Tag Archives: God’s Love

God, Can You Hear Me?

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Many years ago during a worship service, I noticed William was singing very loudly during the song “At the Cross.” I listened carefully as he sang, “At the cross I bow my knee, where Your blood was shed for me, there’s no greater love than this…” As he stood there with his arm around me singing as loud as he could, the smile on my face could not possibly have been any bigger. There we were, father and son, worshipping our Savior together.

Later that night as I was tucking William into bed, I remarked, “You sure did like the song, ‘At the Cross’ we sang at church this morning.” To which he replied, “Yes, I did, dad, but how did you know?” “Well,” I answered, “I could hear you singing and normally I can’t hear you. What made you decide to sing that song so loudly?” He said, “I was singing loud because I was wondering if God could hear me with so many other people singing.” The depth of his remark surprised me. I never expected a seven year old to think about such things. The unified voices singing praises was so great that William wanted to make sure his voice was heard by Jesus. I reassured him that even if a million people are praying or singing at the same time God is able to hear each and every voice. Everyone is important to God.

I know there have been times in my life when I didn’t feel like my prayers were making it past the ceiling, much less up to God in heaven. Nevertheless, our Father in heaven is always ready to talk with us; all we have to do is call out to Him. The Bible tells us that one of Jesus’ roles in heaven is as our intercessor between us and the Father. There are times we want to shout, to whisper, to cry, to sigh, and other times to sit in silence not knowing what to say. Regardless of how we approach Him, God hears us. He hears the pain, fear, sorrow, anxiety, concern, passion, longing, hope, joy, excitement, curiosity, and trust in our prayers. He loves us and longs to not only hear from us, but to share His plan for our lives. He loves to spend time with us—He created us to fellowship with Him. Don’t let the noise around you keep you from the most important conversation of the day. God can hear you, so take time to sit down with Him to talk, listen, and enjoy the familial relationship you have with your Father in Heaven!

The Gift of Love

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Love is a GiftOne of my greatest joys each year comes on Christmas day. My son runs into my room, jumps on top of me, and says, “Dad! Get up! It’s Christmas morning! Let’s open the presents!” He is so excited to play with his new toys without even knowing what they are.

After opening every present, he systematically begins to spend time experiencing the joys each gift provides. By the end of the day he has played with every toy and has begun to go back for a second round of fun. Would you believe that in ten years he has never left a present unwrapped under the tree? He opens every gift with great anticipation of all the enjoyment he will have for days, weeks, and months to come.

God’s love is a gift He offers each of us. When we receive His gift of love and begin to unwrap it, we will find within many other gifts which reveal something special about His great love for us.

In this week’s sermon, “Love is a Gift,” we will unwrap a few of the various gifts found within the love of God.

To listen to “Love is a Gift” follow this link: Listen online

Dearest

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George Beatty of Cleveland, Ohio, had a wonderful jewelry store, remarkable for its window displays. Over the years, Mr. Beatty had bought a stock of small precious stones that he kept in pint cups. He had a cup of small rubies, a cup of topazes, and a cup of diamonds—all sparkling brilliance. Some of them were small stones and chips that were worth very little. Early in the morning, before the customers came, he made pictures by placing the stones on black velvet squares; a magnificent peacock with its tail spread out was on one. He put these portraits in stone in the window, and many people stopped to look.

A wealthy customer wrote Mr. Beatty that his dearest granddaughter was going to have a birthday; he wanted something distinctive of real beauty. Five times in the letter, the customer spoke of the granddaughter as “dearest.” The old man looked at me and said, “I prayed and asked the Lord to give me an idea. I noticed how many times ‘dearest’ appeared, so I underlined it. When I sent my customer the sketch and told him what I proposed to do, he was greatly pleased and thought my idea was wonderful.”

Mr. Beatty sent him a ring with baguettes so beautifully cut that the light scintillated from them. Across the top of the ring, the first stone was a diamond; the next, an emerald, then an amethyst, a ruby, a second emerald, a sapphire, and then a topaz. I looked at it and asked, “Buy why do you have two emeralds?” He smiled and said, “Because there are two e’s in ‘dearest.’ If you take the initials of those stones, it spells the word ‘dearest.'”

Before the Lord God Almighty created the sun, the moon and the stars, He chose us, and—as it were—He put us in a ring to be worn as a signet upon His hand. Spelled out in the heart of God, we are his dearest.

Source: “Timeless Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching” by Donald Grey Barnhouse.

Living In The Power Of Future Glory

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In 2 Corinthians 4.7-10 we read, “7 But we have this treasure in  earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of  the power will be of God and not from ourselves; 8 we are afflicted in every way, but not  crushed;  perplexed, but not despairing; 9 persecuted, but not  forsaken;  struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that  the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (NASB).

Sometimes it is difficult to apply Scripture to our own lives. When I read the following story by Chuck Swindoll I immediately thought of 2 Corinthians 4.

Swindoll writes:

When Dan Richardson, an enthusiastic believer in Christ, lost his battle with cancer, the following piece was distributed at his memorial service.

Cancer is limited…

  • It cannot cripple love,
  • It cannot corrode faith,
  • It cannot eat away peace,
  • It cannot destroy confidence,
  • It cannot kill a friendship,
  • It cannot shut out memories,
  • It cannot silence courage,
  • It cannot invade the soul,
  • It cannot reduce eternal life,
  • It cannot quench the spirit,
  • It cannot lessen the power of the resurrection.

Source: “Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations and Quotes” 140.

Just Stop and Think

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Last night I came across this quote by Francis Chan, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” Warren Wiersbe once called these accomplishments “miserable success.” I can think of several times in my life I have focused on accomplishing things that really didn’t matter when looking at the bigger picture.

I wanted to find more about Francis Chan’s quote, so after a short search I came across a wonderful video titled, “Just Stop and Think.” It talks about what really matters in life. In fact, it talks about the most important thing we can do in this life.  Would you please give me fifteen minutes of your time and watch this video. It is a simple message that you won’t regret watching. If you watch it and are honest, it can help you focus on what really matters in this life. I hope you enjoy the film “Just Stop and Think” with Francis Chan.

To find our more, please visit Juststopandthink.com or Francis Chan.