may 2019 faithposting

[prismaticbleed]

When we excuse our sin, we volunteer our defense attorney for a thief who wants to kill us.

Don Straka

There is NEVER an excuse for sin, other than rebellion against/ rejection of God, either through willful ignorance or willful disobedience.

Once you know Christ, once you know God through Christ, sin becomes terrifying, abominable, and unthinkable. When we are convicted of our sins, we rejoice to abandon them and do good! Even if it’s scary to let go, as we still live in sinful flesh, we must trust in God’s righteousness and mercy.

The devil will always try to lead us away from God. God loves us, and wants us to turn from wickedness and live. But the devil hates God and so if we are God’s children, then the devil wants us to die. Remember this, always, when you are tempted to sin, and when you are tempted to “justify” a transgression. There is no justification in anything or anyone besides Jesus, who died to accomplish that for us. Could you really pick up the nails and pierce his hands all over again, every time you want to say “it’s okay” to a sin? Only Christ has the right and ability to pardon! And He will never say sin is okay, because it is not. Instead, Jesus says, “I will bear the judgment of your sins so that you can be freed from sin, washed clean in My Blood, and therefore made new to live with Me in grace.” In the shadow of the Cross, sin is an existential horror.

Do not excuse your sins, especially if you are afraid of admitting that you sinned. Humble yourself and confess. Pride and perfectionism are also devilish and they will destroy your soul. All humans are mortal, flawed, and sinful. You are no exception. Admit this, break your ego, and turn to Christ. Such honesty and surrender are the only options we have against that murderous thief, as they are the only ways we can let Christ in to defend us– after all, if we insist we’ve done nothing wrong, then we falsely claim there’s nothing to be defended against. Claim that enough, and soon enough, you will find yourself bleeding to death from a thousand attempts on your life that you refused to see as such.

Admit your sin. Bring it to light. Confess it totally, and confess your sinful weaknesses. Refuse to make excuses for what merited our Lord’s death. Refuse to sugarcoat poison, and refuse to feebly try to sand the edges off the guillotine your head is under. You will still die, for sin is still sin, no matter how much you try to paint it pretty colors. The snake is still a snake. Drop the apple. It’s not worth it.

 

pidgieowl: do you ever want to just curl up in God’s arms and not move for a long time?

telemache: have u tried Adoration?

Adoration is effectively curling up in each others arms. Jesus waits for us in the Tabernacle, full of love, and when we meet him there in silent heartfelt worship, we’re honestly recieving more that we can ever hope to return. But we’re still there to accompany Him– to “watch with Him one hour” (Matthew 26:40), to simply be with Him for His pure sake.

So absolutely, go to Adoration! Let God hold you, and cling to Him just as ardently in grateful return. He is waiting for you!

“You must be pretty dang important if the devil is fighting this hard to keep you down and out of the equation.”

— Just a thought for those of you who need it

It’s not about me. It’s about how important Christ is.

The devil is only “fighting to keep me down” because Christ has called me to be His. If Christ had not chosen me as His own, the devil wouldn’t care about keeping me down because I wouldn’t be on God’s side of the battlefield.

So remember this. If the devil is indeed doing his best to crush and offend and mock and hurt you, trying to lead you astray and confuse you, it’s not because YOU’RE important. It’s because Christ is important, and Christ wants you for His own.

In short I’m just emphasizing humility. We’re mortal, but we’re beloved of God– when our hearts respond to His, and obey Him through His grace through His Son, and thus enter into friendship with Him. In the end, God is all that matters, and even the devil knows that– although he hates that fact. And that’s what the war is about. Not me.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14)

"So you see how the grace of God is the most dangerous thing in the world. Even if Satan manages to whip you, under grace you can still get up immediately and start over. You have no satisfactory excuse to remain fallen because God forgives you. You have one option: Get up! Over and over and over and over again, until you learn to stand firm. Quitting will never again be a viable option for you. That’s why the Bible says that the just man (justified in Christ, remember) gets up as often as he falls. In the formation of godly character, this is foundational."  

-Jeff Harkins

 

Over and over and over and over again, until you learn to stand firm.

 

Getting back up and trying again, in God’s grace, is actually a huge fruit of humility. Pride, paradoxically, wallows in guilt and refuses to get up. Pride expects perfection and when we inevitably fall– for we are all sinners– Pride is offended and resists this truth. But humility sees its fall, and mourns its sin, then looks to Christ, and rejoices in its hope… and it is HUMILITY that gets back up, over and over and over again, leaning on Christ’s grace TO get up and try again, for it is ONLY in Him that we are even able to persevere. Don’t let the devil fool you! All men have fallen, but Christ has been raised up! So when you feel dead in sin, look to God, my friends– He forgives, He restores, He strengthens! Leave your sin in the dirt, leave it in the grave that the devil insists is yours– no; we have been given hope through grace, and now our destiny is above, with Christ! So rise with Him, and keep walking!

“If we are true Christians, we must not expect everything smooth in our journey to heaven. We must count it no strange thing, if we have to endure sicknesses, losses, bereavements, and disappointments, just like other men. Free pardon and full forgiveness, grace along the way, and glory at the endall this our Savior has promised to give. But He has never promised that we shall have no afflictions.”

— J.C. Ryle

In fact, Jesus has “promised” the exact opposite! John 15 and 16 are strikingly clear on this.

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’ (John 15:18-25)

But there is also comfort, in the hope we have in Christ, and ultimately in heaven with Him–

“All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them… Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy… I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:1-4, 20-22, 33)

So first and foremost, we must remember that the world– the fallen world, the evil that does not recognize Christ– hates us, as we are His disciples. So this fact alone guarantees that we will experience pain in this life, for the sake of our faith. In Acts 14:22, we read, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” This was after Paul had nearly been stoned to death for having preached the Gospel– and refused to stop preaching it even so! We, too, must be so dedicated, even in little ways. We may not have our literal lives on the line for the sake of the faith– God willing– but we are still called to stand strong in all afflictions, even if “In [our] struggle against sin, [we] have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” (Hebrews 12:4)

But this brings us, now, to the second reason for suffering in our lives– it is a consequence of our sins! Yes, even we who are in Christ still stumble and fall. But take heart– God has not abandoned us to this, and never will. We can only reject His help, and I pray that we never do… as I also pray that we never reject his corrections for those sins, which are– yes– in the form of “afflictions.” Yet this is not “evil!” It is simply painful. The only evil is the transgression which caused it; God simply chastises us, as any concerned parent would, to bring us back into a disciplined, obedient state of mind, in which we shall have peace and true freedom.

“And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children… God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12: 4-7, 10-11)

Now we find a third element to suffering in this life– there is a noted difference between suffering via active persecution (1), suffering via chastisement/ consequence for wrongdoing (2), and suffering via passive, universal pain (3). The first is because of our faith. The second is because of our lack of faith. But the whole world experiences the third, regardless of their faith or lack thereof. Things such as sickness, loss, bereavement, and disappointments are not inherently “bad.” Yes, we may experience them as chastisement, but this is God’s application, which we must meekly acquiesce and admit to when we discern it in humility. But we must also remember that God can use these same things as a different sort of discipline– as a means of further increasing of virtue and grace in us. And this is where I like to make a distinction between suffering and pain. Pain is a part of this mortal life, and we will experience it, inevitably, as long as we are in this mortal life. But it is through Christ that we have the grace and faith and peace to endure this pain without ‘suffering,’ as in Him, we know that we have a greater hope. These afflictions are not eternal, and cannot be. Not only that, but God can transmute them by His grace if we open our hearts in faith to let Him do so! “And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Sickness can increase our patience, and our dependence on God, and our charity for others. Loss can free us from undue attachments, and refocus us on higher things. Bereavement is an expression of charity at heart, and indeed Jesus also wept– but when we recall that death is not the end for us in Christ, we can rejoice in knowing that we will see them again when we join them in the life to come, and rest in Christ’s peace until then. As for disappointments, what can be disappointing when we surrender our will to God, and seek His will in all things, knowing that, indeed, only what He allows will occur? All of this virtue comes to us through His grace, and transforms all the little hardships of life into shares of His Cross, lifting us up through Him, To Him, By Him, and For Him.

