Give thanks unto the Lord because of what He did for you.  When He cried out on the cross, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me” He did- so that we would never have to for He will never leave or forsake us.

Another great song by Jesus Culture expressing thanksgiving to God for the reality that He has saved us.  He has washed our sin away and we will never be the same!  Do you remember the joy of your so great salvation?  I’ll never forget it – it was a glorious day.  Click on he link and enjoy  because it’s a Happy Day to celebrate!

Over this past year I have had one song more than any other strike a cord at home in the heart of this sinner who is saved forever by grace and is the righteousness of God in Christ – Your Love Never Fails.  When I first heard it, tears streamed down my face.  It was powerful and God kept telling me that He loved me despite the crisis that was happening in my life.  When those I thought were my friends in Christ for 16 years rejected me, God didn’t.  When a flock I faithfully shepherded for 12 years asked me to leave I did, but God was in the midst working it together for good by signing me up for an awesome crash course on brokenness.    I cannot wait to write of all these things.  I’m actually excited to reveal what God wants me to reveal for His glory.  For those of you who know me, I am as transparent as David.  For years I have been meaning to write a book on our relationship with God the Holy Spirit – yet without this past year I would not have been able to finish it – and . . . God gave me the title for it just the other day!!!  A little earnest of things to come.  Anyway,  it was through the valley of crisis that I once again began to experience the presence of God in my life and the intimacy I experienced with Him from the moment I was saved.  Many of you keep taking in ‘doctrine’ yet down deep in your soul – in that inner man that Paul talks about – there is a little witness that says ‘There has got to be more’.  If you are still, it is there and that is the purpose for which God has gifted me.  Anyway, we have a bright future ahead of us.      Just listen to the lyrics – and read Romans 8:31-39  Your Love Never Fails

Thinking about a thread on music where links exist and thoughts are waxed.  Let me know what you think!!!  Sing to the Lord a new song.  Perhaps I’ll write about what God has revealed to me about being revolutionary like David dancing recklessly in a linen ephod in worship and praise to God – Ha!  David danced with all his might before the Lord (2 Sam. 6:14) – have you?  Oh, perhaps the works righteousness crowd at church might look down upon such liberty in worship and hurl – “God is not a God of confusion” to shut that down. If they do, you will stand with a man after God’s own heart, David!   What he did challenged the shackles of tradition.  And when he did, there were those who burned with anger (1 Chron. 15:29).   Things haven’t changed have they?  But for those who have tasted the heavenly gift and experienced the presence of God in your life – for those who have truly been led by the Spirit of God – you have rejoiced, danced, and sung with joy inexpressible and full of glory.  You like David have danced with all your might – why?  It’s joy inexpressible.  Amen- C’mon now . . . .  Our only righteousness is Jesus!

Do you know in your heart of hearts that you love the Lord?  Do you have the witness of the Spirit that you are a child of God?  If you do, hold on to God’s promises when the self righteous hurl, “If you loved the Lord, you would keep His commandments”.  It is devastating to know you love and adore the Lord who purchased you yet have others whom He purchased withhold forgiveness and gnash their teeth at you.  Please remember this – God loves you despite yourself, your stumbling, and what others wag about.  They may bring charges like the Pharisees did stones but He says – “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect?”  No one!!!!!  Many times we walk around not experiencing all that God has for us because we really don’t believe that Jesus has paid for all our sin.  We live in the shackles of memories that enslave and Satan uses to cripple.  My prayer is that the Lord will use this song to minister to your heart as He did mine -and truly set you free.  If you have the love and Witness – the  lyrics will resonate . . .

For the cloak as dark as night you wear

For the sin as black as coal you bear

For the secret you could never share

He died for these     [Really?  - because sometimes we act as though He only died for some]

For the past that seems to never die

For the shame that keeps you paralyzed

How He longs for you to realize

He died for these

You must believe that . . .

If the Son has set you free

You are free indeed, You are free indeed

For by His blood you’ve been redeemed

His grace has made you clean

And you are free indeed

For your anger and your bitterness

Over wrongs that you cannot forget

For every hurtful thought or word that you regret

He died for these

You must believe that . . .

The artist is Laura Story and Free Indeed can be found on her album, There is Nothing. Check this song out too – Mighty to Save

The first line is a blinding flash of the obvious – ‘Everyone needs compassion’  Amen!!

