Good morning ladies!! I hope everyone had a life changing Easter Sunday! I know I sure did. The message was powerful and so true. I will share that experience with you later this week.
This morning I want to talk about “The Real Thing”, and when I say the real thing, I mean a real relationship with God. This message is coming from one of my Daily Bread readings. It really opened my eyes this morning to something’s I need to work on and I hope it can give you a new perspective as well.
A church in Naperville, Illinois, is basking in excitement about it’s brand-new bells in the belfry above its sanctuary. When the church was built many years ago, they didn’t have the money to purchase the bells. However, for its 25th anniversary they were able to raise the funds to hang three bells in the vacant space. Even though they are stunning, there is one problem: the congregation will never hear the bells ring. Although they look real they are artificial.
The apostle John wrote his first epistle to encourage believers not to just look like real Christians, but to prove they are genuine by how they live. The evidence that a person’s faith is real is not found in some mystical experience with God. The proof that people truly know and love God is found in submitting to His authority and to His Word.
1 John: Chapter 2
1You are my little children, so I am writing these things to help you avoid sin. If, however, any believer does sin, we have a high-powered defense lawyer—Jesus the Anointed, the righteous—arguing on our behalf before the Father. 2It was through His sacrificial death that our sins were atoned. But He did not stop there—He died for the sins of the whole world.
3We know we have joined Him in an intimate relationship because we live out His commands. 4If someone claims, “I am in an intimate relationship with Him,” but this big talker doesn’t live out His commands, then this individual is a liar and a stranger to the truth. 5But if someone responds to and obeys His word, then God’s love has truly taken root and filled him. This is how we know we are in an intimate relationship with Him: 6anyone who says, “I live in intimacy with Him,” should walk the path Jesus walked.
7My loved ones, in one sense, I am not writing a new command for you. I am only reminding you of the old command. It’s a word you already know, a word that has existed from the beginning. 8However, in another sense, I am writing a new command for you. The new command is the truth that He lived; and now you are living it, too, because the darkness is fading and the true light is already shining among you.
9Anyone who says, “I live in the light,” but hates his brother or sister is still living in the shadows. 10Anyone who loves his brother or sister lives in the light and will not trip because his conscience is clear. 11But anyone who hates his brother is in the darkness, stumbling around with no idea where he is going, blinded by the darkness.
I know I’ve talked about all of this before, but I feel like this scripture says it perfectly. It really made me realize that all the excuses are just that, excuses. When am I going to be “The Real Thing”? I want to make God proud!
I remember when I was younger my sister and I were at an event together and we walked up to a table to get information. I barely said two words, but the lady at the table stopped me before I walked away and said “Wow, I can see God’s light shining through you and it’s beautiful.” I want to experience that again. I want his light to shine so clearly through me that it affects others and makes them want to have an intimate relationship with God. When I first started this blog and doing my daily devotion again I seriously asked myself why hadn’t I been living my life like this before. Living for God isn’t hard right?! HA, that’s what I was thinking at the beginning before all the trials and tribulations came rolling in. Living for God is one of the hardest things anyone can ever do. People constantly watch and judge EVERY move you make and you judge yourself. You feel weak and broken and you ask God to take some of this burden from you and to make your trail a little bit easier and the he says this “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness…” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
God can’t show us his power and his strength until we give him full control. When we are weak, broken and shaken God’s power, love and strength shines through. It’s right on time every time! Wherever you are today just ask yourself this question, are you “The Real Thing”? I don’t mean just by the words that come out of your mouth, the people you hang out with, the places you go and the things you do. There are more important ways to show that we have an intimate relationship with Christ, like having faith that he will bring you through whatever it is that you’re going through. Allowing his beautiful light to shine through you so that you can help others.
I know today’s message was super long, but I really wanted to share that with you ladies. NO MORE EXCUSES!! I want the Real Thing! J
Remember this scripture today and share it with someone who might need it!
“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness…” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10Raynisia Nagel
A Woman After God’s Own Heart
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