Always Working

Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” John 5:17 (NIV)

As I walked into the room, he looked up. He asked me to come talk to him. When he started talking he said “I know God is part of your life. I need advice and I would like you to pray and ask God what I am supposed to do.” I responded with “That’s not how it works. You are supposed to pray and ask God what He wants you to do“. My friend went on to tell me that he walked away from God many years ago. He was sure God wouldn’t want to talk to him. 

We talked. I shared that I knew God wanted to talk to him....that God wanted to have a relationship with him and if he was interested in getting to know God, I would be happy to meet with him and share. 

A few weeks later he called. He wanted to start his journey. We started meeting and my friend has fallen in love with Jesus and is seeking to grow closer to Him. PRAISE!

I share this story because I think, pray and talk a lot about waiting on God. It almost gives the impression that while I am waiting, God isn’t doing anything. Which is so far from the truth. God is always working. He is always talking and moving in people’s hearts. Sure, I am waiting on specific things but all around my waiting are these amazing miracles. Any time someone is convinced that God is there and He is involved, it is a miracle.

Like the woman who was doing something at work that she felt was wrong. One day she decided she had to stand for what she believed in. She committed to going to work that week and talking to her boss. Before she even got to that point, she lost her job. But guess what? She had a job the very next day working for someone who prays over her business decisions. God was at work.

A young man was looking for a job. He commented that God is not involved in our everyday lives. We prayed together. The next week he went on three interviews and got a job offer at all three. During one of the interviews the owner of the business talked about God and something God said during prayer. This young man took that job. Later he said “I guess God is interested in what is happening in my life.”

Another woman had an addiction. She knew she wasn’t happy and she wanted more. She started on the journey to know Jesus. She’s been free of her addiction for 11 months! God is working in her life and she is beginning the process of helping others who have addictions. 

God is always working. He is moving in hearts and lives to call as many of His children into a relationship with Him. He wants them all to respond to His invitation. Won’t you come? Come and know the boundless love of your Father. Do you already know? If so, come join with Him to point people to Jesus. There is work to do in the waiting.

Not One Thing

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. Romans 8:38 (NLT)

There is a song by Matthew West called The God Who Stays. There is a line in it that really spoke to me recently. It says:

Somehow you don’t see me like I do.

WOW! Each of us sees ourselves negatively now and then. In reality, more than we should. We beat ourselves up for things we’ve done in the past, for sins we’ve committed recently and even for things we didn’t do but think we should have done. Thoughts pop into our heads about how we could do better or opportunities we’ve missed.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for healthy conviction from the Holy Spirit but the voices from Him, the thoughts in our heads would be just that, healthy.

When the thoughts that pop into your head are damning, when they make you feel like less, like you are not worthwhile and like you are a failure, those are not from the Holy Spirit. When you think you have no value and God cannot use you, those are not from the Holy Spirit. And especially when you think you have to get yourself all straightened out before you come to Jesus. Again, not from the Holy Spirit.

In today’s text we are told that NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING, will get in the way of God loving us. Nothing thinkable or unthinkable. I have done some unthinkable things. Jesus still loves me. And if you’ve done unthinkable things too, Jesus still loves you.

As we head into the New Year, remember this truth. Hold on to it tightly. Fight for it.

You are loved. There is nothing, not one thing no matter how big or small that will cause Jesus not to love you. Lean in and be loved.

How Much?

17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Ephesians 3:17-19 (NLT)

The other day I got to spend time with my grandsons. This is my favorite thing to do! Some of the family had gathered for breakfast. As we were leaving, I was carrying my oldest grandson and I said “Do you know how much I love you?”

He got this big, huge smile on his face and threw his arms out wide! I hugged him tight and said “That’s right! I love you so very much!”

It made me think of God. He is saying to us all the time “Do you know how much I love you?”

Our response should be to get a big, huge smile on our faces and throw our arms open as wide as we can and say with assurance “Why yes! Yes, I do!”

He Gave

For this is how God loved the world: He gave…John 3:16 (NLT)

Think about that for a minute. When we recite this verse we breeze through it because we know it so well. I know I get to the part that says for whoever believes in him, noting that everyone gets to come. But what if we stopped here, on the word gave.

How did God love the world? He gave. Apparently, love is given away. We always say that love is a verb. Well, could the verb be ‘to give?’ If we are to love like God loved, should we be giving away ourselves? That after all is what God did. He gave away Himself so we could know love.

We often make love about how we feel. It’s not really about that is it? According to God. It’s about what you give.

How will you/did you give love today?
Did you recognize that you shared love by what you gave or how you felt?
Do we always feel great when we love?
What could you give that would show someone love?
Is giving love about you or someone else? What was God’s example?

Have a very giving day.

God's Devotion

For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search and find my sheep. Ezekiel 34:11 (NLT)

So often in life we think we have to earn what is given to us. In some ways that is true. We earn a paycheck. We see the results of our work when we work in the yard, around the house or on a project. But it is not true with God. There is nothing that we can do that will draw God to us.

