Love Like You've Never Been Hurt: Ch. 8

“I pronounce you husband and wife”. These words sound so good and yet the reality is that the battles begin with those words. The man of my dreams became the thorn in my flesh. The things I loved about him began to get on my nerves. Any one else feel the same way? It was at that point, I had a choice, stay unhappy or do something about it. You see, for us divorce was not an option so to be happy something or someone had to change.

Divorce is not an option

The thing to remember is that this is just a season not a life sentence. We are called to stick it out for better or for worse. That means we are to pray together, dream together, follow God together, raise kids together, and do life together. This doesn’t mean we can’t have our own hobbies or do things with friends (of the same sex), as long as we don’t neglect our spouses. God has a plan for every person and every marriage, don’t stop the plan by giving up.

There is a door of hope in every valley of marital trouble.

Pastor Kempie and I will celebrate 37 years of marriage this year. We have made it through the toughest seasons. Believe me, you learn to die to self! We have learned that God has the answer in every situation and if we look to Him to fulfill us, hold us, and give us wisdom, we will survive every season and grow closer to each other at the same time.

Jentezen Franklin gives 4 steps to follow if you are in that tough season:

  1. Go through the valley of trouble together

  2. Go deeper

  3. Believe in your destiny as a couple

  4. Don't give up

You have all you need - you are a child of God. Stay in His Word, spend time with Him. He will guide you, sustain you, and keep you as you walk through this difficult season. Don’t give up and stop the plan of God for your marriage.

Love Like You've Never Been Hurt: Chapter 7

Do you feel like some of these chapters hit a little bit closer to home than others? This one sure hit home for me. One little thing said or done sets me off and the minute it is over you are wondering, where did that come from? Anger itself is not a sin, the management of it is.

Don't let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.

Ephesians 4:26-27

When we begin to feel ourselves getting agitated, irritable, or tired, at that moment we need to remove ourselves from the situation. Take a couple of deep breaths, pray in the Holy Ghost, scream out “Jesus take the wheel!” Whatever it takes to not respond. Psalms tells us to be slow to anger. We don’t have to be right, get a dig in, get our point across, etc. God will see to that.

Don't let strife infect you. Be a peace manufacturer. - p. 124

If we want peace, we have to pursue it. Zip your lip! I know it is hard, but we can do it. Let’s make a conscious decision to pursue peace no matter what we think it will cost us. The only thing we lose is strife, bitterness, anger, and resentment. What we can is peace and blessings.

We can do it! Yes we can!

Love Like You’ve Never Been Hurt: Chapter 6

How many of you would want a reality TV show in your house? I sure wouldn’t. We all seem to have it altogether on Sunday with our “church faces” on. Pastor Kempie and I have had those faces on as well before— talking to each other through gritted teeth while smiling the entire time.

Kindness is a language the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

- Mark Twain

The reality is, no family is perfect and as much as we hate it; neither are we. We all have had our moments when our flesh takes control and we act in ways that aren’t very loving.

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. ”
— Ephesians 4:31-32 NLT

Doing the things in Ephesians 4 requires a conscious decision. Being kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving requires effort. No one said it was easy, but it is possible. Remember, everyone is valuable, God loves them, Jesus died for them, and the least we can do is love them.

Let’s love on purpose today!

Love,

Pastor Lisa

Love Like You've Never Been Hurt - Pause & Meditate

I want to encourage those who may be a few chapters behind or if you haven’t even started yet — that’s ok! Start now! We will be adjusting the schedule slightly to continue reading this book throughout February and will pick back up with Chapter 6 on Monday.

Today, Let’s talk about our devotional “Restart Your Heart”

Day 15

Remember, we are not living on a playground we are on a battlefield. We might be in the biggest battle of our lives now or we might be in a season of preparation for the next battle — either way, the battles will come because there is an enemy! But God! I love on page 92 of our devotional it reads, “Even in the unbearable seasons of life, He is nearer than you might think. He promises never to leave or forsake you. Keep praising. Keep worshiping. Keep believing. Keep loving. Keep forgiving. Your greatest testimony has yet to be spoken, but when it is, it will set captives free!”

