God entered into our physical world as a baby.
Nobody feels threatened by a little baby. They feel drawn to a baby, energized by a baby's soft little touch or hug, and they feel that baby's smile just lighting up their world! Making everything feel so soft and cozy and warm and inviting and safe. Maybe being with a little baby brings us back to the place where we ourselves felt safe and secure in our own mother's arms as she sang and rocked us to sleep. I feel that when God came to us, coming as He did as a sweet little baby, He was coming to bring us back to a cozy, homey, safe and happy place, safe in His loving arms forever!
God came as a baby.
Why did He come like that?
God came as the most lovable, innocent, sweet and non-threatening being you could imagine - a newborn baby, a little tiny baby!
He didn't come in judgment or harshness or anger or force, Ge came in vulnerability, gentleness, purity and openness. Imagine the friendly eyes of a baby looking into your own eyes! Imagine the pure love and sweetness in an infant as that darling baby looks towards you and can't take its eyes off yours!
When God wanted to reveal Himself to us in our world, He wrapped Himself in the soft folds of baby skin and came to us. He came in pure kindness, in sweetness, in friendliness, in grace.
A baby couldn't harm anyone. He came to show us He means us no harm. Love does no harm. He came to show us He loves us, He just loves us, He ONLY loves us. That His plans are always good, to give us hope and a future, NEVER to harm us or hurt us.
A baby has no agenda. God came to show He has no agenda from us. He doesn't want anything from us. He's not exacting, demanding, or pushy. He is good and kind. He just wants to be our friend.
A baby is non-threatening. God wants us to know we are in a safe place with Him. Safe in His arms. "God is a safe place to be," as the Message Bible so beautifully says. We are safe with Him. Secure and wrapped in love.
A baby is endearing. God is so endearing. So attractive and sweet! He is the most delightful, happy-making, smile-bringing being we could ever meet! All He does is bring laughter and joy and delight, just like a baby's laugh brings delight to us when we hear it!
A baby is innocent and pure. God is so pure. There's no dark side to Him. His words, actions and ways with us have to hidden agenda. He wants nothing from us, loves with no expectations or conditions, gives asking nothing in return. He is simply pure light in a radiance of love for us, pure joy in His delight with us, pure grace in His generosity towards us, pure cherishing in His care for us.
A baby is lovable. Vulnerable. Open and friendly. Sweet and gentle. Soft and pure. A delight and a joy. A treasure. God is all these things and more! Our God is so lovable, gentle and soft. He's so delightful and fun and happy. He such a treasure!
He came as a baby to bring us a smile, a hope, a joy, a life better than we ever had without knowing Him. Parents often say they couldn't imagine their life without their baby in it. We can't imagine our life without Him who is everything to us, the One that makes life worth living again, the One who brings joy back in the midst of tears, the One whose love rescues us from our fearful places and makes us laugh and smile again, makes life feel light again, makes us come to rest and feel everything is okay and hopeful again.
A baby is the expectation for new life, for long and happy life, for a beautiful future. God gives us that same hope and expectation. He lets us know this world isn't all there is. There is another world, and we'll live there in happiness and joy with Him forever. And this time, we'll get to be the babies! We're God's babes, His little children, and we'll be with our heavenly Dad forever.
God came as a baby so we could know that we are always His little babies, always safe in His arms, forever and ever!
Merry Christmas to us all, with all blessings of the love and peace and joy that are truly ours as His dear little babies, His treasured and precious children!
The Father's Assessment
I recently listened to a sermon by Pastor Colin Lagerwall and I was just brought to tears to think of the Father's assessment of us - that His assessment of us is never based on our right or wrong "doings" (this is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil!) but based simply on His knowledge about my "being" - who I am as His child (this is the tree of life!)..
One thing that really stands stands out to me is that he said that we can be naked before God, and when we stand naked before Him we are not vulnerable and exposed but instead we find ourselves covered with and radiant with His glory!! It is so hard to believe that we are glorious beings, yet we are in His image which is loving, good and glorious and we just shine with love and goodness and glory too! I can't even begin to fathom that..
Another beautiful thing that stuck out to me is that Jesus death and resurrection showed and proved what God's assessment/knowledge of us is: that we are beloved even when we think we are at our worst (for it was when we were still sinners Christ showed His love for us and died for us) and that we are innocent and pure in His eyes, truly with good and loving natures just like our Daddy (for He was raised as proof of our innocence and He honored us by raising us with Him!)..I had never seen it that way! Jesus truly shows us God's opinion of us!
It is so amazing I can't take it all in, just wanted to share these beautiful thoughts..to be able to drop all measures and forget assessing myself by performance, to stop judging myself and just listen to what He says about me, how He feels about me, who He says I am...this is what I want to do. I have been scared to admit my mess, scared to admit my failure. But dropping all pretenses and just being quiet, I really ask You, dear Father, tell me who I am to You..I have only longed to know of Your love and approval, that has been my one desire, and I have always felt so unworthy and bad and sinful..I have not allowed myself permission to be loved because I thought I was so bad that I almost punished myself sometimes with my thoughts and actions..now I just want to hear from You..speak Your love to me and to anyone else who needs to hear it today, to know who we are to You!
Meeting God Face to Face Is Only Positive
A facebook friend, Amy Mester Hendry, said 'all words related to God are positive' - !! I want to just go over that again and again!
ALL words related to God are positive! There is not ONE negative thing at all in relation to or connected with God! He is ALL positive, He is ALL light without a hint of darkness! He is wholly LOVE and KINDNESS and MERCY, not half leniency and half retribution! Yippee, I love that! It's so TRUE! It just resonates with my spirit!!
Wow, that means we really don't have ANYTHING to fear from Him at all!! I think I have had these last nagging vestiges of fear about the after death future, about the second death, about the lake of fire and judgment and fire of God, etc....yet God is ALL positive and meeting Him face to face will thus be the most positive thing that's ever happened to any of us! It will easily and obviously be the best experience of man's existence, not the worst, won't it! Being loved like you always longed to be, always dreamed of being...that will be the most positive, satisfying, wonderful, and ecstatic experience and HIGH ever known! How could that be bad or awful or scary? How could that be painful or hurtful? How could that be ANYTHING other than healing, restorative, joyful, freeing and invigorating!
When we experience Him tangibly, face to face like that, it will be such a JOLT of holy electric love that it will energize us so much we'll live forever just off of that love burst, His lovingkindness being better than life even, better than living forever, more like living in a new dimension outside of time, because time can't even hold enough moments to contain such love, thus it is truly outside time, in the realm of simply being the always NOW, the eternal!!! It's already started for us in the spirit realm, and one day it will be manifested in the tangible realm too! Full of His love presence now and forever! Loved with holy electric jolts of invigorating affection, now and forever! Eternity now and forever!
It's good to hear this message of His love constantly, and to know know know that we have nothing to fear from Him, that all that will happen upon seeing Him face to face is that we'll experience love beyond all imagining, beyond our wildest hopes and dreams!
The Safe Place - A Conversation
This facebook conversation with Fay Gillbanks Lagerwall encouraged me so much that I wanted it here on my page..it is all about how we are already in the safe place of God's loving presence, and always have been!
Fay Gillbanks Lagerwall:FEAR NOT
Sparrow: Is the 'safe place' inside God? I have struggled in the past with feeling I need to 'get into' the safe place under His wings and then feeling I needed to somehow do something to 'abide' there. Somehow I saw it all as a work I had to do, but are you saying we are already in the safe place?
Fay Gillbanks Lagerwall: One thing I know is that nothing' can separate us from our Papa who is LOVE.
We never were separate, never can be and never will be. We come from Him and forever remain in Him. So yes I am saying...we are already in this safe place, safe in Papa....and we don't have to do a jolly thing to earn it. God is for us not against us...its a lie that we are disconnected from God. Have a look at John 14:20 if you feel like you need a bible verse..
Sadly we have been blinded to this truth, we have been sold the lie that we are no good, vile, depraved sinners and therefore have to work and apply self effort in order to become good enough and please god. By achieving this self improvement, we earn his favour and ultimately get into his good books which then leads towards the prize of gaining his approval and acceptance, and then finally receive the most highly coveted reward.... being close to him, being in his presence. So many people feel so far from God because of this lie. But the truth is ...every single one of us are one with Him.....one with LOVE ...past, present and future ...Sadly not everyone has discovered this LOVE truth...... yet but wait
Sparrow: What a beautiful thing you are saying, that we are already in the safe place of His presence and love! We were never out of or separated from Him, were we? It was only in our mind, believing a lie? So I think when Jesus came to redeem/free us He came to free us from this lie you talk about!
It reminds me of a dream I had a few months ago..I asked God to give me a dream about heaven, and that night I dreamed I was in heaven with Jesus, and we were in a little hedged garden that was to be all my own, and He was telling me I could have anything I wanted in this garden...and we were planning it together, the plants, the pond, a waterfall, etc. And I remember the main feeling I had was of complete SAFETY - nothing to fear, nothing could harm me there! This is the safe place, isn't it, it is His presence, and oh to think we do not have to wait but we are already there! I have struggled with fear so much and just to know such safety and that we were always in union with Him, always with Him, always safely in His arms of love and never rejected or disowned, always accepted and protected..thank you for sharing this beautiful truth..I want it to just soak in..
