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.

It Has Nothing to do with You!

The love of God is greater far

Than tongue or pen can ever tell

It goes beyond the highest star

And reaches to the lowest hell

The guilty pair bowed down with care

God gave His Son to win

His erring child He reconciled

And pardoned from His sin

Could we with ink the ocean fill

And were the skies with parchment made

Were every stalk on earth a quill

And every man a scribe by trade

To write the love of God above

would drain the ocean dry

Nor could the scroll contain the whole

Though stretched from sky to sky

O love of God how rich and pure

How measureless and strong

It shall forevermore endure

The saints' and angels' song

The love Jesus has for you has absolutely nothing to do with you. Let me say that again: The love Jesus has for you, has absolutely nothing to do with you. Once you get this into your heart, it is a very freeing statement. There is nothing you could do, say or think that can make Him love you less or more - NOTHING! He loves you because He loves you - it has nothing to do with you. This is what Romans 8 is all about - we are free to live because He loves us, and His love is completely unconditional. This doesn't mean that we should abuse our freedom and sin freely; it means that we can walk in His love, and allow Him to live through us and empower us to overcome.

If I were to ask you how do you think Jesus would act towards you if He were to walk up to you right now, what would your answer be? I asked this to someone recently, and he thought Jesus would be ashamed of him. A lot of people think this. A lot of people think that Jesus would be angry at them or that He would be disappointed in them. If you think this way, how would YOU react? You would probably turn away from Him or hang your head, not looking Him in the eye.

Is this Biblical? How many times in the Bible did Jesus look at His disciples or the crowds in disgust, contempt or shame? (Pharisees not included of course; they seemed to be in another category of people!) The answer is not once. Jesus never looked at anyone with anything but love. Not even the adulteress woman or the Samaritan woman. Not the tax collectors, the thieves He died beside or "doubting Thomas." Nothing but love. And that is how He would react to you today if He were to walk into the room. He would tell you, "lift up your head, look into My eyes and see how much I love you."

Lift up your head. Do not walk around in shame or condemnation. It is impossible to disappoint Him - how can you disappoint someone who already knew what you were going to do? It's impossible! His love is Perfect. Perfect love casts out all fear. Walk in His love - walk freely in His love. He will never give you a reason to hang your head in front of Him - never. His love for you has nothing to do with you!

Where is the Love?

"Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails."

Love is essential to our human existence. Without it, something inside of us withers up and we feel like a part of us is dead. I'm not talking about romantic love or infatuation; I'm talking about real and lasting love - the unconditional kind! We were made to love and be loved; God created us with to love Him and love each other. Nowadays though, love seems to be vanishing - even in the church, where it should be the number one commodity.

We have begun to act as if love is not important; truth and knowledge are more important! However, Paul says in I Corinthians 13, that you can do all kinds of good works, speak eloquently and have huge faith, but if you do these things without love, they don't count for anything. Love is the most important part of Christianity!

Our primary motivator should always be love. Whatever we do and say to and for others should always come from a heart of love. Everything that Jesus said and did was out of love. Not once did He let anything deter Him from acting in love. He constantly put His love for others before His own needs and wants; even when He was physically eshausted, hungry and needing rest, He still had deep compassion on the crowds following Him and took care of their needs before His.

Technology has taken the place of human interaction these days, and we are talking and seeing each other less and less. This has also made showing love to one another a lot harder. There are millions of unhappy people out there, and you see many of them every day. Look around the next time you are on the bus or subway or waiting in line at the store. Your smile can lift someone's spirits and make a difference in a stranger's life. Another thing you can do to show love to a stranger or someone you know is to simply ask, "how are you?" and really mean it! This question has become a part of conversation, and most people just answer, "fine, how are you?" Let the person know that you really want to know how they are!

Don't love selfishly; instead, use I Corinthian's 13 as your guide. Remember, one day you will stand before God and He will not be judging us according to your actions; He will be looking at the intent of your heart - your motivation for doing those actions.

Why Was David "A Man After God's Own Heart?"

I've been reading about David lately - not just in Psalms, but in 1 and 2 Samuel as well. The Lord called David "a man after My own heart," and I wanted to know what made David that kind of man. He wasn't perfect - not all of his sins are listed, but he did commit adultery and murder! Yet, the Lord still loved and favored him. I think that part of what made God favor David so much was how David dealt with his sin.

Whenever God sent someone to rebuke David he immediately repented and accepted the consequences of his sin. There isn't a place in the Bible where it talks about David refusing to repent, or being self-righteous about his sins. His heart always yielded to God's conviction right away, and he always repented 100%.

David also stepped out in faith quite a bit. The most famous instance of this was when he fought Goliath. I have read this story many times, but this was the first time I realized that the Bible does not say that God told David to kill Goliath. There are other times when it tells how David asked the Lord for direction before he went into battle, but when he went to fight Goliath, David just stepped out and did it, trusting that God would back him up! After reading that, I had to sit back and think about it for a few minutes. If I were in that situation, would I have done what David did? I hope so, but I have my doubts! David knew that God was on Israel's side, and that He took insults to His chosen people pretty seriously, so from that I guess he figured that all he had to do was take a stand against Goliath and God would go before him. Well, as we know, he figured right!

This decision was made in a matter of seconds! He didn't wait and pray it out, or ask for advice or talk to anyone about it. He just did it - no doubts, no worries. He KNEW that God would do it! He knew God, and what He had done for the Israelites in the past, and David had also seen God come through over and over again in his own life. And that was all it took for David to put his life in God's hands.

Think back and remember what God has done in your life. Read the Bible and take a look at what He did for the people back then. Has He changed? Of course not! Just what He's done in your life alone should be enough for you to put your life in His hands and make it possible for you to step out in faith like David did. He knew God so well that he knew God would bless him in his efforts. He knew what God wanted - even what He would want. Like I mentioned before, sometimes he did pray and ask for direction, and God always answered, but He rarely told David "no, don't do that." David had a heart for God, and for the things of God. He searched after the heart of God, and he knew Him - really knew Him. David knew sides of God that many Jewish people at that time did not know. Read the Psalms - God was David's everything - He was closer to Him than anyone else. He trusted God above everything and anyone. He made mistakes, sinned and messed things up just like we do, and everyone else has done since Adam and Eve. But he didn't let those things stop him for long. He got right back up and continued in his walk with the Lord.

Don't let your sins knock you down for long - Satan would rather you stayed down, buried under shame and guilt for the rest of your life, but God wants us to learn from our mistakes, seek His forgiveness, repent, and move on. (Wow, this post took on a mind of its own! Funny how you start with one idea and then it turns into something else!)

Will Post Soon!!!

Sorry all...I am in the middle of moving, and I haven't had time to post anything new on here, but things should settle down soon, and then I will go back to being regular...I promise!