Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Agape Love

Definition: Agape is selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love, the highest of the four types of love in the Bible.

How are we with this word. Up, down, torn between love and fear. If we are these things think about how a young adult feels. Fear of being alone, abandoned, useless, forgotten...

If love is the greatest gift that Jesus gives us then why is it so hard to accept that gift 
When the world comes crashing down on us, who is it that we have to hold on to?  Do we look for the "physical" person or do we look above and inside knowing that his spirit of love is inside us. Sometimes we fail to remember that... so it becomes so difficult to teach it. 

A simple call or text to let some young teen know you are thinking about them may be all it takes.  A quick cup of coffee or a short lunch at a quaint little place can turn their world around.

Life teaches us lessons of love vs fear and its up to us to share those lessons to those young adults who have no one to teach them. Yes it's hard but if we really set our minds on it, we have the ability with Gods help to help one struggling young adult . All things are possible with God...

A point to ponder on my friends...

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Love

IF I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God's love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God's love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody). Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that I may glory, but have not love (God's love in me), I gain nothing. Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth]. (‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭1-8‬ AMP)

I may be able to speak the languages of human beings and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell. I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains—but if I have no love, I am nothing. I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body to be burned —but if I have no love, this does me no good. Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail. Love is eternal. There are inspired messages, but they are temporary; there are gifts of speaking in strange tongues, but they will cease; there is knowledge, but it will pass. (‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭1-8‬ GNT)

If I don't have love...
Without love who are we?  Do we love God and do we know God loves us
The one gift that we can give any one teen or young adult is to teach them about love
God says the greatest gift I give is love

My one young teen I've shared my love with is now starting college. She was excepted to a private college in Indiana. Although she has yet to hug freely, she understands that there are people out there who love her unconditionally and she has come to learn she has someone she can lean on who loves her.

A thought to ponder on my friends...

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Fairness

So the last few weeks I've been on this journey.  It's been a difficult one and probably one out of the two most difficult journey's I've been on in my life

I'm trying to figure out the lesson from the word "fairness"

Fairness is defined as "the quality of making judgments that are free from discrimination"

So what if someone is not capable of being fair.  What if someone is bought through a pocket full of cash or a political favor. 

How are we to teach a young adult that when we as adults live in the same world and struggle with this very same word which is difficult for us to understand but still have to teach some young adult how to deal with this word or the lack of this word.

As I ponder through my thoughts of the last several weeks I have learned one valuable lesson.  That in a world that we may perceive as unfair because we believe the person making the judgement call is not free from discrimination or able to make a quality decision because of some unknown reason, that if we let our discouragement destroy our hope then we have only failed ourselves over what's fair and what is not fair.

We need to go back to our thought pattern and change our attitude.  Pick up the pieces and get ready to try again.  It's easy to fail, it's easy to give up, it's easy to not want to try again because we think we'll lose again and that the system is unfair.  But if we just change our thoughts to say "one more try", then we've already won the battle over "fairness"

In a world that changes day in and day out, we need to look at the take away of everything we do.  Whether we believe it is fair or unfair, we have to teach these young adults that it's ok to have to try one more time.  That not everything in life is going to be fair but if you look at your attitude and you take away the value of the lesson then you have defeated the "Fairness" game.

A point to ponder on my friends...

Sunday, March 9, 2014

40 Days of Lent

The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me? (Psalms 118:6 NLT)

This word "fear"... It's in all of our lives but think about the young adult that has no one to ask how to conquer this. Think about if each of us had one young adult to mentor about conquering this word that plagues so many of us. What a change we could make.

As I make this journey for the next two weeks, every thought I think has something to do with conquering this word. Because "fear" has so many different meanings, it's easy to see how someone wouldn't think they have this in their life.

I've been blessed with the facts that every where I seem to turn, every opening of some positive inspirational email and every pintrest picture I see has some underlying hope that makes me overcome this word. It takes effort and mind changing thoughts. Joyce Meyer says that YOUR MIND IS A BATTLEFIELD.  In her book she often states that it's a choice to let satan in. Do you let your mind get filled with FEAR, WORRY, ANXIETY, HATE, UNFORGIVENESS, or do we conquer it with LOVE, PATIENCE, SELF CONTROL, GENTLENESS AND FORGIVENESS. If we continue to have "fear" knock at our door then we let the enemy in...

