A New Year of Simple Abundance!

Mark 16

And now the curtain has been torn and we have a way!  Praise the Lord Jesus Christ---we have a way!  The stone was rolled away and we have a way!  He has risen from the dead and we have a way!  If I thanked him every second of every day it could never be enough, but you know he doesn’t require us to constantly say thank you for doing this for us.  What he does require is that we give our life to him.  That we love him and we serve him.  He has a will for our life and he just wants us to follow it!  He will guide us down every path and he will never, never leave our side.  How easy is that?

As this New Year quickly approaches I have been thinking about resolutions and instead of thinking of how I want to change or how I want to improve myself, I have been thinking about (and praying about) what God wants me to do.  So with that, it is really not a difficult resolution that he has spoken into my heart.  So here goes…My New Year’s Resolution for 2012 is to live simpler!  That’s it!  So what does that mean?  It means exactly what it says…live simpler!  I have thought about how I live and the things in my life and I am spoiled!  Now compared to American standards I am far from being spoiled, but compared to the standards of most people around the world I am more than spoiled…and frankly, that is not how I want to live.  So I am going to focus more on reading God’s Word, seeking His will, spending more time talking with my children, spend more time listening to others, spend more time helping others, spend more time just loving my husband, and spend more time with family and friends.  I will spend less time worrying about when something is going to get finished, spend less time concerned about what I am going to wear, spend less time worrying about what people think about me, and I will not stress over the little things that really don’t matter at all!

God did not send his only son and Jesus did not die on that cross for me to be spoiled!  He did so that I may have life and have life more abundantly (John 10:10)!  And I am certain that when he said abundantly, he didn’t mean that we would be surrounded by things of indulgence.  I really think he meant a life of happiness that comes from enjoying the things that he gives us, not what the world gives us.

With my last post of 2011 I wish everyone out there a Blessed New Year and hopefully a simpler life devoted to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior!

He Did It Anyway

Mark 15:16-47

They pressed a crown of thorns into his head, but he did it anyway.  They struck him with a staff, but he did it anyway.  They spit on him, but he did it anyway.  They mocked him, but he did it anyway.  They led him to be crucified, but he did it anyway.  They hurled insults at him, but he did it anyway.  His mother was watching, but he did it anyway.  They crucified him, and he let them. 

While reading through these last verses I couldn’t help but think about what he went through just for me.  He knew that I would be sitting on my couch tonight reading his word and he knew that I would love him a little more because of what I realized tonight.  You see with every insult, with ever blow he took, he thought of you and I, and so he did it anyway.  He could have stopped all this at any point, but he chose to do it anyway.  Why?  Because his love for us is greater than anything that he would ever have to endure.  He knew that this was the only way, it was the only way that you and could make it to him.

I have known this story for as long as I can remember, but it has never touched me like it did tonight.  As I was reading I kept on thinking why did they have to do all these things to him?  Why couldn’t they have just killed him if they wanted him dead, why did they have to beat him?  Why did they have to make fun of him and who he was?  I was sharing these thoughts with my husband and he, in his usual simplistic way, said…that it is how it was supposed to be, there was no other way.  He is right, this was God’s plan all along and just like our life we may never understand why things happen the way they do, but we have to completely trust God’s will for our lives.  After all, a God that sends his only son to die for us can only have our best interest in mind.

Nothing Else Should Matter

Mark 15:1-15

Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them (vs.15). 

How many times has someone did something they knew in their heart was not right, but they did it to satisfy someone, satisfy themselves, or like Pilate, satisfy the crowd?  How many times have I chosen to do something or not do something in order to please myself or others?  Quite honestly, I probably don’t want to know the exact number---I am sure it would hurt my heart.  Jesus never did one thing because the crowd encouraged him to do so, in fact, most of the things he did was against what the crowd thought he should do.  Why?  Why did he do things so differently?  The fact is that while he is different from the world, his ways should not be so different in our eyes.  Jesus is the truth and his actions only reveal that truth to us.  We have to truly follow his example and we are capable of doing this if, and only if, we listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was following God’s will and God’s will alone---nothing else mattered.  That is how we should be---we should be praying for God’s will in our life, we should be seeking God’s will, and we should be accepting God’s will---nothing else should matter.

The Greatest Gift!

So this time last week while discussing the end of time with a group of friends I was posed with a question that I have been thinking about since.  “Are you prepared for a time when you won’t have food for your children?  Are you strong enough to not give in to the world just to get food for the sake of your children’s survival?”

My answer of course is no --- I don’t think anyone is every completely prepared for such a time.  However, I do remember a time when I would constantly worry about something happening to my children when I was not with them.  So much so that it consumed my thought life and eventually I had to seek God with this problem.  After some time, I realized that I had to let go of my children --- I had to let go and let God have them.  I had come to the realization that no matter how much I worried, how much I planned, or how much I tried to protect them, I could never always keep them from harm.  I had no other choice but to put my complete trust, my complete heart and soul into the hands of Jesus Christ.  We can never be smart enough to prepare for what is to come.  Our preparation comes through our faith in Jesus.  We have to cling to Him and His Word because everything else will fade away.  It will not be easy, in fact it will probably be more difficult than we could ever imagine, but His Word gives us many promises, one of which is that He will take care of his children when we trust him with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind.  While researching the promises of God I found two scriptures that stood out to me, funny thing---one was in the old testament and one in the new testament, I think God was letting me know that His word has and always will be true no matter what year it was written.

• For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.  Deuteronomy 4:31
• Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.  For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.  II Corinthians 1:3-5

So with these scripture I am reminded of who I truly serve….he will not only give comfort to me and my family through difficult times, he will use us to show comfort to others.  I don’t know about you, but that makes my heart flip over! 

Along with all this I have heard the song Mary Did You Know? numerous times this week and while this is one of my all-time favorite songs, I heard something different this time.  The words ‘Mary did you know that your baby boy will save your sons and daughters?’ reminded me that he is in control of me and my children, it reminded me once again that only he can truly save my son and my daughter.  And then tonight as my family sat together in the living room to read the Christmas story we decided to read the version from Luke, we usually read it from either Matthew or John.  We ended up reading more than ever before, because my children said to keep on reading that they wanted to know what happened next.  All this reading lead to even more discussion about Jesus and who he really is to us---I could not have been more humbled by the greatness of God that filled my living room and surrounded each of us. 

My family is all asleep now and as I look back over the story in Luke that we read together tonight I suddenly am drawn to the words of Simeon in Luke 2:33-35, The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.  Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.  And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”  What did Mary think when she heard the words ‘a sword will pierce your own soul too'?  I am sure she had a big lump in her throat and wondered just what he meant by those words.  Although Jesus was God’s son, although he was sent to save us all, he was still just a baby, and he was Mary’s baby, a baby that she felt she had to take care of, just as I do.  I am certain that day long ago when Jesus’ side was pierced on that cross for our sake that Mary felt as though her soul was pierced as well. 

So tonight as I gather everything to put under the tree I am reminded that the greatest gift that I can give my children is to give them back to God.

I wish everyone a most blessed Christmas!

We Must Listen!

Mark 14:12-72

Chapter 14 is like a rollercoaster ride of emotions and I can’t help but compare it to my life.

It began with the disciples saying ‘ok, what do you want us to do Jesus?’ (those are my words).  They listened to Jesus and actually did exactly what he asked them to do.  They enjoy time with Jesus…eating, drinking and even singing.  Everything is going so smoothly, but then Jesus reveals two truths to them: 1) one of them will betray him and 2) the others will fall away from him when conflict arises.  Peter and the rest deny that they would or could ever disown Jesus.  A trial is coming and so Jesus asks them to pray---they sleep instead.  He tells them multiple times to pray---again, they sleep.  The trial is here---they get angry, they rebel, and they desert Jesus.  Like Peter, I sometimes find myself on the outside looking toward Jesus, but too scared to follow.  At times I have denied Jesus by not allowing him full access to my life and heart, and just like Peter after I realize what I have done, I fall down before my Savior and weep.

