The Root of Love

Some may argue, “But love is a feeling and you cannot command a feeling. I just don’t feel anything for him/her anymore.” But agape love is not primarily a feeling. God would not command a feeling. Love is primarily an action. Love is the giving of oneself to another. It’s a skill one can develop in the strength of God’s Spirit. “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). In other words, love insists we do something. Feelings for enemies are not developed by sitting in a dark room thinking, but by doing. Feelings follow action. Feelings are the fruit, not the root, of love.

Excerpted from The Joy of Encouragement by Dr. David Jeremiah

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READING GUIDE: The Girl’s Still Got It by Liz Curtis Higgs

Think of it as time travel without gimmicks, gizmos, or a DeLorean: a novel approach to Bible study that leaps from past to present, gleaning timeless truths that will draw you nearer to the One who knows you fully, loves you completely, and holds you close to his heart.

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Learn more about The Girl’s Still Got It

READING GUIDE: The Bride Wore Blue by Mona Hodgson

At last, the sisters are reunited! The youngest Sinclair, the family“ baby”, is moving from Maine to Cripple Creek, Colorado and joining Kat, Nell, and Ida. But Vivian is a young woman with a will of her own, and made some decisions back in Portland that have begun to haunt her. Will she be able to live up to the expectations of her three perfect and now happily-settled sisters?

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Learn more about The Bride Wore Blue

The Way Things Ought To Be

The bottom line is that the Christian has a calling and a responsibility to think, work, and live in terms of how the world ought to be in contrast to reacting to how it really is. Christians who engage the world—like the many stories I’ve shared and the many more I could have—are consumed by this “way things ought to be” mind-set. They eat, drink, and breathe restoration. They see injustice and fight it. When confronted with evil they turn it for good. They are motivated to bring the love of Christ into every broken system they encounter. Instead of being cynical and hopeless, they bring optimism and expectation. For them, the entire world has been flipped on its head. Their focus has moved from self to others; from problems to solutions; from failure to redemption; from brokenness to restoration. [ … ]

NEWS: Viral by Len Sweet Featured on RelevantMagazine.com

To read about the 5 things Twitter can teach us about living like Jesus, read an excerpt from Viral by Len Sweet at RelevantMagazine.com. You can follow Len Sweet on Twitter: @lensweet.

A Cycle of Grace

… thinking about something, making a commitment to change, failing in the commitment, making a new commitment to change, failing again … On and on the cycle goes. Fortunately for all of us, God is very, very patient. He will continue calling to us, He will shout when He must, and He will always welcome us back with loving, nonjudgmental arms.

Excerpted from To Heaven and Back by Mary C. Neal, MD

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Daily Reflection:

How have you experienced the cycle of God’s grace and unending love?

NEWS: “Cleaning House” Mentioned in New York Times “Motherlode” Blog

Cleaning House by Kay Wills Wyma is mentioned in The New York Times “Motherlode” blogpost, “Our Spoiled Rotten Children.”  Click here to read.

This is the second time “Cleaning House” has been in the NYT. Wyma’s  guest post “Let Them Climb Trees (And Fall)”was featured June 28. For more, click here .

NEWS: Foursquare Church Reviews “The Necessity of An Enemy”

“Carpenter challenges the traditional perspective that circumstances, people, sin or character flaws get in the way of God’s plan. Instead, he suggests that those very enemies are ‘an announcement that the next stage of your future is about to be born,'” states Foursquare Church in its review of The Necessity of An Enemy by Ron Carpenter. Click here to read more.