Why I love Jesus

I am blessed by the ladies I work with! This week one of them shared with me what she is learning in her devotions. She wrote me a note of why she loves Jesus today, with scripture to back up each item. She said, "I feel like I've fallen in love with Jesus all over again. It is like rediscovering the most beautiful, passionate relationship there is to man. When you start looking for reasons why you love Jesus you won't be able to stop seeing it." Now we are constantly seeing blessings instead of things that are just not working out our way.

Our list is…

2 Samuel 22:47 Our God lives!

The beautiful reminder that our sins have been washed white as the snow outside
2 Samuel 22:31 God can be trusted
Ephesians 1:4-5 Before creation God chose us to be His daughters
Romans 8:15 We don’t have to fall back into fear
Romans 8:31-39 Nothing can separate us from Him
1 Corinthians 6:20 He paid the cost for us
He cast our sins as far as the east is from the west
He is infallible and He thinks of everything
We deserve Hell and there is nothing good in us
Christ goes before us
Galatians 2:20 He was crucified for me
Isaiah 26:3-4 He is trustworthy, perfect peace, and everlasting rock
2 Chronicles 20:12 He can fix our eyes on Him and He will overcome
God is always good and I am always loved
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 He is the one true God
Laminations 3:23 He is faithful
He loves me because He loves me
We are surrounded by people who love us
John 1:14-16 We have received gift upon gift
He is out pursuer
He is all we need
Psalm 16:2 The is no good but God
He created us with enough understanding to accept His love
Jeremiah 32:17 Nothing is too hard for Him
We can cast our cares on Him
Genesis 16:13-14 He is omniscient and is in total control over all things
I am constantly made aware of how messed up I am and how good He is
The sunrise this morning
The Gospel is why we love, why we have peace, and why we can choose joy

Biblical Counseling Training Confrence

Last week Faith Church hosted the Biblical Counseling Training Conference (BCTC). There were 2,000 people who came for the conference. I had the opportunity to attend and I took track 6, which is the women's track. Different speakers came from all over the country. In my track Elyse Fitzpatrick (author of Because He Loves Me), Martha Peace (author of The Excellent Wife), Jocelyn Wallace (former director of VOH), and Amy Baker (counselor at Faith) were the main speakers.
They spoke on topics like: Our Identity in Christ, Attitudes of Love, Helping Women to be Godly Mothers, Understanding God's comfort, Helping Women who have been treated badly by their husbands, Approval Oriented Friendships, and Panic Attacks. We received a lot of Godly wisdom in a very short time frame.
In my first session Elyse Fitzpatrick shared, the good news is for you everyday of your life, not just for unbelievers. God chose you because you wouldn't have chosen Him (Eph 1:3-6). Everything that should disqualify you from being in this family has endeared you to Him as a way to demonstrate His mercy. You are unceasingly, passionately, unquenchablely, loved by God (Rms 8:35-38). We started with the Gospel and everything else that followed was good to know yes but would be of no use without the Gospel. I am thankful to have been a part of the BCTC this year.

The Good News

photo via Christy Stewart

The Gospel is Jesus, the Son of God, living here on earth, dying for our sins, and then raises from the dead. As humans we are born into sin and once we repent God will show us grace and accept us into His family. Then as Christians we try to love God and love others. Most of you reading my blog know this and believe this. That's great! But is that it? Are we really living like we believe the Gospel?

This is something I have been learning about since last December when I was in Haiti. I read a lot more and talked to God a lot more there than I did before and sadly more than I do now. I was reading Ezekiel and saw what our lives look like without God. In Ezekiel 16: 1-14 God tells the prophet how when Israel was born there was no one to take care of her. She was dirty and alone. But God loved her and she become His. Do we ever stop and think of how much of nothing we are? Or about how nothing we do can be good enough for Him and He loves us anyway?

In The Cost of Discipleship Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, "grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son."

Recently this topic has been coming up again. The sermon series we just finished covered Hosea. God asks Hosea to marry a prostitute to show the people His love towards them. Through His loving discipline He showed grace. Why do we think we can accept God's grace and then go back to living our lives? How can we call ourselves Christians when we keep putting our trust and hope in ourselves?