For the love of God…

Definition: re·lent·less

riˈlentləs/

adjective

1.

oppressively constant; incessant.

“the relentless heat of the desert”

synonyms: persistent, continuing, constant, continual, continuous, nonstop, never-ending, unabating, interminable, incessant, unceasing, endless,

God’s love for us is relentless.

Perhaps, even “relentless” isn’t a good enough description of how God loves us. Yet, perhaps it adequately speaks to the nature of God who never quits on His creation. Do you remember the story of the prodigal son? In that parable of Jesus what does the Father do? Despite the son asking for his inheritance and wishing his father to be dead, the father lets him go. One of the hardest things to do as a parent is to let a child go and have them make their own choices even if those choices are harmful. Tough love has the capacity to hurt your heart while you relentlessly pursuit reconciliation and renewal of that lost loved one.

The father waited for his son to come to his senses. The story is more than just about this lost or prodigal son. This story is about the relentless kind of love that is embodied in the father. He waits, and even while his son is still a long way off, the father goes and runs to him. (Luke 15:20) It was unbecoming of an adult in the culture of Jesus to run anywhere, and this father runs to his undeserving and wayward son.

Isn’t that what God the Father has done for us through His Son Jesus Christ? He relentless love took Jesus to the cross for us. His relentless love brought about a way for us, the undeserving and wayward sinner, to experience right relationship with Him once again.

For the love of God – Our Response

What is our response to this relentless love? Can we recognize how undeserving we are and how amazing it is to have a God who pursues us like this? Secondly, if we accept this relentless love through Jesus Christ alone, the next step in the reciprocation of that love is our desire to become like Christ. By this I mean we ought to recognize that Jesus embodied for us in His living and dying what Holiness in human form looks like. Thus we are to place our feeble feet in the very footprints of Christ for the salvation of humanity! Our response to His love will take us to places we would never have wanted to go. (John 21:18) Perhaps it won’t take us to suffering and death like the Apostle Peter, but His love will propel us to do outrageous things for the cause of Christ!

Christ’s relentless love will prompt us to take up our crosses too and follow him! (Matthew 16:24) If we truly accept His salvation and grace in our lives, we will not be able to just keep it hidden inside of us, we will want to share that ceaseless love to those who are still lost in the darkness of lovelessness.

For the love of God…be bold in your relentless pursuit of others!

For the love of God…be genuine in your passion to serve Him humbly!

For the love of God…wrap your arms around the unlovable and show them love like they have never seen before!

For the love of God…be Holy as He (Jesus Christ) is Holy!

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies never come to an end,
They are new every morning
New every morning
Great is Your faithfulness, O Lord
Great is Your faithfulness”

-May all the Glory be to God and that of His Relentless love of You and Me!

March 12, 2014 0

Hey Guess what? You matter!

We are so

in a very, very, big

yet…we

are

Not

We are never

Alone.

In our

little nature

God

In our small view of things

He is…

So why do we

struggle with our

Do we falter

why do we

our

existence?

Here is

a Reassurance:

God.

….

-just a thought.

March 11, 2014 0

Resurrection

“Resurrection”

It’s a new television show…but it’s something more than that. Something deep within us longs for just a few more minutes with our loved ones who have passed away. We wish within our hearts that they could see what we’ve become or that they could see how much our children have grown. Life conceivably has a beginning and an end, but in this new television show on ABC, “Resurrection” is happening all over the small town of Arcadia. It is a mystery as to why this is happening, but those who are “coming back” seem to possess intimate knowledge and even DNA coo-berating their identities.

How we wish such a miracle could take place here on earth. Most of us would dream of a scenario where we could once again hold a loved one that we’ve lost and to spend more quality time with them. The ABC producers of “Resurrection” certainly hope that we become transfixed to this concept and keep coming back for more.

Can television shows truly sell us hope? Are YOU in need of hope today?

