But It's Hard

I hear this OFTEN....

and I just want to say that ....that is beside the point!!
The Scripture has made  it very clear that this life will hold trouble. Job 14:1, John 16:33, Psalm 34:19

Life is hard whether you are a Christian ~ OR NOT!!
How quickly we forget!

So I guess I can "deal with hard" and go to heaven or I can "deal with hard" and go to hell.

Jesus gave His ALL..

it was hard.....

He did it so that we would have all we need to live fruitful 

and victorious lives in the here and now.   

Yes life is hard 

and disciplining ourselves unto holiness is hard

BUT not impossible!  

and there are so many benefits!!

So lets stop saying that...
We have the Holy Spirit to help us on all levels.  We need to exercise our faith muscles and learn to Trust and Obey.  As the song goes "to be happy in Jesus is to trust and obey!"

Onward Christian Soldiers!

Chutzpah

Such a good Jewish mom.  Such good boys.

"Why not ask, my boys have such potential!."

Can't you hear her now, muttering to herself as she walks home from the market.  The women, who meet at the well, can repeat her story verbatim as she, once again, tells about how HER boys were chosen to follow Jesus.

She is undone in her pride....her sons follow The Master, the Miracleworker, the Teacher.

Mathew 20:20-23. (marnies paraphrase)

The recalling of the mother and sons of Zebedee who come before Jesus, kneeling in worship.

  "Ok, now might be a good time to ask a favor".
V21. Please give orders that my sons will be chosen to sit on your left and right side in Your Kingdom 
V22.  Wait............what?????  "You don't realize what you are asking ..are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink and be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"

They answered  "we are able!"

Jesus is kind and understanding with His answer.  (Sorry it's not up to Me")
The other ten...not so much...in fact it left them indignant.

Jesus' teaching of the hour..."whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant.....to be first you must be a slave...
V28 "just as the Son of Man came not to be waited on but to serve, and to give His life for a ransom for many (the price paid to set them free).

As mom might say.  "Think before you speak".    

Isaiah 55

8“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD.

“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

9For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so my ways are higher than your ways

and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

Be patient friend as He unfolds His Perfect Plan

Unrelenting

Matthew 20:31".... But they cried out all the more....."

Jesus was in town!!

  People, great and small, young and old 
were pressing in to hear, learn and see what 
This Man might do.  
Excitement was tangible.

But this day in the life of these 2 blind men was just that...
another day blind ~ Crippled 
and unable to live a "normal" and fulfilled life.  

"Who is in town?" 
 "What are people saying?"  
"What is all the fury about?"

Have you not heard JESUS IS IN TOWN!

The noise of the throng moved closer...the men could taste the dust and feel the ground shake from the many feet.

 They leaned on each other with arms stretched out ~ feeling their way.

What the heck......let's do it!

"LORD HAVE PITY AND MERCY ON US YOU SON OF DAVID!" 

Over and over until they were hoarse they yelled hoping against hope to be heard!

"Shut up you two! This is an important man...get out of the way!"

But.....

YES BUT.

they did not stop....they were desperate for a Touch from the Healer...they were the only two that mattered right then.....and Jesus.....close but yet so far.

"LORD HAVE PITY AND MERCY ON US YOU SON OF DAVID!" 

"LORD HAVE PITY AND MERCY ON US YOU SON OF DAVID!" 

"LORD HAVE PITY AND MERCY ON US YOU SON OF DAVID!" 

Vs 32. And Jesus stopped and called them and asked, "what do you want Me to do for you?"

Wait.  What.  Is HE talking to us??

"LORD WE WANT OUR EYES TO BE OPENED!"

Friends won't you join me in this prayer today?

Will you cry out against all odds and 
against the cautions of society and even the Church?

We need the reality of our desperate condition to drive us to this

LORD PLEASE OPEN OUR EYES!

vs 34  "And Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes.  Immediately they could see and began to follow Him"

Let it be Lord

Matthew 15:29-30

"Jesus returned from Galilee and climbed a hill and sat down. A vast crowd brought to him people who were lame, blind, crippled, those who couldn't speak, and many others.  They laid them before Jesus, and he healed them all"

Come To Jesus - Chris Rice (Lyrics) - YouTube

► 3:50► 3:50

www.youtube.com/watch?v...‎

YouTube

Oct 17, 2008 - Uploaded by kelsey06712

Lyrics to "come to jesus" by chris rice. ... Third Day - Cry Out To Jesus by ThirdDayVEVO 3,516,950 views · 4 ...

