In church circles, love of self is not talked about a lot. In fact, if the love of self is brought up, it is normally in the context of pride and needing to remove that love to be able to love God and those we come in contact with on a daily basis. I can remember being taught to love God from a very young age and that one of the greatest obstacles to true Godly love was the dirty, rotten, disgusting and putrid flesh.

One problem.
Matthew 22:37-39
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
 
We are to essentially love God on a personal level (YOUR God) with every part of our being; heart and the things we feel, soul and who we are eternally and our mind and the things we think about. This is known as the first and greatest commandment because, essentially, everything we do and who we are flow out of our heart, mind and soul.
 
Then we have verse 39 that is a directive like the previous greatest commandment; to love your neighbor as yourself. It doesn’t say, “Love your neighbor and hate yourself because your rotten fleshly nature is disgusting and vile in the sight of God.” It actually uses the words, “...as yourself.” To me, this says that the level of love I give out to others is directly proportional to the love I have for myself. And even more importantly, that the love of God with all my heart, soul and mind is the key for healthy self-love that will lead to my care of others. What a cool concept. God wants us to love him in all ways, so that WE can feel his love not only for others but for ourselves as well. So when we don’t spend time getting to know God and his love for US we don’t have a concern for the world because in essence, we don’t care about ourselves or we have an overestimated love of self that has no room for others. In either case, we break that flow of the love of God from him, through us to the world.

I can honestly say that when I have read verses about loving others and God, I have sometimes wondered where I fit into the stream of that love. The verses in Matthew 22 are proof that we are actually a part of that love flow from God to the people we need to reach.
 
Remember today that God doesn’t want to leave you behind in the process of his love for the world and even the term “the world” includes followers of Christ as well. When we consider that our finite minds cannot fully comprehend God’s plan for man, we will learn to just trust the process God has set out for us. We will dig into his Word and spend time with him and develop that love of God and self which will give us the tools to love a lost and dying world around us. 

Tonight on The3, Laura Harris Smith has some great guests: Susie Larson and Shaun Tabatt.
Set your DVR's or reminders!
Friday's at 8:30pm MT or Saturday's at 10:30pm MT​
​
WAYS TO WATCH: 
Comcast 51 (SD) & 643 (HD)
Dish Network 55
HD Antenna 33.1 (Cheyenne and Northern Colorado)
39.1 (Denver)
If you are not in the Denver/Cheyenne area or want to watch it on a tablet or smartphone, you can stream at Rockymountainctn.com

We have some great program schedule changes for next week.  Please visit the guide on our website to see the updates. 

I had a conversation with a friend the other day about needing prayer for a big career decision they had to make and were feeling anxious about making a wrong decision. They said they had been praying but didn’t feel like God was showing them what to do. I told them I would be praying but to also realize that if they are praying and asking God for a direction to go in and didn’t feel an answer either way, that it could also be God just trusting that they are going to make the right decision.
 
I remember when my wife and I decided to come out to Colorado and were on staff at a church in Florida. We had just accepted a new position to be the youth pastors but also had an opportunity to come out to Colorado and try out for a church as the High School pastors. We were praying and absolutely didn’t feel a direction/confirmation either way to stay in Florida or go to Colorado. It was the first time in our lives as followers of Christ that we felt like God was not going to tell us to stay or go. It was very confusing to feel like we were doing all the right things in prayer and still had no answer. Did God not care about what we were doing and us? As I discussed it with my wife we came to the realization that God was going to bless us if we stayed in Florida or if we came to Colorado. It was the first time in my life that I really felt like God trusted that I would make the right decision without having a full confirmation in my heart to do one thing and leave the other.

Let me highlight a few things so you understand the context of what I am illustrating. I am not saying that if you are a follower of Christ you don’t need to pray and ask God for His will in direction for things in your life or that it is purely up to you to make a decision and then expect that God will bless it because it’s your “free will”. I am only saying that many times we rely on our feelings more than we trust in God and his love and trust in us. Both of the examples above involved prayer and the process of asking God for His will in situations. The other consideration is that we can ignore what God is obviously telling or showing us and not in a place of making a good decision because of personal feelings. This is where it is ALWAYS a good thing to seek Godly counsel from someone you trust and who can speak into your life. God gave us each other to not only love one another but to also help us when we may not be seeing an answer right in front of us and asking in another direction.

I believe that Christians have been trained to ask God formally what they are to do, then they expect that God will give them some kind of answer yes or no but if they don’t feel like there was an answer either way that they are out of the will of God. The absolute key with a relationship with God is to be obedient and bring our requests to God as it says in Philippians 4:6.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
 
I truly believe we do not have a full revelation of how much God trusts us. He trusted his creation with the message of the gospel that has the power to bring someone who is dead back to life and take them from a life of self indulgent fantasy to actual life-changing purpose. When we realize that God is like a dad cheering us on instead of “billy club Jesus” waiting to discipline us when we do something wrong, we will begin to understand the trust and love He has for us, his creation.
 
