Devotion: Shattered Dreams

Shattered Dreams
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman

“Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years. Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband.” -Ruth 1:3-5

Naomi’s life was going well. A great husband. Two fine sons who had two wonderful wives. Then the unthinkable happened. Her husband died. A little time later both her sons die. Her and her daughter-in-laws find themselves in the midst of shattered dreams. This isn’t how life was supposed to be.

How did Naomi react to her situation? “…for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!” (Ruth 1:13) Ah, we see her true feelings about the situation. “How could a loving God let this happen?!” “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?” (Ruth 1:20-21)

Mara means bitter. She knew where she was. She was bitter toward this so called God of love. “How can I possibly reconcile this?!” No life insurance. No widow’s fund. “What is going to happen to me and my daughters?”

The Bible says the rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous. Naomi and Ruth move to a community where some of her relatives lived. Ruth goes out to work in the fields to put food on the table. She just so happens to work in the field of a wealthy farmer named Boaz. When Ruth tells her this the first ray of hope penetrates her bitter heart. Even she can recognize the hand of God.

So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz. Then Naomi said to her daughter-in law, ‘Blessed be he of the Lord, who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!’” (Ruth 2:19-20).

Hebrew custom was for the next in kin to care for the widow in the family. Boaz was to be this man. He would eventually marry Ruth. She would bare a son, Obed. He would be the father of Jesse, the father of David. Jesus would come from the same lineage.

Shattered dreams often lead to a world-impacting destiny. But getting there is often a process where we must work through honest feelings before we can see the God who redeems even the most devastating shattered dream.

Devotion: Signs and Wonders

Signs and Wonders Today
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman

“The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.” – Acts 15:12

“I was a pastor for 19 years before I went into business,” said the man sitting across the table from me as we were sharing lunch together. What led him from being a pastor to a businessman was both a move of God and an attack from the enemy.

“I was a pastor of a particular denomination that did not embrace all of God’s Word. It was a time in my life when I was experiencing many physical problems. I was on the verge of being admitted to the hospital. I had been seeking God about whether He was truly a God of healing and whether His Word was applicable in all areas of life as it was in the early Church. I was to go into the hospital the next day. That night I cried out to the Lord. I confronted God about His Word. I asked Him if He still did miracles today. Just then, I turned on my TV and saw an evangelist preaching. At that very moment, he stopped preaching, looked into the TV camera, and said these words: ‘There is a man in the viewing audience who has been a pastor for many years and is struggling to know whether God heals today. His own denomination does not believe He does. [He even named his denomination.] God is healing you right now to demonstrate to you that His healing is for today, and you are to know that His Word is true for today just like it was for the early Church.’ “

My friend was shocked. The TV evangelist could not have described him more accurately if he had been sitting in the same living room with him. God healed him that very night. He was not admitted to the hospital. He was forced to go before his church and witness to God’s power in his life. He was soon fired as pastor of this church, and this is what led him into business.

So often when we experience God in greater and deeper ways, the persecution comes not from the world, but from those who are closest to us. The religious community persecuted Jesus. He was betrayed by one of His own disciples. However, we must realize this betrayal was necessary for God to accomplish His work through Jesus.

God will bring each of us to a crisis of faith to test what we really believe. For my friend, he had to experience God in a new way. Then he had to be tested in that belief to the point of losing his job.

Have you experienced God in all of your life? Are there areas in which you believe God does not operate today? Before you discount God, seek Him with a whole heart. You might be surprised at what you will find.

Devotion: Product Testing

Product Testing
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman

His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” – Matthew 25:21

Testing allows one to discover how well a product is made when placed under extreme stress. Increasing the pulling pressure between two objects reveals the amount of tension that can be withstood in a chain link. Eventually, the “choking” point occurs. In sports, we ascertain the “choking” point for athletes by putting them into a pressure situation. At what point will the athlete lose concentration and collapse under the pressure? It is under these stressful times that we discover how well we have been trained to withstand the pressure and make right decisions regardless of outside influences.

