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AbandonedWritten By Chase Sutton

Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. - Psalm 27:10 (NIV)

For three years, and for eight hours a day, a drug addicted homeless couple made their living panhandling on street corners near their makeshift home under a bridge. A few months into those three years they found out they were expecting a baby. At first they were excited as any couple would be, so during the first four months of her pregnancy, they stopped their drug use, and even transitioned to a shelter so they could begin getting their lives in order before they had the baby. Yet, soon after they started to turn their lives around, the homeless man had a relapse and convinced his girlfriend to take, 'just one more hit' with him because she had not did it in so long. So, five months into her pregnancy, she once again polluted her body with drugs. Surprisingly, she was able to carry the baby to full term and she ended up having the baby in their makeshift home under a bridge, with no medical attention. After the baby was two days old, the couple got so high on their drugs they both decided it would be best to wrap the baby up in a blanket and toss it like a bag of garbage in a nearby dumpster in a dark alley by a restaurant. About thirty minutes after they abandoned their baby, faint cries were heard by one of the restaurant waitresses as she was taking the garbage out. She immediately set her bag of garbage down on the ground, climbed to the top of the big green dumpster and peered in. To her surprise, there layed a new-born baby boy. She immediately grabbed him out the dumpster, brought him in the restaurant and called 911. The baby was later rushed to the hospital, where the doctors knew nothing of his drug addicted mother. The doctors ran test after test and found he was just simply hungry and dehydrated, but other than that, he was absolutely healthy; he was deemed a miracle baby. About a month later the baby boy was adopted by a married couple whom could not have children of their own, but for years had waited and prayed to adopt a healthy baby. A year later, it was reported on the news that an unidentified male and female were found dead, because of an apparent drug overdose. They died by the same dumpster the baby boy was found in. Those people were his biological father and mother.

Just because men and women have babies does not mean they are parents. A parent is someone who provides for, nurtures and plays a consistent and active role in how any child develops, whether biological or not. Yet even with everything parents do for their children, there is no perfect parent, but God. God is the Father to the fatherless (and motherless) (Psalm 68:5). Therefore, whether people come from broken homes, are in foster care waiting to be adopted by a loving family, or whether their parents did not fulfill their role for any reason, God can and will fill all parental voids. One of the things, which makes God such a perfect parent is He knew each of us before we were even in our mother's womb (Jeremiah 1:5). So, before we existed and even before we came into relationship with Him, He knew us and He was always there, because He is omnipresent (present everywhere). He was at all of our football games, basketball games, ballet recitals and cheerleading practices. He was there on our first day of kindergarten through our college graduation. He was there during all our mistakes and mishaps and our ups and downs, all while slowly leading us in the direction to accept His Son Jesus into our lives. Once we received Jesus, God became our Father, an amazing parent who will never neglect or abandon His children. So, while many stand parent-less in the natural and spiritual, He is there waiting for them to receive His Son so He can receive them, just like we received Him and He us.

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From Salt Water to Fresh WaterWritten By Chase Sutton

1 Then the man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple. There I saw a stream flowing eastward from beneath the Temple threshold. This stream then passed to the right of the altar on its south side. 2 The man brought me outside the wall through the north gateway and led me around to the eastern entrance. There I could see the stream flowing out through the south side of the east gateway. 3 Measuring as he went, he led me along the stream for 1,750 feet a and told me to go across. At that point the water was up to my ankles. 4 He measured off another 1,750 feet and told me to go across again. This time the water was up to my knees. After another 1,750 feet, it was up to my waist. 5 Then he measured another 1,750 feet, and the river was too deep to cross without swimming. 6 He told me to keep in mind what I had seen; then he led me back along the riverbank. 7 Suddenly, to my surprise, many trees were now growing on both sides of the river! 8 Then he said to me, "This river flows east through the desert into the Jordan Valley, b where it enters the Dead Sea. c The waters of this stream will heal the salty waters of the Dead Sea and make them fresh and pure. 9 Everything that touches the water of this river will live. Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for its waters will be healed. Wherever this water flows, everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shores of the Dead Sea, fishing all the way from En-gedi to En-eglaim. The shores will be covered with nets drying in the sun. Fish of every kind will fill the Dead Sea, just as they fill the Mediterranean d ! 11 But the marshes and swamps will not be purified; they will be sources of salt. 12 All kinds of fruit trees will grow along both sides of the river. The leaves of these trees will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month, without fail! For they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing." - Ezekiel 47:1-12 (NLT)

