A Powerful, Miracle Working Prayer of Faith

In his book Thoughts in Solitude, Thomas Merton wrote fifteen lines that have become known as “the Merton Prayer”:

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999), p. 79

“One Anothers” & “Each Others”

Check out what the New Testament teaches us, as the church, on how to be community with “one another” and “each other.” Read it. Meditate on it. Dream about how amazing a church community would be if it lived out the gospel in this manner. Imagine the huge impact this kind of community would have upon the world. Let God speak to you through His most powerful Word: 
Mark 9:50 – “Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other.”
John 13:34 – So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.
John 13:35 – “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
John 15:12 – This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.
John 15:17 – This is my command: Love each other.
Romans 12:5 – so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
Romans 12:10 – Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.
Romans 12:16 – Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!
Romans 13:8 – Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.
Romans 14:13 – So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.
Romans 14:19 – So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up.
Romans 15:5 – May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus.
Romans 15:7 – Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.
Romans 15:14 – I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well you can teach each other all about them.
Romans 15:32 – Then, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a joyful heart, and we will be an encouragement to each other.
Romans 16:16 – Greet each other in Christian love. All the churches of Christ send you their greetings.
1 Corinthians 1:10 – I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.
1 Corinthians 3:3 – for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?
1 Corinthians 11:33 – So, my dear brothers and sisters, when you gather for the Lord’s Supper, wait for each other.
1 Corinthians 12:7 – A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.
1 Corinthians 12:25 – This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other.
1 Corinthians 16:20 – All the brothers and sisters here send greetings to you. Greet each other with Christian love.
2 Corinthians 13:11 – Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.
2 Corinthians 13:12 – Greet each other with Christian love.
Galatians 5:13 – For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.
Galatians 5:15 – But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.
Galatians 5:26 – Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.
Ephesians 2:16 – Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
Ephesians 4:2 – Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.
Ephesians 4:32 – Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
Ephesians 5:21 – And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Philippians 2:2 – Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.
Colossians 3:9 – Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds.
Colossians 3:16 – Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.
1 Thessalonians 3:12 – And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.
1 Thessalonians 4:9 – But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other, for God himself has taught you to love one another.
1 Thessalonians 4:18 – So encourage each other with these words.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 – So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:13 – Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work. And live peacefully with each other.
1 Thessalonians 5:15 – See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people.
2 Thessalonians 1:3 – Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing.
Hebrews 3:13 – You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.
Hebrews 10:24 – Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.
Hebrews 10:25 – And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
Hebrews 12:15 – Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.
Hebrews 13:1 – Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters.
Hebrews 13:4 – Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.
James 4:11 – Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you.
James 5:9 – Don’t grumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. For look—the Judge is standing at the door!
James 5:16 – Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
1 Peter 1:22 – You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.
1 Peter 3:8 – Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.
1 Peter 4:8 – Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:10 – God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.
1 Peter 5:5 – In the same way, you younger men must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, serve each other in humility, for“God opposes the proudbut favors the humble.”
1 Peter 5:14 – Greet each other with Christian love. Peace be with all of you who are in Christ.
1 John 1:7 – But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 2:7 – Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before.
1 John 3:11 – This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
1 John 3:18 – Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.
1 John 3:23 – And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.
1 John 4:7 – Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.
1 John 4:11 – Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.
1 John 4:12 – No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
1 John 4:19 – We love each other because he loved us first.
2 John 1:5 – I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning.
2 John 1:6 – Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning
Jude 1:20 – But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit,
(New Living Translation)

God Knows & Does What Is Best!

After my sermon today on Matthew 7:7-12 I had several requests for the words from an unknown author that I listed below. They are very thought provoking and not what we normally hear about prayer. We (I include myself) often want God to take care of everything for us when we pray. We desire for God to simply take away all our problems and to make life easier and more pleasurable. Listen to what Paul learned through praying for some kind of struggle in his life:  “So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10) God is not the big codependent God in heaven that keeps us from all struggles, trials, pain, and suffering and makes life easier for us. When we pray it is important to remember the words of Robert M. McCheyne, “God will either give you what you ask, or something far better.” (Christian Reader, Vol. 32, no. 4) God ALWAYS does what is best for us. We just do not know what that always is but God always does what is best, always! What a great promise to know that God always answers our prayers and sometimes gives us what we want but only if it is best for us. Many times He gives us far more than that for which we ask. As Max Lucado said, “Sometimes God is so touched by what He sees, He gives us what we need and not simply that for which we ask.” (Christian Reader, Vol. 32, no. 1) With this in mind I encourage you to read slowly the following words and meditate upon them and may they lead us to pray more according to God’s will.

