Losing My Life

    When we are going through struggles the enemy often tells us that we are unworthy of God's grace and mercy. Frankly, he's right. None of us deserve it. But that's the whole point of Christianity! We don't get what we deserve because Jesus took it when He died for us on that cross. Once we accept His free gift our sins are forgiven and forgotten. He died so that we could live in freedom and righteousness as we were always intended to.     To do that we need to keep forging ahead with our eyes on Him and stop looking at our mistakes. Too many of us let our unworthiness stop us. We make excuses for ourselves. "When I change this area in my life, then I can commit to Jesus." We have it all backwards! He is the only one who can change us and free us from the sin that so easily ensnares us. We cannot do it without committing to Him. Making those excuses is simply an insult to His gift of the cross. It says that we don't believe that He is enough for us. We...

    Sometimes it feels like everything we know is falling apart. We've been praying and praying and still it seems like things only get worse around us. I encourage you today to keep pressing on in those times. While it may look like you have been abandoned, take heart knowing that it is all for a purpose. When things fall apart, they may actually be falling right into place.     When we do not have Christ in our lives, we go about building our lives with the materials we know and have access to. These materials are from the world. But when we give our lives over to Jesus, He wants to fix those areas. It is His will that our lives be joyful and abundantly blessed. That is why He instructs us how to live in His word. That process takes some reassembling. 1 Corinthians 3:10-11   According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no...

    One of the most valuable characteristics in our walk with Christ is humility. When we have the ability to humble ourselves before Jesus and accept His leading, we go far. But problems arise when we force our own way. Humility is a characteristic that allows us to accept correction and truth and grow stronger because of it. Pride keeps us tied down and unable to grow up in Christ.     We have our brothers and sisters around us to keep pointing us to Jesus. That means helping us through areas not aligned with Him and combating those areas with the truth. But if we get angry and reject those people, we miss out on growing up for sake of being "right" and lose the people Jesus put in our lives for His sake. It doesn't matter if we are right but only that we follow what Jesus calls right and good. He is the one true judge and if we respect His ultimate goodness and authority, we should aim to follow in His ways.     Do not let your pride stunt your spiri...

Matthew 6:25-34 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his k...

    A couple days ago I talked about the importance of being a friend to those around you. Today I want to talk about what it means to be a friend of God. He is always our friend, but what does it take to be His? It is our goal always to draw closer to Him and become more like Him. What a rewarding feeling would it be to make it to Heaven and have Jesus call you His friend? Have trust in God's plans James 2:23 And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. (ESV)     Abraham was called a friend of God because of the amount of trust he had in Him. Abraham was also called the "father of faith." He believed God even to the point of sacrificing His own son. He recognized that God gives and takes away as He pleases. He trusted God so much with His life that He completely submitted himself to His will. Do what He has commanded John 15:12-14   This is my commandm...

    Sometimes I hear people talking about all the things Satan has "created." Today I just wanted to remind you that the only thing Satan has created is a big mess! Since the Lord created the earth there has been nothing new to enter it. We have used all the resources provided to us from the original creation.      That being said, Satan only perverts the things that the Lord intended for good. He misuses them for evil and destruction, as is his nature. Sometimes we consider things like alcohol or sex as completely sinful because of the way they have been perverted. But Jesus' first miracle was making water into wine and He told us to drink wine in remembrance of Him. He only advised us not to be intoxicated. And sex was created as a gift exclusively for married couples to bring them together as "one flesh."  John 8:44   You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and ha...

    As Christians, our goal is to become like Jesus in every aspect of our lives. We are to emulate Jesus in all of our relationships. We want to take His example and become just like it. One area is in friendships. When you think of the traits that Jesus possesses as a friend, what comes to mind?     The characteristics that I think of are things like honesty, openness, dependability, unconditional love, trustworthy, generous, good listener, and no agenda. These are just a few of the traits I think are essential in a Jesus-focused friendship. Jesus is always there when we need Him like a good friend should be. He never lies to us and is all too worthy of our trust. He is generous and considerate with His time and gifts towards us. He listens to us when we need to spill our guts to someone. He comforts us. He has no agenda but to love us unconditionally. That is what I want my friendships to look like.     It is so important to have relationships with o...