In my younger days I played sports. I came to observe that we fail under pressure usually because we reach a point where our ability to focus on execution yields to concern about outcome. This worry about outcome forces us to lose our concentration. The fear of failure begins to rule our emotions and actions, which ultimately results in our failure. What we fear has come upon us. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In life, we see giving in to pressure in the form of compulsive behavior, withdrawal, anger, abuse, moral failure, and dishonesty, to name just a few manifestations.

Jesus never yielded to pressure. He never made decisions based on outcome. He always made the right decision. He always performed the same no matter what the circumstance. He lived a life based on absolutes, not circumstances. He never gave in to “situational ethics.”

As God entrusts us with more and more responsibility, He brings more and more pressures into our lives to “test the product,” to make sure that He can give even more responsibility to us. This process helps us see where we are in our maturity and determines our level of future responsibility.

Are you a product that can withstand the product test? Will you perform as the Maker designed no matter what outside pressures come? Know that you cannot perform well unless you are continually in relationship with and obedient to the one who made you. Trust the product developer today. He has made you to perform well under pressure.

Devotion: Fear Not!

Fear Not!
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7

God calls each of us to engage in spiritual warfare at times. Whenever satan wants to come against one of God’s children, he does so by trying to intimidate through fear. Goliath’s formidable size and arrogant boasting intimidated Saul and Israel’s army. And because God’s anointing had fallen from Saul, he was unable to respond with courage to Goliath’s charge. Fear paralyzes and torments. That is why Saul could not respond.

The anointing had fallen on David, who was just a young boy, but mighty in spirit. David did not cower at the size or shouts of the giant Goliath. He saw Goliath through the eyes of God, who saw him as a mere speck. David had righteous indignation for an affront to the armies of the living God.

David did not weigh the risk of failure because his faith was resting totally in God. That is another important factor in overcoming fear-complete trust in God. When the Lord began training me to confront fear, the training grounds were a groundless lawsuit, intimidations, and calamity that confronted my very existence. Learning that these were merely tactics of the enemy, designed to instill fear, allowed me to stand firm in God’s power to overcome.

Do not fear sudden calamity if you are walking uprightly before God. It may be setting the stage for a great victory that will bring praise and honor to your heavenly Father. These battles are training grounds for greater victories to come.

Devotion: Created for His Good Pleasure

Created for His Good Pleasure
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

Eric Liddell was an Olympic runner from Britain who won a gold medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics. He was a man who had a deep commitment to the Lord and had future plans of being a missionary. In the meantime, he knew God had given him a special gift to run, and he often said, “I feel God’s pleasure when I run.”

He spent years training for the Olympics. He passed each hurdle and qualified for the Olympics. Finally, the day came for him to run in the games that were held in Paris. There was only one problem. One of his running events was held on Sunday. Liddell refused to run on Sunday, believing it dishonored the Lord’s Sabbath. He held to his convictions and brought great persecution on himself. He made a decision that even if it meant losing his opportunity to compete, he would not run. God’s laws were greater than man’s applause. Just when the circumstances seemed hopeless, another situation arose that allowed Liddell to run on a different day. So often this is the case in the spiritual realm. God tests our hearts to see if we will remain faithful to Him at the cost of something important to us. Once He knows where our loyalty lies, He opens a new door that meets the desires of our hearts. God takes pleasure in seeing His creation used for His glory. Liddell understood why he was made to run; he used his gift of running to bring pleasure to his Creator. Later, Eric Liddell went on to serve God on the mission field.

Does your life work bring pleasure to the Lord? Do you understand that God instilled certain gifts and talents in you so that He might find pleasure in His creation of you? Take pleasure in the gifts God has given to you this day. And let His glory shine through you.

Devotion: death in us

“So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:12

One of the hardest ideas I struggle with in the Bible is one of opposites: saying one thing then follows up with the opposite saying. This one confused me a bit though. How can ”death is at work in us, but life is at work in you”?

