Faith Does Not Come with a Seatbelt

Posted on June 19, 2018 by daaorg1214

I was never a fan of the dark. Accustomed to being awakened to horrific surprises, having to jump to my feet in fight or flight mode, as a child I grew to dread nighttime hours. Now, as an adult, sleep doesn’t come as easily as it might for some, and it can be frustrating. I can count on one hand the nights that I’ve awakened in the morning with a sense of deep rest from the night before. I sleep much more peaceably during daylight hours. This doesn’t interfere with the quality of life I now have, but it is most certainly a residual. It’s a leftover from the fear I lived with due to domestic violence during child and adolescent years.

As I matured into an adult, I was headed down a path very similar to the one I had always known; I chose boyfriends that were abusive. Fighting was something I was used to, and fighting back was becoming a pattern as well.

I was broken inside, but couldn’t call it brokenness, because I hadn’t heard anyone else call it that. What I saw and heard was this notion of protecting the secret. I did not even feel worthy enough to weep aloud. It wasn’t until I was married with children of my own that I actually gave myself permission to hear my own sobs, to mourn the childhood I should have had, and to moan if I felt I needed to.

2Corinthians 3:17(NLT) declares, “For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” I thank God to be free from the secret, and to speak my truth unashamedly. It is indeed cathartic, but lest I overreach into that bowl of selfishness, I must share the method of my release, and not just herald the release itself.

Jesus Christ extended an invitation to us all in Matthew 11:28-30(NLT), “28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” I had heard this passage many times in church, but I didn’t allow the overwhelming love he offered to connect with my need. I remember the feeling of utter hopelessness I had when I was almost seventeen. I made a split-second decision one night to lay it all on the line. It was my final hope, and I gave it all, every burden, over to Jesus Christ.

Something very real happened to me internally when I asked Christ to come into my life. I knew I was changed, and things started to get a little better for me, but still, I wanted more evidence. I was very self-reliant as a teen, because in certain areas I had to be, but insecurities had made me appear clumsy and odd at times in front of my peers. I was ridiculed, became comfortable with disappointment, and expected it often.

My young shoulders were heavy with problems at home and school. The responsibilities I had were not those of a normal teen. I cooked, cleaned, and cared for my siblings, and was expected to do so at a level that rivaled any mature adult. I also very much wanted to go to college, and that included worries and fears that most my age would not have considered, or would have had to. It seemed an impossible reality, with everything stacked against me, but I decided that I’d let Christ handle the whole thing.

I didn’t know nearly as much as I know now about operating by faith, but I knew enough to wrestle doubt every time it came to the surface. With every contrary thought of worry and anxiety, I arrested it in my mind with, “Nope! Not my worry. I gave it all to Jesus.” This affirmation became a habit pattern. It was a different kind of fight. I knew what a physical blow felt like. I knew what it was to be pushed to the floor so hard that you didn’t have time to process it; you just got back up for another round. But this ‘mind’ thing broke new ground for me. I could feel the wheels of power churning, not my wheels, but the Lord’s. A different kind of rest was opening up, and I had peace for the first time. Things worked out. Not the way I thought they would, but in a way that was divine and purposeful to my entire life’s journey.

I don’t know how I lost this pattern of faith the Lord had taught me, but I did. Child-like humility took a back seat to adult arrogance, and I thought I could handle everything all on my own. So later, when I was in my twenties, I finished college and made a near mess of my life. I was sitting alone one morning, having been up all night despondently waiting for the other shoe to drop. Suddenly, a memory shot across my mind’s eye like a shooting star. I didn’t recognize it as the everlasting hope it represented, but that’s exactly what it was. I had been in a miserable place before, and I was there again. I knew I couldn’t remain in that place much longer without losing myself altogether. I reached out to the Lord Jesus Christ; and again, he rescued me.

