A Beautiful City

Imagine a magical story, a beautiful story with an ending unfathomable in this lifetime and ending substantially more majestic and plentiful than the sparkly green land of OZ. At the end of a well-travel road, no wee little man will be behind a robotic device, creating imagery. Instead, you will meet a glorious, wonderful God that loves you.

Yes, He loves you! Extraordinarily, you can’t honestly imagine how much or how high the feeling will be when you run straight into His arms. This feeling will be too profound for words, better than the best present, the most beautiful dream, or your greatest earthly desires. Close your eyes and think about that for a minute. Allow the pains and pressures of this life to fall away, and allow yourself to imagine that peaceful love.

All you need to receive this feeling is faith. Faith, that God is God, that He died for you, and that your sins are His burden and His yoke are easy. He’s an awesome God and is higher than any imaginary character or thought of perfection in this world.

He is alive and the only one you need. Now you may need to attack this statement, but that’s okay, and even though your attack is “not of God,” I love you anyway, and I will listen to your points because you believe in them. I want the same respect because my God does the same for me. He hears even when He disagrees.

He is a parent in the chaotic mess of life. He is what lies beyond the curtain of this pestilent world. He's not a scared little man; He is the lion's roar, the Great I Am! And God loves us; no matter what, He loves us.

What harm is there in trusting in His promises? After all, in this life, we trust so much less? We trust we can do things independently, but do we? We trust people will not disappoint. However, we should understand that they will. We love the people in their imperfections because loving one another means sharing the same grace given to us. Still, we can be very stingy in our deliverance of grace to others.

We trust things like bungee Chords by taking a flying leap off a bridge and parachutes as we jump from planes; however, we hesitate with accepting that there is a God that loves us. How profoundly sad is that? Why not just take a leap of faith, just in case? I am guessing it will be the best thrill you’ve ever had, but maybe you’re not a risk taker?

If you were to take this leap, a true leap of faith, you would never be alone. You would share in His abundant grace, encouraging others, always leading those lost back to the golden path leading to Christ, who is more significant than any OZ.

God makes all things possible in our tomorrow, and today’s, using everything in every circumstance. That may be hard to believe, but it’s true, even the tough stuff allows for a purpose, and one day not too long from now, we'll look back and see the many blessings.

I've always heard it said, "Be patient; good things come to those who wait," right? When something or someone of this world comes to you in a damaging attack, close your eyes and imagine being held safe and sound in the arms of Jesus; why not jump? Is he ready to catch you? Come just as you are.

Free yourself from personal flaws, for He sees only the beauty of His creation in you. Our weaknesses allows teaching points in life; without them, we may become too prideful. These personal imperfections are humbling factors, reminding us to remove our plank carefully, not to cloud our vision, or, worse, throw a stone while blinded.

We forget God is our teacher and healer, and we need to remember to bring Him into our city with every conversation. We know the latest slang, fad, news, and gossip, but we stumble to recall His word and message. I suppose it's a time issue. Where do we spend our time? Do we lead with His love or assume the first position? We would surely benefit from following His lead in all situations, no second guessing.

You may say," He isn’t real," well, what if you’re wrong? What if everything you love is going to be there? How about now, are you sure you don’t want to be there too? I am sure everyone you love will sing "I Wish You Were Here." Maybe leap. It will be a beautiful leap.

Like a bungee jump, you will want to share that thrill repeatedly; go for it! After that first leap, you can join the construction team, assisting the building with your unique talents because you're important, and needed to make this city whole—every sparkly bit of you, shining as only you can for the glory of God. So friends, please let go, and trust there is a great and powerful GOD!

When we have faith in God, there will be no second-guessing. You will need no courage, for it will be yours in His promises. There will be no need for a heart made of plastic as yours will beat with a new enthusiasm for life. No longer will wisdom be lost to you. Instead, it will be extreme and abundant in His word. The draw will be higher than any earthly desire, and at long last, you will be home. Everything you love and know will fail in comparison. Joy will abound, unimaginable excitement as the reunion will be spectacular. Are you getting excited?

I don’t know about you, but I’m excited. I feel the ground shaking beneath our feet with the sound of revival. Suppose we can navigate through the tumultuous trial of contradictions in a world bathed in negativity, always seeking the yellow brick road. In that case, I believe NO! I know it leads somewhere over the rainbow, which is worth considering.

We must learn to navigate with a purpose unlike our own—a sense of surrender to the glory of God’s plan. The hardest part may be that we limit God, not allowing Him to do work beyond our measure entirely.

We try to maintain a robotic-like control, not trusting in His power, and sadly not appreciating the tiny miracles that come together before our eyes. We close ourselves off and miss the big picture. We are so full of contradiction. We say things like, “summer is here, how awesome… but it’s hot, ugh; feel that humidity”, or I know God has this, but... Wow, is that a confusing statement or what?

How unnoticed our diminishing thoughts, how dejectedly we are constantly spewing our “not of God thoughts.” We praise and worship harmoniously, yet how quickly we change our tune easily falls into the bath of negatives; it's not very cleansing, but we repeatedly dipped in the dirty water.

The norm of a condition is to give more attention to the negative as opposed to the positives. Negative focus is a learned behavior; one good point in this scenario is that anything learned you can archive. Anything worth having is worth the effort. We can take the bull by the horns and get on with being better. Better about displaying and delivering a similar grace, God so freely gives grace to all of us even with our indiscretions’.

We are not perfect in our walk, and we slip off the yellow brick road, sometimes daily or more often than we care to admit. The wonderful thing about falling is we can get back up. We are reaching out in love, laughing together, and forgiving quickly. When we recognize our human flaws, we give them less power, which helps us seek God’s grace and glory together.

In a recent message, they reminded me of God’s abundant love for us, from the words of Philippians Chapter four, with the beautiful heading, “Closing Appeal for Steadfastness and Unity”(New International Version); I affirm in God’s word, Philippians (New International Version), has a fantastic recipe for life, all we need to do is follow it, and we should do it together, and that means all of us. When this world attacks that belief, we can link arms and head down the road together, uplifting and affirming one another in His promises.

Phil 4:7 ~ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ.

Phil 4:8-9 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is praiseworthy- think about such things. Whatever you have learned, received, heard, or seen in me, put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Phil 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Jesus Christ.

The verses from the Philippians blessed me, and I felt compelled to share the grace given in me. His word is all I need; my words fail in comparison, yet He wants us not to be stingy with His word, sharing for all to hear. He has given us a world of possibilities to share in His glory. He has provided an army of youth and adults and the wisdom of working together in unity to become that revival of His word and not our own.

He is our portion, and we need to share His given. He needs all of us to trust in Him and have faith in His promises, always knowing we are not worthy but willing because He made us in His image, and we are His. Our God is no robot! He's not hiding like the great and powerful Oz! Our Father is not living in an imaginary Emerald City. He is the great I Am in paradise. It will all make sense if you go beyond the curtain. On the other side of the rainbow, He waits for you to come home.