As I live in this imperfect world and watch as people fail constantly I have come to realize that there is two ways of doing things…..my way and God’s way. God is perfect so obviously his way of doing things is perfect. I am imperfect, so you guessed it! Yes, my way is imperfect. No matter how hard I try I can never do things as well as God. So it seems to reason I should tap into that perfection of God and have him help me do things better. Guess what, it works. When I pray and read the Bible and try to live out my day and my doings according to the word(Jesus) of God things are better. I am not saying that if I follow the word of God that everything will always work out. But what I am saying is when I don’t follow the word of God things seldom workout…..I fail! I really believe that if I follow the Word of God, His way and His truth, that my life will prosper and have meaning and my plans will succeed. God is perfect, no question about it.

Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

For the last 2,000 years or so Jesus has been on a rescue mission. His targets are you and me. Everything Jesus is about is seen in his steadfast unconditional love and grace for us. No matter who we are or where we are, if we will open our hands to Jesus he will be there. In her song “Rescue” Lauren Daigle sings, “I (Jesus) will send out an army to find you in the middle of the darkest night….Its true, I (Jesus) will rescue you.” I believe this because that is who Jesus is. He is our King and Redeemer. He is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and Omega. His love is unconditional. He loves and forgives us not because we earn it, but because that’s who He is. As Lauren Daigle further sings, ” I (Jesus) will never stop marching to reach you in the middle of the hardest fight….its true, Jesus will rescue you.” Thank You Jesus!

2Timothy 4:18 – The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into His Heavenly Kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen

James Bryan Smith writes, “In Jesus’ death we see God’s desire to forgive us. His offer of forgiveness is extended to all people for all time. There is not a person, living or dead, for whom Jesus did not die for.” This statement has been polarizing for people for thousands of years. So did Jesus say everyone is redeemed regardless of their actions? Are atheists forgiven and on their way to heaven even though they don’t believe in God let alone believe in Jesus and his death on the cross for our sins. Who is in and who is out one might ask? Personally, I believe that Jesus did die for everyone. I believe there is redemption for everyone of every race, color, religion, etc. HOWEVER, there is one more important part to salvation. It has to do with another important aspect of this subject. It is called free will. Smith further writes, “There is nothing left for us to do other than open our hands and receive god’s gift.” This is the key, open our hands. It is an act of acceptance. In summary, God rejects no one but many, many people reject God. That is what needs to be impressed on people. The problem isn’t God, its us. I pray that you will “open your hands”.

Revelation 3:20 – Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

I was listening to one of my favorite musical artists today. His name is Brandon Lake and he reminded me to keep “running to the Light”. That Light is Jesus Christ. In my life I set my eyes on the Light of Jesus. I will never be perfect. I will continue to make mistakes(sin) along the way, but because of Jesus’s unconditional love and forgiveness…… Because of his amazing Grace…… Because He is God and King……, I will keep running right to him and when I arrive I will experience something that is so good and amazing that it defies words. Some call it Heaven, I call it God’s Kingdom and Jesus is King and that is right were I want to be when my time here on earth is over. And by the way, its never….never too late to start running to the light.

John 8:12 – When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, “I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the Light of Life.”

If you are reading this to object to it, then don’t bother. If you are reading these words to oppose what is being written, then don’t bother. If you are reading this because you are curious about who Jesus is or would like to bump into him, then read on. You see Jesus will never force his ways or his truth on anyone. He says that he will stand at your door and knock, but you have to OPEN THE DOOR AND INVITE HIM IN IN. No one else can do this for you , no one else can answer the knock for you. You and you alone must open the door and invite him in. This is who Jesus is. He will stand at your door for a lifetime knocking if that what it takes. No one else——whether it be mom or dad or your wife or your best friend can answer the knock. My hope is that you will at some point in your life open the door and invite jesus in and be changed forever.

Revelation 3:20 – Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come and eat with that person, and they with me.

