Jesus tells us that we are to come to him as little children, but what does this mean? How does a child come to a parent? They come with a humble heart, they come depending upon and needing the parent. They come with love and respect. This is how we should come to our Savior. We must admit that we need Him, that we are dependant upon Him. We can not do things on our own, but need our loving Father's strength, mercy, grace and guidance. We must come humbly before God, not just in words, but in heart, in spirit. We must KNOW that He is God and we are imperfect. We must know that we are sinners and we can be made whole by the Blood of the Lamb.
I'm not saying that we walk with our head down with sac cloth and ashes all the time. Because after we come to our Father and turn our lives over to Him , knowing that only He can lead us and guide us, He then washes us clean and we are His Children. We are royalty! We are to walk with our head high, but not so high that our egos enter a room before us. We are to be proud of our heritage ( Jesus Christ ) and proud of our inheritance ( Heaven and all God has to offer ), but not so proud that we can not help the poor.
Though we become the heirs of the greatest treasure of all time, we are to remain humble and not haughty or proud. We are to still have a humble heart and know that all we have is b/c of the love of the Father. He gives to us so that we may give to others. He uses us as a tool, as a witness, if we will only allow Him. When we surrender humbly to God, He will fill our lives with all that He has to offer. Just as a parent wants to give everything to thier child, so God, Our Father, is with us. As a parent, there are things that we must teach our children. There are lesson they must know and things they must go through in order to make them stronger and wiser. So, too, we are with God. When you look up to the Heavens and ask Why.. Why God wont you just fix this? He answers, probably through teary eyes.. Because my child, you must grow, you must learn, you must shine brighter for Me.
So don't be afraid to bow your head to floor and worship your Father. Don't be afraid to humble yourself and praise His Holy Name. He is the Alpha, the Omega, The first and the last. He is the All in All and He is your loving Father - if you will only accept his discipline.
TripleClicks
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
God's Faithfulness
The biggest thing I am reminded of almost daily is God's faithfulness. The symbol He has given me to remind me of this is the sun. As faithful as the sun is to rise everyday, God is even more faithful to stay by our side in all that we do. Even the sun will one day not rise, but as a child of God there will NEVER come a day that our Lord and Savior will not be by our side.
Just as God made a covenant with Noah, He makes one still today with us.
( Gen 6:18 ) "But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark - you and your wife and your sons and your sons wife with you. "
God was faithful in His word, His covenant, with Noah by delivering them through the flood and He then set the rainbow as a reminder of his promise to never flood the earth again. The rainbow is still a reminder of that promise and of His faithfulness. Since God puts such faith is us and is so faithful to His word, perhaps we need to reflect on our faithfulness to Him.
In Gen. 28:15 we read, " I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you. "
This extends far beyond the situation here in this chapter. This promise applies to us even today. As we follow the Lord and study His Word, we find many promises to us, His children. Many times, we must have faith in Him before His faithfulness can truly be seen. Think of Moses and his survival. Moses was instrumental for God's plan and even though he , along with all the other male babies, was to be killed, God had a plan. Had Moses' mother not had faith in her God, then God's faithfulness could not have been realized.
Sometimes, we must really make a leap of faith. Perhaps you are faced with a great decision, and you feel a tugging to do something that could potentially make for a great mistake. Pray. If that tugging continues, the Lord just may be asking you to make that leap of faith. And I am a firm believer that if you truly feel it is God's plan and will, even if you are wrong, He will be faithful to guide and protect you through it. He has told us that he will never leave nor forsake us. Sometimes it means that we must ' be still ' and know that He is God. What does this mean? It means- Have Faith in the Lord, He is God, and He is in control! Place that situation you are facing, that decision, that child, that friend, that co-worker...place them in His Hands. Lay them on the alter at His feet and KNOW that He is God.
God has been so very faithful in my life, even when I was not so faithful to Him. He loves us. Let me say that again, HE LOVES YOU! Something that God showed me one day, He doesn't love us because he made us. Rather He made us because He loves us. Think about that. If you have children, you may be able to relate easier - when you gave birth to that child, was there an immediate love? For most people, they would say, Yes of course! Well, imagine, you creating that child because you already love them. Long before we were a thought in our parents mind, God loved us and he set forth the plan for us to be created. If He can love us this much, if He can love us so much as to sacrifice His own son, how could He not be faithful to us? Man is unreliable, and imperfect. Man is known to walk away from promises and commitments and this is one barrier for many people when it comes to believing in God who never leaves us. We must keep our eyes upon Him, the Holy Lamb, the Son of Man, the Holy of Holies, the God above all gods, Lord of Lords and King of Kings. If we keep our eyes upon Him and trust Him in all situations, He will be faithful. I hope that this is something that you will think upon, pray about and come to know for a fact.
