I’ve always known that God loves me since I was a child. I learned early in church “Jesus loves me. Yes I know. For the Bible tells me so.” Through my child-like mind I reasoned that if God came to earth as the man Jesus then God loved me just like Jesus did. It was just as simple as that. No one since has been able to convince me otherwise.
We are told to come to God as a child. I’ve discovered to just believe in Him as a child believes. A child believes their parents before the world starts to corrupt their thinking, disillusioning them through deception.
As teens or even as pre-teens, we slowly start believing that our parents don’t really love us; that they are mean and uncaring. When in fact they do love us more than anyone in this world. That’s why they can be harsh with us out of frustration that we don’t understand that what they are doing or telling us is for our own good. It isn’t until we become adults that we start saying and demonstrating the same thing they did and realize how right they were.
I think we all can recall that feeling… that moment when we were shocked to hear words come out of our mouth that our parents said which were immediately followed by “I sound just like my mother.” It’s a kind of horror that goes through our body until we think about what we said and truly believe she had been right.
Like I said earlier, I always believed that God loved me. However, I didn’t really believe that He loved me as much as He loved overs. It was an overwhelming experience when I discovered that God loved me just as much as He loved anyone else. I was no exception.
I have a feeling that maybe what I felt that day was the Holy Spirit finally being able to get through to my heart that had been partially hardened through time by accepting some of the wrong beliefs of others. Once He could get through to my heart, it opened my eyes to a new revelation of God that unfortunately many will never experience.
Now when I hear a message about God involving His love and what He has done and provided for me, I once again am overwhelmed and receive new insight into God.
I also have a feeling that He reveals this to us slowing. Otherwise, we most surely would instantly die if He revealed all of His love for us at one time. It would be too much for our physical body to experience.
Having experienced the knowledge about God’s love to the extent that I now know, it has changed my understanding about so many things. Creation is no longer merely words written. The first few chapters of Genesis are some of my most favorite chapters of the Bible since I see the love God poured out through the creation of our world and our lives. It changes everything once we grasp how much He loves us.
God has provided everything we will ever need to have a successful, fruitful, and happy life until we are joined with Him in heaven. Who has ever done that for anyone? No one. Just God. Mankind tries to steal what God has freely given to us.
God is love. The Bible repeats and shows us this from cover to cover. That’s why it is so important for us to love others whether we believe they deserve it or not. By loving others we know that we are a child of His. When we don’t, we know that we are lost souls.
However, it’s important for us to know what love is. Love isn’t acceptance. Love isn’t always agreeing with each other. Love isn’t tolerance. Love can even involve hatred towards the behavior of others. But we must separate the person from their behavior. Love doesn’t mean we allow everyone into our lives on a personal basis or even into our country.
There is a thing called “tough love.” Sometimes the best thing we can do for someone is to reject them out of love by letting them know their behavior is unacceptable. Allowing their bad behavior to corrupt our children is wrong and is a sign that we don’t really love our children like we ought to. Accepting other’s wrong behavior or wrong ideas is hatred towards that person. It shows that we don’t really love them. If we loved them we would help them out of their destructive lifestyle and let them know that what they are doing is unhealthy for them as well as for society.
The most loving thing we can show to other people is God’s love for them. We can’t change a person but God can. Love is the answer to all the world’s problems. But first we have to understand what love is and it’s importance.
God is waiting for you. He desires to show you His love. He desires to show you the truth so that He can bless you beyond anything this world has to offer.
I’m not sure what your trigger will be to soften your heart enabling you to receive the understanding of His love. I believe for me it was when I confessed Romans 12:1 with my whole heart and began living it on a daily basis. It was the day I sincerely turned my life over to Him to use me as a living sacrifice to work through me to help others. It’s no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
There’s no turning back now. I have experienced a high like no other. Joy like no other joy. Peace and most importantly love like no one other than God can give.
I have been enjoying a Charles Capps message over and over again as I accomplish my tasks throughout the day. It is an uplifting message full of God’s Word.
