Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts

Friday, November 20, 2015

How to Make Sense of a World Gone Crazy

Hey, Gabriel Girls!

 If you’re like me, your head is probably spinning with all of the horrific news of the past week. The world has gone crazy, but we don’t have to go crazy with it.

 If you’re trying to make sense of all that’s been happening, let me shed some light on things for you.


The Bible prophesied that “perilous times” would come upon the earth shortly before the return of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 3:1).  We are in those perilous times now.  In John 16:2, Jesus said this: “The time is coming when those who kill you will think they are offering a holy service to God.” That is exactly what is happening in the world today with ISIS.

But why is all of this happening? Because there is a devil who hates God, hates Jesus Christ, and hates everyone who follows Jesus. That means you and me.

 Satan is behind all of the terrorist attacks happening in the world today. He is behind all the evil that has ever happened in the world. And he is stepping things up because he knows his time is short.

 Now, more than ever, we need to stay close to Jesus.  Now, more than ever, we need to be in the Word, in prayer, and in fellowship with other followers of Jesus.  Now, more than ever, we need to trust God with our lives.

 And now, more than ever, we must not give in to fear!

Hear what the Word says: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).  Let this verse burn in your spirit. Memorize it. Meditate on it. And use it when the enemy tries to attack you with fear.

 God placed you on this earth at this time in history because he has something very important for you to do. He wants you to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel wherever you go. 

 By telling others about Jesus, you will be working with God to prevent souls from going to hell. You will be bringing in the harvest with Jesus!

 So don’t be discouraged or afraid. You are very important to God’s plan. Tell others the reason for what is going on in the world. Most of all, tell them the solution to the world’s problems. It is Jesus Christ!
He is coming back soon! Listen to what He said: "So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!”

 Now this is good news! :)

 NOTE TO MY READERS WHO DO NOT KNOW JESUS:
Jesus is coming back for those who believe in Him and have been born again.  If you have not been born again--in other words, if you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, then do so now.  Here is an article to help you: 

http://maryanndiorio.com/articles/how-to-live-forever
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Copyright 2015 by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio. All Rights Reserved.

To Become a Gabriel Girl, you need to qualify as follows:
  • You need to be born again. This means that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and the Lord of your life.If you don't know how to do this, click here.
  • You need to have a desire to tell others about Jesus wherever you go and whenever you can.
  • You need to commit to following Jesus by reading the Bible and praying every day and by obeying Jesus' command to love Him and to love your neighbor.
    ____________________________________________________
You can find me on the following Social Media Venues:
Amazon Author Central: www.amazon.com/author/maryanndiorio

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Tuesday, August 25, 2015

How to Win the Guy Game

Hey, Gabriel Girls! I read an article the other day that more and more teen girls are becoming gamers. The article defined a “gamer” as someone who likes to play video games and other kinds of games on her cell phone, tablet, or computer.

Photo Source: File: #88734696 | Author: Luis Louro

My husband (of 45 years, I might add :) and I both have Sudoku on our cell phones. We love the game and help each other solve the puzzles when they get especially hard.

But there’s a game I want to talk about today that is much more serious than the games we play on our phones or computers. It's called the Guy Game, and at some point in your life, you may have to play it.

 So, what’s the Guy Game? 

 Let me start by saying it really isn’t a game at all. It’s a pretty serious part of life. So serious, in fact, that, if you don’t learn how to play it by God’s rules at the beginning, it could cause you a lot of heartache later on in life.

 As you well know, guys are a pretty interesting part of being a teen girl. That’s the way God designed it. God created both male and female, and the first step in playing the Guy Game is to know which is which and to honor that. (We’ll discuss more about gender in a future post).

 The next step in playing the Guy Game is to understand that God has designed guys and gals to desire each other. This desire is not just physical; it’s actually a desire on the soul level and the spirit level. It’s a desire that God has created so that a man and a woman who love each other will eventually marry and create a family that will grow up to love and honor God. Ultimately, God wants human souls for His eternal family in Heaven.

The problem with the Guy Game today is that most teen girls play the game wrong. They play it by the world's rules and not by God's rules. 

So, what's the difference?

Here are a few big ones:

1) God says that a girl and a guy must not engage in sex until they are married. Period. The world says this is a stupid rule. If a girl loves a guy, why shouldn't she have sex with him? God is old-fashioned. He just doesn't want me to have fun.

 Let's think about this line of reasoning. First of all, God created sex, so He knows all about it. He put boundaries around the sexual relationship, limiting it to marriage, in order to protect both the girl and the guy from heartache.  When we don't follow God's rules for relationships with guys, we ALWAYS--and I mean ALWAYS--end up being hurt.

 2) God says that true love is unselfish. A guy who loves God will never tell you that you would have sex with him outside of marriage if you really loved him. Any guy who tells you that you would have sex with him if you loved him is a hugely selfish guy.  He doesn’t love you at all. If he did love you, he would not ask you to disobey God’s rule. 

 And remember, if a guy can get sex from you outside of marriage, chances are he will never marry you. Why should he make a lifetime commitment to you when he can get what he wants from you without a commitment?

 3) God tells you not to get into a relationship with a guy who is not a follower of Jesus. Why? Because doing so will cause you a lot of heartache later on. The world tells you to marry a guy who is cute, or smart, or athletic, or whatever. The world never mentions anything about the guy's relationship to Jesus.

You see, when a girl marries a guy, they are not united only on the physical level. More importantly, they are united on the spiritual level. If your spirit has Jesus in it and the guy's spirit doesn't, you will never be truly married. You will have many problems, and you will suffer a great deal.

Bottom line, the only way to win the Guy Game is to play the game according to God's rules. When you do, you'll marry the guy God chooses for you, and you won't live a life of regret.

The gift of a Godly husband is well worth the wait, no matter how long it takes.

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If you enjoyed this post, please tell your teenage girlfriends about the Gabriel Girls. Thanks!
_______________________________________________
Copyright 2015 by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio. All Rights Reserved.
To Become a Gabriel Girl, you need to qualify as follows:
  • You need to be born again. This means that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and the Lord of your life.If you don't know how to do this, click here.
  • You need to have a desire to tell others about Jesus wherever you go and whenever you can.
  • You need to commit to following Jesus by reading the Bible and praying every day and by obeying Jesus' command to love Him and to love your neighbor.
    ____________________________________________________
You can find me on the following Social Media Venues:
Amazon Author Central: www.amazon.com/author/maryanndiorio
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Thursday, July 30, 2015

What Is Love?


Hey, Gabriel Girls!  I have a question for you today. How would you define love? 

 Here are some definitions I’ve heard in my daily rounds:
  • Love is that warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you fall for a guy.
  • Love is that warm, fuzzy feeling you get when that special guy falls for you.
  • Love is being crazy about something, like chocolate.

Photo Source: Lightstock.com: Photo ID: 137736

In our culture, we throw the word “love” around very loosely.  For example, we use it to describe our favorite ice cream flavor (“I love chocolate ice cream!”). We use it to describe a favorite sweater (“I love that sweater!”).  We use it to describe a great book we’ve read or a cool movie we’ve watched (“I loved that book” or “I loved that movie!”).

All of these different uses of the word love cheapen the word, don’t you think? Because true love is not any of those things.

I can hear you groaning now.  So, Dr. MaryAnn, what is love?

Great question, Gabriel Girls! And actually the most important question you can ever ask, as long as you get the right answer to your question.

And the right answer is found in the Bible. Here’s how the Bible (also called the Word of God) defines love in I Corinthians 13:4-8:

 THE MEANING OF LOVE
Love is patient. Love is kind. Love isn’t jealous. It doesn’t sing its own praises. It isn’t arrogant. It isn’t rude. It doesn’t think about itself. It isn’t irritable. It doesn’t keep track of wrongs. It isn’t happy when injustice is done, but it is happy with the truth. Love never stops being patient, never stops believing, never stops hoping, never gives up. Love never comes to an end.

WOW! Now that’s quite a different definition from the way we use the word love in our normal, everyday language. Wouldn’t you agree?

And wouldn’t you agree that most of us are not always loving?

Guilty as charged. But that doesn’t mean we should not strive to be everything that I Corinthians 13:4-8 describes that love is.

 So, here’s your homework for this week. Make a list of the things love is as described in I Corinthians 13:4-8.  Your list may look something like this:

  • Love is patient.
  • Love is kind.
  • Love isn’t jealous.
  • Love doesn’t sing its own praises.
  • Love isn’t arrogant.
  • Love isn’t rude.
  • Love doesn’t think about itself.
  • Love isn’t irritable.
  • Love doesn’t keep track of wrongs.
  • Love isn’t happy when injustice is done.
  • Love is happy with the truth.
  • Love never stops being patient.
  • Love never stops believing.
  • Love never stops hoping.
  • Love never gives up.
  • Love never ends.
  • Love never fails.
If you want, you can even get creative with your list by painting it or making a poster or collage. Whatever you choose, keep this list in front of you. Maybe you could copy it and tuck it in your Bible where you will see it every day. (You are reading your Bible every day, aren’t you? :)

If you’d like, you can take a photo of your Love Project and send it to me. I’ll post it on our blog so all the Gabriel Girls can see it.

Until next time, I send you . . . 


Love in the Lion of Judah! (That’s another name for Jesus!)


Dr. MaryAnn

_____________________________________________
Copyright 2015 by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio. All Rights Reserved.

To Become a Gabriel Girl, you need to qualify as follows:

  • You need to be born again. This means that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and the Lord of your life.If you don't know how to do this, click here.
  • You need to have a desire to tell others about Jesus wherever you go and whenever you can.
  • You need to commit to following Jesus by reading the Bible and praying every day and by obeying Jesus' command to love Him and to love your neighbor.
    ____________________________________________________
You can find me on the following Social Media Venues:

Website: www.maryanndiorio.com
Blog (Matters of the Heart): http://www.networkedblogs.com/blog/maryanndiorioblog
Amazon Author Central: www.amazon.com/author/maryanndiorio
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/DrMaryAnnDiorio
Twitter: https://Twitter.com/@DrMaryAnnDiorio
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6592603.MaryAnn_Diorio
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=45380421
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drmaryanndiorio/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DrMaryAnnDiorio/posts
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/drmaryanndiorio/

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