Bill Tonnis Ministries

Psalm 84:3
My heart and flesh cry out for the living God.

We are all yearning at a soul-level to be filled and embraced by our Loving Creator. Unfortunately, many do not realize this yearning is for oneness with God and try to satisfy this deep thirst with a physical or material solution. Instead of reaching out to grasp something or cling to something…the objective should be letting go of things…releasing attachments so we can open ourselves to God with open hands. It is only through emptying ourselves of our egos’ desires that God can give us what we truly need and are yearning for. As St. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

Suggested song of the day—“I Surrender” on the Live to Love album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
Have a blessed day!

Matthew 13:2
Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore.

Jesus was quite the draw. But He was no celebrity. While our culture flocks to worship celebrities…people flaunting power, prestige and wealth…Jesus flaunted nothing. He spoke of equality, compassion, humility and giving away possessions. While we tout competition as the pinnacle principle to success…Jesus said to help those who were behind. Crowds came to hear Him speak. If Jesus is God…how much effort do we make to listen to Him…in scripture and in quiet meditation? Listen to the One who will set you free!

Suggested song of the day—“Listen to Your Heart” on the Listen to Your Heart album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
Have a blessed day!

Matthew 12:50
“For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Jesus was all about respecting and honoring his family…but He wanted to make the point that we all at some point need to get beyond the borders of family, neighborhood, city, state, and country…and realize we are all the Body of Christ. We are all family in God’s eyes. And when we treat all others with love, mercy, forgiveness and compassion we are doing the will of our Creator…working together in one great dance…building the kingdom of God.

Suggested song of the day—“Shall We Sing” on the Listen to Your Heart album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
Have a blessed day!

Exodus 14:12
“Did we not tell you this in Egypt, when we said, ‘Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians’? Far better for us to be the slaves of the Egyptians than to die in the desert.”

How many times in our lives does it seem that just when things go well…something happens to pull the proverbial rug out from under us? It’s then when we many times rail against God for supposedly leaving us. The Israelites were jubilant in following Moses out of Egypt after hundreds of years of captivity until Pharaoh changed his mind about releasing them and sent hundreds of Egyptian soldiers after them in the desert. So the Israelites turned on Moses and on God in despair. There are peaks and valleys in our lives. Hard times come due to the free-will choices we make or others make…or just by chance. The story of salvation history shows us that despite the people turning against God…God never left them. Over and over and over God remained loyal. Jesus showed us the extreme lengths God will go in the face of total rejection to say, “I love you. I forgive you. I will never let you go…never.” If you’re struggling…God is most assuredly still with you!

Suggested song of the day—“How Wonderful to Me” on the Live to Love album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
Have a blessed day!

Matthew 12:1-2, 7
His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.” Jesus said to them, “If you knew what this meant, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned these innocent men.”

Rules are all well and good to keep us reined in from running wild…giving us healthy boundaries so that we can truly become what God intended. But Jesus clearly says that mercy and love trump the rules. The disciples were hungry…so it was okay for them to eat even though they were breaking sabbath rules. When your mind is looking through an “either-or” lens (like the Pharisees) you can only see black and white. You either follow the rule and you are good…or break it and you are bad. Jesus looks through a “both-and” lens seeing the grays of life. You can both keep the rule and break it when it’s in the name of love and mercy…and still be good. Your mind is likely rebelling against this concept. Perhaps you need a new lens! As St. Paul says, “be renewed in the spirit of your minds and put on the new self” (Ephesians 4:23-24).

Suggested song of the day—“Salvation” on the Live to Love album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
Have a blessed day!

Matthew 11:28
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Jesus counters the heavy rules and regulations of the scribes and Pharisees with His unconditional love. It’s not about you and I doing something in order that God will like us. God already loves us infinitely. Jesus showed us this by the way He lived and by the way He died…responding throughout the journey with love, mercy, forgiveness and compassion…even when that response wasn’t deserved. Did you know that you are the beloved son/daughter of God? Allow this fact to sink into your heart. There is nothing you have done or can do to change this!

Suggested song of the day—“I Will Give You Rest” on the Live to Love album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
Have a blessed day!

Exodus 3:2-3
As Moses looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. So Moses decided, ” must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned.”

God comes to Moses in both the ordinary (the bush) and the extraordinary (a flaming bush not being consumed). First off, God is present in the ordinary. Are we being present enough to experience the Divine Presence? Secondly, God comes not in a clear “black and white” concept…but in a contradiction: a burning bush that is not burned. We can take comfort in knowing that God is present amidst the contradictions of life and amidst our struggles with them…and holds them together as one. God seems perfectly comfortable with paradoxes like “virgin-mother” or “losing yourself to find yourself.” So perhaps we are being taught to get beyond our “either-or” judgmental thinking…so we can experience a “both-and“…all-loving God. God is holding your contradictions…and responding with acceptance and love.

Suggested song of the day—“Breathe On Me” on the Listen to Your Heart album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
Have a blessed day!

Psalm 69:3, 34
I have sunk into the mire of the deep, where there is no foothold. I have gone down to the watery depths; the flood overwhelms me. The Lord hears the poor, does not spurn those in bondage.

Sometimes it takes sinking to the deepest depths before our pride is weakened enough to allow our egos to surrender so that we can fall into the loving arms of God. For God has no intention of letting us go because we are God’s beloved daughters and sons! This is why the depths of your deepest fall, the place of your deepest wound, becomes the place of your most wondrous redemption and healing. It’s where you come to know the transforming unconditional love of God. Why sink any further…when you can turn to your loving Creator now?

Suggested song of the day—“Heal Me” on the Live to Love album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
Have a blessed day!

Matthew 10:38-39
“Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

When we follow Jesus it requires doing what He does. Jesus returns love and compassion when persecuted. He showed us this when He literally picked up a cross and carried it…finally forgiving those who crucified Him and saying, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Following Jesus will require letting go of self-centered desires and then carrying the burdens that come with surrendering ourselves to a greater Power. Jesus promised that if we did this and followed His example we would lose the lives our egos were building…but find the lives God wanted for us. Surrender your struggle to God, follow Jesus…and trust that a fulfilling life, the one we were made for, is in the making.

Suggested song of the day—“I Surrender” on the Live to Love album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
Have a blessed day!

Psalm 37:4
Find your delight in the Lord who will give you your heart’s desire.

I am blown away by the truth of this passage. How long I tried to find delight in my ego’s desires…and kept plunging further into emptiness and misery. It wasn’t until by the grace of God I heard the Spirit ask me to pick up the guitar I hadn’t touched in ten years…that things changed. I remember asking how this could possibly be the answer to turning my life around! Over ten years later I have two original music albums, a music ministry, several wonderful years as a youth minister and countless experiences of God’s amazing grace and love. What is the Lord calling you to do with your life? Listen to your heart…and follow!

Suggested song of the day—“Listen to Your Heart” on the Listen to Your Heart album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
Have a blessed day!