While I laid in bed a scripture came forth from Luke 6:45:
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
This scripture tied into Charles Capps’ message about taking care of the words that we speak.
This is one of my New Year’s resolutions for 2016 is to work more diligently on the words that I speak and to work with the LORD to control the thoughts that enter my mind.
If I do as Jesus instructs and fill my heart with only good life producing thoughts then the words that I speak will bring forth good things.
James tells us in James 3 that the tongue is an unruly evil that man cannot tame and how it steers the course of our life. The good news is that with Jesus all things are possible. With God on my side I know that He will assist me to be able to control that tongue of mine so that I can bring forth even better things in 2016 than ever before not only for myself but for all the people who hear my voice and for those to whom I direct my words. I encourage you to study James 3. They are very powerful scriptures once you understand their importance and significance.
Words are like seeds. They produce after their own kind reaping a harvest of either good or evil. We don’t realize but over time if the same self-defeating words are spoken they become a prophesy that comes true. Word like “nothing good ever comes my way”, “I think I’m coming down with the flu”, “I always get in the wrong line at the grocery store”, “I bet I won’t find a close parking spot”, “I know with this traffic being so bad that this is going to be a bad day”.
The Bible has dozens upon dozens of scriptures about what we say is what we get. If God has to repeat Himself over and over again, we know that these scriptures are very important.
Proverbs 18:21 tells us:
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
The words that we speak are either death or life. We can speak death to something or life to it. We can use both to our advantage. But if we aren’t careful about the words we speak, over time they will accomplish the same thing with results that are opposite from our desires.
God’s Word is final. Not the doctors, not your best friends, not your bosses. Only God’s word is final. If someone tells you something don’t believe them. Believe what God has to say about it and start confessing His Word over your desires.
Psalm 23 tells us that goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives. Start saying it and believing it in your heart. Never give up until you see it manifest in your life. The first time you say it you might not see it come alive since satan immediately tries to steal your words. He knows that if he can steal them you’ll give up believing. You have power over him so refuse to give up instead believe God will hold true to His Word.
God loves you and wants nothing more than to please you. He didn’t place you on this earth to be miserable. He placed you on this earth to enjoy life and share that goodness with others to His glory.
So then, my New Year’s resolution #3 is to fill my heart with only good things so that out of the abundance of my heart my words will be those of encouragement, love, kindness, gratefulness, thankfulness, abundance, and only the seeds that I want to sow.
The other night I felt that I had lost my purpose– that my purpose had suddenly vanished. Or had it? I just went back to sleep trying to remove the uneasiness I had been feeling.
Isn't that the purpose for all of us? We should all be preparing the way for the LORD's return. We should be preparing the way for the LORD to help us in time of need. We should be preparing ourselves on a daily basis as well as others. There are so many people lost today as evil is trying to overtake all of the land once possessed by Christians and those who feared God.
We see on a daily basis the horrors Europe is experiencing. By preparing the way for the LORD we could stop that from migrating here. We can literally arm ourselves with the strength of God. God will battle alongside of us. He brought us to this land many centuries ago and established this land for us to preserve. It's now up to us to take this land back with all the weapons He has given us through His word and those that our founders have given to us through the documents and laws they established.
Once we return to a Christian nation, we cannot be overcome.
I had a hard time getting the video of the mother and daughter being beaten in Germany and the car coming to their rescue hitting and disabling many who were trying to rise up against them. Those thoughts and what I would do filled my mind. What would I do in a similar situation? Hopefully, I wouldn't stop. Hopefully I would just plow through a mass of men knowing they only meant trouble. And never open my door to them.
Those thoughts filled my mind until I realized that satan was filling my mind with hate keeping me from falling asleep.
