I Learned: God Showed Me

First, I learned that I don't need lots of "friends" to feel accepted in life.  My acceptance comes from God.  My identity is in God, and He is all I need to feel like I'm accepted, and that I matter, and that I'm loved.  From there, I'm able to Love others the way God intended me to love them.  If I let God's love get poured into me, and I let it flow through me to those around me then I'm doing what I'm supposed to do.  Second, I learned where my loyalties should lie.  First they start with the Lord, and my relationship with Him, then it goes out to my family and my real friends, who have become like family to me.  If I am doing it any other way, then I'm not living in accordance with the word.

I never realized how much God loved me until recently, and let me tell you, the feeling of actually accepting the fact that I am so dearly loved by my heavenly Father is so Freeing.  God has been so good to me, and has done so much for me, and I didn't even realize how much He loved me, and how much more He wanted for me.  Now that I do, I will start doing things a little differently.  That, and the fact that there was someone I need to make a clean break from that was not a good influence on me, is why I've deleted my facebook page with an excess of 400 people on it.  

I'm going to start by putting God first in my life, and I'm going to let Him pour His love into me, so that I can start loving those around me in the proper way.  I Praise God for teaching me this, and for showing me who my true friends are, and for showing me that I need to learn to love my family and friends with His unconditional Love, and not just my human love.  

Thank you Lord, and I Praise Your Name Above any other name.  Amen!!!

Did You Know?!

Did you know that God Loves You?!  Yes, that's what I said.  God Loves You!!!  It doesn't matter what you've done, or who you've been, or what's happened to you in your life or where you've been, God Loves You.  He loved you so much that he sent his One and Only Son Jesus Christ to pay the price for all of those things in your life that you look at and say, "Look at what I've done, God wouldn't want me".  

The truth of the matter is that he Loves you and he wants you to put your hands up to Him and say, "I am Yours.  Take me and make me into the person you want me to be".  He's waiting for you to quit trying to work your way into heaven. There is no way that any of us, from the best, to the worst, can work our way to heaven.  We just can't do it.  God knew that we couldn't do it, but He had a plan, and that plan played itself out in the life of His son Jesus Christ.

The truth is, we in our own strength could never make ourselves good enough, but right now he is holding out his hand, and waiting for you to accept His free gift of eternal life.  What was that free gift?  The gift of the Cross.  Jesus went to the Cross and became the atonement for our sin, and wrong doings.  He paid the penalty.  What do we have to do to recieve this free gift?  Open our hearts up, and accept what he did for us, and let Him come into our lives and let Him change you from the inside out.  He will fill you so full of love that it will spill over and affect those around you.

It doesn't matter who you are, what you've done, or where you've been in life, God wants you to accept this free gift that He is offering.  He's waiting for you to say Yes to Him... He Loves You, and wants you to have this gift.  You don't have to make yourself perfect, or good enough first.  It can't be done.  Accept the Grace of God, and He will give it freely, because He Loves You! 

John 3:16-18

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Open Our Eyes To God's Way

We always talk about what God can do for us, and that's all well and good, but why not think and talk about what God can to through us if we just Open ourselves to him, and let him lead.  Many times we want to be in control, and do it our way, or do what We think should be done, without asking Him what should be done, or how he wants it done.

 Many times when things don't go the way we want it to go, we blame God, and say he didn't do his job, when in fact we were doing a job that wasn't ours to do in the first place.  Many times we get angry with God because he's not answering our prayers, but we have already envisioned the way in which God is supposed to answer our prayers, and he has a different vision as to how he's going to answer.  We get angry and impatient because we want to see things happen right away, when God is trying to do something even greater that we can't see.  

Let's open our eyes to what God is doing, and try to see the bigger picture.  Let's not have tunnel vision, and try to put God in a box.  When we do that, we limit God.  That box is too small for him, and he doesn't like being put in that box.

Just remember, there are times that what we want may not be the Best that God has for us.  What we want is mediocre compared to what God is doing, and what he has for us.  Let's learn to Trust in Him, and to not lean on our own understanding.  His ways are greater than our ways, and we may not always understand correctly what he's doing.  

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Just A Few Thoughts On Love: God's Style

I looked up the word love in the Bible dictionary, and after reading the rather lengthy definition, I realized that His love is so vast that I can't even begin to fathom it.  I am always amazed at what Jesus did for us at Calvary.  He went to the Cross out of love for us.  He didn't have to do it, but he did.  He made the largest sacrifice.  I sometimes wonder if I would do the same for him.  Then I remember that if I am operating in His love, then yes, I would be able to do the same.

We are to let God's love flow through us to those around us.  With His love we will be able to have an effect on a hurting and dying world.  If we are able to love with the Love of Christ we will not sit in judgement over the lost, but we will be reaching out to them.  When we try to do things with our imperfect human love we at some point come to a screeching halt, because it can't go where our Lord's perfect love can go.

God's perfect love casts out fear.  If we let his love cover us, and flow through us to those around us, then we will be able to overcome the fear that is within us.  His love also means that he can show mercy where we will, in our own imperfect love would not be able to do so.  With his love flowing through us, forgiving others will come easier than if we were working in our own imperfect love.

When I hear that song How High, How Deep, How Wide Is Your Love, I am reminded that his love is an everlasting love that will never end.  It's always there, and he loved me even before I was born.  He had a plan for my life before I was born.  He knew everything that would happen to me in this life, and he already knew everything about me, and he Loved me.  He loves me more than any person could ever love me, and I know that because he loves me, I can come to him with anything and he will never leave me, no matter what it is.  He loves me enough to let me know when I am grieving him, and he helps me to make any and all changes in my life that need to be made.

God is love, and he love you so much that he sent his son to die on the Cross to pay the penalty for any and all sins that you could ever commit.  If you are feeling like you could never be loved by God, or that maybe you've messed your life up so much that he would never accept you, then I want you to know that there is nothing that you could do that would make him not accept you.  He already loves you and wants you to come to him, and grab a hold of his love, and let him take over in the drivers seat of your life.  If you let Him take over you will have the biggest big brother ever, and he will always be there for you.

May God bless you...