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“It’s Too Painful!!”

It’s painful!

There are a lot of things in life that come along that are painful.  We may even feel that they are too painful.  I am sure we have all been there.  Maybe you have lost a spouse, a child, or even had some kind of misfortune yourself that has left you maimed in some way.  We live in this sinful world and none of us escape pain, there are different forms but we all have experienced it.

I can’t imagine the pain of family and friends to a young woman killed in an accident and just a few days have gone by and there has been another accident where another person died.  These are sad and tragic.  And things happen sad and tragic like this every day all over the world.  It becomes even more of a reality when it happens to someone you know or is a friend to one of your friends.  It makes you realize how fragile life is.  We never know when something like this can directly affect us.

My heart pains for those that were at fault as well.  Can you imagine living with the fact that you killed someone?  It was a moment of misjudgment that you can’t take back.  Who knows the reasons for the misjudgments?  Maybe they were doing something that is against the law, texting, speeding, etc.  It definitely makes me think every time I go to do something.  Even doing something not against the law can distract us, depending on what state you are in.  Whatever the reasons it is tragic.

Life is short

It made me think about a connection between the accidents and how this can apply to me as a Christian.  We need to really think about how short life really is.  When we walk out the door each day, we never know if we are coming home again.  We may lose a loved one today as well.  The question is, do you have everything right with each person in your life?  Whether you’re the victim or the one that loses someone you will never be able to make things right again.  Or tell them how much you love them.

The other question to ponder is am I really ready to go.  Have I made everything right with God?  Am I living according to every word that proceeds from the mouth of God?  Do I love God with all my heart, soul and mind and my neighbor as myself?  We need to be having a moment-by-moment connection with Christ so that we will be ready when tragic hits.  We need to be fully surrendered to Him allowing Him to work in our lives.

Stumbling block

As Christians, are we going through life paying attention to what we are reflecting to others?  What you reflect to others could mean their eternal life or eternal death.  Are you distracted by worldly things that are giving others the thought that it is an appropriate thing to be doing as a Christian?

If I am driving along and I break one of the laws of the land and someone is killed the judgment is more severe than if I did something unknowingly.  As a Christian, we are held accountable for being a stumbling block to others.  What we do as a Christian says to others that what you are doing is acceptable to God.  We have a great responsibility as Christians to be a Christ-like witness to others.  Everything we do is a reflection on Christ Himself.  We don’t want to get to heaven and realize someone is not there because of our misjudgment that caused a tragic “accident” in their lives and they were eternally lost.  I think all of us have been there and done things that have not been the right kind of witness to others.  And I praise the Lord for His forgiveness.  We need to stay so connected with Christ that we reflect Him perfectly.

Dear Father,

We are faulty human beings.  Forgive us for those failures that have caused others to stumble.  Help us to stay so connected to You that we will reflect You perfectly because without You we are nothing.  Thank You that You never leave us or forsake us.  Be with those we may have injured in this life and draw their hearts to You.  Bring someone into their lives that will show them a good example of You.  Give us an opportunity to be that person again, reflecting You in the right way.  Thank You for Your patience and everlasting love.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Fully surrender your life to Him today so that you can perfectly reflect Him.  Remember He does that work; we just need to allow Him.

Love you all.

How has God worked in your life and showed you the way?  I would love to hear your reflections.

 

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“Father’s Day”

Fathers

For some, Father’s Day is a very joyous day but for others, it speaks only pain.  Some fathers have children that adore them.  They have been a father of love and support to their children.  There are other fathers that have brought only pain and sorry to their children.  For those children, this day is a sad day.  Fathers have a great responsibility and in this sinful world not all accept that responsibility.  This is a sad fact.

My Father

My Dad has always been special to me.  I always remember him being there for me in every situation.  My Dad was always the spiritual leader in our home, guiding and protecting us.  I still go to him today for guidance and so appreciate his insights.  Unfortunately, I did not always listen to his counsel and when I didn’t I always suffered.  Our parents are much wiser than us but we somehow think that they just don’t understand.

I am reminded of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  Satan tempted Eve into believing that God was just trying to withhold some good thing from them by not allowing them to eat from just that one tree.  And that is what the devil whispers into the ears of the young people. Your parents are just trying to withhold good things from you.  But the reality is, our parents love us and want the best for us.

