Tag: always loved

How often do we feel we are going the wrong way when we are really going the only way?
Blog · Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · Jesus · searching

How often do we feel we are going the wrong way when we are really going the only way?

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How often do we feel we are going the wrong way when we are really going the only way?

I wonder how often we are truly following God and His plan and the devil comes up behind us and covers our eyes making us think we are going the wrong way. How often do we stop and change course because the devil has blinded us to the path?
God is fighting for us. That doesn’t just mean in our stead He is also fighting to keep us. As God is directing our paths we constantly have the devil telling us we are going the wrong way; that we aren’t following God but are following ourselves, even though we know that is not true.
Sometimes when God is quiet the devil gets very very loud and that can confuse us. But if we focus on God and pray, even if we don’t hear God He can send us a feeling to His direction. Sometimes in the heart racking sobs the unbelievable peace that hits you is God answering you. Sometimes in the wistful joy it’s the pang of uncertainty that is God saying, “be careful.” I have no answer to the question of, “what do I do God?” Because I am not you and only you can know what God is saying to you. It’s that still small voice; that impossible whisper that guides us. It can be so hard to hear, but don’t lose heart because Jesus knows what He is doing with you and He will show you the next safe place to put your foot.

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When the tears don’t cease
Blog · Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · Jesus

When the tears don’t cease

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I once said that my guitar has seen less tears than my pillow, my pillow less tears than my dog and my dog far less tears than Jesus, because Jesus sees them all. For some reason we as people get it into our heads that the pain and stress and worn thin feelings we had last week should have been healed and cleared up by this one; That would be nice but that doesn’t always happen.
Last weeks troubles may very well have carried into this week, and you may feel that you have clung so tight for so long to Jesus that you are molded to Him and can never let go.
Bingo. That’s the point. To never let go. That realization is not going to fix your problems but now maybe you see that you have someone to help you through them. I saw a movie where the guy said he regretted letting go of the girl he was in love with so soon because he was enjoying holding her (in a hug). Jesus enjoys holding us; He enjoys taking care of us and I bet He regrets it when we let go of Him too soon, or at all, because He doesn’t want our moments together to end. Our moments do not have to end. If there is a place in our lives we can’t take Jesus with us then it is a place we need to get rid of. But even if we do, and I am sure we all have places we feel Jesus wouldn’t approve of, He would go there with us anyway; this is Jesus friend of sinners remember. Maybe taking Him there with you will help you see how to clean those places up.
Its nice to be able to hold Jesus’ hand no matter where you go or what you do in a day. Its nice to have that support, love and friendship.
Sometimes when you look around and ask “where is God in the midst of this?” He will send you a sign. It may be big or it may be so small that if you closed your eyes at the wrong moment you might have missed it. But it is there. Just a gentle reminder that He is right here in the midst of you and your circumstances. A reminder that He is still holding you up and is still holding your hand.

Jesus, thank you seems a hard word to say at times, but even in the struggles we can be thankful that you are there with us and that you are still God. Amen.

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What does Jesus say when He prays
Blog · Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · Jesus · searching

What does Jesus say when He prays

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What does Jesus say when He prays?
The Bible says Jesus prays for us
and most people I have heard talk about this say that He is praying for our souls. That is probably very true. This week I hit the sea floor and the waves keept shoving me back to the bottom everytime I tried to resurface. In the midst of the drowning I was walking past a painting we have in our house of Jesus praying and it hit me, is He praying for my situation? I suddenly realized that Jesus most likely does not just pray for my soul He probably prays for me. For my problems, for my fears, for my hurts, my needs, my crushing blow days. Jesus probably prays for all of it. So on those nights when it’s 12 am and I still can’t find the words to pray its alright, because Jesus says everything in His prayers that needs to be said. I simply need to support Him with worship.
Jesus. Wow! Thank you for praying for me, for caring that much.

