why should we?

We love because He first loved us.

- 1 John 4:19

If you have ever been around a small child, you know their go-to response to nearly everything is “why?”.

Many adults also ask “why?” many times, especially “why should we love this person?”.

Because God said so.

Right there, in His book, that He gave us, He said we need to love everyone.

Everyone.

Why?

Because He first loved us.

And He said so.

just don't

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

- Leviticus 19:18

Just a friendly reminder of what God has to say about the topic of revenge.

He says don’t.

We humans always seem to think that we know better, don’t we? 

I feel like many humans set off with a knee-jerk reaction and to heck with the consequences.

Remember to count to ten (slowly) before we react, and think about these things: is it kind? Is it helpful?

Lysa TerKeurst said in her book Unglued “If I knew this conversation was being videotaped and then shown to people I greatly respect, how would this change my reaction?"

Perhaps we should think about that before we react with revenge in our hearts.

my path

All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.

- Psalm 25:10 (ESV)

I’m not sure if it is still published (I have not received the newspaper in years) but there used to be a comic called “Family Circus”, it was on the front page of the color comic section in my hometown Sunday newspaper. 

The author often depicted one of his children’s path from point a to point b which was never ever a straight line.

How often do we find ourselves on a swirling mess of a path, full of distractions, trouble, unpredictable and inconsistent outcomes?

It is so good to know that all we have to do is turn to God for our path, and He will guide us.

His path is perfect.

You are Mine

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

- Isaiah 43:2

I’m actually going to start today with a song reference, you’ll understand in a moment.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you

When you pass through the rivers, they will not overflow you

When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched

Nor will the flame burn you, so…

Do not fear for I have called you by name

I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel

I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel

I am the Lord your God, the Holy One        

I will say to the north give them up

I will say to the south don't hold them back

Bring my sons and my daughters from afar, cause

You are mine

Do not fear for I have redeemed you

You are mine

Do not fear for I have called you by name

You are mine

I have never heard this song on the radio, I only heard it when I was on a praise team at another church, and the internet versions are not the same cadence, but the song itself is so powerful.

You are mine.

We are His, He calls us by name, He calls us His own.

That my friends is a promise from God, a promise that He will always keep.

skills

The Lord has given them special skills as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet thread on fine linen cloth, and weavers. They excel as craftsmen and as designers.

- Exodus 35:35 (NLT)

During this social distancing and quarantine event, many folks have been getting pretty crafty.

Some, like me, have found that they are not quite as skilled as they would like to be in some areas.

Did you know, that God has chosen what you will be good at and what you aren’t?

You may have the voice of an angel, but your penmanship is atrocious.

You may be able to sew the most intricate dresses, but can’t balance your checkbook.

There is a reason for that, and God knows that reason.

Keep working on your skills, because you never know when God will call you to use them.

Fear (you don't own me)

When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared.

- Proverbs 3:24-26

Did you know that some variation of “do not fear” can be found in the Bible 365 times? 

I have often said in this blog that it seems like stuff in the Bible is repeated and maybe it is because God wanted us to know He is serious! 

Don’t let fear take control of you!!

Oh – you know it is time for a song reference!

Sick and tired of being sick and tired
Had as much of you as I can take
I'm so done, so over being afraid

I've gone through the motions
I've been back and forth
I know that you're thinking you've heard this before
I don't know how to say it
So I'm just gonna say it, yeah

Fear, you don't own me
There ain't no room in this story
And I ain't got time for you
Telling me what I'm not
Like you know me well guess what?
I know who I am
I know I'm strong
And I am free
Got my own identity
So fear, you will never be welcome here

Take a minute, let it settle in
You probably never saw it coming
Something's gotta give so I give up you, oh
There's no room for you here
Yeah, I've had enough
The "No Vacancy" sign on my heart is lit up
In case you didn't hear it
Here it is again,

Oh, fear, you don't own me
There ain't no room in this story
And I ain't got time for you
Telling me what I'm not
Like you know me well guess what?
I know who I am
I know I'm strong
And I am free
Got my own identity
So fear, you will never be welcome here

Is there anybody out there just like me?
Anybody needing fear to leave?
If you don't know how to say it
Sing along with me

Sing fear, you don't own me
There ain't no room in this story
And I ain't got time for you
Telling me what I'm not
Like you know me well guess what?
I know who I am
I know I'm strong, brave
And I am free
Got my own identity
So fear, you will never be welcome here
Whoa, goodbye, goodbye fear
Whoa, you will never be welcome here

Why let fear take so much away from you? 

