Run TO God - Not Away from Him

A sweet word from the Lord this morning in my quiet time. . .

I am not the God who cracks the whip, waiting to punish and ridicule you when you make a mistake; waiting to condemn your every wrong word or move. I AM a God of Love.  I AM LOVE - I exude love, emit love, bleed love, pour out love!  I love you!  I love My people so much!  Yet, they run from Me seeking places to hide from Me - when all I've ever wanted was for them to run to Me!

It's similar to when you (Dawn) hold your arms out to Shorty (my precious dog) and she looks at you and walks away.  How do you feel when she does that?  Sad, disappointed, rejected.

All you wanted was for her to come to you and let you hold her and love on her, be near her because you adore her, right? Right.

But she's stubborn and she walks off.  Maybe she fears you'll load her up in the car and haul her off to the Vet's office (she hates that.)  But in reality, that wasn't your plan at all.  You deeply desired to love on her, pet her and show her how much she means to you.

It's no different with My children.  I desperately want them to come to me.  My arms are wide open.  I want to love on them because I adore them.  They make Me smile.  Yet, so many of my children walk away, afraid I have punishment for them instead of love.  In that case, we both miss out on the blessing of My unfailing, unconditional love.

Because I AM Love and that's what I have for you, My children - all I want is for you to love Me, Your God, with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. (Matt. 22:37-38)  Why?  To restrict you?  To bind you?  To control you?  No! Not at all!  But to lavish you with what you've been searching for all your life.  You need not search any longer.  I AM here.  I AM the Love you've been chasing after all along.  My arms are open.  My Love is free for you.  Come, receive the endless Love I have for you, My children.

Taste and see that I AM good!  Blessed is the one who takes refuge in Me. (Ps. 34:8)

My Goal is to NOT Sin. . .

I John 2:1-2

"My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father.  He is Jesus Christ, the One who is truly righteous.  He Himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins-and not only our sins but the sins of all the world."

It sounds presumptuous to say, "...My goal is to NOT sin," doesn't it?  Even writing that seems somewhat pompous, but the truth is....as a Christian, my goal is to NOT sin, but to live like Christ.  Because of the powerful grace of God, I have the nature of Christ (His Spirit) living inside me since I was born again!

BUT. . .

"....if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father.  He is Jesus Christ, the One who is truly righteous."

Notice, the scripture says, ". . .but, if".....not "....but, when"....would it be safe to say that John is speaking to us as if we probably won't sin?  He certainly doesn't assume we are going to sin, or he might have used the word "when"...not "if." 

I sinned last weekend.  I sin most every day, but last weekend was a blatant sin.  Is there any difference from the blatant sins and the secret sins?  No. No difference at all except this, one is in front of people, one is in the dark where no one sees...No one except God the Father.

My old self and nature wanted to allow guilt, shame and condemnation to come flooding in and take up residence, but I had to fight hard to not allow that.  What was my tactic?  Admit my sin, (confession to God and my sweet husband), repent (feel enough remorse that I don't want to do that again), and seek God's forgiveness, (even though I've already been forgiven of all my sins, past, present and future.) 

So, if I'm already forgiven, then why the 3-step process mentioned above from
I John 1:9?  For me, it puts me in a position of humility...which thankfully is the opposite of pride, which by the way, can be a #1 culprit of sin.

My goal is to NOT sin.  I must be on guard at all times for the enemy who is lurking around, seeking whom he may devour.  It's easy to get complacent and comfortable, and that is when the enemy strikes, catches me off-guard and causes me to stumble.  God has given me ample revelation already about the enemy's tactics, I must use that knowledge and the Sword of the Word to combat his every scheme.  Today, I am most grateful that I have an Advocate who pleads my case before my Father in Heaven.  There is no sin so great that could ever change God's love for us....He is full of grace, mercy and peace for all of us.

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

 I Peter 5:8 NLT

Continuing on the Path of Simplicity

A few posts ago, I wrote about my journey to an Abundantly Simple Holy Life.  That was right about when we moved from our 3600 square foot house to our 1600 square foot rental.  Here it is, two months later, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the simpler life style.  I think about all of our other not-so-necessary belongings in that 10 x 30 storage building and shudder at the thought of unpacking it all when/if we find a home to buy again.

I can't begin to tell you how liberating it is to be renting right now!  We don't have to mow the grass, the homeowner's association contracts with someone to do that.  No taxes, no home insurance, no maintenance either!  We are grateful we have a garage to park our vehicles in and a small storage building for odds and ends we might need this summer.

We've begun the search for a new home, but honestly, I'm not feeling the deep desire to move just yet.  I love the central location we're in now and the thought of having to move far north or south just doesn't appeal to me at this current time.  I'm wondering if home ownership is overrated in America?

After reading the book Radical by David Platt, it's easy to wonder that as he concludes that the "American Dream" does not line up with the Gospel of Jesus.  It just doesn't.  I don't know what God has in store for Gary and me down the road as far as a home goes, but I can see, quite clearly, that home ownership is not as big a deal as I once thought it was.

I'm sure at some point the freedom of renting may burn out with us, but right now, it's a good thing.  Our load is light.  Stress level is low.  God is in control....as always.

Be blessed dear friend!

Keep it simple!

Setting the Record Straght

All my life, I have struggled with the concept of grace.  More so in the past than recently. I am a slow "get it" kind of person at times, but when I need to "get it"...I just keep after "it."  Right now, the "it" is GRACE. 

Several years ago, I got a revelation of grace from God and it set me free.  Long story short, God whispered to me, "Dawn, if you never lift another finger, in your lifetime; if you never do another "good deed", in your lifetime. . .it's okay-My grace is sufficient for you.  For the first time ever, I think I really "got" what God had been trying to give me all along with His wonderful gift of grace.  I felt the shackles of performance, pleasing, approval seeking, and doing- fall off of me in that instant.

Fast forward to today...even though I can recall that day as if it were yesterday, the enemy has not given up his efforts to steal, kill and destroy any revelation of grace I received in that moment.  I continue to study God's word, and other teachings on the subject and simultaneously ask God for a new, deeper revelation of grace.  He is always willing to answer a prayer like that, no doubt.

While reading Clark Whitten's book Pure Grace a few statements jumped off the page that I want to share with you....

"Those who receive the abundance of grace are the ones who reign in life.  Good receivers, not good performers, are the ones who reign!"

"Our willingness  and sense of liberty to receive all Jesus died to give is the key here!"

"We are warned not to sin against grace.  Listen, the only way to sin against grace is to refuse to receive the grace it cost Jesus His life to give.  Our only hope of "putting to death the deeds of the body [flesh]" (Rom. 8:13) is receiving the abundance of grace."

Grace is such a simply complex phenomenon to me.  There is nothing I can do to gain more grace...I only need to believe on Jesus and receive His gift of abundant grace.  I DO believe...it's the receiving part that gets in the way.  So, my goal is to become a better, more gracious (pun intended), Receiver.
When Jesus said, "It is finished," He meant EVERYTHING!  There is nothing left for me to do...He did it ALL.  I simply need to believe and receive.  Today, I choose to receive ALL that Jesus died for me to have on this Earth...ALL the grace, righteousness and abundance of life!  Amen to that!