Hold my hand
Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · Jesus

Hold my hand

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What is it about holding someone’s hand that makes us feel stronger, safer, steadier? Why does that simple touch, the warmth of their fingers around yours make such a big difference? Its a symbolic gesture, a way of saying “I’m here for you” similar to a hug. My aunt has two little boys and they both constantly want to hold your hand when out walking. I can not begin to tell you how many times I have been holding one of their hands and something has happened to cause them to trip, the only thing keeping that kid from pain was my hand. The minuet I feel them start to go down I tighten my grip and hold them up, lifting them back to their feet. In the exact same way Jesus is holding our hands. As we go through life His powerful fingers are intertwined with ours and when we trip He holds us up and lifts us back to our feet. He even gave us other people to help hold us up. When we pray together how often do we hold hands? It’s a symbol of you’ve got me and I’ve got you. Sometimes we try to pull away from that constant loving hand and it will let us go until we come back and accept it again. I’m going to end with a word picture. I can imagine Jesus, strong and gentle, standing on hill top overlooking whatever veiw makes you happiest. Now place yourself running up to see Him so excited or maybe scared and you trip expecting to hit the ground. Suddenly a hand reaches out. Its scarred and battered from years of work but you grasp it instinctively. Strong arms lift you back to your feet and you look up into those laughing, dancing eyes now filled with tender concern. He asks if you are alright as you nod your head embarrassed. Then your savior takes a tighter grip on your hand and leads you to the best spot to see the veiw. Even though you move across vines and rocks you do not stumble again because that constant hand keeps you secure on your feet. Don’t let go of Jesus and He won’t ever let go of you.

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Trust fall
Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · Jesus · searching

Trust fall

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Do you remember how in school every so often the teacher would insist upon doing trust exercises? You’d pair up and then take turns falling and catching each other. Usually you would choose to pair up with a friend right? You wanted to make sure that the person who was catching you was someone you could trust. When we pair up with Jesus we are falling blindly into His arms and trusting that He will catch us.
I can tell you that thinking back on those exercises I don’t remember the people I caught but I definitely remember the people I let fall, (by accident). How often do we feel like God has let us fall and then we focus on those times alone? Just a heads up God never lets you hit the ground. He always has a plan for you no matter how abandoned you may feel at times. Think on how many times God has caught you instantly when you trust fell into Him; those times will out number the amount of times He has let you dangle. Also try and look at the circumstances. It may be annoying to hear but try to see the good that can come out of God not catching you right away this time. I won’t do the eagle and nest quote but sometimes in our flailing we are able to find a stronger hold on Jesus. Even if you can’t see Him standing behind you, your friend Emmanuel is ready to catch you, you never fall past where God wants you because that’s where He will catch you.

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It’s time to duel
Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · Jesus

It’s time to duel

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I’m going to go nerdy for a minute.
Does anyone remember the old Yugiohs? I mean the original? Well I found a bunch of my old dvds the other day and had decided to watch a couple. The ones I watched were the Capsule monsters movies. Yugi enters a board game and gets armor which when activated allows him to merge with his favorite monsters; then he gains their different powers and is able to use them to fight evil. Cool right? In the same way when we become children of God we put on the armor of God and when we ‘activate it’ by praying and reading our bible and devotionals and such we gain God’s power and can use it to fight against the devil. In the movie when Yugi uses the armor it drains his strength, but when We as Christians use the armor of God it gives us more strength and energy. We are filled with new vitality as We face our day and We always have God with us. We never need to remove our armor and rest from it, yes sometimes the armor of God is heavy and feels a little like a burden but the more We work at wearing it everyday the lighter it becomes. The power of God vanquishes all other things even weariness. We are never defenseless or powerless when we have God because He is always taking care of us and He is the one true ultimate power.

Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · Jesus
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There must have been so little hope, sometimes I wonder where I’d be if no one had sent that gift to me. But wrapped in mercy grace and love a gift was sent from up above…..the gift by Paul brandt

I may not have the lyrics exact but this song is so true to the reason for Christmas. Hope. Jesus.

Imagine being the star. You have been given the job, the blessing of showing people Jesus. You burn brightly and enduringly for 2 whole years as you guide people to the savior. (There have been many ideas on what the star really was and where it went but no one really knows. Not everything God does is explainable.)I feel we are very much like the star as Christians. Without Jesus there is no hope. If God had decided we weren’t worth the sacrifice we would have been left in a world of darkness, longing to have hope but never achieving it. Jesus is the light of the world, the HOPE of nations for a reason, He knew we needed Him so He came and the star drew in His first few followers. We all have gifts God has given us we can use to draw people into the light of Jesus we just have to have the courage to use them. At this time of giving as we open presents and spend time celebrating let’s think on the gifts we have been given. The gift of public speaking, teaching, art, auto repair, parenting, and so many more. Gifts that we can use to bless the giver. Jesus. May we be the star that draws people to Jesus this upcoming year and every to come, and to be thrilled with our God given gifts as we see them bless this world!

