Category: grace
Lemonade is best when shared
You just never know when something happens in your life, how God might use it.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-7
Our troubles, our trials, our temptations, our pain and suffering, all our experiences pleasant and unpleasant, are never wasted…Not Ever!
Every experience we have, God can, and will use – none of them are by accident or coincidence. They are by our choice, the choices others make, or by God’s design. but no matter how they come about they are no surprise to God. Nothing get’s past Him.
My favorite scripture, the one I quote the most is Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Everything in our lives God can, and will work for good, EVERYTHING! There is nothing that has happened, is happening, or can ever happen, that God can not sovereignly craft into good. God is good, He can only bring forth that which He is. God can’t bring forth evil, only good. It’s like the saying, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” God created the trees the lemons fell from, the juicer you used to squeeze them, and the abundant sweetness of His grace to bring out the flavor.
Sometimes those experiences that bring us the most pain and anguish are the very ones He’ll use to bring us the greatest joy, often by being able to help others. Just as the scripture tells us, Jesus comforts us in all our troubles, so we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves received from God. I was reminded of this recently when I had the opportunity to share some of my experiences with someone walking a very similar path. I was able to share with them what God did for my family in the situation, how He walked us through a very dark and difficult time. I was able to offer comfort to others in their troubles, just as God had comforted me in mine. He comforts us, so we can in turn, comfort others.
God allows us to walk through hard times so we learn to rely on Him, and then to share that experience as a help – a comfort to others. Just as lemonade is sweetest when shared with others, God’s work in our lives is even more of a blessing when we can use it to help those around us. It’s never about us, its always about Him – Him, inviting us to come along for the ride and be part of this incredible Christian journey – a journey we’re on together.
Next time things get hard, instead of asking, ‘why God, why this, why now, why me?’, ask how can this help others, how can you use this God to help me grow, and what can I learn from this? God will not let any of your experiences go to waste, there are people who will be comforted by you sharing with them how God comforted you.
Let God surprise and bless you in this new year as we walk in the path He created for us!
Please help me share the good news of Jesus and how He can change your life, and our world!
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come back and visit at ListenLearn.Live Ministries
Language of 2021
Could you imagine just 12 months ago that some of the words so commonplace today would commandeer so much of our daily conversation?
As a child of the 80’s when someone made the comment, “they tested positive”, it held an entirely different meaning. You may have a preconceived idea, HIV, Ebola, Bird Flu, but inevitably you’d ask, “positive for what?” However, in January of 2021 you wouldn’t have to ask that question because the answer is so well known.
Terms like, testing positive, shelter in place, virtual classroom, socially distanced, lockdown, quarantine, and vaccine, all bring to mind very similar meaning and images. We don’t really need to ask what anyone means when these words are mentioned because the entire planet is embroiled in a global pandemic. We’re all facing similar challenges, though in varying degrees. Can you imagine any time in world history where the entire human population had so much in common? Unfortunately, it seems, in this unprecedented time of commonality we are more divided than ever.
I’ve struggled this year with the disconnection between what we are capable of doing when we work together and what we are capable of doing when we’re driven by our differences. On the one hand we show extravagant generosity by reaching out and supporting one another in unprecedented ways and numbers. Demonstrating our ability to love, support, uplift, and help one another. On the other hand, we continue to demean, divide, and devise ways to debase, and destroy those who think differently than we do. People we don’t even know become our enemies because of something we read, or heard, or saw on the internet or TV. How can we be at once so capable of love and at the same time capable of such hatred?
We read in scripture that when we build our lives on the truth of Jesus, “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:24-27
When we choose to build our lives, live our lives on the foundation of Jesus Christ, our hearts full of love can change the world. When we choose to build our lives and live our lives on a foundation created by this world, created by our own hearts and hands, it will come crashing down around our ears. We’ve all witnessed it this year.
Right now, our commonality is based on a common enemy. That enemy is not other people, it’s an infection. Our common enemy is not a politician, political party, or policy, it’s an infection. Instead of fighting over who is right or wrong and creating greater division amongst people who are equally affected, lets decide that we are not each other’s enemy and allow God to work in our lives through these trying times.
