The One Who Desires You

The One Who Desires You

 You have been selected, chosen, invited to play on the A-team.  You’re not a designated substitute, a second-stringer, a bench-warmer.  You are first in line, first at bat.  You are the center of attention.

Oh, sorry to say, the newspapers will ignore you.  The news media outlets will pass you over and do other stories, but you are still the chosen one. 

You see, God is doing the selecting, the choosing, and He has his eye on you.  He is reaching out for you, even now, with a furious love that is beyond reason, beyond understanding.  You’ve heard it a thousand times before, and yet, let me tell you one more time.  GOD LOVES YOU!

Heck, he not only loves you.  He likes you.

Do you remember recently when you were floundering, feeling lost, alone, discouraged and ready to shove it all away?  God still loved you then, as He loves you now.

Remember when the bills were due and the money hadn’t found you yet? 

God still has His eyes on you, for He desires you.  He wants you to come to Him, to crawl up onto His big ole’ lap and snuggle close.  He has some things He wants to whisper in your ear.

Listen.  Hold tight.  Stay warm in that embrace, for He is speaking now.

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

“I am your God.”

“Nothing is impossible for me.”

“You are my loved one, and my desire is for you.”

You see … God has this ‘thing’ for you and me.  It’s a love-thing that is just about the most ferocious love you’ll ever witness. 

He is serious about loving you.  His desire for companionship with you is unheard of.  His efforts to get to you, to reach you and give you His love exceed any known boundary you and I have ever experienced. 

Do you know of any lover, any parent, any boss who would put up with our ‘secret lives’ the way God does? 

He knows us as we are, and He loves us anyway. 

He is the one who desires you and me.  He longs for us.  He has cravings for fellowship with us. 

Wow!  God has cravings.  Imagine that.

God is watching, looking for a signal from us that we too want this kind of intimate belonging. 

Will you reach back to the one who is reaching out?

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Now That Easter Is Over

Now That Easter Is Over

I hope you had a good, even great Easter season.  I hope the chocolate bunnies were yummy, the eggs properly colored, and tasty (if you eat them), and that your church experience was satisfying.  And I hope, if your family gathers, as does ours, that those times were rich in relationship love and esteeming moments.

And now what? 

Just remember this … (1) the tomb is still empty, (2) Christianity, the fundamental teachings of Christ, have survived all these years, and (3) God’s spirit, released when the temple curtain was split down the middle, is still present.  It is omnipresent – universal, all over. 

It’s the third point that demands a bit more conversation.  We live in an age when it is now popular to be considered a ‘spiritual person’.  Some have an antenna that easily detects God’s spirit, and others are somewhat skeptical and receive a lesser signal.  The main point is this … God’s spirit is available to all of us.  ALL!  Do we, you and I, have a receptive and open heart to take in all that the spirit of God and the risen Christ has to offer?

And what is this offer?

~An awareness of His spirit

~An acceptance of His redemption for wrong

~Help along the pathway for EVERY situation we face

For every point I have listed above, this fact remains … it all comes about through faith.  Faith that Christ was the son of God, faith that He rose and left the empty tomb, faith that He forgives my wayward heart and cleanses me when I ask and seek, and faith that He is with me and ‘will never leave me nor forsake me’.

This is how I’m conducting my life, now that Easter has happened. 

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Headed to Easter - Easter Sunday

Headed to Easter – Easter Sunday

  

It is a quiet morning.  Some roosters are just beginning to stretch and sound their morning call, for it is the crack of dawn

If we listen, we hear the soft shuffle of feet walking the dirt road to the tomb.  It's two women, and they have a job to do, and they are going to do it.  They wanted to get there early, get it done and then be gone. 

One of the ladies is Mary Magdalene.  She was the Mary from whom seven demons were cast out, and she never got over that experience. 

The other Mary?  We’re not sure who she is, and really that is a lesser matter.

Nevertheless, these faithful women were on a mission.  They were going to anoint the body of a dead man, their friend Jesus. 

As they rounded the corner, the ground began to tremble.  It was a mighty shaking, and if they could believe their eyes, it seemed a heavenly being, perhaps an angel was just approaching the tomb and with one touch of his finger the mighty stone covering the entrance rolled out of the way and the angel sat on the stone.  He SAT on the stone. 

Can you believe that?

The guards that the temple high priests had put in place fled for their lives at the rumbling and the first sight of the angel.  They went into town, reported what had happen, were paid a lot of hush money to ‘hush up’ and that was that.

The two Marys were terrified.  They saw it but didn’t believe their eyes. 

The angel spoke: “Don’t be afraid.  You are seeking Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here: for he has been raised, as he said.  Come, see the place where he lay.  And now, go as fast as you can and tell his disciples.  Say ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going on to Galilee.  You can see him there.”

The women left.  They were a mixture of great fear and greater joy.  It had happened just like he promised.

And as they ran, they met Him – Jesus.  It happened so quickly it was a startling thing to behold.

He said “Greetings.”  After examining him, he said, “Fear not.  Go and tell my band of brothers, my disciples, to go to Galilee.  They will see me there.”

If you want to see the whole uninterrupted story, read Matthew 28. 

The critical message is this … He rose from the grave, just as he said.

He came back to life, miraculously, and he is alive NOW!

That is the heart of the Christian message.  We serve a living Christ.

If that is not true, then everything I believe, everything I write, everything I’ve ever sung about this Christ, the son of God, has been in vain.

I accept this story by faith.  I wasn’t there in that era.  I’ve had no vision, heard no voices.

All I know is what I’ve experienced in my heart.  I feel the spirit of the risen Christ  dwelling in me and I accept His presence.

That is my Easter story to leave with you.

Remember when I wrote on Friday about the curtain in the temple being split into two pieces?  That one act let loose the indwelling spirit of God so that His spirit can flow over and into you and me. 

How he does it, I don’t know.

Why he deems you and me as worthy specimens to receive His spirit, I don’t know.

It is a faith kind of thing.

Either we believe, by faith, or we don’t.

I choose belief by faith.

Happy Easter.

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Hope Encouragement Inspiration