Showing posts with label care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label care. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

CARE AND CARRYING EACH OTHER'S BURDENS - Eva Haglund (Sweden)


CARE AND CARRYING EACH OTHER'S BURDENS
Eva Haglund, Sweden

The world is full of people and needs. Many suffer and so many need love. Love is the most positive power. Everybody needs love and greatest is love. Then it is no surprise that God IS love.  Everybody needs Him. 

Sometimes people want to be a friend when it does not cost them anything, but Jesus showed that to be a friend it costs something. In Gal.6:2 Paul wrote, "Bear one another`s burden." Sometimes in the world it counts if you are rich and  are educated, but when Abraham's servant went to seek a bride he asked to see a sign of great love. The woman who fetched water showed much love. She gave water also for all the camels. It was very  much giving water for the people who were thirsty after the travel, and much water for all the camels. It was not an easy job. She showed much love.

In the story about Abraham when he met the angels in Gen 18 we see the heart of hospitality he had and was used to meet people with. He was a giver. It is written in the Bible in Eph.6:2 to carry each other burdens in the Body of Christ.  Many suffer today, including Christians. To call anybody, write a letter or visit anybody can mean much. To pray for anybody can be like a present for anybody who needs.

In Romans 9 we can see the heart Paul had - the deep love that he had for people. He said that he wished he himself was rejected by God if any Jews here could get saved. In Rom 9:1 "I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh."

In friendship the greatest love Jesus says is to give a life for a friend. Then you can say it costs something. In 1 Cor 13 is written "love does not seek its own." Love can cost. For Jesus it cost much. The cost was the cross where He hung for everyone. It was the deepest love. 

Jesus wants us to carry each other's burdens in the Body of Christ. Help each other when it is not so easy. This we can see in Eph.1 when Jesus showed us to wash each other's feet. He wanted to show each other care. He showed as a leader that to be a leader is to serve. He was like a servant in love when He washed the feet. Jesus as King in heaven humbled Himself  and He wants us to serve - to show love to each other. 

To carry another's burden may include helping to do the dishes for one who is tired. It also is to  give comfort and listen to those who are sad. The Bible tell us to weep with those who weep. A heart of compassion is revealed when people suffer and you pray in tears for that one, in intercession.

In Ephesians it is written to pray for each other. In James it is written that faith without works is dead. We need to help each other. The hand needs the feet, as it is written in 1 Cor 12. We need each other as usual parts in a body need the other members. To carry each other burdens is to show care to the ill people.

There are old people who cannot visit a Christian meeting. I also believe in house meetings.
There ought to be people visiting old people and have a meeting with those who cannot come to a church building, or maybe just for a shorter visit. I am thinking that if they cannot come to the meeting - "let the meeting come to them." We need Jesus first, but then we also need each other.

I also believe if it is guided by God that it can be a blessing for Christians living close to each other to meet, as we can  see in Ps 133:1, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Sometimes it is easier to carry each other's burdens when we visit them. I also think we can get back in having stronger relationships. Christians can have different needs. There can be a need of counseling, and there can be people who do not have food. To help a friend who does not have money for food is to carry one's burden.


People can have sorrow and  God wants us to help each other. Jesus carried our burdens when He suffered persecution and hate for our sake. He was mocked, scourged and crucified in a pain much stronger than we understand. It was a love so deep like the sea. To carry each other burdens is to think about somebody else. It is not to be selfish. Jesus showed us to wash each other's feet - showing care to each other. Jesus as King and leader was humbled and served - like a servant in love.

 An example of a king showing love occurred when David took care of the sheep. He learned to take care and to serve, even when it was not so nice. To wash another's feet is not always so nice. To help another move is not always so easy, but it is love. In Acts we read about Peter, who was in prison, but in Acts.12.5 constant prayer was offered to God for  him by the church. He was released. They showed great love to him in their prayers.

Prayer for people also means much. When we give, that is when we get. When we sow we also reap. God gives back. We do not give to get, but because we care. We ourselves want to be met in that way. We make mistakes, but it is important that we keep serving each other; not just in a church building but as Christians who need each other.  

Many who do not know Jesus also have many burdens and need love.  When there are persecutions of Christians, we need to come closer to each other. I think it is a new time when God wants to restore more of the first love in the Body for Christ, but also more of love in the Body of Christ with more friendship, team work and more care. In Acts.2:46 we see that Christians met in houses, ate together and had fellowship. We cannot know everybody well but we need each other also globally as in a big family.

