ARE YOU DISCOURAGED AND IN NEED OF ENCOURAGEMENT?

SCRIPTURE:
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves 
the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in
world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride 
of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world 
and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 
(1 John 2:15-17)

MEDITATION:    
In a world that seemingly has gone mad, 
wouldn’t it be nice to hear something encouraging?
The scriptures provide us with great news!
If we will simply do the will of God, we will live forever!

Think about what that 
means – living forever starts with right now, doesn’t it?
Certainly it means that we will live eternally whenever we pass through 
death, but it also means that we can enjoy life while we are living now.

The scriptures imply that doing the will of God starts with loving Him.
We are not to love Him along with everything else; 
we are to love Him more than anything else.
If we love the things of the world, then we are diluting our love for Him.
We can love the world, or we can love God, 
but according to His Word, we cannot love both.

We are even given some measurements 
to determine if our love is misdirected toward the world.
Love for the world means we selfishly follow the lust of our flesh and eyes.
When we do that, our back is turned toward God 
as we give our attention to the world.

When pride has arisen and influences the things we do, we forget that God 
has given us everything we have (skills, talents, spiritual gifts, success, etc.)
Pride in doing a good job and performing at your best is okay, 
but the scriptures are referring to arrogant pride (egotism).

When we have an arrogant pride, 
we are becoming independent and do not feel a need for the Lord.
We incorrectly assume that we can do just fine without Him.
Some also are misguided in their thinking and develop ideas 
that they will ‘help God’ by handling some things on their own.
Seriously? God does not need our help in the least.
What He wants is our dependence, not our independence.

ACTION:
Do you want to start ‘living forever’ right now?
Do you want to start enjoying life in the midst of turmoil?
Follow the instructions from God’s Word.
Love God more than you do the world; then do His Will.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, forgive me if I have too much love for the world.
Forgive me if I have too much pride and am ruled by the lust for 
worldly things. I want all of my love to be directed toward you so 
that I can start enjoying life now and look forward to an eternal life 
in Your presence. Thank You for loving me at all times with a love 
that cannot be duplicated by anyone in this world! Teach me how to 
let Your love flow through me.”