Determined to Love

There is no way that we can put into words the way that God loves us. It is love beyond logic and description. It is impossible for the left brain to comprehend God’s love. Paul in Ephesians 3:14-19 prays for us to comprehend that limitless Divine love. Just as Pavlov’s experiment of conditioned response is true, so we acquire an elaborate library of conditioned responses. For example, we often criticize in others what we don’t like in ourselves. Some conditional reflexes are as normal and natural as a blush. Harmless or beautiful, we are far more conditioned than we realize.

It is much easier to act like a Christian than to react like a Christian. We can play a part. But reactions are much harder to fake. So much of Christ’s teaching focuses attention on reconditioning our reflexes. In Luke 6:27, Christ’s commands us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. There is a gap between what this passage says and what we often do. When we love people like us, we are not fulfilling the Gospel. We must love those who hate us. Persecution becomes a catalyst for prayer. Hatred inspires love. We must convert curses to blessings.

How did Jesus say “Father, forgive them” when the soldiers are nailing Christ to the cross? How did He respond with grace when surrounded by disciples’ ignorance and the Pharisees’ arrogance? Love conditioned His reflexes. The love of God is not so much of a left-brained concept as it is a right-brained concept called unconditional love.

In Luke 22:54-62, we see a dimension of God’s love. When we fail, we can learn to discover dimensions of God’s love and grace and be transformed! Peter failed Jesus when Jesus needed him most. Jesus looked at Peter after his denial. When you gaze into someone’s eyes, you see their soul and they see yours. Jesus gave Peter a graceful look. Jesus always met people at the point of their greatest vulnerability. If Jesus had called out to Peter, Peter would have been arrested. Instead, Christ gave Peter a “grace-filled look.” Jesus’ gaze said to Peter, “Look at me, Peter! I forgave you before. Before you even denied me, I forgave you. I haven’t given up on you. We still share this mission.” And Jesus made eye contact with the disciple who denied Him. I don’t know what memories of sin and failure are etched into your memory, I don’t know which mistakes have formed a cage of guilt in your life, but I do know this. God hasn’t given up on you. He can’t. It is not in His divine nature. Our core value is to love people when they least expect it and least deserve it. That is the way Jesus treated people. He touched lepers, befriended prostitutes, spent time with Samaritan outcasts, and ate with tax collectors and sinners. He met people at the point of their greatest vulnerability.

Here’s the amazing thing about God found in Romans 5 “…while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” My translation is this: when we were at our worst, God was at His best.” It’s hard to understand something of which we are incapable. The love of God is an amazing thing. It doesn’t react to the situation. It loves people when they don’t deserve it and don’t expect it. I wonder sometimes if when we love someone who doesn’t deserve it, we assume that it is an approval of their bad behavior. Do you think that Jesus wanted to condone the actions of the adulterous woman in John 8? No. But it didn’t keep Him from loving her when she least expected it and least deserved it.

Is there someone that you need to forgive? It would be a shame hear all this about love and not put it into practice. What would happen if all of us went out this week and we determined to try to love people when they least expect it and least deserve it? What if, in place of reflexively judging people when they sin, we love them at their moment of greatest vulnerability? Here’s my guess, If the church loved people in that way, you wouldn’t be able to keep people away. Unfortunately, the church can often be the most judgmental, pretentious place on the planet. We assume that somehow we have to pretend to be perfect. The church needs to be a safe place where we can reveal the worst about us and still know that we are going to be loved.

The love of God is something that only God can reveal. As we know Him intimately, we begin to respond with His unconditional love. Let God love you. Gods love is faithful, constant, and it is there for you today.

We Are Blessed

I like racing, so I like fast analogies. Let’s say you’re driving 100 mph in a 50 mph zone and you get pulled over.  The officer does not give you a ticket, that is mercy. You did not get what you deserved.  Now lets take the same scenario. You get pulled over for speeding and the officer gives you a thousand dollars for speeding, That is Grace. You received what you did not deserve. Mercy is when we don’t get what we deserve. Grace is when we get what we don’t deserve.

