Live!!!

God said, “Live!”

God wants us to live. God wants his creation to live. God wants his creation to prosper. God wants his creation to be well. God wants his creation to do good. God is for us!

God is for good and increase in every area of our lives. God is interested in us because he made us and gave us his desires.

God is for moving forward, he’s not for moving backwards.

God is not holding us to the past.

God is for good attitudes. He wants us to be happy and joyful all the time. He does not want us stuck in despair.

God does not want us being jealous or envious of others, because what he’s done for them he wants to do for us too.

God wants each of us to be motivators…to be motivators of other people to help them want to do good, to help them want to succeed and then to succeed.

God is for life. God is for us.

God says to us, ” LIVE!”

Beauty Makes You Feel Good!

Have you ever noticed when you look at something you really like it makes you feel good?

I think God made us that way because it infuses us with power and strength just by looking at something beautiful. It actually energizes you!

Have we shut ourselves down under a form of denial…self denial or stoicism where we prevent ourselves or will not allow ourselves to look at and enjoy what God has made for us, and placed around us?

I think it honors God when we notice and appreciate and are grateful for the beautiful things in life he has given to us and placed around us to enjoy.

It’s not a form of pride, but like we as parents are happy when our children enjoy what we’ve given and have picked out for them, that’s the same way God is with us.

Don’t be afraid to notice and enjoy the beauty around you. Because really you are noticing and enjoying God, and that makes him happy!

The Power of Your Story

People say there’s power in your story.

“But I’m just one person, how can that make a difference?” “I haven’t lived any special kind of life. Nothing significant about me that I can think of…I haven’t won any medals, or rescued anybody from drowning. I haven’t even got a college diploma. I’m just a mom, or I’m just a cashier, or I’m just a mechanic, or I’m just a factory worker, a skilled laborer going to work on third shift for the last 30 years. What kind of story is that?”

God has done something in your life that is worth sharing and that is the foundation of your story.

A little boy shared his loaves and fishes with Jesus, and Jesus used it to feed 5,000 people. We’re still remembering that important story. Hungry people need to be fed; feed their bodies first and then their souls will want to hear from God.

The woman at the well met Jesus and was amazed how He knew all about her past and her many, many husbands, yet he cared enough to talk to her, a woman no respectable person would spend time with. He sought her out. That became her story and she ran back to town and said to the men to come see the man who told her everything she’d ever done, and they went out of the town and came to see Him…all by the power of her story. (John 4:27-30)

The man born blind, in John 9 was healed. He went and told everyone his story. His neighbors asked him what had happened. They had seen him as a beggar all his life and now he was washed, clean and walking around seeing everything. He told them the story. They wouldn’t believe it. The religious leaders didn’t believe either, but that didn’t cancel out his story. God did it to show He is a loving, caring God. Although many wouldn’t believe, some did. His story mattered. It mattered to him. It mattered to God. He believed and was healed. Others could have been healed too- if they chose to believe.

The little Israelite girl, who had been captured by the Arameans in Elisha’s time was made servant to Naaman’s wife. Naaman was a leper. This brave, caring little girl said to his wife, “I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy.” 2 Kings 5:3 (NASB) She took her story of Elisha being able to pray for lepers and shared it, so Naaman could be healed. If she hadn’t shared her story he might never have recovered.

I have nothing that important to share, you say, and nobody will listen to me. If God has touched your life in any way, that’s part of your story, and it matters to God. He said, “Go tell.”

People don’t want a religion to believe, they want a reason to believe. God is that reason. We need to show people the good reasons to believe in God.

People have seen enough religion and what that has done to civilization. They need to hear your story of a powerful working God; the God who cares about His creation and came to save them from evil and help them in their daily lives. Down here. On earth. Right now. In the thick of trials, and hard family situations…not thinking they have to wait until they get to heaven before they can see God do something good for them.

They need to see a ‘today God’!

I have seen and know the ‘today God’, have you?

Talk to Him! He has time to listen.