Dear, Father, I thank you so very much for each person reading this today. I pray that they would know Your love and faithfulness in a new way. That they would be filled with Your Holy Presence, and know your abounding grace. I thank you, Abba, for Your Word, I thank you for your faithfulness and your promises. Most of all, I thank you for your sacrifice. In Jesus' precious name - Amen.
Just as God made a covenant with Noah, He makes one still today with us.
( Gen 6:18 ) "But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark - you and your wife and your sons and your sons wife with you. "
God was faithful in His word, His covenant, with Noah by delivering them through the flood and He then set the rainbow as a reminder of his promise to never flood the earth again. The rainbow is still a reminder of that promise and of His faithfulness. Since God puts such faith is us and is so faithful to His word, perhaps we need to reflect on our faithfulness to Him.
In Gen. 28:15 we read, " I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you. "
This extends far beyond the situation here in this chapter. This promise applies to us even today. As we follow the Lord and study His Word, we find many promises to us, His children. Many times, we must have faith in Him before His faithfulness can truly be seen. Think of Moses and his survival. Moses was instrumental for God's plan and even though he , along with all the other male babies, was to be killed, God had a plan. Had Moses' mother not had faith in her God, then God's faithfulness could not have been realized.
Sometimes, we must really make a leap of faith. Perhaps you are faced with a great decision, and you feel a tugging to do something that could potentially make for a great mistake. Pray. If that tugging continues, the Lord just may be asking you to make that leap of faith. And I am a firm believer that if you truly feel it is God's plan and will, even if you are wrong, He will be faithful to guide and protect you through it. He has told us that he will never leave nor forsake us. Sometimes it means that we must ' be still ' and know that He is God. What does this mean? It means- Have Faith in the Lord, He is God, and He is in control! Place that situation you are facing, that decision, that child, that friend, that co-worker...place them in His Hands. Lay them on the alter at His feet and KNOW that He is God.
God has been so very faithful in my life, even when I was not so faithful to Him. He loves us. Let me say that again, HE LOVES YOU! Something that God showed me one day, He doesn't love us because he made us. Rather He made us because He loves us. Think about that. If you have children, you may be able to relate easier - when you gave birth to that child, was there an immediate love? For most people, they would say, Yes of course! Well, imagine, you creating that child because you already love them. Long before we were a thought in our parents mind, God loved us and he set forth the plan for us to be created. If He can love us this much, if He can love us so much as to sacrifice His own son, how could He not be faithful to us? Man is unreliable, and imperfect. Man is known to walk away from promises and commitments and this is one barrier for many people when it comes to believing in God who never leaves us. We must keep our eyes upon Him, the Holy Lamb, the Son of Man, the Holy of Holies, the God above all gods, Lord of Lords and King of Kings. If we keep our eyes upon Him and trust Him in all situations, He will be faithful. I hope that this is something that you will think upon, pray about and come to know for a fact.
Dear, Father, I thank you so very much for each person reading this today. I pray that they would know Your love and faithfulness in a new way. That they would be filled with Your Holy Presence, and know your abounding grace. I thank you, Abba, for Your Word, I thank you for your faithfulness and your promises. Most of all, I thank you for your sacrifice. In Jesus' precious name - Amen.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Aren't we SO very lucky?
So many people chalk up " luck " to fate. I know that "luck" is anything but a simple coincidence. Have you ever really needed some extra cash and lo and behold, you find a $20 tucked inside the pocket of a jacket that you hadn't put on for months? Woo Hoo! What luck! .....WRONG!....
If our lives depended upon simple fate, then what a mess we would be in! God is instrumental in all of life's ups and yes, even downs. I am not saying that God MAKES bad stuff happen to us, but what if he allowed it sometimes? I know that in my own life, I have seen my share of troubles. I have endured some things that I would not wish upon my worst enemy, and those very things make me praise the Lord! He will not give us more than what we can handle and He is always there to guide us, if we will only listen and obey. Let me give you some examples out of my own life.
My parents died when I was very young. I was 8 when my dad died and 12 when my mom died. The death of a parent is a horrific thing for a child to go through, but to go through it twice?? I rebeled. I smoked, drank, partied.... and yet, God protected me. He had a plan for my life and unfortuneatly there were things that needed to happen first. I still believe that this made me strong. The next 5 -6 years made me even stronger. But during those years, I had met people who would be extremely important in my life...for the rest of my life, thus far. And I may have never met them otherwise. These people have provided the love and support that only parents can give. In fact, I'm sure that my real parents would approve of them completely. They are each so much like my real parents, respectively. They taught me love, discipline and more strength and helped to build the foundation in my life, even after I was grown. And it has been those 'adoptive' parents who have helped me through a great deal of struggles in my adult life.
