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It's All About Love
I have been thinking lately about what it really means to love and how our behavior will change if we really get a revelation on our hearts of love. I hope we haven't missed the heart of the message at the expense of "serving" the Lord. Isn't it really all about love anyway. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." It started with God demonstrating His love towards us while we were yet sinners and totally separated from Him and even as His enemies. Love is what motivated God to do what He has done for us through Jesus. Then Jesus comes along and challenges us to do the same thing. He tells us that the whole Law is summed up in two commands, love God and love your neighbor! That's it? Yeah, that's it. Could it be that simple? Aren't there lots of other things that we need to be "doing." What about all those things that the Law tells us are right and good? Won't God hold us responsible for those things one day? Well, the truth is, all we have to do is love and everything else will fall into place. Jesus told us that if we loved Him, we would obey His commandments. Not if we wanted His approval. Not if we wanted some kind of reward. Not if we wanted people to recognize us. If we LOVED Him. When we love God with all our hearts because of what He has done for us, we will do anything for Him. This one I can begin to understand. The one that God has been dealing with me on is the other one, love your neighbor!
Do I really love my neighbor? The irony of the whole thing is that our level of love for someone will show through what we are willing to "do" for them. We don't do things in order to show our love. We do things because we love. If we love, we won't be able to help ourselves from giving, serving, blessing, and supporting. When we love those things come natural. Love is a choice, not just a feeling. Jesus said that the world would know that we are His disciples because of our love for one another. Interesting! You mean the world won't know we are His disciples by how big our ministry is? They won't know by how much we do to serve God? No, they will know by our love for one another. And not just because we say we love one another. It will be because the world will see us doing things for one another because we love one another and they will see that we are His disciples.
So, you see the Beatles weren't that far off when they sang nearly 40 years ago, "All we need is love." We need to ask the Lord to help us love more. We need to ask Him to shed His love abroad in our hearts in such a way that it will get us outside of ourselves and into obeying Him and serving others. Maybe we should ask ourselves this question more often -- "How is what I am doing or saying going to cause me to love you more?" I think that we will be much better off if we make love our aim and trust the Lord with the rest.
Ministry and Family Update
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus! We want to express our thanks for your prayers and encouraging e-mails. We appreciate all of our family and friends for your love and support. Our relationships in the Lord are so important to us and we want to bless each of you for who you are to us and to the body of Christ.
This month we hosted another YWAM DTS student, a friend from America, Jeron Pearson. After Jeron's DTS outreach and graduation he spent a week with us before he flew back to the USA. The Lord blessed our time together and helped ease the transition from his overseas ministry back to America.
Cliff baptized our brother in the Lord, Werner, who joins us in fellowship as we gather together with believers. We met on a Friday night at the local fitness gym and used their indoor swimming pool. He invited several of his friends and many people were encouraged by the fact that we were having a baptism. The testimony was heard in various places around the city. Some people were intrigued that an adult could be baptized because the traditional church that most people were raised in practices infant baptism. Jesus was glorified! Afterward we all went to a friend's house in town and had a party. We also prayed for Werner and ministered to him prophetically.
The Lord fulfilled a desire of our friend Carmen Kokman last weekend. She was married to a man from Alaska, whom she had met at a christian conference in SA she attended for a week last year. They have talked by phone and developed their relationship long distance for a year. Last week Amiel came to South Africa to marry the woman he had only seen for a week his whole life. But their relationship in the Lord is strong and they know that God has brought them together. Cliff spoke at their reception and we were blessed to be a part of this special time in their lives! We rejoice in seeing the Lord's hand bringing two special people together to bring increase in His kingdom.
The children are currently on their mid-year holiday. They have 3 weeks during the winter between terms. Most people use the time for family vacations, but we are blessed to have Cliff's mom, Miriam, with us for the entire month of July. The kids are super excited and are already enjoying "Mimi" being here with them. It is always so special to have family and friends from the US to visit.
Cliff will also be busy this month traveling and ministering into Africa. He will be leaving on July 11th to be involved in a week long conference in Harare, Zimbabwe. He will then leave Harare and travel to Blantyre, Malawi where he will be involved in teaching and training leaders in the body there. Please remember Cliff in your prayers as he travels and ministers. Cliff's outreach to other African nations is a large part of what we believe God has called us to do. It is a blessing for Cliff to be able to go on these trips.
We thank you all for your continued love and support. Feel free to drop us a note sometime on e-mail. We would love to hear what God is doing in your life as well.
Love,
Cliff, Stephanie, Camille, Natalie, and Wesley
Ministry
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