Dear and Precious Friends,
Right now, here in Texas, we are heading into a season of some very hot weather. The heat is hard on the animals and the trees, requiring extra care and sensitivity to help them get through. Seasons are a big part of our spiritual walk also. We all experience different “seasons” in the Lord as we mature and His life forms in us. Some seasons are enjoyable and full of fruit, while others seem almost unbearable. Yet of this we can be certain: no season lasts forever, and all seasons have an eternal purpose for Christ to grow within. The real question is, “What is in God’s heart and what is He doing during this time?” The answer is: “He is bringing forth His Son in you!” To know that answer is to find peace, hope, and even joy regardless of the season. Beloved, I know that some of you are in hard seasons, and feel the heat in your fiery trial. The good news is that we have a Father who is at work in us and loves us! We can trust Him! We can keep our eyes and hearts with Him. Oh, what a loving and wise Father we have in God. Because of Him, our hearts can find rest even in the midst of the storm.
On a more practical note, I will have several ministry trips coming up very soon. In a few days, I will be leaving for Arkansas to go to CMI’s annual conference. I look forward to seeing and spending time with many people there who are dear to me. Less than two weeks after I return from Arkansas I will be flying to Belgium with Deb and my lifelong friend Mike Gentry. There is a precious group in Belgium that hunger after the Lord with whom I will be sharing the Word. After Belgium, we will continue on to Ireland where there will be a retreat and conference during which I will also be sharing the Word. Please pray for these trips and all that is in the Lord’s heart for them.
With much love,
Randy
This Month's Article:
By what do men know that we are His disciples? It is by our love one toward another. (John 13:35) Love is the means by which men know we are Jesus' disciples. By what then do we know the love of God? By this we perceive - or "know" - the love of God... By what? Because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to love the brethren, or... we ought to lay down our life for the brethren. (I John 3:16) There is no greater love. Say what you will, but there is no greater love than this. John 15:12 says, "This is my commandment, that ye love one another..." Most people stop right there. They say we should love one another, but the verse reads on: "as I have loved you..." You don't just love, but you love "as I have loved you". You don't just love, but you love "as He loved," or by His method. What was Jesus' method of love? We don't have to turn to another book of the Bible to find the answer. We don't even have to turn to another chapter to find His method of love. In fact, if we stay within the context of the scripture, we will find in the very next verse the answer we are looking for. Jesus said to love as He loved in verse 12. In verse 13, He states, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Why settle for a lesser love?
Some people actually judge a church according to the lesser love instead of greater love. If everyone isn't smiling and overly considerate or if the sermon wasn't a compassionate, loving message, then some people won't come back to that church because they do not have the kind of love they are seeking. We preach the cross which means destruction to the flesh, but what a message of love. The flesh seeks a love that will pet it and say all will be alright. God's love didn't have compassion on the flesh but took it straight to the cross so that it might be destroyed. You can't know the love of God by compassion and acts of emotion, but by a laid-down life.
People don't understand why we place so much emphasis on the cross. Some even say we have no love, but actually, we cling to the greatest love. The fact that I'm here day after day shows my love for the brethren. You may come and hug and kiss me: You may have compassion for my affliction: Your love may be genuine, but if you are not laying down your life for the brethren, it is a lesser love.
The disciples could have all gone home to live their own lives and just written love letters to one another, but this wasn't the love Jesus asked them to carry on. Jesus could have just come to earth and told us how much He and the Father loved us, that they were praying for us, and then gone immediately back to heaven and not given His life. However, this kind of love would have done us little good.
Too many Christians are labeling displays of affection as the love of God and as the love referenced in John 15:9 that we are commissioned to continue in. This wouldn't be so bad except most of these Christians are not laying down their lives for the brethren. Many will hug and tell you how much they love you but have motives seeking to further their own private ambitions. They stand in church and testify "I would be happy just to be a doormat in the house of God," but the first time someone wipes their feet on them they throw a fit. When men spat in Jesus' face, He still loved, when they pierced His side, He said, "Father forgive them," when He could have called ten thousand angels, He didn't, for He loved and showed it by laying down His life. If we need this kind of love, look no further, for Christ is in you… He is in us! Because of His great love whereby He hath loved us, His death has made it possible for all of us to turn from our own love and join with Him in His. May our hearts hear the Spirit calling us in the greater love as He calls us into oneness with Jesus.***
