Ed Christian's World

Happy Thanksgiving…

This Thanksgiving I give thanks to God for family, friends and the loving peace He has blessed me with. When I look back over the past year, I am amazed at all the blessings He has given me, in spite of my short comings. Thank you Father for loving me and showing me how to love.

When we begin to think of all the things we should be thankful for I find life just wouldn’t exist without the daily blessings and grace God bestowed on us daily. I, for one, know many of these blessings are not deserved yet He gives them too me anyway. What a mighty God we serve!!

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Colossians 3:15

I’m sure we all have many things to be thankful for and I sincerely wish each and every one of you a wonderful day full of love, joy and thanksgiving. Share your blessings with every one that crosses your path. Be the shining light He intended you to be and remember love isn’t love until you give it away.

I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself. Psalm 89:1-2

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Casting Out Your Nets…

In Matthew 4, the Lord calls “His” fishermen. They are called to be fishers of men. Well, fishers always cast out, whether it is a line or a net.

Thus we must always first act in faith, to first engage people. Even when the Lord was giving them the miracle of the fish, they had to first cast out. You cast out, you cast your bread on the waters, you cast out your net.

You won’t see the blessing if you don’t cast out. You spread the word, you cast out the word, you cast out your comments, you cast out that tract, you cast out that visit, you cast out that book, you cast out that ministry, you cast out that question.

It doesn’t matter where you are. You might be in a family gathering when the time is right, you talk to that person in a store, you make your cast. God has miracles waiting for you in the deep waters, but His fishers can’t be timid.

Be gentle, but bold. Salvation and miracles are waiting to fill your net, but you are only going to see it when you cast out.

But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all you. Joshua 22:5

Today, seek to be a true fisher of men – cast out your net, cast out a word, cast out a seed, cast out a comment, cast out something that will draw them in to the Lord.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

But Not My Family…

Christians say I’ll share the gospel with anybody: cannibals, mass murderers, serial killers and Nazis. I’ll even go to head-hunting, Neo-Nazi Ku Klux Klan cannibals in New Guinea. You’ll share with anybody?

Well anyone but one group. Don’t ask me to share with my family. I’ll share with any other but not my family. Imagine you’re drowning and you’re yelling “Help” and the lifeguard says, “Sorry, I can’t save you.” You’re a relative. I make it a policy not to save family members. It’s too awkward, causes too much problems, sorry, goodbye. Could that be you?

Could you be expressing your faith all over the place but not with your own family? You’re showing love, forgiveness, patience, peace, radical mercy, unconditional agape; you’re loving your enemies – all outside of your home.

Remember the Great Commission. It started in Jerusalem and then to the world. How about taking all that love and that patience and that radical forgiveness, radical warmth, boldness, and zeal and bring it to the most radical place – your home. You’ll get to the head-hunting Neo-Nazi, New Guinea Cannibal and Ku Klux Klan members, but first bless your family.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. Romans 1:16

Take a bold step, and with a heart of love, bring God’s love to a family member and let this be the beginning of a new adventure of life’s mission.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Go To The Ant…

“Go to the ant” Proverbs 6:6. We learn a lot from the ant. Ants don’t do things half-heartedly. It doesn’t have much of a heart, but it uses all it has.

When it picks up a bread crumb three times its size it’s not picturing itself on a raft in the Caribbean with sunglasses and a coconut milk shake. It’s thinking about the breadcrumb. There’s wisdom in their ways.

As human believers, often not as wise as ants, we do things halfheartedly. We do one thing, we’re thinking of another, and… complaining about it. Our heart is not in it. Or we don’t really believe in what we’re doing.

We have a divided heart, and just go through the motions. You want victory? Learn from the ant. Whatever you do, do it with your whole heart. If you can’t do it with your whole heart, don’t do it.

If you’re a father, do your duties, not grudgingly. If you’re a wife, don’t do it grudgingly but with all your heart. Whatever you do, do it with all your heart. Serve the Lord with all your heart, with gladness; be as wise as the ant.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, Colossians 3:23

Make it your aim today to do all things wholeheartedly – with all your heart , mind soul, and strength.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Visions All Around You…

People say, “If only I saw a vision, I’d believe,” or “I wish I saw visions like Isaiah saw or Jeremiah. If I just heard God’s voice.” But, you are seeing visions… all the time.

Everything you see is a vision; it’s part of creation. Creation is a miracle, it’s supernatural; it shouldn’t exist but it does. It came from nothing. Everything exists by the mouth of God. The flowers, the grass, the faces, all the creation of God. Miracles!

It’s supernatural: you’re hearing voices, music, birds singing. That shouldn’t exist. That came from nothing; from God. God is always speaking to you from the Bible, from those who know Him and His voice.

The Book of Esther has no mention of God, yet the fact is, no other book shows the incredible moving of God, his hand in every event, action, and thought. Sometimes we wonder, where are you God?

Life seems like the Book of Esther. But, He’s all around you. His love written on every cloud. His faithfulness on every sunrise. Rejoice, my friend. God is there. He’s with you, all around you, and as near to you as your next breath.

And teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:20

Today, seek to take time to enjoy the visions you see all around, the awesome creations of your magnificent God. Fall in love with Him over and over again, and know that He is near.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Other Side Of The Door…

A young man enters a room. An old man is standing by a door, he’s miserable. The old man says, “Don’t open that door.” He opens the door and he’s on this beautiful island, with everything he needed and a mansion. He goes in the mansion.

There’s a door and a man says, “Don’t go in that door.” He opens the door and it’s a beautiful land. He’s welcomed as king, marries a beautiful queen and has servants. He’s in the palace, sees a door and a guy says, “Don’t go in that door.”

