Let God's Word Be Your Mirror

 

Yesterday as our daughter walked across the street to her house, her long dark hair was waving behind her and for just a moment she looked just like she did as a young girl. It was just for a moment but it was there. We have three children. Our two daughters are married with children of their own. Our son is not married yet, but one of these days we’ll probably have a daughter in law and another crop of grandkids. 

 These three children are grownups. If they look in the mirror they see a grown up. But when I look at them I see my children. Each one of them is still and forever my child. Nothing will ever change that.

When we look at ourselves in the mirror we see just what we see. It is what it is comes to mind! We are liable to see our flaws, our wrinkles, a stray gray hair (or more). We’re looking at what we would call “the real us”. But when God looks at us, He sees his child. Each one is His own special creation. He doesn’t look for flaws. He cannot see them. While we think of ourselves as flawed and less than perfect, God sees us as redeemed, beautiful, complete and without spot or blemish.

We see the “real us” but so does the Lord. The only difference is that God is looking at us with eyes of love. He loves us perfectly, completely, without reservation. Since His very essence and nature is love, He sees us with eyes of pure love.

God knows it’s hard sometimes to see yourself as His child. The cares of the world are stressful and lines of grief and worry come. The past and present hurts and mourning what might have been cloud the view and make it hard to see the Truth.

It’s time to trade in the mirror on your wall for the mirror of God’s Word. The real us is described in detail throughout His Word. We must learn to believe that we are who God says we are so that we can live loved beyond measure. When we live loved, then we are able to live life as God’s child and let Him lead us, guide us and direct us always.

Oh beloved, run to the mirror of God’s Word and see your True self. As you were born again into God’s family you have His DNA running through your veins. You’ve been transformed and redeemed. You’ve been saved, sealed and delivered. God says to you this morning that if you will look closely at His word the reflection you see will be Jesus, as He is your covering and your new identity is hid in Him. He says I love you and when I look at you I see perfection. I see a child, growing in grace and knowledge, preparing for heaven, being guided by my Holy Spirit. I see a face that reflects my glory and nothing is more beautiful than that. I will guide you as you learn My Word and take on My nature, for I have redeemed you from the law of sin and death. I have redeemed you for your mistakes, I have redeemed you from your past, I have redeemed you from all that can keep you from seeing yourself as My child. I love you and I AM for you and that’s why I see the real you.

Trust Him as He teaches you the Truth about you. You are beloved, you are beautiful, you are cherished, you are protected, you are being perfected and you are His bride. Rejoice for your Redeemer is drawing closer and closer each day. Let His Word be your mirror and reflect the truth for you always. He loves you and He’s for you and that’s all that really matters.

Psalm 139:17-18 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!

Psalm 119:5 Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect Your decrees!

2 Corinthians 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

Colossians 1:22 Yet now He has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a result, He has brought you into His own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault.

I Peter 2:9 … for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.

Today is Double Portion Day!

Someone mentioned double portions in a post yesterday and God brought to mind elementary school camp, which was so much fun and a great blessing as a kid. I loved camp at Lake Tyler! The massive cedar paneled dining hall and the scrumptious biscuits with honey and butter were just wonderful. You’d go through the line to get your meal and they’d ladle each portion carefully on your plate. You didn’t get to go back through the line, but your tray was so full that nobody needed seconds!  Holiday plates are wonderful too! When I was a girl the men ate from platters! Their plates would be so full and brimming over the edge – as they ate all the wonderful delicacies saved especially for holidays. We kids had our special plates too and there was always a table for just desserts. I have photos my mother took of my two nephews standing on their little tiptoes trying to get a piece of cake or pie from that table!

We’d sit around and enjoy those family meals, including Sunday dinners, with the adults talking and the kids giggling and nudging one another under the table! Our little dog, Tinkerbell, even got in on the festivities. She’d sit underneath the table and tap one lap after another for a morsel from the huge spread!  Everyone enjoyed double portions and laughed as they tasted all the desserts, candies and cookies. Those times were not for diets, but for fellowship. And our fellowships were awesome!

Maybe you miss the old days. Perhaps you feel that you don’t have enough of the good things anymore. You once ate at the table until you were full and felt so satisfied. But life has crept in and the little troubles have overtaken the big joys. You hold back – from enjoying - blessing, banqueting, fellowshipping and more. You feel you must refrain – you’ve either done too wrong, gone too far or can’t believe God anymore.  It could be that a loved one has disappointed you or betrayed you. You can’t possibly see how God would want you at His table anymore.

Oh beloved! You need to know today that a double portion is yours! A double portion of His love, a double portion of His grace, a double portion of His mercy! What are you lacking? Where is your weakness? A double portion is yours for the asking! Hungry for God , for the way it was? He says to you today, Come back to Me for I have a double portion awaiting those who turn to Me.  He will NOT turn you away, you may come to the banqueting room over and over again! Feasting on His Manna makes for healthy hearts, healthy minds and healthy spirits!

Don’t hold back today, but run to the King of Kings and let Him serve you all the riches of His Kingdom. Give your heart fully to Him and watch as you Open His Menu Book and See – no prices listed- for His choicest foods are available at no cost to you! It may look like the world’s menu is the better deal, but it always costs you more than you want to pay and never fulfills your longing heart.  Everything in His Menu Book is readable and understandable for you, His child. It’s all yours! For the Lord of Heaven and Earth is your Double Portion always!

He loves you beloved, forever! And He’s going to keep you spiritually fed and well cared for all the days of your life!

Psalm 23:5 You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.

Psalm 31:19 How great is the goodness You have stored up for those who fear You. You lavish it on those who come to You for protection, blessing them before the watching world.

Psalm 16:11 You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. (NAS)

Psalm 24:5 They will receive the Lord’s blessing and have a right relationship with God their savior.

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. KJV

It's Your Greatest Love Story!

Today is a celebration of love day. All over the country people are paying respects to those they love. From tiny little paper cards in Kindergarten to a dozen roses and boxes of chocolates, everyone has the opportunity to feel special and loved on this one day alone.  I usually get a little tickled because if I wait too long to get that special card for my beloved, all the husband cards are about gone! But still, it’s a great day to celebrate love and to give something special to one who means so much to you.

The only problem with Valentine’s Day is the some folks get left totally out of the whole love thing. It costs money so the ones who have to count every penny would just as soon leave it alone.  It costs time so the ones who are overcommitted find very little time to get a card for anyone.  It costs feelings for it’s really hard to buy a card or get flowers or give a heartfelt gift to someone when you’re holding things against them.

I’ve been on the receiving end of roses, candy, cards and more! I still have a dozen roses in a long white box in my cedar chest! No kidding!  I’ve kept them for 40 years because I love the one who gave them to me.

I’ve also been on the receiving end of unforgiveness and rejection. No love lost there. I’ve had problems and issues and dealings with unloving, critical, harsh and unforgiving people. I’ve also wanted to be unloving, critical, harsh and unforgiving.  I’ve even had problems forgiving myself. Can you relate beloved?

But every time I look at situations that are out of my control and hurts that make me want to cringe and climb into the closet of life to stay there forever, I look into the mirror. There I see Christ. I see my hurts and rejection taken on by Him as He stood in Pilate’s court while those who had promised to love Him forever cried, “Crucify!”  And I see Him walking up the Calvary’s hill, dragging my sins all the way- such a heavy load.  There in the mirror of His Word I see hope – hope for me, hope for those I love, hope for the unlovable, hope for the lost – as Christ Himself rose again! I can forgive, I can be forgiven, I can walk in newness of life as His mercies are renewed every morning!

Oh beloved, open up your heart and run to the only One Who will ever love you unconditionally, without reservation. He holds none of your mistakes against you; He holds back nothing of His nature, His love, His compassion, His forgiveness from you. Because He is Love! And because He is Love, He will be with you forever, even unto the end of the age! Not only that, but He will help you forgive, heal you of your hurts, give you everything you need and get you through it all.