To revisit wisdom from Deuteronomy:

“You must carefully follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and multiply, and enter and possess the land the LORD swore to your fathers. Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments. He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD… So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you. Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, walking in His ways and fearing Him.” (Deuteronomy 8: 1-3, 5-6)

Although this speaks of literal truth to literal Israel, we who are adopted children of God through Christ may also see a symbolic truth to our lives here: God still humbles and tests us, to know what is in our hearts, and to see if we will persevere in His grace to keep His commandments! This is how we grow in virtue. And this is the vital distinction between “suffering at God’s hand” and “suffering for the sake of God.” We must be obedient and humble. Our discipline is meant to refine us like gold. But we must not let pride creep in, when our afflictions become easier to bear. Because Scripture continues: “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise… You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.” (Deuteronomy 8:10-12, 17-18) Our deliverance from hardship and affliction, whether it be physical (wealth, health, etc.) or internal (patience to endure illness, poverty, etc.), is always by the grace of God, never by our own power. So yes, just like other men, we will experience pain– but Christ has promised us deliverance through Him, and so when we find ourselves able to bear pain, and obey discipline, and therefore decrease the “suffering” in our pain, we must remember that this is a divine gift, and remain humble. 

Lastly, when we do stumble, when we do fall into pride, when we do suffer chastisements for our mistakes, then yes, we must remember that although God never promised us a pain-free life, He did promise us a Way out of suffering– through His Son. Go to Him with a contrite heart and He will give you forgiveness and pardon. He will give you grace to persevere. He will continue to lead you on towards His ultimate glory, and your sharing in it through increasing unity with Him. Obey the Lord, and when we fail at that– for we are weak humans even so– admit it, humbly and fully, and plead forgiveness. It shall be given to us, as sincerely as we ask for it. This is the true way to take the suffering out of pain… by putting it in God’s hands. He alone is our comfort and our rest. So yes, this world is full of troubles, but Christ has overcome the world. And Christ is with us always. So take heart, fellow Christians. His promise is sufficient.

“Thank God that He does not give up on people like we do. There is not a stronghold, not a bondage, not a spirit that you are caught up in that God cannot bring you out”

— Carl Lentz

Once God calls us, He does not “take it back.” God is unchanging, and God is Good, and God loves His people, and God is sovereign. For His Name’s sake, He will persevere in our salvation, if we have faith in Him, and so let His work bear fruit in our lives.

These verses from Jeremiah speaks strongly, albeit symbolically, to us in the present age, caught up in “spiritual captivity”–

“This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” (Jeremiah 29:10-14)

No matter how long we may be in a time of exile, no matter how long we may feel lost or abandoned, this is untrue. God is faithful. God will bring us back, in His Good Time.

And again, from the prophet Isaiah:

“But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” (Isaiah 41:8-14)

We Christians, in the eyes of Saint Paul, are seen as spiritual descendants of Abraham– “those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith… So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:7-9, 26-29) I include this because it, again, emphasizes that we have been chosen by God to be His people, we who were formerly strangers to Him. “I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one. ’I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’ ” (Hosea 2:23)  This is a great comfort for me, and I hope it is for you, too– it speaks of us as children of God, as adopted sons and daughters, as heirs of His Promises, when previously, in our exile of sin and unbelief, we were indeed strangers and enemies to Him, who is now our Father.

It is because of this adoption, because of this choosing by God, that we are never left alone, that He never gives up on us, because He has promised to be faithful to us from of old. Even if we are unfaithful, as Israel was all through Scripture, God never abandoned them, and He never will. We, who are now counted among their number in spirit through Christ, are also kept in His thoughts, for His Glory. And for that same divine Sake, God will deliver us from bondage, and will carry us through our struggles, even if the struggle itself seems to continue! This is a vital distinction, and to elucidate it, I must mention Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians–

“…God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body… Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:6-11, 16-18)

God’s deliverance is sure, but take note– His deliverance may not always be evident on the “outside!” But in our hearts, we feel His freedom, without any doubt. We may still endure hardships, we may still battle temptations, we may still face persecution… but in all of these situations, we are not locked in sin’s stronghold. We are not in bondage to darkness. We are not caught up by evil spirits. For God, through Christ, HAS delivered us from death. Even in struggles, we no longer struggle, if we are resting in Christ’s grace. Hardships become sources of patient faith, of rejoicing in His deliverance, of turning to His strength for freedom. Nothing is impossible with God, and the entire Bible attests to this, in profound beauty and hope.

