God loves when we follow the plan he has for us, especially since he knows what’s perfect. He loves when we earnestly seek to do his will. He “delights” in our every step. He is well pleased.
There have been times where I have had to make a BIG decision. I prayed and got impatient, later realizing I had made a mistake. I still thought that it was God’s will. However, later I realized I had made a mistake that caused me to stumble. I did not wait long enough for him to bring clarity. Yet we see, that even when we stumble there is abundant grace and mercy. He is ready and willing to lift us up when we stumble.
Do you remember when you tried to ride a bike for the first time? Your parents let you try without training wheels? If you were like me, you ate the gravel. I mean, I stumbled hard. I was a bloody, bruised, beat up, wanted to give up kind of mess. Just as my earthly Father saw what had happened and helped me up, God will lift you up when you stumble. He is much better than your earthly father. He is your cheerleader. He was delighted you wanted to please him! He lifts you and says, here my child try this.
God sees the desire in your heart to do his will and live out his plan for your life and that pleases him. He is delighted you a pursuing to be obedient. Even if you stumble, he is there to lift you up. He is proud of you! So dust the gravel off and keep riding.
This past weekend my husband and I went to the TobyMac hits deep tour. Outside of the concert while we were waiting in line we were face to face with protestors with signs that said “We will go to hell for our sins” “Repent or go to hell you…*insert every type of sin + er*” as they were quoting scripture OUT of context. I sat there quietly in line praying to God for the people that had such a misconception of the bible. I finally saw the world’s view of God. This very twisted, condemning, not loving, hateful God. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT WHO HE IS!! This, my friends, is what we call satan himself at work, twisting the word of God to make it something hateful instead of the love story to his creation it is.
Am I saying sinning is okay? NO.
Am I saying people won’t go to hell? NO.
Am I the judge? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Does God look at your heart? YES.
What I am saying is, this particular group of people were lost and didn’t understand the word of God. They don’t understand their creator. There was no love in their chants. There was nothing but condemnation. Which is straight from the pits of hell.
As I prayed I asked Holy Spirit what Jesus would do in this situation. What should I do? Should I talk to them? Should I hug them?
Holy Spirit spoke to me and said “look around you”. As I looked around there were people laughing, people making remarks about the love of God, and others that stood there in silence. What Holy Spirit revealed to me in that moment was powerful. As they stand here judging us, most of us were doing the same as them. WHO is called to judge? Not me, not you, not anyone but God. I asked Holy Spirit why they thought the way they did…I asked him to show me them through the eyes of Jesus. He revealed to me that it was generations and generations of the word being twisted all being rooted in fear and darkness. Years of abuse and ancestry curses haunted them. He spoke to me and reminded me that we never know what people deal with at home. I asked Holy Spirit to let me know what I was supposed to do and if I was supposed to speak up, give away hugs, or anything else, just let me know. He let me know that there are people to get those people who were lost out of darkness, but that wasn’t me. By then I had entered inside.
There were many conversations inside about what was going on outside the 4 walls that surrounded us. One included me telling my exact conversation with Holy Spirit to a lady that was eating to the table next to us. I wasn’t here to gossip. I wasn’t here to slander them. I was here to be the light as God called me to be.
The flesh in me originally wanted to march right up to these people and yell at them about how wrong they were for telling people they were going to hell and judging others. But I would be doing the EXACT SAME thing as them. Trying to be the judge of someone’s sin and pointing fingers when I have no room to do so. I would have spread hate, not the love of God.
Holy Spirit led me on a complete and opposite direction.
BE THE LIGHT TO THE DARKNESS.
LOVE THE PEOPLE WHO NEED IT MOST.
DON’T BE FRIENDS WITH THE WORLD.
STAND WITH GOD.
WALK IN THE SPIRIT.
As Children of God we are called to LOVE.
PERIOD.
Love.
EVERYONE.
ALL.THE.TIME.
Loving One Another
“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 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.Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 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. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.” 1 John 4:7-21 NLT
