Living In Love

John the disciple once said, "We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister" (1 John 4:19-21). God's love for us is very powerful. His love sustains us in moments of weariness and weakness. There are times, and even seasons, where we may feel abandoned and apart from His love, but even then, He pours out His love on us. I am learning that I cannot escape His love, but I can escape into His love. This world can suck the life out of us and even the strongest Christians need to retreat into the Father's arms for revival. It is in those moments that His love for me is being reciprocated back to Him and He reveals to me who He is on a deeper level. That is what John meant by, "We love because he first loved us." It is impossible to love without accepting the love He has for us first. Some may ask, "How do I feel His love for me?" If one really quieted their self and asked God to reveal His love, I believe His love would be quite overwhelming at that moment. Those moments He shares His love with us last more than just once. I can revisit those moments whenever there is pain or emptiness in my life. Nothing can separate us from God's love. Paul the apostle wrote, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:37-39). 
Love gives us the strength to persevere. I have noticed that people who are in love don't quit or give up as easily. I remember how true this was when I first fell in love with my wife. I wanted to give everything I had to love her. This has become a reality in my life once again, but now my love is being established in God. My family has gone through a tremendous amount of hardship and separation in the past three years and it would be so easy for me to fall into bitterness, but instead, I find it easy to forgive. It is tempting to give up but His love for me empowers me to persevere. My prayer life with God is refreshing in truth and this is a bi-product of a deeper loving relationship with Him. I constantly pray for healing for my wife and our children, and even though there is pain in the offering, there is also a peace that I feel as I hear my Father telling me He loves me. His love is real.
Brothers and sisters, ask God to reveal His love for you. Go to a quiet place and offer your time to Him. If you don't hear anything the first time, keep going back to that place. I guarantee you that God is madly in love with you. Let Him show you.

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Identity In Christ

God revealed to me His love for me yesterday. To know the God of this universe loves you is ultimately all you need to know. This is where we find our true identities. As I pondered the thought of who God is, I defined Him as Holy and Righteous, and as the One who imagined my life. He is all powerful, full of life and splendor. I saw Him as an incredible light, and as a young man (like Jesus, versus the image of Santa Claus - old and gray) full of knowledge and love. There is nothing new here that hasn't already been said of Him. He is Love!
Then I thought of Jesus. God created Him to intercede for me. Jesus took my sin upon Himself and allowed God to kill Him in order that I could be cleansed before God. It is the only way that God can look upon His children whom He loves and this is through Christ Jesus. I am reminded of John 15:1-4 when Jesus says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." Jesus is the vine that funnels God's love to us. If we are not reciprocating this love (in every aspect of true divine love), then we are cut off from the vine. We cannot bear fruit if we are not loving God in return. 
This brought me to the question, "Who am I?" What is my identity in Christ. If God looks at His one and only Son with nothing less than perfect love for Him, and He loves me through Him, then I am beloved in His eyes equally. I am cleansed as it is promised in John 15, because I know the Word that He has spoken to my heart. If we are truly believers and we know His Word, then He has placed His spirit within us. He cannot contradict Himself by withholding His love from Himself. He has to love me for He "remains in me." What more can one ask for my friends? 
Oswald Chambers wrote, "If we try to prove to God how much we love Him, it is a sure sign that we really don’t love Him. The evidence of our love for Him is the absolute spontaneity of our love, which flows naturally from His nature within us. And when we look back, we will not be able to determine why we did certain things, but we can know that we did them according to the spontaneous nature of His love in us. The life of God exhibits itself in this spontaneous way because the fountains of His love are in the Holy Spirit." It is because of God's grace that we have the capacity to love, for He is solely responsible for placing it there. It has been part of our DNA since Adam. God purposed this for a reason, in order for us to have a relationship with Him, and to know that we were made in His image. All the while, Jesus was making His preparations to visit planet earth and to become the missing link that would bring us back into right standing with almighty God.
So now, my fellow Christians, do you have His word hidden upon your hearts? Do you truly know who your God is and what His love means for your life? Have you acknowledged Christ as you savior and as the One who intercedes on your behalf? Who are you?

