Remember always that you are God’s Masterpiece, a work of art that He has started and that He will finish. Sometimes the process is not easy and sometimes it will require discipline to sit still so that He can finish His portrait. But it’s in those moments that instead of complaining or wishing Him to rush, that we learn to be patient and when He tells you to adjust a position, do it, when He reminds you to lift up your chin, hold it high and learn to enjoy the simple fact that you are in His presence. When the great artist God is finished and He finally calls you over to view your portrait, don’t be surprised if at first you don’t recognize yourself. You will see the beauty of your soul, the person inside of you that God always knew you would become. And as you look closer you will begin to realize that the portrait of your soul bears the striking resemblance of His one and only son, Jesus Himself. And all you had to do was simply trust Him and just be still.

Ephesians 2:10

10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

You know that scripture that says “Honor God and He will honor you?” I always use to think it meant obey Him and He will bless you with good things, wife, job, good health whatever. Actually guys the blessings we seek are not found in any of those things. When we honor Him with our obedience we don’t get eternal life, no that’s a gift but when we honor Him with our lives we get the BLESSING OF HIM HONORING US WITH HIS PRESENCE. That’s the blessing. It’s hard I know because we want happiness in this life. I know it’s hard but sometimes the thing we are chasing for is and has always been there with us. Kind of like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. She was chasing after the end of the rainbow but everything she had and always needed was right where she was, home. May we as believers not forget this truth. That the God of the universe has made His home with us and is in us. May we be thankful and grateful just to be considered someone whom God wants to be with. Stop chasing the rainbow, seek His presence, be mindful of His presence, don’t take it for granted. Maybe instead of being entertained by Netflix we take the time to bask in His presence. So if you feel lonely, discontent, seeking outward circumstances to bring you the peace and satisfaction you crave, remember Dorothy. She had an amazing adventure but she never left home. Your adventure you seek, the love and comfort you need is right here all along inside you. In His presence is full joy and with God we don’t need to be singing “Somewhere over the Rainbow”. Instead, let us praise Him and enjoy His presence, and when the tornadoes strike, we will be okay because we’re with Him and He’s with us and there is no place like home, there’s no place like home!!!!

Psalm 16:11

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Hebrews 12:1-3
New International Version
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. AND LET US RUN with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross,scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I never was really good at track and field when I was in school but I remember competing in several races. I tried them all from short distance to long distance. In the short distance races, I never was quick enough and so would end up finishing last and for the long distance races I never had the endurance to keep up with the others and I would eventually run out of gas and end up in last place once again. But there was one race that I actually won first place medal for. It was for the relay race. I remember I was the second guy to run. The first guy started us off and quickly built a huge lead and when he passed the baton to me, I ran as fast as I could with everything I had and it was just enough distance that just when I was starting to feel gassed, it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that I didn’t have the energy anymore to win the race because by that time, all I had to do was hand off the baton to the runner who had the fresh legs and he finished the race for me. We won that day and I’ll never forget what an accomplishment it felt to actually win something. Today, I met with the Lord and as I was praying, I reminded Him of all my shortcomings and my failures, my failed races, and I apologized for all those times I had burned out in the past. Well, the Lord is compassionate and He reminded me of my track and field days and He reminded me of this verse in Hebrews about how we are in a race and we are to persevere in running the race. But He pointed out the one thing that I had failed to see before and I have looked at this verse many times, believe me. You see, I have always known that it’s not up to us to persevere, God will do it right? But there was one thing I failed to notice before. This race is not an individual race. Let me repeat that, THIS RACE IS NOT AN INDIVIDUAL ONE, ITS A RELAY!!!! For He says, “ Let US RUN”, God didn’t say I want you to run, He is talking to US THE CHURCH. If you have been trying to run this race by yourself and you keep stumbling over hurdles perhaps it’s because you have failed to see that you are not in this race alone. Perhaps, it’s time to give up the baton to our brother and sister in Christ and let them continue the race for us and then as we rest in Christ, we will be ready and refreshed to take the baton back from them when they are fatigued, so we can continue to be on pace. Guys, Christianity is not an individual sport, we need each other. Are we actively pursuing Godly relationships? Are we just doing online church? When’s the last time you had a cup of coffee with another believer and just talked and prayed with each other? When we isolate, we put ourselves in a position to be defeated. Let’s remember this truth, we are not alone. We have God with us, we have the community of believers, “the cloud of witnesses”, those who have gone before us that we can learn from and those who are in the race that we can lean on when we are tired. If we run the race as a relay with God as our coach, we will persevere! Do you hear them? It’s the chants from the saints of old cheering us on, “WIN church, WIN!”

