Tag: inspirtion

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

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.

I was born this way!

“I was born this way”, “its in my genes”, how many times have we heard this from someone? It could be after they were extremely angry, or while they were in the midst of worrying. We all at some point have blamed our behavior on our history. Our blood, or our genealogy. Anger, worry, addiction, laziness, feeling your better than others, or even selfishness are all characteristic that people refuse to take responsibility for in their lives. In Matthew 1:1-17 we read a list of individuals that had many of these same characteristics. Abraham was a worrier. He worried that he would never have the son God had promised him. Abraham felt that God was running behind on that promise. Abraham worried that God had forgotten him. We see in this list of names Jacob. Jacob saw his brother, his twin brother, no less in a frail and venerable state and took advantage of him. Jacob took the opportunity when his brother felt like he was about to die of hunger to make him promise his first-born status to him. Jacob was sneaky and a liar. He covered himself in the fur of goats and went to his father to get his brothers blessings before his father Issacs died. Jacob lied to his own father. Rahab, the prostitute. She was known in the city as someone that had more than her share of visitors. She was well known for being a woman of many men. King David committed idolatry with one of his friend’s wives and then arranged for his friend to be killed so that he could cover it up.

We can look at our own ancestry and find people that fall into these same categories or something similar. We all have something in our family closet we don’t want reviled, but does that determine who we are? Does our last name or our genealogy or family status get to decide who we are as an individual? The list of men and women that we just looked at seems like an overwhelming list of people that made wrong choices and had bad habits, yet, this is the family tree of the Son of God, Jesus. The perfect one had ancestors that were far from perfect. There can be a break in the cures of generations. We have the choice no matter what you may have done in the past or what awful genes your parents handed down to you can break the generational curse. It takes determination and seeking Gods will for our lives to do it, but it can be done. Its not an over night thing for us. We may have to find an accountability partner that can help keep us grounded in Gods word and prayer. It may mean asking forgiveness from our families for the anger, and short temper we have had with them, but it is worth it. Sometimes it even means finding new friends who have went through the same braking of bonds that we are going through and gaining advice from them. There are many different opportunities to break that generational curse, but the biggest one is recognizing that it can be done

Decisions, decisions

We face decisions every day of our lives. Some decisions are unconscious decisions, things like taking the same route home each day or having the same routine each evening preparing for bed. There are other decisions that we make that are conscious and can have bigger effect on our lives. These decisions can change the whole course of your life. In Joel 3:14 he says, “Thousands upon thousands are waiting in the valley of decision”. I envision large mountains reaching towards the sky on all four sides. The mountains are rocky and rugged, and there is snow on the peaks of the mountains. At the base of these mountains are the green grasses of the valley. It stretches for miles and miles. Within this valley are people everywhere waiting, some may be looking up at the mountain, others may be resting on the floor of the valley but they all have one thing in common they are waiting. The are waiting there to make decisions. Decisions that will affect them, their families, and those around them for the rest of their lives.

The decision they are waiting to make could be to confess their sins and live for Christ, or to continue their own way. The decision could be to step out in faith on what God has called us to do or to reconcile relationships with people we have become estranged to. Our decision could be giving our marriage one more try, turning from an addiction that has controlled our lives for so very long, or to strive to be a better parent. Whatever your decision, if we step out and choose Gods way Joel tells of the great blessing we will have! Those same mountains that seem so tall and luminous while were in the valley will drip with sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, water will fill our empty streambeds, fountains will burst forth and water the valleys! Our ministries will over flow so that they drip on all who are around us, our marriages will be restored and made strong, our God given dreams will be fulfilled, and our friendships will flourish. We will be so filled with the spirit that we will splash Gods love on anyone we meet. He has promised that if we choose to follow him he WILL bless us! But, if we choose not to we will be like Egypt and Edom, a wasteland, a wilderness, attacked and killed. I choose to become blessed not cursed! I chose to make the conscious decision to follow Christ each day until it becomes an unconscious habit. What do you choose today? Joel 3:14-19

Rest

Rest is one of the hardest things for me to do. Even if my body is not in motion, my mind is constantly moving. I find it hard to sit and enjoy a time of rest because, I’m always thinking of the next thing. During vacation, I’m thinking about planning the next one. Raise your hand if you understand what I’m talking about. Now some of you are more like my husband I’m sure, who’s mind can turn off and you’re able to enjoy the moment of rest, there are times I wish I could do this, (just to be honest).

