Let God carry your problems...

Matthew 11:28-30  Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you rest.  (I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls). (29) Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. (30) for My yoke is wholesome (useful, good – not harsh, hard, sharp or pressing, but comfortable, gracious and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.

In Matthew 11:28-30 we are being given instructions on how to handle trials and struggles in our daily lives.  Notice here that we are not being told that we won’t have troubles and trials, as we all know, we have been told that we will have trials and troubles, but what we see here is that Jesus is telling us how to handle these hard days ahead of us.

We all have bad days and good days; we all have times we want to pull the covers over our heads and say, not today!   But then we have days where we could sing and dance all day with a light heart and light attitude.  Oh, how I wish I had more of those days then the days of wanting to shut out the world.

One of the things I have noticed is when I am having a bad day; it’s usually because I am focused on negative things or situations.  I am usually either being self-indulgent or I am spending too much time worrying about a situation, or person, I can do nothing about.

There are those days that when we wake up we are in a funk or the opposite life is shiny and new, but those days come far and few in-between.  Normally we have a pretty average mood and then something happens to sway us one way or another.  We allow our emotions to dictate the day and how we will react to it.

Jesus is telling us that no matter what kind of day you are having, you can rest those emotions, those situations on Him.  Not that long ago I had someone tell me that they could handle the situation we were in, because he had big shoulders.  Meaning his shoulders were large enough to carry the load or problem for both of us.   To me this is what Jesus is saying in Matthew 11:28-30.

Jesus says come to Me if you are feeling overtaken by life’s circumstances, bring them to Me and I will give you rest.   Not only am I going to give you rest, I will refresh you, I will relieve your souls.   He wants to take control of what is hurting us or bothering us, or keeping us from Him and He wants to carry that circumstance for you.

Have you ever had to carry a large, heavy object and you had multiple people trying to work together to successfully carry the object?  When one person stops carrying the load it makes the load heavier for everyone else, but it’s not impossible.  When you are one person trying to carry the load of life, relationships, money, children, family, parents, jobs, homes, food, friendships and your relationship to God, you are trying to carry everything and if you don’t distribute the load, it will end up crushing you.  It will overtake you and steal your happiness.

Jesus wants us to hand our lives, including all the to do lists, all the friendships, all the work problems, all the family problems and health problems to Him, so He can be the one who handles everything and you can focus on Him.

Remember, as I’ve said many times, God is a jealous God and He will remove whatever takes place of Him.

In verse 29 Jesus is showing us how to decipher if the yoke we are carrying is His yoke, the yoke of ourselves or the yoke of evil.  It’s important that we are able to recognize these things so we are able to bring whatever situation we are in to Him.  When you see that His character and His yoke is gentle, meek, humble, lowly in heart and that you should find rest in His yoke, if you are not experiencing these things you are not in His yoke.  You have either not handed over your burdens, and allowed Jesus to keep them, or you are being very deceived by Satan.

I am classic for giving God my problems, burdens, people and whatever else I am feeling at that moment, and then five minutes later going back and picking them back up.   I begin the process over and over again, thinking I can figure this out or my worrying about the things I've surrendered to God will make the answer come faster, and it doesn't.  All it does is cause me to lose my peace and happiness and put distance between me and God.

I also have a problem with trying to reason out my problems, I will begin to try and figure out each situation and then reason out the situation and weigh the pros and cons.   This is not leaving my problems with Jesus.  This is letting Jesus babysit them for a couple minutes and me thinking I can do it better than He can.

The truth hurts sometimes, but it doesn’t make it not the truth!

Jesus then in verse 30 gives us examples of what His yoke is not like.  His yoke is not harsh, hard, sharp or pressing, but it IS gracious, comfortable and pleasant.  His burden is light and easy to be borne.

When you are walking outside of God’s yoke, you are going to experience the heavy feeling, the anxious feeling; the I need to solve this right now feeling.  You are going to feel pushed and pulled and unsettled.  You will not have a sense of peace; in fact you will have the opposite, you will feel as if everything is falling apart. 

We all know this feeling and it is a horrible, heart breaking, gut wrenching moment or moments.   But again, Jesus was so gracious as to tell us how we will feel when we are not following His yoke, or His instructions.

Handing over the problems in our lives to anyone, who isn’t us, is hard and even harder I think to hand them over to God.  When you ask a friend to help you with something you can physically check on them, you can, to some extent, continue to have some control over the situation. 

When you truly release a problem over to God and don’t go back and pick it up, it takes great faith to walk away and enjoy the rest of your life, while God is taking care of the problem.

That is what we are to do to everyday.  The way we are created is not conditioned to handle problems.  We are created to surrender the problems to the one who knows exactly what we need, Jesus.

Jesus is asking for you to hand over your worries, fears, anxieties, money issues, family issues, health issues, all that you are, the sum of you, and let Him have them. 

He wants to you drop off the problems and then walk away, and enjoy your life, while He takes care of changing either you or your circumstance.  

Just a secret here between us, usually it’s you that changes and not your circumstances.

When we are walking in the rest of God we will feel exactly as the word states, rest.  We will not feel the “rat race” of life, or maybe I should say it won’t affect us, because we are living for God, and not ourselves.

