Keep On Loving

Hebrews 6:11 (New Living Translation)
Our great desire is that you will keep right on loving others as long as life lasts, in order that to make certain that what you hope for will come true.

How do we keep on loving others as long as life lasts? It's a daunting task and one which seems impossible to achieve when we are caught up with our own corners and problems. It's difficult to find the emotional energy to "keep right on loving" at these times. It's equally as hard when some of those we love don't reciprocate or are unlovable.

Hebrews 6:10 (New Living Translation)
For God is not unfair. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown you love to him by caring other Christians, as you still do.

In the above verse from Hebrews, we find encouragement to keep on loving, when we're informed that God does recognise how hard we have worked to try and love everyone, even if we haven't succeeded.

But this still doesn't make it any easier to love as long as life lasts. So how do we achieve this? We do so by faith and patience, in the knowledge that this is the best way to show God how much we love Him - God likes when we tell Him we love Him, but likes it even more when we show Him by loving other Christians.

Whenever we call a friend in trouble and take time to listen to their struggles, or we look after a child to give their single parent a break, or when we pay a bill for someone whose struggling to make ends meet, or when we invite people to our house to eat knowing their struggling to be able to afford a decent meal for the whole family, or when we visit those in hospital who have no family to care about them, we show God how much we love Him!

We can sometimes find that other Christians are the hardest people to love but God can love them through us so don't give up trying to love them. The day we stop caring, loving and doing things for our brothers and sisters in Christ is the day we "become spiritually dull and indifferent" (Hebrews 6:12).

What do you do for other Christians? It's not enough just to pray for them and say we love them. God sees our heart and watches our life. He knows what we're doing and when he sees us love and care for His people, He will not forget to reward us!

As long as life lasts, keep on loving!

Teach Me

God wants and needs us all to spread His message throughout the word. That means he needs me and he needs you to tell others about God, to teach them His word.

Do you feel overwhelmed at this responsibility? I certainly do!
But there is no need for us to feel like this, all we must do is ask God to teach us!



So ask God to let His Word, the Word of Christ, dwell in you so that you may know His forgiveness and love. Ask Him to provide you with the wisdom to teach and encourage others, so that His Word may dwell richly in them as well.

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."
Colossians 3:16 (NIV)

Teaching others about God should be something we all do willingly and energetically, so ask God today to help you teach others of His love and understanding.

All There Is

Yesterday I talked about how much we want/need God in our lives (All I Want - http://thedistinctdot.blogspot.com/2009/08/all-i-want.html), and today I'm going to ask you another two questions:

How much of you does God want you to give Him?
How much of your life have you given to Him?

If your answer to both these questions is not "Everything", please ask yourself why.

There is no doubt that God does want you to give your whole life to Him. He wants all of you. So why have you not given God your all? Are you scared of what he'll ask you to do? Do you feel you're not worthy of God's love? Are you scared of what your family or friends might think?

Whatever your reasons, God can and will help give you the strength and encouragement to do all He wants you to do.
Psalm 199:76-77 (NIV)
May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant.
Let your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight.

The following are the words of a beautiful song "All There Is of Me" by Sydney Cox, which I find expresses my desire to give "all there is of me" to God:

All there is of me, Lord,
All there is of me.
Time and talents, day by day,
All I give to Thee.

All there is of me, Lord,
All there is of me.
On Thine altar here I lay,
All there is of me.

For time and for eternity,
Take all there is of me.

Never Again

We all do things which we later regret and go on to say "we'll never to that again!". Have you then found yourself doing that same thing again another time, despite having promised not to do it? I know I have.

We often make promises which we don't keep, however God has made many promises but keeps them all. When God says "Never again", he really does mean never again.



When we experience God's faithfulness, it helps us to trust him more. Life's experiences help us to look back and see that God's promises and judgements have come true.

After a cataclysmic event in your life, it helps to reestablish your devotional life. I certainly found during the last few years when health issues seemed to take over my life that is is more important than ever to listen for God's "never again" and start looking for His rainbows. Spend time reading the promises of God in the bible - I found highlighting them was helpful to me, as it made it easier to refer back to them later for reassurance.


But what exactly can we be sure about?

God promises that sin need never again control us (Romans 8:9-11).

He promises that we need not be afraid ever again (John 14:27).
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

He promises that his peace will guard our hearts and minds (Phil 4:7).
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

He promises that we need never be ignorant of his will for his word will be a "lamp" and a "light" to our path (Ps 119:105).

He promises that we need never again be defeated Christians (Rom 8:37).

As we read our bibles, God's rainbows colour our perspectives.
Be encouraged! God's promises never fail.

Thank You God

Earlier today I noticed that my blog had reached 2000 hits - Wow! Believe it or not I was lost for words when I saw the number of hits had reached the 2000 mark.

I feel so humbled by the number of people who have read my blog. So I would like to take this opportunity to say a very big thank you to each and every one of you who have taken the time to read this blog.


To those of you who have left comments or contacted me via Twitter (follow me on Twitter) or email and given me words of encouragement and support, I'd like to thank you all - it has been great to know your thoughts about what I've had to say, and I've felt particularly honoured when you've told me my blog has been "just what you needed" at that time.

So, I've thanked you for read my blog, and now I want to thank God for giving me the direction and inspiration to write it. If you'd asked me this time last year if I'd be blogging about my faith and experiences of God, I'd have told you not to be so daft as I'd never be able to do something like that - It just shows what I know!

If God is speaking to you and asking you to do something you think you cannot do - Trust God, He will give you the tools you need to do His work.