Come, Run

A touch of love, a touch of Heaven, A warm embrace, it’s like no other-

Run into His arms, His arms wide open to heal and to restore the bruised, the broken-hearted, the heavy-laden, the hurting, the weeping, come to the Lord

Come, come, run into His arms of love wide open, His touch of Love will mend the very

heart that’s broken-

Cast away your fear, the healing Love of God is here

Come, come, run into His arms, His arms of Love

A love that’s always ready to answer all who come desperately,

A love that’s always wanting to bless the ones who come willingly,

A love that’s always longing to touch the hearts that are crying out

Come on, come run, come on, come run, cause Love is here

My heart and mouth are set on...

Psalm 19:14  “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O’ Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

What pours out of the mouth is the fruit of what the heart is set on.  And how can we tell what the meditation of our heart is?  Well, what am I focused on, where are my priorities, who is my attention set on, what do I consider valuable?  What do I put my time into?  Well all of these things make up the meditation of my heart, but is what I’m doing, what I’m focusing on, what I’m considering valuable, my priorities, are they acceptable to God?  And I will give it away, I will let know that which is valuable to me, for the things that I value most are the things I will talk about most.  If all I speak is mindless babble, what then is the meditation of my heart?  If all I talk about is the opposite sex, what then is my heart set on?  If all I pour my time into is video games or entertainment of any kind, what is the meditation of my heart?  These things in and of themselves are not necessarily evil, yet when they are placed in a level higher than God they become idols and to think such a thing is disgusting, but how many times has it happened?  How many times has the Sweet Father asked us to spend time in His holy presence to talk with Him yet we rejected Him because it is not the most “convenient” time for us…The better question is, what air would we be breathing if it weren’t for Him?  Where would we be going if it wasn’t for His sacrifice?  Thank Him for His lovingkindness and tender mercy.. and it’s not even that He would be mad..It grieves Him when His children ignore Him, when we ignore His calling, His beckoning us to draw near to Him and to learn, it hurts Him when He asks us to spend time with Him and we push Him to the side and continue our daily routine, a daily routine of uselessness if He is not involved..

He created us so He could have a family and if there is going to be a strong family, love and communication will tie it together, just like a relationship.  Don’t silence that gentle nudging on the inside asking you to spend some time with God, He has every answer we will ever need for every situation, He has all we need, He is all we need, and He wants to talk with His children, He wants His children to spend time with Him and He wants to spend time with us, He is Love.  The more time we spend with Him, the more we fall in love with Him, and now He has become the meditation of the heart – this is the greatest, most fulfilling place to be.

From: Jesus, To: His Beloved

I’m fully convinced no one on the earth loves you as much as I love you
My love burns brighter than the noon-day sun
Every day, every minute, every second I fan the flame--
I’m here to love you, to lift you up, I’m here to stand next to you, I’m here to hold your hand, I’m here to encourage you, I’m here to pour my entire affection on you, I’m here to bless you, I’m here to strengthen you, I’m here to serve you, I’m here to love you.
There is no other love that will trump my love for you—
It’s no candle, not a campfire, not even a forest fire, but a wild fire—
Every day, every minute, every second I fan the flame.
My love burns brighter than the noon-day sun and no one on this earth has, is or will love you as much as I do.

I love you, My Beloved

Love,
Jesus

True Value

Phillipians 3:7-8  “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Chris Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ…”

What is it that we value in life?  What is it that so many people are taught?  What is it that we run after, that we use our entire life trying to obtain?

Growing up in this society, going to high school (home-schooled up until then), some of the biggest things in life to obtain are wealth, a good career, fame if possible.  It’s sad to say, many are taught that if they don’t go to college or pursue a higher form of education than a high school degree, they just won’t amount to much.  After all, the highest paid careers are the product of years and years of schooling.  And of course a lie is that true happiness is found in money, wealth…Not to mention with fame comes the mass of wealth and that is one heck of a career.  You see it everywhere.  You’ll see people run themselves into the ground to get a good career, spend almost half of their life (some, more than half) to get that title or that amazing paying job, but what is it for?!  Understand that I have nothing against college, nothing against wealth, nothing against fame, but what I do stand against is the idol that is made out of these things.  These things become the goal of our life, and what do we have in the end?  When we’re nearing our last breath, we look back at our life and wonder “what was it for?”  The real question should be this – “Who is it for?”  Take this passage from Phillipians 3 and ask yourself that question. 