Ephesians 2:4-8

4 “But[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift.”

From time to time as Christians, we all tend to struggle with sin in our lives. Sometimes there is that one sin that dominates our lives. I call them those giants. Those sins that just keep overcoming us over and over on the battlefield and we wonder at times where is this so called power of God?  Then we find ourselves trying to regroup, we pray more and read our Bibles more in hopes that the next time we war against these giants in our lives we can somehow defeat them for good.  But then sooner or later we meet the giant of Fear or Lust and the exact opposite happens and we end up hobbling back in retreat licking our wounds. But what God had to remind me recently is to stop striving to fight my giants from an earthly position and start facing my giants from a heavenly perspective. First, He reminded me of the truth that I am dead.  When a human being stops breathing permanently, we all know, that a person ceases to function. The whole body once full of life, movement, and expression suddenly becomes a lifeless and hollow shell of what it used to be.  It cannot eat, drink, work or play.  I have been to quite a few wakes and never have I seen anyone go up to the open casket and tell a deceased person that they need to make sure they comb their hair if it is a little disheveled or button up their shirt or fix their tie.  No one tells a dead person, they need to go get a job now to pay for the funeral.  I’ve also never seen a dead person rise up out of the casket and begin to have a conversation with anyone, or get up and walk over to the guests and serve them refreshments and thank them for coming to their funeral and no one before leaving the funeral home reminds the corpse to turn the lights off and close the lid after themselves.  No, of course not and it would be foolishness to think that way.  No, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that when a person ceases to exist, they cannot do anything, and no one  in their right mind would expect them to.  Yet, when the Bible tells us in Ephesians that we were spiritually dead in our trespasses, why is it that when it comes to our salvation over the power of sin, some of us still think it’s up to us to comb our hair, brush our teeth and fix ourselves so that when we see Jesus face to face in eternity, we will look presentable before Him?  Why do we think our salvation and victory over sin and death is somehow up to our own doing?  Didn’t the Bible say we were dead? If we cannot do anything physically when our earthly bodies die, don’t assume by reading the Bible and memorizing a bunch of scripture verses that this is going to save us.  We have to first see ourselves as dead. Nothing we can do can save us, nothing. Once we understand that truth, then we can take claim of this next truth. Ephesians tells us that not only were we dead but Christ made us alive and raised us up with Him and now we are seated in the heavenly places.  Christ made you alive, not you. You had nothing to do with saving yourself from hell and you have nothing to do with saving yourself from those giants we battle day to day either.   Remember, that you are now seated in the heavenly places. This means that you reign in Christ now and nothing shall have dominion over you because nothing has dominion over Christ.   Stop approaching your battles from down below looking up at your giants, instead look down upon them from your throne where your real position is.  When we approach our battles from this perspective, we will find ourselves winning more and more because we are not striving to win, we are simply believing it is finished.  And when we read our Bibles, memorize verses and pray, we don’t do it to gain our victory or position but we do it to remind ourselves of the victory and the position we have already in Christ. So, whatever those giants are for you, remember to face them looking down from  on high, from the throne of victory where Christ has seated you. Soon, those giants that once seemed so overwhelming will appear as mere ants.  They will be looking up to you instead and when they see Christ alive and reigning in you, they will have no other option but to bow the knee.