"When you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:21-24).

Dealing With Trials 2

In our first look at Job, we learned that calamity can fall upon anyone, even the most righteous of men. It is safe to say that it is easy to worship God when all is well in our lives. In fact, I believe most of us tend to stray from God during times of prosperity because of all of the great things that distract us of our need for Him. Times can change in the wink of an eye, and when they do we find ourselves in a place of questioning God. As we continue to look at Job, we discover one vital asset that God had blessed him with, his integrity. It's Job's integrity that kept him loyal in worshiping God and not blaming him. Even Job's wife said, "Are you holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die" (Job 2:9). Now when a man's wife says he has integrity, we know it is true!

In his book "The Life You've Always Wanted" John Ortberg wrote, and I quote, "A test is a difficult experience through which a person's true values, commitments, and beliefs are revealed. Even though it is painful, testing is an act of love. Suffering serves to test our faith" (Ortberg, p.213). God continues to test Job and in this test He allows satan to attack Job's health as we read in Job 2:1-10 (cited from BibleGateway.com): On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. ² And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
³ Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
⁴ “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. ⁵ But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
⁶ The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”
⁷ So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. ⁸ Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
⁹ His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”
¹⁰ He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
In verse four, satan accuses God of protecting Job because of his righteousness. He is basically telling God that He is not worthy to be worshiped and that He has to pay (reward) people to worship Him. The accuser (satan) claims that if God were to stretch out His mighty hand and strike Job's flesh and bones, that this would finally prompt Job to curse God and bring about his death. God again grants satan's request and allows him to afflict Job with disease, but he must spare his life. Interesting to me that his life was to be spared. If God had allowed Job to be killed, he would have gone home to spend all of eternity with God at that moment. Although this would have been a victory over satan, it was not the one that God wanted. This reveals to me the true test of Job's integrity. Death would have been the easy and most preferred way out of Job's suffering, and as we read through the following chapters of Job, he questions his very existence. Again, Job does not know what is going on in Heaven between God and the devil. God is proving a point of faith here and that is why this oldest of stories is in the Bible. Job's faith was tested during great times of suffering.
I believe that we all have something to learn about the purpose of suffering. The apostle Paul boasts about his faith during his time of suffering in 2 Corinthians 11:23-29. He goes on to boast of his weakness in chapter twelve of 2nd Corinthians and he is given a gift. God allowed a thorn of satan to be placed in Paul's flesh to remind him that his weakness made God more powerful. Paul then says, "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness'" (2 Corinthians 12:8,9). Job's suffering was no different than Paul's. Their suffering glorified God because of their faith in God. I have been through periods of suffering in my life and it was in those times that I truly discovered the strength of my faith in God. I believe that some of the most Godliest people on this earth are those who have suffered greatly. There is not one story in the Bible that does not express some sort of suffering that had to take to place to glorify God. Moses suffered. Noah suffered. Abraham suffered. David suffered. Jesus suffered. All of these men had one thing in common during their time of suffering, and that was their faith in God.
Job suffered. He lost it all. It was his integrity during great adversity that gave him the ability to persevere. His wife questioned his integrity. She doubted God and gave up on her husband commanding him to turn over and die. In Job's righteousness he replied, "Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?" Again, all is well during good times, but those days are few. There are trials of life ahead for each of us, and everyone of those trials are predestined to strengthen us and prepare us for something greater that awaits us. Most of these circumstances are brought on by our own fallen nature, and God allows these things to happen because He ultimately knows that they will lead us to Him. Job recognized this and honored God by surrendering to Him. He never accused, nor did curse God for the calamity that took place in his life, and the Word says, "In all this, Job did not sin in what he said" (Job 2:10).
My friends, my question is this, "What will you do when you are faced with a trial?" "Who, or what, will you turn to for help?" "Will you turn to your friends, your family, or perhaps your religion?" If you can trust Jesus during times of prosperity, then He has to be enough during times without. He is all we need.
In closing, I would like to share some words of inspiration quoting from Henry Blackaby, "I have come to the point in my life that, if the assignment I sense God is giving me is something that I know I can handle, I know it is probably not from God." Though the trials in life may seem huge and impossible to manage, God has a God-sized victory already in place for you. He is there, waiting to give you strength to persevere, and His grace is sufficient.