We see in scripture that God calls us to rest. Matthew 11:28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly”(msg). He understood that some of us just wear ourselves down and are always trying to be a step ahead of a situation to the point we are tired. Jesus says to STOP, and spend time with Him, and He will give us the rest we are desiring. What’s interesting is the next part of the verse. He says hey, here’s an idea, why don’t you partner with me in all your busyness, and walk beside Me, and let Me carry part of that load. So, when it comes time to rest, you are not so weary. When we partner with Jesus and lean into Him, He will give us a refreshing rest that we never could imagine. It will free us, to do things we never thought we would have the energy to do. But, we must choose to become joint with Him and let Him choose what load to give us and we not try to pick up what He hasn’t called us to carry.

I love this translation how it says that He won’t’ lay anything on us that’s heavy or ill fitting! Wow. If we truly long for rest in our lives, we won’t say “yes” to just anything. We will seek His guidance in what He wants us to do. We so often say yes because we feel that there is no one else who will, or can do a task, and yet, it doesn’t really fit us. We then find ourselves tired and worn out because we have chosen our own burden. This week lets evaluate our lives, and what our burden is, and ask God to show us what things He has given us and which ones we have put on ourselves. Then we must choose to accept the rest that we all need and that He wants for us!

Leaning Is a choice

The young man leans into the young girl to plant a kiss on her cheek. The angry wife leans into her husband to let him know just how she feels. A child leans into their parent to find comfort. We lean into a heavy object to watch it move. Leaning is a conscious act of movement that a person must do. When we lean into to something we not only choose to do so, but we expect a response in return.

Just like the young man when he leans towards the young girl, she responds by unconsciously leaning back towards him. It’s a natural instinct to respond this way. When the child that is suffering because of hurt leans into their parent, the parent leans down, and comforts the child. Just like our heavenly Father will. Jesus’ wants and desires us to lean into Him. He wants our first reaction when we have anger, hurt, love and so many more emotions, to lean into His arms that are always stretched out for us. Just like our natural instinct is to lean in response to those who lean into us, so is Jesus’ He will respond by leaning down and holding us in the place that we are at. We don’t have to feel we can only bring certain things to Jesus, He wants us to bring it all to Him.

It’s so easy when things happen in our lives to turn to our friends and family, and find comfort, or encouragement from them, but we must first learn to lean into or best friend, Jesus. This past week I’ve learned that its not easy, or natural, for me to automatically go to My Savior each time. The song that keeps coming to mind by John Stallings says, “learning to lean, learning to lean, I’m learning to lean on Jesus. Finding more power than I ever dreamed. I’m learning to lean on Jesus”.

That’s the awesome thing with Jesus, as we practice daily leaning on Him, He gives us the strength each day to get through things we never thought possible, touch lives for Him that no one else could have ever touched. It’s through that practice of leaning on Jesus that we can see mountains moved, and souls saved! Just like when we lean into a heavy object we expect movement, we can also expect movement from Jesus when we lean into Him. This week, when things seem to flood into your life, stop, and cry out to Jesus and lean into Him through prayer and reading our Bible and I Promise that he will lean back into you and you will see movement in the situation. Just like the parent that gets down on their knees to comfort the child, that will be Jesus. He will lean into our lives amongst all the mess, and heartache, and joy, and He will comfort, clean us up, and rejoice with us. Our only job is to LEAN.

Psalm 34:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 40:1 I put all my hope in the Lord. He leaned down to me; He listened to my cry for help (CSB). 

Obedience in the little things

We all like to be noticed, right? We want to be asked to do a job that is big and important. Something that will be noticed when we get done. Many people like to be in the spotlight so that when they do something it is noticed. Our human nature wants to feel important, appreciated, and needed.

Yet, although it’s good to recognize people, and let them know they have done a great job, sometimes God is going to call us to do the ordinary so that we don’t get the glory, but that God does. The man Naaman who had a skin disease, called leprosy, had a problem that many of us have. He wanted to do anything that would make him look better, stronger, or tougher but it was harder for him to do an ordinary thing, so God could do the extraordinary. We see that Naaman came to the prophet Elisha because, he had been told by his wife’s servant girl, that Elisha could heal him of his leprosy. Now remember Naaman was a man that had worked his way up in the ranks of the army. He had strips on his uniform and was well known for his leadership skills. He was a man that could be depended on yet, he had an annoying thing about him that he was ready to get rid of and that was his skin issue. So, when he heard that there was this guy that could make it go away, he was going! He took a bunch of gold, and gifts, and headed out with one of his officers. When Naaman finally made it to Elisha’s house, Naaman expected this man to come running out and just heal him. But, to Naaman’s surprise the man Elisha didn’t even come out of the house! He sent his servant to talk to Naaman. Naaman the man that was a high-ranking official felt slighted because a servant came to talk to him and then, to make things even worse, all the servant told him was to go and wash in the muddy Jordan river seven times. Naaman was so mad he stomped away and pouted. Naaman was headed home, he figured he could go to a river near to him and get the same results that bathing in the Jordan river could do for him. It was the words of his wise officer that stopped him. He said Naaman, if Elisha had asked you to do some great thing you would have done it. Why not humble down and just try. I can see his officer now saying look, were out here in the middle of nowhere, no one can see us, if it doesn’t work then what happens at the Jordan, stays at the Jordan. So, Naaman agrees, he immersed himself seven times and on that seventh time he came up healed!