We were born to commune with God, to have a relationship with God and one of the things that come with a relationship is trust and compromise.  God is asking us to trust Him with our lives and to compromise our own need to control our lives and allow the master of creation to take over!

I will take feeling refreshed, comfortable, pleasant and rested, over feeling burden, heavy laden, harsh, hard and pressing!!   

Now all I have to do is learn how to hand over my life and keep it in the hands of the one who created it!!

Suddenly

The word suddenly, a word that I am quite fond, of has been playing over and over again, like the number one song on the Pop Charts.  This word is everywhere in my head today.  I try to shake it out and again, it just reappears…suddenly.

I like this word for many reasons.  I like the sound of it when someone speaks of their “suddenly” experience.  I like to imagine my own “suddenly” and also relive them in my mind.

I like the anticipation that comes with “suddenly” the build up to a moment that is life changing.  To that moment that you have waited so long for and then finally or “suddenly” it happens.

Suddenly, as we know, can also be filled with a negative connotation.  Suddenly doesn’t always have to be happy and positive, though in my mind, it is!  Suddenly, can be an opportunity, a life lesson, the opening for a chance to change and evolve.

I have had many suddenly moments that were not happy and joyful, in the beginning, but in the end the lesson and change that was brought about was usually worth the suddenly. 

I don’t know if anyone else has realized this yet, but our lives are just a string of moments put together leading up to the suddenly.  The pinnacle moment that changes everything, but truly if you think about it, suddenly isn’t suddenly at all.

Suddenly is what happens after you have waited and waited and waited some more.  I think, or I have myself convinced, that the reason why suddenly is so amazing, is because the waiting is over. 

We have received what we have been praying for, what we have been waiting for, and it seems like it happened suddenly, out of the blue, one early morning or whatever your experience is, but truly we all should know, that’s not at all how it has come together.

We have to know that there is a behind the scenes to everyone’s life.  There is a director behind the camera calling the shots; there is a great and powerful OZ behind the curtain, and He is the one who is bringing us these suddenly moments.

Our lives are a million moments put together and framed by the suddenly that we remember.  The moments of pain, tears, loneliness, praying, arguing and begging are washed away buy that moment of euphoria you feel when you’re suddenly arrives.

Suddenly to me can be compared to the Blood of Jesus. 

Before the Cross we were all sinners destined to Hell.  We were all living by a law that was impossible to keep, trying desperately to live a life that was out of our reach.  It’s like telling me I can knock out Mike Tyson with one punch,trust me, it can’t be done.

Our suddenly happened when Jesus Christ went on the Cross and shed His precious blood for us.

That opened the door and suddenly walked in.  

Suddenly, we were made clean.  Suddenly we didn’t need to live by the law.  Suddenly we had access to the Throne of God.  Suddenly, we received the chance for eternity.  Suddenly, we received the gift of healing.  Suddenly, we received forgiveness.  Suddenly, we received authority.  Suddenly, we received overwhelming life changing love.  Suddenly, we were whole.  Suddenly, we belonged.  Suddenly, we were adopted.  Suddenly, we received an inheritance. 

Suddenly…

I can’t help but comparing suddenly to the Blood of Jesus.  I can’t help but believe that all of my suddenly moments, I have been longing for; the moments I have held my breath for, all of those moments happened because my savior Jesus Christ, she His blood for me.

My opportunity for suddenly happened on that day. 

Because of Jesus I can experience a life filled with suddenly.  I can know that because of His supreme act of selflessness I can look forward to answered prayers, favor and blessings in abundance.

Because of Jesus I will never ever know the taste of Hell.  I will never have to sacrifice my child or my animals to make atonement for my sins. 

Because of Him I live. 

I am sure to the disciples, traveling with Jesus ,His arrest and being crucified appeared to be sudden.  I am sure it all happened in warp speed to them, but to Jesus it wasn’t.  To Jesus He saw behind the scenes.  He saw the threads being woven together to create the picture of our future.  He knew His purpose and He understood His call.

Suddenly changes our lives.  Suddenly alters the projection of the day, moment or year.  Suddenly will take the life you have become used to and twist it completely around and leave you changed in the aftermath.

Suddenly is God’s way of redirecting us, of showing us His plan and exposing all His behind the scenes work.  Suddenly might have only been a series of eight letters put together, before you read this, but I hope now when you experience a suddenly you will take a moment and follow the connecting threads to that experience.   And give thanks to the Lord who supplied all of those moments.

I hope that you can see all the behind the scenes work that your Heavenly has lovingly done for you, to get you to the place you are now.  I hope that even if your suddenly is a life changing suddenly that hurts your heart, you can still look up to the sky and know that your loving Father is there to comfort you.

Suddenly are just moments strung together by threads that leads us to the moments in our lives that we remember…suddenly!

Are you Judas or are you Jesus?

Betrayal can sting like a sharp knife going into your back or it can be like a slow burn that you can’t escape.   We can be betrayed in many ways and by many people throughout our short lives here on earth, but each and every time it still hurts.

