Welcome to Gaia! ::

Putting Your Life Together

Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Matt 10:29-31) NKJV.

As I turned the corner of the skate room at work, I gazed up at a pile of old torn apart skates. I had been assigned to repair every skate that was stacked on two shopping carts that stretched to the ceiling. Some had broken axles, some with torn shoe laces. And yet others that just needed a complete and total make over.

Not knowing were to start, I grabbed the one on top. As I sat it down on the counter, I could have cried when I saw all that had to be done just to get this poor little skate back in working order. I started to wonder if it was even worth all the trouble. This skate was trashed. But, I started with the toe stopper and put a new sole and shoe lace on, and it started to look better. Then new wheels and bearings, then a half hour later....the once ragged skate looked shiny and new. I took it for a test spin around the floor, and you could see the proud look on my face from the other end of the rink as I skated back to the front with my new found friend.

Some of you may feel like your in that shopping cart today. Maybe you feel that you have been out of working order with the Lord for to long and there is no way to get back to Him. But, then our Father picks us up and sets us on the counter. He starts to cry as He looks at His pride and joy in pieces. But instead of throwing us away. He starts to work on us. Taking one thing at a time till we get back on the floor again.

Friends, don't ever think that you've gone to far, or that you've become so messed up that even the Lord can't put you back together. If we will just come to Him and ask for help, and forgiveness then He can mold us in His image. By walking beside Him daily, you can start to see Jesus in you, and so will others. If you haven't excepted Jesus, then do it today. Ask Him to come into your heart, and to forgive you for your sins. Maybe today you think that you have back slid to far, you want the peace and the love that only Jesus can give. Well, rededicate your life. Just ask the Lord to forgive you and to make you strong and put your life back together. There isn't a thing that the Lord will not fix if you just let Him.

Your So-Called Life


Bible reading: Matthew 22:34-40 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40, NLT).



If your life were a television show, what would it be? Friends? Baywatch?The Brady Bunch? Or maybe Third Rock From the Sun?
If your life had a theme song, what would it be titled? Maybe something like “Insensitive?” Or “Jealousy?” Or maybe “The Great Adventure?” How about “I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends?” Or “Nobody Loves Me But My Mother (and She Could Be Jivin’ Too)?”
If your life were a cable TV channel, would it be more like The Disney Channel, MTV, The Sports Channel, The Comedy Channel, or The Boring Documentary Channel?
If your life were made into a cartoon, who would be the most natural choice to play you--Winnie the Pooh? Tweety? Wilma Flintstone? Bullwinkle? Beavis? Butthead? Daffy Duck? Ren? Stimpy? Dot (of the Animaniacs)? Bart Simpson?
It may be fun to come up with answers to those questions, but it’s probably not particularly revealing (although it might be interesting to ask your friends how they would answer those questions about you . . .on second thought, you might not want to do that if you want your friends to stay your friends).
But you know what? If Jesus’ life were a television show, it could have only one title-Love. If His life were to become a hit song, it would be titled, “Love.” In fact, if His life were a tennis game, every point would be Love.
Jesus commanded us to love. He commanded us to love God and to love each other. He said,
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:34, 35).
Jesus commanded love because He valued love. The single greatest characteristic of Jesus’ life, His most important theme, the center of everything He did and said, was love. He left Heaven because of love. He became a man because of love. He went all over the place doing good because of love. He even died--and was resurrected--because of love.
Jesus’ words and life made it clear that love is always right. It is right for all people, for all places, and for all times. It is right, not only because He commands love, and not only because He values love, but ultimately because He is love. Love is a part of His nature and character as God (1 John 4:8b, 16b). When we love others, even our enemies, we are “acting as true children of [our] Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:45a, NLT).


Review: The paragraphs above refer to the three “steps” in discerning right from wrong (precept, principle, Person). Look back over today’s reading and identify those three paragraphs.

Reinforce: The next time you hear a television theme song, remember the theme of Jesus’ life: Love.

Remember: “God is love” (1 John 4:8b, NLT).

Outbreak!

