Draw Nigh to God and He Will Draw Nigh

"Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you"

James 4:8

God longs for a relationship with us. If you ask how do we know that, we can see it in Genesis; God came in the cool of the morning seeking Adam, He cried out with a deep longing saying "Adam where are you, why are you hiding from me." That is still the heart cry of Our Father today, He longs for a relationship with us; He wants to walk with us and to fellowship with us. Jesus came to this earth to seek and save, that which was lost, not just to save, but also seek. Sometimes we misunderstand Our Father in Heaven; we deem Him as too stern or even unconcerned about our lives. But that is absolutely absurd, if that were the case than He wouldn't have gave His Only Son for us in order to bring us into a relationship with Him. God is crying out for a fellowship with us today, not just on formal level, but to be our friends. We can ask is that even possible; the Bible says God called Abraham His friend; that is what He wants us to be also. God wants to be Our Friend. He wants to walk with us, to be a part of every aspect of our lives. We may be too concerned about our lifestyles, but Jesus says, I shed My blood on the cross for all your sins. Come wash yourselves with My Word, and let me come and make My dwelling in your heart. This day lets become friends, with the only Friend that we'll ever have who will never ever turn His back on us.

Christ's Strength In our Weakness

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” 

2 Corinthians 12:9

Jesus is Our Strength and Salvation. He is Our Rock and an ever-present help in times of trouble.  Being His children, our job is to place our trust on the unmovable Rock, Jesus.  We do everything in our power to please Him and try to gain His approval, but the Bible says, He loves us at all times, nothing can move us from the Love of Christ. Jesus knew our weaknesses before He gathered us under His wings, that’s why Jesus says to Paul; My Strength is made perfect in your weakness. He knows we are weak, but that’s why He chose us, to reveal His mighty strength, through our weaknesses, because He is strong. So let us boldly step forth into this world, and preach the Gospel, the times are short but the task at hand is large. Nevertheless, if He could change a bunch of fisherman, to be Apostles that shook the world, than His strength will help us accomplish all he has purposed in our lives. We may feel that we're not up for the job; God sees the heart; His grace is more than sufficient for you. Now is not the time to sit and mope, Jesus shed His blood for the world, our job is to tell the world; to take advantage of His Mercy.

●.☆.● He died for us, so let us live for Him  ●.☆.●

The Lord is Loving

“You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to You.” 

Psalm 86:5

Everybody knows the best place to be is in the arms of our Father Jesus. It’s in His arms we find peace, joy and beyond all feel the warmth of His embrace. But here and there we still being little children, we leave His arms when something else catches our eyes. We go after things that are not even close to the worth of Father’s love and it doesn't take long for us to realize that either. But rather than running back to Our Father’s hands, we distance ourselves from Him fearing that we may be rejected by Our Lord. But Our Father is forgiving and good; His love calls out to us day and night. The Bible doesn't say He just loves, in fact it says, He's abounding in love; the dictionary definition means to be rich or well supplied. Our Father is love, we being humans display love, or show forms of love, but Jesus is love. With Him we never have to fear of rejection because we are adopted to be God's children through the Blood of Jesus. On this earth if you adopt a child, by law you’re never allowed to disown the child. If human laws do not permit such a thing, how than will Our good Father in heaven ever do so. So fear not, if you ever feel that you’re far away from His presence, call out to Him today, he will come running to you. That is His cry to us today, “Son, Daughter, come to me as you are, I'll make your paths straight.” Amen.

"Jesus invites you in His Name to come into God's presence through prayer, crawl up into His lap by faith, put your head on His shoulder of strength, feel His loving arms of protection around you, call Him "Abba - Daddy" and pour out your heart to Him."

A Walk in the Wilderness

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"


Jeremiah 29:11

Everybody has to admit, that there are times in our lives where we go through

wilderness situations. During those times you feel as if God has abandoned you, or that there's even a chance your problems might destroy you. Don't worry because God always has it planned for the best. Sometimes in order to get our attention, God takes us away from our comfort zone. Comfort zones meaning, times we fall into routines or maybe we tell ourselves this is it. We have to keep in mind, that our life with Jesus is a daily walk moving forward, and there's not a day on this earth where we can say that we know it all or have accomplished everything. If we ever feel ourselves going through the wilderness, we must in fact rejoice. You would feel as if that is crazy, but it's true, we have to rejoice because Victory was already given to us on the Cross, also because God is drawing us nearer to Him. I just want to tell you of a story that touched my heart.

