God's Love

 It always amazes me on how so many religions and so many places have their own set rules, and if you do not follow them then you are not in. I am very glad that I belong to a group that the one in charge does not boot you for not following the rules. God has no stipulations. He has a wonderful book of rules. ( the bible) But he would  never kick us out for not following them. He forgives us when we fall. He loves us, and he accepts us regardless of our faults and our short comings. He just simply points the wrongs out so we can work on them to become a better person.

    I have a few friends and they are living a life completely unacceptable to God's word. At one point the one friend turned to me and said I don't understand, Is your church not against this way of life. We have met many Christians but none like you.  The churches we have gone to of many religion. They put us out of the church and turn us away. They will shut the doors on us, but you still love us. You never turn us away.  I turned to her and I said Yes my church is against this. I also do not agree with this life style. My bible states that what you are doing is wrong in God's eyes. However it is not my job to judge you. It is my job to show you God's love and for God to convict you, and to use me in anyway he can to show you why it is wrong. It is not my job to kick you out of the loop. It is not my job to condemn you.  In the end we both will stand before the King. In the end I will be judged the same as you. I will stand with the murders I will stand with all sinners. All sins great and small.

Romans 14:10 

" But why do you judge your brother?  Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ. 

    What are we showing unbelievers by turning them away? When Jesus was here on earth he hung out with the prostitutes the tax collectors. He hung out with the diseased  and the unloving. So why is it that we can't see people for who they are. They are lost and they need to be shown the love of God. The one that has no stipulations, the one that loves us unconditionally. 

Mathew 7:1

“Do not judge or you will be judged.” 

    We all have struggles, we all have crosses to bare. I remember a few years ago. I was really struggling. I was sitting on the fence. So much had happened in my life. I was so mad at God and at everyone around me. I had been hurt by the church people. I had been hurt by family and everyone around me. I had just lost my Dad to cancer, and a lot of other things had come against me in life. I was just bitter. I had been talking to my one friend. And I had stated that I did not know where to turn. I was not sure what side of the fence I wanted to be on. If these were truly God's people I did not want no part of it. If God loved me why would he allow this all to happen. He turned to me and said Rose, I love you. I am here no matter what. I know that you will deal with this and that you will be ok. I do not judge you in anyway with your lifestyle. God loves you and he is the one that will judge you and not me. I got out of his car went into my house. And all night his words kept coming back to me. I love you and I do not judge you. I don't even know if he knows today how much of an impact those words would be to me today. Many others pointed fingers and their idol chitter chatter behind my back. But not this true friend who showed me the love of God. The love that says what you are doing is wrong but I still love you. Without that love at that time, I am sure I would have thrown in the towel and walked away. This is the love I am talking about. The true love of God.

    I think the greatest gift that God ever gave me was my kids. Until I became a parent myself. I never really understood the love of God. God's love for us is a lot like the love of a parent. Sometimes his love is even greater then a parent. He loves us unconditionally. My kids can do something and it upsets me but I will always love them regardless. They are my kids. And we too are God's kids and he will always love us unconditionally. In closing I just want to say, the next time you come across someone that you know is not living right or is just so unloving. Remember the love of Jesus. I am not saying agree with the sin but love the unloving. You may be the only bible that person may read today.

Daddy Catch

When my daughter was younger she use to stand on the top step and say “Daddy catch me”. She would leap into the air for my husband to catch her. She had the faith that Daddy would catch her. She had the faith that her father would not allow her to get hurt and that he would be there no matter what. Children have that wonderful faith. A faith that simple, direct and honest. This same faith is praised by God. He tells us that childlike faith will help us to find the kingdom of heaven.

Mathew 16:3

“Verly I say unto you. Except you be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

There are many different meanings of faith in the dictionary. One is to have confidence or trust in a person. Faith in another's ability. Another is belief that is not based on proof. When we put our faith in God, It is not scientific proof. It is not a random thing. It is an actual hope and belief that God's promises to us are true.

Hebrews 11:1

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

When I think of faith I remember a little song as a child that I use to sing.. It simply said walking by faith, and not by sight. I won't allow this circumstance to turn me left or right, trusting in his promises. I know that I am right I am gonna walk by faith and not by sight.

That is the type of faith we should have. No matter what storms come our way. We still trust God and his word to get us through it.

  

Mathew 17:20 says that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.

So no matter what things come our way with the faith we can move those mountains out of our lives. We just have to have faith and ask.

That is the faith God wants us to have. He wants us to have that childlike faith, to be able to stand on the biggest problem and say Daddy catch. Just like my daughter did when she was little. I can see me standing on the top stair and saying Daddy catch. And God standing at the bottom saying: I will catch you.

There Is Strength In Our Struggles

Have you ever watched someone go through a battle? Only to question… Why Lord?  

Maybe it was your own struggle and you just did not understand why.

When you look into the bible you see many great men and women of God that had to struggle. Job was a mighty man of God and yet he still had his struggles.

Though those struggles and trials he became stronger.

James 1:2,3 say:

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”

It is those struggles and trails that make us stronger in our faith. It helps us to fly on our own.  

Did you know that when a butterfly starts to come out of its cocoon, It is the struggle that allows it to be strong and fly on its own?

A butterfly is supposed to struggle. In fact, the struggle to get out of the cocoon is what pushes the fluids out of the body and into its wings. Without that struggle that butterfly would never be able to fly. If you where to cut that butterfly free from its cocoon so it did not have to struggle, you would actually hurt the growth of that butterfly.

That struggle that you or your loved one face is supposed to happen. We will not grow in our faith or in life without it. We learn and become stronger when we struggle. The bigger the struggle the stronger we become.

We need to allow ourselves and others to struggle in order for us to grow.

So remember when you come across a struggle this is to help you not hurt you and say Thank you Jesus. Remember he is with you all the way. He will not cut you out of that cocoon but he will strengthen you to allow you to break free. And when you see someone struggle. Don't cut them free but pray for them and watch them turn into the most beautiful butterfly they are meant to be. We all need to struggle so we can fly.