Sometimes, God is … GOD!

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blessings, challenges, difficult life, faith, God, GOD’s love, hardships, Laura Story, life, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Omniscience, purpose, trials and tribulations, trust

Many people quote this verse at various times and sundry situations in their lives. It is a vital truth! “Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Is 55:9 CEV) God’s priorities in our life are different than ours. He uses anything and everything we ALLOW Him to use as teaching tools for our growth in Him. That means He uses our prayers and answers them as He sees fit. It means he uses Nature to teach us His Ways. He uses other people, knowingly or unknowingly, to work His purpose deeper into us. There is nothing God cannot or will not use, as we pay attention. But it is His purpose He is working out in us, not our own!

We generally seek our own comfort, ease, or wealth. God, on the other hand, is changing us (with our cooperation) into the likeness and image of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor 3: 17-18 CEV) Our Spirit is regenerated and new, but we live in corrupt bodies with unhealthy and unholy desires and habits. We all want our own way! We pray for healing, for smooth roads through the “wilderness,” for easy answers to life’s deepest questions, and we panic or revolt when we don’t see the responses we seek. Right?

There are times when God gives us exactly what we want or need. There are also times when, thankfully, God doesn’t give us what we ask for because He knows where He is taking us and what He is building into us. We seldom know.

Remember Paul’s story? He was a passionately religious man raised in the height of the traditional Jewish knowledge and traditions. So fervent was he that he chased down and murdered new Believers until God confronted him personally, like He does each of us. In that moment, Paul saw Jesus as his Messiah, and he never looked back. ACTS 9: 1-22 CEV Some believe Paul was visually disabled for the rest of his life. Paul gained a deeper revelation of God’s grace. “My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, my power is made perfect in you.” (2 Cor 12: 1-10 NCV)

Years ago, I was a single soldier stationed in Alaska. It happened that I was the ONLY single girl in the small Christian fellowship on the base. I remember fervently praying for a Godly husband. A single man began to show interest, and we dated a few times. One night while praying again for “my husband,” thinking of this young man, I felt God say to me, “You can have this man if you wish, but He is not my BEST for you.” WHOA! The ball was in my court! Reluctantly, I yielded! I wept for days after I explained my feelings to the guy. We continued to be friends, and a few months later, he reunited with his fiance. Last I heard, they were living happily ever after!

We can pout and throw our tantrums, but if we are truly surrendered to Christ, we must acknowledge that He knows best. His ways are best. His plan is best. When we are securely nestled under the shadow of His wing, we can hear His heartbeat of devastating love for us and know that everything … EVERYTHING that we encounter comes through His fingers and is laced with His love to accomplish the purpose He intends. Even the traumas and tragedies that we each face at times, will produce good fruit as God redeems the situation.

Don’t hear me saying that God creates bad or difficult situations for us. That is not what I’m saying. He permits them for His purpose. Some difficulties are simply a result of our own unhealthy attitudes or behaviors, and we are simply “reaping” what we “sowed.” Some hardships are simply part of living in this corrupt world. We also have a very real enemy but, GOD is in CONTROL, right?

Do you love God? Are you “called according to His purpose?” If so, then trust that even the most painful and challenging situations that face us are meant to build the character of Christ into us, and for that, we can be eternally thankful!

MEDITATE on THIS: Psalm 139

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That the World My Know …

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Christ's love, GOD’s love, love, real love, unconditional love

Command, not request!

This has been a busy few weeks in my little world. Included has been a deep heart issue: LOVE!

I’m a mom, and there is no more satisfying and challenging position (career) in life (except perhaps fatherhood!) My kids are all adults, but that doesn’t mean I stop being their mom. In fact, it seems as they grow and mature, so does my role as their mom! The hard part is redefining LOVE in accordance with my role as mom to adults!

As believers, we are COMMANDED, not requested, to love one another as Christ loves us. That is quite a tall order! First, we have to accept that Jesus loves us more than words can express, more than any human can possibly apprehend, more than our finite brains can even imagine. That is LIFE! But accepting Jesus love as truth is just the beginning! We are to love one another the same way … even FAMILY … even the absolutely unlovable!

This revelation shook me! It seems like common sense, but … how many of us really treat family with the kind of love Jesus pours into each of us continuously? I tend to try to control my kids’ lives! I confess! I am always right, and of course, I know better then they do what is best for them, right? 🙂 It was a “loving” smack across the face when I realized I was putting MY expectations, MY dreams, and MY plans onto them. THAT isn’t Christ’s love!

