It's a Forever Thing

 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  – Romans 8:38-39

She said she had been saved as a child, but that was many years ago.  She hasn’t prayed or opened her Bible in many years and wasn’t even sure she knew what she believed anymore.  Confusion had set in, and it was clear that she was not feeling the love of the Savior in her life.  Ever since her parent’s divorce, she was angry at her Dad and Mom, and most of all at God.  It was so much easier to find happiness at school or behind the bleachers with a bottle than it was to go home.  Where was the promise of joy, love, happiness and peace that the pastor had talked about the day she was baptized.  Now she is on her own and living wild and free from any rules or responsibility.  She did enough work to pay for the rent and bummed food, smoke and drinks from whomever she was hanging with any particular day.  When she rolled into bed each night though, her heart ached to be loved, to be treasured and not feel like a possession, and to be held in the darkness, completely safe while she drifted off to sleep.

This could be the story of any one of 5 million young women age 16 to 23 around this globe.  There is a mourning at night as heads hit pillows.  A mourning for the lost youth of our world.  The children that long to be cherished and loved so much that they put on an act every day as if they are.  Who are these beautiful young ladies?  Where do they live?  What do they dream about and who do they look up to?  They are everywhere.  You can look to your right or your left and 1 out of every 5 will be suffering quietly, deep within their heart.  Nothing in their life up to that point has been freely given, which makes them skeptical to His gift of grace.  They look at His love as empty promises because of their past, and they challenge “How can God love me when He let these things happen…..”

These are God’s children.  His love for them is so deep, true and accepting that it is hard to comprehend.  The pain is real and it’s so easy to say God isn’t, because His presence is in the Spiritual realm.  It’s so easy to turn away from God, because they believe that He can’t love them, or that He has turned his back on them.  What do you say to this child? 

Our role in these circumstances is to simply be Jesus for them.  Love them, despite where they are in life, what they have done and who they have become.  Just listen and accept them for who God made them to be.  You see, there are times in life when God will put you in the exact right spot at the right moment to hear someone cry out for help, and He expects you to do it.  Love ‘em like Jesus, be His hands and feet, His empathy, compassion and mercy, His eyes and ears and His word.  Just be there for them.  In time, they will see God through you and long for that relationship themselves.  In that opportunity, the time is right to share the word of God the Father with them – “You are His child and He loves you eternally.  His love is immutable and His grace covers All Sins, yes All.  For if it is insufficient for one, it is insufficient for All of them.” 

Nothing, no Nothing

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:38-39

 

The morning sun was just peaking over the horizon as he rolled over.   The first thing he noticed was that he was not in his bedroom.  It took a moment or two for him to recall what had happened and how he had ended up in this place.  His vision was very blurred, and breathing was difficult because a tube was coming from his mouth and taped to his cheek.  Despite his attempts to move his body, he couldn’t.  It’s as if his muscles couldn’t react to his brain's commands.  Through his squinting eyes, he saw the IV bag hanging and tubes connected to his arm, wires connected to his forehead, and a myriad of machines with numbers, making beeping sounds.  He noticed that his chest and abdomen were wrapped in white bandages, and there was a large circle of red and black right in the center of the bandages.  Suddenly, his mind began recalling what happened.  As the memories began to fill his mind from the night before, a pain overtook him, and he felt himself drifting back into a state of unconsciousness.

His mind did not stop, though.  He felt as if he were floating above his physical body and looking down upon himself.  He saw the hospital bed, the equipment and monitors, the blood-stained bandages, and his mother in the corner crying.  Then his eyes were captured by the tattoos covering his arms and shoulders.  The naked nymph that he had gotten in Mexico, the skull and crossbones, the knife blade dripping blood, the snake wrapping around the shoulder, the tattoo of the gun and bullet entering through the eye of a child.  The tattoos caused his mind to roll through his life history.  Small glimpses from his youth through today began to fill his vision in his unconscious state.  The life of partying, drugs, and violence; the people he had hurt, the pain he had caused others, all began to be revealed to him.  He saw all the women he had used and abused.  He saw the children now addicted to crack cocaine because he sold them their first joint.  He saw his mother’s tears as he slapped her and slammed his bedroom door in her face when he was just a boy himself.  He saw his dad taking his own life in their bathroom at home.  Then he saw himself as a small boy playing baseball and riding his new bicycle after school.  He saw his best friend, and he was laughing and playing with Hot Wheels and GI Joes.  The sky was blue, the sun was bright, and the grass was green as he saw himself learning how to ride a tricycle.