Every summer a group of nine friends goes on a weeklong fishing trip. Each time they prepare for the trip they load up two trucks with fishing poles, food, water, sleeping bags, tents, their bait of special fruits to attract what they will be catching and other essential items. Many people in their town think they are very foolish, because instead of going to the unpolluted river in town to fish, they travel to a town twenty-five miles away to go fishing in a polluted sea surrounded by murky, salty marsh lands and swamps, where the fish are said to be the most treacherous and some even deadly. Yet, each year they go, they are successful at catching a vast number of fish of all kinds. The day they set out on their trip, is one of the most exciting days of their lives because they know they are getting ready to do what they love best. They arrive to the sea in the afternoon and they instantly began to drip with sweat because of the high humidity. The aroma of the swamps and sea smells of mildew and pure sea salt and the mixture of the dampness and salt in the air leave a dusty white film on their skin once it dries. They enter in an old fishing cabin left for them by one of their parents who used to go on the same fishing trips as this group of friends do. Then at dusk when all the fish seem to bite the most, they go and form a semi-circle at the edge of the sea and begin to bait their fishing lines. The first friend baits their line with love. The second person baits their line with joy, the third friend baits their line with peace, the fourth person baits theirs with patience, and the fifth friend baits theirs with kindness. The sixth friend decides to bait their line with goodness, the seventh with faithfulness, the eighth friend with gentleness, and finally the ninth friend baits their line with self-control. Then, they all cast their lines out into the sea and wait for the fish to bite. The person who baited their line with self-control gets the first bite, and his catch is totally out of control. When he reels it in, it is a young man who did whatever he pleased, because his parents never disciplined him and neglected him through his childhood. The one who baited her line with gentleness caught a catch that thrashed about violently, and when she reeled in it was a young man who had no compassion for anyone because he grew up in an abusive home. The person, who baited their line with faithfulness, reeled in a catch, which gave no struggle whatsoever, it was a beautiful woman who had long flowing hair, but was full of deceit, because she was unfaithful to her husband. The two friends who baited goodness and kindness to their lines both got a catch at the same time. The one who baited goodness reeled in a man who fell out of relationship with the Lord, because he constantly chose to be disobedient to God, and the friend who baited kindness reeled in a man who spoke harsh words and was angry because he grew up fatherless. The one who baited their line with patience caught something that was franticly trying to get the bait off the other fishing lines even though it was already hooked to one. When this friend finally reeled hers in, it was a woman who was consumed by the frustrations and cares of this world and was overly eager to get the things she needed and she did not care about what she had to do to get them. Then the person who cast out peace on their fishing line caught something at the end of their line that shook the line as a tremor would, and when he reeled his catch in, it was a teenage boy suffering from social anxiety disorder, because he was constantly bullied at school. The friend who cast out joy on their line caught a catch that didn't give a fight, but it was extremely heavy and it would sink down low to the bottom of the sea and then with all it's might try to come to the surface of the water, but it couldn't. This catch took four people to help reel it in, and when they brought it to the seashore, it was a ten-year-old girl, who was overwhelmed with depression and grief because her mother passed away and she now lived with her verbally abusive father. Finally, after a long wait, the friend who cast out love on her line reeled in a catch that was strong, aggressive and agitated. The catch was a man who had hate and vengeance filled in his heart toward God because his wife and children were killed in a car accident. During their whole week of fishing, this group of friends reeled in men and woman, young and old of all races that were attracted by the baits of fruit attached to their lines. Some of the people where led from the unclean sea to the river of fresh water that gives life and life more abundantly and others chose to remain in the surrounding murky, salty marshlands and swamps where death and destruction would have them gripped forever, nevertheless, these nine friends never gave up on being fishers of men.

