Revealing the Father's Heart

Besides knowing who God is, I think that knowing who we are is the second most important part in our walk of faith. This afternoon, I realized that it is so easy for us to allow things and people to tell us who we are. When some one gives us a compliment, then we can feel good about ourselves, for a while anyway. When someone insults us, we take it to heart. We allow a piece of paper to tell us how smart we are. I always want to look over at others after we get our tests back to see how they did compared to how I did and if I did better than them, then I can feel good about myself. In the name of humility, when someone gives me a compliment, I find the need to give them an excuse. Just accept the dang compliment for goodness sake! I get embarrassed when I show anything off that I have done, when in reality if I put my best work forward, I can be proud of what I have done, even if it is a stick figure. In the name of Jesus right now I choose to break off any association between wh

Over the summer I had too much time to think and I felt lots of loneliness. Now I am overwhelmed with busyness and I have no time to think. It is so difficult to find that same time to spend with God and I feel that even when I do find time, it is way too easy to get distracted. This summer it was easy to see God at work in my life, but now it is getting harder and harder. I get attacked with thoughts like why am I here and what am I doing? Is God really working? Is He happy with me? Deep down I know that He is but then why do I not feel the same desire to spend time with him? So many questions. I still definitely want more of Him but lately I feel like I have been wanting Him for what He can give me rather than for who He is. God I ask you to help me want you more. I know that you are at work in my life and I know that you are with me. Please reveal yourself to me. Help me to make time for you like I make time for my friends. Show me what it means to be in love with you and show

This summer has been really hard. I cant say that its been bad, just hard. God gives us lonely seasons that he uses to help us grow. Rain is necessary but sometimes it is just not fun. I was reading Bill Johnson's book entitled, Strengthening Yourself in the Lord  and he said something that was very profound for me. One of the problems I have had during this season is feeling abandoned by the ones that I love. I call them the "I just needs" and the "I'm so's." Most of my complaining begins with one of these two phrases. I just need a friend to talk to. I just need a church that feels like family. I just need to get out of this or that situation. And the I'm so tired, I'm so lonely, I'm so frustrated etc. In his book, Johnson says, "for the sake of becoming mature and growing in favor so that we can bless those around us, God brings moments into our lives when we have to stand alone in difficulty and testing. God will even blind the e

Although God's presence is everywhere on the earth, there are times when it is more noticeable than others. Most Christians have experienced those occasional "goosebump experiences," but I believe that it is possible to have a knowledge of God's presence all the time. But how? God says that He will "never leave us nor forsake us" but he also says to "seek and you will find." I believe that the first key is knowing that he is always with us. If we realize that nothing we do will push Him away, we can keep the eyes of our heart fixed on Him. I do not believe that it is possible to get "out of fellowship with God." This puts too much emphasis on what we have done in order to "get into fellowship" with God. Saying that we have to read our Bible so much or pray this much turns us into religious Pharisees. The second key to knowing God's presence is to get hungry for it. It is one of those strange paradoxes that while God is a

The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge... (Proverbs 1:7) Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease, where there are tongues, they will be stilled, where there is knowledge, it will pass away. (1 Cor. 13:8) Fearing God was primarily focused on in the old covenant; people feared God because the Law gave them an impossible standard to reach. According to the Bible, fearing the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge, but love is the conclusion to it. Love, not fear, is what stands no matter what and will be left at the end of the age along with faith and hope. Based on this, our total focus should be on knowing this love and sharing it with others. The idea is not to see how much we can love God but to know how much He loves us. God's kind of love is such that we cannot love Him with our own love so in order to love Him, we must realize how much He loves us!

My question is, How can we know how wide and long and deep and high the Father's love is if it truly surpasses knowledge? (Eph. 3:17) I have been on a journey to learn of the Father's love. My Bible is now full of little hearts everytime the word love is mentioned and I have spent countless hours pondering God's love for me. The Bible gives me a few clues, such as the fact that God is love, so knowing Him will help me to know his love. Another clue is 1 John 4:10 which says, This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." So this led to several more hours of pondering what Jesus did on the cross for me. However, the knowledge still has not seemed to make the massive leap from my head to my heart.   What I do know is that knowing the love of Christ seems to be the answer to all of life's problems. If we truly believed in God's love for us, we would have no trouble loving others, fear would

Psalm 33:18 But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.  Fear and love have always been thought of as complete opposites, but in a way they also go together.  1 John 4:18 says there is no fear in love, but that perfect love casts out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The word that is used here for fear is phobos, which comes from the word to flee or withdraw, especially when one feels inadequate. So then, how are we supposed to both love and fear God at the same time?  A simple definition of love is that it draws us to someone or something, while fear causes us to withdraw. It is  most healthy to have a balance of these two qualities in our lives when it comes to our relationship with God because love causes us to be close to Him, while fear causes us to reverence Him and realize how holy and great He truly is.  Someone put it well when they used the example of two fathers. One father spoils his childre

So on a whim I decided to start this blog today. Although I question the need for another blog when there already so many on the web, I am doing this primarily for my own benefit. Many times, when my thoughts are swirling around in my head, it is incredibly helpful for me to get them out on paper or talk to someone about what I am thinking. The purpose of this blog is based on Paul's prayer for the Ephesians, "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us to believe" I pray these things for anyone who happens to come across this blog. While these verses have often been used as verses to describe what happens at salvation, I believe that the ulti