The Gift of God

"Here is the dwelling of God among men: He will pitch His tent among them and they will be His people. God will be with them and wipe every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death or mourning, crying out or pain, for the world that was has passed." - Revelation 21:3-4

This is the time of year in which everyone is going around shopping. There is more talk of Santa than of Jesus and we hear people telling us to keep Christ in Christmas. But I'm not going to talk to you about that, I want to talk to you about the gift God has given us by becoming one of us. We hear about Jesus' birth, death, resurrection, the miracles and about how He loves us…but how many times do you think about what He's actually done for us? Jesus came to abolish all of our fears and do away with all the pain and anxieties that plague us. On earth, in this life, we toil and trouble and so many unfair things happen to us. We aren't guaranteed happiness, but we are guaranteed eternal life with the Lord. Even the fear of death is always at the back of our minds. We all know we have to go there one day and see our loved ones die along the way. But this is why God's gift to us is so important. It should fill us all with hope. Because of Jesus, we have the gift of eternal life. Here we suffer for about 70 or 80 years if we're lucky, but the faithful are received into God's arms. Death is only a door we cross through to get to our true lives, united with God. There, God will wipe away each and every tear we've ever cried. All the pain from betrayals, deceit, abandonment, all pain anyone could have ever caused us, He does away with. We are received into His arms as His children and nothing else that we go through here on earth matters. You have to keep in mind that as morbid as this sounds, this life is only temporary. Don't blame God or anyone else for what you suffer here because this isn't where you'll be forever. Be steadfast and know where your true place is and how God will show you all of His mercy and all of His love when He calls you home. Death has no hold on the children of God. The life Jesus gave us is eternal.

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You for being born unto to us. You came and sacrificed Your life so that we may believe and join You in Heaven with our Father. Always remind me when I suffer that this isn't my real home and my life will not last forever, but the gift that You have given me will be consolation with You in Heaven. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Human Sexuality

"God said, 'Let there be light;' and there was light. God said, 'Let us make man in our image, to our likeness.'" - Genesis 1:3,26

When God spoke the words "let there be light," He spoke into them all of His power. This wasn't just a bright light, but a fire of energy that burst forth to set all creation into motion. The same fire, power, and energy was put into us when we were created in God's image. The Lord, who put all of His passion into creation, also put that fire and passion into us. We are made in God's image in the sense that we have an incredible ability to love and love passionately. The central place this love is revealed is through our sexuality. It is the source of creation. From this fire we were created and we too create new life from it.

A lot of times many people are ashamed of their sexuality or feel a need to hide it, thinking that some how God does not approve of sexual feelings or desires, when it was God that put that passion into each and every one of us. It's the drive we have within us to go out to love and be loved. In being like God, we have the need for intimacy, for affection, for touch, for real love. This is a good thing and a gift from God. But it's a gift that needs to be taken care of. I'm learning in ministry classes that from the time a baby is born, it is already a sexual being and that from birth we all go through a cycle of psycho-sexual maturation with various stages all the years of our lives. Sometimes along that journey, traumas can occur that affect our sexual development. We become hurt because of rejection, abuse, guilt, shame or a number of things that lock us in a stage of development for a while and we never grow to reach the full, sexual life God intended for us. Many times people abuse sexuality and take freedom to mean purely genital pleasure, not the fullness and depth God intended through love. When we learn that sexuality is a gift to be valued, and as mature persons share that love and intimacy with a partner who is our equal, God is in that union. It is holy and pleasing to the Lord.

Today's Prayer:
Lord God, thank You for the gift of sexuality. Through it, You teach us how to love and give ourselves in love to another as You have done for us. Help guide us Lord so that we don't abuse the gift, but use it as You please so that we can have life in abundance. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Piped Tunes and Funeral Songs

"What comparison can I use for this people? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace, about whom their companions complain: 'We piped you a tune and you wouldn't dance; we sang funeral songs and you wouldn't cry.'" - Luke 7: 31-32

God has created us as His children and it is His design for us to draw close to Him so that He can care for and nurture us. The problem is that in this world we get distracted by so many things and God slips further and further down our list of priorities; we forget about His promises and about His love. When we forget about Him, in His love and mercy, He allows for things to come into our lives to bring us back to Him.

When Jesus says "We piped you a tune and you wouldn't dance," He means that He's brought so many beautiful things into your life - your health, a steady job, people that love you - and you have been unappreciative of His favors, taking the good in your life for granted and not being faithful to God for having given these things to you out of His love and care. He has given you gifts to win your love and attention and you have refused His kindness. Likewise, when Jesus says, "We sang funeral songs and you wouldn't cry," that means that since you didn't respond to the blessings bestowed upon you, He allowed for trials to come to you so that through prayer and supplication, you might become friends with Him again. But some people don't even respond to this and completely brush off God's call.

Each day God works to make Himself known to us but people fail to pay attention. Don't be one of these people that wouldn't dance or cry for the Lord.

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your care and the blessings You have given me. I pray that You will always remain number 1 in my heart, and if I ever let You down, please help me to respond when You pipe a tune or when You sing a funeral song for me. In Your Name we pray, Amen.