Someone recently commented to me, and it is the same comment I have heard from others, that what I write makes them want to have a deeper walk with God. What I write makes them realize it is possible.

They thought it was complicated but it isn’t. It is as simple as opening your heart to it…constantly and consistently. It is not a big secret for just a select few. It is for everyone who calls Him LORD.
 
An open heart is a heart that welcomes Him in.

An open heart is a heart that makes time for Him.

A lady once told me in one sentence that she doesn’t have time for a quiet time in her schedule and in the next sentence she admitted that she gets up at 5:00 multiple mornings a week to run and train for marathons.

What are we making time for in our schedule?

It is easy to look at our schedules and find them jam packed and then we wonder why we  don’t feel close to God.

I am not saying we shouldn’t get up at 5:00 in the morning and run.

I am saying that if we make time for running, then use that same kind of effort and dedication to also make time for God in a close and intimate way.

One of my favorite hymns, which I sadly haven’t heard in church in many years, but remains a favorite of mine is the beautiful song In the Garden.

This writer gets it. His words tell me he had a wide open heart and God filled it up with joy.

The heart that opens to the Lord is a heart He delights to fill.

Chorus from In the Garden, (C. Austin Miles 1912 

And He walks with me,
And He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

By Kathy Cheek
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

Open My Heart

Tender Words to the Tired Heart

A Grumbly Heart

Our Heart and our Treasure

The post Open Heart appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” – Romans 1:18

In this world of copies and fakes, we often don’t know the truth. The media often publishes fake news. Brand-name products are often fake off-brands with a fake name. Often, the new products you purchase are “refurbished” broken ones. The president of Harvard University plagiarized her dissertation.

Were you trying to figure out what “authentic” even means? Either way, you weren’t alone: it’s Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2023, an annual recognition given to a word that dominates searches and lookup volume on the dictionary’s website.

“Authentic” has a number of meanings, including “not false or imitation,” a synonym of real and actual, and also “true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.” Although clearly a desirable quality, “authentic” is hard to define and subject to debate—two reasons it sends many people to the dictionary.

And with the rise of artificial intelligence—and its impact on deepfake videos, actors’ contracts, academic honesty, and a vast number of other topics—the line between “real” and “fake” has become increasingly blurred. Even from some liberal pulpits, we see and hear the blurring of the authenticity of Scripture.

The Bible is clear, inerrant, and authentic. It has been a guideline for life through hundreds of years. Without it, there would be no Western civilization.

Man’s greatest problems are not a lack of knowledge but a hardness of heart, and the Bible solves them all. People reject God because they don’t want to be accountable. The unbeliever’s greatest problem is not intellectual, but spiritual.

Creation points to God’s existence, but it is through the Word that God has revealed how to be saved. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'” – John 14:6

As we read the morning paper and listen to the evening news, we often have to wonder what is true, what is false, and what is authentic. But we can read and follow the precepts of the Bible and know that every word is authentic and true.

by John Grant
used by permission
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

FURTHER READING

A Life of Authenticity  also by John Grant

Discovering the Authentic

Alignment of Your Times

The post Authentic appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” Luke 19:40 (KJV)

Could stones cry out? Certainly they would if He who opens the mouth of those unable to speak commanded the stones to lift up their voices. And if they were to speak, they would have plenty to sing in praise of Him who created them by the word of His power. They could proclaim the wisdom and power of their Maker who by his command called them into being.

Shouldn’t we praise Him who made us brand new, and out of stones raised up children of Abraham?

If the stones were to speak, they could tell of how God took them from the quarry, shaped them, and made them fit for the temple. Can’t we tell of our glorious God who shapes with the hammer of His word, so He can build us into His temple? The old rocks could tell of chaos and order, and the handiwork of God in successive stages of creation’s drama. Can’t we likewise talk of God’s decrees, of God’s great works, and all that He did for His church and continues to do?

If the stones cried out, they would have a long, long story to tell, because many great stones have been rolled as a memorial to the Lord. We too can testify of all the ways God has guided us, helped us, and benefited our lives in innumerable ways.

The stones might cry out, but we shouldn’t let them be heard! Instead, we should overpower their noise with our own. We should break forth into sacred song, and bless the majesty of the Most High all our days, glorifying Him who is called by Jacob the Shepherd and Stone of Israel.

Question: Why did Jesus talk about the stones “crying out“?

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon.
Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2009
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

By Your Grace, Not My Effort

Clarifying your Need

Who Alone is Worthy

The post The Stones Cry Out appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”  Romans 8:6

The peace of God can be directly linked with our obedience to God.

