Chosen, holy and dearly loved!

Colossians 3:12

WE are chosen by GOD!

Hand picked by the God of the Universe

Selected specifically by the King of Kings

WE are HOLY!

Cleansed by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross

Pure and without blemish in God’s sight

We are DEARLY LOVED!!!!

not just loved BUT DEARLY LOVED!

Cherished

Unconditionally loved

precious in God’s sight

He rejoices and sings over us!

A great way to start the day!!!!!!     

Chosen, holy and dearly loved!

FEAR!

Fear!

Even the word is frightening - the unknown, the what ifs, the darkness.

This fear enters our hearts, feasts on our energy, our peace and our life, not leaving a crumb behind – only darkness, despair, and paralyzing dread.

Recently I heard:               

F – false   

E  -  evidence

A – appearing

R – real        

Fear comes from so many sources. If we drill down to the center of the source we find: 

Taking our eyes off Jesus

Not believing HE is who HE says He is

Believing Satan’s false whispers

Wanting our way – not God’s, no matter the consequences

 

God promises:

Perfect love casts out fear – 1 John 4:18

What time I am afraid I will trust in YOU! – Psalm 56:3

I have plans for you – Jeremiah 29:11

I love you with an everlasting love -  Jeremiah 31:3

I know the end from the beginning -  Isaiah 46:10

The One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world – 1 John 4:4

I will never leave you – Hebrews 13:5

Do not be afraid – for I am with you – Isaiah 43:5

Fear and Anxiety but a thought away . . .

Trusting, faith, waiting – being still – all so foreign in today’s lifestyle.

Our peace comes and goes as the sun shines or the wind blows.

We believe the lie – this world  and how it operates is our reality. We have to deal with it’s unexpected problems, its loudness and distractions, its sorrows and its disappointments by ourselves.

Fear and anxiety are but a thought away - 

Jesus reaches out and touches our shoulder.

He gently turns our face to look fully at Him.

He speaks to us lovingly – reminds us of His continual Presence.

His light baths us, infusing us with His beauty, peace and love.

“Trust ME”

“Put your faith in ME”

“Wait for ME”

“Be still and know I am GOD”

Fear in the storm!

Poor Peter . . . He’s in a small boat with his friends in the middle of a big storm. Coming toward them, walking on the water is the Lord and they are out of their minds scared! 

Peter yells above the wind “Lord, if that is you tell me to come!”

Jesus answered “COME!”

So Peter climbed our of the boat and walked on water toward Jesus. (Have you ever just done something, then realized what you just did!!!) Peter did that! “Whoa, I‘m walking on water – cool!” 
Then he felt the gale force winds and saw the waves coming at him, over his head!
He was totally afraid and sank.

“Lord, save me!” He cried.

Immediately, Jesus reached out His hand and caught him!

We are so like Peter! Surrounded by problems, we find ourselves in the middle of the storm filled with difficulties, worries and anxieties. 

We look up and Jesus is there. Perhaps it is during our quiet time with the Lord, or looking at a wondrous sunset, hearing a child’s giggle of pure joy – and we find ourselves in the clam and peace of Jesus. We praise Him. We spend time talking with our Savior then off we go into life’s stormy waters.

We start to struggle against the pull of strong tides. We panic. Overwhelmed, we take our eyes off Jesus and start to sink!

“Lord, save me!” we cry.

Immediately He holds us – wiping our face with His robe and whispers quietly in our ear -

“I’m right here. I’m holding you. It’s ok, I’m right here.”

The wind stops blowing and the turbulent sea becomes glassy – reflecting His glory!

Matthew 14

Worries, overwhelmed by “what ifs”?

There is one whose life is consumed by hate for us.

 He surrounds us with destruction – 

 destroying our peace of mind, taking delight in replacing calmness with chaos.

 His goal is to keep us uptight,

 depressed,

 stressed out and

 consumed with worry so we are of no use to the Lord,

 let alone anyone else who needs us.

He constantly whispers the “what ifs”, the “I should haves”, the “I can’t believe I did or didn’t . . .“. He brings the shovel of pain and digs up those buried fears and old tapes – inadequacy, not smart enough, not good enough, not worthy and failure.

He plays to our weaknesses and  slyly says :

“You know better, God needs to do it this way . . .”

