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Is this dangerous, or what?? Can a person just feel so much LOVE in his/her heart for everyone (even fundamentalists) that nothing can stop it?
Can we just LOVE people even if we don't agree with them? Even if they condemn us? Even if they cast us out as evil? Even if they tell us that we are going to hell??
Can it be that we can just LOVE people so freely?? YES! We can indeed know God's Love which passes understanding, and which soars above doctrines, creeds, denominations, race, religion, language, and any other thing which might "divide" us!
Praise God! Love is greater than faith. Love is Eternal!
Blessings,
brian
Even greater news so does God . And that love he has for us can be experienced by all, especially in this life too.
And the more glorious news is..... He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:32
Knowing the love of God puts all heaven at our disposal, not only to bless our own lives but to bless all who come across our paths. The good news gets even better by the day in my book. The kingdom of God is within us, now that is something worth getting excited about.
I dunno, Finn. Do you think someone can be born again and it makes no difference? I'm not sure when a person is "born again". When I was a very young girl (like age 4, I had a very powerful realization that GOD IS). It was an experience I'll never forget. But I had no one to tell. I ran to my mother and into her lap - but did not tell her what had me in a state of awe. I was so young - I did not feel I could tell anyone about my thoughts. But it was something that stayed with me throughout my youth. It was before I knew about death. Then my father died suddenly and unexpectedly when I was six years old. And that troubled me deeply. I used to long for him to come back. But at the same time it had been conveyed to me that daddy was never coming back to us. I used to walk through the rain singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and tears would flow down my cheeks. I was a very lonely child and an outcast. Other kids could sense my grief and they did not want to be near it. They did not know why, I'm sure - they just knew that grief was something they wanted to avoid, and I did not have the strength to cast it off. So I drifted through childhood rather aimlessly with a deep sense of loneliness. But I always believed in God. And not only God but when I was a little girl I was very careful to say, "God and Jesus" when speaking to my grandmother. I would say she was the one who tried to show me God and Jesus. Which of course we cannot do (that is show God to someone) - though we'd like to do so - in a way similar to when we wish we could show someone a beautiful sunset or share a moving piece of literature or a poem. But it is God who must reveal himself to each of us in His own time. It is a unique experience for each of us. And for those who cannot see, or do not even want to see, we can only have patience, knowing that this great salvation and revelation is of God, not of ourselves. So, as I was saying, I'm not exactly sure when or if I was born again. Some think we are not born again until we die physically. But I know when I was delivered from the fear of death and the torment of grief for those who I was worried might be "lost". My daddy was one of those whom I was never sure about. And I could never rest because of it until 2001 when God revealed to me that He's got the whole world in His hands and those hands are the hands of LOVE. He sees the weakness of all of us here in this corruptible body of flesh and He pities us as a Father pities a child because he knows we are powerless without Him. The "unsaved" world is in bondage to corruption. Ought not that to break your heart with mercy?
Thanks for sharing that Heartsong, it's really moving. Your childhood sounds a lot like mine, with a lot of loneliness and sadness and loss. And I was shown who God was when I was 7, yet had no one to share it with. I didn't know I COULD share it, I wasn't even sure what had happened until later on in life. So I don't know when I was "born again" either, I just know that I am according to the words of the Bible. I think there's a whole lot of us who cannot pin down exactly when we were "saved' or "born again", but that doesn't mean that we aren't. What's important is we KNOW God and we KNOW that we know that we know what is in our hearts!
It might be that your bil is referring to what he sees as a sense of "spiritual pride" among many believers, who give off an air of "holier than thou."
That's why it's so important that we understand that it's GOD who changes us, not ourselves.
Many people say that "they found Jesus" and have forgotten that it is Jesus who found them! They become "self-righteous." And that turns off a lot of people, even though they may not be able to say it. But they do in fact preceive it, it's not anything "mysterious." Words can deceive, but actions can't.
Just a thought, I might be way off..
Blessings,
brian
he may percieve it that way, but she isn't like that.in fact she and my dad both have gone out of their way w his and my husb's parents,driving them to dr appts,chemo treatments,the grocery store,etc,sometimes dropping everything to do so..you see what I'm getting at...they have walked the walk.
my father in law was the type to cuss out the Gideons if they stopped by..no kidding.so this is what he has seen growing up,and he seems to have n/p in being quick to put down Christians..it's just really sad.
anyway,thx,just wanted to say that she isn't like that,but he did grow up w a very negative connotation of Christians,so I'm not sure what all he is perceiving;you may be right due to that.
he may percieve it that way, but she isn't like that.in fact she and my dad both have gone out of their way w his and my husb's parents,driving them to dr appts,chemo treatments,the grocery store,etc,sometimes dropping everything to do so..you see what I'm getting at...they have walked the walk.
my father in law was the type to cuss out the Gideons if they stopped by..no kidding.so this is what he has seen growing up,and he seems to have n/p in being quick to put down Christians..it's just really sad.
anyway,thx,just wanted to say that she isn't like that,but he did grow up w a very negative connotation of Christians,so I'm not sure what all he is perceiving;you may be right due to that.
Hi SC122,
I certainly didn't want to give the idea that your husband's parents don't walk the walk. It's just that they might "take the flack" that is intended at others who don't.
I think there are 2 types of persecution: one type persecutes Love. This type is unmerited.
The other is directed at people who are just plain self-righteous (not your in-laws). This antagonism has real motives.
Is this dangerous, or what?? Can a person just feel so much LOVE in his/her heart for everyone (even fundamentalists) that nothing can stop it?
Can we just LOVE people even if we don't agree with them? Even if they condemn us? Even if they cast us out as evil? Even if they tell us that we are going to hell??
Can it be that we can just LOVE people so freely?? YES! We can indeed know God's Love which passes understanding, and which soars above doctrines, creeds, denominations, race, religion, language, and any other thing which might "divide" us!
Praise God! Love is greater than faith. Love is Eternal!
Hi SC122,
I certainly didn't want to give the idea that your husband's parents don't walk the walk. It's just that they might "take the flack" that is intended at others who don't.
I think there are 2 types of persecution: one type persecutes Love. This type is unmerited.
The other is directed at people who are just plain self-righteous (not your in-laws). This antagonism has real motives.
Blessings,
brian
so true,thanks;it's my parents though,bil is the one who called them and started talking trash like that,so my mom hung up on him.can't say I blame her because bil was looking for an argument,not an answer.
He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is FULL of the lovingkindness of the LORD. Psalm 33:5.
Now we are too.Let it flow.
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been POURED out intoour hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:5
God's love is incessant.
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it is by God's grace only.