Hide your soul in the depths of His love this morning! Read the greatest Love story ever written, contained in God’s Word for it’s all about you and the Savior! Hold His Words close to your heart and dance with your Beloved in fields of Grace! And have a blessed, blessed day in Jesus!

 

Ephesians 2:4-5  But God—so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ. (Amplified Bible)

I John 4:9-11 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.

Romans 5:2-5 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.

Let God Remind You Who You Are!

There are lots of rumors that get circulated over the internet and through social media. Often the same story gets reinvented every few years and pops up again and again.  The rumors usually revolve around things we consider important.  Children, politics and health are three of the major rumor mills.  It is very important to keep informed of current events, but not everything we read on the internet is true.  One of the best ways to check out rumors is to go to snopes.com With a simple check, you can know instantly if a story circulating is true or not. It shows on their page a huge green TRUE or a huge red FALSE.  Lots of rumors presented as true turn out to be false.  Sometimes there is just a little bit of truth mixed in with the false. It’s still false. 

Don’t you wish a huge TRUE or FALSE could just pop up every time you hear something? Wouldn’t that be great? How simple would it be to know instantly what is right and wrong or true and false? It would solve a lot of problems and keep hurtful things from being believed.

What are you believing this morning?  Do you know how to handle the truth and how to put away the false? Maybe you’ve heard that you’re worthless or useless.  Perhaps you’ve been rejected, mistreated or misled. You’ve tried to do better, get over it and move on. But you secretly believe what someone else has told you. You may have been labeled as a problem, a reject, or worse.  You may have been told that your past is your Truth but God says differently. Your past has been overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and you can be sure that God is changing you and redeeming every area of your life.

Oh beloved, run to the Word of God and check it out! When you read God’s Word you are seeing His Truth and are able to reject the False.  God knows your heart and He has wonderful plans for you. He calls you beloved, even when you don’t feel loved.  He calls you cared for, even when you feel oh so lonely.   I pray this morning that as you take in His Word, open it up and read it – you will be reminded of who  you are in Christ.  God loves you and He’s for you and that’s all that really matters!

 

Romans 9:25 As He says also in Hosea, "I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, 'MY PEOPLE,' AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, 'BELOVED.'" (NAS)

I Peter 2:10 for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.

Ephesians 1:3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.

 

God's Love for You Will Never Pass Away!

As Stella crawled across the room she was babbling and heading straight for me.   She crawled up to me and I reached down before she had a chance to climb my legs and scooped her up.  I didn’t wait until she got all the way to me before I picked her up.  I was so delighted that she was coming to me that I couldn’t wait to hold her in my arms. Once there we looked one another in the eye and both of us smiled.  I smiled because I love her and it is a pure blessing to be holding my sweet granddaughter in my arms. She smiled because she loves me and feels perfectly content to be with me.

Oh beloved, you may be thinking this is just another ordinary day. Your situation has not changed, your problems have not ceased, your heart has not been lightened.  Maybe all you can do is crawl. Maybe you don’t think you can even crawl across the floor. This morning why don’t let your Abba Father pick you up.  None of us has to wait until we get up on our own to be picked up by Him.  Wait! I see Him now, holding out His arms of love for you! It’s His heart’s desire to scoop you up and whisper sweet love words into your heart! He’s right here, right now and He’s full of love and tender care for you.  True contentment despite all life’s troubles is found in the Arms of God.  He will look you in the eye, He will tell you the Truth about you and He will never ever put you down or walk away from you.  His greatest pleasure is to hold you and bless you and revive your heart.  Your greatest blessing is to let Him.  He loves you always, He’s for you eternally and that’s all that will ever matter.  All other things will pass away but not His love for you!

 

I Corinthians 13:13  Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Romans 8:39  No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

2 Thessalonians 3:5  May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.

Isaiah 63:9  In all their suffering he also suffered, and he personally rescued them. In His love and mercy He redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years.