His amazing love.

This weeks scripture is one of my favorite scriptures. It’s all about His love this week. If you are like me, then you need some reminding once in awhile about how much He actually loves you. This great big God has His great big love directed towards us. That’s the best thing to think about this week. His amazing love.

    The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
(Psalm 103:6-13 ESV)

He loves Us!

Sermon jam

This weeks sermon jam.

Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!

Mid week inspiration

I read this on the Christian Living For today and was really inspired by it. Sadly they don’t have a share button for WordPress so had to copy it, I take no credit for it. If you like this, you can go to their website and check out their other posts.

God’s Powerful message to hurting women – I can heal you! by Robert
The number one question that people ask of God is why He allows suffering to come to them. This question has caused more than one pause for minister and layperson alike.

As a woman, it can seem like your suffering has gone unnoticed. After all, women are the keepers of the earth and home. You look after your families much like the woman mentioned in Proverbs 31. You don’t clothe them with scarlet but you do pray for them and that covers them with the blood of Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, when it comes to dealing with your own pain and hurt, there seems to be no one there for you. Maybe your heart is broken over a divorce. It could be that someone has brutalized you physically or mentally. You have learned to hide your pain and go on for the sake of the kids or for your livelihood. After all, the bills don’t stop coming because we are hurt.

Even at church on Sunday, you greet others with a smile that hides deep suffering inside. But how far can that really get you? Some women feel that there is strength in pain. The truth is that there is strength but not  that way.

When the hurt is that great, even your soul aches. In this life, it seems quite unfair that the deeds of the guilty can go unpunished. The only way that you see to stay in the “game of life” is to deny your pain and thus, a big part of yourself.

God wants you to know right now that  just will not do. Did you know that His heart is broken when your heart is broken? If Jesus wept for Lazarus in his death, he is surely weeping at the feet of the Almighty for your life. John 3:16 tells us that God loved every human being so much that He sent His only son, Jesus, to be a living sacrifice for us once and for all time. Does that sound like a God who doesn’t want your hurt to be healed?

God stands ready at the door of your heart to come in and change your life. There is one thing that you need to know: God is not like any man, woman or child that you have ever met. Even the most loving person in your life will let you down. It may not be their intention but it is human nature. God is not a man. He will never lie to you or make a promise to you that He doesn’t intend to keep. It’s time for you to hear God’s message of healing for your life.

Read the following verses:

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
23Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.

-Lamentations 3:22-23

God desires to sustain you with His love. It is an everlasting love that no man or woman can understand. You have to accept it on faith. Remember the faith you had as a child? That same childlike faith is what God works through to heal your heart, mind and soul.

This is not just a promise for the believer but the non-believer as well. It is human nature to hold onto pain and try to rationalize how you feel about it. God says to cast the burden of that hurt on Him. Pray right now, wherever you are for God to heal every part of you from the pain that you are experiencing. Let Him be your strength.

A text From a friend

So as the title states today’s post was not something I wrote, a friend ent me this and I thought I should share it. Hope it inspires you as well.

There is a battle between light and darkness in this world. The devil will do bad things to people if he can get away with it. He is a thief and is always endeavoring to steal God’s blessings form us. Although we enjoy a great deal of protection from him simply by avoiding sin and living in obedience to the word of God, we cannot er afford to just sit back complacently and think we’re immune from his attacks. Be sober and alert.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
(1 Peter 5:8 ESV)

This weeks scripture

So this weeks scripture comes from Timothy, it talks about what is expected of us. Basically what defines a true disciple of Christ. We all love our pastor and teachers and spiritual leaders but do they fall in the category of a true teacher or a false one? Where do you fall? This is just a challenge to us this week to be true to God. To represent Him accordingly in love and sincerity towards His people. Forget about theologies and religiousness. Let’s be about Christ. Let’s Focus our eyes, our lives and everything we are back to Him that we may teach what is right and true.

 

As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

(1 Timothy 1:3-11 ESV)

Awe

I keep messing up. Unintentionally and intentionally.
I keep choosing the darkness over the light. With complete knowledge of what my actions are.
I am constantly  failing Him, but still He remains faithful. I am humbled by the love He has for us.

Hold on, this may take a while….

Every day is a chance to grow in God. Every single moment, in every single thing we do.

When we ask God to make us holy, or to fix us, we ask that He changes us in our every move. It’s not about some blanket change, where you wake up one morning and you are this perfect human being. That doesn’t happen. Every aspect of our lives is an opportunity to glorify God. To be able to appreciate that we need to actually grow, just like as we do in every other thing in life. If you struggle with patience and you pray about it and you work on it daily and have faith that He’ll change you, you are more likely to appreciate the more patient you, than if you wake tomorrow and you are smiling at everyone, and giving everyone a second chance. Same thing with working out and eating right in weight loss. Everything in life comes in  process, God does that for a reason. That we may learn, that we may recognize His sovereignty.

Although the change may take time, it does come. It’s not like some new years resolution you make, when you know well you won’t commit. When you lay your struggles at His feet, He commits to you. He is faithful to grow you, change you into that person You are meant to be. That your life may be a testimony to Him and His great works. So, is it going to take time to drop that bad habit or characteristic? Yes. But, it will happen. Don’t give up on yourself, and don’t give up on God. Commit your life to the path He has laid out and He will surely fulfill His promises for your life. So right now, whatever it is you are struggling with, it’s not finished yet. Look how far you have already come, do you think He’d bring you this far and  just abandon you? Of course not. Chin up. Take that next step in faith and in love. Love for God and love for people, and watch Him change you.

    Trust in the LORD, and do good;
        dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
    Delight yourself in the LORD,
        and he will give you the desires of your heart.
    Commit your way to the LORD;
        trust in him, and he will act.
    He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
        and your justice as the noonday.
    Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
        fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
        over the man who carries out evil devices!
    Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
        Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
    For the evildoers shall be cut off,
        but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.
(Psalm 37:3-9 ESV)

Live!

He that is in us, is greater than he that is in the world. Consequence, bad choices, weakness or whatever it is that’s pulling you from God. He is greater, and He will win the fight if you let Him fight for You. Remember Him dying on the cross? That was for whatever you’re going through now. Whatever, we’re going through. He saw it then, He sees it now, and He’s already won. Now it’s up to us to act like we believe it, living  like it. Knowing that our lives are not in vain. That our pain is not eternal. It all passes because we have been promised it does. Dust yourself up and move on from whatever is holding you back from living fully. Embrace the freedom we have been blessed with. Live!

   

Christian?

I’ve heard a lot of people say that Christians only do good so they can go to heaven. Apparently, that’s the overall “vybe” that most Christians exude to non-Christians. Made me wonder, considering how many people seem to think that , are there any Christians who share that belief? Are there Christian who live that way? Doing good only for what they could get in the end. Are you among those? Doing good deeds just because of the great reward?

If you are, then you probably know deep down that, that is not what being a Christian is about, at all! Christianity is not some primary school reward system where you get points for good deeds, and lose them for the bad. If it were we would all be running on negatives trying to gain some points wouldn’t we? In that really messed up view of Christianity where would grace fall? Is there even any room for it? For forgiveness or mercy? Wouldn’t our lives be all about working really hard to be perfect and always do good so we could make the cut? The bible says,

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
(2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV)

God’s power is made strong in our WEAKNESS, meaning yes He knows we are weak. He does not expect us to be perfect and good. Only Jesus was, that’s why He chose to die on the cross that we may live. Acknowledging that, is all we need. Knowing that Jesus is indeed our only way, is the only salvation. No amount of good deeds can get anyone to heaven no matter how good you are, and no amount of bad can keep you out if you believe in God. Our God is a God of second chances, a God who loves us in our weakness and failures. No one should convince you other wise.

So no. Christianity is not about all the good you do. It’s about Jesus! It’s about our relationship with Him. An honest, authentic relationship with Christ. He doesn’t want a fake, “Hey, look at me world, I do good deeds all the time”, He just wants an honest heart with all the brokenness and short comings. Do not be fooled into living an inauthentic life just so you can look good on paper. Yes, as Christians we are a representation of Christ and because of that we have to work to live as He did. That does not mean that when you slip up you should hide away in a hole or live a life in secret sin. Your mistakes do not make you any less Christian. As long as you keep your relationship with God honest and repent. God does not expect any more from you than He knows you can give, so don’t try to live by anyone else’s standards. Do not live to please anyone else. Good deeds are good, but the love of Christ is best.

It truly is a journey.

Being a Christian is tough.

Choosing the right thing over the more comfortable thing, is tough.

Listening to what God says about us, over the things that keep replaying in our heads is tough.

Life is challenging for everyone but it comes with an extra set of challenges for us. You don’t need the world to persecute you to feel the challenge. A lot of times, we persecute ourselves. Through self judgment, and comparison and just wanting to live a life we cannot. We beat ourselves up and the world really doesn’t have to.

For example, in my previous post I spoke about how badly thing have gone this year. One negative thing happened and I saw multiple other in my head and from those imaginary visions, I made choices that have been detrimental to my spiritual growth. No, I am not lost. I am grateful to God for that, but it’s really hard and we have to always remember that. Remember that just because some thing are not working out the way we want to. Or, things in our families/friends lives seem to be falling apart, does not make God any less in charge of the situation.

It only takes one bad thought for things to go out of hand, the evil one doesn’t need some big pathway to our hearts. The slightest opening and he pounces. We have to guide our thoughts, don’t let yourself go negative. When you seem to  be going down that way, recite a scripture. (this is where the memory verses we learned in Sunday school come in handy). Find the scripture that speaks to your situation and repeat it over and over till you believe. Keep His word with you always, in your heart and it will help you more than you can imagine.

I am doing better now. I have it together(somewhat), and I am still on this journey. Although the roud gets rough or we make a little stop now and a gain, the journey will not end till it’s over. It may not be easy, but it’s worth it.

He is worth it. So let’s not give up.