From The Inside Out

When you Love Someone who Doesn’t Love Christ

When you Love Someone who Doesn’t Love Christ - John Shore

…. So the question is, what attitude — what guiding principle, what constantly motivating emotional truth — should you take care to bring to each of those three dimensions in your relationship with a nonbeliever in your life?

About yourself, be humble.

Toward the other person, be loving.

Toward the relationship that exists between the two of you, be patient.

Humility, love and patience. There is no mountain those three can’t move.

Humility: You must keep your awareness of this quality at the fore of your consciousness whenever you’re dealing with a nonbeliever in your life. If you fail to do so, you will become strident in your attitude toward them: You will (however subtly) begin preaching to them, lecturing them, telling them what, how, and who they should be. That’s not the sort of oil that keeps a relationship running smoothly. We all know we must be humble before God. Let us also not forget to be humble before the people in our lives—each of whom is, after all, an example of God’s greatest creation, and made in His image. Remember: You didn’t deserve to be saved. Being chosen by God isn’t anything to be proud of; it’s something to be grateful for. Humble up.

Love: As God loves us, we must love others. Of course that can be difficult—look at what it cost Christ to be unconditionally and absolutely loving towards all of us. If our Lord can suffer that, we can suffer whatever psychological or emotional pain it causes us to remain loving towards any person in our life—and especially toward any nonbeliever, for whom we can trust God has a special interest. God counts on us to love others, to be his loving agents on earth. Simply love the nonbeliever in your life. Christ will take it from there.

Patience: This is God’s world, not ours. We keep time; we have watches and calendars and clocks and so on. God sits at the heart of eternity. I think it’s safe to say he’s not wearing a wristwatch. When it comes to the relationship between you and a nonbeliever—and especially with a nonbeliever to whom you’re necessarily close—be patient. Wait. Never stop waiting. Have no agenda. Let God’s will, in God’s time, shape the relationship between you and the other person. When you’re involved in a relationship with a nonbeliever, you are involved in one of the most important, precious dynamics given to any believer. Don’t try to take the wheel of that relationship; don’t start driving it in the way you think best. Give God the wheel. All you have to do with your nonbeliever is climb into the backseat with them—and then, side by side, the two of you can just enjoy the ride.

What Can You Do when You Wonder “Why?”

What Can You Do when You Wonder “Why?”

Whitney Hopler

If you’ve lost your job, received a devastating diagnosis from your doctor, or seen your spouse walk out of your marriage, you know well what it’s like to suffer and wonder why this is happening to you. No matter what challenge you’re facing, it can be hard to carry on in the midst of suffering.

But God is holding out hope for you to grab onto, even when you don’t know why He has allowed you to suffer. Here’s what you can do when you wonder “Why?”:

* Seek wisdom instead of answers. Acknowledge that, sometimes, God doesn’t reveal His specific reasons for allowing suffering into your life, and there are no immediate or obvious answers to your questions. Understand that, while much of the spirit world is beyond your comprehension this side of eternity, you can trust God’s promise that He will use any suffering He allows to accomplish good purposes for you. Rather than seeking answers to why something is happening to you, ask God what He wants you to learn from it. Count on God to give you all the wisdom you need to grow from tough experiences.

* Remember that God is with you. Know that God is present with you in the midst of every situation, no matter how difficult, and that He cares about what you’re going through. Ask Him to make you aware of His presence with you whenever you need encouragement. Trust God’s promise that He is ultimate control of what happens to you. Understand that, when you can’t understand what’s going on, God is still at work behind the scenes, with your best interests at heart.

* Don’t be surprised by troubles. Recognize that, in this fallen world, suffering comes into everyone’s lives. Expect to encounter challenges, but also expect God to help you through whatever comes your way. Know that God isn’t punishing you when you suffer, but simply allowing you to experience something He knows will help you grow in good ways. Realize that God won’t change your circumstances until the circumstances that He has allowed in your life change you.

* Avoid negative responses. Make a conscious choice to refrain from resentment, bitterness, envy, and worry as you deal with challenges, because all of those negative responses will poison your heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to renew your mind and help you focus on all that’s positive and helpful.

* Fight the battle of emotions. Don’t allow your emotions to control you. Instead, overcome troubling emotions like discouragement, fear, loneliness, anger, depression, anxiety, and disappointment expressing them honestly to God in prayer and asking Him to give you the peace that only He can give. Cope with your emotions one day at a time, staying connected to God through prayer and relying on His unlimited strength.

* Expect God to fulfill good purposes through bad situations. Rest assured that God has a purpose for every challenge you face, and a good plan for your future. Don’t fear the unknown; instead, hand your situation over to God and invite Him to create something beautiful out of the broken pieces of it. Understand that there aren’t any shortcuts to suffering; you must go through it to receive the benefits of transformation. Ask God to develop patience, perseverance, and endurance in you. Keep on loving God and others as you deal with your challenges, and expect to see God at work in your life as you do.