There is no way to protect yourself from being betrayed and no way to ease the blow when it happens.   The only way I can think of to safeguard yourself from being betrayed, would be to be in solitude, and even then, you are betraying yourself.

I, like many of you, have been betrayed in my life, and in return I build up a stronger, thicker, higher walls to protect myself.  I limit the people in my life, as a way to protect my heart from being betrayed, but yet, it still happens.

Almost two years ago now, I was betrayed by a person who I held very dearly to my heart.   He was a very significant person, not only in my life, but in my working life as well.   He was one of those people that you knew if you called him at 2am he would be right there to help you, in any way he could.   

I knew he had my back… or so I thought.

We had established a close friendship, shared our secrets both of home and work life, and had a deep trust built up between the two of us and then in one moment that trust was completely shattered. 

I was deeply hurt and betrayed, which those two things, I think, always come hand and hand, along with anger.  My friend had chosen to believe, a very horrible rumor that was going around the work place, that had to do with me and another female co-worker.  I happened to be guilty by association in the situation, and my friend, my buddy, the person I would have trusted with my life, deserted me.

The pain I felt in that moment, for many days, weeks and months afterward, were some of my darkest.  Our friendship will forever be fractured, and I will always hold him at arm’s length, but yet somehow, someway, we were able to mend as much of that broken friendship that we can.

There is an unspoken sadness that encircles our friendship now, but also a release of expectations on both parties.  It released us both from being boxed into people we probably could never live up to being.

I never thought this person would betray me.  I never thought this person would no longer be a part of my inner circle of friends, whom I consider to be family, but at the same time, this needed to happen to open my eyes to the fact that he is not perfect! 

And neither am I!

When we allow things, people, items, money, whatever it is to start to take place of God in our lives, you best be prepared for God to remove or alter that thing! 

Remember He is a jealous God!  He wants you all to Himself!

I thought about this friend, well I believe God brought him to my memory, tonight as I was reading.  I thought how much I hurt and how many tears I shed over this friendship, and how incredibly difficult it was to forgive him and move forward with our friendship, and honestly how was I going to be able to do that.

I wonder if this is how Jesus felt when Judas betrayed Him. 

I wonder if Jesus felt the ache in His heart knowing that someone He let into the inner circle of His life and teaching, was about to shame His name.  That His friendship meant so little to Judas that He would trade it, and Him, for a few coins.

You know how we are told that Jesus understands all of our trials and every emotion we have, He has also had.    This one I have no doubt about.

Jesus knows the feeling of being betrayed, and Jesus knows exactly how to handle the act of being betrayed.

He was kind and generous with His emotions to Judas.  He did not attack Judas, call out His reputation or His personality traits.  Jesus graciously accepted the betrayal and forgave.

This is extremely hard to do... Especially when you have a flesh that wants to get revenge, one wants to make the person who hurt you, hurt as much as you are.  You want to defile their name, share every secret they have ever told you, but you don’t! 

We don’t make an initial wrong right, by committing the same act.   In this situation who would you rather be, Jesus or Judas?

Judas, needed to betray Jesus so that the rest of the world could be saved.   I am sure if you look at the times you have been betrayed in your life, you will find that they needed to happen for one reason or another.   And a valuable lesson was learned from the betrayal.

Forever Judas Iscariot, from Matthew 10:4 will have his act of betrayal be His character trait.  He will forever be remembered and mentioned as the one who betrayed Jesus. 

I never want my name to be associated to she betrayed me!  I want to be the one who they are saying; she forgave me, after I betrayed her.  I want to be like Jesus was with Judas, and every other person who betrayed Him, and forgive them with a true heart.  With the heart that Jesus has given to us.

If loving your neighbor as you love yourself is something that we are to do ,and do on purpose, which it is.  Than we are going to have to accept and forgive people who are going to either let us down, hurt us, abandon us, and betray us.

We are going to have to realize that people are not perfect, just as we are not perfect, though sometimes we think, we come really close to it, but we aren’t.   What we are is made in the image of the perfect one!  We are made in the image of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Which means, we have the abilities that Jesus has?

We can forgive, wipe the slate clean, and be an example to the ones that hurt us and the ones that are watching for our response.   Every day you are alive someone is going to do something that ruffles your feathers.  The degree of ruffling is what is different, and the importance of the person in your life, also plays apart in the level of pain. 

Jesus was betrayed so deeply because, the one who betrayed Him was from His inner circle.  Judas was a chosen one, and he was handpicked by Jesus Himself.  This is a major blow not only to Jesus, but also to the rest of the people following Jesus.

I don’t think any of them, or us, would have looked twice at Jesus if He would have let Judas have it.  If He would have told Judas exactly who he was, and exactly what was going to happen to him.  But you see the God that forgives you and me, is also the God who forgave Judas.  

Many times the shame that the person who has hurt you so deeply, is worse than the act they committed in the first place.   Knowing that I hurt someone is not worth the feelings of satisfaction it would take for me to hurt them back.   I can walk around with a bruised ego for a while knowing that I am not the one with the shame of defiling another person.

