The Be One Life

Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength together a one.

Self-control

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self-controlBoth love and godly communication are keys to any good relationship. Whether the relationship is with your spouse, your children, your parents, your friends, your co-workers, your neighbors, your enemies, or even God, all relationships need love and clear communication to flourish. This is where self-control comes in. Self-control is a spiritual gift we all desperately need, yet constantly struggle with. So often in our relationships, we want the other person to love more deeply, communicate more clearly, control their actions…first. The truth is that this begins with controlling our own actions; the practice of self-control.

When we accepted Jesus, we made a commitment to follow him wholeheartedly. A major part of being a disciple of Jesus is that we love God and others. True love requires that we keep our word, that we build one another up, and that we are trustworthy. None of this can be accomplished without self-control. God wants us to speak truth in love and gentleness and encourage one another with our words. (Ephesians 4:2, 15; 1 Thessalonians 5:11). Following through on our promises show the other person that we can be trusted and that we really do love and care about building a good relationship.

God intends for us to exhibit self-control out of love for our spouse because our marriages are a reflection of the relationship of Christ and the Church. Husbands must show self-control to be the Christ-figure in our marriage and serve our wife as Christ served to the point of death. Wives must show self-control by submitting ourselves to our husband. We must ALL practice self-control by submitting to one another (Ephesians 5:21-33).

In order for us, the church, to show the world we are one with each other and one with Christ, we must exhibit self-control in our words, actions, and in all areas of our lives, so that the world may see and give glory to God. Let us all ask God to bless us with the gift of self-control in all our relationships!

Gentleness

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GentlenessGentleness is the spiritual gift of being mild mannered and implies humility and meekness. Our society equates traits like gentleness, humility, and meekness with weakness. In the kingdom of God, however, gentleness is an aspect of strength. Our perfect example of this is Jesus. In Matthew 11:29, Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jesus approached teaching others with a humble and gentle heart, and at the same time he was strong enough to carry all of our burdens. We too are called to teach the word to the lost with gentleness (2 Timothy 2:25).
As husbands and wives, we need to show gentleness in our marriages for us to grow as one toward one another. This begins with opening up the lines of communication and listening to each another. One of the hardest things for a husband to do when he sees his wife suffering is listen and empathize. Naturally, he just wants to fix the problem. This is where gentleness comes in. Husbands, your wife does not need you to be her savior when she is going through difficult times; she already has One. She needs you to be her partner who helps and supports her with gentleness as Jesus brings her through whatever trial she is facing.
Wives are called to clothe themselves with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God (1Peter 3:4). That beauty of gentleness will speak volumes to your husbands, more than anything else you might wear.
Jesus is our example of a gentle spouse in His gentleness towards his bride, the Church. He has always loved her, and showed the church gentleness for her, flaws and all. Whenever we get off track, he gently corrects us and reconciles us with God (Colossians 1:15-20).

Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to give us the gift of gentleness in our teaching and our marriages.

Faithfulness

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faithfulnessWhen we think about faithfulness, it is hard not to think about love as well. Faithfulness and love go hand in hand. Love produces faithfulness. We learned love from God, who in his loving kindness and infinite mercy personified love in the form of Jesus to save the world (John 1:14). God did not form this plan haphazardly; He laid out this plan before time began. God showed unending faithfulness and love for his creation (us) by sending his Son, Jesus, to the earth to redeem all humanity (John 3:16-17). In turn, Jesus was loving and faithful to die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins (Romans 5:6-11). Because we are made in the image of God, we ought to reflect this love and faithfulness towards God and each other. (Mark 12:29-32; Mark 8:34-36).

Our love and faithfulness to God should overflow into our marriages and families. God gives us the example of a faithful spouse in his faithfulness to Israel (Hosea 2:19-20). Jesus gives us the example of the faithful spouse in his faithfulness to his bride, the church (Ephesians 5:25-33). As husbands and wives, God has called us to be one. An excellent way to do this is to practice faithfulness in though, word and deed, allowing nothing come between you.

As spouses, parents, children, and friends, let us show love and faithfulness with our relationships the way God shows love and faithfulness to us.

Ask, Seek, Knock…Our Journey to Puerto Rico

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Askseekknock“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” -Matthew 7:7-8

Prayer works! As we reflect on our move to Puerto Rico, and how everything everything transpired, we can only conclude that IT IS A GOD THING. Ever since this move was a desire in our hearts, God has been working it out detail by detail. One of our favorite channels is HGTV. Our DVR is full of the many housing hunting series. Like most people, we watched it and said it would be great to live on the beach one day. The problem with “one day” is that day never comes, or we wait till we retire to make the move. We began asking ourselves why not make the move now and enjoy it, if we get the opportunity?

We prayed often asking God to allow us to move somewhere warm near the beach where we could live and serve. Sure enough God answered the call, and our jobs opened up so that we could live anywhere in the contiguous United States. Where in this huge country with 1000’s of miles of coastlines did we land? Williamsburg, VA–a city not far from the ocean but not particularly close either. We did not seek out places by the beach to move. We did not walk through that door God had opened for us. We ended up further away from what we were praying for. Can you relate? Of course With God, nothing is wasted. He used our time in Williamsburg as preparation for what was to come.

