YOU Are Loved

No matter what has happened or what will happen, 

God's response to you is the same. 

You are His.

You are loved.

You are accepted.

You will never lose value in God's eyes.

Taken from Elyse M. Fitzpatrick's book, "Comforts From The Cross" 

 "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in My eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life...Fear not, for I am with you...everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made." -Isaiah 43

What Is Happy Living?

Is it not a sad proof of the alienation of our nature that though God is everywhere we have to school ourselves to perceive him anywhere? His are the beauties of nature, his the sunshine which is bringing on the harvest, his the waving grain which cheers the husbandman, his the perfume which loads the air from multitudes of flowers, his the insects which glitter around us like living gems; and yet the Creator and Sustainer of all these is far too little perceived. Everything in the temple of nature speaks of his glory, but our ears are dull of hearing. Everything, from the dewdrop to the ocean, reflects the Deity, and yet we largely fail to see the eternal brightness.

I beseech you, my brethren, to pray that you may have this text wrought into your very souls: “I have set the Lord always before me.” Refuse to see anything without seeing God in it. Regard the creatures as the mirror of the great Creator. Do not imagine that you have understood his works till you have felt the presence of the great worker himself. Do not reckon that you know anything till you know that of God which lies within it, for that is the kernel which it contains. Wake in the morning and recognize God in your chamber, for his goodness has drawn back the curtain of the night and taken from your eyelids the seal of sleep: put on your garments and perceive the divine care which provides you with raiment from the herb of the field and the sheep of the fold. Go to the breakfast room and bless the God whose bounty has again provided for you a table in the wilderness: go out to business and feel God with you in all the engagements of the day: perpetually remember that you are dwelling in his house when you are toiling for your bread or engaged in merchandise. At length, after a well-spent day, go back to your family and see the Lord in each one of the members of it; own his goodness in preserving life and health; look for his presence at the family altar, making the house to be a very palace wherein king’s children dwell. At last, fall asleep at night as in the embraces of your God or on your Savior’s breast.

This is happy living. The worldling forgets God, the sinner dishonors him, the atheist denies him, but the Christian lives in him. “In him we live and move and have our being; we are also his offspring.” Visible things we look upon as shadows; the things which we touch and taste and handle perish in the using; the elements of this solid earth shall dissolve with fervent heat, but the ever-present God whom we cannot see is the same, and of his years there is no end, and his existence is the only real and true and eternal one to us. He has been our dwelling-place in all generations, and it were evil indeed not to know our own eternal home. This is a main ingredient in the oil of joy, — to realize always that the Lord is round about us “as the mountains are round about Jerusalem, from henceforth even for evermore.”

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Secret Of A Happy Life," delivered July 16, 1876.

Only He is Enough

"Who I am and what I have just doesn't seem like enough."

Have you ever made such a statement? Maybe you haven't actually come right out and said it, but you have felt it inside and thought it? I know that I sure have. There are many moments in my life when I feel like I am not good enough and not doing enough and don't have enough. I might think, "If I could just be _____ I would be happy," or, "If I just had ______ I would finally be content." We can fill in those blanks with anything and everything, can't we? Did you know that whatever you fill those spaces with is what you worship? That means that, if it's not the Lord, it is an idol in your life. Did you also know that those things will never complete you or fulfill you, but they will only leave you wanting more?

Whatever it is that you think is going to make you happy is what you'll put all of your time and energy into. You will spend your life searching for whatever it is that you believe you need to be fulfilled.

We talked about this in Sunday school today as we taught the kids about Solomon and how his heart was turned away from God by the many wives that he had and by their gods. We were created to worship, and if it's not God that we're worshiping, we will find something else to worship. Everything else will disappoint us though, and we won't receive God's best for us because we aren't seeking Him. HE is His best for us. This is why He tells us in Matthew 22 that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
Only through Him will we discover true and lasting contentment. We will never find fulfillment or satisfaction in life until we turn to Him.

God has given us desires for a reason. Those desires may not be bad in and of themselves, but they are bad if we're looking to those desires to fulfill us. God gives us these desires to lead us to Christ, the only One who can actually fulfill them.
"At the center of every idol we worship is an underlying God-given appetite. The problem comes when we turn to something other than God to fulfill it." -Pete Wilson
All the things that God blesses us with are to bring us back to Him! He is the real gift, the real prize, the real reward! We aren't meant to worship the gifts but the Giver of the gifts. And if He isn't giving us what we think we want it's likely because it's not what we need or what He wants for us. God knows what's best for us and can give to us what none of these earthly things could ever offer to us.

Are you trusting in something or someone to give you what only God can give? I know that I certainly have done this, and God is reminding me that He's already all that I need(check out the Christy Nockels song in my post prior to this one). He is reminding me that I need to experience Him daily in order to keep Him first in my life. If I'm not spending time in the Word and in prayer daily I am so quick to fall away and leave the God I love for things of this world that are constantly calling out to me and promising to make me happy. If I'm not living close to the truth, it's easy for the truth to be blurred and for other things to look good when really they aren't. When I am spending time with my Savior and remember His death on the cross and His love for me and grace in my life and forgiveness of my filth, everything else is meaningless compared to Him.
We've got to be in the Word daily!! We need it! Just like we need food to nourish and strengthen our physical bodies, we need our Spiritual food to nourish and strengthen us Spiritually so we are prepared to wage war against the world, the flesh, and the devil.

