Touched By The Fathers Love!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

What a wonderful time of year this is. Most of us are heading out or inviting others in for a time of celebration and friendship. A time when we gather together and share a meal and some laughs.

In the spirit of sharing, I thought we could share with one another our love stories. The story of how, when and where we met Jesus. The story of what your life was like before Him, and what it is like with Him.

I joined in last year to "Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving" hosted by my friend Heather over at Swallowing A Moose, and my heart was so touched, I thought it would be great to share again!

We all have a story, a good story! There are no dull stories, so whether you have known Jesus your whole life or you just met Him yesterday, we would love to hear about it!

Knowing the love and favor of our Father, is most definitely worthy of praise and A thankful heart. I hope you will join us.

Post your testimony on your blog page. Entitle it "Touched By The Fathers Love!; Whatever the title of your post is." Then, add your post (copy and paste the address of that particular post so that the widget links directly to it) to the Mr. Linky widget below. Make sure you start your post explaining what we are all sharing and add a link back here so that others can join in.

I know we are all busy this week, so we will continue sharing our stories through next week. I hope we find this time of sharing to be a way of drawing us closer to each other, through the Fathers love in each of our hearts and lives. There is nothing better than being Touched by the Fathers Love!

Join in below and continue down to read about how I have been Touched By The Fathers Love!




Touched By The Fathers L0ve!; To Good To Be True


Before I knew Jesus:
I was born into dysfunction, as so many of us are. My childhood was not filled with security or an overwhelming sense of love and acceptance. As a matter of fact, I recall feeling quite insecure and unsure of myself the majority of the time. As I grew older all of these feelings grew along with me. I became a mom at the age of sixteen and started out into the "real world" for a taste of bitter sweet reality. Even with child in tow, and a new set of circumstances, I simply wanted to fit in. I wanted to be accepted, but try as I might, I never felt as though I was good enough. I hung out with the wrong crowd for the most part, doing the wrong things at the wrong times. But even the wrong crowd could not make me feel right about myself. I would not have recognized or known real love if it had knocked me upside the head and flat on my behind!

I eventually woke up one morning and realized that once upon a time, when I was a very little girl, I had dreams and I was going to do something great someday! I looked around and realized that "great" did not describe the life that I was living. It also, did not describe the life I was giving my son. So, I made some changes. Then,a few Months after my Ah-Ha moment, I met a great guy, got married,and had another baby. Yet, with all of this greatness in my life, that emptiness still nagged away at the inside of me, taunting me to not trust in love or happiness. My marriage was struggling, and I was feeling as though I could not get anything right. I felt as though it was inevitable, If I could mess up a good thing, I would.

When I met Jesus:
I was pregnant with my third child when a friend invited me to church. I wanted to go, but continued to put it off and put it off for weeks. Finally one cold, March morning, I decided it's now or never. I got my 8yr old ready, bundled up my baby and off we went. My friend met me in the lobby, showed me where to take my children, and ushered me to my seat. I remember thinking "This is church?" It was so unlike the stuffy images I had painted in my head. The worship was energizing and refreshing, and the people were all friendly and seemed to genuinely be glad to make my acquaintance. I decided fairly quick that I loved it. I returned the following Wednesday evening, and the following Sunday, and the Wednesday after that, I gave my life to the Lord.

I remember the moment so very clearly. I was watching a woman worship on stage and thought to myself "How can she be so full of joy? I want whatever it is she has!" you see, I knew this woman had suffered the loss of a child, and yet, she had more joy than I had ever even imagined having. I prayed that night, from the bottom of my heart, and asked God to come into my life. I have been running toward Him, feet going as fast as they can, ever since. Unfortunately, my husband was not as thrilled about my new found faith as I was. But, the story is not yet over.

After I met Jesus:
God began house cleaning in my heart from day one. The first of many areas was my marriage. God has done, and is still doing, an incredible work in both of us. He has blessed us with a wonderful marriage that is filled with the beauty of friendship. My husband has become my very best friend, and we have a relationship built on love, support, honesty and acceptance. My husband and I, even after all these years, are still not completely on the same page spiritually. However, we are getting there, and I have learned that God is faithful, the work that He has done in both of us, is irreversible, and there is no where to go but forward.

God has taken my insecurities and turned them into promises. He has taken my fear of messing up and turned it into an excitement that awaits the next step of our journey together. He has shown me that the love I have always longed for is found in His eyes, and He has turned my "little girl dreams" into realities that are within reach. Through Jesus I have learned who I really am, Who I was meant to be, and what I am capable of accomplishing through Him. I no longer feel unaccepted, I feel as though I am right where I was always meant to be. And, I know for the first time in my life that this is one good, no, great thing, I will never mess up. It is not about me and how well I am able to perform, but about Jesus and what He has already done!

All of my "trying" got me no where, but trusting in the gospel saved my life. "Gospel" is actually associated with a Greek word that means to good to be true. God has an abundant life of, to good to be true, just waiting for each of us. This is something we can all be grateful for this Thanksgiving. As we draw close to Jesus He will show us how to receive everything that has been accomplished for us on the cross.

Where Freedom Begins

Have you ever, or do you ever feel jealous?

If we are all being honest, I think it would be fair to say that at some point in our lives, we have all felt the feeling of jealousy. When I was a kid I used to get jealous when one of my friends wanted to spend time with someone besides me. I felt jealous when someone got the new boots that I had been wanting for 4 months. I felt jealous over a lot of stuff.

I think as kids, we trick ourselves into thinking that when we "grow-up" we won't feel jealous anymore. We trick ourselves into thinking that when we grow up we will be more confident, bold, satisfied, etc...but, that's not really the truth, is it?

No matter how much older we get the only way we truly "grow-up" is to "grow-in" the Fathers love. If this doesn't happen we will be just as jealous and insecure at 35 as we were at 15.

The Father has been teaching me a very freeing lesson about jealousy. It has changed me, and it has helped me to truly be happy for others when they are blessed.

I have always had this tendency to feel jealous when other people get to travel to wonderful places. Well, truth be told I used to be jealous over many things, but this is what Father used to teach me in a big way, so, this is my example.

Anyway...

One day I found myself saying, "I am so jealous! I wish I could go there!" When I felt Father speak to my heart in the following way.

Father "Daveda, don't you know how much I love you?"

Me "Sure, I know you love me."

Father "You must not REALLY believe that I love you or you wouldn't feel jealous. You would know in your heart that my desire is to bless you. Give your heart to me"

Me *lightbulb* "Ahhhhhh, I see"

Do you see? The only reason we have to feel jealous is if we believe that Father loves someone else better than us. We only feel jealous when we believe that's why they got this wonderful blessing, and we didn't. He must like them, love them, more than me.

But, that's not the truth, it's a lie.

The truth is, God wants to bless us too. We just don't believe that He does, so we don't think to ask Him.

Shortly after the Lord spoke to my heart about this, I was looking through some pictures that were posted online of a wonderful trip overseas, taken by a friend, and I found myself thinking "Wow! This must be really amazing, I wish I could go somewhere like this." When I felt this overwhelming peace come to my heart as I turned to Jesus and said "Thank you Jesus that you love me, just as much as this person, and if you can send her to this wonderful place, you can send me somewhere someday too. I know you love me Lord"

You see, we only feel jealous when we do not know Fathers love and His heart to give to us. We only feel jealous when we believe the lie that says - God must love them better than me-.

The truth is that God loves you and wants to bless you. This work of being set free and experiencing life in abundance starts in our hearts as we begin to believe in His love for us, as we begin to turn to Him and ask Him to help us trust in His love, His power, His favor at work in our lives.

Freedom from jealousy is found in Jesus. It is found in learning to live in the wonderful gift of right standing He gave to us!

Turn your heart to Jesus and ask Him for a fresh revelation of His love for you today!

This is where Freedom Begins!

Now, That is GOOD NEWS!

Who are you? Or, at least, who do you think you are?

Who we believe ourselves to be will widely determine how we live our lives. It will determine how we see ourselves, and how we believe that God sees us.

For many years I lived my Christian life feeling as though I didn't really measure up. I believed that I was a wretched person still driven by my sinful nature, therefore, I never had the peace that passes all understanding, and I did not lived my life in the rest that Jesus says is mine (Hebrews 4) to live in.

How could I? I was constantly placing the flood light of my attention on all of the things that I thought I was not. I questioned my motives and my heart at every turn.

I am not saying that it is never right to ask the Lord to examine our hearts or our motives, only that I ALWAYS thought mine had to be somehow rooted in evil. After all, there was no good in me, right?

WRONG!!

"Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

When we become one with Jesus, we are given a new nature. We are no longer the same as we were before.

NOW, THAT IS GOOD NEWS!

Our outward behaviors and habits won't change overnight, however, as we begin to agree with and trust the Lord, our outward attitudes and behaviors will begin to line up with the work that has been done inside of us.

If we continue to see ourselves as wretched sinners, saved by grace, trying with all of our might to just live as best as we can, then we will not live in the rest or the peace that Jesus came for us to have.

All of our trying to be good enough will exhaust us. If it does not exhaust us, then it will cause us to become prideful, thinking that we, in our own strength and determination can make ourselves acceptable and favorable in God's eyes.

But God says that our righteousness (right standing with Him), attained by self-effort is as filthy rags before Him. The only true righteousness, is a free gift, given to us by Jesus...

Complete with a new nature and a new heart.

A new creation.


Once I began to see myself as hidden in Christ, I began to live in peace, joy, rest and favor. This in no way means that I think I am perfect or have no room for improvement. But, it does mean that I am learning more and more everyday, how to see myself the way that God sees me.

I no longer live as a wretched sinner, just trying to serve God and live as best as I can to please Him.

I now live as a daughter of the King. I live as if I am hidden in Christ, and He lives His life through me. Through my new desires, and my new heart.

Through my NEW NATURE...