* Pray often. Every day, pray about what’s on your mind, listen to what God says to you through His Spirit and His Word, and embrace the encouragement and hope He offers you. Ask other people to intercede for you in specific ways. Pray with others (such as a prayer partner or members of a Bible study group) whenever you can. Make your prayers personal, being honest with God and building intimacy with Him. Thank God for what He has done and is currently doing in your life. Approach God with an attitude of repentance. Make specific requests. Express your confidence and trust in God’s ultimate control of your life – including your suffering.

* Embrace comfort. Don’t try to tackle too much at once or let anxiety about the future consume you; go easy on yourself and just take one day at a time. Look for signs of God’s grace around you every day, such as through the hugs of friends and family members and the inspirational messages of songs. Read your Bible often for encouragement. Let people who care about you know how they can help you, and accept their help with gratitude. Reach out to God for comfort whenever you need it.

* Reach out beyond yourself to others. Know that every challenge you face helps prepare you to help others. Use the lessons you’ve learned in your own suffering to positively impact other people’s lives. Ask God to turn your tragedy into a platform to share His hope and love. Pray for Him to open your eyes to notice the many people around you who are struggling. Remember that no matter what you’re going through, there is always someone else who is experiencing even greater suffering. Show compassion on others by praying for them, financially supporting charities, doing volunteer work, and in any other ways God leads you to serve. Discover your passions for ministry and follow them. Ask God to shine His light through you into suffering people’s darkness. Share the story of how God has worked in your life whenever you have an opportunity to encourage someone else. Point other people toward Jesus and the hope and love that He offers them.

* Recognize gifts in disguise. Understand that your challenges can actually be gifts disguised as burdens. Be thankful whenever your challenges cause you to grow closer to God, focus on what matters most in life, or help you mature into the person God intends you to become.

What I like about Christians on Tumblr…

liveinhislove:

todayisawindingroad:

classyliving:

Even though we’re from different churches, with different ideas, and even though some of us appreciate Joel Osteen and others don’t at all, and some of us appreciate Benny Hinn and other’s don’t at all… even though some of us are Catholic, Seventh-Day Adventist, Pentecostal, Baptist, non-denominational… even though some of us Arminian or Calvinist or Molinist… even though some of us rejoice in speaking in tongues and others are a bit freaked out by it… we know this: Jesus Christ is the Lord. And we encourage and love each other like Christ asked us to.

That is sweet.

Because that is how it is suppose to be, we’re all brothers and sisters. We may have our disagreements but in the end, we are family.

I love you all.

God created us to follow.

alifeofloveforlife:

Being made in God’s image means we are designed for a reflective following relationship to our Creator. Since we were designed to follow, we spend our entire lives following-its just that no one wants to admit it. Sin strives for independence. The agony of sin is that the more we reach for autonomy, the more we become enslaved as followers. The more we do life our way, the more we loose our independence. Whether the agent is drugs, food, work, sensual pleasure, alcohol, or self centeredness, independent living leads its followers to disintegration. Perhaps the greatest self-deceit is to tell ourselves that we can be self-sufficient. That runs counter to our Creator’s intention for us. We keep searching for something that can be found only in a restored relationship to Him, but the very thing we are searching for we refuse to find. The issue really is that we don’t want to follow Christ.
We restlessly probe for something to lead us to a more purposeful, meaningful existence. This sense of searching, from which we cannot escape, is present because we were created to live in a following relationship with a Superior Being who would show us the way. We are built to follow the One in whose image we were created. The purpose was to enable us to live connectedly with Someone who cared for us, who with superior wisdom and power could guide and protect us, Someone in whom we could find fulfillment and satisfaction. But sin uncoupled and diverted us. That explains the haunting sense inside us that there is Someone somewhere who could finally show us a more fulfilling, more meaningful life.
It is because we were meant to follow that independent living finally fails so dramatically.

I tell you with an openness of heart that I doubt I shall ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in a quiet room as you hear these words. My secret is that I need God-that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love as I seem beyond being able to love.

