Hebrews 12 ⁷Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? ⁸If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. ⁹Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! ¹⁰Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.


When things get tough, whether it be physically, in our emotions, relationships, mistakes, finances, or other areas we must have a greater understanding of God then the western world around us.

When we as believers face trouble, whatever it may be, we must look to the scriptures to see that trouble does not mean God has left us or God is against us but rather He is loving us through this hardship.

The writer of Hebrews shows us that we should endure hardship as discipline, that it is a sign that you are part of the family of God and what kind of Father would God be if he did not discipline His sons and daughters.

God is the perfect Father so we believe what we are going through is perfect for us.

That is why we should as David did, compare our lives only to the Love of God not the life of someone else.

We now have an even greater comparison then David for although the spirit of God spoke the coming of Christ through him he never saw the fulfillment of that word as we have now seen it and know it to be true through scripture and our hearts.

Let us compare our current troubles to that of which Jesus Christ humbled himself...to very death itself, even when he lived the only flawless life that has ever been lived.

Perfect love drives out all fear.

When we see that God is Love and that He has shown us this and truly lived it out to the point of death we can be set free of the fear of failure and of suffering and of every other kind of fear this life brings.  God does not drive away suffering he drives out the fear of it.

Compare your life to His love and great joy will fill your heart by grace through faith.

Not only will we see that the hardship (if you can call it hardship living on the northern beaches) is God's way of disciplining us but we will see that without pain it is impossible to truly become the chosen people of God's Kingdom, for it is pain and suffering and our response to it in this life that reveals whether the grace of Jesus Christ is truly in us and completing its work in our hearts and lives.

Now don't be discouraged if you haven't responded well to trouble lately or in the past, but just as I have to consistently, let's as followers of Christ fix our eyes again not on the things of this world but on Christ who is seated far above this world and that we also by His grace through the work of the cross and the power of the resurrection have been seated in heavenly realms with Him.

Our joy is not reliant on us but on the completed work of Jesus Christ.

This I pray will set us free to be the hands and feet of a lost generation that need this good news preached through action, word and lifestyle.

As we see the perfect love of Christ I believe we can stop worrying about the little hardships we are facing in this life, that Paul describes as light and momentary and begin to reveal the joy that is beyond all joys in Jesus Christ.

This is your salt, this is your light.

With no suffering there is no discipline, with no discipline there is no growth, with no growth there is no righteousness and peace. 

Righteousness and Peace is what Jesus came to bring, right relationships with God, people and within ourselves and peace between God, people and within ourselves.

Be encouraged today the Father must love you.  Don't skip out of the race there are many who have gone before you and they are cheering you on from the stands of heaven. 

+jk

John 17:23
I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.


It is very easy to complicate simple things.

It is understandable because the simple things of faith are unseen therefore in our striving to see them and understand them through our flesh we complicate it.

Jesus here reveals to us his will for us.

I in them and you in me...

Jesus in us and the Father in Jesus...

Speaks of ultimate relationship, connection, love, family, belonging, oneness.

When we have relationship with Jesus we have relationship with the Father.

This is the solution to all our aching and broken hearts, to be accepted, to be valued, to be loved by the one who created us.

We were designed for community.

Let the cross of Jesus Christ be our common unity for it is the only thing that can abolish the dividing wall of flesh & hostility between each other and God.

I in them and you in me. Complete unity. Jesus be glorified.

+jk

John 1:12: Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

Restore to me my innocence oh Lord

Give me a heart that believes again

Help me to see the best in people and to trust

Lord recover this mind that doubts and rebels

Let me run again with no fear

I am yours

Your child Lord

Receive me

I believe.

+jk

Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin.
Psalm 106:43

We have been given a set amount of time on earth.

God has delivered us from evil for a purpose.

Each day we must be focused on Jesus as our flesh is bent on rebellion towards God.

We will find ourselves wasting valuable time and wasting God's purpose for our lives if we are not in a constant position of submission to His will.

I watched today the Boston Celtics win a 1 point victory over the Orlando Magic, with under a second to go the Celtics focused and made the winning shot.  They took full advantage of that 1 second.

Time is not wasted when we focus. 

Take full advantage of the deliverance that God has given you.

Let us not waste away in our mistakes or rebellion but let us be those who cry out to God and act on the sound of His voice.

To see a city won for Him.


+jk

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18


It is God's will that we would be joyful always!!!!

Crazy I know that God would want us to be happy all the time...but it is true.

It doesn't depend on our circumstances.

If we pray continually and give thanks in the good and the bad we will be joyful always in Christ Jesus!

What a promise, what a will.

What's the will of God for your life? 

Joyful always in Christ Jesus.

+jk