I am grateful for a Dad, that may not be perfect, but that is growing in the love and grace of God and striving to serve Him.  And because he is I can have the confidence to seek counsel from him.

Show Honor

We need to show love and honor to our fathers.  Even if they have not been the fathers that they should have been we can still honor the position.  As it says in Exodus 20:12, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”  This command comes with a promise.

You may be saying, “My father is abusive.”  It is very difficult when a person has an abusive father.  What I would encourage you to do is think about his past life and why he may be what he is.  Was he abused also in his growing up years?  There is no excuse for abuse even if he was abused growing up as well but it can help you have a little more understanding.  If you are living in an abusive situation to seek help.  And the sad reality is, you will go on to do the same unless you have made a decided change in your thought patterns and allowing the Lord to have full control of your life.  These are generational sins that get passed down from one generation to another until someone makes a different decision.  I have seen it first hand.

Fathers

As fathers, you have a great responsibility.  You have a spiritual responsibility to your family to be a spiritual leader.  Notice I said leader, not a dictator.  The best way to lead is by example.  As it says in Ephesians 6:4, “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”  And again in Colossians 3:21, “Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.”

As fathers, you have so much responsibility and you can only do it by keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus.  Draw closer to Jesus, as you do this, you will become more like Him and your life will reflect His character.  And then and only then can you be the spiritual leader God would have you to be.

Dear Father,

Draw each of us closer to You so that we can honor our fathers in the way You would have us honor them.  And continue to draw that hearts of the fathers to their children as they fix their eyes upon You.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Surrender all to Christ today and He will help you be who He wants you to be.

Love you all.

Do you have a story you could share about your father?  I would love to hear it.  Share in the comments below.

 

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“Perfect?!

Questions?

There are many questions that come to life.  I am sure as you read this you have already had some questions come to your mind.  There may be a question that you have thought about but maybe never asked.  And then there may be questions that you have asked many people and got a multitude of different answers so that in the long run you had to come to your own conclusion to what answer seemed right to you.

Here is a question that seems to hang around.  Since God knows the end from the beginning why did he create Lucifer or Adam and Eve?  After all, He knew they were going to sin.

God

It is so hard for our sinful human nature to comprehend the answers to some of these questions because we have a sinful nature and we can only speak or think from our sinful perspective.  But the reality is that God is perfect and there are things that are impossible for a Person Who is perfect to do.

God is perfect and has no bent to sin and because of this, He can do no wrong.  He has perfect love and perfect love cannot create only those that He knows will choose to serve Him.  He has to create all people and allow all people to make that choice.

Some say, “but no one would have ever known.”  God would have and His love is so perfect He cannot make this choice because that would be taking away the freedom of choice.

Comprehend

I know it is hard for our minds, in our human sinful nature, to comprehend such love.  But I am grateful to God for His perfect love.  Because of His perfect love, I am here and have the opportunity to choose Him.

There will always be skeptics, the devil will make sure of that.  But I choose to not listen to the skeptics and put my trust in a God Who loves me so much that He has done everything possible to save me.

Freedom of choice

Some say, “If God knows the end from the beginning then He already knows what choices everyone is going to make.”  And some seem to think because He knows that information that it somehow takes away the freedom of choice.

This problem made me think of one of our dogs.  We have a fenced in area for our dogs to be able to freely go out a doggy door and come and go as they please.  But I have pre-knowledge about something.  If there is any hole in the fence I know one of our dogs will go out that hole and run around the neighborhood.  But just because I know that information doesn’t make any difference in the fact that he will go out the hole.  Even though I have the knowledge he still has the freedom to stay in the fenced yard or to go outside of the fenced yard.

In the same way, God has given us freedom of choice.  And just because He knows whether or not we are going to go through the hole (choose sin or not) it is still our freedom to choose to go through or not.

Dear Father,

Your love is so incredible.  You are the One that has given everyone the chance to choose You.  Thank You for our right to choose and for sending Your Son to take my place, to take the penalty for sin.  As I keep my eyes on You and follow You wheresoever You go You will save me.  There is nothing that can really explain my gratitude to You.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Choose God today.  Keep your eyes on the One that can save you.

Love you all.

I would love to hear from you.

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“I Think I’m Going To Be Sick!”