Jesus has showed us many, many things in His short time on earth and one of them is that you will be betrayed and it will hurt, but the way you recover from it speaks louder than the betrayal itself.

Remember this tomorrow, the day after, or even the year after, when someone has betrayed you in some way, because they will, you have a decision to make in that moment, to either forgive them like Jesus did, or curse their name like Judas did! 

It’s your decision what your legacy is going to be!

 

Step out in BOLDNESS!!

Matthew 9:16  And no one puts a piece of cloth that has not been shrunk on an old garment, for such a patch tears away from the garment and a worse rent (tear) is made.

This is a very interesting verse; it especially becomes interesting when you think that this verse follows Jesus telling the Pharisees that He has come for the weak and sick of the world, and not for the ones that are already righteous.   Jesus goes on to tell the disciples of John, who are inquiring about why Jesus’s disciples don’t need to fast, but that they do. 

Jesus tells them, pretty openly, that when you are at a wedding you are not mourning the groom, no, you are celebrating the wedding.  When the groom leaves, or the bridegroom as He puts it, then you may mourn. 

Jesus is again giving us another parable of how He represents the bridegroom to the church and to the people, and since He is still here, what purpose would it be for His disciple to fast, when they have Him.  Jesus also gives us a bit of insight or foreshadowing, into the fact that He will be departing soon, and at that time fasting might be necessary for the disciples.

This leads up into Matthew 9:16.  To me this is Jesus saying, in yet another parable, if you have a hole in your soul or heart, you can’t fill this hole with external things because a patch that is not designed to fill the hole will only work temporarily.

In the world, we are currently living in, there are so many people struggling with fears, phobias, addictions, depression and anxiety.  I had heard recently that 70% of all doctor prescriptions are to help treat depression, anxiety and mental illness.  

Do you think there is any correlation between the deterioration of our relationships with God, and the rising of all of these problems? 

I do.

I think when we put as much effort into the world to glamorize violence, war, drugs, sex and disorders, we shouldn’t be surprised when we start to accept them as the norm. 

We are also in the meantime driving God so far away from the mainstream culture that He is left with a faint whisper, in the secular world.

There to me, has to be a connection between the lack of connection with God in this world, and the demise of its people. 

We have done all we can as a society to allow the white washing of our people happen, and this is why the patches on the hurting people are not working.  We are fixing the holes with the wrong things, when people need God. 

They need a savior, I need a savior!  We need to have an intimate connection with the Almighty God.

I feel like the body of Christ, the ones who know, and believe, that the relationship with God is a vital need to make it through every day, is letting the people around them down.  We are more worried about being politically correct and being disrespectful of someone else’s view and opinions than we are of God’s.

For example I work in marketing for a local radio station.  My company is wonderful!  I have been extremely blessed to have my job and to work for a company that allows me to be me, not matter how that comes.   I understand now, why God has placed me in this job.  I didn’t for some time, but now I see the holes in the people around me. 

Today I was sitting on the couch in the lobby with my three bosses, and we were just chatting about some upcoming ideas, and I had said how great it would be if we became a Christian company.   Now, I say this while I am sitting beside my one boss, who I have a good friendship with, but who is openly an atheist.  Across from his boss who is struggling with his faith, and is uncertain of what is real with God, and what’s not, and my other boss who while he has made large strides in his attitude, he doesn’t often exhibit himself as the Christian that I know he is.

I think of this moment and wonder how many other people have this opportunity to plant a seed of God where they work, live, work out, or with whom they spend time with.  I know I am fortunate with my situation and trust me, I am not quiet about what I believe.  I have post it notes all over the place with Bible verses, quotes and a collection of cds, dvds and books on my desk.

I know that not everyone works in this kind of atmosphere but isn’t there a way to carry God with you everywhere you go, without being in fear of what the world is going to do to you?

Aren’t we supposed to be the ones that standout, not blend in?  We are to be the ones that change the people around us because they are in such a need and desire to want what we have. 

My question is how do they know what you have when you hide who you are?

When you are living by the standards of the world you are not living by the standards of God.  You are not being a testament to the God you claim to serve.  Now, again, here is my disclaimer, if I have ruffled any feathers, that is not my intention.  My intention is to open our eyes, including my own, to the destruction of the world and more importantly the people around us.

When Jesus says in Matthew 9:16 you can’t put a patch that has not been shrunk on an old garment, because the patch will just make the tear worse, we need to open our eyes to that.

We need to realize that the rise in suicides, overdoses, mental health issues, addictions of all kinds and violence are the patches of the old garment, that no one took the time to make fit the hole.  The fabric of the world is being stripped away and we are allowing it.

I know, you probably know, the answer to this is Jesus.   Jesus is our lord and savior and He did not come to this earth, die a horrific death and pay for sins He did not commit, to watch the “religious” people sit by and not do anything.

We are being given a warning in Matthew 9:16 if we don’t acknowledge it and make an attempt to make it better, shame on us.  We clearly see that if we don’t start to share the word of God with the people around us the tear, hole is going to be worse. 

Can you imagine life being worse?

Can you imagine living in a completely dull society where no one cares if someone is murdered, dies of a drug overdose or is sexually abusing someone else? 

