* Love Never Quits

Thank God, who did it all! His love never quits!
Psalm 136:26 The Message Bible

I was a child the first time I read this Psalm in the King James Version. Instead of His love never quits; it was his mercy endureth forever. And yes, it's from the same Hebrew word - Checed - that I've mentioned before.

I really hated reading this one as a child. I couldn't seem to hear the Thank God parts of it because every other line was his mercy endureth forever - or now in the Message, His love never quits. As a child, it obliterated the rest of the psalm for me because of the constant repetition.

As an adult, I can't seem to remember all the other parts, but for a totally different reason. Now, I LOVE this Psalm!! His mercy endures forever!! His love never quits!!! He did it all and through all of it - His mercy endures forever!! His love never quits!!! THINK ABOUT THAT! Let it soak into and manifest in your spirit. His mercy endures forever!! His love never quits!!! Praise His Holy Name!!

1-3 Thank God! He deserves your thanks.
His love never quits.
Thank the God of all gods,
His love never quits.
Thank the Lord of all lords.
His love never quits.

4-22 Thank the miracle-working God,
His love never quits.
The God whose skill formed the cosmos,
His love never quits.
The God who laid out earth on ocean foundations,
His love never quits.
The God who filled the skies with light,
His love never quits.
The sun to watch over the day,
His love never quits.
Moon and stars as guardians of the night,
His love never quits.
The God who struck down the Egyptian firstborn,
His love never quits.
And rescued Israel from Egypt’s oppression,
His love never quits.
Took Israel in hand with his powerful hand,
His love never quits.
Split the Red Sea right in half,
His love never quits.
Led Israel right through the middle,
His love never quits.
Dumped Pharaoh and his army in the sea,
His love never quits.
The God who marched his people through the desert,
His love never quits.
Smashed huge kingdoms right and left,
His love never quits.

Struck down the famous kings,
His love never quits.
Struck Sihon the Amorite king,
His love never quits.
Struck Og the Bashanite king,
His love never quits.
Then distributed their land as booty,
His love never quits.
Handed the land over to Israel.
His love never quits.

23-26 God remembered us when we were down,
His love never quits.
Rescued us from the trampling boot,
His love never quits.
Takes care of everyone in time of need.
His love never quits.
Thank God, who did it all!
His love never quits!

Yes!! Thank God, who did it all! His love never quits!

Prayer:

Father,

          Thank You that Your mercy endures forever and that Your love never quits, because we are in constant need of both. Let this Rhema Word come alive in us! Thank You for Your Word to us to carry us through. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

* True Love

The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.

And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ.
Romans 1:3-6 NLT

Ah, yes - Valentine's Day! A superior example of extraordinary marketing ability! Now, lest you think I'm a cynic, I want to hasten to assure you that I believe in love because I believe in God! And I wholeheartedly believe in till-death-do-us-part love. I've witnessed it too many times in life to not believe it. I just don't buy into the world's version of happily-ever-after.

Life is hard, folks. Sometimes, you're not happy, but love is not about the flitting, fleeting feelings. Love is a committed choice. God is love and He chose His love for us over what He originally wanted to do - which was kill us all for the miserable, idol-worshiping ingrates that we can be. How happy do you think Jesus was about being beaten beyond recognition and dying on a cross? He was not happy about that! Have you read about His time in the Garden of Gethsemane? It was not happy that put Jesus on the Cross. It was true love.

There is One who loves us enough to die for us. He's already done it. And someday, our Prince will come - AGAIN! As soon as He's done building our homes in glory and God, our Father says, 'Go get them.' Then we'll know true happily ever after.

Prayer:

Father,

I pray for the scales to be ripped off so people can see what true love is. Help us to know the vast difference between happy and true love. Open our eyes to the Truth of Your Word. Reveal Yourself in it as we read to know You more. To know You better. To learn of love at its finest. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Nevertheless, Thy Will Be Done +

The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.
Psalm 37:23 NLT

I can personally confirm the news reports that MANY people are travelling during this Thanksgiving holiday. Even with the purchase of a guaranteed "early bird check-in," I was still the 42nd person in line to board. Logically, I was pretty sure there weren't going to be any front row, leg room or aisle seats available. Nevertheless, I prayed and asked God for a front row seat. I went one step further and also asked for someone kind enough to assist me in getting my bag into the overhead bin.

In verse 4 of the text chapter we're using today, the Word reads,Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. As I rounded the corner of the forward galley, I stood for a quick moment, checking the availability of aisle seats. Then I looked to my right, straight into the faces of one woman about my age and a young man about 30, both seated on the front row, who both smiled and asked, "Would you like to sit here?"

"Yes, thank you," I replied, as I stepped into the front row area, mentioning that I would wait until the human traffic flow died down before attempting to put up my carry on. A few moments passed, and the young man stood and asked if he could put up my case for me.(Thank you, Jesus!!!!)