Jesus knew a lot about life. He lived and He died, but He was also resurrected on the third day. During His ministry He even resurrected one of His friends, Lazarus, who had been dead for four days. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Jesus holds the keys to Eternal life for all of us and this should give us authentic hope in our lives today!

TRUTH – We all possess eternal souls. We have been created by God himself who formed us in His image, and a part of Him is within us, which is eternal. These earthly bodies will one day wear out because they are temporal. We will one day face death…BUT the expiration of this human existence is not the end of our eternal existence. Life will go on. The real question is what destination will we choose? You see if we want to experience eternity with God and with those who followed Him and have gone on before us, we have to choose Him in the here and now! John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

If we choose to follow and love the Creator of Heaven and Earth, we will experience a resurrection beyond what television or even movies can give us. Real resurrection will happen and we should find hope in the fact that death of the physical body is NOT the end.

Check it out – “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16) It won’t be some horror show, or television script, this will be for real. I don’t know about you, but I want to experience this resurrection and new life with Christ in Heaven as well!

I love supernatural shows, and “Resurrection” looks quite interesting to me. Perhaps it might get some of its viewers to consider how precious life is and also to consider how very real Eternity will be for all of us.

(My review is strictly my opinion and not the opinion of any television network or affiliation)

March 10, 2014 1

Forgiveness and Peace

Anger

Bleeds

Red…

Sometimes

the things

said

make

jagged

broken

beds…

we lie in them

the cumbersome

oozing regret.

BUT

Reconciliation

is Not

NOT

too far away.

Make a break

get away

turn your

pride

into

Forgiveness…

clean

the mess

confession

regress into

peace again.

February 13, 2014 0

Safe Harbor – The Spiritual Discipline of Solitude

“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” -William G.T. Shed

I admit I’ve been addicted to the show “Deadliest Catch” for a few years now.

It’s crazy, wild and it truly is a rugged dangerous living.

I was watching one episode where one of the skippers had to bring their fishing vessel into port because of a mechanical issue. The seas were raging and the weather was not desirable, but they had to get to harbor for safety and repairs. Of course the tv show paints it with great drama and suspense, but in this instance they were extremely worried about getting to the docks and getting out of the storm.

Are you in need of getting out of the storm in your life today?

Has the storm been brewing around you for a while now, swirling and ebbing, crashing against your vessel and threatening to capsize you? Do you feel threatened and exposed, fearful of being washed away?

we all need safe harbor! I think the Apostle Paul felt this way many times in the midst of his persecution and imprisonment. He even knew a little bit about being literally shipwrecked (this happened to him not one or two times, but THREE times!). He even wrote about it; “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

Safe harbor is vital for all of us to have. Do you have a safe harbor? Safe harbor needs to be a place where you can go and find rest. A place that will shelter you from the storms. A place where you know the storms of life can’t harm you. Jesus said;
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Safe Harbor is available –

But we have got to be willing to act on it…to actually go to the safe harbor. We have to be willing to admit that these storms are more than we can handle. Admit that we need help and our strength just isn’t enough to get us through what we’re going through.

He waits for us to come to Him. He doesn’t just want us to come to Him when we’re in danger…but that’s a start. Sometimes we come to Him only after we’ve hit rock bottom. Sometimes we come to Him only after all of our other resources dry up. Yet He is always faithful! He is always available.

May I offer you a little ticket to the safe harbor?

It’s just a gentle word of advice and help. It’s a small thing that ~~I’ve learned~~ I’m still learning…

Solitude with God:

It might sound kind of funny, but being silent before the Creator of the Universe really and truly helps! There is no better place to go than to God for guidance and for a re-connection with Him.

We live in a world where we are surrounded by sounds and noise every day. There are distractions in our homes and in our workplaces…so how do we find these moments of solitude with God? Is it even possible?

Yes it is! But the real question then becomes are we truly willing to seek out these moments with God? Are we prepared to sit in silence before Him? Truly finding solitude in God’s safe harbor requires us to devote or set aside purposeful time with Him. Without our dedication to the practice of solitude we will find ourselves hopelessly bored and defeated by it. You have to prepare your mind and your life so that you can actually sit in silence before Him.

