Because You Love

Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help. “Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.
“Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors! Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength.
You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.

Isaiah 58:7-11 NLT

The following is from the NKJV Max Lucado Encouraging Word Bible:

Seek God with pure motives. Do good works because you love God, not because others expect them.

I have a feeling that most people who defy and deny God do so more out of fear than conviction. For all our chest pumping and braggadocio, we are anxious folk—can’t see a step into the future, can’t hear the one who owns us. No wonder we try to gum the hand that feeds us.

But God reaches and touches. He speaks through the immensity of the Russian plain and the density of the Amazon rain forest. Through a physician’s touch in Africa, a bowl of rice in India. Through a Japanese bow or a South American abraço. He’s even been known to touch people through paragraphs like the ones you are reading. If he is touching you, let him.

Mark it down: God loves you with an unearthly love. You can’t win it by being winsome. You can’t lose it by being a loser.

But you can be blind enough to resist it.

Don’t. For heaven’s sake, don’t. For your sake, don’t.

“Take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God” (Eph 3:18–19 MSG). Others demote you. God claims you. Let the definitive voice of the universe say, “You’re still a part of my plan.”

The next time you sing at church...ask yourself, “Why am I doing this? Why am I here? Why am I singing? Why did I bring my Bible?” Examine your motives! Be sure that you are doing those acts to thank God for his great love for you! Copyright © 2020 by Thomas Nelson.

Prayer:

Father,

          Open our eyes and hearts to see and hear You, and give us the strength and wisdom to follow all Your instructions. Move upon our hearts to make us givers like You - the One who gave it all. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Following the Plan

 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

Yeah, I know I've used that particular Scripture too many times to count. But I figure if God puts it in my face to remind me, then maybe you are in need of the reminder, too. We don't always understand His plan, and I don't know about you, but when I don't understand something, I need to keep going back to it until I do.

God has a plan. He's had it from the beginning and He's working it every day. And He had writers, too, and they wrote it down for us. And He knows He has some serious variables...for instance, me... or you. At any rate, that's irrelevant. The Truth is the Father's plan is the only plan that works for our eternal good.

I know you wanna tell me, "Yeah, but this is real life." That's right, it is and God gave us this real life - with real struggles and real trials and hard times and unknowns. And He gave us this real life with the ability to breathe and to think and to reason and to choose His Plan - the one that includes salvation and redemption.

You see, we don't have to know how the whole thing works, we just have to know Him. And we know it will work, because of who He is...as long as we follow the plan. And we just need to do our part of it, not anyone else's and certainly, not God's part. We only need to do what He's given us to do. That's all. Don't worry about what anyone else is doing...you do your part. God will do His. And it will all come out right in the end and He will say, "Well done..."

And we will love it - and celebrate - when the plan comes together.

Prayer:

Father,
         Help us to focus on what is in front of us to do while keeping our eyes on You. One day at a time. One part at a time. One foot placed in the print You've left in front of us as You go before us and make the crooked way straight. We won't look to the right or left. We won't be distracted by those things that are happening that don't look like part of the plan. We will follow Your plan, Father, and we're grateful for it. Help us to understand and adhere to the instructions You've given us. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Keep Walking

 [The Lord God said] Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.

Jeremiah 7:23 NIV

The Word of God has much to say about our walking - especially for those who choose to walk blameless and in obedience to His Word. Lots of promises with regard to walking in His ways. He promises long life (1 Kings 3:14), to prosper us in all we do (Psalm 128:1-2) and to be with us (1 Kings 11:38). 

When it comes to walking in His ways, are we intentional, committed, and on purpose with our walk? We definitely should be. Keep walking.

Prayer:

Father,
          According to Your Word - we want to walk in the light, as You are in the light, so we may have fellowship with one another. Purify us from our sin, Lord. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Thanks and Praise

Praise the Lord! I will thank the Lord with all my heart as I meet with his godly people.

Psalm 111:1 NLT

2 How amazing are the deeds of the Lord!
All who delight in him should ponder them.

3 Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty.
His righteousness never fails.

4 He causes us to remember his wonderful works.
How gracious and merciful is our Lord!

5 He gives food to those who fear him;
he always remembers his covenant.

6 He has shown his great power to his people
by giving them the lands of other nations.

7 All he does is just and good,
and all his commandments are trustworthy.

8 They are forever true,
to be obeyed faithfully and with integrity.

9 He has paid a full ransom for his people.
He has guaranteed his covenant with them forever.
What a holy, awe-inspiring name he has!

10 Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom.
All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom.
Praise him forever!  Psalm 111:2-10 NLT

Prayer:

Father,

           Thank You for everything You have done for us, salvation, redemption, Your great love, all Your provision. We can never thank You enough or praise You enough! Help us to walk steadfastly with You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

The Lesson Learned in Making Coffee

 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

Colossians 3:12-14 NKJV

To everyone who has ever gone to get a cup of coffee and found the community pot not exactly empty (letter of the law), but not enough coffee left in the pot to extinguish the fire on a pregnant ant – this one’s for you.

