Promote Peace

If it is at all possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. – (Romans 12:18, NIV)

Do the best you can to live at peace with everyone. – (Romans 12:18, ERV)

If it is within your power, make peace with all people. – (Romans 12:18, VOICE)

The only thing that we can control is the way that we choose to interact and react to those around us. If our heart is determined to love in all that we do, we are promoting peace through our words and actions. We can be at peace with those around us, even if they are not interested in the same. As we walk in forgiveness, we do not carry the weight that holding grudges creates. On our own, this is an impossible ask, yet with Jesus, we are equipped and empowered to love and forgive and be at peace in all things and at all times. May we ever seek the Lord to lead us in His love and pray to Him to provide peace within us wherever we go.

Peace is possible,

wherever we go;

as we live at peace,

with all whom we know.

The choice, it is ours,

to love in all things;

respond like Jesus,

so goodness we bring.

Wherever we go,

whatever we do;

Lord help us bring peace,

as we choose love true.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that You call us to peace. Thank You that You do not merely call us to peace, but You equip and empower us to be at peace with those around us. Forgive us for the times that we have held onto hurts or have grown a grudge against another. Teach us to release all things into Your hands, for You are just and good, and trustworthy with all things. Show us how to love those around us in ways that promote peace. May many come into a lasting relationship with You. Be glorified O God, as we listen to Your leading and rely on Your love. Amen.

© Shannon Elizabeth Grabrick and Revelations in Writing, May 2011 – present

Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. – Psalm 34:14

The Purpose is Love

The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. – (1 Timothy 1:5, NIV)

My purpose in telling you to do this is to promote love – the kind of love shown by those who are pure, who do what they know is right, and whose faith in God is real. – (1 Timothy 1:5, ERV)

Our teaching about this journey is intended to bring us to a single destination – a place where self-giving love reigns from a pure heart, a clean conscience, and  genuine faith. – (1 Timothy 1:5, VOICE)

Our call, command and purpose is to love. This is not merely some romantic love or infatuation, rather God’s love is sincere, from a pure heart and a genuine faith, that ever seeks to lift up, do right, and encourage the best in others. I imagine we all can think of people who have shown us love like this. Those individuals are God’s gifts to us. Each models what it means to love as God intended, and their loving kindness has been and continues to be an encouragement to do the same. May we ever seek the Lord to lead us in His love, purify our hearts, cleanse our conscience, and grow in a genuine faith.

The purpose is love,

In all that we do;

Our ultimate goal,

To learn to love true.

For God has shown us,

What it is to love;

Without conditions,

He gives from above.

Love overwhelming,

With goodness and grace;

It meets us always,

As we seek God’s face.

May we learn to love,

With hearts that are true;

That choose give freely,

As we’re called to do.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that You call and command us to love, not out of our own selfish desires or ambitions, but rather from a pure heart, clean conscience, and genuine faith. Thank You that this is not dependent on our own reserves, but rather is endlessly supplied as we seek You. Forgive us for the times that we have not chosen love. Teach us how to love in every situation and circumstance. Show us how to love each person we encounter in a way that demonstrates Your goodness to them. May many come into a lasting relationship with You. Be glorified O God, as we seek You to lead and grow us in Your love, and as a result, give love to all as You have designed us to do. Amen.

© Shannon Elizabeth Grabrick and Revelations in Writing, May 2011 – present

I delight to do Your will, my God; Your instruction lives within me. – Psalm 40:8

How Love is Made Known

Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not conceited, does not act improperly, is not selfish, is not provoked, and does not keep a record of wrongs. – (1 Corinthians 13:4-5, HCSB)

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. Love is not rude, it is not selfish, and it cannot be made angry easily. Love does not remember wrongs done against it. – (1 Corinthians 13:4-5, ERV)

Love is patient; love is kind. Love isn’t envious, doesn’t boast, brag, or strut about. There’s no arrogance in love; it’s never rude, crude or indecent – it’s not self-absorbed. Love isn’t easily upset. Love doesn’t tally wrongs. – (1 Corinthians 13:4-5, VOICE)

God provides us the ultimate example of what love is and is not. We are commanded to love God and love people, and He both shows and tells us what it is to love. Patience and kindness should lead us in how we love. Jealousy, pride, unkindness, selfishness and a short temper do not help us show love. In our broken humanity, we all struggle with loving as God does in all things. All it takes is being stuck in Seattle traffic during rush hour to be reminded that we are ALL a work in progress. We have the opportunity to extend love everywhere we go and through everything we do. Imagine what the world would look like if we all sought the Lord to lead us in His love in all that we said and did? Each time that we extend patience and kindness, we are igniting a spark that can spread. For me, when I have been granted patience or kindness when I know I did not deserve it, it caused me to take pause and work to do the same in similar situations. May we ever seek the Lord in His goodness and grace to lead us in His incredible love in all things.

