No Other God!

I wanted to share this with you. An amazing friend from church wrote this in reference to a worship song from church yesterday called "No God Like You". This is amazing, very true, and awe inspiring! Please enjoy, I sure did!

During worship this morning as we sang, “No God Like You”, I had a vision of several false gods lined up, you know, all the ones that the world worships:  Satan, Buddha, Allah, etc.  And then, I saw OUR GOD and was in absolute awe of His love, justice, compassion, grace, mercy & abounding favor!!  Then I began really meditating on the words we were singing: 

“There is no God like you, there is no other, no not another, there is no King, as faithful as you, there is no other, no not another God like you.”

 Think about it, church!!!  Which one of those false gods actually CARES about you?!?!  Which one of them protects you, opens doors of favor for you, reaches out to you when you’re hurting, is emotionally connected to you, is faithful even when you are not, blesses you when you deserve it least????  You want to know the answer?  NONE OF THEM!!!  

Only JESUS, the one and only true living God, our Prince of Peace & everlasting Savior can offer us these things.  WOW!!! He is not only capable of meeting your deepest needs, He actually WANTS TO!!  He’s waiting for us to surrender our hearts completely. 

This song has now become a prayer for me & I pray that it would for you, too. Go forth this week KNOWING that you are not alone and that GOD LOVES YOU LIKE NO OTHER!! 

Written by Deana Summers/Bethel Church, Chandler AZ

Comedy

I wanted to add this YouTube Video because it is so refreshing to actually be able to enjoy comedy without the foul language and vulgarity! This guy is awesome. He has several videos on YouTube! Enjoy!

Ruth

Today I want to talk about the book of Ruth. For those of you who haven't read it, you SHOULD! Ruth is an inspiring story during a time when Israel was in turmoil. The monarchy of Israel hadn't been established yet and Israel was in a period of spiritual and moral decay. There was a great famine among the lands of Israel. So, Elimelech, a man of Bethlehem, Judah, took his wife Naomi and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion to dwell in the land of Moab. After arriving in Moab, Naomi's husband, Elimelech, died and she was left with her two sons. They settled in the land and Mahlon and Chilion took wives one named Orpah and the other Ruth. They all dwelt there for around ten years then Mahlon and Chilion died. After the death of her sons, Naomi and her daughter-in-laws began the journey back to Naomi's hometown of Bethlehem, Judah. Naomi asked Orpah and Ruth to go back to their homelands with their families. Naomi knew that she was too old to have more children and that she most likely would not remarry.

Orpah decided to go back to her family but Ruth clung to Naomi and refused to leave her side until the day she died. As they returned to Bethlehem, they learned that the famine was over. Ruth asked Naomi if she could please go to the fields and try to obtain some work and food for them. Naomi agreed and so Ruth went out to the fields. Ruth was in the fields and came across the portion of the field that belonged to Boaz.

Boaz was known as a man of great wealth, with noble character, and with a high standing among the community, but was most importantly a God loving man. Boaz was in fact one of Elimelech's relatives. Boaz found favor with Ruth as he had heard of her loyal love to her mother-in-law Naomi. Boaz allowed her to work and take food home to Naomi. Boaz treated Ruth with great kindness.

Naomi asked Ruth to go and offer herself to Boaz as his wife. In those days it was customary that if there was no offspring from your deceased husband that you then marry the closest relative in order to conceive children and carry on the family name. Boaz was much older than Ruth but he was extremely thankful that Ruth was reverent in keeping with the Levite tradition and not seeking a younger man or a man of greater wealth.

Boaz and Ruth were then married and Boaz took on the responsibility of Naomi as well. Boaz and Ruth then conceived a child named Obed. Naomi's emptiness had then been replaced by the birth of this child. Ruth, even though she was a Moabite woman, became part of the royal Davidic line and, thus, the messianic line.

This story is amazing to me because throughout all the suffering that Ruth went through from losing her father-in-law, her husband, and her brother-in-law, then her sister-in-law which returned home, to being impoverished and hungry, she never gave up. Ruth was faithful to God and knew that He would take care of them. She knew that her place was with Naomi and she wasn't leaving.