At the end of the day God has given us His infallible Word which is alive and powerful in the hands of His Spirit.  It is immutable – for the grass withers and the flower fades but the Word of God stands forever.  There is a difference between the written Word (Scripture) and the Living Word – the Lord Jesus.  The Pharisees worshiped the written Word and when the Living Word arrived they rejected Him.  Let us not fall into that trap of bibliolatry and remember that we are in a relationship with the unique Person of the universe whom we worship – the Lord Jesus Christ.  Have an awesome day!

Train up a child in the way he should  go so that when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).  As parents, God has so much to say to us through this passage.  Not only is it our responsibility as parents to train our children in the way they should go, God has attached a promise to it.  If we train them up, God promises that when our children are old they will not depart.  Hmmmmm . . .  Please observe that God does not guarantee your children will never stray from the path you have trained them to follow.  I don’t know whether you have observed this about sheep, but they all go astray and wind up lost (Luke 15:1-7; Isaiah 53:6).  I’m sure you can look at your own life and see when you have turned to your own way and gone astray.  Whether it was high school rebellion, college craziness, or some mid-life madness – God specializes in working it all together for good for those who love Him (Rom. 8:28).  One thing God has taught me when I have wandered is the very compassion of Christ for sinners.  So it’s best to level set the expectations you have for your child – brace yourself for a season of straying along the way.  During this time, you can react to your children or you can allow the Lord to teach you something about a father’s heart. How you treat them when they have drifted off course will affect your relationship with them the rest of your life.  Selah

Now – let’s talk about training.  Many of us rely on private Christian school and church to train our children.  We rarely think about incorporating God into everything or letting our children see our faith-based relationship with Him throughout the day – that’s what church is for, right?  We can even make excuses to not train them because we do not have a classroom, a Betty Luken’s Bible in Felt set, or the latest and greatest dry erase board.  Do you really need these things?  A few weekends ago this really hit me like a ton of bricks – the greatest classroom to teach our children the Word of God is the great outdoors – it’s using the same classroom our Savior did.  Amazing what God will show you when your eyes are wide open.  If you study the Life of Christ series, you will observe that the greatest impact Jesus had was not in a synagogue or temple classroom – it was outdoors.  All you need is the Word of God and the outdoors to train up your children in the way of the Lord.   You don’t need to be in church relying on a Sunday school teacher.   Actually, what your children crave is fellowship with you.  It’s all about the quality of time you spend with the kids – that’s what really matters. Excuses . . . none.  So I grabbed my Bible, found a nice spot in God’s classroom and spread out a picnic blanket.  “Hey kids – church starts in 10 minutes outside with daddy!”

We opened with Psalm 37:4-5 and discussed what it means to ‘commit your way to the Lord’.  From there we turned to John 3:1-8 because one of the congregation thought ‘commit your way to the Lord’ had to do with being saved.  The passage in John 3 cleared that up – then it was off to Jeremiah 1:4 because there were questions about being ‘born again’ from John 3.  “Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations’ (Jer. 1:4-5).  That is an encouraging passage in personal application!  Wow – if God knew us before He formed us in our mother’s womb, then He has made provision for us in all things.  He has a wonderful plan for our lives!  Now, the Holy Spirit led us to John 14:16-26 and back to John 3:8 to close, “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit”.  We laid back on that picnic blanket looking up at the trees and listening to the wind.  You cannot see the wind but you certainly can see its affects and feel it, you can even hear it- so it is with the Spirit of God for those who have been born again!

O taste and see that the Lord is good!  I don’t know if you have ever tasted the kindness of our Lord but it truly is an experience our heavenly Father desires us to have.  The prodigal son tasted the kindness of his father when he felt compassion for his son and ran and embraced him, and kissed him (Lk. 15:20).

Did you know that it takes faith to believe our heavenly Father is just like the prodigal’s?  Can you not hear the devil exclaim, “God really isn’t like that, is He?”  Shame and guilt are the results of arrows launched by our Adversary to render us defeated in the race of the unique spiritual life.  They belong to a horrible complex of emotional sins.  In fact, they result in a feeling of unworthiness just like the prodigal struggled with when he said, “I am no longer worthy to be called your son”.  You may feel that way in light of your stumblings and even believe it, but nothing could be further from the truth.

For those of you who can identify with the prodigal, God wants you to taste of His kindness – and what a wonderful display of kindness;  “Quickly,” said the father, “bring out the best robe and put it on my son, put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, bring out the fattened calf and let us eat and rejoice”.  Why do you think the father commanded everything to be brought out quickly?

