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Thursday, February 14, 2013

God sends Valentines? Why not!

Valentines are messages of love, aren't they? And lovers send Valentines to their beloved. God is the greatest Lover of them all, and each one of us is His beloved. So why wouldn't God send us Valentines, not just on Valentine's Day but all year long!

But how does God send us Valentines? Lots of ways! One is through the sacred Scriptures, the holy Word of the Lord, so full of examples of God's goodness and mercy, love and compassion. What Scriptural Valentines have you collected and treasured over the years? Here are some of my favorites.

But how does God send us Valentines? Lots of ways! One is through the sacred Scriptures, the holy Word of the Lord, so full of examples of God's goodness and mercy, love and compassion. What Scriptural Valentines have you collected and treasured over the years? Here are some of my favorites.

With age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy toward you. Jer. 31:3

His banner over me is love. Song 2:4

The Lord your God is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will renew you in His love as on a day of festival. Zeph. 3:17

I have called you by name: you are mine....I will be with you.... Because you are precious in my eyes and glorious, and because I love you. Is. 43:1, 2, 4

Though the mountains leave their place and the hills be shaken, my love will never leave you nor my covenant of peace be shaken, says the Lord, who has mercy on you. Is. 54:10

O Lord, how precious is your love. My God, the children of the earth find refuge in the shelter of your wings. Ps. 36:8

Your merciful love and your truth will always guard me. Ps. 40:12

The favors of the Lord are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent; they are renewed each morning, so great is his faithfulness. Lam. 3:22-23

I led them with cords of compassion, with the bands of love.... Hos. 11:4

But I have trusted in Your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me. Ps. 13:5-6

I love you, O Lord, my strength, O Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. My God; my rock of refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold! Ps. 18:1-3

The Lord came to my support. He set me free in the open, and rescued me, because He loves me. Ps. 19:20

I will trust in the Lord. I will rejoice and be glad for Your steadfast love.... Ps. 31:6-7

But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever. Ps. 52:8

God will send forth His steadfast love and his faithfulness! Ps. 57:3

For Your love is better than life; my lips will praise You. Ps. 63:3

But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Ps. 86:15

Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures for ever! Ps. 106:1

For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Jn. 3:16

I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Jn. 14:31

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Jn. 15:12-13

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Live on in my love. Jn. 15:19

Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you. Mt. 12:28

The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Rom. 5:5

My dear friends, let us love one another, since love is from God and everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 1 Jn. 4:7

May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God. Eph.3:17-10

Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Eph. 5:1-2

Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him. 1 Cor 2:9

The love of Christ impels us. 2 Cor 5:14

I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you...for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control. 2 Tim 1:6-7

Although you have never seen Him, you love Him, and without seeing you now believe in Him, and rejoice with inexpressible joy touched with glory because you are achieving faith's goal, your salvation. 1 Pet. 1:8-9

See what love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called children of God! Yet that is what we are. 1 Jn. 3:1

We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 1 Jn. 4:16-17

We, for our part, love because He first loved us. 1 Jn. 4:19

The Lord disciplines him whom He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives. Heb. 12:6

1 Cor. 13 -- Every line of St. Paul's glorious hymn on the "Excellence of the Gift of Love" is a Valentine from God and worthy of deep reflection and prolonged contemplation for "there is no limit to love's forbearance, to its trust, its hope, its power to endure. Love never fails." (vs.7-8)

The Word became flesh, and made His dwelling among us, and we have seen His glory; the glory of an only Son coming from the Father, filled with enduring love. Jn. 1:14

Of His fullness we have all had a share -- love following upon love. Jn 1:16

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?....No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else is all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 8:35, 37-39

How dearly God loves us! How much He yearns to fill our hearts to overflowing with His enduring, abiding love! What special Scriptural Valentine is He sending you and you alone as a sign of His love for you? Whatever it is, may you receive it with renewed gratitude and rejoice greatly in the wondrous love of our gracious God!

Giving honor to Alice Claire Mansfield, for Writing this message of Gods love, compiling the scriptures of His love, and also submitting each one of them to Catholic Prayers. Thank you and God bless you.

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About Me

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I'm just, a nobody, trying to tell everybody, about Somebody who can save anybody. First I want to give love to the Father for giving me the opportunity to be an instrument for him to live in and live through for the glory that belongs to only him and Him alone. I served in the United States Navy for twenty one years and retired September 2003. During the last 3 years of my naval career, I served as co-pastor of Greater New Refuge COGIC in Fallon, Nevada under the tutelage of Pastor Gregory L. Brown. While there, I diligently served my pastor and church with the construction of a new sanctuary, and caring for the needs of all ministries, while simultaneously striving to stay focused on the mandate that the Lord had placed upon my life to preach the Word of God without compromise. I was licensed to preach November 2002 and Ordained June 2003. While stationed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, I proudly served and as constituent of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church for seventeen years under the leadership of Bishop Elect W. D. Scott, Sr. and presently serve under the leadership of Bishop B. Courtney McBath at Calvary Revival Church in Norfolk, Virginia.

MY THEOLOGICAL TRAINING:

It brings to my face a unadulterated smile each and every occasion I am asked, “Elder Dre, What Theological Training do you have?”

My heart beams with joy at the opportunity to humbly give full glory to God as I reflect on on how the prophets, patriarchs and apostles of old would have respond: Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua, Gideon, King David, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Matthew, Mark, Peter, James, John and the other disciples, not forgetting the Saviour Himself.

How would they have answered the question: “What theological training do you have?”

The words of the prophet Amos also came to mind: “Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit:” Amos 7:14

I surely am not impliedly decrying theological preparation, education or training: I consider it essential, but not as much as some think. For the fact is, the Almighty raises up believers according to His own standards.

Educational qualifications, wealth, fame, talent, social standing, outward appearance etc. are useful; but they are secondary in His sight. Qualities like faith, obedience, holiness, humility, honesty, absolute loyalty to one’s spouse, the ability to raise one’s family to fear God and keep His commandments etc.; these are the things the Most High values.

“Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”

Only on the Day of Judgment will it be known how truly educated, weighty and effective I have been. That is why I have to smile when the question arise.

The vanity of the question is only matched by the foolishness of my answer.

As the wise man wrote: “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; all is vanity.” Ecclesiastes 1: 2 or as the apostle Paul commented in 2 Corinthians 11:16-30 when rattling off a long list of impressive qualifications “... I speak as a fool.”

Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 1 John 4:14-15 (NLT)

I am a preacher, but most of all, I proclaim that Jesus is the Savior with various applications of that truth in my everyday life. My dear friend, if you are a Christian, you are a preacher also. Whether you have been ordained or not, hired by a church or not, or ever been recognized as a preacher or not is beside the point. All who have God living in them are called to proclaim the Savior to the world. It is a Holy calling, and a demanding one. It will pull you out of your comfort zone, challenge your commitment, and help to develop you into the person God has created you to be.

John spoke as an eyewitness to Jesus' saving power. We speak as heart-witnesses; ones who have not seen Jesus with our eyes, but have experienced Him through personal transformation. I speak, and you speak, as a representative of Christ on earth. The message that we bring is simple, yet profound; that God the Father sent God the Son into the world to save those who are lost to bring them into relationship with Him. As you tell the story, and I tell the story, some will listen and receive the grace that God has sent us into the world to proclaim.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Father, what a privilege to be a spokesperson for You.

Thank you for stopping by. Stay encouraged and please do come back.