I like to drink a lot. I need to drink a lot. I am a person who talks a lot so I always need to have a bottle of water with me so that my throat doesn’t get dry. When I went to leave the house this morning, I had to ask myself if I had a bottle of water in the car. I thought I remembered seeing one there, and so I left. When I was mid route, I realized that the bottle was empty. I was thirsty, but the bottle had nothing in it.
The bottle gave me a false impression that it would provide water. It reminds me of Mark 11 and when Jesus cursed the fig tree. The fig tree had leaves and so it gave this false impression that it would provide fruit.
We too need to be careful with false impressions that we see everywhere in our lives. We see people on the Internet and in our daily lives who say that they know Christ and say that they are Christians. Sometimes their game plan is filled with hate, judgment, and cruelty.
Matthew 7:15 says, “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” There are going to be a lot of people who approach us with sheep’s clothing, and sadly we are going to believe what they say. This is where it’s important to read God’s Word and to listen to the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
When we hear teachings, and when we hear people talking about certain things, we need to be like the Bereans. They studied everything and looked to see if what the person was saying is what was in God’s Word. Because, if it’s not in God’s Word, it’s not the Truth.
One thing that I always take notice to is my dog Max. He doesn’t let me stop knowing that he’s around, because he’s right here, right now. Everywhere I go, he follow me around. The thing about dogs is that they love you so much and they just aim to please. If I start to walk toward the door, there he is giving me the eyes hoping that I will take him with me for a car ride. He doesn’t even care where I am going, simply that he is with me. He just wants to be a part of my life.
God wants to be a part of our lives too. He’s with us wherever we go. He will meet us wherever we are at, just like the dog will meet us wherever we are at. It doesn’t matter if we are going through a tough time in our life. Even if we forgot to read our Bible and have neglected to make the right choices, there He is with us. It’s that kind of love — that constant being there– it shows how much God loves us.
Most know John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Can you imagine loving someone so much to give that ultimate sacrifice? I think of my dog when I come home after I left him, and how he looks at me with his cute brown eyes and wags his tail– he is so happy to see me. He doesn’t care about all those hours that I was away. He’s just so excited that I’m with him. That’s all he wants is for me to be with him.
That’s what God wants too. God gets so excited when you spend time with Him, when you take Him with you wherever you go, when you read His Word. Just like that dog who comes running to the door when the key is put in the door and you start turning it, and the dog jumps up to lick you in the face. In the same way, there’s rejoicing when you spend time with God and take that moment.
I don’t think we realize sometimes how much God loves us. I don’t think we understand that whenever we are turning the key (opening the Bible), how excited He is that we are inviting Him into our lives. He gave us our lives. All He asks is to be a part of it. That’s it. It sounds very easy but everyone makes it so hard. It’s not about a bunch of laws. It’s not about what this person or that person says. It’s simply about what God says. It’s actually not so difficult because He left us the great Comforter who can help us figure it out. It’s all about turning the key. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
Last night I was giving my son some medicine and it was really interesting. I handed him the cup. He looked at it for a bit. Then he asked me what was in the cup. I informed him that it as medicine for his cough and stuffy nose. Then he took the medicine.
It reminded me of when Jesus was in the Garden praying. In Luke 22:42, Jesus said, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Your will be done.” It just reminded me of when we are handed cups in life. Perhaps God does not hand us the same cup that Jesus was dealt, but we are still handed cups.
God has a purpose for our lives and when we decide to ignore that, and we think we know something better…. When we read His Word and we decide we are going to disregard it… It’s sort of like we are refusing the cup over and over again.
Pretty much, you’re handed the cup and you look at it….
“What’s this going to do to me? I don’t know if I like it. Do I really want to do that? I don’t know.”
Then you find something else, and say that it is better than His plan. Even when your plan is falling apart, you still think that your plan has a chance.
God says, “Here’s the cup.” You think your friends or family know better.
God says, “Here’s the cup.” You don’t think it looks good. There has to be something better out there for you.
Sometimes, God says, “Here’s the cup.” You then partake but you want more. You are not satisfied.
When we are in obedience with God, it’s not a one time thing where we accept Jesus and then we are finished. Every day we need to be submitting. Our lives are like a puzzle in a box, with all of those many pieces. We are not submitting every piece of our life to God. Sometimes we hand Him our leftovers. We like to hold back pieces. Every day is a new day where we must submit each and every piece.
