Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. - Hosea 2:14

If you have an important message to convey to someone, what is the best means of getting the message through? Have you ever tried to talk with someone who was so busy you could not get him to hear you? Distractions prevent us from giving our undivided attention to the messenger. So too, God has His way of taking us aside to get our undivided attention. For Paul, it was Arabia for three years; for Moses, it was 40 years in the desert; for Joseph, it was 13 years in Egypt; for David, it was many years of fleeing from King Saul.

God knows the stubborn human heart. He knows that if He is to accomplish His deepest work, He must take us into the desert in order to give us the privilege to be used in His Kingdom. In the desert God changes us and removes things that hinder us. He forces us to draw deep upon His grace. The desert is only a season in our life. When He has accomplished what He wants in our lives in the desert, He will bring us out. He has given us a mission to fulfill that can only be fulfilled after we have spent adequate time in preparation in the desert.
Fear not the desert, for it is here you will hear God's voice like never before. It is here you become His bride. It is here you will have the idols of your life removed. It is here you begin to experience the reality of a living God like never before. Someone once said, "God uses enlarged trials to produce enlarged saints so He can put them in enlarged places!"

He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me (2 Samuel 22:20).

Progression

The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. (Prov 4:18)

The Christian life is to be progressive. It is pictured as darkness being overtaken by dawn’s gentle intrusion breaking into full day. There is to be growth. Without growth, there has been no life exchange, only unknown stumbling in shades of darkness.

Our knowledge of and fellowship with God is to be progressive. We are to be growing in the grace and knowledge of out Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our intimacy with God is to be increasing, and as we are learning His ways, we should be increasingly living in such a way that pleases Him.

Our life is to be increasingly illuminated and effected by the Light. That Light dispels darkness, increasingly shows the path of righteous living, and either attracts or repels those around us.

Let’s walk in increasing light as God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. (1 Jn 1:5)

The ways of right-living people glow with light; the longer they live, the brighter they shine. But the road of wrongdoing gets darker and darker— travelers can't see a thing; they fall flat on their faces. (Prov 4:18-19 MSG)

Today

Today

Sometimes tomorrow seems to hold more promise than today
Or its worries creep in stealing the blessings and joy of nowEither way we are hindered from walking out the Way
Our tomorrow determined by what has slipped away

Sometimes yesterday seems brighter than today
Or its regrets and sorrows creep in stealing the blessings and joy of now
Either way we are hindered from walking out the Way
Our today determined by what has slipped away -JL

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Ps 118:24)

It is a joy to Jesus when a disciple takes time to walk more intimately with Him. The bearing of fruit is always shown in Scripture to be the visible result of an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. -Oswald Chambers

Early Morning

Scripture

O Lord, hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I pray to no one but you. Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord.Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly. (Ps 5:1-3)

Meditation

Patience is a hard discipline. It is not just waiting until something happens over which we have no control: the arrival of the bus, the end of the rain, the return of a friend, the resolution of a conflict. Patience is not a waiting passivity until someone else does something. Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are. When we are impatient we try to get away from where we are. We behave as if the real thing will happen tomorrow, later and somewhere else. Let’s be patient and trust that the treasure we look for is hidden in the ground on which we stand. -Henri Nouwen

Song

Miracle of the Moment
Steven Curtis Chapman

It's time for letting go
All of our if only's
'Cause we don't have a time machine

And even if we did
Would we really want to use it?
Would we really want to go change everything

'Cause we are who and where and what we are for now
And this is the only moment we can do anything about

So breathe it in and breathe it out
Listen to your heartbeat
There's a wonder in the here and now
It's right there in front of you
And I don't want you to miss
the miracle of the moment

There's only One who knows
What's really out there waiting
In all the moments yet to be
And all we need to know
Is He's out there waiting
To Him the future's history

And He has given us a treasure called right now
And this is the only moment we can do anything about

So breathe it in and breathe it out
Listen to your heartbeat
There's a wonder in the here and now
It's right there in front of you
And I don't want you to miss the miracle of the moment

And if it brings you tears
Then taste them as they fall
Let them soften your heart

And if it brings you laughter
Then throw your head back
And let it go
Let it go, yeah
You gotta let it go

And listen to your heartbeat

And breathe it in and breathe it out
And listen to your heartbeat
There's a wonder in the here and now
It's right there in front of you
And I don't want you to miss the miracle of the moment

And breathe it in and breathe it out
And listen to your heartbeat
There's a wonder in the here and now
It's right there in front of you
And I don't want you to miss the miracle
Of the moment

Verse For Thought

Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar and watch for fire to descend. (Ps 5:3 MSG)

Think Upon

Think upon the following, taking time to savor their truth, and receive instruction, correction, and guidance.

I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.(Ps 4:8)

Never run before God's guidance. If there is the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt - don't. -Oswald Chambers

A child is the fruit conceived in vulnerability, community is the fruit born through shared brokenness, and intimacy is the fruit that grows through touching one another’s wounds.
-Henri Nouwen

The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. (Prov 4:18)

Don’t stop with just reading what’s above. Think about each one separately, meditating upon it, rolling it over in your mind, letting God expand it, thereby giving you understanding.