Well, here I am, still clumsy at times, and still struggling to get a good night’s sleep, but I claim and have held for some time now a peace that passes all understanding. 2Corinthians 5:7 tells us to walk by faith and not by sight. We don’t have to see where we’re going, and faith does not come with a seatbelt; it doesn’t need one. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is in the driver’s seat. As we release our hands from the wheel, and let ourselves fall completely into his care, he will keep us in his perfect peace.■

When Bitterness Gets A Rub

Posted on June 12, 2018 by daaorg1214

Hebrews 12:15(NLT) tells us, “Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.” During the time in which God inspired the Apostle Paul to write this epistle to the Hebrews, Christians were being horribly treated, and many were executed for the sake of the gospel. It was a very tense time and as one might imagine, people were stressed. We’re living in stressful times today, but I don’t think it compares to what those before us endured. Still, the pressure of dealing with various challenges can cause a person to behave differently than they might otherwise. This was true thousands of years ago, and it’s true today. Pressure can cause us to harbor the wrong emotions. So, God’s warning in Hebrews 12:15 is a very important one, because it informs us that what grows in our hearts can take root in our lives.

Our emotions and feelings can get out of hand when we’re under duress. This can cause bitterness to fester within, and we’re not always aware it’s happening. God’s desire is that we look after one another and be concerned about our brothers’ and sisters’ welfare. This is one of our Christian duties. It’s a way that God can work through us to comfort one another, especially during hard times. But when bitterness is operating within, we can’t always pickup love’s call. It gets blocked. Therefore, we must do all that we can to get bitterness out of our hearts.

Years ago, I was betrayed by someone that I loved very much, and it hurt me terribly. I agonized over the loss for many weeks. Unwilling to confront the situation with maturity and grace, or to accept any responsibility for how things turned sour, I became very angry. At the same time, I was dealing with an issue at work, and felt I was being treated unfairly by my boss. Both things did a whammy on my head and heart. It was as if I was looking at someone else live my life. I was unhappy, and snappy all the time. I treated people I cared about poorly, and I don’t think I had ever raised my voice in anger the way I did back then. It was an ugly time. I internalized the anger and disappointment I felt, and blamed others for it. I had become very bitter.

God tells us in Ephesians 4:31-32 (NLT), “31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” God would not tell us to do something that we’re incapable of getting done. He’s not giving us a suggestion here, but a directive to put away the bitterness, along with all its compadres. He’s made us totally responsible and accountable for the evil behavior that comes with bitterness, and He’s also made it very clear that it’s a choice to do so.

Hurt, heartache, and disappointment are heavies. They weigh us down, but they are also part of the human condition. Not only do they cause us to experience an avalanche of other emotions, but they can make us feel as though things are not going to get better. The special person that’s chosen to move on, the friend that betrays us, the family member who abandons or that isn’t there when we need them most; these circumstances are painful, but they are burdens we don’t have to carry alone. God tells us in 2Corinthians 12:9 (NLT) “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” He will carry the load of our hurt and devastation. He will pick up the pieces and make our lives all we dreamed they would be.

We can miss the grace of God if we continue to allow bitterness to take root in our hearts. A negative outlook spoils the growth of newness, and allows corrupt attitudes to poison our hopes. Through Jesus Christ, we can be so much better than this, but we have to want to be. God has warned us severely about letting bitterness take root because it is a contagion that is pervasive if allowed to go unchecked. It spills over into every aspect of our existence, and many of us have grown incredibly comfortable with it in our hearts. I know folks that have lived with bitterness so long that they won’t allow God’s love to go near it, not even to give it a rub.