Anything worth doing takes work. An Olympian can’t simply show up to an Olympic event without first having spent countless months, days even years practicing and training. So it is with the spiritual discipline of solitude. It’s called a discipline for a reason.

dis·ci·pline

ˈdisəplin/

noun

1.

the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience.

“a lack of proper parental and school discipline”

Discipline takes real work and practice. Sitting in silence before God will take work! Tuning out distractions and sounds/noises of our every day life will take work! But it’s worth it!

Do you need safe harbor today?

Whether you’re burnt out, washed up, overly tired, stressed out, overwhelmed…whatever the case today, perhaps it’s time you became plugged back into the true source of power in this world! Perhaps it’s time to realign your priorities which need to include these vital moments of solitude before a God who wants to encourage, strengthen, support and love you.

Are you ready?

-Just a thought for you today.

(These thoughts and images were put together specifically for http://www.pastorsponderings.org but are free for anyone to use in the express hope that God’s word may be heard and seen. May all the glory be given to God!)

January 23, 2014 0

Finding Love

I started with hope –

because I think hope begins things

makes us sing…

but faith and love…they have to be included too.

they just kind of go together don’t they?

You really can’t have one

without

the

Every one needs,

craves, desires,

hopes, wishes,

dreams, aspires

yearns, waits

for

Songs are written about it

poems are rhythmically charged with it

countless books bleed from the heart of love.

How do we ?

How do we

em·brace IT?

emˈbrās/

verb

hold (someone) closely in one’s arms, esp. as a sign of affection.

“Aunt Sophie embraced her warmly”

hug, take/hold in one’s arms, hold, cuddle, clasp to one’s bosom,clasp, squeeze, clutch;….

How do we flourish and thrive in it ?

Love makes the world go around…not money, not fortune and fame…but

It shines in the darkness,

paints over our mess

helps us confess

blesses us…love…

captivates, motivates, escalates, elevates…us.

Love always perseveres! Always, always, always, always…always.

Have you found love yet?

Is it worth finding at all?

True love,

God’s love…

It begins here…ends here…

If we find it here,

and cherish it here

depend on it here

Then from here

to —————————————–> There

Love will be.

Real authentic,

no hidden agendas

No…

From the source of Love,

God.

Almighty

We will

to the only

real source of

love.

Find love today.

He is waiting.

With arms wide

Open.

This.

Is.

Love.

Begin with this one simple truth:
You are loved! You matter to God! You are important to Him! He loves you so very much! From this point of reference, may you find Him, and find love!

(These thoughts were written specifically for “Pastorsponderings.org” but they are free so that others might find love and hope through Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen and to God be there glory!)

January 22, 2014 1

Finding Hope

Sometimes it’s a hopeless world around us and all anyone can seem to do is just survive.

I don’t want to merely survive,

I want to bloom and grow and thrive in the place(s) that God has placed me.

Sometimes though I think that we all can just sort of settle for the “just good enoughs”.

I’m not talking about materialism or stuff but about our life circumstances and our hopes and dreams….

you see

when we were just kids

We dreamed. We welcomed imagination. We hoped to become, and in that becoming the sky was the limit.

We weren’t weighed down by endless doubts, or the “not good enoughs” or the “I can’ts”…

we just imagined and dreamed big dreams…

but…

over time…

we started to believe what others thought about us.

over time…

we bought into the lies that this world told us.

over time…

we accepting the truths of the fallen, instead of the truths of the risen.

So, for just a second, will you accepted this breath?

Will you accept this gift of hope again?

Will you take these written words to heart…

and believe again?

Here is the hope that I have for ~~you~~ for me, for us

today…

This is what I know HOPE to be:

H.elping us

O.pen our eyes to the

P.ower of

E.ternity

This isn’t something readily accepted. This isn’t something generally practiced…even though flowery speeches and whole sections of bookstores are devoted to “self-help”…they can fall short.

