Living a Life of Love for Others

eMoment by Laurie Aker

Focus Scripture: Psalm 119:9-16 ESV

9  How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
10  With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
11  I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
12  Blessed are you, O LORD;
teach me your statutes!
13  With my lips I declare
all the rules of your mouth.
14  In the way of your testimonies I delight
as much as in all riches.
15  I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
16  I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.
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I wonder…
Do I really love God and His Word?
Do I love others like Jesus loves me? Isn’t the true test of our
love for God and His Word proven in the way we love others?
Won’t we love others like Jesus loved us if we really love Him?
Loving God is the greatest commandment.
But the true test of our love for God and our love for His Word is
whether or not we love others like Christ loved us.
Consider these Scriptures…
TAKING GOD’S WORD TO HEART
1 John 3:14-15 ESV
 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love 
the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.  
15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, 
and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
1 John 3:16-18 ESV 
By this we know love, that  he laid down his life for us, and we 
ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.  17 But if anyone 
has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, 
yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love 
abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in 
word or talk but in deed and in truth.
Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV
  If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, 
I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  2 And if I have  
prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all 
knowledge, and if I have all faith,  so as to remove mountains, 
but have not love, I am nothing.  3 If I give away all I have, 
and  if I deliver up my body to be burned, 
but have not love, I gain nothing.
But… what does true love look like?
1 Corinthians 13:4-13   
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; 
it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It  does not insist on its own way; 
it is not irritable or resentful;  6 it does not rejoice 
at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, 
hopes all things, endures all things. 8  Love never ends. 
As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, 
they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.  
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,  
10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.  
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like 
a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, 
I gave up childish ways.  12 For  now we see in a mirror dimly, 
but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall 
know fully, even as I have been fully known. 
13  So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; 
but the greatest of these is love.
How are you doing? I don’t know about you, but I needed
to cry out to God because I don’t love others like
He loves me. He loves me so wonderfully. He is so patient,
so kind. He is never irritable. He bears all things, endures all things…
Lord God, we want to love you and your Word completely,
absolutely, totally, radically, sacrificially, truly, sincerely,
fully, continually, cheerfully, and on and on.
Oh, Lord Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner.
Help! I need your help! I want to love you,
I want to love your Word, I want to express that love
by loving others as you have loved me.
Let us continue to cry out to God to do the work in
our hearts, pleading with God to help us seek Him
with our whole heart so that we can worship Him
in all that we do and say morning, noon, and night.
MEDITATE and MEMORIZE
Write the following verses from Psalm 119
and say them aloud three times.
10  With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
11  I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
12  Blessed are you, O LORD;
teach me your statutes!
PRAYER
Lord God, I am depending on your mercy.
It is only your mercy and your grace that can
meet my need for you. May I love you and you alone.
May I exalt above all things your name and your Word.
May I love you with my WHOLE heart.
I want to love others as you have loved me!
In your hands, Lord, for your glory,
Laurie
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Send Me, Lord!

eMoment by Laurie Aker

Focus Scripture: Psalm 19 ESV

1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above  proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
7  The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is  sure,
making wise  the simple;
8 the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is  pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules  of the LORD are true,
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much  fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of  the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12    Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have  dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O LORD, my rock and my redeemer!
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Dear Faithful One,
Boldly proclaim the Word of God.

 

There is a song entitled, “Hear am I Lord, Send Me.”
Singing it one day, my heart was deeply touched thinking
that there isn’t any higher calling or purpose. The Lord has
called us to go into the world to bring the message of His truth.
Would you cry out to God today that He would send you?
Would you ask Him to take His Word and apply
it to your heart and help you realize that He has given you
Himself for this very purpose, that you might
enjoy Him and proclaim Him to others.

 

TAKING GOD’S WORD TO HEART
The book of Hebrews tells us that long ago,
in the days of the Old Testament, God spoke to His people
often and in many different ways and at many times
through His prophets. Then there came a day
when God spoke to us in and through Jesus Christ.
Jesus is “the exact radiance of the glory of God 
and the exact imprint of his nature, 
and he upholds the universe by 
the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3 ESV).
Jesus is the living Word. He came and dwelt among us,
“Immanuel, God with us” (Matthew 1:23 ESV).
Jesus came and lived and died and rose again that you
might have life and have it in abundance. If you are in Christ,
Jesus dwells IN you, not just with you. We hear this,
we know this, and often we just buzz right on by,
without really thinking about Jesus being IN us.
But would you think about this? God has called you into
partnership with Him through Jesus. You are one in Christ,
with Christ, for Christ, through Christ. God has given you His glory.
What would it really look like if you took these truths to heart?

