Tag: Love

grace and love

November 19, 2009
GraceJesusWorship
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I ran across this poem by Kathleen Wheeler called “A New Leaf” which really ministered and spoke to my heart about the Father’s love and grace towards his children.

He came to my desk with quivering lip –
The lesson was done.
“Dear Teacher, I want a new leaf,” he said,
“I have spoiled this one.”
I took the old leaf, stained and blotted,
And gave him a new one all unspotted,
And into his sad eyes smiled,
Do better, now, my child.”

I went to the throne with a quivering soul –
The old year was done.
“Dear Father, hast Thou a new leaf for me?
I have spoiled this one.”
He took the old leaf, stained and blotted,
And gave me a new one all unspotted
And into my sad heart smiled,
“Do better, now, my child.”

I needed this reminder: that no matter what I’ve done I can go to our Father in Heaven and ask for a fresh start, a new beginning. Every day if need be and He will redeem the time. I know it sounds so unbelievable, but that’s grace – undeserved favor. Whenever I encounter God’s love and grace it always moves me to worship because I am floored that the God of the universe desires to be with me. Even now as I sit and write this, I am so grateful for such a loving and merciful God and a Savior who died so that all of this could happen. Thank you Jesus.

 jesus-draw-me-nearer-lyrics

Do you need a new leaf? Get a fresh start in life from God by inviting Jesus into your heart and surrendering the control of your life to God. If you already know Jesus than ask the Father to redeem the time.

for you…

September 21, 2009
GospelJesusLove
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a Message to you from Jesus by Mother Teresa:

“I know you through and through – I know everything about you. The very hairs of your head I have numbered. Nothing in your life is unimportant to Me. I have followed you through the years, and I have always loved you – even in your wanderings.

I know every one of your problems. I know your need and your worries. And yes, I know all your sins. But I tell you again that I love you – not for what you have or haven’t done – I love you for you, for the beauty and dignity My Father gave you by creating you in His own image.

It is a dignity you have often forgotten, a beauty you have tarnished by sin. But I love you as you are, and I have shed my blood to win you back. If you only ask Me with faith, My grace will touch all that needs changing in your life. I will give you the strength to free yourself from sin and all its destructive power.

I know what is in your heart – I know your loneliness and all your hurts – the rejections, the judgments, the humiliations. I carred it all before you. And I carried it all for you, so you might share my strength and victory. I know especially your need for love – how you are thirsting to be loved and cherished. But how often have you thirsted in vain, seeking that love selfishly, striving to fill the emptiness inside you with passing pleasures – and ending with even more pain. Do you thirst for love? ‘Come to Me all you who are thirsty’ (John 7:37). I will satisfy you and fill you. Do you thirst to be cherished? I cherish you more than you can imagine to the point of dying on a cross for you.

I thirst for you. Yes, that is the only way to even begin to describe my love for you: I thrist for you. I thirst to love and to be loved by you – that is how precious you are to Me. I thirst for you. Come to Me, and I will fill your heart and heal your wounds.

If you feel unimportant in the eyes of the world, that matters not at all. For Me, there is no one any more important in the entire world than you. I thirst for you. Open to Me, come to Me, thirst for Me, give Me your life – and I will prove to you how important you are to My heart.

No matter how far you may wander, no matter how often you forget Me, no matter how many crosses you may bear in this life, there is one thing that will never change: I thirst for you – just as you are. You don’t need to change to believe in My love, for it will be your belief in My love that will change you. You forget Me, and yet I am seeking you every moment of the day – standing at the door of your heart, and knocking.

Do you find this hard to believe? Then look at the cross; look at My heart that was pierced for you. Have you not understood My cross? Then listen again to the words I spoke there – for they tell you clearly why I endured all this for you: “I thirst” (John 19:28). Yes, I thirst for you – as the rest of the Psalm verse, which I was praying says of Me: “I looked for love, and I found none” (Psalm 69:20).

All your life I have been looking for your love – I have never stopped seeking to love and be loved by you. You have tried many other things in your search for happiness; why not try opening your heart to Me, right now, more than you ever have before.

Whenever you do open the door of your heart, whenever you come close enough, you will hear Me say to you again and again, not in mere human words but in spirit: “No matter what you have done, I love you for your own sake.” Come to Me with your misery and your sins, with your troubles and needs, and with all your longings to be loved. I stand at the door of your heart and knock…Open to Me for I thirst for you.”

