Lucky in Love

 

I want to share a passage of scripture with you that has deeply touched my heart since I felt Father begin to help me un-learn and re-learn about the relationship dynamic that I truly have as His child.

 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." ~Romans 5:8

I attached the picture above  to this thought because I feel that sometimes we all make the mistake of thinking that God’s love for us was just a game of chance or just a stroke of freakish luck but that is simply not true.

 

His love is complete and deep and it covers past every stain, no matter how deep. It was in the time when we were yet still actively  moving in direct opposition to Father that HE MADE THE DECISION to extend that love toward us.

It was while we could care less about Him that He looked and made the choice to forever decide how He would always feel about you and I.

 It was not a game of chance to send Christ to the cross in order to restore that relationship between us and our Father FOREVER but rather it was a brilliantly planned out move that was made.

 

 

I remember one night a few years back sitting on a curb of a gas station in a very rough part of town.

 

Let me just say that I do not make a habit of sitting on gas station curbs in bad parts of town.

 

My phone had rung and by the tone of the voice on the other end of the line I knew that this was a priority.

They had called and by the way that they were distraught I knew that my Father wanted me on that curb. The person was crying and talking about being done with life, and as I drove to meet them I remember asking the Holy Spirit (I call Him Big Boy), “Big Boy, I need your words more than ever and I thank you for them because you arranged this meeting, not me.”

When I pulled up he was sitting on a curb beneath a single outside light. As I walked up to him he looked up and quite honestly I have never seen eyes that swollen from crying in my life.

I dropped down next to him and put my arm around him and he broke all over again. We talked for about two hours and I will never forget what surfaced in that conversation. “Dan, I let God down and that hurts more than anything combined.”

 

I stopped him and reminded him of this passage and explained something I have thought about many times since. “You can’t let God down because you were never at any time ever holding him up. In the relationship it is always Him that holds you up.”

 

Today, I just feel in my Spirit that there is someone who will be reading this that may need to be reminded that you are loved not because of who you are but because of whose you are. You did nothing to earn it and you can do nothing to keep it. Father has already decided before any event or mistake how He felt about you and he has NOT changed His mind.

 

If you are this person may i please recommend the post at the following link for further proof!

 

http://themanandthewall.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-day-i-defriended-god.html

 

If you were encouraged by this post, may I invite you to follow this blog on Tumblr for a shortened version of  what you are reading.

 

themanandthewall.tumblr.com

 

 

Climbing with you,

~Dan

 

If Ever We Begin To Think That It Is About Us

 

I saw this video some time back and honestly the image that it has frozen on here is a powerful picture and one that my mind has never quite released from it's grip.

 I noticed a few things right off the bat and I got chills as I watched it, because there is so much going on in this encounter that if you are not careful, you will miss completely.

I do not know the artist and had never heard any of his music but I will say that sometimes as someone is used as a vessel in the lives of others through talent that it becomes very easy to become more concerned with the appearance of a performance than with the object of the performance.

I saw a group of polished professionals who had went to a bad part of town to shoot a video that captured the transforming reach of a awesome God into the worst of the worst. There was a lot of concern put into the seating, and the lighting and the sound and then the group is approached by a homeless man named "Danny".
Danny was interested in hearing the artist sing and so he began to sing his song "God of second Chances" and that is when the bottom fell out.

Danny drops to his knees and begins to weep and then begins to pour his heart out to Father.
All of the sudden it begins to become apparent that "Danny" is being used to help remind the artist and everyone that watches the footage that the object of prayer is not the answer, but rather the object of prayer is Father.

Sculpture named "Homeless Jesus"

The object of praise is not to move other people, it is to an audience of one.

I think of the King Saul who got twisted up in his thinking to the point that the throne of Israel was about him. He fought for "his" right to "his" throne, and God used a humble shepherd boy to remind him that the object of the nation of Israel was in fact about Him.

It will forever amaze me that when we go through seasons where we tend to make a production out of ourselves and showcase our talents (Talents that were God given by the way ) as our own. That Father brings along the perfect reminder to us of why our talents were given in the first place. We were given the ability to express Him because His Spirit resides in us!

"But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." ~Romans 8:11

What has God given you the ability to do?

The object will always be Him and when we operate in that mindset, the finished product is amazing!!!

Climbing with you,
~Dan


The Man and The Wall is now on tumblr, and there are almost daily posts that take 20 seconds to read. Just a quick boost of encouragement in inspirations words, videos, and I am excited about this development.
Just click the link below and click "Follow" at the top of the page to recieve the updates.

http://themanandthewall.tumblr.com/