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9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other. (John 15:9-17)
A very happy and blessed Monday to you, ConCafe Family! May God bless you and keep you, dear one! May our prayers lift our faith and bring blessings to those in need. Pray for one another, pray for yourselves! I ask again, why do we pray? Because God answers prayer! One of my cousins in Chicago, for whom we have been praying as she battles Covid, has opened her eyes and is responding to questions! This is amazing and we praise God; please continue to pray for her and her sister. May God bless you in your daily challenges and opportunities. And just now I read on FB about my cousin, Joe Jimenez, of Kingsville, who is on life support fighting for his life after having coded three times on Friday. He is the older brother to Xavier who died two months ago of Covid, their mother four months ago; so you can imagine how the family is doing; please join the fight for life in your prayers. Thank you!
I pray none of you is a stranger to love. I know there are some, but be aware of this; God loves you! I cannot emphasize that enough, that when we feel alone or isolated, or unwanted, or abandoned; there is One who has never NOT loved you or given up on you! And that is our God. And our God further demonstrated His love through sending His Son, Jesus to the world. I've mentioned this show before, and I pray you don't get tired of hearing from it, but I don't get to see this in Houston, and since that's where Nellie and I have been serving, we don't have access to the channel that shows it. This being Sunday morning, and our having worshiped online, I turned to it and we saw the episode where Nicodemus, a well-respected teacher of the Law, has come to realize that there is more to the law then just the written word; his life becomes one of awe and wonder as he sees and witnesses miracles that he himself said, "Only God could do such things!" The show has him witness the miracle of Mary Magdalene having the legion of demons driven out of her; and also the miracle of the man lowered from the roof to the feet of Jesus Who grants him new life in his legs. He begs Mary Magdalene to set up a meeting with Jesus at night so that he can ask him some questions. The scene is wonderfully done with Nicodemus truly a questioning Jesus about all he had seen and done by our Lord. He truly begins to understand the love behind the Law, and how it relates even to him. Also, Matthew, the young, talented and commited servant of Rome, come to faith as he too witnesses unexplainable things that Jesus did, and when Jesus tells him to "Follow me," he bucks the Roman guard assigned to him to protect him, as he says he must follow Jesus.
Jesus speaks to those who are also experiencing the loving actions of a savior; and His invitation is for us to "remain in (His) love." And how? Jesus responds, "If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love." And being in Christ's love makes our lives more joyful. And if we know we are loved, we should love others. His command; "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." And then Jesus explains this type of love, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known you to you." Wow! From being servants of the Lord, to friends. No higher honor or recognition; to go from one who works for one, than to being that same one's friend. And in talking about what Jesus said next, about God choosing us; in the show, The Chosen (mentioned above), it goes back to 1952 BC, as Jacob has his 12 sons digging that famous well named for him. A Canaanite man greets him and they have a brief conversation about God; and the stranger wants to know why he could choose to believe in an invisible god, whose promises take generations to fulfill, make you sojourn in strange places, and who would break his hip and to set him on a hill where he would never find water! As he says this, one of the sons shouts to Dad, "Hurry!" And they hurry to the shallow hole as water is springing forth. Jacob turns to his new friend and says, "He chose us!" Indeed, God has chosen you and me, to go and bear fruit -- fruit that will last -- and so that whatever you asks in my name the Father will give you." And the first fruit, is the greatest fruit, that you and I would love one another. And we know that Jesus meant for us to love all people, no exceptions, no defined boundaries or requirements; all people!
So, dear one, we have our work laid out for us to follow and obey; to go to all people and speak of love, the greatest love from a loving God so that we might be in a living, loving, eternal relationship that begins here on the earth and will go with us to eternal life.
PRAYER: Loving God, fill us with that love, so that we can go forth and serve You as we love people. Help us to look beyond what used to turn away or look down on others, to fully see what You see; a person of worth and value, and one whom merits our love. May it be the start of new love among us as we seek to erase that that used to start or perpetuate conflict; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Show your love to someone you used to avoid!
Receive my blessings of love and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