As Christian, many times I am force to ask myself the question “why?” Why am I doing this? This is too hard and for what purpose? The answer seems to be easy, “Jesus” of course… But for that to be true, I have learn over the years that I need to lay down what I know; my own understandings, my achievements, skills, ambitions and knowledge and allow Jesus to mould that into something of value. Like a diamond when it is first dug up, it is dim and looks unattractive until it is cut and polished. It is through the working of what Jesus does in me, that I may bring life and help to the people around me. 

In another words, until I put to death my ego and self-righteous, let death work in me that I may rise with Jesus and bring life that works in the life of the people around me. Interesting thought isn’t it? My death can result in life in others?

God bless
Kenny

Devotion: An Audience of One

An Audience of One
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman

“Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow Me.’” John 21:22

For several weeks I awoke with heaviness over me. It seemed it did not matter how much I prayed or how much I read the Scriptures. Finally, one night I was reading a book by Os Guinness that described the conversation between Jesus and Peter. God had just commissioned Peter in the famous “Peter, do you love Me” passage of Scripture. This was after Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus was calling Peter to feed His sheep, and He informed Peter of the death he would encounter for following Him. But Peter had a question. He wondered what was going to happen to John. Would John have the same trials, the same responsibility, as Peter? Jesus quickly retorted to Peter, “What is that to you?”

That night I realized I was guilty of envy. I had several friends who were now “making it” in business. I began to compare where I was in life. It brought me into a state of depression. Once I realized this, I asked the Lord to forgive me. I knew in my head I was to have only one audience-the audience of One. That knowledge needed to get to my heart. I also knew I was experiencing spiritual warfare in the area of unbelief.

The next morning I awoke, and as I normally do, I checked my e-mail to see what the devotional was for that day that is sent to other workplace believers. Although I write the devotional myself, I read it because I get letters from readers regarding the devotionals. To my shock, the devotional was on this same passage of Scripture. It talked about the sin of envy. I was amused by God’s sense of humor, as He convicted me with my own devotional message. But that was not the end of it.

That day I went to lunch with a friend. After lunch I got into my car. I turned on the radio and Os Guinness, the author of the same book I was reading the night before, was being interviewed. They were talking about the discourse between Jesus and Peter and the sin of envy! I was floored! “Okay, God, I get the message!” The Holy Spirit has an uncanny ability to communicate to us. The Lord wanted me to know that I am not to worry about someone else. God has called us to a unique life that may look totally different from anyone else’s life. Once we begin to compare ourselves to others, we begin to live for others and ourselves.

There is only one audience we should be living for-the audience of One. Ask the Lord today if you are living solely for His pleasure.

Rev Sharing Notes: Hope after An Epic Fail

1        SCRIPTURE

Joh 21:15-17 (CEV)

(15)  When Jesus and his disciples had finished eating, he asked, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than the others do?” Simon Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know I do!” “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus said.

(16)  Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you!” “Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus told him.

(17)  Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus had asked him three times if he loved him. So he told Jesus, “Lord, you know everything. You know I love you.” Jesus replied, “Feed my sheep.

1        INTRODUCTION

We all mess up some time eventually. Whether it is something we can control or out of our control, accidental or deliberately; the fact is that we are imperfect in many ways; our speeches, actions, thoughts, attitude and even obedience. Just because we think that is “how things are done all to be done” or “that is the right way” or “have good intentions “ doesn’t mean it is right. The correctness is not judge by our standards or thoughts but by God’s standards and His Words.

Take the example of Uzzah in [2Sa 6:3-4]. The Ark of God was taken to Jerusalem on a cart when the oxen stumbled. Poor Uzzah thought it would be good to reach out to still the Ark in case it falls. God stuck him dead. By the way, I think the failure was on David’s part, not on the part of Uzzah. {FYI: He took soldiers to get the Ark, when it was the Levis and Priests’ responsibility. Did he informed Uzzah about the touching the Ark? The Ark was designed to be carried on the shoulders of men, not pull on the cart, pulled by oxen.}

Listen to what James said. [Jas 2:8-10]

Jas 2:8-10 (CEV)

(8)  You will do all right, if you obey the most important law in the Scriptures. It is the law that commands us to love others as much as we love ourselves.

