God

Opening Up the Best Known Verse in the Bible

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16

The following diagram of John 3:16 was shared by James Montgomery Boice in a devotional called How Great Thou Art. It gives perspective to the simple and familiar words of the best known of all Bible verses. It takes a black and white truth and paints it with vivid color.

You might want to read through it a few times over.

God ~ the greatest Lover
so loved ~ the greatest degree
the world ~ the greatest company
that He gave ~ the greatest act
His only begotten Son ~ the greatest gift
that whosoever ~ the greatest opportunity
believes ~ the greatest simplicity
in Him ~ the greatest attraction
should not perish ~ the greatest promise
but ~ the greatest difference
have ~ the greatest certainty
everlasting life ~ the greatest possession

Do you find yourself responding to one of the ‘greatest’ more than the others? Why do you think that one resonates with you?

For you visual people—I tried, I really tried to make the ‘the’s line up, but like Ariel in The Little Mermaid it was hopeless, completely hopeless!!!

Are We Getting the Message?

By Kelly Grace

Embed from Getty Images

Every happening, great and small, is a parable whereby God speaks to us, and the art of life is to get the message.
Malcolm Muggeridge

When God speaks

Sometimes when you sense a special moment you gotta stop and get out of the car!
Driving home one late afternoon I saw a huge gathering of birds flying in an amazing formation over the Apple campus. It was an aerial ballet and I decided if I was gonna catch the show and fully enjoy the choreography, I better not do it while driving in rush hour traffic. The spectacle only lasted a few minutes, but its beauty raised the hair on my arms, left me with a lump in my throat and a fresh shot of joy in my heart.

A friend mentioned later on Facebook that he’d seen the same phenomenon a few days before.

And then I saw this on Youtube and had to share it with you. You have to get 30 seconds into this video to get to the good stuff 🙂

The science behind how these birds do this is interesting, but the mystery of it and its deeper meaning are what fascinate me.

God is into abundance.

In the world He made we see it in the starry skies and teeming oceans. When these birds get together in massive numbers it reminds me of that truth. We are inching up on 7 billion people on earth, but there are very few identical twins 🙂 We all share similar vessels, but with infinite variety in the details. And each one of us matters. We’re not interchangeable and substitutable.

God adds layers of perfection in everything He makes.

Tangerines are nourishing. They also taste and smell delicious. Bonus ~ they are beautiful shiny orange globes. What does that say about God? Why do we have taste buds and tangerines? If you believe God made both, then take the escalator down another level and ask yourself why. Why is there still so much beauty in a fallen world? How can softly falling rain quiet our anxiousness? Or a little lavender oil on the nightstand soothe us to sleep? Why does a child’s laughter make us laugh, or birdsong illicit a smile?

God is constantly speaking to us.

I’ve never understood the theory of a far-removed maker who jump-started the world and took off for greener pastures. There’s too much intrinsic design for that kind of detached abandonment. He Is There and He Is Not Silent, she said while snagging a good line from Francis Schaeffer’s book title 🙂

So what is He saying? Here’s some of what I’ve been hearing.

No one is redundant, we’re each uniquely integral to His plan and purpose.

Don’t believe Satan’s rumor that you don’t matter.

You do, we all do. In our families, in our communities, at work, or just getting our nails done, God wants us to carry Him into all those relationships, all those one-on-one encounters. The everyday, the mundane encounter contains the potential of a divine appointment. Routine interactions become moments of destiny.

Don’t discount your value and intended contribution.

God has brought you this far. Through all kinds of experiences, good and bad, uplifting and soul-crushing. Don’t waste any of it. What you have to share—only YOU have to share. Be led by the Holy Spirit. Look around and ask Him if there’s anybody you can smile at, talk with or gently encourage.

God is constantly inviting us to be more like Him.

When fruit matures it soaks up the sun and turns it into mouth-watering sweetness.

