Dear Friends,
This will be a different type of post for me but I know it is right. If you are a minister, I ask that you read this with care and make sure I am hearing correctly. I believe today, I have a letter from the Lord that is in my spirit that must be let out onto this blog. Below please find that letter from the Lord.
My Dearest Child,
Long before you were born, I created this world and I gave it to my son Adam. It was completely his and I intended for us to grow it together. But Adam made a bad mistake. He gave the authority over this world to a fallen angel you know as Satan. Let me say, I have never stopped loving Adam. I care about him as deeply today as I did back then. It grieved me that he gave our authority to Satan but I still love him.
I deeply loved Satan before he fell from Heaven. Both Satan and Adam are my creations and I had to let both make decisions that would hurt Me even though I loved them with all that I am. Jesus was there with me when these things happened and I see love so deeply in him. I love him. It grieved us both to see our creation hurt and see where we knew things were headed. But We don't quit. Our love for you would never allow us to. That separation that Adam caused between Us and Our creation was something we desperately wanted to close. Our hearts yearned for Our creation even more than before the fall because of the separation that took place. We couldn't be one with Our creation like we were before that day in the garden.
I had a plan all along to bridge the gap. The problem with the sacrifices that took place before this was that Satan still had authority in the earth. That was what happened when Adam ate of the tree I told him not to. He gave authority I intended for us to share to Satan. I needed something to take the authority back so that I could be close to you and live with you. Before the cross, I could be around you and I could be close but I could not live inside you. It's like Tommy said about the box. I could admire and put things in you but I want to live in your box. I want to get as close as possible to the inner part of your box. I want to get so close that what's inside your box and I become one. If someone looks inside your box, I do not want them to be able to distinguish between what is you and what is Me.
I want to give you everything I have. I am constantly looking for ways to bless you. Sometimes you reject my offers but I never stop offering. You are still my most prized possession. If you look in awe at the majesty of the mountains or the depths of the oceans or the stars of the heaven, they are nothing compared to the way I look at you. You are all that I long for.
Before I could become one with you again, I needed to get the authority back to do so. If I had tried to change things without doing this, it would have destroyed the world and I would have lost you forever. The three of us (Jesus, the Holy Spirit and I) could not bear the thought of loosing you. You are too precious to Me. You are all that I want. The only way to put that bridge in place so that I could live with you and love you the way that I really wanted was for there to be a perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. They included the ones that I knew you would commit after the cross and all the ones before. For this to happen, We knew that We would have to send Jesus to as final payment for all the sin of our creation. He decided He would go through great pain because of His love for you.
When We sent him to the earth, immediately some of his creation sought out to kill Him. Imagine what it would be like for your son or daughter to be so misguided that they tried to take your life. That's what was happening then. Our creation didn't know Us. I protected him because We all knew what He had to do. I sent him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. I had to make sure he faced every opportunity to sin that the rest of Our creation has faced. And he did. But he held fast to me and blocked every temptation. After that, he got to do what he loves more than anything. Even though they didn't know they were his creation, We blessed Our creation through him. We got to give out little glimpses of our love. And we enjoyed it. We got to heal the sick, proclaim liberty to the captives, provide food for people that needed, we got to give dead people back to their loved ones. We got to give money to people that needed it. We got to spend three years walking the earth in human form and blessing it. It was such a joyous time for us. Jesus loved his time on the earth with his creation. We waited until the time was right and then set about redeeming Our creation and putting the bridge in place that would allow Us to come live in your box and be one with you.
Many will say that I am an angry God looking for ways to hurt my creation but I am not. I love my creation too deeply to do anything that would harm it. It is all I love. Many of my sons and daughters are anxiously awaiting my son Jesus' second coming. That will be a sad day for me because many of those that I love more than anything will have made a choice not to live with me and be with me. I love them enough to let them decide but it hurts Me when they don't want Me. I want you to know that I love you today. I have always loved you and I always will love you. I am God but I want to be your Father. I want to spend time with you. I want us to enjoy your life together. I want you to be successful and fulfilled all the days of your life. I want nothing but the best for you. Bad things happen in this life to people but I don't do bad things to my loved ones. Little children, you are all I care about and desire. I have gold and beauty you haven't seen yet but I seek after you.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with great fear and trembling that I submit this letter from the Lord.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have eternal life.
Tommy Oswald (The Minion that God so passionately, deeply and committedly loves)
Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
Game On, Mr. Minion
Today I want to talk to you about being ready. Being ready for what, you ask? Well you will have to answer that question, I can't. But let me explain what I am thinking. Are you ready for the opportunities that cross your path. If you met that special someone, are you ready? If someone gave you the dream job of a lifetime, are you ready? If someone was going to send you to the college of your dreams, are you ready? Lastly, and most importantly, if you died tonight, are you ready?
See I think we spend way too much of our time complaining about our circumstances or pushing too hard to make things happen the way we want. We are so focused on us that we aren't ready for the great opportunities that God places in our life. Now let me say, that I don't believe that we should just sit around and wait for everything to fall in our laps. That's not smart. That's being lazy. I'm talking about being ready when something comes along.
Let me illustrate this with a story of mine. Sometimes God has divine appointments that you don't expect. If we aren't ready when they do, we can miss the whole opportunity. I go to Starbuck's at least once a day (please no comments about the actual number from my friends). For several month's there was a certain lady that I wanted to talk to but never did. This was primarily because I am a pretty shy guy most of the time. I like being around people and most who know me are very comfortable around me but talking to a total stranger is not something I normally do. Well, I always liked this girl's face because it looked so kind. (To the girl who I am talking about - I know you will read this and yes you have a very kind face. Turns out the personality matches the face. Don't even think about arguing with me on this point!) I saw her at Starbuck's for several weeks and never talked to her.
One day, I realized that I was never going to say anything to her because it really isn't in my nature to do this so I just forgot about it. Well, two days later, I walked into a restaurant by my apartment and saw a guy I knew. Guess who was sitting at the table with him? Did you figure it out? Yup, it was the girl from Starbucks. Over the last few months, we have become good friends. She is someone who's opinion I really value and she has really helped me through a tough time. I think I have been able to do the same for her. Just think, none of this would have happened if I hadn't walked into that restaurant that day. That connection was the Lord's way of saying to me, "I've got a million ways to bring people into your life," and it really blessed me to hear that from Him.
When I would see her, I thought about trying to break the ice and say hello but I never did. Then when I finally decided to let it go, things worked out on their own. Now this is about a friendship but it applies in all areas of our life. Where are you pushing hard to accomplish something. Where are you getting so worked up and stressed out? Is it possible that while you are trying to figure out how to make something happen in your life that you can't see God setting you up to bless you? Where are you so focused on someone who is a negative influence in your life that you can't see that amazing person who wants to be part of your life? Stop and look around.
While I try very much not to preach in these Opinions, I must ask this one thing. If you were do die tonight, are you ready? Well, you might say, "I go to church." That's not what I asked. You might say, "I'm a good person." Again, that's not what I asked. What I am asking you is have you ever met Jesus and made him Lord of your life. He is a very close personal friend of mine. He is a real person that you can touch. Guess what - No matter what you have done in this life, He deeply passionately loves you. As I write this, I am thinking about His love and it brings tears to my eyes. He's out to get you but not in a bad way. He wants to love on you. He wants to help you. He will never give up on you and never quit you. He knows your secrects and His love sees right past that to the inside of the Box He created. I am not asking you to join a church or become part of a denomination, I am asking you if you have met my Jesus. If the answer is no, would you please consider praying this simple prayer.
Just say, "Jesus, I ask you to come into my life. I ask you to be my friend and show me your love for me. I ask you to be my Lord and Savior."
If you prayed that prayer with your heart, you just became my brother or sister. Welcome to the family! Please let me hear from you. Knowing you made that decision will be the best thing I hear today.
If you didn't pray that prayer, know this that God loves you very much and because He first loved me, I can honestly say that I care about you too.
That's the Opinion of His Minion
See I think we spend way too much of our time complaining about our circumstances or pushing too hard to make things happen the way we want. We are so focused on us that we aren't ready for the great opportunities that God places in our life. Now let me say, that I don't believe that we should just sit around and wait for everything to fall in our laps. That's not smart. That's being lazy. I'm talking about being ready when something comes along.
Let me illustrate this with a story of mine. Sometimes God has divine appointments that you don't expect. If we aren't ready when they do, we can miss the whole opportunity. I go to Starbuck's at least once a day (please no comments about the actual number from my friends). For several month's there was a certain lady that I wanted to talk to but never did. This was primarily because I am a pretty shy guy most of the time. I like being around people and most who know me are very comfortable around me but talking to a total stranger is not something I normally do. Well, I always liked this girl's face because it looked so kind. (To the girl who I am talking about - I know you will read this and yes you have a very kind face. Turns out the personality matches the face. Don't even think about arguing with me on this point!) I saw her at Starbuck's for several weeks and never talked to her.
One day, I realized that I was never going to say anything to her because it really isn't in my nature to do this so I just forgot about it. Well, two days later, I walked into a restaurant by my apartment and saw a guy I knew. Guess who was sitting at the table with him? Did you figure it out? Yup, it was the girl from Starbucks. Over the last few months, we have become good friends. She is someone who's opinion I really value and she has really helped me through a tough time. I think I have been able to do the same for her. Just think, none of this would have happened if I hadn't walked into that restaurant that day. That connection was the Lord's way of saying to me, "I've got a million ways to bring people into your life," and it really blessed me to hear that from Him.
When I would see her, I thought about trying to break the ice and say hello but I never did. Then when I finally decided to let it go, things worked out on their own. Now this is about a friendship but it applies in all areas of our life. Where are you pushing hard to accomplish something. Where are you getting so worked up and stressed out? Is it possible that while you are trying to figure out how to make something happen in your life that you can't see God setting you up to bless you? Where are you so focused on someone who is a negative influence in your life that you can't see that amazing person who wants to be part of your life? Stop and look around.
While I try very much not to preach in these Opinions, I must ask this one thing. If you were do die tonight, are you ready? Well, you might say, "I go to church." That's not what I asked. You might say, "I'm a good person." Again, that's not what I asked. What I am asking you is have you ever met Jesus and made him Lord of your life. He is a very close personal friend of mine. He is a real person that you can touch. Guess what - No matter what you have done in this life, He deeply passionately loves you. As I write this, I am thinking about His love and it brings tears to my eyes. He's out to get you but not in a bad way. He wants to love on you. He wants to help you. He will never give up on you and never quit you. He knows your secrects and His love sees right past that to the inside of the Box He created. I am not asking you to join a church or become part of a denomination, I am asking you if you have met my Jesus. If the answer is no, would you please consider praying this simple prayer.
Just say, "Jesus, I ask you to come into my life. I ask you to be my friend and show me your love for me. I ask you to be my Lord and Savior."
If you prayed that prayer with your heart, you just became my brother or sister. Welcome to the family! Please let me hear from you. Knowing you made that decision will be the best thing I hear today.
If you didn't pray that prayer, know this that God loves you very much and because He first loved me, I can honestly say that I care about you too.
That's the Opinion of His Minion
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
My Greatest Failure
Today, I want to talk about failure. Now, most of the time I try to write positive and upbeat blogs. When I read what I write, it challenges me to be a better person. I have always said that if what you see from me is the best you ever see then that is a tragedy because I should get better every day. But failure is inevitable in life. We all go through it at some point. So how do we deal with it? Does it hurt? Absolutely. Do I wish I hadn't failed? Sure. Did I fail? Yes. Let me use one of my favorite lines from the movie Dirty Dancing, "When I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong." You have to own your failures and successes.
See, I am recently divorced. I made a commitment before God to stay married to a woman for the rest of my life. It was a covenant that I couldn't keep. Now I won't go into all the reasons behind the divorce itself because they aren't important. Some of my readers know me personally and thus will know my now, ex-wife. Let me say something about her before I go forward. I wish her only the best and most happy days in life. I have done my best to walk through this divorce with integrity and honor. Have I always been successful? No. But this lady, deserves to be happy. She is a wonderful mother to our three kids and I am very sorry things didn't work out between us. I want to publicly forgive her for any wrong doing toward me and I ask the same from her. This is my greatest failure in life.
Do you want to hear all the juicy details of what happened? Would you like me to blame my wife for our marriage falling apart? Well, I won't tell you because those things are personal. Let me just use an old saying, "It takes two to Tango." We both made mistakes and here we are.
So now let's deal with how it made me feel. Last Friday was one of the hardest and most rewarding days of my life. Although we have been separated for over a year and I knew the final divorce decree was coming, I still didn't really believe it. So when the pressure of the week was over, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I realized that I gave my word to my God and to that lady and I didn't keep it. I hope you cannot imagine the deep pain I felt. For a little while, I felt like a complete failure. What things in your life have caused you to feel this way? Was it a relationship that ended badly? Was it a failure at your job or at school? Regardless of where it comes from, it still really hurts.
When you get that sinking feeling in your gut because of something like this, doesn't it make you just want to run away and hide from everyone? I mean who would want to be around someone that was a total failure like me? I told myself that I was the biggest loser ever. That I had wrecked my life, the life of my kids and my ex-wife. I was well on my way to beating myself senseless because of my failure. I threw a world class guilt party. I was the guest of honor, the entire guest list, the guy who trashes the guest of honor and the guy who throws him in the dumpster at the end of the party. I invited a very special guest to this party and He wouldn't come. Can you imagine the audacity of being invited to the Destroy the Minion party and not coming? That was certainly rude don't you think? Do you know who the only guest that I actually invited was? It was God. I wanted him to condemn me just like I was doing to myself. I wanted him to tell me that I was worthless and no good just like I was telling myself.
Now, I asked him to forgive me and I knew that he would at some point maybe a few months from now after I really got a thrashing.
When I finally listened to his still small voice, all I could feel was his love for me. It is a love that I will never, ever deserve but it's there. I can't escape it. Do you know when he actually forgave me for my greatest failure? When did He finally forgive me for breaking a covenant that I made in front of Him? The instant I asked for it. I didn't have to wait three weeks. It was instantaneous. He knew before the foundation of the world that I would make mistakes and he forgave me as soon as I asked. That is the reason Jesus shed his blood on the cross. It was to erase my sin. If I asked God to forgive me now, he wouldn't know what I was talking about because He is a forgive and forget God. He doesn't hold these things against me. Guess what, when you ask Him for forgiveness, He does the same thing toward you. He loves you unconditionally, no matter what, all the time, forever and ever with every fibre of His being. He only wants good things for your life and He can take our bad mistakes and turn them into something good. He doesn't want the bad mistakes because He hates to see us in the pain that they cause but He has a million ways to make things OK.
Back to the Guilt Party - It's fine that God forgave me but I am still at this party. After all, if he won't have the decency to show up, I will do his job for him. I will beat myself silly. I can call myself all kinds of ugly names. I mean I know all my deepest, darkest secrets and who better than me to dredge them all up and use them against me now. Here is my major problem with this. If God won't condemn me and trash me out, what right do I have to do it. If he is willing to extend forgiveness to me what right do I have to keep holding the grudge against myself? So here's what I did. At 4:24 on Friday, July 29, 2011, I forgave myself. When it happened, it was like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. I felt so light and good. I felt like it was OK for me to be happy again. All of the sudden the world turned right side up. God totally wrecked my party and I am so glad He did.
Have you ever felt this way? I have watched many people do this to themselves so I know that I am not alone. I think most of us have. What are you refusing to forgive yourself for? If someone who did you wrong came to you with an honest and sincere repentance on their face and asked you to forgive them for something they did wrong, would you do it? I think probably you would. So why can't you forgive yourself? If you ask God for forgiveness he gives it to you instantly. All I am asking is for you to extend the same grace to yourself that he did. I know this is a process and I want to encourage you to keep at it.
Well friends, I intended this blog to talk about my greatest failure which it did but I can honestly say that I have blogged myself happy again.
And that's another Opinion of His Minion
See, I am recently divorced. I made a commitment before God to stay married to a woman for the rest of my life. It was a covenant that I couldn't keep. Now I won't go into all the reasons behind the divorce itself because they aren't important. Some of my readers know me personally and thus will know my now, ex-wife. Let me say something about her before I go forward. I wish her only the best and most happy days in life. I have done my best to walk through this divorce with integrity and honor. Have I always been successful? No. But this lady, deserves to be happy. She is a wonderful mother to our three kids and I am very sorry things didn't work out between us. I want to publicly forgive her for any wrong doing toward me and I ask the same from her. This is my greatest failure in life.
Do you want to hear all the juicy details of what happened? Would you like me to blame my wife for our marriage falling apart? Well, I won't tell you because those things are personal. Let me just use an old saying, "It takes two to Tango." We both made mistakes and here we are.
So now let's deal with how it made me feel. Last Friday was one of the hardest and most rewarding days of my life. Although we have been separated for over a year and I knew the final divorce decree was coming, I still didn't really believe it. So when the pressure of the week was over, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I realized that I gave my word to my God and to that lady and I didn't keep it. I hope you cannot imagine the deep pain I felt. For a little while, I felt like a complete failure. What things in your life have caused you to feel this way? Was it a relationship that ended badly? Was it a failure at your job or at school? Regardless of where it comes from, it still really hurts.
When you get that sinking feeling in your gut because of something like this, doesn't it make you just want to run away and hide from everyone? I mean who would want to be around someone that was a total failure like me? I told myself that I was the biggest loser ever. That I had wrecked my life, the life of my kids and my ex-wife. I was well on my way to beating myself senseless because of my failure. I threw a world class guilt party. I was the guest of honor, the entire guest list, the guy who trashes the guest of honor and the guy who throws him in the dumpster at the end of the party. I invited a very special guest to this party and He wouldn't come. Can you imagine the audacity of being invited to the Destroy the Minion party and not coming? That was certainly rude don't you think? Do you know who the only guest that I actually invited was? It was God. I wanted him to condemn me just like I was doing to myself. I wanted him to tell me that I was worthless and no good just like I was telling myself.
Now, I asked him to forgive me and I knew that he would at some point maybe a few months from now after I really got a thrashing.
When I finally listened to his still small voice, all I could feel was his love for me. It is a love that I will never, ever deserve but it's there. I can't escape it. Do you know when he actually forgave me for my greatest failure? When did He finally forgive me for breaking a covenant that I made in front of Him? The instant I asked for it. I didn't have to wait three weeks. It was instantaneous. He knew before the foundation of the world that I would make mistakes and he forgave me as soon as I asked. That is the reason Jesus shed his blood on the cross. It was to erase my sin. If I asked God to forgive me now, he wouldn't know what I was talking about because He is a forgive and forget God. He doesn't hold these things against me. Guess what, when you ask Him for forgiveness, He does the same thing toward you. He loves you unconditionally, no matter what, all the time, forever and ever with every fibre of His being. He only wants good things for your life and He can take our bad mistakes and turn them into something good. He doesn't want the bad mistakes because He hates to see us in the pain that they cause but He has a million ways to make things OK.
Back to the Guilt Party - It's fine that God forgave me but I am still at this party. After all, if he won't have the decency to show up, I will do his job for him. I will beat myself silly. I can call myself all kinds of ugly names. I mean I know all my deepest, darkest secrets and who better than me to dredge them all up and use them against me now. Here is my major problem with this. If God won't condemn me and trash me out, what right do I have to do it. If he is willing to extend forgiveness to me what right do I have to keep holding the grudge against myself? So here's what I did. At 4:24 on Friday, July 29, 2011, I forgave myself. When it happened, it was like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. I felt so light and good. I felt like it was OK for me to be happy again. All of the sudden the world turned right side up. God totally wrecked my party and I am so glad He did.
Have you ever felt this way? I have watched many people do this to themselves so I know that I am not alone. I think most of us have. What are you refusing to forgive yourself for? If someone who did you wrong came to you with an honest and sincere repentance on their face and asked you to forgive them for something they did wrong, would you do it? I think probably you would. So why can't you forgive yourself? If you ask God for forgiveness he gives it to you instantly. All I am asking is for you to extend the same grace to yourself that he did. I know this is a process and I want to encourage you to keep at it.
Well friends, I intended this blog to talk about my greatest failure which it did but I can honestly say that I have blogged myself happy again.
And that's another Opinion of His Minion
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