The witnesses of God's love for Himself

God is completely consumed with love for Himself. Against our way of thinking?! Well, if it wasn't so why would we worship Him? He is so set on self love that He is using this creation to proclaim His character. And we are privileged to be part of it. We are witnesses to what LOVE is.

In John 17 we are invited by Jesus to listen to the intimate God relationship and see the character of the LOVE for Himself. The followers of Jesus bear  witness to the love of God with Himself. Jesus prays for the same unity for  the followers as there is within the unity of God. For this reason He sends the Spirit to live within us to experience the love unity. The grace of receiving the unity in love is for another crowd to witness, the church. The church bears witness to the darkness of the human creation, and it again to the spiritual realm and beings.  In the church the fullness of love is reached. O, how wonderful to be part of such a mindbogglingly awesome love.

- As God's love for Himself bear witness to Jesus' followers
- So the Spirit within us as followers bear witness to other followers to grow in love for God and unity
- And as the followers grow in love in unity, we as church bear again witness to the world, and the unbelievers
- Onto this the heavenly world witnesses the Love that God has for Himself.

My prayer for you dear reader is found in Ephesians 1:17-23 (NET)

"I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him,   – since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened – so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints,  and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength.   This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms   far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.  And God  put  all things under Christ’s  feet , and he gave him to the church as head over all things.   Now the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all."

Pray it onto yourself to grow in intimacy with God, for this intimacy He wishes for us, for Himself.

A wordless teaching through trauma

After having a long effective but lonely day, I was blessed with a brother having time to talk.  This friend works at the Engen garage in Erasmuskloof.  After having a long and encouraging chat, I was heading in for some coffee at the Coco when a woman came walking by looking traumatized.   Asking to make a call from my phone, she realized her phone was gone.  Contributing to her trauma, she just kept on walking, and crying.  John and I did not even hesitate to go after her, and eventually she was convinced to join me inside the Bistro.  

After her repeated inquiry on who I am, and why I would at this particular place, I realised that the trauma the is experiencing, the pain and suffering cannot be put into words.  Letting go of wanting to inquire on the reason for her distress, I quickly used the tools available.  With great appreciation for the skills I came to practice, we used the social media to get in contact with her family.  A mere 20 minutes from first contact to pickup, we became sisters. 

The love that we need to live out comes in incomprehensible packages.   Her continual denial of being free to ask God why stuck with me.  One of my street brothers once prayed for the people in prisons.  Here I found a sister who is being imprisoned by some lie that our Father shuns His children away, denying them the comfort that only He can provide. 

In this double blessing, I not only came to understand something about the lies we dare not challenge, due to the possible live changing effect. I also came to see that just being comforted in presence we are the provision to others for which we ourselves long.  We may just be the provision God sends to others.  It just comes to show that within the Body, we are set apart to fulfil certain roles. If not acting when occasion calls, and led in the spirit, we may just be disrespecting and abandoning our fellow brothers and sisters in not carrying the Good news we live by.  

Neglect

Many a mother comes to see me at the clinic with regard to the health and nutritional status of her young baby or infant.  Some come to ask questions and really want to better understand and care for their children.  Others come because the system sent them.  Either way, their infants are almost always in a stage of malnutrition.  It may be a cause of ignorance, but usually the main cause for these visits is due to neglect.  Neglect comes in many forms, and the effect influences many in many different ways, and always has a detrimental result.  In opposition to neglect is love, also something that comes in many forms, and through grace overcomes the opposing effects of neglect.

It seems that many of these women themselves experienced some kind of neglect.  Most are unemployed, struggling to get by and experience family pressure.  These women are being neglected by those near and those far along the line.  The unrighteousness of our modern affluent society is one of the major causes of the poor being forced, and having no choice then to try and make do with the little they have.  In talking to these women it seems that have some kind of an idea that Christ is Lord, but what they have learned from those appointed above them, be it those who reach out to them of leaders in their community, they have no comprehension of what that means.

Within the Kingdom of God we have been given the responsibility to love and care for our brothers, and even those outside our spiritual family.  In neglecting our responsibility of living as bearers of the Good News, we contribute to the suffering of so many so close to us.  We cannot right all the wrongs in this world, but we can be part of proclaiming the One who can.  If we keep on neglecting our younger brothers and sisters, withholding the spiritual food in our words and actions, they may be the ones becoming spiritually malnourished.

Can we continue looking away?

Liberty found in the unconditional nature of true love

The devastating disillusionment of unrequited love is more than numbingly painful; it is downright torture for the soul.  Daring to love and taking the chance to be loved is for many the hardest part of taking a chance of living.   Life is indeed to know the One who loved in full and to share that love.  Sometimes we follow others with so much haste in order to be guided along the paths of uncertainty. Losing focus of the true Leader when looking to find security in the world we may never discovering the precious sights and sounds spread in our way or identifying, facing, and fighting the monsters hiding behind the bushes.  Mislead to think our own thoughts have no meaning, our own voices have no song, and our own dreams are not worth sharing, we never dare to live our own stories.  Daring to live means daring to be human, to live the life granted, to live in full.  The whole of the human nature is centred on love, it is our deepest longing.  Being grated someone to love is indeed a blessing, and one we all long, dream, and pray for.  Striking out to walk the road before us, we dare to desire what we short-sightedly believe to be granted for us to desire.  Yet, if that love is not returned, if indeed our love is unrequited, it may be devastating, heart wrenchingly painful, demoralizing even.  

Knowing we desire something not meant to be does not help the healing process, but realizing that we may be desiring a love predestined for someone else may give rise to thought.  Love is an act of communion. The deepest and most fulfilling communion possible is that which God has with his bride.  The love between a man and a woman is an embodiment of something of that love.  We may be experiencing glimpses of that love every day when realizing the amazing and unthinkable grace when we discover the unconditional love that God has for us.  Trying to come to grips with the depth, and height, and breadth of that love we may come to be freed from the petty, short-sighted, narrow-minded, self-righteous desire to receive a love which is not ours.  It becomes so insignificant a love in the light of the eternal, unconditional, all-encompassing true love of God, that is does not even make sense why it was even desired in the first place.  The joy though, is to know that the desire was sent from God, to be fulfilled by Him, at the time He sees fit, and with someone He deems worthy for you to be sharing your precious journey with.