Let’s decide to make our common language with words and actions guided by the Holy Spirit, not by words derived from this world.
“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” Galatians 5:19-26
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, if these were to become the words that we all have in common and all understand, without question or confusion, what would our world be like? What could we accomplish, what would our conversations be? Even during a global pandemic our world be a better place than it is now because we’d work together as a united family to overcome and grow through the trials placed before us. No longer as enemies, but as friends and beloved family.
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? “ Romans 8:31-35
Let God surprise and bless you in this new year as we walk in the path He created for us!
Please help me share the good news of Jesus and how He can change your life, and our world!
Like, share, comment, and add your email to receive blog posts, podcasts, and more!
come back and visit at ListenLearn.Live Ministries
Jesus knows your heart
“Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.” John 2:23-25
Throughout the Gospels those who both followed and opposed Jesus would clamor for a sign. They wanted proof that He was who He said He was. They wanted Jesus to prove His lineage, authority, divinity, and sovereignty. They wanted Jesus to somehow demonstrate His fullness to them in a way that would remove all doubt from their minds that He was the Son of God, that He was (is) God.
It makes me wonder, what exactly did they want Him to do? What kind of miracle would enough for them to believe? Is there really anything that He could have done that would have convinced them?
He turned water to wine, made the lame walk, the blind see, loosed tongues, bound demons, healed the sick, and raised the dead. In His final miracle He, Jesus Himself, was raised by the Father. In a world bound by doubt was there actually anything that He could have done that would convince them?
In Matthew 16 the Pharisees and Sadducees asked Jesus for a sign from heaven, “He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.” Matt 16:2-4
I don’t know what exactly the Pharisees and Sadducees were hoping Jesus would do. I’m sure they hoped to trap Him in some way or to disprove before the masses who He said He is. Perhaps in their hearts they hoped He would or could do something, anything, to convince them. At the end of the day, they didn’t really want it to be true, they wanted Him not to be the Messiah because that would ultimately mean they were on the wrong side of God. If Jesus had proved to them who He said He was, they would have to give up their power, authority, influence and wealth. They would be forced to accept that they had put the law before love and had failed miserably.
What more could Jesus have done? There is nothing He could have done, because at the end of the day we each have to believe. We have to trust that what we saw, felt, heard, experienced was from God. We can explain away, make excuses, and divert responsibility until we are blue in the face. In the end we have to make the choice to believe, not just in the miracle, but in the power of the one who performed it, Jesus.
In the opening scripture it reads that, “Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people.” Jesus was not going to reveal Himself fully to those who chose not to believe. What would be the point? How can someone begin to understand all thing things Jesus was trying to teach them if they did not believe in the person of the one teaching it? In other words how would they take Jesus at His word, if they did not believe that He is who He claimed? Would you listen and follow the teachings of a plumber who was telling you how to be a surgeon?
Jesus did not entrust Himself to those who were awed by His works but not by His person.
Faith is a choice. If Jesus appeared before you in person, would you recognize Him? If he stood there performing miracles would you believe that He was who He said, or would you continue down the path of the scientific method trying to disprove all that He does and says until no other explanation could be found and still claim the impossibility of it all?
Is there any miracle Jesus could perform in your life that would lead you to believe that He is all the things the Bible states, and will fulfill all the promises that God has made to His people?
We live in a world of doubt, a world held captive by fear and uncertainty. We don’t know who to listen to and believe. We don’t know if what we see and hear is true or false. We are pulled by voices and images coming from every direction. Jesus tells us, “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:10-14
Jesus still performs miracles and signs today. The Holy Spirit is active in our world. Will our hearts recognize them for who they are and what they are doing, or will we continue to explain it all away as coincidence or our own doing? Will we chose to believe in the person of Jesus and receive all that He intends, or wonder at His miraculous works and never know the person.
The scripture above states, “Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people.” The reverse is equally true, to those who believe in Jesus, He will entrust Himself to them, for He knows in their hearts they believe.
Test Jesus, put your faith in Him, give Him the opportunity to show you His love for you through His promises, provision, faithfulness, and love. He will never let you down, He will never leave or forsake you. Decide today to give into the knocking you hear on your heart and let Him in.
