Trusting In His Power To Live!

Having received His life, we have a choice. We can either continue to depend upon, or trust in, our own resources to try to cope with life (living "according to the flesh"), or we can depend upon Christ within us moment-by-moment to be sufficient to meet every challenge and fulfill our every need (living "according to the Spirit").

Operating according to the flesh produces reasoning like the following:

"If only I can become more self-aware, I can overcome my depression."

"If I could exercise enough discipline not to allow any negative thoughts to come to my mind, I wouldn't feel so discouraged."  "If I could just lose 50 pounds, I would be acceptable to my husband."

There may be nothing wrong with being more self-aware, being more disciplined, losing weight, etc. But, they do not provide life. Only God provides life, as we depend not upon our own resources, (flesh) but upon Him who lives within us by His Spirit.

Scripture provides a wonderful Old Testament example of living according to the flesh versus living according to the Spirit. Moses was a man who had all the fleshly resources a man could ask for. Raised in the court of Pharaoh, nursed by his own Jewish mother, having the best education Egypt could offer etc.

By age 40, he realized God's call upon his life to deliver the Jews from their Egyptian oppressors. So he set about in his own ability, in his flesh, to fulfill his calling. Beginning by murdering an Egyptian, it was a short-lived attempt. Moses fled to the desert in Median, an utter failure.

There Moses lived for 40 years, not getting strong enough to be God's man to lead the people, but rather getting weak enough. When Moses had finally learned not to trust in himself, ( Flesh) to accomplish anything for God, God was ready to use him. Moses had nothing to offer except his weakness and his complete dependence upon God. That was exactly what God wanted. A surrendered man empowered only by His Holy Spirit!

(Credit given and adapted from Exchanged Life Ministries Articles by Greg Smith)

God's Greatest Purpose For His Children!

Do you know what God's greatest purpose for you is as His child? For years I thought that His greatest purpose was to serve, obey, love or glorify Him. We do enjoy doing all of these out of love for Him but these are not His greatest purpose for us as His children.

So what is God’s greatest purpose for His children? God's greatest purpose is brought about by His Son, Jesus Christ! This is confirmed in Scripture, "The Son is the radiance of God's glory" (Heb. 1:3) "Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in Him" (John 13:31).

God's greatest glory is the manifestation of His life in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. Because of our spiritual union with Christ in death at the cross and in resurrection, it is not what we do for God but what Christ does through us that give God His greatest glory. It is not us trying to be like Jesus, (imitation) it is Jesus Christ expressing His life in and through us, (impartation) that gives God His greatest glory.

Isn’t it exciting to know that He has chosen to use your mind, your will, your emotions, your eyes, your hands, and your feet to accomplish His purposes here on earth (2 Cor. 2:14; 4:10-11). We simply respond in surrender and can finally do away with sincere self effort!

(Credit given and adapted from Exchanged Life Ministries Texas Grace Life Conference Lecture)

Living The Unexplainable Life!

So what is the Unexplainable life? It is Christ's life exchanged for our self-life so that we have His life living in and through us. It occurs when we come to Christ, but is not always appropriated at that time into our actual experience.

It involves the believer's union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection and his deepest identification in Christ coming from that union. It recognizes that our "old man" of Romans 6:6 was crucified with Christ and an appropriation of our truest identity as a "new man" in Christ made in the image of God.

Christ taught the exchanged life truths, especially in the upper room; the apostles continued them in their writings, particularly Paul in Romans, Galatians, Ephesians and Colossians; and they have been carried forward by key teachers down through the ages. They are timeless, biblical truths.

In order to understand and appropriate the exchanged life it is crucial to know how God designed us; that is, the biblical model of man. I Thess. 5:23 describes man as a whole person with three parts: body, soul and spirit.

The body is the physical and visible part of us that relates to our environment. It is a dwelling, or "earthly tent." The outer court of the tabernacle or temple is used as an Old Testament example of our body. The body is not inherently evil, but is the chief abode of "indwelling sin" mentioned in Romans 7:15-23 even after the person is born again in his spirit.

The soul is our personality or uniqueness and consists of our mind (thinker) our will (chooser) and our emotions (feeler). These three capabilities give us the ability to relate to other human beings. The soul is sometimes referred to as the "inner man." The Holy Place of the tabernacle or temple is an Old Testament example of the soul.