(9)  But if you treat some people better than others, you have done wrong, and the Scriptures teach that you have sinned.

(10)  If you obey every law except one, you are still guilty of breaking them all.

So the question is not how big did we mess up? As James says, it doesn’t if we sin big or small, we have still sin and we are still guilty of breaking all the laws. The question is more about when we mess up and how do we recover from it.

When the pressure of life comes from all sides and our true, imperfect self arises and we tend to hurt the people around us especially the ones who are close to us. This can be just something small or it may rip a tear in the lives of the people around you. How do we come back from this? How do we arise from the ashes back to life again?

We can learn from the story of Peter and his denial of Jesus, and the restoration that takes place transforming Peter the coward to Peter the apostle.

2        REDEMPTION – REPENTANCE & FORGIVENESS

Meaning of Repent

1. To feel remorse, contrition or self-reproach for what one has done or failed to do; be contrite.
2. To feel such regret for past conduct as to change one’s mind regarding it
3. To make a change for the better as a result of remorse or contrition for one’s sins.

Peter’s grief and shame for denying Jesus can be seen in [Luke 22:61-62 & Matthew 26:75]. We can see that Peter didn’t just shed a few tears but he wept. The tears were running uncontrollable, showing the great pain Peter felt in the betrayal. The pain Peter felt leads him to repent of what he has done. Now the Bible doesn’t record if Peter asked for forgiveness from the LORD but, using my sanctifying imagination, I can’t imagine Peter seeing Jesus, his best friend and the person he betrayed without feeling the shame and asking for forgiveness.

Many people would say that first step to the process is to seek forgiveness but the first step is repentance. Before the true seeking of forgiveness can occur, repentance needs to be occurred within a person. We must first recognise the wrongs we have done and the desire to want to change/correct the wrong; it is through this repentance that leads us to truly ask for forgiveness. True repentance leads to true forgiveness.

Peter had walked with Jesus for 3.5 years; he understood Jesus’ heart of forgiveness. He has seen it so many times before but seeing is different to receiving; to know of the power of forgiveness at work that sets us free from the entanglement of the sin. I believe Peter still needed to ask for forgiveness even though he knew that Jesus knows that he was sorry. There needs to be the confession of the mouth, and then he must be ready to accept that forgiveness and moved on.

The forgiveness of God is readily available for us, for we must be willing to repent and come to Him for forgiveness. We have to be willing to ask and receive the forgiveness.

You notice that Jesus moves on along with the forgiveness and takes Peter with Him. Forgiveness brings healing: “Confess faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous one avails much” [Jas 5:16].

3        RESTORATION & GRACE

The amazing thing about God is that He rarely just stops at “ok”. Most of us would have been happy with forgiveness but that is our standards, not God. The forgiveness is the easy part of the hope. He doesn’t just want to forgive us but to restore us and draw us back to Him again.

Peter is made to search for the reason for his desire to be restored. Jesus asked him three times if he loved Jesus. It forced to Peter what he desires, the life to follow Jesus. Here Jesus restored Peter by entrusting Peter with the responsibility to look the sheep. The responsibility wasn’t to look after part of the flock but every single one; young and old. The responsibility wasn’t just a part-time role; it was a full-time role where it involves Peter’s life.

The restoration of God is not one of just words but it is one of empowerment and trust. It lifts us up and encourages us that we are able to do it despite the fact that we have mess up some things. It may seem to be unusual to give such a heavy responsibility to someone whom seems to have failed, but the restoration process of God brings us back to life again.

