"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself." All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. - Matthew 22:37-40
what if we lived life on these two verses? i mean would we talk, dress, behave, look at... the way we do? would we miss a chance to tell someone about Jesus? if these two commandments were on our hearts all the time, what would our life be like? i reflect on my life once again these days and again i come to realize how short i fall and praise God for Jesus my savior who fills up my shortcomings. i realize how i don't live by these commandments. daily i look to see what i have done... sometimes i'm proud of myself, others i feel i could have done more. but again, if i lived every second of my life on these verses, wouldn't my life be more different?
there are more earthquakes happening here. i praise God i was out of the city when the last one happened, although most people didn't feel it. God is doing something. one person told me it's the end of the days. i told them how they are so right and that it's signs for Jesus' return. all these earthquakes made me turn to mark 13:3-13 where it talks about the signs of the times and the end of the age. if you read verse 8 it says: "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows." this is just the beginning. then if you go on to verse 9 it states: "But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them."
today i was reading jude and it talked about contending for the faith... for Jesus. it talked about how deceivers are in the midst of us. then i go back to verse 10 of mark "and the gospel must first be preached to all the nations." which then takes me back to the matthew verses... if we love people as ourselves, and there are deceivers out there, and the gospel must first be preached to all the nations, and there are still so many out there that have not heard, and these earthquakes are just the beginning... what are we doing?
urgency... do you sense it? do you see the dying people around you? do you see the corpse sitting next to you? do you sense it? do you sense the spirit prompting you to say something? i do... i say yes to all these questions. i do not ask these questions because i do the right thing all the time, but because my heart aches at the lives that are doomed for hell unless we tell them about Jesus. Jesus everyone... that's the answer for all life's problems. urgency... do you sense it?
let's live with matthew 22:37-40 in hearts. what a difference that would make? if you didn't know, wouldn't you want someone to tell you? if you answered yes, then if we are supposed to love others as ourselves, shouldn't we be telling them?
please pray with me this week as i feel this urgency. i may be gone some time in an earthquake, who knows (not said with a light heart), but for this time right now that i have breathe, i want to live like i've never lived before and want others to experience it also. will you pray with and for me this week for this. i need boldness.
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please pray...
* A and i have some stomach issues. A started on friday and i started today. it's a weird thing. A has throw up and the runs... i just have the runs. Please pray for quick healing. i thought mine was done midday, but it started again. i thought A's was done yesterday, but today it started again midday. something about midday. the thing with being sick, you could really just be sick, but being here, you realize that satan wants to use whatever he can to make you not do things. so please pray that the enemy can't use this against me to not advance God's kingdom.
* we have a car with a driver. i can't drive here, hence the driver. it's been such a blessing. our friends J&K while in the states is letting us use it. please pray for continual safety in travels, in city or out of city.
* please pray for continual good sleep for both A and myself.
* please pray daily if possible for spiritual battle which comes up in all forms, sickness, tiredness, anger, laziness, the works...
* please pray for my heart as well as A's.
- A wants daddy. she misses him, but i think she also misses all the men that were in her life in the states. she loves her uncles here, but we don't get to see them often. so please ask that the Lord will fulfill those needs in her life, as He personally speaks to her and also through the men around us.
- God's been good to me and faithful in healing me through P's death. He's really grown me so much and i desire to continue my life following what He wants me to do. i feel i've come so far in this journey, but it is hard when i see my baby struggling with the fact that she doesn't have a daddy. pray that God continues to give me wisdom in that and gives me strength through those times.
