Unashamed Love

"God delights in us and showers us with blessings just because we belong to him. He delights over us and gives us access to realms of God simply for our pleasure." Does that "just because" and the "simply" bother you? 

Well hopefully not, I thought it would be good for me to struggle with it in writing a little this afternoon though. It begs the question, "Are we acting like sons and daughters of God."

Sometimes we try to work too hard. We think that if we don't work hard God will not give us things, because, of course, we shouldn't have anything we don't deserve, right?

We think we shouldn't ask for things because that would be selfish. And that if we accept or take anything we need (like rest or a vacation) well we aren't thinking of others. We condemn ourselves and say that that is just lazy (and well I don't want to be lazy because lazy people are worthless. Right?)

Also, if I do accept something from God, I will probably mess it up since I'm a sinful person. Thus, I shouldn't take it. It would be terrible if I messed up God's plans. (the whole world would fall apart if I did that.) I wouldn't want to bring sin into his plans. 

"So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family-calling him "Father, dear Father." For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children. And since we are his children, we will share his treasures-for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering." Rom 8:15-17

If you just read this and felt ashamed for not acting correctly you need to read it again. This is God saying, "You don't have to be afraid of Me, I'm your perfect daddy and I won't make your life worse. You are my child, that's what I say and that is what's important. You can be my little boy or girl and you have nothing to fear. You are not a little rejected orphan, you are my very own. I have lots of favorites and you are definitely one of them. And I you get to have everything that Jesus had because I am a fair dad. You get to be glorious and super special just like Him. But, just so you know, it is going to be really tough sometimes too, because as my son/daughter you get to help me make the world better so you can have lots of little brothers and sisters!"

And even writing that I felt like, gosh that's too soft. What I was really thinking to myself was, "Shouldn't I have put more guilt and slime in that?" But I know that what I am trying to say is correct, the Spirit spoke deep down and said so.

So in the end, God can lavish his love on me. He can be my daddy. My daddy is big and tough and can do whatever he wants. And he is bigger than your daddy, as the saying goes. I just need to humble myself and act like a son. I need to let him love me to that spot of accepting everything he has for me. (have you done anything greater than Jesus lately? That's in the book too!) I can trust him to take care of me when I'm too tired to take those extra 2 hours at work. I don't need to fend for myself. 

I should get things I like as God sees fit, because God should get to give what he wants. He's God. I can't BE worthless even if I ACT lazy. If I say I'm worthless then Jesus is worthless. 

I will mess up until the day I die. God knows this, it's why he died for our sins. He can work around and even through my screw ups. And its pretty prideful of me to think that I could screw up his plans. He is so much more in control than that.

Are you acting like you belong to Him? Are you thinking like you belong to him? Do you feel like you belong to him? Let him lavish His love on you "just because." Let him take you to something much deeper than you imagined "simply" for your enjoyment. Because you please the Father and it pleases Him when you enjoy the things of God.

JESUS is the I AM!

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you have given me, that they may be one as we are one. I IN THEM AND YOU IN ME. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I KNOW YOU, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." John 17:20-25

I am the maker of the heavens, I am the bright and morning star. I am the breathe of all creation who always is and is to come. I am the one who walked on water, I am the one who calmed the seas, I am the miracles and wonders, so come and see and follow me, you will know, I am the fount of living water, the risen son of man, the healer of the broken, and when you cry I am your savior and redeemer, who bore the sin of man, the author and perfecter. Beginning and the end. I am. I am the spirit deep inside you, I am the word upon your heart, I am the one who even knew you, before the birth, before you were. I am before the Earth, I am the Universe, I am in every heart, I am the Lord of love, I am the King of Kings, I am the Holy Lamb, Above all things. I AM!

God's Grace

Hebrews 13:9 It is good that the heart be established by grace…

God does not want your heart full of worries and fears, tossed and turned by every challenge that comes your way. He wants your heart at rest and established by His grace towards you.

But when you think that the breakthroughs to your challenges depend on your ability to obey God, then your heart will never be at rest. It will be full of worries and anxieties. Why? Because you can never obey God perfectly.

But when you depend on God’s grace, that is, His undeserved, unmerited favour, the opposite happens — your heart becomes established. When you know that the only thing that qualifies you to receive God’s blessings is faith in the finished work of Christ, your heart becomes established. Then, you will walk without fear of your troubles swallowing you up. You will walk with full assurance that His blessings will be manifested in your life.

My friend, God wants your heart established, knowing that His righteousness, healing, protection and prosperity are yours — all paid for by Jesus’ finished work at the cross. God’s blessings are sure in your life because they are not dependent on your ability to keep His laws.

You see, under the old covenant, you receive God’s blessings only if you keep all His laws. (Deuteronomy 28:1–2) If you sin and fail to keep even one law, you are disqualified from receiving His blessings. But today, under the new covenant, your sins no longer disqualify you because God Himself has said, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)

So let your heart be established by God’s grace. Because of His grace, you have full access to His blessings. You no longer have to worry about whether you are good enough. You can stand firm on the promises made in His Word and enjoy His blessings today because Jesus has paid the price. Your part is only to believe and receive! God Speaking :)

Leadership

"What we do in life echoes in eternity." - Maximus

I think that Paul, is the greatest spiritual leader of all time! His versatility is apparent in the ease in which he adapted to various audiences. Paul could address statesmen, and soldiers, adults, and children, kings and royal officials. He was at ease in debate with philosophers, theologians, and pagan idol worshipers!

