My Goal: To Lose My Life!

Luke 9:21-36

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?  Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.  Luke 23-26

Jesus teaches us many things by using parables, but this my friend is no parable.  This is it, put straight out there as plain as day.  This is what we are to do, not what we may want to do or choose to do, but what we must do---there is no way around this scripture.  It is the truth spoken plainly to God’s children.  As I look deeply into these words from my Savior I see many things that contradict what the world tries to teach me.  Deny myself, carry my own cross, follow someone else, loose my life, don’t try to gain the whole world, and don’t be ashamed of following Jesus.  I have to be honest, I do desire to be a disciple of Christ, I want to be different from the world, I want to lose my life and serve Him completely, but I don’t always do these things.  It’s not that I don’t want to, but I let the busyness of my life deter me away from what God has called me to do.  You see, I have no doubt that Satan knows exactly how dedicated my heart is to serving Jesus, he knows how much I desire to know Christ more and he knows that the same old tricks and temptations do not sway me any longer, so he uses something else.  Time.  The more time I spend being busy with stuff, the less time I have for Jesus, and I will have to be honest again and admit that it is hard to stop the busyness; it will jump on me before I realize it and I will find myself sunk deep down in a pile of work of some sort.  So how do I break away from all the stuff that keeps me so busy?  I can’t just quit my job and stop doing everything else I do, but I do have to find a way to slow down.  I don’t know how I am going to do it, but I have to trust that God will lead me and show me, I just have to be looking and listening for his direction.  I have to learn to say no to some things, things that are not necessarily bad things, but things that keep me too tied up.  I can no longer try to please everyone, but my goal should be to please Christ and if I do that then everything else will begin to fall into place.  I have always been the type of person that wanted everyone to like me, I have always wanted to please everyone, but I have learned that that is impossible, so I have to change my ways and concentrate on the plan that God has for me.  I have to learn to let go of what I think is right, to let go of trying to please everyone, to let go of the busyness…I have learn to lose my life everyday!  Really what would it matter if I gained the whole world, but lost my soul in the process?  I don’t want any part of this world that would cost me my life with Jesus!

"Who do you say that I am?"

Luke 9:10-20

“Who do you say that I am?” was the question that Jesus asked his disciples and the question that he is asking me tonight.  Peter answered the question.  His response may be worded differently in the many Bible translations…God’s Messiah, The Christ of God, The Messiah of God, but they all mean the same.  He came from God, he is the Christ, and he is our Messiah!  So as I ponder over this question I have so many things come to mind about who he really is.  I can say all the correct terms like Savior, King, Messiah, Christ and so on, but who do I say that he is?  Who do I know him to be?  He is all the things mentioned previously, but he is also so much more than those words to me, he is my friend, my father, my comforter, my guide…he is the one that will always be there when I call on him even if it is the middle of the night.  He is there to wrap his arms around me and hold me when I have no words left to say.  And while I don’t see or feel him in the physical, he is still the realest thing I know.  I can’t explain the comfort, strength, confidence and love that he places within me, but I know it is there and that it came straight from him.  He may be the Savior to the world, but he is the one that has saved me from this world.   What would I say to him if he asked me who do you say that I am?  I don’t know what I would say except my Jesus and then I would probably just lie at his feet.  He means so much to me that I don’t know if there are any words that can relay that to him.  And quite honestly, I don’t think it is words that he wants from us, but it is our lives that he desires to have.  He wants our heart, our mind, and our soul to long for him and him only.  So who do you say that He is?

He Can Fix Anything!

Luke 9:1-9

As bad as I want to fix some people, I have decided I just can’t do it!  First of all, I don’t need to be fixing anyone because I don’t know what is best for everyone (except Jesus) and secondly, I can’t---I don’t have the power to do so even if I wanted to.  I have come to the conclusion that not everyone will change for the better, in other words, not everyone will be saved and follow Jesus Christ and as bad as I want them to I can’t make anyone get saved.  Jesus is the only answer to my problems and everyone else’s too.  My job is simply to tell people about Jesus and show them the love of Christ and then let him take care of the rest.  I was thinking even if I talked and talked to someone, even if I drug them up to the alter and prayed and prayed for them, they will never become truly saved until they, themselves, feel that drawing that can only come from Jesus.  Now I have no doubt that he is drawing everyone to him, but not all are listening.  It hurts my heart tremendously when I think about those I love not being saved.  Of course I want everyone I know to be in Heaven together, but it is so much more than that.  I want them to know Jesus now, to experience what he can do in their lives now; I want them to not only feel what I feel, but to feel it even stronger.  I couldn’t help but think about all this after reading verse 5, if people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.  This let me know just how serious this decision is and that Jesus is not playing---he loves us, he wants us, but he will beg no one.  I have heard many times that Jesus is the perfect gentleman and he is.  His love is there, he has already proven that by his life, his death, and his resurrection---he has nothing else to prove.  It is us that have to prove ourselves worthy of Him, our Savior and the only Savior of this world.  So tonight, I beg of you to seek the face of Jesus, ask him to reveal the truth to you, ask him to take your life and make it his, ask him to guide your every step, and I can promise you this he will!  There is nothing that I can tell you that will ever stir you, that will ever comfort you, that will ever guide you, that will ever protect you, like that sweet, powerful Holy Spirit that God can fill you with when you seek Him.  Just call his name and he will be there, he will come and wrap his comforting arms around you and give you a peace and a strength like you have never known.  He is Jesus and I am humbled and honored to call him My Father!

His Righteous Hand Will Hold You

Alright, once again I do not really want to be writing this tonight, but it’s kind of what I do….I write.  When I am happy, tired, angry, and sad…I write and when I do I always get a clearer message of what Jesus is trying to show me.  So tonight I am definitely sad, well actually my heart is aching deeply for the loss of my Brady.  I cannot believe he is gone, my companion, my confidante---and he certainly shared no secrets of mine!  Three short years he was by my side, but what really gets me is that he was literally always by my side since I began writing this blog.  No matter where I was, nor what time of the night it would be, he was there and that is definitely the one thing that I miss the most.  I almost didn’t write tonight because of this very fact, but I must, I must do what God has called me to do no matter what----there is no other option for me anymore!

Isaiah 41:10 says ‘Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous hand.’  In this world nothing and no one will last forever and the Word tells us that we will have troubles, but we are not to fear or be confused---we are to look to God and know that we are being held by His righteous hand!  I have no idea how many times I have said to myself over the last few weeks to trust in the Lord and don’t even try to understand what’s happening; and I cannot begin to tell you how that scripture has strengthened me.  Losing my beloved pet has been devastating, but what God has shown me through his life and sickness has deepened my relationship with Jesus more than I would have every dreamt.  You see, he may have been just a dog, but that dog was originally created by my Father, and He created us to take care of all His creations.  While talking about this with my daughter a couple of days ago, she said, ‘you know if God did not care about all animals, why would he have made sure they were all on the ark?’  Wow, wisdom beyond years---so true, they are important to Him, so they should be important to us!  So while it hurts now, I know that because I hurt my Savior hurts for me, I know that he is holding me in that Righteous hand, and I know that His love is sufficient to get me and my family through this and anything else that comes our way.  It seems that I am just rattling on tonight, but the bottom line is this----trust God, trust God, trust God and know that no matter your circumstances know that he is holding you in His righteous hand!