Suddenly, his eyes moved to the machine in the corner the beeps were slowing and the line had very few bars on the screen.  Something was happening as he looked at his body in that bed.  His chest was barely rising and falling any longer.  A bright flash of light and he was back in his dream like state.  He saw himself as a twelve year old boy walking down the aisle in church.  He recalled the large cross with Jesus hanging at the front of the sanctuary as he made his way down the long aisle toward the minister standing by his dad’s coffin.  As he touched the hard cold wood, he felt a hand on his shoulder.  Looking up it was Jesus Christ looking down into his eyes, with more love than he had ever felt before.  He said four simple words, “I’ll always love you.” 

A blur flashed before the man’s eyes and he was now standing in the same church, except the church was empty, dark and cold.  His eyes lifted to see the cross on the wall, Christ hanging there still.  In his vision, the man began weeping bitterly at the choices he had made in life since the last time he knelt on these steps.  Then a hand was on his shoulder and looking up, Christ stood before him, looking down upon him with incredible love.  “I’ll always love you.”, He whispered.  The man raised his arms showing his tattoos and scars from the needles and from the time he tried to take his life.  “But Jesus you don’t understand the things I’ve done, and people I’ve hurt”, the man cried out.  “I LOVE YOU.”, Jesus replied.  “No.  I raped that girl and I stole that woman’s purse.  I was in prison for shooting that kid in a fight.  I robbed the liquor store and beat that old man.  I haven’t stepped foot in this church in 20 years.”, the man argued back.  “I LOVE YOU.”, Jesus replied, and then raised the man to his feet and embraced him.  The man saw his own arms as Jesus lifted him and they were wiped clean, the tattoos were gone as was the bandages. 

“Nothing you do can separate you from Me and My love for you.”, Jesus said as He placed a kiss upon the man’s forehead.  He was swept away through the blurry darkness back to the hospital room and then total darkness.  His eyes opened once again, blurry looking up at the ceiling and the tubes and wires coming from his body.  Shifting his eyes to the side, he saw the monitors and the line was normal once again.  There were two doctors saying he’s stable now.  He saw his mother standing by his bed.  Her hand touching his face as tears flowed from her eyes, she smiled and said, “Welcome back.  We thought we lost you.”

---------------------------

You may feel that you have done terrible things in your life up to this point.  I want you to know that despite those choices, those actions, God’s love for you has never changed.  He loved you when you were born just as much as He loves you now.  His love is unchanging and just when you think you’re beyond His grace, He will lift you up, clean off the past and carry you forward to a new day.  Perhaps today is that day for you to receive His offering of grace and love.  If so, please pray this prayer with me, and invite Jesus into your heart as your Lord and Savior today.

Nothing

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:38-39

 

The morning sun was just peaking over the horizon as he rolled over.   The first thing he noticed was that he was not in his bedroom.  It took a moment or two for him to recall what had happened and how he had ended up in this place.  His vision was very blurred, and breathing was difficult because a tube was coming from his mouth and taped to his cheek.  Despite his attempts to move his body, he couldn’t.  It’s as if his muscles couldn’t react to his brain's commands.  Through his squinting eyes, he saw the IV bag hanging and tubes connected to his arm, wires connected to his forehead, and a myriad of machines with numbers, making beeping sounds.  He noticed that his chest and abdomen were wrapped in white bandages, and there was a large circle of red and black right in the center of the bandages.  Suddenly, his mind began recalling what happened.  As the memories began to fill his mind from the night before, a pain overtook him, and he felt himself drifting back into a state of unconsciousness.

His mind did not stop, though.  He felt as if he were floating above his physical body and looking down upon himself.  He saw the hospital bed, the equipment and monitors, the blood-stained bandages, and his mother in the corner crying.  Then his eyes were captured by the tattoos covering his arms and shoulders.  The naked nymph that he had gotten in Mexico, the skull and crossbones, the knife blade dripping blood, the snake wrapping around the shoulder, the tattoo of the gun and bullet entering through the eye of a child.  The tattoos caused his mind to roll through his life history.  Small glimpses from his youth through today began to fill his vision in his unconscious state.  The life of partying, drugs, and violence; the people he had hurt, the pain he had caused others, all began to be revealed to him.  He saw all the women he had used and abused.  He saw the children now addicted to crack cocaine because he sold them their first joint.  He saw his mother’s tears as he slapped her and slammed his bedroom door in her face when he was just a boy himself.  He saw his dad taking his own life in their bathroom at home.  Then he saw himself as a small boy playing baseball and riding his new bicycle after school.  He saw his best friend, and he was laughing and playing with Hot Wheels and GI Joes.  The sky was blue, the sun was bright, and the grass was green as he saw himself learning how to ride a tricycle.

Suddenly, his eyes moved to the machine in the corner the beeps were slowing and the line had very few bars on the screen.  Something was happening as he looked at his body in that bed.  His chest was barely rising and falling any longer.  A bright flash of light and he was back in his dream like state.  He saw himself as a twelve year old boy walking down the aisle in church.  He recalled the large cross with Jesus hanging at the front of the sanctuary as he made his way down the long aisle toward the minister standing by his dad’s coffin.  As he touched the hard cold wood, he felt a hand on his shoulder.  Looking up it was Jesus Christ looking down into his eyes, with more love than he had ever felt before.  He said four simple words, “I’ll always love you.” 

