Love

11/5/2012

The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time.
You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is righteousness in all his ways and loving toward all he has made.
The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
~ Psalm 145:14-18

He cares for you even when you fall or fail, he raises you up! He also lifts up those that are bowed down...or those that are humble. Consider where you are today. Is everything going great? Praise him and let him lift you up, have you made terrible mistakes or have just felt like a failure lately? Remember God upholds you. He cradles you and holds you. Rest in him. Rest.

He not only knows your needs but your desires and guess what?! He satisfies them. Does that mean...that thing that is on your mind and that you feel most desperate about he will satisfy? Well actually anxiousness and fretting is not from The Lord. If you are feeling anxious about something, lay it down, commit it to The Lord.  He actually cannot give you his peace until you do so. Then ask him for what you desire most. There was a time in my life that extended for about 9 years in which I was conflicted as a single mom. I wanted a godly husband in my life and in my childrens lives and anxiously sought after him at times with no one even on the horizon.  This caused me great grief and pain.  It was not until 9 years later when I released it to The Lord in which he brought a godly husband into my life.  A man that even proposed to me explaining how he will serve me as Christ laid down his life for the church.  Amazing.

The other scripture that I wanted to mention is that he is loving toward all he has made. God is loving toward you! He is loving. He is love. Many times we get love mixed up with infatuation. Remember true love is selfless, it is patient, it is kind, it forgives, it is not envious, it is not boastful, it is not rude and it never fails(1 Corinthians 13:4-7).  As I did this devotional with the teenagers in my Bible classes today, I reminded them to examine their own friendships and relationships with others....parents, sisters, friends, etc. and see if they are loving others.  I told them to replace the word love with their own name for a true test to see if they are being loving. I heard a few 'oh's' across the room. Le tus remember God is loving toward us in this way, lets be loving toward others in the same way.   Let's also remember infatuation is 'self seeking', the opposite of love.  It focuses on how you feel when you are with someone instead of serving the other selflessly.

Lord, show us how to love others as you do. Give us your servants heart for others, putting others needs above our own.  May we choose to truly love others. Thank you for satisfying the desires of every living thing and for satisfying me.  Thank you for upholding me and lifting me up.  Amen.