Since we already discussed the history of Valentine’s Day and are clear on its origins. Now we can acknowledge that Valentine’s Day can be a day to celebrate God’s love for us. There is no better occasion than the occasion the world sets aside to celebrate love, to celebrate the Ultimate Love. Though He loved us before we knew Him and long before the holiday was even established, it is still the perfect time to express our love and appreciation for Him. On this special day of celebration, let us remember how God showed His love through Jesus’ death on His cross, a display of ultimate selflessness and devotion to saving each of us from sin. Let us show our gratitude by loving others with the same selfless and unyielding passion that God has modeled for us in return. .For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 One of the greatest gifts God has given is His redeeming love. He showed His love for us by sending Jesus, the Son of God, to die a painful death on our behalf. In doing so, He saved us from eternal separation from Him in hell and brought us back into a relationship with Him through His gift of eternal life.As we remember Valentine’s Day this year as a day where we can focus on commitment and affection between ourselves and others, consider how you can show your appreciation for God’s special gift that He gave you when you accepted Jesus as your Savior! Spend time with God and ask for His guidance as to how you can express your love for Him this year.
Taking time to spend with God is one of the best things we can do to show our love and commitment to Him. Spending quality time with God allows us to gain insight, wisdom and guidance that can be used in all aspects of life. Asking for His guidance as to how we can express our love for Him this year will help us develop a deeper relationship with Him that will be beneficial for years to come.
Expressing our love for God also allows us to grow spiritually and better ourselves. Spending time with God will help us connect with our purpose and be more in tune with what He has planned for the future.
Taking time to spend quality moments with God is one of the most important actions any person can take to become closer to Him and deepen their relationship. It may involve simple steps like reading scripture, praying and reflecting, or simply taking some time out of your day for quiet contemplation. Finding ways to connect with God through activities like worship, service, or ministry are also great options as they allow you to express your love and faith in a tangible way. Other methods such as meditation and journaling may also be helpful in providing an avenue for expressing thoughts and feelings while drawing closer to God. Ultimately, taking the time to spend quality moments
Here are three main tips on spending some quality time with God and showing your love for him.
Read His Word
Reading His word is an important part of spending quality time with Him. This will help us understand more about who He is, what He has done, as well as have a greater appreciation for all that is involved in our relationship. Reading His word should be done daily without fail so that we can better understand what we are reading and what it means to us.
Prayer
Praying with God is one of the most effective ways to spend quality time with Him. It’s important that we pray daily and seek Him in everything that we do, so that He can help guide our decisions, thoughts, and actions.
Fellowship
Spending quality time with God usually involves spending some time getting to know other believers as well as spending some time serving others through church involvement or lifestyle. These are not the only ways that discipleship happens, but they are a big part of it! Quality time with God is an important part of discipleship.
This is just the basics of what it means to walk in God’s love, spend time with him and dote on Him. Won’t you be God’s Valentine this coming week?
Valentine’s Day is a special day celebrated by millions of people around the world. But how did it come to be? The answer lies in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia which was adopted and adapted by the Church to create the holiday we know today. This article will somewhat explore how this transformation took place and how evolved over time. What is Lupercalia?
Lupercalia was a fertility festival celebrated in Ancient Rome, more attributed to lust than love in ancient times. Over time, the Catholic Church adapted this festival to create the holiday we know today – Valentine’s Day.
The origins of Lupercalia are not fully understood. It is thought to have originated as a sacrificial cult that worshipped the Great Goddess. A wild goat was sacrificed on this day and its blood would be used to anoint the heads of young girls and initiate them into the cult. Young men would do battle with each other in order to win a prize such as marriage, money, or land in what is thought to be a fertility ritual. Unsafe abortions were also commonly done at this time, so the goddess could bestow health and fertility onto the initiate.
The women who won these prizes were often called epulas while their husbands were called famuli/famulari. These terms are used to this day in juridical contexts. There is a plaque with the inscription “Epulae et famuli in urbe Roma” (“epulas and familiars at Rome”) on the façade of the Palazzo dei Conservatori. The word “famulus” is a Latin derivative of the Roman term famulus, which originally simply meant “servant”. In ancient Rome, a slave who had been freed was called a famulus (and thus the term became synonymous with slave) who could become either an ordinary servant or a staff member in some important office. After gaining his freedom and becoming rich, a man might use his wealth to support slaves who would do anything he asked and serve as his familiars. Slaves freed by their masters were also called famuli. Within certain levels of society, the first slave was the owner’s wife, who could not be forced to work outside the home.