Fay Gillbanks Lagerwall Absolutely...we have only been separated by our wrong thinking, but never in reality. The lie that we are not good enough keeps us groveling, , keeps us feeling weak, tired, shameful, condemned, failures.... which keeps us trying harder......and so the cycle goes. But once our Papas love truth hits home to our heart and we know this truth...that we have always been his treasures,his loved ones, his precious adored ones, that His opinion of us is of the highest measure! we begin to LIVE in freedom, peace, joy and rest...content in beauty of His LOVE. What a beautiful dream...love is discovered alone with our Papa...only He can reveal these truths to us ...to our hearts....its the narrow road that Jesus pointed us to, the road of LOVE that leads to abundant LIFE. Soak and find rest..
Everyday Grace
Today I went for a walk in the woods behind our house. I love to walk in these woods. Today there was a little squirrel in a tree who caught my eye. He looked at me and I looked at him, and we were just staring at each other for a moment. In that moment the wind blew my hair away from my face. The world seemed peaceful. It was a quiet moment, just the squirrel and I enjoying a look at each other.
I think the joy of life is often in those little moments. I feel those are moments of everyday grace. Little ways that the loving presence of God just breaks into our world and our little life and just makes us feel special.
A thought comes to mind - "new every morning." His grace is new every morning, fresh for that day, everyday grace to bring us through, to break into our lives, to give us joy, to let us know He is there and He is taking care of us, loving us, smiling at us.
I have a little quote on a card in my kitchen that says, "Thank Him for all the ways He breaks through this world to send you flowers." God breaks through. Grace breaks through. He is always there, grace is always there, love is always there, though we don't always see it, feel it, know it. He breaks through in everyday grace to let us see and know and feel that we are loved, life is special, He is here.
Thank you Father for those moments of everyday grace!
I think the joy of life is often in those little moments. I feel those are moments of everyday grace. Little ways that the loving presence of God just breaks into our world and our little life and just makes us feel special.
A thought comes to mind - "new every morning." His grace is new every morning, fresh for that day, everyday grace to bring us through, to break into our lives, to give us joy, to let us know He is there and He is taking care of us, loving us, smiling at us.
I have a little quote on a card in my kitchen that says, "Thank Him for all the ways He breaks through this world to send you flowers." God breaks through. Grace breaks through. He is always there, grace is always there, love is always there, though we don't always see it, feel it, know it. He breaks through in everyday grace to let us see and know and feel that we are loved, life is special, He is here.
Thank you Father for those moments of everyday grace!
On Billy Graham..
I heard of Billy Graham's passing into heaven today, and it made me want to share something about the love of God here.
Years ago when our son was born, we gave him the middle name of Graham after Billy Graham. Only later did we learn that our son's birthday is only two day's from Billy Graham's birthday. It was special to know that, and I am glad our son has always had such a godly person to be an example for him.
I am thankful for Billy Graham's message of love, grace, forgiveness, kindness and brotherliness. He was a great example of humility and graciousness. He was so willing to admit his mistakes and able to share openly about his regrets, such as how he wished he'd spent more time with his children while they were growing up instead of being away so much on crusades. I love how he admitted his faults and yet was okay with himself for not being perfect, and was gracious with other imperfect people - which includes all of us!
He just exuded peace. He was so at peace with himself, others, God, and life. He lived life so simply, just walking with God in simple trust, like a child, knowing his Father would take care of everything. He was at peace about the future, about death. He was sure of the beautiful heaven awaiting him, sure of God being there to embrace him.
He was so simply in way he just lived as a regular old person walking with God. You could tell how much he loved to just be with God.
I read that his grandson went to visit him one night in a city where he was meeting some big leaders and wondered if he would find him in his hotel room on the night of the meetings. When he knocked on the hotel room door, Billy answered in his pajamas, and the grandson caught a glimpse of an open Bible on the bed in the hotel room. When he could have been out socializing or meeting with big national leaders, Billy Graham chose instead to have a quiet evening with God. I love that and think it really shows what kind of man he was.
Billy Graham wasn't perfect and wouldn't want to be idolized or even focused on. And I think that is the whole point and gives hope for all of us. We are all just regular people that God loves. We don't have to be great. We don't have to be perfect. We are simply loved as we are and our Father loves to just be there with us sharing life together and letting us know He's taking care of everything and will bring us home safely. He's always shining the beauty of the spiritual realm of His LOVE into our lives, our everyday, common, ordinary lives as regular old people!
I love how Billy said that when he died, he would be more alive than ever! It makes me glad to think of heaven and how joyful Rev. Graham is now, how well and whole, immersed in love, fully alive and fully in God's presence! And that is what we all have to look forward to! I am so thankful for that!
Years ago when our son was born, we gave him the middle name of Graham after Billy Graham. Only later did we learn that our son's birthday is only two day's from Billy Graham's birthday. It was special to know that, and I am glad our son has always had such a godly person to be an example for him.
I am thankful for Billy Graham's message of love, grace, forgiveness, kindness and brotherliness. He was a great example of humility and graciousness. He was so willing to admit his mistakes and able to share openly about his regrets, such as how he wished he'd spent more time with his children while they were growing up instead of being away so much on crusades. I love how he admitted his faults and yet was okay with himself for not being perfect, and was gracious with other imperfect people - which includes all of us!
He just exuded peace. He was so at peace with himself, others, God, and life. He lived life so simply, just walking with God in simple trust, like a child, knowing his Father would take care of everything. He was at peace about the future, about death. He was sure of the beautiful heaven awaiting him, sure of God being there to embrace him.
He was so simply in way he just lived as a regular old person walking with God. You could tell how much he loved to just be with God.
I read that his grandson went to visit him one night in a city where he was meeting some big leaders and wondered if he would find him in his hotel room on the night of the meetings. When he knocked on the hotel room door, Billy answered in his pajamas, and the grandson caught a glimpse of an open Bible on the bed in the hotel room. When he could have been out socializing or meeting with big national leaders, Billy Graham chose instead to have a quiet evening with God. I love that and think it really shows what kind of man he was.
Billy Graham wasn't perfect and wouldn't want to be idolized or even focused on. And I think that is the whole point and gives hope for all of us. We are all just regular people that God loves. We don't have to be great. We don't have to be perfect. We are simply loved as we are and our Father loves to just be there with us sharing life together and letting us know He's taking care of everything and will bring us home safely. He's always shining the beauty of the spiritual realm of His LOVE into our lives, our everyday, common, ordinary lives as regular old people!
I love how Billy said that when he died, he would be more alive than ever! It makes me glad to think of heaven and how joyful Rev. Graham is now, how well and whole, immersed in love, fully alive and fully in God's presence! And that is what we all have to look forward to! I am so thankful for that!
Faith Is Subordinate to Grace
I read a wonderful quote the other day, saying that faith is important, but that faith is subordinate to grace. I love that! The wonderful news is of what God has already accomplished through Christ in saving us, and this wonderful news does bring a personal response from us, of faith. You could even call it our choice to believe, to see the truth. Yet our faith, our choice to believe, our seeing reality is all subordinate to HIS faith (His belief about us!), His choice to save and keep us, HIS reality!
So in the end, I think that even if we don't have faith, even if we don't see the whole truth of what He did and don't completely experience it on earth, still HIS grace will carry us through. For we are saved by grace, not our faith! Yes, through faith, but it is BY grace! In the end, it's all wrapped up in Him and we are safe and secure, whether we see it right now on this earth or not.
I think that at death, all will have any last confusion and blinder removed and everyone will see reality, see that they are safely home with Him, and all will naturally believe and trust and love God! Because deep down, that's how we have been made, made to experience His love and be in a trusting love relationship with Him, and that's what our hearts long for and reach out for, and once we truly see the truth of His unconditional love and union closeness with us, we will naturally love and trust Him back and get to really and fully enjoy the union we have with Him, the love He has for us, the joy of His life in us!
I believe the ultimate responsibility in salvation doesn't lie with us but with God. HE is so big and so loving and so smart and so gracious that He is able to work it out so that all will see the truth and willingly, voluntarily come to Him in love and joy and trust! He has rescued, forgiven and saved us all, even from before time began that has been true, set in spiritual concrete, so our ultimate salvation has always been sure and certain.
We will all eventually wake up and see that. I think God will bring all to see this, as the verse says, 'to make all men see,' and He will bring all to willingly have faith and all will willingly worship and love Him, as it says, 'every eye will see and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God,' and that He will do this without violating anyone's free will, for all will come joyfully and voluntarily, as the verse says, 'they will volunteer freely in the day of Your power!' And this will be true for everyone, I truly believe! As the verse says, 'all the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord!'
God won't lose even one of His sometimes wayward children. He wouldn't be happy or able to really rest till all were safely home, so that is why He brought us all home through Jesus' finished work! We are all just waking up to see where we already are and what's already happened to us - by grace! And it is by grace that all will eventually wake up and see this truth, and willingly enjoy this reality, see that we are all already forgiven and reconciled, rescued and safe, all already sitting on Papa's lap, loved and embraced and HOME, always and forever, no matter what!
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May the amazing grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, and the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. 2 Co. 13:14