The spirit determines who we really are. It is the part of man with the capability of relating to God directly. We were born spiritually dead to God and alive to sin and Satan. However, this defect was rectified by that wonderful exchange at the cross where we not only met our Savior but where our "old man" was crucified with Him and the "new man" in Christ emerged. What a beautiful exchange! What an amazing Unexplainable life!

(Credit given and adapted from Exchanged Life Ministries Texas Grace Life Conference Lecture)

Why Do I Do What I Do When I Do It?

The biblical origin of the Flesh goes back to the two trees in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, man came under the power of sin, and by the law knew he had sinned, and was a sinner by identity. One result was spiritual death or separation from life, forcing man to function in self-sufficiency, or flesh.

The common religious view of the Flesh is bad behavior, actions and attitudes. The Bible says that the "flesh" is a condition in which we operate out of our own resources, doing things our own way. It is the self-centered source upon which we depend on to get our legitimate needs met in illegitimate ways. From the outside, flesh can appear to be either good or bad, and can produce either good or evil. Therefore, you can't judge it by results.

Man reasoned that if he could do well, he would be good, but if he did evil, he would be evil. So the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is representative of flesh with its self-sufficiency, self-reliance and exhaustible resources, which leads to bondage, law and ultimate death.

Flesh operates continuously in a non-Christian, whereas in the Christian, it operates when the believer is not abiding in Christ and, therefore, not walking by the Spirit, but operating under the power of "indwelling sin" (Romans 7:14-25).

The Flesh is a major hindrance to the expression of Christ's life in believers. Simply put, whatever we depend upon to get our needs met, short of Christ's life, is our flesh. Each believer has his own unique version of the flesh and it should be seriously considered. God has only one provision for dealing with the flesh: death through identification with Christ's death on the cross. God's only provision for life is identification with Christ's resurrection.

(Credit given and adapted From "The Nature of the Flesh" lecture by Exchanged Life Ministries Texas)

Do You Fear Or Revere God?

"Jesus climbed into a boat and went across the lake to His own town. Some people brought to Him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man,"Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven."  Matthew 9:1-2

Do you enjoy being in the presence of God? Are you free to laugh and play in His presence? Has the spontaneity to be silly and fun seem to be missing in your life? Could it be that many of us in the body of Christ today are afraid of God?

I have been wondering for some time now what the difference is between fearing God and revering God. Let me share by way of summary, what my thinking and praying has led me to thus far.

Being afraid of God reveals at least two errors in our thinking. First, it reveals that we really don't understand or trust God's true nature and character. Somehow we don't see Him as a loving compassionate God who is full of mercy and kindness toward His children, all the time, no matter what.  He's seen as an angry judge instead of a loving Father.

Secondly, it reveals that we do not understand or trust the finished work on the cross. It is because of Jesus, death and resurrection, that we are completely forgiven, fully pleasing, totally accepted and absolutely complete in Christ.

These two misunderstandings will ultimately lead to a life of relational fear and doubt towards God and others.

Revering God leads to a healthy respect for Him because of who He is. To revere God means to have an attitude of deep respect, love and awe.

Notice the different responses from the people to the person and work of Jesus in these chapters. In chapter 8, Jesus cast out demons from a man and cast them into the swine. A healing miracle, yet the response of the people who witnessed it was fear. They begged Jesus to leave them alone and leave their town.

In chapter 9, Jesus heals and forgives a paralyzed man's sins. In verse 8, we see that the people responded not in fear, but with reverence, an attitude of deep respect, love and awe! Why did these people have different responses to Jesus miraculous healing?

I believe that when we are "in Adam" (in the flesh), it fosters law, bondage and lack of intimacy with Father, and our response will always be one of being afraid of God and His power. He appears to the one in Adam, (the flesh), as scary and powerful.

When we are "in Christ" living out of our identity (in the Spirit), it fosters grace, freedom and intimacy with Father and our response will be one of reverence, an attitude of deep respect, love and awe for God and His power. He will appear to us as One we can love, trust and approach with joy and confidence.

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What is God Really Like?

"The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin." Exodus 34:6-7a

Does God really love me? If he does love me does His love really make a difference one way or another in my life.

