Do you LOVE the Lord? Maybe that is a weird question to answer. You know the LORD. You believe in the LORD. But Love? Love like how I love my spouse and children?  Well, yes.

Let me ask this differently. Does the LORD love you?  Do you see that the LORD loves you fully with a never ending, obstacle obliterating, beyond the highest heavens kind of love?

The LORD thinks you are awesome – even with all your foibles, short comings, stumblings, warts, and zits. The LORD knows you are awesome because you are his. He has chosen you. He chose you in Christ. Through Christ and his cross he claims you as his own.

The LORD is determined to sanctify and make you awesome. (The biblical word is holy.) The LORD knows you will shine with his light and power. And when God’s light and power are glimmering through your earthen vessel people will see how cool and delightful you are.

The LORD loves you with his full heart. The LORD, the Father, Son, and Holly Spirit, loves you with all the sin conquering compassion of the cross and earth shaking joy of the resurrection.

So, what does it look like to respond to this kind of amazing love from God?  Just like any relationship there are practical ways to show your response. Really it comes down to following Jesus in practical ways.

• Reading scripture, praying, attending worship, being in fellowship with other Christians, tithing, serving the less fortunate, inviting others to know him.

What if you followed Jesus like never before? What if you let the love of Christ pour into you and pour out of you like never before?

We always have an exhilarating opportunity to grow in our following of Jesus like never before. As a spiritual friend and mentor, I am praying for you and invite you to seek out experiencing this astounding message that God thinks you are so awesome.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Eph 1:3)

“while the morning stars sang together and all the angels  shouted for joy” Job 38.7

When the LORD God created the earth and all the cosmos, all the spiritual beings were celebrating.

The heavenly hosts sees and cheers when God designs and creates; when God sets the foundations of the earth, when God wraps the earth with the sky and the clouds, when God fills in the oceans, lakes and rivers. There is a joy in heaven invented the Laws of Physics and gave commands to morning and evening.

I want to share in the joy and celebration of heaven over the created wonder. Rather than dismiss this creation as random and mundane; Rather than have eyes blinded by sin; to quake with joy at the utter holiness and beauty of all that surrounds me.

The Lord sent Christ so we could join the heavenly family. The angels were shouting for joy at his birth and his resurrection.

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” John 11:21

At the death of her brother Lazarus, Martha complains to Jesus for not fixing the problem. While we expect this from OCD Martha, Mary joins in too: Sobbing at his feet; “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (John 11:32). Then the crowd joins the chorus blaming Jesus too (v.37).

We want God to fix our problems our way. We want Jesus to keep our spiritually dead corpses motoring along (cf. Eph 2:1, Col 2:13) The Lord is limited to what he can do as long as we insist on being wriggling corpses.

Listen.

“Lazarus is dead, . . . so that you may believe.” (John 11:14–15) Us Lazarus’ are in our state, our predicament, so the work of God may be displayed (John 9:3). Jesus didn’t come to fix you but to redeem and change you. To have you rely on his power not your own.

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, . . . and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” (John 11:25–26)

Jesus asks you, “Do you believe this?”

“And God (gave). . . them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us” (Acts 15:8).

“Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?  On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” (Acts 15:10-11).

“Certain people.”  Short hand for saying people who had an agenda. “Certain people” showed up teaching and insisting that everyone needed to be circumcised. That they needed an outward work of their own in order to effect salvation. A human effort to be saved.

Paul and Barnabas and other new Christians went up to Jerusalem to argue that God does not need our works. They share the good news that God seems oblivious to this bureaucratic requirement and is busy transforming broken hearts and lives (v.3).

Peter is quick to remind everyone about his God going off the rails experience (Acts 10). The Holy and Almighty God gave “those” people the Holy Spirit. THEN! God purified their hearts by giving them faith. Just as they were saved, we now believe and trust that God rescues and redeems us through grace poured out on the cross of Jesus Christ.

There is no test. You are saved through the grace of Jesus Christ. Now run with that!

Paul and Barnabas said, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:23)

Every job, every calling, every position requires some training. The more critical and important the position, the more training is required. Boot camp, academy, or college.

What is more blessed and eternally important than being a disciple of the risen Christ? No really, tell me!

Yet so many believers have a lackadaisical and feeble approach to their faith.  Do you just want the mustard seed, or do you want to attain the fullness of Christ?

Christ gave leaders to equip and train his people to grow in faith so the body of Christ may be built up and we all grow in faith and in knowing the Son of God to attain the fullness of Christ in our lives. (Eph 4:11–13).    Paul and Barnabas returned . . . “strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith” (Acts 14:21–22).

Who is strengthening and encouraging you?

Do you want to grow in following Jesus more closely?

I am here to strengthen and encourage you.  I am committed to helping any of my brothers and sisters to grow in the faith.

If you would like coaching in your discipleship, contact me.

When planes are crashed and towers fall,  When mothers and fathers perish while

brave rescuers are buried, Where do we turn?

Psalm 46:1–3 (NIV):

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”

Paul says, “We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God.” (Acts 14:15)

In the Cross God the Father reveals his kindness. In the Cross Jesus Christ the Son of God shows he is doing the work of the Father so you may know and believe the Father is in him and for us (john 10:37-38).

Never forget that God has gone to the cross and the very pit of Hell to rescue you from the days of despair.