“Don’t tell them that Jesus loves them until you’re ready to love them.”

We know also that the Son of God
has come and has given us understanding,
so that we may know him who is true.
And we are in him who is true —
even in his Son Jesus Christ.
He is the true God and eternal life.
1 John 5:20 (NIV)

The Hula-Hoop, a hip-swiveling toy that became a huge fad across America when it was first marketed by Wham-O in 1958. An estimated 25 million Hula-Hoops were sold in its first four months of production alone. The enormous popularity of the Hula-Hoop was short-lived and within a matter of months, the masses were on to the next big thing.

Many fads come and go but Jesus is exactly the answer to the wanting of the heart. In our culture today, every new item to hit the market steals the headlines only for a brief moment and then fades into obscurity. God knows our short attention span and how easily we are distracted so He sent Jesus to be a permanent satisfaction to the longing of our hearts.

Jesus came to reveal God to us. He has given us the clearest picture yet of what God is really like. Because of Jesus, we can know God, the only one who is truly genuine. Because we are in Christ, we share that special bond with the Father and find in him a whole new quality of life. This life won’t end when our bodies die, and eternal life begins now, as we walk with him each day and extends unto forever. For the eternal and transcendent God to make himself known to us is grace. For him to do it in Jesus is salvation… God is the same yesterday, today and forever… no need for a new and improved savior!

Holy and awesome Father,
I know that because my life
is joined to you through Jesus,
I will enjoy your presence forever.
I love you for all you have done for me
and the terrible price you paid
to redeem me from my sins.
I love you for creating me
and having a plan for my life
when no one else knew
I was even conceived.
Most of all, I love you for being God
and choosing to be the kind of Father
who wants his children
to know and love him.
In Jesus name. Amen.

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” (John Piper)

It is not good to have zeal without knowledge,
nor to be hasty and miss the way.
Proverbs 19:2 (NIV)

Maybe one of the most important things we can do to grow in spiritual maturity is to find the right things to get passionate about. We can get riled up about some of the most inconsequential issues. We can get wildly passionate about everything from sports to chocolate pie. But zeal, passion for an issue, must be anchored to spiritual wisdom and understanding. We can get worked up over something and completely miss the will of the Lord because we were blinded by our own passions. While I want zealous people around me, I want them to be zealous for God’s things and for Kingdom issues.

Powerful and perfect God,
I find it so easy to get “all wound up”
about something and then lose
my zeal for it by the next morning,
or I get so roused to action,
I go off half-cocked
and do terrible damage.
Dear Father,
please give me the wisdom to
see what is best and right and true.
Holy God, I want to serve and honor
you and bless others in your name.
In Jesus’ wonderful name I pray.
Amen.

The Secret to Happiness

It is not that we think we are qualified
to do anything on our own.
Our qualification comes from God.
He has enabled us to be
ministers of his new covenant.
This is a covenant not of written laws,
but of the Spirit. The old
written covenant ends in death;
but under the new covenant,
the Spirit gives life.
2 Corinthians 3:5-6 NLT

Unfortunately, most folks who claim to follow Jesus miss the incredibly radical claims of the apostle Paul. We are not under law. It’s not that the righteous demands of law are bad, but they have no power to change us — not down inside where the problems in our behaviors really reside. Instead, when we surrender our lives to Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us. With the gift of the Spirit’s presence come both the power and the urge to be more like God — holy and righteous, gracious and compassionate. Written laws ultimately convict us of our failures, but this “law,” the principle of living by the Holy Spirit of God within us, is life-inspiring and enabling. Rather than a law demanding us to be holy, we have the presence of the Holy One inside us urging, leading, empowering, convicting, and transforming us to be like Jesus.

Holy God,
I appreciate the Ten Commandments
and the rules, regulations, and laws
you gave your people through Moses.
I hear your call to me to be holy —
to be righteous and compassionate
like you are. Yet I know, dear Father,
that without the empowering presence
of your Holy Spirit and the gift
of your grace in Jesus,
I would never measure up.
I ask that you give me life,
hope, holiness, joy, peace, passion,
endurance, and grace as I seek to yield
to the Spirit’s influence in my life.
I ask this in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

 

Take Chance on Happiness Today!

Why do the daily routines that we struggle with rob us of so much joy? It is good to take a break from the stress of life and there is no better way to destress than finding a time of worship. There are many churches within close proximity to where you are right now, some may be close enough for a short walk. Why not risk a small amount of time seeking worship instead of just taking in more stressful distractions today? It is a chance to re-fresh and re-create just like God intends for us.

What’s in a name?

Salvation is found in no one else,
for there is no other name under heaven
given to men by which we must be saved.
Acts 4:12 (NIV)

While many substitute saviors have been offered, only the True Messiah saves. While we often live for many masters, but only one Lord liberates and sets us free from sin and death. While many ways are claimed to bring us close to God, Jesus insists that he is the only way, the truth and the light.

By wisdom a house is built,
and through understanding it is established;
through knowledge its rooms are
filled with rare and beautiful treasures.
Proverbs 24:3-4 (NIV

So we’re driven to one ultimate reality: do we believe salvation is in Jesus alone, or do we not. It’s our choice. But what we decide about Jesus is really deciding about everything. Is Jesus your Lord? Is Jesus the name above all names in your life? Is Jesus your Savior? If not, then please reconsider, for the Bible says: “Salvation is found in no one else.”

