Ed Christian's World

Seeing In The Womb…

When you were in the womb you had eyes and yet there was nothing to see. Your eyes were made to focus on distant objects. Your eyes had rods and cones to distinguish shades, tones and colors, yet you were in total darkness.

But you had eyes that were made to see the light. And for that very reason, your eyes were the evidence that beyond the womb was a whole other world you couldn’t yet see.

As you dwell in this world, you have a heart that can never be satisfied by the things it sees in this world. Why is that? It’s because this life is Heaven’s womb. It is here that you are being formed to enter the realm of the Heavenly.

Because of this, the world can never show you what the eyes of your heart long to see. So don’t be discouraged that this life cannot give you what your heart longs for.

It’s a reminder of your inheritance yet to come. Seek them in the heavenlies for your very longings are holy, the evidence on earth of the reality of the eternal, heavenly eyes in the darkness.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, Ephesians 1:18

Seek to live this day through the eyes of faith, to see beyond every earthly situation and all obstacles – to the heavenly.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Death of God Miracle…

In the Book of Acts, Simon Peter, speaking to the Sanhedrin says this: ‘you … put to death the Prince of Life.’ How is it possible to put to death the Prince of Life? You can’t kill the Prince of Life… unless He lets you.

But the Prince of Life can give His life in love. And that’s how lives are redeemed. How do you find life? By giving up your own, by dying to self. How can the self, die to self? Not by itself, but by the miracle of His death. And how did He die? By giving His life.

How can you die to self? You can’t do it alone. But you can do it by a miracle… of the death of the Prince of Life, of the giving of His life and by receiving the giving of His life, in love.

So forget about trying to die to yourself. It’s already been done. Receive the gift of His death, of the giving of His life, and the miracle of dying to self will be yours. For it is the miracle of the death… of the Prince of Life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Romans 6: 5-7

If your old self is trying to resurrect itself again, don’t believe the lie. Your sins have been done away with by the miracle of His death once and for all. He did not die in vain and you don’t have to live in sin.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Mercy Like A Womb….

The word that expresses having mercy in Hebrew is ‘racham,’ and the word for the womb in Hebrew is ‘rechem.’ They’re virtually identical. Why? Mercy in Hebrew means tenderness, compassion, as one would have on the weak, and as one would have on a small child.

So the womb is a place of tenderness, compassion, and a place to nurture and care for the weakest of human lives: the unborn child. What does this have to do with your life?

Everything. You see Jesus said, ‘Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ And how are we born again? Through the mercy of God in Jesus, salvation comes. The mercy of God leads and causes us to be born again, racham and rechem.

For God’s mercy is the ‘rechem,’ the place that shelters, nurtures and protects us, until we are fully formed as a child of Heaven. So, with all the things you do with your life, dwell inside the racham – the mercy of God – surrounded by His tender compassion. For the mercy of God is Heaven’s womb.

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:36

As a born-again believer, seek today to show active mercy, tenderness and compassion to others as Jesus has already done to you.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Faith With The Mohar…

In the ancient Hebrew wedding, in order for the man and woman to become bridegroom and bride, the man would have to offer up a sacrifice of love, a precious gift, and a large sum of money to show his love for the woman.

In the same way, there are many faiths, gods, religions, and ideologies vying for the hand of the human soul in marriage. But the question is ‘where’s the mohar (coin)?’ Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Orthodox Judaism, and nominal religious Christianity, each ask devotion from its adherents, but each offer no mohar.

If a man showed up in ancient Israel seeking the covenant of the bride without giving her his mohar, he would be rejected immediately. There is only one God who came down to earth and offered the greatest of mohars, His own life on the cross to give life to the bride.

Only upon that, did He ask us for our hand in eternal marriage. Only Jesus is our Savior. Today, give Him all you have, for the love of Him. For only He who offers up the mohar… is the Bridegroom of your soul.

 I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. Galatians 2:2

Offer up to God your mohar. Give Him your absolute best in all that you do today – as a gift of love.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

On Prayer – He Hears and Answers…

I was asked to talk about prayer and how we know the God hears them and answers them. Recently our pastor mentioned that familiarity with the Father tells us we are not sincere with our prayer or are just going through the motions because of it.

