Flowing Faith

February 22, 2012
by Mari-Anna Stålnacke
8 Comments

Lent – A Time to Reflect & Repent

Welcome to Flowing Faith! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to receive free blog updates in a reader or delivered to your email inbox. Thank you! God bless you!

“The New Testament word for repentance means changing one’s mind so that one’s views, values, goals, and ways are changed and one’s whole life is lived differently”, J.I. Packer states. “The change is radical, both inwardly and outwardly; mind and judgment, will and affections, behavior and lifestyle, motives and purposes, are all involved. Repenting means starting a new life.”

Lent is a blessed time: we can slow down and actively reflect on our spiritual journey. We can chance the course of our lives.

Yet even now, says the LORD,
return to me with all your hearts,
with fasting, with weeping,
and with sorrow;
tear your hearts
and not your clothing.
(Joel 2:12-13, CEB)

We are called to examine our hearts and minds, our whole lives in respect to God. Is God’s will our will? If not, what should be done?

Lent is a blessed opportunity: we are called to turn back to God and weave faith into our lives. We are called to repent, to change our hearts – not just our clothing.

And here’s why: God is kind and merciful.
He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot,
This most patient God, extravagant in love,
always ready to cancel catastrophe.
Who knows? Maybe he’ll do it now,
maybe he’ll turn around and show pity.
Maybe, when all’s said and done,
there’ll be blessings full and robust for your God!
(Joel 2:13-14, MSG)

George Whitefield explains “True repentance will entirely change you; the bias of your souls will be changed, then you will delight in God, in Christ, in His Law, and in His people.” True repentance welcomes the Holy Spirit to work in us and change us inside out. Are you ready for radical change?

Lent is a blessed paradox: as we give up something we like, we receive something we did not even know we needed. As we take something on, our load becomes lighter.

Gracious God,
Thank you for being ever-faithful,
calling us back to you.
Help us to repent and really mean it.
Forgive us!
Show us the right path!
Renew our spirit!
Give us a new life!
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Are you giving something up for Lent? Or are you taking something on for Lent?

Be abundantly blessed, my fellow pilgrim, on your lenten journey!

Giving thanks today for
#131 God who wants to be found.
#132 getting to know God deeper
#133 praying on my knees
#134 this lenten prayer experience
#135 God’s faithfulness
#136 time to repent
#137 spiritual spring cleaning
#138 intentional spiritual formation
#139 God’s patience towards us
#140 God’s amazing love for us

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Do you want to win a copy of the Common English Bible softcover edition? Just leave a comment and mention that you’d like to win. The winners will be announced on Wednesdays! All these CEB give aways are possible because I am participating in the Common English Bible Blog tour from Ash Wednesday all the way to Pentecost. This means that I will mostly be using the Common English Bible (CEB) on my blog posts. Let’s check out this fresh new Bible translation!
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Linking up today with

Some parts of this post have previously been published 3/2010. Image courtesy of Carl Spitzweg (1808-1885),”Ash Wednesday“/wikipedia.

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February 21, 2012
by Mari-Anna Stålnacke
13 Comments

Seek God – You Will Not Be Disappointed!

Happy Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday! Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday that marks the beginning of Lent. The season of Lent is a special time when we are called to prepare our hearts and minds to Easter. Some people give up something (meat, sweets, TV etc) for Lent and some take something on (f.e. a certain spiritual discipline) for this period of 40 days before Easter. The main idea is to seek God and let him show what areas of our lives need to be uncluttered, washed, readied for Christ. What are your plans for Lent this year?

“When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. “When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. “Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree. (Jeremiah 29: 12-14, MSG)

When we call on God we can be certain that God will answer. When we look for God, we will find him because he wants to be found. God won’t disappoint us. But do we take time to seek God? God wants to be found. Do we put our faith in action? God wants to bless us. Do we dare to trust God and pray big prayers? God wants to be active in our lives.

I’ve been praying for awhile now how God would like me to approach Lent this year. Then yesterday I read Mark Batterson’s blog and knew immediately that this was the answer for me. Mark Batterson is inviting people for a lenten prayer experiment based on 2 Chronicles 7:14: If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Excerpt from Batterson’s blog:

“What if all of us hit on knees everyday at 7:14 AM? Honestly, the time isn’t the issue. I just think 7:14 is a nice trigger. It can be 7:13 or 7:15. It can be 6:37 or 8:22. AM or PM. So it’s not about the time per se. It’s about establishing a humble habit of kneeling before the Lord on a daily basis. You can hit your knees when you get out of bed or when you get into bed. And it’s not about bowing the knee. It’s about bowing the heart. There is nothing magical about kneeling, but there is something biblical about it. I’ve found that my heart posture often mirrors my physical posture.

Are you in? Would you be willing to kneel everyday for forty days? For two or ten or thirty or sixty minutes? If you want to be part of the 7:14 experiment, text the word LENT to 775.237.4364. We’ll send out a short text message at 7:14 AM everyday during Lent. Just a daily reminder, a daily inspiration. We’ll kick off on Ash Wednesday, February 22. We’ll end on Easter Sunday. Spread the word…

Let’s not seek blessings or miracles or opportunities. Let’s seek God. And if we seek God, blessings and miracles and opportunities will seek us! If we get on our knees then God will extend His right hand on our behalf.

“Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all of these things will be added to as well.” Matthew 6:33″

Right away after reading Mark Batterson’s blog I knew this was something I wanted to do. So I am in. How about you, my fellow pilgrim? Are you in? I will commit to pray on my knees every day during the Lent and seek God. I will pray for more faith, for ears to hear his voice, for eyes to see his actions in the world. I will sit in his presence and wait for him. I will seek him and his will in my life. I pray that God will teach me how great he is. I pray that God will enlarge my territory, unclutter my life spiritually, show me his mighty ways. Just think what will happen if we truly commit to seek him and his will for us and the world. I’m in. How about you?

Gracious God,
Thank you for calling us to be mindful about our faith walks.
Show each of us how we can seek you this Lent.
I pray blessings for everyone who is earnestly seeking you.
Thank you that you want to be found.
Thank you that you won’t disappoint us.
Empower us to pray mighty prayers
because you are a mighty God.
Show us how great thou art.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: What are you plans for Lent?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you seek God earnestly. He won’t disappoint you!

Image courtesy of Michael McFatridge. Linking up today with What’s on Your Heart Tuesdays & Soli Deo Gloria and One Word at a Time: Disappoint Blog Carnival.

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February 20, 2012
by Mari-Anna Stålnacke
15 Comments

No Need to Fake It!

Somehow we humans want to be better than we are. We’d like to be perfect. But we are not. There’s no one without fault. “There’s not one totally good person on earth, Not one who is truly pure and sinless.” (Ecc. 7:20, MSG) God knows this. That’s why he sent Christ to the world. So we would have a way back to him. Because we could never make it on our own.

Why is then that we’d like to fake it or pretend that somehow we were not sinners anymore? That suddenly we had everything together and there was not a trace of bitterness, jealousy left in us? That miraculously we had become so holy that there was no need for Christ any more?

God loves truth. That’s why we are not to fake anything. Or pretend to be what we are not. Also, there is no need to fake it. God knows everything. God knows the condition of our hearts. He knows what is going on in our lives. Yet, he welcomes us with open arms.

As C.S. Lewis has said “We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be within us”. God is the ultimate Healer. We are sick and we need healing. We are sinners and we need forgiveness.

When we come to Jesus and lay before him what really is in us, we will be transformed. It is the Holy Spirit in us who creates what ought to be within us. It is the Holy Spirit that lives the Christian life in us. Our part is to come to Jesus, stick to Jesus, to be authentic and love God with everything we’ve got. God takes care of the rest.

Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. (Eph. 2: 7-10, MSG)

Even when we have been made saints by grace and the Holy Spirit is continually working in us, we are still (forgiven) sinners. We Christians are not under the dominion of the sin any more but as long as we are living and breathing, we are still (forgiven) sinners. Our only hope is to stick to Jesus. But what hope that is! Grace washes us clean day in, day out.

The more we stick to Jesus, the less sin sticks to us. And, yet, we still are sinners in need of God’s grace every single day of our lives on this earth. But help is near. We don’t need to come up with excuses before we come to Jesus. We can come as we are. And we will be wrapped in God’s powerful, healing, restoring grace.