We all know that Peter doesn’t deserve the responsibility or the favour of God, but that is grace of God. None of us deserve the Grace of God; we need God’s restoration work in our lives to re-align our vision and life.

4        RE-ENFORCEMENT ACTS

Jesus allows Peter to affirm his motives and desire for redemption and restoration. This is done not once, not twice but three times, each time He sets a task before Peter. He doesn’t allow Peter to remain idle but gets him to start thinking with a Kingdom-mindset.

It is good to repent but it is so easy for us to speak of redemption. Our words become empty words without much weight or power, if we don’t back up our words. If we are left idle after the redemption, our minds are open to the torts of the enemy. The best way to re-enforce a principle is to get the person to merge that principle into their daily lives.

Jesus doesn’t just stop at forgiveness and restoration, he completes the healing process by enabling the person to take on that responsibility and live it out. This ensures that the person does not return to their previous ways and continues to grow and mature to be more like Him.

In the midst of the restoration, we see Peter’s obedience to Jesus’ commands. Sometimes it is easy for the words “I am sorry to roll out of our mouths” but what if it took a sacrifice for us to follow through with the promise? What would our response be?

Devotion: Tested for Abundance

Tested for Abundance
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
“We went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.” Psalm 66:12b

It is nice to hear that God desires to bring us into abundance. In fact, many a preacher has promoted the goodness of the Lord and His ability to prosper His children. Alas, my experience is that this gospel of material abundance has little to do with the gospel of the Kingdom as our Lord works in the realm of the sanctified soul. The passage above tells us that God does in fact bring us into places of abundance. However, upon further study of the entire passage, we learn the route to this abundance.

For you, O God, tested us; You refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us to a place of abundance (Psalm 66:10-12). God’s economy of abundance often has little to do with material blessing. In God’s economy, abundance is often measured in wisdom and knowledge of Himself. It is then that we are truly blessed. Wisdom cannot be gained through intellectual pursuits. Wisdom comes only through experience. Real wisdom comes from the kinds of experiences that come only through the deepest tests. Lessons of refinement, including prison accompanied by burdens, lead us through the fire and water. This is the territory that must be traveled to reach that place of abundance. It would seem strange that a loving God would use such means with His children. What we often fail to realize is that God’s measuring stick is the character and likeness of Jesus Christ Himself in each of us. This cannot be gained through a life of ease and pleasure. Ease and pleasure fail to refine.

Is God using your workplace to refine you today? Has He placed you in a prison or laid burdens on your back? Take heart if this is the place you find yourself, and realize that if you are faithful through the tests, you will enter a place of abundance that few will ever attain. The darkest hour is just before daybreak.

Rev Sharing Notes – Love with a big stick

1.   SCRIPTURE

¹⁵ “If you love me, keep my commands. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

2.   INTRODUCTION

When we talk about love, what words do you associate love? Usually the sorts of words we associate with love are like romance, sex, wife, husband, care, kindness, etc. It is not often we associate obedience, correction and discipline with love. When a parent smacks a child, I am pretty sure the child doesn’t feel the “love”. Even in a marriage or boy-girl relationships, there should be room to grow and that should involve correction and obedience.

True love won’t leave the person they love in wrong act. Early in our relationship, I gave my wife the right to the big stick and told her, if I do anything wrong or stupid that she has the right to correct me. Boy has she used it and believe me when I tell you it hurts! But I prefer it coming from her than to find out later that i mess up and hurt someone by repeating the same mistake again. Right here, Jesus does actually that. Jesus holding a big stick and laying it out; if you love me, you will obey my commandments.

3.   THE CHOICE

“If you love me” – It is interesting how Jesus puts this. You notice that Jesus doesn’t say when we love him. “When” implies that love can be turn on and off as we wish. Love is not something we can turn on and off; it is a state when we choose to care about the welfare of another person and to do something about it. The choice is will we choose to love Jesus or not. If we choose to love Him, then we will want to follow and bring delight to him. Once a choice is made then, there is a commitment to the act of loving that person, regardless of the circumstance and situation. Lust and duty do grow weary but love does not fade.