 

I know you are tired. I know you are physically and emotionally drained. But you have to keep going. God will see this through!

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.“

Psalm 27 and Psalm 31 are very good to turn to in times like this. ❤

Life is tough. God knows this; Jesus knows this firsthand! We will have days on this earth where we are utterly exhausted inside and out, wracked with tears or too tired to even sigh. God is with us in all of it. He is always with us. If we humbly set our eyes and hearts to seeking Him, and on living in a way pleasing to Him, then no matter what hardships we may face, He will carry us through!

“Love the Lord, all his faithful people! The Lord preserves those who are true to him, but the proud he pays back in full. Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.”

May we all endure to the end, by His grace!

“Someone has suggested that when you can’t sleep at night, instead of counting sheep, talk to the Shepherd.”

Warren Wiersbe

I have to post @marquiscrocker​‘s reply: “When you can’t sleep, intercede for others, that time of night may be your slot on Gods duty roster.”

I really, really love that. We’re all sheep in His flock. He loves all of us. We’ve gotta love each other too!

So… do both. Count your fellow sheep, as it were, and talk to the Shepherd on their behalf. Not only is that a beautiful exercise in patience and humble love, but it’ll re-focus your tired mind on something truly peace-giving, and if anything is going to help you rest, it’s drawing near to the God of Comfort Himself.

 

“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

 …“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Art - He Who Is Without Sin - Jeff Ward.

For all have sinned and fall short the glory of God

“… and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-24)

And an equally vital continuation of this hope & truth:

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.” (Romans 6:1-7)

Jesus saves us from being “stoned to death” for our sins, and– in a glorious paradox– invites us to instead crucify our sinful nature itself, meekly and willingly as He did, and therefore enter into a new life with Him– a new life in which we are to “sin no more” by His grace.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you  free from the law of sin and death… if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:1-2, 13)

I just really, really love this story, and the epistles that elaborate on its essence. It is so rich with meaning, with solemn hope and corrective joy. Thanks be to God.

Anonymous asked: im gay what do i do

Pray about it, dear friend. Pray for grace, courage, self-forgiveness, patience, discernment, humility, and a heart open to change.

I believe that homosexuality is unnatural, as it opposes the purpose of sexuality in nature. But I cannot deny that homosexual inclinations exist in humans. I myself experienced them for most of my life. However, God can do anything. I surrendered my struggle into His hands, and prayed that He deliver me from it. And it took YEARS, but He ultimately did deliver me out of it… after several great ordeals that anchored in my deliverance, mind you. Trust His timing, and His judgment. If you pray for something that He wills to give you, He will give it to you… when it’s time. Until then, we wait with hope.

You are not defined by your sexual struggles. Your identity does not revolve around “being gay” or even “being straight.” Our identity as human beings is anchored in our being creations of God. We are made in His image, for His Good Purposes, and as Christians, we are called to become NEW creations through Christ Jesus, by faith and grace, leaving behind earthly ways and adopting heavenly ways in following His example. And that is what we must always turn to at the end of the day– our true identity lies in Christ, not in anything mortal and changeable and flawed. So let go of the attachment to the label– to all labels. Pray for God’s will to be done– whatever it may be in this case! Whether He allow you to be converted, or to be given the grace of celibacy, that is up to Him. But keep praying, and trusting, and surrendering. Have faith. That’s key.

I hope that’s a decent answer. Sexual sins and struggles are a heavy cross, and there are no easy responses to questions about them, at least not from fellow humans.

God bless you, friend. You are loved by your Creator and Savior even now; rest in that, and then bravely move forwards in the same.

