Down to the most minute detail!

The government knows me as a number, 9 digits are my identity! Myriad companies know me as an account. Multiple databases exist to store information about my purchasing patterns, my income, my political affiliations, and more.  It amuses me when I get a letter created by a computer that attempts to convince me that Global Company, Inc. knows me personally.  And it frightens me a little when I see advertisements appear in my email or on my Facebook page that really are tailored to my interested.  But, I really do like personalized service.  It feels good to sense that someone (the doctor, a waiter, the mechanic) has taken an interest in me.

Do you know Who knows me best?  God, the Almighty One!  When I pray, I am interacting with a Person.  I believe that God is here, near, and interested in me!  The Bible, where God reveals Himself, is rich with personal language about Him: God loves, God provides, God is our Father.  Most people acknowledge the existence of God but, for many, God is not He.  It is a distant Force or a remote Figure- unknowable.  Even many who attend Christian churches recite an orthodox creed, go through accepted rituals, and live by a moral code all while having no sense that God is Personal and Present.

Jesus Christ left His place in Heaven, became fully Man, (the mystery of the Incarnation) to show us the face of God.  When the disciples were fearful, He told them: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves." (John 14:5-11, NIV)  

The Man who fed hungry people, who let kids crawl all over Him, who wept at the grave of His friend is the face of God!  We must not allow ourselves to think of God as a remote Being, somewhere, out there, powerful but not here and near.  Read the Gospels seeing God as Jesus reveals Him!

What does this mean for us?

It means that we can share our lives with God, that we can know Him, relate to Him; yes, really love Him! Those without faith may mock us, or think that we being childish - rather like the little girl having a tea party with an imaginary friend but we will know Him.  When we sense His Presence and receive the Spirit of God to live in us; life will change. That sense of being alone, which is so common, is replaced with a sense of belonging, and we will find our place in the family of God.

So what's your need today? 
Is it for guidance? Is it forgiveness? Is it empowering to tackle some new task?
Is it strength to stand up to evil, to make a Kingdom difference? Is it just for Someone to care and share your joy and/or sorrows?  Come to the Savior! He is our Friend.  Find a quiet place and talk with him in prayer, making it personal. Then, wait; listen, and receive the grace that He promises to those who love Him.

Here’s the word from the Word - The Bible reminds us that "we have a great High Priest who has gone to heaven, Jesus the Son of God. Let us cling to him and never stop trusting him. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it." (Hebrews 4:14-16, NLT) In a world where we often feel like a number or a function, there is One who cares for us, who loves us, who knows our greatest fears, our secret dreams, our hidden sins, our public successes, and our heart! He loves us and desires that we love Him.

He is our Personal Savior- accessible and understanding.
___________________________

What a friend I've found,
Closer than a brother;
I have felt Your touch,
More intimate than lovers.

What a hope I've found,
More faithful than a mother;
It would break my heart
To ever lose each other.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus -- Friend forever.

What A Friend I've Found
Smith, Martin
Copyright: 1996 Curious? Music UK (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)

What's Love Got to do With it?

The government agency exists to provide care to the most vulnerable people, children. It exists to protect and help those who are abused or neglected. While interacting with several of their employees and agents doing their work yesterday I realized the missing component – love!  In  a conversation with a confused, lost, out of control teenager, one of the people remarked not unkindly, “Matt, you are going to have to help yourself. When we go home tonight, none of us is going to lose any sleep over you.”  I know what she was telling him, that no one can do for him what he has to do for himself;  but I also saw the implication of her statement - he is a client and she is just ‘providing services.’  She is doing her job.

“None of us is going to lose any sleep over you,” echoed repeatedly in my mind and I prayerfully asked the Lord to reveal any times or places where I attempt to carry out my work without real love. Do I just provide a ‘service,’ without really seeing the people or their needs?  Am I competent and even efficient, yet lacking love?  If so, then even my best efforts will yield no lasting results.

The Scripture says, "If I could speak in any language in heaven or on earth but didn’t love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I knew all the mysteries of the future and knew everything about everything, but didn’t love others, what good would I be? And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would be of no value whatsoever." (1 Corinthians 13:1-3, NLT)  Eloquence, insight, profound faith, even great sacrifice done for any reason other than love – for God and for others – is wasted effort.  Think about that.

When ministry turns into duty, when spiritual service becomes about reporting statistics, when we confuse hours of ‘community service’  with faithful exercise of spiritual gifts, the work of Christ in this world will never be done as God intends  or with the same power or passion.  A religious scholar once asked Jesus which commandment was most important.  Jesus answered that there were two commandments necessary:  “Love God wholly and love others as you love yourself!”  The man seemed to understand loving God, but he wanted to know, “who is my neighbor?”  As He often did, Jesus answered by telling a story. 
“There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest (a man most respected by society) was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man (a man who understood ethics and obligations under law) showed up; he also avoided the injured man.  

