1 John 4:7-8, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

John 13:35, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

When we are fully surrendered to God, and as Jesus bride one with Him, then His love flows, gratitude, kindness, every fruit of His Spirit, life, and abundance of life flows not just to us but through us and between us, as His bride.  Just to clarify, an abundance of life is not all about money and things, it is about Him! He does bless in many ways and yes financially is one but so are His peace, love, grace, and mercy. This is why when you help and serve other people it blesses you.

When your mindset is all about you, whether due to horrible circumstances in life or selfishness, you seclude yourself.  That doesn’t necessarily mean you are alone and never around other people, it means you have taken your focus off Him and that causes a disconnect with others.  We don’t thrive alone spiritually, emotionally, and even physically alone.  God created us for relationships, first and foremost with Him but also with others that is why we are told in Hebrews 10: 24-25, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”  Satan wants to seclude you and get your focus on anything other than God because his plans are always only for evil so guard your thoughts.

When we allow God’s love to fill our hearts and minds it automatically flows out to those around us and it has the power to change lives.  There is no prejudice in a heart filled with the love of the one who created every person on this earth!  When we love as He loves then even competition in the church disappears because we look at other members and our desire is to build them up and help them become all God created them to be.  How much glory to God is there if there is rivalry between brothers and sisters in Christ?  How can we show His love to the world if we can’t perfect it in the “Body”?

God created us to work together.  We were not created to live for ourselves, we are to live for Him and we cannot do that alone.  Everything we do or don’t do has an impact on someone else.  Think about it; how many times has what another person did affect your life either positively or negatively?  It is impossible to live a life that is unaffected by others.  That means we must be more aware of the impact our attitudes and behaviors have on those God has placed in our lives or on our path.  

True surrender means we fully recognize that it is not about us ~ it’s about Him and serving Him.  That is when we become more aware of the needs of the body and the scratching and clawing to be center stage will cease.  If you or I have to be center stage or the focus for all to see ~ where have we left Jesus?  It’s impossible to serve Him and yourself.  Jesus is our example of how to live (you know, WWJD) and He was so focused on others that He was willing to come to earth to live a life dedicated to loving and serving others to the point of death on the cross!  No one deserves center stage in our lives and the service we do other than Him. 

It appears it won’t be long before He returns.  We must choose every day just as Joshua did when he was leading Israel into the promised land: Joshua 24:15, “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.  But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  

Let’s determine to open our hearts and minds in full surrender allowing His love, desires, and dreams for our lives to rule our days so we can serve Him and others to be absolute best of our ability.