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that 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 all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Matthew 8:31-40
Let God surprise and bless you in this new year!
Please help me share the good news of Jesus and how He can change your life, and our world!
Like, share, comment, and add your email to receive blog posts, podcasts, and more!
come back and visit at ListenLearn.Live Ministries
T-Minus 2 Days till 2021 – Lord keep me salty.
In the book of Nehemiah we hear a litany described of God’s faithfulness followed by Israel’s disobedience. Beginning in Chapter 9 verse 5b Nehemiah lists no less than 5 times where God upheld his promises only to be cast aside. Israel chooses to make their own gods, follow foreign gods, and conquered by foreign gods. In each instance God’s faithfulness is unswerving. He never turns from His plan of salvation, His love never ends.
“You made a name for yourself which remains to this day.” v.10
“Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness.” v.19
“You gave them kingdoms and nations, allotting to them even the remotest frontiers.” v.22
“They ate to the full and were well-nourished; they reveled in your great goodness.” v.25
“From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion you gave them deliverers, who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.” v.27
The history of God is his story of deliverance, unwavering commitment, and love, in the face of our disobedience. We haven’t changed much in the time since these words were written. We still profess our love and commitment to Jesus and then allow ourselves to be distracted by the world as soon as things are going smooth again. We cry out to God in our times of stress, pain, fear, and anguish, then forget what He’s done for us when we’re sailing on calm waters.
I believe that this is what Jesus meant when he told his disciples to be salt and light. He calls us to flavor the world with his message and when we stop doing that, what is our reason for existing? We aren’t good for much except to be thrown underfoot and tramped on by the world.
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” Matthew 5:13
Simply put I want my life to be about Jesus. Not just when things are hard and I’m looking for his intervention on my behalf, when I’m crying out for help. I want my life to be about Jesus all the time, in the good and hard times. I want to praise him in everything I do, I want to share him with everyone I meet. I want to bring a shaker full of Jesus to sprinkle everywhere I go, kind of like salt, he brings out the best in everything.
Jesus help me to be salt to the world, let your Spirit’s presence be so strong in me that it flavors every part of my life. So much so that those around me want a taste of it too.
Please help me share the good news of Jesus and how He can change your life, and our world!
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come back and visit at ListenLearn.Live Ministries
T-Minus 3 Days till 2021 – Lord give me a new heart.
I am not big on New Year’s resolutions, never really have been. Oh, don’t get me wrong I’ve made a few now and again, usually something trite or superficial having to do with the way I look or how I want others to see me. This year however, is different. I think we can all agree that 2020 has been like nothing we’ve ever seen, and we’re all hoping, never to see again.
2020 has brought changes in all of us that require a second look, a moment to ponder our lives, our experiences, and ultimately our future. So, over the next few days, leading up to the close of 2020 and the hopeful ringing in of 2021, I want to share with you my resolutions. Well, they are actually more prayers for intervention into my life. I am expectant for what God is going to do in my life and the lives of my family and my church in the days and months ahead. I am expectant because I believe that these are what God has placed in my heart, and how he wants me to move forward into 2021. I know that when we accept Jesus, it is the ultimate new beginning, as is each day we get up and reconfirm that decision. I also know there are times in our lives that God moves in our hearts to reflect on those decisions and how they are (or are not) being played out in our day-to-day lives. New Year’s seems an almost natural time for us to pray about those area’s that the Holy Spirit has either convinced or convicted and ask God to help us make a fresh start.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:26-27
Just as God promised his people that he would give them a new heart and a new spirit, and that he would move them to follow his degrees and keep his laws. I am praying the same for myself and my family.
Lord, give me a new heart. Give me a heart to love your people the way you do. Help me to love them where they are not where I might want them to be. Philippians 2:1-3
Lord teach me to forgive and give me a short memory. Help me to remember that the people of this world are not my enemy, Ephesians 6:12
Lord help me to be patient, kind, understanding, generous, and respectful to everyone I meet, regardless of their treatment of me. Romans 5:2-4
This year I have struggled with seeing people through God’s own heart. So much of my struggle and frustration has stemmed from me seeing those around me in an adversarial way. Those around me, although they may have different opinions, thoughts, feelings, habits, reactions, and perceptions than me, are not my enemy. They are God’s children, just as I am. We are all in the same boat and walking through the same world. My prayer for this next year is that God will give me a new heart and place a new spirit in me. I ask him to turn that heart of flesh toward him and toward those around me. Lord fill my heart with compassion and understanding and let my life reflect all that you have done for me.
