Great Love!

Do you feel it?

I do.

I see it in the gorgeous sunrise as God once again declares his faithfulness to me with the start of a new day.  I feel it in my 5 year-old grandson’s hug.  I see it in the smiles of my friends.  I feel it in the ‘love you’ from my husband of over 44 years.

It’s the great love God has lavished upon me. I love that ‘lavished’ word, don’t you?

God tells me that I am his precious child and he proves that by showing his love for me in a multitude of ways, every day. God moved in my life in big and small ways this last year. He did a miracle in the eyes of my husband after the doctors said the damage was permanent. He also somehow made a very large ice cream birthday cake for my daughter fit into my very small side-by-side freezer. God tells us to pray about everything, so I do. And he moves.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God.”  1 John 3:1a

It’s very encouraging to realize that the closer I get to God, the more of his love I feel pouring out over me.  As I’ve been reading and responding to the entire Bible each year for the last 15 years, I also feel his wisdom pouring out from his Word.  More knowledge.  More understanding.

I am his child!  How much more love and wisdom and knowledge and understanding does he have available for me?

There is no limit!

As 2026 quickly approaches, I am looking forward to seeing what God has planned for this next year.  New challenges.  More love. I’m ready knowing that God is going to walk beside me every step of the way.

Great Love!

Do you feel it?

I do.

I see it in the gorgeous sunrise as God once again declares his faithfulness to me with the start of a new day.  I feel it in my 4 year-old grandson’s hug.  I see it in the smiles of my friends.  I feel it in the ‘love you’ from my husband of over 43 years.

It’s the great love God has lavished upon me.

God tells me that I am his precious child and he proves that by showing his love for me in a multitude of ways, every day.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God.”  1 John 3:1a

It’s very encouraging to realize that the closer I get to God, the more of his love I feel pouring out over me.  As I’ve been consistently memorizing God’s scripture these last 9 years, I also feel his wisdom pouring out from his Word.  More knowledge.  More understanding.

I am his child!  How much more love and wisdom and knowledge and understanding does he have available for me?

There is no limit!

As 2025 quickly approaches, I am looking forward to seeing what God has planned for this next year.  New challenges.  More love.

Thank you, Abba Father.

Not Like Me

I am created in the image of God,  I am like him.

But he is not like me.

I have found this to be a crucial truth to get straight in my brain so that I have the correct expectations of God. I have to apply this every day to my relationship with God so I can avoid frustrations and confusion.

God tells me through Isaiah, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” Isaiah 55:8.

God is perfectly holy, perfectly just, perfectly loving and always right.

I am farrrrrrrr from perfect.  I cannot judge God’s actions – whether they are right or wrong – based on what I think.  My thinking is very flawed.  It is self-centered, self-seeking and severely limited.  I don’t think like God.  I will never think like God.

So I submit to his will, his plan, his purpose.

I am totally confident in God’s goodness and his perfect love for me.  I know to the depths of my spirit that God wants the best for me.  Even though I will never understand how he thinks and why he has permitted a painful tragedy to happen in my life when my son was killed, I will trust God.  His ways are not my ways – his ways are perfect.

In response to this truth, I have decided that my way is to walk in trust and faithfulness to God for the rest of my days on this planet.  I have decided to live in gratitude for his free gift of redemption through Jesus.  I don’t question what God does or doesn’t do.  I don’t try to determine if he is right or wrong – I know he is right.  He is always walking beside me, loving me and caring for me, even when he is not doing what I think is best.  He knows better.

I trust you, Abba Father.

With Me

Every day…

Every situation…

Every trial…

Every joy…….

The Spirit of the LORD is with me.

In the Old Testament, there were times when God would give his Spirit to someone when he had a tough assignment for them.  We read in Judges that Caleb’s little brother, Othniel, became a judge for the Israelites.  God raised him up to deliver the Israelites from slavery to the King of Aram Naharaim.

“The Spirit of the LORD came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war.” Judges 3:10. God’s Spirit made Othniel strong and courageous.

As believers today, we live under the New Covenant with God.  Everything changed when God sent Jesus into the world to save us from eternal separation from God. Now, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of each of us when we accept the salvation Jesus freely offers to each of us and make him Lord of our lives.

Jesus is Lord of my life.  God’s Spirit is with me every minute of every day.  His Spirit wants to make me strong and courageous, too.

And loving,

joyful,

peaceful,

patient,

kind,

faithful,

gentle and self-controlled.

All of this is inside me – I just need to let God’s spirit have his way in my life.

If you are a believer, all of these great things are inside of you, too.  It’s time to nurture them and let the Spirit show.

Thank you for the awesome gift of your Spirit,  Abba Father.

I’m Sold Out!

What would you sell your life for?

It’s a great question because sometimes we dedicate our lives to things that just aren’t worth it.  We can sell our lives to making money and spending it.  But everything we buy gets old, breaks and requires more money to fix it up or replace it. They come out with a new model and now the one we have just doesn’t look that great anymore.

Our ‘stuff’ will always disappoint us.

We can sell our lives to work and accomplishments.  We may love it but, someday, that all goes away.  We get fired, laid off or we just get old.  I retired 7 years ago which meant giving up a really nice paycheck and a lot of rewards and recognition.  But retiring also meant getting my life back.  I loved working and now I love being retired.  I’m glad I worked long and hard for over 34 years at something I loved to do.  Now I’m very happy to reclaim all of those hours in my week and I totally enjoy doing what I want to do.

We can sell our lives to relationships with our spouse, our children, our family and friends.  They are very important but they will also disappoint us at times.  It’s a fact.  These relationships can roller coaster up and down, depending on emotions and circumstances – not something I can always count on.

