HE IS THE IMAGE OF GOD

Colossians 1:15-18 (NKJV) 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

When we look at Jesus, do you know Who we see?  We see the Father God!  Jesus is Almighty God in the flesh.  It is so hard for us as humans to see God, because He is a Spirit, but when Jesus put on flesh and became like us, we could see God.  Now we could understand Him.

So what is God like?  He is everything that Jesus is like.  Jesus never made one person sick.  He only went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil (Acts 10:38).  So I can be sure that it is the Father’s will to heal me.  I know that it is the Father who wants to provide for all of my needs.  Jesus fed those that were hungry, so I know that my Father in heaven will provide for all of my needs.

You see, when I look at the Word of God, the Bible, and see what Jesus did, I know the heart of the Father.  I know that He loves me, and just like the disciple that laid his head on the bosom of Jesus, I can lay my head on the bosom of the Father and know that He loves me, and cares about my every hurt.

Jesus told us that the Father cares for the birds, and the lilies, and He cares for us much more!  God wants to be a Father to us, but we need to let Him.  So today, start seeing your Heavenly Father as a good, loving, and caring Father, and see the change that comes into your life.

Confession:  My Father in heaven loves me and provides for all of my needs here on earth and, one day, when I go to heaven.

Join us for our Bible Reading Plan this year.  Use the QR Code below.

HIS THOUGHTS ARE GOOD TOWARDS ME

Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV) For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

This verse is amazing!  This is how God, our Father, thinks towards us.  His thoughts toward us are not to make us sick, to destroy us, or to give us a lousy life.  His thoughts are not to bring death and destruction.  He is not looking for ways to make us sick and miserable.  No, and a million times no!  My Father’s heart is to bless me, and to help me in my race on earth.

I do not know how much clearer God could put it for us: His thoughts are of peace and not of evil.  He wants us to have a peaceful life; a life of resting in Him.  One thing I figured out is that God wants the best for me, just like I want the best for my kids.  He has much bigger shoulders than I have, and He knows the paths that are in front of me, so He can show me the traps that the devil would like to bring against me.

My Father has a good future for me.  He has a life that has started well, in Him, and will end well.  How can we be sure of this?  Because that is what He said, and if God said it, then I believe it!

God is out for our good.  If we could say that every day over and over, we would get the true revelation of what it means.  God loves us.  We are His kids.  We are created in His image and likeness.  We are the apple of His eye.  He has our name written on the palm of His hand.  He even knows the number of hairs on our heads.  To be honest with you, I do not even know the number of my hairs!

This is His great love for us!  So today, let His thoughts be your thoughts.  Think about how good His thoughts towards you are, and enjoy this adventure called life.  Remember, He has your back and your front.

CONFESSION: God has good thoughts toward me today.  God has my back, my front, and every part of my life.  My Father is out for my good, so I know that today will be a very good day.

Join us for our Bible Reading Plan this year.  Use the QR Code below.

TRUST IN HIM

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT) Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek His will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

Trusting in our Father God should be as simple as a child trusting his father.  As Jesus said, except we become as little children, we will not see the kingdom of God.  But what happens in life is that we have many disappointments and let-downs, and with that comes a lack of trust.

Our Father God will never let us down.  He is faithful and He is true.  This verse puts our relationship to our Father on a heart-to-heart level.  This verse states that we are to trust Him with all of our heart.  One thing that I have found out is that my mind can get in the way many times, but if I keep my heart on Him, all is going to come together.

I love how verse 6 says to “Seek His will in all you do.”  Too often people say, “Well, I would do God’s will if I knew what it was.”  But we know what it is.  His Word, the Bible, is His will.  The Bible shows us the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and if we will partake deeply of His Words, they will guide us throughout all of our lives.

As we seek His will for our lives daily, we find that our lives just seem to come together.  Somehow, like a supernatural magnet, it draws us to Him, and it draws us to places of favor.  Now this does not mean that we are not going to experience trials and tests in our lives, but the Bible does promise us that God will get us through each and every one of them.

You see, God is faithful, and He will never let us down.  He will never leave us, and He will take us to a great victory in Jesus.  So today, trust in Him with all of your heart and watch Him show you the path He wants you to take.  I can tell you, if it is His path for you, it is going to be a very good path!

CONFESSION:  I put my trust in the Lord and I do it His way.  Because of this, I know that every situation will turn out good!

Join us for our Bible Reading Plan this year.  Use the QR Code below.

HE HAS TAKEN CARE OF IT ALL

1 John 1:9 (NKJV) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

I am always so amazed when I think of the complete work of our Heavenly Father.  He knew us so well, and He knew that even with all of our sins forgiven and washed under the blood of Jesus, we would still make mistakes and when we did, we would feel the guilt and condemnation of those sins.

We need to understand that once we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, all of our sins, past, present and future, have been washed in His blood and they are gone!  When we do sin, it can make us feel like we are separated from God, however, He does not separate Himself from us.  When we ask Him to forgive us, it gets us back into fellowship.

God has taken care of everything for us and has made confession a way of saying, “Father, I am sorry.  I messed up again, and I ask you to forgive me.  I do not want this sin to hold me back from sweet fellowship with you, so I thank you for the blood of Jesus washing it fully away.”

WOW!  Just saying these few words, and meaning it in our hearts, makes us feel so much better!  Do not let any big sin, or little sin, get in the way.  Blast it with the power of the blood of Jesus.  He promised us that He would forgive us, so go ahead and ask for it!

Also, let me say this.  Once you ask to be forgiven, YOU ARE FORGIVEN!  That means you need to let it go.  I can just see our dear Father hearing us go over and over the same sin and He is saying, “What are you talking about?   I told you that if you confess it, I will forgive you of it and I will not remember it any longer.”

So today, live forgiven, live free, live accepted and loved by the Father.  Once you ask for forgiveness, let it go and lay your head right back in His chest, and enjoy the sweet fellowship that Jesus has provided for us.

CONFESSION:  I am the forgiven one.  I have confessed my shortcomings to God, and He has fully forgiven me and restored me.  God sees me today, just as if I have never sinned.

Join us for our Bible Reading Plan this year.  Use the QR Code below.

GOD WANTS YOU

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NKJV) Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

God wants you!  That is right.  God wants you to have an intimate relationship with Him.  He does not want just one part of you; He wants all of you.  Think of what you get in return.  You get a fellowship with the Creator, the One that made you and me!  He wants all of us so that we can have all of Him.  Now when I say all, I know that God is so huge that it is not possible for any of us to have all of Him, but He wants us to have all that we can handle of Him.

This verse tells us that God wants us to love Him with all of our heart, and all of our soul, and all of our strength.  Well, that is all of us, so my Father wants all of me.  He loves me so dearly that He wants the complete person, and even with all of my shortcomings and all of my distractions, the Creator of the universe loves me and wants all of me.

I am overwhelmed, at times, by the love God has for me.  The Creator of all, (Who does not need anything because He is so complete) loves me so dearly that He wants me to love Him, and this is all because of Jesus.  When Jesus died on the cross, He took all of my shame and my separation from the Father.  He did it so that I could be totally restored to Abba.

This is so over-the-top that it is hard for our little minds to take it in, but this is where we must receive it by faith and not by our feelings.  In other words, if God says that He loves me this intensely, then I am going to live life just like it is so.

So today, do not look at your shortcomings, look to Jesus’ perfection, and know that the Father sees you just like that: complete and totally loved!

CONFESSION:  I love the Lord my God with all of my heart, all of my soul, and all of my strength.  God is truly in love with me, and I am truly in love with Him!

Join us for our Bible Reading Plan this year.  Use the QR Code below.

A NEW COMMANDMENT

John 13:34-35 (NKJV) A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

Oh, the goodness of God!  When He laid aside the law and gave us a new commandment, it took away all of the guilt, the shame, and the condemnation.  You see, God has now given us the greatest commandment, and that is the commandment of love.

I do not know about you, but I would rather have two commandments than hundreds.  And the amazing thing is that when I choose to walk and live in love, all of the rest just happens!  The law condemned us, but grace has lifted us up.  Grace gives me the empowerment to live out the entire Bible!

So many people try to live the Bible standards in their own strength, and they fall flat on their face, and then feel like failures and leave the faith.  When we choose to do it the New Testament way and love God and love people, everything else works out.  The law kills, but God's Spirit gives us life, and as we see in His Word, it is an abundant life!

So today, put the law away and be a person of love.  Choose to love God, not because you have to, but because He loved you first.  This is what God, your Father, wants: a dear, sweet fellowship with you.  You will see that as you fall more in love with Jesus, you will fall more in love with people.

If you are having problems loving people, then you are not spending enough time with the One who loves all people.  Look into the eyes of Jesus, see His arms open wide, look at His nail-scarred hands, and reach out to Him.  Then your arms will be open wide to reach out to others. You will see others as God sees them, and we all know that God loves people.  They are His passion; they are His heartbeat.

CONFESSION: Today, I choose to be a person of love and not a person of law.  I choose to be quick to forgive and let go of what others have done to me.  Today, I choose grace over law.

Join us for our Bible Reading Plan this year.  Use the QR Code below.

HIS AMAZING LOVE

Romans 5:8 (NKJV) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Think about this verse for just a minute.  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  If Christ would die for me while I was still a sinner, how amazing is His love for me now that I am redeemed and in Him?  The Bible shows us so clearly this great love of God, that no matter what, we cannot get God, our Father, to stop loving us.

In John 3:16 it says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  Whoever!  Not perfect people, not people that do everything right, but people just like you and me; people that wake up and make a mess of their day.  These are the people that our Father loves.

Now, do not get me wrong.  Each and every day we want to become more like Jesus.  We want to live a life of holiness.  But I have learned through experience that I am going to mess up, and that if I “‘fess up,” He is right there for me.  In fact, He promised me that He would never leave me or forsake me.

I once heard a preacher say, “Don’t run from God when you sin, run to Him.”  It is so true.  Too often when people mess up, they do not go to church, and their prayer time becomes less, because they feel guilty coming into the presence of a Holy God.  But the thing is, because of the finished work of Calvary, God sees us through the blood of Jesus, and there is nothing that can wash sin whiter than His blood.

So today, do not see yourself in yourself.  See Christ in you, the hope of glory.  See the Perfect One, Jesus Christ, abiding in you.  See yourself the way God sees you: in Jesus.  What an amazing God we serve.  He knew we could not do it, so He did it for us!

CONFESSION:  Today, I lean on the amazing love of God.  This love is beyond words.  While I was still a sinner, Christ died for me.  Wow!  How much does He love me now?  He loves me as much as He loves Jesus.

Join us for our Bible Reading Plan this year.  Use the QR Code below.