The only viable pass into heaven

“God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30, 31 NLT)

Halle...

“He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ (Acts 17:24, 25, 27, 28 NLT)

Confidence

Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens!
May your glory shine over all the earth. My heart is confident in you, O God;
my heart is confident.
No wonder I can sing your praises! Wake up, my heart!
Wake up, O lyre and harp!
I will wake the dawn with my song. I will thank you, Lord, among all the people.
I will sing your praises among the nations. For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens.
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens.
May your glory shine over all the earth. (Psalm 57:5, 7-11 NLT)

The soul freedom a relationship with God gives

One of the more touching aspects of God's dealings with us, who by faith have begun a binding relationship with Him, turning from our sin, is that God is as close to us as we wish Him to be.
In our relationship with God He never moves; we, by our selfishness and sin, distance ourselves from Him. A loving Father, He chooses to remain ready to walk and talk with us. Our need is His priority. I'm so glad He does deal with us as children. We don't gain merit with Him for our performance-His concept of us is the same, we're cherished and welcomed. He relates to us on the basis of love. His passion is that we stay on path-inclined to live and breathe in all He has for us. As this is the general direction of our lives, He's pleased to look beyond our intermittent slip ups. Yes, these are violations of His law and love; but even these tend to make us more prone to please Him more consistently. The joy of reaching the secure realization that God deals with us on the basis of love, not our faithfulness to Him is no pass into sin. A truth so stabilizing and freeing is one that should makes us run in the way and worth of His steps; dying to reciprocate His love and not spit in His face by our fallen conduct. Yes, you'll stumble from time to time; but walking In His ways; you'll even start forgiving yourself and forgetting the times you've fallen for that is how He is with you.

But you are always the same;
you will live forever. The children of your people
will live in security.
Their children’s children
will thrive in your presence.” (Psalm 102:27, 28 NLT)

Seeing others changed starts with changing-yourself

Of all the challenges in marriage, being on the same page generally is probably one of the triggers of greatest friction between partners. I am so stocked to speak helpfully after having come together unitedly on a matter with my spouse. There is no better feeling than to feel your spouse experience breakthrough and experience being on the same page with your spouse in matters spiritual, parental, relational or other. Usually the wife tends to be the more spiritual of the two marriage partners. When this is the case, she usually lives waiting for her husband to come to breakthrough on matters important in their relationship. If the opposite is the case, the husband at times will wait for his wife to come to realizations which are important to their maintaining true union as a couple. Whatever the case, life in marriage can tend to tension and strain until one partner experiences a breakthrough realization. Until realized, marital communication between partners seems shallow and forced. While waiting for breakthrough in your partner-assuming you've come to a understanding you know your spouse must come to as well-it's important that you practice a few things. First, be the change that you desire in your spouse. Your example couple with timely, helpful words may be used of the Spirit to draw your spouse into God's better for them. Life is comprised of stages. Each of us are in different places. Your sensitivity to each other's timeline and potential for change in time will have great bearing on your marital relationship. Second, know your spouse doesn't resist change but does resist your changing them. As you live the reality God has morphed your heart with, your spouse may be wooed into living that reality too. Third, pray for grace to be humble and thankful for the change God's brought to you; but commit to embracing the slow, sure change God alone can bring to your spouse's heart. When we realize that God does a much better God of changing our friends than we do; we free God to do something that brings renown to His Name and real time change to them.

Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws,
we wait for you;
your name and renown
are the desire of our hearts. (Isaiah 26:8 NIV)

Peter put the widows all out of the room. He knelt and prayed. Then he spoke directly to the body: "Tabitha, get up." (Acts 9:40 MSG)

It wasn't just Tabitha singing "You raise me up" to God here but Peter as well. He was denying Jesus no more; now, he was raising others to life by Jesus' great name. God's highest joy is using weak people to man the unimaginable; it's time to rethink impossible.

And I'm an olive tree, growing green in God's house. I trusted in the generous mercy of God then and now. I thank you always that you went into action. And I'll stay right here, your good name my hope, in company with your faithful friends. (Psalm 52:8, 9 MSG)

A greater love

Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life. (James 1:12 MSG)

Our hearts must throb with such love for God that when life throws its poison candy of lust, hate, and pride at us, pulling us to sin-we stand true. In these times, our heart must cry, "I love Him, I cannot allow this to come between me and Him and mute the sweet whispers of His love and plan for me."

Operation: Shape worshiper

Life is preparation for God-worthy worship here and in heaven. God uses life to teach us how distraught and without we are apart from living in Him and through Him. He allows us to shipwreck when we sidestep Him, so our desire is always to Him and for Him. Today, He's mulling you more into the worshiper He's always imagined you'd be.

What you're after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life. Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean, scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life. Tune me in to foot-tapping songs, set these once-broken bones to dancing. God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life. Don't throw me out with the trash, or fail to breathe holiness in me. Bring me back from gray exile, put a fresh wind in my sails! Give me a job teaching rebels your ways so the lost can find their way home. Unbutton my lips, dear God; I'll let loose with your praise. Going through the motions doesn't please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice. (Psalm 51:6-8, 10-13, 15-17 MSG)

The secret to tireless service

God would rather our love for Him not our of sense duty motivate us to serve Him tirelessly.
From the dazzle of Zion, God blazes into view. Our God makes his entrance, he's not shy in his coming. Starbursts of fireworks precede him. He summons heaven and earth as a jury, he's taking his people to court: "Round up my saints who swore on the Bible their loyalty to me." The whole cosmos attests to the fairness of this court, that here God is judge. "Are you listening, dear people? I'm getting ready to speak; Israel, I'm about ready to bring you to trial. This is God, your God, speaking to you. I don't find fault with your acts of worship, the frequent burnt sacrifices you offer. But why should I want your blue-ribbon bull, or more and more goats from your herds? Every creature in the forest is mine, the wild animals on all the mountains. I know every mountain bird by name; the scampering field mice are my friends. If I get hungry, do you think I'd tell you? All creation and its bounty are mine. Do you think I feast on venison? or drink draughts of goats' blood? Spread for me a banquet of praise, serve High God a feast of kept promises, And call for help when you're in trouble-I'll help you, and you'll honor me." (Psalm 50:2-15 MSG)

Grab your chance

Philip is a case study in being an effective witness. Walking in sync with the Spirit, he ran at available opportunities to promote Jesus. Whisked along by the Spirit's wind, he was ready-in place-to win the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ. Listen, run, and grab your chance to herald Christ today.
Forced to leave home base, the Christians all became missionaries. Wherever they were scattered, they preached the Message about Jesus. Later God's angel spoke to Philip: "At noon today I want you to walk over to that desolate road that goes from Jerusalem down to Gaza." He got up and went. He met an Ethiopian eunuch coming down the road. The eunuch had been on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and was returning to Ethiopia, where he was minister in charge of all the finances of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He was riding in a chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit told Philip, "Climb into the chariot." Running up alongside, Philip heard the eunuch reading Isaiah and asked, "Do you understand what you're reading?" He answered, "How can I without some help?" and invited Philip into the chariot with him. The passage he was reading was this: As a sheep led to slaughter, and quiet as a lamb being sheared, He was silent, saying nothing. He was mocked and put down, never got a fair trial. But who now can count his kin since he's been taken from the earth? The eunuch said, "Tell me, who is the prophet talking about: himself or some other?" Philip grabbed his chance. Using this passage as his text, he preached Jesus to him. (Acts 8:4, 26-35 MSG)

As all those who sat on the High Council looked at Stephen, they found they couldn't take their eyes off him-his face was like the face of an angel! (Acts 6:15 MSG)

Wear God's glow today; it's your first and greatest beacon of God's work in your heart-your ultimate witness.

I've seen the agony of my people in Egypt. I've heard their groans. I've come to help them. So get yourself ready; I'm sending you back to Egypt.' (Acts 7:34) MSG

Although delivering you is important to God; delivering others through you is even higher on His priority list; He knows being used of God brings us the highest joys.

"Without a sacred text to reveal the greater meaning and significance of our life, we can become trapped in our own very small story. And in that limited story, without any larger perspective, our wounds can make us into embittered victims. We just keep repeating the story line to ourselves over and over, and soon it ...suffocates us like a python. The Jesus way is to embrace our wounds and accept them as the price of the journey. We can choose to carry our wounds with dignity until the time comes when we forget why they were so important or debilitating to begin with. The wounds in Jesus’ hands, feet and side are still carried in his resurrected body—this is quite significant! I think we carry our wounds until the end; they do not fully go away but keep us humble, patient and more open to trust and intimacy. The healing lies in the fact that those same wounds no longer defeat us or cause us to harm ourselves or others." -Richard Rohr

And whoever calls out for help to me, God, will be saved." David said it all: I saw God before me for all time. Nothing can shake me; he's right by my side. I'm glad from the inside out, ecstatic; I've pitched my tent in the land of hope. I know you'll never dump me in Hades; I'll never even smell the stench of death. You've got my feet on the life-path, with your face shining sun-joy all around. (Acts 2:21, 25-28 MSG)

Honesty is prelude to happiness

"What am I doing in the meantime, Lord? Hoping, that's what I'm doing-hoping You'll save me from a rebel life, save me from the contempt of dunces. I'll say no more, I'll shut my mouth, since you, Lord, are behind all this. But I can't take it much longer. When you put us through the fire to purge us from our sin, our dearest idols go up in smoke. Are we also nothing but smoke? "Ah, God, listen to my prayer, my cry-open your ears. Don't be callous; just look at these tears of mine. I'm a stranger here. I don't know my way-a migrant like my whole family. (Psalm 39:7-12 MSG)