Grace for Failures

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. -2 Peter 3:18

Despite my intentions, after a few days I tend to revert back to my old ways. I know there are changes I need to experience and there are things God has brought to my attention that He is working on. That doesn’t make it easy. The sad thing is in the process I’ve struggled to correct the things He has asked me to. It’s His strength that gets us through and even though I know better, even though I know that reverting to my old ways regardless of what He has revealed is necessary for my spiritual growth, I neglect it. I fail. Constantly. I can just imagine the disappointment in His voice. I can tell you this, I know the deeper I get into knowing and experiencing God one thing becomes more and more clear. That is, all that I am, all that I ever have been, and all that I ever will be is totally one hundred percent a result of God’s awesome grace. Every failure I experience causes me to humbly become more dependent upon God’s grace.

What is so amazing about grace? Grace is more than second chances, surprises, and unmerited gifts. Grace comes in our inability and failures, and provides radical changes and a shift. Grace gives us new opportunities and a fresh revelation. It is His Grace that will transform us.

Ephesians 2:1-10 says “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.  But God, who is rich in mercy (compassion), because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Though we may disappoint Jesus time and time again, He has limitless compassion and grace for us. And He still chooses to use us as His representatives on earth. What an amazing God we serve.

Dear Jesus, forgive me when I neglect to work on the things you have asked me to change. I pray that You would give me the discipline and the desire to grow to be more like You.  I want to experience Your presence in a supernatural way, and I want Your Love to flow through my heart and reach out to touch others. Thank You that despite the times when I fail, You still choose me to be an agent of Your kingdom, a messenger of light to this world. Thank you for your Amazing Grace. In Your Name I pray, Amen.

Discouragement and Bitterness

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.” -2 Corinthians 1:3-5

There are some things we all want and some things we don’t get and the bigger the disappointment, the more your world is shaken. I got angry, bitter and even felt like a failure. We all react in different ways.

My frustrations seemed  like a valid excuse to hide from mentors, stop going to church, seclude ourselves and to hide. Withdrawing myself from all support and I even stopped praying. Whether it was from discouragement or just complacency, I was at a turning point in my life and I knew it.  The bible says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” -1 Peter 5:7 I am sure that scripture stands also for the times that we don’t feel like it.

Let me share this with you, Discouragement is a thief! It steals your vitality, your zeal, your joy, your peace, and your contentment.  If discouragement dwells long with you, its friends will soon join.  Their names are fatigue, hopelessness, despair, self-pity, depression, doubt, and bitterness. Sometimes, discouragement can be so strong that you even don’t want to go on living.

It takes real spiritual maturity to stay faithful when things go wrong, but severing our relationship with God and the people He places in our life doesn’t do anything but punish us. I have a mentor whom I care for about a great deal and for weeks and weeks I avoided talking to her. Maybe because I knew she would tell me the truth about my situation and I didn’t want to hear it. Maybe I avoided her because I didn’t want to feel loved and supported. I had every excuse to not talk with her when in reality if I would have went to her I know she could help me. When I finally called her she knew I had been avoiding her and she asked me if it helped me. Of course the answer was no because I needed her input, I needed her support and for her to share constructive wisdom in truth and love with me but I was hiding from it. I will just tell you now, That’s self-destructive behavior! I needed to return to my friend and in the same way the parable of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15:11-32 teaches us that God always wants us to come back to him.

The Bible says, “A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all”-Psalm 34:19. Some of God’s most faithful followers have suffered great pain and limitations, but they learned to use their affliction constructively.

We need hope and peace and the knowledge that the Lord knows our troubles has great concern and compassion for us and is not leaving us unloved and uncared for.

Keeping our eyes on Jesus is the best way to be encouraged and sometimes it takes a friend to remind us of God’s many blessings in life regardless of our current circumstances.

So let me encourage you now-

It is In Him you will have comfort and peace and encouragement. Find Him and His words, and By Faith rest in Him. You don’t have to live alone! You don’t have to weep in solitude!  You have the body of Christ to lift you up!  You have the Word of God to teach you!  You have the Holy Spirit indwelling in you who warms your soul!

