Lara Love's Blog, page 323
March 1, 2017
The Pastor Made Me Cry!
““My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.” Hebrews 12:5 ESV
The pastor at a church I attended for a Bible study made me cry one day. Not in front of everyone, but when we sat in his office together with the door wide open for all to see and hear. I was happy about the door being open because I learned long ago it’s wise biblically for a woman and a male pastor to never be behind closed doors alone without at least a window, but if you might...
Homeless People Smell
“Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”” Luke 10:36-37 ESV
“For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” James 2:13 ESV
One day in church jam packed as usual with my homeless friends as this was a special weekly church service for homeless people, I took in a deep whiff of the pungent, d...
February 28, 2017
Your Private Life
“He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.” Mark 4:34
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:26
When a beloved friend asked if I had ever taught on Mark 4:34, I had two thoughts. First, I’m not a teacher. I’m an evangelist and author called to help people find and follow the Lord Jesus Christ...
Ten Crazy Things About Me
“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Mt. 10:39
This may surprise you, when I tell you 10 crazy things about me, but what may surprise you most of all is what’s in my heart concerning this. Maybe you’ll think at first I’m deprived and nuts. But once you hear my heart, you might think again. You might even take a look at your own life and begin to consider a few things. Like just where you stand.
I haven’t owned a television in years I...February 27, 2017
How Is Your Sex Life?
“Flee from sexual immorality.” 1 Cor. 6:18
Ugh. There is nothing and nobody I love to talk more about than the Lord. And there is nothing I hate to talk more about than sex – thanks to the aftereffects of childhood sex abuse. But I love the Lord too much – and I love you too much – to say no when His Spirit led me to write this.
So how’s your sex life? Before you answer, let me say this. I’m not seeking an answer. I don’t need to know. This isn’t about me. It’s about you – and God. And God ha...
February 24, 2017
An Astonishing Confession
“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Rev. 3:15-16 KJV
“I know that God loves me,” someone very dear to me said to me one day in one of our ongoing conversations about the Lord. “But I don’t know if I love God,” he said.
I was blown away by his confession.
Not because I was surprised by what he had to say. After all, his life for years had made it a...
Have You Been Here Long Enough?
“The LORD our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey…Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’” Deut. 1:6-8 ESV
Early one morning. Spending time with the Lord. Finally a good night of sleep. Getting ready for the day. With God. My usual combo of prayer, praise, study, listening, writing, in no particular order. N...
I Need Help Please
I am sad to report the more I have devoted my life to the Lord, the more I have pressed forward in ministry, the more I have loved and served God, the more I have worked to serve others, including those in dire need, the more I have lived and breathed to love and worship God, the more I have sought to help people to find and follow the Lord Jesus Christ forever, the more I have desired to reach for Christ the people this world so often gives up on, the more I have cared for the last remaining...
The Right Way to Grieve
“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” 2 Cor. 7:10
I am a long-time writer and editor so it shouldn’t have surprised me when a beloved brother in the Lord wrote me a brief message about sin in response to a devotional I had written that I found a seemingly insignificant word the general public would probably look over that I felt convicted by the Spirit of God makes an extraordinary difference in the message it was...
February 22, 2017
Get Your Hand Out of the Cookie Jar
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:1-4
“I’m sorry God!” I exclaimed to God in my heart after His Spirit had re...
