Category: Hebrews

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A Wonderful Counselor

What do you do when you run into those situations that you just don’t understand and need some extra insight? Do you have a trusted friend that you can talk to, someone who gives good advice, a counselor who will give you the proper perspective?

It seems we are a society intent on gaining information and affirmation. My goodness, just look at the afternoon “talk shows” and commentaries. If that isn’t enough to set your head swimming you can “research” just about anything on the net and get an “expert’s” advice. There you will find answers to medical issues, marital advice and even financial investment guidance. Oh but wait, there’s still more. Then you can get a You-Tube video to give you instruction for mechanical, construction and destruction projects.

Yes, we are a society in search of answers.

Who’s better than Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, Oprah, Judge Judy, the horoscope, Howard Stern, the entire news service and the net? The Counselor!

“This will happen when the special child is born. God will give us a son who will be responsible for leading the people. His name will be “Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God, Father Who Lives Forever, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 ERV

He’s never given bad advice – never. He’s never drawn a wrong conclusion or made a judgment out of malice. He’s never gone back and change his mind because of political correctness or because more information has surfaced. He is the same yesterday, today and forever!

His Word is infallible, His judgments are pure and righteous and He is easy to reach – no appointment necessary. No waiting – come right in and it’s free!

“ Trust the Lord completely, and don’t depend on your own knowledge. 6 With every step you take, think about what he wants, and he will help you go the right way.” Proverbs 3:5-6 ERV

This Counselor knows all the answers. He knows the beginning from the end. There isn’t a topic of concern that is above his pay grade or surpasses His knowledge. He can accurately advise you on any subject.

“The Lord’s laws are right. They make people happy. The Lord’s commands are good. They show people the right way to live. 9 Learning respect for the Lord is good. It will last forever. The Lord’s judgments are right. They are completely fair. 10 His teachings are worth more than pure gold. They are sweeter than the best honey dripping from the honeycomb.” Psalm 19:8-10 ERV

Jesus is also our advocate, our defense attorney. He is the one who pleads our case but it isn’t based on our merit but on His.

“My dear children, I write this letter to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone sins, we have Jesus Christ to help us. He always did what was right, so he is able to defend us before God the Father. 2 Jesus is the way our sins are taken away. And he is the way all people can have their sins taken away too.” I John 2:1-2 ERV

“With Jesus as our high priest, we can feel free to come before God’s throne where there is grace. There we receive mercy and kindness to help us when we need it.” Hebrews 4:16 ERV

The one requirement on your part is time. Take time to read the information He gives. Go ahead it’s there for you. You may say you don’t understand the Bible, I agree that some translations are difficult to understand but there’s an app for that. I use the Bible Gateway app all the time, www.biblegateway.com. It lists multiple translations and paraphrases to help you understand God’s word. And you’re going to be spending time, one way or another, searching for your answer so why not start here first?

Set up your “counselling” appointment today. Lay down on the couch, rest in Him and find help in your time of need!

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The Gift of Faithfulness

Faithfulness! The sign of a true friend is faithfulness. Through the years, Dave and I have been blessed with many acquaintances and even dear situational friendships. You know, those friends that are in your life for a particular seasonal or location. But then there are the friends that rise above time and space. They are the ones who you may not talk to for months or even years but when you see them, your heart is stirred with love and memories and the relationship picks up and grows even deeper.

Yes, we have been truly blessed with friends that fall into that category! Our lives are richer, warmer and fuller because of their love!

I was mediating on that word “faithfulness”. Faith+full+ness. Faith= the established belief in someone or something not seen. The knowing that they will always be the same. Never failing, always there.

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

Full= not empty, not lacking, abundance, more than enough.

“A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest.” John 10:10 CEV

Ness= a suffix added to a word to indicate quality

Faith= believing in the unseen; Full= abundance; Ness= quality Faithfulness: believing in the abundance of someone always being the same in overflowing abundance, to the greatest extent or quality.

God’s faithfulness endures forever! He will always be the same – He keeps His promises and His love never fails! Rest in Him today.

“Our Lord, you are eternal!
Your word will last as long
as the heavens.
90 You remain faithful
in every generation,
and the earth you created
will keep standing firm.
91 All things are your servants,
and the laws you made
are still in effect today.
92 If I had not found happiness
in obeying your Law,
I would have died in misery.
93 I won’t ever forget
your teachings,
because you give me new life
by following them.” Psalm 119:89-93 CEV

Trust in the faithfulness of your loving heavenly Father! It’s His gift to us.

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The Gift of Adoption

I recently watched a video of a young couple who adopted a little baby girl. It was a very touching story – made me cry! Their desire for this child was overwhelming; the news of her birth filled their hearts with joy and their eyes with tears. Then came the moment that they saw her for the very first time – the cradled her in their arms, kissed her repeatedly and yes, there were more tears. Finally they had the opportunity to introduce her to the rest of the family, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews. What joy!

The video finally ended with them speaking vows of commitment to her. (Remember the power of words) They united themselves to her, to love and provide for her, to give her everything she needed (not wanted) for life. They promised to protect, to nurture, to love, to encourage, to listen, to correct.

An adopted child is a chosen child. Your heart reaches out to hold what you didn’t conceive. The bond is just as strong!

Did you know that we have all received the gift of adoption?

The Apostle Paul writes about that in Ephesians and Romans and tells us that we have been adopted by God in heaven and it’s Jesus would did all that was necessary to make the adoption complete.

“Before the world was created, God had Christ choose us to live with him and to be his holy and innocent and loving people. 5 God was kind and decided that Christ would choose us to be God’s own adopted children. 6 God was very kind to us because of the Son he dearly loves, and so we should praise God.” Ephesians 1:4-6 CEV

And in another translation

“Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love.

5 For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [because it pleased Him and was His kind intent]—

6 [So that we might be] to the praise and the commendation of His glorious grace (favor and mercy), which He so freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” Ephesians 1:4-6 AMP

Read through that again. I know it’s lengthy but break it down phrase by phrase. God the Father, the loving heavenly father, picked us out from himself. He made a way for us to be blameless (that’s grace) and He loves us!

We’re His kids and He wants us to come Him the same way loving, earthly fathers want their kids to come to them. He wants to teach, protect us, enjoy life with us. He wants us to come often and with excitement to be in his presence.

“The true children of God are those who let God’s Spirit lead them. 15 The Spirit that we received is not a spirit that makes us slaves again and causes us to fear. The Spirit that we have makes us God’s chosen (adopted) children. And with that Spirit we cry out, “ Abba,(Daddy) Father.” 16 And the Spirit himself speaks to our spirits and makes us sure that we are God’s children.” Romans 8:14-16 ERV

My Dad was a good guy – I enjoyed my time of hunting and fishing with him. He was strong and protective. He was honest and accepting. He wasn’t perfect and he was a strict and a disciplinarian but he taught me right from wrong. He was a good example of what a dad should be so when I think about my heavenly Father I have a good basis of what a Father is and does. I know that not everyone has that ability because their earthly fathers weren’t kind.

Let me leave you with one verse this morning.

“So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help.” Hebrews 4:16 CEV

Take time to go to your Heavenly Father this morning and thank Him for adopting you. Thank Him that you were chosen and that He invites you to come to Him any time, no matter the need and that He will help and treat you with kindness. And then, if you don’t have a good image of a Father, ask Him to show you what it really means to be his adopted child. He’ll be glad to demonstrate His love in a way that you can understand!

“But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 AMP

Oh yes, what a joy to be adopted!

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Gift of Joy

Yesterday I was talking at length with a friend who is going through a very trying time. They were hoping they were at a place in life where there would be more joy and less struggle. Don’t we all. The more we talked, I remembered the verses from James that I have quoted many times.

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations” James 1:2 KJV

How is that possible? Be joy-full when things are coming at you hard? Be joy-full when life’s circumstances seem overwhelming? This is how those verses go on…

“My friends, be glad, even if you have a lot of trouble. 3 You know that you learn to endure by having your faith tested. 4 But you must learn to endure everything, so that you will be completely mature and not lacking in anything.

5 If any of you need wisdom, you should ask God, and it will be given to you. God is generous and won’t correct you for asking.” James 1:2-5 CEV

It’s possible to be joyful and at peace in the middle of the mess when we have God’s wisdom and have confidence in Him that we will come out better on the other side. We aren’t joy-full for the problems but can certainly we overcome with joy knowing that God will never allow us to be destroyed by them but will instead walk through them with us.

“Keep your lives free from the love of money. And be satisfied with what you have. God has said,

“I will never leave you;
I will never run away from you.”

6 So we can feel sure and say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
People can do nothing to me.” Hebrews 13:5-6 ERV

Money can’t buy peace or joy, in fact pursuing it can be one of the reasons we are so exhausted and stressed out. Do you see that phrase “be satisfied with what you have”? What we have is God! He is definitely more than enough for every situation. He isn’t going anywhere. He won’t desert us or leave us to flounder alone in life.

So as I was talking to my friend, I told them they should be laughing and smiling in the face of their situation – let God have the control of it. Then after the conversation was over I remembered another verse that I had never tied together with the verses in James.

“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:10-14 KJV

Tidings of great joy! Christ was born to bring good will between God and man. Jesus came so we could see the love that God has for us lived out through His life. He certainly had difficult times, times of trial, times of trouble. He looked past that to the joy on the other side of the cross.

“We must never stop looking to Jesus. He is the leader of our faith, and he is the one who makes our faith complete. He suffered death on a cross. But he accepted the shame of the cross as if it were nothing because of the joy he could see waiting for him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God’s throne.” Hebrews 12:2 ERV

Are we going to have trials and difficulties? Yes. Do they have to deplete our reservoir of joy and peace? Certainly not!

Open your gift of joy today! I would suggest you go to the Biblegateway app and put the word joy in the search bar. God has a lot to say about joy.

Let it sink in that God will never leave, never abandon you, never desert you! Let that knowledge fill you with joy!

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Old Faithful – A Glorious Reminder

Faithfulness! The sign of a true friend is faithfulness. Through the years, Dave and I have been blessed with many acquaintances and even dear situational friendships. You know, those friends that are in your life for a particular seasonal or location. But then there are the friends that rise above time and space. They are the ones who you may not talk to for months or even years but when you see them, your heart is stirred with love and memories and the relationship picks up and grows even deeper.

Yes, we have been truly blessed with friends that fall into that category! Our lives are richer, warmer and fuller because of their love!

I was mediating on that word “faithfulness” this morning. Faith+full+ness.

Faith= the established belief in someone or something not seen. The knowing that they will always be the same. Never failing, always there.

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

Full= not empty, not lacking, abundance, more than enough.

“A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest.” John 10:10 CEV

Ness= a suffix added to a word to indicate quality

Faith= believing in the unseen; Full= abundance; Ness= quality

Faithfulness: believing in the abundance of someone always being the same in overflowing abundance, to the greatest extent or quality.

You know folks have been going to Yellowstone National Park for years to see the geyser Old Faithful. In fact, Old Faithful is so faithful that the Park Rangers can predict with great accuracy when it will blow. Summer, winter, spring or fall the geyser erupts, crowd or no crowd, rain or shine Old Faithful is the same. Can a geyser be more faithful than the Lord – not hardly!

God’s faithfulness endures forever! He will always be the same – He keeps His promises and His love never fails! Rest in Him today.

“Our Lord, I will sing of your love forever. Everyone yet to be born will hear me praise your faithfulness.

2 I will tell them, “God’s love can always be trusted, and his faithfulness lasts as long as the heavens.”

3 You said, “David, my servant, is my chosen one, and this is the agreement I made with him: 4 David, one of your descendants will always be king.”

5 Our Lord, let the heavens now praise your miracles, and let all of your angels praise your faithfulness.

6 None who live in the heavens can compare with you.” Psalm 89:1-6 CEV

Trust in the faithfulness of your loving heavenly Father!

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Calling for Help

Have you ever had that phone call – you know the one that goes like this, “Mom/Dad, I have a question. I need your advice. I need your help.”?

Great isn’t it?

Knowing that our kids need us and know they can call on us to help is a proud moment. When they were little they were always calling out “Mom” “Dad”. You remember what it was like hearing your name called 100’s of times each day.

Now that they’re older we have equipped them to handle some things on their own. They don’t need us to give them guidance on every little aspect of daily life but it is an awesome feeling when they call asking for advice. They call and want help with a recipe or something; or need help with a building project; maybe it’s a relationship issue or even a career decision but whatever it is we drop everything and listen and then give advice.

The one thing we don’t like as parents is seeing our kids struggle with things that we know we can help them with. Just like when they were little and would bring a broken toy asking us to fix it. It might have been a bike with a loose wheel or a stuffed animal with a torn arm but it was their favorite and they were devastated until we stopped what we were doing and made it better.

You know that’s how God is with us. He’s there waiting for us to ask for His help.

