Rocks My Socks Off!

"This is My command: Love one another"... You know this verse? Yeah, it's short and sweet and I think it's on at least a thousand book marks.  But if you've grown up in Church you've probably always seen it in a Cutesy, on a child's T-Shirt way that I always have.


Here's the full verse.
This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.-John 15:12-13 (HCSB)


That's not cute-sy. That's hard core!


How has Christ Loved you?


I spoke to the teens about this yesterday at church, but what if you, as my friend or my acquaintance, were standing in front of an 18-wheeler you didn't see it but I did. I jumped in front of it taking the fatal hit and pushing you out of the way.


Everyone would think that was awesome! Aw, what a heroic and noble act.  Stories about the Good Samaritan would be on the front page of the local newspaper and maybe even on the national headlines.


Is that the kind of love God calls us to?  If He says, "Love one another as I have loved you."  Is that how He loved us?


Although I think that would be noble, I don't think it grasps Christ's love. Because truthfully I could do that out of a "spur of the moment instinct" myself, without Christ doing it through me.


But what if it was your worst enemy?  What if it was that person who hated you.  Who spread deceiving, lies and rumors about you.  Harmed your children. Cursed and spat upon you.  Hated you so much that they were plotting your death.  What if they were standing in front of an 18-wheeler they didn't see?  You came and pushed them out of the way and took the brutal death in their place.

That's Crazy! That's not easily explained or understood...
THAT's Christ's love! 

That's what He knowingly did on our behalf.  He knew who we'd be.  He knew what a sinner we would become. He knew how often we would deny Him, out of fear for our reputation.  He knew how we would intentionally hurt His children.  HE knew all of this and yet died in our place anyway.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.-Romans 5:8

Cross references:

1. Romans 5:8 : Rom 3:5
2. Romans 5:8 : John 3:16; 15:13; Rom 8:39
3. Romans 5:8 : Rom 4:25; 5:6; 8:32; Gal 2:20; Eph 5:2

Pushing someone out from in front of a truck is kind of extreme though, that doesn't happen everyday, but here's things that do.  This is how we are to love like Christ daily.  When someone deeply hurts you, destroys your trust or mistreats you - do you love them anyway. Are our affections easily earned or quickly lost, are we distrusting for fear of being hurt?  Do you love despite your fear, because we aren't supposed to love for what we can get out of a relationship in the first place...If we're loving like Christ. 


I mean we should go out of our way to treat them with respect and; well...this is an area that needs to be surrendered to Christ so that He can do it through us...because our desire is not to/it can't be, to impress Christ.  His desire is not for us to "be good for Him"  His desire is for us to be Like Him. For us to surrender daily to be molded into His image.  To imitate Him as dearly beloved children. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

To love one another as Christ has loved you, requires a daily laying down of pride and self.  It is daily saying, "not me but You Lord".  It is daily not looking to be good or to do the good moral thing, but wanting to look like Christ and seeking His direction, which can't be done without consulting Him first.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! - Romans 5:6-9 (NIV)

That a Perfect Savior would die my death, that I deserved, to satisfy the righteousness of God on my behalf...

- that, "That's" The Love of Christ....! 

THAT, my friend, Rocks my Socks Off!

HIS clay~
Melissa Bradley

Do Unto Others

You may know this passage by heart but today I encourage you to remove all your desensitized knowledge of it and read it Fresh :)

Luke 6:27-36 (NIV)

Love for Enemies

    “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat,
do not withhold your shirt from them.
Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.

  “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.
And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them
without expecting to get anything back.
Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

What a Powerful, punch in the gut, passage! Wow! The world says don't be a pushover, what does Christ say?  However there's a big difference between what Christ is saying here and being easily manipulated.

What Christ is saying here comes out of a heart of service and love. Only what Christ can do in you. Nothing of your own strength.

Take the simple verse: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Here's a way to apply it.

If you need to be blessed, be a blessing.

What are you praying for today? What area of your life are you needing to be blessed? New friendship? Free babysitter? Biblical encouragement? $20? Are you blessing others in this same way?

Not looking for anything in return, but it's the LOVE of Christ pouring out of you.

Look for areas you need to be blessed and begin pouring that blessing into others. Watch how you become more blessed than you could have imagined.

