The Effects of Love

When we love or encounter love, we come alive, because thats what we were made for. And, in fact, people who love, they do so because they know that they are loved.

Love brings out the best in people. Love brings out who we really are. Thats why people always say a girl looks most beautiful when shes in love. She's just being who she really is.

Perfect love casts out all fear so when people are loved unconditionally (perfect love) it makes the fear people have nonsensical. Just like a body pushes out waste, and anything that it doesn't need, or is a danger to the body, a person's spirit will push out fear in the face of love. Love makes fear of being 'you' nonsensical. Not that fear is the only thing keeping people from being who they were created to be, but love diffidently helps brings people into their full potential.

With that being said...what you do or how you are when you have been loving or being loved, is probably what you were made to do, or how you were made to be.

Have you ever seen someone in love who is angry, sad, fearful, or bored?

hhmmmm....

Maybe we were never made for any of that stuff. Of course there is good anger and sadness, but if you are angry or sad for any reason other than love, you were not made for it. For example if you are angry because people are making other people believing lies, than that is good. You love people, and don't want them to be oppressed. If you are angry because Tommy doesn't have any money so you have to pay for his dinner....you were not made for that kind of anger. Anger is there to tell you when something is wrong. It's either going to be something around you, or something in you. But you were never made to be angry outside of love, and thats why you never see anyone in love angry.

Same with sadness and fear. You were never made for it.

From the time I encountered God, and for the first time knew his pure, and genuine love for me, many people have asked me if I am high, drunk, or if they could 'have some', not understanding the reason I act the way I do. Wouldn't you appear high, too if you were able to be the person you were created to be? If you knew how much God loved you, you'd appear to be high on life, too. Why? because your fear would be gone, and you'd be able to be who God created you to be: glorious! [Jhn 17:22] You'll be happy and hopeful for seemingly no reason, and often times against reason. People's first conclusion to this is drugs, but really, its just the effects of love.

Passages Related to This Topic:

1 Jhn 5:7-19

Jhn 17:20-26

Of Passion, Identity, and Freedom

What are you willing to do to set people free?

Are you willing to put down your fears, and take the freedom and the identity God has given you seriously?

Because when you do this, when you believe who God has said you are, and kick fear to the curb, you will see the people around you set free.

I've often heard it said that it is impossible for a Christian to live without passion. When I hear the word 'passionate' I think of a person at a mic yelling, pacing, and speaking with strong conviction. I think of worship leaders singing and playing and pouring out their heart to God. Both these picture are pictures of people with passion, however, my view is changing so that I don't see the actions(yelling, singing, pacing, crying) as the passion as much as the reason why they do the actions. The reason why the actions come is because they are pouring out their heart. They are pouring out who they are.

You will never see a passionate person being fake. What makes a passionate person passionate is how real they are. If you want to be passionate all you have to do is be yourself. Don't try to be like that one passionate guy you saw...just be you. Passionate people are just being themselves to the fullest. They are just showing the world who they are. You don't have to be loud, on a stage, talented, or the center of attention. Just be you wherever you are. It is, however, easy for a passionate person to become the center of attention, because people are attracted to people who are real.

but...passionate people are not afraid to show the world who they are.

They are not afraid of people thinking they are weird, because they are who they are, and they wont change that to please other people. They wont change to make others feel more comfortable. They wont change to blend in. They know there is no one else like them, and they don't expect to blend in. They are who they are and they wont be anybody else.

Rebellion? Strong headed? Arrogant? Rude? Selfish? Perhaps, without God. But when Jesus is the center of who you are, you discover who you were created to be, and you loose all fear of being that person. That is when you start setting people free.

Since Jesus is in the core of who we are, when we be who we are we give people a taste of Jesus. We give them a taste of selfless love, and we bring out the best in them. We bring out what they were created to be like.

See, if you conform to what people expected of you, or would like of you, you are not being yourself, and you are not helping those people. You are under the bondage of what other people think, and are not allowing yourself to be free to be you. In turn, you change nothing. Those people get what they expect(which usually is nothing that will stick out of a crowd), their lives are completely uninterrupted, and there is no change in their lives. They would never see outside their world. BUT if you decide to be you no matter what, you would wake people up from their normal expected life, and give them a taste of the same freedom that you have. To be themselves. This why people follow passionate people. They are real, they are confident, there is no one else like them, and it is easy to be themselves around them.

I've heard it said, "God knows who you are, the angels know who you are, the devil knows who you are, and the creation knows who you are. The only one who doesn't know who you are is you!" Rom 8:21-22 says that all creation is groaning for the sons of God to be revealed. If us walking in our identity will set the creation free, how much more will it set people in bondage free?

So read what Jesus and the disciples have said about you and the reality we live in with Christ (all throughout the New Testament) talk with God, and when you've discovered who you are, be that person, and set people free. And if you already know who you are...awesome! Be that person no matter what! Don't let fear stop you!

Here is a link to my friend's blog, in which he goes into detail of discovering who you are.

http://kcwalsh.blogspot.com/2010/10/who-are-you.html

The Fire In My Heart

Hi friends!

I'm back in San Jose, and I find I'm being much more productive because there is a fire in my heart. Its been burning there for a while now, but its too bright to ignore anymore. It started out not as a fire at all, but as a piece of wood. Slowly it began to get more wood, and then some pine cones, and paper, and then one day, hardly without me knowing, it was lit

on fire. God keeps feeding it and it keeps getting bigger and brighter, and now everyday I can safely say, "this is the hottest its ever been."

I'm going to share with you what this fire is, and I give this revelation to you in this analogy, because I know that those who know me will say its old news and I've gotten it before. It is old news, but in many ways it is new, because God keeps showing me more, and giving me a clearer vision for it. Also, I have to say that although its burning in me, this fire is nothing special. It is a fire God builds in everybody.

My fire is to befriend 'sinners' and give them whatever they need that I have.

When I was in Montana for the holidays, I came to the frightening realization that I had no idea how to act around non-believers. Why? because from the time I left MT. to half way through my visit back to MT( 4 months), I had not hung out with anybody but Christians. Sure I had gone on the streets and to the hospitals to pray for and heal non-believers, but I never actually spent time with them, and just hung out with them like a friend. You see Jesus wasn't known as the 'healer of sinners' or 'the miracle worker of sinners', He was known as 'the friend of sinners'. A friend is someone who sticks around. They are someone who comes to your house just to talk or share a meal. They are the ones you call when you are in trouble. They are the ones you can really trust, and the ones who trust you.

That is what Jesus was, and that is what I want to be. I long to disciple people. I long to give them what I have, because I know thats what they need. This is what I was made for: To love people to life.

I realized that I had been Christian hopping and even surrounding myself with "yes men". This is not healthy, because I was born to change the world, and how can I do that when I'm surrounded by people who don't need me. I have something to give, and am

continuously around people who don't need what I have. I want to connect with people who need what I have to give; what I am burning to give. Not many people. Two or three would satisfy this fire for now. Two or three people whose lives will be completely transformed.

This fire is burning so hot within' me that when I am in a setting in which I am surrounded by fellow Christians (whom I love) I find myself grossly unsatisfied. I have a need to give away this joy and love I've been given so freely.

The problem I have right now is how to befriend a 'sinner' in San Jose without going to school or having a job or a car. I have thought of many ideas, some more practical than others, but nothing that seems very workable. At this point I am seriously contemplating getting a job. However, since I don't have a car it might be kind of hard, but who said it had to be easy? If anyone has any ideas PLEASE share!

Much love to you all!