Love God. Love His People. Live Life. Advance His Kingdom.
This Sunday, many of the girls from all three teams headed over to a church that is about a 20 minute walk from our house called, Victory Church. The statement above is their slogan, and that is what I long to live my life by, that is what I strive to do each and every day.
This Sunday morning was no different, but this time God decided He was going to use me to speak to a stranger.
I stood in the church worshipping quietly with my eyes closed, more in my head than out as I heard the chorus sing, “Oh hear the angel’s voices.”
Clear as day, I then heard God say in my heart “She needs to hear an angel, be her angel.”
I was slightly terrified. I opened my eyes and everyone in the church seemed blurry, except for one woman. I blinked in disbelief, but still God highlighted her to me.
I asked Him what to do and He told me, “Tell her she is loved. Tell her she is seen.” I stood there, a little more terrified, and asked God, “Then what?”
He replied, “Just hug her and show her my love.”
And that was enough for me. I shimmied my way out of the row and walked up to the woman.
I told her exactly what God had laid on my heart for her and she immediately fell into my arms, bawling.
My heart broke for her and next thing I knew we were wrapped in the tightest embrace and we were both crying our eyes out. I asked her name, which she told me was Portia, then I asked to pray for her.
I cannot tell you a word that I prayed over her. God spoke directly through me to her. He said what He wanted to say and what she needed to hear, but simply used me to do it.
After the prayer, we hugged and cried again, even harder this time. We wished each other the best, then I returned to my seat.
Worship continued. I sang louder than ever before. I praised the Lord for speaking to me and putting this woman on my heart. I prayed for her with everything I had.
And that was all before the service even started!
The service itself was just as powerful and here’s how it went…
The service opened with the verse 1 John 4:17-19, which reads “This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.”
The preacher opened by saying, “This is a Season of Acceleration.”
He continued to explain himself, here are he notes I took from his message.
God is bring us from glory to glory , strength to strength.
God is moving forward and he’s moving fast, so get used to the unknown.
But in the unknown, you’ll Face Fear!
There are two primary driving emotions: fear & love.
Fear paralyzes. Let love overcome fear.
The only antidote to fear is love.
There is no fear in love. Fear and love cannot co-exist. Which operates your life?
How to Conquer Fear and Accelerate Love:
Engage the Word
? Anchor your soul on the word of God
? How much has God loved each and every person in the word? Let that be a revelation to you
? The greatest demonstration of His love is in the Gospel because while I was still a sinner God died to save me
? As He is, so are you.
? I don’t have to fear because I have this revelation!
? The devil will constantly remind you of your failure and condemnation to keep you paralyzed in fear
? BUT with the revelation of God’s love and that you are what He is, you have nothing to fear because IT IS FINISHED.
Encounter His Love
? The story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus
? God’s perspective on my challenge is totally different than my perspective on my challenge. He looks at a dead man and says, “He is only sleeping.”
? They had head knowledge of His love, but they didn’t have an encounter with His love
? John 11:34 “and they saw how much He loved them” then, they had their love encounter.
? We can’t just know the love of God but we have to encounter it. We have to get intimate with His and let Him weep with us so we can experience His love.
? Love is not a head thing, it’s a heart thing!!
Edify One Another
? Demonstrate His love amongst each other
? How can you say you love God but you do not love one another?
? The last bit of love cannot be activated without community
? Loving one another wraps it all up perfectly
Do you know how much He loves you?
And that’s how the service ended.
Wow, right?
Well, now the woman I spoke to earlier, Portia, comes and finds me and hugs me.
She says to me, “You have no idea how much I needed to hear what you said to me. I can’t even tell you how much your hug meant to me. I almost didn’t come today, I had to force myself out of bed and drag myself here. I didn’t know what I needed, but what you said to me was exactly it.”
Then she gave me another great hug and we wished each other the best and went our separate ways.
This is what the service today was all about, love. This is what God is all about, love.
I am so blessed to have been used by God today to love Portia so well. God brought me to her and He spoke directly to me about how to love her best.
But this isn’t always the case.
God shows us how much He loves us, then our job is simply to mimic that and love others the best that we can.
Know how much you are loved, and give that love away freely, as often as you can and as strongly as you can.
