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Songs of Deliverance Magazine Cindy Davis Ministries
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Love Never Notices Love sought me and captured my heart in spite of what I did. Love is a four-letter word that is not used nearly enough. I overheard a young couple talking at a convenience store and their conversation was sprinkled with a different four-letter word which is popular in the world today. They didn't seem to hear that what they said was only being spliced in between this word (or a variation of it.) So I decided to listen to what I was saying. To my shock my favorite word "love" was not used as often as I would like. Love is the reason I love God. He loved me first but He also loves that couple I overheard. Am I telling the world that there is a God who loves them or am I allowing myself to be offended by what I hear from them? It is easy to ignore people and go on my way feeling smug in God's love. Since God is love, He overlooks my unlovely ways. That is what love is all about. We don't always do it right but God chooses to not notice. He gives us a break, treating us like three year olds. It is time we grew up and started showing the same kind of love to others that we enjoy on a daily basis. . Love never notices when others do it wrong. In fact, love loves whether others love back or not. I didn't even know I needed love and God was loving me anyway. I didn't have to seek love. Love sought me and captured my heart in spite of what I did. Sometimes we forget where we came from but we were all in the same boat. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23. God is love. He loves me regardless of what I say or how I act. He even knows my thoughts and still loves me. Can we love others this way? We have His Spirit within us, therefore we have the ability to do the things we can't do in our own strength. We can love others with the love of God because He has placed His love in our hearts. ...the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Rom. 5:5 We may not feel very loving but God says it is in our hearts. Are we going to believe God or what we feel? We need to make a decision that God is right all the time and He never changes His mind because we don't agree with Him. When we agree with what God says is when we start seeing changes in our hearts and when our hearts change, our feelings change. Our feelings are based on our experience in the world rather than our experiences with God. We can love others, beginning with our brothers and sisters in Christ, regardless of what they believe or how they treat us. Jesus said, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, Mt. 5:44 Think about your Christian family. Have you ever been treated as an enemy? Are there those in the body of Christ who curse you with negative words? Has a brother or sister ever hated you? Have you ever been abused by those in authority over you in the church? Did they persecute you when they found out you spoke in tongues? Or when you said you didn't believe in tongues? There are Christians around the world who interpret the word differently than I do. I have a choice. I can curse them by saying they are not of God or I can bless and pray for them. I can love them or I can hate them. I can judge them as unworthy of my mercy or I can love them as a part of the body of Christ. Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. Rom 14:4 Did Jesus die before or after we were cleaned up and made pretty? It was before, when we were lost and wallowing in our sin that He said, "I love you so much that I will die in order to give you eternal live." We don't need to die physically so others can live but we need to die to our self-centered opinions that others might have the opportunity to know the same love we experience everyday. Someone told me about the love of God. Someone had to lay aside their own feelings and love me enough to tell me I could have everlasting life in Christ Jesus. I have received a wonderful gift. How can I not give it to others?
Songs of Deliverance
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