We Need Jesus More Than Ever

If the world needs anything right now, it’s Jesus. We need Jesus.

The prince of this world deceives Christians and non-believers of our real needs. 

But what and who the world needs right now is Jesus.

Even believers must rein ourselves in from everything the world offers. 

So how much more do those who don’t know Christ fail to realize their real needs.

Still, with all that’s currently going on in the world: evil, suffering, division, hatred, and troubled hearts, it’s no wonder we turn to things appearing to meet our deepest needs.

Let’s look at some of the enemy’s deceptions.

The Love of Money

The Bible is clear, not money itself, but the love of money is the problem. 

1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (NIV)

Yet, a few verses before notes, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” 1 Timothy 6:6-7 (NIV)

The chapter encourages believers to flee the love of money and pursue righteousness. (I Timothy 6:11)

We Want Power, Control, Notoriety

We find an unhealthy hunger for power, control, and notoriety in all walks of life. Like politics, government, leaders, corporate America, small businesses, families, Hollywood, even in ministry and the church. 

Perhaps you fight this inner hunger in your life. 

How We Love Jesus the Most

I love Jesus. 

Love. A small and seemingly simple word. But it holds more power than we realize. 

I’m not an expert on the subject of love.

Instead, I held misconceptions about love as a child and young woman. And hang-ups about love formed from emotionally expensive experiences. 

You see, my father abandoned me for a time. I was grown with my own children the first time my father uttered the words I love you.

The conversation’s forever etched in my memory.

Still, as much as I wanted to hear my dad tell me he loved me, I needed to believe it. And I longed for the reassurance he meant it.

You know what? The same holds true today. My husband can never tell me or show me he loves me too many times. 

Because a continual and intentional assurance of love takes any relationship to a higher and deeper level. Pure and whole-hearted love, in the most powerful form, is a show-and-tell affection.

I Love Jesus 

Likewise, the words I love You, Jesus! rise in my heart and roll off my tongue more often these days. Why? 

Maybe I’m tired of surface substitutes for real love. Perhaps I’ve grown weary of this: what God made true about love, people made fake. And I believe Christ is teaching me about an authentic and lasting love.

Over a decade ago, I marked a spiritual milestone in my life, written in my journal. I decided to fall head over heels in love with Jesus, loving Him more than anyone or anything. 

Can we fall in love with Christ and stay in love with Him—pure and whole-hearted affection? Not only is this kind of love relationship possible, but it’s what the Lord intended all along. 

How to experience this love relationship is found in the answers to these two questions.

Love With All

Do You Believe in God and Miracles?

I believe in God and I believe in miracles. Maybe so do you.

But when we or our loved ones don’t get our miracle, do we still believe?

For instance, when a friend asked me to pray for her family during a difficult time, I petitioned my Lord to do the impossible. I let my friend know: “I’m praying for nothing short of a miracle. No one is higher than the God we serve.”

Lord, we believe You hold the power and we believe in Your sovereignty. God, You are the God of the impossible. So I pray for a miracle in this situation. I pray You move in a mighty way in the circumstances and with the people involved. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Because only a great and mighty God can make all things a possibility. He can do anything.

Do You Believe?

But my friend’s situation did not turn out as she’d hoped. Yet, our God met her in her darkest hour. Do we still believe in God and in miracles? Yes. Do we still believe in God’s power and plans and ways? Yes.

I have friends who are a walking miracle who were given a death sentence. On the flipside, I lost family members and friends way too early, even though I prayed and had others praying for a divine healing. Their healing and wholeness happened in heaven instead of on earth.

You see, miracles take place in different forms and may not be visible to our natural eyes. It doesn’t mean our miracle didn’t come. But sometimes it didn’t happen the way we wanted.

There are daily miracles of breath and grace. Such as the breath you just took reading this. And the grace upon grace we have every day in Christ (see John 1:16). Let’s not forget moments of miracles in life. Like every time a baby is born. Also, moments of spiritual birth.

Many times, God is working the miracle on the inside of us, transforming us into the image of Christ.

Here are more truths to believe. We believe God is sovereign and good. So we believe the Lord holds the power to do anything, even if He chooses not to.

Believe In God

The Bible is filled with stories of miracles.

Do You Know These 32 Facts About God?

Knowing and embracing facts about God:

Strengthens our heart.

Gives understanding and peace to our minds.

And keeps us focused on spiritual things.

So I believe all the Lord’s children benefit from these absolutes that remind our hearts and minds who God is and what God does.

Facts To Know About God

(1.) The One true God. Oh, there are other gods. But there’s no other god like our God. “For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” Isaiah 46:9b (ESV)

(2.) Living. Jeremiah compares man-made idols to the living God. “But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God.” Jeremiah 10:10 (ESV) How sad and foolish when we bow to idols without breath or believe in gods who are dead.

(3.) Creator. Genesis 1:1 tells us in the beginning God created…. God existed first. Then He created everything else, all of creation, and humans in His image. 

(4.) Holy. The Blue Letter Bible shares, “God is holy means there is no trace of evil in his character. Only God is holy.” Further, “There is no one holy like the LORD.” 1 Samuel 2:2a (ESV)

(5.) Sovereign. God rules as the supreme authority, doing what pleases Him (Psalm 115:3), His kingdom rules over all (Psalm 103:19). 

(6.) In control. “For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?” Isaiah 14:27 (ESV)

(7.) Majestic. “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:9 (ESV)

(8.) Almighty. “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” Revelation 1:8 (ESV)

Absolutes That Make God, God

(9.) Love. “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8 (ESV)

(10.) Judge. God judges righteously, tests hearts, repays evil, and holds vengeance. (Jeremiah 11:20)

(11.) Most high. In Psalm 83:18, Asaph petitions God not to be silent against enemies, “That they may know that you alone, whose name is the LORD, Are the Most High over all the earth.” (ESV)

(12.) Reigning King. The Lord reigns over all (Psalm 47:8), reigns forever (Exodus 15:18), and sits as King forever (Psalm 29:10). 

(13.) Light. “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5b (ESV)

(14.) Magnificent. Impressively beautiful, elaborate, or extravagant; striking (Google). “God is magnificent; he can never be praised enough. There are no boundaries to his greatness.” Psalm 145:3 (MSG)

God’s Consuming Fire Over Modern Idolatry

Our God is the one true God, a consuming fire.

I stepped into the oversized paws and pulled the furry costume over my legs and inserted my arms.

An excited group of pre-schoolers gathered around me to meet Smokey Bear. My son, Caleb, three-years-old at the time, hugged one of my legs.

While I patted his head, he remained clueless Mom stood underneath Smokey’s fur, blue jeans, and forestry hat.

Smokey spent the last 75 years telling kids not to play with matches and how to prevent wildfires.

Although my bear-costume-wearing days ended, I still possess a healthy fear of fire.

Consuming Fire From Heaven

A favorite Bible story describes a showdown of epic proportions involving fire from heaven.

King Ahab reigned over Israel. Sent by the Lord, the prophet Elijah told Ahab he troubled all of Israel because he “abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals.” 1 Kings 18:18b (ESV, emphasis added)

Elijah called for all of Israel to gather at Mount Carmel along with 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah (verse 19).

Then, Elijah spoke on God’s behalf.

“And Elijah came near to all the people and said, ‘How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.’ And the people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men.’” 1 Kings 18:21-22 (ESV, emphasis added)

Now, for the showdown details. 

The prophets of Baal and Elijah each prepared an altar with wood and a bull by cutting the animal in pieces—with no fire put to it. Instead, Elijah gave instructions to “call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” (verse 24, ESV, emphasis added)

Though the prophets of Baal began by preparing the altar and offering. And calling out to their god from morning until noon, there was no voice, and no one answered. (verse 26, ESV)

Calling Down Fire

God Calls Us to Trust: He Does the Rest

Is trusting God difficult for you? Or, would you prefer to place your trust in yourself or others?

And have you ever wondered:

How will I get through this?

Where do I turn?

What are we going to do?

Several times in my life, it felt as if I were free-falling. Like an amusement park ride, the bottom fell out from under me.

Such as the times my husband or I lost a job, our livelihood. And when I miscarried our second baby and hoped to have another child. Also, when my father passed away. In all those cases, insecurity locked arms with me as my unwelcome companion.

Because I not only panicked about our financial situation with a job loss, but I also wondered: what do we do now?

Trusting God Will Bring Good

And honestly, I struggled to believe God would get us through this and bring about our good in some way. Even though my trust waned in the past, we had indeed made it through the same hardship before.

After the miscarriage, the Lord blessed us with another child. But, if I never carried another baby to full term, would my trust in God seem futile? When a loved one passes away instead of receiving a healing, is trusting God still possible?

While we may desire to place our full trust in God’s care, power, control, purpose, plan, and believe He has our best interest at heart, it’s not an easy thing. In fact, it’s super hard.

So is it possible to fully trust our heavenly Father, no matter our circumstances?

Oh, sure, I trust God when life is going along without a hitch. But what about when life isn’t good?

I’m realizing the Lord grows my faith and trust in Him more when life seems unknown than when things are going as planned.

Here’s what I’m learning.

Our Job is Trusting Instead of Worrying

Our job as a Christ-follower is to trust God’s power, ways, and purposes. 

And God’s job is everything else. He does the heavy-lifting. 

