2 Chronicles

Sing: Everlasting God by Lincoln Brewster

Pray:
Come Holy Spirit, fill me with Your fire so that I can be more like You; help me, I trust You. Father open my eyes so that I may see clearly, open my ears so that I may hear soundly, open my mind so that I may understand fully, open my heart so that I may love more, open my hands so that I may give generously and receive humbly, in Jesus‘ name, Amen.

Read: 2 Chronicles 12:1-16:14

Behold, God is with us at our head, and His priests with their battle trumpets to sound the call to battle against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed. 2 Chronicles 13:12

When the alarm rang this morning there was a moment of hesitation in my body, “is it really time to get up already?“ Sigh… But then my spirit reminded my body of why the alarm was ringing at five am, “Body, we get to spent time with the LORD now“. “Oh right!“ my body shouted and was up in a flash and headed for the coffee pot for the hot water and tea bags! As the steam rose from my fresh cup of Cinnamon Apple tea and I pulled the daisy blanket over my knees I clutched my Bible to my chest with all my might as if it were the Word of God Himself just for me… Oh wait, it IS!

His word and its application on my life never ceases to amaze me. Yet I am still surprised by how He seems to make all things work together for my good. This weekend was so wonderful with our family and our church. But last night as I sat down on my bed with the journal that my husband and I write to each other in every night the one thing that kept coming back to me over and over again was the friendship that we share, just like the journal. You know, there are some days when you go out and you do things just as a couple. We like to go to amusement parks and ride roller coasters together. For our anniversary last year we enlisted the grandparents to care for our children and the two of us ran away to Cedar Point together for some alone time. Those times are so critical in a marriage, they put a nice big fat log on the fires of love to fuel them and keep them burning for a long time. But then there are the everyday moments in marriage that are so much more crucial to keeping the fire alive. They‘re the kindling kind of moments, if you will, where you just spend time together as a family. It‘s not a romantic time, or a steamy love scene, it‘s those kinds of moments where you‘re not necessarily doing anything special, but you‘re doing it together and that‘s what is really important. Yesterday wasn‘t any big grand party or spectacle for the celebration of Christ‘s resurrection, we got up and did an Easter scavenger hunt to find our goodies. Then we almost begrudgingly stopped playing with our new things long enough to get dressed and ready for church, we ended up being late as always, it‘s almost a Knochel tradition at this point! Then after church was over we made our customary hugs and well wishes for the holiday before we hopped back into the car to head for Grandma‘s house ninety minutes north for lunch and an Easter egg hunt with cousins. At the end of the day we got back in the car and drove home full of Easter ham, deviled eggs and more sugar than any one person should eat in one day. See, like I said, nothing super spectacular or terribly exciting, and yet it was!

You see as much as I love writing and having my nose buried into a computer screen all day, time with my family is precious. It always has been, but now that I don‘t get as much of it as I used to, it‘s even more precious. Yesterday I got to spend three hours sitting elbow to elbow with my husband in our car, talking about the things going on in our life part of the time, and the other part of the time just simply being still with one another. In the last few weeks I have really come to, not just learn about the power of stillness, but I have seen the power of stillness in my life. And you know what I‘ve seen; God is in the stillnesses of our life. He‘s there in those moments where we aren‘t saying or doing anything and we‘re just still and listening to His small yet power-filled voice. There is so much power in just being still. I am overwhelmed with it at times. On the trip home from Grandma‘s house, we didn‘t really talk much; we kept to ourselves and our own activities we had brought along. The kids colored, I read Little Women on my Kindle and Sean was driving. Yet it was there in that stillness where none of us were trying to get the other‘s attention, no one was fighting (thank God), and no one was voicing their concerns of “what are we going to do about this situation“ that God came and spoke with each of us in His own way. During that time, the others might have been seeking His wisdom, but I know that I wasn‘t. I was simply trying to enjoy my resting time and the book that God had been pointing me to for the last week. And as much as we felt like a family as we were doing things with one another all day long, it was in that time of stillness that I felt the most like we were a family. Like we were all so secure in our place as a family that there was no need for words to be spoken between us, just love filtering in through the car like the sunlight through the windshield.

Psalm 131 talks about being like a weaned child in its mothers arms.