Hope lifts our eyes.

Helps us see beyond what this earth

has taught us to know.

When we can begin to look up, accept divine help…

our eyes can become truly open to the possibilities again.

The ~~power~~

God’s power, brings us closer,

so much closer

to the way things were created to be

in the first place.

Don’t be limited by your hopes and dreams…find hope…

and….

let it….

set…

you…

January 20, 2014 0

January 1st = Forgiveness (The 70X7 Principle)

New beginnings. That’s what some people are hoping for at the start of 2014. Cue the song “High Hopes” (I’m really not being cynical here either…really). I believe in the God of second chances, do you? I believe that when His disciples asked Him how many times they had to forgive Jesus told them seventy times seven (Matt 18:21-22). I know that He wasn’t just giving them a random number out of His head and it wasn’t legalistic in the sense that they only had to forgive 490 times (that’s 70 X 7 by the way for us who had to use a calculator cause we suck at math). I believe the disciples eventually got Jesus’ point. Forgiveness isn’t really about how many times we have to forgive but rather about the conditions of our hearts and the willingness to find grace for others. Isn’t that what God has done for us? We mess up royally and we don’t deserve God’s forgiveness and yet His prevenient grace is offered to us through Christ. He forgives us COMPLETELY!

I don’t wish to imply that there are conditions on forgiveness here but think of it this way: Forgiveness of others and those who have wronged you alleviates the burdens and scorn you may still have in your heart for that person(s). They may not even seek sincere forgiveness from you but when you wipe the slate clean of transgressions done to you, you are clearing the weight of that burdens of wrongs done to you. It may sound selfish, but why live life burdened by the wrongs of others? It holds you back. It holds you captive. You will always be a prisoner to their wrong doings done to you even if they have moved on. So why let it fester? Why let that kind of emotional/spiritual sliver remain? Pluck it out and move on for your own health and well being.

Secondly, forgiveness doesn’t mean that you become naive and trust people who haven’t earned that trust yet, but it does mean that you move on. We must be wise in how we let others effect us coupled with the decisions we make which also impacts others. Forgiveness and trust aren’t always mutually the same. What forgiveness allows you to do (and the offending party) is to move on. I don’t believe that we have to automatically forget but we forgive. Afterall we can’t expect someone who has been sexually or physically abused to forget what was done to them right out of the “forgiveness gate”…it will take time to heal and to cope. In the same way that it may take years of counseling and healing for the abused, those who have been wronged in other ways will find that time needs to pass before trust and “forgetting” can ever take place.

Lastly, I mentioned earlier about what the year of Jubilee meant in the Hebrew culture. It was a year in which all debts were erased and people could start over. Perhaps 2014 is that year of Jubilee for you. Perhaps you’ve been holding onto pains, hurts, and grudges that need to be wiped completely away. Forgiveness heals and lifts burdens of all parties.

Are you willing to forgive? For those also who are seeking to find forgiveness, be strong. It takes a lot of courage to own up to wrong doings so that you can grow and move on. Don’t miss this opportunity on the first of the year to begin on the right foot!

-Just a thought for new beginnings.

January 1, 2014 0

Finding Hope (A Poem)

Finding salvation and comfort…is that even possible?
In a world that seems so wrought with pain and sadness,
these half-timbered, dimly lit dwellings
plastered with the scabs of hurts and slings of words
how can hope spawn from such a place?
These tall escarpments seem too far,
and we, with reaches far too limited
how can hope ever stoop, low and bending
to such a place as this?

Yet, when the babe, cherubic and glorious
came to this fallen shambles of a place
we now, with arms extended
broken and needy
can embrace this light
beaming and radiant.

Hope? Don’t speak of such a thing,
live it, experience it, vivid and streaked
with Theophonic glory…speak not
of falsities and half promises of this word!
Instead, with hearts extended
grooved and bending
no longer a barren land but
but rich, empirical
blazing in His glory!