God is real.

There is a God who created the Universe and all living things in it. He made man and He made woman. The God of the Old Testament is the same God as the New Testament, and the God of today. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. There has never been any god throughout all history of time that could prove they were real. The One True God has proved over and over again He is real. The Old Testament is packed full stories of miracles, stories of anger and wrath, stories of divine provision. God created life to be beautiful and to be in relationship with Him, but human kind screwed that up with sin. We chose over and over again to know more than God, to go our own way, to go against what God tells us to do. We BROKE that relationship with God, we turned our backs on God, we sinned against God and the penalty was death, so He left us to fend for ourselves. Then in God's GREAT mercy, the New Testament comes along and God made a way for us to have a relationship with Him again. God sent His very own son to die on the cross for our sins. We wouldn't have to die, Jesus took our punishment on his shoulders. 

As I sit in the back of a youth service, the speaker invites the students to surrender their life to a God who gave His own son on the cross for their sins. One by one students are standing up out of their seats, saying "Jesus I am Yours" and walking to the front. They know in their hearts this "God" truly is REAL and they are willing to stand up and proclaim that to the world. I'm watching from the back, as one by one are going up front. Ten, fifty, a hundred, two hundred or more and I am celebrating the next generation as they proclaim the TRUTH. 

And then I feel the weight of PAIN God feels for the "sitting ducks" who don't respond, who choose to stay seated. There is a story of Jesus the Good Shepherd (Luke 15:1-7), who one night as he was watching the sheep, realized ONE sheep was missing. There were 99 other sheep, why would he go find the one missing sheep? But that's what Jesus says to do. God is calling out to His missing sheep, to all those "sitting ducks", to respond to His call. He is waiting with OPEN ARMS. God is screaming, "Stop running from Me. There is nowhere you can go, nowhere you can hide!! Come to ME. Let Me rescue you. Let Me love you and bring you back to safety. Let Me bring you back to the flock where it's safe and warm. Stop running." 

I am passionately in love with this God, the only True God. Jesus sacrificed his LIFE on the cross for me, the least I can do is sacrifice whatever I can for him. God is calling out for you to stop running and let Him find you. 

That night at service, I went up front as well, even though it was for students, but I went up to pray for the "sitting ducks". I felt the power of God speaking through me and there was NO DENYING God is real. 

I am so righteously annoyed that Americans deny God everyday. They sit in their seats, they ignore the call, they turn their backs on God when all He wants to do is love His sheep. "Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep. In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven't strayed away!" (Luke 15:7)

You're either a "sitting duck" or totally surrendered to God. You're either hot or cold. If you're lukewarm, God will spit you out of His mouth. (Revelation 3:16)