All of us come to our relationship with God with our own baggage. I wonder what it is that you’re not seeing about God? What vision of yourself in the past is obscuring your view of His love for you today?

So who is God and what is He really like? Is your view of God clear to you or a little distorted?

If you found it distorted, you will find it difficult to fully experience His intimate love for you. Why?

We often put the wrong face on God. In other words we can view Him in the wrong way. Even if it’s our most respected spiritual mentor’s face it is the wrong face. But many of us have put a face on God based on a bad memory or painful experience from our past. We then transfer that over to our God, and see Him like that, and relate to Him accordingly.

Our view of God will determine how we see and approach other people, ourselves, God and the world around us. Father has shown us who He is and what His love is like for us in many ways through many different means.

In Ex. 34: 5-9, God comes to Moses to show him Who He is and what He is really like. He connects His glory to His own character.

(I credit Graham Cooke for these 3 points and the rest of the material on the DNA of God)

1.God's love for you is rooted in His Character.

Compassionate – Empathy. God knows everything you are going trough and He is with you and for you. He has compassion for you. It’s used 111 times in scripture. When God repeats Himself that many times, He really wants us to get it. The sufferings we are going through He is going through it with us. He will never leave us. He stands with us in our pain. Compassion is love and sorrow mixed in our hearts for another.

Compassion is an action that takes the weight off another person. The Father had compassion on the prodigal son. Hugged him and kissed him, filled with compassion. The Samaritan was full of compassion but the Levite who was supposed to be the man of God, had none.

Gracious – Grace means to release favor to another person when they least deserve it. To act kindly, be friendly, be courteous. To impart unmerited blessing. God loves to be gracious toward you. God will never change the way He feels about you, thinks about you and cares about you. He loves being God to you.

Slow to anger – He has a long fuse. He is easily able to patiently bear with us. It takes a lot to make Him mad. His understanding is inscrutable.

Full of loving kindness/mercy – Mercy treats the offender better than they deserve. Father is abundant with mercy. Rich, overflowing, generous, super abundant, God loves being merciful to you. God loves being kind to people who don’t deserve it. Do you know this God?

Faithful - He will never ever leave us, no matter what!

Forgiving – When Jesus died for our sins on the cross all of our sins were future. You are completely forgiven,

God’s character is the content of His glory and the significance of His name. This is who I am, says the Lord. This is who I want to be for you, to you and through you, all the days of your life and I will never change. The whole earth should be filled with the glory of God. Can you imagine what the earth and the people on it would be like if this were happening?

To understand Father's love better, we need a paradigm shift to grasp it. First of all we need to understand that we use the word love for everything in the U.S. We love food, cars, candy, our spouse and God. This kind of love is called "if and because" love. I love you if I can get something out of it or because of how you make me feel or what you can do for me. God is not like this. He loves us with AGAPE love. No strings attached! No agenda loving!

1JOHN 4:16 God is love…God loves us with AGAPE. It is a deliberate choice of God to love me. Not for what I would become, but for who I was right then and there.

Graham Cooke says, “God does not get disillusioned with us. He never had any illusions with us in the first place." He knew exactly what you were like. He has always known everything about you. Like the way you think, feel, your preferences etc...

2. God loves you no matter how good or bad you think you are doing or not doing.

This again is AGAPE. It is a deliberate choice of will to love someone, because of who you are not because of who they are. This love comes from Father because of who He is, so it doesn't change.

When you experience this love from God personally you will want to love others in the same way. We learn to love people out of the nature of God not out of our own nature. We allow Father to love others through us with His AGAPE love.

a. He loves you so radically that it covers a multitude of sins. God has it covered. In Proverbs it says that it is a man's glory to overlook a transgression. So it is with Father God. He loves to comfort you by the Holy Spirit. He knows everything about you and loves you 100%. God loves loving you! He enjoys enjoying you. He likes liking you.

b. God looks at you as the new person you are in Christ. God’s love for you is so deep that it absorbs failure. God's love for you turns you failures into His glory story. He loves who you are, you are His masterpiece. God is not obsessed with sin. He looks at you as the new person you are in Christ. Your sins have been dealt with once for all. Jesus is not going to die again.

c. When God looks at you, He does not see what is wrong, He sees what is missing out of your experience in Jesus. He’s already dealt with your sin. He’s not bothered about sin anymore in you. You are in Jesus, Jesus is in you. This means that when Father looks at you, He is happy. In his teaching on the "Love of God", Graham Cook said these comforting words, “When God looks at you, He sees what is missing in your experience of Christ in you and He intends to be that for you”.

There is an example of this in the bible with the lady caught in adultery. He loves and forgives her. He becomes for her what is missing in her life regarding Christ in her. This was pre-cross. For God not to love and forgive you, He would have to spit upon Christ. Do you think He would do that?

You are outrageously loved. God is aware of all of your weaknesses, hurts, habits and hang ups. He does not look at you like there is something wrong with you.

Jesus said this often to His disciples, "Just as My Father has loved Me, so have I loved you.” Abide, in My love. It is crucial that you experience a revelation of how much you are loved by our Uncreated Creator.

3. God's love overcomes our weaknesses and failures.

God loves us whether we are a success or a complete failure. Many of us are filled with deep guilt and shame for the things we have done! God is not going to love you any differently. He loves you 100% always, no matter what! His love never discriminates. His is a love that is always true no matter what is occurring.

As humans, our love does discriminate. When I think about all the trials and struggles with temptation and sin , hurts, the loss of loved ones to death, the ministry blow-ups and more, I could easily feel overwhelmed, unloved and unprotected by God.

Yet, I have never felt as close to God as I do today, so loved by God, so protected by God, so at peace in my soul, so deeply in love with my bride and three children. This is how real, intimate, life-changing and miraculous it is to experience the revelation of just how much you are loved by God.

So who is God for You? The one reason why we can absolutely guarantee that God is going to love us, all the days of our lives, 100%, is because love comes from God and through God. In other words, love comes through God to the Christ in you.

God is the source of AGAPE. In other His love draws us toward Him. The best way to love God is to let God love you. When God’s love melts your heart you have to love Him back. It’s an automatic desire.

Rom. 8:28 Everything works out for Good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. God allows in His wisdom what He could easily prevent by His power.

God’s AGAPE love provides security, identity and belonging. Everything that comes against you is actually allowed by God to establish you in security, identity and belonging. God provides for you Himself who is your refuge.

Proverbs reads, the name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to Him and are safe. We need to learn to hide in God.

We are deeply loved, completely forgiven, fully pleasing, totally accepted, absolutely complete in Christ. His love will give you a confidence in Christ that will amaze you to no end. So let me encourage you today my friends with these final words.

His love is in control of your circumstances. This means He will always do the right thing in your life. He is solely motivated by His love for you. He is everywhere. I AM is everywhere that you are! He is unchangeable. That means He is not moody. He is the one constant you can always depend on. He is your God, King, Lord and friend!

(Credit given and adapted From Grahm Cook's teaching on "Uncommon Love")

Living With An Attitude of Gratitude

"No matter what happens, always be thankful for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus"  1 Thessalonians 5:18

It was another beautiful Monday morning. God was already showering His love on me by the melodic chirping of the birds and the gentle warmth of the sun that was shinning through the widow in my home office. The boys were able to sleep in this particular day because it was their two week school break. My bride and daughter were out of town visiting her family.

You see, it is always a challenge when my bride, "The GM of the home" is gone. My two boys and I have to gear up for the mission of "how do we make it with mom gone!":) To add insult to injury, I was still recovering from my second shoulder surgery only a few weeks earlier. Having only one arm that was working properly, while at the same time dealing with my bride being gone, would have a set of its own unique challenges that I had underestimated.

What was it like for me you ask, after having 2 shoulder surgeries?

At that time, I remember the pain, drained energy from my entire body. I was not taking my pain killers because I don’t like being controlled by any foreign substance. It was frustrating not being able to sleep very well at night because of the pain. So I spent most of my days feeling tired, sore and sluggish.

My everyday routine was interrupted and my goals in Mixed Martial Arts were being jeopardized. I had worked hard to earn my brown belt and had hoped to become a black belt by the end of that year. I couldn’t roll around with my kids and play and I needed help getting dressed.

