latest GOOD NEWS DAILY – August 27

One way I know just how much the Spirit of God who lives inside Christ’s followers is alive and thriving in me is how quickly and emphatically He brings conviction when I am doing something displeasing and dishonoring to Him. Right down to my very thoughts, the Lord brings strong conviction when I am in disobedience to Him. When my heart and life are not lined up with the Bible which is our road map for living.

But I have long since learned not to be upset and resistant to God’s correction. Oh, sure, I am deeply remorseful when I hurt the Lord. But I am not upset He corrects me. I am pleased and delighted! Why? Because the Lord corrects us in His love for us! He doesn’t want to leave us in our sin. He wants us free from it and to walk in purity in His intimate fellowship!

Please consider these verses, and please be encouraged with God’s correction. And, when He corrects you, please humble yourself, repent, and learn how to do what is right. What pleases and honors the Lord God almighty, AMEN!

love & blessings,

lara”And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Proverbs 12:5-11

Trouble is I’ve allowed myself for so long to be so consumed with myself and how I feel and how I’ve been hurt that I have missed countless opportunities to minister to a world in need!

Think this message is just for me? Doubtful. I feel so very compelled to share it with you. With whomever is led to read this. With the whole world, in fact.

Why? We are ALL called to love, to forgive, to pray for people, to help people, to tell people about the Lord Jesus Christ, and to help people find and follow Him. But when we allow ourselves to get offended, and we become consumed with ourselves and our hurts and become mired in self-pity, vengeance, pride, judgment, etc., we may well miss our opportunities.

Please do as I’m doing. Learn how not to get offended. And, when you find that you’ve already become offended, love. Forgive. And follow the Lord as He leads the way as far as prayer, helping, and ministering are concerned.

365 BLESSINGS is a devotional book the Lord has led me to publish piece by piece even as I’m writing it rather than waiting until it’s in print to share it. Please join me & be blessed as I write my latest book…!

Blessing #114

“Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.” 1 Thess. 4:1-2

The Lord doesn’t just want us to please Him. He tells us how to please Him! He uses His Word – and in this case the apostle Paul and his fellow apostles – to help us learn how to please the Lord! Have you ever considered why the Lord wants us to please Him? Do you believe it’s just random? The Lord wants we whom He created to be in His forever fellowship! He wants us to have an intimate relationship with Him as Lord! When we dearly love someone, we dearly desire to please that person, right? How much more so should we desire to please the Lord of Lords, King of Kings, God forever! How blessed we are the Lord wants us in His forever presence, wants us to please Him, teaches us what pleases Him, is patient and merciful with us as we learn how to please Him, and rewards His faithful followers who strive to please Him with His forever fellowship! Blessings in abundance when it comes to pleasing Jesus!

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

“and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” 2 Cor. 5:15

“For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Cor. 6:20

“What could I do today that would please you?” I said.

Not aloud. In my heart.

Not to myself. To Jesus.

Yes, that’s right. Me, the one whose life revolved totally around herself for altogether too many years. Me, me, me. No more. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Learning. Yes.

Now? Learning to live with my life revolved around Jesus. Because now in all honesty it’s His life. See, He bought it with a price. That’s what happens when we turn from our sins, believe Jesus is Lord and died on the cross to pay our sin penalty and was raised from the dead. That’s what happens when we receive Him as Lord, receive God’s forgiveness and the promise of an everlasting relationship with Him. That’s what happens when we truly turn our lives over to Him. We become HIS. We belong to JESUS. Not to ourselves.

Oh, sure, we can use the words, “my life.” In essence, we make the decisions. We carry ourselves around. We wake up in the morning. And go through our days. In terms of language, sure, we can say, “my life.” “His life.” “Her life.” But who owns our lives? To whom do we belong? Are our decisions in our own hands whereby we live according to our own whims, wishes, wants, and ways? Or do we turn ourselves over to Jesus day by day? To the LORD?

So we learn how to live like this. Pleasing and honoring Him instead of living for ourselves. Yes, living for Him. For JESUS!

How can I please you today, Lord?

Please ask Him that question. Not just today. Let this be your way of life. Live for Jesus. Today. Each and every day. And forever. Amen!

I love my work. No, I take that back. I LOVE my work. In fact, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my work. Now please understand I had numerous jobs over the years to make money and pay my bills. I can’t remember a job I truly LOVED. What I remember is I was often restless, anxious, disinterested, and entirely self-consumed. I didn’t desire to do a job. I had a terrible work ethic much if not most of the time. Maybe all of the time. I was consumed with me. And getting through the work day to get on to “better things”. Whatever was better. Because certainly something must have been better than the jobs I had.

The work I do now – SERVING THE LORD in my ministry work – comes with three unbelievably major differences from my past work.

* My heart and life are devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ
* The work I do is the work the Lord gave me to do and equips and enables and empowers me to do
* I do this work to love, serve, and glorify the Lord – and to love and help others to find and forever follow Him

I don’t know what the Lord has called you to do with your work life. But I do know this. When we devote our hearts and lives, work included, to the Lord Jesus Christ, we are blessed and rewarded with the amazing opportunity of pleasing, honoring, and bringing joy to the Lord!

Is your work life and your attitude about work pleasing to Jesus? If you’re not working, are you still taking the love, time, and care each and every day to love and serve and glorify God?

Let our work bring the Lord pleasure and glory, AMEN!

LATEST MINISTRY UPDATE & PRAYER REQUEST

“You live up to your name,” someone I met communicated to me one day. He was referring to my last name, LOVE.

In case you don’t know, I prayed to the Lord for a new last name and received from Him the name LOVE.

I’ve had some tough family challenges for decades, was abandoned by two husbands, and figured it was time for a new name.

I believe the Lord gave me LOVE to remind me His greatest commands are to LOVE Him with all our hearts and to LOVE others as ourselves.

I wish I could tell you I live up to my name LOVE all the time. But it isn’t so. I fall short each and every day of my life, but my highest desire is to obey the Lord’s greatest commands – beginning with LOVING Him! And continuing with LOVING others including you who are reading this. It all begins with being LOVED by Him!

As the Lord refines me, grows me, transforms me, and conforms me day by day to His image, teaching me how to LOVE, I could very much use prayer that I would do just that.

So today as the Lord greatly grows my ministry work, I would ask that you please pray for me if you are led that day by day I would walk in the LOVE of the LORD JESUS CHRIST!

love & blessings,

lara

“We love Him because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19