I want no parts of that world.  

I want to do my part to spread the word of God in my special way, because we all know that we are given gifts and talents from God, so use yours.   Find your gift and talent and use it to glorify God, the one who not only gave you the gifts, and talents, but created you.

We are here, in this world, for a specific reason and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know we are nearing the end times.  Let’s rise up, join hands, talents and gifts, and serve the Lord who so graciously gives to us.

It doesn’t matter if your platform is large or small, your impact is felt everywhere.  If you think about the telephone game, where one person tells another person a sentence and by the time it gets to the end of the row, the sentence is twisted and changed.  How about we play the telephone game with God. 

Why don’t we commit to show, tell, bless, pray or give to one person tomorrow and let the ripple effect be spread through them to the next person and so on.  If we decide that we are not going to lie down and allow the world to make a mockery of God, we can change and save people’s lives.

If we the body of God, become more aware of who is watching us and the opportunities around us to spread God in any way we can, we can and will change lives. 

It’s time for us to rise up, help the broken and hurting people of this world, and put cloth that has been shrunk on the old garment, so the hole they have been carrying around no longer has to tear, bleed or hurt! 

It's time that we reach out our hands and hearts in service to the ones who are lost and needy.  It's time for us to be bold and live in the image we were created!

The Great Physician.

I know from personal experience I don’t go to the doctor unless I have too.  I am not willingly going to see someone to help me unless there is truly something physically wrong with me.  This is the same for my mental and spiritual health.  I guess you could say I am reactive instead of proactive when it comes to my health.

I have been battling, for years now, health issues and finally they are starting to become bothersome, and I am in need of doctors, so what did it do?  I sought out medical attention, to help ease the pain.  

Many of us, including myself, as I just mentioned, are the same way with their spiritual health.  We come to God when we are in a time of dire need and there is nothing else we know to do, other than pray.  There are times when situations are so bad that people will even search out God and learn to know Him through their situation.  

These are wonderful times; times to be celebrated, but how unfortunate it is that we need a horrible situation in our lives to cause us to look for God.  

When you have a death in the family people it will either increase your faith or your faith will decrease, because of the many questions we have for God.   I understand this also, as I have had two situations where I asked God where were you when I needed you.  Funny thing is, He was right there.  He was using these situations to teach me, to strengthen me in Him.  He was allowing me to see that even in the worst  of situations, I can come to Him for my healing and comfort.

He is a God who wants to meet all of your needs, and can do so since He created you, your needs and the universe.  We are the ones who don’t allow Him to take care of us, or make it more challenging for us, not for God, when we don’t surrender to His will and plans.

I have often asked God, especially in the last eight months, why me God?  Why have you called me to work in your kingdom?  Why use me?  I am a regular person, with nothing spectacular that makes me stand out.  I am not really fond of reading, or writing for that matter, and public speaking is not something I have ever desired to do, but yet, I see that being part of my path.   It’s confusing, wondrous and scary all at the same time. 

But when God starts to move in your life and starts to make big changes to the life you were comfortable living in, you have two ways you can go.  You can either ignore the call that He has put on your life, or you can do your best to try and submit to the changes He is putting in your path.  Honestly, I am doing my best to submit, but the pain that comes from the changes is enough to make me want to change my mind... some days.

We see throughout the Bible, Old and New Testament, where God used the foolish and meek things of the world to confound the wise.  He used the things that no one would ever look at twice or expect to be used by God, to actually do His work.  He takes the people like me, who were broken, hurt, abused, abandoned and lost, changes them and then uses them to change other people’s lives, and most importantly glorify His kingdom.

Jesus didn’t come for the righteous; He came for the unrighteous, to make them righteous.   In Matthew eight, after Jesus had just met Matthew, the tax collector, we see the Pharisees asking His disciples, why does He, meaning Jesus, always eat with the tax collectors and those who are sinful?  Basically, why is He putting all this effort into people who are not worth His effort?  Or, why isn’t He placing His time and effort in us, the righteous ones, or the ones that they presumed to be righteous.  

The Pharisees were truly bothered by Jesus’ act of kindness to the people, that they would have thrown away.  The people that they have walked over or around daily, to avoid them, why is He catering to them?

You see the answer in Matthew 8:12  But when Jesus heard it, He replied, Those who are strong and well (healthy) have no need of a physician, but those who are weak and sick.  (13) Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy (that is readiness to help those in trouble) and not sacrifice and sacrificial victims.  For I came not to call and invite (to repentance) the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God), but sinners (the erring ones and all those not free from sin).

Jesus says it Himself.  Why should I focus my time and efforts on the ones that already know me and my Father?  There are so many that don’t.  Not that Jesus doesn’t love and cherish the people who already know Him, but he focus cannot be on the ones already found.  The shepherd will leave His flock of 99 to find the one lost, and this is what Jesus is saying.  I am the shepherd and I must find the sheep of my flock that are lost and missing.

Jesus came to make us righteous and in right standing with God, but how can He do that if we don’t know Him?  We see in the Bible, all over the New Testament, how Jesus healed people on the spot and some through other people’s faith.  We see that Jesus cares about the ones that are found, because their faith in Him leads Him to heal them, so the need of the lost is bigger than the need of the found.

