A Father Everywhere!

Friends, I want to tell you a little secret! I want to share with you something that I have recently discovered. While watching a movie last night, I was struck with the fact that God wants to be a father to us. Yes, it's true! No matter what you're doing right now, it is no accident that you are reading this blog. I want to encourage you that there is a father out there who loves you and thinks the world of you. One reason that so many of us struggle with our concept of God is that our earthly fathers were imperfect, but we are not to look to our earthly fathers for our support as much as to our Heavenly one! He loves us and cares for us like no one else could. 2000 years ago, He sent His one and only son, to this earth. He became a human, just like you and me. He lived in our world and knows better than anyone, the struggles we have to go through. God sent Jesus to our world because He cares about us sooo much. Two nights ago, a friend shared with me some amazing news. You and I do have a father, Yes, I said you. Whatever your name is, you have a father. Even if you don't have a name, He knows your name. When you are laying in your bed all by yourself at night, He is with you, and you can talk to him. He wants to let you know how much He loves you, and to let you know that He will change you. When you go to work, you have a father, who loves and affirms you. When you loose a loved one, you have a father who is understanding and caring. When you fail a test, you have a Heavenly father, who does not scold you for your failure, but embraces you and strengthens you for the next one! When you get fired from your job, you have a father, who lovingly takes you into His arms, and lets you know there are other options out there for you. When you go for a walk, you have a father, who wants to show you all the different things He has made. When you get a christmas gift, you have a Heavenly father who wants to share in your joy in recieving that gift. When you get into an airplane, you have a father, who wants to talk to you and cheer you up and let you know that He is with you. When you are talking with your friends, you have a Heavenly father, who wants to be a part of your conversation, don't leave Him out! He has feelings just like you and I do. He cries and is sad, and He knows what that is like. In John 14:7 Jesus says "If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

You see, Jesus came to show us what our Father in Heaven is like, and to give us eternal life! Wowee! When we are having a hard time, and a low opinion about ourselves, let us read what Jesus has done for us, and How much He loves us. I want to encourage you to well... let me show you what Jesus says:)

7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

You see, God wants to hear from you! He wants to talk to you, and He has been working to win your heart for a long time, even though you may not be able to tell all the ways right now. But go to your heavenly Father and ask Him for Help, He will be more than willing to help, affirm, guide,strengthen, encourage, compliment, share time with you. You see, we as humans can not always do this with one another, because we are so busy with our lives, but God can!!! And He wants to share that time with you and tell you how much He cares about you! He wants to heal those wounds that you have recieved in your childhood, and adulthood, and any hood you can think about :) I want to encourage you to talk to Him after reading this, He really really really really wants to talk to you, honestly, just give Him a chance:) I am starting to, and He has been such a friend, and I must say, I like my new daddy! He's amazingly awesome!!!! I want to encourage you to talk to Father, He wants to hear from you, and He has allowed me to share this with you! He wants to see you! Brother, or sister, it doesn't matter, if your still living at home, or on the road, He is looking desperately to see you, He wants to be a part of your life. Run to Him. Open your arms wide, He will give you the biggest bear hug you have ever had! He's waiting for you! Don't wait any longer! Go to Him, talk to Him, ask Him teach you:) I know you have areas in your life, you are unprepared to meet, we all do! But the wonderful thing about Our God and Jesus is that they know what it's like to suffer, and they know what it's like to be called failures, but Father and brother Jesus want to help with the help of the Holy Spirit. Talk to them please! Don't make your earthly parents a substitute for your heavenly ones! Your heavenly ones care about you a million bizzillion, trillion quadrillion, infinity times more than your earthly ones ever could. And the neat and amazing thing about this is, that God cares about them, more than you could :) You see, God is the only one who can really reach someone's heart, and He is the only one they really need. You and I could never hope to meet their needs, but our Heavenly Father, and Jesus and the Holy Spirit, can and will meet those needs. WE ARE NEVER ALONE, Always remember that. No matter what WE ARE NEVER ALONE! God has a plan and a purpose for our lives. So we can throw off those covers and look at ourselves, and know that we are God's children! We belong to the King of the Universe. Jesus gave His life so that we could belong:) Always remember John 3:16,

For God so loved the World that He gave His only Begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

A taste of the Ressurrection!

