To Be Loved by God

Psalm 103:17-18 (NLT)
17 But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him. His salvation extends to the children’s children 18 of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments!

Here the psalmist ponders God’s love for his people and notes that God’s love lasts longer than their lives even continuing on to the lives of future generations. There is salvation to those who are faithful and obedient to God; and that salvation is also extended to generations yet to come.

 

 

There was once a young man from Chicago who went down to the bluegrass regions of Kentucky where he met and wooed a young woman who ultimately came back to Chicago as his bride. They enjoyed three lovely years of marriage, and then one day in the midst of a sickness in a seizure of pain the young woman lost her mind. When she was at her best, she was a bit demented. At her worst, she would scream, and neighbors complained because the screams cut the air and it was hard to live with.

And so the young businessman left his home in the middle of Chicago, went out to one of the western suburbs, built a house, determined that there he would try to nurse his wife back to health and sanity again. One day the family physician suggested that perhaps if he were to take his wife back to her Kentucky home that something in those familiar surroundings would help her restore her sanity, and so they went back to the old homestead. Hand in hand they walked through the old house where memories hung on every corner. They went down to the garden and walked down by the riverside where the first cowslips and violets were in bloom. But after several days nothing seemed to happen.

So, defeated and discouraged, the young man put his wife back in the car, and they headed back to Chicago. When they got close to the house, he looked over and discovered that his wife was asleep. It was the first deep, restful sleep she had had in many weeks. When he got to the house, he lifted her from the car, took her inside, placed her on the bed, and realized she wanted to sleep some more. So he placed a cover over her and then just sat by her side and watched her through the midnight hour, watched her until the first rays of the sun reached through the curtain and touched her face. The young woman awoke, and she saw her husband seated by her side. She said, "I seem to have been on a long journey. Where have you been?" And that man, speaking out of days and weeks and months of patient waiting and watching said, "My sweetheart, I've been right here waiting for you all this time."

And if you ask me, "Where is God?" the answer is very much the same. He's right here, right here waiting for you to respond with love to love, waiting for you to respond with trust to promise, waiting for you to cast yourself with a reckless abandon upon the grace of God, and waiting for you to discover what it means to be loved by God. [Haddon Robinson, from the sermon "The World's Best Love Story"]

Find Freedom in Letting Go of Hidden Sin

Proverbs 28:13 (NLT)

13 People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.

A person who attempts to conceal their sin finds that when they hide their sin they do nothing for themselves. In hiding sin they do not learn to grow spiritual. They fail to deal with the sin of the past so they can move forward into the future. Holding onto secret sin keeps an opportunity for mercy to be given.

Married for 16 years and with two great kids, Kurt Stansell seems to have it all together. He has a successful investment counseling business, and he's a founding elder at his church. And he's a sex addict. Kurt's the first to admit it.

For years, Kurt struggled with pornography. It started with magazines, but eventually turned into visits to Triple-X theaters and strip joints. Kurt kept repeating a cycle of guilt and remorse, then prayer and repentance, only to find himself back at it again.

Eventually, Kurt found an accountability partner named Stan. At first, Kurt held back, being less than honest about his problem. But when he finally confessed, telling Stan the whole truth, Kurt immediately felt a weight lifted from his shoulders. He was on the road to victory.

"I began to understand what shame does," Kurt says. "When we Christians try to hide something in the darkness, we give Satan incredible license to work in our lives. So, the more open I could be, the less of a hold Satan seemed to have."   [Gregg Lewis, author of The Power of a Promise Kept. Men of Integrity, Vol. 1, no. 1.]

Satan loves to take the hidden sin in our lives and use it against us to accuse us over and over. It is a trap so many people have fallen into. They try to hide their problem, they feel guilty about their problem and they restart their cycle of sin because they have not trusted anyone to help them through their problem.There is freedom in letting go of hidden sin. Yes, we may have consequences to face, but the burden and weight of sin is lifted from us making us free.

The more difficult choice: LOVE

Romans 12:10 (NLT)

10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

The apostle tells us that one must have a readiness and inclination to love in a genuine way. This love is the love within a family that is genuine, natural and comes from the heart.  And what can be sweeter on this side of heaven but to love and be loved.