Believe this today! That God is for you and not against you. We serve a good God who has forgiven us for it all! Let’s make the choice to continually forgive others with this same love.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
— John 16:33

Love,

Pastor Lisa

Love Like You've Never Been Hurt: Chapters 4 & 5

It is unforgivable not to forgive. We don’t like to think about that, but God clearly states in Matthew 6:14 “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Holding on to bitterness, anger, hurt, rejection, or any type of unforgiveness hurts you in so many ways. Science has even proven that he causes sickness. Unforgiveness is nothing but poison and it affects us spiritually, emotionally, and physically.

While getting hurt is reality, getting and staying bitter is a reaction. page 54

We don't have a choice when it come to getting hurt, the opportunity will come. What we do have a choice of is our reaction to it. Do you want to swallow the bait of the enemy? I love the story of Corrie Ten Book in the book on page 74. “But forgiveness is not an emotion - and I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart……”

Let’s take our emotions out of the equation and reach out our hand to forgiveness and release it all into the hands of Jesus. We are not minimizing the pain it caused you, just the ability to let it continue to hurt you.

So with a loud voice start singing “Let it go….let it go….let it go!” Start dancing and start rejoicing!

Love,

Pastor Lisa

Love Like You've Never Been Hurt: Chapters 2 & 3

LOVE NEVER FAILS! I wish I could scream this from the rooftop. This is my mantra and I have tried to live by it. As a matter of fact- I have it hanging on the wall in my office. Every time I face a hard situation, I remember that Love Never Fails! You may not see it immediately, but love will win.

You may think, “But you don’t know what I have been through. That’s impossible!” If you remember from last month’s book, it is possible! When you became born again, you were given the very nature of God. Your old nature is gone and the new nature that is God’s nature is now in you.

Love is large and incredibly patient. love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else. Love does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best of others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up. Love never stops loving. - I Corinthians 13:4-9

He has given you His nature, His ability to love, His ability to forgive, and His ability to overcome any and all hurts. You cannot walk in love without forgiveness.

The book explains some of the steps to let go:

  1. Choose love over hurt

  2. Choose to love always

  3. Choose to press forward

  4. Choose to heal your wounds

  5. Choose to keep driving

Is there someone in your life you need to forgive? Is there someone you need to reconnect with? Is there someone you need to love? Why not start today?

Love,

Pastor Lisa

Love Like You've Never Been Hurt: Introduction & Chapter 1


Book & Devotional : Love Like You’ve Never Been Hurt by Jentezen Franklin
Blog post : by Pastor Lisa

As I began reading this book I felt like Jentezen had been at my house recording our family. Oh, the names had been changed to protect the innocent, but all the other parts, the rebellious teenager, the bringing our child home from college and leaving all their possessions behind to save them from their own destruction, and yes the yelling and tension in the home was our story too. I am happy to report that this child too now serves God right along side us. Love never fails!

We just do not know how to love - all the time. Oh, we can love when we agree with one another….We can love when we share the same lifestyle. We can even love strangers or those who don’t know us well. But it sure is harder to love those who are closer to us. Why? Because they can hurt us the most. Page 29

Every single family has gone through something, I can promise you that someone will hurt you, reject you, betray you, offend you, and leave you. It is part of life. You will experience heartache - it is part of life. But you have a choice to remain there or to keep moving until you get to the other side. You don’t have to make the trip alone, God will be with you.

“Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun,And the light of the sun will be sevenfold,As the light of seven days,In the day that the Lord binds up the bruise of His peopleAnd heals the stroke of their wound.”
— Isaiah 30:26

Let’s take this journey together and move toward a new beginning, a new start, and a new heart. A heart that can and will love like it has never been hurt.

Schedule

Mondays & Thursdays
January 10 - Chapters 2 & 3
January 14 - Chapters 4 & 5
January 17 - Chapters 6 & 7
January 21 - Chapters 8 & 9
January 24 - Chapters 10 & 11
January 28 - Chapters 12 & 13
January 31 - Chapter 14

Love,

Pastor Lisa



This New Kind of Love: Chapters 21 & 22

Everything we are, everything we need, and all we hope to be is wrapped up in this new love commandment. It is something that is so a part of us that it shines through us daily. The transformation begins in us and then begins to shine through us.

This life is Heaven’s light. It is letting Jesus loose in us. It is translating the Jesus-life into daily life. It is Jesus set free in us! p. 77

How do you know if this transformation has happened in your life? By listening to what is coming out of your mouth.

“Live a cheerful life, without complaining or division among yourselves. For then you will be seen as innocent, faultless and pure children of God, even though you live in the midst of a brutal and perverse culture. ”
— Phil 2:14-15 TPT

If you are born again, then God lives inside of you and therefore you have the ability to walk in love. It is a love nature that has been imparted to you. This love walk governs the new kingdom we are now a part of. You can pray, read the Bible, and confess all day but if you are not walking in love it will all be powerless.

I Corinthians 13 describes how this new Kingdom operates —

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
— 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

So again, I want to encourage you to practice, practice, practice! Your life depends on it literally.

Love,

Pastor Lisa









The New Kind of Love: Chapters 19 & 20

“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing.” p. 70

Right now that has to be my favorite quote! Why? There should never be a time in the life of a Christian that they should be down. When you realize what love did, what love Jesus brought into this world, and what love He has deposited into you, there is no reason to be down. Love gives hope, love brings peace, and love brings life. This love makes the dry land glad and the desert blossom as the rose!

No matter what you are going through this one thing you can hold on to — you have a God, who loves you. He loves you, God the Father loves you! Go ahead and say it, “My Father God loves me!” Hallelujah!

“To live in Love’s realm, and to learn Love’s language, Love’s methods and Love’s way is a liberal education. Now we will whisper again, God is Love and this Love God is my Father; I am His child. I am in Love’s family.” p. 73

Let’s begin the habit of love. Practice, practice, practice until it is perfected in you.

Love you all!

Pastor Lisa

The New Kind of Love: Chapters 17 & 18

The cross was Love’s method of war on sin.

The cross was Love unleashed, let loose, set free from every anchorage. It was Love becoming weak, and Love accepting defeat.

p.65

We don’t think much about the power of love and what it can do in our lives. We operate daily feeling like satan is always the victor. We typically feel, see, hear, and talk defeat more than we talk victory.

Just like love died on that cross, we too must die to self daily. It is what love does. It is our cross that we must pick up daily to follow Him. It can be a person, a hurt, a sickness, a pain, or anything that keeps you from freely operating in love. Yet, He has given us grace enough to sustain us, to cause us to be unshakeable, unmovable, and still lovable.

What do you do when grace is low? Get in the Word, spend time in His presence with praise and worship. As we fellowship with Him, grace is infused in our being. We come out like superman. We are no longer common, operating in the natural. We are supernatural operating in love.

We then become like Jesus, seeing others the way He does. Our thinking goes from “what can I get out of this”, to “what can I do for you?” If you want to change your circumstances, if you want to change you marriage, or your relationships with those you love, then you must walk in love.

This Jesus kind of love is the answer to the heart cry of childhood, of youth, of manhood, and of old age. p. 68

The New Kind of Love: Chapters 11 & 12

The Jesus kind of love is so powerful. As we are making a conscious effort to know this love and to walk in this love we will begin to see changes happening in every area of our lives. Our home and our work place should begin to feel different as we choose to set an atmosphere of love. People will begin to notice this Jesus-kind of love that is bursting at the seams!

“Now the hour has come when love must have it’s place. Society is going to break under the strain. Anarchy is going to reign. Do you know what anarchy is? It is selfishness without restraint. It is the absence of God. It is man attempting to solve life’s problems and leaving God out of his reckoning.” - page 46

We have society’s answer! The Jesus-kind of love that doesn’t love according to our flesh but loves out of the abundance of our spirit. This week let’s take a love inventory. Focus on how you are responding to people and situations and ask the Holy Spirit to make any changes within you! Spending more time in His presence will give you the answer.

If you were unable to read the two chapters this week I wanted to make sure you read the example of someone taking love-inventory on page 49 —

“A little boy who had grown up in this kind of atmosphere and who had never heard his father or mother quarrel, never had heard a bitter word spoken in their home, went to live for a week with his aunt and uncle while the father and mother took a trip to a distant city.

For the first time in his young life he heard a man swear at his wife and the child listened in amazement and began to cry. His uncle took him in his arms and said, “Danny, what is the matter, dear?” The little boy, between sobs, said, “Uncle, I thought you loved Auntie.” The uncle said, “I do.” “Oh, no you don’t; you don’t love like Daddy does, or like Mamma loves. they never say bad words.” the man looked at the child and turned to his wife and said, “Dear, I guess we have missed a great deal in life, haven’t we?” You see, the man who misses love, misses the most beautiful thing that life has to offer.”

Let’s take a good look at our lives this week and make the decision to walk in love!

Love,

Pastor Lisa

The New Kind of Love: Chapters 9 & 10

Are you beginning to get what God is saying? You are a new creation with a new nature! You have God on the inside of you, that means you have His nature on the inside of you. His nature, His grace, His love, His Word, should dominate you, not your flesh.

Can you imagine what your relationship with your spouse could be if you truly walked in love. you are capable of it. “A home would never be destroyed if every member could be taught to take his place in love.” - p. 36 Love is the place where you dominate, the Word has authority, it is where faith functions. Love becomes a force to be reckoned with, it is unstoppable.

Jesus was the first man who ever walked in love

Stop singing the song of defeat and negativity and start singing the song of victory! “Oh the wonder of it, the thrill of it, the amazing grace of it - God in me! You have this, you can do it, you can walk in love.

The New Kind of Love: Chapters 7 & 8

“There will be a holy boldness in us, a Jesus-like fearlessness. No matter what happens to us, He is inside and He will take us over. We have His ability, His courage, and His strength.” - p.30

In 2018 specifically, we have talked a lot about living a life that is set apart. God has made us into a new creation. We’re no longer dependent or moved by the past, our feelings, or our emotions but we are led by the spirit of God. We are made new! We are capable of walking in this Jesus kind of love not just some of the time but all of the time.

If God can see us as a re-created man and view each of us as His child and not as a slave than we to should be able to view others in this way — as our brothers and sisters in Christ or as the lost who are crying out for this love! Let’s continue to take this love challenge — to purpose in our hearts to respond to others with the Jesus-kind of love. When circumstance arise, we each have a choice: will we respond with our flesh or with the same love that He has given us?

“He planned that we should walk in love and act in His step. We actually take His place. It is beautiful that we can be so united with Him, so utterly one with Him, that His life absorbs and takes us over — He living in us and loving through us both in word and in deed.” - p. 34

“He living in us and loving through us both in word and in deed”
— page 34

This week of Thanksgiving is a great week to practice this walking in love challenge. Those relatives you are thinking about with gritted teeth, get ready to show them the love walk of Jesus in both word and deed!

God is so good to us. Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,

Pastor Lisa

The New Kind of Love: Chapters 5 & 6

Audio book available on youtube

“Love is God’s adhesive power that binds us together” - page 23

Love binds us together with God, with our spouse, with our church, and with others. The enemy hates love and wants to separate us from love so that he can cause division in every area of our lives.

It’s important for us to know that it is not natural for our flesh to walk in love but when we were born again we were given a new kind of love. The ability to walk in this love doesn’t come from our mind or emotions but comes from our spirit.

“Because the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit”
— Romans 5:5

“There is no limit to love. I mean the Jesus-kind of love. It is of God. It is having God’s nature within us. As we learn to give love freedom, to develop it will unveil to us the ability of God to help men.” - page 24

As we choose to train ourselves to walk in love it will unveil to us this ability! We have the ability to love like Jesus, we just have to make the choice to walk it out in every area of our lives. I love the confession on page 25-

“I have God inside of me today. It is going to be easy to do my work because the Greater One is going to move through me today, act through me, love through me, speak through me. I will not be left alone to meet any crisis. He will be there to make me a success.”

I want to encourage you to confess this in the morning before you go to work and watch and see what God does in you and through you.

Let’s love like Jesus loves!

Love,

Pastor Lisa

The New Kind of Love: Chapters 3 & 4

As believers we ARE new creations!! Let that sink in. We are not like the world and therefore should not act like, react like, talk like, live like, and yes love like the world. We have the secret weapon — Christ lives in us and gives us all we need to walk in love. With that we move from the Kingdom of this world to the Kingdom of God.

We are to settle down in that kingdom as permanent inhabitants, never to move out of the realm of love.

“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.”
— 1 John 4:17

We are ambassadors living in this world to show forth the love of God. We must learn how to live in grace and walk in love in tangible ways that the world can see. Make a conscious effort to show His love more and more.

We can not wait to hear the stories of how you have lived this out!

You can share a story of something God has done for you or through you by filling out the testimony form - theseedchurch.com/testimony

Love,

Pastor Lisa

The New Kind of Love: Chapters 1 & 2

The Book: The New Kind of Love by EW Kenyon

Purchase on amazon

Listen on Youtube

Intro

It is hard to believe that this book was written by someone who has been dead for 40 years. Our world is in chaos, hate is raging at an all time high. We wear our emotions on our sleeve and it drives our decisions even if it goes against God and His Word.

And yet God has called us as His children to be different than everyone else in the world. That difference is how we love. John tells us that God is Agape. We partake of God’s nature and that makes us sons of love. Let’s explore this agape love and learn to agape like the children of God.

Chapters 1 & 2 Blog by Pastor Lisa

Love is God! We have this God, this Love, living inside of us. Jesus Himself personified this love. the same love that He had is the same love that is to rule the hear of man. Jesus has asked us to “love one another even as I have loved you.”

Have you asked yourself what “even as” is?

How did Jesus love us? Hebrews 12:2 tell us it was because of the joy set before Him! He gave His life!

When we think of others or place others before ourselves, we experience a peace and a joy that we cannot even comprehend. This joy and this peace is what we all long for and yet it can be ours if we love “even as” He has loved us.

Love is the very reason we exist. Man would not have been created without love and since the beginning of time, Satan has worked diligently to altar, distort, and redefine love.

The new covenant that God has with man is a love covenant. It is to be our way of life, a daily walk. When we refuse to walk in love, we step out of the will of God. Our fellowship with Him is broken and our faith weakens.

Read 1 John 3: 13-24

Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love [a]his brother abides in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19 And by this we [b]know that we are of the truth, and shall [c]assure our hearts before Him. 20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave [d]us commandment. 24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

“God demands and expects us to love one another as He loved us.”

Thank you for joining me for this book club! I am excited for all God is doing.

Pastor Lisa

November Schedule

We are finishing out 2018 with a book titled, The New Kind of Love by E.W. Kenyon

“We are passing through the most critical period of human history. All that has been built through the centuries is in danger of being destroyed. Is there a remedy that can be applied at this dark hour that will save the situation? Our home lives are disintegrating. The whole moral structure of family life is endangered. There is something lacking. Natural human love has failed. Again and again we have asked the question, “Why has it failed?”

- page 7 (The Authors Reason)

Schedule

Monday, November 5th - Schedule & The Reason
Thursday, November 8th - Chapters 1 & 2
Monday, November 12th - Chapters 3 & 4
Thursday, November 15th - Chapters 5 & 6
Monday, November 19th - Chapters 7 & 8
Monday, November 26th - Chapters 9 & 10
Thursday, November 29th - Chapters 11 & 12

You can listen to the reason and Chapters 1 & 2 on youtube available at this link -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPCnlwe0Ym0

Books available for purchase online & in our bookstore & cafe.