I have found that an office coffee pot can be a great witness/indicator of one’s true Christianity. I can see you rolling your eyes, so let me just tell you a story or two and you tell me if you can find anything that’s familiar…

Let’s say you’re the first person in the office, so being the nice person you are, you put on the first pot of coffee. Rather than waste time, you go back to your office to turn on your computer, line out your task list, etc. By the time you get back to the coffee pot, it’s got one-eighth of an inch of coffee left in it. There are pre-measured packs of coffee that only have to be slipped in the dispenser, but someone else could not figure out how to do that. Their rationale? There was coffee left in the pot...technically, at least.

You start another pot of coffee. This time you hang around and if you’re fortunate enough to have a multi-pot brewer, you wait and you start the next pot, too, then go back to your desk. You go back about an hour later and there are TWO pots with so little coffee remaining that even if you combined them, there wouldn’t be enough for half a cup of coffee. You grumble under your breath, but you start another pot for whoever else will be drinking coffee before lunch.

That afternoon, you’re sitting at your desk and you smell something burning. Following your nose, you wind up in front of the coffee pot to discover the one-sixteenth of an inch of coffee that was left on the burner to bubble and char and burn into the bottom of the pot. You go back to your desk and make a sign...Any of this sound familiar?

The first day the sign was posted, and even part of the next day, when I’d gone in there a few times and there was no coffee, I thought to myself, “Fine –what will they do when there’s no coffee made?” And then I thought about what if a friend or co-maker was the next person in there – would I want that person to go without? And as I was standing there in front of the coffee pot, God reminded me that HE makes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust and conviction pierced my soul.

The truth is there are always going to be people who choose to care about other people and people who don’t – or won’t. And we have to decide for ourselves whether our caring is self-LESS or motivated by what it will bring us in return…which would make it selfish. Scripture clearly states that the world will know us by our love, not our grumbling.

If someone else benefits from me making coffee - even though they’re a drinker not a maker - maybe eventually they’ll learn to care…after all, I believe in miracles. But, even if that never happens, what kind of witness am I? How am I representing Christ? Aren’t I to be like Him? He gave Himself for EVERY one of us.

As a Christian, I am to be motivated by self-LESS and too often, I fail. So, even in making a simple pot of coffee, God can teach me a lesson.

This cup’s for you.

Prayer:

Father,

            Help me to love as You love. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen

I Know This...

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.

Hebrews 3:12-14 NIV

I want to go on record declaring that I am a believer and follower of Jesus Christ and His gospel. I have a strong faith. I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God and the standard by which we are to live. I believe that we will live eternally somewhere and that both heaven and hell are real.

So, I have hope in the Lord. It's hope - not born of desperation, but rather of relationship, knowing in Whom I have believed and having been witness to His mighty works and amazing grace. I truly believe that God is good even when I don't understand the dark times. Let the believers say "Amen!"

It's been a hard year. I have lost dear friends and my oldest brother - 9 people - this does not count the number of people who have died who I know OF, but didn't know personally. I am doing better now than I was 6 months ago, but deep in my heart, I am sad beyond words. I feel as though a part of me has died, too, and in a way, it has. Following my brother's death, and the passing of several close friends, a part of my heart seems to have gone dormant. But that's okay; it's just a season. Please know that I am not writing this for your sympathy. I am writing to reiterate these truths. Do not confuse my grief with lack of faith. Do not interpret my tears as signs of unbelief. Here's what I know that I know. Jesus tells us in John 12:24 that unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. There IS coming a time of rebirth. These 9 all had accepted Christ as their Saviour. The good news is, as much as I miss these loved ones, I know I will see them again. I know this because it's written in God's Word.

1st Thessalonians 4:13-18 NLT, And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.

May you be encouraged today.

Prayer:

Father,
The heavens declare Your glory and I? I can only attempt to echo their praise. Thank You for Your grace and for salvation and for Your mercy, and help us to try to fathom the depth of Your great love...even in the dark times. May the many seeds bring about a great harvest, O God! In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

It's a Beautiful Thing

Sweet friendships refresh the soul and awaken our hearts with joy, for good friends are like the anointing oil that yields the fragrant incense of God’s presence.
Proverbs 27:9 TPT

Tonight, we celebrated the end of our Life Groups for 2021. What a joyous time to come together with all the Life Groups of our church! Looking around the room, it was overwhelming to see the people and remember all the circumstances that have been overcome this year by the grace of God and the help of faithful friends! 

What a roomful of precious testimonies of friends who celebrated life together, who rejoiced with one another, or held each other up as their broken hearts streamed down their faces. Strength lent, love received, holding one another accountable to God and to each other. It's a beautiful thing friendship, not to be taken for granted.

Prayer:

Father,

            Thank You for those You've ordained to cross our life paths, for those who have stayed and for those who were only here for a brief time because we've learned from all of them. ThankYou for loving us so much that You cause our hearts to respond in kind. Thank You for friends of all kinds. Teach us how to value them properly. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen