Have you ever tried to go "on strike" with God.
Maybe that's too strong of language for some.
Have you ever been mad at God?
Maybe for some, that's still to strong.
Have you ever thought "where is the justice" "this isn't right" "this isn't fair".
God understands, after all, He created us as emotional beings and not robots. He understands that our frustration comes out of our brokenness. God understands us.
Just because He understands us, does not give permission or is an acceptable behavior to pattern our life after.
This is the beauty of God, even with our "temper tantrums' or our questions of right or wrong. He still loves us. He still longs for us to engage in conversation with Him. He doesn't mind if we let it all out.
But after we've been allowed to holler and question, He wants to have "His time" to speak.
And when He speaks, He gently says, "let's talk about your anger towards Me. He doesn't take us out back and discipline us for our emotions. Instead, He loving says, now that you know I won't be controlled by you and your emotions; and you understand I will not be manipulated by your silence towards Me, I am still God and My love for you hasn't changed. I'm the same God that loved you before your "tantrum" I loved you through your anger and I will still keep loving you.
But, let's get this straight, I AM GOD and YOU ARE NOT. And once you understand this proper order, you will never be angry with Me again.
He continues " a believer that gets angry with Me, is one that has a religious mind set and thinks they can control My Spirit or manipulate Me. But once you understand and establish within your heart that I AM GOD and I will not be manipulated or controlled by good or bad behavior, you will never be angry with Me again.
PS I LOVE YOU
January 26, 2013
January 24, 2013
CRAZY LOVE !
Crazy Love is the love that God has for us. His love wasn't cautious but extravagant. We didn't earn this unrelenting love of the Father. Long before the very foundations of the earth were laid, He had us on His mind, His focus was on us. This love, that He has for us, is marked by giving, not getting. That's why He gave His Son for us, to free us from the bondage of sin. This is some Crazy Love.
Are we reciprocating with this same type of love. We learn this life of love as we take our lead from the Father. He said, if we love Him we will love others.
Do we love God and others with this organic love from the Father, or is it a man made love. Man made love is fickle, it loves those who can give us something in return.
This immense love of the Father, is something birthed within a man's Spirit. It's a love that will cause one to love beyond self and what we can gain out of it. That's how Christ loved us. He didn't love in order to get something from us, but to give everything of himself to us. Now THAT'S LOVE.
This love is a duplication of the heart of the Father, it's imprinted into our very being. When we have been stamped by the love of our Father it will cause us to love God and to love others even the unlovely.
As we live a life of love marked by giving and not getting, we will be known as followers of Christ....by our CRAZY LOVE.
Are we reciprocating with this same type of love. We learn this life of love as we take our lead from the Father. He said, if we love Him we will love others.
Do we love God and others with this organic love from the Father, or is it a man made love. Man made love is fickle, it loves those who can give us something in return.
This immense love of the Father, is something birthed within a man's Spirit. It's a love that will cause one to love beyond self and what we can gain out of it. That's how Christ loved us. He didn't love in order to get something from us, but to give everything of himself to us. Now THAT'S LOVE.
This love is a duplication of the heart of the Father, it's imprinted into our very being. When we have been stamped by the love of our Father it will cause us to love God and to love others even the unlovely.
As we live a life of love marked by giving and not getting, we will be known as followers of Christ....by our CRAZY LOVE.
January 23, 2013
Some Things Never Change.
Are you one of many, experiencing a collision of two worlds; the spirit world and the natural world. It happens when life circumstances are out of control. when our world has come undone and our mind is unable to find the answers or make sense of this life. The WHY question is loud and the follow up question of, WHAT is GOING ON is louder.
There are times when our mind can't reconcile or comprehend, the circumstances of life. Our natural mind will try to make sense of it, trying to resolve it, but in this place, if we choose to linger here, our mind will get stuck. And the innocence of our questioning, can slip into a place of doubting; as our mind can't resolve these difficulties. The deceiver is quick to come with scripture, just as he did with Jesus. But our example is Christ, He returned His answer with scripture.
There are some things that never change.
The enemy is out to deceive us.
And that God is always for us.
Scripture makes it very clear that we are not an equal to God, therefore; we will never comprehend who He is and His ways.
He has the big picture of life while our knowledge is so very limited in this world, and our vision of what we think "should be right' in life is skewed by our desires.
We will never find scripture that lines up with "live by our feelings and emotions, or to live by what we think should be right, according to our own understanding.
Quite the opposite is true. We're called to live by faith. Faith is unseen and often with out feeling.
We're told to lean not to our own understanding.
God desires us to abandon our natural thinking because "reasoning" and "trusting" cannot live in the same space.
Christ did say, in this life we will have trouble, but take heart, because He has overcome this world. While we live on this earth, we may not see the benefit to our present day situation. But, thank God, we have the hope of a better day as this earth is not our home; and one day we will see our great reward, it will be worth it all.