4.   THE WHAT IF

“Obey my commandments” – If we have chosen to follow Jesus, we need to follow it up with obeying His commandments. Obedience of the commandments is not an option; it is a display of our love and desire to follow him.

I want to take you to Numbers 20. Now God has just delivered Israel from slavery through Moses and now they are in the middle of the desert and are mumbling against God and Moses for the lack of water. They ask Moses for water and this was Moses’ reply:

{Num 20:9:11}
⁹ So Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence, just as he commanded him. ¹⁰ He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

But what did God said? {Num 20:8}
“Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”

Result {Num 20:12}
But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

Moses did not obey God but acted out of his own impulsiveness. The purpose of the command was to show the people of God’s love and provision for them; not for Moses to display his manliness and smash the rock.

Obedience is an interesting as it involves person to both listen and act. On hearing the commandment issue but if there is not action following, we have not listened to the commandment that was issued. So in affect, we have no obeyed what was spoken. What is even more interesting with obedience is that it not only demands us to just listen and act but to do it precisely the way it has been asked of us. 

The desire of Jesus to follow His commandments is to the desire to take away our free-will; rather it is an amplification of the free-will. God’s desire for us to obey is not to manipulate us but to have us find our way in His plan.

ASPECTS OF OBEDIENCE

1. 1.      Fear of the LORD (Job 28:28; Psa 111:10)

Fear can be good. It keeps us from danger, alerts us when there is danger nearby. It keeps us away from the wrong path at the pain of punishment. In effect, the fear of the LORD protects us for doing the wrong thing. The fear of punishment guides us from pushing beyond the boundaries.

This knowledge of this helps us to be understood and develop the wisdom, providing guidance for us to be on the right track. As much as God loves us, we need to have a healthy fear of the LORD to sustain our Christian relationship. (2 co7:11;15). The fear of the Lord draws us closer to God as the reality of who he is sets in.

2. Correction/discipline (pvb3:11-12)

Correction is the process of righting a wrong and providing the guidance to help the person turn away from the wrong path. Correction is never pleasant at the time of execution like surgery; it is often painful but after the wound healed, it beings a fresh renewal of healing and health. It has also been shown that the attitude of the person in the midst of healing can affect the speed in which the healing occurs at. It is harder for a person to provide correction than it is to just turn and walk away. Love will make time to guide the person back to the right way.

3. Model Making (1Co11:1)
True obedience teaches our heart to be humble, our spirit to be teachable that leads us to a place where we want top be taught; in life and wisdom.
(1co11:1) Paul’s encouragement for us to be taking hold of someone who had taken of Christ. Obedience brings us to a place where we are method mentored, guide and people input into our lives, making it richer.

5.   SINK OR SWIM – v16

Love of God does not allow Him to abandon us. So we are not abandon but given the Holy Spirit to teach us, guide us, remind us and comfort us. {John14:26}
We do not receive grace so we can waste and become ignorant of it. It is grace that leads us deeper with God. The factor that we do make mistakes and disobey Him that God continues to give us that grace; the pure goodness and favour which we don’t deserve to draw us closer.

{Jer 31:3-6}

 ³ The LORD appeared to us in the past,^[a] saying:

   “I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.
⁴ I will build you up again,
and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt.
Again you will take up your timbrels
and go out to dance with the joyful.
⁵ Again you will plant vineyards
on the hills of Samaria;
the farmers will plant them
and enjoy their fruit.
⁶ There will be a day when watchmen cry out
on the hills of Ephraim,
‘Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the LORD our God.’”

The God of the past and the God of the present is the same God, who continues to draw us with everlasting love and unfailing kindness. It is the same God of love that refuses to leave us where we are because He know there is something better for us. As we take that step in obedience, we start to see things start to open before us. We start to learn more about this person of Jesus as we choose to follow His steps.

~ Kenny ~