GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION
I've had it with exhortations to love more, or better, or longer. In my youth I sang the song, "What the world needs now is love, sweet love..." I know we should love our neighbors, heck, even our enemies. I can see the damage being done between religious and political rivals. I wish the world would just stop fighting and love one another. Still if I hear another preacher tell me to love more, I'm calling the police to stop the harassment. Surely in today's environment, there must be some regulation that would stop such people from making me feel uncomfortable. Aren't my human rights being violated?
Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (John 14:15) For years I interpreted that to mean I could and should show my love by keeping Jesus' commands. In other words, I was focused on "keeping" rather than "loving." I should have noticed that such an interpretation, though consistent with popular religion, was contrary to the teaching of Jesus. He made it very clear that we cannot love until we have been loved. We cannot give what we don't have. We cannot tell what we don't know.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35)
The kind of love that was revealed in Jesus is of divine origin. It is galaxies beyond the kind of love humans can generate. He had no need to use people for His own acceptance or significance. He didn't need to be vindicated; there was nothing pressuring him to manipulate others to His view. He loved with nothing to gain personally -- nothing but the joy of seeing another person being built up and blessed. And He didn't have the need to make sure others knew how well He was doing at loving.
When we have been touched by the delight of God's love, we can't help but pass it on. In fact, it would be safe to say that if we are not sharing His love, we don't really have it. This love is God's nature. Some think that before creation, He was so thrilled with the love shared between the persons of the Godhead, He wanted to share it with others, and that's why He created a universe that could experience the same joy He had.
Whether that's the reason He created us or not, we know God wants to share His love. And if God meant to share it, wouldn't those loved by Him do the same? Jesus demonstrated it in His life, death, resurrection, and ascension. He fixed it so that humans could know God as Father, and in that relationship be fully satisfied. They would have no need to prove themselves. They would have no fear of want. They would not need to put others down in order to rise. They would be able to risk loving because they are safe in his care. In short, they could love -- and love doing it.
Trying to love like Jesus does, without being loved by Him, is like trying to breathe without air. It's much more taxing than living by religious standards of behavior. We could technically keep the outward commands of Jesus behaviorally without loving Him, but we cannot accept His love without responding in obedience to His words.
His love didn't just open the door to heaven when we die. It opened the door to share His life now. We get to be partners with Him, as He loves the world He created. We get to be free from our own agendas because we are captured by His. He is meeting all our needs so that we don't demand others to serve us. Living in His love releases us from the anchor of self-obsession and empowers us to be the display of His love.
If love seems hard to you, check to see whether you are focused on keeping His commands or on loving the one who loves you so much. Loving precedes keeping -- and you will love it.
Wow, I love to write. I think I could write all day long and not get bored, especially if it meant helping someone. Although I don’t have time to write all day long these days, I get excited when God puts something on my heart to write and post for your encouragement and then the Holy Spirit helps me put it into words. I hope this post on good parenting helps you. Of course, all the glory goes to God…always!
Good parenting takes time…lots and lots of time. This is one big reason us McCollom’s don’t plan such a tight schedule that we end up running from thing to thing to thing. We learned years ago that to be able to listen to our kids and to be able to train them according to the Word of God this would take many, many, many, many conversations over the years; therefore, we purposely leave time in our schedule for these conversations.
Of course, just like everyone else, I have over scheduled our lives before. (I say I instead of we because Steve really doesn’t fall into this trap) But every time I do over schedule, I find that those parent/child conversations that are suppose to be positive and bring a positive outcome become more of a frustration. When that happens our kids can begin to feel like they are a frustration to us and that is definitely not God’s plan for parenting!
I just had a conversation with my girls this morning that was not in my plan, but the extra time was in my schedule helping me be able to calmly listen and talk through what we needed to talk through. And most importantly, having that time and not being in a hurry helped me remember to stop and hear from the Holy Spirit before making any decisions or saying anything I would regret.
I believe this kind of parenting leaves our kids feeling loved.
Today I encourage you and remind myself with this:
Let’s leave lots of extra time in our daily schedules for good parenting! We’ll all be glad we did because good parenting is an investment we are making into our kids lives and we will reap the benefit of investing well!
Let’s pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us and then be willing to click the delete button on as many things as we need to in our schedules so good parenting doesn’t end up getting deleted!
If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!
Sandra McCollom
Here’s some of the treasure I discovered while reading and studying Romans chapter 15. I hope this brings you encouragement!
Romans 15:1-2 say,
1 We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves. 2 We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. (NLT)
Well, I have to admit that I failed in fulfilling this verse recently. Keep in mind, this example I’ll be giving does deal with weakness, but not specifically in regards to what one eats as Paul discussed in Romans 14.