Fortunately, our wonderful God and Father would use the verse from 1 Thessalonians 5 to teach me to be thankful while learning many life lessons. The verse says that no matter what happens, "Be"... thankful. First we learn to BE.

Through the operation, Father had given me the wisdom to understand my desperate dependence on Him. I was forced to slow down and learn to just BE with Him. When I think of BEing with Jesus I think of resting, trusting and abiding In Him. I was beginning to rest in and enjoy His presence while learning to listen to Him for longer periods of time. What intimate moments of knowing He deeply loved me and cared for me.

I was reminded how much my bride loves me and is willing to serve me. The first 4 nights I had to sleep sitting in the sofa chair downstairs. My bride chose to sleep on the couch so she could serve me throughout the night. Father showed me through her that this is how He loves and serves all of us. He is constantly watching over us, willing and ready to serve.

Father showed me how blessed I was to have friends who have been there to love and care for me through difficult times in my life. He also gave me a greater compassion and understanding for those who are physically challenged in the world. Something that I had not thought about in the way that I did at that time.

Father had given me greater appreciation for those He has called to the medical profession to serve us.  Father had shown His love for me through my kids as they were so compassionate and loving towards me. My daughter would greet me almost every morning before leaving for school with a kiss on the forehead and a warm, "good morning daddy".

My son Branden would come by now and then with a soft rub on my sore shoulder reminding that he loves me and reminding Bobby to be careful not to hurt me. Bobby simply would come by every now and then to say "Hey daddy, how’s your shoulder dude"? Got to love little Bobby. I also became thankful for just how healthy I have been for most all of my life.

So my brothers and sisters, is there anything in your lives that has interrupted your daily routine? Any financial burdens, unwanted surprises, emotional, relational, or professional set backs? Did you know that this verse tells us that it is Father’s will that we are thankful no matter what happens?

How in the world can we be thankful for bad things that mess up our lives? By Being, resting, trusting and abiding in Him first. Remember the verse says in all things give thanks not for all things. We need not necessarily thank Father for cancer, but we can thank Him in that situation.

Father did not cause the cancer. He allowed it. He promises to give us the grace to see our current situation through His eyes and to understand it with His mind. Colossians 3:1-3 says to keep our minds and hearts set on things above not on earth. Then we can see why all things work together for good, for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28.

So what about you and your situation? Do you have an attitude of gratitude? I can testify that the result for me was a thankful heart, an attitude of gratitude and an insight to see earth’s affairs from heaven’s point of view. So take heart my friends, Father is ever present, watching over you with great care and love.

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Wanting Jesus More Than Anything!

"...I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord..." Philippians 3:8

Larry Crabb in his book "The Pressure's Off" says,"Do you believe the key to being a blessed christian is praying and seeking God so you can have a better life filled with good things that make you happy, anointed and blessed? I think many of us have this formula somewhere in our minds that says,"Choose what you want out of life, figure out what you have to do to get it, then follow the rules."

He goes on to say that "If you want to be spiritual, practice spiritual disciplines? Do you want this crises with your son to go away? Consult with a second counselor who specializes in adolescence." These are not bad in themselves, but be careful that the enemy and/or the flesh does not make your goal to get your life together, instead of resting in Jesus and enjoying a relationship with Him no matter what the cost.

His final argument ends with these penetrating words, "We all want our lives to work well, to become better than they are or to remain as good as they are. When that desire becomes our goal. the objective we most value, then we like to believe that there’s an A we can do that will lead to the B we want. The result is our lives become a sustained effort to discover and follow whatever principles will provide a life that lets us feel pretty good".

I believe that walking with and loving Jesus is realizing that what you most want is beyond your reach, and you’re trusting God for the satisfaction you seek. You want Him. Nothing less, not even His blessings will do. Do we love Jesus for Jesus?

Or do we love Him for what He does for our lives, blessings, power over sin, a better marriage etc.? Would we still serve and love Him with all our hearts if He never answered another prayer?

May these words challenge us to rest in Jesus. That our number one priority would be to love Him over anything else this life could offer.

(Credit given and adapted from Larry Crabbs book "The Pressure's Off")

Friends Not Simply Acquaintances!

"Wounds from a friend are better than many kisses from an enemy" Proverbs 27:6.

Isn’t it true that most of us long to be a good friend and long to have a good friend. I have been asking Father again what is a true friend? What makes a true friend?