Thank you, Almighty God,
for choosing to share your
grace with me in Jesus.
May I never take the precious
name of Jesus in vain.
May Jesus himself come and reign
as Lord in my heart and in my life.
May Jesus be seen in the
way I treat others.
May Jesus know that there
is no other rival for
my allegiance to him.
In that precious name of Jesus,
your Son and my Savior, I pray.
Amen.

Are you talking to me?

“It’s no good to sit up and take notice
if we just keep on sitting.”
– Author Unknown

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 about my weaknesses,
so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

To do what I want, not necessarily what is best or most expedient for those around me or for the good of the Kingdom. I don’t like to hear that God told Paul that he had asked enough about deliverance from his problem. Instead, Paul needed to learn that God’s gracious strength and mercy were enough to sustain him even in trial. While I know I need to learn this same lesson, it is daunting. I want God to keep things nice and tidy for me. But then I remember I am a follower of Christ. If I am to become like my Savior, then I have to let go of my requirements on God’s answers and open up to God’s work to redeem others through me, no matter the personal cost. Only then can I truly know that his grace is sufficient for me!

Patient and loving Shepherd,
guard my heart from discouragement
in tough times and guard it
from arrogance in good times.
I know that without you
I have nothing that is permanent.
Thanks for giving me a permanent,
steadfast hope of heaven with you,
because of your grace and
strength shared with me.
In the name of Jesus I pray.
Amen.

 

 

Quality Assurance…

You know that when
you were still unbelievers,
you were led astray
and swept along in
worshiping speechless idols.
So I want you to know
that no one speaking
by the Spirit of God
will curse Jesus,
and no one can
say Jesus is Lord,
except by the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:2-3 NLT

In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit spoke through human writers to give us some absolute truths. When the Holy Spirit lives inside people, they are not going to curse Jesus. Instead, the Holy Spirit impels them to confess Jesus as Lord and Master — not only as the Lord and Master of all creation but also as the Lord and Master to whom they yield their hearts! Because of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, the Holy Spirit declared the Lord Jesus Christ as the powerful Son of God (Romans 1:4). Do people see Jesus in your words and deeds?

Almighty God,
I confess that I believe
that Jesus Christ is your Son,
my Lord and Savior.
I yield my heart to Jesus
and pray that my life reflects
his character and compassion.
May the words of my mouth
and the meditations of my heart
always be guided by your Holy Spirit
and lead me to confess the
glory and grace that I have found
in my Lord and Master,
Jesus Christ,
in whose name I pray.
Amen.

Who can you trust?

“Nothing is too great
and nothing is too small
to commit into the hands of the Lord.”
– A. W. Pink

Stop trusting in man,
who has but a breath
in his nostrils.
Of what account is he?
Isaiah 2:22  NIV

How many times have you been disappointed by someone for whom you voted, betrayed by a friend, been abandoned by a loved one, or let down by a church leader? While we love others and care about them, every other person in our world is just like us — a flawed human being who breathes the same air and walks the same ground as we do. Only God is worthy of our ultimate trust. He showed us by sacrificing what was most precious to him so we could know his love. Let’s not put our hope in other mere mortals; only God can safeguard our trust. Let’s put our hope in him!

Father, you know the broken places
in my heart that were caused by
the failure of people in my life.
I confess that I have sometimes
become disillusioned with your way
because of the failures and
inconsistencies in your people.
Deep down I know, dear Father,
that their failures do not
mean your failure,
but it is hard for it
not to feel that way.
Call me close to you.
Give me a more gracious heart
toward those who fail me.
Establish my faith,
strong and firm in you, O LORD.
In you I put my trust.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Slip Sliding Away…

And this world is fading away,
along with everything that people crave.
But anyone who does what pleases
God will live forever.
Dear children,
the last hour is here.
You have heard that the
Antichrist is coming,
and already many such
antichrists have appeared.
From this we know
that the last hour has come.
These people left our churches,
but they never really
belonged with us;
otherwise they would
have stayed with us.
When they left,
it proved that they did
not belong with us.
But you are not like that,
for the Holy One
has given you his Spirit,
and all of you know the truth.
 So I am writing to you
not because you don’t know
the truth but because you know
the difference between truth and lies.
 1 John 2:17-21 NLT


Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit, whom he called the Comforter (Counselor or Advocate depending on the translation), would come and lead us into all truth (John 16:13). The Spirit, who inspired the writing of the Scriptures (2 Tim. 2:16-17), is alive in us and helps us discern, know, and understand God’s truth (1 Cor. 2:10-16). The Spirit of the Living God lives in us and is at work in us — in me! So each of us needs to ask our self if we are inviting the Holy Spirit into our lives to help us discern, know, and understand God’s truth. Am I yielding to the Spirit and am I in the word of God seeking to be informed and transformed by the Holy Spirit? Am I asking the Holy Spirit to filter, correct, challenge, and redeem what I think, read, hear, and see? Rather than succumbing to the lie that all truth is subjective, let’s subject what we think, read, hear, and see to the Spirit of truth!

O Father,
I join my heart with the words
of your servant David, who said:
“Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Please transform my thinking
and my living by your Holy Spirit.
In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

 

Looking for something?

This is the day the LORD has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Please, LORD, please save us.
Please, LORD, please give us success.
Bless the one who comes
in the name of the LORD.
We bless you from
the house of the LORD .
The LORD is God,
shining upon us.
Take the sacrifice
and bind it with
cords on the altar.
You are my God,
and I will praise you!
You are my God,
and I will exalt you!
Give thanks to the LORD,
for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.Psalm 188:24-29 NLT
Find some time for God today.