As we walk through days with Jesus, we soak up the Son and His character adds something that sweetens us. I feel like He makes us ‘divinely appetizing’ to those He surrounds us with. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit making each of us more like Jesus.

God’s fingers can touch nothing but to mold it into loveliness.
George Macdonald

God fits the mouthpiece to the message. Working in us love and kindness, offering through us His grace and truth to hungry yearning hearts. He makes us palatable 🙂 We have this treasure in earthen vessels (2 Corinthians 4:7).

We have to keep the lines of communication open. We have to learn to make listening a daily habit.

Tell me in the morning about your love, because I trust you. Show me what I should do, because my prayers go up to you.
Psalm 143:8 NCV

He is there and He is not silent.

God wants to tell each of us how much He loves us and invite us to enjoy all He’s made and shared with us. And I know He wants to include each of us in His plans and give us the joy of taking part in His purposes.
Nothing kicks boredom to the curb faster than realizing God is using you to touch someone’s life.

We all get lots of messages every day. Full Inboxes, pinging text notifications, and vibrating phones. If we’re not careful they’ll gobble up all of our attention.

God’s voice is the still small one.
He has a pre-set volume. We have to turn down all the other noise to hear Him 🙂

I can’t tell you what His message to you personally is, but I know He has something to say to every one of us.
The question is, are we getting the message?

Sure, there’s plenty about God we don’t understand or comprehend. But I don’t want to miss the glimpses of glory, the moments of majesty, and the soft whispers. If we look and if we listen we’ll see and hear ~ and know a little more of Him tomorrow than we do today.

Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?
Job 26:14

. . .the mere edges of His ways.
Ohhh, that’s the perfect description of the starling murmuration ~ the edges of His ways.

Let’s stop thinking that only people like Moses or Abraham heard from God. He recorded plenty of truth about Himself in the world He made.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
    and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
    whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
    and their words to the end of the world.
Psalm 19:1-6 ESV

And Jesus said His sheep hear His voice.
I’m working on my listening skills.
How about you?
What have you been hearing lately?

A Love That Endures

By Kelly Grace

We forgot to take a padlock to Paris!

TripAdvisor never said a word about it. Ditto Rick Steves. Same for Fodor’s France.

I don’t know when this became a thing, but the bridges in Paris are slowly being overtaken by padlocks.
The newest symbol of a couple’s enduring love.

Seeing all that gleaming colorful hardware reflecting the sunshine of a bright Paris afternoon, I had to wonder how many of those couples are still— well, you know, still a couple.

Or is the padlock a symbol of a love that no longer exists?

Christians hold the Cross of Christ as the greatest symbol of God’s love for mankind.
For on it Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8

But among the sites and relics of the Holy Land you won’t see the one that most definitively and beautifully symbolizes God’s love for us.

The Cross no longer stands on the hill called Golgotha, but the love demonstrated there is as deep as ever it was.

Maybe you’ve been distracted by life’s busyness and haven’t been thinking of God.
He’s been thinking of you.

In Psalm 139 David captures the depth and intensity of the love God has for you.

Let it refresh your heart with a new awareness of His constant abiding love.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
    behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is high; I cannot attain it. . .

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
Psalm 139:1-6 & 17-18

There’s no one, no one, who knows you as God knows you.
Every hurt and regret, every habit and character trait. Your thoughts and motivations, your hopes and disappointments—He knows them all.
David says this truth is just too lofty, too marvelous to comprehend.
He can’t really wrap his mind around the way God knows and loves him.
He’s written on this theme before.
In Psalm 40:5 he put it like this:

You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
    your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
    none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
    yet they are more than can be told.

More than can be told.

How do you respond to that kind of love?

Respond by returning it in kind.

Take some time today to think about God. List a few of the things you know about Him. How would you describe His ways, the things He does and how He does them. Proclaim it! Tell somebody about it!
What do you think is God’s greatest desire? What fills Him with joy and delight?
The more you discover Him, the more you’ll love Him.