The son was in a fragile place struggling with the grace and mercy of his father because he had swallowed a lie about the goodness of his daddy.  He knew that he had been accepted upon the embrace and forgiven, but he continued to struggle with being worthy enough to receive freely.  That is why the father said, quickly.   I know that many of you have struggled with the goodness of God erroneously thinking He is going to clobber you via operation 2×4.  It’s even worse when fellow believers become angry like the older brother.  The forgiveness that really matters is God’s and He wants you to know how good He truly is.  He wants you to believe with all your heart that if David could exclaim “O taste and see that the Lord is good” – so can you – because He loves you so much!!!  Remember this also – it is the kindness of God that leads you to repentance not a 2×4 (Romans 2:4).

My prayer for you this week is that God will direct one of His wayward sons – one of His prodigals into your life so that the Spirit of the living God might manifest the very kindness of God in you that leads to repentance -  and that the unworthiness that has been sewn into the soil of many hearts would be rooted out by God Himself – pulled out like a weed with all its roots that entangle – so that you will rejoice with joy full of glory having tasted the goodness of our loving Father – and having tasted the kindness of God you will accept the robe, ring, and sandals that the Lord gives you – and that you would count yourself worthy and enjoy the blessing of the fattened calf,  in Jesus name . . .

Romans 5:5 communicates one of the wonderful experiences of the spiritual life.  “And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

We know that God’s love – the same love which was demonstrated on the cross – is produced by the Holy Spirit in our lives for the ‘fruit of the Spirit is love . . .’ (Gal. 5:22).  Not just any love, but the very love of Christ.  That love is described in 1 Cor. 13:4-8a -

“Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails.”.

I know you have read this passage more than once.  You’ve heard it in wedding services and I know you’ve heard me preach it as well – but one thing you probably have not done is substitute your name for the words “love” and “it” when they occur in the passage.  Here’s an example of what it should look like using my name – “Henry is patient, Henry is kind, and Henry is not jealous . . .”.  When you do this with your name throughout the passage it will humble you beyond belief.  In fact it will drive you to your knees and you will know why Paul prayed for Christians ‘to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man’.

Don’t just read through this blog, actually put your name in the blanks, you will be blown away at what God will do in these few brief moments.  Read it aloud.  “_____ is patient, _____ is kind, and _____ is not jealous; _____ does not brag and _____ is not arrogant, _____ does not act unbecomingly; _____ does not seek its own, _____ is not provoked, _____ does not take into account a wrong suffered, _____ does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; _____ bears all things, _____ believes all things, _____ hopes all things, _____ endures all things.  _____ never fails.”.

I had my kids do this tonight after dinner with me and we were convicted with how desperately we need to live a life of trust in the person of our Savior.  Hence, Paul’s prayer for all of us- ‘to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God’. (Eph. 3:14ff).

Knowing in the passage conveys experiencing the very love of God being poured out within your heart – the love of Christ surpasses knowledge which means it is not dependent upon the amount of Bible doctrine you have apparently metabolized.  It is dependent upon one thing – your abiding communion with Christ – there’s the faith/dependence.  When that love is manifested within you, you are being filled up to all His fullness – Christ is dwelling in your heart and it is your Savior who loves through you and only then can you fill in the blanks – _______ is patient, _______is kind . . . Better stated, it is Christ who enables us through His love to be patient

Apart from Him we can do nothing!  Selah

Regardless of your circumstances today, God has promised to never leave you or forsake you.  In the pits of life and the deepest darkest valleys of rejection and heartache, God is there!  You may know this, you may believe it, but to experience the Lord’s dealings with you, His comfort, His provision, His presence, even His scourging which is a testimony of His love for you is more valuable than anything else this life can offer.  These experiences reveal you are actually in a relationship with the Creator, Jesus Christ, who was and is and is to come!

Be encouraged because there is no circumstance that you will find yourself in that your Savior has not made provision for.  And He made that provision for you before the foundation of the world.  Think about that for a minute, the Creator of the universe had you personally in mind and made provision for you before the world was. That is grace! That is love!

Be encouraged because there is an end to every valley of suffering and your Counselor, the Spirit of the living God who indwells you will pray you through every valley.  “And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words,” (Romans 8:26).  The very next verse states that the Holy Spirit prays for us according to the will of God.  Therefore, the Spirit who has sealed you and lives in you will pray you through!!!