I asked God to take away my pride, and God said no. He said it was not for him to take away, but for me to give up.

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole, and God said, “No, her spirit is already whole. Her body is only temporary.”

I asked God to grant me patience, and God said no. He said that patience is the byproduct of tribulation. It isn’t granted; it’s earned.

I asked God to give me happiness; God said no. He said he gives blessings; happiness is up to me.

I asked God to spare me pain, and God said no. He said I must grow on my own, but he will prune me in order to make me fruitful.

I asked God if he loved me, and God said yes. He gave me his only Son who died for me, and I will be in heaven some day because I believe.

I asked God to help me love others as much as he loves me, and God said, “Ahhh, finally! Now you have the idea.”

Leaders Learn to Laugh At Themselves

A very important lesson I have learned as a pastor is that “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” The first time I heard these words I thought it was a little overstated. Yet countless times these words have proved to be true in my ministry.  Soon after graduating from seminary and beginning to serve as a pastor I soon realized that I had a lot to learn about being a leader. In my desperate pursuit of training myself to be a stronger leader I stumbled across John Maxwell’s wealth of material on leadership and I quickly devoured just about everything he had written on the subject. I attended his conferences and subscribed to his monthly teachings on tape. I am eternally grateful for the fire hose of material that Maxwell poured into my life. Leadership has become so important to me that I am presently trying to complete my Doctor of Ministry on Christian Leadership through Asbury Theological Seminary. Now with Twitter I have found John Maxwell again and have also subscribed to his blog so that I can continue to grow in this extremely important area of life and ministry.

One very important truth that I have learned over the years about being a leader is the need to not take myself too seriously. I have learned to laugh at myself. Afterall, everyone else is laughing at me! John Maxwell models this truth in his latest blog post where he posts a masterfully edited YouTube video spoof of John. As he wrote on his blog, “I saw this for the first time at the conference, and I loved it. I hope you had as much fun watching it as I did.” I had a blast watching the video and hope it will brighten your day and also serve to remind us to join others and continue to laugh at ourself.

Acknowledging God In Everything We Do

Lance Cormier -- Isaiah 41:13

This evening my son, Shawn, and I were watching our beloved Tampa Bay Rays take on the Cleveland Indians. It was somewhere in the middle of the game where one of Tampa’s middle relievers, Lance Cormier, was working hard on the mound trying to keep the Indians from scoring more runs. My son then noticed the passage Isaiah 41:13 written on the thumb of Cormier’s glove. Immediately, I pulled out my blackberry storm to look up the passage (no, I did not have the passage memorized!). I was fascinated as I read, “For I hold you by your right hand— I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.’”

I couldn’t help but chuckle as I realized why he chose these powerful words. Obviously, he has chosen this verse because to him it says that God is holding his right hand, his pitching hand, and God gives him confidence and chases away fear as God promises to help him. My seminary professors would probably, no, definitely object to this prooftext and rightly so and yet it is impressive at the same time. As I see it Lance is striving to fulfill the words of Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Whether pitching on the mound, cleaning toilets, parenting children, preaching, leading a corporation, or anything that we do in life we are to bring God into the situation to work His will in and through our lives. God desires to accomplish His perfect will in and through our lives as we submit every area of our lives to His will! God longs to be our strength and walk with us every step of the way.

Incidently, in case you were wondering the Rays came back from the biggest deficit in the history of the franchise, 0-7, to win the game 8-7 with BJ Upton’s walk-off homer. Cormier’s pitching stopped the momentum of the Indians and gave the Rays a chance to overcome overwhelming odds. Go Rays!

Heading Home

One day during Holy Week I had a particularly busy, hectic day and was exhausted. It was an unusually beautiful day outside as I was driving home sometime after 5pm with the windows rolled down in my car. Weather wise, it was one of those perfect, Florida spring days that felt like heaven had come to earth. As I was driving home I breathed a huge sigh and thought, “Oh, it will be nice to be home with my family.”  Immediately a thought came to my mind that this is what it will be like when we die. We will have left a busy and hopefully very fruitful life in this world and on our way to heaven we will say, “Oh, it will be nice to be home with my family.” Probably part of the reason that I was thinking this way is that in the week or so leading up to Holy Week I had performed three funerals and an interment of very beloved members of our church family. Also, our church family had other deaths of those who attended Community or who were related to those in our church family. Then on the heels of all of this comes Easter! Mixed with our sadness and heaviness of saying goodbye to those we dearly love is the victory that Jesus freely gives us through His life, death, and resurrection.