How many times has God asked us to wash in the muddy Jordan, yet we rebel because its not what we want to hear, the word God gave us came from a place or person we didn’t want to hear it from. Or maybe we don’t do it because its NOT where everyone can see, that we did it. As a Christian were told that we must decrease so God can increase. It’s not till we take ourselves out of the spotlight and agree to let God use us in the small things, and in the quiet ways that we will be able to see God move in the BIG ways! Take a moment to reflect and ask God what is it that He has been trying to get you to do that you have let your pride of being noticed get in the way. And, ask God to help you step aside so he can step up!

John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease. (CSB)
Mark 9:35 Sitting down, he called the Twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last and servant of all”. (CSB)

God of more than enough!

There was once a woman whose husband had died and left her with two sons. Times were rough, and she did all she could to care for her sons, but her husband had accumulated debt before he had died, and she was struggling. It was so bad the creditors were fixing to repo somethings. There was a preacher in her town that she decided to go visit and discuss what was going on in her life. So, she went and explained to this preacher all about her debt and the struggles she was facing. The preacher asked her if she had anything left in her home. She told him all she had was some oil. The preacher instructed her to go home, borrow as many jars as she could from her family and neighbors. He then told her to take the containers into their house and start to pour the oil that she had into the empty containers. The widow didn’t ask the preacher questions she just acted on what he told her. So, as she poured, and poured, and poured her little oil filled every empty container that she had borrowed. It was so much oil that she was able to sell it, pay off her debt, and have left overs to live on. You may have guessed by now were talking about the widow that Elisha was able to minister to. We have heard this story many times in Sunday school yet how often do we really pay attention to what this means for us?

Over and over we find where God shows up with not just enough but with overflowing answers to prayer. The five fish and two loaves were more than enough to feed the five thousand, they had left overs. The water that was changed into wine was more than enough to get through the rest of the wedding and it was better than they had before God showed up.

We are so scared to ask God for abundance when over and over He has shown in scripture that He’s a God of more than just enough! He wants to bless us so big that we have leftovers to share.

I think of our marriages, and how He wants our marriage to be more than just mediocre, but its His will that it be overflowing and abundant. He wants our lives to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that we aren’t just Sunday morning church goers but that we are overflowing. The ultimate overflowing that I’m reminded of is Gods promise of salvation. He says he doesn’t just forgive for sinning against him but that he has removed them as far as the east is from the west!

No matter what you are facing have the faith to pray for abundance so that you can have more than enough to show others how to find Jesus!

Psalm 103:10-13 He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his faithful love toward those who fear him. As far as the ease is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him (CSB)

What is in a Name?

I had struggled for days seeking God and reading scripture attempting to find the right words that I needed to write this week that would speak to the hurting heart, the lost soul, or the tired parent. As I was driving the song by Hillsong “What A Beautiful Name” started to play. I couldn’t help but cry as I thought of all the times we take that precious name for granted His Name JESUS. A name that belonged to a heavenly king that became man, so He could feel the same pain we feel. So that He could bridge the division that was between man and the God that had so lovingly created us. The man named Jesus, that felt the sting of betrayal from one of His best friends as His friend kissed His cheek in a symbol of death. The man that listened as His own people told lies about Him and yet stood silent and never refuted anything they said. This was also the Man that reached down into the dust and made clay and touched the eyes of the blind and his sight was restored. The same man who spoke the words “Lazarus come forth” and Lazarus walked out of the grave! This same name we see in Acts 4:29-31 where the disciples were spreading the gospel and they were asking for courage to continue in their mission. They prayed “And now, O Lord hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus”. After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were filled with the Holy Spirt then they preached the word of God with boldness.” (LAB) WE have the privilege and honor to also be able to know that when we call out to Jesus that his name can split the darkness that we have around us. WE can see the power of God when we pray in Jesus name! WE can see families restored, lives changed and revival in our hearts, families, and church.

I have watched as satin has had to flee because of the power of that name. I have prayed that name over the door frame of my home, and over the beds of my children. I have prayed healing over my babies as they were sick, and I’ve seen mighty things happen because of the name of JESUS. If we can just soak up the thought and understand that He loves us more than anything. No matter where we have been, what we have done, Jesus took our penalty and He is just waiting for us to call to Him. WE can see mighty things happen if we will just call out to Him. I encourage you this week, seek Him in prayer. Pray over your family, your church, and your problems and watch what He can do! John 14:12-14 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!” (LAB)