Trust and Love

Christianity should be taught in the context of trusting and loving, not in doing more. We've been preaching doing more forever, and it's still not bearing any fruit. Most sermons you hear talk about trying harder.

Most sermons should be about loving and trusting.

How can it be that a God who "fills the heavens and the earth" (Isaiah something) cannot hear us? How can it be that a God who is love and who is Infinite, all at the same time, could not be thinking about us and caring for us all the time? How can it possibly be that we have somehow escaped His notice? Most people are aware of Him being aware of them when they do something wrong, so how could it be any different at any time in our life? And how could it possibly be that He doesn't know what we need, and, since He IS love, how could it possibly be that He wouldn't want to give it to us? How can it possibly be that an infinitely powerful Being needs our hard work? The only thing He needs is us... just like we need the ones that we love. Because we couldn't live without them!! THAT'S the way God needs us!

WE NEED TO BE TAUGHT HOW TO BE LOVED--NOT HOW TO TRY HARDER.

Very few of us know how to be loved!! So we substitute our own efforts at reaching out to God, which so often constitutes religion. And that's why it's a never ending treadmill, which never bears any real fruit for the world to see, which is why people are not attracted to church/christianity...because God will not work that way. He will not work by rewarding pride and religion, born out of fear and insecurity. Because if He did then we'd be encouraged that that was the right way to operate! WHEN IT'S NOT!!! Try operating that way in any human relationship and see how stressful and unhealthy and fear based that relationship becomes. So why do we try to operate that way with a God who is love??

THE ONLY WAY TO OPERATE WITH GOD IS TO BE LOVED BY HIM. PERIOD. HE IS LOVE AND HE CANNOT OPERATE ANY OTHER WAY.


WE NEED TO BE TAUGHT HOW TO TRUST--NOT HOW TO TRY HARDER.

The answer to life is love, born out of relationship--healthy relationships--that are based on nothing else but love!! Which can only come as we learn to trust! And what goes with God goes with people as well. That's right, you can only have loving relationships with people when you learn to trust them. Even with all of our brokenness. Yes I run the risk of getting hurt, but I also run the risk of receiving somebody's love!! A risk that MUST be taken if I am ever to experience being loved! This does not mean be foolish. You still must be responsible and not throw your pearls before swine, but at some point, with someone, whom you know know is going to be trustworthy, albeit imperfectly, you are going to have to learn to trust them.But at the bare minimum, we know that God is trustworthy, SO WE NEED TO LEARN TO TRUST HIM, and not our own efforts!

TAKE THE RISK OF TRUSTING IN ORDER TO RECEIVE LOVE. With God first. Risk losing your own fleshly efforts, risk losing your fear, risk losing your insecurity, and risk losing your pride, in order to learn how to be loved.

IT'S WORTH THE RISK

God's Word

Now I'm really gonna rock some people's boats.

I believe that God's word is more than just the Bible. Ephesians 6:17 says "taking up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." Interesting to note here that the new testament had not even been written when Paul wrote this. So what could He have been thinking? Well, I guess it's fair to acknowledge that He may have meant the Old Testament. Because as we all know Jesus Himself used the Old Testament when fighting the devil. This is valid, but I still believe there is more to the definition. And it's actually very simple.

Anything God says is His word. Simple as that. Just like anything you say is your word.

God's word is simply whatever He says. It's not only the Bible. The Bible gets billed as His Word, correctly so, because it was and still is God speaking. But God's word is also whatever he says to you. You can fight spiritually with the "sword of the spirit" with the words God speaks to you just like you can with the Bible. Because anything God says is His word, not just the Bible. This is how, I believe, Paul was able to confidently say that the word of God is the sword of the spirit. Because He heard God speak.

The Bible is the word of God. But God's word is also anything he says. And you can fight spiritually, very effectively I might add, with the word(s) he speaks to you. Because He knows you individually and will speak to your specific situation/need. Listen to Him!