In John 17:21 Jesus pray that love will be a testimony to the world - love that we get from God. Jesus say in John 15:9, "As the Father has loved Me, I also has loved you, abide in My love. If you keep My commandments you will  abide in My love. just as I have kept My Father's commandment and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you that My joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full." I think Jesus talks about not just saying hello to each other, have a cup of coffee in church, but to have also real fellowship. He says in John 16:13, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one`s life for his FRIENDS." I think Jesus wants to restore more of real friendship among us. We must not be bitter to anybody but forgive as Jesus did when He said  "Father forgive them" at the cross.

If we have been forgotten by others we can think about others who also have felt forgotten. A person can have felt forgotten by others, and we can reach out and help. We can set aside for a while our own need to help another who has a big burden like us. In Job 41:10 we read "and the Lord restored Job`s losses when he prayed for his friends."

He who carried the biggest burden was Jesus at the cross. He did it out of love for us. We find an expression of  His love in Isaiah 53:4 - "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." Jesus/Yeshua  carried the biggest burden for us.

SWEDEN NEEDS YOUR PRAYERS!
PLEASE PRAY FOR SWEDEN!



Sunday, November 17, 2013

Ahava Love Letter - “Dad, Are You There?” (Steve Martin)

                  

       “Dad, Are You There?” 

"Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. "He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse." Malachi 4:5-6 NASU


Dear family of friends,

Many of us have been desperate for a father’s love. Sure, we know mom always loved us, but sometimes we wonder if dad did (or does). With all the time spent on his job, going about taking care of the cares of the world, he may have had little time for the family. Or me. Or you.

If he did, it may have been spent sitting in the same room watching the football game or some comedy show, as he fell asleep from exhaustion. I get it. As a father, I have done my share of that with my own kids.
But at the same time the connection I needed with my father, my dad, may not have been what my heart longed for. I mean, sometimes I really didn’t know who he was, or what he wanted. Sometimes I just needed some affirmation from him, but it rarely came.
My dad did what he knew to do – work hard, provide for the family, keep the bills paid. Growing up without a father himself, being his dad died when he was only five, I am sure that model he needed just wasn’t there for him. His big brother didn’t fill the same void that his own father was meant to.
As I pressed on in my daily walk with our Lord Jesus, year by year, I became more aware of the heavenly Father’s ever present Spirit in my life. Even if I did not know it at the time, He was there, even as my earthly father could not be. I have come to realize that God the Father has encouraged me, filled the void I longed to have been made full, and showed me the path along which to walk. My heavenly Father has always been there. It just took me a long time to realize that.
Jesus (Yeshua) continually pointed to the Father. The relationship He had with His Dad is the same one He wants us to have with the same heavenly Dad. We are to know of His arms around us, His providing that meal, His speaking into our hearts the way we are to go.
In these days of absent fathers, earthly dads who know not how to raise kids, or model the Father’s love in practical ways that are needed, my heart is to see the Father’s love expressed in tangible ways, and help fill the much needed void empty hearts have. Learning to express His affirmation, His provision, His protection from the ways of the world is now my heart’s desire. I pray that I can express through me what He, God the Father, truly wants for each of His kids.
“You are the best, Father. Thank you for leading us to You. May Your godly men instruct Your kids of Your eternal love, that we can know and experience each and every day. Even today.”
Ahava to my family of friends,

Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People

P.S. At my fulltime accounting job, a young black man, maybe in his late 30’s or early 40’s, continually calls me Dad. I am not sure why, being I am Caucasian. (I do know that he is separated or divorced and has kids.) But I think it is because he has not known a father’s love himself, and he has seen a part of God the Father’s love in me for him. My heart goes out to him, and I try to express the Father’s love to him as I can.
P.S. S. One of my all-time favorite worship songs is sung by Don Moen, entitled “Wonderful, Magnificent God”* I have added the lyrics here, as it helps express my love for God, my Father.

Verse 1:

At Your feet I bow
There is none like You
For all that I have found
All I want is You
For all the wonders You do
And all that You are
What I can bring to You
I offer my heart

Chorus:

Wonderful magnificent God
I'm humbled by the life You gave
Beautiful Redeemer You are
Worthy of my highest praise

(Repeat Verse 1 and Chorus)
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsty.com/don-moen-wonderful-magnificent-god-lyrics.html ]
Coda:

What can we give to You o God
For everything You have given to us (3x)

We offer our lives to You o God
For everything You have given to us (3x)

(Repeat Chorus twice)

Ending:

Wonderful, You are Wonderful
Wonderful, You are Wonderful
Wonderful magnificent God

*(Copyright: (P) 2004 Integrity Media, Inc.)

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Ahava Love Letter #86   “Dad, Are You There”  ©2013 Steve Martin 
Date: In the year of our Lord 2013 (11/170/13 Sunday 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