Praise

Choose Love

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Relationships can be hard if we strive to seek power or control.  If our self is driving during our interactions with others things will often end poorly.  There will be bitterness, anger, frustration and all the things we don’t want to be a part of our relationships.  There is a better way.  There is love.  Unconditional, never-ending love.  This does not mean just let the other person walk all over you and do whatever they want whenever they want.  This means both people do things to make life better for both of them.  It is important in any relationship to build your time together on a foundation of faith.  There will be times when each of you will need to lean on the Lord in prayer as each of you will have your moments when self will try to take over.  Be strong together and God will watch over your life.  Today my wife and I are celebrating 23 years in marriage, we were joined in marriage by God and nothing will keep us apart.  We have had to fight some battles and we continue to get stronger as we go because we both know that there is nobody who will love us like we do each other.  I am thankful for every day God gives us together.  May you find God’s love and joy in your relationships.

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“Love must be sincere.  Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.  Be devoted to one another in love.  Honor one another above yourselves.  Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.  Share with God’s people who are in need.  Practice hospitality.”

Romans 12:9-13

(This photo was taken in April of 2016 at a lake place in central Minnesota)

Gratitude

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One of the difficult challenges in life is adjusting your perspective.  We receive so many messages through our senses from our daily life.  Things we see, things we hear, things we read, etc.  We get to choose what things get our time and attention.  Whatever we focus on becomes embedded in our perspective.  When we spend too much time on negativity, sadness, anger, selfishness and hatred we adopt that point of view to everything else.  This is the way of living focused on self.  We will always end up disappointed.  We need to find ways to build in positive things, goodness, kindness, joy and love.  These things will help us live with a balanced perspective.  One easy way to start is to practice gratitude.  What are you thankful for?  It may not come easy at first if you haven’t done this very often.  Think about the very basics in life like food, shelter and clothing…don’t take such things for granted as these are not in abundance for everyone in the world.  Once you start practicing gratitude and you want to build on it, the next thing is giving…the joy, peace and contentment will continue to build in your life from there.  Find your gratitude things and give thanks to God for all of it.  May God’s joy and peace be with you.

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“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;  his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Psalm 100

(This photo was taken in March of 2018 while traveling through southern New Mexico)

Trust In The Lord

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In our interactions with others it may become difficult to trust other people.  We are all broken and we all have committed sin.  We all have difficulty denying thy self, and we end up doing things that hurt another person.  We have all been there…we have all been the one who hurts another and we have all been the one hurt by others.  Depending on how bad you have been hurt or betrayed it becomes difficult to trust others.  The place we can always trust is at the Cross.  This doesn’t mean God will always do what we plan or want, it means we can trust that He is always working for the good in our lives according to His plan.  Come to the Cross and learn to live trusting in the Lord first and He will guide us in our relationships with others.  May God’s peace be with you.

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“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.  Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Psalm 37:3-4

(This photo was taken in June of 2013 at Falls Park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota)

The Joy Of Faith

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The true form of joy comes from believing and knowing that the Lord your God created you out of love, knows the about the deepest part of you and will never leave you or abandon you.  Faith has been and is the only thing that can overcome sadness, darkness and sin.  Jesus came down from heaven and showed the power of faith by His actions and His sacrifice.  He defeated sickness and illness, He defeated the devil in the desert, and He defeated death.  He did it all for you and He did it out of His love…and that is why true joy is found only in Faith and nowhere else on earth.  May you find joy in God’s peace and love.

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“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

1 Peter 1:8-9

(This photo was taken in June of 2016 at a lake near Plymouth, Minnesota)

Your Personal Relationship With God

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It comes down to this…what is the status of your personal relationship with God?  Is He someone you used to know really well and have lost touch with over time?  Is He a social media friend who you only interact with in a superficial way?  Is He a friend that you are unsure about?  Is He someone you have heard some good things about but you have never really met Him in person?  God wants you to know how He is involved in every area of your life…He wants you to want to be closely connected to Him daily.  He is with you and He is waiting to hear from you.  If you are wondering where is God…stop what you are doing and take sometime and ask Him.  He knows you and He loves you.  May God’s love and peace be with you.