Paul had a brilliant grasp of the old testament. Paul was a natural leader by any measure, Paul became a great spiritual leader when his heart and mind were captured by Jesus Christ! Paul had boundless, Christ-centered ambition. His supreme love for Christ coupled with the obligation to share Christ's message were his powerful lifetime motives. His authentic missionary passion helped Paul leap over all barriers in his walk, whether it be cultural or racial, whether they were rich or poor, Paul loved people and he set out to fulfill his part in glorifying Christ! Paul was led by the Holy Spirit

A leader must be repsectable, a well ordered life is the fruit of a well ordered mind. the life of a great leader should reflect the beauty of Christ! A leader must be ready and able to teach. That should be his desire. It creates opportunities for others to understand the spiritual life. A leader feels the joy of the spirit and wants others to know God as well. A leader's responsiblity should be supported by a blameless life! Being a great leader requires preparation, study, and PRAYER! What does the Bible say a leader is, " above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money, etc. etc. etc. the list goes on! My prayer is that we would, that i would strive to be this kind of leader as I continue my walk, my journey to glorify Christ in my life, my friendships, and my relationships! To live like Paul lived, a self-less life, paul said "I die everyday" and he did, because He was so passionately in love with a creator who's love for him is unsearchable, unreachable, and more than we could ever ask for!

Will and Desire

Come now you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit- yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while than vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." James 4:13-15

If the Lord wills we will live and do this or that! What a powerful statement, we do not know what tomorrow will bring, for all we know my heart could stop beating before I finish writing this blog! Live for today, not for what you want to live for, Live for God and to see Him glorified in the highest! Be thankful and joyful in Christ always, for he created you in the image of man, he created you to become more like Him! God's passion for us is overwhleming, Gods will for our lives is unsearchable, it is amazing, it should excite you, therefore let us not fix our eyes on what is seen, but what is unseen. Let us Live to glorify Christ, let us live to do God's will for our lives, whatever that may be, whatever that means we do for the Lord, whatever it takes to listen, be patient, and GO wherever, the Lord wills us to go, wherever the lord wants us to GO! Be Christ-like in all circumstances, always thanking Him, always placing your Hope in Christ and in nothing else.

Desire to live for the Lord! To live with desire is too choose vulnerability over self-protection; to admit our desire and to seek help beyond ourselves is even more vulnerable. It is an act of trust. Those who know there desire and refuse to kill it, or refuse to act as if they don't need help, they are the ones who live by faith. Those who do not ask, do not trust God enough to desire. They have no faith. The deepest issue is always what we in the heart of hearts believe about God. Our obedience is not so much out of love as it is out of carefullness. "Just tell me what to do, God, and i'll do it.

Passion

"God created us to live with a single passion: to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without his passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in ever part of our lives." The enemy has been defeated and death couldn't hold you down, the enemy has been defeated, defeated, and death couldn't hold you down!

Paul said, "I die every day!" (1 Corinthians 15:31). Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross DAILY and follow me" (Luke 9:23). Daily christian living is daily christian dying. The dying I have in mind sometimes is the dying of comfort and security and reputation and health and family and friends and wealth. These may be taken from us at anytime in the path of Christ-exalting obedience. To die daily the way Paul did though, and to take up your cross daily the way Jesus commanded, is to embrace this life of loss for Christ's sake and count it gain. Not only did he say, "To die is GAIN," but also said, "Whatever GAIN I had in life! I counted as loss for the sake of knowing Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may GAIN Christ" (Philippians 3:7-8).

What is your biggest fear? What are you most passionate about? What can I do for you Lord? My heart yearns for lost people of this world, my soul thirsts, to feel the embrace of my savior everyday, God is that gap, only God can fill that gap, and our deepest desire is to know Christ as our closest friend, I want to be deep in love with you Father! The Lord is our redeemer, and our life, our passion, our fear for the Lord, our how can we be used by you God, is to grow everyday in Him, its to fall deeper in love with Him every single day! I am in deep in love with you Abba Father! Fear Him, Love Him, Live for Him and only Him, because he chose you first, he loved you first! Feel the unconditional love of Christ, and do it with a compelling passion to see Christ Glorified, the picking up of your cross daily, the dying to your self daily, to die is GAIN!

Content

" I know what it is to be in need, an I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty, or in want. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Philippians 4:12-13

God we are silent before you, we are still in your presence, you chose us first, on the cross you loved us first. Christ your love is deeper, wider, higher, farther for us than we could ever imagine, you are God alone, you are unsearchable, you are the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, and lord your grace is sufficient for me. Prepare in me a heart, a mind, a fear that will always follow you, and your will for my life. That will always be in awe of you. that will always bring me to my knees broken and crying out to you. A servants heart, a leaders heart, a prayerful heart, that will always walk in the light to glorify you with my life. I cannot wait for that day when you wipe away the tears from my face, it will be a glorious day, when we see you face to face. Thanks for always being faithful, and never leaving me nor forsaking me. Our God is a God who saves. So what can I do for you Lord. Use me, grow me, teach me, and lead me by the Holy Spirit. Amen

Christ is first in my life, because he is magnificantly first at everything, and it is simply my recognition of who he is! He is first because he is better than me at everything. Anything I can try to do he can do it better. He is first because he passionately loves me, there is nothing I can do to make him love me more, there is nothing I can do, to make Him love me less. He loves me perfectly right now, so he is first in my life, because he is passionately crazy about me whether I am doing well or not, whether i am performing beautifully or not. Whether I just sinned misereably or not, he is nuts about me, hes crazy about me, now how can someone like that not be FIRST, when they made you first, he made me first, he went to the cross for me, he thouroughly sacrificed himself for me, he made me first, and when I come to gripst with that depth of love with his passion for me its seems incongruent to allow anything else to be first! HE'S GOT TO BE FIRST. Thats why I am second! -iamsecond.org