Star with royal beauty
Christianity · Devotional · Jesus · searching

Star with royal beauty

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Driving home from work a large green ball of fire with a beautiful white tail sped across the sky off to my left. I was sure it was a comet of some kind. The driver in front of me veered off to follow the path of the amazing light probably hoping to see more of it. It was not until the weekend that I found out that it was the famous Christmas Comet. Seeing that comet made me think. The most famous star ever, made it’s debut around this time of the year, and like the driver ahead of me there were people who dropped everything to follow it.

I can picture myself as one of the wise men. I’ll be Beltashazar. Sitting in my study surrounded by parchment and literally burning the midnight candle. Suddenly a bright light takes over the sky. The next thing I know I’m in the middle of the desert on a camel with two other guys and we are all following this star. We dropped everything to go and admittedly my mind keeps wandering back to, “did I blow out all my candles before I left?” Not that it would matter seeing as we have been following said star for nearly 2 years. But giving up isn’t even in our minds because we know the king of glory is waiting for us. Hot, sweaty; shoes torn, camels exhausted we three ‘kings’ tumble into the house where Mary, Joseph and king baby Jesus are living. Suddenly all the dirt is washed away, my sore, aching bones feel strong and healed and my heart is filled with the awe of seeing my king.

We get the privleage to know the light of the world even while here on earth. When we become Christians we choose to drop our old lives and begin to follow Him. We follow long and through many obstacles trying to get a better look at our wonderful saviour; and when the journey is through and we find ourselves where the star is residing we get to go into His home and see Him face to face. Suddenly all the wear of the world and the weariness of life falls off and we get to embrace Him. Our savior, our Jesus.

Come they told me
Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · Jesus · searching

Come they told me

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Over the next few weeks leading up to Christmas I am going to do a devotional themed around favorite Christmas songs. Today’s song is ‘little drummer boy.’

Come they told me, a new born king to see. If someone came up to me on the street and said, “hey! Haven’t you heard? There’s a new king born today, hurry up we have to go see Him!” I would probably look at them with a, “say what?” Expression before nervously following along behind. On the road to what I assume is going to be the king’s palace someone looks at me and says, “where’s your gift? You did know you were supposed to bring one right?” Suddenly embarrassed I search my person and realize I have nothing, I’m not even wearing jewelery, all I have is me. I slowly shrink back in the crowd. When we reach where the baby king is residing I can’t see anything past the crowd but the one thing I do notice is that there is no looming palace staring me down, I also notice a lot of sheep running around and I am sure that I just heard a cow. Confused I slowly creep my way forward and peer down at the baby, laying in a manger, surrounded by sheep and chickens and a couple of farm dogs and cats. My face shows my shock as the baby’s mother looks up at me. I fumble with my hands. “I’m sorry, but, I didn’t bring anything to give Him.” She smiles gently, “my dear,” I hear her say, “we are not to bring gifts for Him, He is the gift for us. If all you can bring is yourself then you have brought all you truly have because nothing on this earth is really ours, it all already belongs to Him.” With that she cradles the baby closer and kisses His cheek. I am amazed as I see the baby look at me and smile a smile so healing all my pains, worries and fears die away.

Jesus doesn’t need anything from us, He already owns everything we call ours. He just wants us. We are all we truly own because we are the only thing we have a say over; it is our choice to follow Jesus or not, all He wants is for us to give ourselves back to Him so He can make us whole.

Dragons and kings
Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · free · J.R.R.Tolkien · Jesus · searching

Dragons and kings

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God is not like smaug, the great dragon from the Hobbit, where when we come into His lair trembling and say “I had heard stories about you but I did not believe them,” he stands back from us flexing the scales across his chest and blowing a snort of smoke out of his nose he proplaclaims, “and do you now?”
In contrast when we come up to Jesus trembling saying, ” I had heard stories of you my Lord, but I did not believe them.” He looks at us with love and responds, “I know, I have been waiting for you to come and see me for yourself.” Then He hugs us and all our fears and sins and scars melt away and not only do we believe the stories we now know the man they are about and we know He loves us. His gentle embrace following us everywhere we go until we get to live with Him in His kingdom. There is no dragon pride, just the gentle/powerful/all knowing/unending love of a king.

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