The greatest thing that we can do for ourselves is to surrender our pain, anger, and disappointment to Heavenly Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. When we allow His love to takeover, bitterness is rubbed out, and our faith in Him is polished in the process! We need to ask Him to do a work in our hearts—to perform surgery on us through His love and give us a new heart. This should be our prayer—our open invitation to Him. He’ll do this for us, because He loves us, and He wants the joy of His glory to light up our hearts.■

Walk In Wisdom

Posted on June 5, 2018 by daaorg1214

Some years ago, I met Tabitha. She is accomplished and seasoned both in her profession and years, and found herself dealing with a troubling situation. In her late forties, she divorced an ailing husband to be with a much younger man. Her grown children and girlfriends believed it to be an incredibly selfish thing to do. She married her first husband right out of college. They raised a family together, settled into their careers, and acquired some degree of wealth and status as a couple. No one who knew them would ever have suspected that Tabitha would not be the devoted wife and stick with her husband through his illness, but she made the choice to leave him. It was a very difficult time in her family’s lives, but this was not nearly as troublesome as what she faced some years later.

Tabitha had a close-knit group of girlfriends that were equally as family-oriented as she was once thought to be. It’s not hard to imagine that they viewed her actions as self-sabotaging. By most folk’s standards, she was living a very stable life, but she was not fulfilled and hadn’t felt that way in a very long time. The new man she became involved with was 17 years her junior. He was exciting, impetuous, and very handsome. It felt to her that he had awaken things in her soul she had never experienced. She told me her love for him was so strong that she didn’t have a choice; being with him was something she felt she had to do–almost like breathing.

Proverbs 4:7(NKJV) tells us, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.” This verse is a heavy hitter. We hear it quite often, and sometimes, when verses and passages are very popular, we become too comfortable with them. Instead of digesting the heft of what the Lord is presenting to us, we allow the truth to swirl around our ears without landing firmly in our hearts. Our Heavenly Father, the Creator of all there is, has given us an order of importance for wisdom. It’s way up there on the scale. It’s the principal thing according to God’s book.

God wants us to be wise about our choices, and this means that we should seek to obtain a certain level of understanding about the impact of them. You and I don’t know the future, but God does, and it is uber important that we remain in control of our emotions and seek His direction. 2Timothy 1:7 (NLT) declares, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” These are the spirits that come from God; power, love, and self-discipline. Being out-of-control in any respect is a sure sign that the wrong spirit, one that isn’t from God, is calling the shots.

Whenever we’re at a place in life where we’re allowing our emotions and feelings to control our actions and rule over us, when we make decisions without consulting our higher self in Christ; the end result can be devastating. Tabitha and her new husband were happy for a few years, but he hid an addiction from her for most of this time. She was beyond regretful about her choices, and looking back on her situation, she said it was like someone had blindfolded her mind.

The Book of Job in the Old Testament tells us the record of the extremely harsh tribulation that Job endured. The devil pounced on him terribly, and cursed him with many afflictions. Before any of it took place, Job 1:7(NLT) tells us that God asked satan a question, “Where have you come from?” the LORD asked Satan. Satan answered the LORD, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.” This is what the devil does. Jesus Christ told us in John 10:10 that the devil is a thief whose only mission is to steal, kill, and destroy. The enemy patrols the earth, and do you know why he does this? He’s looking for an opportunity to steal from us, to rob us of joy and to cancel the awesome destiny that God has for us.

When we hear the Word, but don’t heed it, the enemy takes notice. These are exactly the opportunities he looks for. Our neglect of God’s Word is our neglect of wisdom, and this becomes the tool the devil uses to rob our lives. We can so clearly see why God has informed us that the wisdom of His Word is the principal thing. God wants to help us become spiritually sharp and aware. If we will learn more about Him, our trust in His Word will grow, then we can better guard our hearts and walk in wisdom. ■

Dedicating Your New Relationship to God

Posted on May 29, 2018 by daaorg1214

Many of us wake up, proceed with our morning rituals and routines, and carryon with the day. We get into a groove in our lives, and it can become so habit forming that sometimes we don’t recognize we’re neglecting our souls. When we bring this neglect into a new relationship, things can go sour pretty quickly. Love has a starting point, and we need to give it as firm a foundation as we possibly can. Ultimately, the love we put out there is the love that will come back to us, so if we’re neglecting the very core of our existence, what does this say about the caliber of love we’re able to give?

