I think I might visit Decaf Land tomorrow. I had WAY too much caffeine and I was a tad bit hyper. I think I did more power walking today than in the last month. But I digress.

I think it’s okay to be mad at God and to tell Him so. It’s better than pretending to be all super-spiritual and praying what you think God wants you to say. It’s okay to take all your frustrations to God. He knows anyway what you’re really feeling. He made you. He knows you better than you do. And don’t ever feel guilty for being mad at God. Healing comes from honesty and honesty starts with admitting the truth to yourself.

Half the Psalms are David telling God off and venting his frustrations. Being real is more desirable to God than being pious. He wants you, all of you, not just the squeaky-clean parts and the spiritually-correct parts. He loves all of you– the good, the bad, the hidden, the ugly, the raw– all the parts of you.

When He purchased you, He said to those fears, those addictions, that pain, those strongholds, “You no longer have any claim on  My child. You have no power to control his or her life anymore. I have opened the doors that you locked and set My child free to walk through them.”

You never have to be a slave to your hurts and pain and old ways and fears anymore. You have the freedom to leave those behind and walk toward the liberty and freedom found in Christ. You can choose daily to start over with a clean slate and your past put squarely behind you.

So my prayer is that you fall in love with Jesus all over again. That you are so captivated by His love for you that everything else grows dim in the light of His glorious grace. That you are transformed by that love into someone who would follow Jesus and say to Him, “Whatever You want is what I want. My life is Yours. Do with me what You want.”

Rejoice in your weakness. Boast in it. Because that’s where Jesus’ power is made perfect. And His perfect love casts out all fear. His power transforms you from a slave to a son or daughter, from prisoner to worshipper, from victim to overcomer. Walk in the victory Jesus won for you.

Amen and amen.

I’ve had a recurring dream. Well, more like a series of dreams with a recurring theme. In each I am with a group of friends and we are all having a good time. Suddenly, they have all gone and I have been left behind, searching frantically to find them. My dreams always end with me still searching hopelessly for my friends who vanished.

I now realize that those dreams were realizations of fears I’ve had. Fears that if those around me, my friend, ever got to know the real me, they would leave me. They wouldn’t want anything more to do with me. I would be left behind yet again.

I’ve tried different ways to avoid being abandoned. I’ve given up and gone into isolation to prevent the possibility of rejection. I’ve gone through periods in my life where I tried way too hard to keep my friends. It was always a fear-based solution, never one based on faith.

Now I’m beginning to understand that I am accepted and loved just as I am. My Jesus promised He would never leave me or forsake me, and He has more than kept His word. I have known His presence when I felt my heart was breaking into a million pieces. I can even look back on those nights when I felt alone and see in faith Jesus holding me in His arms and I was too wrapped up in my own pain to notice.

Sure, a few friends have given up on me and bailed. Some have been called to different paths than me. But I have family who loves me more than I deserve. I have friends who are sticking with me and encouraging me. I am a better person, a more whole person, because of them.

I am finally learning that I am a likeable person. I am finding out that I am loveable, because Jesus in me makes me that way. I know that my identity and security lies in the One person who will be with me to the very end, no matter what I do. That I won’t ever be left behind.

You never have to worry about being left behind either. If you belong to Jesus, you never have to worry about being left alone or abandoned. Jesus is the friend Who sticks closer than a brother. He’s the One who has promised to be with you to the very end. And He is as good as His word!

Amen and amen.

We forget how blessed we are. In our consumeristic age, we often are so focused on what we need and what we lack to the neglect of what we already have. For those of you who have put your faith in Christ, it means you have been redeemed.

It means you are redeemed from your shame and your failures that you carry around inside, sometimes secretly. There is no longer any need to carry those since Jesus bore those on the cross in your place. His blood forever washed them out of existence.

It means you have more worth than you ever could imagine. You are worth all the agony and torture of the cross, all the sweat and tears, and all the blood poured out at Calvary. Jesus would have gone through every bit of it if only just for you.

It means that you have a fresh, clean start. That whatever is past has passed and the future is now wide-open to all the possibilities God has for you. You get as many second chances as you have breaths in your body. And the ending for you will be a Happily Ever After Forever!

It means that you have a story to tell. And no one will ever be able to argue with your testimony or cast doubt on what Jesus has done for you. The power of a changed life is the best testimony anyone can have, and that power that changed your life is the power that raised Jesus from the dead. That kind of power!

So let your song be a song of Redemption. How you were on a runaway train bound for hell until Jesus came and snatched you up. How you no longer have to fear death or the grave, or let anyone ever hold your past over you, or let them speak condemnation into your life EVER again. May that be your song through endless ages, how Jesus led you all the way from death and despair and hopelessness to triumph and freedom and unfailing hope.

Walk in that freedom. Walk in that victory. Live as the Beloved of God. Because you are all these things and so much more!

Amen and amen!

“Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak” (Mark 7:31-36)

I love this about Jesus. When we don’t have a voice to call His name, He still hears the cry of our heart. Even when our hearts are too broken to cry out, He sees the unspoken, but deeply felt need and comes to us. He doesn’t wait for us to speak the right words in the right order. In fact, many times He comes before we’re even aware that we ever had a need.

