Receiving God's Love

I was blessed this past Sunday with multiplying Hershey's Bars. On Wednesday night I was tell a story about a teenaged crush I had on a particular young lady. I was in seventh grade and she was in eighth. I liked her greatly and overheard her one day say that she liked Hershey's Bars. So....I went to the store and bought one, but could not muster the courage to give it to her as an expression of my undying love. So, I kept the thing for days until I finally decided I had better give it to her before it melted. When I approached her, I simply placed the candy bar on her desk and said, "Here! This is for you." She smiled and ate the candy bar without so much as a thank you (let alone an expression of mutual attraction)!

The point to the story is this. I didn't know how to express my love to her and she didn't know how to receive my love. The moral of the story is this: God knows how to express his love for his children. His children need to learn how to receive His love so they don't miss out on the kindness of God. Why not practice receiving God's love, today?

I'm Baaaack......

Sorry for the absence from the blog, but I've been unusually busy for the last several days. Here's a thought to be pondered. Are you led by God's Spirit? Romans 8: 14 makes the strong statement that those who are being led by the Spirit are children of God. The opposite is implied - if you are NOT led by the Spirit, then you are not the child of God. The New Testament bears this truth in many other fashions, perhaps none so striking as the Pharisees and their religiosity. Though they knew the law, they didn't do it because they were unable to do so. When a person meets God that person comes under the influence of God's Spirit. He is led by, empowered by and controled by the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit is absent or void from a person's life, that person is led by external influences (the world, demonic influence, etc...) or internal influences (attitudes, fleshly desire, etc...). The child of God, on the other hand, has crucified the flesh and denied the world and pursues only the Lord. What happens in this pursuit is truly a God-Thing! The Spirit creates within a person the desire to do what God wants done. The Spirit creates within a person the momentum to get that thing that God wants done, done. The Spirit influences a person so that in the process of doing the thing that God wants done that person knows what to do and how to do it. Every day of a Christian's life should be spent surrendering to the Holy Spirit. Have you surrendered, today?