Unconditional Love is Not Something We Have Within Us

"You can't give what you don't have. You can't call up reserves that aren't already there. Selfish springs do not produce selfless water. Just as you can't give away a million dollars that you don't have, you cannot pay out love in greater measure than you own. You can try, but you will fail.
 
"Love that is faithfully pure and able to withstand every pressure is out of your reach, as long as you're only looking within yourself to find it. You need another source. You need someone to give you that kind of love. But here's the good news: because of God's great love for you and His love for your spouse, He has made a way to express His love through you."

 - The Love Dare

Listen, and Hear HIs Voice.

Bill and Marsha Burns

I have brought you to this place, a place where there does not seem a way to cross over. I brought you to this place so that you could look back at the wilderness and see where I brought you from. Look over into the promise places that I Am taking you too and realize that your ability, your might, your strength; your ingenuity cannot take you over. It is by you yielding to Me, it is complete surrendering your all to Me. By recognizing that there is nothing in you that can take you over, only your complete surrender and trust to me. That empowers you to follow the course of My Spirit. For I am well able to bring you over into that promised place. It is that place where you lift up your hands out of complete surrender realizing that everything that you have done, all that you have mustered up in your own strength has not brought you to this place. Only those moments where you yielded to Me. It is that place where I will cause you to cross over on My wings. Only on My wings and on My strength and My ability will you cross over. And I say unto you this is a good place, it is a place that I have brought you to, so that you would really know what it is to walk by faith, really know what it is to trust Me, really know what it is to lean over on the arms of a mighty God. For then says the Lord, I will bring you out with a strong hand, I will bring you out with a mighty hand.

FREEDOM

Through my recent struggles I have learned this: I have learned that love must be unconditional, consistent, and unwavering. I have learned what that looks like. It must be unattached to any specific outcome or circumstance, and be entirely for the best interest of the person whom I love. Furthermore God has shown me this truth with absolute certainty: If I do not let her go entirely, yielding in surrender before God and His will, then she sits on the throne of my heart. This cannot be. God must be first, and Jesus must be supreme. Only in this reality am I truly free and empowered with the confidence and courage that I need to be the man God has made me to be. If I hold to her instead of God, then I am a slave to her, and as a consequence I suffer the torment of never being fulfilled. In God’s faithfulness He has brought me to a place where I must let go, yet He has gracefully given be the understanding to go along with it. I yield. I let go entirely of her, of my ideas, of my hopes, and my dreams. I surrender to the will of God. I do not know what lies ahead, but I know that I do not own the outcome. I find great peace and rest in this understanding. My love for her is no less, for I know what real love is, but I have been made free from the enslavement of my own mind. God must be first. Anytime anyone, or anything, comes before God it is idolatry. God is in the business of destroying idols. He loves us too much let us be enslaved in our sin. True freedom only lies in Him. Whatever, or whoever, sits on the throne of your heart, I pray that you might re-evaluate your life. Do not force God to remove what keeps you dead and enslaved, just so that He can save your soul and give you life. It hurts to have things torn from our hands. Much better to willing yield them. 

Gratitude Instead of Entitlement

I must confess that the hardest thing to overlook in a person is our sense of self-entitlement and pride. I think there is nothing more repulsive and disgusting than a person who just sucks everything from everyone around them, and then feels that it is owed to them anyway. I see this come up in my children at times, and I feel this is one of the biggest challenges we face as parents. To destroy the sense of self-entitlement while re-assuring them that they are deeply loved and valued is so important. NOBODY owes us ANYTHING!! If someone takes the time to do the smallest thing for us, we should be thankful. What lies in our flesh is absolutely repulsive, and all the world around us feeds into it. The root cause of everything that has ever gone wrong in our lives is DIRECTLY caused by selfishness. Let us guard against it, but more importantly let us teach our children to know gratitude and be thankful.

To Be Head of Your Household

If you are facing difficult times in your marriage right, are going through a divorce, or are divorced I want you to take something to heart. If you have children, then do not take lightly how loudly your actions are speaking to them as you endure these difficult times. We can justify whatever we want, but it does not change the truth. For us men... Well, I will just talk first hand so that maybe it is easier to see looking at another person's life. I know that right now my daughter is watching her daddy. She is learning from me how a man should treat her. She is learning from me what commitment, or lack there of, looks like. She is learning whether God truly makes a difference, and she is learning about love and family. My son too is watching me. He is learning all the same, but for him I am teaching him how to love his wife and family. The choices and actions I take as relevant to my family will have a far reaching impact for generations. This being said... Consider carefully the choices you are making. I want my daughter to appreciate and expect her husband to be committed and fight for his family. I want my son to know what a husband loving his wife as Jesus loves the Church looks like. I refuse to pass along chains to my children, but am willing to set the bar and break those chains. I want the best for them. This is not all about you or me, and LOVE IS A CHOICE. You can CHOOSE to love, you have to. We must see more than ourselves in every situation.

Purpose

I share what I share because my privacy is of no great relevance. I do not seek affirmation or honor from men, but rather from God. I know that I am not alone in my struggles, and I know that by sharing what I have been given it may help someone else who is enduring similar situations. My only intent is to share what God has placed on my heart, and the details are His to figure out. If you hear something in my words, it has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with you and God. As a servant of the one true King, my obligation is to obey. I trust Him with everything I am, so I submit to His will. I know it is easy for people to read the things I write, post, or support, and then to pass judgment on me. So be it. God knows my heart. The things I share may not be for that person. However, the person whom God intended to reach will be reached. This is why I do what I do. This is why I am who I am. I desire the best for each person God has placed in my circle of influence. If I kept my mouth shut about the greatest news in the all of creation, how much could I really care about any one of you?

Isaiah 55:11
“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

Check Your Self

Here is another huge indicator of our maturity, or lack thereof. Have you ever gotten mad at someone because they don't do something the way you would? Putting the toilet paper on the roller thingy... Squeezing toothpaste out of the tube... Mowing the yard... Thinking and processing... Maybe they don't go as fast as you might like them to... These are all indicators that we think more highly of our self, and that we are judging the other person based on our standard of us being supreme. One that is mature will be more patient and understanding, knowing that we are all different. Examine yourself.