 “Where is God? He isn’t listening . . . “

 “He doesn’t really want to answer you”

“You have prayed and prayed for  . . . and still no response , it is hopeless” 

“You really want this, it is for the right reasons, then why did He say NO!”.

We crumble.

Our shield of faith lies on the ground with our helmet and sword. We sit there in tears and misery, self pity and despair. 

He laughs!

He then triumphantly looks to the King and points out our complete failure of our faith and trust, boasting loudly to all of Heaven and Hell of his accomplishment.

The King looks at Satan,  then stands. He smiles and says, “Listen, . . . listen to my child!”

Satan is hushed and looks back and forth in consternation, “What?” he exclaims and covers his ears!

“Satan, I  rebuke you.”

A trembling whisper is heard throughout Heaven.

 The angels clap and praise God!

“Satan, I rebuke you.” stronger now with confidence. 

The angels worship at the King’s feet.

“Satan, I rebuke you! I resist you in the wonderful name of my Jesus!!!” 

All of Heaven erupts in praise and song!

This triumphant shout resounds in all of Heaven and Hell.

Satan cowers, looks for the crumpled victim . . .  instead,

before him stands a warrior,

 fully dressed for battle,

 shining brightly with God’s reflected glory!

and Satan runs!

Distractions vs Treasure!

 Spending time with Jesus . . .

We see Jesus,

our Savior

and struggle with distractions.

 We see Jesus,

our Counselor -

 trusting His grace, love and mercy,

 we bring Him our tears, frustrations and concerns

and grow in overcoming the distractions. 

 

We see Jesus,

 The Christ, King of Kings and Lords of Lords . . . 

we fall on our knees at His feet in worship,

as we keep our eyes on Him and

 shut out distractions.

What is a distraction? Anything that takes and keeps our eyes off Jesus!


Do you ever wonder why there are so many distractions?


Why do so many things in life demand our attention - pleasurable or not?

What are these things keeping us from? 

Why is it so easy to embrace these distractions, to dwell on them? Who's behind the pull and tug? Why the battle?

The reason?

The treasure that is ours in saying "NO" to all the distractions and spending time at the feet of Jesus!

We touch Jesus' heart and become saturated with His love,
We become like Jesus!

We are filled with Jesus' power and His character,
We become like Jesus!

We see things from Jesus' perspective and trust Him,

We become like Jesus!

We stand firm in Jesus' love during the hard times,
We become like Jesus!

Unconditional Love

I turned on the TV yesterday morning to see a screen filled with top ranked anchors on a popular morning show, sitting at their desks with silly smiles on their faces, each holding a sweet, precious puppy.

These accomplished professionals melted in their seats with joy holding puppies that asked nothing except to be loved and in return gave love freely without any demands.

Wendy, our precious poodle, has taught us much about unconditional love in the last 10 years.

She is sad when we leave her but greets us enthusiastically with squeals, sneezes and yowls when we come home. We have explained to our worried neighbors "it's her happy sounds". Not a day goes by that she doesn't look at us with "love eyes".

Not long ago I came home from an unexpected 6 day "vacation" in the hospital. She never left my side. She cuddled up with me in bed that night with her paw draped across my chest. I woke up several times to find her big brown eyes looking at me to make sure I was really home and well. She then would sigh contentedly, lick my face and drifted off to sleep, inching closer and holding me tightly with her paw.

Jesus paid the debt of our sin on the cross- past, present and future.

Our Father sees us full of His righteousness, already perfect and holy in His sight. We please Him because of His Son.

Each day He showers us with unconditional love.

Each night He sings over us with unconditional love.

Total acceptance - no barriers - nothing but love!

Unconditional love - No condemnation! - nothing can separate us from this love!

There is now no condemnation 

for those who are in Christ - Romans 8:1

Neither death nor life

neither angels nor demons

neither the present nor the future

nor any powers

neither height nor depth

nor anything else in creation

will be able to separate us 

from the love of God

that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!-Romans 8:37-39

For God so loved the world

that He gave His one and only Son,

that whoever believes in Him shall not perish

but have eternal life.

For God did not send His Son into the world

to condemn the world,

but to save the world through Him.

Whoever believes in Him is not condemned!-John 3:16-18