Let your Father be at your side, chasing away every fear.

Temper

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.

- James 4:1-2 (NLT)

Have you seen the commercial for Vicks nasal spray, where the child starts to throw a tantrum and before he can get 100% in, the mother throws herself on the floor, full on screaming, kicking, hitting the floor?

It lasts probably 10 seconds, she stands up, brushes herself off, looks at her son with an “are you finished now” look and they both walk calmly away.

I think every parent in the universe has wanted to do that at some point.

I am sure you are wondering what that commercial has to do with the verse I chose today.

Think about it, read the verse again. . . don’t children (and some adults) have tantrums when they don’t get what they want?

Now look at what is happening around our country the last few weeks, and tell me that it is not the result of evil desires.

People need to start focusing on God and His word and stop listening to the voice of evil that is turning their hearts.

Love only.

love

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

- 1 Peter 4:8

This week my messages have been pretty dismal, so I wanted to leave you with a happier note.

Love.

Love conquers all.

Song reference!

Love is not proud
Love does not boast
Love after all
Matters the most

Love does not run
Love does not hide
Love does not keep
Locked inside

Love is the river that flows through
Love never fails you

Love will sustain
Love will provide
Love will not cease
At the end of time

Love will protect
Love always hopes
Love still believes
When you don’t act

Love is the arms that are holding you
Love never fails you

When my heart won't make a sound
When I can't turn back around
When the sky is falling down
Nothing is greater than this
Greater than this

Love is right here
Love is alive
Love is the way
The truth the life

Love is the river than flows through
Love is the arms that are holding you
Love is the place you will fly to
Love never fails you

Love one another.

Pray like you have never prayed before, forgive yourself, forgive others and lead by example.   

Love always.

destroyed

“In that day,” declares the Lord, “will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, those of understanding in the mountains of Esau? Your warriors, Teman, will be terrified, and everyone in Esau’s mountains will be cut down in the slaughter. Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever."

- Obadiah 1:8-10

Destroyed.

A pretty large meaning in a seemingly small word.

I pray that people will quickly open their eyes and see that we are destroying our world.

Violence is not going to resolve anything, only increase the pain that people feel.

I think that it makes God sad to see His children ruining everything He gave them.

Do only what is good and right.

Be peaceful.

Love one another.

Pray like you have never prayed before, forgive yourself, forgive others and lead by example.   

Love always.

paybacks 2

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

- Romans 12:17-18

Wait, this verse sounds very familiar.

Yes, if you read yesterday’s Daily Bread, then you’ll recognize the words from 1^st Peter. 

I have mentioned multiple times that when something is repeated in the Bible, it must be important and God wants us to listen.

We are living in crazy times right now, but do not seek revenge.

Do only what is good and right.

Be peaceful.

Love one another.

Pray like you have never prayed before, forgive yourself, forgive others and lead by example.   

Love always

paybacks

Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

- 1 Peter 3:9

There are many quotes about revenge being sweet, but is it really?

Some people appear to be evil to the core and we as humans may not think they deserve forgiveness, but listen, if we can’t forgive them, we can’t forgive ourselves and if we can’t forgive ourselves we may find ourselves on the wrong side of Heaven.

No matter what horrible thing someone has done (and believe me it has taken me well over 40 years to forgive some people) forgive them, pray for them, for their repentance, pray for your own forgiveness (you aren’t perfect either) and pray for an end to the insanity.

Pray like you have never prayed before, forgive yourself, forgive others and lead by example.   

Love always.

violence

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

-2 Timothy 3:1-5

These last few months can definitely been marked as uncertain times. 

