Are You Known?

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”                   John 13:34-35

Do you truly have the love of God in you?  This is the question I have been asking myself lately.  Do I understand the depth of this question?  I am not asking if God loves me because I know he does and I know that he continuously pours that love out upon me, but do I have that love in me?  If I do, then I would be showing it to others.  Am I? Are you?  You see in John 17:20-26 when Jesus is praying for us, yes us---the disciples of the future, he is saying that we will be one in Him and we will be known as his disciples by the love we show.  So I ask myself another question…am I known as a disciple of Jesus Christ by the love that I show?  I will admit that I am not always demonstrating that love.  Many times I let other people, situations, frustrations and ‘worldly things’ get in the way of showing that love, and that, my friend, is completely my fault!  I can’t blame any lack of love that I show on something other than myself.  Sometimes I wonder if I am really where God wants me to be---am I really following His will for my life? Does he want me to change jobs, does he want me to move, does he want me to take on something new and different?  I ask myself these questions and then I come upon this quote today that said, “Maybe God is not changing your situation because he is trying to change your heart” and I think maybe I am where God wants me physically, but not spiritually.  Sometimes it is in the hardest places in life that you learn to be the greatest follower of Christ.  Sometimes we need those hard places to polish off the dust in order to shine a little brighter.  It is in those places that we begin to find our place with God, that we learn to show the love that is like no other, that pure and genuine love that can only come from Jesus Christ.  It is those places, those moments that we are recognized as a true disciple of our Lord Jesus!

I pray that I am continuously reminded of the words of my Lord and Savior as he selflessly prayed for me when he was the one about to suffer.  With all that lie before him, with the crucifixion in sight, he thought of me and wanted me to know that love that God had so graciously shown him.  What a wonderful Father we have and what a pleasure it is to love and serve him. I pray that I love in such a way that I will be known as a disciple of Jesus Christ!

Count It All Joy!

James 1:2-8 

 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,  knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.   But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.   For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;  he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

 

 I do my best to read My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers everyday and it always makes me think about my relationship with Christ, but today was a little different.  The daily devotion was titled The Explanation for Our Difficulties and  while of course it was all great, the following words tugged at my heart… “The things we are going through are either making us sweeter, better, and nobler men and women, or they are making us more critical and fault-finding, and more insistent on our own way. The things that happen either make us evil, or they make us more saintly, depending entirely on our relationship with God and its level of intimacy.”  These words reminded me of the words of a dear friend who said it is not about what happens to you, it is how you react to what happens to you that makes the difference.  God can and will use anybody and anything to not only get his message out there, but to also make us more like Him.  So maybe God is leading me to the answer of my question from the last post of ‘why?’.  Why do we have so many difficulties in this life? Could it be that these difficulties are the only way we can become the true man or woman that God created us to be?  I have lived on this earth for 41 years and through these years it has been through the most difficult times that my relationship with Jesus Christ has strengthened.  It is with each trial that I find myself changing and conforming more to God’s will---it is through these times that I learn to let go of what I think I understand and just trust God with everything I have in me.  Now do I enjoy these times?  No.  When things are going good, do I long for tribulation so that I can grow in Christ? No.  While we don’t want trials and tribulation to come our way, we still have to know that we know that it is through those times, it is through the flames of a hot fire that God molds us into his likeness and we are better for it.  And with that one of my favorite scriptures comes to mind…And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.  II Corinthians 3:18

He Will Never Leave You!

I am sure many people tonight are asking why?  Why do things like the tornados in Oklahoma happen? Why do tsunamis happen? Why do people try to destroy other people?  I have often found myself pondering the thought of “why” when something tragic happens.  No matter if the destruction was caused by man or by nature, I have often wondered why?  Why do bad things happen?  I can’t find the answer to that question, but I do know that no matter what happens God is still in control.  Through the years I have learned to trust the words in Proverbs 3:5…‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;’ and Isaiah 55:8-9…‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’  I have to depend on my mind sometimes to tell myself the truth of God’s Word when my heart is hurting so badly that I can’t feel that truth.  I have to remind myself that His Word also says ‘Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you’ (Deuteronomy 31:6).  In the depths of my despair I have found comfort, courage, strength, healing, and love in the words that fill the pages of the Bible, the Word of God.  I may never understand everything but I do trust that God is always in control and that he truly will never leave or forsake me.  My heart aches tonight for all the families in Oklahoma, I think about the ones that have lost loved ones and I think about those that continue to search for their missing loved ones.  There is no way we can find comfort, peace, nor strength from anything earthly---it is only through our Lord Jesus Christ that we can find these things that carry us through such difficult times.  So as I lay here tonight my heart is extremely heavy for all those suffering tonight, but it is even heavier for those that suffer and don’t seek comfort in Jesus Christ.  He is not only our Savior, He is our healer, our comforter, our strength, our guide, and our friend.  So join me tonight in lifting up our neighbors to our Heavenly Father in prayer. 

Lord, I acknowledge that your wisdom is far greater than my wisdom and I will never understand all your ways, but grant me the understanding to know that you are and will always be in control of every situation and that you will work things out for the good for those that love you.  I pray tonight for those that are suffering such unbearable loses.  I pray that you God will give them comfort, strength, and love that surpasses all understanding.  In Jesus most holy name. Amen.

I Will Go for Him!

Isaiah 6

So I have heard Isaiah 6:8 practically my entire life, you know…Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.  I have heard it preached in many messages and I have read it in numerous devotionals, but I have never felt the meaning of these words so deeply as I did this weekend.  It just hit me, when I chose Jesus, when I committed my life to following Him, then I answered the call just like Isaiah did so long ago.  I found myself staring at these words and constantly thinking about them.  I kept on thinking…that’s me, when I said send me Lord then I decided to live my life in complete devotion to God and his calling.  So why was this moment different, why did these same words that I have read over and over again look so different now?  Well, I think the true meaning really hit me, I knew the meaning in my mind, but it was like it finally penetrated my heart.  When I said send me Lord, it doesn’t mean just to the places I want to go or to just do the things that I choose to do.  It means with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind I will love Jesus Christ (Matthew 22:37).  It means it no longer matters what I want, it is what God wants me to do.  It means to die to myself so that He might live (Galatians 2:20).  It means I must decrease and He must increase (John 3:30).

I went back and read the entire chapter and if you don’t already know, all this happens in a vision that God gave Isaiah. At first Isaiah was concerned and thinking ‘oh I am in trouble---I have not always said and did the things I should have’ (of course this is me putting it in my own words), but just like God always does, He forgave his sin, renewed him, and said ‘now go tell everyone what I give you to tell’ (again in my words).  No different than what God has done for me---so why would I not want to ‘go for Him’?  Jesus Christ truly is everything to me and although I know I mess up time and again and I will never be a perfect child of God on this earth, I do with everything I know want to follow Him!  I want to speak, or in this case write, the things that he gives me and I want to do it all with the love that He gives me---a love that is so underserved, but nevertheless, given to me as freely as the air that I breathe.

This blog is dedicated to some extremely special brothers and sisters in Christ that I was so blessed to spend the weekend with---God truly used each one of them, their stories, and their love to open my eyes and my heart to the truth that I discovered in Isaiah!  With much love to my Emmaus friends!