Tag Archives: God’s Love

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How to Find the One True Love You Need

How to Find the One True Love You Need

For me, it had been the search of a lifetime. Was it growing up in America or could it be a worldwide phenomenon? The fairytales of Cinderella, Snow White, and happy ever after called to my heart like a beaconing light of hope. Deep in the central core of my heart there was that aching need to be loved, a void that needed to be filled. Much like the Samaritan woman at the well; that search for love had left me thirsting, until I found the truth.

“13 Jesus answered her, All who drink of this water will be thirsty again. 14 But whoever takes a drink of the water that I will give him shall never, no never, be thirsty any more. But the water that I will give him shall become a spring of water welling up (flowing, bubbling) [continually] within him unto eternal life” (John 4-AMP).

DESPARATELY NEEDING LOVE

We were created to be the recipients of God’s love: to be filled to the overflowing so that love would then bubble forth from our hearts.

search for love

[bctt tweet=”That void within the human heart-that desparate need for love can only be filled by God’s love”] Sin had separated us from God; yet, God sent Christ to be the atoning sacrifice that we might be redeemed into fellowship with Him. He fills our hearts with the only love we ever really need. Not the only love we will ever know; but, He is the only love we will ever need. You see, need love is always looking for someone else to fill our hearts. Need love searches for validation. Therefore, until need love is filled a person cannot truly feel or give love. In the desperation of need love we find our hearts broken over and over again without even understanding why. Loneliness, feelings of worthlessness, and feelings of

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How to Pray When Prayer Seems a Soliloquy of Desperation

How to pray when prayer seems a soliloquy of desperation

Prayer at times can be great and mighty praise with songs of joy!! There are seasons in everyone’s life where prayer seems a soliloquy of desperation. During this Christian journey, I have known both. I do not know which season of life you may be in. For any of you who are at this moment in a season of life that feels more than you can bear. Are you living in a moment in which your prayers seem to be cries of desperation into the darkness? Perhaps a diagnosis of cancer, a broken heart, or you have lost your job? A moment in which you don’t know what to do and it feels as though God is silent.

 

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© Lars Justinen/Licensed from GoodSalt.com

[bctt tweet=”How do you pray when prayer seems merely a soliloquy of desperation?”] I have been there at times in this pilgrimage journey and though I cannot pretend to know the burden of your heart today; I can pray for you and with you. In the book of Psalms are many such prayers to guide us; although, sometimes silence is all we can bring into God’s presence. He hears that as well.

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Christian Blog

How to have an Awesome Iron Pumped Prayer Life

How to have an Awesome Iron Pumped Prayer Life

This Christian pilgrimage is laden with many dangers. It is filled with adversities whose battle cry is for the vanquishment of true joy from our hearts. So often we live on an emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows. Too often, our prayer lives follow that same rollercoaster of disparate cries for help to fleeting waves of “hello” as we skip along the path. We remember to pray most when we have our bucket list of wants to present or when tragedy strikes. Yet, prayer is meant for so much more than that. Look at Ephesians 6, where Paul warns us that we are in the midst of war and must be prepared at all times. Our only weapon is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit” (Ephesians 6: 17-18). The strength and muscle which wields the sword in battle is prayer. We need our prayer muscles built so that we can wield the Spirit’s sword of the Word with powerful might. A body builder spends hours in the gym to develop strength.

muscle builderPicture used by permission of the artist Ronald Barba who owns the copyright.  For information on go to http://www.barba-art.com

[bctt tweet=”To have strength to wield our spiritual sword in battle, we need an awesome iron pumped prayer life”] How do we do that? We begin by daily setting aside time to be with our heavenly Father. We need to realize that prayer is much more than our “to do list for God.” Prayer is the power source for our sustained joy in this Christian life. Prayer is the power source for our victory in the battles of this life. And prayer is the power source for our hope. Prayer is the power lifting exercise that gives us the strength to wield the Spirits Sword of the Word. At the same time, the weights needed to spiritually pump iron are the words of God!

IRON PUMPING WEIGHT OF THE SCRIPTURE

 

There are 5 ways that the scripture serves to strengthen our prayers.

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WHAT ONE THING CAN EMPOWER SUCCESS WITH VICTORY GUARANTEED?

WHAT ONE THING CAN EMPOWER SUCCESS WITH VICTORY GUARANTEED?

 

 

pathway to success

[bctt tweet=”If you knew one thing would empower you to success and guarantee victory, would you do it?”]

It was 1986 and a time in my life that I felt very defeated as I had moved back into my parents’ home with my children. I worked night shift in ICU and got very little sleep. Perhaps a foolish idea to try to obtain my certification in critical care, since there was no time to study. After all it wasn’t required. Separated from my husband, feeling like a failure; I just wanted to feel successful in something. The test was going to be in St. Louis which was a 3 hour drive from my parent’s home. My plans to go the night before were thwarted when Alberto spiked a high fever. New plan: leave early in the morning. Daddy had gotten home late because he driven the school bus for a sports event. As I got into my car, it began to snow. The farther I drove, the heavier the snow was falling. Then it happened, about an hour into my drive; the lights began to go dim and the car was dying. I was barely able to get it to the side of the road before it died completely. There were no cell phones, it was freezing cold, and no one was on the highway that early in the morning. I walked until I found a gas station. When I called home, Daddy said, “I will be there as soon as I can.”

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Christian Blog

5 Truths to Audacious Faith in a Parched Life

5 Truths to Audacious Faith in a Parched Life

All alone, I once more was packing up a house to load a truck and cross the country to go where I was certain that God had commanded I go. Going through all the “stuff” and downsizing. How do we accumulate so much stuff over time? Stuff that seemed so trivial and unnecessary. Trinkets and objects that perhaps once seemed important were now what I was discarding. I sighed with the thought, “How much money wasted that could have been used for something more important?” I was tired of moving while at the same time filled with the anticipation of what God had planned. Though I was wearied by my life’s journey, I had over the years learned that God loved me with an everlasting love, God had a perfect plan for my life, and He was the treasure I sought in what was often a dry and thirsty land. Through all the pains, sorrows, surgeries, and losses of this life; God had been there to guide me. I had loaded the final box. Then the trailer hauling my car was attached behind. Tired and exhausted I went to the empty house to sleep on the floor before leaving the next day. I wasn’t certain what awaited me in Missouri; but, this I knew. God was with me and before me. He had a plan and that was for my good.

 

In the deserts of lifeoriginal photography courtesy of Jim Peregoy

TENTS IN THE DESERT

Abraham had headed out into a land unknown because God said go. There were times when Abraham got lost along the way. There were times when Abraham’s faith waivered; but, in his heart—he loved God. He believed God. He always returned to the altar where he was willing to place his greatest earthly treasure because he trusted God. His faith had grown wandering in that desert. He had come to learn of God’s faithfulness. More importantly, he had come to realize that the promises of God were still yet to come. God would one day, through the seed of Abraham send down His own greatest treasure to be poured out as a sacrifice that all nations might be blessed. Christ would come; just not in Abraham’s earthly lifetime.

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