For years I had asked God to use me in a specific area of my life, but when He finally opened the door, I didn’t walk through. Instead of being obedient to what He was asking of me, I chose not to, and as a result, I lived with a sense of restlessness for a period of time. Stress and anxiety can often be self-induced due to our own choices that we make apart from God’s will in our lives. Lesson learned.

In John 4, Jesus told the Samaritan woman, who was drawing up water from the well, that He had living water for her by which she would never thirst again. What He was saying was that what He had to offer was far superior to what she currently needed. What He had to offer was something no one else could. What He desired to give her was authentic, eternal, and would never leave her wanting for more.

The things of this world leave us void, giving us fleeting emotions only to deceive us and keep us from the very nature of God. However, He longs to give us Himself ? leaving us feeling fulfilled and truly content if we hear His voice and follow Him.

When we give our life to Jesus and walk in God’s ways, we will have the peace of God no matter our circumstances. Apart from God and doing what He asks of us, we will never experience the fullness of what He has to offer us.

Heavenly Father, thank you that you are always with me and have given me Your Holy Spirit so I may know you and live according to Your Word. Amen.

By Brigitte Straub
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

The Peace of God by Violet Tse

The Peace of God by Phil Ware

God’s Peace by Alec Niemi

The post A Direct Link appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“I will never erase his name from the book of life, but will declare his name before my Father and before his angels.”   Revelation 3:5b (NET)

Do you know why they put erasers on pencils? Because humans use them.

In other words, none of us are perfect. We make mistakes. In fact, we often learn more from our mistakes than we do our successes. Why? Because we have already corrected our errors and moved on when we succeed. The lesson has been learned.

A friend gave me the ultimate “human pencil.” It has two erasers so when one is used up, I can flip it and start to use the other one. I hope she wasn’t trying to tell me something.

But after I laughed, I saw great meaning in it. This is the type of eraser Christ uses in our lives when we confess our wrongdoings. One that will never run out no matter how many times we have sins to confess. His three hours on the cross has already eradicated them.

Not to say there are no consequences for our actions. After all, we must learn from our mistakes, and sometimes the lesson is harsh. But it is part of the process to erase sin from our lives. Over and over. We all need erasers in this life. But here is the good news. There is no need for erasers in Heaven. We will be perfected and purified in Christ to stand before the throne of God as it says in Revelation 3:5. 

Hallelujah!

Lord, thank you for being patient with me and always ready to erase my sins. In your gentle sternness, teach me the lessons I need to sin less in my life, relying on your Holy Spirit to guide my decisions and actions. Thank you that one day I will stand blameless before you in Heaven because of your amazing grace. Amen.

Each time you become aware of having sinned, bring it immediately to Jesus, thanking him for his perfect forgiveness of all your sins including that one. Then invite him to transform that area of your life through his Spirit.

By Julie Cosgrove
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

Keeping Yourself in God’s Love – even during painful times in your life

He Put a Song in My Heart

Learn more about knowing Jesus at: https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/four-laws/

The post Erasable appeared first on Thoughts About God.

For over 5 years, I corresponded regularly with an inmate, Stephen D, in a maximum security penitentiary in Indiana.  Stephen was released April 13th.

The past years have been an education for me.  Stephen writes in a tight, neat script and uses all the margins on both sides of foolscap.  His letters run 8-12 pages.  He has provided me with the inside view of prison life, and an inside glimpse into one prisoner’s heart, like nothing I could have got short of doing prison time myself.

(Stephen has told me that any part of his story that would help others I’m free to share).

Mostly, his letters have been for me a graduate level course on the reality and power of God’s grace.

Stephen is in the company of sex offenders, murderers, gangsters, drug peddlers, career criminals.  His own crime is grievous.  Yet over and over I have been moved to tears as he describes how Jesus is transforming him, and the men around him, from being “the worst of sinners” to being “examples of God’s mercy and unlimited patience”

“I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge(1 Corinthians 1:4-5).

A sample from his last letter (again, with his full permission) as he describes a worship service among prisoners:

The Lord is truly working miracles!  As I look around, the magnitude of what Jesus is doing is nothing short of revealing who He is “all for our good”.  The signs of his mercy surround us.  His costly grace is being evidenced through the hearts of many who, with a life surrendered to His will, have abandoned the short-lived trappings of this world.  The sounds of rejoicing rain down from the redeemed of the Lord.  What a mighty God we have chosen to serve!

Almost makes you want to go to prison!

Why am I telling you this?

The prison chaplain shared with the pastors of the city.  One thing he said is that prisoners’ who turn their life over to Jesus in prison, and make significant progress there, often never find a church after their release where they feel welcome.

He also warned about some of the pitfalls of churches who are naïve, who entrust too much too soon to men and women who are just beginning to sort out life this side of freedom.