Dealing With Trials

     We have all had bad days, weeks, or months even. The circumstances vary, but the pain and the suffering is the same. Why does God allow these things to happen? What is He trying to teach me in this? Am I alone in this? These are the questions that may surface from trials that fall upon us. We all go through this. The good news is that there is a answer to all of these questions in God.

     The great Christian author Oswald Chambers wrote, "If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a multitude of experiences that are not meant for you at all, they are meant to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what transpires in other souls so that you will never be surprised at what you come across'' (Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest). God allows us to go through trials to refine us and make us stronger for something great that He has prepared for us in our future. If we are true Christians, then our life in obedience to Him should be surrender and trust with all circumstances that He takes us through in life. We should be thankful for trials and concerned when there are a lack of them. James 1:2-4 says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

     Let's begin this study on how to deal with trials by looking at the book of Job, as we have so much to learn from what Job had endured during his hardship. Those of you who know Job, know that he probably persevered through the most difficult test than any man (or woman) alive today. His family is killed. His wife abandons him. He loses his wealth and eventually his health. All of this takes place in a matter of weeks. And then to add to his misery, he is afflicted with disease which is described in chapter two. He has no idea that his life is a challenge between satan and God. All he knows is the pain and suffering that he is experiencing. Job becomes desperate and begins to despise his own existence. He is completely and utterly broken.

     Before the trial, Job was considered to be an upright man. He had great riches and was well known within his community. He was a righteous man and had great respect for God. He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned many types of cattle and he had a large number of servants. The Bible says, "He was the greatest man among all the people of the East" (Job 1:3). Job had it all. He was a blessed man. As we take a deeper look at his life, we will gain understanding that blessings come in many forms, during good times and bad.

     Allow me to share from the Bible the testing that Job faced. We'll start in Job 1:6-22 (I will be citing from BibleGateway.com): ⁶ One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. ⁷ The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
⁸ Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
⁹ “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. ¹⁰ “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. ¹¹ But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
¹² The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
¹³ One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, ¹⁴ a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, ¹⁵ and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
¹⁶ While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
¹⁷ While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
¹⁸ While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, ¹⁹ when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
²⁰ At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship ²¹ and said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
    and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
    may the name of the Lord be praised.”

²² In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

     Did you notice that Satan has access to heaven? This verse begins with angels and satan approaching God for presentation. Just as you are accountable to your boss, the angels are required to check in as well, and along with them comes the deceiver. This shows that he is not a threat to God and that he too has to answer to God. God asks him, "Where did you come from," but God already knows the answer and is quite aware that satan is up to no good. God also knows that satan is looking for a challenge and so He offers Job to the enemy. What a privilege that must be! I could only hope that my life honors God in such a way that He would choose me to be tested by the devil, with complete knowledge of my victory before hand. Of course, satan replies with infinite reasoning as if he were playing some reverse psychological mind game with God, “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” Do you believe that the God of this universe knows you? The same God that created the moon, sun, stars, and all of the planets made you and He knows you completely. He knows your fears, worries, and weaknesses. He knows your strengths as well as what brings you joy and happiness. He is for you and He would not allow you to endure something that He didn't believe you could. C.S. Lewis wrote, “For you will certainly carry out God's purpose, however you act, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John” (Lewis, The Problem of Pain). We all know the tragic end of Judas' life. It would be in our best interest to trust God and to serve Him like John had served, in love.