The Pharisees cannot wrap their brains around this idea because they deem themselves higher than their fellow man.  The believe that since they can recite Bible verses and can repeat stories from the Bible, and are keeping the laws, that they are better than the people who are not.  They have placed themselves in the role of Judge and Jury, when they have no place being either.  These are the people who cast their stone, while being guilty of the exact same sin as you.

Every day we are among Pharisees in life and every day we feel the judgment of eyes watching us.   But you see we are the ones that Jesus came to save and make righteous.  We are the ones that Jesus will use to advance His kingdom, because we know where our source comes from.

When you have the mindset of a Pharisee you are not looking at the salvation that comes from Jesus you are looking at the laws and rules that have been set.  You believe that because you pray so many hours a day, and keep all the laws, you are set above your fellow man.  How can God use that person?  How can God promote that kind of person to bring people to Him when they don’t know Him?

Just like you and me, we are not going to go to a doctor unless we need one, and many people don’t come to Jesus until they need Him.  We the ones that He has saved through His crucifixion are the ones He is relying on to help the lost.  He is empowering us, gifting us and blessing us to show the world around us that in fact He is the great Healer, He is the Lord and Savior of your life, and He is exactly what you need.

You might not need a doctor, but you definitely need Jesus.  You need God to focus your life on so that you don’t become a Pharisee.  You need to keep God first in your life, so you can stay on the path and plan that He has for you.  There is a reason and purpose for us all, and it fits into Gods master plan, and when one person decides to not do their part, God must reorganize the plan, or force you into the situation where you must submit. 

Jesus said in Matthew 8:13 He has come for the unrighteous of the world and that includes me and you, but He came to make us righteous.  Maybe you don’t need a doctor, medication, mental health guidance but maybe your heart is aching.  Maybe your mind wanders about what your purpose is in this life?  What are you doing here and why you?   I know someone who can answer all those questions, and so many more, and He is looking for you!

He won’t rest until He finds that one lost sheep, brings you home, and makes you righteous too!         

 

How much faith do you have?

I had this wonderful friend that no matter when I needed her if it was physically possible for her to talk to me, she would.  She was a very active woman, with a family of her own, but I can’t even count the times that she wasn’t there for me when I needed her.   

The confidence I had in dialing her number and her being there was 95% and if she didn’t answer, I knew she was going to call me back.  I could call her at any time day or night, and trust me I have done so.  The stability that I had in our friendship and her advice was strong, it was unshakable. 

We are both very outspoken people who can be driven, stubborn and quick with people but I knew that whenever we had words that were not agreeing words, we would find a way to fix it.  She would give me criticism and I would do the same to her.  Though we had a twenty plus age difference, we were learning together who we are and who we wanted to be, as people.

I lost my friend about a month ago and that stability that I had known to love, need and take for granted is now gone.   The security of knowing I can pick up the phone at 2am or 6pm and hear her on the other end has ruptured into a million pieces, and I am left to scramble and identify them.  I am not even trying to put them back together again, as that picture is now shattered and a new picture must be created.

I am saying all of this to ask you this question.  Can you or do you, rely on God as much as I relied on my friend?

I know my answer is no, as shameful as that may be, and sound, the answer, if I speak truthfully, is no.

I struggle with having trust and confidence in God.  I struggle with allowing Him to control my every day, even though He already is, I struggle to allow my brain to believe it.   I come from a past of pretty bad abuse and abandonment so I am learning this is a pretty normal feeling for someone like me to have. 

But still it’s there and still I struggle.

For my friendship, I didn’t have to fight.  I didn’t have to try; actually I didn’t have to put in any effort at all.   My dear friend sat across from me at work, and I believe she decided from day one, I am going to make this girl my friend.  She could see that I was hurting and broken, and I believe the Lord ministered to her spirit that she could help heal parts of my brokenness.   She pursued my friendship to the point, I had to let her in, and I am so very thankful I did.

You see I came to trust her because I could see the evidence of her work.  I could see the effort and time she put in to cultivating a friendship that wasn’t just surface that was deep and meaningful.  I could submit my trust and let down my guard with her because I saw the process before my eyes, and she was earning my trust and friendship.

This is normally how we gain trust and faith in people, by allowing them to earn it.  But you see, when you are working in the world of God that is not how His economy works.  He wants you to trust and believe first and then receive.  He wants to see you do the work, and prove your heart for Him, and then see His glory shine.

I personally am in a season with God where my trust must grow.  I must learn to relinquish what control I believe I have in my life, over to God and allow Him to finish the picture He has started for me.   So when I was reading Matthew 8:5-13, I felt a bit jealous, not in a oh, I want what you have and you can’t have it way, but in an I wish I could have that too.  I wish I could extend my faith like you did, way.