“God cares for you, so turn all your worries over to him.” I Peter 5:7 CEV

But I like that verse better in the Amplified Version

“casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].” AMP

God has given us an open invitation to come to Him with whatever is worrying us. The word cast refers to throwing a stone in the water – once you do that you really can’t retrieve it. We bring what’s broken to the Lord and trust Him to fix it.

He is trustworthy!

He promises if we come we will find Him here to help. If we, in our limited capabilities, are there to help our kids how much more do you think He is there to help us.

“So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help.” Hebrews 4:16 CEV

I am so grateful to have a loving Father who is willing to help and who knows how to fix everything that I bring to Him.

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A Good Coach is Essential

Dave is in the process of building a shop. He’s been building on it for the last several weeks. I am amazed by his ability to create the plan in his mind and transfer it to an actual building. He had a couple neighbors come help him set the walls after they were framed, Austin, our son-in-law, came and helped him with the rafters last weekend and Lonny came and helped him do the siding and the windows this weekend. He has been working diligently and it’s really taking shape. I’m so proud of him!

He did ask me to help him stain the wood at the foundation line and also the exposed wood at the roof line. Up and down the ladder I went. I could reach only so far and then would have to move the ladder a few feet, stain the boards, come down, move the ladder and go up again. Let me tell you that was a work out! Not nearly as strenuous as what he was doing each day but it let me know that I was out of shape and needed more exercise.

When you first realize that you “need” to exercise it’s never pleasant. Accepting that you are out of shape and not as healthy as you should be is the first step. So you decide to exercise.

The first few days you have a real commitment or at least that’s what you tell yourself. But then comes day 7 or 8 and it becomes harder to stay committed to the goal. Your muscles hurt, you’re not seeing any results yet, you start making excuses and when you do that you are on your way to failure. I know, I’ve failed many times.

Now think back to your childhood days – exercise wasn’t a bad word. In fact it was called fun. To be outside with your buddies playing ball, running through the yard playing tag or football. Going hiking to your favorite fishing spot or walking the mile to the swimming pool in the afternoon heat (my personal favorite). It was fun and we were in shape.

Now of course you know this is going to have a spiritual correlation.

When we face trials and temptations it is an opportunity to exercise our faith. James tells us to count it joy because we will be developed and end up lacking nothing.

“My friends, be glad, even if you have a lot of trouble. 3 You know that you learn to endure by having your faith tested. 4 But you must learn to endure everything, so that you will be completely mature and not lacking in anything.” James 1:2-4 CEV

Facing trials is like building muscle. At first we see little victories but then to continue to develop a muscle we must increase the weigh, the repetition or both. In walking with the Lord, we’re never left to do this on our own.. We have a great coach who is with us every step. Under His direction and inspiration we come out the winner.

“13 You are tempted in the same way that everyone else is tempted. But God can be trusted not to let you be tempted too much, and he will show you how to escape from your temptations.” I Corinthians 10:13 CEV

Jesus knows what this is all about because He went through every temptation we experience while he was here on earth. Who better to coach us than someone whose been there, down that and emerged as the Champion of Champions!

“We have a great high priest who has gone to live with God in heaven. He is Jesus the Son of God. So let us continue to express our faith in him. 15 Jesus, our high priest, is able to understand our weaknesses. When Jesus lived on earth, he was tempted in every way. He was tempted in the same ways we are tempted, but he never sinned. 16 With Jesus as our high priest, we can feel free to come before God’s throne where there is grace. There we receive mercy and kindness to help us when we need it.” Hebrews 4:14-16 ERV

Thank you Lord for coaching me through life and providing all the help I need to develop and finish a winner!

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Ctrl-Alt-Delete

Several years ago I was preparing for a message on the love of God. Cowboy Church was just a couple of weeks before Valentine’s and it only seemed appropriate to make “God’s Love” my center focus. If you have been reading my morning devotional thoughts for any length of time, you know that Colossians is one of my favorite books and Colossians 2 is my favorite chapter. It’s here that the Apostle Paul writes about what Jesus did on the cross for us and how his death set us free from our sin and make us acceptable to God. I focused in on one phrase that has always had particular meaning to me.

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;” Colossians 2:14

You have to dig through the Old King James English but “Blotting out the handwriting of the ordinances against us” drew my attention. Writing a document in Jesus day required extreme patience. No erasers or delete buttons – every word had to be carefully written because if there was a mistake, the document had to be wadded up and thrown away. Some corrections would be acceptable but the paper would have to be so saturated with ink that the word or the mistake was completely blotted out so that it was no longer visible.