If you need a friend-be a friend

Go out of your way to make a new friend,

not trying to fit into the mob of close friends

at your new place but the ones that don't have a friend.

Or are having a hard time being accepted. You don't have to have common interests to be a friend. Christ was a friend to the tax-collectors, prostitutes and sinners. Ya think He had much in "common" with them?

If you need a Free-Babysitter - Be a Free Babysitter

It doesn't matter if they don't offer it in return. You're not doing it "For Them" in the first place.

If you need biblical encouragement - Encourage others

That comes back immediately. I'm encouraged every time I see someone encouraged.

If you need $20 - Give it away Freely

My Jesus walks on streets of gold. If you give freely $20 (to someone in need) that you didn't have to give; His eye is on the sparrow, Really?!?!  He'll totally multiply your loaves and fishes.

(Matthew 14:13-21)

If you want to be forgiven- FORGIVE others

Who cares their grievance. Place it under the blood. I am so glad that Christ removed my offenses as far as the East is from the West. We should do the same! For our Neighbor, Co-Worker, Friend or even Family.  Holding a grudge gives them control over you. (Idolatry-yup)  I am not theirs to control. I am no longer my own master. I am a bond-servant of Christ, may no one else have hold of me. Forgive others their offenses, just as Christ has forgiven you!

If you don't want people to meet you, judge you and assume you have ill intentions - Give others the benefit of the doubt.
Don't judge be a friend.

It's OUR call on OUR lives to do unto others. We need to quit worrying about others and whether or not they're applying the verse. That verse applies to me period!

Dear Melissa -
"Do to others as you would have them do to you."
Love,
Christ

Be blessed today, my friend. If you want to be salt and light and stand apart form the world. Pursue Christ and He'll create that burden in you.  :)

Don't Forget
Enter the Beautiful GiveAway!

His Clay~

Linked With:

Cinderella's Slipper

Have you ever felt like you were being fitted for someone else's shoes?

You know the story of Cinderella. Her entire life she spent trying to please and serve her "ugly step-sisters" and "wicked Step-Mother".  Ironing their clothes - but they were never to their satisfaction. Fixing their Tea- but it was always too hot. Washing their floors - only to have them immediately trampled with mud.

Have you ever felt like that? Like you were trying to fill everyone else's expectations for yourself, and you never lived up to their standards? I know I have.

You never did your hair, make-up or clothes right? You never looked like the model in the magazine or the pretty girl in school? You couldn't play any sports well, weren't musically talented -or given the opportunity to be, never made good enough grades?

You are unable to have children, or you don't desire them and it makes everyone question you.

Because of your body type the cute styles never fit quite right -but they did on your sister or best friend?

As an adult the same people are given the same strength to make you feel inadequate or small. Or you imagine them and their negative comments every . time . you . do . anything!

Let me tell YOU something.  If you were sitting here with me, I would make sure I had your eye contact. If you were my daughter I would cradle your face at this moment because it is so important. At this moment they don't matter.  The world (sometimes even your "best friends") tries so hard to fit you into your "Ugly Step Sisters" slipper. Sweetie, it won't fit. It doesn't fit, besides that - do you WANT it to?

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

You are created by a Heavenly Design to fulfill the purpose God created you for. God has placed HIS unique thumbprint on your life!

Don't try to wear their shoes. When you're trying to fit their shoes - who's wearing yours?
You're Beautiful! You're Beautiful! You're Beautiful! You're Beautiful!

These are not empty words. I don't mean this in the physical, worldly way. Because that is an empty beauty and it does NOT matter. When you see yourself through the eyes of Christ you're more than beautiful, you're His daughter with His destiny, and your beauty overflows you!  It seeps out of you. It is your essence!

If you cannot see that. If you are trying to cram yourself into someone else's slipper you will Never fulfill the beautiful things He has in store for your life.  You cannot please them, no matter what you do - so quit trying! 

I do not desire approval from the world - the world hated Christ. His home town hated Him. You cannot spend your life trying to make them see your beauty. Pursue God, Pursue God, Pursue GOD! True beauty can only be attained when your life is a reflection of His Image!

In HIM you will find your beauty, in HIM you will find your identity, in HIM you will find your purpose!

Psalms 139 (ESV)

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

3 You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

5 You hem me in, behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high; I cannot attain it.

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

9 If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,”

12 even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

13 For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

I awake, and I am still with you.

