Keeper Of My Dreams

When you're not here to share my days and nights
My life is so incomplete
For you are my heart, my soul
The ‘oneness’ I had known to seek

Without you I merely exist from day to day
With you I know that I will find
All that I have been searching for
My completeness, my eternal peace of mind

You are the keeper of my dreams
The man who holds my heart in his hands
The one I want to spend my life with
The one with whom I will always stand

Stand beside through thick and thin
Through all that life will throw our way
Knowing that this special love we share
Will guide us, each and every day

This journey was started long ago
Before this time and place
The journey of completeness
As two hearts and souls embrace

Forever is what I want with you
For the search is at an end
Our hearts have found each other
As lovers, as soul-mates, as friends.

Perfect Love Drives Out Fear

There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:18-19 HCSB)

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There you are, driving to the grocery store. You’re under the speed limit and following all the traffic laws, but then you notice a police car in your rearview mirror.

The policeman isn't flashing his lights; he’s not pursuing you; in a sense he's just like any other driver who might be following behind you down the road.

But he’s not just any driver. He’s a police officer, and so you tense up. You start thinking: Am I going too fast? Am I wearing my seatbelt? Did I signal properly when I changed lanes?

And then there’s the fear you’ll make a mistake right in front of the policeman. Now, the reality is that you’ve done nothing wrong, but the fear is there because no one is a perfect driver. He could pull you over for a variety of minor violations.

When fear enters any situation, we become defensive and less trusting. We focus on fairness and on protecting our rights. Consider what happens when someone brings fear into your environment – perhaps a fellow employee, perhaps a boss, maybe a family member or a friend. Their fear shows up as criticism, defensiveness, or manipulation, and it soon infects nearly everyone, pushing them toward self-protection – toward reactive decisions instead of thoughtful responses.

On the other hand, the environment also can change when someone shows up with an outpouring of God’s love. Love shows up as encouragement, as positive interactions. Because criticism is constructive, it is easier to receive. You know you are loved, so you know your mistakes and imperfections will not lead to your being rejected or labeled a loser. You’re less concerned about fairness because you know this loving person is looking out for your best interests, and as the environment becomes drenched in love, you begin to understand that everyone is looking out for your best interests.

The more you trust, the less you fear, and eventually this pure love – you might say perfect love – drives out your fears. This is the essence of the apostle Paul’s words: “There is no fear in love ….” (1 John 4:18 HCSB)

We are forgiven. We are loved by God, and we can rest in that truth. We can allow that truth to spread from our hearts to our hands, in service. Knowing that God is always loving us gives us the trust, the confidence, the faith to believe that God is working all things out for the good of those who love him and who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28) We can approach God’s throne of grace boldly. (Hebrews 4:16)

Here is what I believe Paul is teaching: If you walk in fear, you’re trying to control life, rather than trusting in God’s love and letting him control you. Look through your fear and focus on God instead.

The thing is, if you have fear, you may be the person who brings fear into the room. Because you are less trusting, because you fear doing wrong, you may spark the fire of fear. If you fear others will take advantage, you will work to gain your own advantage.

Paul says, “The one who fears has not reached perfection in love.” But perfection in love doesn’t start with us – we can’t work ourselves up to perfect love. Perfect love starts with God: “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19 HCSB) As we seek to be spiritually mature, it is God’s love that drives the fear from us. Then it is his love within us – when we trust his love for us – that moves us to love others.

What does this mean?

· Give God your fears – When you fear, tell God about your them. In other words, don’t nurse your fears or use them to justify fear-driven actions. Instead, go to God with your fears. Ask him to show you the root of your fears, and then ask him to work within you to remove the whole fear-tree – roots and all. ("I believe; help my unbelief.")

· Let God develop perfect love in you – Accept and respond to God’s perfect love for you. How would your life change if you were no longer controlled or motivated by your fears? Ask God to fill you with his love and to love other through you. ("I can’t; God can.")

· Pray for those who fear – When you see someone showing their fear through defensiveness, control, manipulation, gossip, or other such behaviors, pray for them. Pray they will allow God to drive away their fears, that they will receive and accept the perfect love of God, and, with that love within them, that they will begin to act in faith and not fear.

· Pray for our police officers – Lest anyone misunderstand my illustration about a policeman in the rearview mirror, these men and woman put their lives on the line constantly in order to protect and serve us. They are ministers of God, in that they maintain the peace. Pray for them and their protection, that they will be drenched with the perfect love of God.

We Weren’t Made To Live Alone

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is like him.” (Genesis 2:18 HCSB)

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Today’s devotional is from Pastor Rick Warren.

If I were to ask you what you considered to be the most common emotional hurt in people, what would you say: Depression? Anxiety? Guilt?

How about loneliness?

After all the pastoral conversations I’ve had over the last 30 years, I’m certain loneliness is not only common to us all; it’s epidemic. I first noticed this when people who were married would come to me for pastoral care, saying they were lonely – extremely lonely.

It may surprise you that it is not all that uncommon for a husband and wife to not really talk to each other. Yet loneliness emerges in a lot of different situations. It may arise from the death of a loved one or the death – by divorce – of your marriage.

Maybe you feel abandoned by someone you relied on or perhaps your work keeps you on the road, forcing you to spend lonely nights in a motel. Or maybe it’s because you’ve just moved to a new neighborhood, and you don’t know a soul.

The evidence of loneliness in our modern world is in the dial-in chat lines, where people pay by the minute to talk to a stranger. Ironically, the Internet connects millions of people around the world, and yet the end result is anonymity and isolation.

Have you eve wondered why we all have the capacity to feel lonely?

It’s because God made us to need each other. In other words, we don’t like to live alone because we weren’t made to live alone. The Bible teaches that, even when Adam was living in paradise – a perfect setting with no problems, no stress, no sin, and no one creating heartaches for others – God could see that it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone. (Genesis 2:18)

What does this mean?

There are several biblical ways to reduce the pain of loneliness:

· God gives you a plan – You may feel nobody knows the depth of your loneliness and think, “If I were to drop off the face of the earth, nobody would miss me.” Yet we know from the Bible that God created you, that he knows you by name, and that he put you on this earth for a purpose. When you focus on God’s plan for your life, you’ll find yourself feeling less lonely.

· God gives you others to serve – I’m convinced that part of God’s plan for overcoming loneliness is to get the focus off ourselves and, instead, to pour ourselves into other people’s lives by serving them and giving them your talents and gifts. I’d encourage you to take the initiative and get involved with a small group of people who share similar interests. Within that group, you’re likely to make real friendships.

God gives you his presence – We were made to have an intimate, personal and close relationship with God. No person, experience, drug, success, possession – not even fortune or fame – will fill that aching hole in your heart, a place God created for himself. God is everywhere; there’s no place in the universe where God is not. Knowing that can relieve your loneliness. Regardless of the source of your loneliness, God is right there with you. You’re never truly alone – and when you feel lonely, you can call on him to help conquer your loneliness.