December 12, 2022
Singing
O Love of God, how strong and true!!
…
Eternal love in thee we rest.
Forever safe, forever blest.
#81 – Though I Speak With Tongues
Huh. I’ve never looked at this song before. But the words are beautiful. Don’t know the tune.
“Though I speak with tongues of men and angels,
Though I have the prophet’s gift,
Though I hold the keys to hidden knowledge,
Though my faith can mountains shift;
Without love I am no better,
Without love it’s all for naught;
Lord, You spent Your life in loving others:
What this means I would be taught.”
Yahweh, teach me how to love the way you love. Though as I ask, I acknowledge how impossible that seems…but!! Impossible is easy for you.
1 Corinthians 13:1-7 –
I may speak in the languages of humans and of angels. But if I don’t have love, I am a loud gong or a clashing cymbal. 2 I may have the gift to speak what God has revealed, and I may understand all mysteries and have all knowledge. I may even have enough faith to move mountains. But if I don’t have love, I am nothing. 3 I may even give away all that I have and give up my body to be burned. But if I don’t have love, none of these things will help me.
4 Love is patient. Love is kind. Love isn’t jealous. It doesn’t sing its own praises. It isn’t arrogant. 5 It isn’t rude. It doesn’t think about itself. It isn’t irritable. It doesn’t keep track of wrongs. 6 It isn’t happy when injustice is done, but it is happy with the truth. 7 Love never stops being patient, never stops believing, never stops hoping, never gives up.
I promise I did not wake up with “Love” in my thoughts, but with the song, “O Love of God,” (which is love indeed, but you know what I mean). But when I saw the second song and read the words, I had to look for the scripture. And now I’m crying because I always saw the scripture from two perspectives: love from God and the love we show our fellow men including romantic love. But the other thought that came is that no one wants to go through life without love. Without some relationship that is the embodiment of love. Without knowing what it means to never lose hope and to never give up. And I don’t know if I am explaining it properly.
Not just about the love we show to others, and the love we show Yahweh, but the love that we also receive from others. Without that also, everything would seem pointless.
The words of this song comes to mind:
Show me how to love in the true meaning of the word.
Teach me to sacrifice expecting nothing in return.
I want to give my life away
becoming more like You each and every day.
My words are not enough. Please show me how to love. (Babbie Mason)
The truth is: I love this song. But there is a line in there that I wholeheartedly (used to) believe even when it came to Yahweh.
“Teach me to sacrifice, expecting nothing in return.”
I never expected anything in return.
Not from Yahweh.
Not from friends.
Not from a significant other.
I never expected anything.
And that’s truly sad.
I can’t even express how sad I feel that I never expected anything in return. Not that it’s the reason why I do anything, but love returns.
Love always returns something because
Yahweh is love.
God is love.
And he says:
Isaiah 55:11 – My word, which comes from my mouth, is like the rain and snow. It will not come back to me without results. It will accomplish whatever I want and achieve whatever I send it to do.”
Even the love that Yahweh gives and shows freely has a return in it.
Love has an expectancy in it.
Love has a hope to it.
Love never gives up.
Yahweh, thank you for your love that never gives up and never returns to you void. Thank you for growing love in me. For teaching me everyday what it means to love.
1 Corinthians 13:12-13 – Now we see a blurred image in a mirror. Then we will see very clearly. Now my knowledge is incomplete. Then I will have complete knowledge as God has complete knowledge of me. So these three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the best one of these is love.
Why? Love produces faith and hope. It is the foundation. It is Yahweh. Thank you for being the foundation that everything is built on. Thank you for the love, your sacrifice. Where you hoped that we would love in return. That our love would grow in return. That we would build on the love that you have.
Build My World Around You – Sandi Patty
Yep, so many songs are coming through my thoughts. Yahweh, I desire to build my life in you. Everything in you. Because you are love and I will also build with expectancy.
“And I believe you’ll prepare for me
a resting place when we’re through.
And I believe you will carry me,
for the rest of forever, until we’re together.
I will build my world around you.”
I will believe.
I will hope.
I will love.
Thank you Yahweh for your constant teaching and eye-opening. Thank you for the love that you have shown. That teaches us also how to love. Thank you for you. I love you.
I’m here messaging with Jeffers and he asked what caused the changes in me. And I debated where to be evasive or speak the truth. Maybe he can’t handle the truth. While Yahweh definitely worked the changes in me, he used that relationship and subsequent breakup as a catalyst that sent me straight to him.
And no matter what happens in the future, I do not intend to leave his arms. It’s not always going to be a bed of roses, though I’ve never laid down on a bed of roses so I don’t know how it would feel. And thinking about it, it doesn’t say a bed of rose petals, it says a bed of roses – roses have thorns. So it may not actually be that comfortable. But I do know it is infinitely better than where I was before. I do know that Yahweh holds my future, with or without Jeffers. And I will trust him even when it seems like nothing is happening.
I will believe.
I will hope.
I will love.
