I saw this pic a very long time ago and saved it as a draft here on the blog. With today being February 1, I thought I’d share it and encourage us all to take the #LoveMe Challenge. Learning to love ourselves can be the first step to learning to truthfully and authentically loving others…
#1 – Why are you doing #loveme challenge?
It will be fun. It might encourage others to join in. It might be an encouragement and a moment to share love and kindness with another…
Too often, as Christians, we allow the enemy of our soul to defeat us, because we forget the promises we have been given. Too often, we lie down in the muck and mire of our lives and allow our circumstances to overwhelm us to the point of suffocation. We lay down our weapons, and we back away from our destiny, because the way seems too long and the fight appears too hard. We read the Scripture that the enemy is like a lion looking to devour us and we believe it, forgetting the rest of the verse that tells us to “resist him, standing firm in the faith!”
We have been given the weaponry to defeat what comes against us! We are not meant to be wimpy, noodle-spined children of God. We are children of a risen KING! We are destined to win this thing, not because we are so strong nor because we are able to be perfect. We are destined to win, because HE HAS ALREADY WON the victory! The Book has already been written. The end has already been determined!
All we have to do is stand firm in His Word. Ephesians 6:13-14 reminds us, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore…” So, if you are feeling weary today, be encouraged! Take up your sword of the Spirit and your shield faith one more time and slay that giant before you. God is with you, and with Him, you cannot fail!
Have you ever been talking to someone, and you feel like holding your breath, because theirs is so overpowering? Have you ever tried to keep your composure while the person speaking to you is breathing an aura of STANK all around your head? Oh! It can be downright suffocating, can’t it? You just want to put a clothespin over your nose, a mask over your face, or even just hand a piece of gum to the person as a great big sign that says, “Please! Go brush your teeth!”
Did you know, HOW we talk can provide this same type of atmosphere? Our words can create an air of pleasantry or putrid disgust around the person to whom we are speaking. It is all in what we talk about. If our talk is of positive things, the atmosphere we create will be like a breath of fresh air, a mint filled aroma or even bubble gum popping fun. However, if our conversation is filled with negativity, gossip or the tearing down of another, it can be as if we just bit into an onion, forgot to floss for a year or even had a mouth full of rotten garbage. Nobody wants to smell that mess!
Let our words be pleasant. Let our speech be charming and cheerful. Let our conversations fill the air with a beautiful aroma, one of which everyone will desire to be a part. There’s actually some truth in momma’s old adage, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all!” 😉
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The soul longs for solitude; yet, it loathes the loneliness. We seek out friends to fill the empty space only to push them away when times get tough. We pull them close for the thrill seeking adventures and shove past them for the broken dreams and torn up paper houses. It’s a constant push and pull to gain the happiness for which we seek.
The mind yearns for stability; yet, it rejects true wisdom and grace. We search for the highest success and desire the richest affairs only to plummet to the depths of despair as we fail the test over and over again. We chase after dreams and compare with the elite, always trying to get ahead only to cheat and compete, biting and clawing at anything or anyone who might come close. It’s a constant push and pull to gain the happiness for which we seek.
The heart cries out for peace and comfort; yet, it wars against silence and truth. We wander, wonder, wishfully believing the noise will bring answers. We go to this philosophy and that fountain of knowledge, always avoiding the absolute, the only true Way. We grasp at this intellect, that debate, and those arguments, never embracing the very One who died once and for all. It’s a constant push and pull to gain the happiness for which we seek.
Can you not feel your soul reaching for His righteousness?
Can you not hear your mind shouting for His faithfulness?
Can you not see your heart bleeding for His unconditional love?
He simply stands there, arms outstretched, awaiting your release.
I watch you from a far
You scrap and scrape for the par
They are all like crabs within the barrel
Pulling you back, never caring your life is imperil
You wander from place to place
Always wondering how to save face
This life you’ve contrived is only a game
Always shielding your heart but finding the same
Lost and confused, bended and broken
Those you gathered only gave you a token
You thought you were reaching your highest goal
Only to find all the searching has only found an empty soul
I long to help you, to lend you a hand
Yet, you push me away, stating it is alone you must stand
My heart cries to see your stubborn desolation to stay
Praying one day you might realize He is the Only Way
Penned – MG – 1/24/17
As I was reading this Scripture today, it made me think of being a fan. Not an electric, “cool you off fan,” but a “I am so excited! I am going to scream and holler for my team” kind of fan.