I’m not so sure I agree with that statement because I think God would like us to be as close to Him as we can get throughout our life and to rely on Him for everything. But that got me to thinking about the different phases of life and prayer.

I accepted Jesus as my savior when I was 12, about 65 years ago. I remember praying for just about anything, mostly things I wanted and my list was long. God blessed me with just about everything I asked for and what I didn’t receive, I was shown reasons why. God does know what is best for us.

During my 20’s and 30’s my prayer became less about my wants and needs to more about the needs of my family and the needs of our soldiers and Marines on the battlefield in Vietnam. More to the survival of sick, wounded and to bring us back alive from our missions.

God continued to bless me with favorable answers for the most part along with some disappointment about those too hurt to bring home. There were times where I questioned why He chose to take them while leaving some of us here, but over the years I’ve come to see He had other plans for me.

Over the past 40 years or so my prayers have been more of a continuous conversation with God asking for His guidance over each and every step I take. I never have any qualms about where He is leading me and know He will protect me from all harm. It is this closeness to Him that has given me continuous peace and comfort in my daily activities and walk.

In the Bible Paul tells us to be in continuous prayer with God, relying solely on Him for all things. To me walking daily with God at my side and been the biggest blessing of my entire life. If this is being too familiar with the Father, He hasn’t stopped answering my prayers, rather He has answered each and everyone of them, not always the way I wanted, but always with my needs in mind.

I think the problem of God answering prayer is more that we fail to listen, rather than Him not answering. That brings me back to my childhood when Grandfather told me that God gave me one mouth and two ears for a reason. I am to listen more and talk less. God hears all our prayers and answers everyone of them according to what is best for us. We all need to look beyond what is me and learn to look to what is Him. We are here to Glorify Him and His word. He blesses us to further His Glory. I am truly blessed!

So that brings me to the question – How do we know God hears and answers our prayers? Before I get into the question, I need to clarify myself. When I get an idea for a post, usually in the middle of the night, He wakes me up and has me write until I have written His message.

This post is a culmination of four other posts written several years ago. He has had me reword it many times. Enjoy.

In my post “The Simple Life” I showed how prayer is a two-way street. That when God speaks to us we should be listening to what He has to tell us. We have learned to pray as Christians but have we learned to listen?

When grandfather had me go sit on the cliff and listen to the wind, he was really having me find a quiet, secluded place to sit and talk to God. He was also teaching me to listen to what God tells me. Today we pray, but do we listen to His answer? I think most don’t listen when He responds and that is why we are in this position.

In my post “Two Ways To Live” I wrote how we have the choice to be positive or negative in our life and our choices determine who, what and why we are who we are.

Grandfather said there are two ways to live your life and I should be very careful on how I make my choices. If you believe that all the miracles happened in the days of Christ and that the days of miracles are over, you are going to be a pessimist. Your life will consist mainly of negativity and you will have a poor me attitude. It will appear that everything goes wrong, no matter how hard you try, because you have already decided you will fail. You will feel that your problems are obstacles that you just can’t get around. It will be a very unhappy life.

On the other hand, he said, if you believe miracles can happen everyday, look at your problems as challenges to grow and that there is something positive is every situation in life, than your life will be happy, full of promise and you will walk in confidence that you will succeed in every task.

I followed up with my post “The Silver Lining” where I tried to show our every thought, word and deed is tied to our relationship with God and how close He watches over us.

Much to my surprise, as I continued to grow, I learned there is not a silver lining in these clouds of disappointment, but there is a silver thread. This silver thread is connected to every experience of our life and when we tighten our grasp, we are shaping our character. In other words we are who we are because of how we handled the good and bad times in our life’s. We shaped our life and built our character by how well we handled the bumps and pitfalls as we grew up.

I pulled it together with my post “Do We Complicate Christianity” where I showed some of the many ways God answers prayer and talks to us.This asks you why you don’t follow what He is saying.

The truth is God does answer prayer, many times right away, but we don’t always listen to the answer because we don’t necessarily agree with it. Sometimes we have to wait for an answer, for our time and God’s time are on different time tables. During your daily walk in life you should invite God to walk with you and have a running conversation with Him. You will be surprised at the insight He has on your life. He is there to guide you around and over all the concerns in your life.

