You Don't Have to Work to Regain Something You Never Lost..

There are times in my life when I get distracted from who I am in Christ..and I start to wander into worrying about my spirituality, or thinking I am not good enough and need to improve..I start feeling bad about my Christian walk and start feeling shame and guilt..and I feel empty and out of sorts..at those times, sometimes it seems like I need to 'do something' to get back the feeling of spiritual strength, closeness with God, or focus on Christ.  It feels like I need to work to start thinking more spiritually or work to 'be better, do better.'  It feels like it will be hard to get back to a 'close walk with God'..

AND YET!

And yet, nothing has really changed!  I haven't fallen away, fallen short, lost my connection with God, become distant from God, become less spiritual, or become less of a Christian.  Actually, I am still just as close to God as ever and He is just as close to me, which is really close - in fact, we are so close we are in union!  My spirit is ONE with His Spirit - now that is close! 

And the reason that nothing has changed in my closeness with God or my status before Him is because that isn't based on my performance, but on the perfect performance of Jesus Himself!  Wow, it was Jesus who established the union I have with God before time even began, and it is Jesus who is sustaining that union.  I am so tied to Him I can't get loose!  So even if I fail, even if I forget about spiritual things for a while, even if I get distracted, forget my identity in Christ and start living like an 'old creation' instead of a 'new creation', nothing changes in my relationship with God or my identity before Him.  I am just not strong enough to change Jesus work - nothing I do can undo what Jesus did, and what He did was make me perfect and one with God forever!

So we don't have to work to regain something we never lost..our union with God, our perfect relationship with Him, and our identity before Him as clean, perfect, beloved sons and daughters..That is set in spiritual concrete through the perfect and finished work of Christ!  And it is all sustained not by our faithfulness but the faithfulness of Christ, who is the same yesterday and today and forever! 

You Have Never Been Alone...

There has never been a time in your life, no matter how dark, no matter how wayward, no matter how abyssal, where God wasn't there. He has always been with you, through everything you've faced. And He always will be.

I have been through deep waters when my little baby daughter was in the hospital, having major surgery, and in that hospital room, at the moments when all seemed scary and hopeless, when I felt the whole world was crashing around me - He was there! His presence was there ministering peace to me, without me even praying, believing, looking to Him, or doing anything!

We don't have to do anything to make God come and help us, for He is ALREADY here helping us now, and now, and now!! He will never leave our side, whether we pray to Him or not, whether we rant and rave at Him or not, whether we believe all the promises right or not, for our 'doing' isn't required for Him to be there, to be active - He is forever by our side and on our side, and He is faithful...that's all that matters! You have never been alone and never, ever will be!! His arms are holding you now, holding you up, carrying you through! Peace and blessings to all of you, my dear sisters and brothers!

Redeemed!

I read recently that one meaning of the word 'redeem' is 'to claim what is your own'...and that made me think of what Jesus did in His redeeming work:

Jesus came to this world to claim what what already His own - US! 

We belong to God, we came from God's heart, He is our origin and source of life, we are truly His created children in His image and likeness, we truly belong in His family...and no matter how confused we got or what lies we believed about who we were, no matter what mental bondage or hurt believing these lies produced, the truth remained about who we are and whose we are!! That never changed! 

The enemy had come and deceived us into believing his lies, lies that we were orphans, that we were unloved and unwanted, that we were all alone in the world.  And Jesus came and reclaimed His own, came and claimed His brothers and sisters and took back what the strong man had stolen away - our minds! He has freed us from the bondage of lies to be able to see and live out of the truth, His truth, His reality that was always the only TRUE reality...

Now we see the truth, and it's like waking up from a bad dream:  the mental fog lifts - we were HIS children all along! He never left us, never forsook us, never rejected us..He created us in His image, He is our Daddy and has always loved us! We always belonged with Him, He always accepted us, we always had a home, we were always special and wanted by Someone - God Himself! 

Oh, what a relief to be redeemed! We were prisoners trapped in a wrong perception, and Jesus came and opened the prison doors and looked in our eyes and said, "That one is MINE! That one belongs in freedom, in the Father's house, at His table, with Me! That one belongs on my throne with me! That one is royalty! That one is beloved and well-pleasing to the Father, adored and wanted, just like ME!"

We have been rescued by Jesus from the mental prison Satan had put us in with his awful lies about who we were..we have been freed to enjoy our rightful place as royal sons and daughters, enjoying such sweet fellowship with God, safe and carefree, loved and cherished, at home on the Father's lap!!

God Only Thinks of You withThoughts of Love

God is Love...and that means that He only has thoughts of love toward you!
God is Love...and that means that He only does acts of love for you!
God is Love...and that means that He only speaks words of love to you!

I am finding it is really so simple..He is Pure Love, 100% Love, ever and only Love...There isn't a single itty bitty part of Him that isn't Love..there isn't one single word, deed, thought or intent of God that isn't perfect Love!!!

So when I am faced with an idea about how He acts, I can ask, "Would Perfect Love do or say or think that?" 

He is Perfect Love and would only act in love, so I can ask if those ideas about His actions are in line with Perfect Love, as defined in 1 Co. 13 - kind, patient, not rude, forgiving, hopeful, believing the best about people, putting up with anything, always thinking the best, never ceasing or failing..  So if an idea about Him doesn't fit that definition, then I can see that it doesn't fit my wonderful God of love!

I can just ask would a loving friend or parent or spouse do or say or think such a thing?  And that will tell me if God would be like that, for He is certainly better, nicer and more loving than the nicest friend, parent or spouse on earth!

I can just look at the scriptures and see if that idea that is being given to me is in keeping with the very way He showed us to act, in love toward others.  He has said to do no harm, for love does no harm to a neighbor...He has told us to be kind and tender-hearted toward others and forgive others their faults, without really putting any stipulations on whether they must ask forgiveness first or not...He has told us to not give evil for evil, but to instead give blessing...so wouldn't He act at least as nicely as He asked us to act?

All these questions have helped me so much in seeing just how loving He is, and also in seeing just how many crazy ideas I have had about God that were just not in keeping with His nature of perfect LOVE!  I have in the past believed Him to be harsh, demanding repentance before He would consider forgiving me, demanding me to surrender all my hopes and dreams and be willing to do anything He wanted before He would bless me, requiring all kinds of things from me and getting angry and punishing me if I didn't obey, giving me an impossible standard that I couldn't measure up to, turning away and leaving me if I failed too much...yet none of these ideas is in line with God being Love!  None of them fit in with His nature of love, for 1 John tells us love is the essence of who He is - "God IS Love!"

What a wonderful thing to find out He is truly pure Love, 100%, with no shadows at all!  That means that He is patient, kind, understanding, not rude or pushy, willing to put up with anything, not taking into account a wrong suffered, bearing all things from us, believing in us always, hoping the best for us, planning only good things for us, having our best interests at heart, always thinking of us, always giving to us, never rejecting us no matter how terribly we perform, having no conditions we have to meet to get or keep His love, truly cherishing us, truly valuing us, truly seeing us as worth loving, actually desiring to be with us so much that He would rather die than be without us!  This is who God is!  What a relief that He is not like I feared but instead better than I ever dreamed, hoped or imagined!

God is Love!  Hallelujah!