He opens that door and he’s back in the original place. He’s miserable like the old man sitting there.

Proverbs 5:15 says, “Drink waters from your own cistern.” The secret of a joyous life is to stop dwelling on the woman you don’t have, rejoice in the wife you do.

Stop dwelling on the home you don’t have, rejoice in the home you do. Stop dwelling on the blessing you don’t have, start thanking God for the blessings you do have.

If God is in your life, there’s heaven in your life. Don’t miss it longing for what you don’t have and miss what you do.

I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. Psalm 34:1

Drink waters from your own cistern today – Rejoice and give thanks for all the blessings God has blessed you with in your life.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Rising God…

In the ancient world there were strange foreshadows and substitutes of the resurrection in the myths of the dying and rising gods; Osiris, Tammuz, Adonis and Dionysius.

All throughout the ancient world there were these yearly rights and rituals commemorating the death and resurrection of these mythological gods. It was all a myth.

There was nothing historic about it. They didn’t really believe that anything happened once and for all and it would change their lives.

As believers, we have a real resurrection, but so many of us live as if it was a myth. It doesn’t really affect our lives. We hear that He rose but we go back to our life and there’s very little evidence that anything is changed.

We have a real God, a real resurrection. Jesus rose for real in history so we have to live it for real and stop living as though it was a nice myth.

Live the power of the resurrection every day. You really have to overcome. Every other good news is a myth but Jesus and his resurrection. You’ve got the real thing. He rose; you can do the same.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

Make it your aim today to live and walk and act in the power of the resurrection of Yeshua, Jesus, and you will overcome.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Love vs Power…

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace. This is a quote by Jimi Hendrix

The words love and power caught my eye when I first came across this quote. I recognized what I saw and I had to say it out loud a couple times before I realized its deep meaning.

“When the power of love…” — I like this because it gives love a source of power to begin with. Love is one of the most potent gifts a person can share with someone.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 John 3:1

Then, ”..Overcomes the love of power — This is where I saw love go from potent to just seriously poisonous. If love is a response of human beings and our love is focused on power, there is no love; there is no connection — it’s just a drive for control and has no sympathetic real feel of love.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. 1 Timothy 6:10

So, after sitting and dwelling on this for a while, I realized something. The world does not love its people the way it should. Or maybe I should rephrase it — We do not love people the way we should.

Love of power makes its owner feel more secure based on all of the controlling and manipulative behaviors he can instigate to make others behave in what he perceives to be right. We see this in some church leaders today and it is turning people away from the church.

We do not live in peace, because the love of power is too strong, and the power of love…well, where is it?

Peace brings joy, happiness and mercy — that is exactly what a blessing is. And that is the gift of God! I like to think that one day I will live in a peaceful world — one with no war, one where people actually show sincere love for each other.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34

We are taught, through Jesus, to love our neighbors as ourselves and as He has loved us. Do we or are we so caught up in the love of ourselves that we fail to show His love or follow His commandments?

This brings me to question have we failed ourselves and worse yet have we failed God? Some folks will say it is the church that has failed us! Well folks, we are the church and since the spirit resides in our hearts, our failure to love our neighbors as ourselves and as He has loved us is both a failure to God and ourselves!!!

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

God gave His son to die for our sins so that we may have eternal life through the love of Jesus and yet we short change all that He gave us to feed our ego. As a Christian there is no excuse.

The time has come for us to break this shell of power, jealousy, hate and distrust and then center ourselves in God’s Hands. It is time to show our unconditional love for each and every soul just as we were commanded.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Let us all commit to practice daily the power of love and push the need of power out of our daily lives. When we follow His commandments then we will begin to see peace in the church and here on earth.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The God Price…

When you buy something in a store you pay at least what you think it’s worth or you wouldn’t buy it. Nobody pays more than they think something’s worth or they wouldn’t buy it.

Whatever you pay, you’re valuing the object you’re paying for at least as much as what you’re giving for it. It’s profound.

Look at Calvary. When you see those pierced hands, it means He paid for you with the life of his only begotten son. That means He loves you as much as He loves His only begotten son. He gave His own life. He loves you as much as He loves His own life!

Not because we were worth it but because He loved us with the love that makes us worth it. In view of that price, we must love Him as much or even more than your own life. How could you do any less?

Love others as much or more than your own life. Because God so loved you that the price for you was Himself. Live your life in a way that was worthy of the price that He paid – a life worthy of the life of God.

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

Today, love those unlovely, unloveable, and unloving people in your life – not because they’re worth it, but because He loved you first.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

A Holy Commotion…

One of the biggest problems we have in the Lord is we want commotion-free walks. We want a place where there’s no commotion. If you want a place where there’s no commotion, go to a cemetery.

If you find commotion in a cemetery, you’re in trouble. In a dead place there’s no commotion, but light in darkness causes commotion. The life of God in a dead world will cause commotion.

When Jesus came into the world he caused a stir in Bethlehem. In Nazareth and Galilee, there was commotion. Palm Sunday, there was commotion. They said, “Who is this who stirs up the whole city?”

God’s presence causes commotion in daily life. If He’s come into your life, it will cause commotion in your routine. Don’t go for a commotion-free walk; it’ll be dead. Maybe what you need is something to get stirred up a bit.

Let God interrupt your routine. Let Him shake us out of it. Forget the rut, forget the routine; let the presence of God come fresh in your life. Let it cause a commotion because God wants to bring that cemetery in your life into Palm Sunday.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love. has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:1-5

Step out of your routine today – let God interrupt your day, speak to you, and cause some Holy Spirit commotion and change.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed