Just a quick reminder:

He loves you!  He loves you!  He loves you!  And, there is nothing you can do to change it.  You can’t earn it!  You don’t deserve it!  He doesn’t love you more when you are good and love you less when you are struggling.  He loves you relentlessly!  So, right now, look in the mirror and realize that God’s love for you is not based on anything, but His character and His nature.  What a relief!  Stop trying to earn His love because you already have it.   His arms are wide open.  The invitation is available.  Don’t push away His love because you feel unworthy, but accept His love for what it is — UNCONDITIONAL.  This means that there are not conditions concerning His love.  Under every condition and circumstance, His heart for you does not change.  He is constant!  His mercy is new every day.  His patience is unlimited.  He understands you, and more than anything, He believes in you.  His strength outweighs your lack.  Bottom line, He loves you just the way you are!

 Be encouraged in the Love of Christ!

The other day my girlfriend had a homework assignment where she had to take a paragraph from a play and tell what the meaning of it was. So she asked me and her dad what it meant, and her dad said that it meant this:  “We can only reason by what we know. Our logic and reason is determined by the world around us.”  Right when he said that, I thought this was the controversy of Jesus. We try to logic and reason from the world and what seems logical here in this life, and Jesus used logic from another perspective.

If you think about it, the whole message of the Bible and the stories in it do not seem logical in this world. It seems logical in this world to gain all that you can, and do what best benefits your own life.  Thus, we live very selfishly.  Jesus comes along and says to throw all that out the window.  He says the kingdom of Heaven is upside down from this world.  Give your life away to save it, and if you try to keep it, you will lose it.  Love even when you don’t receive love back.  If someone steals your shirt, give them your jacket too.  You must be humble and low to be exalted.  The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) are all Kingdom of Heaven viewpoints and viewpoints of trusting your Heavenly Father more than the logic of this world.  Jesus comes on the scene and says to be true children of your Father in Heaven, you must reason by the viewpoint of Heaven.  The only way you can truly do this is if you only find your satisfaction from knowing the Father has your back—that you are truly satisfied in Him.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.  I challenge you to read the Sermon on the Mount, and start asking God to give you Kingdom perspective and the ability to trust like Jesus trusted.  When I read about Jesus, I realize I’m so far from freedom that it’s ridiculous.  I see the way the wisdom and freedom in His life and the fact that He never tried to defend Himself.  He didn’t demand that He was the Messiah or the son of God or didn’t even admit it.  He just said, “If you have ears to hear what I’m saying, you will know who I am.”   He never defended himself from the Pharisees or when on trial, because He found His satisfaction in the fact that He was His Father’s Son and that God was pleased with Him.

That’s true logic and reasoning.  Trust in that, and you will be free.  Trust in the logic and reasoning of this world, and you will be in bondage all the days of your life.  Switch your perspective to a heavenly one and true happiness, peace and freedom will come.

The subject of singleness has come up several times recently.  It’s not something I currently deal with since I have been married for over 15 yrs.  However, I dealt with it many years, since I did not marry until I was almost 34 yrs. old.  I was watching my friends get married, and wondering when it would be my turn.  I dated on a regular basis, and had a few long-term relationships, but still my desire was to have a husband.  When I had a boyfriend, I was happy.  When I didn’t have one, I would feel lonely, especially on Friday or Saturday nights when I wanted to be dating.   Finally, God got through to me that it was OK to be single.  I was OK!  I didn’t have to have another person to complete me.  I could be happy and complete in Christ. 

Many of you are familiar with the song, “While I’m Waiting”, which can be be heard in the video (link below).  I love this song!  Many of you have seen the movie, “Fireproof”.  Some of you may have read the book, “The Love Dare”.  And,  even though the movie or book may deal with a married couple, a lot of advice can be applied to single life as well.  So, for those of you who are waiting for that special someone . .  just like I had to . . . spend that time in preparation.  Spend that time in service and worship to God.  You can be happy and content while you wait upon Him~~~

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=i6X71sXagUY

Who doesn’t remember Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? Now, if you didn’t see the first version, then surely you saw the second one that came out just a few years ago! Or, you could be like me and have lived through both versions! Guess what? They are giving away another Golden Ticket-For real!! Check out this article:

It’s impossible to read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory without imagining oneself as Charlie Bucket, holding that magical golden ticket.

The Nestle-owned Wonka candy brand hopes to offer a similar feeling with its new promotion. Buy a candy bar in its Exceptionals line, and you may pull out a wining Golden Ticket. The prizes are pretty sweet: Ten grand prize winners get to bring three friends on a trip around the world with $12,500 in spending money.

Other prizes include airline vouchers, Ticketmaster gift cards, movie certificates and (of course) free chocolate.

It’s worth noting that the Exceptionals bars are the line’s priciest items; they’re being marketed as “premium chocolate.” However, that’s money I think a lot of Roald Dahl fans might be willing to spend in exchange for a potential thrill.

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Wow! Well, that would be exciting, wouldn’t it?! I don’t recall seeing that type of chocolate here in good ol’ Russell Springs, but I believe I will start looking for it!

Do you remember how winning the Golden Ticket changed the entire tone of Charlie’s life? It affected how he lived, how he acted, how he treated the people around him, and everything about his future…for the better!! If you have accepted Christ in your heart, then I have good news for you!! The Good News is that you already have a Golden Ticket! Your ticket will not only do all of the above, but the Grand Prize is Eternal Life! Your ticket and everything that goes with it will give you one admission into the Golden Gates! I can’t say it is a Free Admission because Jesus paid the price for your ticket! The admission is free to you simply by believing on Him and accepting Him into your heart!  In addition, just as the Chocolate Factory tour was a grand adventure for Charlie and all of the other kids, your Christian life will be just as thrilling and most assuredly never boring for very long!

If you do not possess a Golden Ticket or rather if you do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior but would like to know more about that, click Here to learn about this amazing journey!

Now that you possess the Golden Ticket or Salvation rather, it is time to enter the Chocolate Factory or…oh…I mean your Christian Walk! Over the next weeks, I will take the pitfalls of the Chocolate Factory tour and compare them to the ups and downs of our lives as a Christian. Stay tuned, and go buy someWonka Chocolate! Think what good you could do with that trip around the world!!

There is one thing in my life that has paralyzed me; that’s stopped me dead in my tracks; that’s hindered so many beautiful and wonderful things.  It severed as chains in my life, the thing that held me captive for so long.  Many of you struggle with it too.  It comes hidden in so many forms.  It puts on masks of pride, false humility, humor, shyness, overbearingness, anger, depression. . .the list could go on and on.  It’s insecurity.

I feel like nearly every single person we see everyday battles with insecurity.  It might be about their weight.  It might be about the home they come from, or the clothes that they wear.  Guys and girls are assumed to have vastly different sources of security and insecurity….but what it really comes down to is the question, “Do I love myself?”  And I’m not talking about the narcissus loving yourself, when someone’s ego is dominating their lives, but I’m talking about being sincerely thankful that God created you the way you are.

I had a teacher once at an internship, and she radiated contentment and joy.  She seriously loved being herself. She didn’t want to be another person in the entire world. She was unique and individual. She said once, “I just love being me… I LOVE being Meghan!  I don’t ever want to be another person—I love my life.”  I was floored when I heard her talking about this.  I couldn’t believe that someone could actually feel this way.

I was on a quest at that moment in my life to become everything that God wanted me to become, and I wanted to become. Nothing was going to hold me back, because what had held me back for so long was my belief that I couldn’t.  I wasn’t good enough, I wasn’t capable of doing anything great, and I wasn’t beautiful.

You are capable in Christ.  You are made whole in Christ.  You are made beautiful in Christ.  You are made pure in Christ.   He has set a path before you that was designed for you… just for you.  No one else can do what you were created to do, and the only thing that is stopping you is yourself, and your insecurities. In Christ, you can overcome.

I have learned in my walk with Christ, that in order to grow in Christ, the majority of it comes down to me making choices. A lot of people expect God to hit them suddenly with power, and everything in their life will radically change. It doesn’t happen like that, and that kind of thinking is just crazy.