What we need to do is to be in full obedience and accept God’s will for our lives. It’s hard and it’s something that we must do daily, but there’s no better way!
“Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” – Luke 22:42 [NLT]
I took my children for a walk today and came upon a goose with a broken wing. All the other geese were separated from this one goose, taking residence in the distance. This one goose was all alone, a prisoner so it seemed. Like our sins weigh us down, so this goose was stuck, unable to fly.
I continued walking around the lake and when I finished my stroll for the day, I came upon that goose once again. To my surprise, he had walked all the way from the one side of the park to the other. He was about to attempt entering the lake so he could rejoin his fellow geese.
When he walked across the ice that had formed upon the top layer of the lake, the ice cracked just enough and he fell through into the water. He was stuck, surrounded by ice. I stood by watching his struggle, hoping that he would overcome this sudden obstacle. It took numerous tries and many pauses in between, but the goose was able to rejoin the others. He was no longer a slave.
This goose reminded me of the common belief that was held in the past, that illness was due to sin. Job’s friends were very quick to point the finger. This goose was separated just like we sometimes separate from our fellow man when they need us most. Rather than being supportive, we point fingers. Rather than joining together to help, we turn and abandon. Even worse, at times we add to the burden.
But God has better plans. He did not allow Job’s friends to have the final answer. He also did not sit by and allow us to stay stuck in the ice, unable to move from our sin. We were separated, but He provided a bridge. We were slaves to our sins, but He has set us free.
That goose did not deserve to be abandoned by his fellow geese. No human deserves to be abandoned or mistreated by another. God has set us free. Galatians 5:1 states: “Christ has liberated us into freedom. Therefore stand firm and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery” (HCSB). We are free thanks to the blood of Christ.
When a fellow man is struggling, we must remember that Paul left us an important message: “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). We need not abandon. We need not mistreat, “but through love serve one another” (5:13b NASB). Each one of us has been that goose with the broken wing. Let us serve each other in love!
Like everyone, Peter made a heap of mistakes while following Christ. The denial of Christ was something he refused to accept would happen; however, he was left weeping afterward, knowing the depth of his failure. Even so, Peter did not sink down and allow this failure to stop him from pressing forward with the Great Commission Jesus left with the disciples. In the first chapter of Acts we are able to see that Peter got right back up on the horse and began to lead as was his purpose.
In Acts 1:15-26, Peter stood before the remaining Twelve and proposed the need to fill the position of Judas. This concept was not something he devised from his own thinking, but rather, he knew that the vacant spot must be replaced for the Scripture to be fulfilled. He didn’t allow his failures from the past to stand in the way from the plan God had for his life.
I believe that this example of Peter and his willingness to answer the call is something that we should all model in life. Like Peter, we all will make mistakes and be undeserving of the grace we receive from God. Nonetheless, we cannot allow our imperfections to thwart the plan that God has for our lives. By His grace and mercy we are able to stand no longer condemned. Peter constantly reminds me of the need to press forward and not allow anything, including our shortcomings, get in the way of God’s plan.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 3:12-14 [NIV]
Today I took a walk and the lake I walk by was frozen. What was interesting was the fact that you could see all the garbage, all the trash that had floated to the top of the lake was all standing out. The first thing you would see was the garbage; it stuck out like a sore thumb. It reminds me of how when we sin, a lot of the times that sticks out like garbage too. When we are Christians, people think we can’t do this and we can’t do that. Even so, Christians aren’t perfect and we slip up here and there. That’s what everyone sees all the time. They always see those slip ups. They always see when you do something wrong– when you let a naughty word slip out of your mouth, when at a moment of weakness you start gossiping, when you get in danger of bragging about something, or when you get jealous. There are so many different things and it’s so easy to fall into sin. I am not making an excuse for it, but we all do it and it sticks out.
The thing is with that trash, it was there before. Some of it you could see and some you could not see. Now that the lake is frozen, you cannot get it out. It’s stuck until the ice melts. It’s a long process for it to melt so we must wait. In the same way, we are a work in progress. When you accept Christ, don’t expect the next day you are not going to be sinning at all and you’re going to be the perfect little thing. Romans 3:23 states that we all fall short. We all sin. We all fall short. That’s not something that anyone can argue. We can pretend, but no one is perfect. Verse 24 states that it is by His grace alone that we are justified.
