Tag: christian faith

Jesus, Our Very Present Help

Psalm 46:1 ESV, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

The Lord is always present with us. He’s there to help us. He will give us the strength we need daily, and will protect us from harm. As you you face this new day, remember He is your refuge. There is no tribulation that will come your way that He is not aware of. There is no trial you must endure that He cannot carry you through.

May your heart be filled with joy, peace, and comfort as you rejoice in our Risen Savior. Jesus is our living hope and He will never fail us.

When You Feel Like You’ve Failed God

We’ve all had these moments, days or even seasons where we feel we have failed God. When we go through these times where we feel like we are “less than” in God’s eyes, He still loves us. He doesn’t have the ability to stop loving us. His love for us endures forever.

pexels-photo-1161268When we fail, it can cause us to want to draw away from Christ, but instead of drawing away, He desires for us to draw closer to Him. He always fully accepts us, just as we are. Remember His love perseveres through our setbacks, our anger, our disappointments, and even our rebellion. His dreams for you don’t go away because you have failed. He never gives up on you. He is a perfect Father who loves you perfectly.

When we fall into sin, it breaks His heart if we choose to ignore His love for us and go the other way. He wants us to know Him intimately enough to understand that even in our sin, His love for us still persist. After all, Jesus died for us while we were sinners.

Romans 5:8 (NLT), “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.“

Does He desire for us to repent and refocus on Him? Yes He does. He wants us to abandon our sinful ways the same way we want our loved ones to do better when things are wrong in their lives. God really, really loves us. If need be, He will discipline us to get our attention when we insist upon disobeying His instruction. Hebrews 12:6 reminds us that the Lord disciplines those He loves, just like we as earthly parents discipline our children.

One thing is for certain, God’s discipline will always be done with unconditional love. His discipline is intertwined with His mercy, and is measured out according to what He knows will benefit us most. I’ve been on the receiving end of God’s discipline. Although it doesn’t feel good, it is good for me. I’m thankful for His discipline, because it has helped me to become a better woman. I want to be all He wants me to be, and I know you do too. Part of us walking in our purpose is submitting to God’s divine discipline in our lives.

Thank you Lord for your loving discipline and your sweet mercy!

 Are you feeling like you’ve failed God today? Maybe it’s something that you did last night or last week. Maybe it’s something from your distant past that you can’t seem to shake. Whatever the case, God loves you and regardless of how you may feel right now, He has never stopped loving you. Just repent, receive His forgiveness and allow His love to begin healing your heart. His healing may happen instantly or it may happen slowly, one day at a time. Which ever way The Holy Spirit of God chooses to work in your life, He will bring healing and restoration if you will only trust Him.

 

Don’t Cry!

Luke 7:13 (NLT), “When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said.”

In this story in the book of Luke, a widow had lost her only son. The funeral was in progress when Jesus saw her. He ended up walking over to the coffin, touching it, and speaking to the deceased boy. He told him to, “Get up!” The boy sat up and begin to talk! Then Jesus gave him back to his mother.

Our Lord Jesus has a heart that overflows with compassion for each of us. When we are hurting, he feels our pain and sees our tears. His words to us are the same that they were to this widow, “Don’t cry!”  He is ready to touch our hearts and speak life into situations that appear to be dead. With Him, it’s never too late for things to turn around.

The same compassion that Jesus extends to us, we are able to extend to others when we have accepted Him as our Savior and Lord. Praying regularly keeps us closely connected to His heart, so that we can sense another person’s hurt and pain. We can call out to them and say, “Don’t cry!” We can offer them comfort because we ourselves know the Comforter.

There are a lot of reasons to cry as we look at the condition of the world around us, as well as the situations we must face in our own lives. However, Jesus is calling out to us with compassion, eager to dry our tears and bring healing.

So…

Don’t Cry! He is working things out for you!

Father,

How amazing it is that You see our every need, hear our every cry, and feel our every pain. When we rejoice, You rejoice. When we mourn, You mourn with us. Thank you for being a God who is concerned. Thank you for being eager to bring healing to our hearts and comfort to our souls. Thank you for having a heart that overflows with compassion. Please help us to treat others the exact same way, so we will be a true reflection of Your love.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

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But the Gift of God is Eternal Life (part 1)

Romans 6:23(NLT), “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

When we’re in Christ sin no longer has dominion over us. We may struggle with certain sins, but that struggle does not define who we are because through the blood of Christ we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). He overcame all sin when He died on the cross. However He didn’t just die, He also rose again showing us even further that He has conquered sin once and for all. We have our flesh that wants to enjoy the pleasures of sin and we also have God’s Spirit who convicts us of sin, because He knows the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life (Roman 6:23). No matter how good sin may feel to us at the time, we are told that sin when full-grown leads to death (James 1:15). It starts off small and keeps growing. If we choose to persist in sin, some type of death is impending rather it be spiritual, emotional, mental, or even physical. When we turn on the TV and see chaos and tragedy on the news,  much of what we are seeing is a result of sin that has become full-grown and lead to some type of death.

plant flower rose blossom

Not one of us is without sin, for all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). It’s just a matter of how we choose to handle it. I’ve struggled with certain sins like anyone else, but I can remember God telling me, “This is not who you are.” The enemy of our souls (and the society we live in), will work overtime to try to convince us that sin is acceptable or even worse, that it’s just who we are. It’s not acceptable and it’s definitely not who we are. When we have accepted Jesus as Lord of our lives, we have a way out. He will give us strength to resist sin. If we fall into sin, we can repent in the name of Jesus and move on. He has promised us that He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Unconfessed sin leads to death, but accepting Jesus Christ leads to life (John 14:6).

Choose Life!

Continuing Reading: But the Gift of God is Eternal Life (Part 2)

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