New York City had a tough time between 1804 and 1918. The following epidemics ran rampant during those years:

• Yellow fever (three outbreaks resulting in 445 deaths)

• Typhoid fever (one outbreak equaling 200 deaths)

• Influenza (one outbreak causing 12,562 deaths)

• Smallpox (two outbreaks resulting in 7,044 deaths)

• Cholera (six outbreaks equaling 13,210 deaths)

Imgaine there was an outbreak of Christian teenagers truly being, doing and saying exactly what God directed them to! The news might read something like this:

• Following God to the mission field (52 outbreaks resulting in 15,000 new Christians)

• Witnessing to friends at school (1,000 outbreaks equaling 25,000 spiritual conversions)

• Refusing to participate in drinking, drugs, premarital sex (20,000 outbreaks causing 13,659 nonbelievers to visit church)

• Speaking up in class against evolution, abortion and New Age (638 outbreaks resulting in 9,220 students researching what they believe and why they believe it)

What if . . . just what if you decided to start an outbreak for Christ? Would your class notice the difference? Would your school be the same? Would fellow employees at your part-time job take notice? Would your unsaved family members try to sneak a peek at your Bible?

We can rest assured that your friends, family, fellow employees, city and school would never be the same if you started and consistently participated in an outbreak for Jesus. How could you do such a thing?

Well, you could start a Bible club at your school before or after hours (yes, it's legal!), carry your Bible to school, invite non-churched friends to church and youth group, participate on a missions trip and recruit others to join you, share with those who don't know God the difference He's made and is continuing to make in your life, call 200 people and ask how you can pray for them-no strings attached, initiate a support group to raise money for the persecuted Church.

There are any number of things you can do . . . if you're serious about causing an outbreak for Christ. The best place to start is with your heavenly Father. Ask Him for specific direction. Plead for His guidance. And when He speaks, be willing to obey!

Know It!
You're on a first-name basis with the Lord of Lords. So tell someone! Don't be selfish with Good News; spread it around! Talk it, live it, be it, do it-and things around you will never be the same.

Read It!
Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-47; Acts 3:12-26; Acts 4:1-4.

Pray It!
Jesus, I don't want to be a couch-potato Christian who simply sits through my relationship with You. I want to make a difference. Use me, Lord. Show me specific ways I can begin an outbreak for You!

Meet Friends: Mercy and Justice

For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning. (Psalms 30:5)

Lately, I’ve seen so many people under trail. I have one friend who, despite her wanting to stop the physical relationship with her boyfriend, the guy she wants to marry nonetheless, her own effort to stop has become useless. She’s cried out to God in her agony to stop pursuing that type of relationship, only to have the guy eventually end things. She’s under pressure now to let God be the real focus of her life so He can refine her.

I also know someone else who, in the past had gotten pulled over for drinking and driving and ended up in jail over night, with their teen daughter at home not having a clue where her mother was when she woke up the next morning. Her mom had her license taken away and had to see a probation officer for a time. You’d think that would be a lesson learned. But a few years later I watched as this mom was pulled over for speeding, she reached over in her console. Somehow I knew what she was going to do. Then finally while the officer was in his car running her traffic history, she slipped the penny in her mouth. I had learned that she had almost an entire bottle of wine since that afternoon. When the officer came back he told her that since she hadn’t had a history in almost 3 years he was going to let her off with a warning. She didn’t even have to pay the ticket. As we drove off I asked God why He had let her off. Why did he have mercy on her when the officer could have asked her if she had been drinking? He could have done something to make this woman wise up. What I thought was God doing nothing could very well have been something. Having enough fear to put the penny in her mouth was a signal though that for that moment she was under trial. That may have been God’s justice.

God always has His justice, but in Him there is mercy… a mercy that puts fire under the trials… a mercy that transforms the heart. Through trials is God’s justice. Through mercy is His grace.

He Knows The Feeling

“In all their suffering he also suffered, and he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years.”
s(Isaiah 63:9) NLT

God and I have been discussing suffering a lot lately. Maybe that’s because my life seems to be full of it. I’ll bet some of you can relate. Every time I pick up my head, there is another reason to drop it again. But, friend, I have some amazing encouragement straight from the heart of God.

He knows the feeling. Wow! Just take a minute and fathom that. Jesus felt what we feel. He knows hurt, abuse, abandonment, rejection, loneliness, and so much more in greater portions than we do. He was here on this earth and went through so much more than we face. (But including everything we face!) His eyes were wet with tears and his throat dry from screaming. But, more than all of that, He feels every hurt your heart has. Your body holds God Himself and everything you feel, He feels. He knows.

But, He didn’t stop there. He knows the hurt, but He also has a way out. He has come in the midst of the mess in your life, and He is holding your hand, and He is offering a way out. He personally is offering to rescue you. He’ll walk you out of the storm, simply because He adores you. It’s love that calls Him to reach into your world and gently pull you up to His.

