God is at Work in Your Life

 I feel so imperfect, so flawed, so flawed, but God accepts me as his son. Only because of what Jesus did on the cross, paying for all my sins.

My guilt is cancelled.

I am a half-finished work, but God sees the end product.

I am a construction site, but God is the architect and master builder. He loves to see his beautiful house taking shape.

God delights in the work He is doing in my life.

As I wrote these thoughts on my computer, I felt moved by the Spirit of God and His love. Then I felt that I was allowed to reshape these words a bit so that God Himself was speaking directly to me.

"You feel so imperfect, so flawed, so lacking, but I accept you as my son. Only because of what Jesus did on the cross, paying for all your sins.

Your guilt is cancelled.

You are a work in progress, but I see the end product.

You are a construction site, but I am the architect and builder. I love to see my beautiful house take shape.

I delight in the work I am doing in your life."

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 2 Cor 5:17 NRSV

God will Restore Nature

 God loves music. He invented music. God also loves you. He planned you before the creation of the world.

God wants everything in creation to shine like beautiful art and sing like lovely music.

We see this marvellous beauty in nature. The poets and artists of the Romantic period celebrated this beauty.

This beauty can still be seen, but we also see how we humans are spoiling nature. In the middle of the Pacific Ocean there is a huge pile of rubbish. Dolphins eat plastic bags and choke on them.

God has given us beautiful poppies and we have made effective painkillers from them. The best painkiller for dying cancer patients is heroin, but unfortunately this very good medicine is tragically abused.

God created us as sexual beings, not just to produce children, but to have love, companionship, pleasure and joy, but what do we see in the world? Porn addiction, human trafficking, rape and forced prostitution.

God has made us different. Who can run or dance like the black Africans? But we have so misunderstood our differences that cruel hatred and racism is ruining humanity.

God created us as spiritual beings to live eternally with Him in His own image, but we have corrupted our spirituality. We see cruel religion and witchcraft everywhere.

God is watching all this and He is suffering.

Creation itself is suffering because we humans have failed as stewards of nature.

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Gen 1:27–28 NIV

That was in the beginning, but many years later the apostle Paul wrote.

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope

that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Rom 8:20–22 NIV 

Many today see how our planet is corrupted. Our existence is threatened. They want to save our planet through political action. Without God, that would be the only way.

They understand that the fate of the planet is inextricably linked to humanity, but they do not understand that without God our humanity and our existence has no future.

Nature is corrupt because we humans are corrupt. God did not make us this way. We have corrupted God's creation. Only with God can we find the way out.

See yourself as God sees you.

 Before the creation of the world, God already had an image of you in his mind. He saw in you a reflection of the beautiful humanity of Jesus.

Of course, I don't mean that you should be an itinerant Jewish preacher in Israel. You may be a woman. You may be an introverted academic. We are all different and unique, but we are to reveal the glory of God in different ways.

But almost everything has gone wrong with God's plan. The first humans rejected God's plan and were disobedient. Since then we have seen murder and war, lies and deceit, selfishness and perversion time and time again.

We are all born with shortcomings, with negative tendencies and character flaws. But God has never given up.

God can turn a run-down car into a Formula One machine.
But humanity needed a new beginning.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

Jesus took the punishment for all the sins of all people on the cross. He died so that we could have a new beginning, freed from guilt, because God's Son bore the guilt on his innocent soul.

Your guilt is taken away if you gratefully accept God's sacrifice and want to make a new start with Jesus.

We can have a new life with Jesus because Jesus not only died for us, but also rose again. Jesus is no longer a humiliated man on earth, but the eternal King of mankind in heaven.

Jesus wants to assure you.

… “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.
Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. …” Jn 11:25–26 NLT

Are you deeply dissatisfied with life? Are you perhaps at the end? What does Jesus have to say?

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

Jesus loves you. He is waiting for your cry for help.

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ Jer 33:3 NIV

A New Heaven and a New Earth

 A couple of days ago, a willy wagtail came so close to me, one pace away. Then my wife held out some food and the dear little wild bird ate out of her hand. 

I love online videos showing pet budgies playing with the family cat, or the family cat and dog showing playful affection for each other.

There is a story on social media about a pet dog discovering a baby magpie that fell out of the nest. The female dog adopted the magpie and cared for it like a mother, with the help of the dog’s owner. The magpie grew up loving its dog mother and human family. 

The magpie was free to fly away, and it came and went, playing with its human family and its beloved dogs. It learned to bark like a dog.

You will find the story if you google Molly and Peggy.

In the Bible God created all the animals, and he gave the first man and woman responsibility to rule over the natural world, to love and care for the animals, not to exploit them.

When Adam and Eve listened to the Prince of Darkness, they became mortal and death also entered into the animal world. Cats killed birds, foxes killed chickens and lions killed antelopes.

In the Old Testament, we see prophecies where God promises to restore the peace and friendship between animals.

The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD. Is 65:25 NIV

We do not know exactly when and how this will happen, but God’s promises are trustworthy. Even now, we see foretastes of this. I see videos on YouTube of animals which rescue humans and other animals from death, even animals of different species.

This world is full of violence and killing. Chickens and ducks bully their own kind, picking on the weak ones, but this world is temporary. God is planning something far better, a new creation. It will surely come.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Re 21:1–5 NIV

Your new life with Jesus

 If you have entrusted your life to Jesus, you have begun an entirely new life. .

Whoever is a believer in Christ is a new creation. The old way of living has disappeared. A new way of living has come into existence. 2 Co 5:17 GW

You are no longer the same person. You are a son or daughter of the Father in heaven. You have eternal life.

    Your eternal life has already begun and will never end.

    You are already a citizen of the eternal kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God.

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 1 Jn 5:12 NIV

Jesus is the eternal Son of God. His life belongs to you and your life belongs to him.

    You have an eternal love relationship with God.
    You are IN Christ and the Spirit of God is in you.

Because Jesus died on the cross for your sins, you no longer have to die for your sins.

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. Ro 8:11 NIV

Because you are in Christ, God will not only provide for your needs. He will also bless you with amazing gifts of love.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Ro 8:31–32 NKJV

God's abundant grace has not been given to us to be selfish like spoiled children.

God gives us His heavenly power, wisdom, healing and love to save the world, to bless our fellow human beings, to rescue people from darkness and hell.

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. Jn 3:16 NKJV

Jesus rose from the dead, but he did not remain on earth, but returned to his Father in heaven.

Now we are his representatives on earth.

    Jesus has no hands on earth except your hands.   

Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” 

Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”

As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. Mk 1:40–42 NKJV

What Jesus began, God wants us to continue.

And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;

... they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mk 16:17–18 NKJV

Jesus' wounded feet are now healed, but you can still see the scars in the sky. Jesus is now walking on streets of gold.

Jesus now has no feet on this earth but your feet. Will you go now to those who need eternal life?

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Mt 28:19–20 NKJV

God's Way out for our Ruined Planet

God loves music. He invented music. God loves you too. He planned you before the creation of the world.

God wants everything in creation to shine like beautiful art and sound like exquisite music.

We see this glorious beauty in nature. The poets and artists of the Romantic period celebrated this beauty.

We can still see this beauty, but we also see how we humans are spoiling nature. There is a huge pile of rubbish in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Dolphins eat plastic bags and choke on them.

God has given us beautiful poppies and we have made effective painkillers from them. The best painkiller for dying cancer patients is heroin, but tragically this very good medicine is horribly abused.

God created us as sexual beings, not just to produce children, but so that we should have love, companionship, pleasure and joy, but what do we see in the world? Pornography addiction, human trafficking, rape and forced prostitution.

God has made us different. Who can run or dance like the black Africans? But we have so misunderstood our differences that cruel hatred and racism is ruining humanity.

God created us as spiritual beings to live eternally with Him as His own image, but we have corrupted our spirituality. We see cruel religion and witchcraft everywhere. 

God's is watching all this and He is suffering.

Creation itself is in agony because we humans have failed as stewards of nature.

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” Genesis 1:27–28 NRSV

This was in the beginning, but many years later the apostle Paul wrote.

for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope

that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; Romans 8:20–22 NRSV

Many today see how our planet is corrupted. Our very existence is threatened. They want to save our planet through political action. Without God, that would be the only way.

They understand that the fate of the planet is inseparable from humanity, but they do not understand that without God our humanity and our existence has no future.

Nature is corrupt because we humans are corrupt. God did not make us this way. We have corrupted God's creation. Only with God can we find the way out.

Your New Life

I feel so imperfect, so flawed, so incomplete, but God approves of me as His son. Only because of what Jesus did on the cross, paying for all my sins. My record is wiped clean.

I am a work in progress, but God sees the finished product.

I am a building site, and God is the architect and builder. He loves to see his beautiful house taking shape.

God enjoys the work He is doing in my life.

As I wrote these thoughts on my computer, I felt touched by the love of God. Then I felt that I had God's approval to modify these words a little so that God Himself would speak directly to me.

You feel so imperfect, so flawed, so incomplete, but I approve of you as My son. Only because of what Jesus did on the cross, paying for all your sins. Your record is wiped clean.

You are a work in progress, but I see the finished product.

You are my building site, and I am the architect and builder. I love to see My beautiful house taking shape.

I enjoy the work I am doing in your life.

When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17 The Living Bible

Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new creation. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new.

And God has made all things new, and reconciled us to himself, and given us the ministry of reconciling others to God. 2. Cor 5:17-18 The Passion Translation
 

LIKE JESUS.

When you believe in Jesus as the Son of God who loves you, you can never be the same person again. 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love...Colossians 1:13 

When you believe in Jesus and trust him to direct and transform your life, he makes you a son or daughter of the eternal God.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are... Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:1-2 (ESV)

When you decide to believe in Jesus, God changes your whole nature, and begins to transform you into the wonderful person He designed you to be, full of love and goodness like Jesus himself.