Matthew 17:20

And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus admonishes the disciples for their little faith and then He says if they have faith as small as a mustard seed they can move mountains?  What was Jesus talking about?  Was He contradicting himself? What prompted Jesus to talk to His disciples about this subject of faith to begin with?  Well, prior to Christ’s mustard seed conversation, we read that there was a father who had  a demon possessed son.  The man desperately comes to Jesus for healing and explains to Jesus that His disciples tried to heal his boy but failed to deliver his son.  Upon hearing this, Jesus immediately delivers the young man and frees him from his demonic bondage.  So what went wrong, why couldn’t the disciples heal the man’s son?  Jesus did send them out before and they did healings and drove out demons but in this particular instance they failed.  Why?  I believe it’s because the disciples were trying in their own strength to do a miracle rather than trusting in the power of God.  The disciples were thinking they could do the impossible in their own strength but Jesus wanted to remind them that they were limited without His power.  They needed to constantly rely on God’s faith for their lives.  Instead of mustering up their own faith and trying harder, Jesus wanted to remind them that they needed to rely on His faith to move through them and only through Jesus could they do the impossible.  Sometimes, we as Christians think that when confronted with difficulties or spiritual battles, we just need to have more faith and believe harder but when we do that, we will always fail. When we try like that, we are trusting in our works and the Bible tells us that our works clearly will never save us nor anyone else.  We need to realize first of all that we cannot produce faith but only God can.  We must learn to trust in His faith that He has freely given to us according to His grace.  How do we do that? Stop striving for it and just change your mindset that you have it already. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that we were saved by grace through faith “and this was not your own doing”.  Here we see that grace and faith are not our own doing.  A lot of us believe that grace is a gift and faith is up to us but both grace and faith is not our own doing.  It is all up to God.  In other words, not only is grace a gift but so is the faith we bring to the table for our salvation.  Our faith that we claim saves us is really the gift of His faith that He puts in our lives.  Hebrews  12:2 tells us that Jesus is the “author and finisher of our faith”.  He forms it in us and He will complete it for us.  So, when Christ tells His disciples to just use a mustard seed of faith, I believe He is referencing to His faith in their lives. If you and I want to see God do the miraculous, we need to stop trying to muster up our own faith but rely on His faith instead. Just a mustard seed of His faith and anything is possible.  God desires for us to live in total dependence upon Him for everything so that when we face the challenges, difficulties and spiritual battles in our lives, we can say to any mountain move and it will move.  Yes, I will say it again, no matter the mountain, it will move because Jesus promised for us that it would. But you might wonder what about the person who doesn’t get healed of cancer or that person that doesn’t get saved or the marriage that doesn’t get restored? What about those times when you are trusting in Christ and still the mountain remains?  Don’t get discouraged, just because it doesn’t move the way you want it too doesn’t mean it won’t be moved. God’s will is what ultimately prevails and how He moves it, may look different than how you may imagine it to be.  However, if we are limited in our thinking, then we will miss out entirely on the real miracle when the mountain does move.  For example, in the verses following Jesus’s profound statement of nothing is impossible, He follows this up by foretelling His death and then mentions His resurrection. Then scripture says that after hearing this, the disciples were distressed. Huh? You would think they would be rejoicing but they were focused more on the hill rather than the actual mountain.  They believed Jesus would be their savior and move the mountain of Roman oppression but they didn’t get it till later that God’s plan was to actually move the mountain of spiritual oppression from sin and death instead. So, all this talk of Jesus dying didn’t make sense to them but if they saw the bigger picture they would have been praising God instead of getting distressed.  Sometimes, our mountains don’t get moved and we get distressed but what we think is our mountain is actually the small hill of the real mountain that God is going to move.  I recently lost my two year old nephew to an unfortunate accident. My whole family believed that God could bring him back to life. In fact we even quoted the mustard seed scripture to ourselves and we believed that Christ could do this. However, his temporal healing was just the hill and not the mountain and he eventually passed away but there were mountains that were moved. Not only did my nephew get healed again, for he was resurrected from death to life with a new heavenly body but the mountain of unbelief in the hearts of many of our friends and family members started to topple.  People began to trust their lives to Christ for the first time and some who were already Christians dedicated their lives to Christ again. There was also the mountain of distance between some of my family members that was thrown into the sea. Some of us including myself began to reach out more and spend more time with one another, no longer taking each other for granted.  I don’t know what that mountain is for you, but I want to encourage you, to speak forth to it, relying on His power to do it and trust for His will to be done.  And if it doesn’t appear that your mountain is moving, don’t get discouraged, God is still a mountain mover.  Remember, that the mountain we may want tossed into the sea, may actually just be the small hill of the actual mountain He will ultimately throw into the sea for us. Just ask Him to reveal His will to you in your situation and in His timing He will do so.  No matter the mountain that stands in your way, stop trying to climb it. Put your gear away and do it God’s way.  PUT ON HIS FAITH AND COMMAND it to MOVE!!!! And when His will prevails and it finally topples down, just make sure you’re wearing a poncho. It’s gonna be a big splash!

Life has often been compared to a journey. This life is not the end though.  It is a starting point and it is important for us to walk through its path before we reach our final destination.  Sometimes along this journey we are approached by two visitors who want to accompany us. They are very scary and intimidating, dressed in black robes, they wear a veiled hood covering everything but their eyes. Their eyes are hollow, their odor gives off a death like stench. They extend their hands and introduce themselves. Their names are Sorrow and Suffering and they tell us they are sent from God to accompany us on the rest of our journey.  No one wants to travel with them. In fact,  most of us would rather steer clear from the sight of them.  But it’s in those moments that we should take their hands, it’s in those moments that we should trust that God has a purpose for them being our traveling companions.  We don’t see it at first but when we finally reach the mountain top and our journey is done, we will find behind their hooded veils, Sorrow and Suffering’s real identity.  We will discover their names were always Glory and Grace.  This allegory is a picture for us as Christians as we go through tough times and difficulties.  This is beautifully written in a book called “Hinds feet on High Places”.  It’s about a deer, who is accompanied by Sorrow and Suffering throughout her journey to meet God at the high place.  I was recently talking to my sister about this book because earlier in the week, she had sent everyone in our family a podcast taught by our pastor.  The podcast was an amazing and insightful teaching on suffering and our pastor referenced this book throughout. We were both discussing how this encouraged us, that there is hope, even in the hard places of life and how trials can still be God’s blessings.  At the moment we were talking about this, her toddler son, Ryan was coloring with his crayons. Our attention drifted to Ryan as he colored what he thought was his masterpiece. I remember I gave him compliments as he would color a squiggly line. “Oh Ryan , you’re such a Picasso, wow!”  And of course with great pride, he’d grab another crayon just to show me what else he could do.  His mother Rebekah and I just laughed as we watched this cute little boy coloring away as if he was painting the Mona Lisa.  That was a happy memory.  Two days afterward, I found myself with my sister Rebekah again and this time Ryan was with us but instead of him coloring, he was laying still in a hospital bed with no color of life throughout his little body.  The night before, Baby Ryan had an unfortunate accident and was quickly rushed to the children’s hospital.  There he was in between Rebekah and myself, just laying there peacefully with tubes attached to his tiny frame.  All I kept thinking about was of our last conversation about sorrow and suffering and all I could think of was the happy image of Baby Ryan coloring.  I don’t know where life finds you on your journey, whether you are going through good times or bad but I want to encourage you, to remember that God uses all things for our good.  Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”.  He uses it all, the good, the bad and the ugly. Yes, even the hardships, He uses it to bless us.  John 16:33  says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jesus doesn’t promise us a life without sorrow but He does promise us His peace and He reminds us that He is with us.  There are numerous examples in the Bible of men and women of faith who had to endure suffering, pain and loss.  From Job, Ruth, Hagar, King David, to the apostle Paul.  In each case although they had to go through it, God was near to comfort and provide.  The scripture says, Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit”.  We have the promise of God that we will be comforted. For remember God understands suffering. He came to us and left the comforts of heaven to take on the role of the suffering servant. Jesus Christ endured the cross so that we could have the gift of eternal life. His dying on the cross now gives us who believe in Him,  comfort and hope that one day, He will wipe away every tear and there will be no more pain, no more death.  Remember,  if you are trusting in Christ and not in your own goodness, you will never perish but live forever.  The trials you are going through are temporary, life and peace with Christ is eternal.  Before I left the hospital room, I gave my sister one more hug and I whispered in her ear these words. I hope you will find comfort in them. Remember them always and never forget, Sorrow and Suffering are Glory and Grace. The names of Sorrow and Suffering are Glory and Grace. And as you go along your journey and you see the two dark hooded travelers coming your way, don’t run from them,  allow them to join you. They will lead you to God.  And when the sun is about to set, and darkness is about to settle in, just take a moment to look up at the glorious sky.  Pause to admire the dashing display of color that a sunset provides and find hope in this. That every time you see a painting in the sky, just remember, it’s just Baby Ryan. He’s okay, he’s alive and happy. He’s just sitting on God’s lap, helping God pick out His crayons so that He can color another masterpiece on the canvas of Heaven’s skies.

