Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a]neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What is Love? Webster's Dictionary Defines it as a feeling of strong attachment induced by that which delights or commands admiration. As I read that definition all the sappy love movies I have watch seem to missing the mark. Based on what Websters says about love its a feeling that turns into a command inside of something that cannot be explained. Let's be honest how many of us have watched a movie with a love story so amazing that we change our prayers to match it, so for example the Notebook, I wonder how many women have prayed asking for a love like that of Ally and Noah. However based on the definition is that really love? Or is the real question we need to be asking ourselves is: do we even really know what love is? The only form of true love we could ever know is the love of our savior. True love is the sacrifice God expressed by sending his only son to pay for our sins on the cross. You see true love is so immeasurable more than we could ever comprehend that we as humans have created this idea of what we think it is so misleading that no matter how much we pray we will never obtain it. So I was spending time with the Lord, thinking about this and I began to wonder what if. What if instead of praying for a loving relationship like that of fictional movies, instead of modeling our relationships after made up character, we decided to shower those in our lives with a love like that of the Lord. If we began to pray for the ability to love other's like God has loved us. Now I understand that this principle isn't an easy one to follow. I mean achieve that love is impossible because the perfect love can only come from the perfect one, but imagine how much our lives would change if we would simple try to succeed. Our desire to be more like Jesus would be life changing and in return love changing. Just think husband and wife relationships would change because husbands would love their wives like Jesus loved the church and in return their wives would love them as we the church love Jesus. Then think about parent/child relationships and how so many people all over the world have skewed depictions of God as the father based on their Dad well just think if Father try to love their children as God has loved us chains will not only be broken but will never have a chance to form. Loving one another like God loves us allows us to take authority over our families. It makes us in charge and gives the enemy no room to cast doubt. So why not try? No one is going to be perfect,but leaning on the true meaning of love can't do anything but help. Wanting to be more like Jesus isn't ever going to be a bad thing. So I challenge you to pray for a Christ like love. To pray for the ability to love those around you like God loves us. Because I believe that when we shift our definition of love then Go's love will shine upon all of us and who couldn't use a little more of God's love falling on them.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Friday, September 19, 2014
House of Cards
1 Peter 1:6-7
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Have you ever felt like you've been dealt a bad hand. Like life simply wasn't fair and it just didn't make sense why? Wednesday night as I was volunteering with the youth at my church the pastor poised this question. He asked the students if they have ever thought life wasn't fair? Being someone who has felt this way more than once I began to ponder on what God had to say about it. Sometimes I feel like Christians get caught up in the stereotypical church answers and forget that when giving advice on this subject that they are dealing with real people, who even though they follow Christ they still experience real emotions and temptations of this world. With that being said I feel that when you feel like life isn't fair and seek advice that people in church will give you an answer like: Well rest assure that God saved you by giving you his Son and so he really doesn't owes you anything and even if life doesn't seem fair you should be grateful for the things you have. You might be thinking that this answer seems a little extreme and maybe you're right, but I also feel that people respond to life issues this way and even though there is some truth to it, it doesn't make anyone feel better. I am sure all we want is some true and loving advice. By now you're probably think what's the point to all of this? The point is that God sees what hurts us. He know when we feel like life is unfair. So as I sat and contemplated this question He revealed something to me that has truly put the trials happening in my life into perspective. If the things we face in life were compared to being dealt a hand of cards, life is like a game of Texas hold'em poker with God as the dealer. Still with me? Ok so if you have ever played a game of Texas Hold'em you are dealt five cards and with those cards you try to play off what the dealer flips over to win. You see sometimes we feel like the cards we were dealt are horrible, that no matter what we think there is no way anything good is going to come from it, but what we don't know if what the dealer is holding. Poker players take calculating risk and try to prepare their hands for the best scenario when the dealer flips the cards. It's the same for us we need to press into the dealer so that we are ready when he makes a move. Then when he flips it all comes together. The difference with us following God compared to the dealer flipping his hand is that we are always the winners. God had planned the hand he will lay down for each of us it just the wait. So as you examine your cards today remember who is in control. You can try to move things around and get rid of what you feel bad or you can relax sit back and trust that when the dealer flips you will com out ahead. So I challenge you today to press in. In the moments that the wait seems to much and the hand your holding is less then desirable press in, but the flip is coming. Our God we serve will deal us the winning hand in his great time because with him a royal flush isn't where is stops for Him, it stops with crown s in heaven.