I believe that when Jesus comes again, it is going to be a very exciting time! About a week or two ago, my brother was unloading an ADRA truck, when he got the news that one of the truck drivers ( his name is Mac) for them had died. The truck driver happened to be a good friend of ours, and so the news hurt us deeply. As time passed, we began to run low on ADRA boxes. On Monday my brother answered the phone, and talked to someone who was delivering the load of boxes. His face went pale as he talked on the phone, and then, he said "ok" and hung up the phone. He looked at me and then with a chill said "it's Mac" "I thought Mac was dead!" I answerd in surprise. Our minds began to wander and we began to think this might be an evil angel, but we brushed the thought aside, and waited for our next load of ADRA boxes. Thursday (that's today) rolled around and, sure enough Mac was here with a load of ADRA. After unloading the truck we went and told him what had happened. It turned out that there had been a misunderstanding. Seeing Mac, alive, after I thought he had been dead, really brought something home to me. In this life, we are guarunteed to die, and to lose those we love, if time lasts. That's all this life really has to offer. The amusements of this life, can not, and will not satisfy. However, a day is coming, when all those who love Jesus will be reunited. There really is no more important goal than to be with Jesus. In this life you and I can be assured that there will be losses, but we need not be discouraged if we have Jesus in our life, because He will write the endings. In 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 we read:

"According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."

Life Directions

Wow! When God says He wants to take us for an adventure, He isn't kidding. I'm really starting to like this adventure stuff to be totally honest. I think it builds character and makes us into deeper people. Today I learned about the importance of being transparent with people. A lot of times we as people try and hide our motives about why we do things and who we are. We are ashamed to admit to the mistakes that we have made, because we feel that we will somehow be so different that no one will like us. Yet Jesus encourages honesty! If you look at John 4 you will find the story of the woman at the well. Jesus tells her the truth about herself. So few people today want to be honest with themselves and who they are. They are rather content to live a certain way to gain favors from those around them, but this is not how Jesus lived. He was honest with those around Him, no matter what the cost, and I believe that is how God wants us to live today. We should be honest no matter what the cost. So.. what is the truth about you?.... Can you answer that question, or do you instead try and bury it deep within yourself, because it would be too hard to admit, because you know within yourself that you are trying to hide the truth, and don't want the consequences of admitting it.

Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.

The Shepherd Goes Before Us

Slowly I pull the covers off of my body, and begin the routine of getting up. My half groggy stare catchs the pale blue light coming in from the window that sits in front of my bed. Moving my arm with my other free hand, I pick up the nummed object and shake it up and down a few times. There is no movement, and all I can do is raise it up and let it fall. After about a minute the feelings begin to prickle back into my arms. I'm tired and it's morning, time to get up and face another day of life. For some reason, this day seems to be very monotinous. I walk over to my desk and pick up the Bible, forcing myself to kneel, I breath out a quick prayer to God and begin to read. "I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate.." I continue to read and then finish the chapter, setting the Bible back on the desk. Then I throw some clothes on and head out the door to work. All through the day the monotony continues, and I begin to wonder, if what I had this morning was really worship or some ritual. As the day drags on, I begin to feel condemned and depressed. Still I struggle through the day, until finally I can take no more, and I humbly ask God for help. I then feel impressed to read the reading I read for my devotional. All day today I have been full of a feeling of inadequacy. Just feeling like I just don't have the energy to keep going. Now as I sit here typing, I realize the problem. I read my devotional, but I did not "Read" it. I spent all that time in the morning just trying to read my devotional, just so I could check it off the list. But this evening as I READ my devotional a new thought entered.

John 10: 1 says "I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber."

I now realize that I was trying to climb up some other way, instead of letting Jesus be my sufficiency. In all honesty I did not spend time pouring my heart out to God. I know that this seems like a small thing, but without this, that is all that reading the Bible is. We need to be honest about how we are feeling and how things are going in our lives for Jesus to be able to talk with us.

In John 10:9 Jesus says

"I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture"

Jesus promises us that when we come to God through Him, we can find pasture. Good pasture is a must when you are a shepherd, it means there will be food.

In John 10:11 Jesus says

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."

