God Loves His Kids

Zephaniah 1:6

I will cut off “…those who turn back from following the Lord and neither seek the Lord nor inquire of him.”

God loves you. He wants you to know that.

If you have been in church and found the people in the church to be imperfect, don’t judge God by that. If you’ve been hurt by someone who claims to be a Christian, don’t judge God by that. People – even good Christians – are imperfect. But God is love.

Many find questions in church that they can’t answer, and they turn away from God. We have to realize that some answers don’t come easy. Don’t make getting answers a condition of your love for God. He doesn’t put conditions on his love for you.

God can be in charge and not like what he sees. He’s a parent. Sometimes his children are well-behaved, and sometimes they’re naughty. He loves his kids anyway.

If you’ve ever known God’s love, don’t turn away from him. When difficult times come your way, stay with him. Ask him the hard questions. Seek him in prayer. Sit silently in his presence. He will be with you.

God stays patient with us through our ups and downs, but we have to remain his kids. Why do we turn our backs on God, disown him, ignore him, run away from him, and then wonder why we don’t feel his love?

There will be a day when those who turn their backs on God will identify themselves with the wicked. If they remain arrogantly wicked long enough, they will turn down every chance to come back to God. They won’t seek God when they need him.

God doesn’t want to lose any of his kids. No parent does. That’s why I keep encouraging you to seek God with me.

Seeking Him In Our Brokenness

Psalm 10:4

In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

Where is God when you need him?

He’s right where he was when you thought you didn’t need him.

He’s always been there for us, but we haven’t always been there for him. We sometimes find that there is no room for God in our schedule. But God always has room for us in his.

Why is God so patient with us?

When we arrogantly think that we can handle all the events in our lives without help from God, we ignore his guiding touch. We push away the hand he holds out to us. Then when we find ourselves in need, we know he is the only one to whom we can run. But we often hold back our call for help. We think he won’t help us. We think we’ve offended God too much for him to hear our plea.

It’s not the cry for help that he ignores; it’s the unrepentant heart. As long as we take him seriously and believe he will respond to us, we can run to him in our brokenness. We can flood his shoulder with our tears. We can ask him to help us stay turned back to him.

It starts with a heart that is willing. You must be willing to be held and directed by God.

The wicked doesn’t seek him. They don’t want his love. But you aren’t wicked and your heart is willing to be held in the hand of God. So seek God with me today.

Getting Rid of Evil

1 Peter 2:1

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.

Chapter one of the book of First Peter tells us that our goal is to love each other deeply because we have God’s love. Chapter two continues that thought with step two which is to get rid of the evil that destroys relationships. We aren’t loving each other when we slip into hypocrisy and deceit.

Showing respect for others, submitting to the proper authority, and doing good deeds are ways we love our neighbors. This love is ammunition for demolishing the evil.

How do you rid yourself of darkness? Turn on the light.

How do you rid yourself of evil? Use love. Use God’s love. But to use it, you have to have it. So go to God and receive the life that turns away death and the light that turns away darkness. Go to God and receive his love.

Nine Verses

Ephesians 4:14

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.

In Ephesians 4:8-16, I have found words of hope and clear direction that have often been overlooked. We know that there are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers in our enormous Christian family. But do we read past that verse to find the people the others were put here for?

Let’s look at the verses. Verse 8 tells us that God has given gifts to men. Verses 9 and 10 tell us about the one who gave the gifts. Verse 11 tells us what the gifts are. Verse 12 and 13 tell us why he gave the gifts. Verse 14 tells us what happens when we reach the goal achieved by using the gifts. Verse 15 tells us we will grow up by speaking the truth in love. Verse 16 tells us we’re supposed to work together.

Those nine verses tell us that each one of us has been given the gift of a job that is so special and so necessary that there are people being directed by God to help each of us prepare for that job. If we each do our job to the best of our ability, we will mature in the process. Then we will no longer be deceived by the “good ideas” that get thrown at us all the time. If we each do our jobs and mature until we reach unity in the faith, we will be stable so we’re not blown about by every wind of teaching.

Can you imagine what would happen if everyone actually did this?

I believe we will do this. But each of us has to do those works of service that we were created to do.

If you are doing your God-given works of service, good for you. I’m proud of you. Keep it up. If we all keep it up, we will reach a unity in the faith that we have only dreamed of so far.

God has a plan. Let’s stick with it.

Flattering Lips

Psalm 12:1-2

Help, LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men. Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception.

Have you ever felt like you were the only one trying to do what was right?

I know children often complain about getting into trouble for something they’ve done because it seems as though their siblings never get into trouble. Does a mother forego justice to keep the peace?

No. Parents must teach their children to do what is right even when you really are the only one doing it.

Psalm 12 shows us that this feeling has been around a long time. When we think everyone is lying, God reminds us that His words are flawless. We can lift up the words of the Lord and remain in His protection.

Deceitful Gain

Genesis 27:35

But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”

When you think of the story of Jacob and Esau, the word “deceit” comes to mind. Although he was helped by his mother, Jacob was the one who deceived his father into giving him his brother’s blessing.

Jacob received the blessing, but did he walk in honor? No. He had to run away to protect himself from Esau who was consoling himself with the thought of killing him.

Many people are able to get what they want – one way or another – like Jacob. Anyone can stoop to being a deceitful scammer, but I don’t think it feels as good as getting what you’ve earned and walking in honor.

Why flee when you can live free?

It’s hard to forgive those who take things by deception. The good news, however, is that Esau was able to forgive Jacob. Genesis 33:4 tells us that the brothers saw each other again after years of separation – and Esau didn’t kill him as Jacob had feared.

Hannah's Prayer

1 Samuel 1:2

He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

Hannah had no children.

Year after year, Peninnah persistently irritated Hannah about the fact that she had no children. She provoked her until Hannah broke down and cried.

Isn’t that sad? Not only was Hannah not able to bear children, but she was also tortured by the one woman who could provide sons for their husband. She had the love of her husband, but she that didn’t solve her problem. She was frustrated with the fact that there wasn’t anything she could do to fix her problem.

So she prayed.

She prayed so fervently and with such anguish that she got the attention of Eli the priest. He told her to go and God would give her what she wanted. She immediately believed God would do it.

I think a lot of Christians do that kind of praying. We try to be patient and endure whatever may come. Then when we get so frustrated by our inability to get what we feel we should have, we fall on our face and pray to God.

I wonder what would happen if we’d listen to God earlier in the scenario. Does God wait until we’ve cried our last tear before he acts? I don’t think so.

I don’t think we see things the same way God does. Maybe he waits on us to act on our faith. Maybe he wants to see if the thing we want is going to be ahead of him in our list of priorities. Maybe he waits for us to throw away the arrogant notion that it was our idea to want the thing.

When we get to the point that it has to be God making it happen, we can never claim the gift as our own creation. We can never own the miracle. It’s God’s hand at work, not ours.

We are his children, after all. He knows our tendencies and weaknesses. Some of us generally lean toward self-sufficiency. I think God tries to do what is necessary to keep our attention on him.

He wants to help us achieve success, but we have to wait for God’s plan. He sees things we don’t see. That includes pitfalls as well as successes. He knows what will trip us up and what will help us triumph.

Hannah had no children. And then she had a very important child.

If we’ll trust God’s plan, our obedience will speed us to the victory.