I believe that it is wise to ask Father to make known to us, who are the friends authorized from Him to be in our lives. Life is too short, friendships are too important to not hear from God on this.

To have the wrong people/friends in our inner circle could lead to unauthorized hurt and pain in our life. Authorized friendships from Father, although at times can be filled with pain and disappointment, can be the most blessed and wonderful times in our lives.

It is important to differentiate between acquaintances and friendships. Acquaintances are those fun people we boat with, barbeque with, go to the movies with etc.. but don’t talk to too much or hang out with on a daily basis. These are good to have also.

But friendships are those people in our lives that are there day in and day out through thick and thin. Good times or bad times. These people have been tested and tried through the fire of life’s trials with you and never leave you, while always believing in what Father is doing in you and your friendship together.

So let me ask you; how many friends do you really have? Are you somebody else’s true friend? Let’s look into the passage.

"Wounds from a friend are better... First a true friend is one who loves you enough to take risks with you. The risk of telling you the truth with love even if it might hurt or be hard to swallow at first. In other words a true friend, at times, will deliver wounds.

The wounds of honesty, love, openness, or boldness regardless of how much fear there is of losing the friend or their good opinion of you. The wounds of a friend are for your benefit, not their protection.

It’s also important to know that true friendship can only come from being a friend of God. The security and freedom that comes from knowing Jesus, enables us to love ourselves and others.

The awesome thing about being secure in Father’s love is that we are then free to love others and be true friends. We no longer require from others what only God can give us.

On the other hand, an acquaintance may take the safer, easier, selfish, self-protecting way. In this text it is phrased as the "kisses" of an enemy. In other words beware of the "FRIEND" who always complements you, who never gets angry with you, who always agrees with you.

He/she seems afraid to tell you the truth for fear of losing your friendship, respect, or your good opinion of them. Remember this person hides behind their kisses for you.

Are you used by Father to take risks by delivering Christ Centered loving wounds out of sincere love for your friends. Or are you the "FRIEND" that hides behind the kisses of deceit and self protection?

Are we the true friend who brings loving wounds from time to time? Or are we the enemy who brings kisses and hugs, pretending to be a friend?

Isn’t Father so awesome that He would desire to empower us with the life of His Son so we can become the Christ-centered friend that would bring glory to Him and blessing to one another? The more we live in Christ-centered relationships, the safer the environment for our friendships to develop.

In Christ we all have the potential to be the most blessed friend from God. Remember it is Jesus’ love in us and through us that makes us a good friend. His life in and through us that creates opportunities to be the friend that blesses others.

© All Rights Reserved.

Experiencing God's Love!

By
Bobby Allen

"I love you with an everlasting love. I knew you before the foundation of the world, and in your mothers womb I poured out my love to you." Psalm 139.

Do you long to know the love of God deep within your heart and soul? Is there a yearning within you to experience an intimacy with Him that runs deeper than every other experience in life?

When you think about being loved by God what does it look like to you? When you think about being loved by God what does it feel like to you? Do you feel like you do not deserve His love? Do you think that you need to earn His love?

Steve McVey a wonderful author on many books on the grace and love of God encouraged us in His book, "Divine Invitation,"to imagine a different type of life for a moment. A life in which God requires nothing from you to get His love. In this life, His purpose is not that you should try to give Him anything. He, on the other hand, intends to give you everything for you to experience His complete fulfillment. In this life there is nothing you could ever do to make God love you or like you any more or any less than He does right now."

Imagine that nothing you could ever do could change the way God feels about you, even to the slightest degree. Hmm.. sound to good to be true?

Often times this kind of thinking is scary to believers. We’re afraid that this will encourage people to sin more. Or offer them a license to sin. But, if you think about it we don’t need a license to sin we do find without one. The world, the flesh and the devil are encouraging us to sin all the time. If anyone chooses to sin it will happen with or without a license, living under law or living under grace. So how do we experience God’s love?

One way to experience His love for you, is to let God love you. Allow Him to melt down any barriers we may have put up to protect ourselves. God says, "I love you with an everlasting love. I knew you before the foundation of the world, and in your mothers womb I poured out my love to you." Psalm 139. Enjoying His love for you will give you more love for Him.

