“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” ( 1John 4:16).
There is a saying that “you cannot give what you don’t have!” Let’s say you have a pot of tea. One cannot pretend to pour tea from an empty pot. You must make some tea first and then start pouring. At the same time once the tea gets finished and you need to pour some more and fill up empty cups, you need to fill the pot again. Perhaps this might mean making some more tea again, so as to be able to fill the empty cups. You can’t give what you don’t have!
This saying applies to our lives in many ways. Sometimes we may wonder why we see acts of hate all around us. There are homes where children are abused and then we wonder why. Usually the answer is simple. The abuser cannot be expected to share love, which he too, has no experience of.
On occasions you will find stories of babies abandoned in dustbins, the mother eager to move on with her life. What is happening here is that the mother feeling unloved can’t extend love to this child of her own. You can’t give what you don’t have!
Likewise, in the same vein, Christians can’t share any love unless they are assured that God loves them, first! “We love because he first loved us” ( 1 John 4:19). It is only after knowing and experiencing God’s love, can we go out and love others unconditionally.
Where you find so much hate around us it is because people have no knowledge of the true love of God. They spit hate because that is all there is they know. One cannot give what they don’t have. But pray that all may come to know the true love of God, and from there go on to share His abundant love! “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” ( Ephesians 3:18-19).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I choose love because of your love for me, which I now gladly share that those who do not know you may experience it and come to your saving knowledge, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
Related upcoming events
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18/05/2024 - 19/05/2024 All day“Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians 2:15)
Perhaps one of the most inspiring passages in the Bible with enduring lessons is where Moses pleads to Pharaoh to let the Jews go. Instead Pharaoh dared Moses if he had the power as that of a king. Challenged to “perform a miracle” Moses turned to Aaron who threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs (Exodus 7: 9-12).
What we see here is the presence of occult powers in high places, as is true even today. A common mistake by some is to deny the existence of the occult behind certain thrones or power centers, especially in instances where we find those putting on a genteel manner of social respectability. There are also those who through their education and confined exposure to the spirit realm of things, doubt the existence of occult powers. The reality is that in the world we live in the enemy is much at work. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
In this passage we see that while Pharaoh did release his snakes the staff God had placed in the hands of his messenger, Moses, was far greater and swallowed all. Here is the point. As believers we do have a far greater and mighty power to protect us from any attacks of the enemy. It is the blood of the lamb. As it is written, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony...” (Revelation 12:11).
Today whatever snakes you may encounter from anywhere be assured that you have a far greater power than of the enemy. It is the blood of Jesus. As His word says, “call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me” (Psalm 50:15).
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I pray for protection from the attacks of the enemy by the blood of the lamb, this I pray in Jesus’name.