And now, children, stay with Christ. Live deeply in Christ. Then we’ll be ready for him when he appears, ready to receive him with open arms, with no cause for red-faced guilt or lame excuses when he arrives. (1 John 2: 28, MSG)

Gracious God,
Forgive us for taking your grace granted.
Forgive us for taking credit for your grace.
Forgive us for finding all kinds of excuses for our behavior.
We do need you. We are sinners. Please, forgive us!
Restore us! Heal us! Renew us!
Pour out grace upon grace on us!
Enable us to be authentic, faithful, and truthful.
We want to stick to you,
don’t let sin stick to us.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Are you ever tempted to pretend before God? Is it hard to admit that you are a (forgiven) sinner?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you embrace authentic living in Christ!

Giving thanks today for
#121 God not wanting excuses
#122 God loving truth
#123 God’s inclusive invitation
#124 God loving us as we are
#125 Saving being God’s idea and God’s work
#126 the continuous work of the Holy Spirit in us
#127 not needing to pretend or fake it
#128 grace being totally free
#129 its’ all about God, not about me
#130 freedom in Christ

Image courtesy of Marian Trinidad. Linking up today with Sharing His Beauty & Hear it on Sunday, Us it on Monday &

February 18, 2012
by Mari-Anna Stålnacke
9 Comments

Weekend Prayer Wall {Feb. 18-19}

“Grant that I may not pray alone with the mouth; help me that I may pray from the depths of my heart”~Martin Luther

“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for power equal to your tasks.”~ Phillip Brooks

But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God’s love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life! (Jude 20-21, MSG)

Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality. (Romans 12:11-13, MSG)

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Father,
give us wisdom to perceive you,
intellect to understand you,
diligence to seek you,
patience to wait for you,
eyes to behold you,
a heart to meditate on you
and a life to proclaim you,
through the power of the Spirit
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Benedict, 480-543)

Lord,
I know not what I ought to ask of you.
You only know what I need.
You know me better than I know myself.
O Father,
give to your child
what he himself knows not how to ask.
Teach me to pray.
Pray yourself in me.
(F.Fénelon, 1651-1715)

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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let’s pray in Jesus’ name! Now it’s time for you to jump in with your prayers/prayer requests in the comment section (or link up your prayer post!). Let’s also pray for each other! Someone will pray for you/with you. (Because this is a global prayer wall, sometimes – due to the time differences – prayers are not instant. But know that God hears you 24/7! BLESSINGS!

Grab the code:

Image courtesy of Michael Dwaileebe.

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February 17, 2012
by Mari-Anna Stålnacke
7 Comments

Following Christ Is Not Just Being Nice

Recently I’ve been wondering how Spirit-filled life of a follower of Christ should really look like. I am certain that being a Christian does not just mean being nice. Yet, so many of us live their lives according to our own fancies and the expectations of the society. We might do some good deeds here and there to feel good. But we are not radically altering our lives. Life as we know it is easy, comfortable, and safe. And we don’t want to rock the boat.
But is this the way to live an unforgettable life?
Is this the way to make a difference?
Is this the way to follow Christ?
Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. (Gal 6: 7-8, MSG)

John Ortberg points out that “the decision to grow always involves a choice between risk and comfort. This means that to be a follower of Jesus you must renounce comfort as the ultimate value of your life.” Following Christ is not just being nice.

If someone claims, “I know him well!” but doesn’t keep his commandments, he’s obviously a liar. His life doesn’t match his words. But the one who keeps God’s word is the person in whom we see God’s mature love. This is the only way to be sure we’re in God. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived. (1 John 2: 4-6, MSG)

We are called to follow Christ’s example. We can’t do it on our own. But the Holy Spirit in us empowers us to follow Christ and live radically for God Almighty.

Being nice is not enough.
Seeking entertainment and fun experiences is not enough.
Using our lives selfishly is not enough.

We need to follow Christ. And stick with it.

My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence? (Gal. 5: 16-18, MSG)

If we want to follow Christ it means that our lives are not going to be ours anymore. We are to follow Christ wherever he leads us. God is calling us for a radical life-change. Being nice is not enough. But how does a life wholly devoted to God look like? This is what I am praying about daily. I am praying that God would show me -clearly- what he wants me to do. Today, next month, next year, next decade and beyond. It is scary to leave the choice to God. But I do know there’s nothing I desire more than being used by God for his glory.

Everyone’s calling is different. Only God can tell you how he wants you to live your life. But the common thing is that each of our lives need to be wholly yielded to God. We need to operate out of love, not out of fear. We need to be open for God’s guidance, God can do so much more with our lives than we ever could. We need to trust God to catch us as we take leaps of faith as he is calling our names.

Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. (Gal. 5: 25, MSG)

Faith is meant to be lived out. Following Christ is a radical way of life. Following Christ is about…
…serving God with everything we’ve got.
…loving the people sends into our lives.
…letting the Holy Spirit change us inside out.
…saying ‘yes’ when God asks us to do something.
…putting God first, everything else second.

Gracious God,
We don’t just want to let our lives pass by,
we want to live fully in you!
Show us clearly what you want us to do with our lives.
Prepare us, empower us, always abide in us.
May your will happen in our lives!
May our lives be fully yielded to you!
May we bring glory to you!
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: What does following Christ mean to you?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you life fully by following Christ!

Image courtesy of Jose Fares. Linking up today with Brag on God Friday.

February 16, 2012
by Mari-Anna Stålnacke
12 Comments

Forgiven Means Forgiven

Do you believe in the forgiveness of sins? Do you have hard time believing that you are truly forgiven? We proclaim -often without thinking- in the Apostolic Creed “I believe in the forgiveness of sins”. But do we really, really believe? Do we live in the joy of forgiveness? Because being free is what Christian living is all about. If we are still carrying the burdens ourselves, we are not truly trusting God’s grace to do its job.

We have been ransomed through his Son’s blood, and we have forgiveness for our failures based on his overflowing grace, which he poured over us with wisdom and understanding. (Eph. 1: 7-8, CEB)
The enemy tries his best to assure us that God will not forgive us, that somehow our sins are stronger than the blood of Christ. But, please, don’t buy these lies. When it’s sin against grace, grace wins hands down. Jesus’ blood never fails.

But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end. (Romans 5: 20-21, MSG)

Once you have confessed your sins (and asked and received forgiveness), let them go. Forget them as God forgets them. Forgiven means forgiven. Like Thomas Adams has stated “Sins are so remitted, as if they had never been committed.” Don’t drag around even a vague sense of guilt, dump all your transgressions at the feet of the cross and leave them there. Move on to live in the SONshine of God’s forgiveness!

If we claim, “We don’t have any sin,” we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from everything we’ve done wrong. (1 John 1: 8-9, CEB)

If you still have trouble to forgive yourself, bring that matter to God. Tell him that you need healing and God will enable you to forgive yourself, too. Likewise, if you are not able to forgive someone else, ask God for help. He will enable you to forgive.

We can only live in the fullness of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise it is impossible. But God delights in helping us. He is ready to pour out grace and more grace when we ask. Approach our Heavenly Father confidently. He loves you. There’s nothing he would not do for you.

Believe boldly in the forgiveness of sins.
And appropriate it vigorously.
Ask for help if necessary.
Because it’s real.
The body of Christ, broken for you.
It’s powerful.
The Blood of Christ, shed for you.

Gracious God,
We come to you to confess all of our sins,
known and unknown.
Forgive us for Christ’s sake.
Enable us to forgive others and ourselves, too.
Show us how to be really free
and truly live in the joy of forgiveness.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Do you believe in the forgiveness of sins? Is it easy for you?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you appropriate the forgiveness of sins to you and others according to God’s plan for you!

Image courtesy of Landon Verkerk. Linking up today with Thought-Provoking Thursdays &

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February 15, 2012
by Mari-Anna Stålnacke
0 comments

What’s the Big Deal About Holiness?

How do you feel about holiness? Is it something on your ‘ought to do’ list or is it something you embrace wholeheartedly? Why is it that holiness sometimes has a bad reputation? Nancy Leigh DeMoss asks us an excellent question: “Why do we make holiness out to be some austere obligation or burden to be borne, when the fact is that to be holy is to be clean, to be free from the weight and the burden of sin?”

Let’s clear some misinterpretations. Because, like Jerry Bridges explains it, “God intends the Christian life to be a life of joy – not drudgery. The idea that holiness is associated with a dour disposition is a caricature of the worst sort. In fact, just the opposite is true. Only those who walk in holiness experience true joy.”

Jesus commanded us to obey and abide in him that his joy and delight may be in us, that our joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing! We are called to become like Him because God wants to bless us ever more, not because he’d like to punish us.