Admit this all too familiar emptiness and uncertainty, Jesus Christ invites us to accompany Him on a incredible journey toward a meaningful life, a secured future, and the power to significantly impact the world around us. From the rubble of life on our own terms, He rises like a phoenix and with boldness calls, “Follow Me.”
When Christ entered the corridors of history, He made an incredible and compelling claim- a claim that no one else has been able to make with such confidence or affirmation in the lives of those who have embraced it. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6) Without shame or reservation, He claimed to be the defining and direction force of life. No other person In history has had so many convinced followers who were willing, not only to live for Him, but-after experiencing the reality of His claims and the pleasure of a relationship with Him- to die for him as well.
Jesus Christ claims to be the reliable source to guide and direct our instincts toward both truth and life. No one yet, through all the centuries and in a variety of cultures, who has authentically followed Him without compromise has become disillusioned or found His ways to be disappointing.
Ironically, most of us who call ourselves Christians have not felt the need to become fully devoted follower to Christ. Like those outside the faith, we too search for meaning and happiness in this flat, plastic material world. We cling tenaciously to strategic points of independence. We soothe our conscience by following Him selectively when it seems convenient and self gratifying. Then we wonder why Christianity seems sterile, ritualistic, burdensome, and sometimes boring. We, too, feel deep longings for meaning and purpose. We, likewise, feel twinges of loneliness at the core of our being- while the whole time we have in our own grasp the capacity to satisfy our souls and discover how life was meant to be. Like misters who go hungry because they refuse to buy food, we fear what will happen if we pursue Christ without reservation as the uncompromised center of our existence.
We are tired and disillusioned, achieving success with-out significance. Addicted to what we thought were objects of liberation, and weary of working for an end that only leads to emptiness, we look into the face of Christ, who has promised and abundant life. In a wonderful moment of surrender , we say,
“Help me. You are the only One who can save me, “ and Christ replies, “Follow Me.”
It is then that we begin lives’ ultimate adventure.

Not just that one time

heisjealousforme:

I am amazed by Jesus, and this morning I am dwelling on the fact that it wasn’t just the one time He hung on that cross for my sins. He takes those nails for me every day. He takes the weight of each and every sin I commit. And He cries out for me with each and every ache of my heart.
But I know that as well as being hung on that cross, Jesus died for me, and continues to do so every day, so that I never have to. He went down to the pit, to hell, for me, and because of that, I will live an eternal life with Him.
My heart is moved; it aches for my Beloved, and He reassures and comforts me with a third realization: He rose from the grave. Death could not hold Him. He conquered death, and conquers the death in me every day.
Our God is an everlasting God.
The beauty of His sacrifice, and the joy that it brings are my reminder this morning to continue to seek Him out and live my life for Him.
He is.

death is the greatest of all lies, and satan the king of all liars

alifeofloveforlife:

heisjealousforme:

Loving someone causes you to become like them.
True love is seeing people for who they really are, Who they were made to be- children of God, made in the image of Christ.
The more we lose ourselves in Christ, the more we shed our “flesh” and begin to live by the Spirit, the more we are loving and living like Him.
Worship suggests a desire to be like something. God is the only thing that we should (and truly, the only thing we can) love in Spirit and in truth, and therefore the only thing our hearts and mouths should bring praise to.
It really is just God and I here: God in me, God around me, God in all the people I love.
Distractions aren’t necessary.
Strive to be like Christ. Strive to see Him in everything, because in truth, He is in everything. Him alone. Choose everything, or choose nothing.
Love is life.
By loving others, we speak God into their lives, we give them life.
“anyone who hates his brother is a murderer.” 1John 3:15
When we are not living in love, we live in the absence of love.
When we are not living in light, we live in the absence of light.
When we are not living, we’re dying; when we are not growing, we’re dying.
God is never-ending. Life a process of never-ending growth.
Death is the absence of life.
Hate is the absence of love.
Lies are the absence of truth.
Darkness is the absence of light.
Sin is the absence of righteousness.
When we are living in God, death is impossible, because God is life.
Life is never-ending.
When we begin to separate the physical from the spiritual, we are separating death from life.
When we come to a place where death no longer exists in us, the physical is no longer necessary, hence “eternal life” in the presence of God.
Evil is the absence of good, the absence of God.
Evil is darkness is lies is hatred is Satan is the world is the lustings and desires of the flesh.
Good is God is light is truth is righteousness is love is eternal life.
Jesus came in the flesh, and in the flesh was put to death. But there was no darkness in Him, no sin. And so, with Jesus alive in us, we are made holy, set apart, and given life. He will continue to conquer the grave in us until we are made like Him. At that point, with no death left in us to be consumed by the love and light of Christ, with nothing to hold us to the enemy or to the world, we will join Him in that place of eternal life, His dwelling place, the kingdom of heaven.

God is alive. And love is a verb.
We love by action. Life is movement. Love is movement.
I want to move for God and be moved by God.
Everyone that is still here on Earth has life left in them. Every person still taking in breath has hope for salvation.
They are still here.
They are still living.
Satan hasn’t completely destroyed them. Their souls are still intact. God is still there inside of them, no matter how deep they believe they have burried Him.
We are to love everyone, to see God in them, to hold onto the God we see and love it with everything God has put inside of us.
Love begets love. Hate begets hate.
Loving others inspires them to love.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out all fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 1John 4:18

We were not created to be punished, but to love and be loved.