In my situation I was ministering to a lady that a friend of mine put me in contact with purposely so I could help her. There were several areas where she was really struggling to trust God and those same areas, which had also been a struggle for me in the past, are areas where I am now enjoying freedom, BUT the ONLY reason is because of God’s grace .
She just kept making excuses for her situation and blaming others and I was thinking, “Lady, do you want help or not.”
The next day I started reading Romans 15 and verses 1&2 immediately stood out . I knew right away that it was no accident.
It’s not what I said to her that day that was wrong. In fact, I believe I was able to offer her some genuine help. It was my attitude toward her weakness that was wrong.
This situation reminds me of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 which say,
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (NASB)
This is what seeing Romans 15:1-2 did for me. It taught me, reproved me and corrected me. This is something I have no problem with now, but for many years I would have taken something like this in a condemnatory type of way, even though that was never the way God intended for me to receive it.
I talked about this in my book, I Tried Until I Almost Died. In it I said, …after coming to a grace revelation, I started seeing and reading the Bible from a completely different perspective. Instead of seeing a book of rules, I now see a book full of promises – promises made available to us by a heavenly Father who, rather than waiting to punish us when we step out of line, invites us to step into His presence just as we are.
You see, God wasn’t saying to me through His Word, ‘Wow Sandra, you’ve really blown it royally this time. Man you are so self-centered. Come on. Get your act together girl,’ although this is exactly how I would have perceived the correction prior to understanding God’s nature of goodness, love and grace.
Here’s what I felt God was showing me through His Word this time, now that I was reading it differently. First, God brought the situation from the day before to my mind immediately when I read Romans 15, verses 1 and 2. He showed me that the conversation was frustrating to me as a result of my perspective of just wanting this girl to get over her insecurities and get on with her spiritual journey and that I really wasn’t looking out for her or looking to please her, but myself. Basically, I wanted her to stop feeling sorry for herself, stop making excuses and just listen to me so she could get the help she needed. But God reminded me once again that only He can change a person’s heart. I don’t know about you, but once in a while I still try to take matters into my own hands by attempting to do God’s job.
This has been a great reminder for me to bear with the failings of the weak!
Romans 15:5 says,
May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. (NLT)
See, I love this. Even when we are impatient with another person’s weakness, we don’t have to go into a fix ourself up mode. This verse tells us that it is God who gives us patience and encouragement. It is Him who helps us live in complete harmony with others. And if we want His help all we have to do is ask for it!
Romans 15:7 says,
Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. (NLT)
This Biblical truth has helped me in so many areas. For many years I tried to accept others, forgive others and love others, but I didn’t have the revelation that God accepted me, had forgiven me and loved me unconditionally. It was when I got this revelation that I was able to begin to give out what I had finally received from God.
Of course, I’m not perfect, as you saw by my example at the beginning of this blog post, but I can testify for sure that accepting, forgiving and loving other people comes so much more naturally than it did before I understood how God truly felt about me.
Romans 15:13 says,
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. (NLT)
One of the most amazing things that I have discovered on my grace journey these past 4 years is how much of our Christian walk hinges on us being willing to trust God.
Jesus provided everything we will ever need to live in victory through His finished work on the cross… but we have to believe this is true in order to receive. In the New Covenant of God’s grace all of His promises are yes and amen… but we have to believe to receive. God is so amazingly good. He doesn’t just do love. He is love. But again, we have to believe in God’s goodness to receive the enormous benefits that come with right believing!
Romans 15:14 -15a says,
I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well you can teach each other all about them. Even so, I have been bold enough to write about some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder. (NLT)
I simply love the Bible and I love how the Apostle Paul ministered to the church! He ministered with a gracious spirit, believing the best of them, always teaching them wisdom and reminding them (when they got off track) who they were in Christ Jesus and what was available to them through Christ Jesus.
The apostle Paul said this in Romans 15:16:
I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit. (NLT)
I’m getting the biggest kick out of studying this chapter. I know I’ve said this before…many times, but I don’t think I’ll ever get over the difference in how I see the Bible now that I am reading it through the lens of God’s grace. It really is like a huge treasure chest to me!
It’s so cool here that Paul said bringing the Good News to them was going to make such a dynamic change in them that he would be able to present them as an acceptable offering to God. Why? Because this Good News was not just any ordinary good news. It was (and is) the Good News about Jesus and what He did for them (and us) through His death and resurrection. Paul knew they would (and we would) be made holy through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross by the power of the Holy Spirit when they chose (and we choose) to believe this Good News!
Wait a minute Sandra? I thought I had to do all these “holy acts” in order to be holy.
Nope. All you have to do is believe the Good News about Jesus! But guess what? When you do believe in and receive Jesus as your Savior and you know you’ve been made holy because of Jesus, you will most definitely end up living a holier lifestyle than ever before because your who always affects your do.
But guess what else? You can live as a Christian for years, even decades, and not see the fruit of holiness in your life that should be there. Guess why? Because you somehow skipped getting ahold of the who you are in Christ part and went directly to the what you need to do for Christ part. Sadly, this happened to me.
and…
I believe there are a good number of Christians attempting to live out their Christianity without knowing who they are in Christ. This, my friend, is a very bad recipe for F.R.U.S.T.R.A.T.I.O.N.
But guess what? It can all be turned around when you begin to learn who you are in Christ Jesus! When you do, right doing will begin to flow naturally from your right believing about who you really, truly are in Jesus!
How do I know this? It happened to me! Thank God that He has restored everything the deceiver (satan) worked so hard to make sure I missed.
THIS is why I will be spending the rest of my life reminding others of their true identity in Christ.
Romans 15:24 says,
I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey. (NLT)
This is very interesting to me how the apostle Paul boldly asked for financial help from the Christians in Rome so he could continue his missionary journey. In today’s world if Paul said something like this some might accuse him by saying all Paul ever wants is our money. But it seems to me from reading some of the different verses in this chapter that this was not the mentality of the early church at all. They were in it to preach the Gospel. They were in it to spread the Good News. This is what they lived for.
Now, I realize one of the reasons there is so much suspicion out there in the area of money is because of the way some churches/ministries have mishandled money. I really do understand that. Believe me, Steve and I are very careful who we give to.
All I’m saying is that reading this chapter really made me want to see the church get back to being united for the purpose Jesus gave us – to Go Into All The World And Preach The Gospel!
And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. (Mark 16:15 -NASB)
Of course, as you know, there are plenty of great churches and ministries out there that are really fulfilling The Great Commission. I’m inspired, after reading this chapter, to begin to pray that Christians worldwide will both find and get planted in a great church that is Jesus-centered and preaches the Gospel and find great ministries that do the same and begin to partner with them to fulfill the purpose Jesus gave to us, His church!
I can’t think of any better way to invest my money than to invest it into the lives of people who don’t yet know Jesus!
My next and final God’s Treasure Chest post will be on Romans 16.
To find my other God’s Treasure Chest posts on the book of Romans, just click here on My Grace Journey and then scroll down to the topic that says God’s Treasure Chest – Romans!
If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!
Sandra McCollom
Jesus is a gardener or vinedresser. And like any good vinedresser, when he sees a branch not growing properly he stakes it up and supports it. He does the same with you. Jesus is not looking for a reason to throw you away. In John when Jesus teaches about being engrafted into himself, he promises to lift us up and carry us when we are not producing the kind of fruit that a believer should. Watch the above video for more on this subject.
The post What happens if you don’t bear fruit? appeared first on Forward Ministries.
First thing I want to say is Thank You All For Your Prayers in regards to my health situation that I talked about in my last post, Going Through A Trial? Here’s Some Encouragement!
Since that post was published on February 18th, I have received a major breakthrough!
If you have not had a chance to read that post I encourage you to do so before you read this one. I linked it above for your convenience.
As I mentioned in that blog post, I have been dealing with paresthesia for probably the past 6 weeks. In addition to this, I’ve had neck pain, jaw pain, ringing in my left ear that seems to be getting louder, bouts of nausea with the neck pain, periods of disorientation, headaches (which I almost never get) and so, so, so much trouble focusing and concentrating.
As I have continued to do the things I recommended to you in that blog post I have received a breakthrough in regards to my health!
I’ve had a history on and off with iron deficiency, but several years ago my doctor recommended a supplement called Iron Complex from Integrative Therapeutics. I wasn’t currently taking this supplement, but as my symptoms became worse and worse I began taking it again one week ago. The difference in the way I felt within just 24 hours was so significant.
The first thing I noticed is that I could think again. Wow, was that nice!
I’m thrilled to say that at this point almost all of the symptoms I was experiencing have been greatly reduced.
Oh, and I didn’t even tell you that whatever was going on with my health seemed to be attacking my nervous system. Especially over the past couple of weeks, before I started taking the Iron Complex, I had felt an increasing amount of nervousness, to the point where, on several occasions, I basically flipped out. Not that I haven’t flipped out before in my lifetime because I certainly have, but this was different. I knew something was really wrong. I was getting overwhelmed so easily from feeling like there was too much information coming at my brain. Believe me, I was NOT myself. It was a horrible feeling.
In fact, 2 weeks ago while driving my girls to Friday night church I was having one of my flip out sessions. I was having a super hard time feeling overwhelmed and even screamed out on the way, I don’t want to go to church. I don’t want to do this. Those of you who know me know how much I love my church and actually count down the hours until church every week, so this was not normal behavior.
It’s funny now, looking back on it and remembering how I was acting, but it sure wasn’t funny at the time. In fact, I even threatened to not go into church and just sit in my car in the church parking lot while my girls were in their middle school class. I knew I wasn’t really going to do that, but I came close.
Right in the middle of my meltdown I asked my girls (who were sitting in the back seat hearing all of this) to pray for me. My daughter Angel prayed the most beautiful prayer over me. I’m getting choked up right now as I type this, recalling her prayer.
CeCe Winans was at our church that night leading worship and oh my goodness, that’s exactly what I needed. I needed to worship God right in the middle of my storm. Indeed, God answered Angel’s prayer that night as well as my own. The only thing I could manage to get out of my mouth before I walked into the church was, God, please help me. Please give me a breakthrough tonight!
It was not an immediate breakthrough, but only one week after that awesome night of worship I’m thankful to be able to sit here and type that the nervousness and feeling of being overwhelmed is now completely gone. I am so relieved to be feeling like myself again.
This coming Monday I am scheduled to get an MRI of my c-spine. After my symptoms started decreasing I prayed about if I should cancel my MRI or not, but I did not feel led to cancel it. I am still having some symptoms and I feel it’s wisdom to go ahead and get the test done as I probably needed this test several years ago.
And the good news is, I’ve already had an MRI and an MRA of my brain to check for tumors and aneurysm’s in conjunction with the ringing in my left ear and both tests came out perfectly fine. Praise Jesus!
I also went to my regular doctor last week and explained everything to him, including how much the Iron Complex seemed to be helping me. I had only been seeing my chiropractor for this issue up to that point. In fact, he is the one sending me for the MRI. But my regular doctor sent me for a blood test and I am waiting for those results. He also wrote a prescription out for me to get a type of physical therapy called Myofacial Release which I start in a couple of weeks.
So, I’m not all the way there yet, but as you can see, God is bringing me through and God is Who I give all the glory to! God may have used an iron supplement to help me and I believe He is leading me to get this Physical Therapy, but, no matter who or what He chooses to use, it is God who gives the breakthrough!
Someone may say, Sandra, since you still have some symptoms, how can you title this blog post Major Breakthrough? Believe me, if you knew how bad off I was, you would know why I feel like I have received a major breakthrough…and besides, my total breakthrough is on it’s way!
As I said in my post last week, when we continue to trust God in the midst of our trials, He will work everything together for our good. It’s a Biblical promise.
I have actually had issues with my neck and jaw for years now, although the pain was greatly elevated recently. I have also had ringing in my left ear for a little over a year. So some of the symptoms I am experiencing have been around for a while, BUT you better believe this girl is not giving up for anything. Healing is mine. Jesus already paid for it and He said It Is Finished.
I told my Mom the other day, wouldn’t it be cool if I got this physical therapy and it not only took care of my current set of health issues, but also resolved the longstanding problem with my neck pain, jaw pain and the ringing in my ear?
That’s what I’m believing for. In fact, I’m convinced that God will once again take what the devil intends for my harm and turn it around and work it all together for my good!
My trust in God has really grown over the past 4 years, since I have come into a revelation of His grace. I’ve begun to play a little game when I have trials. When I do, I immediately think, Oh my goodness, I cannot wait to see what good God is going to work out of this situation. And guess what? GOD NEVER FAILS. Every single solitary time I go through a trial I am able to look back and clearly see all the ways in which God has worked on my behalf. I’ve already seen it over this past week and know that I will continue to watch God bring me through to a complete breakthrough and actually to a place of being better off than I was before!
I invite you to play this game along with me. What shall we call it? The Believing God Game? The Trusting in Jesus Game?
Regardless of what we name it, let’s determine that no matter what the devil tries to attack us with, we will never stop believing in God’s goodness, love and grace toward us!
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. – Romans 15:13 (NASB)
Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]. – Hebrews 11:1 (AMP)
But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.
– Isaiah 40:31 (NLT)
Overhearing what was being said, Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid; only keep on believing [in Me and my power].” – Mark 5:36 (AMP)
No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the Lord.
– Isaiah 54:17 (NKJV)
For when we believe we enter God’s rest. (see Hebrews 4)
If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!
Sandra McCollom
