Carol and I have been reading 1
Cor. 13 giving us a fresh picture of God’s love for us which says, Love is patient,
love is kind. It does not envy, it does
not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor
others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of
wrongs. Love does not
delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.
Love never fails.
The teachings we grew up with depicted the Holy Spirit as
being easily hurt and offended and that God was mostly angry where He gave us
an offer we could not refuse: “Turn or burn!”
He has to be short tempered, or we might just go out and sin. We’ve wonder many times if Christians found out
hell was officially closed, how many would really choose a relationship with
God. But we read 1 Cor. 13 and discover
a loving God that always gives a second chance to the end!
We were also taught to use the name of Jesus and Scripture
in an effort to “legally” force God to follow through with what He said He
would do for me. Sermons many times
seemed to be “How To” teachings regarding provoking God to answer and bless us.
Have you ever been in a church service where the speaker
said, “The Spirit of God is in this room?”
Many times we felt the audience didn’t know whether to be sensitive,
careful to not hurt the Spirit or be careful to not make God angry. Biggest problem was so many went home
disappointed.
Have you ever been made to feel that if you don’t pay your
tithe you can’t ever expect God to hear you let alone answer your prayers? God would never take something as beautiful
as giving and force it into something mechanical. Your Father doesn’t need to be provoked into
helping you; He finds personal pleasure continually blessing the ones He loves.
Be encouraged today.
God will never turn His face from you!
His eyes are constantly on you in loving affirmation. To even say that God would turn from you is
an anti-Christ mentality. It denies the
work of Christ on the cross. It will
simply never happen. Don’t ever worry
that God is not watching over you. You
are everything to Him! Nothing you ever
do will cause Him to be provoked and turn away from you.
The Holy Spirit is focused on your heart. He is sensitive because He is sensitive to
you. Don’t ever worry about hurting His
feelings. He is secure, and He loves
you, and love is not easily provoked.
When we speak Vangela, Brock or Sasha’s name, it erupts with power the moment
it leaves my lips. Even though they are
not here, we can hear their voices the moment their namea are spoken. We can feel their hair in our hands and smell
their breath as if they were standing right before us. Their names has the power within it because of our
relationship. Before we had them, their
names meant nothing. It was just another name
among millions. But once we knew them
personally, it exploded with meaning and power.
The name of Jesus is much the same way. It was never meant to be used as a bobby pin
to pick a lock in the spiritual realm, or as a clove of garlic to ward off
vampires. Its power is contingent upon
relationship. Only in relationship can
the essence of Jesus hit the air when the name is spoken from your lips.
The same is true with faith.
As we exercise faith, it becomes aroma of our relationship, not keys to
get what we want. Believe it or not,
when your name is spoken by God, it explodes with power in the same way. God does not use things like your job, your
children, and your marriage as tools to manipulate you to greater
performance. The power comes from
relationship. Faith viewed through the
lens of love and relationship will come to be more than you ever dreamed,
something beautiful and life-changing.
Never again will you worry about God’s being easily provoked because
that’s 1 Cor. 13.
We Love You, Paul and Carol