Our nation is falling apart – and we are letting it happen before our very eyes.

From COVID-19 to the violent protests and riots, the end times seem to be unfolding.

Obviously I am not claiming to know that the day of Jesus’ return, but it feels like it is close.

Watch yourselves, make sure you are not involved in the horrible activities outlined in 2^nd Timothy.

Pray like you have never prayed before, forgive yourself, forgive others and lead by example.   

Love only.

toxic

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

- Romans 3:22-23 (NLT)

Ok, listen up, I want you to repeat after me: “I am not perfect. I make mistakes.”

Did you do it? For real? It is not that hard is it?

You know why?

Because we all make mistakes, we all sin, there is not a single one of us that is perfect.

Those who feel they are perfect and never mess up are toxic people, they will suck the life out of you with their negativity and anger.

Turn your heart around (especially if you are being toxic to someone!) and face Jesus.

He loves you and will help you pick your life up.

We are all sinners, but forgiveness waits if you are willing to repent.

the throne

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

- Hebrews 4:16 (NLT)

Did you ever get sent to the principal’s office in school?

It seems like the younger we are, the scarier that office is, I mean, the principal is the person that runs the school.

Do you feel like going into God’s throne room is like going to the principles office?

I am here to tell you that it is not.

We don’t need a hall pass, we don’t have to be in trouble, we can go into the throne room at any time we want. 

A dear friend of mine teaches that we can run into the throne room (no getting in trouble for running in His house!) crawl into His lap and tell God our troubles, our thoughts, dreams and hopes while He holds us.

I love this.

Don’t you want to run into the throne room right now?

fullness

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

- Ephesians 3:14-19

Do you all realize how much you are loved?

How far the Lord will go for you?

He is a faithful and good Father! Oh - Song Reference!

I love You, Lord

For Your mercy never fails me

All my days, I've been held in Your hands

From the moment that I wake up

Until I lay my head

Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God

Cause all my life You have been faithful

And all my life You have been so, so good

With every breath that I am able

Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God

I love Your voice

You have led me through the fire

And in darkest night You are close like no other

I've known You as a Father

I've known You as a Friend

And I have lived in the goodness of God, yeah

And all my life You have been faithful, ohh

And all my life You have been so, so good

With every breath that I am able

Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God, yeah

'Cause Your goodness is running after, it's running after me

Your goodness is running after, it's running after me

With my life laid down, I'm surrendered now

I give You everything

And all my life You have been faithful

And all my life You have been so, so good

With every breath that I am able

Oh, I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God

Things may be hard right now, but God is there, waiting for you to run into His waiting arms, to give Him everything.

tossed

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

- James 1:6

I was asked the other day how I can still believe there is a God with all that is going on right now.

My answer is how can I not believe in Him?

It isn’t God that is causing turmoil and unrest in our society, folks, it is society!

We are tossed around like crazy, being blown in every direction possible.

Song reference!

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth

Would care to know my name

Would care to feel my hurt?

Who am I, that the bright and morning star

Would choose to light the way

For my ever wandering heart?

Not because of who I am

But because of what You've done

Not because of what I've done

But because of who You are

I am a flower quickly fading

Here today and gone tomorrow

A wave tossed in the ocean

A vapor in the wind

Still You hear me when I'm calling

Lord, You catch me when I'm falling

And You've told me who I am

I am Yours

Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin

Would look on me with love

And watch me rise again?

Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea

Would call out through the rain

And calm the storm in me?

Not because of who I am

But because of what You've done

Not because of what I've done

But because of who You are

I am a flower quickly fading

Here today and gone tomorrow

A wave tossed in the ocean

A vapor in the wind

Still You hear me when I'm calling

Lord, You catch me when I'm falling

And You've told me who I am

I am Yours

Now, ask me again how I can still believe.

Lost

What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

- Matthew 18:12-14

I feel like the entire world is lost right now.

It is so hard to put my thoughts into words. 

There are so many that are hurting and so many others taking advantage of that hurt.