Come to Jesus. 

Come to Jesus and live.

Made in China

Or North Whitefield or Timbuktu 

While The Lord formed us in our mother's womb our parents were resident somewhere when we were conceived.  After that .....our history tells the story.   How you were brought up...a product of your parents, guardians, relatives etc efforts.    
Good and bad traits were passed down.  Often we can see these traits written all over us!   From physical looks to posture, hairline, gait and even our speech are filled with our parents*
We must also remember the traits passed down to us thru the line of Adam....the sinful nature has overlooked no one!  Learned practices follow us too.....manners or lack thereof, slothfulness and or an anal personality can grab hold

We are flawed with many imperfections that were passed down.

Then He finds us!  

Gentle He lifts us onto His wheel and the process of molding us into His likeness and image begins.  

It's out heart He is most interested in I believe.....as our heart goes the rest will follow.

Don't wait until those pearly gates for change.   We LOVE Him because He first loved us.  Our love SAYS something about our commitment .   Don't think of it as a process of taking away or giving up from our lives but as mom would say, "the Cross is a Big Plus Sign" 

Stay pliable my friend and don't get off the wheel until He has completed His Perfect work in you!

Blessings!
*or those who raised us

Psalm 91

vs 14-16

The Lord says 

"I will rescue those that love Me.  

I will protect those who trust in My Name.  

When they call on Me I will answer 

I will be with them in trouble.  

I will rescue and honor them.  

I will reward them with a long life 

and give them My salvation."

Do you see what I see??

Look at ALL the Promises!!

rescue

protection

 answers

help in trouble

rescue

honor

long life

salvation

How about chewing on that for a while!

Father thank You for Your Promises.  

They are Yes and Amen.  

Grace us to use them.

Remind us Lord 

before we get sucked up into worry and fret.    

Sturdy us, 

that we may stand firmly on Your Word

 with

 NO DOUBT...

NO UNBELIEF..

NO WAVERING!

You are our Everything!

Praise Your Holy Name!

The Prince of the Air

Lately the enemy has been working overtime in my mind and heart. I find myself super sensitive to "looks" and pauses.  I imagine.

I'm remembering the Scripture in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

"We are human, but we don't wage war as humans do.  We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strong holds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.  We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God.  We capture rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey God"  NLT

Time is short. Be aware of confusion, contrariness, frustration, irritability, short tempers and hurt feelings. People, in general, are living under very stressful situations.  Give people Grace. Remember we are called to be carriers of His Peace
.
Romans 12:18
Do everything in your power to live at peace with each other 
Heb 12:14  
Make every effort to live in peace
strive for peace

Living Loved

Do you live loved?  

Tonite, in study, a friend shared that she has trouble believing she is loved.  She said she could not wait until she could just think of herself the way God sees her.  Her tendency is to think she is stupid, unlovable, guilty etc.
I asked her what she does about that.  
She said she did not know what to do.

A picture came to mind.....you are invited to join God's Family.  At dinner time, as everyone gathers, you eat by yourself, off to the side.  The Lord calls you to come to His table...your place is set.  You are now part of the Family!  You shake your head no and looking down stay put far away from the rest.

Whose fault is that?  Is it God's?  What has He said?  For beginners He says nothing can separate you from His love!  Then how is it possible that you  still feel so undeserving etc?

It is IMPERATIVE as believers to believe what the Lord says rather than what we think!!!...

I cannot stress this enough.  

We cannot trust our hearts or our heads!!

We must know the Word and apply it to our lives.  We must not live by our feelings or even our experiences.  
What HE SAYS IS WHAT STANDS TRUE!

So we must first learn to dive into His Word and see what He says and then we must preach It to ourselves daily ...living in the Truth of His decree over us rather than our own understanding.

Right?

Right!

