Neither Counts

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.  The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. ~ Galatians 5:6

To pray with your eyes open, or closed. To dance, or not dance.  To sing hymns, or praise and hip hop.  To circumcise, or not.  Too fast, or not too fast.  Sometimes Christians get caught up in issues that are really personal preferences, but have no bearing on the issue of true salvation.  When we are accepted into Christ’s family we should be more concerned about showing Christ’s love to one another no matter our preferences and we should embrace our differences while celebrating our unity in Christ.  The Law of Moses from the Old Testament was fulfilled when Christ died on the cross for our sins.  We are no longer bound by the law, but instead we are free through the blood of Jesus.  Validating, or justifying our faith through our obedience of the Mosaic law has little value now.  Our justification comes from Christ only and our love for Him should be evident to others through our faith in Him.  Our faith and trust honors God which in turn is a blessing to us.  We don’t need to get caught up in rituals, traditions and the do’s and don’ts of religion.  We need to be about the character of God through love and grace.   Faith is a heart issue; it’s a relationship with Jesus, not a task oriented checklist.  Faith says, “I want to see God’s work in my life and other’s lives” and we get excited about it; which in turn, leads to loving others and meeting their needs.  Let’s make sure our hearts are set to love others through our faith and let God shine instead of being concerned with personal preferences.  The heart is what matters in the end. ~ Amen

No Shame

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. ~ Romans 5:5

In a world full of uncertainty how can anyone be hopeful?  Numerous times I have been disappointed as promises made by others, or even to myself, go drifting by.  Worldly hope and hope we have put in others always has the possibility of disappointment, but as followers of Jesus, our hope will one day be fully realized.  The hope of living in God’s goodness forever will be realized by us because God’s love has been poured out onto us and in our hearts and His promises cannot be broken.  This spiritual hope and confidence is gifted to us not by anything that we have done, but is the sole work of everything Christ has done for us.  A blood bought gift.  This eternal hope is not earned, but received as the Holy Spirit enters our being and transforms us.  Bought with a great price; that once we accept we are reconciled with our Creator and spared His wrath.  We can have peace with God that will lead us to an eternal hope of the goodness yet to come.  A deep down knowledge; “without a shadow of doubt” kind of feeling that is embedded in your heart of hearts.  This is the hope we have in Christ.  Christian hope is rooted in God’s goodness and promises while worldly hope is founded in efforts and the fleshes desires.  Let’s make sure we are grounded in the right hope. ~ Amen

Also Rejoice

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. ~ Romans 5:3-4

Too many people believe that if you are a follower of Jesus, then you should have a problem free life, but the fact of the matter is Jesus actually promised us trials.  Jesus told us in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.”  I have been asked ‘why do Christians suffer?  Why does God allow bad things to happen to his children?’ Bad things happen on a daily basis and the reality is we live in a broken and fallen world where sin has entered and turned God’s original plan upside down.  God gave us free will; which allowed us the opportunity to rebel against Him.  Even though He created us for a relationship with Him, He doesn’t want to make puppets out of us and force a dictatorship; so He chooses to be a gentleman by allowing us to choose Him.  In the beginning, Adam and Eve enjoyed a close relationship with Him, but because of their one sinful choice; their disobedience, sin was brought into the world.  Because of that choice, there is now a brokenness of sin and hurt in our world.  But we don’t have to live in that defeat and we don’t have to wallow in our sufferings.  Instead of complaining and whining as our flesh wants us to, we need to look ahead and remember that trials and difficult times are God’s way of pruning us back; of removing the dead life out of us and to remember that He makes everything work out for those who love Him.  To glory in your trial is to remember that God has promised something beautiful on the other side even if we can’t see it.  God and only God, in His sovereignty, allows things to happen for reasons we are not always meant to understand this side of heaven.  He may be testing our faith to produce Christ-like character and we will be better for it - just hang on! ~ Amen

Many Plans

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. ~ Proverbs 19:21

How many times have you had a specific plan only to watch it fall apart?  How often do you seek Godly counsel regarding your plans?  God doesn’t have a problem with us making plans - plans for our future, plans for our family, plans for our job - what He wants us to remember is that He has the final say and is the one ultimately in control.   We would be wise to plan, but understand that God’s will should be our first priority and desire.  God knows that the flesh may lead our hearts desires astray from what God wills for our lives, but if we ask for His guidance, He will be sure to give it.  When we surrender our desires and plans to God, He moves us into His will for our lives.  The fact of the matter is life moves fast and things change all the time and when you feel yourself getting frustrated maybe that’s when you should stop and ask God if this is His plan, or your own plan.  Maybe you're trying too hard to make something happen that was never intended to be.  Feeling frustrated is normal when our plans don’t pan out, but I believe we could alleviate a lot of the frustration from the very start if we would ask God for his guidance and will even before planning.  Prepare for divine interruptions; they will happen.  So today give your plans to the Lord and see what He reveals. ~ Amen

From God

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ~ 1 John 4:7

Big red hearts filled with chocolate candy and stuffed teddy bears claiming, “I Love You” are all over the stores around the end of January through Valentines Day.  Once a year we are bombarded with reminders of love, but as followers of Jesus, we should be showering our world everyday with signs of love.  As the Holy Spirit transforms our life, our love for our neighbors should begin to shape into a godly love of service, forgiveness and sincere care and respect.  To love like Christ does not come naturally; there has to be a change of heart that only the Holy Spirit can bring.  To have true love for people, you must have a true love of God because the unconditional, sacrificial love He gave us and wants us to show others only comes from Him.  You cannot show that kind of love without tapping into your relationship with Christ and the Holy Spirit as it is not natural on our own.  Love conjured up by human feelings is not the same agape love that Christ demonstrated for us.  Our human love has strings, conditions and sometimes says, “I have fallen out of love.”  God’s love is supreme, respectful no matter your past or background, is empathetic and full of servanthood.  It sees me for me and not for what I am not, or could be.  God’s love cannot “fall out of love”.  There is no such thing.  It is forever.  Our love for each other, as followers of Christ, should strive to look the same way.  No matter who they are, where they are at, or where they have been, we need to show them God’s love.  I have a long way to go when it comes to showing God’s love.  I have a lot of improving to do; I am not the best at this, but I pray everyday that God would change my heart to love people as He does.  If I am a follower of Jesus, I must try my best to love like Jesus. ~ Amen

Submit Yourselves

Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ~ James 4:7

Trust.  It’s all about trust.  In today’s world we are given many opportunities to submit ourselves to many different voices - our jobs, our wallets, our desires for more success, our ambitions, or even just the desire to submit to ourselves and what we may think is best for us.  Our world is geared to helping you submit to yourself and whatever those desires may look like selfish, or not.  When we submit to ourselves and our own abilities instead of God's, that's when sin and temptation tend to slowly creep into our lives ever so subtly.  All of a sudden our ambitions create a whole lot of pride; our success leads to greed; our greed leads to gluttony and on and on and on it goes before we become so selfish that we can’t seem to find the time, or effort for anyone else.  Fight the urge to put yourself first; serve others and submit your ways to God and watch the devil leave you.  We must resist the cultures’ me, me, me, self-service attitude and put others first if we truly want to find joy and happiness in life.  Humble yourself and submit your whole being, your life, your kids, your work, every part of your life to Christ and how He would have you live your life and watch the devil flee!  He must!  Be mindful of the many temptations Satan uses to entice you with.  They often come wrapped in shiny, fun, pretty little packages, but once unwrapped and opened they will have you paying dearly - so push back and resist with all your might the temptations set before you.  Call out to Christ and let Him give you the strength to resist and say NO!  Use God’s word to guard your heart, mind and spirit and memorize God’s promises so you can easily bring them to your mind when confronted with the liar and his schemes.  Remember, you must do both - resist the devil and submit to God.  You will see victory!  Be obedient and God’s grace will carry you through. ~ Amen

Eternal House

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:1

In this life, in your current and temporary body, you will experience aches, pains and fatigue.  In due time, our bodies will fail us here on earth and we will pass away.  Everyone does it.  No one is exempt.  It’s a sure part of life.  The earthly body our spirit inhabits right now will one day fail us, but as believers in Christ, our spirits will move on to their permanent house built for us by Christ himself.  This earthly body, or tent, as Paul describes it, is not our permanent home.  Night will come for my earthly body, but my spirit will move on to its permanent home with Christ and my soul will rejoice in its homecoming.  As part of the worldly creation, we were not yet able to live in the heavenly realms, but once our work here is complete and Christ calls us home, we will have our eternal address with our King.  When our bodies are gone as our temporary housing unit, our spirit still has eternal hope in our new home that no human mind can comprehend where we will spend eternity.  As I have heard it said, we are a spirit living in a temporary body, not a body with a temporary spirit.  One day we will move from this home to our forever home.  Rest assured that as followers of Christ, we will live in a glorious state with a new body surrounded by Jesus and His glory forever.  While it is important to maintain your “tent”, or “house” as best as you can, be careful not to spend so much time on the upkeep of your body that your soul deteriorates.  Make time for God and His Kingdom.  Prepare for eternity so as to make sure you are in the heavenly realms when the time comes.  We would be wise to exercise our souls for His Kingdom as much as we exercise our earthly bodies to keep them in tip top shape.  Pursue Godly living and walk by faith knowing that our future is glorious even though we cannot see it yet.  Be encouraged that there is so much more in our permanent, heavenly home. ~ Amen

Bless Abundantly

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ~ 2 Corinthians 9:8

Through God’s gift of unmerited favor, that he bestowed upon me, I should show that same generosity towards others.  We exercise our faith and trust in the Lord when we give generously knowing that God has and will meet all my needs at all times.  Maybe not all my WANTS, but all my NEEDS are met all time. When we choose to be generous, we are actively choosing to act in a way that aligns with God's character and His love.  It’s not an “I give, so God has to bless me” mentality, but rather as a way to experience the joy and fulfillment that comes from giving freely. To be spiritually blessed knowing that you are walking in accordance with God.  Christ has already proven himself to meet all our needs even unto death as the sacrificial lamb for our redemption to God.  Followers of Christ must learn to trust God in all things so that our good works and generosity will not be inhibited.  Christ’s generosity knows no bounds and as long as we are tethered to Him, our generosity will also know no limits; whether it’s with our resources, or our time.  For if we are tied to Him, who is the source, we will never run out.  God’s grace runs through many veins in our lives, but when it comes to generosity and giving, we can never out give God.  He wants to bless His followers who have big hearts and giving hands.  Too many times we hold tightly to what we believe is ours because we are afraid we won’t have enough to meet all our needs, but God would say, “try me”.  A gift can come in many different forms and different sizes and sometimes all God is asking from us is a small gift, enough to test us while still meeting the needs of a fellow human being.  We feel the crunch of the wallet and have forgotten that in God’s economy it is much better to give than to receive.  Jesus himself taught in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”  Every follower of Christ has received an abundant gift of grace through the blood of Jesus and the forgiveness shown to us.  May we be as generous as what has been given to us not so that we have enough, but so that others will have enough.  Let our hearts be generous. ~ Amen

Has Made

He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:11

Just when you thought things could not get any worse, tragedy strikes.  You lose your job, you lose a loved one, one of your kids gets extremely sick - you name it; all you know is this is not what you had planned for your life.  Heavy burdens and uncertainty can pave a road of doubts and fear, but if you read Ecclesiastes 3:1, you will see that everything has a God ordained time.  The truth of the matter is that God’s timing may seem way off the mark, or what He is doing is so painful you think there is no way this can be part of His plan.  The truth is He is always working from a different perspective.  A much higher perspective than we can possibly fathom.  Operating out of his sovereignty even when He allows extreme pain in our lives.  He sees the whole jigsaw puzzle of our life and the masterpiece that it will be; while we oftentimes, get stuck on one piece at a time because we can’t see the whole picture.  Our life is a wonderful mesh of many different pieces that make a priceless piece of art; a one of a kind.  Too many people walk aimlessly through life thinking this is all there may be for us, but Ecclesiastes 3:11 makes it abundantly clear that we all have a God given knowledge that there is more than what this world has to offer.  We can have tremendous hope and encouragement when we rest in the fact that eternity will be spent with our Creator and this world will be but a vivid memory.  One day we will be able to see what God was doing; how He was in control and how He will make everything right again.  God’s timing is not our timing and our job is to trust Him; to hold onto our hope and faith and believe that we will see how everything had a specific and beautiful place and time for a reason.  Everything comes together in harmony specifically designed, or allowed by God.  God sees the past, present and future and knows how to piece it together at the right time.  We need to trust God, especially in trials, as He sees what we can’t.  We need to keep our eyes focused on Jesus and trust Him to craft our lives. ~ Amen

