Daily Devotional Day & Night

HAPY THURSDAY!


Today's scriptures are about being good and merciful to all, just as God is to us. God so loved the WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOEVER believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) God knows everything, past, present, and future, so from the beginning of the world, He knew all who would chose and reject Him, yet He still made Salvation available to "whoever". His goodness, grace, and mercy abounds anything that we could ever imagine. When Jesus gave up His life for us, He also gave it for the very people who tortured, beat, and killed Him, because of the deep compassion and love that was in His heart, for all of God's creation. He went as far as to pray for them, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do", as they beat and ridiculed Him, because He knew the real answers to life. Jesus taught us to Love everyone, and it doesn't matter if they love us back. Love your neighbor as yourself is one of the ultimate commandments, so it isn't a suggestion, it's a part of being obedient to the Word of God.
Some of you may be asking yourself, "how is it possible to love everyone, with the amount of hatred and evil in this world?” and can total understand why. The task of loving your neighbor isn't as easy as it sounds, but then again, neither are any of the other commandments, but that's the beauty of being a child of God. When Jesus enters your heart, love can't help but take over. Love isn't so much what we do, but it's who we are in Christ. God is Love, and through His love He gave us Christ, and through Christ we too are love. It's written: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor. 5:17) As we grow into these new "creatures", we are conformed to the likeness of Christ, and Love begins to come second nature.
Growth requires activity, practice, study, and developing a close bond with our Father in Heaven. As this happens, He'll start giving us wisdom we never thought we could posses, which allows us to love with all of our heart. He'll allow us to see the heart of others, just as Jesus saw it in those who blatantly tried to hurt Him. People who do evil, and attempt to afflict pain on others are, more often than not, in a lot of pain themselves. Most of them just need someone to love them through the hurt and pain, and offer them the same level of forgiveness God offers us. Jesus taught about forgiveness in the "Parable of the Unforgiving Spirit", when Peter asked Him how many times we should forgive those who trespass against us. Peter suggested that we forgive them seven times, and Jesus said: “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." (Matt. 18:21-22) Can you imagine forgiving someone that many times? When I first read this verse of scripture, I immediately sucked my teeth and said "Aww Man!" aloud. I just couldn't imagine allowing someone to keep hurting me, over and over again, and I was supposed to keep forgiving him or her whenever they asked. Then, each time I reached my final “straw” with some people, my Holy Spirit brought me back to this verse, and I became more and more aware of my own actions. It finally dawned on me, after deep conviction, that I in fact expected God to forgive me, over and over again, because He loves me unconditionally, without doing the same. How could I not do the same for my "neighbors", if I was commanded to do so? It’s egotistical to want something from God, that we’re not willing to give, especially love and forgiveness.
Most of our anger, pain, and hurt come from an unforgiving Spirit. As well as holding on to the past, and allowing circumstances to predict our happiness and contentment. In most cases we hurt others to make ourselves feel better, and that Spirit isn't from God. The world lives by the mentality "I'm going to get you, before you get me", and that all comes from hatred, which comes from the enemy. Jesus died to give us LOVE, so that we could spread it throughout the world. Love is contagious, but unfortunately so is hate, so we are responsible for helping our fellow brothers and sisters overcome. Some people never saw a bible before, nor heard a church sermon, so we're their only witness of God's love. We must love them, when they hate us. "The worst disease in the world isn’t cancer or AIDS, but the worst disease in the world is hate, and the cure for hate is love" ~India Arie.
Today I urge you to pray and ask God to show you love, because you can’t give it, if you haven't truly experienced it. If I could build the perfect life partner, my number one requirement would be, "one who knows the Love of God", because then and only then will he be able to love me fully, honestly, and completely. I truly wish everyone could have that quality; the world would be a better place. At the same time, one of our greatest responsibilities as Christians is to spread Gods love, so that may one day be a reality for as many as possible. Remember, Jesus didn't light the lamp to place it under the bed, but He wants it on the highest lampstand for the world to see (Matt. 5:14-16). However, the only way to light the lamp, is the accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. Are you sure of your salvation? If you are not, take a few moments to take Dr. Stanley's God Quiz today! My favorite verses today are: Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:44-45)

ENJOY! http://www.bible.com/scripture-detail.php?juli=2455379&dtype=Scripture
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I love you!