"Do you trust Me, only when life circumstances are going your way? Will you trust Me, even in the difficult places that are messy and never what you would choose. I don't change, I am still your God during the good days and the bad days. I am right by your side, in this imperfect world, I have not abandon you. I am forever leading you and guiding you. I am your protector, I am your strong tower, I am your comfort and I am with you. Do NOT be AFRAID. I am your GOD. TRUST ME."
There are times when our mind can't reconcile or comprehend, the circumstances of life. Our natural mind will try to make sense of it, trying to resolve it, but in this place, if we choose to linger here, our mind will get stuck. And the innocence of our questioning, can slip into a place of doubting; as our mind can't resolve these difficulties. The deceiver is quick to come with scripture, just as he did with Jesus. But our example is Christ, He returned His answer with scripture.
There are some things that never change.
The enemy is out to deceive us.
And that God is always for us.
Scripture makes it very clear that we are not an equal to God, therefore; we will never comprehend who He is and His ways.
He has the big picture of life while our knowledge is so very limited in this world, and our vision of what we think "should be right' in life is skewed by our desires.
We will never find scripture that lines up with "live by our feelings and emotions, or to live by what we think should be right, according to our own understanding.
Quite the opposite is true. We're called to live by faith. Faith is unseen and often with out feeling.
We're told to lean not to our own understanding.
God desires us to abandon our natural thinking because "reasoning" and "trusting" cannot live in the same space.
Christ did say, in this life we will have trouble, but take heart, because He has overcome this world. While we live on this earth, we may not see the benefit to our present day situation. But, thank God, we have the hope of a better day as this earth is not our home; and one day we will see our great reward, it will be worth it all.
"Do you trust Me, only when life circumstances are going your way? Will you trust Me, even in the difficult places that are messy and never what you would choose. I don't change, I am still your God during the good days and the bad days. I am right by your side, in this imperfect world, I have not abandon you. I am forever leading you and guiding you. I am your protector, I am your strong tower, I am your comfort and I am with you. Do NOT be AFRAID. I am your GOD. TRUST ME."
January 19, 2013
GOD I Trust YOU
How do we reconcile this verse "it's the kindness of God that leads man to repentance", when anything but kindness seems to be our current life circumstance. When our life has hit a difficult place that doesn't make sense to our religious mindset. The tone changes, 'this can't be of God.' And when disaster strikes, our first response is "this is of the enemy".
We're quick to make a judgment call on whether something is of God or not, if it doesn't fit into the guidelines of what we think the kindness or goodness of God should be.
Could it be in our difficulties, that God is actually giving us a greater opportunity to see who He really is, repositioning things to create a benefit for us that isn't yet within our sight.
The life of Joseph is an example of one taken out of comfort into a life of chaos and great distress. He's thrown into a pit, then sold into slavery, with the situation going from bad to worse as he was falsely accused, ultimately sending him to prison. From man's perspective, this has the signature of the enemy all over it. Yet, his final destination positioned him in a place of authority over the entire land of Egypt. So now we see the outcome was for good and not evil.
Once again, we are reminded, this life is not our own. We were bought with a great price and He will fulfill all that He has for us to accomplish while living this life on earth. It truly is a walk of faith and not sight. He says, it won't be according to our understanding or what makes sense to us, how we see it from our perspective, or how it makes us feel.
So God's kindness is intended to turn us from our sin. God's kindness is intended to change our mind and our inner man to accept God's will for our life. Therefore, we may not recognize the kindness of God operating in our life. But, remember this, He is working ALL things for our good.
And in this place, we accept His kindness, and our heart's response is, 'God, I trust you'.
We're quick to make a judgment call on whether something is of God or not, if it doesn't fit into the guidelines of what we think the kindness or goodness of God should be.
Could it be in our difficulties, that God is actually giving us a greater opportunity to see who He really is, repositioning things to create a benefit for us that isn't yet within our sight.
The life of Joseph is an example of one taken out of comfort into a life of chaos and great distress. He's thrown into a pit, then sold into slavery, with the situation going from bad to worse as he was falsely accused, ultimately sending him to prison. From man's perspective, this has the signature of the enemy all over it. Yet, his final destination positioned him in a place of authority over the entire land of Egypt. So now we see the outcome was for good and not evil.
Once again, we are reminded, this life is not our own. We were bought with a great price and He will fulfill all that He has for us to accomplish while living this life on earth. It truly is a walk of faith and not sight. He says, it won't be according to our understanding or what makes sense to us, how we see it from our perspective, or how it makes us feel.
So God's kindness is intended to turn us from our sin. God's kindness is intended to change our mind and our inner man to accept God's will for our life. Therefore, we may not recognize the kindness of God operating in our life. But, remember this, He is working ALL things for our good.
And in this place, we accept His kindness, and our heart's response is, 'God, I trust you'.
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