Home "Sick"

Indeed, nearly all people miss something about home when they are away, making homesickness a nearly universal experience.  However, an intense desire to go "back" to a familiar place and time can be very debilitating.  A longing for the "good ol' days" and what "used to be" makes it impossible to look with hope to the future.
 
According to Hebrews 11:15, you follow the direction of your most dominant thought.  You don't go anywhere in the natural that you haven't first gone in your imagination. This can be good or bad, depending on where your mind is taking you.  If you spend your time meditating on God's promises in His Word, by faith you'll move forward and fulfill God's plan and purpose for your life.  If you follow thoughts that want to take you backwards, you will find "constant opportunity to return to it".  You'll be home "sick", instead of enjoying and being content with and trusting in God's goodness and faithfulness in the place He has for you today and every day to come.  

Our Alarm System

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."  Romans 8:1 ESV

I'm so glad God blessed us with built in "alarms".  We have negative emotions that tell us that something is wrong with our thinking.    We have symptoms when there is something wrong with our body.  We even have godly spouses, friends and parents to show us things we are too stubborn to receive from God on our own!

But there's one more thing that may not be so obvious.  It's a "condemnation meter".  It looks like a fuel gauge on your dashboard, but it works in reverse.  When the needle is on "Empty", that's good.  According to Romans 8:1, God says there is NO condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.  If you're born again, you have received the gift of NO condemnation. 

When you give place to condemnation, the needle begins to move away from "E" and guilt and fear set in.  If you give place to guilt and fear, the needle moves again and destructive habits set in.  Condemnation is now at dangerous levels!  Condemnation is at the root of all fear, anxiety and destructive habits.  The answer, resist all condemning thoughts, accusations and lies with the truth of God's Word. Warning!  Resist ALL condemnation.  

Jesus Loves Me, This I Know

Ephesians 3:19 - "And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." 

I read a magnificent story from Joseph Prince's book The Power of Right Believing. He tells of a minister from Oregon who was assigned to provide counseling to patients in a state mental illness facility.  When he arrived for duty, he was sent to a padded cell with a large group of deranged, barely clothed people.  The stench of human excrement filled the room.  When he tried to talk with the patients, they responded with groans, moans and demonic-like laughter.  

Then the Holy Spirit prompted him to sit in the middle of the room and sing the familiar children's song, Jesus Loves Me.  For a full hour, he sang, "Jesus loves me, this I know.  For the Bible tells me so.  Little ones to him belong.  They are weak but He is strong.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  For the Bible tells me so". 

Nothing happened the first day, but he persisted.  For weeks he would sit and sing the same melody, but with greater conviction each time.  "Yes, Jesus loves me!  Yes, Jesus loves me!  Yes, Jesus loves me!  For the Bible tells me so!"  Soon the patients began singing with him, one by one.  By the first month, 36 of the severely ill patients were transferred from the high-dependency ward to a self-care ward.  Within a year, all but two were discharged from the facility.   

No matter what challenges, failures and misdeeds you or I might face, the love of Jesus remains constant.  "Jesus loves me, this I know".  My question to you is, do you know that Jesus loves you?  Do you know how much He loves you?  How can we know?  The Bible tells us so.  So simple, yet so powerful. 

I challenge you, as often as you look in the mirror, say to yourself, "Jesus loves me, this I know.  For the Bible tells me so".  And enjoy the forgiveness, freedom, healing and restoration that comes from truly knowing the love of Christ that passes all knowledge!    

Writing on Your Child's Heart

Proverbs 3:3 - "Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them about your neck, write them upon the table of your heart".  
 
A very successful college professor left a lucrative job, one with tenure, at a major American university, to teach...elementary school kids.  When he was asked, "Why in the world would you leave a great job teaching college students to teach young kids?"  He answered with this question, "Would you rather write your name on a brick before it's baked or after it's baked?" 
 
Young children are like the clay that is used to make bricks before they're baked.  We have an incredible opportunity to write something very lasting and valuable on their hearts and on their lives. 
 
Our children are like that wet clay, or like wet cement, and we are called towrite things, very important things on their hearts.  Proverbs 3:3 talks about mercy and truth, to write them on the table of our hearts.  Like this wet cement, children are so very impressionable.  That's why spending time with them is a lasting and rewarding privilege and gift.  Think about some of the things you say and believe today, most likely they were instilled in your heart at a young age.   
 
Reading to or teaching a child the word of God will "write" scripture upon their heart.  It will stay there, it will not leave.  It's like words written on wet cement before it dries.  You can change a lot of things by writing the right things.  Start today, write the Word of God on the table of the heart of the children in your life.  Ask God to give you creative, positive and fun ways to make a lasting impression.  Write!  While the "cement" is still wet! 

Approved for the Master's Card

Romans 4: 6 Amplified Bible  "Thus David congratulates the man and pronounces a blessing on him to whom God credits righteousness apart from the works he does" 

An envelope comes in the mail with large letters on the front that says "APPROVED"!  Inside is a letter that begins with "Congratulations you've been approved for a ______ credit card!"  Not just one letter, one time, but dozens of letters from the same company, over and over again.  They figure that sooner or later you're gonna take the offer.  After all, if feels great to be "approved".  The companies that send those letters want you to feel that "This is great, I'm approved, something really good just happened!"  Everyone wants to be approved, it validates you, it says you're ok, you're doing well.  Hey, it's better than being disapproved, right?

In Romans 4:6, a blessing is pronounced upon your life, and guess what, you didn't do anything at all to deserve it!  I call this being approved for "the Master's card".  An important gift was credited to your grace account, it's the gift of righteousness.  The day you made Jesus the Lord of your life this gift was given to you and you did nothing to earn it.  

"The Masters card" has given you an unlimited account to draw upon, and the great part is, there's no payments!  Hallelujah!  No monthly reminders, it's all covered!  So what does God want us to do? Draw on His unlimited supply, no interest, and no payments.  

He has pronounced "the blessing" on you and you did nothing to deserve or earn it!  Final approval has been given through the precious blood of Jesus, all payment has already been made.  This card doesn't borrow from the future, but instead has secured your eternal future.  This card has been paid in full!  Enjoy!

The Tarzan Experience

2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, The old has gone, the new is here" NIV

The children's movie Tarzan, is a perfect illustration of what a huge difference it makes in life when you have the right belief about yourself.  As the story goes, Tarzan was born in the jungle, and when he was still a baby, his mother and father died.  A female gorilla found him and brought him back to her home, and “raised” him as her own.  He soon walked, and talked, and ate like a real gorilla.

Then one day as he got older, he and his gorilla brothers came across some human beings as they were exploring the jungle. They all laughed at them, thinking that they were strange looking creatures.

Then one day, as Tarzan went down to the lake to drink water, his life was forever changed.  As he bowed down to drink, he saw his own image in the still waters. WHAT? He ran to find his mother. Comparing his own hand with the hand of his gorilla mother, he understood the truth about his birth for the first time in his life. He was not a gorilla!  He was a human being, just like those he had seen visiting the jungle.

Now he had a choice to make, would he continue living as a gorilla, or start living like who he really was?  He made his choice, and gradually he started to walk talk and eat like a human being…to become who he really was.

Real transformation happens when we discover who we really are.  Right believing produces right living.  As we look into the mirror of God’s Word, we too will discover who we really are.  Then we need to make a daily choice, to live who we really are.  The new creation has come, the old is gone!  1John 4:17 says, "as He is so are we in this world".  Who is the He?  Jesus.  As Jesus is, so are we in the world…victorious, healthy, prosperous, and living the abundant life.  

Pick Up Sticks

Numbers 15:32 " And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks on the Sabbath day"

When I was a kid we spent a lot of our rainy days inside playing all kinds of games. Monopoly, war, a card game, hide and seek, one of the games we always played was a game called " pickup sticks". The object of the game was to pick up the most sticks. To begin the game a bundle of sticks are randomly distributed so that they end up in a tangled pile. The players attempt to remove a single stick without moving any other stick. Players must not move any other things while attempting to remove the stick, if any other stick moves, he loses his turn.

In Numbers 15: 32-36, there's a story of a man who simply picked up sticks on the Sabbath day, you would have thought that he broke some law or something because immediately he was thrown in a prison and the Lord said " The man shall be surely put to death"! WOW! What is going on? You pick up a few sticks on a Sabbath and your put to death. According to the ten commandments you couldn't do any work at all, no raking leaves, no laundry, no washing the car. That all changed when Jesus came, Moses came by the law but Jesus came by grace and truth, under the law there was serious consequences for breaking any of the laws of Moses, now you can "PICKUP STICKS" and not be stoned! Good news you are not under the law but you are under grace so you don't have to live under fear of punishment from an angry God He loves you and accepts you!

So pickup as many sticks as you want this Sunday, play tennis, go swimming, and if your scheduled by your boss to work, you're in a guilt free zone He is your Sabbath rest, be blessed not stressed! God's not mad at you He's not even giving you a dirty look, He certainly loves and accepts you.