Reflections, March 1st, 2009

Reflections: Enduring Love

Sunday, March 1^st, 2009

"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up." James 4:10(KJV)

It is my fondest prayer that this week's Reflection will bring encouragement to your heart. May you be granted with the eyes to see what the Spirit of God wants you to see. Ears to hear when He speaks. And a heart to receive and understand what He desires to give you.

One of the many things that gives my heart hope, is the enduring love our Father. Many of us say we have a love that can endure. But the truth of the matter is, you only realize and know you have an enduring love when that love has gone through something. Trials and afflictions are often a test of not only our patience, but our level of endurance: the strength to go on; move forward; or even stand still despite the strength of the opposition.

"My Brethern, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Know this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." James 1:2-4(KJV)

All that we are faced with in this world is meant to strengthen us and draw us closer to God. And as we draw closer to God, we gain strength and wisdom. The Father enables us with His power to endure. With His wisdom to do what we need to do, and when we need to do it. Yet we often get distracted by the world we live in. Simply put: Life. Life can become a great distraction in our walk with God. It can sometimes blind us to the love and hand of God that is moving on our behalf. It can blind us to the reality of what God wants to do for us and in us, because we began to look through our natural eyes, and not our spiritual eyes. And still, the Father's love endures. He stretches out His hand toward us. Because He knows the very hour, the very second, when "life", will become just too much for us to bare alone. When the load will get too heavy, and the temptations fierce. He desires to be our strong tower.

"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted: I am tempted of God: For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." James 1:12-14 (KJV)

We all know that there are temptations all around us. Temptations to lie, cheat, steal. Temptations to fornicate, commit adultery. Temptations to run away from responsibilities. Temptations to turn away from God and give up. Many even face the temptation to take their own lives.

When we take our eyes off of God; when we allow ourselves to caught up in the everyday hassles and routines of life, we have opened a door for the enemy to come in and wreak havoc in our lives. The last thing that we want to do is, endure. Why? We may think what is there to endure for when everything just seems to be too hard and set against you? Why should you endure, when you seem to fail at every turn. As though all life is against you? That is what the enemy wants you to believe. That "life"; our lives are a joke. That it is nit worthy of fighting for, or fighting through the garbage that he [Satan] attacks us with.

You see, Satan has studied you. He knows where you are most vulnerable. He knows our weaknesses; your Achilles heel. He watches and waits for that open door; that opportune time to pounce and attack you. He'll come with an onslaught of complications and thoughts that will bombard your mind, and cause a profound change in your behavior, sight, thoughts, and beliefs.

You may ask why God, who loves us, would allow such a thing? To strengthen us. To give us the understanding of who we really are. He wants us to know and understand for sure, that everything we need to stand against the enemy and be triumphant is already in us. And it is God's enduring love for us that gives us power. We must first, however, yield to the Father, and begin to walk in the attributes of our Heavenly Father. To walk in His enduring love. That same enduring love, that unconditional love, which allowed Jesus to go to the cross and die for all man's sin. Sinner and Saint alike.

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw night to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." James 4:7,8 (KJV)

Listen, each and every day that God grants us to be alive in this earth, there will always be temptations. There will always be some kind of strife and trouble somewhere, at sometime, in some place. Yet God has equipped His children to be able o endure the very harsh times we will some times face.

Each and every day you see the news reports. You see the despair in your communities. You see it in your families. You even see it in your own home; the effects of the harsh realities of the times we are living in. the scope of it is far greater than anything many people had realized. Families are suffering each and every day. Losing everything. Yet, there is a remnant of people who have come to realize that they haven't really lost what is most important: Love. Love in the form of family. Love in the essence of God. And for this remnant, their faith has increased. Their faith is enduring. Ask many of them, and they cannot explain or clearly articulate, that in spite of losing all of their worldly possessions--they have more peace and joy in their hearts, that go beyond explaining or human comprehension.

It is the enduring love of God that will make the wise foolish and the foolish things wise. In other words; it is the enduring love of God that will have people-who think they know everything, who believe that there is no God, who believe that money is most important, who have called "poor" people crazy, or foolish because they don't have the so-called status that they have-scratching their heads, wondering how the tables were turned. How the script was flipped. How, that once "poor" (who trusted in the Lord), even when all they had was a dollar at the end of the month or fifty cents in the bank; are now wealthy in every sense of the word.

God's enduring love allows a person, His children, who believe, to ride out every storm of life. It enables them to walk in the midst of ruin, with a joyful and peaceful heart. Make no mistakes about what I am saying. Yes, it hurts. Often feeling unbearable and suffocating. Yet, there remains a praise on their lips AND a willing to help another person in need, even though they barely have. Because they know hat the enduring love of their Father resides in them. And that they can resist the devil, his lies and thoughts; they can fight every temptation to give up or give in because they have endured. They have passed the tests and know that their true happiness; their true reward, lies in the embrace of loving and living God, who has promised to never leave or forsake them; or to have their seed begging for bread. Those that know the enduring love of God, also know that "when the righteous cry out...he delivered them out of ALL of their afflictions". (Psalm 34:17)

May the enduring love of God rest, rule and abide in your hearts. May the spirit of peace and prosperity find rest in your: spiritual, physical, emotional, mental, social, and financial lives. Know this: that God created you to endure. All you need, and will ever need to succeed in every kind of season, is already in you. You just have to believe and receive. Be Blessed. It's yours for the asking. No go get it!

©2009. Ruthe McDonald. All Rights Reserved.