I can trust Him to live through me. I no longer feel as though I have to try to be good enough to please Him.

Because I know that I already do. Just as you do.

God is pleased with you today, because of Jesus!!

Knowing who you are, because of what He has done for you, is the only way to live in freedom.

Amazing Freedom!

The work the Lord does in our hearts, as we begin to believe Him is amazing. When we receive Jesus our spirits are completely renewed, we are given a new identity in Christ, complete with a new nature and a new heart. However, we do not walk in the fullness of our new identity immediately, it is a life long process.

The Lord has been teaching me more and more about who I really am. He uses the situations in our lives to strengthen us and help us learn to turn to Him during the times that we feel less that who He says we are.

I never saw myself as an insecure person. However, when the Lord moved my family 320 miles away from home, I began to see that I had many, many insecurities! The last four years I have been placed in situation after situation that brought out the lies inside.

Have you ever been in a group of people and had thoughts like this;

I don't think they like me.

They must think what I said was stupid.

I hope they didn't misunderstand what I said.

I wonder if they are talking about me when I am not around.

I wonder what they are laughing about; Is it about me?

I have, many, many, many times! But, not so much any more.

It isn't that the lies of the enemy don't still come, it's just that I have learned what to do with them.

I am learning to believe what Jesus says is the truth about me so, when I hear these things I take them to Jesus!!

I continually ask the Lord daily, to give me fresh revelation of His love for me. I thank Him for the favor that He has given me with Himself and with others and I ask Him to help me believe that I have that favor.

I am not trying to prove myself to those around me and I am not trying to be good enough to get it. I am just being the best me I can be, and leaving the rest up to God. Its HIM that gives me the favor.

When words are spoken or attitudes or detected (or assumed) I say "Lord this is how I am feeling, remind me of the truth about myself, remind me of your opinion and help me trust that what you say about me is the truth."

I also just assume that everyone likes me. I have spent way to many minutes, hours and days worrying about what others think and feel about who I am. So, unless someone tells me they have a problem, I assume that they don't. I assume that I have favor with them, Like the Lord says I do.

Learning to believe and trust in the righteousness Jesus has given us, is a process that we gradually learn to walk in. None of us hear the truth about our righteousness and walk in the fullness of it over night.

We will all continually see areas where we may not believe God's truth in our lives, and that's okay. We just need to turn to Jesus and ask Him to help us. We need to ask Him to develop the fruit of what He has placed inside of us.

As we begin to turn to, trust in, and agree with Jesus, He will help us believe what He says is truth. As this happens, we will walk in freedom from the opinion of others (or what we think is the opinion of others).

I have recently been placed in an new situation, with new people and the work that the Lord has done/is doing, is amazing! I am sharing all of this with you because learning to agree with Jesus and what He says is the truth really does set you free!!

And, I gotta say, freedom feels GREAT!

Fruits of Righteousness

For many years I went to church, studied the Word, grew closer to the Lord and was continually healed from a lot of emotional pain, yet, I still found myself just as insecure as I was before I became a believer.

Much of the time I felt like I was not good enough. Sure, there were days when I felt like I had done everything I was supposed to, so I was able to feel good about myself (prideful) that day. However, the roller coaster that travels in between condemnation and pride is a very exhausting ride to be on.

Then, the Lord began teaching me about resting in His finished work. He began teaching me the truth about what (who) Grace really is, and who I really am because of it (Him).

This is the truth that has set me free!

I had heard parts of the truth before, however, I did not realize that all truth that helps us grow is rooted in the person and the finished work of Jesus. It is rooted in His grace operating in our lives. Without this understanding, no amount of truth can help us to see our new identity. We will still felt like we have to earn all that God has for us.

God's Grace is also His power, it is His ability to change everything about us that needs to be changed.

It is His truth, love and favor working in us, from the inside out.

When we say yes to Jesus, our spirits are completely renewed. God places every good attribute of His inside of us, and we become the righteousness of Christ in Jesus. The Father now sees us without blemish, without fault, perfect in His eyes, in right standing with Him.

It is as if we had never sinned.

Amazing, right!?

The problem is we get tripped up on all the stuff we still see in our character that does not seem to line up with this (His) righteousness. But, when we begin to see ourselves the way that God sees us, and we begin to turn to Him as we see our faults and flaws, trusting Him to bring what is inside out, then we can begin to walk in our new identity.

"May you abound in and be filled with the fruits of righteousness (of right standing with God and right doing) which come through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One), to the honor and praise of God [that His glory may be both manifested and recognized]." Philippians 1:11 AMP

Doing the right things on the outside is fruit that is developed as we begin to see our righteousness on the inside. As we begin to believe and agree with God about who we are in Jesus, we will begin to walk in who He says we are.

Of course, I am not saying that any of us have attained or will attain perfection while we are on this earth, but we are clothed with His robe of righteousness, and when we wear this robe, God works ALL things together for our good. Even our mistakes, our faults and our weaknesses!

AMEN! Now, that is good news!