My new favorite song is sung aby Brandon Lake and Nick Jonas. My favorite lyrics are the following….

I see trauma, I see worthless

You see something you can work with.

I see weakness, I see failure

You see something good on paper

I see ashes turned to beauty

I’ve felt Heaven working through me

I’ve seen panic turned to power

Felt your peace in my darkest hour.

What Grace is this?

Crossed out my shame and forgives me again and again and again.

_____________________________

Such a beautiful and meaningful song. Listen to the entire song. Thank you Guys.

God Bless Christian Music.

Most inspirational pre-game speeches by coaches to their players, if not all, are aimed at getting the players to believe in themselves. I think this is the same problem for all of us. We don’t truly believe in ourselves. We doubt our abilities to get it done. We are not 100% all in. Jesus says the same for those that have faith in him. Remember the “faith of a mustard seed speech”. We do doubt and Jesus knows this. He doesn’t condemn us for our doubting (ask Thomas). Rather he continues to love us unconditionally. Thank you Jesus. Because of Jesus (not me) I am a better person everyday. All of who I am I owe to Jesus.. I believe that Jesus is the Way and Truth, even when I fail in my actions. Jesus is my Lord and Savior. My identity is in Jesus. Amen

Matthew 17:20-21 – “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move: and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Christian writer Frederick Buechner asks the question, “Do you believe in God or do you believe God”? He further says, “believing in God is an intellectual position. It need have no more effect on your life than believing in Freud’s method of interpreting dreams”. Believing God is believing John 3:16…..believing God is believing John 14:6……its believing that the Holy Bible is the Truth from beginning to end and much, much more. In regard to my faith, I choose to believe God.

John 11:27 – Yes Lord I believe that You are the Christ, The Son of God who has come into the world.

Through Jesus, God has revealed more of himself than through any other means……..N. T. Wright

I think a major reason many people today ignore God in their lives is because they have no understanding who He is. I don’t know how a person can ignore a God who claims to be the one and only and who created the universe. But they do. Maybe its also fear. According to the Holy Bible some two thousand years ago Jesus exploded into the life of ancient Israel not as a teacher, nor as a teacher of timeless truths, nor as a great moral example, but as the one who through his life, death and resurrection put God’s rescue operation into effect. I admit that there is alot to understand about God and Jesus. But that is no reason to turn one’s back on this timeless truth. And act like it is not the truth. I for one believe its all true. Jesus is the Way and The Truth in our lives and I stand by it. Its somewhat and unbelievable but true. Go and see for yourself.

John 1:1 – In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.(Jesus is the Word)

According to author Frederick Buechner, “Believing in God is an intellectual position. Believing God is something else again. It is less a position than a journey, less a realization than a relationship. It doesn’t leave you cold like believing the world is round. It stirs your blood like believing the world is a miracle.” He goes on to say. “we believe in God when for one reason or another we choose to do so. Eternal life is not the result of believing in. It is the experience of believing.”

I choose to believe in God through Jesus because I believe I am a miracle. We are all miracles. Life is a miracle. you want to see a miracle….look in the mirror. The human body is the greatest miracle in the universe. I believe that. What is going on inside each one of us is beyond explanation. To take it a step further, the creation of a new life inside a mothers womb is really a mystery. The problem with us, we the people, we are so busy doing everything else that we don’t take time to marvel at God’s gift to us…..LIFE.

John 11:27 – Yes Lord I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is come into the world.

A favorite song of mine is “Thank you Lord by Chris Tomlin, Thomas Rhett, and Florida Georgia Line.” Its a upbeat simple song about things to be thankful for. The following lyrics express thankfulness in these words……

The small things….

Blessings on Blessings on Blessings…

for my mamma, for my friends…

for your love that never ends…

for my babies, for my girl…

for the hard times…

for lighting my way in the dark times…

for pulling me in, forgiving again…

for keeping me humble…

for picking me up when I stumble…

and although I change You stay the same…

AND I DON’T SAY THANK YOU ENOUGH…

John 14:6 – I am the Way, the Truth and the Life…..

Its hard to come to terms that we are great sinners. Its hard to admit it. We think we are OK. Think about it, are we really OK. We need to be honest about who we are vs God’s perfect love. I like to compare sin with shooting an arrow at a bullseye. Sin would be missing the bullseye or what is called “the mark”. Sometimes we come close, other times we miss by a lot. Sometimes we miss the entire target….With sin its really the same. Some times we come close(small sin) and other times we miss by a lot(big sin). What we need to understand is a miss is a miss. When we sin, we sin. Jesus died on the cross to forgive us for all our sins….big or small. His extends his unconditional love and grace to us every time we sin. Always, every time. Sounds crazy doesn’t it, but its the truth. Jesus is the Truth. Thank you Lord.

Romans 3:23-24 – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”. This means that Jesus has paid the debt we owe because of our sin. Therefore when we confess our sins to God, He forgives us.

In the Bible the disciples asked Jesus, “What must we do to do the work God requires”? Jesus answered them by saying, “The work of God is this: To believe in the One he has sent (Jesus)”.

The above is an often asked question by people of the Christian Faith. Many People of Faith and Institutions of Faith value works above all things. So this answer by Jesus is confusing to many people. I believe Jesus wants us to do good works in our lives not as a way to achieve a relationship with God or a way to Heaven, but as a result of “believing in the One He has sent”. So today and everyday focus your faith on believing in Jesus and every word of the Bible and let the good works of God flow from you. AMEN….

John 6: 28-29 – Then they asked Him, “what must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “the work of God is this: to believe in the One he has sent”.

What should we bring to Jesus? How about everything? All that is on our minds and hearts. Singer and songwriter Chris Rice says it best in his song, “Come To Jesus”. He writes to bring our weaknesses and wounds. Bring our burdens and sins and our worries and failures. He reminds us that our way thru this world will sometimes be lonely and filled with pain. And “when the love spills over and music fills the night and when you can’t contain your joy inside”…Then come to Jesus. And when our time here on earth is over then “kiss the world goodbye and go in peace and laugh on glory’s side and fly to Jesus”. Amen and thank you Chris Rice for reminding me of the beauty and greatness of our Lord and Savior…..Jesus Christ.

Romans 10:13 – For everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved

Matthew 11:28 – Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.