Strangers are much easier to love! We don’t have to see them often and deal with their imperfections routinely. Family we do! We are commanded to love one another as Christ loves us … in spite of our bad habits, inherent weaknesses, bad choices, and frailties!

Not so easy … but if we practice appreciating the best in each of our family members, our friends and co-workers, maybe … just maybe they will see Jesus in us!

A Case for Risky Living

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forgiveness, GOD’s love, homosexual community, power of Christ, self-indulgence, unconditional love, welfare

In Jesus’ brief ministry, I never see Him sit in a “safe” place. Rather, He, with one or more of His disciples, goes to the home of the tax collector, or walks to the well in midday when He knows the women will be there. Jesus mingles with the people and does not hold Himself above them. There is no arrogance in his words or actions – NONE! In fact, the religious leaders became upset with Him for just this reason.(Mt 11) And when, pray tell, did Jesus ever wag his finger in the face of even an open sinner and tell them they’re going to hell??? Answer … NEVER! He does, however, with tears in His eyes, weep for Jerusalem and the wickedness of us sinners and he prays for them.

Now, think about that for a minute. Jesus is, according to Scripture, the Head of the Church, yes? The “Body” of the Church should follow the Head. If Jesus (the Head) walks down to the beach of the Sea of Galilee to gather those “called” to Himself, should the “Body” sit comfortably behind closed doors hoping for the “lost” to stumble into a local gathering by themselves?

The single GREAT reason for the general ineffectiveness of the organized Church is our general unwillingness to be … like Jesus! Believers are called to be like Jesus. What He did, we should be doing (and more.) While Jesus never tolerated sin, it is His unconditional love that drew (and continues to draw) people to Him. He was clear in His love for sinners. It was sinners he hung out with. He pointed out their failures gently, but boldly embraced them as individuals. No place in Scripture are believers urged to condemn sinners, yet many believers feel obligated to do just that, even in “ministry”.

Let me ask this …

What drew YOU to Jesus? (not church) Was it fear of hell or need for acceptance/kindness? Perhaps the ugliest example of this error at work is in the way the organized church has judged and condemned the entire homosexual community. YES, homosexuality is sin, but it is sin just like anger is sin, and gluttony is sin, and gossip is sin. All are forms of self-indulgence, while believers are exhorted to walk in self-control (Gal 5:22-26), yielding even our most base needs to the Holy Spirit. Our quickness to judge comes across to others as arrogance, or an elitist attitude, and it is putrid! It totally contradicts all that Jesus represents. It drives people away from us AND Jesus, while we SHOULD be busy allowing God’s unconditional love to flow through us freely to all in an attitude of service.

It is my contention, if we, the Church, were where we ought to be, welfare wouldn’t be necessary! No, not government’s job, not even the Church’s job, but it is OUR responsibility, as individual believers, to do what we can, to do what He calls us to do and be.

Bottom line is, most people are fully aware of their sin, aren’t you? We don’t need someone to point it out to us. Rather, we need someone to love us enough to accept us right where we are and offer unconditional love – GOD’s love, and forgiveness.

Jesus is the WAY … the one and only way, but the unique thing about Jesus is that He meets us right where we are. He knows exactly what we have done, what we will do, and what we need … He never pushes, but instead, He draws us, welcomes us and frees us to find the person HE created us to be – freely unique individuals. His love empowers us to see who we are and who He is, and gives us the desire to be like Him. It’s all about God’s love! Like a shepherd to his flock, Jesus loves each sheep (person) so much that He leaves the other 99 to go in search of the one that is lost. Jesus loves the outcast lepers, harlots, and uncircumcised enough to go out in search of them, not to rebuke them, but to love them in spite of their sin.

“6 For when we were still without strength,
in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5: 6-8 NKJV

Dear reader, is it not after the Holy Spirit indwells us that He begins to change us into His likeness? He does not require us to be holy before He embraces us, nor does He require us to work toward perfection. He only requires us to admit our need of Him, His love, His grace, and His mercy! How dare we require more! Let God be the judge of the sinner’s heart, and let us be His hands of mercy and acceptance. Then, and only then will we begin to see the power of Christ change our sinful world.