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May 2022 Newsletter
From The Desk of Dave McLean
The last two months I have been talking about the subject of, “What kind of God are you looking for?” This month we’ll look at what kind of God do we have!
From my studies, observations and relationship with the Father, He’s the real deal! He has created us in such a way that we can navigate this world and life. He has placed His Truth in our hearts so that we ALL know about Him, His standards and His Will (Rom 1:18-20)! While we live in a world that suffers from our decisions and the decisions of others, we have the power to say no and stand in love and righteousness ourselves. In other words, the evil one has no power over our spirit and soul, other than that which we give him. That’s God’s grace! We may live in a fallen and dark world, but we don’t have to succumb to it or the evil one. Our real hope is not in this fallen world and we should not live like it is. Our hope is in His kingdom- here and now within us and His eternal kingdom.
We all deserve judgment, yet He paid the price of our judgment through His sacrifice of death on the cross for our sins. Talk about love; I would never want to die, let alone such an excruciating death for someone else’s sin. Yet the Innocent One died that death to take my sin and judgment upon His shoulders, so I could be welcomed into His family and called His child. Judged, Guilty, deserving death- and yet Jesus paid my penalty! That is love! He rose from the dead, overcame the power of death and to this day and forever is our Lord. He fills us with His Spirit to guide us and empowers us with His Spirit, Truth and Love to navigate in a fallen world. He pursues us when we stumble and He pursues man until the very end of time. He will judge those who remain in their sin, and justly and rightfully so. All of His disciplines are just and are not harsh like man’s. All of His disciplines are tailored to give us a taste or distaste of our sin and a taste of His wisdom, love and forgiveness. His heart is to restore us to Himself! He does not guarantee that things will go our desired way on this earth, but He will walk it with us if we walk with Him, and He does assure us of an eternity with Him if we turn to Him.
His love is like none we have ever experienced from each other. His love is perfect and everything good. To find fault with God, shows that we don’t know Him and it exposes our own shortcomings. We have never loved Him like He loves us. Even then, if we humble ourselves and turn to our God, He is merciful to forgive. Any room for complaints about this God? I can’t find any and I’m done trying. I’m sold! I’m His!
Man is looking for Pure Love, Real Love and Perfect Love, we just never find it, because none of us is living it or giving it. We want it, we’re just not willing to live it. So, to each other, we get what we give. At times we think we find it, until we get to know them better and we get a better glimpse inside. We want to be loved, cherished and cared for, but it’s tough when we are sinned against and because of our propensity to sin against others.
Where is His love in this fallen world? It’s hard to see His love through our cold love (Mt 24:12).
Where is God in this fallen world? Actually He’s everywhere crying out to every man, trying to save man from himself before He must judge him for his dark and sinful heart. His light shines in our darkness, His Love pierces our emptiness, yet we refuse it. Our view of God should not be judged by the chaos seen on earth, that should be our wakeup call to our own depravity and our need of God. If anything, this should give us great fear of elevating ourselves in determining what is right or wrong and establishing our own judgments. Our view of God should be judged by the Love we see in His Words, the Love we see in His Care and Mercy and the Great Love of His Sacrifice and Forgiveness of our sins.
I’m here to tell you that GOD IS LOVE and always has been, even in the Old Testament. And if you don’t see it, the problem is not with God! He’s never changed- that’s what He says! He’s perfect and always has been and how do you improve on that? It’s US, it’s OUR lack of love that causes us to not see His Pure Love. Mat 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Lord, give us that pure heart!!!
So the question to ask is not; “Where is God, or is there a God in the midst of this madness?”, the best question is; “Have I turned to God as my only hope of escape from this madness?” God’s gift has been perverted and trampled on by man. God is not missing in action; He’s missing from our hearts. We live in this world, but we are not to be of this world. Our hope is not in this body of flesh or in this world. Our hope is in the Sovereign God Who will judge this madness, the Merciful God Who forgives the repentant sinner, and the Gracious God Who will love us now and for eternity with Love we can only find in Him.
I can walk this life because He walks it with me, I have found Purpose, Hope and Love in life, all in Him. We must remember though, to experience His True Love, we must be willing to prove ours. So, What kind of God am I looking for? The One and only God Who is Perfect Love, the one that I have!!! Amen? Amen!
Grateful
When you are in the service of your fellow being you are in the service of your God. During a very cold December, I noticed there were not enough hats, scarves, and gloves to sell at Hope Thrift, let alone to help those in desperate need. Especially during subfreezing temperatures and snow. I contacted my family in Washington State and explained the situation. I asked them to hit the secondhand stores at least. With minimal notice, the response was touching from my family as well as their friends. As soon as my daughter told my grandchildren, they and a friend, got out hat looms and began to create hats for those in need. My heart filled with love and gratitude for their compassion. As well as love to those 100’s of miles away. When I received the collection, they made and I requested, there were over 125 hats, scarves, and gloves! No matter the ages, or where you live, thinking of the warmth of others, especially during difficult times is a true gift of giving and concern for others.
Thank you for helping those in need by showing a little bit of kindness and care for them.
With extreme gratitude,
Debbie ~ Hope Thrift
June 4th @ 11am located at 2340 Hope Road in Helmville, MT there will be a Celebration of Life for
Robert “Bob” Christensen. Food will be provided featuring a Pig Roast and side dishes. Please feel free to bring your favorite side dish if you would like. To have step by step instructions to the property email arayofhope4u@gmail.com
Where My Life Was VS. Now
Since I was 18 years old, I have been in and out of trouble. I had no intentions of it becoming a problem. I had no intentions of ending up in jail, as a drug addict or homeless. I didn’t wake up one day and decide this. Instead of changing the way I led my life, I let it consume me. My character defects became worse. I fed my ego and never put down my pride. I never cared for anyone but myself. For the longest time, I thought I just needed to get sober and everything would be alright. But that wasn’t the case. I had to change everything about my life.
So when I entered Rehab in September 2021, I didn’t think I needed to change anything about myself. At first, I didn’t pay attention or listen. After the first 2 weeks, I finally gave in. I was ready to accept the fact that I was the problem. I was selfish, self seeking, and inconsiderate. From that moment forward, I did my best to work on me.
Today, I try to live my life one day at a time by doing the next right thing. I think positive and I’m grateful. I take notice of my character defects and try to stop them. I ask myself if this is the right thing to do. Would I want my daughter to do this? If the answer is no, then I don’t. And because of all this, I now have a relationship with my daughter, a place to stay, money saved up, and a good future ahead of me. I don’t try to sit there and control any part of my life. I believe in my higher power. I keep doing the next right thing and surrender the outcome to God. He will always have my back!
Matt D.