Writer and author Bob Gass put into words the disconnect that people have with Jesus because we don’t fully understand who Jesus is and what he is all about. Bob Gass writes, “God is not interested in religion: He is interested in having a relationship with you. Religion only becomes significant when it enhances that relationship, which it doesn’t always do. Often, religious rules and regulations become a deterrent to a relationship with God. The Bible is filled with religious people who missed connecting with God altogether. Sometimes we are so preoccupied with our religious ideologies, teachings, doctrines and principles, that we fail to understand that what really matters most in life is a personal, intimate, daily, talking-and-listening relationship with God.

Matthew 6:33 – But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well..

I am just an ordinary person trying to find my way in this jungle of a world who bumped into an extraordinary person who calls himself Jesus and my life has been changed forever. As I learn about this man named Jesus, I have learned that He is the Truth and the Way. As I pursue him and this truth, my life has taken on new meaning and purpose. As I learn about his ways through the reading of his word in the Holy Bible I have learned That He is the Word. Not only is He the Word, He was with God and is God in the Beginning. He is the Creator of the Universe. How He created this world is still a mystery to me but I believe he did it. I believe everything He says, has said and has done. He is incredible, awesome, majestic, etc, etc. Words do not come close to describing him and his story that is told in the Holy Bible. I feel that there is so much more to know about Jesus and feel that I will never stop learning about his mysteries.

John 14:6 – I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Jesus is misunderstood. He was 2000 years ago and he still is misunderstood today. The greatest force in the universe is one who means you well and brings you hope, meaning and purpose into your life. Yet most of us ignore him. What is wrong with us? How can we ignore a person of this magnitude. Why do we ignore Jesus? I’ll tell you why. Its because we are broken. The Bible calls it sin. You can call it what you like, but it is the truth. Our sin and brokenness keeps us from believing in the one person that can heal our brokenness with a unconditional love and grace that nothing else in this universe can equal. God is real, Jesus is Real, Heaven and Hell are real. We may not understand these things, but it doesn’t make them any less real. Jesus is a real person who died on a real cross and went through a real resurrection to defeat death. He offers the same to anyone, ANYONE who believes in him. So this is the message to us. Check him out, bump into Jesus, answer his knock at your door and change the trajectory of your life forever.

John 3:16 – 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.

How many of us live in the past. We make mistakes, we sin, some big and some small. But we believe that our mistakes and sins are unforgiveable and that we are stuck in them and cannot move on. We believe there is no future for us because of our past. But here is the good news, God through Jesus will meet us right where we are. He will forgive us of our past sins with an unconditional love and grace that is beyond our understanding. We can move forward in his grace. FROM NOW ON we can live a different life than our past. We can accept the love and forgiveness of Jesus and begin our life anew. FROM NOW ON we can live a life of purpose and meaning. We can change the way we have been doing things. We can start living with the Holy Bible as our blueprint for our future. FROM NOW ON can be the three words that change our life. We have got to believe that Jesus really is God. He is The Way and The Truth. Our salvation and redemption come through Jesus and only him. We need step out in faith and believe!!

Galatians 6:17 – From now on, Let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

Society has a poor attitude towards losing and failure in general. Many, many young people do not participate in sports anymore because they are afraid of losing and being branded a failure. Even our youth in schools are failing tests because they just don’t want to try. If they fail a test or class they are scared to death that they will be labeled a failure.

The legendary Alabama football coach Bear Bryant believed, “You have to lose to know how to deal with losing”. A lot can be learned from failure. Many of our greatest scientists throughout the world failed time after time. But they never quit…..thank goodness. They then went on to make the world a better place. We need to experience losing as a step to success down the road. We need to compete, lose and get up and try again.

One of my favorite sayings sums up what I believe. “Success is never final, failure is never fatal, it’s courage that counts”. We need to teach this to our young(and old) people every chance we get and quit believing what the world is telling……that we are a failure.

Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give your hope and a future.

God Bless you and have a great week…….