I started out last week‘s Blog quoting a song by Cool and the Gang. So why not start this week out by quoting a Beatles favorite?

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE!

Now most of you are probably humming the, “DA DA DA DA DA’s,” In your heads right now. It is a very well-known song and popular for very good reason. We all want to be loved!

Problem is the kind of love the Beatles are selling, or our world is offering, is not the kind of love we need!

Love really is all we need! But this statement has left out one vital word making it TRUTH!

GOD’S LOVE REALLY IS ALL WE NEED!

As we conclude this month of LOVEuary, let’s focus on the love that truly is all we need.

We began this month with the famous love passage, I Corinthians 13.

While this passage is a great Standard of LOVE, and the goal that we should all strive to achieve, we fall short.

We have good days and bad days. We have successful days and unsuccessful days. We have driven days and lazy days. We also have a God who never has any of these!

The reason that GOD’S LOVE IS REALLY ALL WE NEED, is He embodies the LOVE of I Corinthians today, tomorrow, yesterday and forever!

GOD’S LOVE TRULY NEVER FAILS AND NEVER ENDS!

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. LOVE NEVER ENDS.” 

I Corinthians 13:4

God‘s love is all this over you and more. He loves you when you are patient and when you are not. He loves you when you are kind and when you are not. He loves you when you are humble or jealous or boastful. He loves you when you are arrogant or when you are rude or when you are not. God does not insist on His own way but He desires for you to choose Him! God loves you when you are irritable or in a good mood. God loves you when you are resentful or when you are thankful. He loves you when you rejoice with others and when you do not! 

God knows that we are not perfect and He never withholds His Love from us!

HIS LOVE TRULY NEVER ENDS!

“So now faith, hope and LOVE abide, these three, but the greatest of these is LOVE!”  

I Corinthians 13:13

TRUTH BOMB

GOD’S LOVE TRULY IS ALL WE NEED!

God loves you my friends! It is not based on anything that you do, it is based solely on what He has done for you! 

GOD IS LOVE!

Speak Truth Love

“There’s a party going on right here! It’s a celebration to last throughout the year! So bring your laughter, and your good times too, because we’re going to celebrate and party with you!“

Cool and The Gang are not the only ones who penned these words, or words similar, and are ready to party!

There’s a party right now going on that claims the word FAT! Mardi Gras by definition is FAT TUESDAY! It is literally a day of huge proportion. You can party to your hearts content and take in anything and everything that you can in vast amounts. The more, the better!

GO BIG OR GO HOME!

The French, being heavily Catholic influenced, began the tradition of this gluttonous party right before Ash Wednesday would usher them into the Lenten season. A season that would reflect on the trials and suffering of Jesus Christ. 

Even though, Mardi Gras may be a fun filled day of partying, I am afraid they got it backwards! They are celebrating before they anticipate the suffering. When actually, the greatest celebration, or PARTY if you will, comes after the suffering!

Today, on the worlds calendar, it marks the day before Jesus officially started his ministry here on earth. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, when we reflect, pray and often fast, through the 40 days that occur before the crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! Because Jesus did go to that cross, suffer and die, and was raised again to new life on the third day, we celebrate and party during baptism!

Jesus Himself was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist to show us the way. We are baptized in Christ Jesus, and raised to walk in a new life with him!

Now if that doesn’t give you some thing to “PARTY” about, nothing will!

There may be a party going on in New Orleans today or other places around the world celebrating Mardi Gras. But no party was greater than the one I was apart of this Sunday!

My oldest granddaughter and my oldest grandson chose Jesus and were baptized into him this past Sunday! We celebrated with the best kind of party, this side of heaven! It wasn’t the amount of streamers, in fact there weren’t any. It wasn’t the size of the cake, in fact there wasn’t one. It wasn’t the music, the food, or any of the decorations that made their party the best party in the world. 

It was the fact that they chose on their own to understand what Jesus modeled for us all those many years ago. We are buried to our old lives, and raised into a new life with Jesus Christ that not only encompasses this life on earth, but more gloriously, one in heaven with Him forever because of the sacrifice that He made for us on the cross!

“Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, “You are My Beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  John 3:21-22

There is no greater reason to rejoice, celebrate and throw a party, then when someone is baptized into Christ Jesus, committing to leave their old life behind, and walk in a new life with him!

In fact, don’t take it from me, God‘s Word tells us that it’s such a great celebration that it is when the angels actually party!

“Just so, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  

Luke 15:10

If the angels are throwing a PARTY, then so should we!

TRUTH BOMB

BAPTISM IS THE GREATEST PARTY WE CAN THROW!

Baptism is not only knowing God, it is choosing Him and following Him! That’s why there’s a party going on in heaven for my Cami and my Cade and for all of you who have made the same decision to follow Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior!

As we step into this very sober season of Lent, where we remember the greatest sacrifice ever made on our behalf, may we remember that at the end of it there is a huge party going on!

Speak Truth Love

Yep, It’s That “LOVE” Day Again!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!❤️💗

Do you love it or do you hate it? 

No matter how you feel about February 14th on the calendar, it is a day to be reminded of your most important LOVE!

God loves you so much that He didn’t just say He loved you, He proved it! He not only proved it by sending His son to pay the price for your sin, so that you could feel His LOVE every day even into eternity, but He also sent you a valentine!

We talked about God proving His love for you last week on the blog. If you missed it just read John 3:16!

Today we are going to talk about God‘s valentine to us, His Word, the Bible, His Love letter to us!

Valentine’s Day has always been one of my favorite days! Not just because of the chocolate, although that’s a great perk, but more than anything, because of the Valentines, a.k.a. LOVE notes, that we get to send and receive!

I have shared on my Blog before that

“Words of Affirmation“ is my Love Language! In a nutshell love language simply means the way that I best give and receive LOVE.

So, naturally, I love giving and receiving cards! Especially when someone takes the time to think about what they are writing on that card, and express love through their words to me! Just as much as receiving those cards, I love giving them!

I remember how excited I would get when my mom would take me to the store to buy valentines for my class!

I could hardly wait to select the perfect box! 

I couldn’t wait to receive the class list with everyone’s name on it. Then I would search for the perfect pen, preferably red or pink and then I would fill out and sign every single card one at a time! It was a really special year if I had a valentine sticker to place on the outside of the envelope!  

The only time I would pause was when I would begin to fret over selecting just the right valentine for each and every person. It had to be perfect.

Then would come the time when I would literally agonize over the perfect or “proper,” valentine to send to that one person I had a crush on.

Would it be too much or too little to convey what I was really feeling? Should I send it to them or not? Should I take the risk and muster up all the courage I had to share my true feelings?

I mean after all, it was quite a risk to take. The feelings could be returned or rejected. It would actually be easier and much safer to simply keep them inside, send that “generic“ valentine card and avoid the consequences!

Problem is…If we never take the risk we never have the relationship!

I am so thankful that God was willing to take the risk to tell us that He loves us through the best valentine we will ever receive!

Gods Valentine to us is His Word, The Bible, His LOVE letter to us!

TRUTH BOMB

THE BEST VALENTINE YOU WILL EVER RECEIVE IS FROM GOD!

Gods Word is his valentine, a.k.a. love letter to us! Look at how much God loves us and wants a forever love relationship with us…

“Then the world will know that you sent me,(Jesus), and have loved them even as you have loved me.”  John 17:23

Then in verse 24 he takes it even farther…

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”

God loves us so much that he wants to be with us forever in a love relationship!

God loves us, sent his son to prove it, and wants us to be with him in heaven forever! 

That’s what I call TRUE LOVE!

Valentine’s Day can be the best day ever when we realize that we have received the best valentine ever from the God who loves us most!m. Then we can celebrate that love by sharing it with others!

Ephesians 4:32

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God for gave you.“

“Beloved, (or Dearly Loved Ones), let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not live does not know God, because God is LOVE.”

I John 4:7-8

Unlike sending those valentines back in grade school, when we share God’s LOVE He takes the risk for us! We are already loved by God and secure in our relationship with Him! It is only a WIN when we share God‘s love with others. What they do with it is up to them!

So, HAPPY LOVE DAY EVERYONE!

You are loved by the creator of the universe and He sent you a valentine to tell you so!

Speak Truth Love

That’s right…. It’s LOVE month again!

Please notice I did not say it’s valentines month. Even though I happen to be a huge fan of Valentine’s Day! The legend of Saint Valentine is a wonderful one! It does not denote a romantic connection to the day, but instead a true brotherly love connection!  

But that is not what this Blog this month is about. 

This Blog all month long is about God‘s love and how we can take the opportunity to share it with others!

So welcome to love month here on the blog… Lovingly referred to as LOVEUARY!💕

The most famous love chapter in the Bible is first Corinthians 13. Most people love to skip the first several verses and move right into the long list of what love is. But I think we miss out on what love truly is, if we neglect to understand what love isn’t!

Love is not something we just speak about without putting action behind it.

Love is not something we prove to someone by our abilities and knowledge.

Love is not something we earn by giving away everything we possess.

The first three verses of first Corinthians 13 are much less quoted than the ones that follow, yet they hold incredible truth and wisdom on what love is not.

This gives us a beautiful and clear picture into what God’s love truly is!

“If I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 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. If I give away all I have and if I deliver at my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”  

I Corinthians 13:1-3

Love cannot be earned and cannot be measured by the words we say or our actions alone. All of the gifts that we have to offer are worthless without love! God‘s love is supreme because it lasts forever. God’s love is even greater than the sacrifices we make!

TRUTH BOMB

God’s love is given freely not earned!

IF WE ARE TO LOVE OTHERS WELL, WE MUST ALSO FREELY GIVE OF OURSELVES!

This is only possible when we understand how much God loves us.

Let’s start with the strongest LOVE of all…. When God demonstrated His LOVE for us by giving us what mattered most to Him, His own son!

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not die but live forever.”  

John 3:16

God did not just speak about loving us, He showed us!

God did not just tell us about this great plan He had to love us, He sent His son to prove it!

And finally, God did not tell us we had to do or give away anything to earn it, we simply have to believe!

So, weather you love Valentines Day or not, you can still love “LOVEUARY” and freely love the “others” he has placed in your life!

God’s LOVE is Free, so let’s freely give it!

Happy LOVEUARY!

Speak Truth Love