Genesis 1:1-3 – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said “let there be light, “ and there was light.

Have you ever considered how small – how finite we are compared to God? We are simply no match for him. As his creation, we can only marvel at his power and majesty.

I remember one time having a bit of an electrical issue with one of my lamps. Since it was dark outside it seemed a good idea to resolve the issue so that we could see as we navigated the rooms of the house. When I got to the point I felt I was ready – I strode to the switch and boldly declared “let there be light.”

There was light but lots of laughter too. Mocking might be more like it. The general point of their ribbing was to remind me that when God said it, something miraculous happened.

I share the story to illustrate how small we really are in the universe God created and where we currently reside.

This week has provided a spectacular reminder to all Americans as we’ve watched the power of a single tropical system as it devastated an entire region with wind and rain and flooding.

It’s been reported that in only 5 days 11 trillion gallons of water has come into the Houston TX region and all anyone can do is wait for the water to recede. I heard a report last night saying that what took 5 days to come down may take up to 3 weeks to go away.

Over the last few years, I’ve become much more aligned with the fact that he is God and I am not. In that, I celebrate. I hope you will too.

And then pray for the people in Texas. While they need resources and both the public and government are working to provide them, God, with one word can help anyone who needs him to and often, even though we don’t deserve it, will help us specifically and directly.

Praise God – worship him and remember, we’re here for that reason and God wants all of us to get to know him. Not the religious version of him you may have been told about – but the real him. He’s real you know and you were made in his image. Celebrate today!

1 John 4:7 – “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”

I’ve got a startling truth for you today. It’s one I want you to lock in on and use as fuel when you’re tired, weak or struggling to keep going.

Ready? It’s that you’re loved by God the Father. The Apostle John uses the word ‘beloved’ but since that’s a term from long ago, many don’t know it’s meaning. The synonyms for the word beloved tell us a lot.

Here’s just a taste of the names God has in mind when he thinks of you. Darling, dear, dearest, precious, adored, much loved, cherished, treasured, prized, highly regarded, admired, esteemed, worshiped, revered, venerated, idolized.

Wow – savor that for a bit. Cherished? When’s the last time you truly felt cherished? How about much loved or treasured? Most of us humans would struggle to think of such a time when we KNEW we were even remotely loved at this level.

Here’s the truth though; if you didn’t say “right now – at this very moment”, it’s because you’re not fully connecting to who God is and what he’s said about his creation. That includes you by the way.

Once we connect with the reality that God loves us and there is nothing that can or will change that – we can go one step further. We can (and must) love one another.

I read something recently, expressed by King David in his Psalms that really spoke to me because it explains so much. In verse 6 of the Message version of Psalm 31, he says “I hate all this silly religion, but you, God, I trust.” Other English versions use the word ‘worthless idols’ in place of religion but the meaning is clear.

Most of the world’s religions are created by people to give us rules and regulations to abide by. But we must remember that the Pharisees were super religious people too and they bound the people in chains of ‘duty’.

God, however, kept it very simple. He told us to do just two things and as a result, everything else would be ok. He said we must:
1) Love God
2) Love each other

That’s it. So, beloved, take this with you and marinate yourself in it today – you are much loved. You are cherished. You are adored. You are prized. You are treasured. By who? By God Himself.

All he asks is that you love him back and then demonstrate you understand the depth of his love by loving other people.

John 1:3 (NLT) – “God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.”

A project I was involved in this week was an amazing demonstration of how “alive” God really is and how much his nature is hardwired for life and growth.

My teacher used to ask: “How tall will a tree grow?”, to which the only logical answer is “as tall as it can”. See the tree was created for growth and it cannot ignore its DNA. Until or unless it is opposed by something, it will continue to grow.

The project was to knock back the rapid growth of brush, trees, and vines from a first behind my friend’s home that has occurred over the summer. In just the last few months, the plants back there have grown like mad and are now choking the other plants nearby them looking for even more nutrients to feed its own growth. All you have to do is observe and you’ll know that this area is alive. There are many, many other living things that exist there.

My simple observation really points out something important about our God. It’s been said that everything we see around us is of his making. He created it all for us to enjoy. But if you look closely enough, you cannot help but notice that God’s personality exists in every living thing too.

One of my favorite examples of the Lord’s personality is the sense of humor I find in my doggies. These two pups born of different breeds and different mothers are indeed quite different. But they are both very much alive with a unique personality of their own.

One of them, Buddy, has a desire to get on my bed instead of sleeping in his own. But he knows that at bedtime, he’s not allowed to be on the bed. But one night, his desire overtook him and he set out on a bold adventure.

He jumped up on the chair sitting next to the bed, then by standing on the arm rest, he was able to climb onto the night table next to my bed. Buddy apparently tippy-toed across this table just hoping to reach the other side where he could jump to the bed.

All of this happened while I was sleeping but at about 1:30, I felt movement and looked up and here’s my dog staring at me. A big goofy grin on his face.

“Look at me! – I got up on the bed all by myself!” He seemed pleased with himself. But I had to solve the mystery of how he did it.

On go the lights and an examination of the chair and table made it easy to put the story together. See, there are deep scratches in the wooden table from his claws as he made his journey across to the bed. To this day I laugh out loud when I see the table and think about his adventure.

