Love: Your First Priority

Where does love fit into your list of priorities? Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you" (JOHN 13:34 NKJV). It seems to me that Jesus was saying love is the main thing on which we should concentrate. The apostle Paul states that "faith, hope, love abide . . . but the greatest of these is love" (1 CORINTHIANS 13:13).

Love should be number one on our spiritual priority list. We should study love, pray about love, and develop the fruit of love by practicing loving others. God is love, so when we walk in His love we abide in Him.
Because we walk in God's love by receiving and expressing it, we should not deceive ourselves into thinking we can love God while we hate other people (SEE 1 JOHN 4:20). It took me about forty-five years to realize that my priorities were mixed up and that I was not making love the main thing in my life. The commitment to learn how to walk in love has been the single best decision I have ever made as a Christian.

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Tyrice Gary - Men's Ministry Coordinator
1st Ministry Initiative

It's okay to laugh.

Many serious things are going on in this world, and we need to be aware of them and prepared for them. But at the same time we need to learn to relax and take things as they come without getting all nervous and upset about them. We need to learn how to enjoy the good life God has provided for us through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ (SEE JOHN 10:10). In spite of all the troubling things going on around us in the world, our daily confession should be, "This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it."Something we Christians need to do more of is laugh. We tend to be so heavy about everything - our sin, expecting perfection from ourselves, our growth in God, our prayer life, the gifts of the Spirit, and memorizing Bible verses. We carry around such heavy burdens. If we would just laugh a little more - be of good cheer, "cheer up" - we would find that a little bit of laughter makes that load much lighter.
In the world we live in, there isn't a great deal to laugh about so we will need to do it on purpose. It is easy to find plenty to worry about. To be happy, we need to work on it a little. We need to laugh and have a good time.

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Tyrice Gary - Men's Ministry Coordinator
1st Ministry Initiative

Let Your Mess Become Your Message!

 I encourage people to let go of their past, but never to run from it. The only way to gain victory over the pain of our past is to let God walk us back through that doorway of pain and into victory. No one can achieve victory for us; we have to work out our own salvation. Paul explained this truth in his letter to the Philippian church, saying:

 "Therefore, my dear ones . . . work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ). [Not inyour own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight" (PHILIPPIANS 2:12,13 AMP).

 We have to let God take us through things and let Him work in us so our mess becomes our message. Difficult things that we have endured in our past prepare us for God's blessings in our future.

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- Tyrice Gary
1st Ministry Initiative
  Men's Ministry Coordinator
http://www.the1stministryinitiative.com/mens-ministry.html#/20120625/giving-up-is-not-an-option-1718465/