You know the phrases: You just got to stick it out! Suck it up and keep going! Pull yourself up by the bootstraps!

All of these say we have to endure and persevere. God’s plan for us doesn’t always take us on the smoothest ground. It isn’t always about getting there safely. It may seem contradictory for the God of love who has great plans for us to allow us to struggle through hard times, but it isn’t. The person who has everything handed to them never appreciates the work or sacrifice it takes to overcome.

Don’t see struggle as defeat! Struggling is part of the process of victory!

James 1:12, says, “God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.” (NLT)

So be tough! Stick it out! Victory is just around the corner!

I believe….love is the answer. Not because Blessed Union of Souls sings that lyric, but because GOD IS LOVE!

1 John 4:7-8 says, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for loves comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

This love, God’s love, is a true, undefiled, benevolent, and pure love. Demanding nothing. Unconditional. The love we show others should be the love God has given to us, not the conditional, fickle, action based love of the world.

When love is born into the heart of two believers to be married, it is a compassionate, giving, forgiving, and self-sacrificing love. True self-sacrifice comes in knowing what the Son of God did for us. It can’t be learned or modeled any other way. Not in it’s truest form.

The Word tells us the world will know we are Christians by our love one for another. I would venture to say that a compassionate heart towards the unbeliever would be a strong sign as well. These forms of love are experienced not just talked. Love shows through a life well lived.

Show someone today the love of Christ by how you treat them and how you treat others! Much love to you all…

For the past few days, I’ve been speaking about what I believe to be a spiritually unhealthy self-image. I do believe that the world looks at the church and says,”You live like your God thinks you are worthless and horrible. You don’t have excitement or joy or freedom. Why do I want what you have? I’ll keep my present life, thank you very much.”

We have sunk into a place where we always feel and expect others to feel the judgment of God, but actually question when people try to live in the love, grace, and mercy of God. Our attitude and outlook should be INCREDIBLE! (check the past few blogs)

But there is a balance. We shouldn’t live blind to the sin in our lives. We are a people who can easily overlook our own faults. It is much easier to focus on the sin in the lives of others because we want to paint ourselves as having it all together. We put on our “church suit” and fake our way through.

God does require repentance, commitment, and “follow-ship” from us. We are to live our lives chasing after Him with all we have. The thing is, when we are obedient and undistracted, He is easy to find. We all struggle with those two areas. Our image or reputation (what others see), is what we try to protect the most. We don’t want to look bad in front of others. But it is the attitude and motives of the heart that God judges! Our actions are just the follow-through of what is decided and believed in the heart!

Life isn’t a game of us cleaning up and working for God…It is about God creating in us a new heart through salvation, beginning a discipling process in our lives, and then we are USABLE! He knows what He has planned for us! He knows what we need! He is trying to mold our new heart into that very thing that He needs us to be!

Being always comes before doing! Things get out of balance when we live to DO FOR God instead of BEING WITH God. Henry Blackaby, in his book Experiencing God, says that we should find where God is moving and join Him there. I believe that finding where God is moving wouldn’t be near as hard for us if we focused on the private personal elements of our relationship with God more than we focused on the outward “work” for God.

He can use a Christian that is submitted, humble, and praying much easier than one that is well-trained, “in-charge”, but “image” focused. Eventually, the inside runs over. What will people see when the inside MUST come out? When the facade that is our image is covered by the truth that abides within?

“…Out of the overflow of the heart a man speaks” Luke 6:45

“All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord” Proverbs 16:2

“…you are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” Matthew 23:27-28

“Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up.” James 4:2

“…the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10

“…his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” John 10:4

What a great verse for finding hope and living on the upside!
Romans 5:9…”And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.”
We have been made right. Justified. Not by our own works but by His blood!

Strive for the goal of being more like His son, Jesus Christ, everyday. But don’t let failures and omissions sink you. Repent! Move forward! He knows our heart and motives and loves us in spite of ourselves! Because He IS love…

Walk with your head up! Or you won’t be able to see where He is leading you and who He is sending your way. A head always hung down in shame never sees the sunrise. Look up for you are redeemed and loved!