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Have you ever felt like you've been dealt a bad hand. Like life simply wasn't fair and it just didn't make sense why? Wednesday night as I was volunteering with the youth at my church the pastor poised this question. He asked the students if they have ever thought life wasn't fair? Being someone who has felt this way more than once I began to ponder on what God had to say about it. Sometimes I feel like Christians get caught up in the stereotypical church answers and forget that when giving advice on this subject that they are dealing with real people, who even though they follow Christ they still experience real emotions and temptations of this world. With that being said I feel that when you feel like life isn't fair and seek advice that people in church will give you an answer like: Well rest assure that God saved you by giving you his Son and so he really doesn't owes you anything and even if life doesn't seem fair you should be grateful for the things you have. You might be thinking that this answer seems a little extreme and maybe you're right, but I also feel that people respond to life issues this way and even though there is some truth to it, it doesn't make anyone feel better. I am sure all we want is some true and loving advice. By now you're probably think what's the point to all of this? The point is that God sees what hurts us. He know when we feel like life is unfair. So as I sat and contemplated this question He revealed something to me that has truly put the trials happening in my life into perspective. If the things we face in life were compared to being dealt a hand of cards, life is like a game of Texas hold'em poker with God as the dealer. Still with me? Ok so if you have ever played a game of Texas Hold'em you are dealt five cards and with those cards you try to play off what the dealer flips over to win. You see sometimes we feel like the cards we were dealt are horrible, that no matter what we think there is no way anything good is going to come from it, but what we don't know if what the dealer is holding. Poker players take calculating risk and try to prepare their hands for the best scenario when the dealer flips the cards. It's the same for us we need to press into the dealer so that we are ready when he makes a move. Then when he flips it all comes together. The difference with us following God compared to the dealer flipping his hand is that we are always the winners. God had planned the hand he will lay down for each of us it just the wait. So as you examine your cards today remember who is in control. You can try to move things around and get rid of what you feel bad or you can relax sit back and trust that when the dealer flips you will com out ahead. So I challenge you today to press in. In the moments that the wait seems to much and the hand your holding is less then desirable press in, but the flip is coming. Our God we serve will deal us the winning hand in his great time because with him a royal flush isn't where is stops for Him, it stops with crown s in heaven.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Breaking Point
Psalms 57:2-3
"I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah. God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!"
As Christians we find ourselves putting on mask after mask trying to cover up the messes we have in our lives because we feel like we have to have everything together in order to bring others to Jesus. I just don't understand it. Having an honest moment this ridiculous notion is the reason I haven't posted in a while because I was allowing my circumstance to define my worth and because I didn't feel worthy I didn't feel like I could share with all of you. Now that I have worked through this I realized how silly it is that I allowed the enemy to come in to destroy my confidence. To allow him to stop me from doing something that brought joy to me. Yet as I write I still am walking and experience the trials and tribulations that come along with this life. Day in and day out I find myself battling the enemy. I've been praying for two years for a job, one that is fulfilling both spiritually and financially and I'm still waiting. Keeping faith is hard to do but I realize it's the only thing I have. We all have breaking points, times in which we don't think we can go on. Moments like this where all seems hopeless. Then I remember who my savior is. He bore my cross. He wore my sin on his back so that I can live a life that reflects him. So does that mean, living a life that reflects him? I have discovered being open and transparent is what I have to do to live a life in which you see my Jesus in me. Because if you can see my pain and my suffering and yet still see my hope and my faith then you will see Jesus in me. I realized that having faith as small as a mustard see is truly a good way to describe our faith in trails yet it doesn't mean it can't grow into the might tree it is meant to be. So in this time I've been away from you I have reached my breaking point. I have found myself in the lowest of lows yet I'm still pressing on because my God is good no matter what I'm going through. So I challenge you to find the good in the valley you are walking in. Remember all that God has done for you even though it might be the hardest thing for you to do. It will restore you faith, it will help your mustard seed to grow. Just think, the hard ground has to have a breaking point so that roots can grow so allow your breaking point to produce fruit, rip away the mask and fix your eyes on the one who made them. Allow your messes to bring others to Him. For you are worthy because of who He is in you.
Reflecting His Image
Genesis 1:26-28
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
As I was reading this verse and trying to discover what it truly means to be created in God's own image something was revealed to me in this scripture more than it ever has before. I'm going to say this and some of you are going to think DUH, but when you really think about it in comparison to us, you will be blown away. If we are made in His image and we have free will to make choices then God has the free will not to choose us. Yet through all we have done since the beginning of time He has chosen to redeem us and give us grace. That is mind blowing to me. I think sometimes knowing that God is perfect and sinless makes me think about how He loves us despite our sin, and sometimes I think that He loves us because He is perfect. Yet in reality He chooses to love us despite our sin even though He is perfect and he could choice to not love us. He could have rejected us or made us complete good works in order to receive salvation. All of those options wouldn't make Him less perfect, yet that's not the God we serve. We serve a God so good and so loving that when it came to letting us spend eternity away from him or finding a way to pay for all of our sins he chose to pay for all our sins. Now I know some of you might be thinking ok really we all know this. We know that God choose to send his son, but that's not why I think that this is important. The whole reason I bring this up is the fact that even though we were made in God's image and He choose to forgive us and love us despite our flaws, and we don't do the same. I know I struggle with this. I know that loving others is extremely hard in general and then to add to it Jesus commands us to love them as he loves us. So when you're showing what you feel is love is it really? Are you loving those around you like Jesus loved us? Are you willing to lay down your lives for those you love because that is the love Jesus shows us. He shows us to truly love is to be willing to fully sacrifice yourself for someone else. I mean think about it. For those of you who have a spouse or children you love them unconditionally and that is great, but even though you love them unconditionally are you loving them like Jesus? That is my challenge for all of us today, I want us all to start trying to love those around us like Jesus loved us. I know how hard it is because I struggle with this too, but I think that If I continue to try I might just start to understand the love our God has for me. The love He chooses to give to me everyday.
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