God Wants to Help You

 Jesus wants to bless you a lot, not just a little here and there. He wants to help you. You may have read this idea in the Bible or heard it in a sermon. 

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. Jn 10:10 NASB95

You are a believing Christian. You believe in the Bible, but somehow you experience blessings here and there, but also frustration.

Today God wants to encourage you. He wants to refresh the dry areas of your life.

Imagine you have fruit trees. Some are thriving and bearing fruit, but others are just leaves.

At home you find love, but at the office you find frustration, or maybe vice versa.

In your private prayer time you find joy and peace, but in church you find stress.

Everything in your life matters to Jesus. Nothing is unimportant because God loves you completely.

God wants to help you in the difficult areas of your life.

He is waiting for your cry for help.

‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ Jer 33:3 NASB95

Christian Workaholics

Are you a burned out workaholic, a slave to duty?

Are you addicted to success at any price?

Are you driven to be a good Christian, trying so hard but never feeling you are good enough?

Are you exhausted by striving?

A Japanese office worker was extremely hardworking. Whatever his assignments were he had to complete them all, whatever the cost.

After working hard for over 24 hours without a break, he dropped dead.

An admirable itinerant preacher in India lived with unlimited dedication. He wanted to live just like Jesus, at any cost. He once tried to fast for 40 days and almost died.

When the Holy Spirit calls you to fast, he gives grace, but if you try to fast because of holy striving, it can cause great harm. It can lead to neurosis and eating disorders.

A young American was a totally dedicated Christian. He attended church at least four times a week. He served as a leader in the youth group. He read a few chapters of the Bible every day and prayed dutifully every morning and every evening.

His whole life revolved around his Christian discipleship, but he still felt dry and weary in his soul.

Finally, he could no longer bear this religious treadmill. He still believed in God, but he gave up. He hardly prayed for a few days. He didn't read his Bible, only the newspaper.

One morning he was sitting at breakfast reading the newspaper. Suddenly the Holy Spirit fell upon him. In the midst of his religious activities, he had neglected the most important thing. He had never learnt to simply receive and enjoy the unconditional love of God.

When Jesus was an itinerant preacher, all kinds of Jews came to him. There were sinful apostate Jews and also very diligent religious Jews. Both were stressed and spiritually tired.

Jesus recognised their stress and their inner exhaustion. He also sees your stress. His words to the Jews still speak to us today.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Mt 11:28 NASB95

God and Mother Love

 You were created for love. How can you say that when we see so much hatred and cruelty around us?

How did love come into being between mother and child? Why do we long for love even when we do not know how to find it?

Who is the source of real love? Only God, who invented mother love.

Our human desire for love is often corrupted and twisted, but not destroyed.

Who is the source of real love? Only God, who invented mother love.

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! Isaiah 49:14–15 NIV84

Jesus often spoke about love.

He spoke of the limited love of natural sinful people, and the unlimited love of God.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, Matthew 5:43–44 NIV84

Love is generous and kind.

“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:9–11 NIV84

Genuine love is always practical. Whoever doesn't desire to give does not really love.

God is love. God's heart is open to you. He wants to help you and bless you with many good gifts.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. James 1:17 NKJV

Perhaps you don't yet know God's personal love. You can know God today.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 NKJV

Jesus the best Therapist

 Many devout Muslims live under the dark clouds of fear. They never know if their obedience will be enough to save them from the flames of hell.

Some compare themselves to not so virtuous nominal Christians, and they feel proud and superior.

Others compare themselves to extremely religious Muslims, and they judge themselves as failures.

Then they can become extremely fanatical because they can never be sure if their religious virtue is enough to save them from hell.

Unfortunately, there are also some Christians who live in this kind of religious no-man's land.

There are Christians who are caught in pornography addiction. They feel helpless to escape from slavery and are full of fear of God's judgement.

There are other Christians who believe in Jesus, but they have never understood that they can only receive their salvation as a gift from God. They live rather like Muslims, with the feeling that they have to earn their salvation.

