Earthly Love vs. Eternal Love

Love. What is it? The dictionary says it is a "tender, passionate affection" or "Strong personal liking". I think this goes perfect with a lot of things I love. I have a strong personal liking of my friends. Why else would they be my friends? I have a passionate affection for my family, they mean the world to me. But that's just it.. This love it's all worldly love. We love our family yet half the time we treat them like dirt. We love our friends but the smallest thing can break that bond. We love our worldly possessions, but once a new gadget comes out our love lessens for the old. This worldly love is always changing.

God is the only one who loves us no matter what. He can fill the void in our heart that we try to fill with earthly love. Nothing compares to the love He has for us. We cannot even comprehend how great His love truly is, that's how powerful it is. He doesn't just love us when we are good, when we do good, or when we glorify Him. He loves us in our pain, tears, struggles, and sin. He Always loves us because His love is Eternal, not earthly. It is the love we crave but can never seem to find. He is the only one who can give us this Eternal love. Nothing else compares. The dictionary's definition of love and our definition of love does not even come close to God's definition of love. 

Eternal love is in your reach.. so grab onto it by grabbing onto God.

God bless,

Rachael

Blessed a little or a lot?

Prayer of Jabez. Sound fimiliar? I didn't think so. I didn't know what this was either until I read a book about it. My dad told me about it and once I started reading I couldn't stop! It was fascinating because it showed me the key to blessings and how it is so obvious that people look right past it. There are four parts to this prayer. It comes from 1 Chronicles 4:10 "If only you would greatly bless me and expand my territory! May your hand be with me! Keep me from harm so I might not endure pain!" Seems pretty basic right? But it can be life changing.

The first part "If only you would greatly bless me". This is a very important part of the prayer. God tells us that if we ask we will recieve, but do you feel selfish asking for things? Asking God to bless you when He could be doing something else. LIES. God Wants you to ask for blessings. There are so many opportunites He can give you to share your story, spread love, and work miracles through Him, but you have to ask. Ask for Him not only to bless you but bless you greatly. Bless you a lot so that You can do as much as you can through Him and for His glory.

The next part is "expand my territory". God put us where we are now for a reason. We have a job in our communities, at our work places, and with our friends to talk about God and His love. Do you ever want to reach out to more people though? Do you want to be able to impact not just a select few lives but so many you can't keep track? Ask God to increase who you can reach out to and where you can reach out too. Everyone deserves to hear about our amazing King.

The next part is "may your hand be with me". The biggest part of reaching out to people is letting God lead the way, letting God talk, and letting God change lives. None of this is about us so wouldn't you want Him guiding you? Don't you want His hand on your shoulder comforting you and telling you you're not alone? Asking for His hand to be with us is asking Him to be with us. We can't do this on our own.

 Finally the last part is "keep me from harm" and in other versions it is "evil". The more work we do for the Lord the more Satan tries to tear us down. Evil hates good. God working through us is something for Satan to hate, so we need the Lord's protection. We need to ask for His protection so we don't hurt others, but also so we don't hurt ourselves.

 These four parts come together in one prayer asking for so much but it's exactly what God wants to give us. I have been saying this prayer for less than a month and I have already seen changes in my life. I have had opportunities to talk to people about God, my faith, and my church. I have seen a personal change in my heart and my attitude. I asked for blessings and God gave them to me. He is working in my life and protecting me. He can do the same for you! Now you don't have to say this prayer everyday like I do but I highly encourage it. Even if you choose not too don't forget that asking God for something is not selfish as long as it glorifies Him. God is moving in my life, let Him move in yours too.

God Bless,

Rachael



Thirsty for God or attention?

We all get discouraged and when we are upset we want encouragement from friends. We want the world to know what we are going through. We have self pity and we want people to have pity for us. Do you ever think that maybe that's selfish? We want attention. We post on facebook how miserable we feel because we want people to notice. Why don't we just go to God with our problem and keep it private? The world does not need to know our problems. Most of the time encouragement from others doesn't even help. We get an "I'm sorry" and maybe a hug. They cannot do anything to change your situation because only you can change your situation. Only God can give you the strength and the encouragement you need. We feel this need to make the world see what we are going through. Don't get me wrong it is good to talk to your friends about problems and listen to their advice. It is good to love on someone who is having a bad day, but constantly sharing how upset you are does not get you anywhere. Get on your knees before God, not your friends. Cry out to Him, not the world, and ask for healing. Work on getting glory for Him instead of attention for yourself.

We all have bad days but crying to other people isn't the only thing you can do. You can encourage yourself. Use what God has done in your life before and in the lives of people you know to give you a reason to continue on. Our God is bigger than any issue we have. He can help you with your heartache, your pain, and your sadness. Tell the issue to move out of your way or die. Don't let your problems stop you from being happy. Everything happens for a reason. Ask God what He wants you to do. Why is this issue in your life? It has a purpose so learn from it. God works miracles through us. God is a God that can, not a God that can't.

God Bless,

Rachael