It is interesting that this is said. Friend, Jesus says He lays down His live for us. He is willing to save us so we can be with Him forever.

The question is now begged: Who is your Shepherd? Who gently leads you, if it isn't Jesus, then you will be disapointed. Please allow Jesus to be your Shepherd, He wants to be, He doesn't care what you have done! It doesn't matter! You can be saved! Jesus wants to save You for His kingdom, and someday soon, when He returns He wants to take us all home to live with Him forever, where there will be no more sorrow or tears, but only Joy and life forever. Why don't you ask the the Divine Shepherd in your heart as I ask Him in mine, to be Your Shepherd:)

Realizing to Realize

Well, today I made a decision not to go to TN this weekend. I decided that it would be best if I stayed, so that's what I have done, and while I stayed I thought I would update my myspace blog. This morning I was reading my Bible and after I had my worship I realized something. The words of Jesus, were actually spoken by Him! His disciples merely recorded what He said, and not to get into too big of a debate about whether text was inspired word for word or not, I want to say that it is really neat that we have God's Word in our hands! How awesome is that! We don't need to be discouraged, and if we do get discouraged the solution to that discouragement is not far away!

Today I am at work trying to work on selling scrapbook paper again, but I don't know if it will work or not, but I pray it does!:) That would be really cool. Well, that's about it:) TTYL :)

A new lesson I am starting to learn

Last night as I was driving home from prayer meeting, a thought occured to me. I had not forgiven a lot of people in my life. I knew I had said that I had forgiven them, but still forgiveness is a lot harder than most people would think. I find my words and actions getting ahead of my heart sometimes, and I don't think that is good, especially when inwardly I resent the person I am forgiving, which means, in a sense, that I haven't really forgiven them in the first place. I believe that forgiveness is a gift from God, and it does not come naturally to our sinful human hearts. Oh, I believe that a lot of times I would forgive people just so that I could go to heaven and be right with God, but the truth is that there is a deeper reason to forgive people. I think that we have missed the true point of forgiveness. I believe true forgiveness is a way of letting go of the pain and the hurt a person causes in heart, and is what Jesus is talking about when He says that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Last night I went to sleep, and as I slept I had a dream. I saw my pastor talking about his fears and failures up front. He was being totally honest. Then the lights went out in the church, and he kept speaking. He said "I'm drowning, I can't breath, the water is covering me and I can't stay above, Lord please save me. Just then the whole church was filled with light, and I saw a man step out and pick up a cross. This cross was life size. My heart sank as I realized all the bitter feelings that I had been carrying and the anger in my heart, and I could only imagine what the rest of the audience thought in that church. Then the most amazing thing happened. As I sat on the pew in my church. This man picked up the cross, looked into my eyes with a look, that said "I'm going to give you the victory you don't deserve!" He then proceeded to pick up the cross with His big muscular arms, and threw it down in the middle of the platform where those who are having the sermons stand. Immediately a feeling of victory swept over the whole gathering. We were cheering and jumping up and down, and in our hearts we knew that the Lamb of God had conquered whatever problem we were facing. I was totally amazed at what I saw, though, I had failed... and yes I did fail big time! Jesus had won! Don't you see, friend, Jesus died on the cross and won the victory over sin, it is a defeated foe, and has no power in our lives, because Jesus beat it, and He shows us how we can beat it! That same method He used we are to use in our lives. We must always remember that when we end up on a cross in life, we are not being defeated, but being declared victorious, because of what Jesus has done for us! I think to be totally honest, letting go of the anger, on a continual basis is the cross that I have to bear, but Jesus showed that it is possible to do, and He promises to go with us all the way in bearing our crosses, whatever they may be. You see Jesus loves people continually, even though they are hurting Him, and we are indebted to Him, because He loves us even when we are messing up and hurting those around us, and ourselves. Jesus loves us still! Even while we were yet sinners, Jesus hung on that cross for us and was declared the victor for us! Don't loose hope, Jesus still loves us, we must continue in our faith and hold onto His hand!

Learning to Relax about things :)

I am starting to learn that all things do not always work out like I anticipate. That can be either for the good or bad. I guess that's the whole point of trusting God. He is God and can see the end from the beginning and we cannot. So, when He says I will never leave you nor forsake you, we can trust what He says:)