He is Willing

1 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy
Matthew 8:1-3





Don’t you know today that God is willing to heal your brokenness; to cure your sickness; to help you through your financial difficulty; to repair your broken relationship with your spouse or loved one or friend or colleague; to redeem you from that secret sin or addiction that has been haunting your soul and holding you captive; to meet all of your needs and to provide for you and your family – God is willing to do all of these things and actually our Father is waiting anxiously to step into your life in ways that you could not even imagine. Have you invited Him into your circumstance? Have you considered that He is the creator of all things, that He is the Master Healer and Master Sculptor and the architect of your soul? Have you knelt before Him much like this man with leprosy did so many years ago and asked Him if he was willing to come into your life and to come into your circumstance in such a way that his Almighty Power is revealed to the world around you? I have – time and time again in this life. I have invited Jesus into my circumstances – into my marriage – into my career – into my relationships – into my sin and addictions and He has always shown up in ways that to this day still blow me away. Let our Father in Heaven blow you away with His love today. He is willing – kneel before him today in the midst of your circumstance and just see what He will do!

Do you Know Him

21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' 23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
Matthew 7:21-23


I love how direct Jesus is in this passage as I think that the message of His words here separates the fence riders from true disciples. If Jesus were to ask you the same question today, “Do you know me?” what would your answer be? Do you know Him? Have you committed your life to obeying the promptings of His Holy Spirit on your heart of hearts? Has knowing Him changed the decisions that you make and has your relationship with Christ positively impacted your priorities and the way that you spend your time and money? What would others say about you and your relationship with God, would your colleagues and friends and family even know that you life has been restored and that the Creator of the world makes His home in your soul and would they even know that his very presence affects everything that you do? Have you truly accepted the miracle of Jesus into your life and have you truly surrendered your will and everything that you are to the direction and control of our Lord and Savior who loved you so much that He gave his life to make this all possible. Do you know Him? If your answer is yes, then I celebrate with you today as you have found the secret to living an abundant life full of grace and love like no other. If your answer is no, then I would challenge you to get on your knees and to ask Jesus into your heart of hearts right now. He is longing for you to look His way and to invite Him into your life. Do this now and then hang on for dear life as your world will never be the same as the love of God becomes real to you and changes your life for eternity.

Outward Expressions of Authentic Relationship

15 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
Matthew 7:15-20


If you truly have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and if you truly have surrendered your heart and life to the power of His Holy Spirit and if you truly have an authentic relationship with your Creator then there should be evidence of this relationship in the way that you live your life. The book of James says that “faith without works is dead”, because, once you have received the awesome gift of God’s incredible Grace in your life, you can’t help but to respond in a positive way as the power of God begins to heal and restore your brokenness that has occurred as a result of being separated from his love. Jesus calls this change in your life “fruit” as the world around you will be able to see the “fruit” in your life and so they will know that God is real and living inside of your heart of hearts. Draw near to Jesus today and let the fruit of his Spirit shine through life onto others as people today are in desperate need of a Savior!

Easy Way Out

13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14


The easy way out, the wide gate, the ever changing voice of popular opinion will never get you what you really want out of life, deep down in your heart of hearts. No, the sacred, narrow way of God that seems to butt heads with the way of the world more times than not, this is the way you should go as this road will lead to eternal joy and ultimate fulfillment in this life. Jesus never said that our journey of knowing Him and reflecting His love would be easy; what He did say is that those who truly dare to walk on the narrow path will never thirst and never hunger and those who surrender to His plan for their lives will truly have an abundant life that is full of grace and love. Choose the narrow way today and find what your soul has been searching for all along in this life – draw near to God and live your life today for Him!

Hearts Desire

7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened. 9 "Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!
Matthew 7:7-11


What is your hearts desire? What do you long for? What is that one thing which the hope of realizing some day gets you out of bed in the morning to fight the battle of one more day? Have you asked your Father in Heaven? Have you poured out your heart to Him and told Him of all your most secret desires and wants and needs? You know something, He already knows what they are, in fact, He created you with a passion and desire for life and He created you in a way that you would not be whole or complete without acting out your purpose here on this earth. He is just waiting for you to ask. He longs for a relationship in which you look to Him, each and every day; a relationship where you communicate in a very real way your hopes and dreams and fears and hurts, your challenges and struggles; He wants to hear all of that and even more His joy comes from hearing from you. The relationship is what matters most, draw near to God today and just see what He can do!

Holiness, Honor and Relevance

6 "Don't be flip with the sacred. Banter and silliness give no honor to God. Don't reduce holy mysteries to slogans. In trying to be relevant, you're only being cute and inviting sacrilege.Matthew 7:6(The Message)


A relationship with Jesus Christ is a privilege and honor that comes to each one of us who have accepted into our lives this amazing and sacred gift of Jesus Christ living in and through our heart of hearts and this incredible gift comes not because of anything that we have done but only because of God’s unfailing and conditional love for you and me. The love and acceptance that God has for you and I, despite our failures and the blood that was shed in order that we could even participate in such a holy union is real and not a joke and needs to always be held in the highest regard as there is nothing greater; nothing more important; nothing more fulfilling or satisfying; nothing that brings better healing or more joy or more abundant love in our lives than this relationship that I have the privilege of reflecting on each and every morning.

Lord, forgive us for times when we have been flippant and maybe just have taken you and your love a little bit for granted in the midst of the present reality in which we live. We love you and honor you and praise you this morning as you are God and you are our everything and as a result we give you our lives this morning to use for your glory as we reflect your love and enjoy your presence in the midst of your Holy Spirit who guides and directs us into a deeper, more meaningful relationship with you today. Amen

Less Criticism; More Love

1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in someone else's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from the other person's eye.
Matthew 7:1-5


I have a close friend that is a dear brother in the Lord and if he has any faults at all, it would be that he is very critical of other people. The ironic thing about this personality trait of his is the fact that his fleshly criticism of other people puts up a huge wall between him and others in such a way that the love of Christ that I know exists in his heart is clouded and at times cannot be seen when the judgmental wall of criticism is up. Indeed there is a plank in his own eye that exists as he points out the specks that exist in other people all around him. I wonder what kind of influence he would have and in what ways God would use the incredible talent that he created in my friend if he would just show a little less criticism and reflect more love onto the world around him. As you journey through the world today in an effort to enjoy God’s presence in your life and in an effort to let His love shine through your heart, remember that other people are on a journey as well and only God knows their story and how He is transforming their hearts and lives to be more like Him, so please, don’t get in the way of God’s restoring power in their life, just love them with the love of Christ and watch how God performs a miracle in your midst as you live your life for the King!

Seek Him First

25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life [e]?
28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:25-34


Well, this advice from Jesus is much easier said than done, especially in today’s economy but just think of the rewards. Just think of the freedom and joy and liberation that comes from living in the moment and just enjoying what God has for you today, right now, enjoying the sweet touch of His Spirit as He leads you into a deeper relationship with Him and with others. Just think of how our world would change if everyone of us would stop worrying about tomorrow or next week or next year and start living in the present, looking for ways that we can love our wives better today or channeling our attention to how we can serve or love a colleague or friend or stranger, maybe by just really listening to them as a result of our minds being freed from the weight of worry in our lives. How often have you had a conversation with someone but did not really hear what they had to say because your mind was so clouded by other things that it was hard to even pay attention? How many times have you passed up an opportunity to reflect God’s love because you were too busy or too concerned about your own success? Just imagine how God could use you today if you are actually tuned in to His Spirit as a result of you making a conscious decision in prayer right now to seek Him first today and not to worry about how He is going to provide for you tomorrow but rather to look for the work that He is doing in the lives of others and to offer yourself as a living sacrifice to reflect His love in ways that can change a heart and a life for eternity. Seek God today with all of your heart, live in the moment and let your Father in heaven take care of the less important things in life in order that you can focus on how He wants to use you today to make a difference in this fallen world for Him. Go in peace and reflect His love.

Who is your Master

24 "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Matthew 6:24


I was talking to a colleague a few weeks ago and was very impressed by the story that he had to tell. Prior to coming to work for us at the end of last year, he was unemployed for several months just as many people across the nation are today. What happened to this young man however, during this time of crisis and uncertainty in his life is a lesson to be learned by all who may be sitting on the fence in their spiritual journey of knowing and loving God. You see, God used this time in his life to re-focus his priorities on the things that really matter in this life. God taught him through what seemed to be detrimental circumstances at the time how money was not the most important thing in this world. My colleague learned and experienced in the past months how fulfilling an authentic relationship with God can be as well as how marriage and family intertwined with his relationship with Jesus Christ can supply many more blessings than the almighty dollar could have ever hoped to provide. Our heavenly Father can take what seem to be the worst of circumstances and turn them into a time of healing and restoration that you will have never seen coming. Refocus your priorities today on eternal things of the heart that will last and you will find a Master worth serving and a Father worth loving as no one can ever take away your relationship with God as He promises no matter what you are facing today to hold you in His arms of love and to never let you go!