To live as the Bible Teaches is to love people who don’t deserve it. To pray for people who we dont like, and to give mercy to those who deserve punishment.  We then become ambassadors for God. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 says “And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. ¹⁹ For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.” What is the message of reconciliation? It is not counting their sins against them. In John 20 Jesus says who ever you forgive I forgive. We have the power to forgive anyone or the power to retain their sins. We aren’t God, but he has called us sons. The son of God became the son of man, so the son’s of men can become son’s of God

We fall short of our own expectations; we don’t need religion to tell us that we really aren’t all that good. We all have had to say “i’m sorry” or “I was wrong”.  Jesus came and did what no one could ever do. He kept the Law. He declared God’s law is good. then offered himself as the answer to the question no one else could answer; “Now that i’ve messed up, what do i do?” What the rules and the rule givers could not do, Jesus did by laying down his life as the full and final sacrifice for sin. Christ’s death and resurrection signaled to the world that the kingdom of God is not reserved for good people. It is reserved for forgiven people.

I don’t believe that when we stand before God he will point his finger and say “You showed way to much mercy!” “You should have not forgiven that person.” “You didn’t judge enough”, or “you loved that person to much.” We should follow Jesus’ example towards others because He has given us Undeserved, unmerited, unexpected, unbelievable grace because of his love and mercy towards us.

The Turning of the Tide

As 2012 comes to an end, I like to look at it as another page of my life complete. Thinking over my past year I’am so grateful for everything that has gone on in my life. Although with the events that have taken place in America, and In the world this past year, some people will forget 2012, and some will never be able to forget this year. I have never used this blog for my political stance, or gain. I have not used this blog to force someone to believe exactly what I believe. Everything that I have said through this blog over the past year has been a passion in my heart that I had to convey to the world. I have Hope that at least one person who needed to hear the truth of Jesus Christ would come across this and see their life transformed. I received an E-mail tonight from wordpress.com Over the span of 2012, this blog that you are now reading has gone out to 61 countries around the world. When I read that I paused what I was doing, I was blown away by the Love, Grace, and Power of God. God will use whatever means necessary to get his word out. Even if it is through a start up blog from a man in California!

Today at church, my pastor said, “When Jesus said in the last days there would be wars and rumors of wars. He was not giving us a promise. He was defining the conditions into which He was sending His last days transformational army.” As a believer In God, I feel that I am on assignment to share and plant seeds of hope into what some may say is a hopeless world. If a culture does not know the true Jesus Christ, it will invent its own God and worship that. and it may even be themselves. The trend today is for preachers not to be so dogmatic. Some say there is another side to everything. But there is only one side to what God says and that is God’s side. We end up debating, and the word of the Lord is not debatable. And the commandments of Christ are not there to be discussed by a panel or a court. They are there to be obeyed in humility and tears, in the power of the Holy spirit within us. God’s words are not for me to edit and tinker with, but to believe and obey.

Recently Our president has said that America is not longer a Christian nation. I have to say I agree with him. I agree out of heart break. George Washington believed that religion, morality, and brotherhood were the pillars of society. He said you couldn’t have morality without religion. And yet today we’re told that to protect the first amendment, we must expel God, the source of all knowledge, from our children’s classrooms. The first amendment was not written to protect the American people from religion; the first amendment was written to protect the American people from government tyranny. Those were the words of Ronald Reagan Who I believe was one of the greatest Leaders our country has ever had.

What will it take for our country to turn back to Jesus? In recent weeks with the tragedies that have taken place, I have seen people close to me, go back and look at the faith they once believed in. Many times when tragic events take place people ask where God is. Well, after you push him back, and kick him out of your life, and place him in the corner so you can live your own life, with your own rules, and your made up “morality”.  He is still there waiting for you. He never left. Sometimes you just need to look in the last place you put him. I believe that in the decline that our nation is on, There is always hope. Jesus is the one who will always be there, who will always love you, and who will never leave or forsake you, no matter what you have done to ignore him. God has a plan for your life, he has reveled hints of his plan, but it is greater yet. All you have to decided is how much of it you want to go after and co-labor with him. Let 2013 be a year of Hope, A year of dreams coming to fruition. It is time to bring God be back into the spot of your everyday life, and placed back into this Country of the United States of America.