That is the picture that Paul is painting for us here. There was a document with a long list of sins we have committed, God’s laws we have broken and Jesus “Blotted” out the list and then He took and nailed it to His cross. His blood, His shed blood was more than enough to cancel out the evidence of our sin. Amen!!

I have to tell you the first thing that I thought of was those little writing tablets we had as kids, where you would write on the slate and then lift the vinyl and the words would disappear. In fact, I made some for that Cowboy Church and gave them to all who came in.

And it didn’t stop there, then Jesus completely defeated His enemy and ours, and led him away captive and powerless for all the spiritual world to see! We are free to live for Christ, through God’s amazing love.

“You were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self. But God gave you new life together with Christ. He forgave all our sins. 14 Because we broke God’s laws, we owed a debt—a debt that listed all the rules we failed to follow. But God forgave us of that debt. He took it away and nailed it to the cross. 15 He defeated the rulers and powers of the spiritual world. With the cross he won the victory over them and led them away, as defeated and powerless prisoners for the whole world to see.” Colossians 2:13-15 ERV

And then God promises that He will not remember our sins and the wrong that we have done. “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Hebrews 10: 16-17

How can He do that? Simple – God the Father chose to hit the delete button; hard drive crash; He blots them out. Why? Because He is our LOVING heavenly father.

“His love for his followers is as high above us as heaven is above the earth. 12 And he has taken our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west. 13 The Lord is as kind to his followers as a father is to his children.”

Psalm 103:11-13

What is it that has been holding you back from God’s love? Bring it to Him today and you will see that He has blotted it out, wiped it away and He has a clean, fresh slate waiting for you!

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Straight from the Heart

For the past several days I have been thinking about the day’s devotional and how to share it with you without rambling or becoming too sentimental. I hope you read yesterday’s devotional on God’s unfailing love because that sets the tone for what I’m going to share today.

I have people ask me frequently what I enjoy doing the most and why I get up each morning to share with all of you. I can answer honestly that the thing I love most is teaching/sharing truths from the Bible and God’s amazing love.

You see I was raised in a Christian home. My parents took me to church from a very young age. I loved singing the songs, hearing Bible stories and memorizing Bible verses. My friends were at church – it was a good place to be. I don’t remember how old I was when I started hearing the list of do’s and don’ts. When the messages became more about how I’d better behave and do right or God wasn’t going to love me – I wouldn’t be acceptable but it was there. All the things you had to do right and if you messed up God was going to punish you and I wasn’t going to be good enough for Him.

I hope you didn’t grow up that way but if you did I want to tell you that there is no amount of good that you can do to make God love you more than He does right now and there’s no amount of bad that will make Him love you less.

“Christ died for us when we were unable to help ourselves. We were living against God, but at just the right time Christ died for us. 7 Very few people will die to save the life of someone else, even if it is for a good person. Someone might be willing to die for an especially good person. 8 But Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by this God showed how much he loves us.” Romans 5:6-8 ERV

God loves us so much that He had Jesus die to pay the price for our sin when we were at our worst! His love for us isn’t based on our merit but on who He is; God is love!

Anyway, as I got into high school and college I tried to “do enough” for God and for people to feel that I was “serving God”. As much as I tried to feel better about myself, I didn’t and eventually came to a place where I attempted suicide. And that’s when I heard a wonderful message on the unconditional love of God that changed my life.

Did you realize that the people God used in the Bible were real misfits? Moses was a murderer, King David committed adultery, Solomon was a bigamist, Peter betrayed the Lord, the Apostle Paul was on a crusade to kill all the Christians, Zacchaeus was a dishonest embezzler, Rahab was a prostitute and the list goes on. God used people with all their flaws and faults not because they were so great but because of His great love.

Now I want you to read the verses below and substitute the word Love with either God or He. That’s an appropriate way to read it because the Bible tells us that God is love. He doesn’t have love, He is love!

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. 5 Love is not rude, it is not selfish, and it cannot be made angry easily. Love does not remember wrongs done against it. 6 Love is never happy when others do wrong, but it is always happy with the truth. 7 Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope, and never quits.

8 Love will never end.” I Corinthians 13:4-8 ERV

I have certainly had my failures; my times when I haven’t measured up to the standards that people would set for me. Heck, many times I don’t measure up to the expectations that I have for me and I know I don’t always measure up to the plan and hopes that God has for me but He loves me still. He loves me in spite of my failures.