After we accept Christ and we allow Him to chip away at the things that need fixed in our lives and we allow Him to move in our lives and do wonderful things and we transform and we stick to reading the Word and doing the Word, it ends up that there are not so many things floating on top of the water. Perhaps we all have some things that are frozen on the top right now that we are working on. There is great hope in knowing that God loves us anyway and He is right here with us trying to help us to get all of that stuff fixed in our lives, to repair the brokenness.
God is working in our lives as the ice is slowly melting. He is there right with us. He doesn’t turn His back and say He is done dealing with all of our garbage. He sticks there right with us. It’s a long process. If you haven’t already, now is the perfect time. There is no greater time than the present to allow God to help you with the trash in your life. He’s willing to help, it’s just a matter of will you have Him or not. There’s no way to get rid of the trash without God.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” – Romans 3:23-24 [NASB]
Today I took a walk and it was really foggy outside. The funny thing about fog is that when you are walking through the fog, you cannot see ahead of you, and you cannot see behind you either. If you turn around to look where you just came from, you cannot see anything except for right where you are at– you can only focus on the present. It reminds me about how we are supposed to focus our attention on the present.
If we focus so much on the past, we are taking our focus off of God, because God is in the here and now. God is in the present, right now, with us, working, clearing the path, preparing us, by our side– He is with us! If we are trying to focus on the past… oh I wish I could have done that better…oh I wish I never did this… why did I do that… how did this happen… you feel so much of a failure and you focus so much attention on the past that you are not allowing your focus to be on God and right now so that good things can happen… so that you can focus on your purpose for now and move ahead.
In the same sense you cannot focus on the future. It’s okay to have a vision. It’s okay to plan things out. It’s not okay when you start becoming afraid of what is going to happen. If you start focusing too much attention on the future of all the great things that are going to happen, as well, you take your focus off of God.
C.S. Lewis has a book called “the Screwtape Letters.” Letter 15 talks about the danger of focusing on the past, because God’s not there, and focusing on the future. The future he says, inflames fear and hope. The past is “frozen and no longer flows.” The present, he says, “is all lit up with eternal rays.” Gratitude looks to the past. Love looks to the present. Fear, lust, and ambition looks to the future. As Matthew 6:34 states, we need to not worry about tomorrow because today has enough worries.
God gives us all we need to handle today. We just need to be focused on today to see that. It’s okay to have plans. It’s good to have a vision for your life. We cannot get so involved about what happened in the past (because God has already forgiven us for that) that we don’t focus on the here and now. You cannot get so involved in what God is going to do with you in the future, because you won’t listen then to what He is saying right now. Jeremiah 29:11 gave us the promise. He wants us to have hope and He wants us to have a future.
We need to focus on right now, today, and listen to what He is saying. There are times when we are not going to hear things. There are times when we won’t get the answer we want. If you are confused right now about which direction you are to take in life… if you have decisions you need to make and you prayed about it and you don’t think you’ve gotten enough answers on which way to go, but you know you need to go in a certain direction… it’s okay to take a step forward. God is with you. If it’s the wrong step, you’ll know. You’ll find out. It’s okay to make mistakes. God uses those mistakes to teach us some important lessons.
Don’t focus on the fog in your life. Don’t focus on the past. It’s okay to learn from your mistakes and it’s okay to grow from your mistakes, but don’t focus on the past. At the same time, don’t focus on the future. It’s okay to have a vision for your life. It’s okay to have hopes and dreams, but understand that God is in the present- He’s in the here and now and He’s working with you to get to the future. It’s all about your eternal life, not just about this one moment. And so you need to focus on the present, and in the end, no matter what, God is always with you.
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
- Matthew 6:34 [NIV]
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
- Jeremiah 29:11 [ESV]
This morning I headed out to take the dog for a walk. Now I knew that the weather was not looking so good; there was a chance for rain. My luck is always something else. I drive halfway there and it starts to rain. I look around and say, “No! What do you mean? It can’t rain. I’m almost there.” Gas prices are pretty high so I decided to keep going in hopes that the rain would stop, that it was just a passing storm. Nothing big. No worries.