MY plan was to read the book I'd brought with me. My seat guests on either side of me had other plans. Rob, the young man, was on the way to say good-bye to his mother. She was being kept on life-support until Rob could arrive.

On my other side, Ms. Sandy had an extremely rare form of cancer, and was returning home after her trip to Houston's MD Anderson Center for a target drug treatment. Halfway through the flight, Ms. Sandy remarked, "I don't know why I'm telling you all these things about me, I'm normally a very private person." She and I encouraged one another in the Lord, and God gave me the opportunity to pray with Rob during our descent. 

My plan was to read the book I brought. HIS plan was to read the hearts of the ones He brought. Thank You, Father, for trusting me and for ordering my steps aright.

Prayer:

Father, 
         Thank You for Sandy and for Rob. I pray continued comfort and blessings for them. Thank you for getting us all safely to our destinations. Please be with Rob and his extended family during this time. Heal Sandy, Lord, she believes in Your healing touch. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

* Love In Any Language

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
Proverbs 4:7 KJV

Dr. Gary Chapman wrote a best-selling book titled, The 5 Love Languages. The description from the website* about his book reads,  Of the countless ways we can show love to one another, five key categories, or five love languages, proved to be universal and comprehensive—everyone has a love language, and we all identify primarily with one of the five love languages:
Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch.

I'm not here to sell you the book, but to borrow from its premise that if we don't know the language, it's hard to make ourselves understood. If your love language is Receiving Gifts and all you're receiving is the language of Quality Time sans gifts, you're probably not very happy. Friends of mine (who are married to each other) experienced this in their marriage. He speaks Acts of Service - he would clean the house, cook dinner, washed laundry, etc, thinking all the while that he was being incredibly loving and romantic. However, she only hears Words of Affirmation. Her question while she sat in a spotless house was, "If he loves me, why doesn't he just say so?"

The Great News is that God speaks all languages. He created them AND you. And because God IS love, He can and will communicate with you in ANY love language and can receive your love back to Himself accordingly. No more excuses for not speaking with Him.

Prayer:

Father,
           Thank You for always providing exactly what we need, when we need it and where we need it. Help us to be fluent in our conversations with You and with others about You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen


*www.5lovelanguages.com/learn-the-languages/the-five-love-languages/

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T.H.E. Thing to Do +

The Lord your God will change your heart and the hearts of all your descendants, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and so you may live!
Deuteronomy 30:6 NLT

In the engineering realm, they use acronyms for everything - more so than even IT people. Some of the acronyms make sense because the thing to which they refer would take 5 minutes to say. Some of them are silly or misleading. For instance, 'lb' - To most people, that refers to pounds, but to my company it means, 'lay barge.' Fortunately, I used to be quite good at solving acronyms. In fact, I find them to be a lot of fun, and on occasion, try to create them - mostly for a laugh.

I think I've mentioned before the one created as a result from learning the rules of driving for the state of Missouri. In most of the country, a stop sign is literal. It means stop. In Missouri, it's an acronym for S.low T.o O.bvious P.ause. BIG difference. In engineering, STOP is an acronym for Safety Training Observation Program. It's all about what you're used to and where you are…and remembering where you’re supposed to be and what you’re supposed to be doing. That’s T.H.E. thing.

Sometimes in life, we get into a situation that becomes a habit. Sometimes, they're not good habits. And in the course of it, we get lazy and we gain weight or become unhealthy. Sometimes, a season in life seems to last so long that we get tunnel vision and can't see life or God from any other angle. So we stay there because that is what we have allowed ourselves to become used to. We say, 'Well, this is where I am.' Sometimes we even go so far as to say, 'This is where God has me.' because we only look inward instead of up and around and we lose sight.

So what is T.H.E. thing to do that can change it? What if you really can't change the circumstances of where you are? What if it really IS where God has you for the time being? And what if you really don't like it? What can change? What is T.H.E. thing YOU can do to change it?

Psalm 107:8, Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! We can thank God for something - for anything. Sometimes when I mention that to a person, their response will be, 'What for? What do I have in my life to thank God for? I have nothing. I am nothing.'  Hmmm, how about that He lets you live and breathe and doesn't just strike you dead for whining? Or thank Him because He's changed MY heart so that I don't have the inclination to just smack you for whining? Just kidding... 

This isn't a new concept. We've talked about this before. Finding one thing to be thankful for –  You want to be heart-whole? You want heart health? Develop that muscle to be strong! I have created a form called T.H.E. Thing To Do list. T.H.E. stands for T.hankful H.eart E.xercise. I think it’s self-explanatory. If you want a copy to use, just let me know. Try it for one week. Make it T.H.E. Thing to do.

Prayer:

Father, 
           Forgive us when we don’t recognize Your faithfulness and goodness to us. We do know that You are God and every good and perfect gift comes from You, even when they’re not packaged quite as we would like. Thank You, Father, for loving us enough to give us what we need. Give us grateful hearts to recognize Your love. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen