Ed Christian's World

The Feast of Remembrance…

The children of Israel were told to celebrate Passover every year, so that they would never forget how the Lord had saved them out of Egypt.

Paul was at the end of his life. He had once opposed the gospel but his life as an enemy of God was long over. He had been in the Lord for decades, known throughout the world as a saint.

Paul, at the end of his life, tells the story of getting saved as if it were yesterday. He calls himself, not the greatest of saints, but the greatest of sinners. He remembered how God took him out of darkness and into His marvelous light… as if it were yesterday.

If you want to get to the Promised Land, you must never stop thanking God for taking you out of Egypt. Simon Peter wrote that those who aren’t godly or increasing in godliness, are those who have forgotten their salvation.

Don’t forget to remember to thank the Lord for all He saved you from. Give thanks to the Lord for saving you out of Egypt and one day, you’ll give thanks to the Lord for bringing you into the Promised Land.

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. 2 Peter 1:3-9

Take time to thank God today for all the things He’s saved you from.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Prince, The Nightingale, And The Bullfrog…

Once upon a time there lived a frog, a nightingale, and a prince. The nightingale used to sing the most beautiful songs with the most beautiful of voices. The frog just croaked.

Whenever the nightingale started to sing, the frog would start to croak. This was very disconcerting for the nightingale. Whenever the frog started croaking, the nightingale would stop singing. It was driving the nightingale crazy.

One night, the prince was walking by the nightingales’ tree. He stopped, hoping to hear it sing. There was no singing. He could only hear the croaking of the frog.

“Aren’t you going to sing?” asked the prince, “I know you have a beautiful voice.” “Sing!” replied the nightingale. “How can I sing when all day long I have to listen to that stupid bullfrog and those horrible noises he makes. Don’t you hear it?” “Yes,” said the prince, “I do hear it. But I wouldn’t hear it if you’d stop complaining and start singing.”

Let the one who has ears hear… You don’t have to be dealing with that bullfrog. You could be singing. Start singing to the glory of God and the croaking will disappear.

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, the 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

Praise God for His blessings in spite of and over all the little annoyances of the day.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

You’re Traveling 18.5 miles/second…

It may seem quiet where you are. It may seem that nothing’s really happening, but it’s not really the case. Every second you’re travelling 18.5 miles. That’s the speed of the earth.

Every tick of the clock, you’re 18.5 miles away from where you were before the last tick. If that’s not enough, when you count to ten, you end up 200 miles away from the place you were when you started counting.

Can you imagine how long you’ve traveled just reading this message? Even though it may not look like it, everything is moving. Every soul is moving, either toward God or away from God.

It’s not just true for the earth. It’s true for you. Your life is heading somewhere. It’s meant to head to glory. God wants to bring your life to a good place.

You should decide that since you’re going places anyway, it can’t ever be away from God, but to Him. Move closer. You can’t stay where you are. Move ahead in love, faith and in God – because God definitely wants you and your life… to be going places.

“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

Take a look at your life. What direction is it moving in? Seek today to move in only one direction, closer to the Lord.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Why Have I Found Favor…

In the second chapter of Ruth, Boaz blesses the Gentile stranger who gleans in his fields. Ruth could’ve just said, ‘Thanks.’ However she says, ‘Why have I found favor?’

Boaz gives an answer, but really there’s no answer except that God ordained it that way. In the same way, you’ve found yourself in the fields of the Redeemer.

How did you end up so blessed? How did you end up saved? Was it because you were a good person? There’s no good answer why you have found favor.

Grace is not supposed to be explained. You don’t explain grace. You receive it. If you explain it, you can’t receive it. If you receive it, you can’t explain it. Most believers can explain salvation.

They think they did the right things, said the right prayer, and lived a pretty decent life in God. However, when you can explain why you’ve found favor, it’s not favor anymore.

There’s no reason why you should be saved, except God loves you. That’s why it’s called ‘grace.’ Never stop saying, ‘Why am I so blessed?’ Because when you can say why, you don’t know why. But when you don’t know why… that’s why.

She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

“May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”

At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”

When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.” Ruth 2:7-16

Thank God today for His love, blessing, grace and favor upon you.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Atheist Test…

Charles Bradlaugh was a famous atheist in England. Hugh Price Hughes was a minister who served in the slums of London. Bradlaugh challenged Hughes to a debate on the validity of Christianity.

Hughes challenge was that each bring concrete evidences of our beliefs in the form of men and women who have been redeemed from sin and shame by the influence of our teaching. ‘I will bring 100 such men and women, and I challenge you to do the same.

If you cannot bring 100, bring 50 men and women. If you cannot bring 50, then bring 20 people who will say, as my 100 will, that they have a great joy in a life of self-respect as a result of your atheistic teachings. If you cannot bring 20, bring 10.

No, I challenge you to bring just one man or woman who will make such a testimony regarding the uplifting of your atheistic teachings.’ With great embarrassment, Bradlaugh withdrew his challenge.

You don’t have to get into a long involved argument – the testimony of God is your life. You don’t have to argue Jesus. Show them Jesus. Show them a changed life and they’ll see.

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. Acts 20:24

Today, let people see Jesus in you by the way you behave.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The World – Your Bridegroom…

Every bride seeks to appear beautiful in the eyes of her groom. But it’s often an involved process, an expensive and a long process. In the ancient Hebrew marriage, the bride and groom would stay separated for a year.

The groom would prepare a place for the bride. And the bride would prepare herself for the groom. Her mission was to get ready and make herself beautiful.

Now anyone who has witnessed a woman making herself beautiful knows things often get worse before they get better. A woman covered with facial cream is not very beautiful. Sometimes, looking uglier is a necessary part of becoming more beautiful.

If you’re born again, you’re the bride, and now is the time of your preparation. That’s why you and Jesus are separated, because this is the time given you to prepare for marriage, to become beautiful in His eyes.

If you’re looking at yourself, your heart, your attitude, your spirituality… it can be pretty ugly… but don’t be discouraged. For it’s in seeing her lack of beauty that the bride becomes beautiful in the Lord. This is the time of your preparation. You have to become beautiful.

It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the bridegroom’s friend is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. John 3:29

Today, in every situation, look to see it as Heaven’s bridal chamber. Seek to see in everything, the good and the bad, the purposes of God to make you grow into His image.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Healing…

Isaiah 53 is one of the most amazingly clear prophecies of Jesus and His death ever given in the Scripture. One of the verses is particularly powerful. It says, ‘The punishment for our peace fell upon Him.’

In the original Hebrew, it doesn’t say ‘The punishment for our peace.’ It says ‘the punishment for our shalom.’ Why is this important? Shalom means a lot more than peace. When you have shalom, you don’t just have peace, you have fullness, wholeness, prosperity, and well-being.

Jesus didn’t die simply so you would have peace. He died so you would have shalom. In Hebrew, it doesn’t say ‘our shalom’ but ‘shalomeinu.’ It’s not two words, but one: “our” and “the shalom” can’t be separated.

It’s inconceivable that in Jesus, you should ever be separated from shalom. Jesus didn’t die so you would ever be separated from shalom. He died that you and shalom would be together, that it would be inconceivable to ever imagine you without it.

So start receiving your ‘shalomeinu,’ your fullness, your wholeness, and your well-being. It’s His gift and it’s your shalomeinu.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

No matter what your circumstances bring or what’s surrounding you, choose to live in the fullness of His Shalom.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Missing Years…

The first thing Jesus said to His disciples was, ‘Follow Me.’ If you call yourself a disciple, this must be the will of your life. A disciple follows his or her Rabbi. To be godly, you have to follow God.