As a child, I did not realize all of this was going on, of course. In fact, I was well into adulthood before I came back to God ( in part, thanks to my adoptive mom ). It was then that I looked back on my life and fell to the floor praising the Lord. He had brought me through so much. So many times I couldv'e died from the choices I had made. So many times my life could've really gone in a down spiral, but God protected me. He was molding me, shaping me, like the Master Potter that He is.
This strength, HIS strength, has gotten me through legal matters and through my own son being kidnapped by his father. It is now getting me through my other son's bipolar disorder. You see, God doesn't deliever us FROM many things, but He delivers us THROUGH them. Like a piece of steel being made into a beautiful sword blade, we too, must endure the heat and flames. Sometimes we must endure a beating and just when we feel that we can not take it anymore, the heat cools, the flames disappear and the beating turns into a polishing cloth. We are stronger, we are more beautiful and it is all because of Gods molding.
So the next time you think that you are at your wits end and that you can not possibly keep going - look up. Look up to God and then fall upon your knees and praise Him and know that His strength is yours, if you will only accept it. His grace and mercy is much more than we deserve but it is ours for the taking. All we need to do is accept His son, Jesus Christ. And then it's a simple matter of following Him. Jesus took away our weakness, our self-doubt, our fear, our regret, our shame... He took it ALL! We are to be the light in the darkness. And I pary that you, too, know this Light. That you know the peace that only the Son of God can provide. If you need help in this, if you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and want to know more, please do not hesitate to contact me. ( aimoore2007@yahoo.com )
If our lives depended upon simple fate, then what a mess we would be in! God is instrumental in all of life's ups and yes, even downs. I am not saying that God MAKES bad stuff happen to us, but what if he allowed it sometimes? I know that in my own life, I have seen my share of troubles. I have endured some things that I would not wish upon my worst enemy, and those very things make me praise the Lord! He will not give us more than what we can handle and He is always there to guide us, if we will only listen and obey. Let me give you some examples out of my own life.
My parents died when I was very young. I was 8 when my dad died and 12 when my mom died. The death of a parent is a horrific thing for a child to go through, but to go through it twice?? I rebeled. I smoked, drank, partied.... and yet, God protected me. He had a plan for my life and unfortuneatly there were things that needed to happen first. I still believe that this made me strong. The next 5 -6 years made me even stronger. But during those years, I had met people who would be extremely important in my life...for the rest of my life, thus far. And I may have never met them otherwise. These people have provided the love and support that only parents can give. In fact, I'm sure that my real parents would approve of them completely. They are each so much like my real parents, respectively. They taught me love, discipline and more strength and helped to build the foundation in my life, even after I was grown. And it has been those 'adoptive' parents who have helped me through a great deal of struggles in my adult life.
As a child, I did not realize all of this was going on, of course. In fact, I was well into adulthood before I came back to God ( in part, thanks to my adoptive mom ). It was then that I looked back on my life and fell to the floor praising the Lord. He had brought me through so much. So many times I couldv'e died from the choices I had made. So many times my life could've really gone in a down spiral, but God protected me. He was molding me, shaping me, like the Master Potter that He is.
This strength, HIS strength, has gotten me through legal matters and through my own son being kidnapped by his father. It is now getting me through my other son's bipolar disorder. You see, God doesn't deliever us FROM many things, but He delivers us THROUGH them. Like a piece of steel being made into a beautiful sword blade, we too, must endure the heat and flames. Sometimes we must endure a beating and just when we feel that we can not take it anymore, the heat cools, the flames disappear and the beating turns into a polishing cloth. We are stronger, we are more beautiful and it is all because of Gods molding.
So the next time you think that you are at your wits end and that you can not possibly keep going - look up. Look up to God and then fall upon your knees and praise Him and know that His strength is yours, if you will only accept it. His grace and mercy is much more than we deserve but it is ours for the taking. All we need to do is accept His son, Jesus Christ. And then it's a simple matter of following Him. Jesus took away our weakness, our self-doubt, our fear, our regret, our shame... He took it ALL! We are to be the light in the darkness. And I pary that you, too, know this Light. That you know the peace that only the Son of God can provide. If you need help in this, if you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and want to know more, please do not hesitate to contact me. ( aimoore2007@yahoo.com )
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