The Holy Spirit has whispered this verse to me often times when I‘m struggling with something. I carry it around like a student carrying a back pack filled to bursting-seams with heavy books, seemingly oblivious to the weight it is adding until I finally go to put it down and realize just how heavy the burden truly was.

God is our Father, and like a weaned child in its mothers arms we need to climb into His lap and unburden ourselves on Him. We need to cast our anxieties on Him because He cares for us. There is no need for us to stay up all night worrying when He‘s already going to be up all night taking care of whatever it is that is worrying us. So why not allow Him to do what He does best, take care of our burdens and comfort us in His arms allowing us the freedom to be content where we are.

In Hebrews 1:3 it tells us that after Jesus provided purification for sins He sat down at the right hand of God. Tell me, if there is still work to be done, do you sit down? If dinner is completely finished and there‘s nothing left to do, do you keep cooking? No! You sit back and you enjoy your finished work! When I am finished writing (granted I do write sitting down), I don‘t keep writing, I stop. Then I go back to the top and read to enjoy the work that God has used me to create. Whatever you‘re going through today, happy, sad, painful, joyful, God is working. He is not dead, His arm is not too short to save or His ear too dull to hear, He is alive and active and working in your life right now! He is working so that you don‘t have to be. Too many cooks in the kitchen equal a mess, so get out of the kitchen! Let the master chef do what He does best and get out of His way. When you are still you are remembering that HE is God, that He knows what He‘s doing and will do what is best for everyone involved.

Pray:
Come Holy Spirit, fill me with Your fire so that I can be more like You; help me, I trust You. Father open my eyes so that I may see clearly, open my ears so that I may hear soundly, open my mind so that I may understand fully, open my heart so that I may love more, open my hands so that I may give generously and receive humbly, in Jesus‘ name, Amen.

Read: 2 Chronicles 8:1-11:23

Thus was accomplished all the work of Solomon from the day the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was completed. 2 Chronicles 8:16

It just keeps amazing me how we can be reading in 2 Chronicles and yet there are still scriptures that are lining up perfectly, not just with what‘s happening in my own life but also with the events of the season as well! And as much as I want to write a piece on how the disciples felt during this day in history; the day after their Lord‘s death and before His resurrection where they had to have felt so alone an abandoned and fearful for their own lives. Yet that‘s not what God wants me to write about today. And I know that because those two sentences are all I can get out onto the screen! He keeps saying to me “Rest in My finished work“ and then reminding me of a piece I wrote several months ago that I absolutely love. I keep telling Him that it really would fit tomorrow more than today, but He is insistent so I‘ve got to go with His plan and not my own understanding. I‘m guessing that it‘s because He wants us all to take the day off tomorrow and fully celebrate His Son‘s resurrection to our fullest ability. So that‘s what I will do! J Enjoy one of my favorite pieces today (Reposted from August 4^th) and then take the day off tomorrow to celebrate the family that God has blessed you with!

I love you my friends!!!

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.“ (John 15:1)