When you’re a true fan, you follow the team. You get excited when they are on the tv screen, playing national championships or in town for a big game. When you go to the game, you shout, you raise your hands, you get excited over the good things they do in order to win the game.
When we’re a fan, no one has to tell us how to get excited, how to cheer or even how to clap when our team scores. Noone has to instruct us, because we love our team. No one has to encourage us to cheer, because we are passionate about who and what we love!
Yet, too often, when we come to the House of God, we allow our mood to dictate how we react. We allow the circumstances of our lives or the people around us to influence how we worship. We my sit through a whole worship set, and even half the sermon, before we allow our face to crack a smile.
Yet, we say we are “fans” of our God. We tell other people we are passionate about the man who saved us. We express to those around us how we love Him, the man who gave His life that we might live. We share with new converts how we must reach out, share the gospel, and tell the world of the good things He has done, because He brings hope to all.
Really??
If you call yourself a Christian, could you ask yourself today, “Am I really a fan?”
Sometimes in life, we might feel like our circumstances, our fears, our doubts or our troubles will completely consume us. We feel like we can hardly breathe under the weight of it all. Yet, when we have a connection to the Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, we will never be consumed. He loves us so much, and He will see us through.
We will not be consumed, because He is bigger than any problem you can have. His ways are higher. His thoughts are more complex, and when we rely on Him for the answers, He is always faithful. He will never fail. When He is your portion, all you have to do is trust in Him, and He will be enough.
Sometimes, our problem is in the waiting. Often, we don’t allow ourselves to get still for even a moment, much less wait on Him to meet our need. However, if we will give Him the opportunity, He is just waiting to be our portion, everything we could ever hope for and more. 💗
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” Lamentations 3:22-24 (NIV)
Watching the snow fall late Friday night, I was reminded of this Scripture in 2 Corinthians 5, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” Just as the snow appears to “wash” everything in a beauty of white, Christ’s salvation makes our hearts pure and clean again.
Salvation doesn’t cost us a thing. It is not something we can earn. It is not something that we deserve. Salvation is a gift from our Heavenly Father, and we simply must believe and accept it as our own. Salvation is freely given, and it’s freely received.
When we receive it, we are a new creation in Him. All things are past away. All things are made new. That means our past sins are forgotten and washed away by Him. Never to be remembered again. When we accept Him as our Savior, our Lord, we don’t have to return to those old habits, those old ways and those old lifestyles that brought sorrow, brokenness and eternal death.
We can have a second chance at a whole new outcome.
How about allowing a little bit of that snow to wash over your heart?
I walk down this broken road of memories
The dreams that once were, crashed along the side
The joys filled the hours and the laughter rang out for days
I could glory in those moments that once were
Yet I would be mistaken, for those were days filled with smiles and with pain
As time moves on, we seem to embrace the sunshine and push away the clouds
We forget the misery of which we survived
We put away the those heartaches, praying they will never come again
If I only grasp the good and never the bad, I cheat myself and I cheat you
For in the sorrow, wisdom can be found
In the brokenness and the tragedy, grace is remembered
Throughout my agony and distress, that is where His strength and love is deepest know
Penned – MG – 1/2/17
Knowing Christ and surrendering our lives to Him can give us a fresh new start. He simply washed away all sin, as if we have a brand new, clean slate. Isn’t that awesome?
Now, please understand. Committing your life to Christ doesn’t mean your relationships are instantly made perfect or that traffic ticket is somehow demolished or even that your past due bills are miraculously paid off with no effort from you. No, sometimes, the consequences to or wrong actions are still there, and we have to walk through those painful experiences still. However, as we commit our lives to Him, all of a sudden, we are not alone anymore. We don’t have to be fearful anymore, and we don’t have to dread the future or lament over the past. Our past no longer defines our future when Christ is at the center, because He now defines it.
He gives us a second chance, a chance we don’t deserve, and we can’t earn. He gives us grace, meaning we have unmerited favor simply because He loves us. He shows us His mercy, not because He needs us, but because we so desperately need Him!Now, that is something to look forward to. That is something that should make your New Years a pretty good one! 😉
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