Why I Whole-Heartedly Love my Lord

God can be the hardest idea, being, concept, truth, belief, to grasp. It can seem that He is at such a distance, or at such great heights who could reach to Him? God can be understood as a divinity to be reverent before and to have Holy fear towards. He may be an abstract thought to some of us, or an important component to our lives. Maybe some perceive God as a powerful creator too elusive for one to approach. We might believe He is concerned with events and crisis much larger then us and our individual ailments, tie-ups, disappointments and heartaches.

All of these notions have ran across my mind at one point in time, yet I have come to know God and His abundant love for ME! This truth is by far the most exhilarating sensation of all time, because I know myself and how difficult I am. I am literally a mess and I continually repeat the same mistakes time and time again. I selfishly choose ME first at some point through the day and most days it's my only frame of thought. I have a tendency to critique others, and almost predictably follow through on "open mouth; insert foot" opportunities. Yet somehow, by some miraculous Mercy and Grace, my God who created me absolutely adores me!

God is as close as one believes Him to be. He is an Almighty and Omnipresent God, but so close to those who earnestly seek Him. He promises that He is close to the brokenhearted and He listens and answers their cries. If we only acknowledged that God is walking with us always we might have the correct mindset and courage to walk in faith to where He leads us. Life is an adventure when we allow God to take us by the hand and introduce us to others whom we would otherwise look beyond, or walk us through circumstances that we may have chosen to avoid.

Considering my lack of qualifications to "work" my way to salvation, and judging by the mishaps I have already managed to achieve, it would not be difficult to imagine why I so dearly love My Lord. However, these are sparks to my flame. The kindling, if you will, is the fact that My Lord and Savior knows me without omission, and because of this understanding He knows exactly how to discern my boggled way of thinking.

God uniquely designed only one Regina Marie. Only one You. There has never been one before, and there never will be a replica. Without God, this knowledge can be pridefully empowering but equally mortifying, due to the fact that no one else could honestly comprehend how I reason, relate, or understand life and it's journey.

However, God is able to jive with every thought, emotion, feeling, and figment of my imagination. He is closer then any friend, and more intimate then any person will ever be in my life. He hears me when I am alone, and by His phenomenal nature, will sometimes choose to respond to me by having someone completely unaware of the impact of their words, answer me. He perceives my every doubt and fear, whether spoken or silently stowed in the depths of my heart or back of my mind. At times he has chosen to quiet them with His peace even without my request.

God reveals Himself to me daily in ways He knows only I would identify with. He will show me his tenderness in the embrace of a friend, or His joy in the face of my baby cousin, His Blessings in the beauty of a rolling hillside, His Greatness in the landscape of Yosemite National Park, His Faithfulness in the provisions for my financial needs, His Intricacies in the design he painted on each individual flower even though it will fade with the sun; He does not mind or consider it waste, He is in love with me and He looks for any and every way to show me.

His heart longs for you with the same yearning. He understands your unique language of love, and speaks to it boldly. God is not ashamed to proclaim His complete adoration for you. He shouts it from every piece of His creation, and whispers it in the quietness of your heart.

I cannot help but be consumed with love for My Lord when I remember all that He has done for me, and all that He is doing in me. He has been my sole source for strength and the solid ground when life's trials have left me sinking in a pit of despair. When I reach the end of my rope I have come to realize that this is the healthiest place for me to be; because there I find God. He is a refuge and a re-energizer, a redeemer and my recompense.

Over the years as I worked through the notions I mentioned, I have come to understand that God is never far. Once I humbly acknowledged Him for who He is, Creator God, He promises to never leave me or disown me. It is my own turning that beguiles me. It's difficult to see God when I am faced the opposite way of His direction. Thankfully He is patient, slow to anger and quick to forgive. He understands that I am but a breath, here today and gone tomorrow. While I am here, nonetheless, He has chosen to use me as an instrument for His eternal purposes and to teach me through His actions what infectious true love really is.