You need to trust, remember the Lord’s blessings, depend on Him and keep your eyes on Jesus and Him alone.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,” -Matthew 11:28

Mission Abort

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness.”  – 2 Peter 1:3

I don’t know about you, but I have been in a particular life situation that seems it has gone on and on so long, with so little change, that I simply want to give up.

Have you ever wanted to just quit.? Completely at the end of your tether.? Wanting to abort the mission He has you on because you have reached the point where you feel like you just can’t take it anymore.?

I know I have had my moments where I kind of look at God or just think to myself the things I would really like to know from HIm.. “God – what the are You doing? Why are You letting this happen to me?  What is this leading to.? How long are You going to let this go on?

When we’re being stretched and stretched and stretched … it feels as though we just can’t take anymore.

It feels as though if God allows us to be stretched by just one more millimetre, we’re going to snap.

The temptation is real to  just to throw our hands in the air, give up on God and His plan.  Truth is when you have gotten to that point the one thing that we simply don’t want to do, is the one thing that God wants us to do!

Isaiah 40:27-30 says, “Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;  but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

So when we’re exhausted, when we’re beyond it, when we’re questioning God what’s the one thing He wants us to do?

Wait for the LORD and not abort the mission. WAIT expecting that God WILL do something. Expecting that God WILL strengthen you. Expect that He WILL come.

Why does He stretch us so far – almost to breaking point – and then ask us to wait expectantly on Him?

Because He wants us to learn firsthand even more about the faithfulness of God.  So Keep Trusting, Keep Waiting, Keep Expecting!  Don’t Abort The Mission.   Because…

Great is His faithfulness, Lord unto me. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed His hand has provided, Great is your faithfulness Lord unto me.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”-Hebrews 12:1-2

Stay the Course! Complete The Mission!

God is All You Have

“If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple” -Luke 14:26 NLT

I don’t think it means that we are to literally “hate” our loved ones. Christ should be the most important thing in our lives even to the point that if everything else (including friends and family) were gone, we’d be ok.

But didn’t God create us to also need people in our lives?

God designed us to enjoy and contribute to relationships with other people. In the very beginning, God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” -Genesis 2:18 even though man was in the Garden with God himself. And ever since, we’ve had a deep need to be known, understood, and accepted by at least one other person. We need others.

At the same time, there is the example of Job. He lost everything including his family. All he knew fell apart. He was devastated, he was sad—but yet, he still knew God was in control and when push comes to shove, God must come first. He must be above all these things. Suffering and sorrow are a part of life. Knowing this, however, doesn’t make it any easier to cope when you find yourself in the midst of the deepest, darkest trials of faith.

Don’t you wish Christianity could make you exempt from suffering?

We have our faith tested along the way—to demonstrate if we really trust Christ. We have to be ready to stand alone, for the sake of Christ. Jesus himself was deserted by his disciples when he asked them to pray with him the night before he was arrested and crucified. But he continued even when he had to proceed alone. People you trust will disappoint you, and when that happens, you have to be faithful to Christ, whether or not anyone else supports you. As the disciple Peter said, when those around him demanded that he stop telling others about Jesus, “We must obey God rather than men” -Acts 5:29

Know that God does care for you and He knows your pain. He will never leave you. -Romans 8:37-39 And if a time comes where your faith is tested don’t let other people come between you and the One who loves you more than they ever could.

If God is All You Have, You are blessed. Because He is All You Need.

You Can’t Please Everyone

“It is dangerous to be concerned with what others think of you.” -Proverbs 29:25

There is an old fable about an elderly man who was traveling with a boy and a donkey. As they walked through a village, the man was leading the donkey and the boy was walking behind. The townspeople said the old man was a fool for not riding, so to please them he climbed up on the animal’s back.