If you read verses 4-6, you’ll see Paul giving an account of who he was, what he had attained in life before Christ.  He explains he was the top notch, he was found blameless in the law, he was the MAN, but according to whom?  When he found Christ, an extraordinary change took place – Everything he once considered valuable, everything he ran after, the very things that he spent his life trying to attain, trying to become, he said it was rubbish when he started to know Christ!  One translation which I truly enjoy, says he counted it as dung…That’s yummy.  But seriously, think about it.  The man himself now considered everything he had gained a heaping pile of dung compared to knowing Christ and being found in Him.  If that doesn’t tell you something about the goodness of God, I don’t know what does.

So what is it that we value in this life?  What is it that we are running after?  Are we pursuing worldly, empty things, or are we pursuing the One Who created all things, the One who freely gives you ALL GOOD THINGS (Yes, it’s scriptural).  He wants you to have these things, the wealth, the career, the success, but He wants to be the desire of your heart, and the only true happiness comes from knowing Him more and more.  He is what’s valuable, the most valuable, and even that is a word that falls short of describing Him.

Don’t waste your life away trying to obtain things and leaving God on the side.  God considers you very valuable as well as your life.  Get to know Him more and more, and don’t stop – True value is found in knowing Him.

Self Control

Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…”

Self-control is also known as Temperance in the King James Version, but it is the Greek work Enkrateia derived from the word “kratos” meaning “strength”. In order to walk in self-control, we must have power over our will. Self-control is a fruit of the “Spirit”, not a fruit of self-will. There is a will that is of ourselves and some have developed this will more than others. We refer to the strength to carry something out as our “willpower”. For example, someone who is addicted to smoking and is trying to quit, if they have enough willpower, they can eventually stop smoking. Then there are the others with a lack of willpower who just can’t seem to quit no matter how hard they try. People in themselves can accomplish things by their own willpower, but how much can our will take? Yes, we all have willpower, some can abstain from things, but for how long does the willpower remain? How much pressure will cause it to break?
In today’s society, self-control isn’t widely practiced. We are taught to give into our desires, our feelings, whatever we want to do, just DO IT! After all, it’s our life, we only have one, let’s live it to the max, let’s have fun, let’s do things that are out of the ordinary, let’s be wild and crazy, let’s be sporadic and unpredictable, let’s do things that please me! Drugs, alcohol, sex, curse, party, whatever it is, we don’t want to miss out, but here’s the thing - it’s widely believed that this lifestyle is fulfilling, it’s exciting, it’s fun! But it’s only fun for awhile…Sin has devastating results. You’ll see that the things I just mentioned are actually found earlier on in the Galatians 5 as being deeds of the flesh (it’s actually living out of control), and you’ll see in Romans 8 that the nature of the flesh is directly against the nature of the Spirit. See, as we walk according to the Spirit, as we are bearing this fruit, our desire to do the deeds of the flesh will diminish and eventually be naught. If you are caught in these things (not just these, any sin) and you would consider maybe one or some or all of these things to be habits, know this – there is freedom. There is power to walk in the self-control which is a fruit of the Spirit, to not be defeated and bound to the deeds of the flesh but to walk in the self-control that we were made to walk in.
Many people think that if we were to walk in self-control and not partake of these deeds of the flesh that our lives would be boring and nothing fun would ever happen, but it’s actually quite the opposite! The most fulfilling life ever to be lived is one that is bearing the fruit of the Spirit, but I’ll get into that later.
We must begin to control ourselves, to take control over the old nature that is crying out to do evil deeds, to partake of sin, to have “fun” and be satisfied…True satisfaction comes after we begin to walk in self-control, to walk in domination over those things, and to develop in more and more self-control every day.

Gentleness

Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness…”

Like I said before, gentleness and kindness are very closely related.  When you think of a kind person, you often associate gentleness with them.  When they talk to others, they more often than not have a soft, soothing tone.  You don’t hear a gentle person yelling at the top of their lungs in your face “HEY YOU LOOK REALLY NICE TODAY!”  And these people are generally nice people.  Then again, gentleness is not just the tone of your voice either, understand this.  Gentleness has much to do with correction, discipline, things like these.  Gentleness is required in order to do these types of things correctly.

Take for example a parent disciplining their children.  This ought to be done in gentleness, however you see it all over the place children getting beat abusively by their father, typically, and then calling it discipline.  Well, that is actually counterproductive, that is, beating your children out of anger, or correcting someone when they’re wrong about something, doing it with anger, or with a sense of pride as if the one correcting is better and has every right to be impatient with the one who is being corrected.