The Roman Republic and, later, the Roman Empire allowed slaves to buy their freedom. Slaves who achieved sufficient merit might be granted citizenship by the state and allowed to enter public life. In ancient China during imperial times (between 600 BC/200 AD), people were classified as slaves if captured in war; those enslaved would have their individual liberty taken from them if they were unable or unwilling to perform labor for a period of time ranging from one month (in some cases) up to three years without probation. Persons could also be sentenced to forced labor if they were convicted of a jailable offense, such as murder. The law also granted authorities the ability to sentence persons convicted of non-jailable offenses to forced labor for up to nine months.
When the Catholic Church came to power, it tried to do away with cultural and pagan practices that it believed would get in the way of people’s salvation. Lupercalia, a holiday based on lust and fertility, was not one they could encourage celebration of, especially while encouraging practices of chastity and purity. As a result, the Church banned Lupercalia in AD 404. And now we have a neat and tidy Valentine’s day.
Valentine’s Day is not the only day that has a rocky holiday history. The Catholic Church also tried to make the date of Christmas conform to the date of Jesus’ birth. It took some time for them to get it right, though..The first mention in Church history notes that December 25th was celebrated as Christ’s birthday in AD 336 by Pope Julius I and others that he appointed, but there is no evidence that December 25th was actually celebrated then or even at all during Jesus’ lifetime.
2nd Century – Church Father Irenaeus was the first to write about it: “For our Lord’s birthday shall be yearly observed on the 25th of March, on which day He rose from the dead.”
3rd Century – Church Father Tertullian wrote about it: “This day [December 25th] is that on which our Lord Jesus Christ, the son of God, was born according to the flesh.”
4th Century – Church Father Hippolytus in The Liturgy of the Hours writes: “On December 25th, Christ our God is born!”
5th Century – Pope Pius I in AD 525 decreed that December 25th would be celebrated as the day when Christianity began.
6th Century – Church Father Isidore of Seville wrote about it: “This day [December 25th] . . . we celebrate with joy and gladness in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was born according to the flesh”
1400 – Renaissance scholar Petrarch wrote about the use of candles on this day: “On December 25th, in imitation of the birthday of Christ, there should be no light save such as is given by a candle.
“1569 – Bishop John Calvin wrote about Christmas celebrations… and so on and so on until we have the Christmas holiday we know and love today.
I am not discouraging you from celebrating holidays with your family. I hope you have plenty of opportunities to hang out and dwell in divine love; however, I do think we should be knowledgeable about what the holidays mean and how they came to be.
I have been listening to this Kristen Dimarco song for more than a week, every single day. The first time I heard it, I sobbed. I was hysterical because I wanted to believe the words but I just couldn’t. Now, it seems like the more I listen to it, the more I seem to accept the words as facts.
The first verse is as follows:”I am no victim, I live with a vision. I’m covered by the force of love, covered in my Savior’s blood. I am no orphan, I’m. not a poor man. The Kingdom’s now become my own and with the King I’ve found a home”
How does someone with PTSD or any other mental illness, get behind these words? How does a suicidal person? Someone who feels alone and like everything they touch dies? Someone who has no evidence for believing in anything other than their present situation?
So as I pondered these thoughts I decided to look for the parts of the song I unequivocally believed.
Covered in the Savior’s blood ( CHECK)
Not an orphan (CHECK)
He is my Father ( CHECK)
He is who He says He is ( CHECK)
Ok, so I buy four lines in the entire song. The problem that really struck me was my strong unfavorable reaction to the title ” I am no victim”. I mean, Wasn’t I? I kept looking at the hot mess that was my life and alternating between one of two thoughts. 1.It’s none of my fault. 2.Its all of my fault. Over the course of this week I’ve actually discovered that none of that actually matters. The most important part is ” I’m covered by the force of love… I am who He says I am. I’m defined by all his promises, shaped by every word He says”
