Tasting the Goodnes of God

I spent this past Sunday celebrating God's goodness with about eighty fellow Christians down by the river, or probably better said up by the river.  The church I have been going to on Sunday nights was headed to the mountains where there is a beautiful river flowing and 16 people were going to be baptized.

I was excited to have the opportunity to join, expectant for God's presence to shower the time with His Grace and filled with joy for those being baptized and grateful for the opportunity to celebrate with them.  The day was filled with fellowship, worship and ministering from the hand of God.

There is something that is just awesome about witnessing another person making a public profession of their faith in Christ and watching them demonstrate it by being baptized.  My heart is filled with joy each time I see it.  But this day was that and more.  The members of the church demonstrate the closeness that we are called into as children of God.  The location was incredibly beautiful, reminding me of how awesome God is in power, in creativity and in His favor to share His beauty with us.  

Everywhere I turned I was being delighted with His handiwork.  The beautiful river with cascading falls, the tall pines that reminded me of how we are to be as we are planted and thriving from the river flowing with Living Water, healthy and secure, strong and towering and giving shade because we are drawing from Christ and His Spirit is in us.  And there were the green pastures by the river where a banquet was laid out.  And of course there was the still water pool where the baptisms would take place.  Such beauty!  But the real beauty of the day was seeing the hearts of lost sinners turned to God and the proclamation of their faith in Christ who died for them, their professing that they have likewise been buried with Him, died to sin and been raised with Christ, their savior.

After a time of worship and the baptisms we all gathered around and shared in the breaking of bread and tortillas and plenty of tasty mexican offerings for our comida, but what I enjoyed feasting on the most was the goodness of God and I was filled to the full.  Thank You God for Your Goodness and that You do not leave those that seek You hungry, You supply Your Grace in measures that are continually overflowing our cups!

Things Are Not What They Seem, but They are and Will Be as The Lord Said

Friday I made an entry titled Do You Think You Can Tell that stemmed from a line from the Pink Floyd song titled Wish You Were Here (on the album of the same title.)  The song had been running thru my head despite the fact that I hadn't heard the song in ages (or as I think I put in my entry, many mucho years ... probably a good enough translation.)  But nonetheless it was stuck in my head until I got the blog entry posted.  Or so I thought.

I went the rest of the day without hearing the song and a good bit of the nite too.  And then, out of the blue, while I was out for dinner with some friends ... Yep!  First the, by now, familiar intro, which I sort of dismissed thinking that the tune was just creeping back into my head and hoping if I ignored it the song would not get stuck there again.  But then I realized I was actually hearing the song in the restaurant.

Now I was just sitting there thinking how bizaar (and truthfully starting to sing along and taking a stab at playing away on the table.)  Then I started thinking more about it.  I hardly ever go out to eat at a real sit down restaurant for dinner .... the food, while inexpensive, costs a good bit more than I can get on the street or have at friends places and the food is just as good if not better.  But I was here for a reason and the song, I figured, was playing for a reason as well.  Having blogged about it earlier that day my thoughts about the line in the song were fresh as were my thoughts of my friends that are in need of coming to grips with what future awaits them apart from the Lord.  So as things sorta came a little clearer I let the song drift off into the background and leaned into the table to excitedly tell my friends about my experience hearing the song, writing about it and the line in and let the conversation begin.

So sometimes it seems things are not what they seem, we know something is happening, but can't tell what or why and then all of a suddens it becomes crystal clear that indeed things are just as they seem, just as the Lord said they would be!  Just for fun, I thought I'd check to see if there were any Pink Floyd songs along this line .... a quick Google search and found it's called Sheep.  Interesting, but no .... this isn't a blog about Pink Floyd it's about God and His Amazing Grace, how it's being poured into my life and my desire to let it flow through me.

And I went all day Saturday without hearing the song in my head and didn't even think of the lyrics as I wrote this entry.  I'm not trashing the band or the song - though I'm not fan, I like some of the songs .... guess they remind me of when I was young???? I just don't want them stuck in my head.  I'm fine with getting some good praise and worship ballads stuck up there, maybe I will dial up some Chris Tomlin or Third Day or SCC or .... I better stop, the list is pretty long for me.

And with that know I will pray that you would be open to seeing the Lord working in and thru you and in when something just doesn't seem to be as it should, you would be quick to turn to Him, tell Him you trust Him and let Him lead you on the great adventure He has planned for you (quick reference to SCC, The Great Adventure .... Saddle Up Your Horses, We've Got a Trail to Blaze!)

Run to Him

The father in the parable of the prodigal son is about as clear of an image I can think of (though I can think of many more instances from the Bible and own personal experiences) that demonstrates God's desire toward the lost.  He is anxious to come and receive His lost son.  Check out verse 20, the father actually starts off running toward the son while the son was off in the distance!

Many are wanting to turn to God, but are filled with fear or lies about how they will be, if at all, received.  Many have an angst or a tugging (the work of the Holy Spirit) on their heart to turn to Him, to listen and turn from sin and obediently follow Him, but they are afraid they will not succeed in walking away from sin or in the endeavor that the Lord wants to lead them in - a losing of self that they may live.  In all truth, they won't be able to, that is they won't apart from Christ.  See that is the part of truth that the father of lies takes hold of and tries to magnify.  He will draw attention to the first part of the truth that we can do nothing apart from Christ.  But Christ promised otherwise!

