The Chosen

There is a video series out called "The Chosen".  It is based on the Biblical account of Jesus Christ.  I have found it very interesting!  Yes, they do fill in many of the blanks which may or may not have anything to do with truth.  But I haven't found anything to be twisty or contrary to truth.  It's more of a "Wow, I never thought of that before" kind of thing.  It fills your head with thoughts and questions related to Jesus and the disciples.  Like what did the disciples do when while at the wedding in Cana?  What was life like for them before they said yes to Jesus?  What was it like to be the mother of Jesus?  

I highly recommend this show.  Hopefully, it will feed your soul and call you into a deeper look at what it says in His book.

Let me know what you think!

Listening

Romans 10:17 says,  "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."  I've been told that God gave us a formula for listening by giving us two ears and only one mouth.  Thus we are meant to listen twice as much as we talk.  

That's hard in any conversation... at least for me.  I have a lot of thoughts that I like to share.  But when praying, well, it's harder isn't it?  Why is that?  Is it harder to listen because His voice is like a whisper on the wind.  It's easily missed when you are intent on being heard.  But like with anyone, we will still ache to know Him, if we never hear what He has to say.  

Scripture is the first place to hear Him.  In our times where everyone stands as judge of pretty much everyone else, it's hard not to stand as judge of what we read.  But if you are in conversation with someone and if you stand as judge... you are NOT hearing anything.  Listen, ask, clarify... wait, wait, wait for an answer that satisfies.  Faith truly comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  

Funny, think of that verse again, "Faith come from hearing, but hearing" (I'm thinking of the many times in my life time I have said, "You aren't hearing me!")  That miraculous gift of hearing comes by the very word of God himself.  The Gospel of John starts out by saying, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the Word was God.  Jesus Himself must somehow be a part of the message going from being listened to... to being heard.

God's art, building trust, late season frosts

I was out in God's art today (outside).  Spring is just starting to bring a little green to the drab winter landscape.  It has been brutally cold here.  it's not that unusual to be in the low 20's in late April here but after a long warm spell, it was a shock to my plants as well as my own system.  It's COLD out there!  My plum and peach tree blossoms will not recover.  There will be no fruit on them this year.  Even my tulips were bowed low to the ground this morning only to pop back up when the sun grew warm.

It's interesting to see.  I have learned that though the blossoms may still be pretty, if you look deep into the flowers, you can tell that they have been made impotent by the frost.  I wish I could see people in the same way.  Are they still fragrant and ready to bear sweet, juicy fruit, or is something in the depths of them frozen beyond redemption (at least by natural means).  

The truth is, it's not my job to know.  It's my job to scatter the seed, to love with abandon, and offer redemption to any who will hear.  But the world is so frightening now.  If I was afraid to speak of heavenly things years ago, what help is there now for me?  (Listening)  The picture I have is of Steven in Acts 7.  I used to think of myself as a failure because I couldn't imagine myself having the Steven's boldness to continue telling the truth in spite of the threat of stoning.  Steven was already caught up and moving closer and closer to heaven.  He didn't even noticed the stones.  He was too excited by his visions of where he was going.  He was trying so hard to share his vision with those who stoned him to death.  But they could not hear him.  I realized that Steven was given the power in that moment to stand and to speak boldly.  All he needed to be was willing.  

Ah, there's the rub.  Am I willing?  What is it to trust God anyway?  What am I trusting Him for?  What does He promise?  Well, He didn't promise that I would avoid pain or suffering.  That's hard for my "civilized' heart to understand but Hebrew 5:8 says, "though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered"  Jesus said, "Follow me" I'm pretty sure He knew that suffering was involved.  So is suffering to help us learn obedience?  And if so, ultimately is suffering a trust building exercise?  Do we too learn obedience by the things that we suffer?  And do we learn to lean into Him in the process?

What are your thoughts?

LORD in every and all circumstance

I believe that trusting God is the foundation of everything.  It was very difficult for me to actually trust Him.  I had, had my trust deeply broken and it was more than frightening to invest in anything again.  But trust is the one thing God requires.  Yes, we are called to obey, yes, belief is paramount, but the foundation to it all is trust.  