I also love that when we are in a place where we can’t hear Jesus, He still speaks. He picks a thousand ways to speak love into our lives until one finds a way into our heart and resonates there. When every single other voice in our heads shout and clamor for our attention, it’s amazing to me how one still, small voice can drown them all out. How the One speaking that still, small voice has authority that none of the other voices have.

I love that while Jesus could  heal from afar, He doesn’t. He comes very close to where we are. He touches our ears and the beautiful sound of His voice is all we can hear. He touches our tongue and our mouths are suddenly open and filled with His praises. He speaks a very special word to us: “Ephphatha!”

He says to us, “Be open to Me and all I have for you. Take it all, the joy and sorrow, triumph and defeat, glory and suffering. Let my peace rule in your heart and let my Word reign in your mind. Let me fill you will all My perfect life and unconditional love. Be filled up with me, so that none of you is left and all the world sees when they see you is Me. That’s where your healing is taking you. To me.”

Amen and amen.

My prayer for you tonight is that you find freedom from condemnation of any kind, whether it be from another voice or from your own voice. Whether there is any merit to the condemnation, it has no power over you if you have been forgiven by Jesus. Condemnation dare not speak against one that Jesus died for and bought with His own blood!

My prayer for you tonight is that you walk in liberty from shame or past guilt. That you walk in the freedom of one Jesus calls Beloved. You just as you are matter very much to God. He is not angry or disappointed or through with you. He sees you and He sees Jesus and He is very pleased with what He sees.

My prayer for you tonight is that your heart and your mind are so filled with the overwhelming love of Jesus that there is no room for harmful or hateful or hurtful thoughts or feelings. I want you to be so filled with the life of Jesus that it permeates every single cell in your body and shines out of you in such a way that the world around you can’t help but take notice. That they can’t help but be drawn to and desire what you have.

My prayer for you is that you let peace rule in your heart and the Word of God dwell richly within you. That for every single accusation the enemy speaks at you, Jesus speaks an even greater word for you. That word is “IT IS FINISHED!” There is nothing left undone, no loop hole left open, no remote chance that your salvation will fizzle and you will fail. You are fully and forever secure in the arms of your Abba as long as His promises hold true. And they are as eternal as the Promise Giver Himself.

My prayer is that you believe it, receive it, and live it now and every day to come.

Amen and amen.

There are lots of attributes and charateristics of God that are mind-boggling. He is not one of us, only better, stronger, faster, bigger, etc. He is totally other. His infinite, eternal nature guarantees that we will never begin to understand all there is to know about Him. But the one thing about God that constantly amazes me more than anything is this:

Whoever you are and whatever your need, God is the answer to that need. Notice I did not say God HAS the answer or God CAN GET the answer. He IS the answer.

For those who long for security, God is A Mighty Fortress.

For those who desire safety, God is a Sacred Refuge.

For those who are alone, God is the Still Small Voice that whispers your name in the darkness.

For those who mourn, God is the Comforter.

For those who have broken hearts and lives, God is Healer.

For those whose lives are in shambles and whose past is a momentous ruin, God is the Ultimate Restorer.

For those who have lost all hope, God is your True Hope.

For those who have lost their way, God is The Way Home.

I could go on for days. God has so many names. But if you’re asking why so many names, I think I have the answer.

Each need of mine and each need of yours reveals another facet of God’s abundance and ability to be the answer to that need. Every time He meets a need, the only response is praise. Each time, He reveals another part of Hinself, the best way to remember is to call Him by a name that memorializes what He’s done.

So praise God by all the Names that represent all He’s been to you and done for you. Remember that He loves to be called Abba best, because that love He has for you is the groundwork for all the other parts of His character. A holy, perfect love that pursues and captivates the beloved. Think on that for a while.

Amen and amen!

“One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:5-6)

What an interesting question to ask! Do you want to be healed? I think it is a perfectly valid question to ask for this reason:

For the longest time, I did not want to be healed. I was broken, but I felt comfortable and safe inside my brokenness. It was my crutch. A good excuse for me not going out, meeting people, and taking risks. It was like being in a prison with the door unlocked and swung wide open, but choosing to stay inside where I was familiar with the iron bars than to venture out into the terrifying unknowns of freedom.

Being healed is dangerous. Freedom and wholeness often mean vulnerability and transparency. You are healed so that you can in turn go and be a healer to someone else. So you can share your story with someone who suffers like you did. You will have to walk out of your comfort zone and into a lifestyle of radical obedience.

Being healed means you no longer can hide behind your infirmities and your brokenness. You have to stand out in the wide open spaces of who God made you to be. That means being comfortable with who you are and how you fit into God’ scheme.

The man gave an excuse for why he could not be healed. Apparently, he did not recognize Who Jesus was. But Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” (John 5:8). Jesus saw past the excuses to the deep-down desire for healing. As He does with you and me. He says, “Rise and walk.”

Jesus says to us today, “Rise up and walk in freedom. Rise up and walk in liberty. Rise up and walk in wholeness. Rise up and walk in fearlessness. I will enlarge your heart to feel what I feel for those still trapped and imprisoned in their brokenness. I will enlarge your vision to show you those around you who have needs that you can be My hands and feet to meet. I will enlarge your influence for Me, so that people see what I have done for you and they will want to know more of Me.”

So do you want to be healed? Do you want the safety of a prison of your pain and shame and brokenness or do you want the dangerous liberty that comes from walking in wholeness in Jesus’ will for your life. The answer could change everything.

Amen and amen.