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33 pages

English

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I ve believed in God my whole life. But as everything fell apart in 2021, I leaned on Him in a whole new way. When Covid took my job and my stability, I turned to the Bible for comfort and help.
Devouring the 727,969 words of scripture in 3 months was like eating through the entire menu of the finest restaurant in the world. I tasted and saw that the Lord is good, and I couldn t keep that goodness to myself.
So, I asked God what He wanted me to do with what He d taught me. That s when Blessing In A Tweet came to me. The mission of Blessing In A Tweet was to compile a tweet of precisely 140 characters that would serve as a daily reminder of how God calls me to live my life.
Love, trust and obey God and His Way.
Do to others as you want others to do to you.
Pray and hope through Jesus with faith and thanksgiving.
- Blessing In A Tweet
The first word of the Blessing In A Tweet is love. Its placement is intentional. The Bible includes a lot of teachings on love. In fact, love is listed 551 times in the Bible (NIV).
So, Love In A Tweet is a natural progression from Blessing In A Tweet. Whereas my first book condensed the whole Bible into a tweet, this book distills the Bible s teachings on love into 140 characters.
When I started writing this book, I was consumed with praying and reading about love. Every day I would ask the Holy Spirit for insights about love. Love In A Tweet is the fruit of that labor.
As I studied the Bible s teachings on love, one question kept plaguing me: Am I living a life of love? Perhaps this question haunts you, too. I ll share God s answer in the following pages.
Living a life of love is rewarding. A life of love is filled with riches, honor, enduring wealth, and prosperity. Are you living a life of love?

Sujets

Philosophie et théologie

Spirituality

Religion

Informations

Publié par	Digital On Demand
Date de parution	07 juillet 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780639726229
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0574€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Love in a Tweet
Rian Malan

Copyright © 2022 Rian Malan All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmit- ted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Cover design by: Bianca Vosloo
EISBN: 978-0-6397262-2-9

Contents

Epigraph
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
It’s all about God
God
God’s Love
Our Response to God’s Love
Action Items:
The Tweet
The Greatest Commandments
What is love?
Love’s great importance
Defining love
The immortality of love
How do I love God?
How do I love others?
Action Items:
Love God
Love God
How are we called to love God?
What’s the bottom line?
Love God above everything!
Show it with unwavering obedience.
Main Laws of the Old Testament
New Covenant in the New Testament
Life in the Spirit
Action Items:
Love Others
Your neighbor
How you live reveals your nature
How can you become holy?
How can I be righteous if I’m a sinner?
Show it by living a holy and righteous life
Action Items:
Living a Life of Love
Scour Proverbs for Wisdom
Bear the Fruit of the Spirit
Have the mindset of Christ Jesus
Encouragement
Action Items:
Transformation and Renewal
Wisdom Prayer
The Checklist for Change
Checklist for Change
Force-Field Analysis
How to do a Force-Field Analysis:
RISE with God
What if we could elongate that second step? Then we could properly evaluate our intended reaction and see if it is holy or not. With a longer second step, we could choose not to act on our initial, sinful impulse. We could make a holier choice.
Love and Love
Annexures
Annexure A: God is…
Annexure B: The Commandments
Annexure C: The greatest is love
Annexure D: Checklist for Change[1]
Annexure E: Answers to wisdom seek-and-find in Chapter 5
Annexure F: References
Annexure A
Annexure D

Epigraph

I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. With me are riches and honour, enduring wealth and prosperity.
- Proverbs 8:17-18
Love!
Love God above everything! Show it with unwavering obedience.
Love!
Love others as yourself! Show it by living a holy and righteous life.
- Love In A Tweet

Acknowledgements

Soli Deo Gloria.
“Everything comes from God.” Thank you, Lord, for the guidance and the strength to persevere. If this work can make a humble contribution to help even only one person to grasp Your love, it would have served its purpose.
To the greatest worldly gifts God gave me, my wife of noble character and my kids and grandkids, I express my sincere love for the love you have shown in words and in works over more than 50 years. May God love you and bless you for that.
Rudolf Markgraaff, God compels me to once again thank you for listening to Him and inviting me to that divine intervention at Wedderville in 2021. Both “Blessing In A Tweet” and now “Love In A Tweet” emerged as a result of the moment the three of us had that day.
Alyson Rockhold, your invaluable craftsmanship in helping with the writing of the Tweets not only showcased the great gifts God bestowed on you but also threw the spotlight on your deep love for God. Never stop using your gifts to glorify God. Thank you.
Without BibleGateway, the asking, seeking, and knocking for insight into the love and will of God would have been quite an arduous task.

Preface

I’ve believed in God my whole life. But as everything fell apart in 2021, I leaned on Him in a whole new way. When Covid took my job and my stability, I turned to the Bible for comfort and help.
Devouring the 727,969 words of scripture in 3 months was like eating through the entire menu of the finest restaurant in the world. I tasted and saw that the Lord is good, and I couldn’t keep that goodness to myself.
So, I asked God what He wanted me to do with what He’d taught me. That’s when Blessing In A Tweet came to me. The mission of Blessing In A Tweet was to compile a tweet of precisely 140 characters that would serve as a daily reminder of how God calls me to live my life.
Love, trust and obey God and His Way.
Do to others as you want others to do to you.
Pray and hope through Jesus with faith and thanksgiving.
- Blessing In A Tweet
The first word of the Blessing In A Tweet is “love.” Its placement is intentional. The Bible includes a lot of teachings on love. In fact, “love” is listed 551 times in the Bible (NIV).
So, Love In A Tweet is a natural progression from Blessing In A Tweet. Whereas my first book condensed the whole Bible into a tweet, this book distills the Bible’s teachings on love into 140 characters.
When I started writing this book, I was consumed with praying and reading about love. Every day I would ask the Holy Spirit for insights about love. Love In A Tweet is the fruit of that labor.
As I studied the Bible’s teachings on love, one question kept plaguing me: Am I living a life of love? Perhaps this question haunts you, too. I’ll share God’s answer in the following pages.
May the gracious Lord open your eyes, ears, and heart as you read Love In A Tweet . May it deepen your love for God, yourself, and your neighbour. May you live a life of love.
Rian Malan

Introduction

There are Bible verses that scare me. Descriptions of the end times and the gory details of Old Testament wars would give anyone nightmares. But, I believe the most unsettling verse in the Bible is John 21:16.
In this passage, Jesus appears to the disciples after rising from the dead. He pro- vides a miraculous catch of fish, and they eat breakfast together. Then comes the line that makes me tremble. Jesus turns to Peter and says, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Jesus asks Peter this question three times. And each time that Peter says “Yes,” Jesus replies with a command to feed His lambs or take care of His sheep. It almost sounds like Jesus is saying, “Prove it!” The Bible records that Peter is hurt by this interrogation. Imagine how terrible it would feel to sacrifice everything to follow Jesus and then have Him question your love.
It’s scary to think about Jesus asking me the same thing: Rian Malan, do you love me? Of course, I love You, my Lord! But does my life show it? Am I displaying that love in tangible and real ways? Am I feeding his lambs and caring for his sheep? Am I living a life of love?
I want to love God the way He desires to be loved. I want to love God with my whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. This is not transactional love. I am not trying to earn my salvation. Instead, living a life of love is a way of obeying, honoring, and serving the God who first loved me and still loves me.
This book is for people who have already acknowledged Jesus Christ as the Son of God, believe that He was raised from the dead, and, by doing that, received the free gift of salvation. It’s for believers who want their love for God to overflow into all of their thoughts, words, and deeds. And it’s also for skeptics who feel attracted to the love of Christ but repelled by unloving Christians.
If that’s you, then this book will provide you with three assurances:
1) Wisdom, understanding, and insight into how God views love
2) Practical guidelines for loving as God calls us to love
3) Affirmation that you are living a life of love
This book is built on the Bible’s firm foundation. We will return to the scriptures for wisdom again and again throughout the following pages. And I trust that the same Holy Spirit who guided me to write these words will also open the eyes of your heart to know God more and more as we journey together.
My prayer is that by the end of this book, you will be able to confidently answer Jesus’ question with “Yes, Lord, I love you!” And then you will hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. I have prepared inconceivable blessings for you.”

CHAPTER 1
It’s all about God

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. - 1 John 4:8
“God is love” is one of the most important statements in the Bible (1 John 4:8). Yet, it is often overlooked. Instead, people act like “God just cares about rules,” “God is hateful,” or even “God is irrelevant.”
Yet, the Bible tells us that “God is love.” And that has profound implications for what it means to follow God.
God
Before we delve into God’s love and what that means for our lives, we must start with God Himself. For without faith in God, the rest of this book will be meaningless.
God is “the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:13). God has always been, is now, and always will be.[1] God is all-powerful and all-knowing. He is our Sovereign King.
God is described in so many ways throughout the scriptures. (You can read about many of them in Annexure A). However, it is important to note that no matter how much we learn about God, understanding Him will always be beyond us. As Romans 11:33 says,
“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”
God created human beings in His likeness, and our lives are in His hands.[2] We are here to fulfill God’s purpose and not our purpose. God’s purpose for us is to glorify Him. [3]
God’s love led Him to…
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