Pease help me share the good news of Jesus and how He can change your life, and our world!
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come back and visit at ListenLearn.Live Ministries
Easy and hard, we have it backwards
I was having a conversation the other day with a friend who was facing a dilemma. She knows the right decision to make, she knows the wrong decision to make. She knows the wrong decision is going to cause long term pain and suffering while providing immediate satisfaction. This is not an uncommon conversation, someone comes to you, wanting your support for a decision they know they shouldn’t make, but they give 101 reasons why it will make them happier…in the short term.
What struck me was the comment she made, it’s one we’ve all heard, and I’m sure agreed with, for the most part. She said, “Why is choosing the right path always so hard?” The right decision is always the hard decision, the decision that is going to require sacrifice or cause pain. The wrong decision is the easy decision, the one that brings the most immediate satisfaction.
As I thought about this on my way home after the conversation, I think we have this concept of right being hard and painful and wrong being easy and satisfactory, backwards. We believe that to do right we have to suffer and to do wrong we are indulging our fleshly passions. First when I state right and wrong, I’m talking about sin; specifically, when we are faced with choices to love God first, and then others as ourselves, or the choice to place our fleshly wants and needs above loving God first and others as ourselves. When you think about it, those are the only choices that really matter.
We have a mindset, and we share it with others, that to love God first and others as ourselves (that is a very important statement found in Matthew 22:36-40) means we must suffer, it will be a grueling decision that will cause short term pain and maybe long-term gain. I want you to listen to Jesus own words, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus tells us that he is humble, we’ll find rest in him and that his burden is light. The reason that we struggle with the right decision (love God first and then others as ourselves) is that we are constantly battling with the world. We are constantly at war with what our sinful nature wants, not what the Holy Spirit in us wants. The battle is self-inflicted. When we chose God, when we chose love then as long as we stand with those choices and don’t stray from that path the choice to love is easy.
“You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Psalm 16:11
“The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” Proverbs 4:18
“Feet trample it down— the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor. The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth. Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.” Isaiah 26:6-8
When we follow the path that Jesus has laid out for us; Love God first and others as ourselves, our life, our choices will be dictated by love. The only pain or loss we’ll feel is that of the world, and the more we chose life over death the less we’ll feel that sting.
Doing what is right means we are giving up on the things of this world that lead us to death. Choosing right, then, should be the easy decision. Living for immediate gratification from things of this world that are temporary and will disappear, only leads to wanting more things of this world for immediate gratification from things of this world that are temporary and will fade away. This choice is a vicious cycle of insatiable want that will never end and leads to death. The pain in that cycle is eternal dissatisfaction with who we are, what we have, and how to get more, because it will never be enough.
The simplest way I can state this; love is the easy decision. Loving God first and others as ourselves is the only thing that can satisfy our souls. Truly satisfy, as in we will not want anything else. The hard decision, the one that brings unending pain and suffering is the one that seems to bring immediate satisfaction, but it soon fades and leads to greater and greater need for more to fill the never-ending gaping hole in our lives.
The choice, then, is easy; eternal life by loving God first then others as ourselves. When we are truly satisfied by Christ and that abundant blessing is overflowing from us to others, even when the storms of live are brewing around us, and circumstances are trying to make us forget that we have everything, we can stand firm knowing that the storm will pass, and we will be with Christ victorious. Storms subside, always. Trials cease, always. Christ’s love, forgiveness, peace, patience, kindness, and grace are boundless, unceasing, and eternal.
The hard choice is the one we make that keeps us in bondage to the world of suffering, pain, loss, and confusion, that always leads to death. The easy choice is Christ, that always leads to life.
Pease help me share the good news of Jesus and how He can change your life, and our world!
Like, share, comment, and add your email to receive more blog posts, podcasts, and more!
come back and visit at ListenLearn.Live Ministries