“Plant Where You Are Blooming” - Ahava Love Letter (Steve Martin)

                 

                  “Plant Where You Are Blooming”

“But others fell into rich soil and produced grain, a hundred or sixty or thirty times as much as had been sown.” (Matthew 13:8, Complete Jewish Bible)

Dear family of friends,

You've heard it said, "Bloom where you are planted." For you, that could have been many years ago of course, when we were growing up.

So how about this now - "Plant where you are blooming."

Yeshua (Jesus) shared the parable about the farmer showing seed, in Matthew 13. This guy basically just threw it out there, as they normally did in the open field during the planting season. It is kind of like throwing grass seed on your front yard. Depending on how good your arm is, or how strong your hand-carried seed spreader works, the small seeds will fly all over – landing on good soil, bad soil (like my southern clay “dirt”!), and possibly a few scattered on the cement  driveway if you get too close to the edge of the yard. But in time, hopefully, a majority of the seed will germinate and grow the grass you expect it to. You hope the money you spent on it won’t be washed away after the first hard rain.

Many of us have been casting our “seed” for a good many years now. Using the spiritual gifts we have, in our home, workplace, church or ministry, we too have been spreading seed out there, hoping it will find a dark hole in the dirt and sprout a nice green tender shoot. But also like most of us have experienced, much of the seed may not have found that desired place of planting, and it just dried up or blew away. And for what seems like many more souls now a days, many have just quit throwing, and sowing, and planting.

I have a suggestion for you, no matter what situation you currently find yourself in. If you are not in a regular gathering of committed believers, make it your daily prayer to keep asking for His direction. With the grace of the Lord, Who gives freely to those who ask of Him, trust that He will direct your steps, as that is in His heart for you. His Holy Spirit will help you overcome the fear of rejection and intimidation from the past. He does has the right place for you, in His Body of believers, for you to grow and flourish. Then you can plant and see the blooms, using your spiritual gifts.

For those who have already found that place He has put you in, where you are being joined properly together with the other members of the Body, keep planting your spiritual seeds, out of the goodness He has placed within you, and watch the blooms blossom. The people there need you. The church body as a whole needs you. And the nations of the world are waiting to see the unity of the Lord’s people expressed in love.

In other words, if you are being received somewhere by those around you, stay there, plant the seeds the Lord has given you (share your spiritual gifts) and help others grow further.

Plant where you are blooming. His promise is that the harvest will come, if we keep planting our seeds. I am believing that too.

Ahava (love) to my family of friends,

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People. Inc.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these letters minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless known families in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Go here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH  OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share this Ahava Love Letter with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople and ahavaloveletter 

Blogs: Love For His People

           Ahava Love Letters

           

Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

Ahava Love Letter #104   “Plant Where You Are Blooming”   Steve Martin 

Date: In the year of our Lord 2014 (01.28.14) Tuesday at 7:00 am in Charlotte, NC).

  

All previous editions of Ahava Love Letter can be found on this Blog, and our newest website: Ahava Love Letters

“It May Not Be As You Think” - Ahava Love Letter (Steve Martin)

               

                      “It May Not Be As You Think”

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:4-8) NASU)

Dear family of friends,

What picture comes to your mind when I write, “I have a nice dog.” If you were raised having a dog as a pet, you’d probably think of that particular breed, which would hopefully bring back good memories. Or if you didn’t have a pet, but the neighbors did, that picture of a dog might come to your mind. And I trust that was a good dog.

Did you know that there are at least 339 breeds of dogs in the world, according to the World Canine Organization, best known by its French title Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI)? At the time of this writing the FCI recognizes 339 breeds of dogs which are divided into 10 groups based upon the dog’s purpose or function or upon its appearance or size.

Notice too that these breeds are then divided into 10 groups, which can also have further diversity among then – in color, size, personality, and more. Not one animal has been created exactly the same.

Now let’s consider humankind. (In no way am I comparing humans to dogs, nor am I making any evolution connection here. Straight forward, I believe God created man in His own image, and we didn’t evolve from a glob or an ape.) But we each too have many unique features also, as realized among people groups, both for men and women. That is obvious. And a great thing!

