What God sees

Your sin has been dealt with. Your Father has removed it from you “as far as the east is from the west” (Ps. 103:12). Your sins have been washed away (1 Cor. 6:11). When God looks at you he does not see your sin. He has not one condemning thought toward you (Rom. 8:1). But that’s not all. You have a new heart. That’s the promise of the new covenant: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezek. 36:26 –27). There’s a reason that it’s called good news.

Too many Christians today are living back in the old covenant. They’ve had Jeremiah 17:9 drilled into them and they walk around believing my heart is deceitfully wicked. Not anymore it’s not. Read the rest of the book. In Jeremiah 31:33, God announces the cure for all that: “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” I will give you a new heart. That’s why Paul says in Romans 2:29, “No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit.” Sin is not the deepest thing about you. You have a new heart. Did you hear me? Your heart is good.

What God sees when he sees you is the real you, the true you, the man he had in mind when he made you.

Excerpt from Wild at Heart by John Eldredge

By Faith

Hebrews 11:5-6

⁵By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. ⁶And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Our Faults

A Prayer for Facing Our Faults

I have been hiding from my faults, God. I've been blaming others for my own mistakes. Help me. God, to search my soul. Teach me to be honest with myself. Give me the courage to accept responsibility for my actions. Grant me the humility to ask for forgiveness from those I have injured.

Fill me with the desire to change, God. Remind me that I have the power to remake my life. You have filled me with enormous potential, God; teach me how to realize all the gifts of my soul.

Be my guide, God; lead me to goodness, to joy, to learning, and to peace. Amen

from: Talking to God by Naomi Levy

When I was in Chicago this is the prayer I found in a small book in the Chicago Library (see post from August 1 2009).

Refuge

God is good,
a hiding place in tough times.
He recognizes and welcomes
anyone looking for help,
No matter how desperate the trouble.

Nahum 1:7 (The Message)

How long has it been since you've come to God, spent time with Him, and listened to Him? Stay away from His presence too long and your heart grows cold. You begin to lose your way.

If you've not done so, I encourage you to memorize Nahum 1:7 and apply it to your Life. God is a great refuge. He will give you peace and strength today.

excerpt from Still God's Man by Don M. Aycock & Mark Sutton

Lost in a Sea of Faces

From time to time I just need to get away for a little while and have some alone time with God. My normal routine is to go out in to nature like a state park or by the lake (see post From 01/04/09). But today I felt that I was being led to do the opposite. So I took the South Shore train into Chicago for the afternoon. I'm not sure why but it seemed that there was something I needed to learn from being alone in the middle of 3 million people. How was I going to hear from God there? What was he trying to get through to me?
I walked up and down Michigan Ave. in the rain, stopped in a couple of shops, and saw some of the sites but nothing. I even sat on a bench outside of Water Tower Place to people watch, and still nothing. The whole time I was talking to God, asking for direction. Then suddenly something told me to go the Chicago Public Library. THE LIBRARY? What? Are you kidding me? I came all this way to go to the library? Ok if that's what you want. So a walked a few blocks to the main branch of the Chicago Public Library and went in. I asked for a little help finding the books on Christian Religion, and starting walking up and down the rows of books. There must be thousands of them about Christianity. I was whispering; Ok God which one, what is it that I'm supposed to find here. I picked up a book about Nehemiah, (he is one of my Biblical heroes) read through a few pages but nothing. So I put it back and looked some more. And then after about 15 minutes endless titles a small little book caught my eye, Talking to God: Personal Prayers for Times of Joy, Sadness, Struggle, and Celebration by Naomi Levy. I opened it up right to the page I needed to read: A Prayer for Facing our Faults. That was it. As I read the prayer I could feel the wheels turning in my head. Wow!

Just what I needed, but did I really have to go through all that to find it? I guess so, sometimes the journey is just as important as the the treasure.

As soon as I finish this post I'm going to buy that book online. I love having resources like this to help me with my walk. But more importantly so I can help other people with their walks.