The first time I fasted seven days was a challenge, and a surprise.
A surprise because I didn’t know going in that after the first three days, that gnawing hunger stops coming in waves. The science says this phenomena happens because your body, seeing that you aren’t going to offer it food, turns to your fat stores and burns them for energy. I truly did not crave food those last few days, which left me with a lovely sense of rest.
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
John 14:21
What does that actually mean for a born-again believer and disciple of Christ today? How does Jesus show himself?
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.
John 14:21
How does Jesus show himself to the one who obeys him as an act of love?
I came to God dragging my heels because I feared becoming one of those religious folks who have lots of rules to follow and a life full of church activity and no fun.
Shallow and selfish, I know, but that’s the truth of who I was then. I wanted, as my mother used to put it, to go for the gusto in life, to have it to the full!
When I first determined to live by the Greatest Commandment, to love God with all my might, I searched for how to do that. How do you go about loving God?
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.
Matthew 22:37-38
I had been a Christian about three years when I became terribly convicted about one particular thing: I did not love God.
I was grateful to Him, so very thankful for my salvation and the positive changes in my life because of Jesus Christ. But I kept stumbling over what Jesus said to the teacher who asked Him to name the greatest commandment of all.
I later learned that many Christians struggle with loving God, much less keeping the Ten Commandments and being “a good Christian.”
I’m often struck by how Bible writers describe God’s creation singing to Him for joy, and with great exuberance. I’m not referring here to God’s people, but the trees that “clap their hands” and the ocean waves that mount up and the mountains quake. Is this just poetic language? Perhaps, but I do believe God’s …
The London 2012 Olympics are in full swing, and in our evenings hubby and I often watch some of the athletes compete for their gold, silver and bronze medals. Along the way we learn of what it has taken for them to even come to the moment when they can compete for the prize.
As I write this, we are in the middle of what worshiping Jews call “The Days of Awe,” observed during the first ten days of every Jewish New Year. Observant Jews focus on reading Scripture, dedicate extra time with God, and examine one’s heart and life in light of God’s ways.
Thus each Jewish new year is a time of renewal, taking stock, making things right with God and others. Such deliberate focus on God and His Word inevitably bring us face-to-face with questions like:
Am I walking rightly with the Lord? With other people?
Are there any sins I need to confess? Do I have any broken relationships which need to be mended?