In going further with this, what do you think of when I write the word “teacher”? Growing up we each experienced good school teachers, bad ones, and all types in between. We have mental impressions of what a teacher is, and what they are expected to do. And your concept of a teacher may be different than what Daniel, Logan, or Dylan may think. A lot may depend upon what your experiences in connection with a teacher were like growing up, or even now.

Going deeper still, what comes to mind when I write, “They are a teacher in the church.” Do you think of someone reading aloud the Bible, verse by verse from the pulpit, and then explaining what he or she thinks it says? Do you picture a favorite Sunday school teacher, telling a story based on a biblical figure? Or do you remember the one who helped you understand a personal situation in your life, to apply a foundational truth and principle to a concern you had?

I believe each of these persons can be viewed as a teacher. Each is giving out of the unique gifting that the Lord has given to them, for the good of the Body of Christ. All may possess a difference in their thought content and delivery, but at the same time are imparting a portion of His Word in their way, based on their personality and understanding.

Sometimes we tend to categorize someone, or something, into a pre-determined concept or “box” we already have in our mind. In doing so, we can limit what we receive from them, or how they are allowed to minister to us. If we look at each gifting (person) the same way, with the same expected delivery, we can miss the full impact of what the Lord has for us. If something is brought to us in a way that we are not accustomed to, or consider the norm, we may be rejecting the very gift the Lord is trying to give to us; be it from a person or even a current move of the Holy Spirit.

Personally, I missed it years ago when I was told prophetically that I was a teacher in the Body of Christ. My image of a “teacher” at that time was of one who stood before a group and expounded on the Scriptures, chapter by chapter. I knew I wasn’t that, and didn’t believe that I ever would be either. And so I categorically rejected that word over and over again, given at various times by several people to me.

What I failed to realize, over this period of a decade or more, was that His expression in gifts given comes through in various ways, through various people. Because the Lord is so vast in His creative giftings He gives to us, one expression of His teaching gift that I was given can come through even in a simple form, such as writing these letters to His people. Now that I can understand and have faith for, to share this teaching gift in my life. His love can now more fully flow through me in that way.

I hope you are open to receiving the many expressions of the Lord Yeshua’s giftings – both from others around you, and of those that you have been given within yourself to share. Once we realize and accept this, we can each appreciate even more His love for His people.

I truly appreciate how the Lord expresses Himself in so many ways. We serve an awesome God!

Ahava to my family of friends,

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People. Inc.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these letters minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless known families in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Go here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH  OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share this Ahava Love Letter with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople and ahavaloveletter 

Blogs: Love For His People

           Ahava Love Letters

           

  Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

Ahava Love Letter #103   “It May Not Be What You Think”   Steve Martin 

Date: In the year of our Lord 2014 (01.26.14) Sunday at 7:00 pm in Charlotte, NC).

All previous editions of Ahava Love Letter can be found on this Blog, and our newest website: Ahava Love Letters

“Five Fingers and a Paw” - Ahava Love Letter (Steve Martin)

                    

                    “Five Fingers and a Paw”

“Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.” (Prov. 7:3 NKJV)

Dear family of friends,

Sleeping next to me in my favorite rocker, I again am amazed at her paws. Each has a full pad, to protect her from the heat, the cold, and even sharp fallen tree objects as she walks the paths we take her on. Created in an extraordinary way, our Dachshund Zoe fascinates me. She is among all the creatures the Lord God of all has made. Awesome. Glorious.

There are so many breeds of animals. Each with specific features unique to the purpose He designed them to have in this world. What a mind He has, to have thought of so many different ones, and to place them in our lives. So much pleasure these creatures have brought us, both great and small, given to mankind since the beginning of time.

And then I look at my own fingers, five on each hand. That too is something that causes me to think of His glory. So different from the other mammals. Superior in many ways, given to us to work, to play music, to hold another’s hand.

When I take time to just stop and consider Him, how can I not call Him God Almighty, the Creator of the Universe? We have our super heroes, our exciting sports champions, our strong leaders who have guided us on to many good results. But when I think of our Father’s heart and His purposes for each of us, nothing and no one can compare to Him.