Go with me to the garden for a moment. It‘s first thing Sunday morning. The sun has just broken over the eastern horizon, the dew is still on the roses, the birds are singing their morning praise songs and we are crunching along the cold stone path to Jesus‘ grave to anoint His body properly. It was a holiday weekend, the biggest there is, but it certainly didn‘t feel like a holiday weekend! None of the food tasted any good; it was filled with tears of mourning. Everything we had ever hoped for dreamed of, talked about, loved… died on Friday afternoon. We HAVE nothing to celebrate right now. But, as much as we dislike it, life goes on, and there are things to be done; dishes to wash, laundry to fold. But there is one small bright spot to our day this Monday. We get to go visit Jesus‘ body one last time. Touch His hands and His feet – anoint Him. So here we are on the path in the garden on what is by far the most beautiful morning we‘ve seen in ages. Everything seems alive and vibrant and fresh today, I wonder why. I turn to you in concern, “Oh no! How are we going to roll that huge stone away from the tomb? There‘s no way we‘ll be strong enough to do it! Those are next to impossible to move!“ But you reply, “God will make a way for us. Have faith.“
“Just like Mary,“ I think to myself, “always faithful. God bless her, she‘s right, God will bless us in our efforts, He will make a way for us to honor His son and anoint Him.“ But then we see it! His tomb, it‘s already open! “Wow! God REALLY made a way!“ But as we approach we start to sense something amiss, where‘s Jesus‘ body!?! As we become a flurry of confusion and grief and anger and voices, two men with clothes like lightning appear standing next to us, startling us to silence and immediate prostrate positions of humility with our faces to the ground. (It was either that or faint I think!) The angels questioned us, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He‘s not here! He is risen!…” As an unexplainable joy floods our souls and brings us back to the living, the angels remind us of Jesus‘ words “…crucified and on the third day be raised again.“ Oh how could we have forgotten? We run the entire way back to the house where the disciples are, the birds‘ songs cheering us on, urging our feet to move faster. When we arrive our excitement streams through our lips as fast as we all can speak, causing dazed, shocked, confused, angry and hopeful looks on everyone‘s faces. None of them know what to think, could it really be true? Can our hopes still be alive? What is happening? Was it thievery or a miracle? Can it really be true? Peter, not wanting to be left out of the action I‘m sure, returned to the tomb to investigate, running the entire way. Breathing heavily he entered the tomb to find all the wrappings of death discarded carelessly, and the napkin from His head folded carefully, signifying that He was not finished and that he would return. Not quite knowing how to deal with all this extraordinary information Simon Peter went away to think and pray, but you, Mary, you stayed. You couldn‘t bear to leave could you? Your grief and confusion is so complete so consuming that you simply couldn‘t leave the last known residence of your Lord and love Jesus of Nazareth. He saved you from a horrible life of torment didn‘t He? Those demons had plagued you night and day, filled your head with criticisms and self-doubt, fears and pain unimaginable. But then Jesus came along didn‘t He? He freed you from all of it! The pain, the shame, the torment, the fear, all gone the instant He touched you. It must have been amazing! Obviously it was because you haven‘t left His side since, even in death, you‘re still here at His grave – waiting. Crying because you don‘t know what‘s happening. But more than that, because you don‘t know where He is. All you know is that He‘s not with you and the pain that that is causing you is worse than anything the demons ever did. Your love for Jesus is so pure that nothing can stop you from wanting Him; His presence in your life, His love in your life, His grace in your life. You miss Him like nothing you‘ve ever known. And as you‘re standing there wailing beside the tomb, you just have to look upon His last resting place one more time. But this time there are two angels sitting there. But right now you are too grieved to care that there are two supernatural beings speaking to you. “Woman, why are you crying?“ they ask. You sob, “They have taken my Lord away, and I don‘t know where they have put Him!“

Mary, when everyone else left Him, you stayed. When everyone else pondered, you grieved. Maybe you didn‘t understand what was really happening, or maybe you understood better than anyone else. Either way, I can‘t imagine what it felt like to be there that morning. In that new day air, with your eyes brimming with tears saw a man standing near Jesus‘ grave. “Maybe he knows where Jesus is.“ Perhaps that‘s what you thought when you asked Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him and I will get Him.“ Perhaps, at that moment in the garden, Jesus looked so much like His father that that‘s why you mistook Him for the gardener. Oh, but no tears or choking sobs of grief could disguise His voice from you could it? No. Just as the sheep know their shepherd‘s voice, all it took was for Him to say one precious word, your name. “Mary“. And reality came crashing through your tears. He is HERE! He is ALIVE! He is speaking YOUR name! He knows your grief, He knows your pain and He came to you first to end that anguish in your soul and replace it with joy and hope and fire. All with a single word, your name. Because He knows your name, it‘s written on the palm of His hand.

Oh how desperately you wanted to cling to Him, to talk to Him, to hang on His every word and bask in His luminous personality. But alas, just as you could not hang onto your grief this morning because you had word to do, that same is true now. You can not hang onto your joy because there is work to do. OH! But the work that there is to do! It too is joyful. “You Mary“, Jesus explains, “have to tell the others. You must spread the good news! You must tell everyone that I am alive, you have seen me, and that I am returning to My Father and your Father, to my God and your God. No Mary, you may not stay longer here with Me, I know you want to, but there will be plenty of time for that later. Right now, people need to know what has happened and what will happen. I will come again, and we will be together, so be patient. Until that time, tell everyone the good things I have done for you for My glory. O blessed one.“