When they came to the next village, the people said the old man was cruel to let the child walk while he enjoyed the ride. So, to please them, he got off and set the boy on the animal’s back and continued on his way.

In the third village, people accused the child of being lazy for making the old man walk, and the suggestion was made that they both ride. So the man climbed on and they set off again.

In the fourth village, the townspeople were indignant at the cruelty to the donkey because he was made to carry two people. The frustrated man was last seen carrying the donkey down the road. The point is, there are just some people you can’t please, have you ever realized that.?

No matter what you do or what you try or how nice you are to them. You just can’t please them. It’s an emotional trap when you start trying to please everyone and worry about what they think. No more foolishness!

Change your focus and continue working on pleasing God. That’s the only thing that matters. Trying to please everyone will just leave you with a heavy burden.

I only seek to please Him who sent me.” -John 5:30

Even God can’t please everybody. Only a fool would try to do what even God can’t do.

LOVE ON PURPOSE

“All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” -John 13:35

We are to be the salt and light in the world in doing so we must learn to love people effectively and on purpose.  I have experienced God’s amazing free love but it is sad how quickly it can be forgotten at the turn of events in life. I know time and time again I have sang songs and told God I want Him to use me because of my desire for more and now He is using me at greater lengths but am I content to work with the person God has placed before me.? Love is a skill and on purpose I have decided I want to become good at it. I want to Be Blessed and Be a Blessing. I want to be one of those people that chooses to love others God’s way. Because the people that love on purpose are never bored, never lonely, and never down for too long and they are always willing to admit their sins and gain success.

I have welcomed in lives that are having difficulty, but haven’t always been willing to listen, I was at first until my focus got off track. See it’s like a friend said tonight if we stay in His presence we can’t get off track. I got out of His presence somewhere but I am thankful He showed me that and welcomed me right back.  I don’t care about recognition for “godliness” I just want to do God’s will by serving others and loving them God’s way.  That is my treasure and my purpose. It’s yours too! He calls us to love the unlovable. His word says “But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!  In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”  

Welcome to a new testing of your faith. What is that…Well..Can you love your enemies in the way God loves His enemies.?

Love is a chosen behavior!  That’s right a choice. It’s a part of our free life. This is for me and anyone else that needs it.  YOU CAN on purpose love people even if you emotionally don’t like them. YOU CAN be patient when someone is impatient with you. YOU CAN choose to be polite when someone is unkind and rude. Sometimes instead of leading you need to persevere in someone’s presence. You don’t just tolerate, you are serving the unloveable and that is just what Jesus did. Don’t Stop! No matter what it feels like know you are not alone and God is working.  Everything has it’s time.  “A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.” –Proverbs 22:3 You have a new adventure to take notice of. God wants to use you to untwist a person. Everyone is created in God’s image. So if we are worthy of love, so is everyone else because of who made them.  Because of sin, we’re all really unlovable. But Christ changed the rules by offering love, grace and forgiveness.-Romans 5:8  If God can love us, surely we can love those around us.Two important things you need to remember: 1 Corinthians 8:1 “Knowledge puffs up but love builds up.” and 1 Corinthians 13:8 “Love Never Fails”

Father God, It is because of your Holy Spirit in me that I know I have the power to represent Christ—even in the most trying of circumstances. I know my calling as a Christian is difficult, but I also know I am not doing anything alone. Let my kindness portray the gospel to those around me who desperately need it. I want to love as you love on purpose. In Your Name I pray, Amen.

Use your God given freedom to serve one another in love ON PURPOSE!

 

Don’t Resent The Sacrifice’s

“ALWAYS CHOOSE TO Walk in the way of Love, just as Christ loved you and gave Himself up for you as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” -Ephesians 5:2 (emphasis mine)

Bare with me, God and His Holy Spirit are speaking to me. When I titled this devotion sacrifice I wasn’t thinking about slaughtering animals. Just to make that clear. Christ’s Atoning Sacrifice Marked THE END of Sacrifices By The Shedding of Blood, but I am talking and thinking about the true meaning of sacrifice which is giving to the Lord whatever He requires of my time, my earthly possessions, and my energies to further His work. The Lord commanded, “Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness”-Matthew 6:33. Many of us have been tried and tested to see if we will put the things of God first in our lives.

