Tell me there is no God and I will look at you and say, "You just don't get it."
You are blinded by the gods of this age, blinded by your self-conceived notion of logic that unless the light of Jesus Christ reaches you, unless you come to fully understand love, you will never understand how I can believe in God (2 Corinthians 4:3-6).
You do not know the week I have had struggling with my depressed sense of self-worth, listening to the lies of loneliness and despair I thought were behind me. Culminating to Friday night and Saturday where broken I kneeled before God begging Him to deliver me. Begging Him to accept me as I am. Through love God already did.
Allow me to explain to you that there are no coincidences in life. As I was struggling with my self-worth, I came across a movie last night on Netflix called "Ragamuffin" based on the life of country music artist Rich Mullins. Rich Mullins has always been a favorite singer of mine. His songs are authentic and after watching his biography I can now understand where he was writing his songs from. He was writing from a perspective that he was not perfect. He was broken. He struggled with his demons. He wanted to be loved. He wanted to be better. Finally, Rich Mullins realized that God loved him just the way he was. I watched this movie and cried silently for I was seeing my own life displayed on the screen before me.
Rich Mullins was a student of Brennan Manning who wrote "The Ragamuffin Gospel". I listened to Brennan Manning this morning on the way to church talk about God loving us the way we are and not as we should be. Here I am struggling with my own self-worth, beating myself up once more this past week for my past sins which God has wiped clean already. Feeling guilty for my failures and struggles this past week. Forgetting that God still loves me. He doesn't expect me to be perfect. He expects me to continue towards perfection. The Apostle Paul said "we press on toward perfection" (Philippians 3:14), not that we have obtained it.
Enter this morning at church and a sister in Christ walks up to me encouraging me I am not alone in my struggles. That none of us are perfect. We all struggle with the flesh and we all make mistakes, but the difference is we keep pressing forward. Sinners quit. They throw their lives away lost in the enslavement of their selfish desires. Christians keep moving forward even when we fall down.
She only knew I was struggling because I made one post on our church app. Otherwise, her saying the exact same words that God had spoken to me through the movie and Brennan Manning's message was not planned. She said what God wanted me to hear.
Then the worship team sang songs about "come as you are", and how much Jesus loves us. Our pastor sang "Jesus Loves Me, This I Know", which was the exact same song the movie "Ragamuffin" featured. How are these types of coincidences possible? They're not. God is planning life. He is speaking through His people.
Then the Pastor delivers a message God placed upon his heart and guess what? It tied everything in my life this past week together. From me struggling and not letting go of certain things I need to, to surrendering and trusting in God. God spoke through the Pastor to remind me once more what God had been dealing within for the last week or two. I did not call my Pastor to let him know what I was struggling with. We did not organize this. God speaks through us; He moves through us.
These are not coincidences. In fact, how can one say they cannot believe in something unseen like God and yet you put your trust in coincidences, luck-these things that are unseen and not proven. Yet God has proven Himself time and time again. Yet we are blinded by the darkness of this age, too wrapped up in our own logic to see Him.
God's timing is perfect. He placed in my life different circumstances to help me to understand that God loves me just as I am. God loves me through my struggles and mistakes. He loves me and it is out of that love that I want to be better. It is out of that love, and God's proof of His love that makes me want to forsake my flesh; makes me want to make better choices. Not because God is forcing me to but rather because I love Him and I want to press forward towards the mark that Jesus Christ has paid for.
Today, those who are nonbelievers will read this and continue to say, "I don't get it."
You're right. You don't, and you won't unless you understand what true love it. True love is that a perfect, righteous, and holy being God became flesh and died upon the cross for our sins. True love is that the Son of God died for us, the imperfect us. He didn't wait until we had achieved perfection. God didn't wait until we had met legalistic requirements established in a Board of Trustees meeting creating church by-laws for membership. God sent His one and only Son because He loves us as we are and He wants us to be with Him.
Today I pray your veil will be removed and you will be able to find the same God I have found-the God of love, the God peace, the God of my heart.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Stay Alert! Stay Alive!
For the past seven days I have been tired, exhausted. It has been difficult for me to wake up on time and yet difficult to fall asleep at night. This morning I slept through my alarm causing me to be late for work. I am at work now on my lunch break as I type this and I am fighting sleep. Have you ever been that tired?
When I was in the US Army, during training missions and then during Iraq deployment there were times we were forced to stay awake more than 24 hours. Our non-commissioned officers and officers would tell us to stay awake for the enemy likes to attack when we are tired.
"STAY ALERT! STAY ALIVE!"
That was the motto during those long nights guarding our posts.
This past week as I have been exhausted physically and mentally, I noticed that is when the enemy of my soul-the devil-makes his move to attack me. Filling my heads with thoughts that are contrary to the promises and blessings God has made and given to me, Satan uses my fatigued mind against me. It is in our most tired state that we must remain vigil against these attacks.
