One Lost Sheep

In Luke 15:1-7, Jesus shares the parable of the lost sheep to further reveal the heart of God to us. In it we see that God's love is so merciful and personal that He notices and pursues even one erring sheep.   How amazing that our God is intimately concerned with those who have strayed from His fold. When He finds the sheep in Luke 15:5, "He joyfully puts it on his shoulders" and carries the sheep all the way home. The shepherd never sets the sheep down but carries the entire burden on His strong shoulders.   Likewise, Christ stands ready to take on all of our burdens, whether physical infirmities, heartbreaks, or worries. He has shoulders capable of bearing any weight we are willing to give up to Him. Your burdens become His burdens as you rest in Him.   Christ pursues us, saves us, carries us, and rejoices over us. Luke 15:6 says the shepherd calls his friends and neighbors together and says, "Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep."   How long has it been since you brought so much joy to someone that the person wanted to throw you a party? How does it feel to know that your salvation brings such joy to our Almighty God?   Easter is about God's greatest expression of love for you. He stepped down from His throne in Heaven to come, seek and save each one who is lost.   Prayer:    Lord, help me to fully understand how extravagantly You love me. Help me to remember that   You are my shepherd and have given everything, including Your life, to rescue me. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.   "The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love" (Psalm 145:8).     (Via -Michael Youssef)   Be Blessed!!!   Dawn

 

Simply Trusting

 

Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. —Psalm 56:3

When our children were young, taking them to the doctor’s office was an interesting experience. The waiting room was filled with toys they could play with and children’s magazines I would read to them. So getting that far with them was no problem. But as soon as I picked them up to carry them into the appointment, everything changed. Suddenly the fun turned into fear as the nurse approached with the needle for the needed shot. The closer she got, the tighter they hugged my neck. They would cling to me for comfort, probably hoping for rescue, not knowing that it was for their own good.

Sometimes in this fallen world we move from times of peace and tranquility into the painful realm of trouble. At that point, the question is, “How will I respond?” We can be fearful and wonder why God allowed this to happen to us, or we can trust that in the midst of this trouble He is doing something that in the end is for our best, even if it hurts. We would do well to remember the words of the psalmist who wrote, “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You” (Ps. 56:3).

Like my children, the tougher it gets, the tighter we should hug His neck. Trust Him. His love never fails!

Come quickly, Lord, to help me. Teach me to trust You in times of trouble. Remind me of Your presence and of the fact that You hold me in Your loving arms.

Cling to your heavenly Father; He is your only hope.

Be Blessed!

Dawn

The Choice to Obey

Charles Spurgeon once wrote, "The first thing God requires of His child is obedience." But human nature often rebels against obedience.

The Bible is full of examples of individuals who disobeyed God. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Lot's wife blatantly looked back to see the destruction of Sodom. Jonah refused to go to Nineveh. Moses struck the rock, instead of speaking to it as God commanded.

We all can remember incidents when we have disobeyedwhether it was against an authority figure, a law of the land, or a biblical principle. Most likely we even remember our punishment or the consequences we suffered. The act of disobedience brings guilt, sadness, and shame.

There is no long-lasting pleasure in getting our own way. It brings grief to our heavenly Father because He longs for us to walk with Him. Our disobedience separates us from Him. Yet God extends His grace toward us even when we disobey His Word. Therefore, our response should be to seek His forgiveness with a repentant heart and to learn from the consequences of our disobedience.

When we face a hard decision to choose between what is right and what we want, how do we respond? No matter how you may be ridiculed or how hard it may be to follow God's guidance, obedience is its own reward.

Jesus lived a life of obedience. His earthly ministry was to do the will of His Father. Like us, Jesus had a choice, and He said, "Not my will, but yours" (Luke 22:42). The Lord desires our obedience, but He never demands it. The choice is ours.

 

Prayer: Lord, I pray that my love for You would not be based on feelings, but evidenced by my obedience. Thank You for the grace and patience You show me as I learn to walk in obedience to You. Amen

 

“And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands” (2 John 1:6).

(Via By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.) 


BE BLESSED!
DAWN

 

The Secret Place

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  —Psalm 91:1   When you were a child, did you ever have a hiding place — a place you would run to when you were afraid or wanted to be alone?  God wants to be your hiding place. The good news is that you can retreat to this hiding place wherever you are. When you are tied up in bumper-to-bumper traffic, you can retreat there. When you are having a conflict at work and don't know what to say or how to deal with it, you can immediately retreat into that secret place of the Most High as you live in fellowship and  communion with God.   It is not only dwelling there, but it is living under the shadow of the Almighty. Have you ever tried to walk in someone's shadow? It can be done, but you have to stay really close. That is exactly the picture here in Psalm 91:1. God is saying, "I want you to be so close that you are actually in My very shadow." If you do that, it will give you the courage to face life.   Remember the story of the great prophet Elijah, who boldly stormed into the court of wicked King Ahab and Queen Jezebel and declared that it would not rain, except at his word? Where did he get the courage to pull off something like that? Though Elijah was in the court of powerful monarchs, he recognized that at the same time, he was in the presence of an even more powerful Monarch. He was dwelling in the secret place of the Most High.   If you kneel before God, you can stand before any man. Are you walking in this fellowship with  Him? [Via James MacDonald]

The Real Reason God Loves You

Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in (Isaiah 40:21–22, ESV)?

Imagine a summer night, sitting on the deck with family and friends. Low in the background is the familiar hum of grasshoppers. How much do grasshoppers in the lawn affect your evening? Not much—they hardly even register. Isaiah likens grasshoppers to the entire human race before God and His awesome purposes (40:22).

While God sits, stretches, andspreads—the powerful verbs Isaiah uses to describe His effortless, universe-shaping work—we squeak, like a pack of tiny grasshoppers hidden in the grass. That’s a healthy dose of perspective. We might envision ourselves as critical to the Lord’s plan, but we aren’t. He doesn’t need us. He doesn’t need anyone.

 When you face that sobering truth, your natural response might be, “Don’t I matter at all to God?” That’s not the point. The point is that God loves you because He chooses to.

 Get rid of the twisted thinking that God loves you because He saw something in you that attracted Him. While that may be how human relationships work, don’t project those motives onto the Lord. God loves you because He chooses to.

 At first that feels hard to swallow. We might think, I want God to care for me because He really likes me. But if He only loves us because of who we are, then we have to lie to ourselves about who we are in order to earn His love. We have to see ourselves as good and worthy, full of redeeming and admirable qualities. The Bible assures us we aren’t good (Psalm 14:3), and our “good deeds” don’t impress God (Isaiah 64:6). He doesn’t love us any more—or any less—because of who we are or what we do. He loves us simply because in His mercy He chooses to.

How freeing! There’s no risk of losing God’s love. You can’t forfeit His love because of who you are, no matter how corrupt your heart. You’re not removed from His love because of what you’ve done, no matter how vile your sins. You can never step outside the circle of God’s love, no matter who you are or what you do—because it’s not about you; it’s about Him.

Let’s humbly change our perspectives. This may need to be a daily exercise so you don’t default to your natural way of thinking. Remind yourself of these truths: I am loved because God loves me. What’s good in me is Christ in me. Stop worrying about your performance, constantly trying to prove to God, to yourself, or to others how good and worthy you are.

Only then will you discover the freedom to love God more fully, because you understand how little any of us deserve His love. And only then will you find the freedom to love others more freely, because you are simply passing on what you’ve freely received.

Journal 

Many of us subconsciously try to perform for God and others. How do you see that in yourself?

God loves you unconditionally, simply because He chooses to. How does that truth change the way you treat God? And others?

Pray

God of all grace, thank You for choosing to love me and for reminding me I can stop trying to earn Your love. I can never be good enough or do enough good things to impress You. When I’m honest I see that I’m small, sinful, and weak. And when I realize how much You’ve forgiven me, my love for You grows. Help me to live in the freedom of grace, accepting that You love me no matter what. Just as I have freely received Your grace, help me freely give grace to others—all because of Jesus, in whose name I pray, amen.

