Daddy's Lap

When my children were little I always looked forward to getting home from work and spending time with them. I would be met at the door with a big hug and a sloppy, wet kiss, the word daddy would ring in my ears as sweet as any words that I have ever heard. The years have gone by since then and I still long for those reactions from them, the reach for my hand and the exuberiant I love you daddy. Did I deserve that adoration? I don't know if I did or not but I do know I filled something in their lives, as they did mine, that no one else could fit into.
This is the way it is with God he longs for our attention, He wants us to meet with Him, crawl up into His lap, Grab his hand and proclaim our love for Him. He wants to find that place in our heart that only he and His love can fit. I believe it grieves His heart when we just take Him for granted; when we don't spend time with Him and ignore Him. The following verses from Romans 8 says that if we are led by God's Spirit we are his children, not slaves to Him we are adopted by Him and can call Him Abba, which is a personal word comparable to the word daddy, in contrast to father (how many of you call you dad father?) which has such a formal ring to it. He is personal He is daddy.


Certainly, all who are guided by God's Spirit are God's children. 15 You haven't received the spirit of slaves that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the spirit of God's adopted children by which we call out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children

Romans 8:14-16 (GW)

I don't know about you but I relish attention from my children. When it comes I glory in it, something wells up inside me that it feels I might burst. God also longs for this attention from us just like we do our own children. Whenever I proclaim my love for Him I am reminded that the only reason I can say to Him, I Love You, is that he loved me first, before I was ever conceived. He thinks of me, I am on His mind and He chose ME. He is worthy of our worship for all He has done for us and for who He is ; King of Kings, Lord of Lords, creator of all there is,was or ever will be, the light, lover of My soul, the one who sent His son to die for me. Find time to worship, thank and praise Him. HE LOVES YOU.

Coming Through!

1 Give thanks to the Lord because he is good, because his mercy endures forever. 2 Israel should say, “His mercy endures forever.” 3 The descendants of Aaron should say, “His mercy endures forever.” 4 Those who fear the Lord should say, “His mercy endures forever.”
5 During times of trouble I called on the Lord. The Lord answered me {and} set me free {from all of them}. 6 The Lord is on my side. I am not afraid. What can mortals do to me? 7 The Lord is on my side as my helper. I will see {the defeat of} those who hate me. 8 It is better to depend on the Lord than to trust mortals. 9 It is better to depend on the Lord than to trust influential people.

Psalms 118:1-9 (GW)

One of the favorite cliches we hear today is things are so uncertain. Well here's the breaking news, folks. Things have always been uncertain. A friend once told me " the distance between the penthouse and the outhouse is very short". These last several months have proved him in this matter. You know Jesus says in the scriptures " in this world there are going to be troubles" there is no escaping this. We look all around us and there are so many things going on and as long as they are not happening to us we may feel a sympathy,but there is a detachment. It doesn't touch us, but there comes a time; that word from the doctor or that employer that tells us to come in and shut the door, the late night Phone call, there's been a accident; you heart is in your throat and your breath is gone like you've been hit in the stomach; a heaviness overtakes you, all hope seems to be gone. Where do you go? Do you turn inward and become depressed, anxious or worried and just let those things envelope you? Do you go outward, get angry at the world, turn to alcohol, drugs,or rebellion? All of these things will lead to your destruction. They will destroy all of you, physically emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
Above I quoted Jesus as saying, "In this world there will be troubles" but he follows with the Good News " but don't be afraid for I have overcome the world". I have found over the years to stop in the midst of my trial and seek refuge in His presence is the place to go. The thing that I try do first is reach to Him through praise and worship. Psalms says we enter His gates with thanksgiving in our hearts and His courts with praise. We go to Him in that way and we find Him for He inhabits our praises. We don't have to be in church to find Him, as a matter of a fact the best times I have with God are in my bedroom, my backyard or alone in my car; just me and Him. I worship Him and the heaviness begins to fade and is replaced by the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit. I only testify of these things out of my experience to let you know He will do the same for you.
This is not to say that the times of distress and trouble are the only times to worship Him. Go to Him every day in worship and the Word. Be prepared in season and out of season (good and bad times) and furthermore it is just plain fun and refreshing to be in the presence of the creator of the universe.
At the church I attend to we sing a chorus that goes like this (be glad you don't have to listen to me sing);

I think about His love,
I think about His goodness,
I think about His grace that has brought me through,
For as high as the heavens above,
Great is the measure of My Father's Love.

We don't have to be overcome by the troubles of the world for Through the cross He has overcome the World.

