GREENE STREET LETTERS: Real Deal Love

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Real Deal Love

I John 4:16
And so we know and rely on this love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God is in him.

Running late this morning. Sorry about that. Still trying to wrap my head, as well as my heart, around this whole "God is love" thing.
It doesn't say that God loves.....we know that.
It doesn't say that God has love....we know that He does.
It doesn't even say that God might love....we know that He does that unconditionally.
It says that God is love. He is the ultimate display...the incredible model....the tangible, physical evidence that such an animal (as love) exists and is available to all who would receive it.

God didn't create love. He is love.
Everything He does.......
Everything He says........
All points to the fact that He loves us.
I know, I know...I can hear it now, even as I type this.
"Well, if God is love then why is the world so screwed up? Why do I not feel His love? Why do bad things happen? If He loved us, He wouldn't let anything bad happen."
Really?
Do you really think that's the way it should be? I confess that I have even said those things within my own heart. Asked those same questions. And the answer I keep getting is that I am asking such questions from a very, very selfish heart. I want what I want. I don't want to hurt. I don't want bad things to happen to me. I want God to stop everything that would harm me or hurt me or cause me pain. You see, all my questions about "why" are based in my own selfishness.
God does love me even when things go South in my life.
The circumstances and situations I face do not remove God's love for me.
And, by the way, this love that God possesses isn't a passive, sit by and do nothing kind of love. It is an active, living, engaging in my life - kind of love.

It is a love that loves me so much, God will tell me the unfiltered truth about my own heart, especially when I don't want to hear it.
It is a love that will uncover the deeds and darkness that I try to get away with. God loves me so much that He isn't going to let me get away with anything.
That, my friend, is real love.

God on you.....
mb

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Looking At The World Through Cracked Lens

As ol' Paul wrote in his Corinthian letters.."We see in part and we know in part." Now what piece of this bit of wisdom do we not get? I wish to not run around acting and trying to be some sort of Biblical G00-Ru (I meant to spell it wrong). Or a sage of sages.

I simply want to be able to communicate some of what God has given to me. Why? Do I think what I get is better than what you may have received from Him? Nope. But I do think encouragement comes when we share our daily story of struggle and victory in an effort to encourage each other.

Thanks for letting me share.

Time to soldier on..

mbb

Our Statement of Faith

We believe that God is the eternal king. He is an infinite, unchangeable Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. From all eternity He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit equal in power and glory. we believe that God created mankind in His image, male and female, for relationship with Himself and to govern the earth. Under the temptation of Satan, our original parents fell from grace, bringing sin, sickness and God's judgment of death to the earth. Through the fall, Satan and his demonic hosts gained access to God's good creation. Creation now experiences the consequences and effects of Adam's original sin. Human beings are born into sin, subject to God's judgment of death and captive to Satan's kingdom of darkness. We believe that Jesus, God's Son, was sent to this world, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, Mary, fully God and fully man in one person. He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was anointed as God's Messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit, ushering in God's kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation, preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead. Jesus' atoning death on the cross took God's judgment for sin which we deserved as law-breakers. Jesus' resurrection and ascent back to heaven opened the door for those who received salvation to begin a relationship with God.

Little Nets Into Deep Waters

Fishing nets were designed for one purpose only. To catch fish. Nets are no good if they stay on the boat. Nets serve no purpose if they are never used. I think maybe God sees us this way. We are all created for a purpose (by the way, the creator gets to define what our purpose is). Any other use besides the one we were created for does us no good. But when the creator places His hands upon us, casting us out into those scary, dark places with deep waters, it is then we can see the reality of our purpose. He knew there would be a catch waiting for us. I think I will be the net God has called me to be.

The Twelve Steps

As a community of people in recovery, we affirm that our higher power is Jesus Christ. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Just as God told the children of Israel He was going to give them a promised land, He has revealed to us that He desires to give us a "Promised Life." When Israel got to the promised land, God instructed them to go and in a possess it, fight for it and claim it. In recovery, the 12 Steps are the directions given to us on how to fight, possess and claim this promised life.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Real Deal Love

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD