Tag Archive for 'gods-love'

18
Jun

Let Nothing Move You

By chuck 6 Comments
Categories: Journal & Message

Good Thursday!

I love Jesus so much. I am a decent and LOVING person. I live ONLY for the purpose of bringing others into relationship with God, and helping them into the PROFOUNDNESS of knowing Him. I pray and worship God SEVERAL times each and EVERY day… His living Word is my DAILY bread. This is WHO I am… this is who I have been for 18 years and thankfully, this is STILL who I am today.

I feel like the Apostle Paul… like I am out of my mind for having to talk like this. (2 Corinthians 11:22-24)

Father God loves me like crazy… he tells me this all the time! He is the lover of my soul… and there is no other passion for anything in all this world even close to comparing with my passion for Him. I’m not perfect, or even close to being perfect. I make huge mistakes and I do very stupid things every once in a while… but my HEART is PERFECTLY turned toward him… I love Jesus Christ as much as anyone possibly can at this phase of life. My whole spirit, soul, and body reaches for him as a young thriving plant REACHES for the spring sunlight! 

I pity the spirits and persons who attack my family over and over without an ounce of restraint… I sincerely pray for these persons, knowing that God will not tolerate their aggressive slanderous actions much longer. All my tears have been collected into a bottle… and just this morning in prayer I heard the Lord say to me, “I am your salvation… I am your personal bodyguard… and very SOON everyone will see my FAVOR all over your life!” This reminded me of Psalm 35:3 and I read the entire Psalm again, knowing that God is SPEAKING this to me right now.

So, while the battle rages and the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10) does his thing… I will keep to my mission and pray for Gods MERCY where it is needed. 

Are you finding yourself in similar situations from time to time? Do you set out with beautiful ambitions, only to be met with fierce and relentless opposition from the most unlikely places? Does it seem like the more good you do, the more you are misunderstood, misrepresented, and mistreated? I know this doesn’t make sense, and it can be very distracting… but we must NEVER let any of these things move us off course!

Know who you are… stick to your convictions… pray for your enemies… and KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Acts 20:23-24 Except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that CHAINS and TRIBULATIONS await me. But NONE OF THESE THINGS MOVE ME; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may FINISH MY RACE WITH JOY, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.  

13
Apr

Welcome 2 Your Next Great Adventure!

By chuck 3 Comments
Categories: All Message

Good Monday Everyone,

I wonder if diversions should be welcomed as great adventures? We work so hard to establish nice little patterns for our lives. We try to make so many perfect moves. We try so hard to automate as much as possible. We flip out when circumstances arise to shock us with unwelcomed CHANGE. 

I wonder if we should count adversity as an act of evil or an act of grace? Has all this pressure and all this agony come into your life to bring you down OR has it come to LIFT YOU UP? Is the universe rallied against you OR is the universe NUDGING you into the NEXT GREAT ADVENTURE?

Instead of weeping in a spirit of hopelessness, should we fall down and worship at the feet of our FATHER with a renewed sense of FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE!

God is BIGGER than people… and God is BIGGER than our imperfections! Therefore, we should never feel like ANYTHING from our past has any real shot at canceling our future in Christ!

Think about this: If reaching your divine destiny depended upon YOUR PERFECTION, it would never happen! If you had to make the correct turn at all ten thousand intersections this decade, you would end up in the wrong place way out in the wastelands!

Is your life really as messed up as it may seem right now? Should you accept your current set of circumstances as a sure sign of defeat… and should you just throw in the towel… stop dreaming… stop aiming for all those beautiful dreams?

Be careful not to assess your progress through human reasonings. For GODS WAYS ARE HIGHER THAN OUR WAYS and GODS THOUGHTS ARE HIGHER THAN OUR THOUGHTS! If he is GOD than he has a trillion ways of getting each of us safely to our destinations! 

So when life seems to throw us a great big curve ball… and life seems to punch us out cold… and life seems to smack us WAY OFF THE BEATEN PATH… we should NOT despair my friends! Instead, we should raise our faces and lift hands to the deep BLUE SKIES and BLESS THIS BRAND NEW GREAT ADVENTURE! 

Proverbs 3:1-6 

 1 ”My son, do not forget my teaching, 
       but keep my commands in your heart,

 2 for they will prolong your life many years 
       and bring you prosperity.

 3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; 
       bind them around your neck, 
       write them on the tablet of your heart.

 4 Then you will win favor and a good name 
       in the sight of God and man.

 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart 
       and lean not on your own understanding;

 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, 
       and he will make your paths straight.”

Ok… so there you have it… another paradigm for the same set of circumstances! Selah! Think about this… meditate on all the opportunities this inconvenience could be bringing about. TRUST my friends! TRUST that God is still CRAZY ABOUT YOU… he is STILL WORKING ALL THINGS OUT FOR YOUR GOOD! 

I pray that todays blog adds TREMENDOUS value to your amazing lives! God bless you all… have a most ADVENTUROUS DAY!

25
Mar

Thank God For Gods Love!

By chuck 6 Comments
Categories: All Message

Happy Wednesday Friends!

Guess what?? This is your long lost pal Chuck… remember me? I’m so sorry for bailing out on you good people like that… just under quite a bit of pressure this past week and didn’t want to bring the pressure into your lives. So Jonathan Woodard blogged for me and did an amazing job in my absence! Thank you Jonathan… I sincerely ask the Lord to bless you for this help!

Ok so I’m feeling a little rusty this morning… hmmm, let’s see… what shall I write about?

Romans 8:35-39

35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38 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. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below-indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Have you ever felt all alone before? Ever gone through times when you just couldn’t seem to figure out why all the tribulation? Ever felt as if even God had walked out and left you to the uncertain tides of chance and fate? So often life can get confusing… and no matter how hard we try to come up with adequate explanations, we are left scratching our heads.

In times like these, the devil comes like a little red bird on our shoulders… he whispers lies in our ears… he taunts us and tells us that God doesn’t like us anymore.

According to Isaiah 59:2, the only thing that drives a wedge between God and humans is SIN. And we have ALL sinned… so Jesus came into the earth, lived a perfect, sinless life… was crucified to satisfy the full penalty for our sins… and through his blood sacrifice we who were FAR AWAY have been BROUGHT NEAR to God! (Ephesians 2:13)

Live a LIFE of daily consecration to the Lord. Spend quality time with Him in prayer every morning. Like the prophet Daniel, make this part of your DAILY routine! Start out each day bowing before him: ask God to deal with you about your own sins, ask for his forgiveness and mercy, ask for the grace you need to live victoriously… and have the FAITH to believe that he LOVES YOU no matter how perfect or imperfect you are at this very moment.

And then, in times of LONLINESS Romans 8:35-39 sets us FREE! It is here in these verses that we learn just how much GOD LOVES US! We are his CHILDREN… and he is the BEST FATHER EVER! No matter what the voices are telling us… God is not like people. He is kind and patient, and forgiving and merciful, and willing to pay ANY PRICE to be NEAR TO US! He loves us more than we can ever love him! So let’s rest in this!

Thoughts about Romans 8:35-39

  • Can ANYTHING separate us from Christ’s love?
  • Does it mean that he no longer loves us if we have trouble… and all those other things?
  • NO! In fact, DESPITE all these things…OVERWHELMING VICTORY is ours through Christ, who LOVES US!
  • I am convinced that NOTHING can ever separate us from God’s love!
  • Not even all the powers of hell!
  • Nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord!

So there it is friends… you are NOT ALONE today… God is with you and he has promised that he will never leave you or forsake you. Cling to this revelation today… and everyday, no matter what you face in this life. I pray todays blog adds tremendous value to your amazing lives! God bless you all!!

19
Dec

Love A Lonely Person Before Christmas

By chuck 13 Comments
Categories: All Message
Emily teaching orphans to color with their first set of crayons... on our trip to India a few years ago.

Emily teaching orphans to color with their first set of crayons... on our trip to India a few years ago.

Happy Friday Friends… TGIF Again!

Jeremiah 31:1 “Long ago the Lord said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.”

Last night I had a very sad dream about a close friend. I woke up in such pain, my eyes were misting over as I contemplated its meaning. It was so real… so sad.

Oh how God cares about us! While reading in Jeremiah, this verse about Gods love came to life… I felt it swelling inside my heart. My eyes glazed over as I began to think about all the people I know who are suffering right now. The dream came back to me, now awake… it became like a vision… an outer body experience. I left my family room and started flying back over all my travels of the past few weeks. I could see myself talking to people at parties, running into people at the mall, interacting with people at church, chatting on the phone. I noticed all the pain coming from peoples hearts. I saw some of them holding back the tears. They were under so much pressure… feeling like nobody in all the world understood what they were enduring!

Throughout the course of the dream and the vision that followed, and the prayers I made to God afterwards… I came up with this message for you guys. I suppose that God is allowing me to experience HIS HEART this morning. He’s lending me his FEELINGS. For a brief moment, I’m seeing this world through his mind… and its overwhelming me! I can feel the pains of so many people right now… I’m hearing some of their prayers. And even though they each rise in the mornings to beautify their faces and cover over their feelings… I can see into their souls.

God says that he loves us with an everlasting love… and he draw us to himself with unfailing love. How does he do this? How does God reach out to people? How does he wrap his loving arms around hurting humans? He uses us as his representatives. He gives us his heart so that we can express his love! As long as we are self absorbed, we cant see the pains of others. And when our self obsessions are interrupted, we are freed to live a God kind of life! We are privileged to become Gods representatives to the people who need him right now!

This Christmas… break the trance of self obsession. Look around… look very carefully. See into the souls of your friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors, enemies, and everyone you bump into. Think about the lonely elders in your local nursing homes. Think about all the struggling people in your personal circle. Pray for them until a tear squeezes through the surface of your eyes and gently rolls down your compassionate cheeks. And then from this overwhelming sensation… ACT extravagantly! Make a very big difference for someone or a bunch of someones between now and the new year! Lend your ear, your time, your money, your baking skills, and anything else you can muster up to hand deliver a beautiful expression of Gods unfailing love. They are waiting for it… hoping for it… yearning for it! And you are the one to bring it to them right now, today or tomorrow… you will bring them new hope and a second wind!

Love you guys… have fun with this and please post your comments! See you here tomorrow! And hey… dont forget about church this Sunday at Destiny Family Center! Hope you can make it!