He loves you...He REALLY does!

God loves you!  Now I want to ask you a question.  Do you really believe that?  Really?  Do you believe that because you are told that and you know God's word says it so it must be true?  Or do you really, in your heart of hearts, believe it?  Think about it for a minute.  If you really believe that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords loves you then is there any reason to fear, doubt, be insecure, or believe that you don't have a unique purpose to fulfill?  1 John 4:18 says "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."  Often times, because of our human nature, we equate God's love to love (or lack of it) that we have received from others in our lives.  Often times it is our own earthly father that we begin to see God as.  If he rejected you then God will reject you.  If he was tough and unforgiving then God is the same.  If he loved you but then you couldn't please him then God's love becomes conditional for you. And so on... The devil loves nothing more than to get us to start seeing God in human terms and through human relationships.  Man will fail.  God will never fail. God says His Word is true BUT we have to believe it.  If we know it and accept it as our theology but don't truly believe it in our hearts then we will continue to walk in defeat and insecurity.  Once you really believe the truth of God's Word then you will see that everything He does is because He is love and He LOVES you!

So ask Him to show you if there are any areas where you have put Him in a box and equated Him and His love with a human relationship.  Ask Him to show you how much He loves you and to help you to believe it.  It will change your life!

The More I Seek You...

Have you heard that song that says "The more I seek you, the more I find you.  The more I find you, the more I love you..."  I can certainly understand the writer's heart in this.  Many times in my life I have sought God and asked Him to meet me.  Many of those times I walk away wondering why He didn't speak to me or give me an answer to the question I was seeking Him on.  I have been very convicted lately that in my immaturity I was giving up way too prematurely.  Sometimes we hear from God right away and other times we really have to press in.  I think that sometimes He may hold back because He knows the reward that follows when we go deeper in Him. 

I, so often, fall into the trap of thinking that I am too busy to take the time to spend with Him but I have never regretted the time I have spent with Him afterwords.  He always redeems the time for me and amazingly I seem to get more done on a day that I take time with Him. The thing that amazes me over and over again is how much He blesses me when I take the time to press in and spend time with Him. He deserves all praise, all glory and all honor, but when I give it to Him I always get so much in return. There is no other God that is so loving and so giving! He takes me, in that time, and transforms me into the best me that I can be.  Only He can do that and when we limit our time with Him so much, we limit what He can do with us and through us. We need to know Him and allow Him to show us those things that we are unaware of about ourselves that need to be changed.  So I challenge you to really press in, even beyond what you normally would, and watch what He does...

Second Hand Christianity

A couple years ago God spoke to my heart that He didn't want consignment Christians that He wanted the best for us.  I didn't really understand that at the time.  I thought it had something to do with finances but today I was reminded of that and He spoke ever so clearly to my heart that it has to do with how we meet Him and what we expect from Him in our lives.  So many times we seek wise people out to speak for Him in our lives.  They may be friends, pastors, book authors or leaders.  God's heart for us is to run to Him and lay it all at His feet. When we have problems or needs we should seek Him first.  By consignment Christians, I mean everything we get comes from someone else.  If we aren't careful we can begin to idolize the person that we are seeking God through.  Not that God doesn't put people in our lives to speak through but if we never move to a place of real intimacy with Him we are not going to become all that He wants us to.  His heart is to know you and to be known by you.  He will meet you if you will take the time to meet with Him.  He is speaking to you and if you will stop and listen you will hear Him.  We should be impressed with the Jesus that we see in others but that same Jesus should be impressing others through you.  Isaiah 2:22 says "Stop putting your trust in mere humans. They are as frail as breath. How can they be of help to anyone?"  Let's stop getting all of our goods second hand from others and start seeking them first hand from our willing Lord.