After almost two years in Williamsburg we asked God again to show us somewhere we could live and serve him with a warm climate near the ocean. Not much later, our jobs extended work locations to Puerto Rico. Matthew 7 calls God our Father in Heaven who gives good and advantageous things to those who keep asking him!

This time we decided to step out on faith; to not just ask, but to seek also. We planned a trip to Puerto Rico for our tenth wedding anniversary. Those months leading up to that trip were difficult for a number of reasons. Our “planner, perfectionist” tendencies tried often to take over. We learned everything we could about Puerto Rico and went back and forth many times about whether it was the right thing to do for our family. We also let doubt start to crept in, and began looking other “safer” places to move like Virginia Beach or Jacksonville. In the end we decided to trust that God would show us where we should go and to wait patiently for our trip.

On our anniversary trip, we continued our search and God laid out the way for us. After worshipping with a church on the island, we met a woman who had moved just a year before. She gave us the contact information for her realtor. God presented us the opportunity to knock and we did. We contacted the realtor on that Sunday. He contacted us right back and began finding houses for us to view. He set up viewings the next day, and when we walked into the third house, we knew it was the one. We started moving forward on securing the house, and checked one more time about working from Peurto Rico. That is when a stumbling block was placed in front of the door God had opened for us.

We found out that our job would require flying to DC for five days each month. We stopped and prayed for God to be with us as we stepped over the stumbling block and walked through the door he had opened for us. We secured the house on Tuesday and flew back home on Wednesday. God is such a good, good Father! Not only only did he facilitate a three day house search, but he just kept on giving. Less than a week after we returned home, we received notice that the job requirement to return to DC was removed. Praise God! He sealed the deal and we were set for our adventure in Puerto Rico. God even worked out the rental of our home in the states by sending us a family from Puerto Rico to live in our house!

We know that we are here “for such a time as this.” God has an assignment that He has given all of us–“to go into all the world and make disciples.” For now, Puerto Rico is our part of the world, where is yours? Will you let your light shine for
the Father wherever you are?

How much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. (Matthew 7:11)

Goodness

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GoodnessOur Abba is good. We are good. You are good. We know this because His word tells us so. This months theme is goodness. We will be focusing not only on the goodness of God, but also all the goodness He created. So often, we are bombarded with images of negativity, destruction and sadness; for this month, we want to simply meditate on goodness.

This month, today actually, our family will be making a huge life transition. We will uproot and move our family to the Caribbean. It is a God-sized dream come true, and a gift we honestly don’t have words for. This is what we consider a highlight. It’s easy to see the highlights as good, but I want to focus on the goodness that led to this.

I struggle with depression and anxiety. Towards the end of last year, I lapsed into a deep depression that I thought I would never be able to climb out of. I felt nothing but sadness, loneliness, despair, anger, exhaustion, and indifference. I definitely thought our world, or at least my part of it was ending.

But God.

As I look back at my journaling through the depression, the work I did, and the help I received, I am in awe of Abba’s goodness in all things. He used that time in the wilderness to teach me about waiting, cocooning, and loving myself and him well. He used depression–my recognition of it and my continual healing from it to teach me that though I am flawed, though I stumble, I am GOOD. Not because of anything I have done or will do, but because He is good. Before creation, God declared that I was good because He is good.

You are good too, friend. Will you believe that today? No matter where you find yourself. Whether it be marriage troubles, parenting strife, illness, depression, or any other transition. Look for His goodness, and you will inevitably find yours.

Be…Kind.

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imageThis month’s theme focuses on kindness. If you have not noticed, our themes are based on the fruit of the Spirit. As children of God we are called to live by the Spirit giving all glory to God and in turn bear fruit worthy of that call. (John 15:8; Galatians 6:16-25) This aspect of the fruit, kindness, is often replaced with niceness; however, there are big differences between being kind and being nice.

Being kind means giving others what they need according to God’s will (Roman 11:22-23), whereas, being nice means giving the other person what they want, even if it is not what God wants. Being nice focuses on pleasing others, but being kind focuses on pleasing God. Being kind requires us to tell the truth in love (2 John 1:4-6), whereas being nice requires we tell people what they want to hear. Being nice worries about pleasing the other person or what they might think of you, while being kind focuses on what best for the other person in light of salvation (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). The biggest difference between being nice and being kind is that when you are kind to someone you value their soul in light of eternity over making them happy in the present moment.

Jesus was kind, but not nice to everyone he met. As his disciples he wants us to show kindness to all those who cross our path. Kindness is a huge part of loving one another and loving our enemies. In order to have strong, godly relationships with our spouses, children, and friends, we must cultivate kindness for one another. Today and everyday, let us all bear the fruit of kindness to everyone in our lives!