Good News About Love for a New Year

I’m not going to say, I have good news and bad news, since that’s not true. 

But I am going to share good news and God news about love to remember all throughout this year. And it’s based on an extraordinary love story.

Last week we talked about the best hope for a new year. This week we look at love.

So, what is love?

Love is one of those loose and hard to define terms we overuse and misuse.

Instead of like, we use love for everything from possessions and food to our favorite sports teams and celebrities.

We love ice-cream, brands, songs, books, and our favorite movies.

News That’s Not New

Honestly, I use love to describe my affections for cinnamon rolls, pasta, Chai tea lattes, boots, Hallmark movies, and sunsets. But that’s only a few of my loves.

Still, we struggle to understand love—a feeling or an emotion? 

In life’s hard moments, we may lose the loving feeling. For me, abandonment extinguished the emotion. Like when my dad vanished from my life for a few years.

Furthermore, culture woos us with a shallow love from people, things, and false ideas and religions. 

Sometimes love fades when hearts break. My heart broke after friendships dissolved and family members died including a baby in utero. I lost hope in love.

Good, Good News

Top 10 List of the Best Hope for the New Year

There’s something I want you to know.

You are never far from hope.

In tragedy, it is there. During dark moments, it covers with light. Hope soars above despair.

Life brings hurt, heartache, and disappointment. Hard places can dissolve every ounce of faith.

But in an uncertain world, there is an undeniable hope, an unshakable anchor for your soul.

In a matter of days, we turn a final page on the calendar to a brand new year.

And most of us probably have dreams and hopes for the next twelve months. Some of these may come true and others will sadly fizzle and fade away

Although hope seems intangible, we have access to a certain and undeniable hope in Jesus Christ. This is the kind of hope we embrace and keep close no matter the circumstances that may come our way.

So let’s look at a top 10 list of the best hope and scriptures sure to help us navigate a new year of celebrations, unknowns, fulfillments and losses. 

Top 10: Unwavering, Grace-filled, Living

(1.) Unwavering Hope. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23 (ESV)

(2.) Grace-filled hope. “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” I Peter 1:13 (ESV)

(3.) Living hope. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 1 Peter 1:3 (ESV)

Best Hope: Godly, Encouraging, Joyful, Strong

In Awe of Christ or the Magic of Christmas

Christmas is intended to point us to the awe of Christ.

A letter from Santa keeps the Christmas magic alive!

Scrolling through email, a subject line caught my attention. “Great Christmas Gift Idea: Letters from Santa.” 

It piqued my interest enough to take a further look.

Instead of our kiddos writing out a wish-list for Santa, then begging us to make sure it arrives at the North Pole before Christmas. Santa sends a personalized letter to our children.

The company’s website, complete with sample ideas and pictures, promises an authentic-looking letter from Santa. 

It arrives at our front door in an envelope stamped from the North Pole.

The Awe of Christ or Christmas Magic

So, we send the company whatever information we choose, but they suggest: name, age, relatives, name of best friend, hometown, etc. And a parent can add special achievements, acts of kindness, or good behavior for Santa to mention. 

I guess a confirmation the child made Santa’s Nice List.The site assures this gift will keep the magic alive for Christmas.

Yet, this gift idea caused me to reflect. As God’s child, I hope to keep Christmas alive in another way.

Letter Stamped From Heavenly Places

You see, the heavenly Father has already sent me an authentic and personalized letter directly from His heart to the door of my heart. 

6 Things We Learn From the Christmas Story

The birth of Jesus lies at the center of the Christmas story.

But have you ever wondered how Jesus’ earthly parents would describe the events? Or what we can learn from His parents and His story to apply to our lives today?

In looking at the overall story, we learn valuable lessons from both Joseph and Mary.

Like how Joseph teaches us three ways to always trust God.

(1.) Always Trust God’s Promises: Christmas Story

The gospel of Matthew paints the scene of a man engaged to a young woman. Yet Mary’s with child before they marry. This situation was completely unacceptable in this time period. 

In fact, the engagement period was a commitment similar to marriage today—a vow to remain true to your betrothed and sexually pure. 

Matthew 1:19 describes Joseph as a “just man” who did not want to put Mary to shame in public, so planned to divorce her privately. But in a dream, an angel proclaimed to Joseph the child was conceived through the Holy Spirit. Joseph took Mary for his wife.

God promises if we move forward in His timing, His ultimate will and purpose is completed, not only in the present, but also in the future.

(2.) Always Trust God’s Protection

After the birth of Christ, an angel warns Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt because Herod wanted to destroy Jesus (Matthew 2:13-15). Once again, Joseph is completely obedient to the Lord. 

When we are completely obedient to the Lord, He is working behind the scenes on our behalf.