God is Good - All the Time?

What would you say if someone asked you "Is God good?" The standard response would be to say, "Yes!" But do you really think God is good? Is it something that you believe with all your heart all of the time?

Most of us, if we were to be completely honest with ourselves, would have to say no! We believe the God is good most of the time, but what about the times when nothing is going our way? What about the difficult times, when it seems like He has left us? We know in our minds that He will never leave us or forsake us, (Hebrews 13:5) but do we believe it in our hearts?

It's in these hard times that we start to doubt that God really is good. After all, if God was good, we wouldn't be in this situation right?

Think about this: God is love. That means He cannot be separated from love. So everything He does, every word He says, every action that He takes - He does it all out of love. If we can just grasp this truth and hold onto it tightly, we will never again doubt that God is good and He loves us.

It basically comes down to choice. We choose to believe that God is good. We choose to believe that God loves us. We exercise our will to choose to believe these things, even in the toughest circumstances.

If we can make this choice, and stick by it, going through hard times will be easier because then we can say, "Lord, You are good. You love me. Everything You do, You do out of love. Even when You discipline, You do it because You love me! So knowing this, I will be okay. Knowing that You are good and that You love me, I know that I can trust You no matter what my situation is, because You are good and You love me."

Why Do We Fight Him?

Our whole lives as Christians can be a constant tug of war between our flesh and the Holy Spirit. Some of us live our whole lives without a total surrender to the One who loves us, the One who gave everything He had so that we might have LIFE - and yet we refuse this life, true life, by not giving all of ourselves to Him.

John 10:10 (NLT) "The thief's purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life."

If your hands are already full, how can you accept a gift? Imagine that you are holding onto 2 rotten apples, one in each hand. Then a close friend comes along with 2 ripe apples, nice and red and juicy and crisp - 2 perfect apples. (I am making myself hungry here!) You look at those apples, and you know they are good. You know they would be much better for you than the rotten ones you have in your hands. Your friend desperately wants to give you his apples, but even though you want to do it, you can't accept the perfect apples he is offering you because you are still holding onto the rotten ones. You don't have room in your hands to have all the apples - you have to put down the rotten ones before you can accept the perfect apples.

Ok, I know that using apples is a little different, but I'm pretty sure that you get the picture. I know I do!

We hold on to our pride - we want to be in control of our lives, of our dreams, our goals, our relationships, our decisions, our whole lives. Jesus offers us LIFE, and we look at Him and we know that what He has for us is so much better than what we are holding onto, but we don't let go, so we cannot accept what He is offering us.

The great thing about Jesus is that His patience does not end - because His love for us doesn't end either! As long as we have breath, His offer of LIFE will not expire. Christians, as soon as you let go, you will be free to accept what He has to offer you! A rich and satisfying LIFE!!

We need to let go...learn to live our lives not with a closed fist, but with open hands. Open hands don't hold onto anything in this life; not possessions, not people, not dreams, and not even burdens or offences. Open hands. It gives God full freedom to do what He has always wanted to do in your life - give you LIFE!

Oops!

Just noticed that my last blog post (it was a while ago!) almost matches my new post...I guess God's love must be a pretty important subject! Well, enjoy both of them!

God's Love For You Has Nothing To Do With You!

Did you have to read that title a couple of times? Think about it - God's love for you has absolutely nothing to do with you! Doesn't make much sense, does it? However, when you give it some thought, it really does!

The Bible says that nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God. This includes us! Not even we ourselves can separate up from His love. God loves us, no matter what! There is nothing we can do to make Him love us less, and there is nothing we can do to make Him love us more. Therefore, His love for you has nothing to do with you!

If you are like me, you have probably struggled with feeling like you've gone too far this time, or that God has extended His mercy too many times, and soon He will take His grace away from you. I don't know why Christians find it easier to believe lies than the truth of God's own Word, but it is usually the case.

If you are struggling with these thoughts of condemnation, read Psalm 106. This Psalm talks about how the Israelites rebelled against God time after time after time after time. It says that they even went as far as to sacrifice their own sons and daughters to idols, shedding innocent blood! Then it talks about how God was angry, and gave them over to their enemies.

HOWEVER! In verses 43-46, it says: "Again and again He rescued them, but they chose to rebel against Him and they were finally destroyed by their sin. Even so, He pitied them in their distress and listened to their cries. He remembered His covenant with them and relented because of His unfailing love. He even caused their captors to treat them with kindness."

Christians! His covenant with YOU is His blood! There is no stronger covenant than this! Nothing can erase what He has already done for you - no, not even your sins! So do not accept condemnation. Instead, repent of your sin, and then move on from it, confident that He who has the final say has already forgotten it.