A blur flashed before the man’s eyes and he was now standing in the same church, except the church was empty, dark and cold.  His eyes lifted to see the cross on the wall, Christ hanging there still.  In his vision, the man began weeping bitterly at the choices he had made in life since the last time he knelt on these steps.  Then a hand was on his shoulder and looking up, Christ stood before him, looking down upon him with incredible love.  “I’ll always love you.”, He whispered.  The man raised his arms showing his tattoos and scars from the needles and from the time he tried to take his life.  “But Jesus you don’t understand the things I’ve done, and people I’ve hurt”, the man cried out.  “I LOVE YOU.”, Jesus replied.  “No.  I raped that girl and I stole that woman’s purse.  I was in prison for shooting that kid in a fight.  I robbed the liquor store and beat that old man.  I haven’t stepped foot in this church in 20 years.”, the man argued back.  “I LOVE YOU.”, Jesus replied, and then raised the man to his feet and embraced him.  The man saw his own arms as Jesus lifted him and they were wiped clean, the tattoos were gone as was the bandages. 

“Nothing you do can separate you from Me and My love for you.”, Jesus said as He placed a kiss upon the man’s forehead.  He was swept away through the blurry darkness back to the hospital room and then total darkness.  His eyes opened once again, blurry looking up at the ceiling and the tubes and wires coming from his body.  Shifting his eyes to the side, he saw the monitors and the line was normal once again.  There were two doctors saying he’s stable now.  He saw his mother standing by his bed.  Her hand touching his face as tears flowed from her eyes, she smiled and said, “Welcome back.  We thought we lost you.”

---------------------------

You may feel that you have done terrible things in your life up to this point.  I want you to know that despite those choices, those actions, God’s love for you has never changed.  He loved you when you were born just as much as He loves you now.  His love is unchanging and just when you think you’re beyond His grace, He will lift you up, clean off the past and carry you forward to a new day.  Perhaps today is that day for you to receive His offering of grace and love.  If so, please pray this prayer with me, and invite Jesus into your heart as your Lord and Savior today.


Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
I come before you this day as a sinner.  I ask Your forgiveness for my sinful ways and I turn away from that life.  I lay my sins at Your feet and acknowledge that You are my salvation.  I accept Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord of my life.  I recognize that He lived, He died and He rose again on the 3^rd day, to take away my sins and by His blood my sins are washed clean.  I give my life to You to use and bring glory and honor to You in all that I do.  Transform me from my sinful ways and cover me with Your grace forever more.  Thank You for dying for me to receive eternal life with You one day.  Amen 

If you prayed this prayer, I believe you are born again as a new creation in Jesus Christ.  Please seek out and join a church in your local community to continue your growth as a child of God Almighty.






© Sondove Enterprises, 2019
For more Daily Thoughts go to: http://sondove.blogspot.com
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Love ‘em Like Jesus

Read It, Learn It, Live It, Share It

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  – Romans 8:38-39

She said she had been saved as a child, but that was many years ago.  She hasn’t prayed or opened her Bible in many years and wasn’t even sure she knew what she believed anymore.  Confusion had set in, and it was clear that she was not feeling the love of the Savior in her life.  Ever since her parent’s divorce, she was angry at her Dad and Mom, and most of all at God.  It was so much easier to find happiness at school or behind the bleachers with a bottle than it was to go home.  Where was the promise of joy, love, happiness and peace that the pastor had talked about the day she was baptized.  Now she is on her own and living wild and free from any rules or responsibility.  She did enough work to pay for the rent and bummed food, smoke and drinks from whomever she was hanging with any particular day.  When she rolled into bed each night though, her heart ached to be loved, to be treasured and not feel like a possession, and to be held in the darkness, completely safe while she drifted off to sleep.

This could be the story of any one of 5 million young women age 16 to 23 around this globe.  There is a mourning at night as heads hit pillows.  A mourning for the lost youth of our world.  The children that long to be cherished and loved so much that they put on an act every day as if they are.  Who are these beautiful young ladies?  Where do they live?  What do they dream about and who do they look up to?  They are everywhere.  You can look to your right or your left and 1 out of every 5 will be suffering quietly, deep within their heart.  Nothing in their life up to that point has been freely given, which makes them skeptical to His gift of grace.  They look at His love as empty promises because of their past, and they challenge “How can God love me when He let these things happen…..”

These are God’s children.  His love for them is so deep, true and accepting that it is hard to comprehend.  The pain is real and it’s so easy to say God isn’t, because His presence is in the Spiritual realm.  It’s so easy to turn away from God, because they believe that He can’t love them, or that He has turned his back on them.  What do you say to this child? 