Lacks Wisdom

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ~ James 1:5

We often wonder if we are making the right choices in life.  It is said that everyday we make about 35,000 decisions – some good and some not so good.  That is mind boggling!  How in the world do we make so many decisions?  Some of them we make without even thinking about; as if they are instinctual.  Some of them are easily answered and others, well, we need wisdom on how and where to land.  Sometimes we go to our parents for advice, a friend, or even a coworker.  Have you ever listened to someone and then wished you would have gone another direction?  Ever received wrong advice?   Whether or not we get the wisdom we are seeking depends on how much we truly trust God.  If we truly believe God wants the best for us, then going to Him and asking for wisdom would be a no brainer; especially in difficult times.  God wants you to ask for wisdom and delights in the questions and the following obedience.  To live a God centered life, we are wise to ask God for His wisdom instead of just going about our way in such a confusing world.  It’s also important to understand that God is willing to give you the wisdom you seek without judgement, but rather freely no matter what your past may look like.  You don’t have to have it all together before God will give you wisdom.  He just wants you to ask.  When we ask God for his wisdom, we are acknowledging that we can’t do this on our own.  We are acknowledging that He knows best.  Go to Him with a humble heart and receive.  Seek godly counsel, pray for wisdom, wash your mind and heart with God’s word and trust that His wisdom is in line with the best for you.  His wisdom is full of peace, selflessness, and goodness as opposed to worldly wisdom that is oftentimes self-centered, crafty and sometimes more concerned about personal gain than others.  Wisdom from God, instead of the world, benefits our spiritual well being and can produce great outcomes not only for you, but for others close to you as well.  Wisdom to lead your family also impacts your loved ones.  Wisdom to deal with a difficult co-worker may soften their heart also.  Wisdom to use your resources the way God wants you to can help meet the needs of people you don’t even know.  Godly wisdom, coupled with your obedience to follow, oftentimes can have eternal consequences that you may never even know about.  Let’s be sure we are asking for the right wisdom and then follow with an obedient heart. ~ Amen

Keep Focused

So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us.  If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision - you will see it yet!  Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it. ~ Philippians 3:15-16

There are times in our busy lives when we will be distracted from our ultimate goal of living Christlike and we will lose sight of the kingdom rewards.  But we must get back on track and stay focused.  This world is filled with distractions and it’s never been so easy to be consistently busy; busy with things that aren’t even going to matter at the end of our life.  It is vital that we mature our minds and hearts in God’s word and press on to become more like Him so that we do not get swallowed up in the worldly manner of things and sucked into self reliance and independence.  Pray for guidance, trust Him, press into how He has shown us to live so that people become more important to you, second only to Christ, than anything else.  A spiritual life without growth will become stagnant and unproductive.  Just as a pond becomes swampy, smelling and filthy with no fresh inlet of water flowing in and no outlet for water to flow out of so can the spiritual life be without any renewing, or refreshing of your mind.  Spiritual staleness will not produce new life giving growth.  As followers of Jesus, we are called to mature in our walk, to grow from newborn infancy into mature adults in Christlikeness.  Pauls even suggests later in Philippians that we should strive to the maturity level of even being willing to suffer, or die for Christ.  Focus on your daily walk with Jesus and ask Him to help mature your spiritual life to show you where you may not agree with Him and ask Him for clarity.  Dive deeper with Jesus and He will meet you.  I think it is important to remember that we are called to be givers, helpers, and lovers of people; we are to be selfless in this world full of selfish and worldly desires.  We are called to maturity that causes self-denial and possible suffering for the cause of Christ.  In Revelation 3:14-17 Jesus comes down hard on the Church at Laodicea:  “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”  I don’t want Christ to think that of me.  I am praying for the maturity of God that sets me ablaze! ~ Amen