Eyes to see like Jesus…

Heavenly Father, Almighty God, Lord of the heavens and the earth, we ask You to guide and bless the Discover Life Church Costa Rica 2009 Missions team as they go forth to preach the gospel.

Endow them with the gifts of generosity, humilty and concern.

Send your Holy Spirit to envelop them, that He may strengthen them in weakness, comfort them in trials and direct their efforts.

May He open the hearts of their hearers to receive Your message.

Give them eyes to see as He sees and empower them to love the unlovely, the rejected and the outcasts, as Jesus did.

Let Your revelation enlighten all minds for the salvation of souls, and let Your love heal every heart and body for the happiness of each person.

Share with them great endurance and patience, and

thankfulness to the Father, who has qualified them to share

in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

May they consciously acknowledge You and serve You by living the teachings of Your Son.

In Christ Jesus be the glory throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.

 

Grace and Peace

Because He loves me…

 ¹⁴ “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
       I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

 ¹⁵ He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
       I will be with him in trouble,
       I will deliver him and honor him.

 ¹⁶ With long life will I satisfy him
       and show him my salvation.”

Psalm 91:14-16 (NIV)

In this Psalm Almighty God speaks and makes seven promises:

 

I will rescue him
I will protect him
I will answer him
I will be with him in trouble
I will deliver him and honor him
I (will) satisfy him with long life

(I will) show him my salvation

 

What a list of promises!

But these promises are NOT for just anyone and everyone. No, not at all!

They were never meant to be.

Did you catch what the Lord says – “Because he loves me”.

The promises are for those who love Him, cling to Him in faith and envelop themselves in His Word.

 

 

²⁰ The LORD watches over all who love him, 
       but all the wicked he will destroy.

Psalm 145:20 (NIV)

This shouldn’t be taken as God’s promise for all his followers at all times in all situations.  

The God we worship and serve is an all-powerful and loving God.

And even though He is able to intervene with deliverance and escape, He doesn’t always.

It’s not our place to understand why, but we give thanks when He does and continue to praise Him when He doesn’t.

In every situation, especially “in trouble”, we can live with the confidence that God is present, providing strength and sustaining us (Psalm 54:4 NIV).

 

I will be your God throughout your lifetime
      until your hair is white with age.
   I made you, and I will care for you.
      I will carry you along and save you.

Isaiah 46:4 (NLT)

 

Grace and Peace

 

Left me in tears…

Just a quick entry today. I heard this song by Mercy Me a couple days ago and it left me in tears.

Tell me if you like it as much as I did.

Grace and Peace

Time to Cowboy up

A couple weeks ago, Pastor Ken stopped by my job to say hello.

I was happy that he took time out of his day to visit me.

So overjoyed, that I immediately began introducing him to my co-workers; even to my “christian” boss.

I was like a kid whose famous rockstar cousin came to school with him.

That evening, as I was driving home, I began to feel convicted.

Why don’t I feel the same way about Jesus? Why don’t I go around gushing about Christ to my co-workers. Why don’t I personally introduce The Savior to my “christian” boss?

“If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Luke 9:25-27

Maybe… no, not maybe… definitely, I am going to take that feeling that  I have in my heart, that love I have for Christ the Lord, and I’m going to be exuberant about it.

It’s time to step out of the herd. Cowboy up.

Who’s with me?  

Grace and Peace

Savior, Please

Savior, please take my hand
I work so hard, I live so fast
This life begins, and then it ends
And I do the best that I can, but I don’t know how long I’ll last

I try to be so tough
But I’m just not strong enough
I can’t do this alone, God I need You to hold on to me
I try to be good enough
But I’m nothing without Your love
Savior, please keep saving me

Savior, please help me stand
I fall so hard, I fade so fast
Will You begin right where I end
And be the God of all I am because You’re all I have

Hallelujah
Everything You are to me
Is everything I’ll ever need
And I am learning to believe
That I don’t have to prove a thing
‘Cause You’re the one who’s saving me

Grace and Peace

Tomorrow is a Thief

It’s been a couple months since I last put an entry in this blog. I read an entry in Bob’s blog and he was making fun of almost all the DLC bloggers… and he was right. I have been procrastinating.

Luke 14:16-24 teaches us some important things about Procrastination:

¹⁶ Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. ¹⁷ When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ ¹⁸ But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ ¹⁹ Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ ²⁰ Another said, ‘I now have a wife, so I can’t come.’

 ²¹ “The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ ²² After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ ²³ So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. ²⁴ For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’”

 

Do you know what the most dangerous word in the bible is?

TOMORROW

The word ‘tomorrow’ is a THIEF… it robs dreamers of their dreams.

It robs the talented of their greatest achievements. It keeps us  from being all that God wants us to be and keeps us from having all that God wants us to have.

Has the Lord given you the opportunity to do something for Him?

Have you made excuses? Have you procrastinated?

Will you get another chance?

Grace and Peace

How small are we?

How small are we in the grand scope of the universe and yet the Creator of all the heavens loves us … In fact he loves us so much He sent His only son to die for our sins.

Now think about this for a second … the One who created the universe loves us – you and I.

That just blows my mind!

How big is the universe? In fact, just imagine how much bigger the Sun is to the Earth. Now wrap your mind around the fact that there are bigger stars than the sun in the universe.

Hebrews 11:3, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

click on this pic and wait to see the largest star

The largest star scientest have observed is called VY Canis Majoris, a hypergiant star located 5,000 light years from earth.  It is approximately 2,600 times the radius of the Sun.

That’s nothing compared to the Creator who made it.

I John 1:3 says, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made”.

Rest assured that the Most High God that made this awesome universe loves us and only wants us to love Him back in return.

Grace and Peace

Psalm of Comfort

As the deer longs for the water-brooks,
so longs my soul for you, O God.My soul is athirst for God, athirst for the living God;
when shall I come to appear before the presence of God?

My tears have been my food day and night,
while all day long they say to me, “Where now is your God?”

I pour out my soul when I think on these things;
how I went with the multitude and led them into the house of God,

With the voice of praise and thanksgiving,
among those who keep holy-day.

Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul?
and why are you so disquieted within me?

 - Psalms 42: 1-7

Grace and Peace

 

Oxymoron….

An oxymoron is defined as is a figure of speech that combines two normally contradictory terms.

How about a reggae singing hasidic Jew as a prime example. 

Meet Matisyhu Miller (born Matthew Paul Miller) of White Plains, New York.

I came upon his music and I really dig it … Not only is it a groovy reggae beat but it praises the God of Abraham.

Check him out … tell me if you like him.

Grace and Peace

I love the Lord…

I love the Lord,
because He has heard my voice and my supplications.
Because He has inclined His ear to me,

therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live. 

–Psalm 116:1-2

 Tozer once prayed, “God, if Thou dost never answer another prayer while I live on this earth I will still worship Thee as long as I live and in the ages to come for what Thou hast done already.”

Have you taken some time to love on the Lord today?

Grace and Peace