PATH WILL ILLUMINATE

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading.” ― Oswald Chambers

There is a lot in that little quote isn’t there?

First of all Chambers reminds us that faith must exist in the absence of seeing. Faith is trusting in our LOVE for GOD and HIS overwhelming LOVE for us.  Even Kierkegaard said “Faith sees best in the dark”.  In other words we are LOVING GOD even more intensely when “we don’t know everything”.

That is what makes faith so tricky.

We want to see stuff.

We want to touch stuff.

We want certainties and sure things and GOD instead says that FAITH is the crucial component in our relationship with Him.

In fact without it, we can’t even please Him…

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)

And even though we may not know where our faith may take us, we know that if we place our faith in GOD, the one we love and the one who is leading, we can’t go wrong and we won’t end up in the “wrong place”.

How do we know?

Didn’t you read it?

GOD rewards the one who will wade into the dark seeking after Him. GOD is faithful to honor our faithful pursuit of Him.  That is why it is important from time to time to remember that our LORD is not motivated by our need but by our faith!

“The way of Jesus cannot be imposed or mapped — it requires an ACTIVE participation in following Jesus as he leads us through sometimes strange and unfamiliar territory, in circumstances that become clear only in the hesitations and questionings, in the pauses and reflections where we engage in prayerful conversation with one another and with him.” ― Eugene H. Peterson…

Are you preparing to enter some unfamiliar territory?

Maybe a new venture?

Or is a change pending?

Talk to GOD.

Get active in your participation with Him.

Seek after Him.

I know the path seems dark.  It is requiring some faith!

Believe what GOD says.

He will help you to see! His Word will show you the way if you let it.

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. (Psalm 119:105 NIV)

“True faith means holding nothing back. It means putting every hope in God's fidelity to His Promises. True faith manifests itself through our actions.” ― Francis Chan

Don’t be paralyzed by the dark paths in your future.

Grab the promises of GOD which WILL light the way for you.

You love GOD. Right?

He loves you. RIGHT?

Demonstrate that LOVE with your faith, exercise it; leverage it. 

If it requires you to step out in it, do it!

GOD will be pleased.  GOD is ALWAYS FAITHFUL

Trust Him. The path WILL illuminate.

Have a blessed weekend.

I love you ALL!

FREEDOM CHURCH (CHAMPIONS NETWORK)

GOOD FOR THE SOUL

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“You can be courageous in admitting your sin precisely because God is richly abundant in his mercy. He comes to you in mercy not because you are good but because you are a sinner, and he knows that because of this condition, you are unable to help yourself.” ― Tripp

James 5:16-17 (MSG)

Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.

What is it that they say about confession?

It is good for the soul.

Well it is.

Yet the enemy would have you think otherwise.

“What if they knew about that lust issue Pastor, what would they think?  Better keep that a secret.  Same with that angry outburst or that ‘less than truthful’ exchange.” “Better keep that under wraps.  You are their leader don’t forget.”

  

The enemy wants us to CARRY that sort of thing around and let it fester and stew into guilt and shame. 

Why would me or you consider that when GOD makes it clear that admitting the sin, something Tripp reminds me is inherent in me anyway, is the healthy path to healing?

Hard to fathom.  But we try to do just that.

There is a saying in recovery that we are only as sick as our secrets.

That is true.

It is when we own the mistakes and fess up to the faulty thinking and actions that we find healing, that we find mercy and we find an assuring and FAITHFUL GOD willing to wipe the slate clean through CHRIST when we confess!

... a clean slate and a fresh start - comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:30 (MSG)

…if we admit our sins - make a clean breast of them - he won't let us down; he'll be true to himself. He'll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. 1 John 1:9 (MSG)

I know I need that mercy. I am DAILY thankful that GOD is willing to purge, to wipe out my mistakes, to clean my slate.

Can you imagine life without this mercy?

Can you imagine life without this grace?

I couldn’t.

I don’t want to.

Life is hard enough!

Instead I am awake this morning thanking GOD for his INFINITE mercy, his PROACTIVE approach to my sinfulness and for His sustaining grace!

“Sustaining grace promises not the absence of struggle but the presence of God.” ― Max Lucado

How about you?

Been struggling of late?  

Don’t forget that is to be expected.  

Made some errors?  Been missing the mark?

Remember grace.

Remember that confession is that pathway to it.

Be bold. 

Don’t let the sin fester.  Admit it.

“The heavens will not be filled with those who never made mistakes but with those who recognized that they were off course and who corrected their ways to get back in the light of gospel truth.” ― Dieter F. Uchtdorf

CARRY LIKE MARY

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“Carry like Mary” – Pastor Eric Smith

During one of the panels in our “TAKING BACK OUR COMMUNITIES – battling the opiate epidemic” conference held in Mason yesterday, Pastor Eric made this comment.

He said we are to CARRY JESUS with us and be prepared to DELIVER Him when called.

Pretty powerful picture huh?

He also commented that the “church” needed to move from being a classroom and return to its roots of discipleship.  In other words we need to remember that the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ was to be carried and then shared by HIS followers "RELATIONALLY"; that by “doing” life and “sharing what we were carrying” the “church” could again be a powerful voice in our communities and notably in this opiate crisis.

He echoes what I have shared from Tripp in the past.

“The church is not a theological classroom. It is a conversion, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness and sanctification center, where flawed people place their faith in Christ, gather to know and love him better, and learn to love others as he designed.”

…He (GOD) allows us to be a part of what he is doing in the lives of others. As you respond to the Redeemer’s work in your life, you can learn to be an instrument in his hands.”  - PAUL DAVID TRIPP

John 13:34-35 (ESV)

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

The so the challenge before us today is really the same one we have each day!

Love others.  Share what you are carrying!

Is that a text to a friend you haven’t heard from in a while? An offer for coffee?  Maybe drop off an encouraging note or make yourself available?

Ask yourself, "Are you ready to be used of GOD today?  To be His instrument of peace, love, hope and possibility?"

Have you equipped yourself with truth so that if tapped on the shoulder to "DISCIPLE" another you will be prepared?

Friends sometimes we can’t wait for the scheduled bible study or a Sunday morning to get engaged, to “disciple”.

Jesus calls us to LOVE as He loved.

Jesus was ENGAGED.

Jesus was PERSONAL.

Jesus was an INVESTOR in lives.

And Jesus has made it clear that we are to be those repentant folks who are open and willing to heed His direction to carry His message of FAITH, HOPE, LOVE and REDEMPTION!

Are you “carrying” today?

Are you ready to “deliver” today?

“The mission that God has given us is a highly relational mission. Jesus said, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you" John 20:21. Jesus came into this world, lived in obscurity for 30 years and then spent three years relationally investing in twelve men, whose charge was to do the same thing by relationally investing in others. This strategy has worked for 2000 years each of us has been touched by someone reaching out to and investing in us relationally, thus advancing the gospel and the mission of God.”  ― Gary Rohrmayer

I love you ALL!

FREEDOM CHURCH (CHAMPIONS NETWORK)