No matter who you are, what you’ve done, or where you’ve been, you can always come to Jesus. It isn’t too late for you.

Until the end of our earthly lives, the door of hope and salvation stands open to us, and our Lord calls us incessantly! It’s never too late, but don’t put it off. We are never guaranteed tomorrow. Return to Him with all your heart, in every moment. We all slip and stumble, but Christ is always extending His hand to pick us back up. Come to Him! He will never cast out a sincere and contrite heart.

 

my–darling–dear: You don’t invite Christ into your heart. He invites you into His.

banana-with-a-bow-tie: He doesn’t need our acceptance. We need His. It’s like walking up to a country club and shouting “I accept you! I am now a member!” We receive His grace as a gift when we surrender ourselves and submit to His authority

I think it’s a bit of both?

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another. If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.” (John 15:12-21)

Similarly, in 1 John 4 (7-11): “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Love, in God and so in Christ, seeks mutuality. Jesus has accepted us, IN His choosing us. So that grace is ready and waiting for us to accept, to let in to our hearts. Jesus has already invited us in to His Heart.

But that’s why I posted the full context of those verses! The divine paradox is that, we need Christ’s invitation FIRST in order to respond, and invite Him into our hearts in return! We have been chosen out of the world to be His friends, to love Him and love one another in His name, by His example. He wants this for us, and for Himself. He wants us to respond in mutual friendship and love. He wants us to invite Him in, too, and that gives Him great joy!

No, He doesn’t need our acceptance, as His power is sovereign and His love is unconditional. But God is also unfathomably intimate, and in His meekness, He also wants us to imitate His humble, compassionate desire for unity, and treat both our neighbors and our God with Christian friendship.

That’s my take on it, as a Catholic. My faith places a great emphasis on Christ specifically seeking us, which is what enables us to seek Him. We can’t sincerely say, “Christ, I invite you to come and dwell in my heart” unless He has first given us the grace TO say such a thing. That sort of yearning for a relationship with Him is divinely inspired, and I firmly believe God wants that from us, whom He has chosen.

 

“And all those who seek in me a father, will find in me a father. And those who seek in me a mother, will find in me a mother. And those who seek in me a husband, will find in me a husband. And those who seek in me a bride, will find in me a bride. And those who seek in me a brother, or a friend, or a neighbor, or a companion, likewise will find in me everything they desire…”

— Madre Juana de la Cruz, speaking in the voice of Jesus

A few Bible verses come to mind:

“And Peter said, “Behold, we have left our own homes, and followed You.” And [Jesus] said to them, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life.”“ (Luke 18:28-30)

"While He was still speaking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. And someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.” But He answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold, My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:46-50)

We are called to forsake all worldly things for the sake of the Kingdom of God, to seek all joy and fulfillment in God alone, for indeed there is none to be found anywhere else! But in this view, isn’t it true that Jesus Christ is not only our food, our home, and our native land, but also our brother, sister, mother, father, husband, wife, and dearest friend? If God is all things, then He is indeed all things for His people. If we seek worldly fulfillment, how will we be satisfied with Heaven, in the Presence of God, where all of this world will be taken from us anyway, replaced with He Who Is infinitely greater?

And again, in Matthew, we see the tender and powerful mutuality of Christ’s love for us. He wants to be our All, and truly He is, but– and this is my humble opinion– He also wants Us to be willing to cooperate with Him in being all for Him! And how do we do this? By uniting ourselves with Him and doing His Will. And since He implores us all to do this, He effectively calls us TO be "His mother and brothers,” as well as His friend (John 15:15), and His spouse (John 3:29; Ephesians 5:32). We are called to be examples of Christ to each other, no matter what our calling in life may be, and in this, Christ is able to become “all to all,” in the great unitive mystery of the Church, which is both His Body and His Bride.

I hope I am not speaking out of turn with this. I am just deeply moved by the extent of God’s love, by “the breadth and length and height and depth” of it, and by His constant invitation to us to share in it in every aspect of our lives.

“You made the heavens and the stars, and still You want my heart.”

— (via fallinhisarms)

He made our hearts, too– they’re rightfully His! But the stars don’t have free will; they cannot choose to love Him back; they cannot choose to give their hearts in a responsive gesture of overwhelming mutual love. That is the blessed grace we have been given. “We love because He first loved us.” And yet nothing is forced. God owns our hearts, but He still waits for us to give them. There’s a mysterious beauty in that, and I cannot ponder it enough.

Metanoia: (n.) the journey of changing one's mind, heart, self or way of life; spiritual conversion.

 Defined as “penitence, spiritual conversion,” from Greek 'metanoia’ : "afterthought, repentance,“ from metanoein "to change one’s mind or purpose”… one of my all-time favorite words. It’s when the key turns in one’s heart, and the door to the light opens… and everything is illuminated, transformed forever.

 

manda-kat: Quick reminder: Stop putting that thing, that person, that idea, whatever it is, stop putting it above God. Stop making it your life. Put God first. If you build your life on him, your life will never fall apart. If you put your life on something that you can’t possibly hold forever, a person, a thing, a place, then… What’ll you do when it leaves? What’ll you do if you don’t have it anymore?

God is the rock on which you need to build your reality. Everything else is sinking sand. Enjoy what’s around you, take part in the riches of the earth, but don’t rely on it for your joy.

Rely on God, the only thing that is guaranteed. The only steady anchor. The only way.

I can strongly attest to this. In my past, every time I tried to anchor my present & future on something other than God Himself– whether it was my artistic creations, my music business, my education, my family, my relationships, or whatever else– He would drastically and unquestionably show me how ultimately shallow it all was, in and of itself. All of those things were taken away from me. All of them crashed and burned… until God handed me Himself as a new foundation, and told me, “Rebuild.”

God is the One Way. God is the True Anchor. God is the sole thing in the universe that is eternal and guaranteed, the single and only source of Good. When we build our lives around Him, we find genuine peace and joy and success, no matter what the world may claim or say otherwise. In God, everything is made complete. Without God… everything is empty.

 

hearts-not-troubled:

Everywhere I turn, the devil tries to take me down.
He whispers lies to my ears. As I try to drown out his voice, he enters my thoughts; inch by inch seeping through, till I am overcome.
He discourages. He accuses. I feel so worthless. So dirty.
My sin overflows. It clouds my judgment. It covers me in black.
I feel hopeless. Am I hopeless?
I close my eyes for a moment.
Why have I been looking around me? I should be looking towards God. I should focus my eyes on Him. For He is the Author and the Perfecter of my faith.
My God, in whom I trust.
He is my refuge. He is my strength. My Savior and my God.
As I uncover my ears, I hear the lies. I hear it. But I don’t listen to it anymore. I know the truth.
Yeshua, You are Truth.
You have washed my sins away.
I feel so unworthy yet my joy overflows.
Your peace takes my every thought captive to Your will.
I am clean.
I have hope. Elohim, You are my Hope.

I, too, need to remember this truth. I feel so filthy, so evil, so wrong. But God has not abandoned me. He still loves me, as impossible as that seems to my contrite and weeping heart. I must remember His Truth, His Mercy. God forgive me for my despair. Help me. Help me anchor my hope in You.

 

Choose Christ every day.

Choose Christ every moment, even! Life in this world is spiritual warfare. We constantly slip and stumble. With every single beat of our heart, we must recommit to Christ.

Mighty and merciful God, grant us all the grace to unceasingly choose You above all things!

 

you’re not forgotten—God thinks about you

you’re not worthless—Jesus died for you

you’re not alone—God is with you

you’re not unlovable—Jesus loves you

This is all ETERNALLY TRUE! The devil will lie to us and falsely insist otherwise. Satan will claim that God has abandoned us, that He has forgotten us, that our sins are so great that not even Christ could forgive or love us. THAT IS ALL FALSE!

God IS LOVE. Therefore God cannot help but love us, and forgive us, and think of us, and Be with us… for that is His very nature! The devil is incapable of love so he cannot understand this, and refuses to even acknowledge it. But in our hearts, we know better. We have the Truth of Scripture, of God’s promises.

