Walking in the snow.
Good Morning
Stand with me and lift up your bible and repeat after me.
This is my Bible.
I am what it says I am.
I can do what it says I can do.
I am going to learn how to be what it says I can be.
Today I will learn more of the word of God.
The indestructible, never ending, living word Of God.
I will never be the same.
I will never be the same.
In Jesus Name
I wanted you to read you this letter that might have been sent to you or me at one time in our lives.
Dear Friend,
As you got up this morning, I watched you and hoped you would talk to me, even if it was just a few words, asking my opinion or thanking me for something good that happened in your life yesterday, but I noticed you were too busy trying to find the right outfit to put on and wear to work. So, I waited.
When you ran around the house getting ready, I knew there would be a few minutes for you to stop and say, “Hello”, but you were too busy.
At one point you had to wait fifteen minutes with nothing to do except sit in a chair. Then I saw you spring to your feet, and I thought you wanted to talk to me, but you ran to the phone and called a friend to get the latest gossip.
I watched as you went to work and I waited patiently all day long. With all your activities I guess you were too busy to say anything to me.
I noticed before lunch you looked around, maybe you felt embarrassed to talk to me, that is why you didn't bow your head. You glanced three or four tables over and you noticed some of your friends talking to me briefly before they ate, but you didn't. That's okay, there is still more time left, and I have hope that you will talk to me even yet.
You went home and it seems as if you had lots of things to do. After a few of them were done you turned on the TV. I don't know if you like TV or not, just about anything goes there & you spend a lot of time each day in front of it, not thinking about anything, just enjoying the show. I waited
patiently again as you watched TV and ate your meal, but again you didn't talk to me.
As you did your work around the house I waited again, as you did what you had to do. At bedtime I guess you felt too tired. After you said goodnight to your family you plopped into bed and fell asleep in no time. That's okay, because you may not realize that I am always there for you.
I've got patience more than you will ever know. I even want to teach you how to be patient with others as well. Because I love you so much, a long time ago I left a wonderful place called Heaven and came to Earth. I gave it up so that I could be ridiculed and made fun of. I even died so you would not have to take my place. I love you so much that I wait every day for a nod, a prayer, a thought or a thankful part of your heart. It is hard to have a one-sided conversation.
Well, you are getting up again and once again I will wait with nothing but love for you hoping that today you will give me some time. Have a nice day!
Your best friend,
Jesus
Are we spending enough time with God?
In early 2007 I lived in Northeast Pennsylvania here in the United States and I was getting ready to see a great change in my life. I was housebound during a snow storm. I decided for some reason to go for a walk. I put my coat on, my gloves, my boots, my hat, and stepped out into the snow and started walking. The snow was coming down at steady pace and was about six inches deep as I walked. I lived in a very rural area without many houses and it was filled with many tall trees everywhere you looked.
As the snow came down and I walked toward the lake at the bottom of the hill, I remembered when I had gotten the closest to the Lord and wondered why I was not that way. I got to the bottom of the hill and saw the bench by the lake. It was covered in snow and I brushed off a spot to sit on.
Then I felt what it was. It was the place I had diligently spent many hours sitting and listening and praying with the Lord. It was where I had many hours of quiet time with Him and gotten closer in my relationship with Him.
As the snowflakes continued to fall, I was reminded who was first in all of our lives and how we were to grow in our relationship with Him. That is the message.
Growing in our relationship with our best friend.
My best friend and hopefully yours is God.
He is not looking at whether I am wearing the newest style of clothes or driving the most popular car. He is watching me to see if I want a greater relationship with Him.
There are many people over time that have been in the same boat as me. Thye were wandering through life so intent on being a certain image that they forget who they really are.
A person whose plans were created and thought out well before they were in their mother’s womb. A person made in God’s image for a purpose.
Turn with me to Romans 8:28 and say, “Amen” when you are there.
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Many of you have heard this verse before but may have never really believed it or understood it.
You may have thought about it and said to yourself, “I have done so many things my way, the wrong way, how could God have called me to have a purpose?”
Or He may have been calling you to go after something in this life that you just do not feel worthy to achieve or do.
You may be thinking that you are living life the way that you need to and you are sort of comfortable and you are not willing to take a chance to disrupt anything.
Congratulations on where you are but you are worth more. God has a greater purpose.
Turn with me to Romans chapter 9 and say, “Amen” when are there.
Romans 9:17 “For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”
When you made a commitment to Him and asked Him to forgive you of your past and make you a new person, He raised you up from being a dead person wandering along without a real purpose in life.
When I went for a walk that day and saw things that had happened in my life and how God had changed me, I realized that the new part of the journey of my life was going to be for His purpose and plan.
We would not be alive today if He did not want us to be.
Close your eyes. Now we have done this before but, let’s do this again together.
Breathe in.
Exhale.
Breathe in.
Exhale.
Breathe in.
Exhale.
Open your eyes. God created you for a purpose. He allows us to breathe in and then breathe out to take care of the bodies He created for us to use while we are here on His earth.
Now you are thinking.
David made me breathe in and out several times.
God allowed me to do it.
I must have a purpose here on earth.
What is it?
Is it become a mom or dad with a family and just raise children?
Is it to start and run a business?
Is it to be in ministry?
Or is it to just live a life that is guided by having a true relationship with a loving God through His loving son Jesus Christ and taking the steps that He puts in front of us one at a time?
Amen?
I have tried creating my own path in life. Have you?
I have made wrong turns in my life and ended up having to stop at the end of the paths I have taken because the road was a dead end. Sound familiar?
But Jesus has always been there for me to redirect me in His wonderful loving way. As I have gotten older and wiser from life experience and getting closer to Him, I have learned that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
Period.
He is my hope.
He is my strength.
He is my friend.
He is my direction.
He is my comfort when it is needed.
Hold up your bibles again.
As what we spoke at the beginning of this message.
This is my bible.
I am what it says I am.
I can do what it says I can do.
I am going to learn how to be what it says I can be.
Today I have learned more of the word of God.
The indestructible, never ending, living word Of God.
I will never be the same.
I will never be the same.
In Jesus Name
I will never, never, never be the same.
In Jesus name.
Amen?
Let’s go to Him in prayer.
