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Constrained ~ Pt. III

15 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by in Ambassador, Lordship, Missions, Uncategorized

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“God does not have to come and tell me what I must do for Him, He brings me into a relationship with Himself wherein I hear His call and understand what He wants me to do, and I do it out of sheer love to Him. To serve God is a the deliberate love gift of the nature that has heard the call of God.” Oswald Chambers (taken from So Send I You)

Constrained by Love to be ambassadors

“…He died for all men…Therefore, we must not judge men by our standard, but rather be ambassadors of Christ to them” (paraphrase of II Cor. 5:14-15).

In part II of “Constrained”, we noted the fact that love – His love – holds us together! It compels, while supplying the strength to go on. Not only that, but His love (constraining love) demonstrates victory over death, indicating that we should not live selfish, me-centered lives of personal gain and judgmentalism towards others. Instead, we should live as ambassadors of Him, for Him. This is the third point we will be focusing on today.

So, what is an ambassador?

An ambassador is one who is officially recognized, authorized as a representative and sent out (commissioned). He or she is carefully observed, specifically chosen, and highly esteemed, appointed to carry out a great responsibility.

This is us! We are called by Constraining Love to be ambassadors of the Gospel: to see people as receivers of the truth we proclaim because of our Commissioner. It is Christ alone who compels and enables us to embrace others with a God-sized perspective simply because we are held together by His love.

Therefore, because we fear God (“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ: that every one may receive [give account] the things done in His body…whether it be good, or bad [II Cor. 5:10])”, we win men, answering to God for our actions. Love is the Christian’s power. Christ’s love constrains us and if we allow ourselves to be contained in such a way, then this very love can perfect us in its perfection! “But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected (I Jn. 2:5)”.

Therefore, receive not the grace of God in vain: constraining love holds us together when we choose the Lordship of Christ – when we die daily and live only to Grace and to God, letting Him DO, while we LEAN. “For we walk by faith, not by sight (see II Cor. 5:7)”.

Faith leads us to be held by the “chains” of love which, in turn, bind us together, supplying the strength to be Christ’s ambassador, that we might win men, answering to God.

“When people say they have had a call to foreign service, or to any particular sphere of work, they mean that their relationship to God has enabled them to realize what they can do for God. Their natural fitting for service and the call of God is identified as one in them.” Oswald Chambers (taken from )
 
Allow His love to constrain you!
~Tiffany M. and Hannah S.
 
Original 4/6/12
Updated 3/15/13
© 2012-2013 1Love for Christ

Constrained ~ Pt.II

11 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by in Constraint, Crushed, Trusting God, Uncategorized, Yielded

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“…the love of Christ contraineth us…” II Cor. 5:14

Love Constrains. ”Let God do as He likes…”, a life constrained by Christ’s love will be stamped with His purpose to the end. Christ’s “Lordship” is not merely because He’s God and He can do as He pleases [though He can], but it is for our good, and His glory. Think of it this way:

“If you are ever to be wine to drink, you must be crushed. Grapes cannot be drunk, grapes are only wine when they have been crushed. I wonder what kind of coarse finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you, and you have been like a marble and escaped? You are not ripe yet, and if God had squeezed you, the wine that came out would have been remarkably bitter. Let God go on with His crushing, because it will work His purpose in the end.” Oswald Chambers

Constraining love demonstrates a life that is held together by Christ –compelled and urged on by Him; secure [in Him] and designed to keep us from falling away [from Him].

“Never debate about anything God is putting you through, and never try to find out why you are going through it. Keep right with God and let Him do what He likes in your circumstances, and you will find He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will be a benefit to others.” Oswald Chambers

Despite our inability to understand circumstances and heavenly purposes, we are each given a life – a chance to abandon ourselves and deliberately choose trust in our relationship with God. This trust becomes evident as we allow His Lordship in our lives to determine “God’s best”, while all the while, being “o.k.” with it.

~Tiffany & Hannah

© 1loveforChrist, 2013

Orig. April 2012, Updated Mar. 2013

A Ministry Update

21 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by in Uncategorized

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Dear Subscribers of 1LoveforChrist,

It has been a pleasure to share with you now –a little over a year– the wonderful truths that God has shared with each one of us. We are encouraged by your following of the blog as well as the many comments and emails we’ve received from many of you. However, due to insufficient time and long-term changes that are being made among our team members, we are making some big changes: mainly, teaming up with A Passion for Jesus Ministry.

Starting in August, we will no longer be updating the 1LoveforChrist blog. The blog will remain public for a period of time however, the for those who wish to go back and read through the archives. In an effort to fill the blogging hole that we’re creating, we’d like to invite you to visit and subscribe to the APJ blog. Similar content will be shared on there by familiar contributors that have posted for this site, as well as others that you will enjoy hearing from.