As a child growing up, I loved watching all the Star Wars movies.  Even now as an adult, I’ve seen all nine sequels and it has been fun to share in the joy of watching them along with my own children.  I was just recently watching a documentary on the making of the first Star War’s movie.  What I found interesting, was that from the actors, to the special effects people, to even the studio heads, and the investors, pretty much everyone involved in the project, were starting to get worried.  The numerous special effects scenes were beginning to get costly, there were technical issues with the costumes and sets, and weather delays were causing the film to take longer than expected.  It got to the point, where people started to doubt whether this young and upcoming director George Lucas was capable of pulling this off.  There were times when some of the cast and crew members thought the movie was going to be a comedy.  They would laugh to themselves as they would watch the scenes with the actor playing Darth Vader delivering his lines with a Scottish sounding accent.  However, despite the difficulties and the critics, George Lucas stuck to his vision and his perseverance paid off.  The finished product came out in the summer of 1977 and Star Wars became an instant pop culture phenomenon.  Many involved in the project finally saw what George Lucas saw in his head and knew all along.  Even Darth Vader was no laughing matter and no longer sounded Scottish.  Lucas had the actor James Earl Jones dub the voice of Darth Vader, creating one of the most sinister and iconic villains in cinematic history.  Even the investors and the studio executives could breathe a sigh of relief as the money kept coming in and their stocks went through the roof. Whatever doubts, fears and worries anyone had during the shoot was now quickly replaced with excitement, joy and confidence. Everyone was now all in on what Lucas had in store for them next.  And forty something years later, the franchise has expanded into other movies, television shows, video games, merchandise, and even theme parks.  It is the fifth highest grossing film franchise ever made and is now worth 65 billion dollars.  Many who were involved in the first project are still reaping the rewards all because they invested their time, talents and finances to one man’s vision to carry out to completion his grand story.  In a similar way, like George Lucas, God is our great storyteller and director of our lives. In fact the Bible speaks of our God as being an author. David paints a poetic picture of our God as being an author.  He says in Psalm 139:16, “In your book was written every one of them, the days that were formed for me.”.  In the New Testament book of Hebrews 12:2, it says, “Look unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”.  Here Jesus is pictured as the founder and creator of our faith. So, in a way, God is like a great storyteller who is writing in each and every one of us the story of our lives.  But sometimes I think as believers we get discouraged when our story doesn’t quite pan out the way we think it should. Like the cast and crew of the first Star Wars movie, we start to question the director.  We start to wonder what this story is all about. Perhaps we’re getting discouraged over the setbacks and struggles we are going through and we’re wondering if it’s worth investing in God’s story to begin with.  We get disheartened and we begin to lose hope. Some of us want to quit. Maybe we are starting to think that Christianity is just a big joke as we watch the hypocrisy around us by others falsely claiming to know Jesus and embarrassing the name of Christ by their failures.  But I want to encourage you to not throw in the towel just yet.  Remember, that God is still in the making of His grand story.  You are not yet at the end.  The finished product is coming to a theater near you but right now all we can do is  continue to trust our great director that He has a plan for how this will all play out.  I’m pretty sure that when George Lucas wanted more funding, the nervous investors and the studio executives probably wanted to see dailies of what he had filmed so far. George had to give them a glimpse of what was to eventually come. In the same way, God knows we are human, and we are prone to fear, so He gives us His dailies and they are found in His word. He comforts us by what He’s already done and gives us a future hope of what’s to come. In Revelation 21, the apostle John, gives us a glimpse into a believer’s future. The scripture tells of a new heaven and a new earth. It talks about Jesus coming a second time to wipe away every tear, death will be no more, no more suffering, the old former things will be gone.  And from the words of Christ, “Behold I am making all things new”.  What words of comfort. What words of hope. This is what we have in store. So, when you’re feeling like quitting, remember to look to Jesus. Trust Him and He will finish what he started in you. Remember, the finished product is coming. Meditate on verses like those in Revelation and dwell on them.  Let Christ persevere in you and one day, when all is said and done and we pass on from this life to the next, we will all get to witness the epic story of our lives.  I can see it now.   We will all be ushered by the Holy Spirit into a great big movie theater, God the Father will be popping and handing out the popcorn and for the first time we will all see what God was up to all along.  And as the movie ends, Oscars will be handed out that evening by Jesus for being faithful. However, at the end of the ceremony no one will be able to hold their awards for long.  We will all tearfully present them back and bow at the feet of Jesus.  For there is only one who truly deserves all the glory and that will be Jesus the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the End.  At that time there will be no dry eye in the house but then God the Father will turn on the lights, and wipe every tear away.  The curtain will close but another one will open and this time He will invite us to take part in the sequel. A movie that will be even bigger and better than the first. A movie that will have no tragedy, no evil villain out to get us, just one endless story of love and happiness between a God and His people.  Now that’s a movie worth waiting for.