God is my rescue and in times of trouble. If I trust Him, He will direct my paths. Proverbs 3 verses 5 and 6 tells us:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
Some would say this is naive thinking. But no it isn't. If God said this then it is true. He surely wouldn't want me to stand idly by letting someone kill me and my child. God has instilled in all of us the desire to defend ourselves. It is natural to defend ourselves but we should allow Him to tell us how and by what means. If I put my entire trust that He will tell me what to do, He will send people to my aid just like He did that other woman. He will instruct me how to behave. He will protect me as long as I don't do anything foolish on my own.
Thankfully, we live in a country where it is our right to bear arms. I feel we are approaching a time where it is vital for all Christians to carry a weapon. If the enemy knows we are all armed they will not try anything against us. I don't believe it's just a gun we should be carrying. We should arm ourselves with knives, baseball bats, golf clubs, cattle prods, Tasers, bacon grease and pig's blood.
Our nation is different then most. We are strong and we our conquerors and the defenders of freedom. It's time we arm ourselves for battle with the hope that we will never have to use our weapons. But if we do they will be readily at hand and our families will be prepared to battle the enemy: both in prayer and by physical means but always with God.
That's what our founders did. They knew the Bible from front to cover. The bible was their way of life and it directed all of their paths. The Constitution, the Bill of Rights and many other documents of that time were solely based on God's Word. They were arming future generations from tyranny. They were preparing the way for us through God's Word.
A small portion of the population armed themselves with the Word of God and weapons then defeated the greatest nation on earth: England. We can do the same with ISIS. They are a defeated foe in the eyes of the LORD. It would only take the true believers and followers of Christ to arm themselves for battle to take back this nation making it strong once again driving the enemy away from our shores frightened.
God is strong and when our nation was strong in God no enemy dared come at us. We have weakened our nation from turning away from God's protection. But all is not lost. There is an army out there preparing for battle. Now we need to prepare our minds with the Word of God. His Words will direct our paths. Without Him the battle is lost. With Him fighting alongside of us as He did when our country was formed, we will win.
Remember what we were told in Colossians 1:27
To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
We are God's hope on earth. We are His hope to show glory to us in our lifetime and for those that follow after us. It is through us that God can work so that our world will not be overtaken by evil.
So now, it's up to us to "prepare the way for the LORD". Study the scriptures, get to know God, get to know His nature, and allow Him and His words to live inside of us. We are to prepare ourselves mentally and physically. Wherever we go we are never alone. He is there with us along with His angels. We are not to fear but to be strong. God's Word is our strength in times of trouble. He is our strength throughout the day. He is also our strength in times of peace. He is peace. He is love. He will fight our battles for us if only we believe.
I believe that every word in the Bible is true and placed there by God for our benefit. Not every word in the Bible is God speaking but it is placed there for our benefit. For example, some conversations are included that are not what we should believe but are there for us to learn from as not to think, speak or do ourselves.
Even the long lists of genealogies, the sacrifices of animals, how they are to be preformed, and the descriptions for building temples or tents of worship have significance to each and every one of us at some time in our life when our hearts are open to hear from God.
My One Year Bible is marked with a rainbow of colors denoting significant passages that stood out to me. Today I was not excepting to add more highlighting and underlining to new revelations from the LORD... but I was wrong.
This year I want to make 2016 the year of the LORD. I want to spend more time with Him and learn even greater insights into His nature and His person. I wasn't sure at the time those words came out of my mouth what that would entail. I didn't have a foresight as to what that would mean but I was sure as time went on that it would become more defined each day.
Yesterday I watched "Foundations of Freedom" which contained a wealth of information that was too much to take in during one sitting so I didn't delete it from the DVR. Instead I will take a portion of it throughout this year to mediate on or implement into my personal life.
As a result from watching that show, this morning while I was reading the January 10th scriptures I kept in mind to look for a scripture to memorize today with the hopes of finding two. A number of scriptures started to stand out as God revealed more about how life operates.
I have always desired to write each day what God shows me, mediate on those scriptures throughout the day and implement them into my life. Sadly, I have allowed life to deny me that desire. Hopefully, in 2016 I will start to do that on a regular basis.
They say you can create a habit over a 30 day period of time. Today if I don't read the Bible every morning I feel an emptiness, or a lack like I'm missing something. That's because I have made it a habit of reading one, two or three day's readings from my One Year Bible first thing every morning. It has become a habit.
Okay, back to the topic at hand. Petitions.
The first scripture that jumped off the page was in Genesis 24:12:
Then he said, "O LORD God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
Abraham's servant was sent to find a wife for Isaac, Abraham's son and this is the prayer of that servant.
For us to have greater success in our life we should be asking for success from God instead of trying to rely solely upon ourselves and the mercy of some other person.
My first thought was that I should say this out loud to God (if only in a whisper) before I even get out of bed each morning along with the other words I speak upon first waking up.
"God grant me success today." It's a simple thing to remember but oh so powerful when we petition this to God and believe in our heart that He will do as we requested.
Jesus tells us in John 15:7:
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
Genesis 24:7 are the words that God inspired to be included by the writer of Genesis. Therefore these are words ordained by God. I will place this passage into my heart so that it will abide with me always. Therefore, I will experience greater success everyday than I would have experienced if I hadn't "declared" God's word.
Job 22:28
You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways.
You can see the importance of knowing God's word. You can back your thoughts by the word of God so that you know what is possible and what is true.
John 8:32
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 17:17
Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
The second part of Genesis 24:12 tells us to pray for others. Abraham's servant was sent on an errand for his master. He prayed that he would have success and for God to show his master kindness.
If we want success we should be seeking it not only for ourselves but to bless others with that success as well. The two go hand-in-hand.
James 4:3
You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
God wants us to be successful so that He can bless not only us but others as well. We are not to be selfish with His gifts. The more we sow the more we reap. The more we bless others the more we are blessed in return. The more success we receive and use that success to help others the more success we will have in life. Do onto others… The Golden Rule applies to every area of our life. The parable of the sower is how this world operates. Once we get our life in line to how this world operates the more blessed we are.
If you are miserable then spread some joy so that joy will come back to you. It applies to everything. Don't wait until joy finds you. Don't wait until kindness comes your way. Start tossing that boomerang out there so that it returns back to you. Start rolling that ball up that hill so that when it rolls back it's larger than the one you sent.
The second scripture in Genesis that popped out was in Genesis 24:21 when Abraham's servant thought he might have found what his master had requested (success).
And the man, wondering at her, remained silent so as to know whether the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not.
This is excellent advice. Instead of instantly grabbing hold of what we perceive as success we should remain silent and wait until we know all that we need to know.
How often have we jumped at an opportunity too soon and missed out by not waiting to think it over requesting God for further revelation or insight as to how to proceed. Or as soon as we grabbed hold and accepted it a better opportunity presented itself to us that we've missing out on.
Once we accept that we have found success it's vital to immediately thank God and worship Him.
Genesis 24:26
Then the man bowed down his head and worshiped the LORD.
The more thankful we are to the LORD, the more the LORD will give us to be thankful for.
God surrounds us at all times. We should never place our success in our hands but rather give credit that it came from the LORD and believe that He will establish that success and give us more by putting our trust and faith in Him.
The final scripture I highlighted in Genesis was:
Genesis 24:40
But he said to me, 'The LORD, before whom I walk, will send His angel with you and prosper your way;
Abraham declared to his servant that the LORD would send His angel with his servant to prosper him. When we make known our requests to God, He sends His angel with us to fulfill our request. We are never alone. Not only do we have God on our side but we have His ministering angels with us that take the words that we speak directly to God then get to work into making our words visible or manifested.
Hebrews 11:1 and 3
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
For this very reason we need to be mindful of the words that we speak. They need to be precise. We shouldn't be throwing out random words carelessly. Our words are more powerful than we realize. Too many bad things are manifested in our life that we don't even realize we requested by the words we spoke.
Thank you LORD for sharing Your Word, giving new insight, renewing our mind to Your Words and for guidance and direction for our life. I pray this blesses those who take the time to read and meditate on Your word.