. . .the Lord’s delight is in those who fear him,
those who put their hope in his unfailing love.
Psalm 147:11

I Want A Designer Label On My Life

By Kelly Grace

The thing that distinguishes an artist is the ability to appreciate the potential for beauty in things usually overlooked or discarded. This quirky piece of art sits along Interstate 5 south of Stockton. On a cloudy January day it was strangely beautiful standing in relief against the wintery yellow field and a foggy shroud of mist.

God is an artist.

He takes what others discard and overlook and He makes from it art, something beautiful.
If we let Him.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
1 Corinthians 1:26 (ESV)

He won’t force us to be beautiful, but He’ll make it possible.

You’ve heard that He’s the potter and we’re the clay.
Have you watched a potter work with clay? There’s a lot of water to ease the process and hands that are gentle yet skilled. The potter sees in His mind what He intends and those hands gradually bring it into being.

We live in a culture of the self-made person.

I don’t want to be a self-made woman.
Having tried it I freely confess I lacked the vision and the skill to get the job done.

I want a Designer label on my life.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV)

When I Pray Like A Toddler God Still Hears

By Kelly Grace

Today I had a revelation in my prayer time.

I kept drifting off topic.
Roaming around my invisible prayer list and touching each person or need like a toddler playing with toys strewn across the floor.
And moving from praying to just thinking!
Forgetting altogether that I was having a conversation with God about these people and these needs.

Then Satan chimed in, “You’re terrible at prayer. You don’t love your family enough to even pray for them consistently!”

I remembered my two great grandsons as they played in Judah’s bedroom.
Turning over trucks and blocks in their chubby hands for a few moments before discovering another well loved toy and giving it some of their attention.

OH NO—I pray like a toddler!

I joined Satan in his rant.
I fed him ammo, more fiery darts, more accusations to hurl.

But what does God think about my prayers?

And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
Galatians 4:6

God listens to my prayers with love not condemnation and criticism.

Toddlers have short attention spans and we love them anyway.
We happily listen as they try to communicate.
We take video and make our long suffering friends listen to their stumbling bumbling sentences.
We proudly post it on Facebook.

We’ve been invited to pray and the only requirements are that we ask in faith and not for selfish purposes. (Jas. 1:5, 4:3)

If we ramble, God is patient.
If we get distracted, He waits.
If we fumble, the Spirit helps us out. (Rom. 8:26)

Abba is the Aramaic word for God as Father.

It’s an intimate family word. The closest thing we have is Daddy.
I am His child.
I’ll always be His child.

God listens to us with a sympathetic Daddy-like love.
The very last thing He wants is for us to give up because we know we don’t ‘sound’ very spiritually organized in our prayers.

I started off this morning praying this one thought for our grown kids,

. . .asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. . .
Colossians 1:9

I’m praying that prayer all day today.

In the car, at the doctor’s office, and peeling carrots.
I might get interrupted by the phone, or my husband.
My thoughts will drift, but my heavenly Father, my Abba, won’t miss a word.

He never tunes us out.
We have His promise on that.

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
1 Peter 3:12

Have you ever felt inept at prayer?
Maybe you are. I have been. I think we all probably are sometimes.

God can handle it 🙂
The thing is to not let our enemy use it. Because he’ll try.

The apostle Paul said he wasn’t ignorant of Satan’s devices. (2 Cor. 2:11)
If he can discourage us because we’ve focused on our inconsistency, our lack of skill, or our unworthiness—really anything that relates to our performance, then he has kept us from enjoying the access we have, the relationship to God we’ve been given—in Christ.

If he can keep us from praying then his strategy has succeeded.

God’s eyes are on us.
His ear is open to us.

What’s on your heart to share with your Abba today?

Jesus Has A Knack For Repurposing

By Kelly Grace

These old jars weren’t manufactured as fence decorations.
Nope.
They had a whole different life before they became fence decorations. But someone had a new purpose in mind for each one.