On your darkest days, when you feel utterly lost and alone and afraid… remember this. God is still there. God is ALWAYS there, like the sun shining even behind a tornado cloud. Turn to Him, seek Him with your entire heart, and even if you can’t see Him, rest in perfect assurance that He will meet you there. Have faith. ❤

 

thesovereignword: “Come as you are” does not mean that God is okay with whatever sins are currently in our lives and we don’t have to worry about repenting of them.

“Come as you are” just means not to let your current sins prevent you from coming before God because of shame. It means coming to God as you are (in repentance) and expecting to be radically changed by Him through the power of the Holy Spirit and molded into the image of His Son.

I feel that Isaiah 1 puts this joint warning and relief in stark clarity.

“Woe to the sinful nation… They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him… When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword… Zion will be delivered with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness. But rebels and sinners will both be broken, and those who forsake the Lord will perish.”

Following this, there is this passage from 1 Corinthians 6:

“…Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: [no doers of evil] will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

So yes, come as you are, but come to Him in order to be CHANGED. For if we do not, we will be destroyed by the very sins we cling to. Just remember– God is WILLING and WANTING to change us for the better! Please, do turn to Him, and go to Him, just as you are! He knows our sin already; if we truly repent and offer that repentance to Him, He will wash us clean of it, white as snow!

Many people believe quality of life only exists in the possessions and wealth collected in this lifetime. True legacy is what lasts for eternity.
God’s Word reminds us that we’re called to build our legacy on His truth and that “the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever.” Psalm 112:6. Think about how you’ll be remembered—by loved ones, by your community, your children and grandchildren.
“More than anything else let them know where you stand with the Lord Jesus Christ, for this will be your lasting legacy.”
Our days are numbered. The legacy we leave is not just in our possessions, but in the quality of our lives. The greatest waste in all of our earth, which cannot be recycled or reclaimed, is our waste of the time that God has given us each day.”
—Billy Graham

Today is the International Day Of Families. The family is the basic unit of society, the microcosm of the public macrocosm, and it is within the family that all change and progress has its roots– as well as all trouble and stagnation. The health of a nation’s families ultimately affects the health of the entire world… and that health starts within our souls. Who better to turn to then, but the Divine Physician Himself?

The legacies we leave behind to our children indeed affect the very fabric of our global community, and that effect determines whether or not we are building the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. Today, let us be aware of our precious time and influence, and use it for His Glory. May we choose eternal truth over temporal distractions, and may we live our lives in a holy way that inspires our children, friends, and neighbors to do the same.

God bless all families!
 

“I believe [sin] has no substance or real existence. It can only be known by the pain it causes. This pain is something, as I see it, which lasts but a while. It purges us and makes us know ourselves, so that we ask for mercy.”

— Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love (transl. Clifton Wolters)

The way I see it, is that sin is the absence of God. But God IS. God is literally That Which EXISTS, the Creator and Cause of all things. Therefore, sin is effectively temporal. It cannot exist in the Presence of God– in that state we call Heaven. But here on Earth, with our free will and ignorance, we can experience a blindness to God’s Presence, an unconsciousness of His Truth, and in such an artificial “absence of God” sin can and does occur, Lord have mercy on us poor souls.

But the pain can indeed move us to look up, to seek Truth, to seek Love, to beg Mercy. Suffering has been sanctified by Christ as a way to lead us to His Cross, should we humbly accept it as such. Feeling that terrible ache of sin, realizing the gulf it puts between us and God, indeed may tempt us to despair– but fear not! Look to Christ! Hope in Him! He is calling you out of sin’s lie and into God’s Truth! Crucify your sinful self by the Grace of His Pure Love. “It is finished.” Sin will not, and cannot, last forever. God’s Mercy is the exit door from doom. Go to Him!

"And this is the marvel of marvels; that He called me Beloved."  -C.S. Lewis

And He wants us to call Him Beloved too.
Marvel of marvels, that the Author of Creation loves us so truly that He desires a personal relationship with us.

 

"Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized. Furthermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true."  - Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl

As always, reflect on this truth– this is how God loves us, through Christ Jesus, and this is how Jesus calls us to love each other.
This is why I am joyfully Catholic. This is how God works His plan of salvation; this is how sinners become saints; this is the truth of Creation itself… all of it, the very Kingdom of God, is built on this love.