If you keep My commandments [if you continue to obey My instructions], you will abide in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commandments and live on in His love. I have told you these things, that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing. (John 15: 10-11, MSG)

The beginning of holiness is our total surrender to God. A.W. Pink states “Holiness consists of that internal change or renovation of our souls whereby our minds, affections and wills are brought into harmony with God.” To live in harmony with God is a worthy goal. But the blessings that come from holiness are ever greater.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss explains “To be holy is to be wholly satisfied with Christ. Above all, it is to reflect the beauty and the splendor of our holy Lord in this dark world. In pursuing holiness, you will fulfill and experience all that God had in mind when He created you.” When we pursue holiness we will experience all that God had in mind when he created us! Tremendous! When we live according to our own will we get -way too often- in the way of God! And then we wonder why things are not going smoothly! Lord, have mercy!

We need to understand that there are two kinds of holiness. Jerry Bridges states, “Scripture speaks of both a holiness we already possess in Christ before God and a holiness in which we are to grow more and more. The first is the result of the work of Christ for us; the second is the result of the work of the Holy Spirit in us. The first is perfect and complete and is ours the moment we trust Christ; the second is progressive and incomplete as long as we are in this life. The objective holiness we have in Christ and the subjective holiness produced by the Holy Spirit are both gifts of God’s grace and are both appropriated by faith.”

Just like we need to be open for God’s grace to save us, we need to embrace the work of the Holy Spirit in us. We have the power to keep the Holy Spirit out. But if we do so…we will miss the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. But if we are open for the curriculum of grace…we can be sure the Holy Spirit will keep on working in us so we can more and more live in harmony with God and fulfill and experience all that God has intended for us. Holiness brings God’s best for us. That’s the big deal about holiness.

Gracious God,
We thank you for your powerful grace!
Wash us clean!
Don’t let us get in your way!
Create in us desire for holiness!
Keep working in us!
So we could live in harmony with you
and according to your will!
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: How has your view on holiness changed over the years?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you welcome grace and the work of Holy Spirit into your heart and mind!

Giving thanks today for
#111 God’s invitation to be more like him
#112 The Holy Spirit’s work in us
#113 living in harmony with God
#114 blessings that flow from obedience
#115 God’s holiness
#116 mystery of Grace
#117 joy in pursuing holiness
#118 satisfaction in Christ
#119 the curriculum of grace
#120 God gives us hope beyond our understanding

Image courtesy of Jackie Almond. Linking up today with

February 14, 2012
by Mari-Anna Stålnacke
4 Comments

God’s Love Letter 4 U

God loves you more than you can ever know. Like Augustine has said “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us”. You are the apple of God’s eye! How wonderful is that!? Embrace it! Celebrate it! Share it! Here’s God’s love letter just for you!

My Child,You may not know me,
but I know everything about you.
Psalm 139:1
I know when you sit down and when you rise up.
Psalm 139:2
I am familiar with all your ways.
Psalm 139:3

Even the very hairs on your head are numbered.
Matthew 10:29-31

For you were made in my image.
Genesis 1:27

In me you live and move and have your being.
Acts 17:28

For you are my offspring.
Acts 17:28

I knew you even before you were conceived.
Jeremiah 1:4-5

I chose you when I planned creation.
Ephesians 1:11-12

You were not a mistake,
for all your days are written in my book.
Psalm 139:15-16

I determined the exact time of your birth
and where you would live.
Acts 17:26

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Psalm 139:14

I knit you together in your mother’s womb.
Psalm 139:13

And brought you forth on the day you were born.
Psalm 71:6

I have been misrepresented
by those who don’t know me.
John 8:41-44

I am not distant and angry,
but am the complete expression of love.
1 John 4:16

And it is my desire to lavish my love on you.
1 John 3:1

Simply because you are my child
and I am your Father.
1 John 3:1

I offer you more than your earthly father ever could.
Matthew 7:11

For I am the perfect father.
Matthew 5:48

Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand.
James 1:17

For I am your provider and I meet all your needs.
Matthew 6:31-33

My plan for your future has always been filled with hope.
Jeremiah 29:11

Because I love you with an everlasting love.
Jeremiah 31:3

My thoughts toward you are countless
as the sand on the seashore.
Psalms 139:17-18

And I rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17

I will never stop doing good to you.
Jeremiah 32:40

For you are my treasured possession.
Exodus 19:5

I desire to establish you
with all my heart and all my soul.
Jeremiah 32:41

And I want to show you great and marvelous things.
Jeremiah 33:3

If you seek me with all your heart,
you will find me.
Deuteronomy 4:29

Delight in me and I will give you
the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4