Open My Eyes That I May See - YouTube

► 1:58► 1:58

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYjr9CsqHvQ‎

YouTube

Oct 3, 2008 - Uploaded by BestLovedHymns

Best Loved Hymns - Open My Eyes That I May See. ... Alert icon. You need Adobe Flash Player to watch this ..

The Long Cut

Have you ever taken the Long Cut?

Unfortunately it is a road that many of us find ourselves on. Leaning to our own understanding, grumbling and complaining, consequences of our sin and having our own way cause our Godly GPS to malfunction and we find ourselves "on our own".

This is neither God's fault, 

His idea or His Plan for your life 

The Lord gave me a Word for a friend tonite.  I saw him as one of the wild stallions that the Lord had caught and corralled. He was bucking and headstrong.  He had seen others leave the corral for God's purposes and it had left him irritated and frustrated that he was left behind.  He wondered how long....

The Lord wanted to remind him that first of all he had been caught. HE wanted to assure him that indeed he has a Plan for him, but this plan could not come about in his life until he would allow himself to be broken and come under the leadership and rule of the Holy Spirit.  

We simply wear ourselves out. 

We are worried, stressed and angry 

or depressed 

because things are not going our way.  

But God is a good parent and He is full of patience.  

He will wait and use life's circumstances 

to do their work on us, 

prayerfully bringing us to the point of being "gentled"

Oh how He loves us!

Friend, if you relate to this in any way today ~ even this minute ~ Now is a great time to clean the slate and STOP.  Bow before the Lord, ask for forgiveness for your foolishness and folly.  Get back under His wing and direction.  You have been bought with a Price ..you are no longer your own....

You are HIS 

and HE wants to use you 

in His Perfect plan.

The old adage goes....

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

Seized by Force

Matthew 11:12 b

"And violent men seize it by force, as a precious prize, a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion"

I think we SO underestimate Who God is, What He has done and How He loves us.

Think of  the time people spend in the gym working to get fit yet never work out their salvation
Have you ever sweated over your salvation?  Have  you ever gone after MORE  forcefully?

Think about it  

~ Lets not settle for less or the status quo or even the "food" delivered by our pastors etc.  Go after MORE!

Its time for intimacy!

Peace or a Sword

Matthew  10:34

Immediately my mind goes to "my peace I give to you"

"....That the peace that passes all understanding will be yours"

But here Jesus says "I don't come to bring peace, but a sword!"

"It appears plainly, that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution; and we must expect to enter into the kingdom of God through many tribulations."

But my friend ~

You should be experiencing peace 

during this sword wielding season

Take His Peace

This reminds me of a Gaither song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3gK7f_tMWQ

Interesting perspective

You remember the story

Jesus drives out the demons and they inhabit a herd of pigs, causing them to run to their death. Matthew 8
The Lord had had a Busy day doing the Will of His Father.: healing, raising the dead, driving out demons, teaching and showing control over the weather.

This particular day two men, under the control of demons, come to meet him.  The demons trying to "strike a deal" end up with Jesus casting  them out as they entered a drove of hogs which then fell to their death.

WOW. YOU DON'T SEE THIS STUFF EVERYDAY!

V34 "and behold, the whole town went out to meet Jesus; and as soon as they saw  Him they begged Him to depart from their locality"

This just strikes me....why?
Did they really like bacon that much?
Had they not seen the myriads of Freed People left in Jesus wake?
Had they not heard?
Has they not seen?

Too often we are a people that just react ...only to ponder after the fact
Someone's livelihood was seemingly destroyed and that one situation was enough for them to urge Him to go.

So interesting

Do you have a thought?  Please post a comment
How might the story have ended differently?

All You Need is Love

Listening to some tributes given to the Late servant, Bob Jones, I was reminded again of The Truth that so often gets clouded and lost in our own understanding and life

Mr Jones is noted for (among other things) a vision that he saw of a long line of people entering heaven. Each one was asked the same question

DID YOU LEARN HOW TO LOVE?

.....not how many people got saved under your ministry
What's the biggest crowd that you have spoken to
How many books/devotion have you read or written
How many hours did you spend fasting and praying

No

Only

DID YOU LEARN HOW TO LOVE?

Well that's convicting

I need to spend some time thinking about my life
Bye for now