Matthew 8:5 states, As Jesus went into Capernaum, a centurion came up to Him, begging Him, (6) And saying, Lord, my servant boy is lying at the house paralyzed and distressed with intense pains. (7) And Jesus said to him, I will come and restore him. (8) But the centurion replied to Him Lord, I am not worthy or fit to have You come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant boy will be cured.  (9) For I also am a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, Go, and he goes; and to another, come, and he comes; and to my slave, do this, and he does it. (10) When Jesus heard him, He marveled and said to those who followed Him (who adhered steadfastly to Him, conforming to His example in living and, if need be, in dying also),  I tell you truly, I have never found so much faith as this with anyone, even in Israel.

Here we see this man, who was in desperate need of help for his slave, and went to Jesus for help.  He asked Jesus to help his slave and heal him from his pain, and when Jesus said, yes, I will help you, the man said I am not worthy of having You in my home.   But just speak his healing and it shall be done.  

The level of faith this man had just shocks me to my core.  This man had never seen Jesus before; he never sat down with Jesus for dinner.  He didn’t have phone conversations, emails or text back and forth for days or weeks.   This was the first time he met Jesus, and yet after just meeting Him he had the faith that strong to say, just say the words and I know it will be done.

And it was done… Just like that.

You know that Jesus was overjoyed with this man’s faith in Him, because this glorified His Father, God.  Jesus knew that when He received any recognition or glory for what He was doing that the glory really was being given to God, and His ability and goodness.

So here is my question, how do we achieve this level of faith in something we can’t see or touch?  How can you ask Jesus for healing and then walk away knowing that it will be done?

This is my struggle…                                                             

In verse 11 we read Jesus saying, I tell you, many will come from east and west, and will sit at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. (12) While the sons and heirs of the kingdom will be driven out into the darkness outside, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.  (13) Then to the centurion Jesus said Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.  And the servant boy was restored to health at that very moment.

Here we see how the centurion received his healing, though we already had a clue as to how he received it, but the words of the Bible state right here, he received the healing for the servant boy because he believed.   He didn’t have to beg for forgiveness, he didn’t have to pay Jesus anything; He didn’t have trade Jesus anything, all he had to do was believe. 

His believing is what gave Jesus the ability to flow and fulfill the need of the servant boy.

You know what just struck me in this, was that the man wasn’t even asking for the healing for himself, or an immediate member of his family, he was believing for his servant.  So…if a man who has no friendship or communication with Jesus before this favor, asked can he receive healing for his servant child, than we too can stand as the go between for the people we love, and know that need healing.

This never dawned on me before.  The story is beautiful and shows us that when you apply faith to the request made before God, through Jesus, that you will surely receive your request.  But... But it never came to me that the healing was for another and not for himself. 

This should be stirring in your heart right now.  Someone else’s eyes have to be opened to this and the power of this story.

You see when we are asked to pray for someone, or when we do pray for someone, we should be bringing to that prayer the same amount of faith, if not more, that we bring our own prayers to God with.  They have the same amount of authority and power, even though it is for someone other than yourself.

I love this!! 

I love knowing that when I am praying for my friends, and loved ones to receive what I know they are longing for, or for healing, this is just as if I am praying for myself.  God responds to this just as I was asking God to move for me.

We see here that what it takes to move Jesus, and God is faith.  Without faith it is impossible to please God.  I guess that could be because when we don’t give God our faith he can’t use the keys He has to open the blessing. 

God can move without your prayer and without your faith, but if He did, who would get the glory?  Probably you, me or some mystical force in the universe.  God want’s the glory for Himself, so when we go to Him in prayer, through Jesus Christ, we are giving Him the keys to our healing, blessing, restoration… whatever it is you name it.

I hope you see, as I have, that even though God is not putting in as much visible face time that our friends, family members and co-workers are with us, this doesn’t mean we can’t trust Him. 

I hope and pray that if you are like me at all and have issues trusting God, that you can like me, begin to make the turn and realize that when I don’t submit my trust, faith and control in God, I am not the only one who is hurting, I am also hurting all the people I am praying for.  

When I come to God in prayer, and bring along my baggage of emotions, control, fear and doubt I am saying to God, I think I might be able to do this better than you, foolish, yes, I know, but the truth.  

When we truly lay down our pride, guard, walls, and fears, we can submit to Him completely, and then we can say, as the centurion did, Lord, all you need to do is say that he is healed and he will be!!  

Are you fake or authentic?

Have you ever walked into a room and felt the air leave when you walked in?  You saw the look of shock and fear as you entered upon a conversation you obviously were not supposed to hear.   Then after the couple seconds go by, which really feels like minutes, for all people involved, one of the people come over to you to speak and welcome you.   And when they leave you feel the stain of fakeness cover you. 

We have all had these moments in life.  We have all stumbled into a conversation about us, something we should not have heard or worse have been part of the people talking, when someone else walks into the room.  We know that feeling of having a fake conversation or having someone fake niceness with you, knowing that isn’t their true feelings inside.

It’s almost as if you can smell and see the lies that people tell or show.  You know they say that animals can sense fear and that’s usually when they attack, well I think we can sense when a person is being less than honest with us and themselves.

I try very hard to live my life transparent.  I am honest to a fault at times, which I have learned has hurt people’s feelings, which is not my intention.  I try to be honest in every situation I am in because I never want to leave that feeling on someone, that feeling of I was just lied too, or that was a very fake encounter.