So what is it that you think you need in order to be happy? If it's not God, then pray that He would change your heart to desire Him. Get your face in His Word. He is what you need and what your soul longs for. Stop searching for happiness elsewhere and find it in Christ. He will never let you down or leave you feeling empty. He is all you need- all I need. He is more than enough.

"Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalm 73:25-26

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 

Already All I Need

Already All I Need
by Christy Nockels

Asking where You are, Lord,
wondering where You've been 
is like standing in a hurricane, trying to find the wind  
and hoping for Your mercy to meet me where I am  
is forgetting that Your thoughts for me outnumber the sand  
You filled the sun with morning light 
You bid the moon to lead the night  
You clothe the lilies bright and beautiful  

[chorus] 
You're already all I need  
already everything that I could hope for  
You're already all I need  
You've already set me free  
already making me more like You 
You're already I need 
Jesus  
You're already all I need

walking through this life without Your freedom in my heart 
is like holding on to shackles that You have torn apart  
so remind me of Your promises and all that You have done  
in this world I will have trouble  
but You have overcome  
and every gift that I receive You determine just for me  
but nothing I desire compares to You  

[chorus]

[bridge] 

in your fullness You're my all in all  
and in Your healing I'm forever made whole 
and in Your freedom Your love overflows  
and carries me  
You carry me 
yes You carry me  
You carry me 

[chorus]

What A Friend We Have In Jesus!

What A Friend We Have In Jesus

What a Friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a Friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He'll take and shield thee;
thou wilt find a solace there.

Be Encouraged

I wonder if the things that I post on my blog and on my facebook make me appear to be amazing and spectacular...like I have it all together...It's not that I fear what you may think...I just don't want people to be mislead into thinking that I post this stuff because I am wonderful. That's not the case. In the words of the apostle Paul, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." 
The things that I post...I post them because I need it! I post it because I need that reminder, and I am hopeful that the Lord will also use it to encourage others.
But in no way have I achieved these things...I am a work in progress.

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus"(Phil. 3:12-14)

What is Life About?

One of the books I am currently reading is "Forever" by Paul David Tripp. This book is soooo good that I am taking my time while reading it to get the most out of it. Every page has been so encouraging to me as I face my own struggles and disappointments in this life.
I highly recommend "Forever" for everyone to read whether or not you are currently struggling with something. Why? Because you have in your past, and you're guaranteed to in the future as long as you're here on earth. The truths that are spoken of in this book will help you to know how to have the best perspective possible to help you make it through any and every difficulty you will ever face in your life.
(For the glory of God and for your good)!

The description of this book on the back cover says, "The Bible assures us that God has placed eternity in our hearts. It tells us we are created for pleasure, wired for joy- all with God at the center. But in a world that is broken and suffering, it's easy to forget this, living instead with a pack-it-all-in mentality, loading up the here and now with expectations that will only be fulfilled in eternity.

Fortunately, we don't have to live frustrating, disappointing lives. Instead, we can take heart, realizing that life doesn't feel right because it isn't right. It's not meant to be- not yet anyway.

Paul David Tripp points out that having an eternity perspective will enable us to live for something bigger than ourselves and larger than this moment. No longer trapped in the shrunken kingdom of "right here, right now," we will be able to lead lives of greater significance and peace."

Without eternity, Christianity makes no sense. Read 1 Corinthians 15(specifically verses 12-19)...Verse 19 says that, "If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied."

In closing of my blog post, I've typed up just a portion of the chapter from this book that I was reading today on my lunch break...Just to give you more of a taste of the book.

"The world we live in is a broken place not operating as it was designed to operate. In case you hadn't noticed, people are less than perfect. Add to this the fact that God has planned for us to live right where we are living so that we would be made ready for what comes next. For these reasons, we will not live lives where we are able to get from point A to point B unobstructed. This means that, in the here and now, we had better have a grander motivation when we get up in the morning than the hope that our day will be predictable, easy, and relatively free of hassle. Eternity gives us that kind of big-picture motivation. We stay focused on doing what is good, right, and true, not because in the short term it appears to be working, but because our living in the here and now fits with the big plan of what God is doing and where He is taking us. In the face of hassles, we tell ourselves that this is not our final destination. We constantly reassure ourselves with the reality that we are on our way to a place where there will be no more sin, suffering, chaos, confusion, hurt, brokenness, or disappointment. But if this life is all there is, and this isn't working, then what motivation do I have to continue? I have to have something bigger than me against the world. That's why Paul(In 1 Corinthians 15) ends his discussion of the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of life after death the way he does. Paul knows that in conquering death, Jesus has not only purchased for us the guarantee of life after death, but also the reality of life before death, a quality of life that wouldn't be possible apart from the new life and the resurrection of Jesus delivered."