God talks to us many ways, the Bible, through prayer, through our friends and in our thoughts. The pastor of my church says many Christians read their bible during bible study class and service on Sunday and it gathers dust the rest of the time.

I have to say I don’t know any Christians like that, but I am sure some do exist. I’m also sure God had that in mind when He gave us life. That is why He talks to us in many ways. The problem is we just aren’t listening!

Over the past few weeks our Bible study teacher has said there has been many times when he prayed he felt like it wasn’t going any higher than the ceiling in the room. Frustrating as that may sound, many other have felt the same way once in a while because their prayers were not answered the way they thought they should have been. Some think it is because we aren’t in a sincere state when we pray or are asking the wrong way.

Just to be clear, God hears all your prayers, in fact He knows your needs before you put then to words and is acting on your behalf before you even ask. As our Father, He is watching over us and meeting our needs according to His time table, not ours. He wonders why you don’t listen when He is talking. He reminds us that He gives us everything and everyday we are blessed in some little way, whether we realize it or not.

He talks to us in quiet times as well when we are in need of comfort. He calms us in the midst of our storms and warms us when we are chilly. He guides us through our everyday life, yet so many times we choose to take another path and end up coming to Him for help. He is very patient with us and also very forgiving in spite of our misgivings. Yet, we say He doesn’t hear our prayers or He didn’t answer my prayer.

He asks “I gave you life and a land to live on, along with instructions on how to care for the land. Did you follow the instructions and give the land time to recover? I told you My greatest commandment was to love your neighbor as I have loved you, do you, or do you love only those you think worthy of your love?

Where do you get off determining who is worthy of my love? When I come to you as a neighbor asking for assistance, do you find excuses not to help and push it off, or do you extend your hand in help? Are you doing everything you can to help the needy or are you complaining because they are asking for a hand up?”

Can you answer those questions honestly? God blesses us everyday of our life, yet we find it hard to bless others with our help and company. He listens to our requests for this and that then gives us what we need, yet we fail in the very thing when someone comes to us for help. He says live your life as an example of Him and lead others to Him. What kind of leader are you?

Yes,God hears and answers every prayer in His time. If we share our blessings with others, they are blessed and we are blessed again by them. If we would listen more and talk less we just might hear Him when He whispers in our ears. Hear what He is telling you!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

As God Has Forgiven…

Jesus tells you to forgive others as God has forgiven you. What does that mean? Most believers take it to mean this: ‘You have to forgive others because God forgave you.’

But it means much more than that. It’s not just ‘Forgive others because God has forgiven you,’ but, ‘forgive others as God has forgiven you.’ To put it another way, ‘Forgive others in the same way as God has forgiven you.’

It’s not enough to just forgive people… you need to forgive people in the same way that God forgave you. Most of us, when we forgive others, it’s a matter of letting something go, letting the scorecard go back to zero.

But God didn’t forgive us that way. He actively gave His life for us that we would be forgiven because He loved us. He came into this life and walked into our shoes, and died our death on the cross.

How do you forgive others? As God forgave you…passionately, actively, and lovingly, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13

Make the effort to forgive that person, not your way but God’s way – with action, with love, and with joy.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Those Who Have Been Persecuted…

In the Sermon on the Mount are the words, ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’

But it doesn’t really say that. In the original Greek, it reads, ‘Blessed are those who have been persecuted because of righteousness…’ Sounds the same? Listen again, ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted,’ ‘Blessed are those who have been persecuted because of righteousness…’

The difference is those who have been persecuted have gone through persecution and come out of it. In other words, although persecution doesn’t feel like a blessing at the time, after you’ve come through it – you’re incredibly blessed.

Whenever you’re being persecuted for righteousness, for following God and obeying Jesus, there’s a reason and a purpose in it. You may not see it at the time, but as you persevere, God will bring you blessing through it.

Are you being persecuted because of righteousness? Be encouraged. Press on, press through, for “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:11-12

Be encouraged today; stand strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, especially if you’re being persecuted for His name’s sake. You will be blessed. That’s a promise.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

You Can’t Buy Whats Sold Out…

Were you ever set on buying a certain thing only to be told ‘Sorry, we’re all sold out.’? We learn a very profound lesson from this; you can’t buy that which is sold out.

