Archive for October, 2009
Love Is All You’ll Find
by PRRussell on Oct.30, 2009, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
Love Is All You’ll Find
We know the love that God has for us, and we trust that love. 1 John 4:16
Water must be wet. A fire must be hot. You can’t take the wet out of water and still have water. You can’t take the heat out of fire and still have fire.
In the same way, you can’t take the love out of [God]…. and still have Him exist. For He was….. and is….. Love.
Probe deep within Him. Explore every corner. Search every angle. Love is all you find. Go to the beginning of every decision He has made and you’ll find it. Go to the end of every story He has told and you’ll see it.
Love.
No bitterness. No evil. No cruelty. Just love. Flawless love. Passionate love. Vast and pure love. He is love.
“In the Eye of the Storm” by Max Lucado
Glimpses of God’s Image
by PRRussell on Oct.29, 2009, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
Glimpses of God’s Image
Everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by His power, and everything is for His glory. Romans 11:36 TLB
The breath you just took? God gave that. The blood that just pulsed through your heart? Credit God. The light by which you read and the brain with which you process? He gave both.
Everything comes from Him….. and exists for Him. We exist to exhibit God, to display His glory. We serve as canvases for His brush stroke, papers for His pen, soil for His seeds, glimpses of His image.
“Cure for the Common Life” by Max Lucado
Choose Love
by PRRussell on Oct.28, 2009, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
Choose Love
Those who live in love live in God. 1 John 4:16
From the file entitled “It Ain’t Gonna Happen,” I pull and pose this suggestion. Let’s make Christ’s command a federal law. Everyone has to make God’s love his or her home. Let it herewith be stated and hereby declared:
No person may walk out into the world to begin the day until he or she has stood beneath the cross to receive God’s love.
Cabbies. Presidents. Preachers. Tooth pullers and truck drivers. All required to linger at the fountain of His favor until all thirst is gone.
Don’t you ache for the change we’d see? Less honking and locking horns, more hugging and helping kids. We’d pass fewer judgments and more compliments. Forgiveness would skyrocket.
Wild idea? I agree. God’s love can’t be legislated, but it can be chosen. Choose it, won’t you? For Christ’s sake, and yours, choose it.
“Come Thirsty” by Max Lucado
A Gentle Lamb
by PRRussell on Oct.26, 2009, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
A Gentle Lamb
Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love drives out fear. 1 John 4:18
A lot of us live with a hidden fear that God is angry at us. Somewhere, sometime, some Sunday school class or some television show convinced us that God has a whip behind His back, a paddle in His back pocket, and He’s going to nail us when we’ve gone too far.
No concept could be more wrong! Our Savior’s Father is very fond of us and only wants to share His love with us.
We have a Father who is filled with compassion, a feeling Father who hurts when His children hurt. We serve a God who says that even when we’re under pressure and feel like nothing is going to go right, He is waiting for us, to embrace us whether we succeed or fail.
He doesn’t come quarreling and wrangling and forcing His way into someone’s heart. He comes into our hearts like a gentle lamb, not a roaring lion.
“Walking with the Savior” by Max Lucado
No Secrets From God
by PRRussell on Oct.25, 2009, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
No Secrets From God
If anyone belongs to Christ, there is a new creation. The old things have gone; everything is made new! 2 Corinthians 5:17
Have you been there? Have you felt the ground of conviction give way beneath your feet? The ledge crumbles, your eyes widen, and down you go. Poof !
Now what do you do? ….. When we fall, we can dismiss it. We can deny it. We can distort it. Or we can deal with it…..
We keep no secrets from God. Confession is not telling God what we did. He already knows. Confession is simply agreeing with God that our acts were wrong…..
How can God heal what we deny?…. How can God grant us pardon when we won’t admit our guilt? Ahhh…. there’s that word: guilt. Isn’t that what we avoid? Guilt. Isn’t that what we detest? But is guilt so bad? What does guilt imply if not that we know right from wrong, that we aspire to be better than we are….. That’s what guilt is: a healthy regret for telling God one thing and doing another.
“A Gentle Thunder“ by Max Lucado
A Crisp View of God
by PRRussell on Oct.23, 2009, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
A Crisp View of God
Lord, even when I have trouble all around me, You will keep me alive. Psalm 138:7
There is a window in your heart through which you can see God. Once upon a time that window was clear. Your view of God was crisp. You could see God as vividly as you could see a gentle valley or hillside.
Then, suddenly, the window cracked. A pebble broke the window. A pebble of pain.
And suddenly God was not so easy to see. The view that had been so crisp had changed.
You were puzzled. God wouldn’t allow something like this to happen, would He?
When you can’t see Him, trust Him…. Jesus is closer than you’ve ever dreamed.
“In the Eye of the Storm” by Max Lucado
Do Something
by PRRussell on Oct.21, 2009, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
Do Something
Faith that does nothing is dead! James 2:26
Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. Faith is the belief that God will do what is right. God is always near and always available. Just waiting for your touch. So let Him know. Demonstrate your devotion:
Write a letter.
Ask forgiveness.
Be baptized.
Feed a hungry person.
Pray.
Teach.
Go.
Do something that demonstrates faith. For faith with no effort is no faith at all. God will respond. He has never rejected a genuine gesture of faith. Never.
“He Still Moves Stones“ by Max Lucado
It’s Called “Choice”
by PRRussell on Oct.20, 2009, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
It’s Called “Choice”
To choose life is to love the Lord your God, obey Him, and stay close to Him. Deuteronomy 30:20
He placed one scoop of clay upon another until a form lay lifeless on the ground….
All were silent as the Creator reached in Himself and removed something yet unseen. “It’s called ‘choice’. The seed of choice.”
Within the man, God had placed a divine seed. A seed of His self . The God of might had created earth’s mightiest. The Creator had created, not a creature, but another creator. And the One who had chosen to love had created one who could love in return.
Now it’s our choice.
“In the Eye of the Storm” by Mac Lucado
Confident in the Father
by PRRussell on Oct.19, 2009, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
Confident in the Father
The Lord comforts His people and will have pity on those who suffer. Isaiah 49:13
If you’ll celebrate a marraige anniversary alone this year, [God] speaks to you.
If your child made it to heaven before making it to kindergarten, He speaks to you….
If your dreams were buried as they lowered the casket, God speaks to you.
He speaks to all of us who have stood or will stand in the soft dirt near an open grave. And to us He gives this confident word: “I want you to know what happens to a Christian when he dies so that when it happens, you will not be full of sorrow, as those are who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and then came back to life again, we can also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with Him all the Chrsitians who have died” (1 Thess 4:13-14 TLB).
“When Christ Comes” by Max Lucado
Praise to God
by PRRussell on Oct.11, 2009, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
Praise to God
Let us always offer to God our sacrifice of praise. Hebrews 13:15
You are a great God.
Your character is holy.
Your truth is absolute.
Your strength is unending.
Your discipline is fair…..
Your provisions are abundant for our needs.
Your light is adequate for our path.
Your grace is sufficient for our sins……
You are never early, never late…..
You sent your Son in the fullness of time and will return at the consummation of time.
Your plan is perfect.
Bewildering. Puzzling. Troubling.
But perfect.
“He Reminded Us of You“
(a prayer for a friend by Max Lucado)