When you think like that, you can become very strictly religious, and look down on Christians who are not so strictly virtuous. That's exactly how the Pharisees were.

Or you can condemn yourself as inferior because you keep failing.

If you are addicted to pornography or gambling, you desperately need help, from God but also from people.

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:16 NLT

Many Christians need deliverance from demons and many need good counselling or a good therapist. 

Jesus did not come to burden us with guilt complexes. On the contrary.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10 NIV84

Such a life is only possible in close communion with God. God is love. Only those who experience the love of God daily have access to this abundant life.

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 NLT

How do these morbid religious attitudes arise, where legalism, pride or guilt complexes keep us away from the love of God?

Legalistic religion, tradition, unbending or manipulative parents or pastors, narrow-minded culture.
Sin, perversion, abuse, shame.

I know Christians who were seduced or abused as children. That can lead to all kinds of feelings and thoughts, all kinds of waywardness, so that we are full of shame.

If you cannot get rid of wrong thoughts and feelings, you need to know that Jesus loves you unconditionally. Let Jesus be your therapist. He wants to help you, not condemn you.

 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 NLT

Knowing God or knowing about God

 Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.
And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.
But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him. 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 (NKJV)

I have read this passage many times, but it never really impacted me until just now. I just read these words by a pastor’s son.

• “I thought I was close to God because I knew all the answers. I could answer every question small group leaders or youth pastors threw at me about relationship with God. But I had fooled myself into thinking that was the same as relationship with Jesus. I still struggle with this to a degree.” 

John Piper's son tells his story.

Then I started to dig deeper and I found these words in the New Living Translation.

… But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church.
Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much.
But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognises. 1. Cor 8:1-3

I recall a story told by a well known preacher.

    A Christian goes to his pastor with a difficult question. The pastor gives an apparently wise answer and the church member goes away happy.
    Meanwhile, in Heaven the Father turns to Jesus.
“Jesus, did you hear what that pastor just said? That is a new idea to me. Did you tell him that?

Knowledge is good, but head knowledge without deep heart understanding is dangerous in some areas of life.

A child may admire his father’s knowledge, but it will no good if he doesn’t experience his father’s love.

How many Christians believe in the love of God? They learn to know more and more about God, but they have little or no experience of the love of God.

Some even criticise Christians who talk about deep spiritual experiences. They say experiences can be deceptive and feelings are unreliable. The only safe ground to stand on is biblical truth. By this they mean Bible knowledge.

But if we read Bible truth in the Bible itself, we see that the heroes of faith all personally experienced God Himself. God spoke to them and they listened and believed. 

They were filled with the Holy Spirit. This was an experienced reality, not just a doctrine.

The God of much modern conservative evangelicalism only speaks through bible verses and bible knowledge. This is not the God I see in the pages of the Bible itself.

Of course, we need Bible knowledge, but Bible knowledge without experiencing God just makes you more religious. That is very dangerous. This was the sin of the Pharisees. It is still a huge problem today.

God Wants to Take Away your Shame

God loves you. He wants to encourage you today.

Have you messed up your life? Are you consumed by shame?

God wants to be your loving father, no matter how you've messed up.

God took your guilt and your punishment upon Himself by sending His Eternal Son to die on the cross.
 
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (NIV) 


Imagine the trauma the Father God suffered when he saw his own Son tormented on the cross, how he felt the terrible pain and loneliness of his Son.

But Father God made all this happen, so that Jesus would bear your guilt and my guilt.

God is just. Crimes must never go unpunished, but Jesus took our punishment upon Himself.

But perhaps you suffer because you are a victim. So many children are sexually abused, sometimes by their own parents. Young women are lured by lies and forced to work as prostitutes.

Even if you see yourself as a victim, the shame is unbearable. Imagine you are a decent woman who is tricked and enslaved. The idea that you are or have been a prostitute is unthinkable.

