I have the absolute honor of being a part of the worship team at our church. It is full of amazing talent and incredible hearts. On the weeks that I lead (meaning - I get to pray and seek a list of songs), I write a mini devotional to go along with my song choices. Usually, there is a scripture that I run across that sets the course for the list, or perhaps it's a song that won't leave my heart until its sung. In any event, I like to tell my team why I went the direction I did...I feel like if I can share my heart with them, they will be able to join me in earnest prayer for preparation for what's to come on Sunday. Sort of the "when two or more are gathered in my name" philosophy.
In any event, I often write these mini-devotionals (as I call them) and then I wish I saved them because I'd love to go back to read them later on.
So.
I've decided that I will post them here. They aren't too long and I know I will be happy to have them in a central place :)
Happy Reading!
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Zephaniah 3:17 “ The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing”
Love. It’s on my mind this week. Not just ohhh-i-love-my-husband-love (cause I do J), but I spent some time thinking about how much we all NEED to be loved, and how much we all NEED to love each other (as unconditionally as possible, forgiving faults and accepting people for who they are right in this moment).
It would be nice if our love was like a straight, taut rope with perfectly gapped and tied knots that mark the journey of how we came to love the person it was tied to. One knot for the first time you met, maybe one knot for the first time you realized that THIS person (spouse, family, mentor or friend) was going to be a part of your life. But the truth of the matter is that our love for each other is nothing like a perfectly taut rope of knots. Its knots within knots tied around knots with varying spaces between. Love can be messy and tangled and confusing. And because love can be these things, we have to look to the One who created love to straighten them out. His definition of love is not the same as ours (1 Corin 13).
Rick Warren said: “God IS love. (1 John 4:8) He didn’t need us. But he wanted us.” I’ve realized that when I feel unloved, or perhaps better stated – when I feel not loved to the full measure of love that I feel I need at that moment, I need to look to Him that is love to quiet my restless heart. What I am missing is the unconditional, holy love that only Jesus can pour into us. His love pours and seeps between the tangles and the knots because His love is perfect love. His love is able to reach the places that human love cannot.
I love this concept that Jesus COVETS us and that His sacrificial love is why we are able to be heaven-minded. That I can safely submit to His authority and trust that He has loved, is loving, and will continue to love me in whatever stage I’m at. As humans, we don’t have this capacity. But He does. He WANTS us and has paid the ultimate price for us.
My prayer is that you are able to get lost in the wonder of His love for us as you move thru this week. Focus on seeing how perfect love is able to fill the space between where your heart is and where His heart for you is.
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~ Love and light ~
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