Hugs

Everyday God wants to hug us, more important He wants us to know it's Him hugging us.  Below is a few ways He does that.

1. Through nature.

2. Through friends, family, Godly mentors. 

3. Events around us. 

4. Events of our lives. 

5. Through the Word.  

Our recent women's Bible Study through Hebrews was a huge hug as we were reminded who God is, who man is and what sin is and Jesus part in everything.   We felt it in every verse that told us about the New Covenant being better then the old one.  Hebrews 1:3 Jesus work is finished, completed, done, He made purification for sins.  Jesus's single sacrifice is final. There's no need for more, Hebrews 10:17.   And, this is the key to Hebrews and our walk of faith, why would you even want to go back and put yourself back underneath the old covenant, its not the best.   

For me, the longer I walk with Him, the more I trust Him, the more it's all Him and none of me, I feel like I am living in a ongoing hug from God Himself.  I think it blesses His heart when we are obedient to trust Him through deep trials and His hugs get tighter.  Ephesians 1:3.  

I am sure you have experienced this. You meet up with family or friends and you go beyond just saying hello, its so good to see you, you grab them and give them a big hug.  They hug back and you hug a little tighter and a little longer back.  It feel so good,  doesn't it?  You think, wow they really care for me, I can tell by that hug.  That my friend is what Hebrews is about, a longer, tighter hug from God Himself, reminding us, Jesus paid it all, I can rest in that no matter what is going on around me.  I can trust that shed blood of Jesus to give me freedom to enter into the Holy of Holy in heaven with my prayers and God the Father will hear them. 

Need a hug today, get in the Word. Sprinkled all over the pages are countless times He reminds us how much He loves us.  

A Self Ditch?

 

Some people loves themselves just a little too much.  {Then, there are the ones who talk non stop about themselves and never ask you how you are doing).    Scripture  warn us about self-love. Our focus should not be on ourselves. We must trade self-centered love for agape love. Loving yourself in the wrong way shows selfishness and arrogance which God hates. It leads to self-criticism and the sin of boasting. Take your eyes off of yourself and look at the interests of other people}.

Some struggle to  love themselves and are always putting themselves down.   { Here are four benefits of self-love: When you genuinely love yourself, you create a mindset of acceptance. You become willing to accept your life stages and situations, and take responsibility for your actions. You also recognize where the love, happiness, passion, and authenticity come from. Take your eyes off yourself and look to the one who cares for you the most}.

Loving ourselves too much or loving our selves not enough are both a product of being in a self ditch.   Either one of these two ditches is a  discouraging place to be and it usually shows in our life.   

Most of the time I fall into the not loving myself enough ditch.  It  makes me want to give up and  hard to live with.  I lose my patience and become frustrated over the littlest things.  I become self absorbed, easily offended, and stop caring about others.  

One of reasons I fall into either of these  ditches is my need for validation which we all need because God created us to need it.  He also told us where to go for it too.   

How long I stay in either ditch is totally up to me.  But when I come to the end of myself, I can climb out and head toward Calvary mountain.  As I journey on Calvary's road I know there are road signs to give me direction where to go for validation.  Below is just a few:

Jeremiah 29:11 He has given you unique gifts, talents, and strengths. – Romans 12:6 This is validation. God really does love you and is crazy about you. You really are the apple of His eye. Psalm 17:8

God’s love and acceptance is the key to value and significance. The journey of believing brings freedom and renewed energy. How does God validate you? He made you in his image and delights in you. – Genesis 1:27 ; Zephaniah 3:17 He stubbornly loves you even when you are unlovable. – John 3:16 God is for you not against you. – Romans 8:31

I have no doubt that I will fall into the ditch again, life will bring discouragement, someone will hurt my feeling again, and I will fail again at trying to like Jesus.   BUT.....................

He will never fail at being Himself. So He will love me yesterday, today and tomorrow even if I am in a ditch. He will remind me through the power of the Holy Spirit of His Word and that will give me strength to believe He is enough.  

So, how are you doing today, feeling validated, or stuck in a ditch?  Never fear, God would never leave His creation without a way out of the ditch. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the way.  Blessings. 

 

Crumpled Piece of Paper

 

This quote can be taken several different ways, according to who you have put  your trust in.  

Ask yourself, have you ever broken a person trust in you?  Not proud of this confession but I have crumbled my own paper by not being trust worthy.  My mouth which is connected to my heart has gossiped, told lies, and made excuses which if known would make people not trust me.  

• For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. Matthew 15:18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man. Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. Mark 7:21

The first ones that come to mind when I read these scriptures is, politicians.  They make tons of promise to do this or that to make life better for you. Sad to say, those who will or can keep those promises are few. They all have a few crumples. 

It's easy to see others as crumpled piece of paper but we never think we are as bad as those who break the trust we have put in them.  Yet the scriptures are for everyone, yes even me.  I am that piece of crumpled piece of paper. 

The first step to forgiveness for ourselves and to others  is seeing ourselves as a crumpled piece of paper.  Oh, we may not have committed murder or adultery except in our minds.  Isn't it just like God to lump all the sins together. , He does not divide them into bad sins and not so bad sins.   

The battle starts in the mind and it's a daily battle.  To have victory in this battle you must go to ground zero.  John MacArthur talks about this in his book, Dealing with Sins of the Mind.  He says, once we know where to focus your assault, you can defeat your enemy with an overwhelming, Bible powered barrage.  

We all start out as a crumpled piece of paper but just don't know it till a certain age.  No one teach a child how to lie when they are caught doing something Mommy told them not to.  Those sweet darling little people are only acting out of their own crumpled piece of paper.  They are not born perfect, only Christ was born perfect and still is. He was, is and never will be crumpled. 

 Romans 3:23-24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 

Who can you fully trust in this world, only Jesus Christ, for only He is worthy first of all.  I did not die for your sin and neither did you die for my sins.  Only Jesus who was not born a crumpled piece of paper did.  

If this post brings questions to your mind, or confuses you, please write to me, either in the comment below or by email, bettydraper1947@gmail.com.  

One last thing, God loves you with a love that is beyond any human love.  It's unconditional and He proved it by sending His Son to die for your  crumpled piece of paper.