Self-love is not separate from the love of Christ. Society would like us to believe that the two are separate, that love of self is about practices that indulge and promote selfish thinking; not so. Jesus Christ said in John 15:12 (NLT), “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.” It’s a tall order for sure. Jesus Christ loved us so much that he gave his life for us, and he did it when we were incredibly cruel and uncaring; many of us still are. He commanded us to love each other with a love that measures up to the same caliber of his love. Jesus knows our capability, and he would not have given us a commandment of which we’re incapable of fulfilling.

The highest form of self-love is to love God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength, because when we do this, He will help us to love others unconditionally, and to thereby love ourselves in the most fortifying and fulfilling way. Colossians 3:14(NLT) tells us, “Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.” If we begin our new relationships with the intention of clothing them in the love of Christ, something spiritual happens. We have an opportunity to plant a seed of unity that binds them together in perfect harmony.

A word of caution, you don’t want to sow your seeds on ground that will not yield a good harvest. This is a futile exercise. It causes us to lose valuable resources of stamina, momentum, and time on this Christian journey of life. We can regain stamina and momentum, but time is lost forever. So we need to exercise caution, caring, and concern, not just for ourselves, but for the destiny and journey of the other person as well.

God is our everything, and making sure we’re not trying to make a person our everything will give our relationships a solid footing. We must remember always that love gets its start from God. 1John 4:19 tells us that we love because He first loved us. He showed us the way to love. It’s logical, reasonable, and intellectually prudent to let Him increase our heart-space and teach us His most valuable trade-secrets. Wrapping our relationships in His unconditional love will secure His plan for not only our lives, but the life of the person we’ve chosen.

We can dedicate our new relationships to God by introducing newness into our daily routines. We do this by incorporating intentional spiritual practices to cover our relationships in the love of Christ each day. This means we must trim off any selfish motives, commit ourselves to pray daily for the person we’re involved with, and be willing to learn something new about God and His love from His Word. This will help us continue to spiritually grow in Christ, and to maintain harmony in our relationships by always putting God first. ■

Anesthetized to the WHAAM!

Posted on May 22, 2018 by daaorg1214

David, the psalmist, asked of the Lord in Psalm 119:18 (NLT), “Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions.” I’m sure that David’s physical eyes were indeed open when he wrote this, and he could see before him. So, it isn’t a stretch for you and me to conclude that David was referring to a different kind of seeing, the kind of sight where a person sees with spiritual eyes.

As we move about our daily lives, it is incumbent upon us to consider the reality that we don’t always see what we need to. Our eyes are open, and we’re going about our routines, but we often miss the thing that is going to transform our lives into what God intends them to be. Sometimes we don’t realize it until WHAAM! Something happens that completely throws us for a loop. We often refer to these incidents as ‘wake-up’ moments, because they cause us to come alive in ways we haven’t before, and we almost always change trajectories when they occur.

Many of us that have suffered abuse become somewhat anesthetized to the WHAAM! We’ve trained ourselves to become numb to treatment that would normally shock anybody else. This is harmful for all sorts of reasons, but the most troubling one is that we’re running further away from our true identities. In Revelations 3:2, Jesus Christ tells believers to wake up and strengthen what remains, because even what remains is almost dead. It’s not God’s Will that we walk around asleep with our eyes wide open. He wants us to snap out of it. He wants us to recognize that we have a purpose, and it includes our happiness.

God is not the author of our ‘WHAAM!’ moments. They happen because we’re not paying attention to our spiritual lives, and therefore, our souls are malnourished. When we’re in this condition, we can’t see what we need to see, or hear what we need to hear; because our senses are too dull.

We are spiritual beings having an earthly experience, and as we sojourn on this earth, God has commanded that we do so in a certain way. He tells us in Galatians 5:25(NLT), “Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.” If we were capable of leading and guiding ourselves successfully through life, we wouldn’t have the hiccups and mishaps that we do. The truth is that we were created by God to be led by His love. He knows what is best for us in every aspect of our existence.

When we’re so out of tune that we’re not even listening to our own spirits, hiccups and mishaps are bound to happen. Among many other wonderful things that it does, God’s Word tells us about His nature, it acquaints us with who God is, so that we get to know Him as our Heavenly Father. One of the most significant aspects of His nature is that He is faithful to His Word, because His Word is truth. He doesn’t ever make a mistake or need a do-over or a back-track. So when He tells us to do something in His Word, He means for us to get it done. He tells us to wake up and be alert. This means that we have the choice to come alive to faith—to get WOKE—or to stay asleep.

You don’t know your full story. You have no idea of the wonderful blessings that God has planned for you, but this one thing is for sure, you must allow Him to lead you to them. John 16:13 tells us the Holy Spirit that indwells us will lead and guide us to ALL truth. He will tell us what he hears from Jesus Christ, and this is the information and navigation we desperately need.

The more we ignore the lessons of “WHAAM!’, the more severe they become. Don’t wait for the next one. Reach out and grab the Lord’s hand. He told His people in Isaiah 41:10 (NLT), “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” He makes this same promise to all of us today. Trust in Him with everything in your being. Don’t just open your eyes, wake-up to His love.■

You Deserve God’s Best!

Posted on May 15, 2018 by daaorg1214

In my opinion, the most insidious part of abusive behavior is manipulation. Many of us fall into this trap without realizing we’re doing it. There are things that we said we’d never accept, things that were a part of our zero-tolerance boundary, but gradually, we give up little pieces of it. We’re spoken to dismissively, as if our opinion has no value. Our level of commitment to the relationship is taken for granted, and we compromise the affection and warmth we deserve for even the smallest demonstration of care. Not only are we not getting what we need, we’re not sure we even know what that is anymore. We have to come to grips with the reality that manipulators can pull us in and pull us down before we know it. They are both perceptive and deceptive in ways that undermine our emotional well-being.

Any time we tune out our own self-worth for the sake of accommodating someone that isn’t emotionally stable or available, we’re denying ourselves the opportunity to develop spiritually. God is extremely interested in our well-being. In 3John 1:2, He tells us that He wants us to be in good health, and He wants our souls to prosper. Well, this can’t happen if we’re hurting ourselves and using someone else to do it.

God teaches us throughout His Word that the foundation of our relationship with Him is faith. In Hebrews 11:6, we learn that without faith, we can’t please God. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to us that all good relationships will be founded in pretty much the same way. Trust will be a central component. Not deception and manipulation, but wholehearted trust that is anchored in honesty, support, generosity, and kindness.

God’s Word gives us the perfect visual of what this trust looks like from all angles, His and ours. He tells us in 3John 1:4, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” In John 3:16 (NKJV), Jesus Christ said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” And in John 10:10, he said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. God’s got our backs! All day and in every way, He’s taken care of us. Mentally, emotionally, physically, and most importantly, spiritually; He solidified everything we will ever need, and then He said, “Trust Me!”

He gave us the goods first, through our Lord and Savior, and then lovingly begs us to place our faith in Him so that we can share in all His wonderful treasures. Note that God did not ask us to place our trust in shabby, empty, or bottom-tier promises. He gives us eternal blessings and seals them with a guarantee that equals the unfathomable glory of His name. Let that one marinate with you a little bit.

He wants us to walk in truth. He gave us His one and only magnificent and powerful begotten Son, and through him we have life that never ends. God has made a more than abundant life available through Jesus Christ. Most of us would be happy with just an abundant life, but God deals in the exceedingly abundant! He’s made it possible for us to have more than we can possibly imagine through Christ. Ask yourself why?

Why did Heavenly Father give us these exceedingly precious blessings, and why is it so important that we know about His promises?

Here’s the uncompromising and unyielding truth, you will only accept what you feel you are worthy to receive. Your relationships will mirror this in every way.

God, the Creator of the universe, has given us such extraordinary blessings and promises, because He wants us to know how HE sees us. He wants us to measure our worth by HIS standard, not by the standard of someone that is narcissistic, selfish, and manipulative. That’s not the best, and you deserve God’s best. ■

A Tricked-Out Boo

Posted on May 8, 2018 by daaorg1214

Jordan was not the man Lisa thought she had married. When they first met, she was taken with his spontaneity and good looks. He had a kind of boy-next-door humility and charm that reminded her of her high-school sweetheart. Jordan is a personal trainer, and she met him at the gym where she works out. They dated almost a year before he popped the question, and they got married soon after. Before she met Jordan, Lisa was successful professionally, but unhappy. She had a close-knit group of girlfriends and a very supportive family who constantly consoled and encouraged her. She desperately wanted to be married. Having a family and being a mother and a wife was all she had ever dreamed about, but none of her relationships lasted, and she went through extreme bouts of sadness because of the loneliness.

Lisa was very busy at work one day when Jordan phoned. She told him she didn’t have time to talk, and would call him back. She had no idea that something this simple would cause the barrage of questions she faced when she got home. She just kept thinking that it came out of nowhere, and she couldn’t understand what had gotten into Jordan. In the coming months, it got worse. At first, she overlooked his jealous tendencies, and was a little flattered by them. After a while, he started accusing her of all kinds of things, and her life began to feel like a prison.

Jesus Christ taught us in John 10:10 (NKJV), “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” An abundant life is a life that is filled with love, peace, joy, wholeness, and all the other wonderful blessings that God has made available through Christ. This isn’t just for people who dot all their ‘i’s and cross all their ‘t’s. John 3:16 says that God loved the entire world so much that He gave His only begotten Son as a sacrifice. The sacrifice of Christ was needed because humans chose to turn their backs on God and to live in darkness. So when we were at our worse, Christ came to die for us. This is how much the Father loves and cares for us all.

God wants every person to live the greatest life of which they are capable. He wants us to be happy, and not only does He want us to be happy, He’s given us the spiritual accoutrement to acquire the kind of life we desire. Contrary to what many people believe, the devil is real. It is impossible for God to tell a lie, and His Word is true. Heavenly Father has an archenemy, and he is the thief that Jesus Christ talked about in John 10:10. The thief is the devil, and he doesn’t want us to be happy. One of the major ways that the devil destroys our happiness is to keep us blind to his tricks.

God tells us in 1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV), “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” We need to be alert and aware because the devil looks for an opening to come into our lives, and for many women, loneliness and desperation presents just the opportunity he’s looking for.

Being single longer than a person would like can bring on feelings of sadness, but God still expects us to have faith in His provision, no matter how things look. He expects that we will check-in with Him for greenlights and get that all-important “okay to go!” before we give someone access into our lives. When we don’t get an ‘all clear’ from God, we might fall for a tricked-out Boo from the enemy, and that’s not God’s Will for us. It’s not that the guy is so bad, but he may not be seasoned enough in God’s Word to resist being used by the devil against you.

God will help us no matter how bad the situation is, but the best approach is to not get into the situation in the first place. Amping up our prayer lives and understanding what God desires from us is always going to prepare us spiritually. It will help us operate in the gift of discernment, so that we will know a trick when we see it and steer clear.■

Starving for Love

Posted on May 1, 2018 by daaorg1214

There are some things that are just baked into our makeup. They come standard with the packaging, but sometimes we mess with the wiring and cause things to go haywire. When this happens, one of the mistakes that we make is to think that we can let those things continue to run on automatic—that we can let them go unchecked. That’s just not true. God has gifted us with the responsibility to keep our own spiritual houses in order. Many of us do a fairly decent job when it comes to the outside. With all the make-up tutorials out there, we can keep those brows on fleek and that hair snatched with the best of em’. But when it comes to the inside—hmmm—that’s another story.