Why? Because God is always the one initiating the relationship. Always. Let’s take a look.

All throughout the Old Testament, when God’s people continually turned toward idols, God still showed up. He still rescued them and talked to them about turning back to him. I heard one speaker say “He rejected our rejection.”

His ultimate rejection of our rejection was when he sent Jesus. It just didn’t matter what we did. He still planned for our redemption.

Jesus was crucified so we could come into God’s presence. The veil into the Most Holy Place was torn in two so we would always have direct access to God.

Jesus sits at the right hand of God mediating for us. He is forever there so our access will be open.

The Holy Spirit was given to us to speak to our hearts and to intercede for us before God when we pray.

All of this was done way before any of us decided to choose God. It was done before we made any conscious decision to follow Jesus. God reached out to us first; while we were still a mess.

Do you see? God hearing you, God responding to your prayers, God showing up in your life; it has nothing to do with whether you are good or bad. It has nothing to do with whether you are praying the right prayer or thinking perfect thoughts. It has everything to do with the fact that God loves you. He wants to be in a relationship with you and he has done everything to help you reach out to him. He’s not going to stop just because of a mistake you made. He can’t. Your life with God is based on who God is, not who you are.

Where I Need To Be

When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” Mark 2:17 (NLT)

I hate being sick. I guess every body probably does. Right? Well recently, I got sick. I had a terrible cough and ear ache. The ear ache pushed me to go to the walk-in clinic. After I checked in and sat down, a couple came through the door. The woman walked to the counter and signed in. Her husband started to move toward the section of chairs where I was sitting.

She said “Frank, don’t sit there. Sit over there.” and she pointed to a section of chairs in a different part of the room. After they sat down, I heard him say “Why do you want to sit over here?” “Because she’s coughing.” she replied.

Now granted, I was coughing. And I know people don’t want to get sick. But the way she said it made me feel like I was doing something wrong. I started thinking to myself “Aren’t we in a clinic? Aren’t people supposed to come here that are sick? And maybe even coughing?”

Then, I remembered what Jesus said in today’s verse. My mind wandered to our churches and how we make people feel like this lady made me feel. We treat people who come in with problems or sins like they shouldn’t be there or like we can’t hang out with them because well, they are sinning.

Jesus said we are all sinners. We all need him. The problem is in that some people think they are righteous, they think they don’t need him. They think they are fine. They are thinking wrong. We all are sick. We all sin. We all desperately need Jesus.

As I thought through all this I looked up at the woman and smiled. I was in the right place. I knew where I needed to be. I needed to be in the clinic getting help for my cough and ear ache and my heart needed to sit at the feet of Jesus so I could love everyone….even the people who make me feel like I don’t belong.

God Only Knows

For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NLT)

There is a song by King and Country called God Only Knows. The words are

God only knows what you've been through
God only knows what they say about you
God only knows how it's killing you
But there's a kind of love that God only knows

These words keep going round and round in my head. God only knows…..

Lately, I’ve been talking to some folks about hurts they’ve had in their past. Seems like everyone has some - some hurts are way more painful than others but we all seem to carry some pain. I am always saddened by how much we as a human race hurt each other.

God only knows….

And the other thing only God knows is the sadness and pain that comes from loving the human race. The kind of love he offered in Jesus was a love that God only knows. The kind of sacrifice for our well-being was of a caliber that only God would know.

God only knows…..

Another thing God knows is you. He knows you so completely and intimately. He knows that you are worth every bit of it. You were worth every step toward the cross and every moment on it. You were worth it all. That is the kind of love that God only knows.

No Limits

28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’

31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’” Luke 15:28-32 (NLT)

In the story of the prodigal son, the son goes off on an adventure to basically please himself. He does whatever he wants, even things he knows are not in his best interest, until one day he wakes up and realizes he has nothing. He reaches rock bottom. At that point, he decides he needs to go home.

When he arrives, his father runs to him and embraces him and welcomes him home. He is restored as a son and the celebrations begins.

His older brother however, is not happy. He stays away from the celebration not willing to go in and embrace his returned brother. Why? He feels that all his years of service should have amounted to some sort of reward. He complained because he didn’t feel his commitment was recognized. And why in the world would the father welcome in the person who did all of those wrong things?

The sad thing is we often behave in this same way. We see ourselves as good Christians and we judge whoever wants to come in. Do they measure up? Have they behaved in a way that fits our standard? What about me? These are the questions we ask (even if we wouldn’t admit it.)

As Christ-followers, these are never question we should ask. Right? Shouldn’t we be standing out front of the celebration yelling “Come on in! You are welcome and loved! We want to get to know you!”

The really neat thing about this story is that the father says “All that I have is yours.” Jesus is saying that to us too. But unlike the limited inheritance of the father in the story, there is no limit to what Jesus has to share. There is plenty to go around. We can welcome in every single person that ever lived and our inheritance as children of God will never run out.

So get out there. Invite people in. Love on them like there is no limit. Because there isn’t.