Sick!

Have you ever had this feeling in the pit of your stomach that you can’t explain?  Maybe as a kid, you realized that because you just made a bad choice your parents have decided to cancel something they had planned for you.  You have this sick feeling in the pit of your stomach realizing that you just missed out on the most amazing thing.  Maybe you’re like me when I got out to my car from a store and realized my daughter wasn’t with me.  She was young, maybe 6 or 7, at the time and it was the scariest feeling.  Talk about a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

My daughter

It was around Christmas time.  Our family was in a store in the mall browsing.  We didn’t find what we needed so we headed out to our vehicle.  When we got there we realized our daughter was not with us.  After losing a daughter that we only had with us for 5 weeks, I was in a panic.  I did not want to lose another daughter.  We went into the store and talked to the workers and we all started on a search.  I don’t remember how much time passed but it seemed like forever.  Finally, one of the workers found her hiding in some clothes.

It turns out she had been skipping the squares on the floor and had not turned with us toward the doors.  When she realized she was alone she tried to go out one door and realized it was the wrong one so she came back into the store and hid in the clothes.  It was a very happy reunion.  I remember how frustrated I would get when we would go anywhere after that.  She was so afraid of being left behind she would hang on to my clothing.  It was hard for me to even walk through a store because she stayed so close to me.  I would say she did that for the next couple of years at least.  It was a very frightening experience for her.  I can imagine the sick feeling she must have had in the pit of her stomach.

The worst sick feeling

So what is the worst sick feeling that a person could ever have in the pit of their stomach?  I have given much thought to this more than once.  It makes me cringe to think about it.  We can so often go through life and not really realize the seriousness of it.  But if you really take the time to give it some thought it can be awakening.

When I think about the worst sick feeling that I could possibly think of, I think of not being ready for the greatest event in all history, the event of Jesus soon coming.  For me, the most sickening feeling would be to hear the words, “…I never knew you:…” Matthew 7:23.  That sick feeling of realizing that I am lost.  I imagine my daughter had the most horrible sick feeling in her stomach when she realized she was lost.  Just like I had the sick feeling in my stomach when I realized my daughter was lost, God has even a greater sick feeling.  He loves us so much and when we don’t choose Him and His ways He suffers.  He has so many children that His suffering is indescribable.

Fear

The great news is that we have a forgiving God.  If we have gone astray and gotten lost there is still time to be found.  Now is the time to come to Him asking for forgiveness and He is ever waiting and longing to forgive.

There is only one thing that we need to fear and that is separation and that separation only happens as we choose it.  God doesn’t bring the separation, we do.  Just like my daughter clung to me thereafter, we need to cling to Jesus.  As we cling to Him there is nothing to fear. We need to walk with Him hand in hand.  We cannot let anything come between Him and ourselves otherwise we will get lost.  He will be constantly searching for us but if we don’t want to be found He doesn’t push His way in.  And if we continue not to listen to the pleadings of the Holy Spirit, His voice will get softer and softer until we can’t hear it anymore.

Cling to Jesus

The answer is to cling to Jesus.  We need to stay in full connection to Him.  Here are some ways to stay connected.

  1. I look at prayer as a key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven’s storehouse, where are treasured boundless resources.  We need to be coming to God everyday and speaking to Him as well as listening to His voice.
  2. Be in the word.  We must be in the Word each day.  God’s Word is full of instructions and promises.  As we allow the Holy Spirit to teach us we can know which course to pursue.
  3. Memorize verses from God’s Word.  If we have promises memorized from God’s Word, we can bring them to mind when we are having struggles throughout the day or when we are tempted.
  4. Guard the avenues of the soul.  We need to guard our 5 senses.  Making choice that will keep us out of harms way.  We can protect ourselves from temptations by guarding ourselves.  We don’t want put ourselves in a position that will make it harder for us to stay connected.  My daughter was tempted to skip the squares on the floor and she took her eyes off of me and did not see me go in a different direction.  That is exactly what can happen to us if we don’t keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.

Dear Father,

Thank You for always being there through every circumstance in life.  Continue to prompt our hearts to keep our eyes on You.  And help us to be ready when You come.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Keep your eyes fixed on the One that can lead and guide you through every circumstance.

Love you all.

What illustration can you share today?  I would love to hear it.