Pursue Love❤️❤️

 

Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.  3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.  4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.—1 Corinthians 14:1-4

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that love is pre-eminent.  It is the greatest of gifts because God IS love and is therefore, enduring and eternal. Chapter 14 begins with Paul telling us that we are to eagerly pursue love as a goal.  Beloved, love edifies...love never fails...it always has an effect.  

Paul continues to speak on gifts here in Chapter 14 and emphasizes that we are to desire the gift of prophecy over the gift of tongues because prophecy speaks to men and tongues to God.  The believer who speaks in a tongue speaks to God in praise and worship; but the believer who prophesies shares the Word with the church and helps those who listen. Prophecy entails both foretelling the future and speaking forth Gods words in teaching, exhortation and encouragement. Today the latter is more prevalent than the former. 

The bottom line is that as members of the body of Christ we are to pursue those gifts that edify the whole body.  The mistake the Corinthians were making was that they were selfishly focused on gifts that built themselves up and not their fellow believers.  They were neglecting prophecy and giving a wrong emphasis to tongues.

I looked at the Corinthian error in emphasis as a lack of love problem. If they had been giving love the pre-eminence and pursuing it above all other gifts, than balance among the other gifts would have been achieved. 

For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.—James 3:16

Dear one...pursue love...seek first God, who embodies love and His word and all else will fall into its proper place.  Speak to others for their edification.  Speak to them in a way that promotes spiritual growth.  Speak words of encouragement that will uphold and counsel them concerning matters of God. Speak words of consolation to compassionately comfort them. 

Let the [spoken] word of Christ have its home within you [dwelling in your heart and mind—permeating every aspect of your being] as you teach [spiritual things] and admonish and train one another with all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.—Colossians 3:16 AMP. 

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,

15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ--

16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.—Ephesians 4:11-16

I Am Dark, But Lovely…

 

The Shulamite…

5 I am dark, but lovely,

O daughters of Jerusalem,

Like the tents of Kedar,

Like the curtains of Solomon.

6 Do not look upon me, because I am dark,—Song of Solomon 1:5-6a

The Beloved…

8 If you do not know, O fairest among women,

Follow in the footsteps of the flock,

And feed your little goats

Beside the shepherds’ tents.—Song of Solomon 1:8

Remembering this morning that my heart may be blackened by sin but as a daughter of the great King, I am lovely…white as snow.  He sees me as the fairest among women. Beloved…Our God is our beauty. In Him we are fair. 

They looked to Him and were radiant,

And their faces were not ashamed. Psalm 34:5

And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us,

And establish the work of our hands for us;

Yes, establish the work of our hands.—Psalm 90:17 

“The sun shall no longer be your light by day,

Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you;

But the LORD will be to you an everlasting light,—Isaiah 60:19

When My Heart Is Overwhelmed…

 

1 Hear my cry, O God;

Attend to my prayer.

2 From the end of the earth I will cry to You,

When my heart is overwhelmed;

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

3 For You have been a shelter for me,

A strong tower from the enemy.

4 I will abide in Your tabernacle forever;

I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.

Selah—Psalm 61:1-4

I am so grateful this morning that God hears “my” cry.  I am so thankful that He attends to “my” prayer. What a gift that no matter where I am, I can cry out to Him who is higher than I…

7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning,

And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,

And Your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”

Even the night shall be light about me;—Psalm 139:7-11

I can trust that the One who is always with me, who is good and does good, will lead me in His perfect way. Truly, I will praise Him who when my heart is overwhelmed shelters me in the cleft of the Rock that is Christ. In my insufficiency, He is sufficient. In my weakness, He is strong. 

I will give thanks to the One who is ALWAYS for me, gives me help from trouble and enlarges the path under me so my feet do not slip. He is my strong habitation to which I can continually resort. Today and every day I will trust in the shelter of His wings.  My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise. 

3 Whenever I am afraid,

I will trust in You.—Psalm 56:3

1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!

For my soul trusts in You;

And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge,

Until these calamities have passed by.

2 I will cry out to God Most High,

To God who performs all things for me.

3 He shall send from heaven and save me;

He reproaches the one who would swallow me up.

Selah—Psalm 57:1-3

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul;

And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,

And forget not all His benefits:

3 Who forgives all your iniquities,

Who heals all your diseases,

4 Who redeems your life from destruction,

Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,

5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.—Psalm 103:1-5

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,

And speak, O Israel:

“My way is hidden from the LORD,

And my just claim is passed over by my God”?

28 Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The everlasting God, the LORD,

The Creator of the ends of the earth,

Neither faints nor is weary.

His understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the weak,

And to those who have no might He increases strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,

And the young men shall utterly fall,

31 But those who wait on the LORD

Shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint.—Isaiah 40:27-31

If You Have Run With the Footman…

 

5 “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you,

Then how can you contend with horses?

And if in the land of peace,

In which you trusted, they wearied you,

Then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?—Jeremiah 12:5

I love and hate this verse all at the same time.  Like Jeremiah, I can feel weary from “running with the footmen”, but therein lies God’s encouragement to Jeremiah and to me!  I HAVE run with the footmen!  I am tired, but I made it through and I didn’t give up!  God is acknowledging Jeremiah’s success and as I read His words to Jeremiah, mine also. The part I hate about this verse is obvious.  God is telling Jeremiah that there will be tougher challenges ahead.  Sigh.  I don’t want tougher challenges. I don’t want to go into the floodplain of the Jordan. 

Beloved…the Bible tells us that in this world we will have tribulation.  Trials and troubles come to all in this world…saved or unsaved.  As believers, the trials we face have meaning and purpose.  As a bonus they also toughen us up for what is to come.  Our “footmen” prepare us for the “horses” that are coming. God never gives us more than we can handle.  Whatever we face in this life, we face in Him and with Him. He goes before us.  He never leaves us.  I look back at my life and what I see is God’s lovingkindness in preparing me back then for the very things that I face today.  HE IS FAITHFUL. Trials are inevitable but in Christ, we are invincible.

Fear not, for I am with you;

Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you,

Yes, I will help you,

I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.—Isaiah 41:10

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 

36 As it is written:

"For Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."

37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.—Romans 8:31-39

being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;—Philippians 1:6

Father…When I am weary, help me to do as Jeremiah did…help bring my heart to You.  Be my strong habitation to which I can resort continually.  Without You, I can do nothing good. But in You, I can do all things, because You strengthen me. You have seen me through in the past and You will see me through in the days that are still to come.