 

"There was a man who was climbing a mountain; as he was descending he slipped on a rock and plummeted to the ground. Luckily his safety rope caught him, and he was dangling on the rope. It was snowing really heavy and he could not see the top or the bottom, so he prayed to God. When he prayed, God told him to let go of the rope. But he insisted to God, that if he would let go of the rope, he would surely die. But again God spoke to him, to let go of the rope, but he was reluctant. Eventually the next morning the rescue team, found him dangling just metres above the ground."

This is how it is in our lives also, sometimes when God leads us in a direction and tells us to let go of things; We hold onto them, as if it were our only hope for life. Keep in mind, that His plans for us are are always for the best. 
 

Greatest of these is Love

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love"

1 Corinthians 13:13

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbour as your yourself, this is the greatest commandment that was given to us by Our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 19:18. If we flip the pages of the Bible front to back and turn it upside down and search through the entire scriptures, the most prominent message that is being delivered, is the message of love. Love is the key needed to unlock the blessings of God, if we love one another, than we are walking in the light. The Bible tells us whoever does not love, does not know God, because God is love. Sometimes we are so busy trying to please God with our faith, with our righteousness, with our tithes, that we forget the main message; the message of love. Jesus tells us to be imitators of Him and what did He do ? He laid down His life for us, the greatest love that anybody can give. If we are to be imitators of Christ, than we must love one another. We must love others with the same love that God loved us with. We might say to ourselves but others will not be the same, they'll betray us or they'll talk behind our backs. Let us not forget the love that God showered us with when we deliberately did what was wrong even though we knew what was right. This is the message of the Cross, this is what the Great Commission is. God did not simply tells us the way to Him and quote a few scriptures to us, but He Himself came down and with the greatest display of love; that was ever known in human history and laid down His life as a ransom for many. We are called to be ambassadors of Christ, representing His love in this cruel world. If we follow the example the Jesus set for us, than truly this world will never be the same.

Be Rooted in the Word

"For the word of the LORD is right and true;
   He is faithful in all He does"

Psalm 33:4

 

Our hope should be in the Word of God. Jesus clearly tells us that there will be trials and tribulations, but have faith in Me. Paul also says in Hebrews, "without faith it is impossible to please God." So faith is a important part of our daily lives, but how do we stand strong in faith and how can we strengthen our faith; by the Word of the living God. The Bible tells us in Romans 10:17 "then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." This is why it is very important to read our scriptures daily and to build our lives upon the Rock, which is Christ. The Word of God should be the greatest influence upon our lives, our actions should always be judged according to the Bible. We sometimes loose focus upon the Word and go to others for directions or counsel, but all the answers we ever need are found in the Bible. We don't understand the importance of the Word of God, if we really want to see its power, look at the world today. The world we stand upon today was fashioned by the Word of God, that is the power and magnificence of His Word. They are life giving and healing to our bones. If we stand upon the Word and base our lives upon it, we will be like the house built upon the Rock. The storm will come and the waves will bash it, but we will not be shaken.

" I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word" – Psalm 138:2

We Were Made to Worship

"Offer to God thanksgiving,
         And pay your vows to the Most High"

 

Psalm 50:14

 

 

Sometimes we as human beings in the busyness of our schedules, forget what we were made for. We are made to worship the true and faithful God. We tend to forget that we can rely on God for all our needs and instead of doing so, we find ourselves trying to fix our problems and forgetting the real reason we were created. If we understand the love that the God has relished upon us, we will never be anxious another day. God in all His Majesty and Splendor, still loves to regard Himself in our daily lives, in fact the Bible says look at the birds of the sky, they neither toil nor store away but Your heavenly Father feeds them, how much more valuable are we. We at times compare God's ability to provide for us with our human strength, but we fail to realize that we serve the Creator of the universe and He is more than capable of supplying for our needs. If we stick to the basic principle of what we were created for, God will never let us be ashamed. King David was man of praise, the Bible says he was a man after God's own heart. Not only did God declare that, he also blessed him abundantly in his life, he went from being a shepherd boy to being one of the greatest kings of Israel. David had a revelation of God, that we too must attain in our lives, he says in Psalm 89:8 "O LORD God of hosts, Who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You." Because David had the revelation that God is faithful to the end, he boldly placed his trust in Him and praised Him from the depths of his heart. Lets forget all our problems and just worship God for His magnificence, loving kindness and His mercy He bestows upon us. If I were to continue on about all the things we can worship Him for, words will not be enough. But if we live our lives praising Him than God also has promise for us :

¹⁵ Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
         I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” 

 

Psalm 50:15

         

Kingdom of Heaven

Matthew 13:44 

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."

