Month: April 2019

Just walk

Over the past few weeks my husband and I, have been trying to make some big decisions in our lives. I’ve prayed and prayed to have direction from God to know what way to go. I have found myself to be so worried that we will make the wrong decision that we just don’t make any decision at all. Last week I was praying and begging God to give us some answers and I felt like God told me that we must just walk. We can’t just stop all together, and just wait for him to show us something. He wants us to continue walking and he will close doors. We as Christians must knock on the door and its his job to open it or leave it closed. The peace that came from knowing that He loves us enough that if we are truly seeking his will that he wont open a door or let us take a path that would be contrary to his will.

In Isaiah 66 we read that the Lord says he will bless those who have humble hearts. In Isaiah 65:24 says “I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!” I find great comfort knowing that if we are walking in his will and seeking his heart that he will not let us go in the wrong direction.

So, this week if your facing decisions and seeking God for direction, know that we must keep walking and that our job is to knock on the door and its his job to open or keep it closed. We must not fight the urge to just sit and wait, but we must keep pressing on. Continue doing what he has called you to do until he gives you your next assignment!

HE has given us Victory!

As I reflect about Easter and all it means to us as Christians, I couldn’t help but think about the one day that is pretty much silent. Saturday there is not much said about it in the Bible, we know that it was their Sabbath so they were not able to do much at all on that day and maybe that’s why there is not anything mentioned. What we do know is in those silent days when Jesus’s friends, family, and followers were struggling with the feelings of fear, abandonment, loss, and all the other emotions that come from things not going how we picture, Jesus defeated all those things in His death and resurrection.

We think how Jesus defeated our sin on the cross and I’m so very glad He did just that, but He took it a step farther for us. He also defeated, fear, and hurt, bondage to insecurities, feelings of abandonment and loss. Jesus took all of those on him that day and when he rose he came up with glory and power over those things. He promised to send his Holy Spirit to comfort us in those times. It excites me that Easter is not just a onetime thing but that it lives on each day in ALL of our lives. Jesus was and still is the victor over everything that we face. Just like the day we asked Him to forgive us of our sin and we brought those things to the cross, we must bring to the cross the things we carry each day and let him take it from us and give us that same victory of resurrection through Him!

If you have never asked Christ into your life then today is the day! Christian, if you’re struggling with things in your life that you can’t seem to overcome, reach out to another Christian to pray for you today! Jesus conjured it all for us we just have to accept it!

Revelation 1:18 2 Corinthians 5:5

Paid in FULL!

Have you ever had a loan that when you had finally got it paid off, it was like you really didn’t know what to do? You were so excited to not have to give that money to the person you had borrowed it from! It was like a load had been lifted off of you and your family. Or, have you ever driven through the fast food restaurant and the employee at the window said that your bill had been paid by someone else, and you owed nothing? It’s one of the most amazing feelings ever, knowing that you no longer owe on your debt.

Something that excites me more than anything is knowing that I no longer have to pay for the debt of my sin. I know that my sin debt was paid in full and I no longer have to work to pay it off. I don’t have to worry about how I’m going to pay for the bad things I’ve done. I can know live free knowing that my debt has been paid, and I can work and live freely because of the debt that Jesus paid for me on the cross. It is Easter week and much happened this week that we celebrate, the entering of Jesus into Jerusalem, the Last supper that Jesus and his disciples had. The prayer in the garden where Jesus prayed that if there was any other way to pay my debt to let it please happen, but there wasn’t. Jesus had to go to the cross, and pay the price, that I and you could never have paid. We could work all our lives yet, we would still never be able to pay the debt off. The freedom that coming to Christ brings far out weights the freedom we feel when we pay a money debt off.

So often after we pay off a debt, such as a car or small loan, we decide to turn around and put ourselves back into that bondage of another debt. Sometimes we as Christians also do this. We know that Jesus paid our debt yet we work, and work, and work, at trying to do everything ourselves. We try to carry all our own burdens and not take them to the cross, and lay them down so that Jesus can do what He is good at, paying debt!

This week as we celebrate Jesus death and resurrection, mediate on your life, are you trying to pay the debt that has already been paid? Or, are you living a FREE life that Jesus wants and longs for you to live? Romans 5:8

Palm Sunday

As Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, on what we now call Palm Sunday, the people were shouting His praises. They were calling Him their King. They laid down robes and palm leaves onto the ground for His young donkey to walk on. The Jewish people were looking for a mighty earthly king to deliver them from the Roman Empire that suppressed them. They thought Jesus was that King and they were shouting His praise.

But, that’s not the kind of king that Jesus was. Jesus showed up differently than they had imagined. Very often Jesus shows up in a different way then what we had planned and we become disappointed. We have it all planned out how Jesus should show up in our lives and when he doesn’t, its hard for us to understand. We think he needs to come in a big miracle, or flashing lights, but maybe, he’s going to show up in a small voice, a word from a friend or in a quiet moment alone with him. We must look for Jesus in the small things and in the quiet moments. As we celebrate Palm Sunday remember that Jesus doesn’t always show up like we think or want him to, but he will show up!

Matthew 21:6-11 The two disciples did as Jesus commanded. They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt and he sat on it. Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Jesus was in the center of the procession and the people all around him were shouting.

“Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in highest heaven!”

The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked. And the crowds replied, “its Jesus, the prophet form Nazareth in Galilee”.

A root or vase Christian?

Recently I was given a long stem red rose. It was beautiful and healthy looking. It had one of those neat little things on the end of the stem that held water so that the rose would have water to stay looking healthy on it. By the time I returned home to be able to place the rose in a vase of water, it had used all of its available water and was starting to hang it’s head from the lack of water. I carefully removed the water valve, and place the rose into the vase full of water. Over the next few hours the rose started to bring its head up and look beautiful and healthy again. About four days later my middle son was sitting eating his breakfast and he commented, mom your rose is dying. I replied yes, it is. Of course he wanted to know why was it dying when it was still had plenty of water to pull from. I explained to him that since the rose did not have roots anymore that were pulling nutrients from the soil that it would eventually die. That’s when God spoke to me. He showed me in that rose that we can keep get those vases of water that help bring our weary heads up when we are spiritually drained but its roots in Him that will keep us alive.

We have all been guilty of going from one event to another looking for that vase of water. Sunday morning service, to Sunday morning service, revival to retreats. You know what I’m talking about and the time in between we don’t really do anything we start to droop. We neglect our bible reading, our prayer time, and we stop being intentional to share Gods love with others. We become vase Christians.

What does it look like to get those roots dug in and not just be a vase Christian? It looks like each day finding time to not only read Gods word, but to meditate on it and ask God how it applies to your life. It looks like praying and then being silent while you wait for God to speak to you. Many times we get in such a hurry to just give our burdens to God that we forget that maybe he has an answer to our burdens but we don’t hush long enough to hear it. Being a Christian with roots also means looking for ways that you can show Gods love to those around us. Something as simple as a smile to the mother of a wild toddler in the store can go a long way. God wants us to become root Christians and not just a vase Christian.

Colossians 2:6-7 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.