Matthew 11:30
"For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
Two things the devil uses to 'further' his work: Apathy and 'ignoring' (see attached comics).
Apathy is defined as: "Lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal; indifference. Lack of emotion or feeling."
To Ignore is: "To fail or refuse to notice; disregard."
I think of the truly homeless individual, sitting on the sidewalk as people walk by, refusing to even acknowledge him. (Yes, I'm aware of the ones who 'pretend' to be homeless, racking in money daily, but unfortunately, there are more REAL 'homeless' today than since the Depression.) However, that's only one example.
Doing the Lord's work is not always easy, as a matter of fact, it's usual not. Or, is that what the devil wants us to think?
Deuteronomy 30:10-14
"The Lord your God will delight in you if you obey his voice and keep the commands and decrees written in this Book of Instruction, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.
“This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you to understand, and it is not beyond your reach. It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?’ It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?’ No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it."
When we turn our lives over to God, and promise Him that we're going to do His work here on earth, He gives us a complete peace in our spirit, and anything which seems to be 'not easy', our Father will make a path for us to follow..... if we just ask Him and 'let' Him.
Isaiah 43:2
"When you go through deep waters, I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you."
To Act
Create positive messages. |
| |
|
To Pray
Lord, forgive me for sometimes taking Your command lightly.
Thank You for the gift of creation and I will do my best to take care of it. |
________________________________________________________________________________
Coffee Break
"Love Who?"
"By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another." John 13:35
Love is the identifying factor in a Christian's life. It is what separates us and identifies us with Christ. Love reflects God's nature and character in our lives. It is also a commandment from Him for us to live by. That being the case, who are we to love?
We are to love God. We are to love our neighbor. "And He answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." (Luke 10:27)
We are to love our "brothers"- those in our natural family, and those in our "spiritual" family- the family of God. "And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also." (1 John 4:21)
We are to love our enemies. "But I say unto you, 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." (Matthew 5:44)
We are to love one another-- each other; whoever that may be. "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." (John 15:12)
So, we are to love God, love our neighbor, love our family, love the family of God, love our enemies and love each other. No one is excluded in our love. We can't pick and choose who we will and won't love.
You may be thinking about a person that you "can't" love; you might know someone who is "hard" to love; you might even feel that a certain person doesn't "deserve" love.. it doesn't matter, it doesn't exempt you from loving them. The key to loving people is to first love God. When we love Him, then His love is what flows from us- not our own- to those we deem unlovable. It has to be His love that we love them with because His love is the only one that is unconditional. If He loved us when we were His enemy, when we were unlovable, when we didn't love Him, when we didn't deserve to be loved, then we should let His love do the same thing through us that it did for us.
Have a great day. We can't pick and choose who we want to love, God's command is to love everyone!
I Thessalonians 4:9 - "But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other, for God himself has taught you to love one another."
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
Coffee Break is written by Lorraine Ezell
About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.
Comments