When I was a child, I have no problem saying that I was spanked.  Why?  Because it certainly did teach me something.  My parents would discipline me in love, with gentleness – they would explain to me why I would be receiving the spanking and why this was needed.  Proverbs 13:24 says “He who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently”.  Now you may say “What’s so gentle about your parents spanking you?”  How about this – it isn’t coming out in the form of a black eye!  And the fact that whoever is doing the correcting is doing it with gentleness, the one who is receiving correction will be MUCH MORE LIKELY to actually receive it and learn from it rather than continue in the wrong way and hold bitterness against the one who corrected.

We know that Jesus was gentle.  In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light”.  This passage clearly indicates that gentleness is of the heart and Galatians says it’s a fruit of the Spirit, so we know it’s not just words but a heart condition. 

If you’d say, “Man, I’m just not a gentle person…I’m mean, I’m rough, I want my heart to be right, I want to be gentle”.  Well I have good news for you – you can be.  Jesus told us to come to Him, to learn from Him.  How do we learn from Him.  Jesus is the Word made flesh.  Look into the Bible, that’s where you learn all about Him – that’s where it all starts.  So go to Him, go to the Word and learn from Him, He’ll teach you how to be gentle.  It’s another step to becoming just like Him!

Faithfulness

Galatians 5:22 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness…” 

Faithfulness here is the Greek word Pistis which is defined in the Vine’s dictionary of Greek Words as “firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing”. Ever had someone tell you they would do something for you and they would say “you have my word”? Well, now they must prove it to you, to see if they’ll actually stick to their word, they’ll actually do it! Words are a dime a dozen nowadays and it’s sad to see how worthless words have become, but yet they are the most powerful thing! Anyway, you’re waiting to see if the person who gave you their word, pretty much promised you they would do it, is actually going to do it. What are you waiting to see? They’re faithfulness. Everybody can talk big, but what happens when rubber meets the road? Are they faithful to their word? Are they faithful to you?
In us is the faithfulness of the Spirit. I have mentioned before about the other fruit, but I can’t say it enough…It’s always a choice! It’s always a choice whether we will hold fast to what we say, if we’ll be faithful to our word. 
When you are first getting to know someone and it’s the first time they tell you they will do something for you and you are counting on them to do it, it may be hard to trust, but if they end up keeping their word, the trust grows, their word becomes more valuable, you see faithfulness in action here. If it happens this way over and over and over again, it’s like you can’t count on whatever they say, they’re gonna do, no exceptions, they are 100% faithful to their word.
Things have happened in our lives, people have told us things that they didn’t end up doing, we put our firm trust in them but they just didn’t come true and it ended up hurting our trust in them, they have become less faithful to their word. A lack of acting on your word will seriously damage and may even destroy people’s trust in you, and like I said, it’s because there hasn’t been enough emphasis on the importance of the words that come out of our mouth. But how about God? What can we say about His faithfulness?
Our Father gave us His Word, His Word that is full of truth, He actually is Truth itself! God has never, ever, spoken ONE LIE out of His mouth, but yet how many times do we have trouble trusting His Word to us, as if He was ever unfaithful to us? He is nothing but faithful and loving to us. Jeremiah 1:12 says “Then the Lord said to me, ‘You have seen well, for I am watching over My Word to perform it”. God is faithful, always and forever, and we have the ability to be just as faithful – Remember, it’s a choice.
If you’re track record is ugly in the area of faithfulness, turn it around! Repent and begin to watch your words very carefully, they are so so so valuable (I’ll do a blog on words later). You can speak truthfully, you can be faithful to perform the word that comes from your mouth, be very selective on what you say, don’t say you’ll do something if you won’t, it will hurt you. Always keep your word to God and to people, no matter what!

Goodness

Galatians 5:22 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness…”

The goodness found in this verse is the goodness that is expressed in action but at the same time is of the heart.  It is actually very closely related to the kindness I just posted about and the gentleness I will post about later, but I believe goodness to be a bit broader then kindness, however not any greater or lesser in value.

You may have heard it said that “So and so is a good person”, but what constitutes a good person as compared to a bad person?  Most would say that persons actions.  They’re a very nice person, always looking to help others, always does the right thing, they don’t lie, they don’t steal, they don’t cuss, whatever it happens to be.  To most, the more of these qualities they possess, the more “good” this person is…But it’s not a lack of acting badly that makes the person good, it’s the good action from a good heart that makes the person good.

Goodness will flow from a heart that is right.  Proverbs says “Watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life”.  Whatever is in us is what will flow out of us.  What we are filled with, goodness or evil, will show itself through our words and our actions. 

True goodness is expressed in selfless actions.  Someone that is filled with goodness, bearing the fruit of goodness, will not do something for someone simply to profit themselves…A good person will do something for someone else even when there is absolutely no profit or gain for themselves, they just simply do it because it’s the right thing to do.  Some dismiss the idea of doing good for somebody if there isn’t immediate gain, or any gain that they can see, because they’re motives are selfish.  HOWEVER, there is absolutely, 100%, a profit for doing something for someone else even though it may not be seen.  First off, there is the inward satisfaction like “Wow, I just did something that I didn’t have to do for someone else, this feels good”, secondly there will be profit down the road for having a selfless attitude, a heart of goodness, and a lifestyle of giving without immediate reward, in this life and in the next.  It pays to walk in goodness!

It’s all about being a selfless person, just like Jesus.  Jesus was goodness in human form, He did good all the time, every time!  There is contentment and satisfaction in a life of goodness, goodness from the heart.

Kindness

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness..”

Jesus was the most compassionate and kind person to walk the face of the earth. He said to His disciples that if they were to even give a drink to a child in need, it would be as if they were doing it unto Him. Jesus was a man full of kindness. Jesus was a giver. If we are to imitate Jesus, we are going to walk in kindness toward one another. Many times we can see kindness in words, such as “Oh, he just told me how nice I looked” – from that, we consider them to be a kind person…But kindness should be expressed little in words compared to our acts of kindness. This does not mean that we are not kind with our words, but that our actions back up our words, not to mention that acts of kindness far outweigh in value words of kindness. Ephesians 4:32 says “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you”.
In 1 Corinthians 13, commonly referred to as the Love chapter, kindness is mentioned as being a part of love. It says “Love is patient, love is kind…” So, in order to be walking in the fullness of Love, which is actually the first fruit of the Spirit that we went over (but just began to touch), we must be walking in kindness. And this is food for thought coming up right here – Saying something kind to somebody’s face and turning around and talking badly about the same person is wrong and the very word’s said to the person’s face did not come from a kind heart, therefore kindness is not at work. Kindness is more than words. True kindness must blossom from the inside, the heart must be right. If my heart is filled with hate and I talk kindly to someone but truly hate that person and they don’t know it, it is NOT kindness. This is not believed today. The practice today is to be nice to somebody when they’re present, but when they’re not, they are center of hurtful words, we chop them up and leave them on the ground even though they aren’t there. Then we want to see them and smile and say “Oh you look so nice today, you are truly an angel”, the only problem is…The heart’s not there. And truly, the other person may not know it, but the one who has the wrong heart does and must take into account their attitude of heart and change it. Kindness is practiced whether there are people around or not.
I hope you see how important kindness is and how strongly linked it is to love. The two walk hand in hand! Let’s make an effort to walk in kindness and love towards one another, when people are not present and when they are. When kindness springs forth from the heart, it will be so easy to talk kindly to one another and the joy of it is this – it will be truth!

Quit hurrying!

Patience

Galatians 5:23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience…”

If there was ever a time of being in a hurry, it’s NOW. No pun intended…But really, we see a lack of patience all over the place. We call some restaurants “Fast Food Restaurants” because we are in a hurry to get to a destination, and the world is coming to an end if it takes 6 minutes in the drive through rather than 5, I mean let’s be serious, don’t these people know that what I have to do and where I’m going is VERY IMPORTANT? Then we get back on the road and we’re stuck behind two slugs having a race on the two-lane street and they are neck and neck, outrageous! The gall of some people going the speed limit on the road, inconceivable! This is just a few examples.
But we see this “hurry” attitude all over the place, and the lack of patience we see is 9 times out of 10 (not statistically proven) connected with somebody else, i.e. the examples I just gave – People at the restaurant not working fast enough, people on the road driving too slow. We get impatient with others and pretty soon we are angry at the other one, bitter, and we start saying things we shouldn’t have said, and where did it come from? In this case, a lack of patience.
Well we know from reading this scripture that one of the fruits of the Spirit is patience, so this obviously needs to be developing in our lives, and we can start right in the car, that is if we have trouble dealing with other people on the road. I can’t pinpoint every area where there is a lack of patience, but these two that I described are areas I dealt with before. When patience is not being developed, stress is either right at the door step or about to walk in. Some terrible things happen when we take on an attitude of “hurry, hurry” or “I can’t take this anymore!”. We may end up doing something drastic that could hurt others and yourself.
How do we develop patience? It’s simple – practice. Making choices that sometimes we don’t feel like making but we know are right. The car example one last time – Someone is going 40 in a 45 and it’s a one lane road, double yellow line, night-time, and you are stuck behind this person. You think “Ok, I’ve had enough, I’m passing this guy”, but what you don’t realize is there is a car coming the other direction and you didn’t see him because his headlights were off, but…It’s too late. You acted in a hurry, there was no patience, and the accident could cost the other person and you your lives. 
This is a serious example, but if patience is not practiced with the little things, it could lead to something like this. But we have the choice, it is a choice, to be patient with others and with things.
There is more on patience, but this is enough for this time. So remember, don’t be in a hurry – be patient!

Beyond Happiness

Galatians 5:22 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy...”

 The word joy is commonly compared to happiness, but let me tell you that joy is much much more than happiness.  In fact, happiness is temporary and subject to change.  For example, you may be having the best day of your LIFE and someone comes up to you and says, “Hey, you look really stupid and bad today, I wonder, have you looked in the mirror at yourself?  You’re a big failure.  Or how about your ’91 Dodge shadow that you’re driving out there that sounds like a herd of squealing pigs when you’re driving?  That must be so embarrassing, especially if you’re anywhere in town, they can hear your hunk of junk miles away.  Yea, you’re an idiot”.  Now, I don’t know about you, but happiness would probably grow wings and fly right out the window for me if someone said that to me and meant it, but here’s where the difference between joy and happiness comes in.  What’s very important about joy is that it is a choice.  Now what that person said has come to rob you of your joy.  One of the normal reactions would be to take your fist and pop them in the face, but the reaction should be one like this – “I don’t care what you say, I won’t accept that to myself.  You are entitled to your opinion, but I won’t get hurt by it”.  Here’s the thing…You will never make every person happy, you will never look good to every person, and you must accept that!  Knowing that will take the pressure off of you.  The big thing is to make the choice to ignore those words that have come to you.  Yes, you have heard them, and once you have heard them you are faced with two choices – You can either take those words to yourself and get offended, or you can shun those words and keep a good attitude.  It is definitely not an easy choice, but it has benefits;  You won’t lose your joy!  And it’s hard to bring someone down when their joy can’t be taken away.  There’s a positive aura about them, you’ll notice.  Why?  Joy!  That person can’t be brought down!  Now happiness is found in joy, joyful people are happy people.  But if something comes against that person and they aren’t giggly and bent over laughing all the time doesn’t mean they aren’t a joyful person.  Something else on joy I’ll end up with.

Nehemiah 8:10 says that the joy of the Lord is your strength, or you can say it this way - When you take joy in the Lord, it becomes your strength.  When you make the choice to remain joyful in trials and tribulations and throughout your normal daily routine, strength of the Lord will be right there.  It’s all about choice.

So remember this:  Joy is a choice, it is not just simply happiness.  You are strengthened by the Lord because you made the decision to remain joyful.

Don’t just stay happy – Stay joyful!

Peaceful Times

Galatians 5:23 – “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace…”

Peace is one of the most sought for things in the world.  You’ve heard the cliché line on the pageants, “World peace”.  Our nation looks to make peace with other nations.  We fight for peace.  We look to be at peace with others.  We hate tension between our friends when there is an argument or something nasty was said – well what’s lacking here?  Peace.  In John 15:27, Jesus said “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.”  It’s clear that Jesus was a peaceful person.  Now I’m not saying Jesus was out in a field of lilies all the time in a cross legged position meditating, He wasn’t.  He was always on the move, He was about the Father’s business.  So what about us?  What about our hectic schedules?  What about schoolwork that seems to be so overbearing?  What about our job that is so stressful?  What about bills and not having too much money left over or any at all?  What about these things, and how in the world can we find peace?  How can there be peace in a world that is full of stress, chaos, and fear?  The answer is found in Matthew.

In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”  Jesus told us to come to Him, for in Him is true peace.  It’s not just temporary peace for your soul but a lifestyle of peace.  It’s the ability to come to Him when life is really hard on you, when times are stressful.  If there are times of trouble and times of stress, they are right now, and Jesus is inviting you to come to Him so He can give you His peace.  And the best part about it is this – you don’t have to leave His peace.  When things start to look up and alright, we may start to drift, to back away, slip back into the old way of doing things, leaving His peace behind;  we had our temporary fix, we are okay for now, I’ll come back when I need some more…But we don’t ever have to leave.  Jesus said to “Abide in Me”, He wants you to abide in Him, in His peace at all times.  Now things will still come, stressful times will come, troubled times will come, but when we are with Him, His peace is there and will carry you through just as long as you abide in Him – It’s our choice.  Run to Him, let Him wrap you in His arms, for in Him there is peace that passes comprehension.

