Women Arise! WEEKLY DEVOTIONAL (February 17, 2009)

WEEKLY DEVOTIONAL (February 17, 2009)

 

Happy Tuesday Ladies,

 

First off, I want to let you all know that we now have about 155 members and counting! Glory to God! In order for the group to grow though, I ask you all to continue to invite your friends, family, etc.!  As you add new friends, invite them to join the group so that they can be blessed and be a blessing to us! Thank you all very much and WELCOME TO MY NEWEST MEMBERS! 

 

Here is our second devotional, and I pray that you are as blessed by this one as many were by the first I sent out! Since our first topic was titled 'What Is Your Definition of Love', I decided to write a devotional about TRUE LOVE! Here is PART 1. Be blessed! 

 

I Corinthians 13: 4

 

Love is patient, love is kind, It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Love puts up with more than what is natural to us as humans beings. We have a tendency to run at the first sign of trouble. We run when things are not going our way. When people aren't behaving the way WE think they should. When others aren't doing the things WE think they should be doing. We get envious of what others have or of what others accomplish, not having a clue as to how they got to where they are. No clue as to what pain they've had to endure to get there and not even wanting to walk in the shoes they've walked in! We boast about how great we are and how bad someone else is, in an attempt to make ourselves look better. We become proud at our 'success' and from the praises we receive from others. We begin to think we are so wonderful, so smart, so beautiful, so talented, and that may well be true...But the problem is when we think it's ALL about ourselves!

 

*Now please don't get me wrong: There is nothing wrong with being proud of yourself, as long as you remember where the true GLORY belongs! Without God, we are nothing and can be nothing-so it's nothing that we do on our own, in our own strength that makes us successful at anything, but it's all because of Him...and it should ALL be done FOR Him!

 

13:5

 

Love is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. WOW! This really speaks to my spirit man!!!! My goodness! Love is not rude, that is self-explanatory! It doesn't rush to get the first parking space when someone else was there first. It doesn’t speak over someone in a heated debate in an effort to be 'right'. It is not self-seeking. In other words, love always puts others before itself! We see the best in others and magnify the good, and try to think less on the bad. It wants what's best for someone other than SELF! It is not easily angered... Hmmm... Should I be speaking on this? Well know that I'm talking to myself here ladies, too!!!!!!!! We tend to be too easily offended! Someone looks at us the wrong way, and we're like "What are YOU looking at?" Someone jumps in front of us in a line, and we're ready to grab them by their hair and move them out of the way. Someone cuts us off in traffic, and we're ready to follow them home and beat them up! More seriously, there are MANY things that people do to us that we have a 'right' to be upset about. But how far should we allow that anger to go? What is justifiable in the eye's of God? That's where it gets deep! "In your anger, do not sin" (Ephesians 4:26) How do we sin when angry? There are MANY ways, but to name a few: We yell, we use hurtful words, we curse, we gossip, we fight, we just flat out blow things out of proportion!!! Sometimes, when we are offended, if we would just NOT open up our mouths at all, that would end the whole argument. Or IF words are needed, if we would just reply with a soft answer and in a timely manner, we would be amazed at how quickly we can 'fan the flames'!  Also, there are some times when words are needed, when it's best to wait until things have cooled down before continuing on! (Proverbs 15: 1, 23)   We need to pray and ask for WISDOM in tough situations instead of being so quick to respond to any and every offense. When we do that, the Lord will show us WHAT to do, WHEN to do it and HOW to go about it!

 

'Love keeps no record of wrongs'- It doesn't jump on the phone and repeat everything from it's own perspective to the first person who comes to mind. The first person that it knows will agree with it! We have a habit of running to the phone instead of to the throne. I remember when I used to literally write everything down my husband did to upset me! That way I could go back and throw everything back up in his face when I needed to! Also, that allowed the enemy a foothold into my mind, my marriage, my life! I could be in a good mood, and happen to run across something I had written about my husband, and oh my! That was set me off! The memories of something that was long forgotten came crashing to the front of my mind. He'd call home from work and I would have a complete attitude! The poor thing had no idea what was going on! Had I not written it down...Had I not kept talking about the issues with everyone except God, I could have been over many things a lot sooner!

 

*Again, don't get me wrong: That is NOT to say that we cannot or should not talk to someone who we can TRUST and who we know won't judge the other person (we have the issue with), and who will not just agree with whatever we say even if they know we are in the wrong! We have to use WISDOM! That's why it's ALWAYS best to PRAY first and sometimes the Lord will put a certain person on your mind to talk to and who He will speak through to clear some things up for you!

 

I'll be continuing with Part 2 next week! If anyone has any comments to make or anything to add, please don't hesitate to reply back or post to the group wall! God bless you all and I love you!

 

 

LaTanya Scott