Love Action (I Believe In Love)

The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.  Psalm 103:13

I recently heard a powerful message about acting out our faith in our everyday lives.  Many believers have the basics down-most will praise God at church on Sundays, participate in Sunday School, and even donate money to honorable charities. However, as good and noble as those things are, many act as if God doesn't exist by the way they live out their lives the remainder of the week.  I have certainly been guilty of this at various different times in my walk of faith, but have recently felt the calling to become more active.

God shows his compassion to each of us be caring for us, providing for us, blessing us, and last but certainly not least, loving each of us.  When we become 'doers' of the Word, we fear and obey God and he forgives our sins, which restores our relationship with him.

When we obey God, it brings us to place of closer intimacy in our relationship with him which in turn allows us to extend mercy, grace, tenderness, and compassion to others!  Isn't loving people into a relationship with Christ what this broken world needs?

Victory Dance

O Lord, I have so many enemies; so many are against me...But you, O Lord, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high...victory comes from you, O Lord.  Psalm 3:1, 3,8

There are times that life can seem overwhelming; just trying to balance out being a husband and father while working hard to provide for my family is stressful enough, not to mention trying to maintain solid relationships with my family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.  When I feel like I cannot keep going, I often retreat to the Word to find the needed peace and hope to carry on....

God encourages us by letting us know that we should never be afraid because he we will act like a shield around us.  When you are afraid, it is easy to find courage in realizing just how powerful and mighty God is.  When you understand how great he is, the odds don't seem so impossible.

There is no enemy, trial or circumstance bigger than our heavenly Father.  He is all powerful and greater than any force against us!

Relax

Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but an encouraging word makes it glad.  Proverbs 12:25

If you have ever struggled with anxiety, you know all about the worry, uneasiness, and feeling of heaviness that seems to also come along with it.  It is almost like a feeling of fear with no rhyme or reason...

Let’s face it, there are some pretty serious things going on in the world right now and we certainly need to be aware of them, but at the same time, we also need to learn how to lighten up, relax, and take things as they come without getting all nervous and upset. I realize that's easier said than done, but if you need to turn off the news because it stresses you out, turn it OFF!

God never intended for us to live such worrisome and stressful lives…if it were so, then Jesus’ death on the cross would not provide us with peace of mind and hope during this lifetime.

The next time you feel tempted to become anxious or upset, take a moment to think about all of the good things God has done in your life and find something to be happy about…God will fill your soul with sense of peace.

The Seeker

Those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.  Psalm 34:10

The Bible is filled with passages about seeking God, but what does that really entail?  I believe that it means to place our relationship with God above everything else in our lives.  It sounds easy, but let’s face it, life sometimes gets in the way with our relationships, especially what should be the most important-the one with our Loving Father.

Personally, I have been working on deepening my relationship with God, as of late.  I am attempting to seek Him more and more each day and put a priority on our relationship, and in just a short amount of time, my life has already been enriched in ways that I cannot begin to explain.

Regardless of what’s going on in our lives, if we are diligent in pursuing a daily relationship with the Lord, by obeying Him, following Him, and loving Him, we are putting Him first in our lives. The rest just seems to fall into place when we have our priorities in the correct order.

Picking Up The Pieces

He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.  Psalm 147:3

With two children under the age of 10, both boys are accident prone and tend to have the usual scrapes and bruises that come from playing hard and being boys.  

There aren't too many minor injuries that cannot be healed by a Band-Aid or corny joke, but just thinking about the way we as parents tend to our children’s wounds is very similar to the way that God tends to ours as well.

God actually tends to our physical wounds and pains just as He heals our emotional wounds too.  There is no sickness, injury, or pain that the Great Physician cannot heal.

When God performs His healing in our lives, we find joy and others will rejoice in our healing.

Thanks be to God!!

Free

Through Christ you have come to trust in God.  And you have placed your faith and hope in God because He raised Christ from the dead and gave Him great glory.  1 Peter 1:21

When you think about it, our salvation is much the same as a prisoner on death row who is suddenly pardoned or set free.  We were all one time spiritual prisoners facing eternal death because of our many sins, but God gave us all the ultimate hope by forgiving our sins so that we can spend our eternal lives in heaven with Him. Let me say this here and now-whoever is behind me when I leave this earth and am at the Pearly Gates is going to be waiting a long time as I will be answering for the things I have done in my lifetime... 

When life seems to be impossible, God provides us with eternal hope. Without hope, we would simply give up.  Hope only requires that we trust in the One who is able to give it to us…Jesus Christ!

Praise be to God for His never-ending grace and mercy!

Freedom of Choice

You will keep in perfect peace him who is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal.Isaiah 26:3-4

The more I deepen my relationship with God and understand Him, the more I find out how wrong I have been about Him. We may have had someone else's interpretation of God influence the way we view Him today, but make no mistakes, God is the God of love and freedom.

God has given us all this great freedom and one that we can easily take for granted is the freedom to choose the focal points of our minds. If you look at all of the living creatures God has created, humans are the only species that have this remarkable capacity because we were created in His image.

Every day we should strive to focus all of our thoughts on our Loving Father. When we bring our thoughts into focus on His presence, God provides us with a deeper sense of peace and wisdom that can only come from His unconditional love.

Supported by God's unchanging love and mighty power, we can stand firm despite trials and tribulation.