LizChatter

What is greater love? What is love? What identifies love? Do I love? Have I experienced love? Many of us know the great scripture in John 15 that references great love being exemplified as the person who is willing to lay his life down for another. For a picture of what this looks like we most times look to Christ's willingness to die on the cross. This season I am aware of great love that put into motion Christ's death on the Cross. That example is still Christ as he was willing to leave Heaven to come to our sin-filled Earth to begin the expedition that would provide salvation to all humanity, once and for all. He laid his life down from the foundations of the Earth. At the very moment he was conceived in the virgin's womb, he was putting into motion His "yes" to becoming the sacrificial lamb. He chose you and I over himself. There are rare moments in life when we see greater love re-exemplified. The moment when a mom chooses the life of her unborn child over he

Reposted 12/5/2010 by Liz's Chatter Original Post by Tom Kraueter 12/2/10 Nashville, TN (TR) Reacting to what they say is a lack of enthusiasm and passion for singing them, the Union of All Worship Songs (UAWS) today announced that they are officially on strike. In an unprecedented show of unanimity, songs written as recently as two months ago banded together with songs penned hundreds of years earlier as they walked out side by side. A UAWS spokesperson said, “We’re tired of it. We were written by people who genuinely loved God and wanted to express that love through song. If you read our words you can sense the original fervor. There was a passion for the Creator/Redeemer that comes through so clearly through the words and even the music. But today so many people just mouth the words. They go through the motions while yawning or looking at their watch, wondering when the service is going to end. It’s really been demoralizing for us. We had such a great beginning… and now this.” T

I wanted to share a tidbit from a conversation I had with a friend this evening. The Holy Spirit was present and our hearts were being changed by His power. "It's not easy for the carnal minded to follow Jesus... because he tells us to deny ourselves and not only to deny ourselves but also to take up our cross. Hmmm. Even for the best among us - its hard to do. Denying yourself, getting victory over your thing (thoughts, behaviors, attitudes, conversations) takes spiritual focus and soul determination. Sometimes it feels like we need to approach this like a soldier approaches warfare training. So what about your thing. Maybe it's obvious, like huge. People can smell it, see it or hear it very easily. Maybe your thing isn't as obvious as the person you sit next to. In truth, we each have a thing. Lets evaluate ourselves. Where are we as individuals with denying ourselves, with taking up our cross? How readily do we choose Him over self?"