THE GREATEST
COMMAND
LOVE!
On a recent retreat in the Western Cape with OCS – The
Order of Christian Service, all attending home and field workers were
treated with a bible study course (The heart of true faith) and faith
revival/transformation DVD’s. We studied “The heart of faith – Loving God
and others”. God’s LOVE is, will be and has been the main theme of
life; it’s all about LOVE. We saw evidence that dedicated prayer creates
an appetite for true spiritual revival and LOVE in churches, communities, business
and governments.
LOVE is the full measure of God’s Kingdom on
earth. We saw how ongoing dedicated and committed prayer and LOVE for
one another, transformed communities, villages, cities and nations and
completely erased the negative effects of greed, corruption, hunger, poverty,
alcohol and drug abuse and much more.
“And He said to
him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost
commandment. The second is like it, ‘you shall love your neighbour as
yourself’. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the
Prophets”.
- Matthew 22:37-40 -
As a Christian it is
your created calling and responsibility to LOVE your neighbour and Reach
Out to Others. Countless calls for help to
missionaries/churches/faith-based organisations are received annually to help
many hurting and needy communities and become more outreach-oriented. Then,
when help is offered, people exert a minimal amount of effort to continue what
God places as a top priority. Reaching out to others isn't something we should
pay lip service to. It should be a top priority of living as a Christian.
It takes determination and commitment to stretch ourselves to show LOVE and help others, but that's how God wants us to live. God says that when you truly give and pour yourself out for others, He will use you. "Your light shall dawn in the darkness and your darkness shall be as the noonday" (Isaiah 58:10).
If you reach beyond your own situation and bring Christ's love to others, the circumstances you face will fade away and disappear. And you'll experience the wondrous joy of making a difference where it counts.
It takes determination and commitment to stretch ourselves to show LOVE and help others, but that's how God wants us to live. God says that when you truly give and pour yourself out for others, He will use you. "Your light shall dawn in the darkness and your darkness shall be as the noonday" (Isaiah 58:10).
If you reach beyond your own situation and bring Christ's love to others, the circumstances you face will fade away and disappear. And you'll experience the wondrous joy of making a difference where it counts.
From the book Painting Angels (an ongoing testimony) –
Over the past four years I have experienced so much of
God’s LOVE through all the tragedies, and in the joy, beauty and power of
creation. How we LOVE and treat each other can affect our minds, bodies and
souls and it is therefore clear and a simple fact that LOVE is really what this
life is about. The characteristic of LOVE is spontaneity. In looking back we
cannot tell why we did certain things, we did them according to the spontaneous
nature of God’s LOVE in us.
Accept God’s LOVE and share it in your life. The only way
to do this to seek to lead an exemplary life filled with LOVE which can only be
found through the Spirit and originates in man’s inner being. Divine qualities
are the only answer and it is our duty as God’s children/spiritual beings to
protect and preserve the beauty of God’s Creation/Master Painting – our
spiritual being and the Kingdom of God. The most basic and simple thing is to
realise that God is and will always be in control of your life, human and
spiritual, and that you have no option, but to accept his Divine LOVE and trust
Him unconditionally. OK, you have an option, if you want one “your will be
done” - to become your own creator master, like many of us do. You can continue
to live a carefree life filled with many superficial pleasures, lots of money,
greed and possessions – the result can only be disaster and all is temporary.
All work every day and every moment of our life should be an act of LOVE /
WORSHIP.
LOVE
Yourself
“You shall love
your neighbour as yourself”.
- Matthew 22:39 -
Many years ago I had art
classes and when we arrived for class one day, each student was placed in front
of a mirror and we were told to draw a self-portrait. The art teacher warned us
that many people find it very difficult to study and sketch themselves in such
detail for a few hours. To look/study at and into your own eyes and then draw
them was the most difficult. If you search and look long enough, you will find
your soul. One lady in that class started crying and could not complete the
task. Now I know many of you will laugh. Over and above my Morning Prayer and
time with God I found an exercise that helps me to reach my soul quite easily.
In the beginning I did burst out laughing most of the times and hoped no one
heard or saw me, as they would surely think I am crazy. Sometimes I am also
rushed and found that when I brush my teeth in the morning I look in the mirror
into my own eyes and say “morning my Angel, how are you today?” Once you stop
smiling or laughing or crying, take a moment and continue to look into your own
eyes, examine them, see the colours, the emotion, look long enough and
wonderful things happen.
When the eyes of the soul that are looking out, meet the
eyes of God looking in, heaven has begun right here on earth.
A.W.Tozier.
When you allow the external pressures or enjoyments of life to rob you of your core self, when you no longer dedicate only 20 minutes a day to speak your heart out to your Creator, when you have no time for the essence of it all, you will soon lose touch with the notion that you ever had any innocence to lose. You may no longer know the reason or meaning of life.
It is painful to lose things in
life (your work, job, home, physical possessions). It is far more painful to
lose people/loved ones in life (divorce, death). But the worst pain of all is
when we lose our connection with the reality of life and our Father God. We simply cannot afford to lose our souls.
None of us can afford to sacrifice our few intimate moments of prayer and
communion with our Creator because of other responsibilities or pleasures. For
without this relationship, we might one day look in the mirror and observe a
living body encasing a dead soul.
CREATION AND WORK
IS LOVE MADE VISIBLE
GOD IS LOVE
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