Saturday 16 February 2013

Obedience and Freedom

I was reading Leviticus today and stumbled across this passage.  The heading for it was blessing for obedience.

"If you walk in my Statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.  Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing.  And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.  I will give you peace in the land and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid.  And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.  You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.  Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.  I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.  You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear our the old to make way for the new.  I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you.  And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.  I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves.  And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect." [Leviticus 26:3-13]
This blew me away.  I know God's promises are good, but these totally exceed my expectations. 

Some people read this and just skim over it.  "Yeah, yeah.  We know God is great and everything."  BUT just take a moment to imagine what 5 soldiers against 100 would actually look like.  Brutal right?  Now imagine the 5 chasing the 100 and winning.  It's looks so insane to me.

I believe that God has the power to do this.  I don't believe this to be some great metaphor but that God would actually make this happen.  These are all promises from God and all we have to do is obey.  It's not a fair trade off but God doesn't mind picking up the slack. 

While I could go on and on about the incredible things God promises here, I just want to point out one more at the very end.  "And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect."  This is something that God has already done for us.  The chain that is binding us down is already broken.  Anything that is trying to tell us that we are not free is lying.  A lot of times we choose to believe the lies instead of the truth which keeps us under the wrong yoke.  God given us freedom and he will help us get out from under the lies of the enemy and walk upright with God.

It is only in him and through him that we are free.































  

Tuesday 12 February 2013

True Love



I just want everyone to know that
God loves you.

He has a deep, passionate desire for every person on the earth.  Christian or Atheist.  Black or white. Man or Woman.  He loves everyone.  He sent is son to die.  He literally watched his son cry out in pain and agony and die for us.  That's insane!  It's crazy!  That's love!

And his love does not rely on whether we do good things.  He love does not rely on how bad we've been in the past.  His love does not rely on how good we do in the future.  God loves us whether we choose to follow him.  God loves us whether we never choose him at all.

God loves us infinitely and without bounds.  His love will never leave.  There is nothing you can do to run away from the love that God has for you.  Whatever you do, God's love doesn't change.  God's love is ever-present and inviting.  He longs, deeply and passionately, for EVERY person on this planet.

If no one chose Him, He would still love us.  He would still pursue us and long for us.

I know it's hard to feel God's love and maybe you've never experienced it at all.  I want you to ignore the fact that you don't fully believe that the great God could ever love someone like you.  Just suspend your disbelief and try this.  If only for 5 minutes.

I dare you. 

It's simple.

1) Hold your arms out
2) Say (out loud) "God, please show me your love"


That's it.  That's all it takes.

I believe that God will touch you tonight.  I believe it because I know the truth.

The truth is God loves you and he will show it to you.  He wants you, all of you, to love.  So if you think I'm crazy (and it's ok if you do) just remember the truth that God loves you.