If a package showed up and you had a choice to open one that was addressed to worry, hate & fear or one that was addressed to Love, Peace & Patience, which one would you open?

That my friend is something to be taught to a struggling young adult. Share this with someone today and see if you can change a life for our Savior this Lent season

A point to ponder on my friends...




Friday, March 7, 2014

40 days of Lent

Fear
I'm stuck on overcoming this word.  So many of us have it and yet so many of us don't even know that fear has many names.

1. Anger
2. Worry
3. Hate
4. Jealousy
5. Unforgiveness
6. Control 

The list could go on and on.  How do we overcome this when we don't even know where to begin.  We start here:

2 Timothy 1:7 in different translations

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind

For the Spirit God gave us doesn not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline

For the Holy Spirit, God's gift does not want you to be afraid of people, but to be wise and strong, and to love them and enjoy being with them

For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid; instead, his Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control

Every day of every year we all have to overcome this.  Fear is not fear as we know it because fear has so many different meanings.

I'm getting ready to go on a journey that I have never been on before.  It's something I prayed for and 14 years later, God is answering our prayers.  This is the word I will be overcoming for the next two weeks.

Please share this word with a young adult and teach them about this.  It takes so little effort to do.

A point to ponder on my friends...

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Fear vs. Faith

Confused on what to do for lent?

I'm working on my faith verses working on my fear

Can I challenge you for 40 days to work, read and practice faith

Let's see what we can do together for the next 40 days

I'll be back tomorrow.  Share this with a young adult. It's only 40 days...


Sunday, February 2, 2014

Joy

Joy = A feeling of great pleasure and happiness

So how do I find this word in my everyday life...

Be anxious for nothing Jesus says

Phil 4:6 says this:
"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done"

So when I think of this word JOY and I think of how difficult sometimes it is for myself to feel this everyday, I often wonder for those who do not have a loved one in their life, someone who waits and waits for a parent to walk through the door, someone that doesn't have Jesus in their life, how painful and confusing this word must be to find.  How easy it would be to just ignore this and go on with our day confused by the way we feel and never having an understanding of this most precious word.

How easy it would be to touch a young adult life getting ready to venture out into the world we now live in by just giving our time to help explain how to find this.  It's spending time and letting someone know that we actually care about them.  How lonely it must be to not know this word and to not have anyone to teach them the meaning or show them where they can find it.

Jesus talked in parables when he taught.  It didn't take a lengthy amount of time to teach his disciples about the greatest gifts of Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness & Self-Control

When you feel the least and see the least, that is when our God is doing the most in our lives.  Why not reach out and spend 10 minutes with someone to talk to them about the word JOY.  Explain how to find it and teach them about the WORD

I often reflect on a teen who has made an impact in my life, who has made me a better person seeing her find JOY in everything she does.  Whether it be helping out a neighbor, doing a good deed for the Boys & Girls Club or just lending a friend a hand.  When I'm feeling a little blue, I remind myself how someone I touched has also touched my life and taught me a great lesson about JOY.  It's not the gifts it's the gift of JOY and when you have this word in your life, it could be one of the greatest gifts of all

A point to ponder on my friends...



 

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Contentment

Well it's been awhile since I posted so I'm starting the new year with word I found dear to my heart and one that I feel a lot of us struggle with.

So what is this word "CONTENTMENT"

Contentment=A state of PEACEFUL happiness.  A state of SATISFACTION.

How do we acquire this PEACEFUL state of being?  By trusting in our God. 

Philippians 4:11
Not than I am implying that I was in any personal want, for I have learned how to be CONTENT (satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or disquieted) in whatever state I am

I believe that there are young adults who have not ever even thought of this word or have had anyone talk to them about this word.  If we as adults struggle with this ourselves then how are to pass this on to a struggling teen?

It takes research and reading the word.  Getting to the point in our lives where we will not let the devil steal our joy.  It's standing up and casting down the negative parts of our lives each and every day. In order to help a teen we must be CONTENT ourselves.  So find your PEACE by being CONTENT and may God's blessings pour down on you today so that you may pass this word CONTENT onto a young adult who may need to understand this too.

A point to ponder on my friend...