For it is I who gave you those desires.
Philippians 2:13

I am able to do more for you
than you could possibly imagine.
Ephesians 3:20

For I am your greatest encourager.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

I am also the Father who comforts you
in all your troubles.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

When you are brokenhearted,
I am close to you.
Psalm 34:18

As a shepherd carries a lamb,
I have carried you close to my heart.
Isaiah 40:11

One day I will wipe away
every tear from your eyes.
Revelation 21:3-4

And I’ll take away all the pain
you have suffered on this earth.
Revelation 21:3-4

I am your Father, and I love you
even as I love my son, Jesus.
John 17:23

For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed.
John 17:26

He is the exact representation of my being.
Hebrews 1:3

He came to demonstrate that I am for you,
not against you.
Romans 8:31

And to tell you that I am not counting your sins.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19

His death was the ultimate expression
of my love for you.
1 John 4:10

I gave up everything I loved
that I might gain your love.
Romans 8:31-32

If you receive the gift of my son Jesus,
you receive me.
1 John 2:23

And nothing will ever separate you
from my love again.
Romans 8:38-39
Come home and I’ll throw the biggest party
heaven has ever seen.
Luke 15:7
I have always been Father,
and will always be Father.
Ephesians 3:14-15
My question is…
Will you be my child?
John 1:12-13
I am waiting for you.
Luke 15:11-32

Love, Your Dad
Almighty God

Dear God,
We love you
and we praise you!
Thank you for your perfect love!
Thank you for doing everything for us
so we could be united with you.
Thank you for cherishing us.
Help us to see ourselves as you see us.
Help us to love others as you love us.
Enable us to bask in your love
today and always.
Enable us to love you more and more.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: How have you experienced God’s love in your life?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you bask in God’s love! Happy Valentine’s Day! You are loved & cherished by God Almighty!

Linking up today with What’s on Your Heart Tuesdays & Soli Deo Gloria.

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February 13, 2012
by Mari-Anna Stålnacke
5 Comments

Jesus the Bridge Builder

One of the most important questions in life is: Who is Jesus to you? The answer to that question shapes our life and destiny like no other. Christians believe that Jesus is the son of God, our Lord and Savior.

There is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, the human Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a payment to set all people free. (1 Tim. 2: 5-6, CEB)

We find freedom in Jesus. There’s nothing better in life than being freed from our transgressions. That moment when the burdens are lifted from your shoulders! Priceless! The only way to experience that freedom is to cast our sins on Jesus.

The old priesthood of Aaron perpetuated itself automatically, father to son, without explicit confirmation by God. But then God intervened and called this new, permanent priesthood into being with an added promise:
   God gave his word;
      he won’t take it back:
   ”You’re the permanent priest.”
This makes Jesus the guarantee of a far better way between us and God—one that really works! A new covenant. Earlier there were a lot of priests, for they died and had to be replaced. But Jesus’ priesthood is permanent. He’s there from now to eternity to save everyone who comes to God through him, always on the job to speak up for them. (Hebrews 7: 20-25, MSG, emphasis added)

Did you know that the word for “priest” in Latin is pontifex which means “bridge builder”? Jesus is the bridge builder from humans to God. If we want to get to God, we must cross over the bridge Jesus has built. There’s no other bridge over the the troubled waters of trespasses and transgressions that separate us from God. We can only get safely to the other side by grace through faith in Jesus. But this bridge is strong and mighty fortress.

So now we have a high priest who perfectly fits our needs: completely holy, uncompromised by sin, with authority extending as high as God’s presence in heaven itself. Unlike the other high priests, he doesn’t have to offer sacrifices for his own sins every day before he can get around to us and our sins. He’s done it, once and for all: offered up himself as the sacrifice. The law appoints as high priests men who are never able to get the job done right. But this intervening command of God, which came later, appoints the Son, who is absolutely, eternally perfect. (Hebrews 7: 26-28, MSG, emphasis added)

Jesus offered up himself as the sacrifice for once and for all. Jesus is the bridge builder that makes it possible for each and everyone of us to be united with God and bask in his loving presence. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the key to eternal life.

The bridge is ready. We just need to be willing to use it. If you have a need for pardon, an urge to commune with God and bask in his grace, don’t waste another minute. Let the other people bask on the bank if they insist. But you, don’t delay. Cross the bridge. God is waiting.

