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- Love is…. Not Self-Seeking
1Corinthians 13:5 “… it is not self-seeking…” (NIV) So this one hit me hard today because I felt like I was the type of person who always considered others, their needs, and their feelings. I was not selfish nor was I self-seeking in my relationships, I tried to be a good listener and to make others feel special and seen. And because I saw myself this way, I glossed over this scripture. For years I just bunched this descriptor with the long list of “marriage vows” in this passage, like the things I would worry about once I got married and faced the “marriage is hard” part of my life. However, for some reason, in my prayer time today, I felt the tug to reflect a bit more. As I meditated, I felt challenged like, […] - Love is Perfected in us.
‘No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. ‘ 1 John 4:12 The word “perfected” speaks to the action of making something complete or mature, and in this scripture, what is being perfected is God’s love. This phrasing, “his love is perfected in us” as “we love one another” implies that God’s love is made complete or mature here on this earth through us, through mankind. The idea that the Apostle John, in his latter years of his life, is leaving with the growing and struggling church, is that in order for people to experience the perfected love of God here on this earth, His love must live in and flow through people. Essentially, though God is perfect and his love […] - A Spiritual Gangsta has a Tender Heart
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26 Yes, a heart of flesh is a polar opposite to one of stone. However, the problem with a heart of stone is not that it is just difficult or different, the problem is that it is useless. A heart of stone simply cannot do what it is made to do. A heart is not only made to keep the body alive, but a heart is made to do this by pumping blood throughout the body, moving, contracting, beating. A hard heart, one of stone, cannot do this. It is stuck. If a heart is hard, the body is not alive. In Psalms 56:8, […] - A Spiritual Gangsta Cries
‘In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from your sight!” Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help. ‘ Psalms 31:22 I used to be a cry baby. I would cry all the time, but somewhere along the road I convinced myself that crying made me weak. I started to associate shame and a loss of control with my tears. I began apologizing to my friends every time I cried. I think it was because I hated looking weak, and I didn’t want to put pressure on my friends to have to “deal” with me being emotional. Sometimes, as women, we have had a really hard time finding a healthy space to cry. Either we cry too much, we cry to manipulate, or we feel shame about […] - A Spiritual Gangsta Hopes.
“‘Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,’ says the Lord .” Isaiah 54:1 The other day, I found myself on the phone with a good friend of mine, frustrated and feeling like a failure. I poured out my heart to her. I expressed my disappointment with my current circumstances. “I thought I would be further along by now.” I told her, “I thought my forties would look a lot different.” “I didn’t think I would be living with my parents, and I definitely didn’t think I would be watching all my friends’ and cousins’ kids grow up and become parents before I did”. There are […]