Today is the day to be obedient and bring your requests to God and expect that either you will have a peace in decisions you need to make but also that if you think God is being silent and doesn’t care that the exact opposite is happening and he trusts you to make the right decision. Also, please seek Godly counsel from someone you trust to not only agree with you in prayer, but to also be honest with you if they see something off with a potential harmful decision you are making.
 
Have a great day and praying for you!

We are excited to be a media partner for the Summer Song Festival at
Fiddler's Green in Greenwood Village, Colorado.
​Sunday, June 24th at 3pm
To purchase your tickets and for more information visit their website.

​Your words have power. You have the power to curse or bless and the power to destroy or heal in your tongue. Let’s look at a few scriptures about the tongue and your speech.

Proverbs 15:4
The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.

Proverbs 17:9
Whoever would foster love, covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.

Proverbs 21:23
Those who guard their mouths and keep their tongues from calamity

Proverbs 12:18-19
18 The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. 19 Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.

When we see the emphasis and time the Bible spends on the power of words and their influence in life, we need to make sure we pay the same close attention to not only what we do but what we say. Terms like “guarding” and “keeping” are important to our mouths if we want to have success in life.
I can admit that it’s not always the easiest thing to hold my tongue when I feel like something needs to be said. Maybe you are the type of person who speaks first and then evaluates what just came out of your mouth. I think that is why the Bible places such a premium on words because once those things are said it is very hard, if not impossible, to take them back.

So how do we “guard our mouths” as well as our hearts in life? I think one of the primary ways is to make sure we put the Word of God in our hearts and are people of prayer. I know that when I have not spent sufficient time reading my Bible or spending time in prayer that I am more prone to say the first things that come to mind instead of mindfully considering well-placed words. The problem with hasty words is that many times they are more about proving you are right or posturing yourself in a situation versus bringing healing and solving problems.

The other thing we can do is be in accountability with someone we trust. God created us to be in relationship with one another and that includes pushing each other to excellence. When we put ourselves into an accountable relationship, we are admitting we need help in an area and not giving ourselves an excuse to make poor decisions and then use that relationship as a confessional time.
Today, don’t just consider where you will go or what you will do in life but also be mindful of the words that can cause death or bring life to the people around you. Jesus not only came to meet needs but to speak truth that helped give direction and set captive people free. God gave us that same power and is trusting that we will know when to hold our tongue when it will cause more harm than good or to speak the truth in love and watch God’s power be released in others AND ourselves.

We were having fun in the studio today shooting the pilot for the Corner Cafe 15 minute program.
Rachel and Jamie did a great job!

We want to thank Denver News Anchor, Natalie Tysdal for coming in and sharing her life with us.  Stacey Crawford from The Vintage Vine did a fabulous job providing and decorating the set.  You should go visit her store, you will love her stuff!  She's located at: 6905 S Broadway, #99
Littleton, Colorado 80122.  You can also learn more on Facebook at The Vintage Vine ltd. 
Did you see that beautiful picture in the back?  Dennis Wright provided that!  Visit his website to see more.

We can't wait for the series: Corner Cafe-Your Cup of Inspiration!

The story of the hymn is actually as inspiring as the song itself. Horatio G. Spafford and his wife, Anna, were prominent people in 1860’s Chicago. As well as being a lawyer and business man, the Spaffords were also supporters and close friends of D.L. Moody, the famous preacher.

In 1870 things started to go wrong. The Spaffords’ only son died of scarlet fever at the age of four. A year later, the Chicago Fire destroyed all their real estate holdings on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Horatio decided to take his wife and four daughters on a holiday to England to get away from their troubles and to help D.L. Moody on his evangelistic tour of Britain. The Spaffords traveled to New York in November of 1873 to catch a French steamer to cross the Atlantic. At the last-minute, a business development forced Horatio to stay behind. He saw his family onto the ship and made plans to catch up with them later.

On November 2nd 1873, the ‘Ville de Havre’, the ship carrying the Spaffords, had collided with ‘The Lochearn’, an English vessel. It sank in only 12 minutes, claiming the lives of 226 people among them were his daughters, Annie, Maggie, Bessie and Tanetta. Only his wife, Anna, was spared. She sent a telegram to her husband which read, in part, “Saved alone. What shall I do?”

Upon hearing the terrible news, Horatio Spafford boarded the next ship out of New York to join his bereaved wife. The captain of the ship had called Horatio to the bridge and said, “A careful reckoning has been made and I believe we are now passing the place where the ‘de Havre’ was wrecked. The water is three miles deep.” Horatio then returned to his cabin, and in his grief penned the lyrics of this great hymn.

Sometimes our day looks pretty tough, but through God we can say, “It is well with my soul.”   We don’t always see the big picture. But God is there for us in it all.

​IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL
by Horatio Spafford
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
​
And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.