The reward that she received in the end of a God-loving, faithful, and treasured husband along with their child was amazing. This story points out God's faithfulness to us. He will never leave us or forsake us! He keeps His promises always!

The story of Boaz's redemption of a foreign woman points to Jesus' great redemption of all those who believe in Him!

Finding Beauty in the Beast

This is written by a fantastic lady, Arden McLaughlin. She has a Tumblr link if you are interested. This really hit home with me today and I hope you enjoy!

http://lipstickmakeseverythingbetter.tumblr.com/

Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” John 11:4

This verse leads us into one of my personal favorite stories about Jesus and His work. The deal is one of Jesus’s besties (Lazarus) is dying. In response to his sickness, Mary and Martha, Lazarus’s sisters and wonderfully dear friends of Jesus, send for Jesus to come heal Lazarus right away! So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Lord, behold,he whom You love is sick.” (John 11:3)

Jesus doesn’t come when they call him.

In response to this, I’m guessing the sisters are irked, confused, and hurt. They have seen Jesus heal the seemingly unhealable. They’ve seen him perform miracles for perfect strangers. Their walk together has been pure and holy, so obviously, Jesus will heal Lazarus. They are Jesus’s top buds, practically family, so He’s going to come through big time for them.

But, Lazarus died. By the time Jesus got to the family, Lazarus hadn’t just died a minute or two before His arrival. Nope. The funeral had taken place and the man was tucked away in a tomb. It was done; story finished.

Have you ever been there? Have you known with all your heart that a situation was finished and you just had to accept it? Maybe you are the perfect steward of your finances: you tithe, you don’t overspend, you are Dave Ramsey’s number 1 protégé, yet you cannot seem to get out of the debt you accumulated 10 years ago?

Or, you are a single woman or man of pure virtue. You date Christ followers, you pray for God’s guidance in each relationship, and truly submit yourself to His will, yet every relationship you have ends so badly you wonder if your heart will ever truly love.

Maybe you’ve always been a total health nut and were just diagnosed with brain cancer. Or, your child, though in church every Sunday with you, has rebelled against all you have taught him. Or, you’re just so darn sad you can’t find a way out of the darkness.

You know what I mean, you’re at the flipping end of your rope and there is no way your situation is going to end in a way you want. You have prayed and pursued God and He’s not showing up. Your situation is going to end in death; death of your bank account, death of your heart, or death of you. It’s just done.

But then you hear the Lord: This sickness isn’t the end of you. It’s the beginning of me.

I’m a dramatic gal with a knack for storytelling. A dramatic pause goes a long way in getting my audiences’ attention (and boy do I love an audience!). I serve a God who is the KING of the dramatic pause!

So, back to Lazarus, Mary, and Martha…. When Jesus came, He found that he (Lazarus) had already been in the tomb four days… Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now, I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give you.”(John 11: 17, 20-22)

Ultimately, Jesus brought Lazarus back to life. (Read John 11 for the juicy details.) There is tons of speculation on why Jesus did what He did in this situation. Maybe He wanted to show His power. Maybe He was laying the groundwork for His own death and resurrection. Maybe it’s one of those things I’ll never know until I’m in Heaven riding my lion. The bottom line: Jesus wasn’t finished even though everyone else thought He was done.

And that’s the beauty in the beast of your crummy circumstance. If you’re a Christ follower, He’s never finished with you. Your story is His, the glory is His, but the timing is His as well. I think God uses that time to see how we’re going to grow our faith in the promises He’s given us.

I know He uses the crummy to grow me. There have been times when I was so dejected I seriously started to question my faith in Him. What kind of God just doesn’t answer prayers? What kind of God just abandons me? “Where are You?” has come out of my mouth more than once in my lifetime. But, I look back and know He was in it the mess with me. He was making me a stronger woman to handle the tasks in which I now find myself.

And He’s waiting to shout, Lazarus, come out” (John 11:42b) to you too. If you’re still on this Earth, it’s not over yet. Most likely, He’s just getting started.