He loves YOU

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (‭‭‭John‬ ‭3‬‬:‭16‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

What would you give up for someone else to live on? I love how this version provides the statement by saying, “for this is how God loved the world:”. This gets me excited because it’s nothing like knowing that there is someone thinking about you and you don’t even know it. That there is someone preparing things for you so that when you get there everything is already taken care of. That is how much God loves you.

HERE IT IS…

You want to know what UNCONDITIONAL love is. Read this verse again and again. For someone to love you to the point that they would sacrifice who they are for you even when they know you’re going to mess up again. God loves you this much! He loves you so that you won’t have to worry about what is to come. All you have to do is follow him and he will lead you to what he has prepared for you. If you don’t believe me change one word and watch it make sense. “For this is how much God loved YOU!

Moral compass

17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. (‭‭‭James‬ ‭4‬‬:‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

Every time I read this scripture the only thing I can think of is the saying, “When you know better, you do better.” We all have a moral compass that is really taught to us from the early parts of our lives. In preschool we are taught to share. We are taught to be nice and listen. We are taught to follow directions and learn how to get along with others. Taught not to hit or be abusive. We are taught to mind our manners and be respectful of others and there things. Our “moral compass” starts at an early age. It’s when we get older and more and more choices that we have become the issue for some.

HERE IT IS…

You have a choice in everything you are faced with. You have a choice in every aspect of your life. There is a decision that has to be made each and everyday that you wake up. Your choice is to either do the right thing or not to do the right thing. Please know that you always have a choice. Some of us may have had some events happen in our life that started a chain reaction to other events. There was also a choice. Even if that choice led you down the wrong path you still have a choice now to do better because you know better. Your moral compass isn’t broken it’s just cloudy but you can truly just turn everything around in your life.

Servant

28 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (‭‭‭Matthew‬ ‭20‬‬:‭28‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

As a child who grew up in church, I was apart of something in the church. From being a part of the Ranch Hands choir. To the Junior Usher Board. Then to the best, Operation Growth youth group. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized what I was apart of. We were groomed to be servants. We were learning how to participate in our church by using our gifts that we had. From singing to dancing to spoken word. We were allowed to use our talents and not be afraid of it.

HERE IT IS…

We have turned the word servant into something that we see as demeaning. When in actuality we have just been serving the wrong thing. We have been serving ourselves. Our jobs. Our money. When we are to be Servants of God. We have to stop trying to take words out of context and start reading the text so we can begin to be servants of God and learn how to serve just as he did. It’s not demeaning it’s an honor.

No fear

4 Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. (‭‭‭Psalms‬ ‭23‬‬:‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

Think of the scariest thing that you had to go through by yourself. I’m talking about that thing that you put in the back of your mind because thinking about it to much was detrimental to all areas of your health. I’m talking about the things that nobody knows, and even if you did tell someone they feel just as bad as if they were there. It is hard to imagine to go through something so horrific and scary alone with no one to help you through any of it. Having to carry the weight of it all without being able to talk to someone.

HERE IT IS…

Why should I be afraid? Why should I worry? Why should I feel lower or feel bad about it? You didn’t go through it alone. You didn’t deal with that by yourself. He was there with you the whole time. You are and we’re able to get through it because God was with you the whole time. Why did he allow it to happen? Why would God let someone like you and me to go through horrific things. Because he is preparing you for what is to come. God is preparing you to be the help that someone else needs. Your strength and your love and joy is what a lot of other people need that they may have trouble finding on their own. Direct them to God and his word.

With love

For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”
Hebrews 12:6 NLT

I don’t know about yall but I got whooped as a child when I did something wrong. I am talking about, go outside and get a switch, or that thick Brown belt my dad wore to work everyday that looked as if it was falling apart but in fact was just broken in. They always said you will understand as you get older and as a child I couldn’t wrap my mind around it, but now I know. If it wasn’t for those whoopings I wouldn’t have rethought some of the stuff, or just went through with the stuff that would have gotten me in trouble. I wasn’t afraid of getting caught by police but more so my father. They did it because they loved me. They whooped me to show me they loved me enough to not only punish me but to hurt themselves when punishing me.

HERE IT IS…

Why would God go through the trouble of allowing you to keep making mistakes and sinning if he has not seen what you will be?
Why would God go through the trouble of disciplining you if he didn’t care about you?
The moment I don’t get in trouble for doing something wrong is when I will start to worry.