Easter reminds us that Christ has defeated death for us once and for all and when we, the children of God, step through death’s door we will be back home with our heavenly family for eternity. I think we will offer a huge sigh of relief as we leave this the sin marred world and enter into paradise forever. This temporary world that we now live in is our home away from home. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2:11, “Dear friends, I warn you as ‘temporary residents and foreigners’ to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.” Peter reminds us to give our best in the few days that we have in this world and to live in this world as “temporary residents and foreigners.” The writer in Hebrews 11 lists the many heroes of the Old Testament who faithfully served God as long as they had breath within them. He said of them in Hebrews 11:13, “And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.” A key to their faithfulness in this life was to live it in the light of eternity as “aliens and strangers on earth.” We dearly miss our loved ones who have gone on to eternity ahead of us. We though now are to continue their legacy of faithful ministry in this world until one day we will step through death’s door and breath a sigh of relief and be welcomed home by God, His heavenly hosts, and all of the family of God. What a glorious day that will be!

Judas Asparagus?

I just received this priceless work of art and just had to pass it on to you. It is insightful, hilarious, full of subtle and not so subtle misinterpretations of the Bible and yet probably one of the most unique summaries of the Bible I’ve ever heard. Enjoy!

The Children’s Bible in a Nutshell

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, ‘The Lord thy God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that. Anyway, God said, ‘Give me a light!’ and someone did. Then God made the world. He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren’t embarrassed because mirrors hadn’t been invented yet. Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden. Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn’t have cars. Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel. Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something. One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check. After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat. Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh’s people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable. God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don’t lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor’s stuff. Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother. One of Moses’ best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town. After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn’t sound very wise to me. After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore. There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don’t have to worry about them. After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of The New. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, ‘Close the door! Were you born in a barn?’ It would be nice to say, ‘As a matter of fact, I was.’) During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Democrats. Jesus also had twelve opossums. The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him. Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount. But the Democrats and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn’t stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead. Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again. He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

Chick-fil-A

Those who know me well know that I am a nut about Chick-fil-A.  When I was in seminary at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts my wife and I missed food items that we discovered were common to our the South and the Tampa area and not so much to the New England area, such as: grits, yellow rice and chicken, cuban sandwiches, & Chick-fil-A. Periodically, our families would send us a care package of grits and the necessary ingredients to make yellow rice but they obviously could not send us cuban sandwiches and Chick-fil-A chicken sandwiches. A couple of times my wife, Terri, and toddler daughter, Amanda, would fly back to Tampa to visit while I was studying and working. One time Terri gave me a very pleasant surprise when she got off the airplane. She showed me a lot of love by giving me two Chick-fil-A chicken sandwiches still slightly warm, which I quickly devoured on the way home. All these years later I still love a Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich! I was thrilled when a couple of years ago they built a Chick-fil-A restaurant a few miles from us.

What I also love about this great restaurant is the founder, Truett Cathy, is a Christian who has worked diligently to establish this chain with Christian values. Because of his Christian values Truett Cathy believed in keeping the Sabbath by closing the stores on Sundays. This was especially radical as this meant that malls where you often found Chick-fil-A had all the other fast food restaurants open on Sundays except Chick-fil-A. They have thrived all these years even though they have taken one day off a week. Following God’s principles always, always work best. God does always know best!

Since I am such a fan of Chick-fil-A I just had to share this video that I saw on facebook and YouTube. In the video Tim Hawkins sings this song at Bent Tree Bible Fellowship in Carrollton, Texas. It is priceless as it expresses my love of Chick-fil-A along with my kind of sense of humor. Enjoy and don’t salivate too much as you feast on this wonderful video.

“Do Not Fear” Every Moment of this Year!

These past few months I have watched the stock market more than I have my entire life. I have looked at my retirement and my kids’ gift trust funds and have seen that we have lost a lot of money. The church that I serve has many retirees whose income has been greatly affected by the economy. Also, those who are in the workforce have also been affected by our nation’s economic crunch. I have heard all kinds of experts predict when the market is going to turn around and it seems that they are all making educated guesses. There is a lot of hope in our nation’s new administration that they will have the key to turn it all around. I just heard President Obama interviewed by Matt Lauer before the Super Bowl saying that it will be a tough couple of months before things begin to turn around. There is definitely a huge sense of insecurity and fear in our nation.

