June 2010

Welcome to this month's view. I'm glad to hear that you enjoy not only the views, but the entire web site. As you read, I pray that God's love will be revealed to you by the Holy Spirit.1 Remember, "We love God because He first loved us."2 We are beloved by God!

KLove.com

Do you find it hard to stay focused on your relationship with the Lord throughout the day? If so, one way to focus is by listening to contemporary Christian music on KLove. com. As you do, God's word of love and grace will renew your mind to the finished work of Jesus, producing a sense of righteousness and perfect peace.3

"Therefore by Him [Jesus] let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name."4

Serenity Prayer

My mother's favorite prayer was the Serenity Prayer. Often, she would pray it out loud to overcome as things got too tough for her to handle. I recall her cry:

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

What she didn't know was the rest of the prayer, which she would have loved. It is as follows:

"Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will; so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen."

This prayer was written by Reinhold Niebuhr, who I'm sure wouldn't have realized how it would be used by so many. I can testify that God has used his prayer to bring comfort to many in troubled times. If you are bombarded with troublesome thoughts or worries, stop now and pray this prayer from the heart to God. The Lord says, "Call to Me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know."5

Faith Righteousness

For Christian music and the Serenity Prayer to be effective, we must have our foundation in faith righteousness. Righteousness is the ability to stand in God's presence without the sense of fear, sin, guilt or inferiority. This ability comes solely through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

"For God sent Jesus to take the punishment of our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed His blood, sacrificing His life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when He did not punish those who sinned in former times. And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when He declares sinners to be right in His sight because they believe in Jesus."6

For a time, I thought my good works would make me more right with God because the world says, "You are accepted if you perform well," but God says, "You are accepted because of the performance of Jesus." I was wrong, "For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ."7

"What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun! All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to Himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling people to Him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. This is the wonderful message He has given us to tell others."8

Abounding Love Ministries

This ministry of reconciliation began in 1980, through mailing brochures, cassettes, videos, and testimony books to both prisoners and free society. It was not until 1998, that aboundinglove.org started up. We're so very thankful for those of you who have made it possible through your prayers and faith.

We are now celebrating our 30th Anniversary of ministry. "As God's partners, we beg all unbelievers to not reject this marvelous message of God's great loving kindness. For God says,

'At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.'

Indeed, God is ready to help you right now. Today is the day of salvation."10 This means that today, deliverance, health, soundness, peace, prosperity, liberation, freedom, rescue, and victory is available to you right now.

"Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation. Therefore, with joy you will draw water from the well of salvation."11 Won't you surrender today?

A Prayer For You ...

Heavenly Father, I surrender my life to Your plan. I believe that You sent Your Son Jesus to take my sin, guilt and pain upon Himself, so that I could be made right with You. I believe my sins are completely forgiven because of the precious blood of Jesus. I believe that You raised Jesus from the dead, and I confess Jesus as Lord with my mouth. Forgive me for trying to save myself by my own works. I turn to You with all my heart, and trust in Your finished work at Calvary. Thank You for this awesome gift of eternal life. Thank You for taking up residence in my heart and for inviting me into Your glorious kingdom. I commit my life to serving before Your throne forever. Amen

Scripture References:

1 Eph. 3:14-21
2 1 Jn. 4:19
3 Isa. 26:3
4 Heb. 13:15
5 Jere. 33:3
6 Rom. 3:25, 26
7 2 Cor. 5:21
8 2 Cor. 5:17-19
9 2 Cor. 5:20
10 2 Cor. 6:1, 2
11 Isa. 12:2, 3

Acknowledgement: A special thanks to Sherry for transcribing this months view!