INTELLIGENT LOVE

 “So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.”

Phil 1:9-11

  

If worship doesn’t make GOD attractive, then I believe we’ve missed the boat, we’ve crossed a line that has taken our worship out of His presence and into the realm of the flesh.  Things that we can see, that we can control, that we can glory in - and that’s where things fall short!  We start to glory in our worship, instead of glorifying GOD.  It’s a fine line between experiencing GOD’s joy and glorifying ourselves. It’s a fine line between loving GOD and loving ourselves...

Careless campers

How often do we shoot our mouths off without thinking about just how much hurt it might cause? When I was in high school, I found it so easy to say things and then, if I'd hurt someone, just say "I was only joking..." I would test the waters with people, see how far I could push, just for the sake of it. As I look back, I thank GOD that He gently drew me away from that bad habit and convicted me of a way of behaving that was destroying my life and my friendships!

In church, if we want to really learn how to encourage each other, then we need to hand our words over to GOD. The only way that our words will build into the lives of others is if they are filled with the Holy Spirit. We need to speak in GOD's power and GOD's authority.

There's a beautiful proverb, 26:18-19, Eugene Peterson puts it like this:

"People who shrug off deliberate deceptions, saying, 'I didn't mean it, I was only joking,' are worse than careless campers who walk away from smoldering campfires."

The Bread, man

“It is only when [we] begin to worship that [we] begin to grow”
Calvin Coolidge (30^th American President)

'Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never grow hungry...'

John 6:35 

My family and I were out at a café recently and the twins were sitting in their pram whilst we were having coffee. A man walked passed and said “Don’t feed them, because they’ll grow up.” What a dumb, yet truthful statement!

We forget that in order to grow, we need to be fed. It’s such an obvious truth that we don’t even process it on a daily basis. Sure, we may watch what we eat in order to watch our weight, but does it ever sink in that food is what makes us grow? I’m not sure that it does because I constantly hear people in church talking about growth in many different ways. “I want to grow our youth group.” “Why aren’t we seeing growth in our men’s ministry?” “How can I grow in my knowledge of the Bible?” Have you heard these or similar comments? I have, countless times.

GOD's Presence above His Purpose

“My life needs GOD’s presence to work GOD’s purpose.”

Jack Hayford (jackhayford.org)

Eph 6:7: Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men.

There is a trap that we all fall into, the trap of trying to keep people happy. When we try to please people, we fill our lives with their expectations and try our best to live up to them. Some of us are more prone to this than others, but even if there’s only one person, I’m sure you can think of someone that you would move mountains for!

Finding unspeakable pleasure

“In our worship of Him we should find unspeakable pleasure.”Tozer (American Pastor d1963)

We should take our worship so seriously, that we do not stop until we are finding unspeakable pleasure. We need to be passionate about who we are encountering! GOD calls us to excellence.

I feel that passion is so important in finding and encountering GOD because the road that we walk into His presence can be uphill and narrow. If we have no passion in seeking GOD, we will not find unspeakable pleasure - we may find 'some' joy, but not the joy of the Spirit.