Divisederos Fellowship Meeting

Hurricane Jimena

Learning to Love

by Barbara Scott

Dear Partners,

God is love (I John 4:8) Love (agape), therefore, is not an emotion that God has, but His very nature, the way He is. Agape is the eternal choice of God to be for others, to exist for the good of His creation. Agape draws no circles, excludes none. It is unconditional.

In Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus said … You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  

Man-influenced thinking says love must be performance based. If you love me, you’ll do what I want. Loving people doesn’t mean that we are supposed to let them manipulate or control us to do what isn’t pleasing to the Lord.

Notice that God is in first place here. Jesus must be the Lord of our life. Romans 8:14 tells us, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God; they are the sons of God.

Satan will try to come against us through people. Don’t allow what they say or do control you. He who angers you controls you.  At the moment of anger, who is setting on the throne of your heart? Who is ruling?

Romans 6:16  tells us, Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

As we let our God-recreated spirit control our actions, rather than emotions, we will release others from meeting any expectation on our part and we will be released from their demands as well. Then God’s love that has been placed within us by the Holy Ghost will flow out.

Ephesians 5: 18-19 tells us to be filled with the Spirit, and  Romans 5:5  says the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

The love of God isn’t something we work up but comes through the Spirit as we fellowship with God. Love is a fruit of the Spirit. For a branch to bear fruit, it must be connected to the vine. When we’re connected to Jesus we bear fruit of His kind. (John chapter 15)

Our love toward God fills us with His love, which then, reflects to others. As we renew our minds with God influenced thoughts, our actions have to follow and then we become a blessing to those around us instead of a hindrance.

When I am spirit-focused, I love. When I am me-focused, I demand.

Galatians 5:16 …Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

Tradition and religious thinking try to take the place of the truth of the Word of God. When we receive salvation, the enemy does not like losing control. He immediately sends religious spirits to try to turn us into Pharisees. The Pharisees taught the people that in order to please God they must keep the laws of Moses and the traditions of their religion, but Galatians 5:4 tells us that those traditions made God’s law of love to have no effect.

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

One way Satan will come against us is through religious thoughts or spirits (strongholds) that will try to control us and will bring us under bondage, guilt, and condemnation where we feel that we must WORK to try to please God.

I Corinthians 13:8 tells us that love never fails. Therefore, how we love determines our success level. Love always edifies, it completes, never competes.

Last month we talked about why God loves the world (cosmos) so much. In our search for why, the revelation of how God loves us gets richer and richer.

Learning to Love,

Barbara

Blessed in His Pressence

On September 26, we joined Pastors Oscar and Griselda Hoyos in Divisederos at El Buen Pastor church for a fellowship meeting. People attended from 10 different towns. These monthly fellowship meetings are an awesome evidence of God’s love among believers. They make the effort to assemble almost every month in a different town for worship and fellowship.

Helping Hurricane Victims Hand to Hand

Bob Scott writes: A hurricane hit the Guaymas, Sonora area on September 5th. Our sister church pastored by Tito and Judy Villanueva was completely flooded. Many of our Bible School grads homes were flooded and destroyed. Our staff in Mexico is working tirelessly and voluntarily to gather funds, food, water, clothing and medical supplies to take there as soon as the road is passable. The prediction is that the city will not have water for one month. Food is also scarce. Bob soon made contact with Angel Food Ministries that donated 40,000 lbs. of food.  National Carriers donated the trucking to FMI in Douglas. We received it here. Our church people helped unload it and then helped again as we reloaded it into pickups and trailers to take it to World Care in Tucson for shipping on to Guaymas. In Guaymas, Pastors Tito and Judy were added to the World Care distributors for the area.   Pastor Judy writes: A HUGE THANK YOU for all your help! We can't begin to tell you how very much we are in need of food here in Guaymas. Many people are out of work and their need is so great... Praise the Lord for HIS great mercy and love.
	See more on You Tube. Just search for Hurricane Jimena.

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