Five fingers and a paw – just two simple pictures of His love expressed for us. Thank you Lord Jesus for creating these, and for all Your creation that we often take for granted.

We appreciate You and Your mighty works done on our behalf.

Ahava to my family of friends,

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People. Inc.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

Please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless known families in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. 

Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Go here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH  OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share this Ahava Love Letter with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople and ahavaloveletter 

Blogs: Love For His People

           Ahava Love Letters

           

  Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

Ahava Love Letter #102   “Five Fingers and a Paw”   Steve Martin 

Date: In the year of our Lord 2014 (01.25.14) Saturday at 4:00 pm in Charlotte, NC).

All previous editions of Ahava Love Letter can be found on this Blog, and our newest website: Ahava Love Letters

“Discouragement – Replace It With His Courage” - Ahava Love Letter (Steve Martin)

                                

         “Discouragement – Replace It With His Courage”

“Put your hope in Adonai, be strong, and let your heart take courage! Yes, put your hope in Adonai! (Psalm 27:14 CJB)

Dear family of friends,

Discouragement is inevitable in our lives. We see, we hear, we experience things that just pull us down, get our eyes off the main goal, which can then tempt us to want to stop moving. Or simply just quit. A nagging or long sickness, unemployment or low employment, lack of true friends to encourage us or whom we can share our thoughts and hopes. Any of these can take its toll. And they certainly do. No wonder we sometimes just want to get off the track, and sit in silence. 

Disappointments can cause us to react the same way. We were counting on an event to happen, and it didn’t. We were told we would get the job or the promotion, and we won’t. The kids failed to act a certain way that we had hoped, and well, they just couldn’t.

We all have experienced discouragement and disappointments. Sometimes they can be overwhelming, and if not for the hope to hold on, they can be devastating. Whether we are a veteran in the faith, or a new believer, we need ongoing courage within, and encouragement from without, to go on when we don’t have the faith to do so.

I love hearing stories where discouragement is replaced by courage; where disappointment is surpassed by the unexpected God appointment. Seeing the action of the Lord, putting our hope in Him, gives us that needed push to get back up, get the spirit moving, and trust Him for the good in all of that which seemed uncertain and unavailable.

Having one act of the Holy Spirit can take us from one realm to the other, and just like that our confidence can be restored. I am so thankful for His interaction in our lives.

In one incidence I want to share, monthly funds for this ministry we started in 2010 was about to be cut by a third in this its fourth year. My first reaction was to look at where we could cut expenses. Then my next thought was to wonder if I was going in the right direction. And then it was followed by discouragement, as I honestly thought, “Lord, if You are not going to provide for this ministry, then why am I going to continue the effort to keep doing it?”

You know what His reply was? Within two days I got a call from someone we had helped a year earlier, saying they had a $1000 to give to the ministry. What an encouragement! That gift alone just made up almost one-half of the previous annual loss, in just the first month.

This is the Lord. When we are on the frontlines, doing that which we know He has purposed us to do, we will get hit by the arrows, the bullets, the silent lies of the enemy attempting to take us out of the battle and put us down. But our God is our victory, and the hope He gives within us, the trusted One in Whom we can always count on to be there, will be there. His courage becomes ours once again.

Pushing forward to accomplish the end results is a daily battle, but we are not alone. His courage replacing the discouragement we get tempted to give in to, will keep us keeping on. His appointments replace the disappointments.

Thank you Lord Jesus, Adonai.

Ahava to my family of friends,

Steve Martin

Founder, Love For His People

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA organization. Fed. ID#27-1633858.

Please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless known families in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. 

Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation.

Go here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH  OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share this Ahava Love Letter with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople and ahavaloveletter 

Blogs: Love For His People

           Ahava Love Letters

           

  Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

Ahava Love Letter #101   “Discouragement – Replace It With His Courage”   Steve Martin 

Date: In the year of our Lord 2014 (01.20.14) Monday at 7:00 pm in Charlotte, NC).

All previous editions of Ahava Love Letter can be found on this Blog, and our newest website: Ahava Love Letters

“Condemn You?” - Ahava Love Letter (Steve Martin)

“Condemn You?”