From: Margaret Hebblethwaite, ed., “Wednesday of Holy Week,” The Living Spirit: Prayers and Readings for the Christian Year, A Table Anthology (Lanham, MD: Sheed & Ward, a division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 2000), 169.

Making room for Jesus

September 4, 2009
Body of ChristGraceLove
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In his book, “The Wounded Healer,” Henri Nouwen has encouraged me to claim my own loneliness as a source for human understanding (85) where “a deep understanding of [my] own pain makes it possible for [me] to convert [my] weakness into strength and to offer [my] own experience as a source of healing to those who are often lost in the darkness of their own misunderstood suffering” (87). The Lord has definitely been drawing me into a season of surrender and invitation. On the one hand, He has been leading me to surrender to His purposes for my life while, on the other hand, He has been encouraging me to invite more of His healing and loving presence into my heart and life: to really press into His amazing grace and unconditional love that He extends to all people.

But, oftentimes, I allow my insecurities, fears and loneliness steer the decisions for my life, rather than the Spirit of God. So, instead of allowing God to lead and guide me through life, I am lead by this internal editor, this control freak, who would rather steer me into hiding or a ditch, than surrender control to God. But, here’s the Good News, our inner control freak has been crucified with Christ. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me…” When I took the time to meditate on this verse and really let this reality sink into my heart, it has been freeing. Because I have been crucified with Christ, this means so has my inner control freak. This means I no longer have to let him (meaning the sum of my insecurities, fears and loneliness) run my life. The more I’ve meditated on this verse, the more I am convinced that Jesus is passionate about living His life in and through us by setting us free into the Father’s will for our lives.

Over the past few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to be part of AXIS (the 20something ministry at Willow Creek Community Church) where I’ve had the opportunity to meet some pretty amazing people who are completely sold out for Jesus and passionate about living a gospel lifestyle. It just so happened that they decided to do a video blog series on singleness (this links to the first video in the series). Imagine that. All of video spoke to me in different ways. It definitely was good timing. But, the one thing that I really took away from this series was the need to be part of a community where a person can be fully known and fully loved: a place where I can share the messiness of my life and not be judged, but loved. Doesn’t your heart yearn for a community like this? I know mine does.

But, in order to become part of a community like this, I need to make room in my heart and life for these relationships to enter in (surrender and invitation). Again, I am drawn back to Galatians 2:20. Because Jesus is passionate about living His life in and through us, I believe this means we need to consciously making room for Him in our relationships (because where else do we treasure people, but in our hearts). The more I make room for Jesus to live His life in and through me, the more He will draw me into deeper relationship with the Father and the more He will draw me into a community where I can be fully known and fully loved.

Spark the Flame

August 14, 2009
GospelJesusTruth
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Right now, a good friend of mine is riding 1400 miles on his bicycle (from Chicago, IL to Bozeman, MT), in order to raise money for the Firehouse Community Arts Center in the westside neighborhood of Lawndale in Chicago. While on this massive trek he has been blogging along the way and while in Blunt, SD he was inspired to blog about marijuana which I have copied portions of here. Enjoy!

Smoking marijuana may be good medicine for physically sick people, but let’s let the doctors make that determination. The majority of today’s youth are not smoking marijuana because they are physically sick. They are smoking it to get high. They are not using and developing the gifts God has given them; they are wasting their talents and time getting high.

Should marijuana be legalized? That’s a bigger debate with several matters to consider on both sides. But legal ot not, even if it is permissible, it isn’t good (1 Cor 6:12). Is it better than alcohol and the alcohol-related crimes that are committed? Probably. Better than smoking cigarettes? Maybe. Is stabbing somebody in the arm better than shooting them in the face? Sure it is. Still doesn’t make it right or good.

A talented young man has expressed to me recently that the marijuana-smoking community is a peace-loving group. It may be true that the marijuana-smoking community is a peaceful group in some ways, and if so, I believe their desire for peace is good. But real peace is not smoked. Getting high is a fleeting pleasure that creates a false experience of relaxation. It is not real peace. The peace that we desire is peace and rest in our soul which only comes through the work of God in our heart. That is real peace.