The chief of the nations dwells within you!
“Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.” 
For thus says the LORD, “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, 
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations” (Jeremiah 31:6b-7 ESV).
I want you to fully take this in: Jesus Christ, the living Word,
the chief of nations, dwells within you. He told you to:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son 
and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all 
that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, 
to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV).
Draw near to God in His Word, trust Him and obey Him.
He will instruct you in the way that you should go-
He has given us His Word, which is perfect and pure,
which will revive your soul, which will make you wise,
which will enlighten your eyes, which will cause your
heart to rejoice! You will be equipped and ready to go forth,
together with Jesus for the Gospel.

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, 
and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, 
‘Here am I. Send me!'” (Isaiah 6:8 ESV).

Will you call with me, “Hear am I, Lord. Send me”?

MEDITATE and MEMORIZE
Write the following verses from Psalm 19
and say them aloud three times.

 

7  The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is  sure,
making wise the simple;
8  the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever.

 

PRAYER
Lord God, I want to live and speak the Gospel in everything I do.
I want others to see Jesus in me and sense His love, His presence,
and His holiness so much so that they would want to know Him more.
Lord, when I say, “Hear am I. Send me,” I mean it.
I want to be ready to go wherever, whenever, and to whomever you send me.
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Continue Going to the Source of Life

by Susan Sampson

Falling in love again with our Lord and our husbands.  It is a process isn’t it?:)  The process of sanctification will continue until we go home to be with our Lord.  For now, the fruit of the Spirit is love. And praise be to God, fruit grows.  As the Falling in Love Again with Your Husband study comes to a close here, may the Lord grow all the seeds that were planted in our hearts for His glory!  For the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  Praise God that “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me” (Psalm 138:8a).  We can rest in the Lord’s faithfulness and love.  It is God alone who brings the growth!  “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6-7). 

In reviewing the lessons, I worked through Lesson Five, “A Fountain of Life” this morning.  The Lord graciously reminded me that He is the SOURCE of all goodness, righteousness, strength, love and holiness.  I am writing to you from San Diego, California.  The hotel my husband and I are staying in is a beautiful oasis in the midst of somewhat dry and dessert like land.  “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).  The flowers here are stunningly beautiful.  There are many gardeners working meticulously to give great care to tend the beautiful flowers.

In this lesson we read Psalm 1 which describes the blessed man as one who is “like a tree planted by streams of water” (v. 3).  We also read Jeremiah 17 which describes the blessed man as “like a shrub in the desert” (v. 6).

There is no flower or shrub in the desert apart from the water.  The water is the source of life.  Day 2 is titled “A Fountain in the Desert.”  Jesus is “the fountain of life” (Psalm 36:9).  We must go to the SOURCE.  We must go to the fountain and drink deeply.

Please do not give into the temptation to stop having your quiet time now that Bible study is over.  I can see in my mind the picture of many branches scattered across my backyard right now.  They have no leaves, they are dry and brittle, they have no life.  “I am the vine; you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). 

The prophet Jeremiah describes how God’s people turned away from Him.  “Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils:  they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:12-13).  They turned to self.

Praise be to God for sending His only Son, Jesus Christ to rescue us!  The fountain of His blood has washed away our sin!!  “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness” (Zech. 13:1). 

To be the oasis to our husbands that the Lord calls us to be, we must go to the SOURCE of life. For every believer, the source of life dwells within us!  And He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us!!  Because of the gospel, we must immerse ourselves in His word.  We must saturate our hearts and our minds with the word of life.  Jesus continues to call us to Himself.  He says to each one of us, “but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). 

Thank you Lord for this study, for our husbands, and most of all for sending your Son to become sin for us so that in Him we could become the righteousness of God!!  May you cause our hearts to worship and adore you this holy week o Lord as we anticipate celebrating your life giving resurrection this Sunday!

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