If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all.
Hebrews 12:8 NLT
God loves you too much to allow you to go through life the wrong way. God is redirecting you to the right path. God loves you that’s why he corrects you with love.

At the cross

24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. (‭‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬‬:‭24‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

Nobody likes talking about death. I mean who wants to talk about the possibility of someone dying. It’s hard to fathom a person you see everyday or talking to them or just having a close relationship with them, not being here anymore. Here is some unsolicited advice, please get your life insurance policy in order. Now, we don’t like talking about death but it’s something that we should do daily. Eventually it should not have as much of an affect on us because it becomes a habit.

HERE IT IS…

We should eulogize our fears, our sinful thoughts, sinful nature, everyday. To the point that we don’t have to eulogize it because we have conquered it and it is dead and gone. Trust me I know it’s hard to kill bad habits or stop something cold Turkey. However, we do have the victory over those things if we continue to draw close to the cross.
At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light…..

Stay sharp

17 As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. (‭‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭27‬‬:‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

I have gotten into watching wood working and metal working videos. It is unreal what these guys can do with metal and wood. From making the sides of a boat and bending wood. To making metal into something that you wouldn’t even think. But there is a competition show where people come and they are given a time period and a reference to make something and they are graded in their skill. But it’s not just the creating and making of things but it’s how sharp it is too.

HERE IT IS…

Everyone in this show has their own style of how to make certain things and how to craft it. What I love to see is the interviews and they talk about things they have learned.
Get around people that’s going to not only push you to do better, but challenge you to do better. Even in your mistakes. Even in your failures. Even in your losses. You have to be around people who are going to make you sharper than you were before. A dull knife only cuts through spreads things out. A sharp knife can cut through it. Stay sharp.

You’ve WON

4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. (‭‭‭1 John‬ ‭4‬‬:‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

I heard a story about a boxer who happens to be a woman. She ended her career 24-0. She was fast and strong. A lot of people compared her to another famous male boxer. Well one day she had a rough fight. The same way that she could dish it out her opponent was giving it back. Just as she thought she was losing she remembered who her father was. Laila Ali is the daughter of Muhammad Ali. She won that fight after she remembered seeing the stuff her father did.

HERE IT IS…

Remember who your father is! That’s it. That’s the post. Just when you think it’s about to end. Just when you think it’s going to get worse. When you think you will lose. Just when you think you can’t take no more. Remember what your father did. He was beaten. He was bruised. He was spit on. He was hurt. He was able to take our stuff and carry it. Even when they counted him out. Even when they called the fight over. He rose with all power in his hand. You will rise again. There is too much inside you.

Made correctly

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. (‭‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139‬‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

There is a consensus that there are roughly about 100 billion neurons total in the human brain. Each of these neurons can have up to 15,000 connections with other neurons via synapses (Brotherson). Connect that to 100 trillion neurons connected all over the body and you get something amazing. You get a walking, talking, living, breathing miracle. Something that is so incredibly intricate and designed purposefully that it takes nine months for another human to reproduce it but he did it in one breath.

HERE IT IS…

If you don’t think you are worth anything. If you question Gods reason for making you. If you have ever thought that God made a mistake on you. If you ever ponder how God made you and think he was distracted when he did. Your wrong. You are absolutely wrong. By design. On purpose. Without question. Unequivocally made by the breath of God. Created to do great things. You matter. Your important. You is all we got!!!

Imitating the wrong thing

11 Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God. (‭‭‭3 John‬ ‭1‬‬:‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

In this world of social influence and how quickly things get around. We see a lot of things that are readily accessible to those of the minor age. We are teaching our children how to be dependent on an electronic device rather than critical thinking skills. With the new technology we have and the way things are changing it’s not surprising for children to see things of a negative influence in their everyday life. TV, YouTube, social media, music, it’s all around us and them. Yet, we lack the ability to turn off or remove them from seeing or hearing these things.

HERE IT IS…

Following the wrong example will lead you down the wrong path. Truth of the matter is that the people trying to be influential in a negative way really don’t act like that on a regular basis. Learning the wrong behaviors and actions are corrupting all walks of life. The longer we allow it to happen the worse it gets. Protect yourself and the ones coming behind you. Follow the example that leads you to God.