Whatever You Face-Read This

I have some encouraging words for you.  Hope we can spend a few minutes together right now.

What are you facing?

Got heartbreak?

Got problems?

Got some issues that are about to drown you?

Hold on my friend. Here is a word of hope.

God himself knows your predicament.  He sees your dilemma and He is standing nearby. 

Do you remember the words the angel Gabriel spoke to Mary, the mother of Jesus?  He said, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

“NOTHING SHALL BE IMPOSSIBLE.”

That is a terrific word of hope. 

This reminds me of a chorus we used to sing in the church of my youth.  Here are the lyrics.

That gives me hope.

That encourages me.

Let me tell you a true story.

In 1998 I was facing a financial catastrophe.  If ever I needed a miracle, this was the time and place for one.

On a Friday in October my boss called me into his office for our weekly update report.

I began to tell him of my activities and results for the week and he stopped me in mid-sentence.  Jimmy leaned back in his chair, and said …

“I don’t know quite how to do this.  I’ve never had anything like this happen before.”

I did not know what to expect.  I was fearful I might be fired.

And then Jimmy continued.  He said, “You have some friends who know you are going through a rough time and they wanted to give this to you and hope it helps.”

He then reached into his shirt pocket and handed me an envelope.  I felt of it and could tell it had some cash in it, but how much? 

I opened it and found $3,000 inside.

I was speechless. 

   I was moved. 

         I cried. 

This song says it all.  My God moved a mountain that day, and He parted the deep waters of trouble I faced and in my lap landed a miracle.

And He can do the same for you.  Oh, your miracle will probably look different from mine, but He stands ready to do for you what you can’t do for yourself.  He will be with you in the middle of your most anxious moments of life.

In Philippians 4:19 we find these words:

“My God will meet all your needs

according to His riches in glory

through Jesus Christ.”

My prayer for you is that your faith will reach up to Him right now. 

Please watch; 

Dave Boyer - Got Any Rivers

I will be praying for you.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

The Kiss of God

You and I are offered a wonderfully delightful kiss from God.  This kiss is a huge part of the secret of our being.  The kiss that God offers is this … that we know we are loved and forgiven. 

To know that we are loved and forgiven satisfies something deep within my soul.  The human heart longs for love.  We seek a connection and to be validated in so many ways.  And if we can’t achieve this on our own, then we manufacture some kind of pseudo-love, which is finding love in all the wrong places. 

God is offering to each of us this love that fills and satisfies the human

condition. 

There is also the forgiveness factor.  We seek pardon for the misery in which we find ourselves and for the choices we have made that led us to our states of disgrace.  And we question whether we are worthy of forgiveness. 

“But you don’t know what I’m really like.”

 “You don’t know all the terrible things I’ve done.”

  “I’ve harbored horrible thoughts.”

   “I’ve committed dastardly deeds.”

Can I truly be forgiven?

Can I truly be loved?

And the answer is “YES”.

God invites you into His embrace.  He wants to whisper to you just how much He loves you.  And He offers you pardon for past deeds, past choices, and past falterings. 

A quick reflection:  I’ve been a Christian for most of my life.  There are still times when I metaphorically desire to crawl up into the arms of God and once again feel His love and forgiveness on my life.  It is something we never tire of. 

On occasion, we visit with Carolyn’s son and family on Sunday nights for Sunday Sabbath.  We feast, play a game, and have a shared thought.  We always include a time around the circle when we pass a cup of water and a towel.  As the cup is handed to me, the person offering it says, “Michael, you are loved and you are forgiven.”  What a marvelously healing moment that is.  And I then pass the cup and towel on to the next person with those powerful words.

You are loved and you are forgiven.

And that is what God is offering you and me.  He wants to grace our lives with His kiss of love and forgiveness. 

And now, absorb a few words from THE WORD of God.

Isaiah 43:1 “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you.  I call you by name and you are mine.”

Romans 5:8 “God shows His love for us even while we still live in sin.”

Psalm 86:15 “You, my God, are a God full of mercy and grace; you are slow to anger and you abound in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

Have you taken your place beside God for a little soul nourishment?  God himself offers you this kiss of love and forgiveness.

Accept yours now!

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

A Sign of Love

What if … we are to be nothing more than a simple sign – a sign among thousands of others?  And the sign says this – Love Is Possible. 

Everybody loves love.  Everybody wants to be loved.  Yet we wonder if love will ever find our world, much less our own heart and little life that we live out on this planet.

Racial strife is heard in many quarters of our world.

Wars and rumors of wars abound.

Nations war against nations.

Brothers raise their arms against brothers.

Sisters tear each other apart.

We’ve lost a healthy image of what love is all about.  And where do we find a great model of what love looks like? 

Perhaps you and I can become tiny signs showing that love is possible.  Perhaps we can begin a revolution of lovers dispelling the current mindset that there can only be racial warfare.

