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Look What the Lord Has Done…
I have been a pastor for many years, and in my opinion, the hardest fact in the world to believe is that God really loves us. It is harder to believe that than to believe that there is a God or that Jesus died on the cross or even that He rose from the dead.
It’s not difficult to believe that God will take care of you or that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him” (Rom. 8:28, NIV), though we may not believe that they are for our good at the time. We can be detached from life sufficiently to look back and say yes. It all worked out.
No, the hardest thing in the world to believe is that God, the true God, really loves us right now, just as we are.
Are you ready for God to love you? It’s easy to say, “I certainly am,” but are you really ready to accept and affirm His love?
God wants us to enjoy His love for us. If I love someone but he or she doesn’t feel it, then I am unfulfilled. I want others to know that I love them. A mother wants her child to feel her love. How much more does our heavenly Father want us to feel His love!
He chose us before we were born yet He knows what we are like. He does not get disillusioned with us because He had no illusions in the first place. His grace and His plans take into account our failures, unbelief, self-righteousness and fear. The sacrifice of Calvary assures us that our sins are washed away by the blood Jesus shed on the cross.
The demonstration of God’s love is, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). He didn’t die for us because He saw we were going to turn out all right. He didn’t die for us because we had already come up to standard. He died for us when we were utterly unworthy.
We should let God love us because we so desperately need the kind of love that only He can give, “God is love” (1 John 4:8).
First John 4:16 is a verse you could read a thousand times and yet not fully grasp. The NIV says, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.” I wonder if you have reached the stage of life where you just rely on God’s love for you. You don’t rely on your love for Him because you know that goes up and down all the time. The heart is deceitful (see Jer. 17:9). You cannot rely very long on your love for God. But you can rely on His love for you. He wants you to.
I find it difficult to believe God loves me. For this reason, a few years ago, I began doing something at the beginning of the day when I spent time alone with the Lord to pray. I still do it now. I refer to two Scriptures.
“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). This verse was addressed to Christians, and we are still asking for mercy. We never outgrow asking for mercy.
The second is 1 John 4:16: “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.” I have come to realize that it really is true: God loves me. God loves you. God really does love us. So let us affirm His love when we are depressed, have sinned, are happy or sad.
Let God love you through friends and people who will accept you. A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you!
My own experience is that God has a way of drawing near to me when I feel at my most unlovable. All of a sudden, I sense His presence, and I’m amazed. I think, “Lord, You can’t do this. Of all the times for You to manifest Your love to me!” God loves to do that. When you are feeling at your most unworthy and least deserving—I don’t know why—He’ll just love you. Let Him.
Adapted from When God Shows Up by R.T. Kendall, copyright 2008, published by Charisma House. This book will help you recognize God in your circumstances, as the author shares life-transforming principles he learned when he encountered God through his own unexpected experiences. To order a copy click, here.
Imagine children as young as 4 and 5 years old being forced to work 14- to 16-hour days making bricks, cigarettes, rope and textiles, then being forced to beg strangers for food in order to eat. This is the picture of slavery in many Asian and Middle Eastern countries.
“It’s a pretty harsh and brutal environment,” says evangelist Bruce Ladebu, founder of the Children’s Rescue Initiative (CRI), which has been purchasing the freedom of these victims. “The children never have any time off. They worked from sun up to sun down.”
Many have been enslaved because of debts accrued by their parents. Armed with guns and money, Ladebu and the CRI team go into these slave areas to purchase children and sometimes entire families for anywhere between $200 and $1,000 per child or family.
“We freed a family recently of seven,” Ladebu says. “The debt originally was $500 and three generations of people had to work to pay it off.” CRI bought the entire family from the slave owners for $1,000.
After the team rescues these children and families, they provide them with shelter, food and an education. The organization has funded three orphanages and seven Christian schools. They are raising money to buy farmland, cows and chickens to feed the victims.
Ladebu, who also travels the world as a revivalist and founder of Forerunner Global Ministries, says his main objective is to show the love of Christ to as many as possible. “In reaching out to help child slaves, hungry orphans or street kids, we are reaching out with the love of God,” he says.
Imagine children as young as 4 and 5 years old being forced to work 14- to 16-hour days making bricks, cigarettes, rope and textiles, then being forced to beg strangers for food in order to eat. This is the picture of slavery in many Asian and Middle Eastern countries.
“It’s a pretty harsh and brutal environment,” says evangelist Bruce Ladebu, founder of the Children’s Rescue Initiative (CRI), which has been purchasing the freedom of these victims. “The children never have any time off. They worked from sun up to sun down.”
Many have been enslaved because of debts accrued by their parents. Armed with guns and money, Ladebu and the CRI team go into these slave areas to purchase children and sometimes entire families for anywhere between $200 and $1,000 per child or family.
“We freed a family recently of seven,” Ladebu says. “The debt originally was $500 and three generations of people had to work to pay it off.” CRI bought the entire family from the slave owners for $1,000.
After the team rescues these children and families, they provide them with shelter, food and an education. The organization has funded three orphanages and seven Christian schools. They are raising money to buy farmland, cows and chickens to feed the victims.
Ladebu, who also travels the world as a revivalist and founder of Forerunner Global Ministries, says his main objective is to show the love of Christ to as many as possible. “In reaching out to help child slaves, hungry orphans or street kids, we are reaching out with the love of God,” he says.
Watch CRI’s candid video from some modern-day slave sites below.
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My brother is a captain with Delta and currently he flies to Amsterdam several times a month. On the map, the route from Detroit to Amsterdam is a straight line. So to me, logically he should be able to get in the airplane, take off, set his heading and just drink coffee until he gets there.
But when I shared my logic with him, he laughed at me (something he spends way too much time doing). When I asked him what was funny, he said: “Things simply don’t work that way. I spend most of my time making course corrections.”
He explained: “Things are never as they seem to be. Even getting the very best information ahead of time is not enough. Conditions change. Circumstances arise. If I set an initial heading but don’t pay close attention to what is happening, I will never reach my destination.”
There are many factors that can take a plane off course. Wind changes in direction and intensity. Storms pop up. Volcanoes spew ash (although not very often thankfully). Sometimes the course change is only a few degrees. But in the long haul, a few degrees can be huge. Simply put, the situations are rarely like you thought they would be when you take off.
This applies to our lives as well. Proverbs 16:9 says, “The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (NASB). In other words, we make plans but the Lord makes course corrections. Too often we have a very limited mindset as to the role of the Holy Spirit. We hear that He came to convict us of sin. True, but only part of the truth. The rest of that verse says “and of righteousness” (John 16:8).
When Jesus left this earth, our Father gave us the Holy Spirit. Sadly, we view the Holy Spirit as God’s voice to tell us all the things we did wrong. He does reveal to us our sins, but even more important is that the Holy Spirit guides us in righteousness-right living, right thinking. He helps us make the right decisions.
Your Heavenly Father wants you to succeed. He wants you to live in joy and in peace. He desires for your path to be straight. He wants you to reach your destination, which is a life of faith, trust and purity. The Holy Spirit is the one who will guide us correctly. He softly whispers, “Turn this way. Go that way.” He makes course corrections.
As you journey this week in your Christ walk, pay attention to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Commit right now to listen for His course corrections. Don’t wait until life is a mess and things are out of control to pay attention to the Holy Spirit. Quite often a very small course correction will avert and prevent tragedy.
And remember that God is for you. He is not keeping score. If you are off track, even if you are way off course, He is a loving Father waiting patiently with open arms. He lovingly desires to help you adjust your direction and get back on track. Maybe you haven’t been “flying” in a straight line and you can’t even see to tomorrow. Stop and listen for His voice. He is speaking. Heed His course corrections and you will reach your destination.
Here are Scriptures to learn more about the person of the Holy Spirit.
But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. -Mark 13:11
Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. -Matthew 12:32
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. -Acts 2:38
And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. -Luke 2:26
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. -John 14:26
[ The Church Prospers ] Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied. -Acts 9:31
And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” -Luke 3:22
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. -Acts 2:4
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” -Luke 11:13
But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. -John 7:39
These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
-1 Corinthians 2:13
Watch video testimonials from Christians who say they died and were brought back to life.
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Watch video footage of Israel’s 50th Anniversary.
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Watch as Steve Strang interviews Moishe Rosen.
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Footage of the men’s conference Promise Keepers.
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Steve Strang interviews Benny Hinn about the Holy Spirit around the world.
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Charisma Now salutes author and Charisma contributor Jamie Buckingham following his passing.
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Jim Bakker’s first public apprearance after being released from jail.
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Evangelist Claudio Fredizon during the Argentina Revival.
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God wants you to know His
purpose for your life. My entire life changed when I discovered this one truth:
The destiny of my life is hinged upon understanding God’s eternal
purpose, which He unveiled to man through His sacrificial love.
I was not
aware of this powerful truth, despite the fact that I had finished my graduate
studies in theology, including rewriting the 500 cardinal doctrines of the
church for my thesis. Through my studies, I had learned how to investigate the
great truths of the Bible and thought I knew something about almost every
doctrine. I prided myself on my attempts to be an exegetical theologian,
pastoring and carefully teaching the Word in Bible colleges for 17
years.
However, it wasn’t until after I received the baptism of the Holy
Spirit, which brought me into a greater relationship with the divine teacher,
that I discovered the great truth of the critical importance of understanding
God’s eternal purpose.
Truth has the incredible power to free man of
despair, hopelessness and a meaningless existence, and to create in him a sense
of destiny and purpose that can motivate him to greatness. Jesus said of
Himself, “I am … the truth” (John14:6, NKJV). To believe in Jesus involves
receiving the truth of His teachings and allowing them to change your thinking,
your values and your behavior.
The words of the devil—the lies that are
working in your life to destroy you—are only exposed as they are contrasted with
truth. In the light of truth, those lies lose their seductive power, and you are
set free from destruction.
Freedom is the scriptural promise to all who
walk in truth, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”
(John 8:32). That promise gives each of us hope to become the person God
intended us to be as we walk in His truth.
If you want to know real
meaning and purpose in your life, your home and your church, it is necessary
that you pursue God’s truth. God’s eternal purpose will be realized in your
individual life, in your home and ultimately in the church as you are conformed
to the image of Christ through the working of the Holy Spirit in you.
If
you are to fully understand God’s purpose for you, you will need to cultivate a
relationship with the Holy Spirit. Learn to understand who He is. Cooperate with
Him as He works to fulfill God’s purpose for mankind and in your
life.
Adapted from From Our Hearts to Yours copyright 2008 and
published by Charisma House. This book will help you discover just how much God
loves you just as you are—with all your faults and shortcomings, and even your
secret sins that only He knows about. This book brings you messages of hope
written by amazing women to help deepen your relationship with God and make you
a better mother, wife and friend. To order a copy click on this link.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania conducted a series of medical tests on patients who speak in tongues. The study yielded surprisingly positive results. Watch the video below to learn about the science behind glossolalia.
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