I receive an email newsletter every week by different authors about random subjects. This morning the encouragement in my inbox brought a helpful and wise perspective on love that I wanted to share with you. Max Lucado reminds us that when it comes to love:Be careful.
Until love is stirred, let God's love be enough for you. There are seasons when God allows us to feel the frailty of human love so we'll appreciate the strength of his love. Didn't he do this with David? Saul turned on him. Michal, his wife, betrayed him. Jonathan and Samuel were David's friends, but they couldn't follow him into the wilderness. Betrayal and circumstances left David alone. Alone with God. And, as David discovered, God was enough. David wrote these words in a desert: "Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.... My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods" (Ps. 63:3, 5 NIV).
Be prayerful.
What if it's too late? Specifically, what if you're married to someone you don't love--or who doesn't love you? Many choose to leave. That may be the step you take. But if it is, take at least a thousand others first. And bathe every one of those steps in prayer. Love is a fruit of the Spirit. Ask God to help you love as he loves. "God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with his love" (Rom. 5:5 CEV). Ask everyone you know to pray for you. Your friends. Your family. Your church leaders. Get your name on every prayer list available. And, most of all, pray for and, if possible, with your spouse. Ask the same God who raised the dead to resurrect the embers of your love.
Be grateful.
Be grateful for those who love you. Be grateful for those who have encouraged you to do what is right and applauded when you did. Do you have people like that in your world? If so, you are doubly blessed. Be grateful for them. And be grateful for your Father in heaven.
Thanks for this encouraging post, Kaysie! I really like the first point when it says that when David was alone with God, he discovered that God was enough. May that be true in my life!
ReplyDeleteBTW, what is this email newsletter that you subscribe to? I'm interested. :)
Go to www.oneplace.com and look in the left sidebar to subscribe. I read John Piper's and Max Lucado's. I really enjoy it. :)
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to let you know how much I appreciated the thoughts you shared today ~ they were encouraging and so true.
ReplyDeleteIt's so refreshing in this present age to see young women desirous of pleasing the Lord and seeking His face and His will in what they do . . .
Blessings to you!
Dallas, thanks you. That means a lot to me. :)
ReplyDeleteI only hope the Lord is using me to shine a radiant light in a dark culture and world. God is at work...
Blessings to you too!
That kind of follows my actual prayer outline. I pray that I can be careful in deciding who to love and pray about the man I want to fall in love with someday (as in, the man God has intended for me). I pray for my enemies, specifically that God works in their lives and brings them to Him. And I pray of my gratefulness to the many wonderful people in my life.
ReplyDeleteThat's a bit off topic since you wrote entirely about love, but I think it's good to pray to be careful, pray for others, and pray in gratitude. And i was struck by the way your bullet points matched up with my own prayer.