No Room Left

Deus caritas est! “…God is love.” 1 John 4:16

As we enter this season of reflection and renewal, let’s rediscover God calling to His children, revealing His goodness, and transforming each one with Perfect Love. "This is real love – not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins" (1 John 4:10) ~ Donna Oswalt

Your emptiness accepted creates a space for God in your life. When you embrace that emptiness, God can begin to fill you. God has a plan for you. Marcrina Wiederkehr from A Tree Full of Angels

We live so fully, always busy, that we often find ourselves too full with no room left for God. Busyness can keep us from developing an intimate relationship with the Lord. To lay down the world, to lay down television, newspapers, work, electronics, social activities, and sometimes even church activities, is necessary to create time and space for God. Sadly, this is the way we frequently go about it, as an afterthought. 

...if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and His love becomes complete in us - perfect love! 1 John 4:12 The Message

What a beautiful thought - Perfect Love is complete in us! The Holy Spirit needs a place to work, and when our lives are too full, there is little room for His Presence.

READ 1 John 4:11-12

consider this!

- How does God reveal His love to me?

- Can God offer Perfect Love to others through me?

- How much space does my life create for God?

Father, come and dwell in me. It is time to clean house, throw out unnecessary clutter that robs my soul of time with You. With open hands and open ears, I ask You to fill me with holiness, speak to me with wisdom. Make me complete in You. Amen. -dho

All rights reserved; copyright 2017 by Donna Oswalt/Co-Founder of Mangrove Ministries/Christian blogger and author;  Breathing Room For My Soul (blog)~ Follow on Twitter @soulchat

For more information about this ministry visit ~

MangroveMinistries.org

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Grace Redeems!

Deus caritas est! “…God is love.” 1 John 4:16

As we enter this season of reflection and renewal, let’s rediscover God calling to His children, revealing His goodness, and transforming each one with Perfect Love. "This is real love – not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins" (1 John 4:10) ~ Donna Oswalt

 ...[God] makes us passionately and spiritually unbalanced. God steers us in the direction of His kingdom, His purpose, His passions. His desire is not to conform us but to transform us. Not to make us compliant, but to make us creative. His intent is never to domesticate us, but to liberate us. Erwin Raphael McManus from The Barbarian Way (pg. 64)

God's plan for redemption was created long before time. God's redemption transforms us, gives us new life, grants us new freedom. We glimpse eternity now and find the longing for a more intimate relationship with God.

This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that He loved us... 1 John 4:10 

God sent His only son to earth and Jesus was betrayed, beaten, and buried. Yet, it is God that always has the last word. Christ lives! Grace Redeems! And all this for my sins and for your sins, for all sinners everywhere.

READ 1 John 4:9-10

consider this!

- Define 'real love'.

- What did Jesus have to sacrifice to come into the world?

- What does 'real love' offer that the world cannot?

God of Mercy, I am not worthy of such love, such sacrifice. You love best of all. At my best, my days are filled with token deeds and worthy gestures but none come near to Your sacrifice. I kneel at Your altar with praises for freedom through Christ. Continue to transform me! Amen. -dho

All rights reserved; copyright 2017 by Donna Oswalt/Co-Founder of Mangrove Ministries/Christian blogger and author;  Breathing Room For My Soul (blog)~ Follow on Twitter @soulchat

For more information about this ministry visit ~

MangroveMinistries.org

LIKE Mangrove Ministries on Facebook

God is Love

Deus caritas est! “…God is love.” 1 John 4:16

As we enter this season of reflection and renewal, let’s rediscover God calling to His children, revealing His goodness, and transforming each one with Perfect Love. "This is real love – not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins" (1 John 4:10) ~ Donna Oswalt

Open your hearts to the love God instills... God loves you tenderly. What He gives you is not to be kept under lock and key, but to be shared.      Mother Teresa

Love is an action that a person chooses to receive and chooses to give. Because the Spirit lives inside the believer, we are empowered to love, to love like Christ. Commentary in the Life Application Bible says it this way: God's love always involves a choice and an action.

...God is love. 1 John 4:8 NCV

God's love is higher and deeper and wider and grander than we can begin to imagine. He loves us, calls us, draws near to us. God chooses us! When our response is to choose God, we discover more than enough. When we choose God, His love overflows into us. Loving each other is the action that demonstrates His amazing grace.

READ 1 John 4:7-8

consider this!

- What is the source of all love?

- Is real love a feeling or an action?

- How well do I really love?

Love Most High, You can only love one way - Completely, Generously, Perfectly. Kindle my life with that tender Love. My heart weeps at such an offering. Forgive me when I hold tightly to Your love, when my selfish soul stops the flow of Perfect Love. Amen. -dho

All rights reserved; copyright 2017 by Donna Oswalt/Co-Founder of Mangrove Ministries/Christian blogger and author;  Breathing Room For My Soul (blog)~ Follow on Twitter @soulchat

For more information about this ministry visit ~

MangroveMinistries.org

LIKE Mangrove Ministries on Facebook

Glory of God!

