3 is 3. 4 is not.

I have been seeing God in life lately, probably more than I ever have before. I have been interning for Mayfair since May 21st, and tonight, all the build up of good things God has been doing this summer, hit a high point. Instead of writing about what happened tonight, I would rather write about what has been on my heart concerning Him over the past several hours. God IS Love. God is so close to us, He doesn't come and go. I read something yesterday that will stick with me forever, "God is closer to us than the blood in our veins". Take a moment, and actually think about what that means. He never leaves us, ever. He is inside us at all times. His light is always shining, it is just up to us if we always see it or not. Also, I was listening to beautiful ending by barlowgirl while reading crazy love a few days ago. And it hit me, right there as I read, the same day that I taught a class on Ephesians 3, the chapter of God's "mysterious plan revealed", that I have a calling. We all are called to a different part of God's master plan. God knew us before we existed. He knew that I was going to eat chicken nuggets for dinner tonight. He knew who my second grade teacher was going to be, you get the point. Jeremiah 1:5 says that we were knit together in our mother's womb by God. Love is everywhere. And whether you believe it or not, God is always at work. He is constantly at work in our lives, and it is up to us whether we see His light, or the darkness that tries to put it out. Darkness tries to put out God's light at all times. Those with Jesus as their "firm foundation" have always known that Jesus is their actual foundation. Parallel this to the idea of we are all children, who know that 3 is 3. Hold up 3 fingers. Your whole life, you have known that 3 is three, not four. Now hold up 4 fingers. You know that is 4. Now 3 again. Imagine you walk into a room filled with your peers. Everyone literally believes that your three fingers equals four. Everyone is holding up 3 fingers like you are, and they are all telling you that it is four. This is what evil is like. Temptation, alongside with darkness, tries to consume us and God's light inside us. We know that Jesus is our foundation. But the lies we are told by the constant darkness around us make us want to believe that our "3's" are actually "4's." Allow me to close with this. You know what is right, you have known your whole life. Don't let everyone who believes that 4 is 3, which is a lot of people in this world, convince you that what you know to be true deep down, is not. Let your 3 be 3. and nothing else.

Peace and Love from up above,

Litz

God is Love.

Turn to 1 John 4, starting with verse 7. These verses have effected me to a great extent, and I would like to share some things about them. May they have as great of an effect on your life as they have mine. If you have read a good portion of John's writings in the bible, He loves love. He loves to talk about it in its entirety. To me, it is revealed why he loves love just so much in these verses. Go ahead and read 7- 21. John starts out by pouring out a plead that we all may love others as much as God loved us first. Look close, he goes on to present the fact that love and God are not two separate things, but are united as one. God is love. and Love is God. verse 12. "No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us." One of the hardest things about faith, is sight. Faith is not just believing wholeheartedly, but believing in what one cannot see. God is indescribable. Our faith in Him is no easy task, for we use our five senses for most things we experience in our daily lives. God is past all of that. Too utterly amazing to fall under a category of smell, taste, touch, see, and hear. He is our touch, our taste, our sight, and hearing, our smell. He is in all, and most of all, he is Love. verse 12. If we love each other, His love, Himself is brought to full expression in us. How many times have we heard that "God is Love"? Do not dis-reguard this out of spite for it's repetitiveness. It means more than you could imagine. One thing that this sad world has not missed is the fact that Love exists. It is everywhere. All the new songs, all the advertisements, love is thrown around like a ball. There is even a show on "Music television" called a shot at love. That makes me sick. Seeing that the contestants were competing for a shot at "love" with a set of blonde twins. In cliche' I say, What is this world coming to? The point is what is missed, is the fact that without God, Love would not be possible. It would not exist. Check out 16b-17. But replace the word God with the word Love and vice versa. NLT would read, "Love is God, and all who live in God live in Love, and Love lives in them. And as we live in Love, our God grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgement, but we can face Him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world." Is that not beautiful? And as we live in LOVE our GOD grows more PERFECT. same with 18a. "Such a God has no fear, because our perfect God expels all fear. Do you see the pattern yet? God is Love. Love is God. Live in Love. Live in God. Love lives in you. God lives in you. By loving others. Everyone. The two twins on shot at love. All homosexuals. All the homeless. Our enemies. Loving those who hate us, is one of the hardest things to do as humans are constantly subject to failure. However, If we love everyone, are we not showing them God? God is love, love everyone. God reaches out to whom He pleases. Through us. This isn't a new idea. All the world needs is love right? Hmm.. incomplete. Understand the principle that our God is Love first. Then entertain the idea that all the world needs is love. The world needs God. God wants the world to turn to Him. Let all creation praise His name. Let all we do be done for His glory. Let us show others our God, by showing them our love.

Peace and LOVE from HIM, the Father up above,

Litz.