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“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

(This photo was taken in August of 2016 in Glacier National Park in Montana)

Believe

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So often doubts and fears creep in on us and overwhelm us.  We hear things and we read things and it becomes difficult to know who and what we can trust.  This has been true through out all of history.  In the bible the Israelite’s were afraid to go into Canaan except for Caleb and Joshua but everyone listened to those who were fearful and did not go.  During the life of Jesus, many of the actions of people were based in fear.  They had doubts about who Jesus was and they were afraid.  When we let the fear and doubt rule us we are not living the life that God intended for us.  His goodness becomes harder and harder to understand.  As it says in Hebrews 11…

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Hebrews 11:1

We must combat the fear when it paralyzes us from moving forward.  Pray to God and offer up to Him what fears you have.  It is okay to have doubts but when doubts arise think back in your life when you had doubts and you were surprised by the results of the situation, that is where God shows up.  Believe in God, believe in Jesus Christ his one and only Son and trust the Holy Spirit as your guide…when you do you will sense His presence, His joy and peace.  May God’s love and peace be with you.

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“He replied, “Because you have so little faith, I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 17:20-21

(This photo was taken in October of 2014 during sunrise on the island of Maui, Hawaii)

Living In God’s Love

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Never give up hope.  Don’t stop believing in goodness.  Trust in God to provide all that you need.  A life that is centered in Christ and honors God looks very different than what the world tells you about living.  The world looks to serve the self, to put me first.  The life that honors God surrenders self and is open to God’s plan first.  This is a significant shift in perspective and it will not happen overnight for most of us.  In fact it is a daily endeavor to stay the course by studying the Word, praying, and serving the needs of those we encounter each day.  Remember God is love.  When Jesus was asked which commandment is the most important in Matthew 22 He stated:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it:  Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:37-40

That is where we should start.  Loving God with all that we are and loving our neighbors as ourselves.  Once again we are given the answers to the questions and now it is up to us to go out and live it in our daily life and interactions.  May God’s hope, peace and love be with you.

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“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

Romans 12:12

(This photo was taken in March of 2013 at the Botanical Gardens at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada)

Bring Your Burdens To The Lord

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When something is weighing you down, constantly causing angst and worry, bring it to the Lord in prayer.  Our minds often deceive us that we can take care of things or just distract ourselves long enough and everything will be alright…yet that concern finds its way back to the forefront of our mind and if we are not careful we could continue this cycle endlessly.  When we come before the Lord in prayer and offer these worries up to Him and we trust in Him to guide us we can make our way forward.  We still have a role to play as we need to pay attention and listen for God’s guidance and then we will begin to see a change in that burden or belief.  God is always working for our good, we just need to talk with Him and get out of our own way.  May God’s peace be with you.

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“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Matthew 11:28

(This photo was taken in August of 2016 near Arches National Park in Utah)

Worship And Praise

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Music is one of the ways I sit in praise and worship of our Lord.  We have so much to be thankful for in our lives.  Take time to be with the Lord.  Some times it is just sitting and listening to songs of praise like one of these…

10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) – Matt Redman

What A Beautiful Name – Hillsong Worship

I encourage you whatever you do and wherever you go to sense His presence the most, go to that place and thank God for all you have and all He has done and then invite Him to guide you going forward…He is always there waiting for you and He will never leave you.  May God’s love, joy and peace be with you.

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“The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.  The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.”

Psalm 145:8-9

(This photo was taken in August of 2016 near Glacier National Park in Montana)

God Is With You

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Be at peace.  God is with you.  Everywhere you go, in every part of every day in your life He is with you.  As I continue to my faith journey, I shudder when I think what life would be like if I was still trying to live without my personal relationship with God.  He calms the storms, He lifts me up when I have fallen, He forgives me when I repent and He is the source of the kind of joy that has to be experienced to be understood.  My heart is singing today.  If you are looking for a song to sing in praise check out this song “Forever” by Chris Tomlin.

God created you, He sacrificed His One and only Son to save you, He forgives you for your sins and He goes with you everywhere, everyday…Forever.

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“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Isaiah 41:10

(This photo was taken in June of 2016 near the border between South Dakota and Minnesota)