“A Samaritan (a person from a group considered morally inferior) traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’

“What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?” The Message Luke 10:30-36

Christian, let’s take every opportunity today to serve others in love. Love makes all the difference.  Perhaps you are just not ‘feeling the love!’  We all get exhausted. We all are prone to lose sight of the why behind the what occasionally.  Remember what the Word teaches us:  Love comes from being loved.  None of us can ‘force it or fake it’ for long. Authentic love flows from receiving love.  John says, "God is love, and anyone who doesn’t love others has never known him. …  Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven. …  No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is truly in our hearts. …  We love because God loved us first." (1 John 4:8, 10, 12, 19, CEV)

What’s love got to do with it?  Everything!
"Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, 

Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, 
Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, 
But keeps going to the end. Love never dies." (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, The Message)  "But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love." (1 Corinthians 13:13, The Message)

__________

The Love Of God

The love of God is greater far,

Than tongue or pen can ever tell.

It goes beyond the highest star

And reaches to the lowest hell.

The guilty pair, bowed down with care,

God gave His Son to win.

His erring child, He reconciled,

And pardoned from His sin.

O love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure,

The saints and angels song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill

And were the skies of parchment made.

Were every stalk on earth a quill

And every man a scribe by trade;

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry!

Nor could the scroll contain the whole

Though stretched from sky to sky.

Frederick Martin Lehman | Meir Ben Isaac Nehorai

© Words: Public Domain

Do You Cry?

I cry often;  not for myself, not because I am weak, not even because my life is miserable. I am quite blessed, really!  I am not a crybaby. In the first half of my life I seldom cried, careful to maintain a distance from the sorrows of others. Now I find tears in my eyes just about every day for the broken hearts in the flock God has entrusted to my care.  Hidden in the corners of the world where we live many are sad.  I see them more clearly now than I once did. There are the elderly that I visit who are often so lonely. I visited a nursing home yesterday where I found an old saint confused about where she was. I sat by her bed, held her hand, and we cried together as I read the Word to her. There are those whose sins have crushed them. A letter from a young man in jail crossed my desk and as I read his words of regret and remorse, I cried with him.  There are those for whom the future is frightening. A teenage boy called, his voice full of emotion as he described his life, and I felt his angst, my heart moved for him.  There are those who are in crisis. Another person spoke with me about her struggle with anxiety, of trying to find her way through a really hard time, and yes… tears welled up, again!

Do you let the pain of this broken world touch your heart?  Are you willing to empathize, willing to enter into the grief?  Yes, tears can be a cheap substitute for action.  We can choose to wear our emotions openly but never really commit to making a difference. Or, we can weep with those who weep and share their burden, prayerfully and with compassionate action.  Jesus refused to stand apart from those who suffered. He was a strong man who was not afraid of tears and sorrow.  That famous little verse in John tells us that when He saw the grief of Mary and Martha and stood with them at the tomb where their brother’s body lay that He wept!  Then, He prayed!  Life was restored!

When we see people around us with eyes that see like Jesus’ eyes, we will be moved.  Compassion is a powerful thing, compelling us to make a difference. Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision, a ministry cares for millions of suffering and poor people, wrote this prayer on the flyleaf of his Bible when we first found himself confronted with terrible poverty. "Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God."  Out of his willingness to weep came a vision, and from that vision, emerged a mission that is changing lives.

One day Jesus and his friends were making the trip from Jerusalem to Galilee. He chose to take them through Samaria, a place generally avoided by the devout Jews of that era.  John says that at Noon, He sat down near a well and sent the men into a village to find food.  While he was there a woman whose life was broken, whose heart was bruised, showed up.  He saw her real need, shared the promise of living water with her and changed her life.  When His friends returned they were full of questions, seeing only the obvious, not the hidden need.  Jesus challenged them. "As you look around right now, wouldn’t you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I’m telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what’s right in front of you. These Samaritan fields are ripe. It’s harvest time! " (John 4:35, The Message)   See the need, men, and get involved!

See the need!  Some say that ‘ignorance is bliss,’ and perhaps, in one sense, it is. If we choose to avert our eyes from need we can avoid shedding tears of compassion. But, is this God’s way?   Jesus quoted Isaiah as He revealed His Messianic mission. One line stands out and it is not about great glory, but of profound empathy. " The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me… He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted." (Isaiah 61:1, NIV)  We are like Him when we weep with those who weep.

Here’s the word from the Word, a promise of healing. 
"Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God." (Psalm 69:1-3, NIV)  

"But I pray to you, O LORD, in the time of your favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation." (Psalm 69:13, NIV)  

"The LORD hears the needy and does not despise his captive people." (Psalm 69:33, NIV)

____________

Healer Of Broken Hearts

Is your life full of heartaches and sadness?

Are your dreams all shattered and torn?

There is One who through mercy and suff'ring,

For you ev'ry sorrow has borne.

Do the threads of your life seem so tangled,

That you wish you had never been born?

There is One who is willing to help you,

He knows ev'ry sorrow you've borne.

He's the healer of broken hearts,

He'll mend your shattered dreams.

