Category: Love

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LOVE YOURSELF

“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”  Luke 7:41-47

A blog from Global Awakening

Experiencing an extravagant love for God and for others is birthed out of a sense of extreme gratitude for God’s grace and forgiveness. In a world saturated with self-care and self-love tools that will ultimately leave you still feeling empty, the key to truly loving yourself is not found within oneself but in the Person of Jesus Christ. Therefore, as a Christian, learning to love oneself is not about self-focus, but about Christ-focus. It starts with receiving forgiveness from God and allowing His love to transform your self-perception. When viewed through the lens of Jesus’ perfect love, you will actually begin to fall in love with who He created you to be! Continue reading “LOVE YOURSELF”

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Don’t Withdraw Your Heart

Blog by Steve Backlund

“I will not withdraw my heart from people who disappoint me or that I hear negative information about.” This is a powerful belief and declaration for those who want healthy relationships and increased influence. It does not mean we don’t have boundaries in our interactions with people, but the tendency to withdraw our hearts from people will not benefit us or others if we persist in it.

As we mature, we begin to understand our own tendencies. We are able to recognize and admit things like this:

  • I tend to dwell on unresolved relational situations in my life.
  • I tend to not feel worthy to be blessed or to be happy
  • I tend to fixate on what is not perfect yet.
  • I tend to judge others by their actions and justify myself by my motives.
  • I tend to be defensive if anyone questions my actions or attitudes.
  • I tend to avoid conflict.
  • I tend to feel overlooked and under-appreciated.

We can certainly add “I have the tendency to withdraw my heart from people who disappoint me or that I hear negative information about” to this list. We often do this unconsciously, and it is a habit that will not serve our life goals well.

Why Withdrawing Our Heart From People is a Problem
It is part of the elder brother mindset – The default of the elder-brother mindset is to first see what is wrong with a person or place. The default of the father-mindset is to first see what is right with a person or place. (See Luke 15:11-32.)
It will limit our influence – It is difficult to positively influence those we are offended at.
It contributes to dysfunctional relational environments – Unresolved heart issues concerning people in our key environments (home, work, church, etc.) will work against having healthy teams or healthy families.
It blinds us to really see people – As we fixate on what people are doing wrong, we will be unable to see who they really are. “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh” (2 Corinthians 5:16).
We give our power away and become the victim – When someone’s behavior controls our emotions, then we have given our power away to that person.
We become part of the problem and not the solution – We live in a society that is increasingly canceling people and disconnecting from people. There is a spirit of division that wants us to join in this corrupting behavior.

As we navigate our heart posture toward people in our lives, it is helpful to understand the pattern of most relationships.
Excitement –>
Disappointment  –>
Then the choice of disconnection or connection

How we process disappointment in people will be a key factor in how much positive influence we will have. I talk about this in my blog, “I Choose You Again”.

How to Overcome the Tendency of Withdrawing Our Hearts From People

  1. When tempted to be inwardly critical about someone, immediately pray for them – This investment in their lives will help you keep your love on for the person.
  2. Seek first to understand before you seek to be understood – Asking great questions will help you know the true facts and help you understand the heart of the person.
  3. Keep leaning into relationships – Connections with people can certainly be challenging, but 1 Corinthians 13 (the ‘love’ chapter) gives us powerful motivation to do relationships well.
  4. Learn simple ways to stay connected and to send the message, “You are important to me” – Some of these include thankfulness, remembering things, supporting them in dreams, etc.
  5. Develop skills to resolve conflict and to work with challenging people – Our book, Culture of Empowerment, is a good one for this. Danny Silk has many powerful resources for this as well.

Again, we recognize that there may be people in our lives who we need to keep at a distance because of abusive or reckless behavior, but even with those people, we can keep our heart in a place of seeing them as God sees them.

2024 is a year of relational healing. As we refuse to withdraw our hearts from people who disappoint us, we will truly become part of the solution for the healing of our families and nations.

 

 

 

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Sold into slavery in order to minister Christ to slaves

John Taylor, Missions Director at Bethel Church recounts in a Leadership Minute that Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf – of the Moravian church said this of  Christ …..  “I have but one passion: It is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ.”

Johann Leonard Dober was a potter and David Nitschman a carpenter. Men with ordinary occupations, but possessing an extraordinary love for Jesus. From these seemingly insignificant two, the Moravian missionary movement was born, that ultimately catalyzed the Great Awakening. In 1732, they heard about the plight of African slaves on the island of St. Thomas in the Caribbean. These slaves had spiritual hunger but no one to share the gospel with them. Johann and David determined to go to them by any means necessary, and sold themselves into slavery in order to minister among the slaves. As they stood on the ship departing from the wharf, they raised their voice and cried,
“MAY THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN
RECEIVE THE REWARD OF HIS SUFFERING!” Continue reading “Sold into slavery in order to minister Christ to slaves”

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Show me you glory

Extracted from Latter House Glory by Larry R Taylor © 2013

Moses had a personal encounter with God’s glory. There was nothing theoretical or hypothetical about Moses’ understanding of glory. He asked for it and He got it: a personal, tangible, life-changing encounter with the manifested glory of God.

Moses had a glory encounter. Peter, James and John had glory encounters (Matthew 17). Paul had a glory encounter that changed everything. He was knocked to the ground and nothing was the same when he got up. His purpose, direction in life, and even his name was changed (Acts 9). Remember the principle of the Kingdom? Ask, seek, knock. “Show me your glory, Lord.”

Everywhere Jesus went He manifested the glory of the Father. The tangible expression of that glory is that good things happened. Everywhere Jesus went sick people were healed, demoniacs were delivered and provision was released. Nothing has changed. Everywhere Jesus shows up He manifests the glory of the Father. Miracles, signs, wonders and supernatural events happen when the presence of God is manifested. Continue reading “Show me you glory”

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Romans 8:28

 We are convinced that every detail of our lives
is continually woven together for good,
for we are his lovers
who have been called
to fulfill his designed purpose.
The Passion Translation