Loving Commitment

Love is commonly not portrayed correctly in this day and age.  There are so many things that love is defined as being or connected to.  Boyfriend and girlfriend, husband and wife, those who are engaged to be wed are said to be in love and some may truly be.  However there are ones who say they are in love yet they treat their “loved one” with disrespect, they may beat them, they may constantly bring them down with their words – these are not examples of love, but of the exact opposite.  But there is one that I would like to touch on here – adultery.  You may be thinking how in the world I have any idea what adultery is like since I haven’t had a firsthand experience with it.  Goodness, I haven’t even been married, so how in the world do I have any business talking about adultery?  Read on and you’ll understand just what I’m about to say here and I won’t sound like a nut.

In Ephesians 5:23 we see a relationship between the church and Jesus.  In a natural relationship, we expect the other person to be entirely committed to the other person…Unfortunately, in natural relationships, this is sadly not the case sometimes.

But I need you to to imagine something here.  Just imagine ladies, the most perfect guy ever in the world promises to marry you, he’s given you all he has, all he can give to you he’s given, he’s done nothing but treated you with respect and love, never cheated on you, never even beat you down or tore you down with words, he’s always been encouraging to you.  He’s always ready to help you no matter what, he forgives you and tells you he loves you no matter what you’ve done to him.  Now when you think about it, that’s like, “yea, right, out of the question” but if you take a minute here, you would come to understand that this may not be very likely for a natural man, there is one Man that has done this for you and is ready to do this for you – His name is Jesus.  If you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, these things are becoming more real to you as you walk with Him, you know that Jesus is the perfect image of love itself, He is Love.  Yet, I want you to have this image.  Jesus died on the cross for us, for our sins that we would be delivered from the bondage of those things.  In the gospels Jesus told the woman who had been caught in adultery by the Pharisees that He held absolutely nothing against her but He made a request to her – He said, go on, sin no more.  I want you to understand what sin does, what it looks like.  Since we are His, while He is preparing to return, He expects us to be committed to Him, and rightfully so.  But how many times do we run back to the old way of things, we run back to sin, we run back to the things that our Loving Jesus has set us free from?  I want you to see this like it is.  When we do this, when we run to those things, it is as if we are committing adultery on Jesus.  We’re not acting as a loving bride would, as a committed wife would.  We can seat ourselves in the position of the woman caught in adultery that though we were caught in our sin, Jesus said to us that He holds nothing against us, but He does ask that we sin no more.  When we give ourselves to those things, we are cheating on the Jesus.  But, He doesn’t leave us there!  This is the most amazing, awesome thing ever!  He holds nothing against us!  He is ready and willing to forgive whatever sin you have committed, even if you mess up 1,000 times over.  He is ready to forgive you when you come to Him and repent.  First John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.  He wants to be so close to you that it doesn’t make a difference what you have done in your past or whatever mistakes are in the future, He is ready to forgive, He wants to be close to you.  He is so in love with you, more than you could possibly imagine.  And so with this in mind, I want to end up with this.

If Jesus is your personal Lord and Savior but have walked back into sin, there is loving Jesus waiting for You ready to love on you, God is ready to forgive, all you must do is repent, confess your sins to Him, not out in the middle of the mall or the store at the top of your lungs, just you and Him, and ask Him to forgive you – it is really that simple. 

If you have never asked Jesus to come into your heart, to be your personal Lord and Savior and you would like to, Jesus is ready and more than willing to pour His love out on you.  The bible says that “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”.  It is really that simple.  If you are unsure of what to pray, this is for you.  Say it with all your heart, mean it with your all your heart.

Heavenly Father, in the Name of Jesus, I present myself to You.  I pray and ask Jesus to be Lord over my life. I believe it in my heart, so I say it with my mouth: “Jesus has been raised from the dead.” This moment, I make Him the Lord over my life.  Jesus, come into my heart. I believe this moment that I am saved, I say it now: “I am reborn. I am a Christian. I am a child of Almighty God.” http://www.kcm.org/index.php?p=real_help_content&id=1

If you did just pray this prayer, send me a message, I would love to hear and talk with you anytime.  Jesus loves you and so do I.