Christ, in John 15:4, plainly lays out that He is our source of bearing fruit.  It is thru Him, the Vine that the branches are nourished and thrive.  And we are in Him because He has made it possible to be grafted into Him.  Christ has taken the punishment for all that would separate us from the Father and for all who come to Him for salvation, acknowledging their need for His perfect sacrifice, turning to Him from their sin, they will be received.

Why would one with this tugging on their heart not run to Him?  The only reason I have to offer is that they are still holding onto a false hope or believing a lie of who they are or who God is.  Do they think they are capable in their own strength - I think they know otherwise, deep down they know they are not.  Are they hearing they will be judged unworthy - I pray they hear they are indeed unworthy, but further they hear that God has already dealt out the justice due and it was dealt upon Christ at Calvary!

God is a God of Mercy and Grace, His perfect love for you will cast out all fear if you turn to Him.  Check out the following verses for a quick glimpse Micah 7:18, Romans 3:23-25,  2 Corinthians 5:21 and Romans 10:9-10.  His love is for all, as the last passage in Romans says, who put their trust in Christ!  The well known verse of John 3:16 doesn't say For God so loved "some" of the world ... He so loved ALL of the world, including you and me, that He sent Christ to die for our sins that we may have forgiveness and eternal life, be redeemed and restored unto the who we were created to be, His children.

I don't know where any readers are at, I only where I was and where I am now.  Christ has won the battle for me and proven over and over His faithfulness and my Father's affection toward me.  I have struggled with, and may again, though I pray not, who I am in my Father's eyes and His Grace toward me has abounded more and more.  I am nothing without Christ, but with Him and because of Him I am a child of God and that will never change.  I will surely walk thru days ahead that will have trials and there will be times of mourning as I have had in the past, but I am confident of my future because of whom I have believed in.  I will, if I focus on walking with my Savior, walk with joy and with purpose and if I notice I am far off from Him I will purpose  to run to Him and am sure to find He is running toward me.

Do You Think You Can Tell ....

And the song continues .... Heaven from Hell?  Do you think you can tell heaven from hell?  I am pretty confident that I could answer yes, but hold out 100% certainty for risk of being too confident and not on guard enough, lest I be deceived by something false.

I am not sure exactly where the thought for this post came from, but the line above comes from a Pink Floyd song, Wish You Were Here.  I guess the other day it sorta popped into my head which is strange since I haven't heard it for many mucho many years .... maybe it was that I was playing, or at least trying to play, Hotel California by the Eagles on a borrowed guitar and it had a line it about heaven and hell, and an similar thought questioning the ability to tell the difference.  Nonetheless, here I write about heaven and hell.  

Both are realities and they couldn't be farther apart - one bringing an eternity of sadness and pain and the other bringing an eternity filled with joy, hope fulfilled and absent of tears, pain and suffering.  I think both can be experienced here on earth, but far short of what they are really like.  I also think many are confused about what they look like and are seeking their own versions, trying to shape truth to placate themselves.  And the enemy of our souls is quick to jump in and help with the twisting of truth, attempting to convince that the present and future should be filled with blessings that are deserved or justifiably ours. The truth is we, I, don't deserve what God freely, out of love, offers - a future, filled with hope and a home in heaven, to be with Him forever.  Part of me wants to delve into what I am looking forward to, but I know better .... it will be far too long of a post and come up way too short of how wonderful it will be so I will stop at only saying it will be far greater than we can comprehend.  

As I mentioned above, I do think we can experience some of what it will be like ... for instance when I give myself over to caring for others above my own needs or when I am lost in worshiping our Great and Mighty God, I experience a joy that is unexplainable.  I experience love that goes beyond myself.  I also think we can get lost in the sadness and pain here in this sin stained world and experience a taste of hell and in reality we all have apart from Christ, just many are fighting the truth of the matter.  I hope and pray that this brokeness, this poverty in spirit was or will be used by God to lead you to Him.  The truth is that apart from turning to Christ and the hope He has secured , a person is left with only two sad choices.  First is to focus on the drowning pain being experienced and the other is to seek a substitute for the pain, offered by the world and the Father of lies, which only takes one further away from the love their Creator desires to lavish upon them.  

I believe I can tell a difference, but pray I will always be found looking to and following the Word of God and trusting the Holy Spirit to lead me in Truth.  And so I sing as the song goes, How I Wish, How I Wish You Were Here .... in a sense of I wish the Lord was returning to bring us home now, but until He does I will sing How I am glad, How I am glad Lord, that You  are here, here with me now and forever with me.

How about you?  Do you think you can tell?  If not try crying out to you Father in heaven who loves you with and unending love, He is waiting to lavish His Grace upon you.  Call out to Him and ask Him to show you great and unsearchable things, His love is truly beyond comprehension, but it is nonetheless oh so real and it is unmistakeably discernable when seen in the light that is the Light of Truth.  If you're not signing the lines I've written, I pray you would seek Him - He is waiting with an open invitation for you to approach His throne of grace and if you are singing with me, the invitation is, of course, open for you to approach the throne as well, with thanksgiving in your heart and on your lips.