“She said, "No one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." (John 8:11, NKJV)

Dear family of friends,

In January of 2014 I watched a taped recording of the Larry King NOW show, because his guest was Joel Olsteen. I like Joel. Many times he had encouraged me when I watched his weekly TV program broadcast from Lakewood Church in Houston, TX.

On a few occasions I was able to attend the Sunday morning service personally. After one meeting, when people were invited to meet him, I did. He and his wife Victoria were very nice. As I said, I like Joel.

I didn’t know Joel was going to be on Larry’s show. I didn’t even know Larry had a show anymore, after he no longer did the Larry King Live series. But due to the Charisma magazine e-mail notice I did receive, and the caption with Joel, I checked it out.

The actual headline of the website article proclaimed, “Joel Osteen Discusses Why He Won't Preach Against Homosexuality” (1/15/2014, CHARISMA MAGAZINE). The TV program was actually quite good, and a lot more than what the headline had just stated. Joel gave honest, forth right answers. Did I say I like Joel yet?

If you are as I, many of you work in a “secular” job" - as in “not full time ministry”. (Actually, I did that for 24 years – in full time Christian ministry. I am very grateful for that time serving the Lord in that capacity and atmosphere, for the most part.) On these secular jobs we have now, there may be some who are not totally saved as we would like them to be. Yes, it is true. Many are not as us. It is though, in my daily prayers, that they will know the Savior Lord Jesus, as well as the Father and the Holy Spirit.

When I shared the website link to Larry and Joel’s time talking, on my Love For His People blog, which then, due to modern technology, gets reposted to my two Facebook, four Twitter, Google+, and other social media accounts automatically, the comments began. Some were judgmental, in response to the headlines on homosexuality. (I assumed they didn't take the time to actually watch the show, given the swift judgement.) “Joel is a heathen! Joel is a false teacher and leads many astray!” 2 Timothy was also quoted, about “turning away from the truth”…and so on.

My heart goes out to the ones that Jesus died for. I pray for the opportunity to share His love for them, for likeyou and I, they need the Savior too – to free them from a lifestyle of sin, hurt, and eternity apart from the Lord’s presence. And as He has given me a marketplace job, which happens to be in the midst of some of these who are “not saved”, I am continually asking Him how I can be His light in their world.

At the top of this letter I quoted from John 8:11. The preceding verses are as written, “Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?"  This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him.

But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."  And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last.

And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." (John 8:1-11, NKJV)

I like Joel. I love Jesus. And I love those whom He has set in place amongst me on the job. I need His heart and wisdom even more to express that love to them, so they too can know He does not condemn them, but wants them to know Him also.

I am convinced He will be with me in doing that.

Ahava to my family of friends,

Steve Martin

Founder, Love For His People

P.S. This is my 100th Ahava Love Letter. Thank you Lord!

P.S.S. Here is the Charisma article and Larry King NOW TV show link. 
Click here: Charisma Magazine with Larry King & Joel Olsteen

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA organization. Fed. ID#27-1633858.

Please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless known families in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. 

Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation.

Go here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH  OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People

If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

I hope you read my first two books The Promise (CreateSpace/Amazon 2013) and Ahava Love Letters (Xulon Press, 2013). Both available through Amazon.com Xulon Press.com, plus other website book stores.

You can also order both books, The Promise (on Amazon.com for $7.19 plus $3.95 S/H) and Ahava Love Letters Xulon Press for$14.90, plus $3.80) or you can get both from our office for $29. Send check to the address above. I will autograph all copies ordered through our office. (Hey, and please include a contribution for Israel too!)

Please share this Ahava Love Letter with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople and ahavaloveletter 

Blogs: Love For His People

           Ahava Love Letters

           

  Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Steve Martin/Love For His People Inc.

Ahava Love Letter #100   “Condemn You?”   Steve Martin 

Date: In the year of our Lord 2014 (01.16.14) Thursday at 6:30 pm in Charlotte, NC).

All previous editions of Ahava Love Letter can be found on this Blog, and our newest website: https://www.www.ahavaloveletters.blogspot.com