Do you trust Him?  Know this, if there is anything between you and Him... He will require it of you.  Think of the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-23) What holds you back, your dreams?  your job?... your money?  Your children?  If you lost them all, would you still trust Him?  Or will you put Him on trial asking, "If You really are a "good" God, how could you let this happen?"  At the end of the day, who really has the reigns in your life?  God, when He is behaving and you when He is not?  Or God... in every and all circumstance?

You can know when your trust is in Him. When you trust God, your knee jerk reaction will be similar Job's, "The Lord gave and The Lord has taken away, Blessed be the Name of the Lord." Job 1:21b  That's tough to say when you just lost your leg in a freak accident or when your child is diagnosed with terminal cancer.  or... is it?  Aren't those the very best times to cling to Him and know that He is your one constant.  The one you know you can trust during the terrible storms.  If we have truly surrendered our lives to Him... can He not then do with our lives whatever He pleases?  If He does what in our mind is the unthinkable, do we immediately question His goodness or perhaps the goodness of our faith?  Is that trust?  

If we trust Him, we trust Him.  He is good though there are things we can not understand.  Is He capable of intervening and stopping that accident from taking our leg or healing our child.  He is... no doubt capable.  Sometimes,  though He can, He doesn't and somehow that doesn't change His goodness or the value He sees in you.  

If Jesus is truly LORD in our lives, then isn't everything we have His?  When we take Him on as LORD... in the very beginning of our walk with Him, we give up control and entrust Jesus with our lives.  I'm thinking of an old hymn we used to sing.  The chorus says this, "I surrender all, I surrender all, all to thee my blessed Savior, I surrender all.  Can we sing that today? Is all that we have, all that we are and all we can become in His hands?  I wonder if we are giving this as our gospel message.  Lay your life down, with no reserve.  Give up your "right" to the throne upon which you sit.  Step down, die to all the power the throne gave you and let a new King reign in your stead.  One who is worthy of all praise, honor, and trust.  

Finding Hope in Revelations

Have you ever had a really bad day, drug yourself home and then purposely opened the book of Revelations for comfort?  Are there days when you start hoping that "something" might happen, something that will stop tomorrow from simply following today?  

As the world becomes more hmmm angry, or lost maybe?  I find myself turning more often to Revelations hoping to find today in it's pages... somewhere close to the end.  It's not that I have a death wish, it's more that I feel like an outcast in our crazy world.  I feel like the one bright orange  car in a sea of grey ones.  And, I do find comfort in the pages of Revelations.  I believe that Jesus is "The same yesterday, today and forever." Hebrews 13:8  If that is true, then there must be something redemptive about Revelations.  There must be hope written in within it.  

I think we are all drawn to that hope when we drag ourselves back to the book.  Like today, it hit me how significant it is that our prayers are present with God even to the end of this age.  Isn't it amazing that somewhere in the throne room of God there are 24 golden bowls filled to the brim with our prayers. (Revelation 5:8)  My prayers... Your prayers...  Have you ever felt like your prayers bounced off the ceiling and never got any higher?  That couldn't be farther from the truth!  The truth is they have all been collected in golden bowls and are ever present with God.  He breaths them in and is surrounded by them.  Our prayers are His constant companions.  They matter and are important to Him.  Wow!  That's hope! 

So, knowing that God is hearing my prayers... all I can think to say is,  "Please Jesus, come for us! "

A Question of Value

Why are you here?  Are you important?  What is the point of existence?  All these questions have sad answers unless there is a God worth believing in.  What is existence for  without God who gives us the one thing we need most.  Purpose!

I believe you were created unique and vital to the time and place you were brought into.  You have inherent value based on who created you.  You have a point and purpose for being here.  Our job is to live that out.

Think it through.  God created you.  He created you to be uniquely you.  If He had wanted someone else He would have created someone else.  By the very fact that you were created, you have been deemed important.  In Luke 12:7 Jesus says,  "But the very hairs of your head are all counted. Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows" 

What does it mean, "the very heirs of your head are all counted?  I picture a mother suckling her baby, have you seen it?  Have you seen how she toys with her baby's tiny fingers and toes, she notices every wrinkle their pudgy little nose.  Nothing escapes her notice or delight.  Does God look upon us with the same delight?  I believe so!  He created you, when He created you He said it was very good! (Genesis 1:21)

The next question is... how are we to live out our purpose in these times? I would love to hear your thoughts.