Evangelist, author, and apologist Josh McDowell writes in his book, THE NEW TOLERANCE: How a cultural movement threatens to destroy you, your faith and your children, on page 95 –

    Tolerance says, “You must agree with me.” Love responds, “I must do something harder; I will tell you the truth because I believe ‘the truth will set you free.’”

    Tolerance says, “You must approve of what I do.” Love responds, “I must do something harder: I must love you, even when your behavior offends me.”

    Tolerance says, “You must allow me to have my way.” Love responds, “I must do something harder: I will plead with you to follow the right way, because I believe you are worth the risk.”

    Tolerance seeks to be inoffensive, love takes risks. Tolerance is indifferent; love is active. Tolerance costs nothing; love costs everything.

    Once again Jesus is the supreme example of true Christian love, which is sometimes the antithesis of tolerance. His love drove him to a cruel death on the cross. Far from being indifferent to the “lifestyle choices” of others, he paid the price of those choices with his own life, and lovingly paved the way for everyone to “go, and sin no more” (John 8:11, KJV).

    Another example of what real love won’t do is this: Love won’t minister condemnation. It won’t leave a person feeling condemned but will offer hope of forgiveness and restoration.

    If anyone had the right to condemn sinners, it was Jesus. He was perfect, without sin. Yet, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world” (John 3:17).

I believe, as Josh McDowell, there is an obvious difference between genuine affection and love for another; and just tolerating someone. It is this love the apostle was writing to us about in Romans 12:10. We are to take delight in honoring and respecting each other, but we must love others actively and not just passively tolerate them. We are to do the harder part in life and love even when it is difficult to do so.

Facing a problem and learning joy

James 1:2-4 (NLT)

2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

The apostle tells us that when we face adversity in our lives that we should count it as joy as opposed to sadness. For in the face of adversity our faith is tested and we have a chance to grow stronger in life. Therefore we should be joyful to face the adversity and let it develop us through our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

Our 26 year old daughter is experiencing a psychiatric issue. This problem doesn’t just affect her, but also affects the people around her. For in her current mental state the words she can use are like venom that brings pain. She vents anger like hot steam blowing into your face.  You know you have done nothing to deserve the words she spews, but they sting, they burn and they hurt.

In an instant her mood flips to one of kindness and love. Words a second ago now confuse you as she expresses words of gratitude and love. She is pleasant, kind and then she starts complaining about all the things that are wrong and then she begs for help. Yes, it’s very confusing, but we also know she is ill.

My wife and I went through this with our daughter from the age of 18-19. It was one of the hardest times of our life. It was difficult to explain to others the problems we faced. Each medication was trial and error until they found something that worked. The medications were a challenge in their own way because they brought on serious side effects that had to be dealt with. Eventually she did become well.

Our daughter got married in November and her husband knew about this problem before he married her. Knowing about a problem and experiencing it are two completely different things. This has been difficult for him watching her change constantly before his eyes. What was so loving and kind at times isn’t so loving and kind. My daughter asked my brother-in-law and sister-in-law to visit her in the hospital. They had never been in her presence when she was going through this phase and it was difficult for them to be present with her, but God bless them for being there and wanting to help her.

My wife and I know the verses in James 1:2-4 are true. We are facing once again the issue we faced years ago with our daughter. This time we are more confident in our actions. It is painful placing a loved one in a psychiatric hospital, but it is also reassuring they are safe. Sometimes we want to give into fear, but we know God has brought us through this before. Sometimes we want to cry, but we learned we can be stronger than we thought.

Fortunately we can use our strength from the past to encourage her husband that things will return back to where they were, maybe even better. We know God can bring about healing and we just have to be patient for the healing to take place through the hands of the doctors. For God is still working on us, developing us and teaching us what we can be. God is also developing her and her husband. I know if her husband can endure this, his relationship with her will grow stronger. And I know our daughter will love him more for his courageous love and support.

Pray for Oklahoma

Galatians 5:13 (NLT)
13 For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.