Romans 8:28.

For we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.

2 Corinthians 12:9 English Standard Version (ESV)

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

We live in a culture today where those that are the strongest survive and thrive. Strength and power is often celebrated, admired and even rewarded.  We honor the athlete that can defy all human odds and demonstrate a great amount of vigor and strength to come out victorious.  People don’t flock to the beaches to see a weak man competition, no they marvel at the muscle men and the incredible feats they can do with their human bodies.  We take great pride in our accomplishments, and are quick to let others know about them. Just look at our Facebook posts.  We all from time to time, like to share with our friends about our strong points and tell others what we’re succeeding at.  No one boasts about those things they struggle in.  No one is quick to share their failures and shortcomings.  Who goes into a job interview and quickly highlights their failures?   No one does that.  If they did, they could forget about landing the job, they’d get fired before they were even hired.  Bottom line, we boast about our strengths and pity those that are weaklings.  Yet when it comes to God’s way of thinking, and for living out the Christian life, God encourages us to do the opposite.  He tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:9, to boast in our weaknesses.  Quite a contrast from the world’s point of view.  But we’re not called to live like the world. No, God always has a way of flipping the script.  We see this demonstrated in the very life of the Apostle Paul.  He had no major accomplishments or amazing heroics to brag about. In fact, after His conversion to follow Jesus, he went through much hardships for Christ. He dealt with a “thorn” in his flesh that God wouldn’t remove, he suffered with loneliness and rejection, persecution and even prison time, all for the sake of sharing the gospel.   Most of the time, he felt weak rather than strong but rather than trying to muster up his own strength, what he learned was that by boasting in his weaknesses and in his own incapabilities, he was in essence trusting in God’s grace to see him through.   When he realized his own limitations and put his faith in Christ, Christ’s power was able to rest on him.  In other words, Paul wasn’t boasting in his sufferings, he was really bragging in the fact that his sufferings reminded him of his constant need and dependence on Christ for everything.  He was taking pride in the fact that he could do nothing without Christ but with Christ he could do all things, Philippians 4:13.  He encourages us in 2 Corinthians 12:9, that God’s grace is enough to sustain us and empower us to live for God in this temporal and sometimes harsh life filled with thorns rather than roses.  You and I are never promised a thornless life but God does promise us that He is sufficient and He will see us through anything we may be facing.  No matter the weakness, whether it’s a trying circumstance or a sin that so easily entangles, boast in your shortcomings and humbly trust the grace of God to give you the strength to overcome. Remember, receiving God’s power is very much the same way we receive our eternal salvation.  We don’t earn it, we humbly admit we are incapable of saving ourselves and we receive the gift of grace by faith.  It’s the same with receiving Christ’s temporal salvation power for our lives as well.  When we try to earn it we fail but when we accept our limitations and simply trust Him, then His saving power rests upon us. So as believers, we must stop trying to earn God’s temporal saving power and just receive His promise simply by faith alone.  Remember His grace is enough.  When we stop trying in our own strength, we are in essence humbling ourselves and boasting in our weaknesses.  We are declaring that without Him we are nothing.  When we get out of the way and trust Christ alone, then we will receive His grace and find ourselves experiencing His saving power to see us through our time of need.  And like Paul, no matter what comes our way, whether the thorn is removed or not, we’ll be able to boldly proclaim, “WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN I AM STRONG”!