Gracious God,
Thank you for sending Jesus to save us.
We are humbled that you love us so much.
We truly can’s save ourselves.
Forgive our sins in Jesus’ name.
Enable us to live according to your will.
Send your Holy Spirit to lead us home to you.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Who is Jesus to you?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you embrace God’s saving grace each and every day of your life!

Giving thanks today for
#101 Jesus the bridge builder
#102 The ready-made bridge back to God
#103 The permanent priesthood of Jesus
#104 The joy of salvation
#105 grandparents
#106 freedom in Christ
#107 life after death
#108 life after winter
#109 the Bible
#110 God does not waste anything

Image courtesy of Michael Polzella. Linking up today with Sharing His Beauty & Hear it on Sunday, Us it on Monday &

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February 11, 2012
by Mari-Anna Stålnacke
6 Comments

Weekend Prayer Wall {Feb. 11-12}

You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed.~ A.J. Gordon

The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God’s standing challenge, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not!’” ~J. Hudson Taylor

John 17, MSG, emphasis added.
Jesus’ Prayer for His Followers

^1-5 Jesus said these things. Then, raising his eyes in prayer, he said:
   Father, it’s time.
   Display the bright splendor of your Son
   So the Son in turn may show your bright splendor.
   You put him in charge of everything human
   So he might give real and eternal life to all in his charge.
   And this is the real and eternal life:
   That they know you,
   The one and only true God,
   And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
   I glorified you on earth
   By completing down to the last detail
   What you assigned me to do.
   And now, Father, glorify me with your very own splendor,
   The very splendor I had in your presence
   Before there was a world. ^6-12I spelled out your character in detail
   To the men and women you gave me.
   They were yours in the first place;
   Then you gave them to me,
   And they have now done what you said.
   They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt,
   That everything you gave me is firsthand from you,
   For the message you gave me, I gave them;
   And they took it, and were convinced
   That I came from you.
   They believed that you sent me.
   I pray for them.
   I’m not praying for the God-rejecting world
   But for those you gave me,
   For they are yours by right.
   Everything mine is yours, and yours mine,
   And my life is on display in them.
   For I’m no longer going to be visible in the world;
   They’ll continue in the world
   While I return to you.
   Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life
   That you conferred as a gift through me,
   So they can be one heart and mind
   As we are one heart and mind.
   As long as I was with them, I guarded them
   In the pursuit of the life you gave through me;
   I even posted a night watch.
   And not one of them got away,
   Except for the rebel bent on destruction
   (the exception that proved the rule of Scripture).

^13-19Now I’m returning to you.
   I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing
   So my people can experience
   My joy completed in them.
   I gave them your word;
   The godless world hated them because of it,
   Because they didn’t join the world’s ways,
   Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways.
   I’m not asking that you take them out of the world
   But that you guard them from the Evil One.
   They are no more defined by the world
   Than I am defined by the world.
   Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth;
   Your word is consecrating truth.
   In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world,
   I give them a mission in the world.
   I’m consecrating myself for their sakes
   So they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission.

^20-23I’m praying not only for them
   But also for those who will believe in me
   Because of them and their witness about me.
   The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—
   Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
   So they might be one heart and mind with us.
   Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.
   The same glory you gave me, I gave them,
   So they’ll be as unified and together as we are—
   I in them and you in me.
   Then they’ll be mature in this oneness,
   And give the godless world evidence
   That you’ve sent me and loved them
   In the same way you’ve loved me.

^24-26Father, I want those you gave me
   To be with me, right where I am,
   So they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me,
   Having loved me
   Long before there ever was a world.
   Righteous Father, the world has never known you,
   But I have known you, and these disciples know
   That you sent me on this mission.
   I have made your very being known to them—
   Who you are and what you do—
   And continue to make it known,
   So that your love for me
   Might be in them
   Exactly as I am in them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lord, remember all who are single and lonely.
Lord, remember all who cannot sleep,
Do not want to sleep or sleep fitfully.
Lord, remember all people in relationships -
The sacrifices, the getting on together,
The space or lack of it.
Lord, remember all who feel downtrodden,
Victimized or unfairly treated.
Lord, remember all who find no point,
Value or meaning in living.

Finally Lord, remember any who suffer,
No matter what form the suffering takes,
And may it bear fruit
Even if this fruit is unknown to the sufferer
Or known only in hindsight.
(Unknown prayer)

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Image courtesy of Ryan Furr.