In this verse the apostle tells Christians they are to stand fast in the liberty from sin that Jesus Christ provided through His death.  For in liberty we are free to choose and it would be so easy to fall back into bad habits of choice instead of standing fast.  One must see that while they are free from the penalty of death created by the law they still have an obligation to satisfy the original intent of the law, which is to create love and respect for one another. The apostle confirms this by saying we should use our liberty to help others as we can and therefore do what Jesus commanded when Jesus said, “you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

 

 

According to Topsy.com as of 5/11/2013 at 11am there were over 64,000 mentions of the hastag #PrayForOklahoma on Social Media, such as Twitter and Facebook after the tornados hit Oklahoma. There were critics of the #PrayForOklahoma hastag, who discounted prayer, who said quit praying and start doing. However this nation, The United States of America, needed to unite in prayer for the victims of the Oklahoma tornados. Christians all over the world needed to also join in prayer as Christians so often do when devastating events occur in the world. There were people hurting, suffering, helpless and when we can’t immediately do something - we can pray.

Throughout The Bible prayer is used in mighty ways to change events, to heal, to rescue, to bring change and to bring comfort and calmness. Yes, the people of Oklahoma needed to feel the prayers of God’s people. They needed to feel God close to them as we prayed for them.

Now I can agree with the critics on one thing, don’t stop with prayer. Galatians 5:13 tells us that we are to take the freedoms we have in life and serve one another in love. Charitable organizations need donations to help with the care of the people left homeless. The Red Cross often needs blood and money donations after a tragic event. There are many ways to help even if it is raising awareness for others to contribute or donate what they can.

So this morning let us continue to be in prayer for the people of Oklahoma and for so many others around the world who are facing hardships. Let consider what we can do to help and help as we know how to do.

Open Your Eyes to the Light

Proverbs 21:2 (NLT)
2 People may be right in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their heart.

King Solomon tells us in this proverb that when it comes to ourselves - we are often partial to the judgment of ourselves and our actions. We often think too highly of ourselves and overlook the flaws that are present.  Many are prideful and pride clouds judgment of one’s character. We also try to make actions appear right when all along we know they are wrong. Even when caught in wrong actions we tend to justify what we have done. We can be sure of one thing – when God examine our heart all the truth is revealed. God looks at our actions, our intentions, and our purpose then weights the evidence and convicts us according to the truth of the evidence.

 

 

It was a dark and foggy night at sea. The captain of the ship looked into the dark night from the bridge. Suddenly he saw the faint glow of lights approaching through the fog. Immediately he ordered the radio operator to send a message – Alter your course 10 degrees south. A reply came back – Alter your course 10 degrees north.  

In anger the captain ordered a second message – I am the captain of this ship; alter your course 10 degrees south.  Again a response – I am Petty Officer Third Class Jones – alter your course 10 degrees north.

Furious his orders were being ignored by a lower rank and wanting to evoke fear in Petty Officer Third Class Jones the captain ordered a final demand – I am a battle ship and if you don’t want to be sunk alter your course 10 degrees south. Then came the response – I am afraid your battleship will be sunk if you don’t alter your course 10 degrees north – I am the lighthouse.

How often we live our lives in a fog not seeing the truth for what it is. We make demands without understanding. We make assumptions without hearing all the facts. We even respond in anger because our view is not accepted. Our pride takes over and we won’t even let ourselves see the truth when it is right in front of us.

We need to allow the Lord to examine our hearts and show us the truth. We need the accountability of good, wise and responsible friends who can see our faults and tell us about those faults in love.  We need to take away pride and open our eyes to the truth before us.

 

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

Be reconciled to others

Matthew 5:23-24 (NLT)

23 So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24 leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.

Here we have the words of Jesus who tells the people if they are going to present their offerings to God, before doing so they should consider if anyone is holding something against them. If they know someone is bitter towards them they should first go make that issue right between them before making an offering to God. We need to go to God in our offering with a clean heart knowing we have tried to make things right.