We all know what it feels like to go too long without eating, and to feel hungry; not exactly the most pleasant feeling, but it’s an extremely beneficial physical signal. When the stomach is empty, it causes a hunger hormone to be released, and it signals our brain that it’s eatin’ time. The body will naturally do this on its own. The hunger signal is on automatic, but somewhere along the way, many of us stopped paying attention to it. We eat when we’re not hungry, and sometimes we eat the wrong things. The problem has gotten so out of hand for a lot of us that many doctors are suggesting that we learn how to get back in touch with our hunger signals.

We overeat and eat the wrong foods for different reasons. Some of us are emotional eaters, others eat when they’re bored, and some of us have never learned to develop good eating habits in the first place. Whatever the reason, taking control will force us to ask and answer questions about exactly what signals we’ve followed and why. Our hunger for love should prompt us to do the same thing.

1John 4:10(NLT) says, “This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” God is love. He created us from love, and gave us the honor and privilege through Christ to walk in His love daily. We’re the spiritual children of God, and if there’s one signal that we can be confident in, it’s the one regarding His love. Not only does He teach us to love the right way, He will also help us to recognize when our tanks are running empty. This is often the signal we miss. And because we do, we look for love in all the wrong places.

Sometimes we don’t feed our spiritual selves a healthy diet, the kind that nurtures our relationship with God through Christ, and also makes our souls strong and our hearts happy. Many of us ignore the reality that God’s Holy Spirit lives inside us, and that loving Him is the highest form of loving ourselves.

Through the Lord Jesus Christ, God is constantly delivering the love signal, but one of the things we’ve learned is that if we eat the wrong thing, we begin to crave the wrong thing; so instead of picking up the real-love signal, we race to satisfy a craving that isn’t of God. We get into all sorts of trouble this way, because we’re starving ourselves of what we really need.

The way to make sure that we never starve is to do as Jesus Christ commanded in Mark 12:30 (NLT), when he said, “And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” This isn’t a chore. It’s the greatest thing that any human being can do. It’s a privilege to love God. He pours that love right back into us and expands us, makes us more than we ever thought we could be.

1John 4:16 (NLT) tells us, “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” When we feast on God’s love, there’s no starving. His love fills us in every way. Trust in the unconditional, overwhelming love God has for you. Learn to love yourself through the eyes of His love, then your tank will always be full, and you’ll recognize and accept nothing less than a real-love signal. ■

The Salt in Your Salt-Shaker

Posted on April 24, 2018 by daaorg1214

I remember the first time that I heard Colossians 2:10(NLT), an indescribable feeling came over me. This verse says “So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” The Holy Spirit did a work in my heart as soon as I heard those words. I have no doubt that it was because I had always felt so incomplete as a person; like no matter what I set out to do, I was doomed to fail. It got to a point where I felt that the safest thing for me to do was to just expect to fail at whatever I attempted. That way the disappointment would not come as such a surprise.

This was no way to live, but it was my reality for longer than I wanted, and my relationships with men followed suit; they were almost always disasters. God’s Word sparked hope in my heart, and I have to say that it was a scary place at first. The hands of my heart had been firmly clinched around a glass-half-empty existence. Part of the problem is that I grew up struggling with an image of God that I didn’t understand. I was trying to believe that He loved me, but couldn’t reconcile it with what others were saying and teaching about Him.

I had extraordinarily loving people in my life that were supportive and nurturing, but I also had individuals that were supposed to love and protect me, but didn’t. I saw and experienced things that no child should, and I always wondered why I was being punished. Why did God allow me to suffer? I could never enjoy my present for the dread of what might happen in the future. This created a dark cloud, and it lingered over my life for the longest time. I didn’t know how to identify it. I thought it was God punishing me, but as I matured spiritually, I came to understand that this dark cloud was the residuals of not knowing who God is, who I am, or why I’m here. It was the entrapment of fear.

