The voice of the Lord has seemed so clear lately. I wonder why I don't listen like this all the time. I'm sure I would live my life a whole lot differently if I spent more time concentrating on what the Father has to say to me instead of busying my life with meaningless, or even meaningful things [that are still less meaningful than the voice of God]. Anyways, I feel like I really need to share the things that He has been teaching me. I know very few people actually read this, if any, but I still feel like this may edify you, or at least I hope it will at least be encouragement to you from a fellow believer pursuing the God of the universe.
Thinking about sex trafficking makes my blood pressure rise. I have always hated sex traffickers and the men who go to brothels with all of my heart. NOTHING makes me angrier than thinking about a 60 year old man paying money to rape an 8 year old little girl. So this weekend I watched a documentary called Furious Love and it had a segment in Thailand that showed footage of the red light district with prostitutes every few feet. As I watched it tears trickled down my cheeks and something completely unexpected happened. The Lord softened my heart to the oppressors, the traffickers, the pimps, the madams, the sex tourists, the young men, the old men, the ignorant offenders, the experienced offenders, all of them... I don't think that I've ever truly experienced the Father softening my heart to something, or at least nothing that was so extremely noticeable in my heart. My heart was no longer pulsing derogatory thoughts towards these men, but it was trembling before the brokenness that they must face to do something as cruel as have sex with a little child. I remember in high school, my youth pastor showed me this sign that someone had made that said "i LOVE murderers, prostitutes, thieves, liars, etc." I thought it was cool and I thought that I loved these people also. Looking back, I didn't even know what love was. I had no idea what it felt like to truly in my heart have love for a murderer or prostitute. My heart is now heavy with love for the broken. Not just the broken that are easy to love, but the broken that basically NO ONE loves. I am so thankful that the Lord is opening my heart to the things not of this world. Because in my humanity I am completely, utterly incapable of love. However, in Christ I can love the people that in my humanity I hate. Oh man, this is profound... [THANK YOU JESUS FOR OPENING THE EYES OF MY HEART!!!] Wow, I'm literally stunned right now. This is why I need to blog more... Jesus always speaks to me when I blog.
If we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. [1 John 4:12]
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. [1 John 4:16]
WE LOVE BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US. [1 John 4:19]
Dear children, let us love not with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. [1 John 3:18]
Its so true. One part in the documentary someone says that "Jesus loves prostitutes, drug dealers, ect so much... it's just unfortunate that the church doesn't." I think of how I used to be and still God is teaching me to love the worst of the worst. It's like you look past all the dirty stuff you see on the outside and inside you just see a person who has fallen into the hands of the enemy and even though they don't know it, they long to be set free and be loved by someone. God is teaching you great things Casey
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