Another way to experience His love for you is by appropriating Jesus as our life. The bible says that "in Him we move, exist and have our being." Acts 17:28 By the cross, God has put to death the old life we had and has now given us the very life of Jesus Christ to be our own. We live from the life of another! In other words God loves you so much that He has brought you to Himself, where you will stay safely in Christ, for all eternity.

I’m reminded of an insightful story Steve McVey told. There was guy who needed to learn how to swim, so he asked his friend a swimming instructor to teach him. The first thing to know, is that you don’t need to be afraid of sinking or drowning, his friend told him. If you relax your body will float.

So he laid back in the water, attempting to do what he had said. However every time he laid back and felt the water filling his ears, he would lift his head. Then he would begin to sink. "Don’t lift your head," his teacher encouraged him. Just relax and let your ears go under water. You won’t sink. Again he tried to do what his instructor said, but only would get scared when feeling the water, and soon would begin to sink.

Finally his instructor said, "Lie back in my arms and I will hold you on top of the water so that you won’t sink. I began to lie back and true to his word, I felt his arms underneath me holding me up. Soon I began to relax a little as I felt the support of his arms. Now he said, "I’m going to move my arms from your back so that you won’t feel me touching you, but they will still be beneath you, and I will catch you if you start to sink. Do you trust me?

Finally this guy for the first time in his life began to float. He said that he felt no fear because he knew that underneath him, were his instructor arms. He knew that he had his guarantee that he would not sink.

What kind of arms does God have my friends? The bible says that God has outstretched, strong and loving arms. Arms that will undergird you and rescue you when you feel like you are sinking. When the apostle Peter found himself in water over his head and was beginning to sink, he cried out to Jesus, "Lord save me". Immediately Jesus stretched out His arms and with His hand took hold of him. Matthew 14:30-31

Do you want to know and feel God’s love for you? Then rest in His loving arms. They are there for you all the time, no matter what, regardless if you can feel them or not.

(I credit Steve McVey's and his book "Divine Invitation" for the writing of this devotion.)

Suffering For A Moment

By
Bob Allen

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are My ways your ways, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

In the book "Left Behind" the author asks, "Have you ever thought about how different the world was that Adam and Eve lived in before the fall? Everything and everyone was perfect. No improvements of anything were needed. No sickness, backaches, headaches, no bugs, or smog to bother you. No need to workout and starve your self to lose weight. No pass hurts to struggle through. No flesh patterns or distorted beliefs to untangle.

Every day Adam and Eve would enjoy unhindered intimate relationship with God and one another fueled by His unconditional love for them. Everything was perfect and fun!

Then came the greatest and saddest tragic love story that ever entered human history. The fall of human kind. Adam willfully disobeys God and Eve was deceived by Satan to believe that God was not good and was a cruel controlling cosmic kill joy!

Now every human is born into a gene pool which gets increasingly imperfect and sinful. We live in a world that reaps the consequences of sinful choices. Where wrong is right and right is wrong.
Daily we read and hear of global wars, starvation, crashes, rapes, and out of control crime even in the most "quietest and safest" neighborhoods. Pain, suffering and problems are everywhere and often show up on our front porch unwanted and uninvited.

Pain, problems and suffering have no manors and are no respecter of persons? It’s times like these that we find it easy to cry out to God asking Why? What did I do? Who’s to blame? Why is this terrible thing happening to me? I’m just as good as the next person. If God is a loving God, why would He allow such bad things to happen to me and my loved ones? These questions often times can go unanswered.

Oswald Chambers said, "To be able to explain suffering is the clearest indication of never having suffered."

In Isaiah 55:8-9 we read, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are My ways your ways, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts."

In other words we can believe that God is working, allowing and accomplishing things we cannot even begin to see or understand. The key is to remember who He is and not focus on what He is doing or the circumstances that we are facing at the time. Circumstances can change but God never does. He is always good and loving by His nature. There is no security in what God is doing there is only security in who God is.

Jesus said, "In this world you will have the tribulation". So why be surprised when it happens?

Even Jesus experienced suffering. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus had to learn obedience through the things He suffered? Who would have known that through his suffering and agony would come the redemption of humankind. Jesus had a purpose in His suffering. Redeeming and purchasing us for God was the joy set before Him

God’s will for Jesus suffering would also included the rejection of family and friends. He would suffer aloneness, isolation, being misunderstood, and being oppressed. Can you relate?

Can you discover any purpose or meaning in your suffering? Can you find a loving Father working all things out for His glory and your good? Can you find His purposes through what He is allowing to happen to your life? Maybe a new sensitivity that you’ve never had before. Or a new fresh love for your spouse. How about a new dependence upon the life of Christ in you? A new joy and appreciation for your kids.

Remember my dear friends that there are times when Father must allow us to experience some pain and suffering or unfortunate circumstances. It makes us a more sensitive listener and learner. It also teaches us to be humble, gentle and to live in daily dependence upon Christ living in us and through us.

(Adapted from the book "Left Behind")

The God of Do Over's

By

Bob Allen

"Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time." Jonah 3:1

As I reflect back on my days as a kid on the grammar school play ground, I’m reminded of the many fun games we used to play at recess. One of those games in particular was called 4 square. Often times when we would attempt to hit the ball back to our opponent, it would either hit the line or land outside of the line, this meant we would be counted out and sent to the back of the line.

If you can recall, grammar school kids can be quite brutal. No one could bear the rejection or disappointment of being counted out nor live down the heckling of the kids that was targeted at the one poor soul who failed to perform accordingly.

So the only thing left to do was to beg the other kids for a what was commonly known as a "do over". If the "do over" was granted by the other kids, it meant that you would be allowed to try again or get a second chance, hoping that this time you would succeed.

How about you? Have you ever hit the ball of life on the line or outside the line and after begging those around you for a "do over," you were met with the painful reality of cold-hearted, blank stares of rejection.

Have you wondered if God would ever allow you a "do over" in your life, or if He would at least still love you and choose to use you to touch other people’s lives again?

Those of us who can relate to this story will be greatly blessed to know that our brother Jonah has some amazing news. He discovered firsthand, that the God of the Bible is a God who grants "do overs" in life.

In Jonah 3:1, the texts reads, "Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time."

Jonah operated from a unique survival strategy that emphasized his version of his flesh, which was to run and self protect. Commonly recognized and labeled today by believers as "disobedience". God said go, Jonah said no!

Instead, Jonah tries to escape on a boat for a vacation cruise that endangers his life and several other innocent people. His disobedience cost the sailors time and money. It interfered with the sailor’s personal and professional plans and affected their families as they would hear how they almost lost their loved one. It also put the lives of the people of Nineveh at risk spiritually and physically.

Many people today might define Jonah’s behavior at best as scandalous, rebellious and willful disobedience. You would think that God would find Jonah to be disqualified and therefore send him a memo informing him that He (God) had to "restructure the department" or that Jonah’s position would no longer be needed. Humanly speaking, Jonah was now a liability and had proven not to be a faithful employee, servant, messenger, or ambassador of the God of all creation.

I would like us to notice several truths regarding Father’s unexplainable heart of kindness, patience, grace and mercy in this story. We see that Father is interested in an intimate, personal relationship with us. He’s also interested in our journey, not just our destination. He is forever patient and doesn’t tire of us or leave us.

He eventually forgives Jonah and then graciously offers him a "do over". What intrigued me as I read this chapter again is that God still allowed Jonah to be His chosen messenger. Because He is faithful and rich in kindness, God is determined to glorify Himself in all of our failures and even our sinful choices and complete the work He’s begun in us.

As we can see, Jonah’s sin caused major inconveniences and problems to many people’s lives as well as his own. But just like Father does, He works all things out for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

Verse 10 is the crescendo of this story, as we see the beautiful heart of our Holy, loving God. We read,"When God saw that the Ninevites repented and had put a stop to their evil ways, He had mercy on them and didn’t carry out the destruction He had threatened." Isn’t it comforting to know that God actually allowed the entire city of Nineveh a "do over".

Many of us are in dire need of a fresh new start. Be reminded my friend of the great news that our brother Jonah shared with us in this story. God extends to you and me this same loving mercy, if we would only allow Him to work in our lives. He will allow us time to come to our senses, so that we might repent and receive our "do over" in life.

It is true my friend, God will never count you out and send you to the back of the line.

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