"There is always something left to love."   

-Gabriel García Márquez One Hundred Years Of Solitude

This is one of the most joyously beautiful truths I can imagine.

In the tiny things of life, in the pain and hurt and doubt… in the grandeur of creation, in the awe and wonder and vastness… Always! There is always more to love!
Creation is infinite and so is love; so is our calling to give it, to receive it, to live in it. God loves us with an endless love; may we reflect that back to God, in every atom of His Creation, and especially in every fellow soul we meet.

"I have always loved everything about you. Even what I didn’t understand."  

- Albert Camus

This is how we should love both God and our fellow man.
Our understanding is so limited. Our minds will never know everything. But our hearts do not need to. Truth speaks beyond what thought can grasp, and pierces directly to our inmost comprehension. Our hearts resonate with it.
All we need to know is love. All we need to understand is love. Everything else will follow.

"You deserve good things, and I want to be one of them."   -

Ellen Hopkins, Impulse

This is profoundly loving.

I believe this is one of the most sincere ways we can reflect back the ultimate Good of God, of Christ, to our fellow man. May we have the grace to be “good things” in the lives of others, to be little lights carrying the Light to all.
God loves us all, for He Is Love. May we do the same, just this simply, just this deeply.

“The truth is that the more intimately you know someone, the more clearly you’ll see their flaws. That’s just the way it is. This is why marriages fail, why children are abandoned, why friendships don’t last. You might think you love someone until you see the way they act when they’re out of money or under pressure or hungry, for goodness’ sake. Love is something different. Love is choosing to serve someone and be with someone in spite of their filthy heart. Love is patient and kind, love is deliberate. Love is hard. Love is pain and sacrifice, it’s seeing the darkness in another person and defying the impulse to jump ship.”

— Kamryn Clark

This is how God loves us! Let that truth sink in; its beauty and profundity is heartwrenchingly joyous.

Equally beautiful is this second truth– This love, this divinely merciful love, is the love we are all called to reflect back to each other. We are divinely called to love all our fellow human beings with this sacrificial love, both friends and enemies alike.

“…I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:44-45)

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

Never limit your prayers because you think you’re sinful or undeserving. You’re not praying because of who you are - you’re praying because of who He is.

The “Our Father” itself, a prayer Jesus personally taught us, includes all of this– not only an admission of our sinfulness but also a plea for forgiveness and grace… not only admission of God’s ultimate power and greatness, but also admission of His deigning to be addressed as Our Father… not despite, but blessedly for the sake of, our weakness. We are like helpless unlearned children, yes, but He yearns to call us His children. This alone speaks volumes.

God knows we’re sinners; every human is. And yes, we are undeserving of all the good He gives us. But that’s the point– humbly recognizing and acknowledging our lowly state, while also humbly recognizing and acknowledging God’s unfathomable Love and Mercy for us in Christ Jesus, is what opens our hearts to not only receive His generosity, but to also pray to Him– to personally speak and listen to Him– in gratitude and joy and sorrow and fear and confusion and all the other states of our lives.

God is Good. God is just and merciful, loving and disciplinary, trustworthy and mysterious. He created the stars and our fingernails. He is Our Father, and I believe that he truly loves to hear our prayers, just as any loving parent loves to hear the sweet voices of their little ones, turning to them with simple pure hearts.

“Rejoice at all times. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

When one day I resolved to practice a certain virtue, I lapsed into the vice opposed to that virtue ten times more frequently than on other days. In the evening, I was reflecting on why, today, I had lapsed so extraordinarily, and I heard the words: You were counting too much on yourself and too little on Me. And I understood the cause of my lapses.
- Saint Faustina, Diary 1087

Christ is the fount and source of all virtue, so if we indeed want to increase in virtue, we must allow Christ to increase in us first. Without Him we are literally powerless. Humility is essential.

I struggle with this daily too, dear Faustina. Thank you for sharing with us the lessons our beloved Lord has so blessed you with, that we too may grow in loving holiness.