     So the Lord grants satan his request, and allows him to attack Job so long as he did not endanger Job's life. Satan, in all of his craftiness, knows how to cause pain and terror in Job's life, and that is by attacking the things that matter most to him. He starts by deceiving the Sabeans into robbing Job's oxen and killing his servants. In what seems like a matter of minutes, Job learns that fire fell from the sky destroying his sheep, the Chaldeans steal his camels, and the remainder of his servants are put to the sword. And then, as a final blow, satan causes a desert storm to overcome the house that Job's children were feasting in, destroying it and all who were in it. In one day, Job has lost it all. All of which that had any earthly value to him, was taken away.

     If you didn't know the story, how would you expect Job to react? How do you think you would respond to such dire circumstances? I would like to believe that I would have done what Job chooses to do (except for tearing my robe and shaving my head which was Jewish tradition to show grieving). I admit that, if I didn't know God, I would probably be very angry with Him and accuse Him. But Job chooses a different response. Instead of blaming God he falls down in worship to Him. Job cries out, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Job immediately recognizes his lack of control over matters. He recognizes God's authority and ownership over all things. His faith in God is strong enough that he honors Him with instant praise. Maybe he even feared his own life was at stake and he wanted to give God glory for his blessed life.

     We have the advantage of reading this story on the other side of it. We know what Job's outcome is. There is One that knows the following chapters in our story. He knows the beginning and the end of our lives. Job trusted God no matter what the circumstances. We should trust God as well. As we continue this study over the next couple of weeks, we'll learn how far God allows satan to go when attacking us, how Job continued to trust God even when his friends falsely spoke of God, and how he coped with depression as his life continues with no hope of restoration.

     My prayer is that we begin to let our guards down and that we ask for softening of our hearts. That God would make provisions obvious to us during our times of trials and that we would be accepting of His refinement in our lives. He is an awesome God with infinite knowledge who has a plan for each and every one of us. He does not conform to us but we need to conform to Him and trust Him when storms come into our lives. Thank You Father for the trials. Thank You for choosing us to be tested. Thank You for Your work on the Cross. In Christ's name, Amen.

Inferiority

I have not blogged for quite some time now because of a situation that I have gotten myself into. I am not ready to discuss any details that pertain to that situation, and with respect to my loved ones, I more than likely will not share it on the internet. Those who are closest to me know the position that I am in, and I am thankful for their love and support.
I have purchased a lot of literature to help me process some of the issues that I am struggling with, and it has been quite helpful. I have begun reading a second book in the matter of a week, and I stumbled across this paragraph about inferiority:

"Here are several truths about you. You are made in the image of God. You have tremendous value. Your abilities are many. You have scores of characteristics that others admire. Certainly you have experienced failure. Who hasn't? But that does not mean you are a failure. You will be a failure only if you choose to fail. On the other hand, if you choose to succeed, nothing, including your feelings of inferiority, can keep you from your goal." (Author name and book withheld)

That paragraph is very powerful and to the point. I can't stress enough, the importance of the first truth; "YOU ARE MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD!" All of my life, I have struggled with failure. I never thought that I meant anything to anybody. I never believed in myself. Even as I have tried to walk with God for the better part of twelve years now, I still did not think that I had anything to offer to a single person. My feelings of inferiority may have a lot to do with my relationship with my family and friends. It is something that I am taking a long, hard look at. Everything in me wants to believe that I have tremendous value, or to know that I am admired for something, but for some reason, that quiet lie sneaks into my head and tells me that I'm not; that I'm a failure. I urge anyone who is struggling with this to get help. Seek advice from friends who are closest to you. Get into the Word (Bible) and stay there. Don't let the lies from the past determine who you are or who you want to be. God loves you and values you more than you can ever imagine. He has a plan for you, and that plan glorifies Him!

YOU ARE MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD!

Love and Peace!

Poem: "A REAL MAN"

I was laying in bed this morning, trying to plan my day, when God inspired me to write this poem.

A Real Man

A real man rises in the morning
and falls to his knees in worship.
He gives thanks for the day
whether it brings joy or hardship.

A real man provides for his family
not only financially but by his spiritual obligation.
He has hope in the Lord
and prays for His Reconciliation.

A real man makes himself vulnerable
knowing that his masculinity will be in question.
He admits his fears and also his wrongs
and he asks for help in his weak conditions.

A real man doesn't have all of the answers
but he continuously prays for God's Wisdom.
He humbly cries out to his God
for it is His Love that we cannot fathom.

I often think about how vulnerable I make myself when I write these blogs. I am the kind of person who worries about what other people's opinions are of me. John the Baptist also practiced making himself vulnerable. He was honest and humble. In John 3:30, he states: "He must become greater; I must become less". There was nothing phony in that statement. John knew who he was in his relation to Jesus and he was not afraid to admit.
I am trying so hard to decrease who I am so that Jesus can increase who He is, and it is one of the hardest, most challenging and soul wrenching things that I have ever done. I am at war with myself, but I have no choice because I am sick of living with my sins. I will always be a sinner, that is just a fact of life, but I gratefully seek and appreciate God's glorious redemption.

Peace!

Learning To Walk

When an infant is born, he has no ability to do anything except for allowing his own natural body functions to perform. Eating, talking, walking and even playing has to be taught to him, he has to learn how to do everything and he is dependent on his parents to teach him and help him. In a lot of ways, when we are born again to God, we are a lot like that infant. The problem with that is, the older we get, the more we cling to our own understanding and past experiences on how to do things. One of the hardest things to do in life is to totally surrender to God and allow Him to take control of our lives. There is an incredible amount of risk involved when surrendering to God. First of all, there is the unknown. We have no concept of what God's plan is for us, and not knowing how or what to expect can be scary. Second, there is going be to pain, and a lot of it. When we begin the surrendering process, we are going to be asked to let go of stuff that we love, stuff that we hold on to and think that we can't live without. God is asking us to trust Him with that stuff. Just like parents who know what is best for their child, God knows what is best for us.
When an infant learns how to walk for the first time, it can be a very intimidating moment for both the parents and the child. I don't remember what was going through my head as an infant when I was learning to walk, but I'm pretty sure it was nerve racking and exciting at the same time. And, as a parent who was teaching my kids to walk, I pretty much felt the same way. Learning to walk is one of the biggest things to accomplish in early life. It gives us mobility and freedom. It also builds confidence. I remember how proud my kids looked when they all learned how to walk. Sometimes in our life, we can lose our way. We have to learn how to walk again and for us Christians, this means we have to let God teach us how to do so. He knows what the best directions are, what steps to avoid and when we should rest.
Recently, I have been challenged to surrender something that I love with all of my heart. Something that I have been too dependent on and afraid to let go of. I took that step yesterday, of letting go of my control over that thing that I love so much. After a night of pain and realization of what I have done, I woke this morning to God's voice asking me again, "Nick, do you still trust Me"? As I lay there allowing my brain to fully awaken and to catch up to my rambling thoughts, I recognized what He was talking about. He is going to teach me how to walk again. For the past fifteen years, I have forgotten how to walk on my own. I have become selfish and over dependent on the people that I love the most. I once wrote about allowing God to start chiseling away the crap that has caused havoc in my life. I thought that I was almost done with this journey until yesterday. This (hopefully the last) chunk has to be removed so that I cannot only walk, but run at full speed with God.
Surrendering requires patience, trust and faith. There is going to be a tremendous amount of effort on my part over the next several weeks (or months, or years, or however long it takes), but I'm ready for the challenge. It is going to be very painful at times, but my focus is on God. In the end, I believe that I will be a better, more self driven and independent man, and that God will return some of the things that I love.

Job 42:10-17 After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died, an old man and full of years.

I pray that any of you who are going through a difficult storm in life, learn how to lean on God and trust Him through these times. I pray that you are able to fully surrender to Him so that He can teach you how to walk again and be the person that He designed you to be. I pray this in Jesus' name.

Peace!