Luke 21:36 states, "Keep alert at all times. And pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man (NLT)."
Jesus told his disciples this and then in the next chapter Jesus finds his disciples asleep instead of praying for Christ's upcoming trial. Jesus came down from his place of prayer to find his disciples fast asleep, and after waking them up said, "Why are you asleep? Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation (Luke 22:46, NLT)."
Satan knows when we are tired that we are more susceptible to temptations. When we are not alert, when we are not vigil because we are weary from the trials of life, we are weary from all that we have to deal with, or we are just weary because we are not going to the Well of our souls for nourishment and replenishment regularly, that is when we are most vulnerable to attack from the enemy of our soul.
Just like in the military, soldiers are most vulnerable to an attack when they are tired, fatigued, and do not remain vigilant.
"Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong," (1 Corinthians 16:13, NLT).
Even when we are most tired, worn out from all that life has thrown at us, it is then we need to remain vigilant. The enemy comes for you. He waits when you think all of life is figured out, or when we are most tired. Yet it is then we need to stand strong and continue praying at all times. Ephesians 6:18 tells us to "Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere (NLT)."
Are you tired today? Pray.
Have you been tired? Pray.
Are you feeling weak? Pray.
Don't sleep. Don't ignore the attacks. Don't give in.
Pray.
Stay Alert! Stay Alive!
When I was in the US Army, during training missions and then during Iraq deployment there were times we were forced to stay awake more than 24 hours. Our non-commissioned officers and officers would tell us to stay awake for the enemy likes to attack when we are tired.
"STAY ALERT! STAY ALIVE!"
That was the motto during those long nights guarding our posts.
This past week as I have been exhausted physically and mentally, I noticed that is when the enemy of my soul-the devil-makes his move to attack me. Filling my heads with thoughts that are contrary to the promises and blessings God has made and given to me, Satan uses my fatigued mind against me. It is in our most tired state that we must remain vigil against these attacks.
Luke 21:36 states, "Keep alert at all times. And pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man (NLT)."
Jesus told his disciples this and then in the next chapter Jesus finds his disciples asleep instead of praying for Christ's upcoming trial. Jesus came down from his place of prayer to find his disciples fast asleep, and after waking them up said, "Why are you asleep? Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation (Luke 22:46, NLT)."
Satan knows when we are tired that we are more susceptible to temptations. When we are not alert, when we are not vigil because we are weary from the trials of life, we are weary from all that we have to deal with, or we are just weary because we are not going to the Well of our souls for nourishment and replenishment regularly, that is when we are most vulnerable to attack from the enemy of our soul.
Just like in the military, soldiers are most vulnerable to an attack when they are tired, fatigued, and do not remain vigilant.
"Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong," (1 Corinthians 16:13, NLT).
Even when we are most tired, worn out from all that life has thrown at us, it is then we need to remain vigilant. The enemy comes for you. He waits when you think all of life is figured out, or when we are most tired. Yet it is then we need to stand strong and continue praying at all times. Ephesians 6:18 tells us to "Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere (NLT)."
Are you tired today? Pray.
Have you been tired? Pray.
Are you feeling weak? Pray.
Don't sleep. Don't ignore the attacks. Don't give in.
Pray.
Stay Alert! Stay Alive!
Sunday, August 7, 2016
Forgiveness
I have been trying to desperately when I first wake up in the morning to seek God first before I do anything. At times though I fail because my body is weak, and when I do not get enough sleep it can be a real struggle to wake up right when my alarm sounds in the early morning. I found myself this morning in that struggle. After being up until 0100 hours (1:00 AM to you common folk), and needing to leave my house by 0900 to get to church a hour away on time, I neglected to wake up early and spend some first time with God.
I am thankful for the hour drive though to church because it gives me time to seek God as I am driving. Now I believe in being led by the Spirit, but while I am driving a car it would behoove me to split my attention on God and traffic. So there is no comparison between being able to kneel in my private place with no distractions other than the sounds of my house, and devote my full attention to God. However, there are times you just need to seek God right where you are at even with all of life's distractions.
Before pulling out of my garage this morning, I shot a quick video for Facebook about forgiveness. I quoted Book of Matthew 5:23-25 about ensuring you seek reconciliation with someone who has something against you, or you against them. The verse reads:
23. "So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24. leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God. 25. When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly (NLT)."
God wants us to forgive others, and He wants us to seek forgiveness from others. Sometimes that forgiveness does not come right away from others, but we need to be quick to offer forgiveness, or make amends. Yes, even when we have been hurt by that person we should seek forgiveness.
After I posted that video, I was praying to God while driving to church. Suddenly, I really could not come up with the words to say to God because I got stuck on forgiving others. See, here I was presenting my "gifts", or prayers to God and yet He started talking to me about forgiving my soon-to-be-ex-wife.