That is just what God does with some of us, He repurposes us.
Today I was thinking about Moses and Samuel.

Moses didn’t start out as a prophet.
He was semi-royalty and presumably living a life of privilege in a palace. He easily could have been a brick maker or a mason except God had a different ‘ultimate plan’ for his life. It involved him being raised as the son of Pharoah’s daughter. The repurposing came along a little later. Moses sensed God was doing something in Egypt with the Hebrews, so he showed some initiative, and got busy trying to right some wrongs.
He jumped the gun and had to run for his life. That was OK because he had to learn to listen to God before he was really gonna be useful.
That part took about 40 years.

Some of us are slow learners when it comes to discerning God’s voice.

Samuel on the other hand began his life’s work at a very early age. Probably 3-4 years old. He always knew the role God designed for him. He grew into it as he grew up. Hearing from God and being used by God to guide and minister to Israel were part of his everyday experience.

How about you?
Which man’s experience more closely resembles yours?

I’ve always envied those girls who knew by 7 years of age that they were gonna be a nurse or a teacher, or write code and develop websites.
My life experience resembles a game of Twister. Or the way the Garmin screen looked when we were driving switchbacks in the Italian Alps. All squiggly lines and no apparent rhyme or reason to any of it.

But when God introduced Himself to me at the Avon lady’s home Bible Study one night—I got repurposed.
Walking home afterwards along the wooden sidewalk of that Mill town I was embraced by a knowing. Not of the what, but of Who. I knew that by knowing Him my life would have real and lasting purpose. Completely enveloped by a confidence, I felt a restfulness settle deep into my heart. Only for a brief time, when I took my eyes off the Who and focused on the what, has that ever been disturbed.

I read somewhere that within 50 years no one will remember us.

For the most renown or notorious among us some record will endure, but for you and me there is little likelihood of even a footnote of mention. That somehow doesn’t bug me in the least.

I’m so incredibly grateful that God came and found me. His purposes for us are the only ones that merit mention, the only ones that have any power to endure. Knowing Him has answered the big questions I hadn’t realized I was asking.

Have you been repurposed?

If you’re a Samuel then I’m happy for you.
Most of us aren’t. Most of us are like those bottles decorating the fence.
Finally fulfilling a glorious purpose reflecting the light and hopefully bringing a smile to the face of those passing by.

Photo Rula Sibai unsplash.com

I Will Worship You

By Kelly Grace

I Will Worship You

Without the eloquence of a David
the fiery passion of an Isaiah
or the intimate knowledge of a Paul
In my own way

I will worship You

For the world and everything in it
declare divine design and infinite power
An incomparable mind
offering itself and all to us

I will worship You

See the lowly fern as fronds unfurl and hint of majestic robes
Rollicking Humpbacks make fluid play of strength
Birdsong a melody of grace
Whispered words from a bowed low face

I will worship You

Shadowed glimpses of Who You are
The gift hints of goodness beyond imagination
Power without limits says hello
Peerless wisdom extends an invitation to come and dine

I will Worship You

Photo Volkan Olmez https://unsplash.com

Do You Know When To Say “It’s Enough LORD”?

By Kelly Grace

It’s OK to admit you have limitations?

We are all just human.
You’ve heard that a 1000 times. You’ve said it yourself.

But I’ll bet you’ve gone on day after day without telling God that you’re at your wits end with the kids, or you simply can’t get everything around the house done on your own, or you’re afraid you won’t be successful at work.

When I get overwhelmed, overworked, or overextended I have two different default modes: RAMP IT UP—or SHUT IT DOWN.

Both are bad.
In Ramp It Up mode I try to power through life—which usually amplifies my exhaustion, frustration, and ineffectiveness.
It’s like a gambler doubling down to recoup his losses.
The hole just gets deeper and deeper!

When that doesn’t work I go into SYSTEM FAILURE.
I shut down.
Do you do this too?
Vegging out in front of the TV, surfing the web, hours on Pinterest & Facebook, and aimlessly strolling through Target are symptoms of SHUT DOWN mode for me.
Every move is an evasive maneuver.

What’s it look like when you shut down?

Knowing your own responses can be key to getting up and running again.
Don’t confuse rest with SHUT DOWN.
Rest is important; we’ll talk more about that in a minute.
But first let me ask you this:

How realistic are your own expectations of yourself?

We tend to live life like people dining at Hometown Buffet—piling our plates impossibly high.

I love how practical the Bible is, how applicable to our everyday lives.
It’s not holy words reserved for Sundays, or special occasions like weddings and funerals.

It’s packed full of truth for ordinary people living ordinary lives.
My Bible speaks to Moms and Dads, to employees and entrepreneurs, to women and men, and to boys and girls.
Every Bible does.

Today I happened to come across the story of Elijah on a day when he was pretty much done. (I Kings 19:4)
Been there!
He’s STOPPED, SHUT DOWN.

You can’t blame the guy really.
He’d just faced a bunch of false prophets at a Sacrificial Throw Down (thank you Break Dancers and Bobby Flay for that ;))
Then he’d told wicked king Ahab that rain was coming.
This is the guy that’s been trying to find and kill him for the last few years because he blamed the Elijah for the 3+ years of drought.
Elijah had prayed that there’d be no rain as a sign of God’s judgment on the idol worship that had consumed Israel under Ahab.
Hence the hit contract the king put out on him.
God honored Elijah’s prayer for drought—and 3.5 years later He honored the prayer for rain.

So after his mountaintop experience and spiritual victory, Elijah gets word that the evil queen Jezebel has threatened his life. For some reason that totally freaked him out.
He took off running and ran from Mt. Carmel to Beer-Sheba.
That’s about 100 miles.

About now you say hold everything—wait a minute, she said the Bible was full of truth for ordinary people living ordinary lives.

You’re thinking,

Praying for drought.
Praying for rain.
Calling down fire from heaven.

“Not the stuff I usually do on Tuesdays.”

But, if you were an Old Testament prophet it would be.
Instead you’re a Mom, or a Coffee Shop Barista, or a second grade teacher.
God says the principles are the same regardless of your day job.

As His child you have His ear.
And His heart.
He cares about you and the stuff of your everyday life.

That costume you need to make for the school play, the presentation you’re slated to give at a meeting, or the child who refuses to participate in Potty Training.
God knows, He sees, He cares.

So before you run your own version of 100 miles and fall on your face in fatigue, frustration, and depression—Remember that you are not in this life ALONE.

Psalm 127:1-2

If God doesn’t build the house,
    the builders only build shacks.
If God doesn’t guard the city,
    the night watchman might as well nap.
It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late,
    and work your worried fingers to the bone.
Don’t you know he enjoys
    giving rest to those he loves?

Now here’s the part of this Elijah story that we can’t forget.

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree.
And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
And he lay down and slept under a broom tree.
And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.”
And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water.
And he ate and drank and lay down again.
And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” (I kings 19:4-7)

Finally Elijah gets it.
He sees that the situation is too much for him to handle on his own and he prays.
But His prayer is a ‘sigh prayer’ born of dejection, fatigue, and fear, yet God sends an angel to meet his physical needs.
To strengthen him and give him rest.

The real lesson is to learn to pray the “It is enough, O LORD” prayer before you reach the 100 mile mark.

Running is good, but running on empty is bad—for you and those that count on you.
If you need some help ask God.
The strength, wisdom, and discernment you need are just a prayer away.

What help do you need today?
Don’t run yourself ragged, beat yourself up over your failures, or give in to desperation and despair.
Close your eyes and call His name.

Photo by Chris Sardegna Unsplash.com

Opening Up the Best Known Verse in the Bible

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