God tells us in Hosea 4:6 that His people are destroyed because they lack knowledge. Ignorance destroys. It can destroy the lives of those who never learned to love with Christ in their hearts, and it can also destroy the lives of those under their span of influence and care.

Jesus Christ cleared up my confusion. He said in Matthew 5:13 The Message (MSG), “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.” In the eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ, saltiness is the flavor of love, power, and goodness; God’s people should bring this seasoning to the earth. Without knowing that we’ve been empowered by God to bring the salt and to flavor the lives of all who know us, we might start to feel like garbage, but when we know better, we can do and FEEL better!

Understanding God’s love has planted a seed of light in my spirit. It has created a hunger and thirst in me for righteousness. It fed me in a way that fueled hope, despite my pattern of self-punishment. The bond between me and disappointment began to crack. I became confident in this person called Christ, and it led me to speak his truth to the one that had oppressed me. In that moment, I thought to myself, “Where did that come from? Is that my voice? Who said that?” This moment was a building block upon which my new future would rest.

1 John 4:18(NKJV) tells us, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” God does not punish. Embracing the truth that He’s on your side, that He will never leave or forsake you, and that He has a wonderful plan for your life; trust, this is the salt in your salt-shaker. Sprinkle it everywhere you go! ■

A Treasure to Love

Posted on April 17, 2018 by daaorg1214

I recently heard about a man, a friend of a friend, who’s engaged to be married, and is having a really difficult time getting along with his fiancée. They’ve been together a while, and their rocky relationship is no huge secret. That’s why it’s surprising to everyone who knows them that they’re considering this very serious step. They’ve clashed on just about every decision, and his fiancée has thrown a few notorious tantrums. She calms down after the ‘crisis’ is either handled or averted, but he’s exhausted and said that if she loses it one more time, he’s going to call the whole thing off.

If you don’t know much about the Father’s love, then you might look at these two and say something like, “They love each other, and you can’t help who you love.” Here’s another one, “the heart wants what the heart wants.” These are two very different people, one incredibly outspoken and the other seemingly calm and even-tempered. So, one could even say, “Opposites attract.” We have all these rationales for falling IN love with someone, but some of these reasons fail the test when it comes to sustaining that love and making sure we don’t fall out of it.

Romans 8:38 tells us that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. This gives us a basis for comprehending the depth and expanse of His heart towards us. God’s love is unyielding and unfailing, and trusting this is more important than any of us can imagine. Because the truth is that ultimately you and I will love others to the degree to which we believe WE are loved.

There’s a saying, “Don’t just talk about it, BE about it!” Commitment and action should back up our words so that our love investment is believed. John 3:16 (NLT) tells us, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” God didn’t just tell us He loves us, He demonstrated His love by sparing not His only begotten Son. He gave us the most precious gift that could be given. He, who is the best, gave the best to us, so that we could make good on His investment.

God is teaching us through our earth experience to love like He loves, give like He gives, and live like Christ lives. In Ephesians 5:25(NLT), Heavenly Father delivers another benchmark for love, “For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her.” God’s letting us know the human heart’s tremendous love capacity through Jesus Christ. He wouldn’t tell us to love this way if we weren’t capable of it. The truth is that we were created out of His love for the purpose of His love. If we’re not well-formed in God’s love, we need to allow Him room to help us to grow and mature, so that we learn to love through Him.

When someone just adores you, and it’s from a place of light, humility, strength, and honesty, it will plant a seed within you that influences your life in the most spectacular way. You won’t become emotionally exhausted, but continually inspired by God’s goodness, because He’s given you a person that is a treasure to love. This is what God wants for all of us. It’s available, and we should want it for ourselves. ■

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Breaking the chains of domestic abuse through the power of Jesus Christ.