Psalm 36; Ephesians 5:1-2 - "Your Love Oh Lord"

God took me to Psalm 36 this morning. I love verses five and six in the New International Version. I have fond memories of sitting and listening to Doc play his guitar and singing Third Day's song Your Love Oh Lord that was written based on these verses.

Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the skies.
6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
    your justice like the great deep.
    You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.

The song continues...

And I will lift my voice
To worship You, my King
And I will find my strength
In the shadow of Your wings

Yes! His strength is found when we seek Him. His love is described as exquisite in verse seven in the Message. In the sermon yesterday God had me preach about His extravagant love. Ephesians 5:1-2 reads in the Message:

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. 

We all can love with His exquisite, extravagant love when He lives in us. I had a conversation yesterday about how Doc and I love with God's love. They said people have the desire to live for the Lord when they see His love being lived out. We all are influencers in people's lives. We have the choice to make on whether we will be a 'good' influence or not. I like to think of it as a 'Godly' influence. I want to do my best to lead others to Christ. I want to see people come into relationship with Him, go deeper in their faith, and bring others into relationship with Him. Oh, how I wish more believers would have this mindset. Earth is not our home. We must have our eternal home on our mind at all time. I know Doc did and I know I strive to do the same.

Dear Jesus,

Thank You for the opportunity to preach yesterday! Thank You for the time with my Momma and friends! Thank You for Your Word that encourages me to keep on keepin' on! Father, cleanse me today so You can fill me to overflowing with more of You! I'm so tired but I need You to be greater than the fatigue. I praise You for going before me and meeting my physical, mental, financial, emotional, and most of all my spiritual needs. Lord, this week ahead is going to be tough for many. I pray You will put them on people's hearts to make contact with them. I pray for those mourning to seek more of You as they reflect on good memories of past holidays with their loved ones. I pray those who are lonely to realize the joy they can receive by reaching out to others instead of thinking only of their own situations. Lord, I pray for the hungry to have food and the homeless to have shelter. Most of all I pray for believers to share Your exquisite, extravagant love! Thank You Father for being My Exquisite, Extravagant Love! Amen.