How do you follow Jesus? What is the first thing Jesus did in His ministry? Jeaus became human – specifically, a little child. He became a little child so you also could become a little child. It’s one thing to be a child. It’s another thing to become a little child. Anyone can be a little child.

But only God and those who follow Him can become a little child. God emptied Himself to become a little child and He had to learn how to be a little child.

You also need to do the same and learn how to be a little child, to trust again, to be humble again, to be lighthearted again, and to let another carry your burdens. God became a little child.

That’s a miracle – so you also could know the miracle of becoming a little child again. Become little again. Become a child. It’s only natural, when you follow God.

But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Luke 18:16-18

Today, seek to think and see all things through the eyes of a beloved child of God.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Nature Of God – Love…

There is nothing more precious than to look out over a field at sunrise and see the bright golden haze washing across the dew covered blades of grass. I feel this new freshness every morning is Gods way of showing mankind a new beginning – a new life.

I live in the country and for the most part am a country boy. I have a fairly decent education and am considered to be somewhat above average in intelligence. But even with all this education and knowledge I find I am still being educated on a daily basis by the wonders of nature. I have learned every creature, even the ant has a special place in our everyday living. I am in awe over the lessons we, as people, seem to overlook in our very busy lives.

Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature. Yet we don’t take the time to enjoy the glory of it’s birth. I remember when Grandfather would tell me to stop to smell the roses, enjoy the beauty of it’s birth. Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. It all has meaning in life, so take the time to learn and enjoy natures lessons.

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. If you are going to even begin to understand what life really means, you have to take time to learn how nature portrays life. It is also a great time to talk to God. For it is He who created all this and everything we have – out of love for us.

Over the years I have learned it is all about love, the freshness of the dew covered grass, the beauty of the new blossom on the flower – it is God showing us His love on a daily basis, gently showing us there is more to love than meets the eye. Love is the key to everything in life and He shows us that rather than loving to live we should live to love.

So, if we are to live to love, we should know what love really is. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 shows us – Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

When Jesus commanded us to Love our neighbors as He has loved us, I think he had this in mind. He wants us to do everything, everyday with the love He has given us.

Love is life, and if you miss love, you miss life. Love is stronger than knowledge. I believe that imagination is greater than knowledge because it encompasses the world. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that Love is stronger than death because it overcomes all.

When I look at God, I see someone that overcomes all and something that we all should be sharing every minute of everyday. Love is more easily experienced than defined. As a theological virtue, by which we love God above all things and neighbors as ourselves for his sake, it seems remote until we encounter it enfleshed, so to say, in the life of another – in acts of kindness, generosity and self-sacrifice.

Love’s the one thing that can never hurt anyone, although it may cost dearly. The paradox of love is that it is supremely free yet attaches us with bonds stronger than death. It cannot be bought or sold; there is nothing it cannot face; love is life’s greatest blessing.

Love is the nature of God, and life is not worth living without it. You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, nature offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting – over and over announcing your place in the family of things. To me this is the nature of love and the nature of God.

But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. Job 12:7-10

Nature is love given to us everyday, love so special that one can’t help but notice – if you just take the time to look at everything God has given us. I love life and I live to love. How about you?

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Knowing God’s Will…

Most believers spend a good deal of time seeking to find out the will of God. Who should I marry? What job should I take? What house should I buy? And there’s something to all this…

But on a deeper level, it misses the point. The will of God is much deeper than whom you should marry, what job you should take, what home you should live in.

What most believers miss, and never get to, is that the will of God is the will of God. It’s a matter of the heart. You can’t have a will without a heart. To know the will of God is to desire the things that God desires.

To be passionate about those things about which God is passionate, and to be broken by those things which break the heart of God. You can’t know the will of God unless you know the heart of God.

To know the heart of God is to have the heart of God. If you want the will of God in your life; read the Bible. Find out what He wants and make that your desire. And the will of God will follow.

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Today, seek to find what the heart and will of God is in every situation, and make it your heart and your will.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed