hay, and stubble and will not stand the test of true Christian service. We may well grasp the fact that the need to be loved, when not forthcoming from human sources, may be found in a life poured out in service for Jesus Christ and genuine fellowship with His own. There are few things as reward ing and heartwarming as the grasp of the hand of one whom you have been privileged to lead to a living fellow ship with Christ. And it is in prayer that God speaks and calls us to service. We shall let the Bible be its own illustrator of this fact. Of the many instances we would focus your thinking upon the Apostle Paul, as in prayer God spoke and called him first to Damascus, then to the desert. During an extended time of per sonal prayer God also called Paul to his ministry in Macedonia — Acts 16:9 —where in a prayer meeting — Acts 16:13 — the Church was born. Later, Paul addressed the Church as “dearly beloved and longed for” (Phil. 4:1). There are many individuals, who through circumstances and tragic child hood experiences, have been robbed of their capacity to give or to receive love adequately. At this point Psychology and Psychiatry must admit defeat Dr. Gordon Allport writes, “Love, incom parably the great psychotherapeutic agent, is something that professional psychiatry cannot in itself create, focus, nor release.” (The Individual card His Religion, p. 80, MacMillan Co. 1952) When psychiatry reaches its defeat, then God stands ready with the answer. In I John 4:8 we read, “He that lov- eth not, knoweth not God; for God is love.” And again, “Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God.” The Scripture teaches that when we come into a living relationship with Jesus Christ (Romans 5:5) “. . . the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit . . .”, and He is the very One who makes intercession for us in prayer; He is the neverfailing supplier of the love we so desperately need! With a genuine love for God in our hearts comes the completion in a full life of service for Him. 14
The Need to be Loved (continued) love for our waiting hearts, but pre pares us through regeneration and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and brings us into a most wonderful fellow ship with other Believers. In the church where Christ is exalted, it can be said as it was of the early church, “Behold, how they love one another!” Yet, how many Believers cut themselves off from this fellowship by not identifying with local groups of Believers. "When Thou Passes* Through The Waters" When thou passest through the waters Deep the wayes may be and cold But Jehovah is our refuge. And His promise is our hold; For the Lord Himself hath said it, He, the faithful God and true: "When Thou comest to the waters Thou shalt not go down, BUT THROUGH." Seas of sorrow, seas of trial,. Bitterest anguish, fiercest pain; Rolling surges of temptation Sweeping over heart and brain — They shall never overflow us For we know His Word is true; All His waves and all His billows, He will lead us safely through. Threatening breakers of destruction, Doubts, insidious undertow — Shall not sink us, shall not drag us Out to ocean depths of woe. For His promise shall sustain us. Praise the Lord, whose Word is true; The need to express love is also im portant to our emotional maturity and well-being as Christians. Love is to be expressed toward God as the underlying motive for all Chris tian service, as Paul indicates in II Cor inthians 5:14, “For the love of Christ constraineth us . . .” Any ministry for Christ, that is not rendered on the basis of our love for Him is counted as wood, We shall no' go down or under, For He saith, "Thou passest THROUGH." — Annie Johnson Flint
Made with FlippingBook HTML5