I can only speak for myself, but this reminds me so much of my life.  I must say that I am getting better, but at times I find myself in a lull and not completely depending on Christ for everything.  He is constantly guiding me, but unfortunately I am not always listening.  I believe that Jesus was asking his disciples to pray because he knew what lay ahead and he knew that talking with God is the only thing that could give them the strength to continue in faith through such a trial.  He does the same for you and I, he is constantly preparing us for what lies ahead, but we are not always listening.  I have said it before, but I will say it again---this world is not getting any better, life is not going to get any easier, we have to put our faith in the only thing, the only One, who can save us….Jesus Christ.  We must, we must, we must give him our life---that is the only way we can survive this world and end up with him in heaven one day!

She Did What She Could.

Mark 14:1-11

This section of scripture began with a conspiracy of betrayal and ended with Judas’ betrayal.  How sad for those individuals involved in such cowardice, selfish act, however, that will not be my focus today.

While reading this numerous times, my eyes began to focus on five words from verse 8… ‘She did what she could’.  Think about that just a minute…she did what she could?  Isn’t that what Jesus is asking us to do?  To do what we can, nothing more, nothing less.  So what is the problem?  Once again I have to ask myself a question or two.  Am I doing all I can?  Or am I doing all I think I can?  Through the study of God’s Word and after recently reading the book Revolution in World Missions by J.P. Yohannan I can definitely say that I am not doing all I can.  I bring up the book because the sacrifice of Mr. Yohannan and the lady in this story parallel each other greatly.  They both sacrificed something of great value in order to follow Jesus Christ with their whole heart.  The people around them did not understand what they were doing, but that didn’t matter, they did it anyway.  Why?  Where did their strength come from?  It came from knowing Jesus personally, from trusting the guidance of his word.  In order to pour the expensive perfume on Jesus the lady had to break the bottle to do so.  What am I willing to break, to sacrifice, in order to do what God has called me to do?  The disciples thought she was wasteful and spoke badly of her for doing this, but then Jesus took over the situation.  It is no different for us, when we step up and out for Jesus he will take over our situation as well.  This seems like a small gesture that she did, but listen to what Jesus had to say about it, ‘I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her’ (verse 9).  It is time, Jesus is calling his children to follow in this woman’s footsteps---to do all we can for the sake of Jesus Christ.  We have to let go of what we think is valuable and cling to the most invaluable resource that we can know, the Savior of the World, Jesus Christ!

Serious Words!

Mark 13

“Be on guard! Be alert!” (vs. 33)  “What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’” (vs. 37)

These are serious words from our Father that should never be taken lightly.  Just last night I was reading in the book, Revolution in World Missions, about how serious a decision it is to follow Christ.  That just as much as Heaven and God’s Love is real, so is Hell and Satan’s tactics to get us there.   We have to be on guard and alert at all times, and we must certainly always be on watch.  We need to watch our actions, our thoughts, our words, and our hearts.  We need to be careful in all that we do and make sure that we are seeking Christ in it all. 

It seems that we are always saying how much worse can this world get, what else will happen?  But we know from God’s Word that this is how it is suppose to be, it will not get any better, in fact we know that it will get worse.  His word tells us that ‘if the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive’ (vs.20).  The days will become so bad that the length of day will have to be cut short for survival?  Now, I have to be honest, that scares me a bit.  Not because of the reasons that you may think, but because I pray that my faith is strong enough to survive such a day.  You see at this moment I love Jesus more than I ever have in my entire life, but let’s face it I have never had to survive any type of persecution for the sake of Christ.  Unlike much of the world, we American Christians have had it pretty easy, so easy we should be praising him with everything we have in us for making it this easy for us to serve him so freely.  However, because of this lifestyle we have to be all the more prepared for the days to come.  We have to prepare by praying more, reading the Bible more, seeking him with all our mind, our heart and our soul.

There will come a day that ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be will be shaken’ (vs. 24) and I want to love Jesus and have more faith on that day than I do at this moment when it seems that all is right in my world.

I don’t know about you, but I feel a pulling to my Father to draw even closer to him, to depend on him more, to know him more, and to be ever so watchful of the enemy as he tries with all his might to weaken my faith in Jesus Christ.  My friends, the time to become serious about who we serve is now, we can no longer waiver in our service to Jesus, it is time to give him our all no matter what the world may say!