 

Be Blessed!

Dawn

 

Understanding the Roadblock

Today's Prayer

Father, thank you for your comforting promise that you will never leave nor forsake me. In times like today, I need that assurance. You are my Rock and my Salvation. I trust you, even when I feel like I cannot trust anyone else. I look up to you, because I know you will always be there for me, even if the whole world forsakes me. Thank you, so much, for your love and dependability. You are awesome! With love and appreciation in my heart, amen.

Understanding the Roadblock

  "And Joshua said, 'Ah, Sovereign Lord, why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan!'" - Joshua 7:7

Have you ever felt like you were doing what God wanted you to do, but your plans were totally frustrated? This was how Joshua felt.

The Lord had been with the people of Israel as they entered the Promised Land. They defeated every enemy because of God's blessing and protection. They had just taken the city of Jericho. The next battle was the city of Ai. They scouted the enemy and determined it would require only 3,000 men to defeat them. They attacked, and soon the reports came back that they were being routed. Joshua could not understand this. He cried out to God asking why this was happening.

The Lord said to Joshua, "Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned; they have violated My covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction" (Joshua 7:10-12).

Whenever we open ourselves up to sin, we become liable. God removes His protective shield from our lives in order for the sin in our lives to be purged out. He often uses the enemy of our souls to accomplish the task. If you feel you are being thwarted in some way, examine your life to see if there is any sin that is the cause of the problem. Adversity is not always due to sin, but it can be. Ask Him. He will show you. As with Joshua, God immediately answered this prayer when Joshua asked. He desires for His children to live in a right relationship with Him.

Via Os Hillman

 

Be Blessed!!

 

Dawn

The Identity of the Word

14) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15) (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16) And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17) For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. —John 1:14-17


To the Jews in New Testament days, the term Word referred to the Word of God. The Word was the revelation that came from God. They had the written Old Testament. So the Word meant God’s revelation of Himself. It is brilliant that John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, didn’t coin some new term. His audience knew there was a Word. John made the connection: The Word is Jesus!

But because we don’t have the background, John’s language doesn’t click for us like it did in the first century. Hopefully now the point will be clearer to you when John says in John 1:14, “And the Word (the revelation of God; the rational principle by which everything exists, who is Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us.”

Isn’t Christianity revolutionary? Because Christianity says, Oh yeah, there’s a Word all right! Not unreachable or unknowable as the Greeks taught! Certainly the Source of all rational thought who created all the order in the universe. And His name is Jesus!

Jesus Christ is the Word of God who “became flesh.” That’s the headline of the Gospel—that God didn’t leave us in our sin but He came to do for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves.

Now John tells us his role as an eyewitness: “We have seen his glory.” But John means more than just seeing Jesus, the man. We saw and we recognized “his glory.”

Glory is God’s fingerprint; His signature. Glory is anything in the universe that indicates there is a God—whether it’s a beautiful mountain-scape or the stars at night or the human eye. Jesus’ life exuded glory!

John goes on to say, “Glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Now notice John didn’t focus on Jesus’ love and kindness, though He certainly had those traits. And he didn’t highlight Jesus’ obvious wisdom.

John, Jesus’ closest friend, reports, “The glory of Jesus was; He was “full of grace and truth.” Nothing He did with truth diminished His grace. And nothing Jesus did with grace diminished truth. He was full of grace and truth. That’s what I’m going for every day. I’m spending the rest of my life on that point. That’s the glory of Jesus—full of grace and full of truth.



Journal

Do I gravitate more toward grace or truth?

In what ways do I need to adjust so I’m seeking to have my life be marked by both grace and truth?



Prayer
Eternal Father, it doesn’t surprise me that Your Son was full of grace and truth, because He is the exact and full image of You. Because He emptied Himself, You have recognized His special role and given Him a name above every name. I gladly bow at His feet. And while I live on this earth I want to follow where He leads, longing to have Him generate His grace and truth in my life. In Jesus’ strong name, Amen.

(Via James MacDonald)

Be Blessed!

Dawn