He’s not recommending such naivety.  But many churches choose the opposite approach: open suspicion, even hostility.  Ex-prisoners sniff that out quickly, get the message, and stay away.

It got me thinking: if Stephen came to our church, would he feel welcome? 

I think the answer is yes.  All the same, it’s worth pushing the question a little further by making it, for each of us, personal: would I welcome him?

May God’s grace abound in all our lives.

By Mark Buchanan
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

• Extending Grace to Others
• Harsh Judgments Can Kill One’s Spirit

Learn more about knowing Jesus at: https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/four-laws/

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The post Where Grace Abounds? appeared first on Thoughts About God.

Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way, we never give up. We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this. (2 Corinthians 4:1-2)

You and I are alive today on this earth for a purpose. We are here to introduced the gospel of welcome—grace turned outward—to everyone, everywhere. That’s a tall order, but that’s why we are students of the new covenant. The new covenant teaches us how we are going to do this. We’re going to do this by relying totally on the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in us. We are not doing this on our own.

And the new covenant also teaches us what we don’t do. We don’t distort the word of God to make it more palatable, nor do we try to trick anyone into believing, or use underhanded methods to achieve the results we want. Instead, we simply tell the truth about God and His word, and let it stand at that. Those who are truly seeking will find; and those who are not won’t get it anyway, because they don’t want to know. This is why the passage goes on to say:

If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

Those who don’t get it can’t see it, and there’s nothing we can do about that. That’s why the first verse of this chapter says, “we never give up.” Why? Because those who respond (at any given time) and those who don’t respond are beyond our control. We are not responsible for anyone’s reaction to what we present; we are only responsible for telling the truth before God in front of anyone who will listen.

We are agents of the Holy Spirit.

No tricks; just truth. No manipulation, just honesty. No coercion, just “the glorious light of the Good News.” The rest is up to God.

by John Fischer
used by permission

FURTHER READING

To Be Spirit Led

The Holy Who?

Walking in the Spirit

The post Agents of the Holy Spirit appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them…. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!”
– Amos 5:21–24

A lady came to church and asked for a free snack. The guy in charge of the church’s snack shack refused. With a distraught look on her face, she turned to leave. Another church goer got upset at him and paid for the lady’s food, letting him know in a few words what she thought. He defensively replied. “She comes here every week and asks for that. She never even stays for the service.” Both had good motives, but which one of them had God-motives?

God is not a “religious” God. He sees far beyond our actions, our masks, and our ceremonious ways. He knows the depths of our hearts and the very fabric of our beings. And what He cares about is not so much our best behaviors, but our very souls and heart, every second of our lives.

And because He created us with the greatest care, human dignity is sacred to the Lord.

In our text, God reveals His desire in verse 24. The Message translation puts it this way: “Do you know what I want? I want justice — oceans of it. I want fairness — rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want.”

His justice is fairness and love. We can’t be okay when we see poverty, racism, gender-based discrimination, and anything else that brings any of God’s image bearers down. We are called to a radical, incomparable way of loving. Only when we seize that deep identity can we become world changers.

Holy Spirit, come. Teach my heart and my mind to live according to the Father’s perfect justice. I cannot possibly do it without you. Show me areas where I have unknowingly been guilty of anything short of your justice. Show me how to love, may my life bring your Kingdom on earth. I love you, Lord. Amen.

Go Deeper — How do you feel led to bring dignity and love to our world? Is it by acknowledging homeless people on your way to work? Is it by beginning to make smart consumer choices to avoid buying products that encourage slavery and other abuses? How about not enabling racism? Whichever it is, don’t postpone it ― pray and act today.

by Caroline Bellemare
used by permission

FURTHER READING

Loving as God Loves

People Need Loving

How to Love the Unlovable

Truck, Tent … Soul

The post Oceans of Justice appeared first on Thoughts About God.

The post “Manifesto: Let us be Women who Love” appeared first on Thoughts About God.

Two or three times a week, I volunteer in our church office and type up the prayer requests from our weekend services. During that hour or so, I get a glimpse into the deepest, most vulnerable spaces in the hearts of men and women, young and old. I read of great joys – the birth of a baby, a son’s turning to Christ, a new job; and I feel the depths of despair – a miscarriage, a child diagnosed with cancer, a death too young.

Prayers are asked for job interviews, school exams, struggling marriages; for safety in war, peace with finances, release from fears, faith.

Only a few of the prayers come with a request for follow-up from a pastor or a volunteer. Some clearly want guidance in how to deal with the situation; some may just want to know that someone—anyone—has heard and prayed.

A number of weeks ago I came across a prayer request that spoke of violence in the home, abuse the writer didn’t know how to handle. They didn’t mark the “follow-up” box; I don’t remember if they even wrote their name or contact information, or if this was one of the several anonymous requests we receive each week.

It’s not my place to respond in those situations, and I trust our church’s pastors to act even when no action is requested. But that was one of the many times I’ve taken my hands away from the keyboard and lifted them to God in brokenness and empathy, and asked Him to intervene.

Other than the cries from deep pain, the hardest thing about these prayer requests is that there are so few, and so few seem to want anyone to come talk. On a typical Sunday, we receive maybe 20-30 prayer requests; that’s less than two for every hundred people in church. That’s staggering. Do we not believe in prayer, or that God answers? Do we not know that a team of people is waiting every week just to pray for those in our church? Or do we think that no one cares enough to want to read our burdens?

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7, New Living Translation)

So many of our prayers are looking for peace – in families, in finances, in work situations. God tells us to pray about it and thank him for what he’s already done, and then peace will come. Peace that doesn’t make any sense. Peace in the midst of the struggles, the questions, the radiation treatments.

Jesus prays for us (John 17) and the Holy Spirit prays for us (Rom 8:26); God also says we ought to pray for others (James 5:14-16) and to let others pray for us (1 Thess 5:25, Heb 13:18).

Today, pray for the people in your church, in your neighborhood, at your school, in your family. Let someone know that you prayed for them. And let them pray for you.

Prayer is not reserved for the “professionals.” It is what we do. It is how we live as family, as community, as church.

by Randy Ehle
used by permission

FURTHER READING

Intercessory Prayer Story

A Call to Prayer- to seniors and those who are housebound but have internet.

Concerts of Prayer Outline (Prayer Meeting)

You Can Change the Lives of Men and Nations

The post A Voice for Good appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“And since, when we were his enemies, we were brought back to God by the death of His Son, what a blessing He must have for us now that we are His friends, and He is living within us!”
Romans 5:10

Marilyn had a very poor self-image. She hated the way she looked and felt that her personality was so bad that she could never expect to have true friends. She was concerned especially about marriage. How could she ever find a man to love her since she was so unattractive (in her thinking).

I was able to help her see how much God loved her, and how great was His blessing for her as a child of God. The supernatural life-style was available to her, and she was the one to determine whether or not she would measure up, as an act of the will by faith, to what God had called and enabled her to be. Her part was simply to trust and obey Him.

With God’s help, she determined to be that kind of person, the kind of person God created her to be.

We who are Christians can see ourselves as God sees us and through the enabling of the Holy Spirit become what we are in His sight. With the eyes of love, He sees us covered with the blood of Christ, which was shed on the cross for our sins, and, as expressed in Hebrews 10, He sees us as holy, righteous and totally forgiven. He holds nothing against us. The penalty for our sins has been paid – once and for all. There is nothing which we can add.

Now we have the privilege of becoming in our experience what we are already in God’s sight.

Bible Reading: Romans 5:11-15

Through the enabling of the Holy Spirit, I will begin to see myself as God sees me: loved, forgiven, holy, righteous, spiritually mature, aggressive and fruitful for the glory of God. Today I will live by faith the supernatural life which is my heritage in Christ.

By Dr. Bill Bright
Used by Permission

Learn more about how to be filled with the Holy Spirit

The post We are His Friends appeared first on Thoughts About God.

As the years pass and the end of the journey draws near, I recall those dreams of yesterday. If I could capture them, I would keep them forever.

I remember many that were once walking on the earth with us. Family, friends, and the great and small. Yesterday they were in the land of the living, then Someone came and took them away.

Life is like a puff of smoke that vanishes away and you wish you could just stop time. But it’s not possible, no matter how hard you try. We live like we will be forever in this place, but cast a glance at your life and grasp it ever tightly as it slips away.

Then comes a day that we thought was still very far away when Someone will surely come for us too. And we will only be remembered until yesterday is gone, when even those with memories of us are taken away.

Oh, my children will you listen to me, or will my voice cry out to you forever after I’m gone? Will you remember the path I showed you? Will you seek the narrow gate? For I sought to show you that which was true when I walked in the land of the living.

Remember, people do not pass away as they say, but in a moment are taken away, and He sees their place gone forever. The day my eyes grow dim and my breathing ends, be assured that Someone came to take me away. It was the King of Kings who left His throne to suffer and die in my place, and it seems like just yesterday that He said He would come back for me.

“Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you that where I am you may be also.” John 14:1-3

by Rich Vega
used by permission

FURTHER READING

Lord, We Are Needy

Death and Humility

When Death Becomes Birth

The post YESTERDAY appeared first on Thoughts About God.