And that love never goes away! It will last, “through all the years.” That means NOTHING that has happened, is happening, or will happen can affect the fact that Christ has redeemed you and will show you the way out if you let Him. My precious friend let Jesus, “lift you up and carry you,” through the suffering,” in your world. He knows the suffering and He has the strength and power to turn it into something beautiful.

Excuses

Excuses given to teachers to explain a student's absence from school:

• This note is to excuse Johnny from being absent on January 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33.

• Sheila wasn't feeling well, so we had her shot.

• Please excuse David for being. It was his father's fault.

• Amy Jo fell down and now has a crack between her hips.

So Jesus asked the paralytic lying by the water's edge a question the man would never forget. “Do you want to be well?”

We might assume the man would seize the incredible opportunity to become whole, to walk again, to live a normal life. “Yes!” we want him to say.

“Oh, Jesus, I've been waiting for You for 38 years! Now You're here, and I can become whole!”

If you've read the Scripture, you know that wasn't his response. Check it out in John 5:7: “ 'Sir,' the invalid replied, 'I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone lese goes down ahead of me.' ”

He didn't really answer Jesus' question, did he? Sound familiar? “Did you do your homework?”

“My dog is sick. I had to work last night. I think I'm getting the flu. I lost my textbook. I ran out of gas. My date stood me up. I lost my car keys. I didn't have time to take a shower. I was up late last night. My dad lost his job. I forgot to set my alarm. I didn't know we had school today. I never knew the S.A.T. wasn't an open- book test. I can't remember were I put my notebook.”

It's a yes/no question! Why give excuses? When someone asks, “Did you do your homework?” all you need to say is yes or no. Nothing else really matters.

When Jesus asked, “Do you want to be well?” it was a yes/no question. All the man needed to do was simply respond with a yes or a no. Instead, he made an excuse: “There's no one here to help me.” (What about the Creator of the universe standing right next to you?)

“Someone else always beats me to the water.” The question wasn't, “Why haven't you made it to the pool?” The question was simply, “Do you want to be well?”

What kind of excuses do you give the Creator of the universe? When He asks a specific question, give Him a specific answer. Don't mess around with excuses.

Know It!
When God asks a specific question, He wants a specific and honest answer.

Read It!
John 5:1-18; John 14:15-23.

Pray It!
Lord, I've gotten into the habit of making excuses. I want to be open and honest with You. Help me not to play games. Teach me to be specific truthful when we talk.

Get Up!

Even though PPG made excuses, Jesus saw right through them. He knew deep inside the man wanted to be well. Perhaps fear kept him at the pool for 38 years. Or maybe he was intimidated by others who were more ill than he. Whatever the reason for his excuses, Jesus broke through the barrier.

Note the first thing Christ instructed PPG to do: “Get up!” We might think since PPG had just given an excuse instead of answering Christ's direct question, he might give another excuse: “I can't 'get up.' I'm paralyzed! Why do you think I'm lying here by the pool?”

But he didn't. Perhaps since Jesus had penetrated the man's thinking, he decided not to respond with another excuse. He simply obeyed. No arguments. No questions. No resistance. He just did as Jesus said. He got up.

Jesus asked PPG to do the impossible. It's crazy to think a man who's been paralyzed for 38 years could get up and walk. Yes, crazy in human terms. But The Great Physician holds all power and is definitely in the miracle business. With God, all things are possible!

There will be times when Jesus will ask you to do what seems to be impossible. How will you respond? Excuses or obedience?

Jeremiah was only a teenager when God called him to speak His Holy Word. Jeremiah's response was, “I can't do that! I'm too young!” But God reminded Jeremiah that He would put His very words in Jeremiah's mouth. All Jeremiah needed to do was simply obey.

God will never ask you to do something without equipping you with everything you need to complete the task. If He says, “Get up!” know that He'll provide the strength needed to do so.

When PPG heard the command, “Get up!” he knew right away it would mean action on his part. If you want to be whole, God requires action on your part, as well. Are you willing to put forth the action and do whatever God asks of you to become whole?

Know It!
Instead of questioning God's ways, He wants you to respond in obedient faith. What's impossible for man, is always possible for The Great Physician.

Read It!
Jeremiah 1:5-10; John 5:1-18; John 14:12-14.

Pray It!
Jesus, I wonder how much more You could do in my life and through my life if I'd simply obey You instead of question You. Strengthen my faith, Lord. I want to obey You in every area of my life.