The other day I was forced to be in a situation that was a bit awkward for me. I knew beforehand that I would have to be extremely cautious and hold my tongue because it wanted to be unleashed on somebody. So, I began to ask the Lord, “How do you want me to handle this situation? I need your help, because I can’t do this on my own.” When I called upon the Lord, He answered.  I felt the Holy Spirit softly speak the nine fruits of the Spirit in my ear (Galatians 5: 22-23), “love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, longsuffering, self-control.” Immediately, I knew the choice I needed to make in the middle of a situation where my anger wanted to get the best of me. And, that was to act with love, peace, kindness, gentleness and above all to have self-control. When I encountered the situation, my flesh still wanted to rage, but I could feel the Holy Spirit speaking, and knew what He wanted me to do.

It is choice, not chance, that determines your destiny. The Lord may have spoken a word to me over the situation, but I still had a choice to make. The Lord will allow us to be in certain situations where we will be put to the test. Tough circumstances build our Christ-like character. I encourage all of you to have an understanding that it is the daily choices we make that determines our destiny of who we will become! When our focus is on God, our feelings will change.

In John, Chapter 4, Jesus meets a woman.  She is seeking a drink from Jacob’s well, but little did she know she would find much more than water.  Jesus would share with her one of the greatest revelations of worship ever released into the earth. 

Worship!  What is it?  The church has called our song services Praise and Worship for so many years that we have unconsciously identified worship with singing, music, and raising our hands.  We have confined worship to a building and placed the responsibility upon somebody else, the worship leader — conveniently named, to lead us into worship. 

This was the very attitude Jesus was correcting when He revealed the revelation of true worship.  The woman told Jesus that this was the place where her forefathers worshiped, but she understood the place of worship for the Jews to be in Jerusalem.  He responded by informing her that worship is not confined to a place.  Rather, the Father seeks those that would worship Him in spirit and in truth always.  In essence, He was telling her “you do not have to be in church to worship Me”!

This is my definition of worship in its purest sense –- giving up something I want for something He wants.  Plain and simple!  Anytime you give up something you want for something He wants, you are engaging in worship.  Why?  Because worship is obedience!  You can not restrict worship to what happens on Sunday mornings.  Worship is obeying the voice of God, and thereby sending a signal to heaven that He is more important then anything else in your life.  Worship is saying, “Not my will, but Your will be done”.  Jesus was telling this woman that she was called and designed to live in constant worship of the One greater than herself.  He was calling her to a higher standard of living.  He informed us that God is looking for those that will not only worship Him when the music starts, but worship Him in spirit and in truth daily with their decisions.  Please do not misinterpret my heart.  Corporate adoration of God is an overflow of worship, but you severely demean worship if you confine it to such.  God is waiting for a generation to realize that worship is lived out daily.  Every time you say “No” to the world and “Yes” to God, you are worshiping Him.  You are placing Him in His rightful place. 

I could go on and on about worship, but I want you to walk away from reading this with a clear understanding of what worship truly is.  Worship – what is it? 

Worship – giving up something you want for something He wants!

Blog with parts from Eugene Peterson\’s book \”Practicing Resurrection\”

Jan. 12—Haiti, 7.0;  Feb. 26—Okinawa, 6.9;  Feb. 27—Chile, 8.8.  Earthquakes—the earth is shaking. 

Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.   (Mark 13:8)

³⁷When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:  ³⁸“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”  ”Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”  ³⁹Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” ⁴⁰“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”  (Luke 19, NIV)

God wants us to worship Him.  He created us to worship Him.  So, if the Earth is shaking and quaking, could it possibly be that mankind is not worshiping enough?  Could it be possible that these are the “signs of the time” that are recorded in scripture?  You cannot ignore that there is something significant going on in the Earth.  And, not only in a physical sense, but a spiritual one as well. 

If you’ve been to a Hillside service the past few weeks, you know what I’m talking about.  There’s a power; there’s an excitement.  There’s more than what we’ve experienced in the past.  You don’t want to miss what is yet to come.  Allow God to shake your world!