Our role in these circumstances is to simply be Jesus for them.  Love them, despite where they are in life, what they have done and who they have become.  Just listen and accept them for who God made them to be.  You see, there are times in life when God will put you in the exact right spot at the right moment to hear someone cry out for help, and He expects you to do it.  Love ‘em like Jesus, be His hands and feet, His empathy, compassion and mercy, His eyes and ears and His word.  Just be there for them.  In time, they will see God through you and long for that relationship themselves.  In that opportunity, the time is right to share the word of God the Father with them – “You are His child and He loves you eternally.  His love is immutable and His grace covers All Sins, yes All.  For if it is insufficient for one, it is insufficient for All of them.” 



Prayer:,
Loving Father,
You are the Alpha and the Omega.  You have created each of us in Your image and if we can accept that, we can begin to understand that we can do all things through You.  We are surrounded by suffering people, and we are Your feet, hands and compassion in their life.  Help us to just love them like You would, so that they might see You through us.  In Your name we pray – Amen
 

 

 

© Sondove Enterprises, 2019
For more Daily Thoughts go to: http://sondove.blogspot.com
If you would like to be added to the email distribution please click here: Daily Thoughts

It’s a Forever Kind of Thing

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”   Romans 8:38-39

My thoughts:
“Give thanks to the Lord our God and King
His Love endures forever
For He is good, He is above all things
His Love endures forever”   - Chris Tomlin, Forever, 2001 ©

Today is a good day, but there have certainly been bad ones along the way.  Each day the alarm goes off and my feet swing from under the covers to land on the cold floor.  I am reminded that the Lord is still in control and His love will never fade away.  Despite the pain, the fears and the uncertainty that lie ahead of me on this day, my faith is not shaken.  Because for the next 24 hours, the Lord has blessed me once again to rise from this bed and serve Him with my words and actions.

There will come a day when I will not be so blessed as I am today.  When I will not be able to swing my legs from the bed and stand.  When my mind will not be so clear, and my body not so capable.  There will come a day when fear so grips me, or the pain and sadness overwhelms me to such a degree that I just want to stay under these covers and avoid all human contact.  There will be days when I am so angered at those around me or my circumstances that the hatred can consume my thoughts.  You see, each and every day is unique in the challenges that will face us, but one thing is constant – God’s love doesn’t change.

His word promises that nothing can separate us – not physical ailments, not fear, not anger, not pain or sadness.  We may not immediately see His love, but we can trust that it’s there none the less.  He will not turn from us.  If we are feeling the loneliness of missing God the Father, it is we who have turned from Him.  This can only be reconciled by repenting and turning back to His love and grace.  So, whatever it is that keeps you from His loving arms today, turn from it; turn from the pain, the fear, the anger, the sadness, the depression, the pride and come back to the realization that this day belongs to Him, and your purpose is to share His love with those around you.

Be Blessed,

Rich

 

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Love – It’s Forever

Make 2014 a year of Sharing

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:38-39

She had gone off again, despite his begging and pleading for her to reconsider.  Knowing right from wrong and truth from lies, she still walked out that door in pursuit of something greater than what he was giving her.  She was bored and looking for something new, something exciting and perhaps even a little sinful.  As the door slammed shut he fell against the wall and his body slid down.  His head lowered into his hands, he cried out for answers.  What was it that he was doing wrong?  Why couldn’t he be the one that she wanted to be with?  Wasn’t it enough that he loved her with every ounce of his being?

In the quiet of the night he felt the presence of the Lord.  Falling to his knees by the bed, he closed his eyes and listened patiently:  “Son, I am enough for you.  This world will seek temporary pleasures and desires in an attempt to fill the void within.  In Me, you find completeness when the world has turned away, for there is nothing greater that exists than the love which I have poured out for you.  In this you can find your rest and peace.”  The daybreak came to find him full of the spirit and fire once again.  Getting dressed and picking up his worn and torn bible he once again opened the door and stepped into the war zone, prepared to battle the enemy for the souls of the lost.  He was prepared to love them all despite their choices, addictions and actions towards him. 

We are all seeking more in this life.  Many of us seek more wealth, more substance, more possessions and more notoriety, while others of us seek more of Him and what He provides for us.  Either case, His love is never changing and richly available to all of us equally.  If you are seeking fulfillment in this life and more from this world, I ask you to take it to the Lord in prayer for He is enough, and His love is forever.  Lay down the desires that are driven by this world and seek the Creator to fill that void.  He created you, knows you and loves you completely.  There is nothing in this world that can come close.

© Sondove Enterprises, 2014
For more Daily Thoughts go to: http://sondove.blogspot.com
If you would like to be added to the email distribution please click here: Daily Thoughts