A Passion for Jesus is committed to reaching teenage girls with a counter-cultural message of truth. Through conferences, retreats and small group discipleship, APJ is bringing a message of hope to the lives of hundreds of young women, both here in the United States and internationally. God has opened the door for me to become a staff member of this ministry, and I will be serving under them as I head over to Russia this summer.

As a whole, our team would like to thank you again for your support and encouragement as we’ve desired to impact the world for Christ. Please keep each of us in your prayers as we “Go into all the world” in the various ways God has called us to. If you have any questions or personal comments, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to respond.

May God richly bless you all!

~Tiffany Martens

Why Bondage?

17 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by in Bondage, Israel

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Which Generation of Israelite’s entered into the Promised Land? 

The Children of Israel were set free from their bondage in Egypt and they were guided through the wilderness by God’s faithful servants. However, the generation that came out of captivity was not the same generation that would enter the promise land (see Lev. 20:24). Although the journey was long and hard, and it was the parents that took the action to walk in their release, failure to conquer the land of promise (initiated out of fear) resulted in the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. It was, in fact, their children who would inherit the blessing of the promised land –an unclaimed legacy awaiting simple obedience.

It is important for us to understand that “God did not take the Promised Land away from the Israelite’s…God always does what he has promised, however it is our responsibility to walk in obedience, freedom and victory that the Lord has for us. Our action is always required.”

How do we follow this same scenario in our lives?

Most of our parents have “labored” hard for their spiritual freedom, leaving behind their “Egypt’s”, walking by faith and obedience to the Lord, and in doing so, have prepared a legacy for us to enter into. If we choose to, we can have a “Egypt-free” life, because of the foundation that has been laid before us; however we must still choose to enter into that promise. We can choose to be like the first or second generation of the Israelite’s.

Do we choose to pursue purity, or to turn to the sins of our forefathers?

We have the same choices our parents had…for some of us, we are a second generation, and others, a first. Some of us may not enter into the promised land (in a sense) because of our fear of conquering, while others of us have the opportunity to conquer and just need to step out in faith and enter into the legacy that is awaiting us. At any rate, we need to prepare for the generations to come, intentionally choosing to live in a way that is according to God’s moral standards, “so (that) the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God” (Ps.78:6-8).

Our “today” choices will affect their future.

Tiffany Martens

A Ministry Update:

14 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by in Uncategorized

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Reblogged from One Love for Christ:

Dear Subscribers of 1LoveforChrist,

It has been a pleasure to share with you now --a little over a year-- the wonderful truths that God has shared with each one of us. We are encouraged by your following of the blog as well as the many comments and emails we've received from many of you. However, due to insufficient time and long-term changes that are being made among our team members, we are making some big changes: mainly, teaming up with…

Read more… 319 more words

An Indelible Mark

13 Friday Jul 2012

Posted by in Sanctification, Women, young men

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A while back I did a post on the Titus 2 believers (both men and women)…people who set an example and mentor us in spiritual growth. I can name a few that left an indelible mark on my life.

  1. My fourth grade Sunday school teacher: she wrote me letters every week, and once a month she took our class to lunch. Those two actions together, engrained in me a desire to be like her. She led by example, invested her money into us, and taught us what it really meant to love God.

  2. A music classmate: I’ll never forget the day she came and humbled herself to me, asking forgiveness for something she had said. She was so sensitive to the Lord; I wanted to be like her. She lived what she believed. Throughout continued correspondence, after the class, she consistently asked: “What is the Lord teaching you?”. I had to stop and think about that; it made me wonder whether I was just going through life, or if I was teachable and actually learning from God. This woman impacted my future decisions by instilling in me a constant awareness of God wanting to be at work in my life.

  3. A leader in youth work: I remember attending a soccer game with a group…at intermission out came some inappropriately dressed cheerleaders, and he didn’t stay. He got up and left, returning later.  This man walked what he taught. Since that time, that scene has stuck with me over the years.

These life situations brought consequence with them: positively impacting my life with a desire to obey Christ. These were normal men and women living the Titus 2 message, not in word, but in life. They were living what the gospel had done for them: redemption from the “old man”.

I have to admit, among the ones that speak and do not do, I easily loose respect…but for those who say and do, I admire and mark. Why? Well, for one, because they stand out, and secondly, because they have urged me to “do”. Impact.

It seems that real Titus 2 people are far and few between, but when you find one, you will know it. A Titus 2 believer is one who, when he or she hears the word, applies appropriate action to their belief. Who have these been in your life? Are you impacted by the imprint of God upon their lives, through their obedience to the ruler of their hearts? Sanctification in real life can be a reality if we intentionally yield ourselves to God’s will, walking according to His spirit instead of our flesh.

How do you walk?

Tiffany Martens

Thirty Years from Now…..?

03 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by in America, Legacy, Morality

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What person doesn’t struggle with morality in one way or another?

