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God Loves You!

I’ve been walking with God for 15 years now! It’s crazy that it’s been that long… He loved me before I ever had a thought of him and he’s loved me since! In my pride, in my struggle, regardless of any sin my God has taken delight in me! WOW! What a powerful truth I’ve come to learn: God loves me at my best and he loves me at my worst!

Thank you God for your incredible love towards me! Right now I pray for all those reading this that they will grow in their understanding of your great love for them. Yes God, may they come to know that you love them in their sin, in their struggle, in their addiction and in their unbelief. Open their hearts and powerfully minister your great love! May they come to the fullness of the knowledge of Christ. Thank you God!

Oh open your hearts today! Forget the distractions of the world! Give God your worry, your opinions and your concern. He loves you more than you know! God loves you at your best and he loves you at your worst…God loves you! Be encouraged by this truth! May it lead you to great peace, joy and freedom!

God loves you!!! This is the message we need to focus on! His love that draws people to repentance (to change their minds). We need to pray and ask God for a greater revelation of his love for us, our children, the church and America.

“Thank you Jesus for your constant love, thank you for your love that never fails! Fill hearts across this nation and around the world with your great love, amen!”

Blessings my friends,

John

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All 4 All

“He poured out his life unto death.” Isaiah 53:12

Over 2,000 years ago God gave us his ALL on a cross at Calvary. Jesus poured out his life for us and after healing the sick and loving the least, the last and the lost he suffered and died on a cross for you and for me. He then rose from the grave and since then he has been at the right hand of God praying for us!

If this doesn’t portray a loving God I’m not sure what does! He is a good father, the best of friends, patient, kind, gentle, loving, understanding, helpful and completely selfless! Basically he is worthy of our devotion, he is worthy of our lives!

So, today will you respond to his great grace and unconditional love by giving your all to him? We love him because he first loved us and we have been called to be co-laborers with him in the earth (1 Corinthians 3:9). We’re called to partner with him by giving our all as he gave his all.

Let’s give our all to him today in worship, prayer, devotion, faith, love and service. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” Matthew 5:14 Let’s partner with God and give our all today!

Let’s go light it up!

-John

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“I Want To Help” -God

God is calling out to us and he is asking, “How long will you try to do things in your own effort and strength”? All the meanwhile we ignore Him and remain in a state of stress, worry and fear. We find ourselves exhausted and nothing to show for all of our efforts. Stop trying to do it all yourself, invite God to be God and trust his ability to bring you into your promised land. He will do it and it will be without sorrow.

It’s kind of like debt, we purchase things we have no right purchasing, we put it on credit and go into debt all because we didn’t want to trust God and wait on his timing. In doing so we cause ourselves great stress, not only ourselves but our relationships as well. Basically we strive and rely on our own sufficiency and it only causes frustration! This is not so with God, for the blessing of the Lord makes one rich and he adds no sorrow with it (Proverbs 10:22). In the same way (in all areas of your life) God wants to bring his blessing without sorrow. God wants to bring an ease to life so that even in the storm we can have peace. So what is God saying to us today?

I believe He is saying this:

–Rest in my love for you

–Rest in my peace

–Rest in my care for you

–Rest in my ability

–Rest in my leadership

–Rest in my grace

Did you get it? He is inviting us to enter in to His rest…Let’s enter in!

~John

“Anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work…Let us therefore make every effort to enter into that rest…” Hebrews 4:10-11

“…We set our hearts at rest in His presence.” 1 John 3:19

( For more on entering into God’s rest Click here )

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Two Things

I have two words for you today:

1. Trust God

Many times the cares of the world cloud our minds and we forget that God is a good father and that he knows how to take good care of his children. Stop worrying and stressing about your bills and all of the “what ifs” of tomorrow. God loves you and he will take care of you! Set your eyes back on God and speak his word over your situation.

“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You.” Isaiah 26:3

“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory.” Philippians 4:19

2. Get to work serving others

It’s easy to get comfortable within the confines of our own homes, to turn on the TV, open our laptops or be on our phones. Distractions are many and entertainment is well…entertaining! But God has called us to abundant life and abundant life is more than watching other people live. We are called to get involved and serve the people all around us. The world is hurting, there is so much brokenness in the earth today. The lie we often buy is, “What can I do?”

Well, Jesus calls you the light of the world! You are the hands and feet of Jesus in the earth today! God has given you talents, gifts and resources that you can use to share God’s love with the world around you. So may this challenge you today to GET UP and GET OUT! The lost, the broken, the hurting, the lonely and the confused are waiting…

“Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8

“Each one of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10

That’s it!

Trust God for your miracle and be someone else’s miracle while you’re at it!

Blessings,

John

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Responding to Criticism, Defeat, Discouragement and Disappointment

How do you respond to criticism, defeat, discouragement and disappointment? We are bound to face all of these at some point in our lives and for many of us we will face them often. So how do YOU respond in these difficulties?

I have to admit that immediately when any one of these things come into my life I am often affected by them…for a moment! In the past I would let criticism, defeat, discouragement and disappointment take me out for hours, days and even weeks at times but that is not the case anymore. I’ve learned to identify them and quickly rise above the negative state they attempt to leave me in. Did you know that we can take authority over our negative emotions and stay in a place of peace?

God’s taught me several keys that help me identify negative feelings and quickly rise above them bringing me back to a place of peace and joy. Here’s what I’ve come to learn:

  • The quicker I get my eyes off of my situation and back onto God’s goodness and his love for me the quicker I feel like myself and have peace and joy
  • The moment I recognize the negative feelings I’m feeling from criticism, defeat, discouragement and disappointment I take them captive and start thanking God for my growth and ability to do so
  • Stop thinking inwardly and start thinking outwardly (instead of poor me I move to a positive place with the thought of how can I encourage others from this negative experience)
  • Pray: I acknowledge my feelings and then bring them to God in prayer and in exchange he gives me peace
  • I rejoice in faith because I know if I’m feeling any one of these things its from the enemy, who is obviously trying to stop me and keep me from moving forward (this encourages me because I know I’m on the right track and about to experience breakthrough in my life (that can potentially lead to breakthrough in many other lives as well)

I hope these few things bring you both encouragement and power to respond well to criticism, defeat, discouragement and disappointment.

Blessings,

John