One thing I have learned in life is - we can hurt the feelings of others without even trying. We may say something in jest that strikes at the heart of spouse, friend or co-worker to the point they become bitter. I have seen people say something without really thinking it through; then the other person responds with something like, “What you said really hurt my feelings because it’s not true.” Then typically the offender will say something to the effect of, “It was just a joke. I wasn’t being serious.” If you say it was a joke and you weren’t being serious then you really need to consider why you said it.

What did the offender leave out in their response? They didn’t offer an apology for hurting the other person’s feelings. It might not have been the offender’s intent to hurt the person’s feelings, yet they did. So the person is left emotionally wounded while the offender tries to explain away their fault.

There is an easy solution. In this case we heard the person say “their feelings were hurt”. Always try to listen for feelings words when someone is speaking to you for feeling words speak from their heart. It is so easy to take a second and acknowledge those feelings with an apology such as this – “I am so sorry I hurt your feelings and I apologize for doing so.”  In just a few words you have given an apology that addresses their feelings and puts them at ease.

I have heard people say, but I really didn’t do anything wrong so why should I apologize. Apologies are not about whether your action was intentional to hurt or not, but instead to make yourself right with the person so bitterness does not overtake them. Apologies are not an admission of doing something wrong. Instead they are a statement of wanting to do something right by letting person know you heard how you hurt them. When you say I’m sorry I hurt your feelings and I apologize, it sets straight the intent you did not mean to hurt them. It is not an admission of guilt, but a statement of wanting to be reconciled to the person. If you suddenly remember someone has something against you do not hesitate to go and apologize to them - for in doing so you will make peace and prevent future pains.

God's Wisdom in Planning for Our Good

Romans 11:33 (NLT)

33 Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!

In verse 1 of Romans 33 the apostle starts with a question to ponder and then gives a response, “I ask, then, has God rejected his own people, the nation of Israel? Of course not! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham and a member of the tribe of Benjamin.”  The apostle wants to show God’s people that in their trials, tribulations and even in their consequences for rebellion against God - God has provided mercy and grace to His people. In Romans 33 the Apostle tells us how great are God’s riches, which in the Greek language can mean, “abundance of external possessions; fullness, abundance, plenitude; and a good i.e. that with which one is enriched.” Even through suffering there is abundant goodness waiting to take place. For God’s wisdom and knowledge is greater than our own and it is impossible to comprehend the good plans God has for the lives people.

On a January 18, 2010, league night at the Plano Super Bowl, Bill Fong had rolled 33 consecutive strikes. The crowd of fellow league members stopped to watch, as on frame 34, Bill Fong gathered his ball, walked up, and rolled another strike. And then he rolled another on frame 35, and the crowd went wild.

But something was wrong. Two frames back Bill had begun sweating profusely and feeling dizzy. But he was just one roll away from history. Bill pulled the ball to his chest, took his usual five steps, and released the ball perfectly.

People actually started applauding before the ball reached the pins. That's how perfect the roll was. It curved exactly where it was supposed to, made contact with the pins at precisely the right spot. Pins flew, the crowd cheered.

And the number 10 pin wobbled, but settled back onto its base. Standing. 899. One pin short of perfection. Heartbroken, Bill headed home.

The dizziness that began on frame 34 had not improved. Bill staggered into his bathroom and threw up. The walls continued to spin. Bill was having a stroke. Already struggling with high blood pressure, the events of that Monday evening turned a delicate situation into a deadly one.

But Bill never realized he had suffered a stroke until he had another one later. His doctor found scar tissue, and was told about the league night.

The only thing that saved Bill on the night of the 899? That number 10 pin staying up. Had that last pin fell, Bill's doctor feels certain that his body, already in the midst of a stroke, would have pushed his blood pressure even higher. That, most likely, would have killed Bill immediately on lane 28.

[source: Michael J. Mooney, "The Most Amazing Bowling Story Ever," D Magazine (July 2012)]

Sometimes what we feel may be the worst thing of our life may be the very thing God is using to save our life - physically or eternally. For we know even a small deviation in our life can change its very existence and with God directing those changes who knows what abundantly good things await for us.