God’s love | Craig T. Owens

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Absolutely Amazing

November 28, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I know I’ve read this verse before, but today it just seemed to leap off the page…

Both the One who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. (Hebrews 2:11)

Did you catch that word BOTH? This places me in the same category as God Himself!

I am the one made holy because Jesus died in my place. Jesus paid the price for the forgiveness of my sins, and for the righteousness of God to be given to me!

Then notice it doesn’t say we are being made holy, but made holy. It is finished.

Now Jesus is pleased to call us His brothers and sisters!

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!

When I read something like this, an important question comes to mind: How should I now live?

Confidently—because I am accepted into God’s family.

Humbly—because I didn’t pay the price, but Jesus paid it on my behalf.

Thankfully—because there is no greater gift I could ever receive.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: confidence, encouragement, family, forgiveness, God's love, Hebrews, humble, humility, Jesus Christ, justification, sanctification, thankfulness. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—What Motivates My Service?

November 1, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

What Motivates My Service?

If my love is first of all for God, I shall take no account of the base ingratitude of others, because the mainspring of my service to my fellowman is love to God. The point is very practical and clear. If I love someone and he treats me unkindly or ungenerously, the very fact that I love him makes me feel it all the more, and yet Paul says loves “takes no account of evil,” because self is absorbed and taken up with love for Jesus Christ.

If you are going to live for the service of your fellowman, you will certainly be pierced through with many sorrows, for you will meet with more base ingratitude from your fellowman than you would from a dog. You will meet with unkindness and “two-facedness,” and if your motive is love for your fellowman, you will be exhausted in the battle of life. But if the mainspring of your service is love for God, no ingratitude, no sin, no devil, no angel, can hinder you from serving your fellowman, no matter how they treat you.

From Biblical Psychology

The Bible tells me to love my neighbor as I love myself. But I also know that my heart is naturally evil, that I am naturally self-centered and self-absorbed. I can only love myself correctly if I see myself correctly, and that can only happen if my heart has been made new through the forgiveness of my sins.

That’s why the first greatest command is: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength (Mark 12:29-30). When I love God first and best, I can see myself correctly: As a trophy of His grace. Then—and only then—can I love others in a way that will never be exhausted, nor offended; nor will my motivation to love my fellowman be diminished by others’ ingratitude.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: God's love, Gospel of Mark, Great Commandment, love, Oswald Chambers, relationships. Leave a Comment »

God Takes The Burden Of Suffering

September 23, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

It’s always been a difficult verse for me. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds (James 1:2).

I am still wrestling with this verse and probably will be for as long as there is suffering. But I trust God. I believe He is working out something which will bring Him full glory. I know, as the apostle Paul said, that I only see through a dim glass now. But what I see of God’s love and goodness is more than enough for me to continue to trust Him.

This video is an amazing story of how suffering and disability actually brought a family to Christ—and they brought glory to God.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Book of James, God's glory, God's love, pain, suffering, video. Leave a Comment »

Love Dance

September 10, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I sat enthralled yesterday morning at the ministry of Pastor Bill Leach! He opened my eyes to a well-known passage in Philippians 2:5-11 as I had never before seen it.

In verse 7 the Scripture says that Jesus emptied Himself. Pastor Leach pointed out that this was not by laying something aside, but by taking on the human form. The Divine One became a doulos (the Greek word which means a bondslave with no rights of his own).

“Jesus is truly Man, but not merely Man.”

Jesus understood that being God is not getting, but giving. By taking on the human form, Jesus was showing us that He identified with us and therefore knew what to give us.

“For God so loved the world that He GAVE His One and Only Son.”

When we love someone, we enter into their orbit. We are focused on them and their desires. In the Trinity, each part of the Godhead is orbiting (or dancing) around each other.

In order for us to love God, God had to enter our orbit. We were self-absorbed: we danced only around ourselves. When Jesus took on human form He could enter our orbit—He could dance around us. It’s only then that we could understand how to join the love dance with Him.

Pastor Leach’s message called to my remembrance something I learned from another great pastor, Dave Williams, from 2 Peter 1:

His divine power has given us everything we needfor life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. (v. 3)

This verse sets the stage for what comes next (verses 5-7). The Apostle Peter then tells us to begin to add to our faith and our love dance with God. Add is a compound word that means a lavish dance with no expenses spared!

Because Jesus chose to step into our humanity, He chose to step into our self-centered dance. And now that we have seen Him—the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14)—it’s time to leave our self-centered dance behind and join with a new Dance Partner who loves us like no one else ever has or ever will!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 2 Peter, apostle Peter, Bill Leach, dance, Dave Williams, God's love, Gospel of John, Incarnation, Philippians, Trinity. 1 Comment »

Tapping Into God’s Blessings

September 8, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Do you want God’s blessing on your life?

Good news: God wants to bless you! He is glorified when those who love Him are living a full, blessed life.

Better news: God not only blesses us, but He also provides the means for us to tap into His blessing. His Holy Spirit is constantly calling us into the place of obedience where God can bless us.

Check out these words from the Bible—

The Lord your God will delight in you if you obey His voice and keep the commands and decrees written in this Book of Instruction, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul. (Deuteronomy 30:10)

To tap into God’s blessing, there is the conditional IF: if we obey, and if we turn to Him exclusively. That’s the good news. But the better news is that obeying Him and turning to Him is not too hard for us. Look at what the very next verses say—

This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you to understand, and it is not beyond your reach. It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, “Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?” It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, “Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?” No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it. (30:11-14)

What are you waiting for? Tap into God’s blessings today!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: blessing, Deuteronomy, God's love, God's provision, Gospel of John, Holy Spirit, obedience. 7 Comments »

Thursdays With Oswald—Don’t Love People Too Highly

September 6, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Don’t Love People Too Highly

The natural man does not like God’s commands; he will not have them, he covers them over and ignores them. Jesus said the first commandment is: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” [Mark 12:29-31]. Men put the second commandment first: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” The great cry today is “love for mankind.” The cry of Jesus is “love for God first,” and this love, the highest love, the supreme, passionate devotion of the life, springs from the inner center.

From Biblical Psychology

I can only love my wife as I understand how Jesus loves me.

I can only love my kids as I understand how my Heavenly Father loves me.

I can only learn to love my friends as I learn how the Holy Spirit reveals God’s love to me.

If I want to love others better, I must learn to love God more fully: with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind, all my strength.

Don’t try to love people more than you love God, because it cannot be done.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: God's love, Gospel of Mark, Great Commandment, love, loved ones, Oswald Chambers, priority. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—A Friend Of God And Enemy Of The World

August 16, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

A Friend Of God & Enemy Of The World

The Bible says that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son…,” and yet it says that if we are friends of the world we are enemies of God. “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?” (James 4:4). The difference is that God loves the world so much that He goes to all lengths to remove the wrong from it, and we must have the same kind of love. Any other kind of love for the world simply means we take it as it is and are perfectly delighted with it. … It is that sentiment which is the enemy of God. Do we love the world in this sense sufficiently to spend and be spent so that God can manifest His grace through us until the wrong and the evil are removed?

From Biblical Psychology

Do I love the world the way God so loves the world?
Am I willing to let Him use me to change the world?
Am I willing to spend and be spent for God’s glory?

Jesus said, “You are salt and light.” But my salt does the world no good at all unless I allow the Holy Spirit to shake it out of me. And the light doesn’t benefit anyone if my apathy is not allowing the love of God to shine brightly through my life.

I must be a friend of God and an enemy of the evil in the world which keeps anyone from coming into a relationship with Him.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Book of James, enemies, friendship, God's love, Gospel of Matthew, light, Oswald Chambers, salt. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—My Part And God’s Part

August 9, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

My Part And God’s Part

Beware of the tendency of trying to do what God alone can do, and of blaming God for not doing what we alone can do. We try to save ourselves, but God only can do that; and we try to sanctify ourselves, but only God can do that. …

The love of God is the great mainspring, and by our voluntary choice we can have that love shed abroad in our hearts, then unless hindered by disobedience, it will go on to develop into the perfect love described in 1 Corinthians 13.

We have, then, to make the voluntary choice of receiving the Holy Spirit Who will shed abroad in our hearts the love of God [Romans 5:5], and when we have that wonderful love in our hearts, the sovereign preference for Jesus Christ, our love for others will be relative to this central love.

From Biblical Psychology

I cannot save myself from an eternity apart from God.

I cannot make myself love someone.

I cannot force myself to give up a sinful habit.

But I can decide to let the Holy Spirit flood my heart with God’s love. And when this happens, I can give up anything that’s holding me back from enjoying an eternity in God’s presence.

My part: allow the Holy Spirit to bring God’s love into my heart, and then obey what God’s Word tells me to do.

God’s part: everything else.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 1 Corinthians 13, God's love, Holy Spirit, obedience, Oswald Chambers, Romans. Leave a Comment »

Stuck In My Head

July 24, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Ever since our worship team sang this song on Sunday, it has been stuck in my head. But I don’t mind at all, because it’s a great message.

So faithful, so constant

So loving and so true

So powerful in all you do

You fill me, You see me

You know my every move, You love for me to sing to You

I know that You are for me

I know that You will never forsake me in my weaknesses

I know that You have come now, even if to write upon my heart,

to remind me of who You are

So patient, so gracious

So merciful and true

So wonderful in all You do

You fill me, You see me

You know my every move, You love for me to sing to You

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: God's love, God's presence, Kari Jobe, music, worship. 2 Comments »

God Is For You!

May 9, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I cross paths with far too many people who think God is unapproachable, distant, or—perhaps worst of all—angry with them.

But listen to this good news: God is for you!

God created you to be in relationship with Him.

When Paul writes in Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us,” it’s not a wondering, uncertain “if” (as in, “I wonder if this is true?”). No! What Paul is saying is, “If you already know that God is for you, why are you wondering about who or what is against you?”

Here are the facts (all from Romans 8):