Friday, April 25, 2014

PERFECTION

Dear Friend:

After reading Hebrews 11: 13 I emailed my son and questioned “The sentiments expressed by the patriarchs and heroes of Faith leaves me feeling like our future is filled with doom and gloom. Do we have any hope for the future?”

He replied “I read the whole chapter. Paul is describing faith and the people that showed faith in the Bible in the past. They all knew God was perfect and they wanted to be perfect like him. They knew through him they could do this. They were searching for a better place or things. They showed faith in God and therefore were commended for their faith. We have been told that there is a better place and all it takes to get there is faith in Him. These people were given positive things (children, their lives, lands, etc.) but they were not given what they were promised; perfection in a better place on earth. Because if it was on earth we would be separated from God and therefore not be perfect. God did not want this for us and had a better plan for us to be perfect like Him. Only together with him can we be perfect. Even though these people of faith showed their faith they never received what was promised to them on earth.”

The Bible was written as a history lesson. There is nothing new under the sun; what the people of the Bible did the people of today have done. Reading the Bible in its full context reveals an interpretation that fills us with hope for the future. Paul, in the book of Acts, repeats the story of the great plight the Jews endured. He assured us “They enjoyed God’s favor” this side of heaven.

The conclusion is this: if we look for perfection this side of heaven our outlook will be one of doom and gloom. I want my children to picture me turning my face up to the sun and saying these words, “Look at the miracle of a baby forming in its mother’s womb as we welcome them into to the world, we examine its fingers and toes …God did that. Look at the beauty of nature-the blossoms and their scent, look at the Grand Canyon and the landscape around it…God did that. I am convinced there is a God and for Him alone my life is worth living, this side of heaven.”

“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth” (Hebrews 11:13 NIV).

PRAYER: Father in heaven, thank You for my life. Thank You for the creation of this world. Help me to focus today on the tasks You put before me. Help me to be reminded that I do these tasks unto You. Like the faith patriarchs I want to focus on You. Amen.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

YOU GOT THAT JESUS' JOY

I wrote this intending post it before Easter to wish you a Happy Easter.


Dear Friend:

“When Jesus had spoken these things, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father the hour has come. Glorify and exalt and honor and magnify Your Son, so that Your son may glorify and extol and honor and magnify You.”

Jesus last prayer before he went to the cross is full of His mission, His convictions, His care, His hope, His perfect love so that…God would be lifted high and be glorified.

“Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began” Jesus said.

My prayer for each of us is that motive of our hearts each day we would be led by the Holy Spirit to please God...for Jesus will be lifted high and glorified.

This gets hard for each of us when…we lose a job, have a health issue, have a wayward child, deal with crabby friends or family.

You got that JESUS JOY!

“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my JOY within them” Jesus spoke. What does that tell us about Jesus plan of Joy. He did not  say I’ll give them a big house, money and fancy cars so they may have the full measure of my JOY within them.

“I have given them your word” Jesus declared.

When someone says to you I give you my word. You really want to trust them, don’t you?

Jesus is forever and He is alive! He personally went to the cross for you…for me.

Each day when a negative and anxious thoughts about another person, job loss, wayward children, health issues…kneel at the throne picture Jesus risen and alive with His arms extended like any daddy would beckoning you to get up on His lap.

Let Jesus renew your mind. Let Jesus give you the strength to take the high road.

You got that Jesus’Joy today!?

I pray you found Jesus in the midst of a  Holy Day  that  competes with Hallmark.

PRAYER:  Thank You for Your grace that set me free. Help me to take You at Your word. Give me strength to take the high road. Amen.


Monday, April 7, 2014

THE STRUGGLE IS REAL

I woke up with these words on my mind: “Don’t give up!” I immediately rejected that thought because I really did feel like giving up and had no desire to listen. Then I remembered going through YouTube videos one day and coming across one of this little girl singing “Never give up.”

When my daughter caught me listening to this out-of-tune girl singing she said, “Stop! Turn that off.”
It is such a cliché to say to someone who is struggling “Well, don’t give up, things will be brighter tomorrow.” Some days we can receive advice like that with delight; but on other days we could respond with attitude and completely turn away from those words
.
Can you identify with the struggle I am describing?

I know the people close to me are thinking “When is she going to snap out of this funk?”
If they only knew all the thoughts I was struggling with. That is precisely the point. If they knew all of the thoughts I was thinking, they would tell me to stop it…and then they would nag me to not give up! Ugh! There are those words again. “Don’t give up!”

Instead of those reoccurring words, we could say to one another, “don’t delay, run straight to Jesus.”
The Bible teaches us, “For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words” (1 Corinthians 2:11-13 NIV).

If we reminded ourselves daily that we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), then we would hold the truth not of the world but the thoughts of Christ in our head and heart. This knowledge is completely different than what the world offers for advice when we are struggling. With Christ’s truth we must look at things differently. All our struggles can be covered by Jesus. We just need to know the truth!

PRAYER: Lord thank you for helping me to understand what you have freely given me. Teach me Lord your way to get through life struggles. Amen.