Your Life Matters

During an open forum a young college student interrupted the presentation, stood up and yelled out, “Everything is meaningless!” The speaker responded very quickly, “You don’t believe that.” The student yelled, “Yes, I do!” The speaker said, “No, you don’t.” which the student shouted, “I most certainly do. Who are you to tell me I don’t?” “Then repeat your statement for me,” the speaker requested. “Everything is meaningless!” the speaker replied “I assume that you assume that your statement is meaningful.” The student in awe said, “Pardon?”  the speaker said, “If your statement is meaningful, then everything is not meaningless. On the other hand, if everything is meaningless, then what you have just said is meaningless too. So, in effect, you have said nothing.”

Truth be told, life will never be satisfying until you know who God created you to be. You are God’s image bearer, which means you have the potential to accomplish something great. So does every person on the face of the earth, because we are all created in God’s image. The creation account makes for great children’s Sunday school lessons but somehow never makes the jump to adulthood. it’s nice to teach a young child that God created bugs, giant dinosaurs, and tossed a few million stars in the sky. But when that child becomes a teen or young adult, what does he or she know about living life in order to reflect God’s image? Somehow the concept gets lost in translation.

We are designed to bear God’s image and carry his presence to a broken world with a lost image. Many are not living the life God created for them to live. Most people have lives that are far from perfect. We are living out stories that are different than what we had dreamed about. We all have areas of our lives that are plagued with internal disappointments, fear, or shame. The great news is that no matter where you are in life, what God desires for you is not just a better version of what you currently have but something altogether new. He designed you for a unique purpose and by his love and grace you can fulfill that dream through Jesus. That’s why your life matters

Between Two Kings

I have always been a fan of Elvis Presley. As a young boy listening to my dad’s cassette tapes of Elvis, I was always fond of his songs. Elvis was the king of rock and roll, but his roots were in gospel music. Rick Stanley was Elvis’s Step brother, and one of the last men to see Elvis alive. Hours before his death, Elvis sat down at the piano and with a strong conviction sang the old hymn “how great thou art.” Rick goes on to say how It wasn’t drugs that killed Elvis, but it was fame and the desire of self. He didn’t know how to handle it. Elvis had this strong desire in his heart to have a relationship with Jesus, but drugs, women, and fame took precedence in his life. I do not mean to write this whole blog on elvis, but this is a powerful lesson that we can learn from. We may know of this man named Jesus. We may go to church on Easter, or Christmas but we never take his story to heart.

The day Jesus died three miracles took place simultaneously: The veil was torn in two from the top to the bottom: An earthquake opened graves; and saints arose from the dead. The tearing of the veil symbolized that the way was now open between God and man. There was no more need for altars or sacrifices. Jesus had finished the work of salvation on the cross. The Earthquake reminds us of what happened at Mount Sinai when God gave the law to Moses in the Old Testament. The earthquake at Calvary signified that the demands of the law had been met, and the curse of the law forever abolished. The torn veil indicates Jesus conquered sin, the earthquake suggests he conquered the law and fulfilled it, and the resurrections prove that he defeated death. The Old Testament never promises anything that the New testament does not deliver on.

How many times do we try to ignore what Christ has done for us, and try to sew up the veil with our busy lives?  Everyone tries to put up self-love, self-pity, self-trust, self-admiration. With that you sew that veil right back up, and are saying what Jesus did on the cross wasn’t good enough for you. We must go beyond the veil of self. by holding faith in love. To walk in his presence with full confidence and turn our backs on the “self” mentality. When you break through the self-imposed veil you will discover Gods presence that is full of grace, and it will bless your life with a pleasing aroma of adoration and praise for the rest of your days on earth.

A.B. Simpson said it best “Once it was the blessing, now it is the lord; Once it was the feeling, now it is His word. Once his gifts I wanted, now the Giver own; Once I sought for healing, Now himself alone.

Seeing Without Sight

A few weeks ago I was in southern california waiting for a meeting to begin. I was sitting on a bench where there were fountains in front of me. I saw an incident unfold there that really touched my heart. A blind boy in his early teens was lead towards the water fountains. As He stood close to the edge, he hesitantly reached out his hand, and out of no where the water shot up to the sky. An emotionless face turned to a bright white smile of joy, and laughter. After he touched the water, he then put his hand up to his face to feel the coolness and relief of the water during that warm day.

The passage of John 20:29 came to my mind that day in southern california. As Jesus was talking to Thomas after his ressurection, Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” I saw that event take place that day, that young man did not see it, but he believed it! God is always speaking to us in our everyday lives. C.S. Lewis said “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain.”

In the story the Polar Express, the conductor says to the young distraught boy who doesn’t believe, because he has never seen Santa, “Sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.” Jesus is real, his story is real, The plan he has for your life is real. Do not be discouraged by the slip-ups of life, or the economy, family situations, relationships. His grace is sufficient for you, and he is speaking to you through it all. You may ask how can we see his grace? Kathleen wheeler captured this beautiful poetic picture of grace.

‘He came to my desk with a quivering lip, the lesson was done. “Have you a new sheet for me, dear teacher? I’ve spoiled this one.” I took his sheet, all soiled and blotted, And gave him a new one all unspotted. And into his tired heart I cried, “Do better now, my child.” I went to the throne with a trembling heart, the day was done. “Have you a new day for me, dear Master? I’ve spoiled this one.” He took my day, all soiled and blotted, and gave me a new one all unspotted. And into my tired heart he cried, “Do better now, my child.”

Gods grace is for you, His mercy is for you, and his love will never fail you. You’re wanted,
You’re precious, You’re the love of His heart, And the old rugged cross was for you.

Labeled By Grace

When it comes to your labels, current or past, God is slow to judge and more than willing to deliver us. I have been thinking a lot on how we label people in our society, even if they have asked for forgiveness, we still label them with what we see in our minds. A liar, a thief, an adulterer, a failure. This reminds me of a story in the Bible of a women who was a prostitute. She had many labels but none of them were an obstacle for God.

When Joshua sent two spies into Jericho they found their way to a prostitute named Rahab’s home and sought refuge there, which she granted in return for their guarantee of safety for her and her family. They agreed and told her that if she marked her home with a scarlet cord, she and anyone in the house with her would be spared in the coming battle (Josh 2:12-21). On the day of battle, the city was captured and everyone within its walls died, except for Rahab and her family. She had gathered her family in her home and marked it with the scarlet cord as they had agreed. Before burning the city to the ground, Joshua had the spies go to Rahab’s home and bring her and all her family out to dwell among the Israelites. (Josh 6:22-25). A prostitute was brought out to join the chosen people of God.

A sinner saved by grace, this sounds familiar, doesn’t it? In some ways, Rahab’s story is our story. Each of us has carried a label. You may avoid reminiscing too much because your memories and your old label cause you shame. Your label may cause you to shy away from approaching God. Maybe your label is the reason why you won’t even step foot into a church.

It is interesting that when the Israelite spies offered to spare Rahab’s life, they said nothing about her life style. Rahab’s label was not important to God, for he looked passed what men labeled her as. And it is the same with you. The reality and the embarrassment of what your label reflects is in no way an obstacle for God’s grace.

You, like Rahab, are invited as you are, label and all. You have been invited for free to join God in a relationship initiated by faith. God’s grace for your life is slow to judge and quick to deliver. In fact, His grace provides you with God’s labels: Forgiven. Accepted. Loved. That was not the end of Rahab’s life. Despite her past, a man named Salmon saw Rahab as a beautiful women of faith and he asked her to marry him, She gave birth to a son named Boaz who later married Ruth and they became none other than the great grandparents of King David. The bloodline of Christ is full of forgiveness, and that forgiveness is extended to you today.

We do not know how long it took for Rahab to shake her past or how long it took her to see herself as forgiven. From my experience, it is a process that takes time, but ends with embracing a new life, a new identity, and a new standing with God. If you have felt that your friends have labeled you, close ones that you loved have despised you, pray this prayer. It is close to what I have prayed after the screw ups I have made in life.

“Lord, I believe that your grace and love is more powerful than the past mistakes that I am labeled by. I believe Christ died to pay the penalty for the sin my label represents. I receive the new labels you have given me. Forgiven. Accepted. Justified. And loved. I declare that what you say about me is true: I truly am forgiven. Teach me to live my life in accordance with who you say I am. In Jesus Christ’s name, amen.”

Grace

Grace is never just enough. Grace is always far more than enough. Adam and Eve were a blessed couple. God told them to “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground”. God gave Adam and Eve a purpose for living, authority, and, along with that authority, he gave them responsibility. What happens when you take your purpose, authority, and responsibility and turn away from it?

I guess you could say God gave them one rule on what not to do: not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when they did they would surely die. I find it interesting that in the beginning there was a great deal of responsibility and only one rule. God’s expressions of grace were innumerable and his requirements were minimal.

We all know how the story goes: Eve is tempted and acts on her temptation.  Adam is passive, which leads to his temptation and action, and, in the end, he also had sinned. For Adam and Eve, sin led to shame and shame led to blame. Adam began to make excuses for his actions and ended up blaming God! “The woman you put with me she gave it to me and I ate it” In the beginning, Adam blamed God for his troubles and the fall. Mankind in our secular culture has been blaming God ever since. We seem to miss God’s wonderful and saving grace through all of this, for God said that if they ate of the fruit they would surly die, and yet we know that Adam and Eve did not immediately perish. In the midst of the failures of men, He still showed them grace. Sin had its consequences, but God made a way for Adam and Eve to still live.

We have all struggled with the reality of suffering and injustice in life, often asking the questions, “Why did this accident happen?”, “Why do I have this disease?”, “Why did I lose my job?”, “God must be to blame.” Just as Adam’s rational was flawed, so is ours.  How does God respond? He gave Adam and Eve exactly what they did not deserve. He also gave you and me exactly what we do not deserve. And that is his amazing grace.

God made a way for you and I to walk with him in spite of our mistakes and failures. Jesus was sent to take our shame, sin, pain, and sickness, and it died with him on the cross. But that is not the end of the story. He rose again three days later and made a way for us to have communion with him. Disobedience will always have its consequences, but God’s grace will lead you to freedom. You can try to run and hide from God, but you can never outrun or hide from him and his grace. After Adam and Eve sinned, they hid. God called for them and found them. God is calling your name, and is extending his arms of love and grace to you.

A Broken World

How do you rebuild your life when it has fallen apart? Maybe a spouse walks out on you, you lose a job, or an engagement you have been looking forward to comes to a screeching halt. You dread the pain that waits for you in the morning as you look and see all your broken dreams. Times of loss and despair  are not new to man on this earth. I want to show you how the prophet Jeremiah handled the troubled times in his life and how we can learn from the past.

Jerimiah had seen a lot of destruction in his life. Lamentations 3:1 “I’am the man who has seen affliction Because of the rod of His (God’s) wrath.” The first thing you need to do when your world seems broken is voice how you truly feel, and not keep it from God. Jeremiah voices his frustrations in the book of Lamentations. To lament is to show grief. God can handle your anger and greif. God lets Jeremiah blow off steam. If you don’t talk out your emotion you take it on with your body. when you swallow your negative emotions it has a negative effect on your body. It’s ok to tell God your ticked off sometimes, you just need to Let it out. None of you ever had temper tantrums as a young kid, but like a kid who is throwing a fit, a parent doesn’t stop loving them in the midst of their complaining. Parents don’t throw their hands up saying thats it im done taking care of you for the rest of your life, no way! God is not turning his back to your frustrations and complaints, he wants to let you get it off your chest. God doesn’t owe us an explaination for everything that happens to us, that’s why he is God and we are not.

After we let our frustrations out we must turn our focus from our pain to God’s love. You won’t get over depression until you let it go. We must learn to forgive. Bitterness keeps you caught in always thinking of your own pain and that leads to depression. When you change the way you think hope returns. Jeremiah recalled Gods faithfulness (Lam 3:21-22)  “This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. The Lord’s loving kindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.” Sometimes we forget God is all we need. He wont take second place in your life, you may lose everything, and still find joy because God is all you got and then you realize he is all you need. When you unload your pain you will realize how much he loves you.

Get alone with God, and wait. Jeremiah says “Let him sit alone and be silent Since He has laid it on him. Let him put his mouth in the dust, Perhaps there is hope.” Waiting before God is a spiritual discipline you must learn, or you will be stressed out your whole life. If you don’t wait you will be anxious everyday. Sit down and keep quiet, don’t say or ask anything. You just make time to listen to God. The reason you feel hopeless is because your not waiting for hope to appear. Your life is seldomly quiet. You need to eliminate some distractions. Matthew 6:6 says “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Remove distractions and listen. William Prescott at the battle of Bunker hill ordered his men to not shoot till they saw the whites of the enemies eyes. If they would of fired their guns earlier they would have messed up the plan. We must listen for God’s order “to go” for we must be on his timing and not our own.