I got there and the rain continued. I decided that I needed fresh air and the dog needed a walk, so I was just going to get out and take a walk anyway, and walk through the storm. Now I had an umbrella. I was very lucky to have that umbrella so I didn’t get too wet.
What I was thinking about was how we often are going through these storms in life. We like to complain. We like to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves and we sometimes don’t say thank you to God, because we are in these storms of life and it’s like “uh, can it get any worse.” We don’t thank God because we are not liking how things are at the current moment, but yet it could get worse. Now there are people who have something bad happening in their lives and I’ll hear them say, “It can’t get any worse then this.” I say, “Watch your mouth, because it could get worse than that.” I think that we at times don’t realize how well we have things and when things dampen our situation we forget that we are blessed with an umbrella.
For me, I was okay with walking in the rain because I had my umbrella and I was not walking alone. We are not walking alone when we are in our storm in life. We have God there with us. I think whenever we go and do our little “oh pity poor me, when are things going to get better,” when we do that, when we complain, and when we moan and grumble about things that might not be that important and we fail to give God praise, what ends up happening is we are not thanking God for the blessings we do have. We pretty much sound like spoiled little brats.
Psalm 63:4 tells us something I think is very important. It says, “I will praise You as long as I live, lifting up my hands to You in prayer.” I will praise You as long as I live. It doesn’t say I will praise You when things are going good but when things are going bad You need to step back. It doesn’t say that. It says, “I will praise You as long as I live. I will praise You as long as I live.” Through the good, through the bad. When it’s raining, when it’s nice out. No matter what. When you have fifty dollars in your wallet, or a million dollars in your wallet, or you don’t even have a wallet. I will praise You.
When things aren’t going well at work. When you are having problems with your spouse. When you are having arguments with your family. When you wanted to go here for dinner and they wanted to go there and you got outvoted. No matter what– I will praise You. I think that is something that if we know that and if we do that and we follow that– if we give praise to God every day. If you wake up and say, “thank You God for this day.” For this time. For this opportunity. For my life. For this roof over my head. For whatever it is that you have to be grateful for. If you thank Him for that and you acknowledge that it is all His then you will actually have a much happier life because you will see the blessings He has given to you. Sometimes we have to be reminded of that.
What I think this walking through the storm is all about is making sure that we don’t limit God — that we give our things to Him when we have a storm. And that we still praise Him during the storm, because there is going to be many storms. We were promised there were going to be many storms. Life has ups and downs but in the end, no matter what, God is the same God and He will be with you right by your side. Always. Forever.
When I was a little girl, I remember when I went to the mall with my grandmother, my mother, and my sister. When we were about ready to leave, we had a few things we wanted to look at yet. My mother and grandmother wanted to go and do their own thing. I was still pretty young, but I was old enough to know better. They told me when I was finished purchasing an item, to meet at this certain place and they were going to do what they had to do and then they were going to meet me there.
I had different plans. I said I was old enough to meet them out at the car, that I could walk out to the car by myself and everything would be fine. My grandmother and my mother said absolutely not, that they would meet me at the spot and that was it. So I finished making the purchase that I needed to make and I decided I was going to go out to the car. I was gonna show them, because I could get out to the car by myself.
I was out by the car. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. No one was coming. My grandmother and mother in the meantime were frantically searching for me, with my sister, dragging her around everywhere looking for me and wondering where I was. I was lost they thought. It took a long time before finally they came out to the parking lot and they found me. I got in trouble of course. I should have gotten in trouble because I didn’t listen.
It reminds me of how we sometimes don’t listen and we all at one point or another were lost. I was thinking back to Luke 15, where you can find the lost sheep and lost coin parables, and how the coin and sheep were valuable. We are very valuable to God. He doesn’t want any of us to not be with Him. Just to imagine ninety-nine sheep and one gets away. He goes after that one. Each of us are that one at one point or another. We are all thought of as an only child. To imagine that kind of love.
A lot of people think love is emotion. The word love is about action. That is how God loves us. He comes and He gets His lost sheep. He is with you through it all. He doesn’t leave you. He shows His love. The way He shows His love was to send His Son to redeem you and to redeem me. That’s action- that’s what love is all about. We are asked to love one another, to serve one another, and the love that we are to have is a love filled with action.