...

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!

Try me and know my thoughts!

24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,

and lead me in the way of The Everlasting!

I think He loves you! 

Not only that, I think HE thinks you're BEAUTIFUL and wants you to be HIS child!

He has a glass slipper waiting for you. If only you can surrender the old, ugly, used and un-fitted one.

You can't be a Princess in your Step-Sister's Slippers!

 

When you click on the video below it will want you to connect to YouTube, just click through, and be blessed!  :)

Questions:

• What Shoes are you tired of trying to fit into? What shoes are you needing to surrender?

• If there are children in your life, what shoes are you trying to fit them into?

• If you are married or have visions of your future spouse - what shoes are you trying to fit him into? 

Linked With:

  

Christ in me

I'm the new kid. Always the new kid. I've moved plenty of times in my life and I'm cool with that.

However, since I am the infamous "New Kid" I am blessed to see this Truth that otherwise I may not see.

I'm weird.
Christ in me makes me Weird.

In our own flesh, when we meet new people, we smell them out. Tip toe around them to see if we can identify with them. By the age of 14 you've been hurt so many times already that you don't just trust people. You may meet new friends here and there but few forever friends. (College is a possible exception.)

I talked to my amazing teen girls this morning on this subject, and I'm sorry to call you out sweetie if you read this, but one girl said it so clearly.  I asked her, "How do you make new friends." She said, "I don't really, the friends I've had, I've had since kindergarten."

With that thought in mind I want to challenge you.

I hate this cliche, because it is said as a joke so often, but I know no other way to put it, "I Know there is a GOD".  I Know this by seeing who I once was and who I have been, and am being, created into, in His Image.

I used to be a sniffer. As I said before, "Infamous new girl right here", I have been sniffed out plenty of times, and have done my share of sniffing. I hate it because it puts you on your tiptoes because you want people to like you.

But somewhere along the lines God has transformed me and my sniffing ways-and it makes me look weird. Haha, it does. :)

I no longer have to look for a reason to love you. I don't have to look for a commonality.  I no longer look for ways we mesh or how I may perceive you as weird.

I no longer worry if I may not spot a weirdness in you and someone else may, and accuse me of being weird by association. Wow, don't you love being a girl. :)

This love can't be severed. There's nothing you can do to lose this love. It's a love beyond myself. It's a love that I did not create and you did not earn. It's the Love of Christ!

Romans 8:38-39 (ESV)

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers,

nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I love because I can't help it. I don't care if I've known you 20 years or 20 seconds, the Love of Christ has Radically transformed my heart and my life.

I no longer worry if I may get hurt. If I've died to self, that's for God to deal with, not me. I love you because Christ radically loves you, and it is Christ in me loving you. 

You don't have to give me a reason to love you, I just do. It's an unconditional, ridiculous, could wrap you in my arms to show you a glimpse of the love of Christ. I am no longer easily angered or hurt, because the Love of Christ covers that.

If you talk about my momma, or you insult my child, it no longer angers me. (When I'm prayed up) It breaks my heart for you because there is a truth of God that you have yet to experience.

You always hear the phrase in church, "I don't have to like you, I just have to love you."  I think that's junk.

Jesus went to the cross for those who were spitting on Him. Beating Him. Cursing Him. Accusing Him of things He never did. Lying about Him.  He went to the Cross for a world that hated Him.  I don't think He could have done that without "liking" them too. (I could get into all the theology there, and there's alot of great stuff there to discuss.)

Christ didn't only see their immediate actions, He was faced with the big picture. A sinful world in need of a sinless Savior. He, out of His Great Love for HIS children, died for the ones who put Him there.  That's the love I want to have for every person I come in contact with. The Love of Christ. The Love that sets me aside and sees the big picture: "Who this person is through the eyes of Christ."

I told the girls this morning. This is not a love you can work on or practice. Pursue GOD, Pursue GOD, Pursue GOD! Pray for this love - when God gives it to you, when God blesses you with the Love HE has for His children, it is "drop you to your knees overwhelming".  It is a love that only He can create in your life.

For instance: if you have a Pepsi bottle full of Pepsi, and you begin to pour in water.  The water will displace the Pepsi. After a while, with that constant feeding of water, thats how your life will look. Very little you a whole lot of Him and this love is an outpour of that water going in.

So I'm okay with being weird. If loving you through Christ makes me wierd, if I can skip the "sniffing stage" of our relationship, and that makes me weird. Ha, I'm cool with that. :)

1 Corinthians 13

John 13:35 (ESV)

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

John 15:13 (ESV)

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."

I think forever friendships are beautiful, baring eachothers burdens etc. But What I think is Radical, is when two friends come together in love, laying aside their differences or fears and loving eachother without division through the "LOVE of CHRIST."
First part common, second part Radical! I want my life to look Radical in CHRIST!

Matthew 5:23-24 (ESV)
So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Proverbs 12:16

A fool shows his annoyance at once,
   but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

Ephesians 4:32

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

HIS Clay~

I'm Linked With:
  

Holy

(As I was praying through this post and writing it out I had to step away for a bit to clear my head, and seek the Lord's direction on it.  As I removed myself from this post I opened up Youtube and stumbled upon this song.  It is says Exactly where my heart is in this post. I encourage you to listen as you read!)

I wouldn't say that I'm a bad person. I know I'm a sinner, but I'm not that bad...right? I mean if I'm bad it's not on purpose. This past week I pleaded for the Lord to reveal any area of my heart that is in sin. I don't want even part of me to do anything other than glorify Him!

Oh my mercy did He ever answer my prayer.  The only thing I can compare it to would be Isaiah 6, It's funny that my heart has been in this chapter for a while.

Isaiah 6:1-7

¹In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple. ²Above Him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³And one called to another and said:

    "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!"

 ⁴And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of Him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

⁵And I said:

"Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"

Isaiah didn't necessarily see himself as a bad person, he had just finished several chapters on woe-ing others, but when He was faced with the Glory of GOD there was nothing good within him. All those years of thinking God had to be satisfied with him because at least he wasn't like the others...

This entire week the Lord has brought unknown sins to the surface. It is literally like little snakes (I despise that word, so I apologize for even using it, but I am a visual person and this is how I see it played out within my heart.) I see them crawling up to the surface and if I don't immediately pray, acknowledge them and ask forgiveness it feels like they will consume me.

Sins like: Pride, Jealousy, Envy, Negativity, Bitterness, Regret and Impatience. I had no idea how much I struggled with these sins, until I prayed for the Lord to shine light on them and to remove them, but I had no idea how often they consumed me. 

Negative Thoughts, Bitterness, Jealousy, Judgemental, Regret, Bitterness, Bitterness, Bitterness...Sin, Sin, Sin!!!  I had no idea how un-Holy, these are!  They are an Affront to God and they consume me DAILY and I had no idea that they were there!

Galatians 5:16-21 (ESV)

19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy,drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

Oh my goodness I've always known that I was a sinner but until this week I was never truly disgusted (don't take that word lightly, I was Broken and Disgusted over them!) how blatantly much I am a sinner!  I am Guilty! 

It was almost constantly, that the Lord was showing sin creeping up. Oh my Holy!

I couldn't help but think:

"Why on earth do you waste Your time on me, Lord?  If this is where I am and Holiness is where you want me to be. Holy mercy, how have YOU not given up on me? How can YOU possibly use me? Why do YOU still bother with me?

But then there's verses 6&7

PRAISE the LORD for verses 6&7!

Isaiah 6:6-7

 ⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."

Psalms 145:8-9 (NIV)

The LORD is gracious and compassionate,
   slow to anger and rich in love.

 ⁹ The LORD is good to all;
   He has compassion on all He has made.

Without YOU I don't like me! Without YOUR transforming power in my life, my life has no meaning. May you take all of me and use it for YOUR Glory alone!  Take this life and make it YOURS. Make this life moldable, usable, may YOU look upon this life and find it as a pleasing sacrifice!

May YOU take this wretched life and make it HOLY!

I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,
your sins like the morning mist.
Return to me,

for

 I have redeemed you.” -Isaiah 44:22

New Territory

Chris Tomlin - God of This City



I am writing today for "Five Minute Friday."  Haven't done this before. I have 5 minutes to write, without editing. Yikes, this may not be pretty.  The topic today is: New.

and Go...

I am new to Kentucky. I am new to this area.  I don't know many people, but God has radically burdened my heart over this place.  I hear missionaries and people talk about how badly they want to go into foreign missions and how they want to do this and that, and you wouldn't believe the people in the foreign countries, and I am SO blessed by these people lives that are called in this direction, but as I look at the faces in Danville, Ky that's what my heart cries out! "Do you see them! I wish I could come back to my church and show the faces of the broken people I've encountered that week!  "Love them like Jesus." "Teach them Jesus," I want them to KNOW Jesus! As I walk through Wal-Mart I pray for each person that I walk past and pray for the Lord to plant a seed in their heart and use me, somehow, just use me!  I want them to experience God in a radical way. I want to be used as a tool of God to reach this area. I would love to visit and minister in Africa, Asia, China, S. America. But this IS my foreign Country.

I love these people! With a ridiculous Love that can Only come from what God's doing in my heart and life, because there is no reason for it other than God has placed it there.

It's hard to get to know people. I sometimes feel like an outcast, not sure if I'm imagining it. Not sure if it's a stumbling block Satan has put there to slow my passion down. Don't know. I really struggle with feelings of rejection. However, I know that GOD is the one who brought us here, GOD is the One Who is cultivating us. He is my keeper and sustainer and in HIM I will put my trust.

Time's Up...

Redecorating our Weakness

We have had an eventful last 2 weeks. I am so grateful to finally be, mostly unpacked, and back online. Praise the Lord! So excited, in fact, that I am writing this using a makeshift desk from a box of diapers. In a room that I cut the A/C off to, so this should be eventful.  But this thought has been so heavy on my heart and mind for two weeks that I have been about to bust to put it in writing.

I have moved way more times than anyone should have to endure and in doing so I have decorated a lot of houses. I pulled out the same items that I decorate with, the same pictures that have been on every wall, of every home. We have memorized which pieces of furniture need a drill, screwdriver or hammer to put together and I could hang curtains in my sleep. So even though I was super excited about this particular move, I couldn't help but grumble a bit in my heart, a few grumblings, I am ashamed to say, may have slipped from my mouth as well.

However, it is usually when I begin to grumble that it is an immediate trigger to look for what God is trying to teach me. And yes He taught me a lot more than this, but this really affected my heart.

Next time you visit someone's home, or your own, look at the decorations. Not one of them jumped out of a box and just landed there. Someone specifically placed it there.  Someone personally took the time with a hammer and nail, or mercy forbid, the dreaded drill. But someone personally placed it there because that's where they wanted it. Where they would find the most use out of it.  Look at the walls, the foundation, the windows. Human hands have touched every piece, thoughtfully designed the layout. (Others not so thoughtfully.)

I have spoken with many people who have said, I need to get my life right before I come to church. I need to quit doing this, I struggle with this or you just don't understand what I've done, who I've been, where I've been. If God knew my heart, He could never forgive me. How could He use someone like me? Why would He want someone like me?  I do this or that. I struggle with jealousy, pride, insecurity, judgment, I haven't spoken to my parents in years. I've had a child out of wedlock, I'm an adulterer. You name it. The thing is God already knows!

Do you think you're an accident. I always come back to Psalm 139, "He knit me together in my mother's womb..."  Just as I take so much time to thoughtfully consider where every decoration should go in my home, God thought of you before the foundations of the earth. God spent 9 months knitting you, crafting you into the vessel He wants you to be. He has allowed every obstacle in your path to shape you into what you have become. He KNOWS your weakness's. He placed them there. He knows your strengths, He gave them to you. He knows your failures, He was there. He has given each of us exactly what we need to live the life He desires us to have.  He has given us our weakness's because they are what draws us to Him the most. When we turn to Him with them. When I see Him take my weakness and turn them into an asset or a strength, I KNOW that's God moving and working and not me. Because I am all too familiar with the areas I tend to fail the most. When I see God take the things that once kept me in defeat and turn them into something He can use to bring glory to Himself. I know that's Him working.
Anyone of the miracles Christ performed in the bible, do you think the people would have met Christ without the weakness? Deafness, blindness, lameness, even demon possession.  The people lost in sin? Without the sin they wouldn't need a Savior...

We need to stop holding onto these weaknesses in our life that keep us from Pursuing God fully and instead pursue God and let Him transform our weaknesses!