Over the years this need for being loved, accepted….affirmed, has not changed. It’s current. And in a world that is pretty much filled with sexual language, photos, advertisements and the philosophy of gratification, young people, even children are being influenced by a culture that is mesmerized by outright sin –with hardly a distant thought of future consequences. We are entering an era of godlessness in our nation. It’s a scary thought, and time to become intentional about learning how to leave a godly moral legacy for the generation to come.

A few weeks ago, my family went to lake MI for the day…

…as I sat on the beach I couldn’t help but overhear a group of young ladies carelessly talking of their current relationships and involvement with young men. They were young, too young for such a lifestyle, yet they talked as if it were only natural. They had no concern of the future in their mind  -their focus wasn’t a minute passed the hour. They simply played the card of pleasure and that’s all that mattered to them. These girls were well rehearsed in the ways of the world, but naïve (or at least numb) to the consequences of their actions.  I wanted to talk to them, to wake them up to reality.

In our world today, we are losing the next generation to an amoral sort-of-way of living.

It’s easy to see how wrong choices will affect the next generation, but what are we doing about it? Do we understand that purity in our own lives is an essential example for the next generation, or have we joined the ranks of our peers, choosing to hush our tongue in order to avoid embarrassment, or to avoid being called judgmental?

Where are the teachers, the older women, the older men….? WE are the teachers…the older! You have someone younger under you, right?!?! What are you extending to help them in this crazy culture –in this mind-boggling-mixed-up-world? “Mark the perfect man and behold the upright…” –they need your help! Are you giving it?

For those girls on the beach, I really feel sorry.

Their choices are going to change the world, from what it is now, to worse, –unless the love of God changes their lives. “Unless the Lord build a house, those who labor, labor in vain that build it…”. The cross, it’s a simple message with profound impact, -it changes lives… we need to go forth with this message as never before, keeping purity in our own lives so that our choices (through God’s grace) can change the future for His good.

Think about life in advance.

Tiffany

A Ministry Update:

01 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by in A Passion for Jesus, Generations, Legacy, Uncategorized, Update

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Dear Subscribers of 1LoveforChrist,

It has been a pleasure to share with you now –a little over a year– the wonderful truths that God has shared with each one of us. We are encouraged by your following of the blog as well as the many comments and emails we’ve received from many of you. However, due to insufficient time and long-term changes that are being made among our team members, we are making some big changes: mainly, teaming up with A Passion for Jesus Ministry.

July will be our final month and we’d like to bring our blogging to a close by challenging you to be a life-changer; to allow God to do the impossible through you! During this next and final month of our blog, all of our contributors will be working together to present a powerful message that will challenge you to leave a godly legacy for both your spiritual and physical children.

Starting in August, we will no longer be updating the 1LoveforChrist blog. The blog will remain public for a period of time however, the for those who wish to go back and read through the archives. In an effort to fill the blogging hole that we’re creating, we’d like to invite you to visit and subscribe to the APJ blog. Similar content will be shared on there by familiar contributors that have posted for this site, as well as others that you will enjoy hearing from.

A Passion for Jesus is committed to reaching teenage girls with a counter-cultural message of truth. Through conferences, retreats and small group discipleship, APJ is bringing a message of hope to the lives of hundreds of young women, both here in the United States and internationally. God has opened the door for me to become a staff member of this ministry, and I will be serving under them as I head over to Russia this summer.

As a whole, our team would like to thank you again for your support and encouragement as we’ve desired to impact the world for Christ. Please keep each of us in your prayers as we “Go into all the world” in the various ways God has called us to. If you have any questions or personal comments, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to respond.

May God richly bless you all!

~Tiffany Martens

Worthless Christianity or Not?

30 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by in Ambassador, Christianity, Example, Representative, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

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“Is your kind of Christianity worth sending to the non-Christian world?”

“There’s no question that Christianity is worth sending; but what about the kind shown by your life or my life this morning, yesterday, last week, last year? Is that what the non-Christian world waits for? Would it revolutionize their lives?”

Trumbull, Charles. Victory in Christ.  Multnomah Publishers. OR, Sisters. 2005 (P.11)

Who was this Woman?

21 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in discipleship, Marriage, Proverbs 31, pure, Singleness

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Who was this woman I saw? Raised from birth by a Mother who taught her to exist with real, certain attributes of character: she is moderate and well-balanced in her thinking and has accepted what was taught to her. Careful in attitude, modest in living and pure from carnality, she carefully guards those around her from wrong influence and destruction, helping to instruct, nourish, and mold the younger generation in her life. She lives with the idea that marriage is sacred and given by God: and because of this, she is distinguished from other young woman in the world –maintaining respect for authority and not provoking attention from any man until God ordains it. This woman is prepared to pass on a legacy of faith to either her own family or any individual that God may place in her life. She has placed His name above her own, so that she does not bring reproach to His promises or His name. Who is she?

This woman is found in Titus 2:4-5. This small book is full of awesome insights and weighty instructions for the whole body of Christ: older men and women, young men and women alike. Proverbs 31:10-11 says: “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain.”

~Tiffany Martens

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