Deus caritas est! “…God is love.” 1 John 4:16

As we enter this season of reflection and renewal, let’s rediscover God calling to His children, revealing His goodness, and transforming each one with Perfect Love. "This is real love – not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins" (1 John 4:10) ~ Donna Oswalt

I saw the Milky Way in full glory once, while visiting a refugee camp in Somalia, just below the equator... I could not lift my sights beyond that refugee camp situated in an obscure corner of an obscure country on the Horn of Africa. Until I saw the Milky Way. It abruptly reminded me that the present moment did not comprise all of life. History would go on. Tribes, government, whole civilizations may rise and fall, trailing disaster in their wake, but I dared not confine my field of vision to the scenes of suffering around me. I needed to look up, to the stars. Philip Yancey from Finding God in Unexpected Places (pg. 29)

Philip Yancey's words paint a true picture of this world, full of difficulty and full of God. Those who serve the world do not speak of God, do not listen to God. These unbelievers frequently denounce Christians who faithfully witness for Christ.

...because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. 1John 4:4 NLT

We find ourselves surrounded by chaos and confusion, which always comes from evil; yet, we are never alone, always have hope. The Holy Spirit resides within every believer. How easily we get lost in the negative and forget to look for God's Presence. It is everywhere! Just take time to look, even to the stars.

READ 1 John 4:4-6

consider this!

- Identify evil influences in your daily life?

- How can I give God the "greater" place in my life?

- Is the Spirit abiding in me?

Holy Father - The world speaks a language designed to rob You of glory. Sometimes, the burden of the confusion and disorder almost suffocate me. My hope is Christ! Like fresh air, the Spirit breathes new life into the darkest moments. You are greater than anything in this world. Amen. -dho

All rights reserved; copyright 2017 by Donna Oswalt/Co-Founder of Mangrove Ministries/Christian blogger and author;  Breathing Room For My Soul (blog)~ Follow on Twitter @soulchat

For more information about this ministry visit ~

MangroveMinistries.org

LIKE Mangrove Ministries on Facebook

2nd Sunday in Lent - Oneness in Christ - Living as Christ

Deus caritas est! “…God is love.” 1 John 4:16

As we enter this season of reflection and renewal, let’s rediscover God calling to His children, revealing His goodness, and transforming each one with Perfect Love. "This is real love – not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins" (1 John 4:10) ~ Donna Oswalt

 What the pastor said was so simple that it will remain with me forever. "Each one of us acts as an Antichrist, " he said, "whenever we hear the gospel and do not do it." Kathleen Norris/Amazing Grace

Too often we believe the words that sound good instead of searching for the truth. Satan is clever as there are always threads of truth in all his deceptions. We get tangled in the rhetoric and miss the point.

... do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world... every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist... 1John 4:1,3

Many will try to confuse us, evil spirits and humans that are being used by the evil spirits. Scripture tells us that every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God (1 John 4:2). To acknowledge Jesus requires our words, our confession of faith in Jesus, and our actions, our deeds done in response to our faith. When we say we believe that Jesus is our resurrected Savior but live without loving actions, we act as an Antichrist. Words are powerful, but together with our actions our faith becomes testimony.

READ 1 John 4:1-3

consider this!

- What must a person believe about Christ to be a Christian?

- Why is it important to know The Truth?

- Does the Antichrist live at my house?

Father - I know the world is full of trickery, that Satan delights in my failure to listen for the Spirit of Truth. I desire a discerning heart. Amen. -dho

All rights reserved; copyright 2017 by Donna Oswalt/Co-Founder of Mangrove Ministries/Christian blogger and author;  Breathing Room For My Soul (blog)~ Follow on Twitter @soulchat

For more information about this ministry visit ~

MangroveMinistries.org

LIKE Mangrove Ministries on Facebook

Fellowship

Deus caritas est! “…God is love.” 1 John 4:16

As we enter this season of reflection and renewal, let’s rediscover God calling to His children, revealing His goodness, and transforming each one with Perfect Love. "This is real love – not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins" (1 John 4:10) ~ Donna Oswalt

 We are saved so that we might know Him in intimate daily fellowship.                                                             Steve McVey/Grace Walk

Growing intimacy defines a deeper relationship. God calls us into community with Him, longs to have intimate daily fellowship with His children. Do we really desire this?

And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us. 1 John 3:23-24 NLT

Love defines this mutuality, His love for us and our love for others. In our obedience to God's love, we find ourselves both loved and loving. We are never alone when we live in fellowship with Him.

READ 1 John 3:23-24

consider this!

- What is the character of Jesus?

- What is required for living in fellowship with him?

- What evidence of God's presence is given the believer?

Spirit of Life - You draw near to me, call me to live deeply in Christ. Let love shine through me however You desire. Amen. -dho

All rights reserved; copyright 2017 by Donna Oswalt/Co-Founder of Mangrove Ministries/Christian blogger and author;  Breathing Room For My Soul (blog)~ Follow on Twitter @soulchat

For more information about this ministry visit ~

MangroveMinistries.org

LIKE Mangrove Ministries on Facebook