He'll pick up the threads,

Of your broken life,

And weave them together again.

To your soul He'll bring peace and joy,

A Friend in need He'll be.

The Healer of broken hearts,

Is Jesus of Galilee.

Georgia Stiffler

© 1945. Renewed 1972 Fred Bock Music Company (Admin. by Fred Bock Music Company, Inc.)

CCLI License # 810055

The Saddest Story in the Bible

She was an unfaithful wife, a woman who strayed outside her marriage and home, not just once, but repeatedly. Her husband’s heartbreak was awful to see.  Soon his tears turned into a terrible, justifiable anger.  In his angriest moment, he declared -   “You don’t belong to me!”  “You are not loved!” “You are going to pay for this!”  But, his love was stronger than her infidelity and when she was impoverished, broken, and at the bottom of life’s barrel, he reached out and told her to come home.  He changed his words, and now he says, “You are mine.”  “You are beloved.” “You are forgiven!” Sound like a movie script?  It isn’t.  It is a true story, straight out of the saddest book in the Bible.

Hosea, the prophet, took at wife who broke his heart. At first, she was fine, supported by her lovers, laughing and forgetful of her husband and her children. Then, life collapsed under the weight of her sin and irresponsibility. Her found her at the slave market, paid 15 pieces of silver for her, and brought her home to find restoration.  His book is difficult to read without feeling first disgust, then horror, and finally amazement.  How could he love her so, even after such betrayal?

Why does the Bible contain such a story? 

Hosea’s life was a parable of God’s experience with His people.  “When Israel was a child, I loved him as a son, and I called my son out of Egypt. But the more I called to him, the more he rebelled, offering sacrifices to the images of Baal (the fertility god of the region) and burning incense to idols. It was I who taught Israel how to walk, leading him along by the hand. But he doesn’t know or even care that it was I who took care of him. I led Israel along with my ropes of kindness and love. I lifted the yoke from his neck, and I myself stooped to feed him. 
“But since my people refuse to return to me, they will go back to Egypt and will be forced to serve Assyria. War will swirl through their cities; their enemies will crash through their gates and destroy them, trapping them in their own evil plans. For my people are determined to desert me. They call me the Most High, but they don’t truly honor me.

“Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? … 
My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows. No, I will not punish you as much as my burning anger tells me to. I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not a mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you, and I will not come to destroy. “For someday the people will follow the Lord. I will roar like a lion, and my people will return trembling from the west. Like a flock of birds, they will come from Egypt. Flying like doves, they will return from Assyria. And I will bring them home again,” says the Lord." (Hosea 11:1-11, NLT)

Christian, some of us choose to forget that God is our husband, the Church His  bride.  We choose to forget that we are His by covenant, that leaving Him for other lovers breaks His heart and invites His anger.  “Anger,” you ask? “God cannot be angry, He is loving.”  Oh, but He does grow angry when we abandon Him for the trinkets of life, when we leave His embrace.  But, as we learn from Hosea and many other passages in the Scripture, His love is amazingly deep.  His desire is our return.  “Come home,” He says.   Listen to God’s words about His people then and hear His love for us still.  “And now, here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to start all over again. I’m taking her back out into the wilderness where we had our first date, and I’ll court her. I’ll give her bouquets of roses. I’ll turn Heartbreak Valley into Acres of Hope. She’ll respond like she did as a young girl, those days when she was fresh out of Egypt. “At that time”—this is God’s Message still— “you’ll address me, ‘Dear husband!’ Never again will you address me, ‘My slave-master!’" (Hosea 2:14-16, The Message)

I am so thankful for the Gospel of Christ.  That story is not one that glosses over the rebellion of humanity, nor does it teach us that God chooses not to know our sins. He sees. He is angered, but He loves. "God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s judgment." (Romans 5:8-9, NLT)   Will we respond with love, with fidelity, giving Him all our love – heart, soul, mind, and strength?

Here is the word from the Word.  Jesus, the Lord, speaks to His Church with a call to ‘come home.’  "I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place." (Revelation 2:2-5, NIV)

___________ 

Lord I Need You

Lord, I come, I confess.

Bowing here, I find my rest,

And without You I fall apart,

You're the one that guides my heart.

Lord,I need You, oh, I need You.

Ev'ry hour I need You.

My one defense, my righteousness,

Oh God, how I need You.

Where sin runs deep Your grace is more.

Where grace is found is where You are.

And where You are, Lord, I am free.

Holiness is Christ in me.

Where You are, Lord, I am free,

Holiness is Christ in me.

So teach my song to rise to You,

When temptation comes my way.

And when I cannot stand, I'll fall on You.

Jesus, You're my hope and stay,

And when I cannot stand, I'll fall on You.

Jesus, You're my hope and stay.

Lord, I need You, oh I need You.

Ev'ry hour I need You,

My one defense, my righteousness,

Oh God, how I need You.

Christy Nockels | Daniel Carson | Jesse Reeves | Kristian Stanfill | Matt Maher

© 2011 sixsteps Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

Sweater Weather Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055