It is absolutely amazing to me that God the Creator and Sustainer of life would want to have a personal relationship with me!  I know He created me and I know He loves me, but it is still crazy to me that He would want a relationship with me, because I know me and I don’t even want to have a relationship with myself sometimes!

I know me!  I know that my selfish ambition and spiritual apathy sometimes get in the way of the relationship and steal my passion for Him!  I know that I am a sinner, who misses the mark.  I know I do things I shouldn’t do and I fail to do things that I should do!  I know me and I know that I am not worthy of being loved the way God loves me, but I also know God and I know that He loves me regardless!

I know God and I know that He initiates a change of heart in me that drives me to desire for a closer relationship with Him.  He points out the ways in me that get in the way of our relationship and His Holy Spirit convicts me of sin, not so that I will feel guilty, but so that I can get free!

When I confess my sin and seek restoration, God is always right there ready and waiting!  He always shows me the way to a better place of relationship with Him.  God often takes the initiative to set our relationship right by giving us a change of heart!  How amazing is that?

No matter how many times we wander away, God is always right here waiting to take us back and restore us into a right relationship with Him!  Simply amazing!  Don’t take it for granted and don’t put it off.  Embrace your change of heart and make your way back to Him – you will be glad you did!

You may be one of those people who are fortunate enough to have been on the receiving end of blessing.  See if you can answer yes to any of the following questions:

Do you have a home to live in?  Do you have a vehicle to drive?  Do you have food to eat?  Do you have clothes to wear?  Do you have a job to work?  Do you have health to enjoy life?Do you have family and friends to love?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you have been blessed!  Your Creator has seen fit to fill your life with the good stuff of His creation.  You may not have all you want, but in your heart, you know that you have more than you deserve.

Most all of the people I know, have been and are blessed.  But I have seen in my own life and in the lives of people I know a very disturbing trend beginning to develop.  If we are not careful, we can take what God has blessed us with and allow it to come between us!  You can use God’s blessings to build a wall or build a bridge!

For example:  God may bless you with a new job and in your effort to make the best of it, you may forget about how it is a blessing from God by allowing time that you should be using to serve and glorify God to be taken up by activities of work.  Before you know it, the blessing of your job has come between you and the One who gave it to you, the one who gives you the ability to do it!

Maybe God has blessed you with a house to live in and enjoy.  If you are not careful, you can become so focused on turning your house into a home, that you miss time spent with and in service to the One who has blessed you with it all.  We don’t really mean to at first, but after we start down the path it actually can become very intentional.

If you are fortunate enough to be blessed with good health, you should enjoy that health and do what it takes to try to continue in that lifestyle, but don’t let the blessing of good health and a fit body come between you and Your Creator.  Physical exercise is not a bad thing, but it is not the best time.  If you get so focused on the physical that you neglect the spiritual, you are headed for some tough times.

I am not trying to make anyone feel bad.  I am simply saying:  God has been good to us and we need to be careful to not allow the enemy to use God’s goodness as a wedge between us and our Creator.  Remember:  God is your Creator and Sustainer, He gives and He can take away!

Listen to how he put it in Exodus 20:3-6 – “You shall have no other gods before me.  “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,  but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

God loves you, blesses you and wants you to enjoy the blessing.  But He does not want the blessing to get in the way of the relationship!  I challenge you to get real and right about this today.  You will be glad you did!

I really need to be in bed, but wanted to take just a moment to share a few highlights from this incredible Sunday that God blessed me with being a part of!

-Had an awesome prayer time this morning!  I love spending time talking with and listening to God.  It is incredible what He will reveal to you, when you are paying attention!  If you don’t take time daily to invest some time with Him in prayer and meditation of His Word, then I really want to encourage you to make it a part of your day!  Remember:  Five minutes is better than zero!

-Love my Sunday School/Bible Fellowship/Sunday School Class!  What a great group of people to be real with.  God always manages to use each of us to teach and encourage one another.  I am extra excited about what God is going to do in the next few months with this group!

-Sweet time of worship at both campuses.  Major worship highlight for me today was watching a little boy on the front row totally engaged in giving glory to God.  Eyes closed, hands raised and mouth open singing praise to our God and King!

-Powerful Word given by the Holy Spirit to challenge us to think about the “MUCH MORE” that God has provided for all of us that have moved out of the flesh and into the Spirit.  So glad that God does not give me justice, because I could not handle what I deserve.  Thankful for His mercy and grace!  So thankful that I am extra super motivated about how I might get to serve Him this week.

-Ladies Banquet coming up at the end of the month.  The Banquet Team seems to have everything taken care of as usual!  Excited about what God is going to do and expecting a very special move of the Spirit this year!

-Evening Worship was sweet!  God taught us a great lesson from the example of David found in 1 Chronicles 17:1-27.  We learned about the battle between “our desire” and God’s will!  It is not an easy fight to fight, but one that is worth fighting!  Get this right and it changes everything!

-Sweet time of fellowship and some pretty good salads!  Got in a little extra time with some friends to round out the days festivities!  I am really thankful for the spiritual family and friends that God has blessed me with and pray that I am a blessing to them, as they are to me!

I guess that’s it for tonight!  Heading to bed with the idea that a good night of sleep would really make this a good day!  Night!  Night!