John 13:34-35
the Lord dropped this on my heart & i wanted to share this with you guys to challenge you to be constantly in prayer for your friends. especially those that you know are following a path towards wicked ways. satan is ALWAYS on the lookout for our weak spots. pray that the Lord strengthens those weak spots in yourself & your friends, pray that He protects you from satan's tricks. watching other people go down the wrong path absolutely breaks my heart. it physically pains my body to watch my friends or friends of my friends go down the wrong path. especially when you know that the Lord has such a special plan for them.
so many times we kick people when they're down instead of speaking life over them that the Lord STILL loves them !! we live in a fallen world & the Lord asks that we spread His word like wildfire. instead of gossiping about someone who's done something so wrong, (we're all guilty, don't act like you're not) breathe life over them & tell them how much the Lord cares for them. don't be quick to judge, but rather be quick to cover them in prayer & lift their name up to Christ. that's our job as Christians, to spread the name of Jesus & encourage others to be more like Christ. we are the hands & feet of Jesus & we are the body of Christ, don't take that lightly ! we are all one big eternal family & we don't act like it. we even resent or hate some of our fellow believers, that is NOT what God has called us to do. John 13:34-35 "a new command I give you: love one another. as I have loved you, so you must love one another. by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” it is okay to disagree with your fellow believers, but you must forgive them & love them. that doesn't mean you have to be bestfriends or trust them, it means you must love them like your Father has loved you. the word doesn't say "love one another, unless you're not their friend, or unless they did you wrong, or unless they stabbed you in the back" it says to "LOVE ONE ANOTHER" that excludes NO ONE !!
Hillsong United has a song called Hosanna & the lyrics to the bridge of that song resonate with me so deeply.
"Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your Kingdom's cause
As I walk from nothing to eternity"
the line break my heart for what breaks Yours, i LOVE that !! just like the Lord rejoices when people commit their lives to Christ, He also mourns the loss of a believer who has gone astray. ask the Lord to break your heart for what breaks His heart & you will love others so much deeper & easier. the love you give will be poured out of you like confetti & it will be so real & unconditional, because that is how His heart loves.
the lyrics of How He Loves by Jesus Culture also resonate with my heart.
"Drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking"
i love that. we are drawn to redemption by His grace, that's such a vivid picture to me. then if His grace is as big as an ocean then we're all sinking in it. that's another vivid picture of what the grace of the Lord looks like. it's as bountiful as the water in the sea & even more than that. & because of His grace we have access to the redemption that He offers us for all of eternity.
He's such a giving, loving, & grace-filled God. & i think as Christians we don't inhabit those qualities as much as we could or should inhabit. we must step up to the plate as Christians & instead of trying to be a Christian we should be trying to be more like Christ. pray that the Lord reveals Himself to you & that He gives you those qualities in an abundance so that you can overflow with them in order that you'll touch everyone around you. God is also a willing God, if you ask Him for grace, grace you will be given, if you ask for peace, peace you will be given. so don't be afraid to ask Him for help. because we already know we can't do it on our own so why pretend ?
my challenge to y'all today is to ask the Lord for whatever it is you need so that you can become more like Him & not more like other Christians, you are your own person with your own plan, don't try to steal someone else's, be you. the next time you find yourself gossiping about someone else's sin, stop & instead lift them up to the Lord. i have a picture of a quote saved on my phone & it says "do not judge. you don't know what storm I've asked her to walk through. -God" you never know what God has allowed someone to go through so don't punch them in the gut while they're walking in the valley. also, don't forget that just because someone looks like they're okay doesn't mean they are & just because you're really close with someone doesn't mean that they'll tell you when they're struggling to stay above the waves of life crashing around them. now that school is starting to pick up speed i encourage you to be in prayer for your friends & your enemies & ask God to reveal His heart to you so that your heart will break when His does. love is a powerful emotion & it can move mountains, use it wisely & for the Kingdom of God.
as always, if you need prayer or have any questions please feel free to contact me through email, just click on the contact tab at the top of the page & fill in the required fields. also, be sure to follow me on social media, the links are on the left side of the home page. i hope you have an awesome day ! thank you for reading Saved By Grace, until next time y'all :-)
"& I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, & I will be the glory in her midst."
Zechariah 2:5
X O X O, K i n l e y