In order for us to gain access to the Kingdom of Heaven, that access must be the most precious possession we can ever possess. When we see something we like and it truly captivates our thoughts, we go above and beyond our abilities to obtain it; our desire to be with God must be like such. We should be able let go of all our possessions to attain that true joy of being in His presence; chasing after true love.

In the this parable where the person found the treasure, yet he went and sold all he possessed to attain that field, when he could have easily walked off with the treasure. That actions embodies the way to gain access to Kingdom of Heaven. Many find it, but not all are willing to let go of all their possessions, in order to attain the true treasure of God. The possessions symbolize our evil desires, our old habits, whatever we treasure above God. There are rules that must be followed. We cannot simply steal our way into God's Kingdom; there's always a price that has to be paid.

But thanks to our Father in heaven, the price we pay is nothing more than just loving our God with all our hearts. It may seem as a big sacrifice to let everything go but remember your life span on earth is about 70 years (give or take), after that passes where will you spend eternity?

But let's not obey our Lord because of fear but rather out of love. Love for what He has done, love Him for all the blessings He has blessed us with and love Him for the right He has given us to become His children. When you say loving something with all your heart, it entitles the willingness to give up all one’s possessions with true love rather than fear. Love God willingly, enough to give up any possessions you own.

For Jesus says, "If you love me, keep my commands". Let us today give up our worthless possessions, to obtain the true prize. Let's run the good race and in the end we can hear the Master say, "Faithful and good servant" Amen.

Our Hope Is In Christ

Where does your hope lie in this day ? Are we dependent on our ability to live a righteous life, are we placing our hopes in ourselves? The Bible tells us that our hopes should be in Jesus, God knew of our sinful nature. Before Jesus came down to the earth to give His life a ransom for many, He searched the whole world for somebody to do His work and nobody was found, it says in the Bible: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Nobody was found perfect, that is the reason He sent His only begotten Son to rescue us from our sinful nature and bring us into His glory: "God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation...God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (1 Corinthians 5:19, 21).


Our Hope lies in Christ, He is author and perfecter of our faith, because we are not saved by our works but by His grace. That is the reason He is the King of Kings. Our job is to be led by the Holy Spirit and to try and present our bodies a worthy sacrifice unto God. The love that Christ lavishes on us is truly magnificent, He says in Isaiah 1:16,17 "Stop doing wrong...learn to do right". He knows that we are bound to fail, but thats okay, just learn to do right, and renew our minds daily upon His word and keep strong in our faith until His return. This is the reason why David says "though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with His hand." Let us today trust Jesus with all our hearts and walk in His paths, if you stumble its okay, just bring your problems to His feet, because in our weaknesses His grace is more than sufficient. I just want to remind everybody today, that our hope lies in Jesus, because of His resurrection from the dead, we are saved, like Paul said if Christ wasn't resurrected than we wasted our lives. I just want to leave you with this verse to mediate upon:

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time."

1 Peter 1: 3-4

Love of God

Many people these days have confused the Gospel or rather just look at it from the human perspective. We try to say God is this or God is that and we place unnecessary rules upon our lives to "please Our loving Father in heaven." But the Bible clearly states, God is Love "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love" (1 John 4:8). 

We being humans cannot understand this love, we place this heavenly love into the same category of love that we express. But far be it from that, this love that the Bible speaks of is the Agape Love, which mean unconditional love. It's far beyond our knowledge to comprehend such a love because we being mere humans express love with prejudice. We love those who are good to us, we love anything that captures our attention and we love those who love us back. But the moment anyone hurts us, that love changes into bitterness or even hate in some cases. Inorder to understand this Agape Love we must turn to the Bible, "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). 

This is the love of God, while we were still hurting Him, when we knew Him not, while we went around doing as we please, stealing, swearing, hurting one another, disobeying our parents; He loved us. Not only did He love us, He gave to us His one and only Son, this is message of the Gospel. This is what God expects from us, to love Him, nothing more, nothing less. If Jesus loved us while we were sinners, than how can He ever stop loving us, Jesus loves at all times. If we understand this secret, than there will never come a moment in our lives where we will experience loneliness, sadness or any sort of pain because we know that God loves us and He will bring us through. I will leave the verse which inspired me this day :

"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, His one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending His Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in Him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust Him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

 

John 3:16 (The Message)