Love Part 1

Hello Everyone,

Today I want to begin a several part blog on love.  This is one topic that I need to know much more about.  See, I love my wife and I love my children.  But what does that really mean?  Does it mean I feel warm inside when I'm with my wife?  Does it mean I really enjoy my children?  The answer to both of those questions is sometimes yes and sometimes no.  But it doesn't change the fact that I love them both.

But, before we get to what love is, I want to take the rest of this blog to talk about what love is not.  For those of you who read this blog inside the United State, we use this word entirely too much and we water down what it really means.  You might hear someone say, "I love my car" or "I love my school" or something else.  But that's not real love.  You can enjoy your car and you can really enjoy your school but real love is reserved for something else.

For all you young ladies let me tell you something else that is not love.  If a guy starts telling you he loves you and then starts pressuring you to have a physical relationship with him, that's not love.  That's lust and selfishness.  See anything someone uses to get something from you, is not love.  When you are dating, you might have heard if you love me, you will do this or that.  But that's not really love, most of the time it's someone trying to con you into getting something they want.

I've even heard Christians say that you are not walking in love if you don't give them the money they need or give them something else they want.  Again, that is not love.  Love does not seek to get it's own stuff.  Now let me ask you this, where are you upset with someone else because you aren't getting what you want from them?  It could be that you need rethink how you love are loving someone.

When we think about love, we often think of a feeling, but that is not love either.  Feelings are great and when I feel really close to my wife and get those warm, gooey feelings about her, I really enjoy them but that doesn't define my love for her.  In fact, I don't think feelings have anything to do with true love at all.

Well, I like to keep these fairly short so we will pick it up here next time with a little more about what love is not.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Time

Hello Everyone,

Tonight I want to talk about time.  Time is finite.  There are 24 hours in a day; 60 minutes in an hour and 60 seconds in a minute.  There's only so much of it and when we run out of time, we run out.  By that I mean when we die and go to heaven or hell, we are out of time.

I recently heard of someone who felt like they were out of time at a very young age.  The felt they had made mistakes that could not be overcome.  They felt like they were behind where they should be based on their peers.  What's so amazing about this person is that they are so young.

Maybe you feel like you are out of time.  Maybe you are 50 years old and have been through a failed marriage.  It could be you think you are too old to go back to school.  Time as run out.  It could be that you are really young and the devil has sold you a pack of lies telling you it is too late for you.  Maybe you feel that time has run out and your situation is now hopeless.  I don't know all the things that the devil uses to make us feel frustrated.  But I want you to know something.  It's not over!  You are not out of time!  God still has a plan for you.  You can accomplish that plan whether you are 15, 35, 55, or 85.  You are not out of time.

I want to tell you about a man named Abram.  He was 90 years old and his wife was almost that old.  They never had kids and wanted them.  Abram had a visitation from the Lord.  The Lord told Abram that he would be the father of so many descendants that they would be more numerous than the grains of sand on the seashore.  Can you believe that?  Well Abram did.  He believed it so much that he started calling himself Abraham which means "father of many nations."  Nine months later, they gave birth to a son and the promise was on.

Friend, God wants to do the same thing for you he did for Abraham.  If there is any area of your life where you feel that it's too late, I encourage you to take it to the Lord and see what He can do with it.  I guarantee you, it's not too late.

Well, I've blogged myself happy again.  That's another Opinion of the Minion. 

Who Should Be President

Hello Everyone,

     Today marks another changing of the guard in Washington, D.C.  We now have a new president and while there are many in this country that are excited about his arrival, there are many that are really upset about his arrival.  Which group are you?  Well regardless of which one, let me ask you this?  Why are you excited or upset.  The answer is that we all need a deeper revelation that God is our source.  If God is truly your source, then it won't matter who's in leadership because you put your trust in Him not in him (or almost her).

     See one of the problems with putting our trust in a man instead of God is we can be disappointed in them.  Where God has always performed what he said he would perform.  His record is perfect.  Do you need peace in your life?  Do you need prosperity?  Do you need healing?  Do you need forgiveness?  Do you need redemption?  No man can provide any of these but with God all things are possible.

     Another problem is that as we begin to look to these men and women of our government as our source, many times we loose sight of love.  Did you know that the Bible says God is love?  Let me put that in a mathematical equation for you.  God = Love.  To put it another way, Love = God.  You can't walk in true love without walking in true God and you can't walk in true love without walking in true God.  But many of the feelings I see and hear about politicians these days are fear, hate, concern, worry, and the list goes on.

     Guess what.  Those things aren't pure, lovely, just or of a good report and we shouldn't think on them. I'm not saying that we shouldn't pay attention to what our leaders are doing and have an opinion but when hate guides your actions, you have the violent protests we are seeing today.  We should pray for our leaders regardless of whether or not we voted for them.

     So take heart.  If you didn't vote for our president, remember that God loves you and He's still in control.  If you did vote for our president, remember that He's not God.  God is God and he loves you.

     That's another Opinion of the Minion