Nothing Can Separate Us

The Golden City

(Adrian Plass, Dave Clifton, Ian Blythe, Phil Baggaley)

Soon your trials will be over,

Offered up by mercy's hand;

Let Him heal you where you're standing,

A doorway to another land

The sweetest welcome from the Father,

Gathered up and carried home,

We have come to this time of waiting,

Come let us bow before Your throne

We will meet in the golden city, in the new Jerusalem

All our pain and all our tears will be no more.

We will stand with the hosts of heaven and cry,

"Holy is the Lamb",

We will worship and adore You evermore

Never can the powers of darkness,

Neither death nor even life

Let nothing ever separate us,

From the holy love of God

When we find something or someone we love, we never want to be separated from it/them. Our relationship with God should be no different, we must love God so much that we never want to be separated from Him.

Fortunately God promises us that if we love Him, we will never be separated from Him, ever!

Romans 8:38-39 (The Message)
I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

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!

Love Endures Forever

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (New Living Translation)
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Well know words from scripture which I'm sure you've heard many times before. Just because you've heard them many times, do still actually consider what those words mean?

Love is stronger than anything else, it will endure through anything. Love will never desert you even when you feel unloved, as God will always love you. God's love will last forever. God's love for you will endure no matter what you may have done in your life - God's love for you lasts forever.

Today I ask you to join me in thanking God for loving us unconditionally.

I Could Sing of Your Love Forever
Written by Martin Smith

Over the mountains and the sea,
Your river runs with love for me,
and I will open up my heart
and let the Healer set me free.
I'm happy to be in the truth,
and I will daily lift my hands:
for I will always sing of when
Your love came down. [Yeah!]

I could sing of Your love forever,
I could sing of Your love forever,
I could sing of Your love forever,
I could sing of Your love forever. [Repeat]

Oh, I feel like dancing -
it's foolishness I know;
but, when the world has seen the light,
they will dance with joy,
like we're dancing now.

Please checkout the Delirious? website: http://www.delirious.co.uk/html/

Friends Are Forever

We all need (and want) good friends in our life. What a blessing and support they can be to us. There above song is a beautiful song by one of my favourite Christian singers, Michael W Smith, which is all about the love of our friends.

To me there is one phrase in this song which always jumps out at me "And friends are friends forever If the lords the lord of them" - In other words, your friends will be good friends to you forever when God is at the centre of your relationship.

Good friends are very hard to find so don't take your friendships for granted, tell your friends regularly just how much they mean to you and how much you need them in your life.

Friends
Words: deborah d. smith
Music: michael w. smith

Packing up the dreams God planted
In the fertile soil of you
Cant believe the hopes hes granted
Means a chapter in your life is through
But well keep you close as always
It wont even seem you've gone
cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strong

And friends are friends forever
If the lords the lord of them
And a friend will not say never
cause the welcome will not end
Though its hard to let you go
In the fathers hands we know
That a lifetimes not too long to live as friends.

With the faith and love gods given
Springing from the hope we know
We will pray the joy you'll live in
Is the strength that now you show

But well keep you close as always
It wont even seem you've gone
cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strong

And friends are friends forever
If the lords the lord of them
And a friend will not say never
cause the welcome will not end
Though its hard to let you go
In the fathers hands we know
That a lifetimes not too long to live as friends.

Checkout Michael W Smith's website: http://www.michaelwsmith.com/