If you are lost, cry out - the Shepherd will find you, because you matter.

renew

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

- Psalm 51:10-11 (NIV)

We all need to take some time to refresh, rejuvenate, and relax.

Think about a hunk of metal, perhaps tarnished and ugly, but in the right hands it can become a work of art, forged by fire, a beautiful sword or knife.

God does this with us, he refines us.

OH! Song reference!

Purify my heart
Let me be as gold and precious silver
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold, pure gold

Refiner's fire
My heart's one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You, Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master
Ready to do Your will

Purify my heart
Cleanse me from within
And make me holy
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from my sin
Deep within

Refiner's fire
My heart's one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You, Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master
Ready to do Your will

God can take our hearts, no matter what we have done, no matter how tiny we think our heart is, He can purify it, refine it, renew us.

Seek God, don’t turn away, He will refresh you!

telephone

A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret.

- Proverbs 11:13 (NIV)

How many of you remember playing telephone when you were little?

It’s the game where you line up, the first person whispers something to the second person, who whispers to the next person and so on until the end of the line, then the last person shares the secret with the person that started it.

The fun was in seeing how much the secret changed from the first person to the last.

It is all fun and games, until the secret is something that you don’t want known and by the time it gets back to you, it’s been blown out of proportion. 

Then it just hurts.

The Passion Translation (TPT) of this verse is: You can’t trust gossipers with a secret; they’ll just go blab it all. Put your confidence instead in a trusted friend, for he will be faithful to keep it in confidence.

Hold your secrets close to your heart, only share with your true friends, gossipers just blab it all. (and by the way, God doesn’t like gossip. See Luke 12:3.)

every step forward

How enriched are they who find their strength in the Lord; within their hearts are the highways of holiness! Even when their paths wind through the dark valley of tears, they dig deep to find a pleasant pool where others find only pain. He gives to them a brook of blessing filled from the rain of an outpouring. They grow stronger and stronger with every step forward, and the God of all gods will appear before them in Zion.

- Psalm 84:5-7 (TPT)

This came out of my daily devotional a few months ago, but I feel like it is a lovely verse filled with promise.

The devotional said that this verse is from The Passion Translation (TPT), but in my devotional the last line was “every step forward, until they find all their strength in You.”

I could not find those words in any translation, but I love it!

Every step forward, until we find all our strength in Him.

Wow.

We have so much sadness and angst around us right now, let’s follow our hearts, our Lord, let Him fill us with His blessings, and teach us to grow stronger, with every step forward.

no more pain

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.

- Revelation 21:4 (NKJV)

This is for my friends and family that are still struggling with the loss of a loved one.

Your pain is real, your pain is justified and the heartache you feel is absolutely warranted.

There will be days where you don’t want to get out of bed and face the world, and there will be days when you manage to get through without breaking down. 

There will never be a day that your loved one doesn’t cross your mind.

This may be the hardest thing you have had to face on earth.

Live with the promise God made to us in your heart, no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, no more pain.

I hope this helps just a little.

rebuilding

People of Israel, I will build you up again, and you will be rebuilt. You will pick up your tambourines again and dance with those who are joyful.

- Jeremiah 31:4 (NCV)

We are coming up on 3 months of “social distancing” and “safe at home”. 

I know a LOT of people are completely sick of it.

If we are sick of this after just a few months, think about how the people of Israel felt – they spent 40 years in the desert.

And now we have all the riots and unrest.

It is really heartbreaking to watch this country fall apart.

I watched a video of a young man who was supporting a peaceful protest, he is a young black man, and another black man started shouting profanity and angry words at the man that was supporting peace.  The young man walked straight up to the angry man and said “His uniform does not make him a robot, just as your color does not make you a criminal.” 

When are we all going to realize that young man’s words are true?

God love us, He doesn’t care what color our skin happens to be, because He made us perfect in His eyes.

We need to remember that.

God will bring us out of this hatred and anger, this sickness and death if we just turn to Him and ask Him to help us rebuild.

If God promised to rebuild His people then, I have faith that He will rebuild us now.

And we will dance.