I am saying all of this as the lead in to Matthew 7:29 For He was teaching as One Who had (and was) authority and not as (did) the scribes.  

The verses leading up to Matthew 7:29 Jesus was telling us what we need to do to be accepted by Him and into heaven and how we need to keep His commandments.  We were also told where our priorities in life should be.  How we are to build our life around Him and His word, so that we are built on solid rock instead of sand.  We are being given instructions on how to have a prosperous, happy life and be in the will of Christ.

In verse 28 it says When Jesus had finished these sayings (the Sermon on the Mount), the crowds were astonished and overwhelmed with bewildered wonder at His teachings.

To me this is mouths hanging open, audible gasps and conviction in their soul’s moment.  This is like a moment that you are sucked into and aren’t able to move your gaze but oh so badly want too, because you know He is speaking to you.  You swear He can see inside you at that very moment and see that you are a bundle of emotions and on the brink of change.

These are among one of the moments and times where there is no denying Jesus is the Son of God because as verse 29 tells us, you can see His authority.  To me this is being able to see the spirit of Jesus and seeing His truth in not only His words but also His life.

There is a big difference between someone giving you “lip service” and someone speaking truth into your life.  The feeling is different.  When someone is speaking with authority and truth, there is a rumble inside of you, even if you are feeling convicted.  There is a stirring inside of you that says, this is truth that I am hearing, and my spirit connects to it, and recognizes it.

This is just like when you are church and you hear a speaker who you can tell hasn’t lived out the words that he is telling you.  You can sense an authenticity to the person, and a realness to him.  Not that he is trying to deceive you or bare false witness to you, but the connection is missing because his passion and real life experience is not there. 

When Jesus was speaking to this group of people even though He was giving instructions on how they should live their lives, I am sure some of them were not happy about it, they identified with His words.  They identified with His spirit.  They saw and claimed His authority and truth, which is why the crowds were filled with wonder, overwhelmed and astonished.

This is how the Holy Spirit wants to work through us.  He wants to send us into the world to show God’s authenticity through us.  He wants to change us to win souls for Him, but He can’t send you into the world as you are, He must change you first and then send you into the world.

We wonder why He chooses the Meek and Foolish things of the world to work through, and in, it's because that’s where He can shine the brightest.  If He took someone who was poised, eloquent and educated on His word, would you be so surprised when they were standing in front of you put together speaking.  No, you wouldn’t.  You actually would probably be bored thinking, how can this person relate to my life in anyway, when they have had a very good life.

We would miss God in everything this person said because we wouldn’t feel the authenticity of the person.  I can talk to you about what it is like to be a victim of abuse but I can’t talk to you about what it’s like to be a drug addict.  I can tell you the feelings on the side of the one abused and the one in a relationship with an addict, but I can never put my feet inside of the shoes of that person. 

If I would begin to speak on addiction, I could only do this from the view point of a person who loves an addict.  If I would go into a room of addicts and try to speak as if I was one they would all feel the fakeness in my words, in my demeanor and in my heart.  They would never connect to the words, which means that change could never stir in their hearts.

Verse 7:29 is a verse that could never be omitted from the Bible.  Verse 28 & 29 speak of the connection and authenticity.  These verses help validate your own stirrings and build your faith.  You know that you are not alone in how you feel, and it helps you accept what is breaking off of your soul.  It helps you allow the words to be life and life giving.

Folks we need to live an authentic life full of the authority that Jesus had and has.  We need to take away the layers of fakeness and open up our hearts and minds to the truth that is Jesus.  We need to adapt our character to His character and begin to walk that out in this dark world. 

It’s like a woman who wears a lot of make up thinking she has to cover her true beauty, when you wash away the make-up and strip her down; you then truly see how beautiful she is.   Jesus isn’t our make-up, Jesus is our beauty.  Jesus is a clean, freshly washed face that walks into the world exposed.  We pile ourselves up with so much stuff to keep people away from our hearts, emotions, secrets, or whatever you are hiding, and they feel the disconnect, which makes them feel the lack of authority in your lives.

It doesn’t send the world a welcoming energy.  It doesn’t make them want what we have, and should it?

I’ve said this many times on this blog, and many times to myself, but we are the hands and feet of Jesus on this earth.  We are meant to be His image and allow Him to create us into His image.  If we don’t accept that is our new identity than how can we ever begin to lead people to Him?

Allow God to strip you down to nothing but Him and your outer body.  Allow Him to make a shell of who you used to be and fill you up with who you are meant to be.  I know this is incredibly hard, as I am going through this right now, but try, and I mean, try, to let God take your hand and remove from you what is not pleasing to Him.  Allow Him to do the restoration and transformation work on you that He needs to do, so He can send you into the world to bring people back to Him.

You see this whole journey that we are on is to glorify God and to bring Him glory, praise and honor.  When we allow ourselves to walk in His authority then and only then, are we going to be able to do the work that He has called every one of us into.  We will then be walking out the journey He has set before us, and bring people who are lost back to the kingdom of God, so they can walk out their journey too.