There are also men or women who lose everything and go broke because of their own mistakes, or because of circumstances that were out of their control. Some are tempted to commit suicide.

When the mother of Jesus became pregnant, she was not yet married. Jesus had to endure the shame of a supposedly illegitimate child in a small town.

Then Jesus hung stark naked on the cross. He was despised. He bore your shame.

There are some Christians, some pastors and also some priests who want to help guilty or despised fellow human beings with genuine compassion and understanding, but many suffering people experience cruel rejection in churches.

A young woman wanted to attend a service, but she was not even allowed inside the church because she was wearing a miniskirt.

Some children are sexually abused by pastors or priests. When they later report the crime, they are often condemned by the church and treated badly.

But Jesus was not like these priests and corrupt church leaders.

The hypocritical religious leaders despised Jesus because he was kind to sinners and social outcasts.


The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners."' Luke 7:34 (NIV)

Jesus lived as a human being, but he was also God. He died as a man, but he did not remain dead. Three days after his death he returned to his disciples.

Now Jesus is in heaven with Father God. He is the eternal Son of God, but he still remains human. He loves you with God's love, but also with the compassion and understanding of a fellow human being.

Jesus understands your guilt and your shame. He has carried all this so that you no longer have to carry this terrible burden.

As a man on earth, Jesus invited everyone to come to him.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 (NIV) 

Jesus lived a short time among men as a mortal man.

Now he is the risen Son of God. He has sent his Holy Spirit to activate God's love in your life.

Would you like to receive Jesus? He wants to comfort you with His love. He also wants to heal you with His unlimited power.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3 (NIV)

He now stands as a priest before the eternal throne of Father God, pleading on your behalf.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:15-16 (NIV)

Simple Faith in a Crisis

In this crisis, we need to follow the news. Most of the news is about Coronavirus. It crowds out everything else. It can dominate your thinking.

We then hear rumours and dark speculative theories. Some may be true, but many not.
Anxiety and confusion takes hold of good people. People panic.

Very rich people can use the economic crisis to take control of nations and global systems.
In such a time, powerful people can manipulate us to offer false hope, or to instil fear and resignation.

Suicides will inevitably increase, but they are mostly not reported.
 
So what can you do?
Avoid risks. Wash your hands. Be sensible.

But if you believe in Jesus, this can be your hour. If the world around you is shaking, you can trust in an all powerful God with simple faith.

Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me.
He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.
He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!
Psalms 103:2-5
It is time, not only to believe in God, but to seek His immediate presence. Jesus spoke to Christians in the Bible 2000 years ago. He is speaking to you and me today.

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. Rev 3:20 NLT
We use this text to reach out to unbelievers when we evangelise, but Jesus was not speaking to unbelievers here. We often invite unbelievers to invite Jesus into their lives, while we believe in Jesus from a distance.

Before this crisis, we hugged our friends and kissed our families, but we kept Jesus at a distance. Now we must keep our friends at a distance. It is time to be close to Jesus.

The Source of True Life and Love

You are the light of the world. … let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16 (ESV)
 
Moses was the light of his generation. After forty days alone with God, Moses came down from Mount Sinai a changed man. His face shone.
 
The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light ... Matthew 6:22 (ESV)  
When a woman is in love, her eyes shine. Her whole face lights up. If we love Jesus, and we are living in His presence, we are like young people in love and the world can see it. 

This love is not based on achievement or good work. It is comes from the revelation that God loves you with all His heart.
 
We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 (ESV)
 
CHILDLIKE TRUST
 
How does a child grow up? By experiencing his parents´ love and trusting in their guidance.
 
Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. Mark 10:15
 
In a healthy family, the parents exercise sacrificial love and the children enjoy that love. It is in enjoying the love of God, that we shine like lights in a dark world. 

Nothing makes a person’s face like up like the enjoyment of loving because you know you are loved. God IS Love.
 
If we focus on our own striving to keep God’s commandments, we lose the childlike enjoyment of God, which is our source of love, joy and power.
 
But isn’t obedience also important?
 
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. John 15:10 (NKJV)
 
Disobedience is not childlike trust in a good Father. Jesus spoke about good works that draw unbelievers to His light.
 
Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? Matthew 25:37 (ESV)
 
And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. Matthew 25:40 (ESV)
 
When we heal the sick or buy food for a homeless person, kindness motivated by the love of Jesus shows the goodness of God to the world.
 
The obedience that Jesus loves is not based on an obligation to a ministry. Jesus is not impressed when we strive to win approval, escape criticism or please leaders.
 
And he said to them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Luke 22:25
 
But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Matthew 23:8-9
 
Preachers who intimidate and control are trying to make people good, but they destroy the childlike love, joy and faith which is the real source of Christian goodness.
 
Fear is the opposite of faith. The fear of man (including church leaders) actually undermines trust in God.
 
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 1 John 4:18 (ESV)  
Should preachers always be soft and comforting? Jesus was not. Godly ministers lead, teach and challenge, but they do not control people with guilt, duty and intimidation.

Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30

I pray you will find the right Christian friends and mentors. They will see you as Jesus sees you, a unique son or daughter of God.

You Can Be God's Light

Light is sown like seed for the righteous And gladness for the upright in heart. Ps 97:11 (NASB) 

• Light-seeds are planted in the souls of God's people, Joy-seeds are planted in good heart-soil. Ps 97:11 (MSG)  

When God created the trees and the flowers, He put seeds in them, so they could produce offspring.

And he said, "Let the earth burst forth with every sort of grass and seed-bearing plant, and fruit trees with seeds inside the fruit, so that these seeds will produce the kinds of plants and fruits they came from." Genesis 1:11 (TLB)  

When you received the New Life of Jesus, God changed your dead, dark spirit. God turned on the lights inside you and you began life all over again.

• By God’s mercy, love and life giving power, you became a new person, a new creation.

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Cor 5:17 (NLT)  

Sometimes this change is dramatic and obvious from the outside. 

An evangelist drives demons out of a dangerous and evil person and the tormented soul believes in Jesus. The new believer is  suddenly happy and shines with the goodness of God.

Other times a person seems to change gradually. 

A prostitute came to church and believed in Jesus but returned to her old life. She kept coming to church and started to be more gentle and kind but still in the context of her life of prostitution. 

Then she began to give money to the church from her earnings. Finally she reached the point where she had the courage to walk away from prostitution and learn to live a normal life.

• Exactly when was she saved? God knows.

God uses believers to sow the seed of light and truth in the souls of men and women. 
The faith, hope and love that come with the message of light are given to you as seed. 

What will you do with the seeds of heavenly life? 

• Will you cultivate the garden of your new heavenly life, so your life becomes like window with a view of heaven itself?

• Will you sow the good seeds God gives you, so your life becomes a gateway to the garden of God, so others can find blessing and truth?

Whatever seed you sow will be multiplied in your own life and in the lives of others around you.

Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Gal 6:7 (NLT)  

•  If he sows to please his own wrong desires, he will be planting seeds of evil and he will surely reap a harvest of spiritual decay and death; Gal 6:8 (TLB) 

• but if he plants the good things of the Spirit, he will reap the everlasting life that the Holy Spirit gives him. 

I am sure you would love to shine with the glory of God, so if your heart is hungry for the glory of God, be like the insects that come to the light. 
The light of God will not burn and destroy you if you love Jesus. 

Come into the wonderful presence of God and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through His life giving words. 

When God Himself speaks, it changes the way you understand the Bible.

• We cannot be a blessing to others if we teach the Bible with a dry religious spirit.

He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Cor 3:6 (NIV)

When we receive the light and joy of Jesus, we know Him as the light of the world.

 

... Jesus said to the people, "I am the Light of the world. So if you follow me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, for living light will flood your path." Jn 8:12 (TLB)

Then we ourselves can shine from the life of Jesus within us.

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. Isa 60:1 (ESV)