As I was sharing in my sermon today entitled, “The Giant Killer” from 1 Samuel 17:32-51, some say the Bible instructs us as much as 365 times not to fear. I have looked throughout the Bible and cannot find anywhere near 365 occurrences but the message to not fear is clearly found throughout Scripture. Why? As Ephesians 3:20-21 says about our God, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” God is able to do far more than we can ask or even imagine? That is incomprehensible! God can do far more than even our wildest imagination. The power of God is equally matched by the unlimited love of God. I am thoroughly convinced that God always does what is best for us even though we may not think that it is best or we may not agree with God’s timing! God reminds us in Isaiah 55:8-9, “‘My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,’ says the Lord. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.’” God knows best and always does best! Why then do we fear?

The reason that the Bible tells us not to fear is that God is the one who fights our battles. The Bible says repeatedly that the battle belongs to the Lord. As David shared when facing the 9′ giant, Goliath, “David replied to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us!’” (1 Samuel 17:45-47). I encourage you to read this note that someone sent me this weekend that points to the fact that no matter what we face God will take care of our needs and therefore there is no need to fear every moment of this new year!

You say: ‘It’s impossible’	God says: All things are possible	(Luke 18:27)
You say: ‘I’m too tired’	God says: I will give you rest	(Matthew 11:28-30)
You say: ‘Nobody really loves me’	God says: I love you	(John 3:1 6 & John 3:34 )
You say: ‘I can’t go on’	God says: My grace is sufficient	(II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15)
You say: ‘I can’t figure things out’	God says: I will direct your steps	(Proverbs 3:5-6)
You say: ‘I can’t do it’	God says: You can do all things	(Philippians 4:13)
You say: ‘I’m not able’	God says: I am able	(II Corinthians 9:8 )
You say: ‘It’s not worth it’	God says: It will be worth it	(Roman 8:28 )
You say: ‘I can’t forgive myself’	God says: I Forgive you	(I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1)
You say: ‘I can’t manage’	God says: I will supply all your needs	(Philippians 4:19)
You say: ‘I’m afraid’	God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear	(II Timothy 1:7)
You say: ‘I’m always worried and frustrated’	God says: Cast all your cares on ME	(I Peter 5:7)
You say: ‘I’m not smart enough’	God says: I give you wisdom	(I Corinthians 1:30)
You say: ‘I feel all alone’	God says: I will never leave you or forsake you	(Hebrews 13:5)

We Are Special to God!

As I was praying in our church’s prayer chapel today I stumbled across a short devotional that spoke volumes to me. I hope God speaks to you through it as well. Evidently it comes from Emilie Barnes book, “15 Minutes Alone With God.”

I Cor. 13:4-13 It is important that we belived that we have value and that we are worthy to give of ourselves. This begins by knowing and accepting what our heavenly Father believes about us. Christian psychologist Dr. Dick Dickerson has written a paraphrase of 1 Cor. 13 which beautifully summarizes how God looks at us. Read this aloud to yourself each morning and evening for the next 30 days, then evaluate how your feelings about yourself have changed:

Because God love me, He is slow to lose patience with me.

Because God love me, He takes the circumstances of my life and uses them in a constructive way for my growth.

Because God loves me, He does not treat me as an object to be possessed and manipulated.

Because God loves me, He has no need to impress me with how great and powerful He is because He is God….Nor does He belittle me as His child in order to show me how important He is.

Because God loves me, He is for me. He wants me to mature and develop in His love.

Because God loves me, He does not send down His wrath on every little mistake I make, of which there are many.

Because God loves me, He does not keep score of all my sins and then beat me over the head with them whenever He gets a chance.

Because God loves me, He is deeply grieved when I do not walk in the ways that please Him because he sees this as evidence that I don’t trust Him and love Him as I should.

Because God loves me, He rejoices when I experience His power and strength and stand up under the pressure of life for His name’s sake.

Because God loves me, He keeps working patiently with me even when I feel like giving up and can’t see why He doesn’t give up with me, too.

Because God loves me, He keeps on trusting me when at times I don’t even trust myself.

Because God loves me, He never says there is no hope for me, rather, He patiently works with me, loves me and disciplines me in such a way that it is hard for me to understand the depth of His concern for me.

Because God loves me, He never forsakes me even though many of my friends might.

Father God, negative inner voices would love to convince me that I am a nobody, but the Holy Spirit continually challenges me to believe that I am of value to God and will be with Jesus in Paradise. Can I believe God when He tells me that I was so important to Him that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for my sins? Yes, I can! I am special to God. Let me believe it and live it. Amen.