This topic has been on the forefront of my mind lately because I feel like I sacrifice on a daily basis without expecting anything in return I know I give a lot of myself but now I am examining myself because of what God requires us to do as said in Micah 6:8 He expects us To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (AND IT DOESN’T SAY JUST SOMETIMES OR MOST OF THE TIME IN THAT VERSE) and also AM I resenting the sacrifice.? Sometimes you hear of people resenting spouses, children, families members not usually the sacrifice.  Also if I’m truly not expecting anything in return then why do I always expect God to step in at every hard turn.?  Instead of checking to see where HE is I need to check and see how I’m doing! Which leads me to the questions for myself— In my efforts to please God, Do I act with justice in how I deal with people or do I act with indignation.? Do I show mercy to those who have wronged me in some way or am I unmerciful.? Am I learning to be more humble or the complete opposite?  The way we give is an indication of our love for God.

You may wonder.. Why is it important to sacrifice as the Lord asks without expecting anything in return? Because, God wants you to offer yourself wholeheartedly, living for Him with every part of your being. He wants to see you living in COMPLETE OBEDIENCE to Him. On the way helping others on their journey to gain total freedom in a relationship with HIM no matter the cost or the return but just because you LOVE Him, and that’s not all. He wants you to be the extension of God’s Love to others. Yeah I know that’s not always easy but God’s word says “If you love ONLY those who love you, why should you get credit for that.? Because Even the sinners love those who love them!” -Luke 6:32  It’s time to start doing some on purpose loving. If you want God’s heart for an individual you need to press in and seek His wisdom and truth about (them).

You need to know The Holy Spirit is pressing you toward the realm of grace, where you are being transformed into seeing opportunities to love where others would and do see wasteful sacrifice. Instead of the odor of waste, you are learning to breathe deeply within God’s bouquet of grace, where, like Jesus, you are prepared for burial, and ready to be “crucified with Christ,” so that you life rings out truth and the verse “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” -Matthew 26:12 Even if you are having a “I can’t do this anymore” moment. Let me remind you and myself of what Paul says!!!!  God gives us the grace required to become living sacrifices, and He places the Holy Spirit in us to make us holy and pleasing to Him.

Sacrifice isn’t easy but because of your willingness to sacrifice. He sees and knows and your efforts are an indication of your devotion to God.  Consider what contributions you can make where God has you and in making sacrifices, do it with a happy heart. Be Who You WERE made to be and not who You FEEL you should be.

Thank You Lord, I love you Jesus, you offered yourself for my sake. Help me to offer myself to live for you. Forgive me for resenting the sacrifice. Lord, I want to see all that I do for you as “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Holy Spirit, help me move from smelling the odor of waste to the bouquet of grace. Please remind me always to act with justice, mercy, and humility, as you did. In your name I pray, Amen.

“You will come to know that what appears today to be a sacrifice will prove instead to be the greatest investment that you will ever make.” -Gordon Hinckley

What Does Your Water Look Like

“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”- Luke 6:45

The water we use sometimes concerns me. I will give you a couple of reasons why, have you ever turned on tap water and noticed that it was discolored maybe looked a little yellow or maybe even brown.? Not only that but I went to the sink one day to find some kind of creature coming out of the faucet. It kind of looked like a roly poly with all of it’s legs but smaller, skinnier, and shiny like aluminum foil. It was so small I was concerned with how many I may have drank in my water without knowing. YUCK! I don’t know about you but I prefer clear water.

Why, well if you must ask? Yellow or brown water with small creatures is disgusting. I don’t want it in my body, never mind in my pipes. Do You.? So let’s think for a moment a little deeper…What’s been flowing out of your mouth lately?

