Tuesday, December 17, 2013

OUR FATHER--- Squeeze!

OUR FATHER
Squeeze!


One of my wife’s dearest friends is in the process of seeing her dear mom leave this world.  Pam also said goodbye to her mom this year.  Pam sent her friend these words of encouragment and comfort about OUR FATHER.

“As OUR FATHER gathers your mom to her true home, I am 100% confident that He will give you the comfort and strength that you will need,
And your needs will clock in at one moment at a time, only.

The entire essence of our  EverlastingTrue Vine will pass
into the receptive branch of your life, one moment at a time.  That is the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ. You will be amazed at the comfort
and thoughts He will whisper into your mind, heart, emotions. Yes, there is pain. But there is equal comfort from Him. Hang on to His hand
tightly and do not let go not even for a moment.

I remember my dad telling me to SQUEEZE his finger as hard as the pain hurt.  I was just 5 years old, sitting in his lap at the dentist, having
a tooth pulled. He told me I could never hurt him no matter how hard I squeezed. I am sure our Lord inspired him to tell me that. I was so
scared, but my dad was holding me and I could hold his finger and SQUEEZE!!!

Hold onto Jesus' finger and SQUEEZE however hard it may hurt, my friend.”

God does not offer us answers to all of our questions during times of pain, but He does invite us all to “SQUEEZE” and be comforted.
 

Monday, December 09, 2013

A Good Father



No good father will ever raise his children to live as permanent victims of the evil behavior of others. A good father will teach his children to rise above evil and live free of all barriers and injustice suffered at the hands of evil men and women.

Politicians and people who want to manipulate us to support them permanently will always want us to see ourselves as permanent victims of permanent evil so we will vote for them to keep them in power to permanently protect us. It is to their advantage that we remain victims under their control and protection.  True freedom is not in their vocabulary.
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A good father will always tell his children to flee from those who only want to feed from their pain and gain control over their future.
A good father will weep over the injustice but he will never leave his child living the life of a victim.

God, our perfect and permanent Father in heaven, would never want any of his children to live as victims of their past or live in the hope of human protection instead of His protection.  God frees all of His children to be free indeed.

To all who have been victimized and suffered injustice at the hands of men Jesus says: “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Luke 12:32  Victimization is real but freedom given by the Father in Jesus is our permanent state.

For a Christian to live as a victim is to deny the kind of Father we truly have and reject the teachings of Jesus.

Jesus suffered at the hands of evil men but He never saw himself as a victim.

Disciples of Jesus make no victims and never live as victims.  Doing this they are like Jesus.


Bud McCord
Abide International

Tuesday, December 03, 2013

Neither Toil Nor Spin



“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”  Matthew 6:28-30

The way to human beauty is not through toil or spin.  The way is through rest and receiving the beauty the Father sends for us.

The human pursuit of the beautiful life is written into our DNA.  We know that humans should be the most beautiful of all of God’s creation.  So, we toil and spin until we are weary and exhausted.  In our pursuit of beauty we literally wear ourselves down to the place that we can do nothing but quit in defeat and dizziness.

It is in this moment called quitting that the very first light of God’s original plan can take root in us.  We finally see we were not originally created to toil and spin for beauty.  We were created to rest and receive beauty from the Father.  

We were created to believe God will send that which can and will make us beautiful. if we will simply believe and receive by grace the beauty the Creator has sent for us the toil and spin can stop.  The human beauty God sent for us all is Jesus.

Jesus said in John 6 that the work God wants from us is  to believe in Him.

Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”  Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”  John 6:28-29

The world in which we live is filled with toil and spin.  It is through this toil and spin process that we are left weary and heavy laden.  It is though the toil and spin that we finally hear Jesus saying  “Come to Me and I will give you rest.”

Tired of toil and spin?  Isn’t it time to rest and receive the beauty God sent in Jesus?

 


Bud McCord
Abide International