“When the time comes, I will make an agreement
with them. I will write my laws on their minds and hearts.
17 Then I will forget about their sin and no longer remember
their evil deeds.”

18 When sins are forgiven, there is no more need to offer sacrifices.” Hebrews 10:16-18 CEV

That time has come – Jesus died to pay the price for our sins and brought us to a place of reconciliation with God!

Why do I get up early to spend time with God? Because He loves me! He will never leave me or abandon me and when I realized just how much there’s nothing I want more than spending time with Him.

So maybe you are like I was and think that if you don’t do things just right that there’s no way God could love you. Maybe you’ve quit trying and given up. Good! Because we can’t do it, we just need to accept what He has done for us.

“In everything we have won more than a victory because of Christ who loves us. 38 I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love—not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, 39 and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!” Romans 8:37-39 CEV

And I love reading God’s word and trusting what He has to say. God doesn’t lie and so if He has made a promise He will keep it. He’s more trustworthy than anyone. He’s a loving Father who wants the best for His kids.

So again, what do enjoy doing most…telling people about my wonderful heavenly Father and talking about His amazing, great, unconditional and unfailing love and the promises of His Word!

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Thankful that His Love Has No End

I woke up this morning and lay in bed for a while thinking – my mind filled with beautiful thoughts; a Montana sunrise, an Arizona sunset, snow sparkling on the branches of a fir tree, a baby’s smile, my husband’s blue eyes, a cup of steaming hot coffee, a plate full of rolled tacos with guacamole. Seeing our daughter as she tried on her wedding gown, our oldest daughter and I as we sat in the middle of a mountain stream in our lawn chairs, our son at the helm of his boat, friends gathered on the patio of our home for good bar-b-q; yes, it was quite a way to wake up and start the day!

But then I asked, “Father, all of these images that I see can be described but how do I describe your love?” For the most part, I’m pretty good with words but when I try to describe God’s love I am seriously at a disadvantage. However, this morning I heard the answer to my question and it was “You just did!”

You see, every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father and with Him there is no variable or shadow of turning. Which basically means – every good thing that we enjoy comes as an outward expression of God’s love; that’s the way He’s always been and that’s the way He’ll always be! So when I’m thinking on these things that I can describe, I’m describing the Father’s love. Because in every circumstances and situation that I live, I can sense the love of God and know that He is there because God is LOVE!

“In the past God spoke to our people through the prophets. He spoke to them many times and in many different ways. 2 And now in these last days, God has spoken to us again through his Son. He made the whole world through his Son. And he has chosen his Son to have all things. 3 The Son shows the glory of God. He is a perfect copy of God’s nature, and he holds everything together by his powerful command. The Son made people clean from their sins. Then he sat down at the right side of God, the Great One in heaven.” Hebrews 1:1-3

Jesus’ purpose in coming to earth was to bring God’s love to each and every one of us. He brought the message that God isn’t mad at us and that God desires to have relationship with us – not some experience that is staunch and unfeeling or condemning and angry – but a real, where-the-rubber-meets-the-road, every day, I’m always here type of relationship.

“Love is never happy when others do wrong, but it is always happy with the truth. 7 Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope, and never quits. 8 Love will never end.” I Corinthians 13:6-8 ERV

I’m not saying that everything will be perfect in our lives because our lives aren’t perfect! But I do know that in the imperfect, trying, challenging, frustrating, ugly times of our lives that God is always there and He doesn’t abandon us! He’s always there to offer comfort, help, wisdom, peace and joy even in the midst of our storms. God is love! Jesus brought comfort to those who had lost family and friends to death, He brought compassion to the prostitute, food to the hungry, wine to the wedding, sanity to the demonic and love and forgiveness to all.

“You know about Jesus from Nazareth. God made him the Messiah by giving him the Holy Spirit and power. Jesus went everywhere doing good for people. He healed those who were ruled by the devil, showing that God was with him.” Acts 10:38

So what words can I use to describe God’s love?! This love can’t really be described but it can be experienced. I will leave you with the words of the Apostle Paul:

“I pray that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. I pray that your life will be strong in love and be built on love. 18 And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide, how long, how high, and how deep that love is. 19 Christ’s love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with everything God has for you. 20 With God’s power working in us, he can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of.” Ephesians 3:17-20

Yes, I am thankful that God’s love has no end!

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