I guess that one of my all time favorite sayings is:  God Is Good!  I believe it, because I experience it again and again and again!  Lately, I have had a hard time accepting how ugly, mean spirited and negative some people in our world can be, especially church people.  I often think to myself:  “If they could just realize how they are being, then there is no way that they would be the way they are!”  But there is the rub – they can’t realize how they are being, they refuse to realize how they are being and the result is they miss the opportunity for personal growth and the ability to be a blessing.

I have had some encounters with some of these kinds of people over the past few months and have always had in my heart a desire for all of us to go together to the amazing and incredible places that I know that God has for us.  It burdens my heart to realize that not everybody wants to go to that place and not everybody will go to that place.  I sometimes get so burdened that I beat up on myself – thinking there must be something else I can do, there must be some better way or there must be something I can do or say that I am not doing or saying!

The reason God is so good to me this week is because He has set me free from a jail of my own making.  He has shown me that I can’t take anybody anywhere.  I can show them the way, but I can’t make them travel and I can’t travel for them.  God has confirmed in my life again and again in recent days that I am doing a good job of showing the way and I need to stay with it and not get distracted!  Thank you to so many of you for letting God speak through you to me in such a positive and beautiful way.

God is good in your life too!  Because if you are paying attention – He is telling you some things about yourself and your relationship with Him.  I hope you hear Him and respond to what you are hearing!  God Bless, Keep It Real & Press On!

Our world has warped Jesus!  So many of us have made Him into what we want Him to be and taken way from all that He really is.  There are so many different pictures of Jesus today and the big problem is that most of them are wrong!  The problem with our distorted view of Jesus is that our picture of Jesus influences the action of our lives.  Take just a minute to think about your picture of Jesus and the kinda influence that it has on your life! 

We need more than ever to really see and hear from Jesus!  When we get our picture right – we will get our lives right!  My picture of Jesus matters, because it influences everything else!  When my picture is right, it centers my life and helps me to really live according to His purpose and not my own self-generated and often defeating interest.

One of my favorite pictures of Jesus comes from John 4:1-29 when Jesus encountered the woman at the well.  Three things jump out of this passage and grab my attention about who Jesus really is! 

First,  I noticed that Jesus went where He was needed!  Even when He did not feel like it – He was looking for an opportunity to make a difference in someone else’s life.  He could have just went home and went to bed, but He knew that there was someone that needed what He had to offer and so He went to a place that others avoided.  (Samaria)

Second, Jesus stepped out of the circle that others had drawn for Him!  He not only went to Samaria, but had the audacity to have a conversation with a woman of all people.  This conversation with this woman was about so much more than a drink of water.  Jesus was reaching into her life to bring about change that would bless her and others.  Jesus reached into her life before there was any change on her part.  That’s because real change can only come through the power of a right relationship with Jesus!

Third, Jesus ministered to the real need!  Jesus knows the truth, even when you think you’ve got the rest of the world fooled!  A lot of people think that they know Jesus, but fail to recognize Him when He is standing right in front of them!  We need a real relationship with Jesus, a relationship that allows us to see Him and recognize Him at work in our lives!

We are the body of Christ!  If others are going to see Jesus, they will see Him through you and me!  Where are you needed?  Stop doing what is only comfortable and pleasing to you.  We are not here on this earth to be satisfied – we are here to be empowered!  Where does God want you to go and what does God want you to do?    We’ve got circles that we’ve created and that others have created for us.  These circles are holding us back from being what God created us to be and from doing what God created us to do.  Bust out of the circles that are holding you back from God’s wonder working power.  Think about this:  If it’s not God’s idea, then what’s the point?  How will you meet the real needs of others?  Show them Jesus – the real Jesus!  Look past the surface and to the heart and you will discover that we all need the love, forgiveness and restoration that only Jesus can bring.  Find God’s right direction for your life and make a commitment to share that right direction with others!

As I read through the Scriptures, it is always amazing to me, just how personal the words are!  A lot of people read the Bible and never hear the personal message that God is delivering to them.  I know so many people who know what the Bible has to say, but all they have is knowledge.  Knowledge without application is useless!  I think that is why Jesus was always making His message extra personal!  In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus says:  “You are the light of the world!”  Jesus is talking to us as Believers and telling us that we are to light up this depressing, discouraging and dark world with His inspiration, encouragement and light.  My job as a Christian is to illuminate the darkness with the presence and power of Christ in and through my life!

Light is what we are, not just what we do!  When Jesus says:  “You are the light of the world!”  We need to understand that this is about so much more than just representation!  This is about supplying the opposite of what the world is used to.  We do this by daily walking with Jesus and continually lighting the way!

You Influence Does Matter!  We like to pretend that things aren’t so bad, but the truth is:  This is a dark world and many of our Churches have become dark churches!  Don’t trade ways, hand over or give up the gift of light!  We have a mission:  We are to shine bright Jesus this world in which we live.  Let Jesus shine through your life and you will ILLUMINATE and chase away the darkness.  When Jesus is shining though your life you will ACCENTUATE the bad that needs to be avoided and the good that needs to be grabbed!  If you are really lighting this world with the presence of Jesus you will VALIDATE and help people to see, so they can believe!

Are you illuminating and chasing away darkness?  Do you accentuate the positives and get rid of the negatives?  Have you validated Christ and His power, so that others see Jesus in you?  Get your light out from under that basket and put it up on a lamp stand so that everyone might enjoy te blessing of God’s presence and power!