Yes, I am hurt she left me. Yes, I am hurt she does not want to work this marriage out and instead sought a divorce lawyer right away. I can take that hurt and continue to be angry as I have to the point where I can barely stand to be around her when we exchange our son, or I can show the same love that God has shown to me and apologize to her, tell her I forgive her, and tell her we need to move on for our son's sake.
I fought a few minutes, resisting texting to her and telling her I forgave her. Yet God was reminding me of what I just posted earlier that day on Facebook about letting go of grudges, forgiving others, seek amends with our enemies. As I said on the video, we should forgive others despite the hurt the hurt they have caused us because we seek God to forgive us despite the hurt we have caused Him.
I drove in silence for a few more minutes before sending a message to her. Then I left it in God's hands.
That's all we can do. Sometimes, we just need to reach out to them and let them know they are forgiven and then leave it in God's hands to work on our enemy, our adversary. Forgiveness does not always mean that person can come back in our lives, but the grudge that had burdened our hearts can now leave our lives so we may present ourselves to God without fault.
The love we show towards others is important to God. After all, this is why it is written to "love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.' And, 'Love your neighbor as yourself,'" (Deut 6:5; Lev 19:18). Our brethren are our neighbors, and the same mercy we want from God upon us we need to show to others. This issue is so important to God that He even instructs us to cease praying to Him until we have made peace with our neighbors.
I know I am not the only one who has been hurt by someone we thought was close to us like a brother. Maybe a friend, a family member, or even a spouse hurt us. Yet we are called to show mercy because we would want mercy from others, and we seek it from God.
By the way, after I sent that text I was able to pray to God with peace in my heart and without hesitation. Because I had read Matthew 5:23-25, God silenced me and I listened to His Word, and after fulfilling His Word, I was able to come back and continue praying to God the rest of the way to church.
I am thankful for the hour drive though to church because it gives me time to seek God as I am driving. Now I believe in being led by the Spirit, but while I am driving a car it would behoove me to split my attention on God and traffic. So there is no comparison between being able to kneel in my private place with no distractions other than the sounds of my house, and devote my full attention to God. However, there are times you just need to seek God right where you are at even with all of life's distractions.
Before pulling out of my garage this morning, I shot a quick video for Facebook about forgiveness. I quoted Book of Matthew 5:23-25 about ensuring you seek reconciliation with someone who has something against you, or you against them. The verse reads:
23. "So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24. leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God. 25. When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly (NLT)."
God wants us to forgive others, and He wants us to seek forgiveness from others. Sometimes that forgiveness does not come right away from others, but we need to be quick to offer forgiveness, or make amends. Yes, even when we have been hurt by that person we should seek forgiveness.
After I posted that video, I was praying to God while driving to church. Suddenly, I really could not come up with the words to say to God because I got stuck on forgiving others. See, here I was presenting my "gifts", or prayers to God and yet He started talking to me about forgiving my soon-to-be-ex-wife.
Yes, I am hurt she left me. Yes, I am hurt she does not want to work this marriage out and instead sought a divorce lawyer right away. I can take that hurt and continue to be angry as I have to the point where I can barely stand to be around her when we exchange our son, or I can show the same love that God has shown to me and apologize to her, tell her I forgive her, and tell her we need to move on for our son's sake.
I fought a few minutes, resisting texting to her and telling her I forgave her. Yet God was reminding me of what I just posted earlier that day on Facebook about letting go of grudges, forgiving others, seek amends with our enemies. As I said on the video, we should forgive others despite the hurt the hurt they have caused us because we seek God to forgive us despite the hurt we have caused Him.
I drove in silence for a few more minutes before sending a message to her. Then I left it in God's hands.
That's all we can do. Sometimes, we just need to reach out to them and let them know they are forgiven and then leave it in God's hands to work on our enemy, our adversary. Forgiveness does not always mean that person can come back in our lives, but the grudge that had burdened our hearts can now leave our lives so we may present ourselves to God without fault.
The love we show towards others is important to God. After all, this is why it is written to "love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.' And, 'Love your neighbor as yourself,'" (Deut 6:5; Lev 19:18). Our brethren are our neighbors, and the same mercy we want from God upon us we need to show to others. This issue is so important to God that He even instructs us to cease praying to Him until we have made peace with our neighbors.
I know I am not the only one who has been hurt by someone we thought was close to us like a brother. Maybe a friend, a family member, or even a spouse hurt us. Yet we are called to show mercy because we would want mercy from others, and we seek it from God.
By the way, after I sent that text I was able to pray to God with peace in my heart and without hesitation. Because I had read Matthew 5:23-25, God silenced me and I listened to His Word, and after fulfilling His Word, I was able to come back and continue praying to God the rest of the way to church.
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