For When It Hurts

We can KNOW all the right information, but when we hurt? We are not always thinking or focusing on the information we know. Our feelings/emotions can get in the way. We hurt and that is the only thing right then that we are sure of.

As the world seems to continue growing darker and fear continues to try to invade our hearts, minds and spirits, we need a little/lot of peace on Earth, joy, and HOPE.

Hope as defined by dictionary.com:

to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence

to believe, desire, or trust:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 (NIV)

It is easy to feel hopeless or less hopeful than we normally would when life seems to block our view of the Jesus of Christmas (birth) and Easter (death and resurrection). Sometimes we focus on one based on the time of the year. In order to see the BIG picture though, we need to remember both. 

Maybe this year has been less ideal than most. Our family dealt with death more close up than we had in a long time when my father-in-law passed away in August. One life ripples into so many others. Sometimes in ways we are not even aware of until much later. He was a husband, father, grandpa, brother, uncle, friend.....

I am finding comfort in remembering that God sent Jesus into this corrupted world to bring hope not just for then, but for now too. Jesus came as a baby. Innocent. He grew up. Made friends. Lost friends. When he lost one of his close friends to death:

Jesus wept. John 11:35

We don't cry alone. God did not intend the world to be this way. A world with pain and suffering. My heart hurts when I see my children hurt. How God must feel the pain of His children and want to step in with comfort. We, like our own children sometimes push us away, sometimes push Him away. To do it on our own. Too proud to acknowledge dependence on somebody else. 

God sent Jesus to this world because the alternative is that we would live our time on this fallen sphere and then we die. God sent us Jesus so that we can live with the assurance that THIS? This is not all there is. He sent Jesus to experience what we experience. For when it hurts.

John 3:16-17: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

1 Peter 1:3 (NIV)
Praise to God for a Living Hope
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

If you are hurting right now more than normal? The following is my prayer for you. Make it your prayer too. 

Ephesians1:17-19 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. 

Amen and Amen!

Heavenly Daddy

Many years ago as a youth group leader, I made a comment. It wasn't even something I planned to say. It just came out. I had been hanging around teenagers enough to understand the relationship (or lack of) between parents and teens a bit better. A lot of them have pretty good relationships with their parents....up until they hit puberty or a bit after. Then the teen starts to put some distance between himself/herself and the parents. Sometimes the parents are not ready to give them the freedom they think they deserve. (Think rewards without the responsibilities!) Mostly, rightfully so, but it was difficult to get teens to see that.

One night I made the comment that the Bible talks about God being our "Heavenly Father". Sometimes, especially if you don't have the greatest relationship with your earthly dad that reference can be a barrier of someone getting to know God better.

Afterwards, one of the girls came up and said she was glad I had said that as that is how she felt. She didn't have a good relationship with her dad. I didn't know that when I said it. I'm almost positive now that I'm older that she is not the only one that had a bad relationship or no dad in the picture.

I have realized that we carry a bit of our parents around with us. Both the good and the bad. The bad can be a bit more difficult to let go. Things our parents said to us when we were younger can rumble around in our head and pop up when we're dealing with a similar situation with our own children. If we're not careful, some of that comes out even though we swore to ourselves we'd never do/say that with our kids.

As a kid, it is hard to understand that our parents don't know everything. We expect them to. We are born right in the middle of their income earning years. They may be dealing with us and their own parents. They may not have had the best relationship with their own parents. As a teen, it is hard to realize that in most cases, our parents are trying to do the best they can with what they know....or learn along the way.

Bad dads is not a new concept. There are even bad fathers IN the Bible. There was a man that messed up even before he became a father (Adam). There was a father that played favorites (Jacob with Joseph). There was a man who became a father by messing around with another man's wife and sending that man purposely into war to be killed (David). The Bible is a genealogy of fathers, of Kings, and Kings that were fathers. Some were good, not all were.

If we can bring ourselves to get past the issues with our human fathers, God gives us the opportunity to be adopted into His family with a perfect Father. For some, it may be quite a stretch to get to that point. I just submit to you to be willing to open your heart a little. I'm not promising it will be easy or perfect. I am promising it is worth getting to know a Heavenly Daddy that has been waiting for you with open arms.

Psalm 68:5 (NIV) A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.

Psalm 103:8-19 (NIV)
The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.
⁹ He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever;
¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

¹³ As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed,
    he remembers that we are dust.
¹⁵ The life of mortals is like grass,
    they flourish like a flower of the field;
¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone,
    and its place remembers it no more.
¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting
    the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
    and his righteousness with their children’s children—
¹⁸ with those who keep his covenant
    and remember to obey his precepts.

¹⁹ The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
    and his kingdom rules over all.

Isaiah 9:6 (NIV)

 For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 64:8 (NIV)
 Yet you, Lord, are our Father.
    We are the clay, you are the potter;
    we are all the work of your hand.

Matthew 7:11 (NIV) If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Romans 8:14-17 (NIV) For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Ephesians 1:17 (NIV) I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.   

Ephesians 6:4 (NIV) Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

The Gift.......Unopened?

Merry Christmas!  I hope and pray that your day has been blessed with times spent with family and friends....and rejoicing in the real reason we need to celebrate.  Christmas serves as a reminder that the world does not revolve around "me" or "us", but about sharing joy and love to others.

I started thinking of all the gifts that were bought for today.  Some with a lot of thought....some just to say it was done or the "perfect" gift could not be found.  Tomorrow the lines will start with the return of the gifts that might not be the right size.....or right color.....or just not what we wanted.

We were given a gift for Christmas, but it may not always look like what we wanted....or needed.  Sometimes we get so busy thinking about what we want we forget about sharing what we have already received.  A gift unopened is a gift not enjoyed by the receiver.......or the giver.   

The Unopened Gift by KL

Amongst all the wrappings and tossed off bows

Shining brightly in the Christmas light glow

Sits an unopened gift with a tag marked “To: You”

We all start to question, this gift is for who?

The gift has obviously been there awhile

We overlooked it while we all talked and smiled

The wrapping is beat up and covered with dust

The bow askew and slightly mussed

Upon looking closer I notice the “From:”

I start to cry softly as the others come

It was a gift to be shared

To show that Someone cared

I show the rest of the card

To:  You ……  From, God

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” - Isaiah 9:6

 Romans 6 (NIV) ²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

2 Corinthians 9 (NIV) ¹⁴ And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 

Revelation 22:17 (NIV) The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

Praying for us that when we are aware of someone that has not opened the gift of eternal life that we will not be afraid to let them know what happened when we unwrapped that gift.  Go tell it on the mountain and everywhere!