If you want that kind of peace, you best go to the Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6). “My peace I give to you,” said Jesus (John 14:27). “In me you may have peace,” said Jesus (John 16:33). “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” said Paul (Rom. 5:1). “To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom.8:6). “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” Gal. 5:22). “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

Got peace? Get Jesus

Also, God has never promised this life would be a constant state of peace and ease. There is a purpose to our trials and suffering (Rom. 5:3; James 1:2; Col. 1:24; Jer 1-29). There are lessons we need to learn when our poor decisions disrupt peace (Heb. 12:10-11). There is a refinement of our character that is lost when we manufacture a life of sensual ease and false peace.

All I have to say is: “Well said friend.” The world needs more people like my friend Cliff who’s not afraid to say what’s on his heart. People who have a genuine passion to see people set free from drug addiction and living out their lives to the maximum of their God given potential. His words are saturated with grace and love, but they are also faithful and true to the gospel that seeks to magnify and exalt God. His words are God-centered, rather than a me-centered anything goes prosperity gospel.

embraced by Love

July 11, 2009
JesusLove
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I’ve just spent the last couple days reading “Here and Now: Living in the Spirit” by Henri J.M. Nouwen. I literally could not put the book down. It kept me captivated page after page because the author’s words were so saturated with the love and grace of God. My heart drank deeply of his gentle words which allowed me to soak in the love tub of Jesus. What I encountered continually while reading was the sweet conviction of the Holy Spirit, His kind hand of love pulling ever so gently at my heart. Something that I hadn’t felt for some time now.  The combination of seminary + ministry has gotten me moving at breakneck speeds which was in an of itself an amazing journey (I wouldn’t change any of it). But, to be able to slow down and take a deep long drink of living water without worrying about a deadline or a meeting has been so refreshing. It was like Jesus breathing life into me all over again. Thank You, Sweet Savior.

Page after page I encountered a humility that made me all the more aware of my own hardness of heart and the realization that I have much to learn about love. My pride has led me down the path of exalting myself in the way I exercised my gifts and talents. What I’ve learned because of this is that when this happens love disappears. Sure truth still got proclaimed. But the truth was given with an insensitive heavy hand, instead of with a patient understanding that wraps the truth in love in order to heal and not accuse or condemn. I am thankful for Henri’s words that have helped to refocus and ground me: “It is not proving ourselves to be better than others but confessing to be just like others that is the way to healing and reconciliation” (99). There is strength in these words because they speak of unity. They seek to embrace the prayer of Jesus for our oneness (John 17:20-23).

I’ve come to realize that to love is a journey that demands patience, endurance, hard work, hope and trust. I’ve also realized that it is a lifelong journey. I do have a lot to learn about love, but, I am in good company. “To pray is to listen to that voice of love….the One who is with us wants only one thing: to give us love” (20). Henri’s book has brought me back to my Christian mystic roots where prayer is about communing with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. His words have reminded me that prayer is a time where our heavenly Father actively loves on His children.

Child of God

July 1, 2009
GospelGraceJesusLove
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I am going to take a slight detour from the current direction of this blog (I will revisit it at a later date) because I feel like I need to set aside the systematic approach to Scripture and spend the next season just enjoying being a child of God. To spend time basking in the the unconditional love of the Father. It’s funny, I’ve always identified myself with the wayward younger son who runs away in the parable of the “Prodigal Son” (Luke 15). But, after finishing seminary and being involved in ministry these past years, I’ve now in many ways assumed the role of the dutiful older son. I am sadden to have to confess this, but I’ve slowly begun to make God’s love conditional. To put it plainly, I’ve begun to love people for what they do and not for who they are. In my heart I’ve begun to love people only when they are obedient to God. Forgive me Lord.

Maybe it’s because I’ve spent the last four years rigorously studying the Word of God. Maybe it’s because I’ve spent the last four years laboring tirelessly for the Church. It’s probably a combination of both, but regardless, this hardness of heart that wants to tame and restrain the wild, unrelenting, overgenerous, foolishly extravangant, unconditional love that God lavishes on sinners and saints alike is unacceptable and sinful. I trust God is definitely not done with me and I have faith that this is part of my sanctification. So, I am going to spend the next couple months soaking in God’s unconditional love as His beloved child. I’m not going to get overly technical in my blogging and I’m going to scale down on my service to the Body of Christ (the work will get done with or without me). I am grateful that God has mercifully intervened when He has and that His grace is always extended to me, even when I am unawares. A Scripture passage that comforts me is Isaiah 49:15: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!”

  captivated-lyrics

Thank you Lord. This song is my prayer. Captivate me Lord Jesus. Captivate me.