Lord, help us to love,

In all that we do;

Let each word and deed,

Reflect Your heart true.

Grant us Your patience,

And Your kindness too;

Lead us to love well,

As You call us to.

Help us be gracious,

Wherever we go;

May Your heart shine through,

So love is made known.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that You call us to love. Thank You that You show us what love is and is not, so that we know what You are calling us to do. Forgive us for the times that we have lacked patience or kindness, the times that we have been jealous or rude or proud. Teach us to trust and follow You so that we might extend Your heart to the world through our love. Show us how to be patient and kind in each circumstance we encounter. Help us to love as You love. May many come into a lasting relationship with You. Be glorified O God, as we seek You to lead us in Your love in all that we say and do in every circumstance. Amen.

© Shannon Elizabeth Grabrick and Revelations in Writing, May 2011 – present

“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another.” – John 13:34

Showing Love

God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them. – (Hebrews 6:10, NIV)

God is fair, and He will remember all the work you have done. He will remember that you showed your love to Him by helping His people and that you continue to help them. – (Hebrews 6:10, ERV)

For God is not unfair. How can He forget your hard work for Him, or forget the way you used to show your love for Him – and still do – by helping His children? – (Hebrews 6:10, TLB)

 

Everything points back to loving God and loving people. If we are loving people with the love that God has planted within us, we are loving Him as well. Love is an ongoing choice to care for others – body, heart, mind and soul. It is an intentional decision to see and meet needs, in the same way that God sees our needs and provides for us in love. Each time that we choose to love others, we are loving God’s creation. To love the created, we must also love the Creator. God sees and He knows each time that we choose to love. We are saved by grace, but it is certainly good and right to live according to His plan of love. May we rise up and put our faith in action, as we intentionally choose to love as God loves each of us.

 

For we are all called,

To love as we’re loved;

Love God and people,

With strength from above.

Love not just with words,

But with all we do;

Actions speak clearest,

To show love is true.

God will remember,

Our each act of grace;

In love and kindness,

How we run life’s race.

It is not a sprint,

We must persevere;

Each day choose to love,

And know He is near.

 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that You call us to love in the same way that You love each of us. Thank You that You see and know each time we willfully choose to love others in the same way that You call us to love. Forgive us for the times that we have not chosen to love as we ought to love. Teach us to trust You more, so that we would love You and others according to Your good and perfect will. Show us how to love those around us in tangible ways. May many come into a lasting relationship with You. Be glorified O God, as we praise You for who You are and how You love, and seek You to empower us to do the same. Amen.

 

© Shannon Elizabeth Grabrick and Revelations in Writing, May 2011 – present

 

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. – Proverbs 3:3

Inscribed on Human Hearts

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. – (2 Corinthians 3:3, NIV)

You show that you are a letter from Christ that He sent through us. This letter is not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. It is not written on stone tablets but on human hearts. – (2 Corinthians 3:3, ERV)

You are the living letter of the Anointed One, the Liberating King, nurtured by us and inscribed, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God – a letter too passionate to be chiseled on stone tablets, but emblazoned upon the human heart. – (2 Corinthians 3:3, VOICE)

 

Though this verse is but a portion of Paul’s second letter to the church of Corinth, it applies to all who faithfully pursue the Lord and seek to do His will. Those who invest in the spiritual growth of others, help nurture the truth that Christ engraves upon the hearts of all who follow Him. It is by God’s Spirit that our hearts become more like His. I love the imagery that this presents. We, as followers of Christ, carry the Spirit of God in our heart, and help others discover the same. Our hearts emblazoned with the love, light and truth of the living God… May we ever passionately pursue Christ, as He is the way, the truth and the light, who deposits His heart in ours, so that we may love as He loves.

 

A letter of love,

Inscribed not with ink;

But by God’s Spirit,

Most holy love link.

His Spirit within,

Makes the truth be known;

So as we love well,

His heart shall be shown.

In all that we do,

And all that we say;

May our hearts make known,

God’s goodness and grace.

 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that as we pursue You, You inscribe truth, love and light within us, so that we may point others to all that You are. Thank You for the people whom You have placed in our lives to show us what it is to have a heart that has been inscribed by You. Forgive us for the times that we have not pursued Your heart or have failed to represent all that You have deposited within us. Teach us to trust You more, so that we would further seek Your inscription upon our lives, and go forth investing in others around us, so that they too, may know Your nearness. Show us how to love like You. May many come into a lasting relationship with You. Be glorified O God, as we allow You to write upon the tablet of our heart. Amen.

 

© Shannon Elizabeth Grabrick and Revelations in Writing, May 2011 – present

 

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. – Proverbs 3:3