Those who are corrupt try to corrupt others by buying them out. Spiritually, the enemy is trying to buy you out with seduction, lust, money, success, materialism, comfort, all sorts of things.

I was once talking to a corporate leader who told me, ‘Everyone can be bought. You just have to find their price.’ I thought, yes, everyone does have a price. Everyone can be bought. But you can’t buy what’s sold out.

There’s only one type of a person who cannot be bought by all the money or all the love and comfort in the world; only one kind of person who cannot be bought by the enemy. That’s the one who is sold out for the Lord.

You want to be strong and immovable? Be sold out to the one who gave His life to purchase you. And when the enemy comes looking to buy you out, you can say, ‘Sorry I’m all sold out.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-29

Today, allow the Lord to show you an area of your life where the enemy is keeping you distracted from being completely sold out to Jesus, and prayerfully go to work to remove it.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

In The Beloved….

It doesn’t matter if you are a child or a corporate executive… you still need love. This world is made up of people looking and hoping for love, crying over love, or unhappy that they were never loved as they should’ve been.

What does it mean that everyone’s looking for love? If everyone was looking for food, you’d conclude there was a food shortage, or looking for gasoline, you’d have to conclude there was a gas shortage.

So, if everyone’s looking for love, there’s only one conclusion…there’s a love shortage; and if everyone is looking for it, who can give it? You see, we need love, because we were made for love, so there has to be a love we were made for.

And there is. For it is written, ‘God is love.’ So should you seek love? Yes, but not from this world. Seek love with all your heart, but stop seeking it from people, seek it from God. For only God is love. He will never refuse you, so you never need to suffer a love shortage in your life. There’s more than enough to go around. For God is love.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Seek to find love, acceptance, and affirmation solely from God today – and not from people. And then, give it to people.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Characterized By Love – How Do You Measure Love…

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.

No this isn’t goig to be about the poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning but we are going to take a deeper look at love. We are characterized by love. The question is how do we measure love?

When I first considered the thought of measuring love, I asked several people how they measure it. Love is a feeling, an emotion, it can’t be measured was the most common answer. Yet, as I looked back over my life, I felt something was amiss there. There is more to love than meets the eye.

Then I remembered something Grandfather once told me when I was a toddler. The measure of love is to love without measure. God measures your life on how well you love.

Love is not just an emotion. It’s not simply some uncontrollable feeling you fall in and out of. It doesn’t have to be here today and gone tomorrow. Nor does it ever have to leave you, in any relational context, if you don’t want it to.

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.Love never fails.  1 Corinthians 13:4-8

That’s because love is measured and maintained primarily by what you give, not what you receive. According to scripture, that’s the love metric: what you give to him, what you sacrifice for her, not what you feel.

That tells me love is not just an emotion, it’s also an action. It’s not simply an accidental concoction of feelings that you react to. No, instead, love is measured and maintained primarily by what you give, not what you receive.

Now what’s interesting is that’s not how we typically measure love. When we judge how “in love” we are with a significant other, or when we judge our disposition toward another human being, we don’t say, “Well let’s see… how much did I give or sacrifice for them this week?” No, instead, we measure love by how much we get in return.

Just think about this principle. It doesn’t take us long to come up with a list of “unlovable people.” Let’s just be honest, outside of you and me, there’s plenty of people out there giving us plenty of reasons not to love them.

However, despite the degree of being unlovable that many people in our lives have earned, that does not mean we can’t still love them.

Forgiveness is one of the strongest actions of love that exists in our life. It not only relieves you of carrying all the hurt and stress, it shows your love for others.

So, how do you measure love? It’s the helping hand you give a neighbor, the smile you share with others, the words of encouragement you give to someone. It’s that everyday simple act of kindness you do for someone in need.

Love is an action as well as an emotion and as Grandfather reminded me of many years ago, your life will be measured by how well you love. You don’t measure love, love measures you.

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. Psalm 28:7

So maybe we should take a real close look at the 1 Corinthians 13 verses through different eyes:  God is patient, he is kind. He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud. He does not dishonor others, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
God never fails.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed