I Love You

More clearly than I have ever heard it, I heard God speak these words into my heart today.

"I love you."

I've heard them before.  I've heard them from family and friends and I've heard that God loves me I don't know how many times.  However, today was different.  Today, for the first time I feel like in forever, I finally got it.  I finally understood.  God LOVES me.  He truly does love me and wants the best for me.  I don't know why that fact never clicked with me before but as I reflect back on my life I think I can understand why.  I think some of it has to do with the fact that I have been an approval seeker for many years.  I have yearned to have the approval of others and would do what I had to in order to have the approval that I wanted from those that I wanted it from.  I applied the same approach to God. I tried to earn God's approval.  I have lived my life so far with this attitude that as long as I did all the right things, God would love me.  If I messed up though and sinned, then all I could imagine was God looking down on me with great disappointment on his face.  Living this way caused me to doubt my salvation even.  There were several times where I wondered if I was still saved.  I had this fear that I was not really saved, that somehow some mistake that I had made had invalidated my salvation and I was now bound for Hell.

Today though, God healed me of that.

I can now say that for the first time in a very long time I truly and deeply feel God's love for me.  It is a love that is fulfilling and a love that stays no matter what.  That is why I urge you today to let God love you.  Let his love fill every part of your being so that you can also know what it is like to be loved by your Creator.  It's like having a void in my heart filled.  I want you to know what this feels like to.  Just let him love you.  Open your heart and let God pour his love deep inside your soul.

Amen!

Pride Before The Fall

Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.

Proverbs 18:12 (NIV)

Arnold Palmer is hailed as one of the greatest golfers ever.  However, even someone as talented as Arnold can fall victim to pride.  He once told a story of when overconfidence got the best of him.

He said "It was the final hole of the 1961 Masters tournament, and I had a one-stroke lead and had just hit a very satisfying tee shot. I felt I was in pretty good shape. As I approached my ball, I saw an old friend standing at the edge of the gallery. He motioned me over, stuck out his hand and said, Congratulations." I took his hand and shook it, but as soon as I did, I knew I had lost my focus. On my next two shots, I hit the ball into a sand trap, then put it over the edge of the green. I missed a putt and lost the Masters. You don't forget a mistake like that; you just learn from it and become determined that you will never do that again. I haven't in the 30 years since."

Arnold's greatest mistake during that Masters tournament was acting like his victory was a sure thing.  Losing his focus ended up causing him to lose the tournament.  Much like golf, when we lose our focus as followers of Christ and we begin thinking that we are better than we really are, we are setting ourselves up for a big fall.  Instead of pride, God calls us to be a people of humility.  The Bible tells us that God opposes the proud, but favors the humble.  Let us pray each day that God will lead us to be humble and honorable people.

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What Can I Do?

¹⁵ Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

1 Corinthians 12:15-20 (NIV)

Have you ever looked at someone and thought "I wish I could do what they can do!"  I think all of us have at some point, and to be honest, it's a pretty normal reaction.  We see the people that we think can do amazing and wonderful things and we wish that we could do the same things they do.  I wish I could sing.  I would love to be able to sing well and have people like my singing.  However, let's just say that the Lord did not bless me with that gift.  If you've heard me try to sing you'll probably agree!

I think this desire to have the abilities and talents of others can sometimes carry over into the church as well.  We may be tempted to look at someone like our pastor or a worship leader and think "I'm nothing like them!  What could I possibly offer God?"  That's exactly the kind of thinking that Paul is addressing here in 1 Corinthians.  Does the fact that not all of us have the ability to preach in front of a crowd or sing beautiful songs mean that we can't contribute to spreading the Word of God?

The answer is no!

What Paul wants all of us to understand is that God has made all of us with different gifts and talents.  Each of us has a task that we perform as part of the Body of Christ.  The preacher may be the one who gets up and speaks the Word of God each Sunday morning, but it takes much more than just the preacher for the church to be effective doesn't it?  There are many different parts that must be filled and many different responsibilities that must be carried out in order to make sure that the church can fulfill the purpose for which it was made: to bring people to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and then teach them to be disciples.

If you are a Christian, then that makes you a part of the Body of Christ.  You have your own tasks to perform in the life of church, and the church needs for each person, each part, to do their work and to do it well.  Take the time to pray for God to show you what your role is in the church and then set about fulfilling that role with God's help.

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Seek Out Forgiveness

23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

Matthew 5:23-24 (NIV)

Have you ever hurt someone?  Have you ever said or done something that caused pain or grief for someone else?  It seems to be a situation that happens to even the best of us.  We may normally be a very controlled and a very kind person, someone who is very cautious with what we say and tries very hard to never mistreat others.  But from time to time those situations arise where our tempers get the best of us and we lash out in anger, or we suddenly come up with a brilliant one liner that we know will have everyone laughing, even if it does humiliate the person it’s directed at.

We can all do things sometimes that hurt someone else, be it intentionally or unintentionally.  When that happens, Jesus calls us to go and make things right with that person we’ve hurt as soon as we can, if not immediately.  As Christians we are called to be reconcilers.  Jesus teaches his followers to be peacemakers.  We may mess up from time to time and do or say things we know we shouldn’t.  In those times we should ask forgiveness from God, but then it is important that we go and ask forgiveness from the person we have hurt as well.

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Watching Your Mouth

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.



Ephesians 4:29 (NIV)

Ephesians 4:29 is one of those verses that can really make you uncomfortable.  Know what I mean?  Take a moment and honestly consider the things that you say to other people every day.  What do you talk about?  What kind of jokes do you tell?  What do you say about other people, especially those who aren’t around?  I could probably write a dozen different questions like that here but at the core of all them is the same thing: does your speech match up with what is contained in Ephesians 4:29?  Now, I would love to tell you right now “Oh yes!  My words are the epitome of this verse!  I never let anything unwholesome come out of my mouth!”  Sure, I could say that…but then I would be a liar, and that’s not exactly wholesome either is it?

What does the word “wholesome”, as it’s used here, mean?  Is it referring to not swearing, staying away from lewd subjects, and not making fun of people?   That’s one way of putting it.  It does include all those things.  However, I can think of no better definition to give you of “wholesome” than this:

The way Jesus talked.

Look at the way Jesus spoke to others.  Look at the things He said to them and how He said them.  Jesus is remarkable for many reasons, but perhaps one of the most amazing is that He is the only person in all of history to have complete control over His words.

Jesus got angry, but He never spoke out of anger.  He was around those who hated Him and cursed Him to His face, but He never once said anything back with ill intentions.  Even when Jesus did say things that were harsh, they were always spoken out of love and with a desire to build others up.

Your words, be they verbal or written, have tremendous power and are far-reaching.  Talk like Jesus talked and let your words be a force for good in this world.


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Need a Rest?

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”


Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

Have you ever felt weighed down?  I know I have.  It doesn’t seem to take long nowadays before we can find ourselves in a position where we feel like we’ve got the weight of the world on our shoulders.  That weight can be pretty exhausting!  Whether you are in school or in the working world (or in my case, just about to jump right back into school), there are a ton of things out there that can quickly consume all your time and energy and leave you feeling like you have nothing left for anything else.

As Christians, isn’t it a relief to know that we have someone to go to when we need rest?  Jesus tells us in the scripture above that He is a source of rest for those who come to Him.  He is like a drink of cool refreshing water to a thirsty soul.  He tells us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light, because God never places more on any of us than we can handle.  The Lord is a gentle and humble master.  Who better to turn to when we are needing refuge from the world and all its cares and worries than our Father in Heaven, who loves us more than we will ever know?


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Praying in Jesus Name

Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.



John 16:24 (NIV)

While Jesus was here on earth, his disciples could ask Him anything they wanted because He was right there with them.  In John 16:24 He is reassuring them that even though He would soon be leaving them they would still have access to God the Father because they could pray to Him in Jesus name.  Through Christ, we have the ability to go before our Father in Heaven and ask anything of Him in Jesus name.  Think of it this way, when you pray you are effectively standing before God’s throne, making your requests or prayers heard to Him. 

As children of God, we have full access to His throne.  It is because of Jesus, the one who makes this possible for us, that we are able to approach God in such a way and ask Him directly for the things that are on our hearts.  If you are lacking something that you need in your life, have you brought that concern before God in the name of Jesus?

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Because of what Jesus has done for us, we can pray directly to our Father in Heaven and ask anything of Him in Jesus name.  Because of Jesus we have full access to God Himself!