But here’s what I want you to consider. All around you are people who think that the world “evolved” from the primordial soup. They’ll tell you there is NO intelligent design and there is NO creator.

But I ask you to watch nature and see, is there evidence of that? Watch your pets closely, especially when they make you laugh and ask “where did they get that from?”

It won’t take much for you to sigh, relax a bit and give God the praise for being so incredible to us while completely fogging the minds of those who supposedly know so much. I know that I’m doing that this very day!

Matthew 7:7 – “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

It all started innocently enough as many relationships do. But over the days and weeks to come, our get together’s grew more frequent and soon I understood I was being pursued.

Passionately.

What I brought to this relationship didn’t seem like much to me – but to my pursuer, it was something of great desire.

What, exactly, am I talking about?

I was standing outside my front door one day in late Spring watching the squirrels who live in the oak trees, play. I was eating dry roasted peanuts and noticed one of those furry little guys was watching me intently.

They mostly seem to subsist on acorns and don’t appear to be going hungry – so I didn’t offer them a peanut because of a belief that they needed to be fed.

But I tossed one of my peanuts down and one of the squirrels picked it up and examined it closely. Then he ran up the tree and in no time I saw him perched on a limb above me munching eagerly on this new found delicacy.

Then he came back asking for another. So I gave him one more.

I guess, much as it is with humans, the word spread of something good on offer. These squirrels connected me as the source of a great treasure. The next day there was not one squirrel looking for a peanut – but 2-3 of them.

To be honest, I enjoy being pursued. I like being thought of as the source of something good. And I liked the attention.

Our relationship with God is much the same way. See, he is the source of all the good things we have in our lives. As David said in Psalm 50:10, “For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills.”

He wants us to pursue him. He wants us to ask him for things we need or want.

Both the peanuts and the squirrels come from him. Along with everything else we have. We don’t actually own anything, we’re merely stewards of the things God gave us.

So how can you and I use this today? I’m convinced that many of us don’t have the things we want in our life because we never ask for them. We haven’t fully accepted that God is the source of all the good things in our lives.

Then there is this: Many don’t ask because they are somewhere between being unsure of what they’d ask for and a firm belief that their request would be denied anyway. Why get your hopes up only to end up disappointed?

The squirrels? They have no confusion over what they want from me. They want peanuts. Some days there are as many as 7 squirrels who are here seeking a peanut whenever I walk outside.

If I walk out to get the mail – they ask “got any peanuts?”

As to our dealings with God, remember what Jesus said himself, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (recorded in John 14:14)

There are a few exceptions to that. What you ask for and faithfully believe will happen must also be in alignment with what God wants for your life.

He wants what’s best for us when often we only ask for what would be good. When we ask, it’s not with passion. Praying for a new Mercedes Benz is, in many cases, not in alignment with his will either.

Realize too that he’s looking at your reasons for this desire you express. What is your motivation for your request? You don’t have to say it out loud – he knows your heart.

But when you get clear on those things you really want to happen in your life, while acknowledging that “if it’s your will”, then earnestly ask Jesus for them – you will end up shocked how often he grants you those things you wanted.

Try it today and report back to me in comments below what you found.

John 7:37b-38 – “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within.”

A metaphor, according to the dictionary is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

If you’ve read enough of scripture, especially the Gospels, you know that Jesus spoke to the people using metaphors and parables regularly.

So when Jesus invites us to “come and drink”, he is not suggesting you drink of his bodily fluids. No, he is not a water fountain either, although in an earlier time God did make a fountain appear in a desert. But only if they struck the rock in a certain way (Exodus 17:6).

In this particular story, he was telling his people to drink of his ‘essence’ and that his spirit in them would be equal to ’streams of living water.’

How many people can you think of right now that have placed their hope in things offered by humans here on earth that failed to be real? And after getting themselves all caught up in those promises found that the promise was not going to be delivered?

Hope rises, then falls. Often lower than it did before they began. This is very similar to the way that diets are sold. If you only do x-y-z for a time, you’ll lose all this weight. You’ll look great! Everyone will notice!

We get excited, punish ourselves to follow through and we actually get some results. But we didn’t change our lifestyle. So the weight comes back, often more than before.

Religion tends to promise “miracles” too – but only if you follow to the letter so and so’s plan and do x-y-z. Sound familiar?

If you’ve read my posts before you might already understand that I’m not advocating religion or religious practices on this site. Rather I’m suggesting that you pursue Jesus instead.

He came to offer us life to the fullest. Nowhere will you find Jesus telling us that the only way to find him and the life he promises is by going to church.

I don’t have any issues with the church – it’s just that it’s not required for you to find Jesus.

I doubt many religious leaders would say this but only a few of the 37 miracles that Jesus performed happened in the temple. All of the rest occurred in the streets and towns. While he was among the people who wanted and needed restoration.

And that was Jesus’ only requirement for us. There were two actually, one was to love God and the other was to love other people. Pretty clear and easy to understand in my view.

There was no command to own a fine suit, put on your best shoes and show up in church every Sunday. We were not told to serve on committees and such but to simply love God and to treat others as we hope to be treated.

No metaphor was used and no further explanation was needed. His invitation to drink in all he offered us still stands today. If you don’t believe it – ask him to prove it to you. I think he does by the fact you read this post, but if that’s not enough, “ask, seek and knock” and see what happens when you do.