John 15:13  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

The hill was Golgotha, located on a roadway outside of Jerusalem. The stripes on His back came from a leather whip studded at the ends with pieces of bone - designed to rip and tear flesh. The thorns had made a "crown," fashioned on branches from a thornbush, pressed down upon His head. The nails pounded into His hands and feet secured Him to the wooden cross, guaranteeing a slow and agonizing death.

Why?

Because with His "eternal eyes," God had designed a way to bring sinful humanity to Himself. The blood sacrifices of the Old Testament became one perfect sacrificial Lamb hung on a cross, killed to take away sin. And when it was over, death and sin had been forever defeated and access was provided for sinful humanity to the throne of God.

Jesus was devoted to the end. Every thorn that pierced His brow, every nail that went through His guiltless hands, told how His love has no end.

He did this just for you. When He went to the cross, you were on His mind. If you had been the only person on the planet, He'd have done the same. He is your Redeemer, your Savior, and your Friend.
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Psalm 34:3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.

It's so easy for us to try to go it alone, isn't it? We forge ahead, working on sheer emotion or will. We dash headlong into a situation thinking we can handle it all on our own. This is a little problem; why bother God with it?

Or, on the flip side, we don't go it alone; we run away. The problem seems as big as an enemy army and so we hide in the castle, pulling up the drawbridge behind us. This is a big problem, maybe even too big for God. Or because it's a problem of our own making, we think God doesn't care.

In both cases, we've developed an out-of-focus view of God. We think He's too big to deal with our little problems, or He's too small to deal with our big problems. When we see God as smaller and less powerful than He is, we miss out on the blessings of His strength to help us. When we set aside His promises to be with us through everything we face - small or big, our own fault or not - we miss out on experiencing His mercy and grace to help us in our time of need.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Psalm 83:18 Let them know, that you, whose name is the Lord - that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.

Stories of God's love and understanding are passed down from parent to child, from generation to generation. When we hear stories of God touching the lives of our parents and grandparents, our hearts are warmed and our spirit rejoices. If we are the ones to begin the song for future generations, then we have a story to tell and plenty of praising to do!

We praise our Lord Most High for all He has done in our lives. We praise Him for the promises of the future, when every nation will bow and acknowledge that He is the rightful King of all. We praise Him for the earth itself that knows its Creator and blazes with color and sound in an effort to praise the living God.

Do you want to pass your faith along to your children or others in your sphere of influence? Then join in the chorus of praise that is echoing across all creation. There is no place on earth where you could go that God will not be with you. If you climb the highest mountain peak, praise Him from there. If you dive to the depths of the sea, praise Him from there. If you're feeling weak, praise Him even with what little strength you have. When you do, God will be glorified and you will be a living example of the power of your Lord Most High.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
 

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Change can be very threatening. We don't like to see changes in the world - war looming and terrorists lurking. We don't like to see our friends' marriages dissolve, or watch them self-destruct in other ways. We don't like the change in the job we so enjoyed by the arrival of a new boss. We don't like the change in our church when things don't go as planned. Changes for the worse can be extremely painful. How we long for a change for the better.

Thankfully, we have a stronghold in this changing world. Our Lord is unchanging. He is the same loving and just Lord who created the heavens and the earth. He will be the same God when we see Him face to face in glory. He is our stronghold when we are besieged by the enemy. He is our hiding place when we need a refuge. And He will never forsake us.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
 

Deuteronomy 10:12  And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Is God at home in your home? In other words, does His presence permeate the atmosphere of your home? Does your family find a sanctuary of God's presence and peace when they walk through the front door? Do guests find a joyful welcome?

Too many homes are like war zones. There's anger, piercing words, painful hurts, even heavy silence. Even Christian homes are seldom sanctuaries of peace. We run from activity to activity, job to job, commitment to commitment. Lost is the art of conversation by a family around the dinner table. Seldom for guests come our way. Few and far between are the conversations with the neighbor next door or down the block.

God would not have it that way. He wants to lift us above the world we know and set us in a higher place. He wants us to look from His perspective. He would have us invite Him into our homes as a permanent Guest. He desires that our homes be little oases of peace, joy, and love in an all-too-often unpeaceful, joyless, unloving world.

What happens when you open your front door? Is God there? Begin today to make your home a place where God dwells, a place that invites your family and friends to come and experience Him.

1 John 3:2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

"I want to be more like You" is a prayer we should pray continuously. Paul told the Philippians, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5).

Being like Jesus is not an easy task. Jesus was a living sacrifice. In His humility, He was willing to give up His life in order to do the will of His Father and provide salvation for us all. For us to imitate that would require sacrificing our selfishness and pride; it would require dying to ourselves and accepting His lordship over us. The tough thing about a living sacrifice is, it wants to crawl off the altar and run away - it doesn't want to die!

So how can we be more like Jesus? Seems impossible. Fortunately, we don't have to do it on our own. The Holy Spirit within us teaches us humility and obedience. We can indeed be transformed; we can indeed be more like Him. The Bible says, "Those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Allow Jesus to change you, to transform your heart and mind, that you may be a vessel for His use. Cry out to Him today and every day, "Jesus, I want to be more like You!"

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Psalm 28:7  The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

Even the strongest people will, at some point, need to slow down and rest. They have need of power of Christ just as much as the weak.

Those who are strong often have difficulty admitting their need for mercy, for forgiveness. But Jesus didn't die just for those who are weak - He died for all of us! He knows everything about us from the way we go about our day to our deepest needs; He even knows the number of our days on this earth! He created us, He will sustain us, and He will always be there to help us when we call.

Unlike us, He will never grow tired or weary. He is the strength that keeps us going day after day. We all have twenty-four hours in a day, seven days a week, and fifty-two weeks in a year - we must use the days given to us to honor Him.

No one can fathom His mercy and understanding or His willingness to meet all of our needs. When you feel the crushing weight of life on this earth, admit your need and call upon God to renew your strength He will answer. "Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord" (Psalm 31:24).

--Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,