If only I would always be as concerned with the words that flow out of my mouth! Did you know your words have the power to destroy and the power to build up.? Just read Proverbs 18:21. Let me ask you some simple questions. Are you using words to build up people or destroy them? According to God’s word, the things we say flow from deep within. Our mouths are like faucets, out of which flows good or evil. What does that depend on.? The condition of our hearts. You can’t clean up the way you talk without addressing the heart problem. WHY.? Because it’s kind of like trying to purify water after it comes out of the tap. The real problem is deep in the pipes. The problem of sinful speech—like gossip, slander, grumbling, and lying can only be fixed by going deeper and finding the issue. We have to get at the heart to take care of the problem. We can’t change our hearts, but Jesus can.

His word says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”- Ezekiel 36:26

Turning from sin and trusting in Jesus is what we are called to do:“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”-John 7:38

Don’t mistake or get confused. I have a new heart but that doesn’t mean my heart will always produce what’s pure. I am still a sinner. But I’m a sinner who has been saved by grace to speak in a new way that edifies others and glorifies God.

The bible plainly says, “ Be careful what you say and protect your life. A careless talker destroys himself.”  Make sure you check the water before it fills your glass in other words before saying anything say nothing except “what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” -Ephesians 4:29

Be Careful What You Say.

Father God, forgive me for the sinful words that I have spoken without thought. Change my heart by Your Holy Spirit so that what I say brings good to others and glory to you. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. In Your Name I pray, Amen.

Bless and Pray for Those

“Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.” -Luke 6:28

What comes to your mind in response to questions like, “Who has hurt you? Who has offended you? Who has lied about you? Who has betrayed you?”

How quickly can you make a short list of people who have caused you pain? It’s easy, right.?

How many of your relationships have been shattered because their cruel words or actions that left you feeling betrayed?

I know it isn’t always the first thought but, how does God want us to respond to people who hurt us.?

Jesus gives us plenty of specific examples of how to treat those who have hurt us, and He concludes with, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Luke 6:36 Woooo! Talk about an impossible standard!

Why would God want us to bless someone who is treating us so badly?

Blessing others is a powerful protection to keep you from becoming bitter, hateful, and bent on revenge. The normal response to someone who curses you is to curse them back. When we do that we fall into the same sinful gutter the other person is already in. We stoop to their level. That’s why God says bless them and not after they have repented, but bless them even if they continue with that hurtful behavior.

He created us to do good works-not to curse others. Our actions need to be determined-not by the response of the other person-but in focused obedience on what God wants us to do. When you bless those who curse you, you show you are not a slave to that other person’s behavior.

Remember the powerful promise God gave to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.”  God is saying, I will stand back and watch how other people treat you-and their response will determine My response. Thank You God for being with us through it all.

God says our way of treating people determines how He will treat us. When you bring this powerful truth into the picture, it begins to make more sense why you should bless those who curse you.

By blessing and praying for others you bring God’s blessing on your life!

Are You Doubting

“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”-John 6:37

Have you been doubting your salvation?

It’s time that you take comfort in what the Scripture says. If you’ve made a sincere profession of faith you have the assurance of forgiveness and eternal life.

Are you Still doubting?

Maybe you feel like you are destined for hell. You may think that no matter how hard you pray and plead with God to forgive and accept you, you still would never make it to Heaven. Look again at the verse in John chapter 6 verse 37. It reads ALL that the Father gives me will come to me, and WHOEVER comes to me I WILL NEVER CAST OUT.  This verse should shatter all of your worries. Christ says that all those whom God has chosen will come to Him.

So if you’ve come to God in true repentance and asked for forgiveness, you don’t have to worry if God has accepted you or not, because Christ says YOU WILL NOT BE DENIED! Trust the Scriptures and know that if we are truly desire to be forgiven of your sins and you are willing to repent and live a Godly life, Christ will grant you that forgiveness and you are certain to be destined to one day see Heaven.

Father God, if I am truly your child, please reassure me with your Word. And if I am not your children, please make it evident so I may get right with You. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.