Trust and Love... We are searching for both!

Why is it that we need people to prove themselves to us before we believe them?  When did we change from being a trusting child to an untrusting person?  Can you think back to that moment when you said to yourself, or the enemy said it in your mind, that you can’t trust people anymore. 

Do you think that maybe it’s a little sliver of time and that sliver steals your trust for the rest of our lives, or do you think that it’s a big thing that happens and at that moment, you say to yourself, self, we are never going to trust again!

Does it start out as I am never going to trust a man, a black man, a white man, a man that’s over 6 foot, a man with blue eyes or a woman who wears high heeled shoes, or do you think it just becomes a trust factor in everyone right away?  

I personally think that losing trust in someone is a sliver of darkness that comes into your mind, and the devil runs with it.  Then every time you are in a situation, that is similar, you hear those thoughts running in your brain… see I told you that person with brown eyes was no good.  Those brown eyed people hurt you before; you better keep your eyes open for the next brown eyed person that comes along and guard your heart from them.

 I think that sliver of darkness that happened in a second, is all that the devil needs to create a foothold in your mind.   What is crazy, and not in a good way, is that the devil works so hard at finding what it is that’s going to make you start losing trust.  He works at it, he hangs out, and then when he sees the opening he pounces, and you believe it’s you!!

We are actually foolish enough to believe it’s us!  

 
Do you know that you believe more of what you actually say to yourself than what anyone else can say to you? 

 Ten people can come up repeatedly and tell you that you are valuable and if you say I am not valuable to yourself, you are going to believe that, over the ten people who just told you that you are.  That’s a stronghold from Satan, coming to steal your joy.   That’s what his purpose is to kill, steal and destroy, but thank God we have Jesus, because he came, that we may have life in abundance, till it overflows.

That’s not just a little bit folks.  That’s not like OK, on Monday, you can have this much joy, but if you go over your joy limit, I am going to have to deduct it from Tuesday’s joy amount, so be careful with how much joy you use daily.  No, how foolish would that be. 

Who would ever tell their child, or their disciple, that there is a limit on your joy?  Your joy is to overflow, it’s to spill over, and you should have a mess with your joy.  Your mom should be telling you, now baby, you better carry some Bounty around, because your joy is going to spill over and create a joy puddle on my floor. 

We limit our joy.  We tell ourselves we can’t have too much fun because maybe we are being selfish, or someone might laugh at us, or we might embarrass the people we are with.  What if I laugh to loud and people look, what if I snort because I am laughing to loud.  Folks we have fear and intimidation even with our joy.    

This is not just unbelievers, so the people sitting there looking around, thinking who is feeling condemned by this should pull out their mirror and look at themselves.  You looking around are the reason why the other people limit their joy.  Let me rephrase that.  You are the vessel, that’s being used by the enemy, to steal people’s joy.  Just so you don’t get upset and think I am only dealing with you right now, I am going to tell the people, including my past self, that we are just as much to blame as the people looking around, because we look back and feel like we are not good enough to be having this much fun. 

If we take a moment and really think about all of this, it sounds pretty silly and foolish, but the enemy knows us so well that he knows what to say to make you feel negative about yourself, your situation or other people.  Our job is to fight back and not allow this foothold to become a stronghold in our lives.  Our jobs are to think the best of all people, even when the enemy is coming hard at you with fiery darts. 

Our job is to say back, out loud, to the devil, no, devil, that person is a child of the Almighty God and I believe they are good.  I am standing on the word of God, that No weapon formed against me shall prosper and every tongue which rises against me in judgment you shall prove to be in the wrong. 

If there aren’t any scriptures that come to your mind in that moment of attack, simply say again out loud, I love you Jesus.  I have the mind of Christ.  I have the attitude of Christ.  Speak love into your dark places.  Speak Jesus into your dark places.  Remember light will always break through to the darkness.  Darkness cannot survive in the Light, its impossible!! 

Keep in mind that God has already won, at the end.  Satan is just trying to gather as many people as he can, in the short amount of time he has left on this earth.  I beg of you and plead with you do not be one of the ones he steals.   

Jesus is the answer to every one of your questions.  To every one of your heartaches, to every one of your failures, to every one of your mistakes.  Jesus is the answer to every lie you believed about yourself, to every time you have felt abandoned by someone, you so desperately wanted to approve of you, or even love you.  Jesus is the answer to all of this.  We have the answer.  We have the perfect answer and we even have the question.  Why should we love Jesus and trust Jesus and lean on and rely in Jesus??

Because he FIRST loved us.  That is why. 

He first loved us, and the us is including you.  The person who just said to themselves silently, oh, that’s not for me, I have sinned against God, and I’ve done this or that, there is no way that Jesus loves me, no way!  Well, I am here to tell you two things.  One, the voice you just heard is not your voice, it’s the voice of the enemy, remember kill, steal & destroy.  The second is it is for you.  Why, do I know it’s for you?  Because it’s for me, and if Jesus loves me, then my friend he loves you too. 

Jesus is not a respecter of persons, what he has done for me, you, your neighbor or your cousins, cousins, best friends father’s, uncle, he will do for you!  Jesus loves you with his whole heart.  He loves you with his whole mind and body.  He died for you, remember?  He didn’t just do this for nothing.  He committed the biggest act of kindness and Love, when he took on the pain of the world, all the world, and died for us to have eternal life.  That’s how I know he loves you.

When you doubt how much he loves you take a moment and think about the anguish and pain a death that brutal must have been on a man, and he willingly did it.  Jesus had a choice.  Jesus was word made flesh, but Jesus had a choice. Jesus could have easily said, one of the hundreds of times, he was asked are you the Messiah, are you really the son of God, he could have denied himself like Peter did. 

He was a Human Being when he went to the cross.  He was a Human Being with an incredible connection to God, but a Human Being none the less.  Jesus could have said wait a minute, this just got real, and I am kind of enjoying my life down here.  I am bring people back to life, and feeding over 5,000 people off of two fish and five loaves of bread, no I think I’ll hang out for a bit and see what other cool stuff I can do.  He had a choice but he chose you!!!

This is why I know, that I know, that Jesus our Savior loves you!  His heart is big enough for all of us.  There is no competition in God.  There is no end or beginning to the love that he carries for us every moment of every day. 

I want us all to do something right now.  I want you to think of one person who loved you.  I mean really loved you.  They loved all of you.  The ugly, the broken, the mean, the angry, the lovely, the beautiful.  This person loved you like no other person has loved you before.  Do you have that person in your mind? Can you see them? 

Now, realize that God created them and Jesus also died for them. 

This means that the person who loved you the most was also loved the most by Jesus.  You know the children’s book that says I love you to the Moon and back, Jesus loves you beyond that.  Jesus loves you as far as the east is stretched to the west.  That is an unmeasurable space.  

We find it hard to believe, because we love conditionally.  We don’t mean too but we do.  So when we think about the Love that God has for us it’s hard to wrap your mind around because we love conditionally.

Jesus has an over flowing cup of Love for you and he wants you to drink of it until you are swimming in his love.  When we are swimming in God’s love for us we have the abundance, the over flowing joy and love to spill onto the people around us.  We become what God destined for us to be and what Jesus died for us to have… We become Love!