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Love and Accept

Whenever you cross my mind, I thank my God for you and for the gift of knowing you. 4 My spirit is lightened with joy whenever I pray for you (and I do constantly) 5 because you have partnered with me to spread the gospel since the first day I preached to you.

6 I am confident that the Creator, who has begun such a great work among you, will not stop in mid-design but will keep perfecting you until the day Jesus the Anointed, our Liberating King, returns to redeem the world. 7 It is only right that I should feel such admiration for you all—you hold me close to your hearts. And, since we are partners in this great work of grace, you have never failed to stand with me as I have defended and stood firm for the gospel—even from this prison cell. 8 Before God I want you to know how much I long to see you and love you with the affection of the Anointed One, Jesus.

“Our Mission is that EVERY STUDENT would feel LOVED and ACCEPTED as CHRIST LOVES AND ACCEPTS ALL OF US where we are, for who we are, but doesn’t leave us there. We exist to encourage, empower, equip, and energize the young people of this world to be a partner with God in transforming the world.”
 
I think and believe that Larissa believes that Ian is important and I believe that Ian feels the same for her. The way Larissa looks at Ian with abundant love and acceptance is how Christ looks at us. She doesn’t see anything else, She doesn’t look at his outside but at all times she loves and accepts him.
How are you in your life looking at people? Is it in line with how God looks at them?
Today commit to love and accept.
This simple choice can and does change and transform our world.
Amen.
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Longing For

Don’t be anxious about things; instead, pray. Pray about everything. He longs to hear your requests, so talk to God about your needs and be thankful for what has come. And know that the peace of God (a peacethat is beyond any and all of our human understanding) will stand watch over your hearts and minds in Jesus, the Anointed One. (Philippians 4:6-7) 

Many of us have heard this verse, many times. When I have a verse that I have heard a lot through my life I tend to go towards the VOICE translation when I read it again and like clockwork it provides results. Today let’s look at the first words about he says to pray about everything.

He longs to hear your requests. 

He longs for it.

Think about the last thing that you have longed for.

Do you remember what that was? With us sometimes our longing goes to less worthy of things. Possessions, Food, Human Relationships, etc.

But when was the last time you longed for God?

I mean really longed for Him to depths of who you are that if you didn’t have time with God you don’t think you could go on?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t know when that was and that is how God feels for us ALL THE TIME. Ouch. Don’t worry though, don’t be anxious, because no matter what you do and really don’t do He will always long for you and I. This desire is what lead him to the cross. He longed to be connected with his creation again and again and again. So today I share this and I share this prayer with you.

Peace Be With You.

God,

Help us to long for you and your presence and your love as you long to give that presence and love to us. Help us to be ourselves, to see what we have, and to do what matters to you. Help us O Lord we pray. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy. In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

 

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Legacy

Legacy_Title_postcard

So we are now representatives of the Anointed One, the Liberating King; God has given us a charge to carry through our lives—urging all people on behalf of the Anointed to become reconciled to the Creator God. He orchestrated this: the Anointed One, who had never experienced sin, became sin for us so that in Him we might embody the very righteousness of God.

God has given us a charge, or a task to carry through our lives. God has given us a tool, a gift to help us live our lives in a way to points not to ourselves but to God. This is our legacy. God is our legacy. Christ is our legacy, and everything that they stand for.

Moving on it says urging all people on behalf of Jesus to come back to God.

He orchestrated this.

He desired this.

He wants His creation to return to Him, because He misses His creation and He desires to pour love upon us, and then in so doing ask us to partner with Him in pouring on love to all the world.

More simply put. Love is our Legacy.

These simple verses capture the heart of the good news. Lowering Himself, the sinless, Jesus took our sin upon Himself and canceled its power through His death and resurrection. As believers are united with Him and embody God’s righteousness, experiencing forgiveness, reconciliation, and new life. This righteousness is a new creation gift that can never be separated from the Giver, and so believers only experience it because they are “in Him.”

Because of Jesus’ acts on the cross we know that the worst thing is NEVER the LAST THING.

That is our Legacy.

Let’s pray.