While the Dead Sea is too salty for any living creature to thrive there except for certain types of bacteria and fungi, so, it is also the same with sin. Sin is like a salty sea full of fungi and bacteria, and when left unchecked, it breeds death and destruction, causing us never to flourish with life. Yet, even though there is no river stream on this earth, which will cause the Dead Sea, or any salt sea to turn into fresh water, so living creatures can thrive there, there is One who can save people who are drowning in the salty sea of sin, and bring them abundant life. Sharing the abundant life Jesus gives is our responsibility as Christians. Sometimes when we share this good news, the Lord will call us to minister in places where the death of sin fills the atmosphere with such a stench, it seems like there is no hope for the people who live in that place. Nevertheless, we have to remember Jesus is the hope for them and He wants all to be saved. So, just as the water flowed from the Temple as a stream, and then eventually turned into a river that purified the Dead Sea so living creatures could thrive there in Ezekiel's vision, we have to remember we also are God's temples and His streams of living water are supposed to flow from us into the lives of others. When allow His streams to flow, we become fishers of men, and if while we are fishing we allow the fruits of the spirit to serve for food and their leaves for healing, then the sin in many people's lives will be shaken to the point of repentance. Remember, it was once us who were fished out of the salty bacteria infested water of sin, so that we could swim in the fresh water, which leads to eternal life, where everything thrives like a green leaf and nothing ever dies.

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Church Wounds: It Is Time for Reconciliation
Written By Chase Sutton

A lying tongue hates those it hurts and a flattering mouth works ruin. - Proverbs 26:28 (NIV)

He grew up in the church, and his relationship with God was strong, unbreakable and unmovable, some would say. Until one day, his relationship with the Lord was put to the test because he overheard his supposedly best friend speaking harshly and lying about him, all to impress someone. When he heard this, rage and hurt filled his heart and he immediately wanted to confront his friend about what was said, but he did not, to avoid causing a scene, so he continued with his day feeling rejected and betrayed by his closest friend, a person who said they "loved God." Slowly but surely, his desire to attend his church or any church for that matter began to fade, and because of this he strayed away from his relationship with the Lord. As time went by, he found himself questioning why he even gave his life to Christ in the first place and he started to believe all Christians were just hypocrites. So he began to surround himself with his old friends, friends he many times tried to bring to church but did not want to come, and started to live a lifestyle totally opposite than how he was raised. All the while, the Lord was still speaking to him, trying to rekindle their relationship, trying to encourage him to forgive his friend who hurt him, so he would not have to hurt anymore. Yet the more, this young man heard the voice of the Lord, the more he tried to ignore it, but even through the ignoring, the Lord still had a plan. Without the young man's knowledge, the Lord began to work on the young man's best friend, the one who hurt him, and one day, out of nowhere, the friend whom lied and talked about him, showed up at his house and begin to cry and pour out his heart to him asking for forgiveness for what he had done. Immediately upon seeing his ex-best friend, rage, betrayal and hurt filled his heart more so than it did the day he heard the lie, and he slammed the door in his friend's face to prevent himself from laying hands on him and then began to weep loudly. The former best friend left distraught, but thought 'at least I was obedient to what the Lord told me to do.' One year went by before the young man who was betrayed actually forgave his friend and when he finally did, he was free. He is now back at the church he grew up in, his relationship with the Lord is stronger than ever before, and the Lord mended his relationship with his best friend, which was torn by a lie.

What we say and do can affect our brothers and sisters in Christ in a positive or negative way, and thus, when we lie and talk rudely about them, it can drive a wedge between them and us and most importantly their relationship with God. Yet even if we are wronged, we must not lash out with words or deeds that we may regret later. Instead, we must be quick to forgive as Christ forgives, and not let the wrong that has been done to us push us out of our relationship with Christ and the church He has planted us. When we forgive, it allows God to bring reconciliation to a relationship that was severed, which is exactly what God did when He sent Jesus as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, because when we were in sin, our relationship with God was severed. Forgiveness does not mean we have to be the best of friends with the person who hurt us, unless God says otherwise, but it does mean we have to let go of what they did to us, by not allowing it to control our lives and to love them the way God wants us to. To get to this place, it takes maturity--maturity in Christ. This type of maturity is not something we magically acquire over time nor is it something we automatically obtain once we are saved. Maturity in Christ involves making a choice, a choice after experiencing something painful, not to react the way our flesh wants us to, but to react the way Christ wants us to. By doing this, it causes us to give God complete control over the situation, so He will work it out for our good. Remember, if we forgive people when they sin against us, God will also forgive us, but if we do not forgive, God will not forgive us. Therefore, if any of us are holding onto hurt, which was said or done by others in the body of Christ, now is the time to forgive those grievances so our church wounds can be healed.

Read more devotionals from Chase Sutton at GenuineLife.com