 “They Are Loved Also” “…who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4, NAS) |
Dear family of friends,
On my regular, early morning drive to my 7 am - 4 pm accounting job on Monday, Aug. 26, 2013, I was listening as usual to a Paul Wilbur CD. His latest is entitled “Your Great Name”, and the song “Who Can Compare” was coming almost full volume out of the auto speakers. I am so grateful to Paul and his Messianic music shared over these past decades. (Our Ahava Love Band really enjoys playing his music.) What a gift from the Lord he is to so many!
When I turned onto the College Street exit in uptown Charlotte, the Lord spoke to me to drive on Tryon Street, the site of the weekend’s LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestite) festival. According to the Charlotte Observer’s news story on Aug. 24, 2013, at least 55,000 were expected. It had been 19 years since something like this took place in Charlotte. Honestly, my heart’s cry was that it would not have been at all.
For that Saturday night I had bought two tickets in May for the Lion King play uptown, as a Mother’s Day gift for my good wife Laurie, not knowing at the time that this event was scheduled to go on then also.
With an hour to kill before the play, after our Irish restaurant dinner, I walked her around the blocks that I normally do during lunch, showing her the sights of the beautiful city. I pointed out the new ballpark under construction, the church park where I found Little Orphan Chuckie a few days earlier (see my Ahava Love Letter “Little Orphan Chuckie”) and some of my prayer locations along the way – the fountains, the eating establishments, the gathering places of people.
When the need for a bathroom came up, I tried to determine the best way around the festival, which was a few blocks away from our walk location. But the nearest one was right through the activity. “OK Lord, this should be interesting” was my thought.
As a married couple now for 36 years, we still on occasion hold hands as we walk. So we did thus on this little adventure also. We weren’t the only ones holding hands.
My heart was silently praying for these whom the Lord Jesus Christ loves too, and died for also. As I see it, we have to go where they are, because they aren’t coming to our nice, comfortable church pews. Isn’t that what our Savior and Messiah Yeshua did, our Prime Example of expressing the Father’s love? To go where the people are? Yes it is.
As Steve Green sang, “People Need The Love.” Yes they do. All shapes, kinds, and genders. They need the Lord as much as we do in our daily lives. Who will share His love with them, if not those who already know Him? As so we walked amongst them.
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Charlotte, NC skyline (Photo by Steve Martin)
When I drove that next Monday morning, I purposely turned then onto Tryon Street, heading north on the same blocks where the pride of ungodliness had occurred just a day earlier. I put down the windows and played really loud Paul Wilbur’s song, “Who Is Like You O Lord.” The lyrics “All creation declares, none can compare to the greatness of our God” holds true for those who know Him now, and for those who will, if we just have the love and courage the Holy Spirit, Ruach HaKodesh, puts in our hearts. I wanted to declare His love and rulership into the air that morning, where other spirits have tried to rule. We can take that authority as believers in the King of kings and Lord of lords.
It still holds true today, as the Jewish believer Johanan (the Apostle John) wrote, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, centuries before,
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave His Son, His one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending His Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in Him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust Him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to Him.” (John 3:16-18 The Message Bible)
They need to hear this, in a loving way, even as we were presented the Gospel, when we lived in sin. My prayer is that some of us will be brave enough to share His love, so that they come to know Him too, and not remain in their lifestyle. There is certainly a life worth living, but it is found only in Him.
Ahava (love in Hebrew) to my family of friends,
Steve Martin
Founder/President
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Ahava Love Letter #72 “They Are Loved Also” ©2013 Steve Martin
Date: In the year of our Lord 2013 (08/26/13 Monday at 7:35 am in Charlotte, NC)
All previous editions of Ahava Love Letter can be found on this Blog:
Here are the last few:
Oskars Needed Again? (#71)
Little Orphan Chuckie (#70)
Demons & Fire Trucks (#69)
I Like Mike (#68)
Disappointed with Small Beginnings? (#67)
Rise Again (#66)
The Cities (#65)
How can You Mend A Broken Heart (#64)
Anxious (#63)
Hidden (#62)
Get Back in the Boat (#61)
Need Money? (#60)
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