2 Corinthians 12:10

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Today, I want you to remind yourself that you are His child. As you go throughout your day, whenever you pray, I want to encourage you to use the words “ABBA-Daddy”. Remember, Jesus once taught us how to pray and He said to address Him as Father. Paul, called Him “ ABBA”! The reason I’m suggesting daddy is because sometimes we can go through the motions in our prayers and really miss out on the significance of what that really means to call our God, daddy!!! As our daddy, we can come to Him as His child, play on His lap, tug on His beard, put our arms around Him and squeeze tight as He spins us around for another piggy back ride! In other words, ENJOY HIM!!!!

Romans 8:15
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Psalm 16:11
In your presence there is fullness of joy.

Epeshians 5:1-2

1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

My pastor who has eight children, most of them being adopted, once preached a powerful message on God’s adoption of us into His family. He did this by talking about the long and grueling process of adoption in this country.  Our church is real big on the foster child care crisis and has a concerned heart for the orphan.  As he preached, he laid out the whole process of what a parent that wants to adopt has to go through. Wow, what an ordeal it is to adopt! I don’t remember all the specifics but I remember he mentioned the cost being very expensive, lots of paperwork and interviews, and so many other hoops and ladders you have to go through in order to become a parent. He eventually got to relating this process to what God did for us on the cross. You see, God paid a hefty price just so that we could call Him daddy! Wow! Just sit back and reflect on that. The Bible says we are to imitate God as beloved children. Do you really know what that means? You see before we knew God, the Bible says “when we were dead in our sins, Christ died for us.”  God redeemed us!  In other words, He paid the price by sacrificing His life.  He purchased us with His blood, so that we can now be of His blood. Our original parents were sin and death, yet God the Father chose us and wanted us to join His family! Have you ever seen a foster child’s reaction when he or she finds out that they are getting two loving parents they can call mom and dad? I have and let me tell you, there’s not a dry eye in the house. It’s an amazing thing to watch. So many times as Christians, we fail to imitate God and love others not because we’re not Christians but because we’ve forgotten how amazing it is that we’re His kids! Have you taken the time to selflessly love someone lately? Jesus did it for us. God the Father paid everything to welcome us into His loving arms. If your love has gone cold, or you find yourself being critical, judging a lot, and struggling with sin, then maybe it’s time to warm up the love inside of you and remind yourself of your identity in Him. Maybe it’s time to remember who you were before you knew Christ and who you are now that you know Him. Maybe it’s time to revisit the family tree that you are now apart of by the grace of God. And remember it’s not your doing. Oh, don’t for one second think you had something to do with your adoption. What child chooses his parents? Neither do we choose God. He chose us before the creation of the world and we just respond in faith. How fortunate and how much it blesses us that we are to be able to participate along with Him. And that’s why He calls us to imitate Him and walk in love. How do we walk in love? How do we love others? As He loved us and gave Himself up for us. That’s how we love. We look at others and love them with everything we got with the same love we would give to our own children. And what good parent doesn’t want the best for their kids? What good parent wouldn’t give up their lives if it meant saving their kids from the brink of death? When we can learn to love like this, we will begin to see more orphans being rescued from the parents of sin and death and brought into this wonderful family as well. I can only imagine what an amazing family reunion it will be when we finally see Jesus face to face. Just picture this, a great big house with a great big yard and a huge table with lots and lots of food. God the Father grilling the burgers, Jesus serving our tables and filling up our glasses with everlasting water and the Holy Spirit sitting at the table fellowshipping with us, together as brothers and sisters in unity. With one beautiful voice we all worship together declaring our love for our Heavenly Father! What a sight that will be! Let’s not just wait for that day though. Let’s make it happen today, let’s come together as one, let’s love one another as He loved us. Let’s love as His beloved children.