Give Me Your Eyes

🎧 CoffeeTIme Audio

A song at church Sunday inspired this blog. it has been swirling around in my head all week, and I can't believe it is Thursday and I haven't gotten this out!

Give Me Your Eyes by Brandon Heath   

Here is the link to listen.  

 🎵 Give Me Your Eyes

He asks God to give him HIS eyes, HIS sight, HIS arms, HIS heart.

because with our own we do NOT see what is right in front of us every day.

We can be so caught up in our own selves, our own lives, our own problems and hurt that we miss those around us who are hurting and broken worse than ourselves.

We need to see as God sees.

📖But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”   1 Samuel 16:7

And in seeing, love as Christ tells us to.

📖The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:31

Give me Your eyes for just one second

Give me Your eyes so I can see

Everything that I keep missin'

Give me Your love for humanity

Give me Your arms for the broken-hearted

The ones that are far beyond my reach

Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten

Give me Your eyes so I can see

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

📖“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply,

 ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’  

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Matthew 25:34-45

🙏My prayer is that we ALL see with HIS eyes today, tomorrow, always! and we REACH out to those HE shows us.❤️

The Best Valentine Ever

🎧 CoffeeTime Audio

💘Valentine's Day.....to some it means showing the one they love how special they are, giving your Love flowers, chocolates, jewelry etc

💙Valentine's Day....to others it means disappointment, that their Love forgets, or doesn't give what all the media and stores are telling them they should be receiving IF they were really loved.

💔Valentine's Day ....for some it means pain, heartache, a reminder that their Love is no longer with them, whether the individual or the relationship has died. Either way it is a painful reminder of what they have lost.

To me I want all the red, and pink, the hearts and the rest to remind me.....that I have been given the greatest Valentine ever!  

📖 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16

That is LOVE

THIS is love!

📖 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10

But because we are given such an amazing Valentine, we are to pass it on to others.

📖 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:11

IF we love one another...His love is complete IN US

📖  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:12

See, our love cannot be complete unless we pass on God's love to others. That doesn't mean romantic love, but genuine love, caring about an individual, beyond their choices, their beliefs.

 📖 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:16-18 

We live out God's commands as evidence of our love for Him, which means loving all.

📖 We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. 1 John 4:19-21

It is easy to love those being kind to us, those who agree with us, believe what we believe, worship how we worship, but what about the many others?

📖 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.  But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:32-36

IF we can love all others as Christ loves us we will be showing the world God's love....and giving those we meet the best Valentine ever!

My prayer🙏

📖 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ❤️ 1 John 4:7-9

His Love is perfect!

🎵 Perfect Love. Lincoln Brewster

Helping Hands

📖 Exodus 17:8-18:27

It is a long passage today, that is why I put it as a link to read, but this is the part of the passage shared on Sunday that started my thought process.

 📖 When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.

This passage is a literal picture of giving someone a helping hand. They actually held up Moses' arms so that Joshua's army would have victory.  They gave him something to sit on, so he didn't become weary of standing.  Very practical ways of assisting Moses in his task.

Do we see people around us who are weary?  What can we do to assist them?  

Shoveling a drive or walk way, carrying some groceries, opening a door,  and the list can be as varied as the needs out there!

Of course the message on Sunday had to do with helping each other, but I kept reading and as I continued into chapter 18 it was another great example of "helping hands"!

📖 5 and Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God. 6 Now he had said to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her.”

Jethro brought Moses' family to him!  What an encouragement for Moses! Something practical that he could do,

And then!...

📖 17 So Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you do is not good. 18 Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself. 19 Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you: Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God.

Then his father-in-law proceeded to give him, in detail, a plan.

📖  22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”24 So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. 25 And Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 26 So they judged the people at all times; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but they judged every small case themselves.  27 Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way to his own land.

Not only did Jethro help and encourage by bringing Moses' family to him, he gave him practical, Godly advice that would not only benefit Moses but all the people!   

Being a "Helping Hand" not only benefits the individual but can have a ripple affect!  

It isn't always physically helping, it can be a kind word or words of wisdom, as Jethro called it "counsel".  Advice, especially unsolicited advice, is something that WE think might help a person from our perspective; helpful sometimes, not always well received.  But counsel, (in biblical use, the Hebrew 'esah ) adds purpose or plan to the definition.  Something that has the receiver as the priority. I l JUST saw a post on Instagram that fits with being mindful of our "helpfulness".

But our words, no matter how well meaning,  have to be backed up with action! It is the same with our faith.

📖 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.  

James 2:14-17

🙏My prayer for you today is that you can be someone's Aaron, Hur or Jethro!  or that if you find yourself weary, that you allow others to come alongside to lift and hold you up. ❤️