The Lord Your God is longing for YOU. If you have felt that He has been distant lately, turn around. Take a moment wherever you are and ask Him to open your eyes and ears to see Him throughout the day, He will be more than willing to reveal Himself. If only we might ask, He would answer, If only we might knock, the door would be opened, If only we might seek, He would be found.



Lord, You have searched me and You know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely.

You hem me in---behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Where can I flee from Your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to You; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to You.

For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are Your thoughts.
How vast the sum of them!
Were I to count them, They would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake I am still with you.

. . . . . .Psalm 139:1-18

Transition

A note from God:

Dear Child, I have brought you through many places of transition in your past, and I have faithfully got you through each one. Transitions are awkward and uncomfortable, but the are necessary in order to have growth. Do not fret when you are in that place, for even in the driest desert, I am there with you

I have not left your side. Even when you are unable to sense My nearness I am still right there with you. My hand is still upon you for good, and I still love you dearly. My love for you is not based on your feelings, and I remain faithful to you even when you go through a period of spiritual dryness.

I know that you love "feeling" My love and nearness. But do not fret when you do not feel as spiritual as you think you should, because our relationship is not based on how spiritual you feel. No, dear one, our relationship goes much deeper than feelings---and I know how committed you are to obey Me, honor Me and to do My will. There will be day when you are less successful at walking in the Spirit, and days when you are less able to sense My leading. But know that I do not stop loving you because you have one of those days, for I am your loving heavenly Father. i do not disown My children for trivial things nor do I get angry at then for growing and maturing, even when they must go through on of those awkward periods of transition.

I want you to keep growing, that you might become more mature in Me. I want to transform your character and your thinking to be more like My own. And that is why I bring you through these times of transition---it is never to punish you or to make you miserable, it is that you might grow, so that you might walk int the fullness of all I created you to be.

Yes, I understand that growth is uncomfortable at times, but it is necessary. there will be times when I will withdraw the sense of My presence because of something that I am trying to accomplish in you. there are times when your spiritual growth requires that you stand in faith when I seem to be far away. There are times when you must continue to walk in My ways ever though you feel dry.

Do not fret these times, for I am in them with you, and I will bring you through them. It was never my plan to dump you in the desert and to abandon you there. I am with you ever when you cannot see Me. I am leading you through it, and I will bring you out on the other side.

Relinquish Control and Act by Faith

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see"

There are many times in which God chooses to remove something or someone from our lives that we have become so fond and accustomed to, for a reason we do not understand. Our comprehension is not God's primary concern, rather that His will be fulfilled, and the bigger picture be made complete.

Though we may be left feeling blind sighted and alone, confused and trying to sort out a reason, He sees far beyond our attempts at comprehension. He promises, "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future". By faith we must trust the Lord.

Sometimes it is because of our own self indulgence that God must remove things from our life.

Where our heart is, there our treasure also lies; and the same is true of the reverse. Our faith in God should be the only place we store our treasures, our heart, because all else is futile and temporary.

Recently this scenario has played out in my own life. A person is missing that contributed a considerable amount to my happiness and pleasure.

It seemed so untimely, but I am choosing to have faith in the God that has always seen me through. While I only see brush strokes on a canvas, the Lord sees a framed masterpiece mounted on the wall in His kingdom. This person is a streak of color in my life, a vital part of the entire portrait, but that is all I can see; the individual stripes of color. The remaining progress needed to complete the painting will be left entirely up to God. He may or may not choose to use this color again in His final touches, and for one of the first times, by faith, I am okay with that. My heart is at peace.

Numerous times I have not done this and rather been like a toddler, inquisitive and meddlesome, wanting to grow up and paint my own picture. While, God, my loving father, had already made quite an outline for His developing masterpiece I decided to open a few paints and see to it that I added my finger and hand prints.

Rather then seeing a mess and dealing with me in anger, He washed my hands clean with His love and mercy, and transformed my mayhem in to a masterpiece.

We sometimes believe we are taking the design of our life in to our own hands, yet God in His gracious nature will only let us make it so far along before we realize we are unable to do it independently. Even if the choices that were made have caused a wreck in life, God sees to it that it is transposed in to something great. It is not always plain to see what good can come of a disaster or a loss, but by faith we can trust that God always has view of the finished portrait of our life.

It is only when we give up our stubborn three letter word 'W-H-Y' that we can be assured we are living fully by faith. This is the greatest act of submission; it allows God to teach and transform us in to the most captivating and magnificent artwork we could never have imagined.


By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of a desert because he was warned by God about something he couldn't see. His act of obedience, by faith, saved his family when it rained for 40 days and nights in a land that had not seen rain for many years.

By faith, Abraham was fully ready to return his promised son, his only son, to God not knowing God was going to spare Isaac's life.

By an act of faith, Moses' parents hid him for three months to rescue him from the decree of the king. Later, by faith, they delivered him down the Nile with no assurance of his fate.

By faith, Moses when he grew up refused the privileges of his royal household and rather suffered the strenuous life with God's people. By faith, he obeyed God and miraculously led the people of Israel out of Egypt through the Red Sea on dry ground!

These are just a few glances at the miraculous and adventurous lives that developed mainly because 'W-H-Y' was not their concern, rather complete trust and surrender to God's greater plan.

If you struggle today with the removal of something dear to you, I
plead with you to trust God that He has plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a better future then the one you have perceived for yourself.

Some people and possessions may re-enter, some shades of color may be used again, but allow the Lord to gift you with that, do not make it your focus. Press forward and live abundantly! Our days are not guaranteed.

Designed for Love

The two most difficult things to get straight in life are Love and God. More often than not, the mess people make of their lives can be traced to failure or stupidity or meanness in one or both of these areas.

The basic and biblical Christian conviction is that the two subjects are intricately related. If we want to deal with God the right way, we have to learn how to love the right way. If we want to learn to love the right way, we have to learn how to deal with God the right way. God and love cannot be separated.

Jesus provides the full and true understanding of God; Jesus shows the mature working-out of love. In Jesus, God and love are linked accurately, intricately, and indissolubly.

But there are always people around who don't want to be pinned down to the God Jesus reveals, to the love Jesus reveals. They want to make up their own idea of God, make up their own style of love.

--Message-1 John


Love has been so diluted, corrupted and misrepresented in today's culture. Love is not a fond feeling, or ooey-gooey emotion, in fact it's quite the opposite. Love is challenging, it's a choice, and it's an undertaking that requires commitment. If we really knew about love, it might trigger a second thought. The truth is our culture has taught us that love and infatuation are one and the same with every story ending in 'happily ever after'.

Not so.

If you are a christian, love is actually a command! The greatest commandment is said,

"Love the Lord Your God with all your Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength, and secondly, Love your neighbor as yourself".

This is impossible by our mere human abilities, but with God everything is possible. He knows us better then we know ourselves, and He deciphers the motives of each heart. Loving God is hard enough, especially in all that we are, but with a humble approach and a desire to live for His purposes, He will handle the rest. He is able to manifest the most unbelievable, loving character within us and when this happens there is no way to keep it under lock and key. Therefore the second command is much more easily met.

Love is this:

1. Patient
2. Kind
3. Not envious
4. Doesn't Boast(brag)
5. Not Proud
6. Not Rude
7. Not self seeking
8. Not easily angered
9. Keeps no records of wrongs
10. Does not delight in evil(sin)
11. Rejoices with the truth
12. Always protects
13. Always trusts
14. Always hopes
15. Always perseveres
    
16. And NEVER fails!

Apart from being a command, Love is a free gift with no expectation of return. This is what makes it so beautiful, and why love can never fail. It is a gift with no strings attached.

(<------maybe not quite, but it made me laugh)

As we enter this Valentines Day, let's make it meaningful and try on true love for a change. God has promised '[But]...if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him'(1 John 2:5)....'God is love. Anyone who lives in love lives in God, and God in him'.(1 John4:16) So as we are giving freely, God's unconditional love is our recompense and our hearts will be truly satisfied.