Obstacles, Dangers, Courage and Bears

Just been reading the tragic news of Lorna Weafer, who was fatally killed by a black bear in May this year.

The 36 year old was employed by Suncor and was an Instrument Technician working on an isolated job site near Fort McMurray, Alta, a town in Salt Lake, Utah, USA.

The horrible tragedy happened as she was making her way back from the wash room to the worksite. The attack was predatory and wasn't provoked at all - the bear dragged her off indifferent to the other workers trying to help.

My heart aches for this poor young woman and her family. Lorna's courage in the face of such ferocity was amazing as bravely she struggled for her life, but to no avail.

You know, life is so fragile - so tender.

Dangers seem to lurk everywhere, even some so unexpected that  they almost seem to be unbelievable and hard for us to get our minds around - like what happened to Lorna - tragedy out of no where with no explanation - just sadness and heart ache.

It seems our world has turned up side down of late - ISIL attacking Christians, public beheadings, the torture of children and women the list seems to go on forever.

Every news item just seems to get worse and the persecution of Christians seems to be taken for granted in the world at large. - the world we live and work in. The world we are part of and yet we aren't - our real home is with our Lord and Saviour.

My real heartfelt message to everyone, all of us, is to be ready - our lives seem to hang in the balance now more than ever before. None of us can know for sure how each day will pan out. Suddenly our lives could change forever, suddenly and without knowing.

We need to ensure that we all know where our heart and real love lies - we need to believe on Him - Acts 16:31 says in part ..."Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved..."

So what does it mean to "believe on Him?" - To believe on Jesus means to believe that He is the Son of God and that he is worthy to be loved, worshipped and obeyed.

The Bible not only stresses faith to believe but it also stresses love. We must give our heart to the Lord - our very being. Loving Jesus is not just having certain feelings; it is a definite choice of our will.

The heart of man can be cold and selfish and can so easily ignore the love that Jesus is offering, they choose not only to ignore but to reject it and soon forget it.

God does not take it lightly when we ignore His word, His invitation to come to Him or hinder others by putting obstacles in their way. This is serious business, I can't stress enough just how serious this is!

As believers we must also expect obstacles along our paths; the more we move out with God, the more attacks and more 'obstacles' we can expect.

As Paul stated in in 2 Timothy 3:12 "....In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted"

We need to be ready, looking to Jesus every day. We need to stand fast and leave the results to Him.

We need to move forward in our differing ministries and God-given gifts, while trusting God to make a way and remove obstacles.

Are you ready?

Mercy, Grace and Truth

John 1: 16-17 tells us "...and of His fullness we have all received" and again that "Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ"

Pretty astounding when  you think about it that WE HAVE RECEIVED HIS (JESUS') FULLNESS.

The very completeness of Jesus has been transplanted to us when we become born again in Him.

The very fact we have now become and have received the full nature of Jesus often makes me stand amazed at this almost incomprehensible gift!

Jesus Christ is in us and we are in Him - we have the VERY 'fullness' of Christ - WOW! if we can just grasp that truth - we no longer have to live defeated and guilt-ridden lives.

Many Christians go through life thinking "when we get to heaven we will THEN be like Jesus but right now we live in this world - struggling with sin forgiven by God". They feel they can't possibly be like Jesus but in actual fact - we have Jesus living in us - amazing as it sounds!

In lots of ways 'waiting to get to heaven to be like Jesus' can often lead us to defeat and open to guilt and failure.

No! we will never be perfect while we are here on earth BUT with Jesus living in us and us living in Him we have unbridled power to overcome sin at its very root in our lives - we certainly can't do that on our own.

Jesus has not only forgiven us but has also made us His sons and daughters - giving us freely His VERY nature and His DIVINE nature at that - NOW that is truly EXTRAORDINARY!!!

Yes we are forgiven sinners - right now here on earth. We are going to spend eternity with Jesus - BUT amazingly Jesus is living in us right now and has been the very moment we became one with Him and we were born anew.

Because He lives in us and we in Him - His nature is imparted to us. We no longer live for ourselves He, Jesus, actually lives through us!

Do you wrestle with feelings of guilt or unworthiness? Have you made mistakes that you can't seem to recover from? Are there blemishes on your record that won't go away, no matter how hard you try to erase them? Have you done things that people won't forgive?

Think, just for a moment, what Jesus did for you on that cross. He took your guilt, your shame. your mistakes and your blemishes on Himself and destroyed them forever! WOW!!!

Then.... He promised you His divine Nature to live in you while you are here on earth! - Don't know about you but that blows my mind.

If you have given your life to Jesus, in God's eyes you are perfect, spotless - WHY? Because He looks at you and sees Jesus because Jesus is living in you right here, right now.

Don't lead a defeated life here, thinking that you can't be like Jesus until you get to Heaven. Jesus has imparted to His own an extraordinary gift. The gift of Himself. Once we have realised that we can live extraordinary lives while we live on earth, nothing is beyond us.

No sin is too big for us to overcome because it has already been defeated by He who resides in us - JESUS!

Rest on His promise and the purity and forgiveness that He has given you.