Simplify

5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Romans 5:5-10 (KJV)
Each week when deciding what to write I find myself questioning as to what I am going to write about and is it offering hope and encouragement as I had initially invisioned. There are times after I finish that I know what I have written is right on and then there are those that seem to shoot a blank. I pray that this simple truth I write about today hits its target, which is the heart of those that love Him, those that take Him for granted, and those that give no thought of Him.
We go to church in our different denominations or non-denominations, all with different doctrines and use these differences to separate our selves from each other, when in fact the Gospel is one simple truth "GOD LOVES YOU", ie John 3:16. Falling from grace, speaking in tongues, once saved always saved, predestination, you must belong to this church to go to heaven, we're right and you are wrong (I won't even go into the things we say about one another's beliefs); how insignificant this is , how small and petty it makes us in comparison to what Jesus The Christ has done and continues to do for us each day.
If these beliefs separate us then what brings us together or at least should? It is the love of God for us in that He came to earth in the form of Jesus, the Christ, Who suffered, died on the Cross, rose from the dead and at the same time we were not left to contend with things on our own, but the Spirit of the Living God came to live in us,comfort and counsel us.

Simply said God loves You!!

If you Love Him, worship Him.

If you take Him for granted, draw close to Him.

If you give no thought of Him, Come and try Him.

Who, Who are You?

9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
1 Peter 2:9-12 (KJV)
Exactly who are you as a Christian? Are you Just another person on the street. The same as any other person that we might meet. Do we fit in with the world? Do we act like the world doing and saying the same things as the world? Sure it might be easy for us to put away those things that all good church folks know are sins. No drinking, no smoking, no adultery. You go to church on Sunday, Wednesday, make all of the board meetings, visit the sick and shut-ins and yet you might listen to that joke that we really shouldn't, join in the gossip at work,the coffee shop or maybe the beauty shop. Maybe it is a racial slur that you still feel comfortable with. Do these kind of things still live in you? These are not just minor sins they are sins.

The above verses in 1 Peter should remind us who we are, we are the chosen ones, the ones that now belong to God through Jesus, the Christ. We are a nation unto itself, no longer a citizen of the world but a citizen of heaven. We are called sojourners, aliens, visitors, we are just traveling through. We should be in the world yet not really fit in, not part of the world. The thing I think of in context of the above is the movie E.T. He was definitely an alien. When someone saw him they knew he was not from this world and all the time he was working to get to the world he belonged in. That is kind of how we should be, recognized as someone that might not fit into the scheme of things in this world and looking to that day we will be with Jesus face to face.

He has taken us out of the darkness, which is the world or sin and brought us into the light. In the light we can be seen and believe me if we call ourselves Christian there are people who are going to be watching us, some waiting for us to fall and some looking to our example. We have that choice of showing people the world or Christ in us the hope of the world.

Quick Word

11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Heb 4:11-12 (KJV)
This passage says there is life in the Word of God. John 1 says that Jesus is the word. The word is the way, the truth, and the life; the same as Jesus. He is the word made flesh that came to dwell with us and now in us through His Spirit. There is power in His word because it is truth and light. God's word is not empty; when it goes out it does not come back to us it accomplishes what it is intended to accomplish. As stated before God cannot lie. He is truth.
The verse above says that The Word is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. At times it is a mirror that allows us to look at ourselves and see where we are in our relationship with Jesus. That is what David is saying in psalm 118:105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. If you look down at your feet you can see where you are. If there is a light on your path when you are in the dark it will show you the path you need to go to get to your destination. It is the same with God's word. You read His Word and you can see where you are in your walk. This same word serves a a light on the path that will lead to a closer relationship with God.
When we are confused and seem lost and do not know where to turn if, if in distress, bound by things in your life that don't see to want to let you go then look to God's word let Him show you where to go and how to get there. God Loves You.

Word

Like a lot of you when growing up, I was taught most of my values by my parents and many of these things came from God's Word. One of the things my daddy taught me was "your word is your bond" and that is a part of who I was, A Lampkin, which was something passed down to him from his daddy. Generation to generation, seed to seed to seed. This value is scripture based on Isaiah 59 in which God instructed Isaiah:
21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.
Isaiah 59:20-21 (KJV).
This promise from God that passes to the next generation and on and on is His word. The Bible says that God is not a man that he can lie. In other words, It is not that He won't lie it is impossible for Him to Lie. Maybe you didn't know that there was something that He could not do But he CANNOT lie. His word is His bond you can count on it.
Today a lot of the young people use "word" as stating that something is accurate or the truth, as in "I hear you came here in a limo?" answer "Word". God's word is accurate, it is truth. Whatever you have need of, the answer lies in God's word, the truth that comes from the One who CANNOT lie. If you need a healing, peace, comfort, delieverance, whatever your need is, go to His word, find a scripture that deals with what your need is and meditate on it and you will be transformed by the renewing of you mind. Your answer lies in the words of the one who created the heavens and earth and all that is in them. BELIEVE GOD.