Be…Patient

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bepatientThis month’s theme is Be…Patient. Patience is such a difficult characteristic to put into practice. So much so, that we thought of skipping this theme all together. See, the thing about patience is that it is something we all need and want, but none of us want to go through the difficult trials involved in producing patience (Amen?). Patience is not something we are born with; it is a gift from the Holy Spirit.


Every parent who has been through the toddler phase has wished that both they and their child were born with patience. Dealing with the “I can do it myself” stage takes a boat load of patience. As adults, many of us still take the “l can do it myself” attitude with things that only God can handle. Thankfully, we have a loving and patient Heavenly Father that waits for us to hand over our problems.

A healthy, godly marriage also takes patience. When we say, “I do” God joins us together as husband and wife, but neither person knows exactly what they are doing. Each person must learn how to be a godly spouse while being patient with the other as they learn. We must pray for the Spirit to grant us patience as we grow together.

Solomon tells us in Ecc. 3:1, “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.” Right now we are in a time of waiting on the Lord to return. Patience is needed in this liminal space between Jesus’s resurrection and his return. As His disciples, we eagerly await the gift of eternal life with Jesus in heaven, and we have also been instructed to teach and be patient with difficult people (Titus 2:24-26). This month, let us all pray for the Spirit to grant us patience to run the race well. For we know “that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:3-4)

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Why Surrender to God?

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Surrender-SubmitThe act of surrendering to God has never felt right to us for several reasons. 1) You surrender to an enemy, but God is not our enemy, he is our Heavenly Father (Matthew 6:30-33); 2) surrendering is to give up and give over your freedom, but God wants us all to be free in Christ (John 8:36); to surrender means we lose, but Christ has already given us the victory through His death on the cross and His resurrection (1 Cor. 15:56-56). To surrender is just not what God intended. So what does God command us to do?

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” -James 4:7

God wants us to submit to him. Our humble submission to Him gives us the power to fight the real enemy, the devil. Submitting to God does not require looking at him as an enemy who strips us of our freedom and forces us to worship him. Instead, humble submission to God means we are his lost children who have repented and returned home to a loving Father. He has been patiently waiting for our return, and runs to meet us with opens arms. As his children, we are loved completely, free in Christ, and victorious over sin. Let us all choose to submit to God, not surrender.

Joy in Christ

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Joy in ChristThis month’s focus is on the Joy in Christ. The world’s concept of joy is being exceedingly happy. We are told that the greatest pleasure in life comes from the pursuit of happiness. This is a man made concept; the Bible never tells us that Jesus wants us to do what makes us happy or that following him will bring us happiness and prosperity. Instead, Jesus tells us that the world will hate us as it hated him first. (John 15:18-19)

James teaches us to count it all joy, when we meet trials of various kinds, for we know that the testing of our faith produces steadfastness. (James 1:2-3) Unlike happiness, joy is not a fleeting emotion dependent on circumstances. Joy does not comes from within, but from the One who is seated above. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2) When we have that exceeding joy that comes from Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness of our wrongdoings and giving us the hope of eternal life with him in heaven, no one or no circumstance can steal that joy away from us because it is based on an unchanging promise.

We can spend our whole lives in the pursuit of happiness, but it will be an endless pursuit. In order to find joy in any part of our life, we must first seek the creator of joy. We will find peace and hope to get through anything this life might throw at us when we have the joy that Jesus gives to all that give up the pursuit of creating their own happiness and follow Him.

Faith < Love > Hope

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FaithlovehopeIn Corinthians 13, Paul teaches us to abide in faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love. Faith, hope, and love, are all essential pieces of a Christian’s life. Faith being the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen (Heb. 11:1-2). Through God’s great mercy, he causes us to be born again to a living hope, through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ from to an inheritance that is imperishishable, undies, and unfading, kept in heaven for us, who by God’s power are being guarding through faith for a salvation that will be revealed (1Peter 1:3-5). God showed us what love is by giving his only son to die on the cross to save the world, so that who ever believes will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16-17). Hope, faith, and love all work together for us to be reconciled with God and recieve his gift of salvation, so why does Paul say that love is the greatest of the three?
Paul tells us in Romans 8:24-25 that our hope is in salvation and we hope for what we have not seen. Once we see what we have been hoping for, it is no longer hope. Therefore, once our hope in eternal life with Christ is realized, hope will end. The same is true with faith. Once we see heaven, faith for salvation will end. Love, however, is different. Love is eternal, it is what brings Jesus and God the Father together as one and love brings all those who follow Jesus together as one in Him (John 17:21-26). Jesus showed the greatest act of love by sacrificing his life on the cross for us, while we were all sinners, to reconcile us with God and save us with his life (Romans 5:7-11).

Another reason love is so great is that nothing can separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:38-39). God’s love is everlasting (Psalms 103:17-18). One day faith and hope will cease, but love will remain. Jesus says if we love him, we will keep his commandments (John 14:15). We can show our love for Jesus each day by following his two greatest commandments: love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:29-31).  When we love God, ourselves, and each other the way Christ intented, our love will endure forever.

The Be One Life

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