After waiting you must change the things you can change. You cant change your past, you can’t change losses. The only way to overcome some things in life is for you to be willing to accept them. Peace will come when you accept the things in life you cant change. Faith is facing the facts without discouraging them, knowing God will make it work for your good. You can’t change anyone but yourself. You must ask yourself how can I be better and not bitter? even though my world is broken. Evaluate all your relationships. Take a moral inventory with the things that trip you up. You can then fix these hindrances in your life. Jerimiah did this (Lam 3:40) ” Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.” You might realize there is a lot of unresolved emotions. Maybe second guessing, regret, or grief.

One huge emotion that will keep you from rebuilding your life is fear. Fear paralyzes you. Let God Relieve your fears. Jeremiah’s nation was falling apart. He did not have a popular message to bring in those days. The people didn’t have blogs or Facebook to talk bad about him and call him a bullfrog. If you got that joke I applaud you! Instead the people threw him in a well. He had every reason to be afraid. Jeremiah was literally in a hole, thinking his life would end there. God was faithful to Jeremiah as he called out (Lam 3:55-56) “I called on Your name, O LORD, Out of the lowest pit. You have heard my voice.” God wants you to be fear free. God is not threw with you. When your life falls apart don’t have the fear of “I’m stuck, im never going to get out of this, my happy days are over.” It’s that mindset of everything is gone and I’am beyond recovery that is fear, False Evidence Appearing Real.

If you think your life is beyond repair, and it can’t be restored. You may think it’s impossible for good to come out of all the bad. I want to tell you Jesus is in the business of recovering that which is lost. Not only you, but what you also have lost. In your chaos comes his promises, If any man is in Christ he is a new creation. the last step to recover when your life falls apart is you must expect jesus to restore my life. remember lamentations 3:21 “This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.” what will build you is not so much the destination but the journey. When you let Jesus bring you back he will then give you back that which was lost.

God’s Perfect Timing

My heart is saddened about two time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon who died yesterday in a horrible indy car crash. He was 33 years old and leaves behind a wife and two sons. I can not say why he had to go home so early. I can say however that God has a plan for all of us. And we are not here by our time but by his. I want us to take a look at how Jesus handled a horrible tragedy, and turned it around for the Glory of God.

In the Bible there was a man named Lazarus. He had two sisters, Mary and Martha, they all were best of friends with Jesus. When Lazarus fell ill, his sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” When Jesus heard the news, he waited two more days before going to Lazarus’ hometown of Bethany. When Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had already been dead and in the tomb for four days. When Martha discovered that Jesus was on his way, she went out to meet him. “Lord,” she said, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Jesus told Martha, “Your brother will rise again.” Jesus said these important words: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” We must understand when we are dead in our sin, and accept Christ in our lives, He brings us to life not just for our years on earth but for eternity. We to often do not understand the purpose of the bad events of life. As crazy as it seems Lazarus’ death had a purpose. His sickness was “not unto death”  Lazarus’ sickness was a result in unquestionable death, but death was not to be the permanent end result. The sickness and death of Lazarus had a higher purpose, and that was for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified. We have to remember Gods timing is not our timing. Jesus how ever was on Gods time. And to Mary, Martha and even lazarus, Jesus being four days late was still on time.

You may be fighting a battle, and you cry to the Lord “I need you” but he has not appeared.
Don’t be discouraged cause he’s still the same and he’ll soon be there. He’ll roll back the stone in front of you
and he’ll call out your name. When Jesus died, it was used to wash away our sins and bring us to the father. Ephesians 2:8 says “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” So many people take it for granted, even I know it is pretty rude to reject a gift that has been bought for you. I saw this video and it reminded me of Gods gifts to us that change our lives.

like Lily in the video we sit here as children of God. As he pours out his gifts and blessings on us. We also think in our heads, “How did you know I wanted this?” God wants to fulfill your hearts desires. God wants to give you the gift of salvation, He wants to take you places where you have never been. You being happy makes his heart happy.  He is the best parent you could ever have. I want you to know that God is for you and not against you. He will come through for you in your situations of life, he has not forgotten about you. God’s timing is his own. Rejoice for even when you think he’s late, He’s still on time calling your name and telling you to come forth into the promises he has given you.