People! People! There is an Instruction Manual, you know!

People! People! There is an Instruction Manuel, you know!
If you are tired of walking in circles there IS a place to go!
Don’t turn on the news to find out the plan – that Bible on the shelf and the one you saw on the back of the pew, it proclaims all you need for instruction and especially some MUCH NEEDED Good News!
Yes, I write as a child, but quite frankly we’ve been misdirected! We’ve gotten ‘smart in our own eyes’ to think that we can ‘Go it without God’ – that we’ve ‘evolved’ through eons of time to become, oh, so wise!
So, we build high towers that reach to the heavens and men and women in suits meet in conference rooms and fill it with endless BABBLE!
And we witness in our ‘smartness’ lots of energy and sparks over VOCABULARY!… It’s as if we’re all playing a wild game of SCRABBLE!
“Stop it!” “Stop it!” Our hearts cry inside! “The children are confused. The children are hurt. The children are abused…  ‘TURN AROUND!’ Be confused no longer! The kingdom of heaven is coming so soon!
God has a plan and it’s written and sealed… with His blood told in the Book He breathed out  for us. It is written so we could know from the first page to the last – there is a scarlet thread of hope, the Lamb of God given.
God is love. He didn’t leave us orphans! People! People! There’s an Instruction manual, you know! – The Immanuel is come! He is able to deliver us, He is able to forgive. He shed His blood that we might be covered and ‘transfused!’ This is the gospel, for such a time as this! THIS  IS the Good News!
He has breathed His word to His children that we might know forever what He is like! And if any other, calls himself ‘god’, and doesn’t behave in love – please know, dear children, he’s not god at all –  he’s simply the devil, the author of LIES!
Don’t you know God is patient? Don’t you know that God is  kind? He is not jealous or boastful or proud in any way.  He doesn’t parade Himself! He is not rude to mankind! (my paraphrase of the New Living Translation of 1 Corinthians 13: 4).
He doesn’t demand His own way. He is not provoked or  irritable. He doesn’t keep a record of the wrongs done to Him.  God never rejoices about injustice that is done. God rejoices when  truth wins out. (1 Corinthians 13: 5-6). This is God the Father who gave His only Son.
‘The heavens declare the glory of God’ (Psalm 19:1)…but God’s word will unfold for you the hope of Redemption!
He is the One who makes us lie down at times. He ‘allows’ trouble and loss and pain in this broken place we abide, but open your eyes and you will see, He has made you lie down and the pastures are green! Yes, it’s hard and painful to be ‘made to lie down’, but God works it all for good – so in circles you no longer walk around…and instead… you discover, He’s –  right –  there! And His grace ABOUNDS!
God’s love never gives up on you, or me, or the children of the world.  God’s love always believes the best, and hopes and endures through every circumstance. God is love. He is the Light of the world. But don’t be mistaken, there is a time to hate. There are Instructions that have been breathed out by God and given to His children:  “You who love the LORD, hate evil!” (Psalm 97:10). And it is found in other places beside:  “Hate evil, love good.” (Amos 5:15). Well, God is good! May we ‘cling to Him!’ May we hope in Him, may we grow to know HIM!
God loves and gave His Son and, He came to earth as baby Jesus, it’s true. But let this age old story speak new things to your heart, don’t be ‘too smart for all this childish stuff’, the story is rich, the story is deep:  Jesus was with God in the beginning – and I pray you are so hungry and thirsty you begin to drink from the ‘Living Waters’ yourself!   And discover a-new,  that He is Creator of all, and His most precious creation… is you.
He has a plan, and His plan is for good. Open the Book and go to the very end! Yes, start at the end, (it’s as if God knew we would).
You can read the words breathed out from heaven: “And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts, “Come!” It’s an INVITATION!
Perhaps, today, you will pray, and become a ‘new creation’ by receiving Jesus in your life, and in a sense, become ‘His bride’, (the church) as He meant it to be. In Him, In love, in unity!
And perhaps we’ve received Him, yet we need filling every day. So, this morning, we come as His children with hearts open, we ask “Holy Spirit fill me with living waters overflowing! Fill us to the brim with forgiveness and new life and hope and direction! May the word of God dwell in our hearts richly that we might have joy – joy, precious and rare!
While the news of the world is dark and makes us weak, may we seek You God, for You are Good, that the joy of the Lord, yes, so precious and rare-  would flow through us – COMPLETELY – and that we would then be empowered to ‘splash Your love’ … EVERYWHERE!
In Jesus name, this is my prayer.”