Eyes Wide Open

22 "Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. 23 If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!
Matthew 6:22-23(The Message)

At Lake Forest Church we have been learning about love and relationships and how our God loves us so much that He pursued us with this incredible love through His Son, Jesus Christ. In addition, we have been learning about how God continues to pursue us, even now, as He draws near in order that our brokenness and communion with Him may be healed and restored and in order that our lives may be a living testimony of all that He has done for us through this phenomenal love reflecting through our lives onto others. His Spirit gives us strength to love the unlovable and His power gives us the ability to take that first step in broken relationships in order that peace can happen in our lives. At our community group last evening, we discussed how this act of reflecting God’s love in our everyday lives plays out and we decided that love is a choice and intentional and if we were going to obey God’s command to love others then we would have to be looking for opportunities to do that, each and every day. Even more, we agreed that we would as a group, prayerfully consider and ask God to open the door in each of our lives in order that we would have an opportunity to express His love in ways that we could never imagine on our own. So today, I would challenge you to do the same – to live your life with eyes wide open as to how God may use you today in the life of another, ask God for an opportunity to reflect His magnificent love onto the world around you in order that you may be filled with his light for all the world to see. Love God and love others today as we have no greater privilege on earth, all because of the One who set us free!

Treasures in Heaven

19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21


Where is your heart? What do you think about the most throughout your day? Where do you spend your money? I so want my heart and my treasure to be aligned with the heart of God and I so want to live in harmony with His purpose for my life and oh how great it would be if communion with His Spirit and interaction with His people would be all that my heart longed for in this life. Sometimes it is so hard, isn’t it? It’s difficult when we let the messages of materialism and wealth and power that this world screams at us every day penetrate our soul and steal our focus away from the only One who can fulfill us and make us whole. My prayer today is that God’s Spirit would come and heal our brokenness and crush our never-ending fleshly desire to believe the enemies lies that anything in this world could ever satisfy our hunger for life and for love that only God can fill through total surrender to the power of His Spirit who lives inside of all who believe. Thank you Father for your relentless love and pursuit of our souls despite our brokenness and thank you for all that you are and everything that we can hope to be if our heart truly resides in the heavens with you. We love you more than you could ever imagine.

Fasting

16 "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6:16-18

The dictionary defines fasting as: “To eat very little or abstain from certain foods, especially as a religious discipline.” The whole idea of fasting is to give up food for a particular period of time in order that you can eliminate the distraction of food and participate in a form of self-sacrifice in order that you can focus better on your relationship with God and can communicate with Him in prayer and can hear His Spirit speaking to your heart and mind. The idea is not to focus on the food that you have given up, but instead to focus on what God would want to teach you during that time. Similarly, the intent is not to gain worldly recognition as the hypocrites did back in the time of Jesus by letting everyone know how spiritual you are by making such a sacrifice but rather to keep the act between you and your Father as your reward for wanting to spend time with Him and for taking such a dramatic step of obedience will be through your interaction with our Creator and Friend. Consider making such a sacrifice today.

Forgiving Others

14 For if you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Matthew 6:14-15

During Jesus’ ministry here on earth He was betrayed by one of His best friends. He was spit on, mocked, beaten, humiliated, tortured and eventually murdered by the most humiliating way to die at that time; all of this makes my stomach turn and yet our Father recited these words just before He took His last breath, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) “They know not what they do” because they were lost, just as millions of people are today in this fallen world in which we live. They were lost because they did not have a relationship with God, whereas, His Spirit could come in and open their minds and their hearts in such a way that they could once again relate to God in a very real and tangible way; they were lost because they had not accepted the “good news” of Jesus and His plan of redemption; they were lost because they let their pride and selfishness and fleshly desires for worldly gain and materialism get in the way of choosing to believe in the miracle of God in the flesh who came to earth and suffered so much in order that you and I could once again have communion with our Father in heaven so that His power could be reflected through our lives in such a way that we could forgive others just as God has and continues to forgive us every day in so many ways. The key to all of these mysteries is that you must forgive first and the only way that you can forgive is through surrendering the control of your life over to Jesus Christ who will come into your heart and through the power of his Spirit will heal and renew your heart in order that you will not only have the power to forgive but you will want to forgive as your priorities and direction in this life will once again be in alignment with your Creator who has a much better plan for how you should live. Get on your knees this morning and surrender your life, let the bitterness that is crushing your spirit be washed away by the blood of Jesus who promises to make you whole and hold you in His loving arms, forever.