Perhaps we can model that this world is not condemned to a struggle between oppressors and the oppressed.

I’m speaking to those of us who profess the label “Christian”.  I’m calling all of us to lay aside our denominational interpretations and get to the bigger issue of demonstrating a lifestyle of love.

In Matthew 22:36-40, we are reminded of this:

Jesus is asked to name the greatest commandment. His reply?  Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind.  This is first.  And then, love your neighbor as you love yourself.  All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Mother Theresa said this:

“We must know that we have been created for greater things, not just to be a number in the world, not just to go for diplomas and degrees, this work and that work.  We have been created in order to love and to be loved.”

Jean Vanier puts this into perfect prose.

“We have to remind ourselves constantly that we are not saviors. We are simply a tiny sign, among thousands of others, that love is possible, that the world is not condemned to a struggle between oppressors and oppressed, that class and racial warfare is not inevitable.”

How can you and I possibly be a sign of love?

~Give a genuine smile to everyone you meet.

~Find more ways to praise than to complain.

~Look for the good in every person and every situation.

~If offended, be quick to forgive, slow to retaliate.

~Offer a helping hand.

~Be quick to love.

~Be the first to speak a kind word of hello.

Small signs of love for sure, however, small gestures build one upon another and the message gets out. 

Sooner than soon, perhaps we will marvel at what a true UNITED STATES OF AMERICA we really are.

And then, when it spreads to other lands and across the waters of the world, my goodness – we will experience a revolution of LOVE!

Now wouldn’t that be something?

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

A Friend Better Than We Imagined

The title itself sounds almost too good to be true, doesn’t it?  Who has EVER had a friend who turned out to be better than we imagined?

Lace up your shoes, dear reader.  Let’s go exploring. 

This “friend” of whom I speak is none less than God himself through Jesus Christ His son.  No big surprise there.  But what else?

Consider this … God was not afraid of being contaminated by this world.  Would GOD send his Son to a world where there might be a danger of contamination?  Would He send Christ to a world where He might catch something, or hang out with the wrong crowd and be converted to the dark side? 

I’m quickly reminded that Jesus was often accused of hanging with the bad seed of his day.  In Matthew 9:11, the ruling religious big shots questions Jesus’ followers on this very thing. 

“Why does your leader eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

The implication here is that Christ might get contaminated.  He might catch some deadly disease.  He might be converted to their “sad and unruly ways.”

That is what Christ majored in.  Yes, He preached about the kingdom of God, and He built bridges to those hanging out on the edge of society.  He welcomed the marginally acceptable.  He invited them to a seat at the table of grace with Him. 

You see, Christ didn’t come for the rich and famous, or the high and mighty. 

Luke 5:32 says this:  “I’ve come to call sinners to change the way they think and act, not to call people who think they have God’s approval.”

~God’s Word Translation

He didn’t come to join the local yacht club.  He came to rub elbows with all of mankind.  And that word of hope reaches down through the ages of time right to where you and I sit this very moment.  He wants to hang with you and me. 

He doesn’t care if you are white, black, brown, red or yellow.  He doesn’t care if you drive a blue Chevy, or a grey Camry.  He doesn’t care if you wear Nike's or no shoes or all.  He doesn’t care if you vote for the popular party or if you can’t even read the voting ballot.  He spent time with people without a pre-conditioned set of rules.

He simply wants to have a relationship with you, an individual with a name, and a future with hope. 

 (Jeremiah 29:11)

It seems I remember He called twelve disciples.  HE called them.  I can’t remember any of them asking to be let in.  One we know was a traitor (Judas).  One was a doubter (Thomas).

Most of the others didn’t really believe He was the Christ until after His death and resurrection. 

He didn’t seek the qualified.  He sought followers who would be led and molded, and He hoped and prayed that they would ultimately allow His words of hope and redemption sink down deeply into their hearts and minds. 

And those who chose His words, and their followers, changed the world.  He just hung with them, spoke to them, and demonstrated a different lifestyle and way of life management.

Christ sought out all kinds of humanity. 

~He loved the people of his day even if they didn’t love back.

~He pursued some even though they would run away.

~He offered fellowship, a place of belonging, indiscriminately, with no conditions, and no strings attached. 

On Monday I met and conducted some business with a man named Cal. 

On Thursday Cal called me and wanted me to consider joining him in a multi-level marketing venture. 

I quickly shared my thoughts, which were that I had no interest in that pursuit at all.  I suspect I will never hear from Cal again.  Even though we had the makings of a good business friendship, Cal only wanted to pursue our friendship because of what I could possibly do for him as one of the pegs in his multi-level marketing empire.

Interesting note.  Christ didn’t befriend people simply to win them to his way.  He befriended them because they needed a friend who would stick closer than a brother.  

(Proverbs 18:24)

That seems to describe a Jesus who is better than we ever imagined.

That is incredible news. 

That is a Savior I call my friend.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time