Achan’s story in God’s Word is a warning to all of us. “When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them” Joshua 7:21.  Achan sold his life for a robe and some gold and silver.  It looked too good to pass up.  So he took it and hid it, probably believing he would never get caught.  Not smart. He couldn’t hide from God.  After getting caught, he admitted his disobedience but that didn’t change the consequences. He lost his life for that ‘stuff’ – his entire family and all he owned literally ended up under a pile of rocks.

I hear you, God.  I’m getting it.  I don’t want to end up like that.

So I choose the path of obedience and faithfulness to God.  I know that there is no other path on earth that is going to give me the joy and peace and love that God gives me.

I choose to be ‘sold out’ to God.  And I’m 100% confident that it’s the right choice.

What is your choice?  Are you confident that it’s the right one?

With Me

Every day…

Every situation…

Every trial…

The Spirit of the LORD is with me.

In the Old Testament, there were times when God would give his Spirit to someone when he had a tough assignment for them.  We read in Judges that Caleb’s little brother, Othniel, became a judge for the Israelites.  God raised him up to deliver the Israelites from slavery to the King of Aram Naharaim.

“The Spirit of the LORD came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war.” Judges 3:10. God’s Spirit made Othniel strong and courageous.

As believers today, we live under the New Covenant with God.  Everything changed when God sent Jesus into the world to save us from eternal separation from God. Now, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of each of us when we accept the salvation Jesus freely offers to each of us and make him Lord of our lives.

Jesus is Lord of my life.  God’s Spirit is with me every minute of every day.  His Spirit wants to make me strong and courageous, too.

And loving,

joyful,

peaceful,

patient,

kind,

faithful,

gentle and self-controlled.

All of this is inside me – I just need to let God’s spirit have his way in my life.

If you are a believer, all of these great things are inside of you, too.  It’s time to nurture them and let the Spirit show.

Thank you for the awesome gift of your Spirit,  Abba Father.

With Me

Every day…

Every situation…

Every trial…

The Spirit of the LORD is with me.

In the Old Testament, there were times when God would give his Spirit to someone when he had a tough assignment for them.  We read in Judges 9 that Caleb’s little brother, Othniel, became a judge for the Israelites.  God raised him up to deliver the Israelites from slavery to the King of Aram Naharaim.

“The Spirit of the LORD came on him” and he led the fighting men into war.  God’s Spirit made Othniel strong and courageous.

As believers today, we live under the New Covenant with God.  Now, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of each of us when we accept the salvation Jesus freely offers to each of us.

God’s Spirit is with me every minute of every day.  His Spirit wants to make me strong and courageous, too.

And loving,

joyful,

peaceful,

patient,

kind,

faithful,

gentle and self-controlled.

All of this is inside me – I just need to let God’s spirit have his way in my life.

If you are a believer, all of these great things are inside of you, too.  It’s time to nurture them and let the Spirit show.

Thank you for the awesome gift of your Spirit,  Abba Father.

You Are A Letter

You are changed.

I am changed.

When we accept Jesus as our Savior, his spirit comes to live inside of us.

He speaks to us.

He loves us.

He redeems us.

He changes us – when we listen and obey.

Paul writes about this transformation in his second letter to the Corinthians.  He calls them “a letter from Christ…written not with ink but with the Spirit of the Living God, not on tables of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”

You and I are Christ’s letter to our world – not written in ink but communicated by how much we love God and how much we love others.

Faith, Hope and Love…

and the greatest of these is love.

We love you, Abba Father.

 

Sword Fighting Class – Love and Faithfulness

We are just beginning our journey of memorizing Proverbs 3.  More wisdom, more understanding, more insight – thank you, dear Father!  We are counting on God to etch these words on our hearts as we review them daily.  He has commanded this so it’s in his will and he will make it happen if we do our part.  We started with the first verses last week:Proverbs 2 -13-3-11

“My child, do not forget my teachings but keep my commands in your heart for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.”

And we’re adding the next verses:

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.  Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.”

Let love and faithfulness never leave you……..

These words reverberate through my mind.

What a great life we will have when our thoughts and our actions are full of love and faithfulness!  Awesome!

God is telling us how to do this – we need to bind his words onto our lives and write them on your hearts.  As we do this, he is transforming our thinking which changes our behaviors.   He is promising that this will bring us a life full of love and faithfulness along with approval from others and from him.

Wow! These verses are jam-packed with fabulous promises!

Thank you, Father God!

Audio file of my verses.  I am working ahead so this is through verse 16:

Come to the Banquet

Our Father God has prepared a lavish banquet.  His tables are piled high with the very best he has to offer –

* love.Nov 11 2014 1 Come to the Banquet

* grace.

* purpose for our lives.

* joy.

* peace.

* contentment.

* blessing for our families and friends.

*forgiveness.

* wholeness.

*hope.

* provisions for all of our needs.

Everything is ready.  We just need to go to the banquet and accept all of God’s blessings.

Many of us have accepted God’s invitation, have felt his grace, his acceptance and his love.

But sometimes we have problems staying at the banquet – we wander outside to the patio and start to worry and fret, instead of sitting at his table filled with trust that he’s got this.

We wander upstairs to plan and plot and try to control our world instead of relaxing in God’s presence, knowing he’s in charge.

Or we concentrate on the dessert table when we really need to be diving into the meat God has for us in his Word.

We may get distracted by wanting to know all of the ingredients of every dish when God’s desire is that we “Be still …… and know I am God.”

We might leave the party early because we are so busy, our calendars are over-flowing.  We only penciled in one hour for God.  So we miss the fun, we miss the deep relationship we could have had with God if we took the time.  If we made Him our priority.

It’s possible to go to the banquet and accept salvation but miss most of the blessings God has for us here on earth.

Dear Father, Please help us to stay at the banquet, bowed and blessed at your feet.  Today.  And everyday.