Tag: god’s love

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Day 11 The Goodness

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I am the bread of life.  John 6:48
Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death.  Proverbs 14:26-27

I was talking with a young woman recently who was raised in the Christian faith and at 18 went off to Bible college for a few semesters.  At 19, she dropped out, got married, and was soon pregnant.  At 21, her husband abandoned their family.  Soon after, she abandoned Jesus.

You see when calamity hit, her faith was revealed to be built on the sand Jesus warns us about in Matthew 7:24-27.  Her house fell after the windy, stormy beating.  How could that be?  She was surrounded by the faithful for all her life up until then.  Isn’t that enough?

Let’s look at our faith this way.  If I hung around a bunch of people who loved baking and I enjoyed eating what they made, it wouldn’t make me a baker.  It’d make me fat, however!  I would have knowledge of baking, the process, the ingredients, the do’s and don’ts.  Without the love of baking and actually getting my hands covered in flour I’d just be an observer.  

It’s not the doing that makes us Christians it’s the surrendered belief that Jesus loves us so much He died for our sins, was buried, and rose again in the witnessed resurrection.  He becomes our secure fortress, our daily provision, and fountain of life.  He holds us tight through every tragedy and every windfall in our life.  We soon find Him at work everywhere. He keeps showing up.

When Toby Mac wrote this song it was after the death of his adult son from an overdose.  Of course, it was tragic.  Of course, he was full of tears and heartache.  But he had built his house on solid ground.  He sought refuge in the Lord.  The wind blew and the storm enveloped him.  Eventually, the sun came out and he was able to walk out his door into the warm sunlight of God’s love.

As for that young woman?  She is now happily married and I’m so glad to say she wants to know about Jesus and this Bread of Life.  She wants to learn how to build her life so she too can withstand what this world throws at us.  My prayer is that she will begin to see Jesus at work everywhere.

Click here to listen: The Goodness

30daysofpraise, Bible, bible study, Christian, Christian Church, christian encouragement, christian men, christian parenting, Christian women, Faith, god, Jesus, Jesus Follower, prayer, religion, Uncategorized

Day 3 For the Love of God

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At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. Titus 3:3-5
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

I’m currently training to be a discipleship coach.  Part of coaching new believers is to help them write their testimony or story about how their belief in Jesus as their Savior has changed them.  It’s that portion of our testimony that brings a commonality to a conversation with a non-believer and provides a bridge to the Gospel.  

So many Christians seem to think “sharing the Gospel” is taking a stranger by the hand, looking them earnestly in the eye, and then, like the church lady on Saturday Night Live, asking, “Do you know Jesus?”  No, the Gospel is shared every time you tell your friend, family member or yes, even a stranger, how you too struggle with a problem in life and how you rely on the strength of your faith to get you through it.  How you know, even when you have sinned, you are loved and seen and forgiven.  

People can debate you all they want on scripture but you sharing your faith in Jesus can’t be disputed.  And I have found it’s rarely even scoffed at when shared gently, with honesty, and most of all out of love.

The love of God, which I share with those willing to listen, is what has set me free from guilt and shame.  It has set me free from constantly grasping at being “a good person” – not really knowing how to do that or what that person should look like.  Resting in the love, strength and wisdom of God, the encouragement of the Holy Spirit and the teaching and mercy of Jesus, I am free, free indeed.  

Where would I be, where would any of us be, without that type of freedom?  We would be mired in our past anxiety, worries, fears, shame, and sinful desires.

Hallelujah to God who loves us so!